Egg-citing...

 I've been meaning to put this into a blog post for ages now and just never seem to get there.  This morning, I remembered to pack my camera as we left the house though, so today's the day.

Every week day morning, not just some, but every single one, Jake wakes up and asks if we can go for fried eggs at Nini & Pa's house (my parents).  It's become a daily ritual, if you like.  Mostly, like me, Jake's not big on breakfast.  I know it's the most important meal of the day, but I am only really hungry around 9:30, 10:00, so that's when I usually eat.  The thought of an early breakfast usually turns my stomach.  Jake's the same, but since break time's only at 10:30, I can't send him to school on an empty stomach.  At home, he won't touch anything.  And believe me, I've tried it all, waffles, french toast, cereals, fruit salad, yogurt - drives me mad, but he just doesn't feel like it at 7am.  So, when he tells me he wants a fried egg on toast for breakfast at Nini & Pa's house, you can be sure I get in my car and take him there.

An obvious attraction is that his little cousin's, Connor and Bianca are there.  And it's become a race to see who can finish their fried egg first.  At the moment, Bianca's in firm first place.  That little thing LOVES her food, it's too cute for words.  And she's walking all over the show, especially today.  She seems to prefer it to crawling already.  Finally!  She'll be able to wear pretty dresses...

 Connor thought that having the camera out at breakfast time was hysterical, especially when he learnt that he could actually see the pictures of himself straight away.  Funny little boy...

 A proper smile for the camera...

 So there it is. 1 egg cooked with lots of butter, served sunny side up with runny yolk.  It has to be runny, or they're very upset with their eggs...

 They all like them prepared in different ways.  Bianca's at the back, is mashed up; Corky has his with Worcestershire sauce and Jake with Chutney...

 I think the novelty for Jake is that, like Connor, he gets his food up for him when we're there.  What you do for one, you do for the other.  We usually end up feeding him too.  Sometimes it's just fun to still pretend to be little...

 Licking her lips at the thought of the yummy eggy on it's way...

 Waiting for Jake to join the table...

 Connor doesn't like big pieces of toast with his egg.  He gets very upset when they're not cut through properly.  On the other hand, Jake likes to shove a quarter of his breakfast into his mouth in one go...

 Oh there's my big boy.  A little blurry, but there he is.  He's wearing his hair longer these days and loving being able to push it up into a Mohawk.  I love his bedhead that he goes to school with these days.  He's not allowed to wear gel though and I always forget to wet it for him.  Bad mommy...

 Bianca is our little piggie when it comes to food.  It's so beautiful to watch her enjoying her food so much.  She generally screams when bowl's empty and given half a chance, she'd finish the boys breakfast for them too... 

 Jake's a little uncooperative with photos at the moment, so it's not very easy to get a good one of him.  Perhaps it's Danie pulling silly faces for the camera that has done that to him.  Note the bedhead.  And look how smart he looks in his winter uniform...

 Corky showing me how big his mouth is...

 And Bi, quietly shovelling away...

 I love you, Jake, you're so special.  You can have fried eggs every day of your life if you look at me like that forever...

 When it's time for us to go to school, Connor runs after Jake for his hug and kiss goodbye.  But Jake's too big for kissing boys these days, so it's always a bit of a battle on Connor's part to get his way.  Jake will only kiss Connor on the forehead, so poor Connor runs after him, stretching up for a hug, then drops his head, so Jake can kiss him goodbye.  It's precious and if Jake doesn't give him a kiss goodbye, Connor is devastated.  In which case, Jake is instructed to go back inside the house and kiss his cousin goodbye... 

 Other than that, I caught another precious moment on camera on Monday afternoon, when Jake decided he wanted to try his hand at feeding Bianca.  I know most of you won't want to see all of these pictures, but my sister will, so you just have to deal with it...

 Open...

 and close...

  And open again, come on Bi...

 aaaaahhh...

 And close.  Jake learnt after spilling yogurt down Bianca's top, that it's not all that easy getting food into a baby's mouth.  Check him feeding her over the tub.  Clever kids these are...

 I love this picture, looks like she's begging me to help her get the food in her mouth properly...

