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Jumpers anyone? My brain needs a kickstart…
Photo: Americas Morning Show Today marks 2 weeks before I return to work and I’m starting to feel a bit frazzled.
All of a sudden I can think up hundreds of things I need to get done before returning to my 8-5 job and I also really want to sleep as much as I can and lounge around in PJ’s but then I also really want to do stuff, like shopping, rearranging the house, breakfasts with my hubby, going on excursions…
So much to do, so little maternity leave time to do it.Being an adult is such hard work. It takes real commitment, if you want to do this thing right.
There are no short cuts (like studying for a test a few hours before)… everything requires proper planning and sensible thinking! Now with this said, I am aware that I take that notion to the umpteenth degree.
I cannot do anything without planning it properly, or else I feel totes out of control.
I think that’s the beauty of my marriage to my totally out of control husband! He doesn’t do anything pre-planned… he finds it really boring and tedious if he has to think about what hes going to do tomorrow instead of just waking up and doing it. I cant live like that.But I’ve found that since becoming his wife (it’s only been 1 year, 1 month and a couple of days ya’ll) I’ve found myself way more chillaxed!
I mean, I even left the house on spur of the moment wearing NO MAKEUP! Yep, it actually happened.
Today, I’m on my bed, laptop on my lap, baby asleep and guess what, I am not neat-freak-tidying the house. Feels good.
I’m on that “might wash my hair now, might wash it tomorrow” buzz and I’m a bit subconsciously afraid that its going to swallow me whole!I had a brief panic attack earlier, thinking about how I am going to manage to balance it all – going to work and coming home to a baby that will want to be with mommy, getting her bathed, cooking, homework with Kyle, cleaning up etc etc etc…
How do moms with toddlers AND infants do it?
How do moms with twins do it?
I’m starting to wish that I wasn’t so relaxed and had an action plan in place.2 weeks before normalcy returns and I am considering getting a full time maid.
Does this make me laaaaaazy? (yeah, I’m singing the song in my head too)
I don’t think that husbands understand the enormousness of our role!
There is no “down time”.
Oh to be a child again!Full time working, husband pleasing, Super Moms around the world – I salute you!
xxxL -
2015 – You’re about to get served!
Kicking butt preggy belly and all (Taken in 2014) Well, I take my metaphorical hat off to those ladies who have managed to hit puberty, found and lost their first love, found and left their first job, made an enemy, lost a good friend, got married, had a kid or two, found friends who you click with at this stage in your life, generally live the rest of your life loving and serving your family AND still find a way to be the same girl you were before it all happened.
I wouldn’t say that I have made a 360 degree change from being the dorky, read-a-holic, Mariah Carey loving, insecure, shy girl I was pre-baby number 1. But there are definitely bits and pieces that are no more and gobs of “new me” where there wasn’t before.
I always find it kinda corny when people say “stay as sweet as you are” and “never change!”
How is that possible? Life changes people and peoples lives change.
Character shaping events are all a part of the package of growth and hey, just being alive, I guess.
I mean, even if you don’t do anything remotely significant for a whole year, a part of you will still be affected… changed… subconsciously. The mere passing of time has the ability to shift things.With that said, I think that although we cant stop life from happening and time from going forward, we DO have the power to make right decisions. We can ultimately choose to learn from hard knocks and allow the tough stuff to mold us.
I have personally endured so much crap (for lack of a better word) and I intensely disliked every moment of it BUT I chose to take the lesson out of the situation.
Lets call life a party…. the lesson would be the swagbag.I’ve kinda been talking myself into being proactive this year.
2015 is going to be the year of a lot of things!
I do not want to be in the same place at the end of 2015. (I’m meaning physically, emotionally, spiritually – career, marriage, family etc).
I do not want to be in the same head space either.
If I cant look back at this year and think “wow, I’ve learnt some hard lessons in 2015” then bah humbug!Bring it on 2015!
I’m going to milk you for all that you’re worth!xxxL
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Im baaaack! Plus one!
