Finally an update!

<25th December 2010- Christmas Day:
My inlaws had flown in from PE for the Christmas holidays and both Darren and I were looking forward to the break. We only realised the night of Christmas eve, that we didn't have a night nanny, therefore we'd be the ones having to watch over the kids during the course of the night. Oh boy, it was hectic! I don't really know if I thought I was been clever and stupid in thinking that I could do it on my own! I managed, but I was so tired the next day! Initially, I was quite excited about spending our first Christmas with the kids,but I was just too tired to think about it and instead slept in for an hour or so while my in laws took care of the kids. Thankfully we had family over for Christmas lunch, so that kept me busy during the course of the day. Like the kids,I was quite cranky at the end of the day.

We got the kids dressed up in the red outfits which they didn't seem to comfortable in. Thankfully it turned out to be perfect day, all the kids swam and lunch was great!



It was the first time ever that our Christmas tree was filled with presents and naturally, were all mostly for the kids! We thought that they'd get excited about opening presents, but I ended up doing it all. They did get awesome presents!

With Christmas day gone, we started preparing for our road trip down to PE. We decided to go down to PE for about ten days and spend New Years there. It took me a couple of hours trying to pack for the whole family; ensuring there would be enough clothes for the 4 seaons that PE experience.; ensuring there would be enough dinner for the road; ensuring....everything! Nevertheless, we finally left Jo'burg without any hassles. There was 10 of us travelling in my "bus"; So you can imagine what a full house it was, but at least we knew there was enough help on the road! Fortunately, the trip went off smoothly, better than expected.

Port Elizabeth:
It was a full 10 days of rainy weather! I think we only managed to take the kids out the house for 1 day. Of course, it stopped raining the day we left!

We quickly took advantage of the day and decided to take the kids to the beach; their first experience on beach sand and seawater! It was a windy day, nonetheless, we went ahead with the plan. It was a decision of which beach to go to forgetting that it was the second day after New Years and the beaches would be jam packed! I think we drove for just over an hour trying to find a suitable spot where it wasn't so busy. By the time we finally found a spot, the wind had picked up. Quickly, we went to the beach, dipped the kids feet into the water and headed back to the car! The amount of time we spent at the beach wasn't even a quarter of the time we spent driving in the car! We were there for literally 10 minutes and left! Locals at the beach could probably tell that we were "Vaalies", as none of us were dressed for the beach; the kids still wore trackpants and sweaters and to make things worse, I walked down with my huge camera! It was great to get out though for a little while! I thought the kids would get restless, but they were quite good!

08th January 2011, the Triplets 1st birthday:

The days leading to their birthday party was quite an eventful one. They started nursery school 2 days prior to their birthday, so it gave me enough time to prepare and make all the necessary arrangements for their party. My Mom in law flew in for their party and my father in law surprised us by joining her too.

Their birthday party was mostly a family affair and very close friends. It was great having Mel around as she was a great help with everything including the kids! Mel can vouch as to how busy things are with the kids these days!

We were although concerned about the weather as it had been raining the whole week. It was a coolish day and it rained for a little while but the other kids still managed to have fun! My kids on the other hand, got spoilt to the point that I didn't know who they were with and what they were eating! At least they got to experience the same taste of food the adults were having. Our menu consisted of chicken chow mein, fried drumsticks, potato and greek salad! It was awesome!

Their birthday cake on the other hand didn't turn out well the way I would have like it to; I wanted it to be in the shape of a paw print, even though the kids didn't exactly have a theme as such, but I used animals of the wild as part of a them. Ultimately, nothing beats a cream vanilla sponge cake!

I think it was quite an exciting day for all of us and an event that we'd never forget!

AND THE RACE BEGINS!!!!

