The funny side of life

Carry laughter with you wherever you go.  ~Hugh Sidey

I have learned it is good to look back and laugh at things/situations that happen in life that at the time have the potential to completely overwhelm me.

I have also learned it is good to blog about them so I am able to - maybe, just maybe - see the funny side of things.

There have been many of these moments already this week where I have just had to stand back and laugh at the situation - otherwise I would have cried.

Laughter and Tears. Two emotions that are so opposite from each other and yet, when the situation arises, they both rise up with equal ferocity hoping to be the one selected for the occasion.

As I said, it's been quite a week. And looking back it's probably not too much out of the ordinary (!) but in the heat of the moment I seemed to think the situation was going to totally do me in. I must admit I'm feeling slightly out of my depth as a Mamma this week. I'll come up for a quick breath soon, I know I will.

Unfortunately a lot of my stressful moments can be attributed to Luca "I'm still very much a two-year-old boy" Bokser.

As incredibly cute and delicious as he is, he can absolutely frustrate the hell out of me!

The motto he seems to currently be living by is: "Those are the rules but rules are made for breaking".

Getting him to do anything we ask usually ends in a physical battle to stay on the Time Out seat for not listening. 

Bedtimes and cleaning of the teeth have now enlisted the services of Henry the Crocodile, Lion and Robot.

Should I be concerned that it is very difficult to get Luca to listen to Austin or I, especially when it is something he really doesn't want to do - and it is only when we hold up the crocodile, lion or robot and pretend they are speaking and asking him to do as we ask, then we get an instant response from Luca...?!

But I'm telling you, if that's what it takes for him to obey us then so be it!

And how about this whole 'playing with the diddle' thing?? I mean, come on! I'm not a boy, never have been, so I am at a complete loss when I find my sweet, innocent, not-even-3-years-old-yet, beloved child holding hands with his third leg...

Today when I caught him again and said that his diddle is not for touching, he comes back with "It's MY diddle Mamma!"...

Yep.

You're right about that son.

Any advice anyone? All suggestions are most welcome!

But my 'stand-out' moment from this week when I really needed to make a quick decision between laughter and tears was when I was out for a run around Richmond Park (approx. 8 miles).

Now you need to understand that I have been having some stomach issues for the past couple of weeks thanks to a virus that's going around and I am now feeling heaps better (thank you). But unfortunately I started having another 'attack' of the familiar stomach cramps when I was only half way around the park. I was able to stop by numerous public toilets in the next little bit but they were all locked up for the evening.

Anyway, I finally had to give-in to the urge and headed, rather rapidly, towards the bushes, all the while chanting "I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it".

And then a bloody deer decides to jump out at me from behind a tree and made me shit my pants.

Literally.

I was not a happy camper.

I could not believe that I had just crapped my pants! And the almost just as terrible thing was that I still had to run 4 miles home...!

Fortunately I had my black running leggings on... and I wasn't feeling too tired at that stage so I just gunned it home and jumped straight in the shower, clothes and all.

And so after this experience I feel that I can now have a bit more sympathy for Luca when he poos his pants, whether it's an unintentional poo or not. I can empathise.

Now that I've told you my darkest and most humiliating experience of the week, I shall be off to bed and leave you with these photos from today's outing to the playground with 2 very adorable boys.

Let Me Absorb

Let me absorb this time, here and now
Each moment, each day, something new
Something funny, something sad
Allow me to take each one and absorb it
Remember it, lock it away in my memory
No more regretting, wishing for times gone and now out of reach
I am here, now. Absorb it, love it
Cherish it, nurture it
This time can not be given back
These ones I hold on to so tightly
Precious, perfect, pieces of me
With loving them so deeply comes both pain and joy
Frustrations and victories
Beauty and happiness higher than the stars
With Mothering them comes satisfaction beyond what I ever have thought possible
An unspoken, unrecognised desire and dream
Though surprising, it makes perfect sense
Being a Wife and Mamma is where I feel complete
This role I have been given I cannot take for granted
Such unexpected blessings cannot come and go without rocking my world
Changing my world
Moving, rearranging, rekindling, refurbishing
And now I feel 'done over'
I cannot, will not go back
Right here, right now, just Let Me Absorb
In this stillness let me soak up the goodness
My heart, overflow your walls with gratefulness
Thankfulness to the God from whom these precious blessings have been given
I am grateful
So very grateful

Today I am reminded of what a privelege and honour it is to be a Mamma.

