Mud, running and all inbetween

My little girl is growing up so fast and I can see her change and learn new things everyday like our little “Happy Dance” that we worked on and now do together. Father’s Day started off as a very hard day for me as I felt so bad that my little girl would not be having a family like all those people around her. Daddy’s picking up their children and playing was a bit hard at first but I made a choice and decided that I will make special memories for the two of us. I will make sure that no matter what happens, she will have as normal life as she possibly can. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want it and I could see the confusion on her little face when she looked up at me and asked “Why is my Daddy not here?” I calmly gave her a big hug, kissed her lots and explained to her that he was at his new house and could not come out with us. I made sure that we had a jam packed weekend, went to the markets where she got to play in the mud with her toes as she wanted to take her shoes off and I let her as she is only young once. We went to a children restaurant/play area and she got to play on the obstacles and now loves that word. A little boy was nasty to her and told her to go away. She came to me and looked all down and I asked what was wrong. She told me that he had told her to go away. I told her her mommy says she can be there and if he is nasty to her, to tell him that her mommy said it was fine and he must not be nasty to her. She smiled and went back and played. She learnt to stand up for herself and I saw her telling him a thing or two. My favourite part of the weekend must have looked so silly to people around us but I made one of my most favourite new memories of the two of us. I decided to start training for the Impi Challenge that I am going to do, a 12km obstacle course race and this couch potato isn’t fit! Got B into her pram, she wanted Teddy to go with so he climbed in with her and we went for a walk along the roads. At one point I started alternating between running from one lap pole to another and then walking. Our hair was blowing from running, had my music blaring and B just kept saying “Run Mommy run!” We laughed so hard every time I ran and we sang along the way and we made our own new memories. I would not swop that for the world and when I do feel bad, I think of these amazing new experiences that the two of us are discovering. B and I are closer than we have ever been and yes there are days when she drives me crazy with tantrums or “clash of wills” but I would not swop her for the world.  We just have to be there for each other and make a new world for us.  Just keep explaining and being as honest as I can for her without hurting her, she is too little to understand everything. That is all I can do really! Be there and make some more crazy memories! Bring it!

Win tickets to Disney on Ice Johannesburg

One of my favourite memories as a child was going to watch  a show on ice and I remember all the costumes, glitz and glam! It was a truly amazing experience.

Disney on Ice has come back to South Africa with its Passport to Adventure and promises to be an amazing array of costumes, favourite characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and of course those loveable childhood characters like Ariel the Mermaid and The Lion King. Peter Pan and Wendy will be taking us on a London Tour while Lilo and Stich will show us how things are done in Hawaii. The show promises to be one with an international team of award-winning figure skaters, high-energy choreography and a colorful set that captures all four unique worlds. As Jasmine says in Aladdin “a whole new world”.

The adventure runs from 21 – 30 June in Johannesburg and continues in Cape Town from 3 – 7 July with tickets starting from R195. Tickets are available exclusively from Computicket (www.computicket.com) or 0861 915 800. Fans can discover more about Disney On Ice by visiting www.disneyonice.com or www.disneyonice.co.za. They also have a Facebook page www.facebook.com/DisneyinAfrica where you can see more about Disney in Africa.

Disney on Ice and I have a competition where one lucky person can win 4 tickets to see Disney on Ice! The tickets would be to the opening night of Disney on Ice, next Friday, 21 June at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg, 7PM show! How amazing is that! To enter, leave a blog post and a comment on the Facebook page, refer a friend and get an extra entry! Competition closes 19 June 2013.

B, my little superhero

Recently I have been going through some of the toughest times that I have ever gone through in my life and there have been days when I didn’t want to get out of bed but stay there. But I didn’t. I picked up myself and kept going and put the plasters over where the sore was and kept moving. Why? Because I have a little monkey called B who loves me and needs her mommy and she is my little superhero. I read a blog post on one of my fav blogs about another mom who is going through a tough time and how her daughter has gotten her through a similar but more heart breaking experience. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for my B and she is my reason for surviving. I try to keep a brave face on for her as she doesn’t understand why I am sad, she is too little and when she looks at me and asks me if I am sad, even if I am I tell her that I am not and smile all the bigger for her. This morning she really made me giggle as she came to me with a container and said “Look Mommy, sushi” and wanted to eat it with me! I have to be strong for me and for her so that I can answer her questions about where her daddy is and when will she see him. When she cries and gets all panicky, I try to calm her fears and just hold her and tell her everything will be alright although sometimes my heart just breaks for her when she looks at me with her big blue eyes and they slowly fill with tears.