All I can say is that its been busy busy busy! The kids are now 10 months and over the past two weeks we've been running on our toes to check that Noah and Kayla haven't rolled down the staircase or bumped their heads on the floor or hit their heads on the wall.....yes, they both have started crawling! With Noah its been more of a bum crawl, but is pretty quick to get where he needs to. He uses his left hand to push himself to his destination. Kayla on the other hand crawls on all fours. Just over the past few days has she been able to pull herself up to stand and is quite steady. If you're wondering about Evan, his trying to brave the fall and tumbles but just can't seem to do it. He manages to get fall forward to get on all fours but then does this rocking thing and falls back onto his butt! But he's really trying :) The top everything, they're all teething. Both Noah's bottom teeth have popped out; Kayla and Evan's teeth is peaking, but if you see the picture of Evan, he can't really seem to decide what expression to pull but you can definitely see that his teeth is bothering him. All is going well otherwise. The kids have definitely settled into school now. Just a few more weeks until they're on holiday and I have to decide what to do with them while I'm still at work; I guess I have time to decide as long as I know there's help. Darren's parents and sister flew up to Joburg last weekend and it was great having them around. At least this time they had a decent sized room to sleep in including a nice sleeper couch for Deidre, but also a bigger house and kitchen to move around. They really enjoyed the kids, more so since they've started crawling and interacting. This past Sunday we also went to Christopher's 5th birthday party. Our family alone with the kids took up the whole sandpit! It was my trio, their cousins Ethan and Connor and their friend Luke. Seemed like they had fun in the sandpit, and quite honestly, I'm quite happy that they're getting used to the outdoors and seeing lots of people. I think school definitely has helped them in terms of noise, screaming kids and lots of people around. Their cousin Ethan really loves them and stayed with them the whole time. Next visit is Christmas! Can you believe that Christmas is just in 7 weeks?! So much to look forward to - our first Christmas as a family, Darren's family flying up to spend Christmas with us, their first meeting with their Aunt Mel from Oz and mostly, their 1st birthday in January! Can't wait for that and Mel's looking so forward to meeting them for the second time. I just wish my whole family were together for the kids first Christmas! We'll be thinking of Cliff and Cyn! Miss you guys and mostly my Mom.... During feed times, we've been teaching them to "chew" properly with all the actions that you can imagine. So far so good! Its so cute the way Evan and Noah do it and Kayla just does it in her feminine way. If they gag on their food at a later stage, then we know that they don't fully understand "chew"!

01st October 2010

Finally we have moved into our new home. I feel bad that the kids have been through a lot in one week - first their start to daycare and now the move. It took them awhile to get settled the first night. I think with all the helpers, boxes and their Mom stressing out because she couldn't find their clothes and bedding in the boxes, didn't help with the situation. I felt so terrible that night thinking that I should have kept aside clothing and toiletries for us all. Even funnier that Darren and I had to rummage through all the boxes that night looking for clothes to wear for work the next day!

Most of our packing has been done, just our clothing left to do. Thanks to all the helpers that we had, otherwise I'd be going crazy trying to figure out what goes where! I felt lost when I did some packing, not used to all the space! Its also amazing to see how much stuff I had in our small little house and how I managed to fit it in. I think I did a really good job of hiding things.

We have a few things to sort out like connecting up pipes for my washing machine (I have a toploader and the space in the kitchen is only frontloader friendly) and the alarm system. Yesterday I was quite surprised that Darren had gone through the night without watching any TV - apparently the previous owner had taken out the satellite dish. We've been too tired to argue with the estate agent regarding this. As a result, I was wondering how long Darren would be able to go on without any TV. To my dismay, I heard him making an appointment with the TV guy to come and reconnect our DSTV and install a new satellite! So last night, I gotto watch Brothers & Sisters, so I shouldn't really complain :)

Yesterday afternoon, the principle from the school that the kids go to called to raise her concerns about Kayla. According to her her temperature was slightly high, although I wasn't too concerned about her temperature being 36.5. Also, she'd been crying the whole day and scratching her left ear. I dashed off to fetch them from school and went straight home. The first thing I did was call our GP to see if she could do a housecall. She didn't sound keen, but since she didn't have anything planned for the night, she was prepared to help out.

When I went to fetch them and got into the car, Kayla seemed fine. In actual fact, she started laughing and talking! Bugger! I said she probably didn't like school and just wanted to come home! I wonder who she takes after! I cancelled the appointment with our GP as I decided that I would try to monitor her myself and dose her up with Calpol if necessary. This morning she was fine as well, although has a bit of a runny nose too. I blame teething for all of this, so will see. If she gets worse, then I'll definitely take her to see the doc. I was contemplating to send her to school today, and decided to. So far no phone call from the school :)

Its almost end of my work day now and I have to fetch the kids from school as we head into the weekend! Looking forward to the weekend as well in our new home! Apparently its going to be 30 deg tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll be having our first dip in the swimming pool!

Will post some pictures soon!!!

Tuesday, 21st September 2010

I know I've been terrible for not updating my blog for such a long time. Things have been so crazy recently both at work and at home so I haven't really had much time to write and update anything.