Hello there!
By golly gosh, its been a long time since I’ve called myself a blogger!
I’m sure the 6 people who read this will be thrilled to have me back 🙂So I finally have another laptop, praise God, and I am actually on maternity leave, so time is in abundance.
Yes, I have a baby ya’ll!
She is the most beautifulest lil babe in all the land! No I’m not biased, shes just that perfect!
Karis Leigh was born on the 31st of October 2014 and she is absolutely darling, looking like her daddy (with more hair of course).I’m now in a situation where I cant fathom going back to work and leaving her at home for a whole day!
I think that pregnancy aches and giving birth aside, THIS part right here is the worst!
Whoever came up with these rules?! I don’t want to play anymore 🙁Something must be said about this amazingly torturous feeling of loving another little person so much that you cant see yourself separated from them.
Mind you, Hubstopher and I went out for supper the other night and my mom looked after Kari and hey, it was glorious to be amidst other adults (wearing make up and perfume nogals!)
But to leave early in the morning and only see her when its nearing dark is something else altogether.
Yes, I know… moms have been doing it for centuries and they’ve survived. Sigh. I know.Anyways, so apparently South African laws might change soon.
They’re talking about extending maternity leave to a nice 9 months!
When I first heard this I felt a bit cheated like, Uhhhm why couldn’t you bring about this law while I’M on maternity leave?! But on second thought I figured that I got it a bit easy because 9 months together and then a sudden split would surely cause even more anxiety for both me and baby.So in a way my 4 months at home is kinda the best thing because she wont be thaaaat scarred when mommy and her milk supply makes a disappearing act for 8 hours a day.
For emphasis on how difficult it is going to be to leave my darling lil babe, please see pic below.
Ciao!
xxxL
“Everybody come see how cute I am!” -
#100happydays
Hello Blog World! Yes, I am back and I am officially a wife!
Wedding talks will be underway as soon as I get my bearings but for now I want to share something equally (well not equally-equally, but its up there) exciting with you!100happydays is this mieu caliente concept where they get people to consider what makes them happy in their every days lives and document about it! I think its fantastic because in this day and age everyone grumbles and moans about all the negative stuff, but we have so much to be thankful for!
God is good to us. I mean, we’re alive, arent we?I want to share some more info with you straight from the horses (websites) mouth:
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We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, isthe base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason. These people simpy did not have time to be happy. Do you?ow? Plain simple!every day submit a picture of what made you happy!It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day to a favor you didto a stranger.#100happyday challenge is for you – not for anyone else.It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest. If you try to please / make others jealous via your pictures – you lose without even starting. Same goes for cheating.So first you register in the challenge then choose your favorite platform for submitting pictures. Here you can decide yourself on the privacy of your participation & happy moments.
-Share your picture via facebook, twitter or instagram with a public hashtag @100happydays
-Come up with your own hashtag to share your picutres with to limit publicity. (Dont forget to tell us how to find your pictures though
-Simply send your pictures to myhappyday (at) 100happydays.com to avoid any publicity
And you’re ready to go! 🙂People successfully completing the challenge claimed to:– Start noticing what makes them happy every day;– Be in a better mood every day;– Start receiving more compliments from other people;– Realize how lucky they are to have the life they have;– Become more optimistic;– Fall in love during the challenge.Even when the challenge is over the collected 100 happy moments can always remind you about the beauty of your life. For that, you can receive a little 100 page book with your 100 happy days at the finish line of the challenge!———————————————————————————————————————–And there you have it! 🙂 Cool concept, right?I dont know about you but I am blessed! And ‘ve got alot of happiness to share!Who knows my happy could inspire someone else to focus on the happy in their lives!Cant wait to get started!xxxL -
Tonsils are a conundrum
Hello there, and please accept my not-so-cleverly named post for all that its worth. It has been a rough couple of weeks!
