One shall be hobnobbing with the rich and famous.

Oh oh oh... you'll never guess who I am having dinner with on Saturday night, at the Mount Nelson nogal. ;)

He is the 10th most wealthy person in the USA and 13th Wealthiest person in the world. With a net worth of $31Billion (USD). He is a business magnate, and has just finished off 3x terms as mayor of New York City... 

Yep Michael Bloomberg! Can you believe it!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg

A was on the exclusive invite list - apparently it'll be like 20-40 people, not 100s. And I cracked the nod to join him. heh.

Back to school - not so smooth at first

I bought all our back to school stationery about 7-8 WEEKS ago, and tasked the boys with labelling and prepping everything over the holidays.

I bought wrapping paper, plastic, cello-tape and made and printed the cover labels for each of Griff's school books so he just had to cut them out and paste them on the books. I asked and reminded about it all LOTS of times.

I asked G at least 3 times since he got back from camp on the Sat afternoon before school started  if everything was done and packed and ready.

OMG I wanted to KILL him the night before school started night when he came to me, as I was all but passed out at 20:30, to tell me he has realised he had NOT done any book covering. I contemplated dragging myself up and doing an all-nighter and then though screw it. So I explained how it was squarely his own bloody fault and I was NOT helping and he'd have to go to school with all his books uncovered. Bloody hell, I was NOT amused.

------

Well it's turned out fine because they actually only need to be finished by Monday and on Wed evening he did the paper covers and labels on his own, and asked if I would just help him with the plastic please. I helped him to cover a few with plastic each morning last week - I have been waking up a bit earlier than I need to and feel relatively ok in the morning (way better than I do in the evenings anyway). While I was doing that he brought me a piece of toast to nibble on and packed a snack bag for my lunch (beautifully I might add. I got a tub of yogurt, a tub of grapes, a tub of cereal and a banana/apple/orange, packed in a lunch bag with an ice-brick!).

So it turned out to be a win-win and we helped each other through it. He is really such a sweet heart.

My boys are the best

Honestly I feel so mushy-hearted about my boys right now. They are so mature and easy-going and undemanding. I feel like I am being a pretty shitty/inadequate mom to them right now. I can barely manage to get food into the house never mind prepare it for them.

If anything they are mothering me and keeping the household going.

They get themselves home from school and sort out the stuff they need each day. Quinn cleans the pool. Griff waters the garden etc.

Yesterday I apologised to Quinn saying, 'I am so sorry I have been so pathetic and useless, hopefully from next week I'll be a bit better and can start making food and stuff again.'

Quinn, 'No it's ok mom I like cooking, don't worry about it'

And note he made some DELICIOUS pasta the other night. Screwy noodles with mushrooms and sauce which was as good as anything I have ever had a restaurant!

Every morning Griff comes in to make sure I am awake (alive) and gives me a wonderful cuddle, and then he'll ask if I need anything and if he can pack anything for my lunch.

How did I get this blessed and lucky!?

I love these guys!

It was twins... and then it wasn't

So I had a scan at 5-6 weeks and there were 2x sacs! OMG, no, that was not what I signed up for!!!

While twins always sounds cool and exciting I was not thrilled. I signed up for my dream pregnancy and birth experience. Twins would severely affect and limit that. 

Anyway I went of on holiday having to come to terms with the idea and kind of wishing for a 'vanishing twin'.

When I went back for my 8-9 weeks scan last week.

Here's what happened.

Dr starts the scan (rem this is my old regular gynae who has known me since Angelique's pregnancy so he knows ALL my history well)... starts scanning and he and I can clearly see a big sac and a much smaller sac.

In his words 'It looks like you always seem to get what you want...'. Because can you believe it, it is indeed a vanishing twin. He was pretty surprised and says the chance of that happening twice in a row is pretty rare. Although this one seems to have progressed way further (with Griff's one there was just a little empty sac) this one has a yolk sac and stuff still there, but is much smaller than the other. He reckons it will just reabsorb over the next few weeks - and/or I may have some spotting at some point.

The other one is big and growing on schedule according to dates  and had a heart beat etc.

So no twins. I/we have mixed feelings about it - since the idea is always pretty exciting - but the overall feeling is mostly relief, I think, as I don't think he nor I relished the practicalities of twins ito pregnancy/birth and beyond.

So now I have all the blood tests at 10 weeks and then the fetal anomaly scan at 13 weeks and then the rest of the planning can carry on.

Awesome New Salad Bar at work

The coolest new food place opened up at work.

It's a salad bar.

You choose a container (it's about 1 litre - so pretty big) with a base of either:
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Pasta
- Couscous

Then when you get to the counter you chose one of:
- Grilled Chicken
- BBQ Chicken
- Smoked Chicken
- Smoked Turkey
- Tuna
- Roasted Veg

Then you Choose one of:
- Feta
- Blue Cheese
- Cottage Cheese
- Cheddar Cheese
- Olives

Then you chose 4 of:
- Tomato
- Corn
- Peas
- Beetroot
- Carrot
- Peppers
- Red Onion
- Cucumber
- Lentils
- Chickpeas
- Black Beans
- Croutons
- Crispy Onions
etc

They mix it all together in a bowl with your base and with a choice of about 10 dressings.

