Strange Habbits

I don't know what it is about going out for a meal that does this for my kids but it happens every time, without fail. It doesn't matter if we're just popping down to the Snack down the road or if we are going to a proper restaurant (I use the term proper very loosely, a proper restaurant just means a restaurant where you don't get your food served to you on a tray).

They always need to poo.

Both of them, sometimes more than once during our time there!

It drives me crazy. It doesn't matter whether I make them go to the toilet before said trip out the house, they still claim to need to go to the toilet.
What really get's me is it seems they know it's something I can't argue with them about, it's not like I can tell them, no you can't go. I mean what kind of a mother would that make me?

At least I know that if either of them ever suffers from constipation I just have to take them out for a meal, and hey presto, problem solved!

About a mommy

I found this "questionnaire" on one of the blogs I read http://metime.typepad.com/me_time/ and decided that since she put out a general tag I'll consider myself tagged, so here it is. I hope you find it informing/interesting:

Here's the low-down on me as a mommy:
1. How long have you been a Mom? I can’t believe how long it’s been: 6 years and 1 month.
2. How many children call you Mommy? Two!
3. Girl? Boy? or both?: Girl then a boy
4. Did you know what you were having? Yes, found out as soon as it was possible for me, I wanted to be able to pick a name and get all the stuff.
5. How old were you when you became a Mom? 26 and 28.
6. How long were you in labor? The first time: 1 week (very little pain but steady contractions every 10 min and then 4 days of intense pain and contractions between 2 min apart and 40 seconds apart and it ended in a natural birth after being induced and my water broken to try and speed things up. The second: 9 hours. I was induced with Tiger at 38 weeks cause the Dr didn't want him to get any bigger. Only I didn't dilate past 5 cm and he went into distress and they could no longer pick up on his heart beat so I was rushed in for an emergency c-section. The Dr even nicked him on his head in her rush to get him out.
7. What’s your favorite thing about being a Mom? There are so many things, but my favourite would have to be when they crawl up onto my lap for a hug and a snuggle and the way they smell.
8. What’s your least favorite thing? Again, so many things. Least fave, I suppose, is them not listing, it drives me crazy!
9. Do you want more kids? No - we've talked about it a lot and when I wanted more Brad didn't and when Brad wanted, I didn't but I would say we've decided not to have more. We have 1 of each and they are potty trained and all the other things so having to do it all from scratch again just seem to daunting.
10.Do you plan on having more soon? No - if it happens it will not be planned
11. How many times have you been pee’d on? This is something I didn't keep track of, Tiger did it a couple of times but Riley poohed on Brad one night just as he was on his way to work and he had to change his shirt, pants and shoes - as you can imagine he was not .
12. Barfed on? A couple of times and so has my cousin. Riley was sick once and then got sick all over me but she wouldn't let me put her down so I could get cleaned up (she was very little and just putting her down would just have made the situation worse). I called my cousin to come round and try to help me by taking Riley while I got cleaned up, only Riley got sick all over my cousin as well.
13. Is your child named after anyone? Yes, both of them. Riley's middle name is Catherine after my gran, and later we learned that Brad's great grand ma's maiden name was O'Reilly so she's got 2 family names. Because Brad and all 3 his brothers are names after their dad we decided to continue the tradition but I drew the line at naming the poor kids after his grandfather, his father and then adding his own name to Tiger is called Rourke (I'm a fan of Mickey Rourke) Douglas (after Brad's dad as well as being 1 of Brad's middle names) a James after my dad (James being the English version of Jacques)
14. How did you come up with their name? Even though Riley is used as a boy's name we saw a TV program with the Olsen twins and one was called Riley - we liked it. I wanted to continue using the Irish name theme with Rourke and also like Mickey Rourke which is how we came up with Rourke's 1st name.
15. When your child gets in trouble, who is the bad guy? O I don't come anywhere near Brad apparently I'm a really push over although I really don't think I'm all that bad. I'd say we sort of balance each other out, he takes some things more seriously than me and visa versa.
16. What is the longest you have been away from your children? 2 weeks. I went to the Dominican Republic on holiday with a girl friend in March. The kids stayed home with Brad and my mom helped out. They loved it, wasn't very impressed with me when I came back. It seems my kids are quite independent…
17. Bedtime routine? We brush teeth, have a drink of water and then read a story or two, it all depends on how tired they are and what the time is. They have a night light and a cd player for music. Most of the time they stay up reading or coloring in bed till the fall asleep. Once again this depends on how tired they are. They also, often sleep in 1 bed.
18. Are your toes painted? Not at the moment but they are most of the time.
19. Last movie you saw in the theater?: “Death Race” a girl friend and I went and watched it purely for Jason Statham and he did not disappoint.
20. One thing you will not give up just because you’re a mom? Having a social life and going out for a good meal and dinner with friends. My mom has the kids every Saturday night giving me 1 night off a week and then Brad also watches the kids about twice a month so I can go out with a friend or two.
21. One thing you did give up now that you’re a mom: One thing? I'll mention 2 big things: Not having to cook dinner when I'm not hungry and a tidy house.
22. Best Mom perk: Watching and listening to them playing when they don't know they are being watched/listened to.
23. Snack, do you sneak bites from your child? Only when they’re not looking else all hell will break loose.
24. When the kid is napping, you are: At work or doing laundry, surfing the net, reading a book watching TV often all of the above simultaneously.
25. Where is your child(ren) now? In bed, asleep.
26. Favorite place to buy maternity clothes? H&M in Belgium and Woolworths in South Africa.
27. If I could do it over…I’d have had the kids later in my life. I love them but only discovered life and what all I could do after having them. Having said that, I'll still be young enough to enjoy life by the time they leave home .
28. Did it turn out the way you expected? Not at all but that's good life should be full of surprises.