Other than that, Jake started remedial classes at school yesterday and will be going twice a week.  His next lesson is tomorrow.  I chatted to his teacher briefly yesterday and she said that she can already see a marked improvement in his work, which is brilliant news.  We will just keep up the hard work!  I also missed Jake's first rugby practise on Monday after misreading the timetable.  We arrived for the last 5 minutes, so today will be Jake's first official practise and he can't wait.

Hugs and kisses,
Sue X

A long weekend...

I am such a girl, I am missing Danie more than I ever believed possible.  Don't get me wrong, Jake and I had a lovely weekend.  Friday night was an awesome Thai dinner with my amazing girlfriends.  I ate and drank too much, but I haven't done that in a while and it was good.  Besides, I had a driver, so it had to be taken advantage of.  It just feels a little flat not seeing him...

Our weekend was pretty full, Jake slept over with my mom on Friday night, which meant that I could lie in on Saturday morning - what a treat!  Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get my grubby paws on Jake and was ready to fetch him at 9.  We met up with friends at our local mall and took the kids bowling - they each won a game, so it was perfect.  We had lunch and Jake's friend came over to play for a bit.  We had pizzas for dinner and I worked until about 10pm.  I can't wait to get this other "little" job out of the way now and I am taking full advantage of Danie not being here.  I will be finished by next Monday!!

On Sunday morning we went to watch the Chinese Grand Prix with Danie's mom.  Danie was watching in Shanghai, so it was nice to be where he was for a few moments.  It looked very warm, but smoggy on TV.  Danie said they had good seats and it sounds like they really enjoyed the day.  What an experience, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous.

We had lunch with my folks and then headed home to clean and slob about, before turning in for an early night.  Sundays are my very special evenings with Jake.  We get organised early.  By 6:45, we've both showered, washed hair and cut nails.  Clothes, lunches and bags are packed and ready to go.  Before 7pm, we're both in bed with yogurts, chocolates (last night was Easter eggs) and a good book or two.  We've just finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and are busy with Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (both by Roald Dahl) - both brilliant.  7:30 is Jake's bedtime, I tickle his back for a bit and then he has to go to sleep, while I read a bit more.  I love it as much as he does.

Other than that, not much news to report.  Jake starts rugby again this afternoon.  He has a new coach, who seems a lot stricter than last year's coach.  Life is hectic and we just seem to have so much on the go all the time.  Needless to say, Jake is super excited that rugby's back on again.

I've chatted to Danie a few times and lots by sms.  He's been so busy and done so much, plus he's exhausted after 24 hours travelling.  He's also picked up a bug and doesn't sound like a happy camper at the moment.  Despite being exhausted, he had a really bad night last night with a fever and got very little sleep.  Wishing more than ever that I could be there to take care of him.  Today he's also at the factory to learn about the new machine they've bought.  It's the main reason he's over there, so he just has to suck it up and get on with it.  I just hope he feels better and that he's well enough to get on the plane to fly back to me on Monday.  I can't wait to have him back where he belongs.  Fortunately, it's Monday and there's just a week to go.

Lots of love,
Sue XXX

There he goes...

Ahead of his trip to China, Danie was let off work a little early yesterday.  He works hard and has very little time off to relax and enjoy life.  His phone rings 24/7, which is exhausting.  So, yesterday was a much welcomed early day for him.  Jake and I met him at his house and we decided to go through to Kalk Bay to do some fishing off the harbour wall.  The weather was perfect.  It's often very windy on Kalk Bay's side, but it was calm and warm.  The sea was gentle and it was just such a relaxing afternoon together.

Jake's tackle box is a bit of a mess, he's good at lots of things, but house work isn't one of them.  He had some fresh bait in a bag too...

 There they are, my two pork sausages, sticking out their tongues as usual.  Laila came with for the outing... 

 Jake's fresh bait...

 Since he's the fisherman, he has to cut his own bait.  Judging by this photo, he doesn't really enjoy this part of fishing...

The fish was still frozen, so he had to work hard to get it cut through.  And yes, he was warned about 17 times not to cut his fingers...

Once the bait was on the hooks, they casted and then began the waiting game...