Then you can have (free):
- Chilli
- Roasted Seeds (Sesame, Pumpkin, Sunflower, Flax)
On top.

It costs R35 but is freaking amazing and delicious, it is a large portion.
Today I got couscous with BBQ chicken, cottage cheese, corn, peas, chick peas and shredded beetroot, with a lemon and mustard dressing, and topped with seeds. So good and I have at least HALF left still in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch cos, I am stuffed. And I ate and ate and ate.

I am impressed.

What a start to the year it was!

On Sun 12 Jan, I was literally in bed all day. I felt SO SICK. I only got up to pee and vomit. Sometimes pee while I vomited.  

Anyway I did NOTHING that day. On Monday it was is back to work! ARGH.
I woke up at 6am and idly looked at some school stuff and did I nearly have a heart attack when I saw Q was set to start school the NEXT DAY! (the rest of the school started the day after that, but Gr 8s had orientation a dat earlier). 

Oh f**k! We still didn't have most of his uniform! Shit. So I had to leap up and get dressed (already more than I achieved the whole of of the day before) and dashed to school shop, dropped R1600 on the 'few' things we needed. Dashed back home with it all so he could try it all on and label everything etc. He also needed to cut his hair etc etc etc.

Then I had to dash off for a Dr appointment and scan which was at 08:30am and then I had to get to work. All the while heaving and wanting to vom.

So much of fun! 

Apparently I shepperd-parent

We were chatting in the car this morning and I was asking Quinn about school, and homework and if he was coping, and how he was finding it all and feeling about being in High School etc. 

Seems he is loving high school so far, and loves the depth and detail they are getting into in subject (he is similar to me in that he likes MORE info and the bigger picture, so he can understand a whole system and then see how a smaller part fits in. Rather than just being told to remember a rule or small part in isolation - just cos).

Anyway, I asked if I am supposed to be signing his homework diary. He said no. He then went on to explain that the diaries are only checked to make sure they are being organised and noting down things they need to, and NOT to check for parents signatures. He says if anything they are trying to check that parents are NOT doing everything for their kids anymore. LOL. No risk of that with us!

I told him that while I am possibly too hands-off, I have always thought it's best to give them responsibility and accountability for themselves, as that's the goal of parenting and growing up. You have to decide what you want and how to get it. If you want to be lazy and never do anything you CAN. BUT you have to understand the consequences. If you bum around at school and do badly and then can't get into university you severely limit your future choices, so you really need to think about whether it is worth letting that happen etc.

In the end of the discussion I said. I am not one of those parents who runs their childrens lives for them. And he said... no you aren't you are like a shepherd-parent. You lead us from behind, but let us go in front and chose our own direction first.

I LOVE THAT! 

Preggies - sweating!?

Yo preggies, is anyone else hot and sweaty all the time?? 

I swear I feel like I am going through menopause here. I actually just fanned myself because I feel SO HOT.

Maybe I am too old for this pregnancy lark...? LOL.

Back to School 2014 - Gr 6 & Gr8

Quinn started High School last week. He seemed ready and confident and went off with no trouble at all. 

This is him on the first day of every school year since 2006...

And here's Griff from Grade 1- 6

This is both boys . 

I love that they both enjoy school and happily go off each year ready for a new adventure and challenge!

This year was the first year I didn't walk them into school because Quinn didn't really want me to, and Griff was quite happy to take himself in (and I couldn't find parking and felt really grim anyway...). I sort of regret not doing it anyway!

(It also would have helped me on Tuesday evening when I found myself at the school for Griffin's 'meet the teacher' meeting, only to realise I had no idea whose class he was in! Wow, oops. Talk about Parent of the Year - NOT! ;)

I think Griff is sensitive to PG hormones!?

He's like a cat or dog... he keeps coming up to me and hugging and stroking me etc.

Today he even said, 'I don't know why but since December I just want to hug you all the time...'   

Pregnant Pause

So I have so much news and so many updates, but I am just not getting around to any of them. So instead of trying to catch up first and keep everything in sequence. Let me just blurt out the big news first...

I am pregnant. Yup you read that right. I am nearly 10 weeks along (and feeling like complete shit 24/7 - such fun! - which is a big part of why I am so behind on everything).

I'll explain it all properly in time, but for now the headline is:

- Yes is was actually planned, believe it or not.

- It's a pretty complicated situation and very unconventional, and is basically a modified 'surrogacy', so the baby is not 'mine'.

- No haven't suddenly lost my mind (that happened ages ago already!)

Feel free to comment/ask questions. I'll respond in a  follow-up post.

I actually hope to journal and track this experience, and hope that this feeling shit 24/7 passes soon so I can actually start to enjoy the experience, because up to now it's been pretty miserable.

Note: I have not mentioned this on Facebook (ie the 'real world' LOL) yet, so keep it 'private for now.