I tag anyone who wants to participate. Please link back.

Helping Out

I'm not about to pretend that I harbour feelings of love and adoration for my husband at all the times. In fact, there are times when I wish I could fit my hands around his neck and just squeeze. Don't get me wrong, I love the man but boy or boy there sure are times when he really pushes that love to the limit.

Now, this is not going to be a blog about all the things about my dear husband which annoy the life out of me or all the things I love about him, maybe on another occasion, it's actually about single parents.

I honestly don't know how single parents cope. Really, the idea of doing this, working full time, trying to run a house and trying to raise 2 normal, balanced and happy kids on my own totally freaks me out!!

It I were a single mom, my kids would be at school from 8 o clock in the morning till 18:30 at night, 5 days a week. They would live in an apartment (much smaller than the one we now live in). They would see me when I was tired and cranky after a long day at the office and they were tired and cranky after a long day at school. We would have a real problem getting stuff for school from the shops if the teacher doesn't send a note at least a week in advance. We would even have very little time to do fun things.

I would more than likely resent the fact that I never had any free time, and then take it out on them even if it's not their fault. There would be no one to help me when they are sick or when I'm too sick to look after them. All of which does not result in happy, balanced, normal kids, in my opinion. In other words, for those out there who are doing it and making a success of it all I can say is:

HATS OFF TO YOU!

I really don't know how you do it.

So, Brad and I may have a bit of a unconventional marriage, but it works for us. We are raising these kids together(and they seem pretty normal, balanced and happy to me), helping each other, each doing his bit, while at the same time giving the other person the time to go out every so often and decompress.

Man, I am so glad that I don't have to do this on my own. Now I just need to remember that the next time I feel like strangling my husband.

And the Tiger turns 4

It's hard to believe that it's already 4 years ago that Rourke made his rather dramatic entrance into our lives. And it's maybe even me who thinks that it was a dramatic entrance but since it didn't go at all the way it was planned (as far as you can plan a birth) but there you go. The fact of the matter is, my baby turned 4 today.

"They" say at 4 a child is "Energetic" and "imaginative. Often impatient and silly, they discover humor and spend a great deal of time being silly and telling you "joke."

Well, that is just part of what Rourke is, he is also very daring and completely fearless. Loving and affectionate, in awe of his sister most of the time and totally and absolutely obsessed with all things fast. Planes, motor bikes, but most of all cars.

Rourke is totally nonchalant about his birthday too, compared to Riley. Riley planned her birthday all year long, making plans and list of who to invite. When asking Rourke how old he turned today, he would answer, ask Riley she knows.

He was very happy with his racing cake, to take to school this morning and even more impressed with his gifts, which consisted, out of cars, more cars and a electric racing tract. (not sure if it was for him or for his dad). When we asked him what he wanted for supper it was very simple, Mcdonalds. I know, very healthy, but it was his birthday after all and the last 4 th birthday we will be celebrating....

Now we only have his birthday party to look forward to, and then we are done with birthday parties for the year.

I nearly had to walk to work today

The 3 biggest trade unions in Belgium have gone on strike today, to protect wages & the workers purchasing power. This means that there is no public transport, no busses, no trains no trams no metros. It's also affected the schools, the retailing sector and all administration services.

I don't know what other people do on days like today. Because we live in Brussels I had no problem coming in to work. Brad felt sorry enough for me to drive me to work, else I would have had to use his bicycle or Rourke's scooter. My mom is watching our kids which means that Brad can also carry on with his work and not have to take the kids along to the house he is renovating. However, what about the other people who may be able to get to work but have no one to look after their kids so they have to put in leave to stay at home, meaning that they lose one days leave due to the strike.

I'm also not sure how this strike is going to improve things. The whole entire world is busy going through an economic crisis. How is demanding bigger salaries going to solve the problem? I mean if companies have to pay bigger salaries they are going to have to cut cost to be able to do that. How are they going to cut costs? By cutting down on the number of salaries they are paying out, in other words this strike action could result in bigger salaries for a couple of people because a couple of other people are no longer receiving salaries. I'm just saying it seems like a pretty stupid solution to me.

It's Rourke's birthday tomorrow so I popped out to the shops during lunch time, (There is a huge supermarket very close to my office which is very convenient since the supermarket closes to our house is not quite as big.) only to discover that they were closed. Really even if you have to operate on a skeleton staff I would stay open. They are so busy everyday, I can just imagine how much money they are losing today by being closed. Now I just hope that my supermarket has enough of the cake mix that I need to bake a cake for Rourke to take to school tomorrow.

How Does is work?

This might not be a good topic for everyone but there is something that I would really like to know/understand. Also, I write this while fully knowing that I could very probably come across as very shallow and vain.

Anyway, here goes:

I go to the gym after work every day, it ,very conveniently, is right next door to my office. Also, if I decide not to go I have to walk past it and will more than likely feel very guilty knowing that I really should be in there. But that's not what I want to write about.

Belgium has a very big muslim community and we have all types/kinds here. So what I can't understand is this, there are a couple of muslim ladies who come to my gym. They wear full muslim gear out in the street but when they come in to the gym and change into sweats like all of us. How is it ok for them to dress like that? (I have no problem with it, I was just wondering how it's ok according to their beliefs), it's just that it's not a ladies only gym it's a mixed gym. How is it ok for them to uncover their heads in the gym but no where else?

If I "had" to wear traditional clothes like them every day I would so not be in the gym either. I mean if nobody is going to see you or your figure for that matter what does it matter if you are not 100% toned or even 80 % for that matter. I go to the gym to try and look good, ok, reasonable in the type of clothes I like, but really if I wore a bag all day every day I don't see the point in going to the gym every day.

Therefor, if any of you have any ideas about this, don't be shy, tell me what you think