 And wait we did...

 It's a very tiring thing, waiting for a fish to get hooked on your line.  The waiting is painstaking, actually...

  But there are lots of pretty things to look at, like these cormorants searching for their dinner.  I hope they had better luck than we did... 

 Jake gave up fishing over the harbour wall and tried inside the harbour instead...

 Me, I just take photos and enjoy the company of my guys...

 All excited because someone else had managed to catch a fish of edible size... 

 So back to his rod he went.  Jake's pretty good at casting, I think.  For a little guy, he's not bad.  Every now and then he makes a mistake and ends up with knots in his line, or bird's nests in his reel, but it's all part of the learning...

 Once our fishing was done, much to Jake's disappointment, we headed home to drop Laila off, before going through to the Cattle Baron for a quick steak supper.  YUM!  The sun was low and the air warm and Danie pulled over so I could take some more photos.  That's Muizenberg beach below.  Danie's suburb is just slightly to the left, for those who don't know Cape Town.  Nice and close to the beach...  

Anyway, while I'm feeling a bit down about saying goodbye to Danie this morning and 10 days feels like a very long time today, I know he's going to have an amazing experience and the time is going to fly by.  Literally.  He's travelling with his colleague, Leroy, so has company too, which is always nice, especially in a country like China.  So, they land in Shanghai tomorrow and have tickets to go to the F1 in Shanghai on Sunday (very jealous).  On Monday and Tuesday, they'll be in training for a new machine that their company has bought; Wednesday and Thursday they're is going to explore the world's biggest plastics expo (sounds thrilling) and then they're off to Beijing for 2 days to go and see the Great Wall of China and have some down time before braving the long trip home again.  They fly out of Shanghai on Sunday and land back in Cape Town on Monday evening.  I had initially wanted to go with Danie, and make a bit of a holiday out of the trip, but unfortunately it wasn't possible.  It probably worked out best that I'm here with Jake back at school and so many extras on the go at the moment.  Still, can't help being a little jealous that Danie's away and I'm stuck here.  Although, from the pictures above, is there anywhere else in the world I'd rather be?

A little personal note to Danie:  I miss you like crazy already.  Enjoy every moment of your trip, learn lots and take plenty of iPhone photos for us of everything you see and do.  It's going to be so good for you to have a break and a change of routine.  Don't miss us too much and come home safely!!  We can't wait to have you back.  I love you!

Sue XXX

PS:  Dinner with the girls tonight, I can't wait!



Back to reality...

 The holidays seem to have come and gone in a blur of poor health.  We started off happy enough, even though Jake battled on and off with a mild temperature and snotty nose.  The first week of his holidays, saw Jake spending much of his time visiting eye doctors and eye therapists.  He's begun his eye therapy and his therapist says she can already see changes.  So, after 2 weeks of not feeling great, the rash finally broke out during the second week of his holidays.  I also picked up some kind of bug and ended up having to take 2 days off work (shock & horror).  I had a temperature and such swollen glands in my throat I could barely swallow.  Poor Jake, he did little else besides watch TV.

These pictures were taken on the second day after the rash broke out... 

 Despite being contagious, Jake was a superstar, hardly complaining at all, besides to say that he was itchy.  Since we'd all already been exposed to the virus, it was pointless keeping him completely confined at home.  We did avoid shopping centres and tried not to spread his germs too far.  We spent most of the long Easter weekend at Danie's house.  The weather wasn't great and we did a lot of lazing about, playing games and eating too many hot cross buns and Easter eggs.  Jake did some fishing in between the rain...

 The big egg hunt was a little disappointing this year, since the weather was bad and we had to do it indoors.  The bunny did leave a few eggs outside on our stoep and "he" was quite creative inside.  Jake found an egg in the draw with his wii things just yesterday.  Because he wasn't feeling 100% yet, Jake actually slept in until 7:30 on Easter morning and enjoyed a few extra minutes in bed with us before dashing around the house like a mad man.  I love that he's still so excited about things like this, one has to wonder for how much longer though...

Hiding places are hard to find at our house...

