After a rough day yesterday, the Cape Town Drennans all woke feeling happy and refreshed this morning.  We started the day with a yummy breakfast, and a wonderfully cool walk on the beach.  Grace enjoyed her walk this morning with her favourite things being patting as many “gogs” (Grace’s current way of saying dog, yesterday it was “doog”) as possible, pointing at the giant rock out at sea and playing in the rock pools.  The rest of today in Yzerfontein was spent relaxing, building puzzles and having fun.  Thank you Mel for a wonderful weekend.

When we got home this afternoon I really had a blonde moment, Grace needed to use the potty which was lying in pieces so I picked up the various pieces and rushed her to the bathroom.  After a few minutes she called me to tell me she was finished.  I was wondering why she was looking into the potty with a strange kind of look, until I looked in and saw that I had forgotten to put the bottom part of the potty on and so instead of pooing into the potty she sat beautifully on the potty and pooped on the floor  😉

Beach Fun

As much as I would like to think I respond reasonably and rationally to situations, I certainly know that is not always the case. I can’t remember when Grace last woke up during the night…but she did last night and was awake for at least an hour. So both Donné and I were on edge to start with today and Grace was a bit grumpy too. It seems like her last 4 teeth are starting to grow and are giving her some discomfort, although it could still be months before we actually see any teeth action. Then Grace gave us a really hard time at her nap time, not wanting to go to sleep, crying, calling for mama and/or dada, and so forth. After a couple of rounds of trying to get her to go to sleep I just totally lost it. Totally and unreasonably, acting and shouting like a lunatic. It was extremely poor and embarrassing behaviour which I am pretty ashamed about.

After calming down a bit and Grace still being awake, tired and moaning I decided that the only way to keep my fragile composure would be to take her for a long walk in the Ergo and hope she falls asleep. After a while, some more moaning and me working hard to remain calm she eventually fell asleep and had about an hour nap on me while we walked. After that sleep we all seemed a bit better – Donné had slept, Grace had slept and I got some down time to process my craziness.

The last few minutes of sleep after arriving back at the house

We had breakfast this morning with a good friend who is visiting from Pretoria (we worked together when I was up there). While we were talking I was saying that there are so many opportunities (I was talking about work) and his response was quite interesting. I can't quite quote him, but I'll try to capture the essence, "It is good to know that there are opportunities out there. Everyone [referring to work colleagues] has a kind of scared attitude – there are companies that close, and it feels like there are lots of people on the market – so people worry about their options and security. So it is good to know there are opportunities."

I’ve been meaning to buy a pack of disposable nappies for about a week now and well just haven’t gotten round to it. The amazing part is that I still have two left and I bought them more than 6 weeks ago and those two could last a couple of days.  Having a potty trained child is awesome, it comes highly recommended. Yes we still have some accidents, and yes I now get to worry about my bladder and hers, and yes I have to remind her to tell me if she needs to go to the toilet and take her when I think she may need to go, but it is definitely worth it.   

The exciting part is that we no longer have to go to the back door, we take her out in panties more regularly and this whole week her nappies have been dry post her nap and in the morning…yay!  Ah the little things in life that make me happy these days 🙂

Our little model

Today, 5 years ago, we arrived back in Cape Town. Donné, myself and Motie cat in a car for 15 hours or so, and all Motie ate was a few pieces of hot cross bun. It was certainly a ballsy, throw caution to the wind move. We resigned from our jobs, packed our things and moved back with few immediate chances of actually being able to earn any money once back in Cape Town. Three months later we bought our first house, just to make sure we really were pushing our risk taking to the max. Miraculously we were blessed to actually receive a mortgage, even though we had little to prove we could actually afford it (ah, the pre national credit act days…).

When one looks at it in retrospect I can imagine the grey hairs growing on our parents heads.

We made a leap, a leap from where we were to where we wanted to be, and it has worked out amazingly well. I am really glad we did it. I believe this year is going to be another year of leaping forward and I am looking forward to it.

My first Cape Town desk (which I worked at for 3 months)

Being 20 months old can be tough on the body….not that Grace is a hooligan – if anything she is quite placid – but she does seem to injure herself in spells. The past week or so went something like this…

She first bumped her cheek in the bathroom (either on her pram, or the corner of the bath) and had a small bruise on her cheek. While Donné was making her tutu she decided that diving into the tulle was loads of fun…at least until she dived cheek first into the floor (same cheek). So that bruise grew a bit. On Friday she walked out the door with a book in her hands and decided to forget that there were stairs to negotiate. Fortunately nothing serious, just a scratch on her nose. That same night she managed to gouge a hole in her face just below her eye while sleeping (too much face rubbing, and uncut nails…needless to say her nails were cut the next day). On Sunday she fell on some paving in our back garden and gave herself the biggest scrape on her knee that she has had to date. And finally today she managed to bump her lip on her scooter. Hopefully we are all done for now.

There was one other first yesterday – first time to draw on the wall with a crayon. Hopefully also the last…

Nose scratch, eye scratch and lip bump (the cheek bruise is fading)

Knee scratch

Everyday I feel so blessed that I got to marry my best friend who I get to journey through life with. I love that we got to bring a child into this world and experience the highs and lows of parenthood together.  I love that growing this family from two to three has grown the love in it. I love my family. 

Yummy raspberries 

Everyday I catch myself watching Grace and thinking she’s a little person now and no longer a baby.  Today during a quiet moment Duncan and I found her lying on our bed, propped up by a pillow reading her book, then while she was eating her supper she picked up her cup one handed and drank from it. The most big person thing she did today was use the public toilet while we were out having coffee.

Grace reading her book on our bed