and time passes ...

I keep saying I'm gonna update the blog and every time one of the kids does something new or cute (which is every day) I think gotto write that down but somehow something always comes up and when I next look up 3 months, 6 months .. a year has passed!! Bad bad bad ...

Since the last post we have sold our old house (thank God), taken receipt of the keys and moved into our new house, been to South Africa, (almost) all our friends got pregnant - can't wait for all the babies to be born :) and Scott started school phew haha Life is good and we are still feeling incredibly blessed.
The kids are doing well and little Miss Saba is the smartest cookie ever - she becomes more beautiful each day and lives up to her name Nwabisa .. she makes us so very very happy! She is such a little parrot that we have to watch everything we say as she repeats it all word perfect and with a twist ;) gonna be a lawyer this one!
Scott is a real little man - talking more and learning so much ... they say that from the age of 4 kids just take off and I thought yeah ok .. but its TRUE suddenly our boy who took forever to start talking is having full on discussions with us and even have phone chats with Papa, so very very cute. He even brought home his first girlfriend haha who said she was a little in love with Scott but when I asked him his feelings he just sort of grunted haha typical guy huh!
Martijn is doing well and is currently working at the NUON as an independent contractor and loving it.
I am still unemployed an at the moment I'm in two minds about this whole work thing but will figure it out .. who says that at 36 you have all the answers haha

We hope that you have all been keeping well and that 2010 finds you happy ...

xxx
L

Ps please give me a kick in the pants if I don't update soon ok .. mommy needs some motivation :)

Recent pics Scott & Saba

Since I haven't posted since Saba was a wee lassie I'll quickly add some photos taken recently of our babies .. the one's in the park were taken on Easter Monday and the rest are random shots taken in the past few weeks .. Enjoy!

new post ... 2009

I've just noticed that my last post was 03 December 2007 ... for a moment I thought well that's not too bad only 6 months ago then it hit me it says 2007!!!! like the year BEFORE last! What happened with the time was I beamed up by Scottie (not mine) and transported through some or other wormhole? Kudos to you who get the trekkie terms :)
Anyway I will attempt to catch you all up on our life and what has been happening and let me assure you much has happened and is happening, suffice to say that we are all well and Scott and Saba are growing and developing and supplying Martijn and I with so much happiness, frustration, excitement, love adventure and experience. We learn from them everyday about them, the world and ourselves and they are moulding us into better people - what an awesome things that is!
Martijn's business MACH-5 is doing well and he is blooming into quite the independant contractor, he makes us unbelievably proud. I am attempting my own foray into the world of entrepreneurship and finding the going tough and the territory daunting .. but i will persevere :)

I will leave you with that for now, I'll go and gather my thoughts and I'll endeavour to fill you in on the last 18 months in the life of Mink, Mart and the kids.

Much love ....
L

My Handwriting ... tres interesting!

What Your Handwriting Says About You
You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress.

You are somewhat outgoing, but you're not a natural extrovert. You think first before you act. You tend to be independent, rational, and logical.

You are balanced and grounded. You know how to get along well with others.

You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well.

You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart.>

Sinterklaas 2007

Its the time of the year where we once again welcome Sinterklaas and hope on many cadeaus and that Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) doesn't put us into a sack and take us to Spain. Sint arrived here about 3 weeks ago and the dear man has to visit ALL children before the 5th of December when he once again boards his shp and salis home to Spain. So of course we've been seeing the red clad saint at supermarkets, on TV, doing shopping and of course he has his own news network .. who doesn'tthese days:) and today the good Sint visited Scott at his creche! Martijn and I packed up Saba along with the camera, video ricorder, baby bag and maxi cosi and headed out into the rain to capture the moment. There is a song which is sung at this time of year which totally encapsulated what I felt .. 'Vol verwachting klopt ons hart Wie de koek krijgt, wie de gard "... I was all excited to see the Sint and the antics of the mischevious Pieten. I was imagining Scotts face all lit up in wonder as the Holy man came into the room looking all regal with his staff and the cajoling Pieten making fun .. the reality could not have been more different haha, Scott kept playing with the trains and cars, the Sint came in all the other kids were quiet and in total awe that he was in their classroom and Scott he just .. well he kept on playing totally ignoring the festivities.

A Piet came by to give him some pepernoten and he promptly burst into tears but did take the pepernoten and stuck them in his mouth.

Saba on the other hand was such a little star - she flirted with Sinterklaas, even tried to bite his finger and then proceeded to charm the Pieten and dazzled one and all with her gorgeous smile - I was so proud of her - totally unafraid and awfully adorable!

Well we have no nostalgic moment captured on film or frame but Scott was super happy with the pressie he got from the Sint so that we did take a snap of because him being happy is what its all about right? Better luck next year ... Daaag Sinterklaasje dag dag , dag dag Zwarte Piet!

Joseph Norman

My Uncle Joea died this morning 31st October 2007 ...

What a year this has been, first my cousin and her four kids are murdered by her husband, then my friend David dies, My fathers older brother passed and now Joey. I feel so sad and so far away from my family right now. I always thought I had a pretty good attitude towards death - as in, it happens so embrace it - now I just think that they are no longer on this planet and I am going to miss them so much.

