Tula tu thula baba

Another weekend has past with not to many social activities besides a small braai with friends on Friday night in order to celebrate Good Friday. I then gave up my Saturday night in order to help my cousin out by looking after his 1 year old baby girl, Lara, as it was his birthday.

By now most of you should know this would be more fun for me than actual work although when I arrived at around 7pm she had already been tucked into bed.  Not to upset, I jumped on the couch, dialled Butlers Pizza and started to watch my first film of the evening which was a new Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler film called “Just go with it”. It was a brilliant film and really uplifted my mood. Then it was time to watch the latest Harry Potter movie as I had read the book some time ago and had not managed to watch the movie. Well not even half an hour into the movie and little Lara starts to scream her lungs out.

Off I went to her room to pick her up and at first she was a bit startled to see only me. I then took her to see her dog, Summer so she could see she was at home and not some stranger’s house. Anyway after about an hour or more of rocking up in the arms (you can NOT sit down else she starts to scream again, she’s an up baby) and singing “Tula tu thula baba”, an old Zulu lullaby that one of my nannies used to sing to me when I was a baby, she fell asleep and so did my arm.

Funny how something so close to my heart and that helped me relax as a child can have the same affect on the new generation, some things never die. Just out of curiosity does anyone else remember that lullaby because it does seem to be pretty popular on YouTube?

It is a poor idea to lie to yourself

I have never really been a great liar and honestly I am proud of this fact. Why would you want to be a good liar? Where does it get you in life, besides disliked and shunned upon???

Then there is lying to yourself. I’m sure many people may do this as a means to protect themselves from the truth but I think it is a silly habit because in actual fact deep down you know the truth and it will come out one way or another. 

There is one thing I do lie to myself about and that is stress. I always manage to convince my body that it is not stressed and everything is perfectly fine. Sounds absolutely fine right? Well it’s not and I will tell you why. By denying oneself the right to feel stressed you deny yourself the right to get rid of it. So what’s wrong with that? Well you’re pretty much gearing your body up for an attack on itself and I know from experience. A few things I’ve experienced include crazy anger attacks on those closest to you, nose bleeds, extremely bad eczema, restlessness and even extreme fatigue. Non of which is fun by any means.

I am therefore working on my stress and trying to figure out when I am in fact really stressed because it is a really poor idea to lie to yourself and I am proof of that statement.

Sleeping Beauty

The other night I went over to my cousin’s house to go fetch a couple of movies. When I arrived I automatically picked up little Lara, who is almost one and took her with me to my cousins computer room. We sat and played whilst he downloaded the movies for me.

Lara was up pretty late as she hadn’t been feeling well all day so her mom decided at this point that she needed to try put her down. Well I could see Lara and mom were both tired so when Lara hadn’t stopped crying for almost 20 minutes I decided I needed to get in there and help her out. After another 15 minutes her mom came back in and said let her play some more and so reluctantly I did.

Eventually I decided she was too tired to play anymore so I told her parents I was going to attempt putting her down again. I took her back to the room and rocked her, she was screaming her lungs out and so I decided it was best for me to put her down and just leave her by herself. I walked back to the lounge where you could quite clearly hear Lara screaming and took a seat on the couch.

I told Lara’s mom not to stress and just give her 20 minutes of screaming. Well she was horrified and said she would wait 5 minutes. I calmed her down and spoke to her to make time pass and as I expected Lara was out within less than 10 minutes.

Tough love is sometimes the only way to go. Don’t burn yourself out, babies are super resilient and of course extremely clever. Most of the time, they are playing you so don’t fall for the trap.

The sound of one hand clapping

To carry on with the tradition of my blog this topic brought one thing to mind...discipline. No matter how young or old your baby is they need discipline. From the word go you need to enforce rules and regulations for babies. You do not need to feel bad about doing this as they actually thrive off order and a strict routine. I may not be a real mother but I have learnt this first hand.  

Now there are degrees of discipline, if your little one merely tries to grab something like a set of car keys, a firm NO will suffice, but if they try to snatch a knife or touch some electrical appliance this is when “the sound of one hand clapping” needs to come into play. A child needs to associate pain with those things that can actually cause them serious pain if not kill them (bit harsh but very true) therefore by giving the baby a hiding that actually makes them hurt will help them to realise this is not something they want to play with in future.