I have two beautiful healthy boys who love life.

Even though I am sometimes driven to exhaustion, I wouldn't trade each day I have with them for all the money that could be offered. What an incredible, yet difficult role it is to be a Stay At Home Mamma. To be entrusted with these two little lives, so vulnerable, so trusting. The responsibility is almost overwhelming.

As Luca woke up from his afternoon sleep, I carried his hot, sleepy little body into our room where I lay him on the bed beside his brother who was having some tummy and gurgling time. Luca snuggled up to the pillows and promptly feel asleep again while I stroked his hair. It was right at that moment that I thought my heart would burst from an overwhelming gratitude for being their Mamma. All was quiet except for Luca's breathy sighs as he slept and the thump-thump-thump of Beni's foot tapping on the bed as he gummed my makeup bag... which still needs to be unpacked from our 4 days in France last week (post still to be completed on that adventure!...)

Two such very special little guys we have. I love it when they are all sleepy and cuddly. The dishes/washing/cooking/cleaning can always wait when there's sleepy cuddles on offer!

We spent the latter part of the afternoon making muffins out of very over-ripe bananas and strawberries. Me in my nana's lace-trimmed yellow apron, Luca in "his" gingham apron (used to be mine until he claimed it...) and Beni sitting in the highchair watching us bake while sucking a giraffe toy. As you do.

And to top it all off Luca asked from his bed this evening if he could "do wee's please?".
Mamma and Papa were doing super-high high fives to each other for this landmark occasion which - to you - may seem like a baby-step, but for us who are sick of cleaning up the puddles and doing the loads of washing this is a major achievement, a leap forward. Hoorah!

A chocolate-icing end to a sweet-as-banana-strawberry-and-chocolate-muffin day.

P.S. thought I'd share this picture Luca asked me to draw today of our family. For your amusement...

The Lullaby

As I think on today's events, it was a day when I really needed my mum.

I would have given anything to have my mum come around and entertain the children for the day so I could have a break. Have some sleep. Have some 'Me' time. Have some 'mother-daughter' time. And then have some more sleep.

I was needing my mum to reassure me that this is all very normal and yes there will be days when you feel like up and leaving and not looking back.

I think the sleep deprivation is not helping things, but we are also still having toilet training 'issues' with Luca and, quite frankly, it's doing my head in.

I don't think any wees made it into the toilet today... and he chose today to have his second ever 'poo-in-the-bath' incident. Neat. Need I mention that I don't dig on poos very much at all?


Luca's statistics today were 20% of very flippin cute and 80% of being a little Sugar Honey Iced Tea.
If you get my drift...

But let's move on shall we? I just had to get that all out blurghhhhhh.

The day ended on a very sweet-as-triple-chocolate-pie-with-caramel-sauce-on-top note which totally saved the day.

After feeding and bathing the boys it was time for Beni to go to bed. And to avoid having to lock Luca out of our room while I did this because I knew he would just be a distraction, I asked him if he would like to come and sing our special 'Goodnight' song to Beni with Mamma.

"Yes!" he says, charging through the door, "Sing goodnight song to Beni-Boo"

And so we sang together while Luca gently bounced Beni's hammock. 

This instantly made my uptight, stessed and frustrated heart melt.
Moments like this remind me what being a Mamma is all about.
Being able to lavish love and gentleness on your children and to be the example to them of how to do this.
I feel I failed miserably in that area today, but there's always tomorrow huh?

Anyway, the lullaby we sing to our boys at night is taken from Cbeebies, the British children's channel on BBC. It's a fantastic channel and at the end of the day they sing this goodnight song that we now claim as our own...



The words are so sweet (even though sometimes I have to lie through my teeth as I sing "We've had so much fun today"... I hold back from adding APART FROM WHEN YOU POO'D YOUR UNDIES AND SCREAMED AND KICKED ME BECAUSE I WOULDN'T LET YOU HAVE A BISCUIT!!...) and I guess because Beni heard us singing it to Luca when he was in the womb but he does big sighs and drifts off to sleep as soon as I start singing it to him. Awwwww.

So as I drift off to sleep tonight I will be holding onto 'The Lullaby' moment we had at the end of a particularly trying day.