With every negative there is a positive and one positive that has come is that B and I are closer than ever. She knows that a promise with me is a promise and although it drives me crazy at times that she follows me like a hawk, I understand and I try to be more there for her. They say that people always hurt the ones they love the most and sometimes she does do that to me too by telling me to go away or to leave her alone. If I walk two steps away she calls back for me and then puts her little arms around me and says she is sorry! Sometimes I think she is 2 years and 7 months going on 14!

We will get through this little B and one day, we will look back at this time and realise how much we grew from it, how strong we can be and how we will always be there for each other.

I can do it myself!

Mornings in our house have become a battle between wills and some days I just have to take a deep breath and smile. B has discovered that she can do things for herself and while this has always been a good thing that I encouraged, she now wants to help herself get dressed in the mornings by putting on her own pants and her panties. She even surprised me yesterday by waking up, taking her own nappy off and coming to show me what she had done!”I can do it myself!”  Another line that has developed is “I want to stay in my pyjamas for 2 minutes Mommy”, and she adds the cute little smile and holds up 2 fingers. Sometimes I let her, sometimes I don’t.

The things is that one only has so much time in the morning between getting yourself dressed, her dressed, making sure I have everything for the day including her bottle and making sure that we leave the house at a reasonable time so that she isn’t late for porridge and Morning Ring at school! She has also taken a liking to Lollos so she watches a bit of that while this mama runs like a banshee to get myself dressed!

What I have learnt through this is that one just has to have patience; there really isn’t anything else one can do! Oh and breath in and out! She has to learn how to do this and it is important for her development! So chin up, encourage her and just go with the flow, after all, she is only 2 and a half, there is still a lot of things to come like being a teenager! Gulp!

Woolworths and Every Paw Print Counts giveaway!

If you are South African and watch T.V you would have heard all about the rhinos and animal poaching that has been going on. It’s enough to make you sick and I would love to give those poachers a Judo-chop for what they are doing! Enter Woolworths and the “Every Paw Print Counts” Campaign.

What is that you may ask? Woolworth has launched  3 new products and for every pack of ‘Every Paw Print Counts’ Soft Fruit-flavoured Gums sold, R1 will go to protect these endangered animals; for each ‘Every Paw Print Counts’ bracelet R8, and for each reusable ‘Every Paw Print Counts’ shopping bag sold, they will donate R10! I tried the sweets and they were yummy and best of all, contain no milk so B can eat them too although there was nothing but an empty packet by the time I got home! The bag is cute and very durable and will be able to carry anything from shopping to library books to arts and crafts!

It’s great that a big corporate company is helping out the wildlife and environment, a portion of what you pay goes towards helping one of two MyPlanet beneficiaries, the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife ACT Fund, for the conservation of the cheetah, rhino and African wild dog. How cool is that, so in fact you are helping the animals and I really like that.

Want to enter a giveaway? Woolworths will give two packets of the sweets and one bag to one lucky winner! How to enter, leave a post on the blog below and tell me one of the animals that will benefit from the fund made? Competition runs from 20 May to 24 May and is open to SA residents! Get entering!

Sofia the First

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a princess when I grew up and would prance around playing dress-up.  I still believe that all women are princesses, we just dress up now in another way!

I was really excited to hear about a new show starting on 11 May at 09:00 for kids aged between 2-7 on Disney Junior on DSTV (channel 309) called Sofia the First. The story is a cartoon story about an average Joe little girl called Sofia whose mother marries the King! She is then transported into a world of glamour, pretty dresses and the life of royalty.  She also gets new step-siblings in the form of Amber and James. This world is strange and new to Sofia and she has many challenges that she has to overcome.