 Delighted with his Galaxy Bubble egg.  Thanks to the UK Emporium, he was lucky enough to get some special imported eggs.  I wonder if he's eaten that one yet, it might still go missing...

 After coffee and toasted hot cross buns at our house, it was off to my parents for another egg hunt with Corky.  It's so hard for Jake to understand that not all the eggs are for him and that Connor's not as fast.  We kept having to remind him to slow down and to leave some hiding for Connor to find too.  They had a ball...

 Corky had a new winter outfit on...

 Bi was there too, hopefully next year she'll be able to join in the fun...

 Jake was still a bit off colour and he's still not 100% right yet, even though he's not contagious (as of Monday, just in time to go back to school on Tuesday).  He's still very bunged up and he's not doing any sport this week.  I like this photo.  He looks little... 

 While the boys were dividing up the eggs (fairly with my help), Bi snuck off and discovered an egg hiding inside my handbag.  We caught her trying to stuff it in, paper and all.  She was so excited to find another one a little later...

 Precious girl...

 She did a good bit of walking for her Easter eggs too.  It's the way we should all have been trained.  Exercise so that you can enjoy some of the good stuff too!!  She managed to do something like 23 steps for this egg...

 Connor ran to her rescue when she plopped down... 

 Princess looks just like her mommy...

 But she wants more eggies!  Keep walking, Bi...

 As a last holiday treat, we took Jake for a little cruise on the Marina on Monday evening.  Jake was revolting, a total brat, but I guess you have to take the good with the bad, it can't all be sunshine and roses...

 Laila came with us in the boat.  She loves the boat, but climbs all over you and hardly sits still.  She did come and cuddle me for about 2 minutes though.  Power nap...

 And so the holidays came to an end.  The rain has cleared up and we're back up to 30 degree sunshine this week.  Crazy... 

Looking forward to catching up with some great friends tomorrow night, hope every one's well.

Love Sue XXX

A crazy time...

Life just isn't meant to be "normal" in my part of the world.  I almost don't remember what it means for it to be calm and relaxing and enjoyable.  One would think that having the luxury of having a half day job, would give me hours extra to slow down and take time out, but it just doesn't work that way.
So, school's closed for the Easter break on Friday, 23 March.  I'd made an appointment for Jake to go to an behavioural optometrist last Monday and he picked up that Jake does have a few problems with his eyes.  Jake's vision is excellent, so no problems there, but his muscles in his right eye are weak and he apparently has problems merging the images that each eye sees in his brain and so sees double up to nearly a foot in front of his face.  Part of the assessment included taking photos of Jake's retinas, which showed lesions on the retina in Jake's right eye.  The optometrist also wasn't happy with the marks and we were referred to an ophthalmologist from there.  He also recommended that Jake start up with their eye therapy programme, which we did and he began the therapy following day.  After lots of anxious phone calls, I managed to get an appointment with an ophthalmologist for Thursday afternoon.  We were obviously very concerned about the marks on Jake's retina; "lesion" is a scary word.  The ophthalmologist confirmed that Jake has scars on his retina probably caused by a virus at some stage or other.  The scar tissue shows no sign of growth or of being active, so she only needs to see him again in 3 months time.  Even that is sooner than I'd have liked; I find the whole thing frightening.

Added to all of that, Jake developed a cold and suffered with fevers on and off during last week and finally broke out in a rash on Sunday morning, which has since been confirmed as Measles.  I have also been off work for 2 days this week, with a temperature, swollen glands and just feeling plain sick and unwell.  I have done soooo much sleeping and I am just hoping and praying that I don't catch the Measles from Jake.  And, to crown it all, I woke up this morning with a gorgeous fever blister! I've never had one before and they are not pretty or comfortable or nice.  And my lip is covered in thick white cream.  So, basically, I feel lovely.

Other than that, it's always amazing to see how many people care when you're sick.  We've had visitors and phone calls and people bringing/making us meals (thanks moms) and offers to do grocery shopping; we are lucky and blessed and it's just so nice to be so loved by everyone!

That's our news.  Not the greatest school holiday for Jake, not by a long shot. I might actually have to let him just stay off for one extra day since he's been such a brave little soldier.  Maybe...

Love,
Sue