Well, it all started last week… uhmmm last week? week before that? See! I don’t even know what year it is any more! Any ways, it started a while back when my lovely son came home with a head ache and sore throat, which then spontaneously combusted into a full on intense attack of tonsillitis. My baby boy had a fever that brought on hallucinations and nightmares… for him, not me. I even had to rush him to the hospital at one point! Not nice. He missed 4 whole days of school and stayed in bed over an entire weekend. When he was finally better, I breathed a sigh of relief…. but not for long.
The next Thursday, I felt a little ummm qualm in the back of my throat, and chose to ignore it. By the time Thursday night arrived, I realized that the qualm had mutated into one of those giant ogres that you find in…. (okay I was going to reference a movie here, but I don’t watch movies any more)…. just trust me, it was really big okay! I had like these, cold shivers… literally freezing down to the core of my core! Any ways, the doctor said that I have tonsillitis and that I had picked it up from my son! Who knew it could be contagious?! Shocking. Doctor says that tonsils actually play a particularly important role in your body… I think it protects your throat or something. So he isn’t to keen on getting them removed. Go figure.
Any ways, that was on Friday. Its Monday today, and I am still not eating properly, I have crazy dizzy spells and my throat feels as if someone shoved a sock down into it.
I need this feeling to end like, right NOW, please. And thank you.
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Pushing out into deep water
I must admit, I have been terrible at blogging recently… but that’s mainly because of server/internet problems.
Life has been so melancholy recently. I don’t know… there is something about human beings and not getting your way that kinda doesn’t gel 🙂
On Monday at Family Group, they prayed over me and God spoke to me.
He basically said, HELOOOOOO!! I am still God!!!!! Just wait on me!!!!!My friend, Aneesa, gave me Luke 5:1-7 (see below) which speaks about the time when Jesus told the disciples to put their nets into deep waters. They were a bit sceptic since they had been attempting to catch fish (to no avail) whole day. But they did as he instructed and soon drew their nets up and it was full of fish!
I think that God is saying: Even though it looks impossible and depressing and negative and melancholy 🙂 in reality, when I am in the boat with you, your nets are never really empty!
So today, I dare you to ignore what REALITY says, and stand on what God says.
Put aside what the doctor and the bank and circumstance and LOGIC is telling you and put your trust in the Word of God.I dare you to push out into the deep and still waters of who He is… right into the midst where the impossible can happen! That’s where He does His BEST work!
I dare you!!!!!!
Luke 5
5 1-3 Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.”5-7 Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.8-10 Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave. I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.” When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon.10-11 Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.
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Gods rainbow
This morning I was reminded of the beautiful promise that God left us with a rainbow. Last year, my cousin and his wife (JustEllaBella) heartbreakingly said good bye to their first born, Logan Allan. Logan went to be with Jesus a day after he was born and his mommy and daddy were devastated. I know that Robin and Elle will love and miss him every single day of their lives. He has touched so many lives just by his amazing fighter spirit and moving (however short) life story.
With that said, I am soooo pleased to announce that Logans brother, Aidan Jesse, was born early this morning! Aidan, weighing a whopping 3.4kgs, is Robin and Elles “rainbow baby” and I know that Elle was a bit concerned when she first found out she was pregnant a few months after saying goodbye to Logan, but he is healthy and beautiful! Praise God! God has been so faithful to this amazing couple. Elles motto has been “No fear, just faith” Wow! And just watching the journey she has been on, has been a blessing to so many who follow her blog. You can read all about it here.
A “rainbow baby” is a very special blessing after the loss or miscarraige of a child. In the Bible, God used a rainbow to symbolize to Noah that the rain/storm is finally over. God promised Noah that He would never ever cause such destruction/floods again. A rainbow is a symbol of hope but is also a covenant (bond, pledge) that God has made with man.
“I promise you, the storm is over!”, God says! Aidan Jesse is a blessed little boy and God is going to use him to change the world!
Genesis 9: 12-17
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”xxxL -
Still Standing
Whew… I cant believe I made it through my birthday in one piece. I’m still standing! It was an eventful day… not necessarily all good though. I don’t know what is going on in the spiritual realm, but in the natural, things are just going W.R.O.N.G.