In future do not feel guilty about giving your little one a small smack no matter how young they are, because it could save their life. Oh and just to make sure I am being clear this does not give the authority to beat your child; a small smack and a beating are two completely different things. So take care of your little ones and enjoy every minute you spend with them.

A little thing called fate...

I told you about when I went on a yacht a few weeks back...well whilst on board I met a family friend’s daughter who was desperate for a decent baby sitter (I guess she didn’t know who she was talking to). Anyway I decided to slip in the fact that my second name might as well be ‘super nanny’ and that almost sent her over the moon-the champagne might have helped a little as well.

I assumed this would be a weekend, once in a while thing. Then not even a week later, whilst in class, my phone starts going crazy with all the missed calls. As soon as my class was over I contacted her and what do you know she needed me but not on a weekend but a week day F$#%k just my luck...Anyway I knew I was a broke student and therefore I needed the job more than anything.

On arrival there was a quick hi and here are the kids and this is what time they need to go to bed and WHOOPS I’m late, cheers. At this point I’d like to point out the fact that I normally look after babies like the crying, pooing and sleeping kind and these kids were 6 and 8 respectively...GREAT.

Well by the end of the night I could not have been happier. They have really been brought up well and are honestly the most well mannered kids I have ever met. I know that in the future I’ll be more than happy to give up a few hours of my day to spend time with them because they are just sooo awesome. Fate really has a way and I’m so glad it stepped in here because else I would never have had the opportunity to meet such fantastic kids.

Angel children

No all who wonder are lost...

I have never been good with directions and if I could afford a GPS I would have bought one by now and made it my best friend. My mother would even go as far as to tell you to never take directions from me because I’ll get you to the moon sooner than where you are supposed to be. I also tend to be that person on the other end of the phone going yes, yes, uh-huh, yeah, ok and in fact I have no idea where you have just told me to go.

Therefore when I saw the topic for this week I felt totally at home because even though I have the navigation skills of a turd I know that I walk through this life with confidence in the fact that I don’t know where I’m going but by wondering through it I will eventually find my way.

Wondering is the best way to go...you never feel like your in too much of a hurry to get to that place in your life where you feel like you’ve done everything you’ve ever wanted to do and why would you want to get there in a hurry??

Take your time in life, enjoy each special occasion and make sure that every moment counts because before you know it the wondering is over and life as we know it is over.

Wondering takes you to all the beautiful places of the world.

I am young and I am free...



1 day old baby Amy

Today we were given the task of creating a blog post that describes who you are and the first word that popped into my head was "mother". No, I am not a mother, well not in the real sense of the word; I do au pair and babysit from time to time but I haven’t actually given birth. This is not a cry to all the single men out there!! It’s just an expression of who I am and what I want to be in life.

Grayson only 2hours old :)

In many ways I am already a mom. I tend to look after everyone around me. I enjoy cooking for people and looking after them wherever I can. The feminists of this world will definitely hate me but they shouldn’t because I am who I am and I am free to be me.



Amy and me



Kate and me

Ever since I was two bricks and a ticky high I’ve been picking up little ones and not the play play ones but the real deal. I have NEVER had a fear of picking up babies. I got nervous once and once only and that was when a baby started to cry and I was not sure why or what was wrong. The mother proceeded to tell me, “babies cry that’s what they do so don’t even worry about it” and from then on I didn’t. I am confident in my knowledge of babies and feel I will make a great mom one day but for now I am young and I am free.

Baby Amy at her grannies house

 To end off, I would like to leave you with a quote by one of the best men in the world, Mr Winnie the Pooh aka A.A. Milne:

Too gorgeous!!

 

 "Sometimes,' said Pooh, 'the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." — A.A. Milne







Walking in their broken shoes…

On Thursday I went on a trip to Khayelitsha. Michelle Ramsay (friend from college) and I decided to complete our communication science assignment on a Non Government Organisation called the Khayelitsha Homestead projects for street children.

We knew that this was going to be an emotional day so we had to prepare ourselves before the time. On arrival the gates to the Homestead were open by two fairly young, well dressed, happy boys. The moment we got out of the car the boys were holding out their hands and asking us our names. They then intern gave us their names, Athi and David. When Athi heard my name he told me that I was Victoria Beckham and that his friend David was my husband. Michelle and I were touched by this gesture and very impressed with their manners.

