Come in...

"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside." ~ Denis Waitley
Hello and welcome to my blog.

Thank you for taking the time out to travel through life with me. I'm still trying to discover blogging. Right now I'm going to use this as a platform to air my random views. I invite you to share your valuable insights and concerns by clicking on 'comments'. It might be easier to comment if you have a gmail account or are a follower. I will try to update the blog weekly.


Thursday, March 31, 2011

The In-laws are Here

I was in tip top shape when I woke up this morning. After a good thirty minutes had lapsed I noticed the early warning signs of a looming headache. Doom just enveloped me. I hate headaches... Especially early morning ones. Chances are good that the headache will last a great part of the day. As I lay in bed watching my husband sleep I realised that this tension headaches was due to the in laws visiting for the weekend!

We have a do this weekend in honour of my late mother in law; a thoroughly wonderful person. So for the do to be successful, some in laws have or will be descending down to Cape Town for the weekend. It is sort of a last gathering to say farewell. I guess it's also a show of hope that everyone has accepted her death and will be able to move on from this point forward with some semblance of peace. Now I know you can't put a time frame on grief and that's not the point here either but rather the spirit of the whole event. I won't be lured off into a tangent now. We'll discuss death, grief and time in the future. In laws for now...

While I was still grappling with the headache, a tummy ache arrived to spur me on! Oh man... This is quickly becoming a bad day. I wondered... Why am I getting so sick? Why am I so stressed? I'm not sure what the answer is, however I'm sure it stems from not knowing each other well. Also, I'm never really sure what's expected of me. I hate being criticised without cause, especially if certain protocols weren't explained to me. And oh man, believe me when I say Xhosa culture is full of protocols... And I have a more western disposition. Add to that my dislike of contention. I'm not used to it. When I am confronted with conflict I usually take the altruistic approach. I sacrifice myself and play dead! Hahahahha true... I only get feisty with people who are exceptionally close to me. *wink wink*

So ja! That's my fate this weekend. I AM looking forward to one particular in law though; my sister :) She is after all my husband's in law hehehehehehe.
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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Sunshine in my Heart

For the first time in what seems like ages I woke up and I wasn't feeling sick. Yes, just like that, the morning sickness disappeared :) Guess who's gonna be smiling for days! My breasts felt heavy as always, but I can live with that.

It's been close to seven weeks of hell! Each morning filled with so much dread. I was beginning to hate my life because all I did was complain and go on and on and on about how sick I've been feeling. I'd spend days in bed. Mind you I'd get up, make up the bed and curl on top of it. Almost always around lunch time. I did this because... I don't know why. It just felt better than staying under covers all day long. My only purpose was to make sure I mastered enough strength to make that bed. It always felt like such a gigantic achievement, especially since at times it'd take and hour to accomplish that simple task...

Yeah! Pregnancy is not for sissies... Today I'm up nice and early... By up I mean I'm actually out of bed! I'm dressed; not washed yet. And I've already had a marshmallow Easter egg :) It sure feels good to be me today!
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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Family Bonds

There's a sitcom that plays on local TV called Family Bonds. I don't watch if often, but when I do I got always get a good laugh. The family is such a mismatch of different characters it's borderline dysfunctional. It kinda reminds me of the family I grew up in.

I grew up in what would be classified as a neutral family. Father and mother lead the home and children are supposed to follow. I'm the oldest of three, but somehow at first glance people always assume I'm the last one to join the family. I've a younger brother and sister; I've had to learn to say younger since they aren't little anymore and plus they both look bigger than me now! Over the years we've owned a few dogs which we loved dearly. Kinda sounds like a boring bunch right!? Well we're far from it...

Mom and dad are a totally couple. I don't understand how they survived this long. Dad's a total nerd! Mom's an undercover nerd, but she has this overpowering exuberant personality to mask the nerd in her. You'll often find dad reading a newspaper or listening to radio news all by his lonesome. He likes it like that. My mother will never be caught dead all by her lonesome. That woman thrives on company... She thrives on talking. I'm not sure why she never went into radio broadcasting because my ma can talk the hind leg off a donkey! You don't have to answer back really, just be there so she can talk to someone. My dad on the other hands speaks only to tease my mother... She still doesn't get his humour so she goes into a frenzy and he chuckles quietly. He also only speaks to say something important, but my mother must be busy elsewhere or else she will try to finish his sentences... I think mama is like an electron that's too easily excited.

My brother and sister are also weird. My sister is the only person who's not a morning person. When she was a baby/toddler my dad had to sing a song to wake her up! My nerdy dad actually figured out that if he sang to her this song he made up that's open up her eyes! My sister was such a diva... Nowadays her body wakes up in parts. Before she gets out of bed we must wait for her right let, left arm, eyes, wrist and other body parts to wake up! Yeah... She's a real diva. My brother's not one to be left in the dust... He's the resident Rock Star! The whole neighbourhood knows when he's awake! He pumps the volume up, doesn't matter the song, and he sings along! Every morning it's like that. But at night when he wants to study, he wants the whole house tjoop still. It's annoying really. I'm not sure how our family survived all that torture, we couldn't even whisper because it was too much noise... All in all, he's a well adjusted person and so is my sister. My brother and sister are very compassionate and caring young adults.

