Shopping With Ben 10

There are days I curse being South African.   Even though I live in what is often referred to as the most beautiful city in the world, Cape Town, there are still those days I wish I lived in the UK or States, where there's just more STUFF available. 

This wish rang repeatedly in my head as Jaco and I traipsed from shop to shop to find the kids their Christmas gifts.  My son is a huge Ben10 fan, but would you believe that here in sunny  RSA the only Ben10 stuff available is the cheaper Chinese toys - the 'immitations' should I say, and everything else is so overpriced, it would cost me a weeks' pay to buy the set.  And of course, there's only one or two of the action figures available, the rest is predictably 'out of stock' and has been for some months prior to Christmas.  WHATEVER.

And then we stumbled across some Ben10 goodies we hadn't seen before.  We didn't buy it, not at THAT asking price.   I'll say no more.   A picture speaks a 1000 words after all!

Santa Got a Buddy

Mom gets the tree up - yes, I know, it's a very LITTLE tree, but this is its last year with us...bear with me...the ligths are twinkling on and around the LITTLE tree.  Santa is in his place infront of it all.   He used to be able to sing and dance and even walk, but after two seasons with my son, he did little more than wobble, so now he just stands there.  
But CLEARLY Jacques thought there was something missing and gave Santa a buddy to keep him company.
And I just had to share...

Cheese & Jam

I had an appointment with my gynae yesterday.  The 35 week mark.   All is well and happy in Womb County with the new little man. 

As for me, well, all my little preggy nigglies - came down to just that:  preggie nigglies.  What to do?  Well, in short, live with it.

Two interesting things that I learnt though....

For the 'lazy leg' feeling - when you just dont' know what to do with your legs - take Vitamin B.   Apparently this is what helps reduce that annoying and destracting malady.

Secondly,

For low blood pressure - first of all - sitting for long periods of time cause your legs to cut off sufficient circulation of blood flow to your heart.   Standing for long periods of time also causes more blood to circulate lower and again the heart gets less.   For both, it is recommended you get into a position whereby your head is lower than your heart and wait for the horrible low blood pressure feeling to pass.   How you're going to get into that position is anyone's guess, though after experimenting yesterday, I discovered that if  you go down on your hands and knees and rest your head on the ground, your head is pretty much lower than your heart.  The fact that your rear is sticking up in the air is irrelevant!

And finally, while many people believe the best thing for a sudden drop in blood pressure is to grab a chocolate and boost those sugar levels, I was told yesterday that it's a very short term solution and actually can make one feel worse when the sugar wears off again.  A better suggestion  is therefore a cheese and jam sandwich.  Why.  Because not only are you boosting sugar levels, you're also increasing protein and calcium, both which help to make you feel better sooner and for longer.

I would have been selfish not to share.

Commander Potato & His Chick

Part of being an efficient and capable mom is learning to roll with the punches, go with the flow, expect the unexpected.  And there's plenty of the unexpected. 
So when you stick your hand in the pocket of potatoes at 08:00 am on a Sunday expecting to feel the round, slightly rough feel of a potato and instead feel something that is simultaneously hard and fluffy, do you have any choice but to shriek like a banship, whip your hand out the bag like it's been bitten and jump two feet away from the pocket of potatoes, staring at it in stunned horror and trying desperately to make sense of what just happened.

Two seconds later when you've gathered your wits and the courage to peep inside the bag, you feel like a complete twit when you see the following:-

Who?  How?  Your guess is as good as mine!

Catwalk Kids

Last week was the school concert.   This year, instead of the traditional Christmas concert, there was a fashion show. 

I've only been priviledged to sit in the audience, heart in throat, once before, when Jacques took part in the Christmas play at his old creche when he was three.

Now, I sat in the front row next to the catwalk, as nervous and excited as can be, waiting for both my kids to make their entrance. 

We'd been told that the babies would merely walk - escorted by the teachers - down the catwalk.  The older classes had themes.

We dressed my daughter in a gorgeous pink party dress with as few accessories as possible - she's beautiful enough without them.

My son was later in the evening and we had no idea what to expect, as he had been tight-lipped the whole month while practicing and rehearsals went on.  We just knew he had to wear 'funky' clothes.  And he asked for his shades just before the show.

Anyway.  A hush fell, the music started and first out, hesitantly and wide-eyed, came my beautiful baby girl.   There is no words to describe the feeling that came over me when I saw her and heard the collective 'Ahhh' in the audience.   When she saw all the people she kind of stopped and then continued walking, taking it all in, and silly Mommy sat with tears streaming - and I'm not the crying kind - so proud to know that the beautiful vision on stage was MY daughter.

Later the evening my son made his grand appearance - if not speedily and extremely shyly, hiding behind his shades.  He came on stage on a little foot scooter, parked it, did the catwalk modelling and a bit of a shimmy dance.   I was proud that he was brave enough to do it.  

The second night Cillisa was ready and paraded the catwalk as if it was just for her.  She stood infront of us - sitting again in the front row - and danced, and then cried when led off the stage. 

Jacques refused to make an appearance the second night, and we assured him that it was ok, because Mommy doesn't do stages either, and neither, in fact, does Dad.

We are still waiting for the professional pictures that were taken, but in the meantime, I'd like to share two that I do have.