I love, I can't get myself to say 'loved' just yet, my uncle Joey so much. He looked like an old cowboy to me - his wrinkled face and strong hands, he loved to read and would lecture me when he was drunk. He called me Zella and would sing Green berets to me when I asked haha he spoke a made up language which he said was German and for the longest time I actually believed that it was. He and Stretchy bought me kit-kats and salt & vinegar chips as treats and he made a mean tomato bredie. He could sometimes be a bastard haha and I loved that he called my Mama, Grace. He loved me fiercely and often told with great pride the story of how he looked after me for a while while we lived in Nigel and how I called him 'Daddy'. The Boys, Joey and Raymond (Stretch) looked after me, put up with my mischievous childhood antics, scolded me, hugged me, kissed me and shouted at me. They helped form my expectations of men and through their love for me I developed a sense of self respect. I wanted to make t hem proud and happy of their 'Alal'.

Uncle Joea I love you and will miss you so much - may you Rest in Peace

summertime

2007 has not been the hottest summer ever :) despite all the experts saying that due to global warming we would be seeing teperatures near the 40 mark, we have had disappointingly few really nice sunny days. And as you can imagine when the sun did make an appearance we took full advantage of it! Setting up a bath in the garden for Scott and eating lots of icecream haha. The boy just LOVES water - he can play all day and its a fight trying to get him to come inside for lunch or his nap. Elzelien and Roosje also came by last week for a visit and it was great seeing the two little brown bodies playing and enjoying such a simple thing!

Little Saba sat in her little chair and watched with great interest and gave us all her gorgeous smile regularly! She is such a sweety - every day she get cuter and we enjoy her more and more.

Keep your fingers crossed for continued nice weather!

Saba and the hospital

As some of you may know about two months ago Saba was in the hospital with meningitis .... Martijn and I had the fright of our lives and for a while there I knew true fear. I'll give you the story in precie ....

On Sunday 8th July we were rushed to the hospital as it transpired that Saba had meningitis - Her temperature had shot up during the course of the day, her skin became completely white with purple patches and her breathing was very shallow. When we arrived at the hospital and they heard how young she was it was like a scene from ER, all systems go. The doctors did all tests necessary including inserting a catheter and giving her a lumbar puncture which according to Martijn ( I couldn't handle seeing this) was a nightmare - when they came out of the examination room Mart had red eyes and was pale as anything.

I stayed in hospital with Saba for the 7 days, it was so awful seeing Saba hooked up to an IV and being pumped full of antibiotics and fluids ... I seesawed between wanting to scream and grab her and take her home and crying for fear that we would lose her before we even had the chance to know her. Shame to add to her misery, she also caught a virus in the hospital and had awful diarrhea so we had to give her extra re-hydration salts through a tube in her nose. God it was a scary time...
when she was stable and had gained some weight we came home which I found rather frightening also - i kept worrying that she would get sick again. Poor Scott was also so confused, being shipped off to the grandparents and having his mama and new sister gone for a week. That first week home was tough with two screaming kids ... Then Saba started screaming - ALL day. After 2 weeks of this I was convinced that she was in pain so made a plan to go to the doctor and have her x-rayed, you hear about nerves being pinched and all that. Mart went online to check out babies with colic and found an osteopath - we went to him a month ago and found out that because the little princess was born so fast the back of her head, where the bones shift over themselves to facilitate birth, had not completely 'opened' so she was experiencing pressure in her skull and had a permamnt headache! So can you see me all crying and emotional and feeling guilty that we hadn't sought help earlier! Anyway Eric (or as the Dutch pronounce it Earrick) manually manipulated the bones and Saba has been a lot happier - we have to do exercises with her everyday and so far we are seeing improvement every day!

A month ago we also had to do a hearing test for Saba - as meningitis is infamous for causing damage to the ocular nerve - and 2 weeks we got the all clear - Saba's hearing is great and our little girl has a clean bill of health!! YAY! she is also becoming lekker fat at 5.7 kg and nice and tall .. 61 cm which is way above the curve for her age hahaha she is gonna be a knockout!

Despite the above hahaha we have been good. Getting along with life as parents of two.

Scott is also doing well - flirting to beat all hell and winning hearts left, right and centre hahaha he is so beautiful and I can't believe that he is my son. He has a wicked sense of humour and also quite a temper. We are entering the terrible two stage and now we have to be consistent with discipline. He makes us so happy and proud as well though and its so weird seeing him do more and more things by himself, yesterday I caught him trying to put on his own jacket. He also wants to eat on his own which means we have to scheduled an extra half hour at mealtimes :) he also LOVES his sister and constantly kisses her (Mart and I are jealous as we have to BEG for affection) and whenever he can he strokes her hand or foot or face saying áai'- dutch for stroke ... breaks my heart that he is such a sweet sweet

photographic memories

Look at this precious photo of Scott and Saba. He snuggled up to his little sister completely on his own, which left Mart and I with tears in our eyes, humbled and proud at the same time ... we never imagined that we would be responsible for such lovely creatures!

For more photos of Saba in her first week on planet Earth go to: www.scott2006.shutterfly.com

She aint heavy she's my sister

The first meeting between Scott and his new baby sister was a bit strained haha not surprising of course because our poor boy went to opa and oma for a sleep over and when he came home there was a new little person in the house and everyone was making quite a fuss of her. He sort of ignored Saba the first two days but then suddenly on Thursday he leaned over and put his head against hers and made the sweetest noise. Now every morning when she wakes we take her to Scott or bring him to her and make a big deal of him being a big brother, Scott even tried feeding her some of his porridge yesterday :)

Mart and I feel so very privileged to have two beautiful, healthy, happy children.

The fact that our princess is already firmly established in our family makes me feel so warm inside and just seeing Scott being so sweet and gentle truly breaks my heart - this first week of Saba's life has been wonderful and she brings an extra light to our home!