Valentine's Day 2016...

Well, it's here... another Valentine's Day where I find myself sitting "alone".  As always, I am surrounded by people who love me, just not the one that I want to. So I'm not celebrating it this year. Call me the Valentine's Day Grinch! If you are celebrating, well, then, Happy Valentine's Day to you, I hope you are spoiled and showered with lots of love!  Love is a wonderful thing.

On that note, we heard from Michael & Cameron last weekend.  They were both chatting to Jake and I via Instagram.  It was both really difficult and really comforting.  They are missing us as much as we miss them and agree that things are so different without us.  It also gave me the chance to apologise for them having to be caught up in our grown up problems, even though this wasn't my decision.  Jake is dying to see the boys again, but I have decided that this little bit of cyber contact is enough for now.  When they are bigger, it will be different, but for now, my heart can't deal with more and I need to protect Jake too.  He has been hurt enough. 

Added to feeling a big bit blue, Jake is also going away this Valentine's Day.  He is very excited about going on a hike with his scout group up Table Mountain. They leave early tomorrow morning and are camping out in the scout hut on top of Table Mountain over night, then hiking back down on Sunday morning.  It's his first overnight hike away from home and he doesn't really like being away from home.  He is a creature of comfort, a bit like me.  It's important that he does these things and I am excited for the learning that comes for him with a trip like this.  Of course, I cannot wait to pick him up again on Sunday afternoon - he will always be my one true Valentine!  We have planned sushi for dinner and will probably rent a DVD, depending on how exhausted Jake is after his hike.

Anyway, that's all from me.  I have updated photos of all the kiddies, so will share them ASAP.

Sending love,

Sue XXX

Busy as you know us...

I seem to have gone a bit off my photography and blogging lately... I'm sorry about that!  Call it a slump, but I just feel uninterested at the moment.  Perhaps it was the lazy school holidays, perhaps it was just a combination of events, but it feels like it's taking a bit of time for us to get back into the swing of things again this year.

I used to suffer from Sunday blues when I knew that my weekends were coming to an end and now I somehow feel a bit like I suffer from these blues on a Friday, which really sucks because I do love the weekends!  It's a silly mindset and I'm so used to packing up and heading off to the beach on Fridays, that I tend to feel a bit lost on Friday afternoons.  Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT miss packing bags, but I did do it quite gladly while I had to.  I won't go into all that I miss about that time in my life - onward and upward!

There are many changes that I've had to go through over the last 2 months.  I decided before Christmas to go back on anti-depressants; there was simply no way that I could help Jake understand his own emotional trauma and deal with my own.  Perhaps some will view it as the cowardly thing to have done, but it worked for us and it meant that the holidays were definitely more bearable.  I don't like being sad.

Jake's had a tough start to the new year.  I took him off his old meds before the end of the 4th term last year and he had a fantastic holiday without them.  He had so much energy and spunk and managed to grow quite a bit and put on some weight too.  His new meds started at the beginning of January, but were a complete disaster and last week was a week from hell for him.  He was sick and I had to pick him up from school twice because he was just so unhappy.  Not my boy at all!!  A trip to the dr saw us reverting back to his old meds and he seems 100 times happier again and is coping much better with his day.  I saw his teacher yesterday and she said he's like a new kid this week - YAY!  Happy kid = happy mom!!

Aside from that, Jake and I have moved back in with my mom and dad for a bit.  I've rented my house out for some extra cash, which means that Jake and I will have the opportunity to travel a bit this year.  We've canned our idea to visit the States, the tickets were just too expensive and so we're heading back to Kruger in June/July for 16 nights.  It'll just be the two of us this time and we're both really looking forward to it.  Living with my mom and dad is great, we all get on really well and we have enough space to not feel like we're living on top of each other.  It's really home from home for us.

Besides having our Kruger trip to look forward to, Jake and I have put our names down for a new dog.  It might take a while before the right poochie reaches us, but it will happen and she will be well trained this time around!!  Duracell has not been well and we nearly had him put down during the holidays, but he's managed to pull himself right for now.  He'll be 15 in July, so we know his days are numbered and we're just showering him with love while we can.  I won't let him suffer and we will do what's best for him when we need to.

Work-wise things are going well.  I have a ton of accumulated leave that I need to start using up, I just wish that I had more money to travel more and I wish that our Rand wasn't so bloody weak!  Our company has a new majority share holder and the changes that we're going through are very exiting.  It's lovely to be part of this process and I think we're all looking forward to the next step!  Speaking of that, I start a little online course next week, so looking forward to some personal growth too.

As for the weekend ahead, we've got quite a busy one lined up and I'm looking forward to it!  This week's been busy, but happy as we settle into our new normal.

Hope everyone's well, promise to try take some photos to post soon!

Love,

Sue XXX