We proceeded to have our very informative and impressive interview with the house councillor Sonja. She gave us exactly what we needed but had to run off after an hour as she was super busy.

With the other boys being at school Athi and David were our tour guides or the morning which they more than happy to do. They showed us around with such pride and it was so touching to watch.

The conclusion to the tour was their playground where we proceeded to interact with the boys in a game of soccer and basketball.

It was such a special day and I believe that in the future I would like to either donate funds or my time to these boys because they really touched our hearts.

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole? My answer is, you don’t! In life you should always start from the bottom of the pole/ladder and make your way up.

We see it everyday, these young rich kids who get seriously spoilt and when their parents eventually decide to cut the umbilical cord, BAM they fall. It’s nothing new, why would they do anything else? They don’t know how to look after themselves and without mommy and daddy’s money they are helpless. In a way I actually feel sorry for them because if they knew any better they’d have asked to be taken off the pound seats a lot earlier in life.

That lifestyle is not one I plan on living. I have never been spoilt and believe it is the main reason why I am where I am today. I may not be at the top of the ladder but small steps such as buying my own car and paying to get it fixed up, take me a little further each day.

My parents have taught me the value of money as well as the benefits of saving and for that reason I am eternally grateful to them. I will always really on me and not anyone else in life.

Life styles of the rich and the famous…

I’ve never been one for attention. Driving in the latest Aston Martin DB9 (my favourite car) would not be about the attention it would bring me but rather about the experience. Hence when I arrived at the Cape Grace on Sunday to take a little Yacht cruise around the bay I was not keen on the idea of the groups of people hanging around the Waterfront staring out at me as we drifted by on the Aqua Princess.

Aqua Princess

Once we finally exited the waterfront and headed for the open seas I finally managed to start enjoying myself and realise the beauty of the yacht and she was definitely a beauty.

Steele, Me (Victoria) and Rose onboard

Our first destination was Robben Island on which the Captain of our yacht had a great deal of information. Once we had our history lesson it was time to have some fun so we headed of to Clifton. We arrived fairly early and were one of the first yachts in the bay. We set anchor and the deckhand started the braai and popped a bottle of the finest champagne. My mom and Steele, my other “brother”, decided it would be a great idea to jump in but were out almost as quickly which of course helped me to make up my mind about swimming.

Clifton Beach

After lunch, Sadie and I decided to go up to the top of the boat to catch a couple of rays and have an afternoon nap. Waking up I felt like I was in a dream; I was on a yacht with awesome friends, family, champagne and incredible scenery at every angle but alas it was time to head back to reality. We sailed to the Cape Grace harbour and of course arrived safe and sound because of our fantastic Captain and deckhand. We said our goodbyes and thank you’s and left very happy, tanned and full with all sorts of yummy things.

Sadie and me on the front of the boat

We are what we do…

Everyone knows the old saying “we are what we eat” which proves that if you eat an entire Mc Donald’s super sized meal you probably a lazy, overweight and possibly rather greasy haired type of person. On the other hand if you eat a home cooked roast with loads of gorgeous veggies baked and not fried in oil you would probably be a slim, structured and silky haired type of person.

So what is “we are what we do” all about? I believe that in life every action we take has a reaction and in my minds eye this depicts the above statement perfectly. Since I can remember I’ve been picking up other peoples babies and playing mommy with them. Dolls were fun but not nearly as fun as having the real thing. Over the years nothing has change and even though I’m studying Public Relations I feel that my calling in life is to be a mother.

Hold back the feminist, I know this sounds like I’m pulling myself down and yes I know so many people think this is like taking the easy road in life; never work and become a mom – that sounds like fun. Yes it does but it’s not as easy as 1, 2, 3. Being a mom is a full time job starting with the endless sleepless nights and moving on to the terrible twos, then there’s becoming the inevitable soccer mom and lets not forget about the dreaded teenage years. Does it sound like fun now??

To me all of the above sounds perfect. I never wanted anything more in life but in my mind the only way that is going to happen is if I number 1: get a good degree and of course number 2: find the love of my life.

Believe in your instinct they will direct you in life.