But Chris and I have chosen to STAND … and not let these crappy situations get us down. Clearly we are doing something right, if we are getting attacked by the enemy this much. Like, for reals!
1stly lets not even get into the fact that we are paying off a huge wedding! Then my car refuses to work… its like one thing after the other, THEN Chris’s car starts giving problems. A week later, my laptop breaks while I am busy completing 2 major assignments and then to top it off, yesterday, on my 30th birthday, I get home from work to find that they’ve broken into my house. They stole some of my clothes, my sons games and electronics etc. I didn’t check what else is gone yet… hopefully nothing! We couldn’t sleep at home last night because its not safe… the window that was pried open is not safe at the moment, so my landlord has to fix it today.
But you know what… hahahhaha I am laughing all the way to the metaphorical bank. Because none of this… NOTHING… can separate us from the destiny that God has preplanned. Nothing can cancel the promises He has made us.
All things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose!
That’s what it says in Romans and that’s what is inscribed on our hearts!If you feel like you’re going through adversities or hardship today, put your trust in Jesus. Yeah yeah yeah how cliche of me. But I really want you to realize how awesome God is… We are His! We belong to Him! And He wants nothing but the best for us. So choose to believe that! And choose to stand on who HE is, and not what your situation is telling you!
No sorrow is greater than Gods reward! He is ALWAYS good to us!
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Its time to chill…
It’s so chill out now. And because of this, and boredom and because we need new clothes, Chris and I checked out the very awesome and user friendly Mr Price website.
Its so fetch.Anyways, so we kinda picked out clothes for each other. I know, some of them don’t maybe match or make sense, but hey we think it’ll look cute on each other, okay! I think that we really love each of these pieces individually, more than as an ensemble. Our favorites?
Chris:
For Him – I love the red hoody because I don’t know what to say except that I love it.
For Her – The jeans, because I know it’ll look good on my fiancee. 🙂Luchae:For Him – Love the Brooklyn shirt and the arm bands. Totally cute and the colors are so Autumn/Winter-ish.
For Her – The blazer. The cross. The bracelet. The shirt. The jeans. The pumps.See style board below. Isn’t it inspiring? Our pleasure.
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Weirdest (and quickest) way to dry up a cold sore
Ever wake up with a tingling on your lips… and no, I’m not talking about passionate kisses. I woke up with the worlds ugliest cold sore ever! And it’s not even cold. Where is the justice?! This thing is so ugly, it needs to be contained and thrown into a deep, dark pit of fire. I, of course, did what any rational human being would do in a dilemma such as this: I Googled a solution!Some of the advice Google threw at me:
– Drink Lysine tablets
– Rub salt (literally in my wounds)
– Soak my lip in alcohol (those days are long behind me, buddy)
– Rub someones pee in it. I know, right?
– Apply ice
– Buy some cold sore ointmentThe last one is the one that made more sense to me, so I got me some Acitop at the chemist. I didn’t need a prescription for it, so that was pretty cool already. I knew I had found a winner. I dabbed on a little a heck of a lot and sat at my desk at work, looking like I had rabies. Hey, I’m not complaining coz within half an hour, the monster seemed to have shrunk somewhat. I am now sitting with a small little blister that needs to be dried out. The worst is over folks. Please, move along, nothing to see here…
Anyways, so I decided to contact Google again to finds ways to dry up the blister.
I was advised to:
– Mix salt and toothpaste, apply and walk around like that
– Mix alcohol with something and do something with it
– Apply some nail polish remover every few hoursYep, you guessed it, I am currently sitting with a cutex-remover-lip. Nail polish remover! On my lip! It actually really works ya’ll! Apparently the acetone, in the remover, dries the blister right on up. Obviously you need to take precaution and I have been applying Labello to the area around the infected part, so that the remover does not affect my skin etc. But this actually works, folks! My pleasure.