What I like about it is that the story is not just going to be about pretty dresses and glamour but is going to teach little children lessons like how to make friends, how to build new sibling relationships and discovering new skills. Sofia will be a little girl that they can see as a friend and someone that they can relate to. The aim is also to teach children about generosity, kindness and loyalty and that it isn’t what you have or wear, but the princess inside that matters. I like that part as I find many shows today don’t really teach children anything! Sofia will also be having some blasts from my childhood with the fairies Fauna, Flora and Merryweather (fairies seen in Disney’s classic Sleeping Beauty) being in the show as well!

Sofia the First also has an amazing cast doing the voices of the different characters! Starring as the voice of Sofia is Ariel Winter (Modern Family); Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy) is Queen Miranda; Wayne Brady (Let’s Make A Deal) is Clover; Tim Gunn (Project Runway) is Baileywick; Darcy Rose Byrnes (Desperate Housewives) is Amber; Zach Callison (Land of the Lost) is James; Travis Willingham (Ultimate Spider-Man) is King Roland II; Jess Harnell (Doc McStuffins) is Cedric; Ashley Eckstein (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) is Mia the Bluebird and Meghan Strange (Special Agent Oso) is Robin.  Disney Legend Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse), Barbara Dirickson and Tress MacNeille (Daisy Duck), bring Fauna, Flora and Merryweather, respectively, to life.  Jennifer Hale provides the voice of Cinderella

So get your snacks ready, grab a blanket and watch Sofia the First on Disney Junior (channel 309) on 11 May 2013 at 09:00 and see this little princess in action!

A review on Organics Kids Shampoo range!

Have you ever watched those ads on TV about shampoo where the ladies flick their hair and it looks like a waterfall cascading? Well, I have been doing that since I tested the Organics Kids shampoo range!

As you might know, as B has allergies, I have to be very careful as to what I buy for her so I was quite excited to see “Hypoallergenic” on the side of the bottle. I also test everything I buy first so that if it is safe for me, it should be safe for her. Cue the Organics Kids Strawbelicious  2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner! I took the plunge to test the No Tears formula as some of the brands I have tested say this but they aren’t really. This mama had no tears or burning so I added another little tick to my imaginary chalk board!  The name is true to the smell, I smelt like a strawberry the whole day! It actually made my hair quite silky, smooth and actually made it feel quite thick! So I wasn’t apprehensive about it at all when it tried it on Bella. She loved it and her hair looked all clean, shiny and pretty! I then used the Funtangling, a hair detangler that comes in a spray bottle, to get the knots out from all the rubbing to dry her hair and it didn’t even make her hair oily the next day! That’s what happened when I used another product who I shall not name.

There are three flavours in the Organics Kids Shampoo range namely Strawbelicious, Coconutty and Mangomania and each flavour smells true to its name.  The range is a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioners so they save you some time from trying to do both! The detangler comes in an easy to use spray bottle and smells lovely! You can buy the shampoos from any supermarket and they really are worthwhile price wise as well as the amount that you get in the bottle! This mama was very happy and I might “borrow” some to use for my own hair! Then I too can smell fruity and fun!

Quick Pancake recipe

Well winter is upon us and I can feel how the need to stuff my face is descending upon me! Winter brings soups, warm curries and everything that is yummy for both my mouth and my hips! One of my favourite winter foods is pancakes! You can eat them plain, with filling or just about any way that you want.  Here is my quick pancake recipe! The best thing about these pancakes is that they don’t have milk in them so B can eat them to her heart’s content! I normally double it to ensure everyone gets to have lots and if there are left over’s, they freeze really well! Here is the recipe! Please note that you need to leave it to stand for a while.

Pancakes

About 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

Dry

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 ml salt

Liquid

1 cup of water

10ml of vinegar

25ml of oil

1 egg

Method

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add all of the liquid ingredients together and slowly add them to the dry ingredient mix. Make sure to get rid of any lumps, for this I usually use a whisk or a hand-held blender. Leave the mixture to stand for about 15 minutes, an hour if you can but 15 minutes will be enough. Once the time is done, use Spray and Cook to coat your pancake/ frying pan or lightly coat the pan with a thin layer of oil. Once the pan is hot, pour the batter into the pan and swirl the pan so that the batter covers the whole of the pan. Leave it on the hob for a few minutes until little bubbles start to show and then turn it over for about 20 seconds on the other side. Put it onto a plate and start the pouring and swirling again! Put in your filling and serve!