Me on the other hand am surprised that I turned out so well. I was a tyrant growing up. I always challenged authority, my parents. I had an answer for everything. I always had the last word. And once I wrote my folks a letter telling them I'm leaving the house and going to join a new family. Stupid me I gave them my new address... And then I fell asleep before I could live. They found the letter on their bed and me in my bed fast asleep... Bummer! It also didn't help that I lacked a healthy helping of inhibition and I didn't know what getting embarrassed meant. I once danced on stage and my dress came apart; I carried on dancing. I blew into the trachea of a sheep to simulate breathing in biology class when the teacher was away. I also picked up a fresh dead pigeon and put it inside my blazer so I could scare my friend at school. As you can tell I was never bored...

Now here I am all grown up with a family of my own. A husband as quiet as my dad... Well he talks sometimes. And we've a kid on the way. We won't know till the baby's born if it's a girl or a boy. I'm really excited but worried the baby will grow up to be like me. I'm not sure I have the kinda patience my parents are endowed with. I'm still not sure if I can hold a tiny person in my arms. I told my mom I'm sending my baby to a school for deaf kids; it will be so much better if the back-chat in Sign.

Right now thought I'm thoroughly grateful for my husband. He's the sane one in our relationship. Every time I stress he just says: 'It's okay baby, there's a reason why a child has two parents'. Aaaaah! Instant calm nerves. He's a gem. I'm looking forward to the future and can't wait to see what blend of mismatched personalities will strengthen my family bonds.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tweet This

Hey guys... I finally got a twitter account. It would be so cool if you would follow me. You can even ask your friends to follow too. You know Twitter's the only place you can follow a stranger and not get arrested for it! It's kinda like the beach; the only place people walk around in their undies and everyone thinks it's cool!

Anyway, here are some reasons why it's cool to follow me.
- I know the difference between "their, there and they're"
- I know the meaning of discombobulation
- When I smh I will let you know if it's long the x-axis or y-axis
- I don't mind when you eavesdrop on my conversations
- btw, I dnt hv time 2waste on krptk msgs
- And it's okay if you wanna ask me questions, I'll reply to them.

If for some reason you don't have twitter, just sign up at www.twitter.com, it's FREE. It's also very easy to use and you'll get the hang of it soon enough. Have a good day my tweeps! See you on twitter soon :)
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Monday, March 14, 2011

I Know I Can!

Hmmmp... I'm suddenly lactose intolerant! Who would have guessed? Thanks be to my baby for all of these changes... Now I can't eat all my favourite things... No milk, ice-cream, mphokoqo (traditional dish), lasagne, mac and cheese, no bran flakes, no yogurt, no yogi-sip, no custard, no pudding! None of the things I really love to eat...

Dang! Being pregnant is no child's play... You know it took a while for me to realise my new condition... A few weeks actually. I'm really slow sometimes but then again, nobody has so many milk products in one go. So when it finally clicked I went into a little panic...

I mean... What am I going to eat now? I'm already having a horrible time trying to get the best possible healthy diet... But then it hit me, my baby is going to have brittle bones! Oh my :( he/she can't grow well to be big and strong without proper calcium supply! So about and hour or so ago I rushed to the pharmacy for calcium supplements.

I feel a little better now. However I've just realised that parenthood has already begun! It begins long before the baby is born. Everything I do, or fail to do will affect the baby. Whether the effects be adverse or good, I'm the one who decides... Aaaaah! PRESSURE! But you know what? I know I can...
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I Bruise Easily

Last night a mosquito kept on gunning for my face and I'm not sure how many times I whacked myself silly trying to shoo it away. I'm too nervous to check out my face in the mirror but I'm sure I am a picture of a classic domestic violence case... And all this is the result of unbelievably hot summer nights...

For the last few days it's been like hell's kitchen in Cape Town. My husband jokes and says that if he owned both Cape Town and Hell, he's rent out Cape Town and go live in Hell... Yup! That's how hot it is over here... In Xhosa, my mother tongue, we have a saying that loosely translates as "even fish can't stand the water on hot days like this". Now, if fish can't stand their traditionally cool environment, how am I at 9 weeks pregnant supposed to survive in a body with an Increased internal temperature...

I'm a walking furnace I tell you... I can't stand being in my own body on a cool day and now this... During the day I fan myself but it makes my husband cold at night. So off it goes at night. I fail to understand why he wants it off because his body temperature is sooo high! Yeah ladies, my husband's HOT :) And guess what! He gets all shy every time I tell him so... Isn't he just adorable :)

Okay, back to the topic at hand *clears throat*. I think I need to invest in some good foundation. Hiding the marks is going to be much easier than having to explain the self-inflicted wounds on my face.... Aaaaargh! Why does summer have to be soooo brutal!
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