In just a few weeks, my little one's will be 9 months! Can you believe it? Today they had their measle shots; they were champs although I think it helped that my midwife gave them their first chocolate to bite into while she jabbed them! Poor boys, squealed for a bit, then stopped! As for Kayla, she was totally oblivious to what was happening and continued biting on her chocolate and probably didn't even realise that she was getting a shot! Maybe its because she's got chubby legs :)

The kids start their first day at nursery school next week. Its going to be a freebie week and I'll be able to send Mary, their nanny, with just so she can see what's happening and hopefully to see that they're ok and that there won't be any serious problems at the school. I've been speaking to quite a few people who sent their kids early to daycare and they've said nothing can go wrong, and that its quite beneficial for them in the long run. I'm feeling a bit excited about it but at the same time sad that they're going to be away from me for the whole day! Absolutely a normal feeling for a working Mom I hear!

At the same time, we're making our move into our new home next weekend and we're quite excited about it! I think its more the space the I'm looking forward as well as the reduced amount of travelling between home and work! Traffic's been crazy recently, that on some days it takes me over an hour to get home. Not too fun when you have three crying babies in the car and you're sitting in traffic! I think sometimes it gets so loud that the car next to us can hear them! Thank goodness for tinted windows! :)

The kids are growing at such a fast pace - they're sitting on their own with no support and seem quite comfortable that way. It helps me a lot that I don't have to pay full attention to them all the time, so it gives time to go into the kitchen to make supper while they play on their playmat with all their toys. A lot of people have said that they should start crawling soon, but quite honestly, I'm in no hurry for that to happen (can you imagine how busy it would be at home; nevermind that, what will happen once they start walking?!).

You can definitely see their different personalities now and definitely are aware of familiar people and strangers.

Anyway, its a long weekend coming up and Darren and I are looking forward to our trip away. My inlaws are flying in and will be babysitting for the whole weekend! So definitely excited about the break!

Family time

Its come to our realisation that my brother Cliff and his wife Cynthia will be leaving our shores so soon. They've set their date for the 07th August 2010 and we won't be here to see them off. They've gotten so attached to the kids recently and they felt that it would be too hard to say goodbye to them on the day, so knowing that we'll be away for the weekend, they decided that they would say their goodbyes before then. Its going to be so hard on them to say goodbye to everyone else as well...The kids have grown to love their Kowfoo and Kumoo, and is going to be so difficult to see them go.

We've recently spent time with Aunty Jenny and its the first time in a few weeks that she could hold them and see how much fun they really are. She said that Kayla has part of her Por Por's looks and I agree with her, especially when she smiles.

They've become so much fun but really busy! When they smile and start talking, it just makes up your day!

Going to miss you guys!

Growing up....

People always ask us what new things the kids are doing now. We've definitely noticed changes and new things that they've started doing. Just the other day I had Kayla sitting on my lap and starting playing "Baby Einstein" on my iphone and she started rocking back and forth! It was so cute. I was so mad though that I didn't get a chance to video it as Darren wasn't home to see it. Hopefully I'll get her to do it again!

They've all started grabbing things and managing to hold onto soft toys and keeping themselves busy with it. I have to start investing on new toys for them to help develop their "motor" skills, etc. I have some ideas, its just a matter of getting to doing it!

They've recently started enjoying their playgym, more so now. We could put all 3 under it and they'd enjoy it, provided Kayla doesn't grab either of her brothers nose, arms, lips or bib. She's quite the bully! Jerry the giraffe and Tim the caterpillar definitely keep them well entertained!

Their grandaunt Barbara and granduncle Joey have helping to decorate their nursery at the office by buying pictures, etc. They bought these soft rubbery bouncy toys that look like porcupines, and when you bounce them they light up. The kids get so excited when they see it.

Story books with lots of pictures is my next project! Will see how that goes!

16th July, Friday - Missing you.....

Today serves the 3rd anniversary since my Mom tragically passed away. For all of us, its been an emotional few weeks leading to today. Some people say it gets easier as the years go by, but for us its started getting harder. I think with so many exciting things happening to us, that the one person we want around us the most is Mom.

Recently I've had this empty space in my heart just thinking of her. Its my first time being a Mom without my Mom, something she would have looked forward to as a Grandmother. We speak of her everyday, how she would have loved and spoilt the kids but deep down inside, I know she's watching them. Sometimes I wonder if they can "secretly" see her and we can't......

I constantly talk of her to the kids so they'll know who she is as they grow up and I'll constantly remind them of her too. Lots of wonderful memories of her.

Just recently we've noticed how Kayla reminds us of her :)

The past 3 years have definitely gone by so quickly, it just seems like yesterday.

We love you Mom, always and forever!

We miss you........