Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A Simple Life For Me


This morning as I sat beside my husband with my little Monkey in my arms and my own Mama across the table, it occurred to me that we really need very little in this life to be happy!  I wish you all a beautiful day with your own 'each others'.

x

Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Monkey Loves Pumpkin


The monkey has been eating like a horse... he's becoming so chubby I can barely stuff his little sausage legs into his sleep suit anymore!  I had been saving a beautiful powder blue hoodie for him to wear when the weather got cooler - I used to pull it out of the drawer when he was a newborn and try to imagine him being big enough to wear it.  Well, I tried to put it on him yesterday but couldn't even get it over his head!  I'm devastated... its supposed to be for a 1 year old and he's only 6 months!  Clearly, we are a cosmic phenomena... the dwarf who bred a giant!

Photos by me

Monday, March 21, 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Early Birdie


Today I thought the Monkey woke at 6.10am
I got up
I gave him a bottle
I praised him for sleeping so well
I made a cup of tea
I sat on the carpet and sang songs
I wondered why it was still dark outside
I looked at the clock
It was 5.30 in the morning!
I need glasses

x

Image from here

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Straight Talking


Once upon a time, I used a hairdryer.... every day!  I also used a straightening iron and owned pots of products designed to tame chaotic, frizzy hair.  I had long, blonde, straight locks that I could wear ten different ways. I developed killer triceps from wielding a hairbrush for half an hour a day. I looked polished.  I looked kept.  I most certainly didn't look like the wild African zoo animal that I occasionally see roaming the house with tufts of hair sticking out at odd angles.

I no longer blow-dry my hair.  I have embraced "the curl", which in turn means that I have embraced "my decline".  I have one look these days - which just so happens to be the exact same messy up-do I was sporting back in 1991, the only difference now being that I spend precisely 30 seconds doing it, rather than the regulation 30 minutes I used to spend back when I was thirteen... at least I have developed authenticity in my old age!

I went to the shops the other day with a wild coif that stood straight up from my head (thanks to the Monkey's monkey grip).  I didn't realise until I got home and was checking to see if I'd managed to scrub all the pumpkin vomit off my back... my humiliation knows no bounds!  No wonder I was the recipient of so many pitying looks from the 'oh so young' and 'oh so judgmental' Slavic gang of high cheek-boned check-out chicks at the local IGA!

One day I hope to have nice hair again.  I believe its possible.  Perhaps when the Monkey learns not to swing from Mama's ponytail like a.... well, like a little monkey really!  Once again I will have use for polishing milks and serums and a hairdryer so powerful it wakes the entire neighbourhood.  But until that day, I'll be the washed up, dishwater blonde with the Year 9 hairstyle!

Ha!  And you thought I was exaggerating!

x

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Happy Half Birthday




Dear Monkey,

You are six months old today my gorgeous, chubby, funny little man.  Six roller-coaster months filled with crazy amounts of happiness and the odd moment of utter, tearful despair.  You arrived in our lives looking like a little forest creature who had lost his way in the woods... you belong with the pixies and the elves my blue-eyed boy... you belong in the pages of a storybook.

From a mewling newborn, with funny feet and a single curl, you have grown into the most enchanting baby who sings to the dolphins from his cot in the mornings.  Your laugh is like hearing my own heart speak and your little hands wrapped around my neck are a rope to heaven.  

You love custard more than life itself and nearly fell out of your highchair in your quest for more.  You don't like carrot or cottage cheese, particularly when mixed together!  Your favourite toy is Zippy the blue elephant whom you cuddle in the night when you are all alone and trying to learn to sleep on your own.  You have just mastered snake slithering and show off ALL the time.  You like to stroke my face while you drink your bottle.  You also like to pull my hair which hurts!

I can't imagine my life without you in it.  Part of my own heart lives in your heart and will do so forever. Happy half birthday little Leo Steyn.

x

Favourite Monkey Moments....












Sunday, March 6, 2011

Astro Boy

Doing the Monkey Crawl

Good Lordy, overnight the Monkey has learned to crawl!!!!  He literally went to bed immobile and woke up with jets strapped to his legs!  Admittedly, it's not a proper crawl... more of a commando shuffle  with a few swimming strokes thrown in for good measure but it's surprisingly fast and effective!

He spent the entire morning roaming the living room floor with a slightly wicked expression on his face. I'm sure he's convinced he can now take over the world... sucking one electric socket at a time!

If anyone is looking for me, I shall be busy baby proofing our apartment... something we of course failed to do in advance!

x

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Moments


Constantly I try to remember to be present in the 
MOMENT
The moment when my little boy
falls asleep in my arms holding my hand like 
I'm going to lead him to the stars
Fly high in your rocket ship
my funny little man

x