TheBleghHousewife

I've been in a long hibernation. To say that pregnancy doesn't suit me is an understatement. My family is currently a whirlwind of beautiful chaos. There's a whole four of us now, and while I didn't think that one extra person would impact the whole household as severely as it has, it did. I supposed there's something right about that too. A new soul should shake up the household. The dynamic should be different. She's a little fire-cracker our "Gigi"- but my next post will be all about my birth story and all the emotions that go with having a prem baby. But this post is not about that. This post is to share some thoughts on the chaos of four. In many ways juggling 2 kids is way harder than 1, and yet the transition from 1 child to 2 is still easier than none to 1. Does that make sense? The funny thing about having 2 is that the most simplest task become a challenge. I recently went to a playdate with both kids, and when the playdate drew t...

We’ve finally found it: Our family groove. It’s taken a while, but it’s here. The bond between my son and his dad is all kinds of adorable. The cuddles I get are all too heart melting. The way that he tries to mimic his dad is the kind of thing that parenting moments are made of.  When we go out as a family, we have a distinct pattern/system where the husband does certain things, and I do certain things, and our kid, is well, just a kid (which means he does an array of things, none of which you really want him to do). The point though, is that we found our groove, and it’s so damn good. Life feels manageable and beautiful at the same time.  We FINALLY have our night-time routine down to a fine art, where we (usually) eat as a family, play some music (as in the instruments), read bedtime stories, rock bath-time (with MANY bathtime hugs), and finally bedtime. And our mornings are equally as awesome, with a pretty good routine, which mostly consists of my toddler draggi...

This is one of those real posts, on a bad day. It hasn't been planned neatly in advance. It hasn't been something I've been mulling over. It is an in-the-moment piece. While I'm sitting here, staring at my piece of cake (cake makes everything better right?), wondering how I feel so damn inadequate. Here it is: I feel like I'm failing. I'm failing at motherhood. I'm failing at wife life. I'm failing at house keeping and management. I'm failing at keeping myself together. I'm failing. Can anyone else relate? How effing hard is it to balance a marriage, parenthood, a household and your own interests? And here's the thing: I never thought I would be here. Before children I was so career-centric that I just assumed that when we had kids we would have a nanny and motherhood would kind of just fit in with everything else I would have going on (how terrible is that?). I envisioned that during pregnancy, I would be one of the healthy ones, sipp...

At some point, floating around the internet, I read an article stating that instead of buying your children 'things', you are better off investing your money on family holidays and rather focusing on building memories. Those are the things (supposedly) that build character, bring families together and generally make for an idyllic childhood. And honestly, who doesn't like to go on holiday? And so, newly pregnant with our second child, and having just turned 30 (I was mourning my 20s), we decided to head to Sun City for a weekend, or more specifically The Palace (as a family). Our room was magnificent - there's just something about hotel room beds that make them that much more appealing (mind out the gutter!). The huge four poster bed meant that my tot could snuggle between us and turn full circle without kicking either of us - now, that's a novelty. Despite The Palace providing us with a camp cot, along with all the fluffy luxurious baby linen, our m...

When I was little my mom had two friends who owned a beautiful boutique that stocked all sorts of collectors teddy bear items and home décor things (mostly for kids). The mall that they were situated in kept renovating, and as a result they were forced to keep moving all over the mall to accommodate the renovations. This obviously affected their business because this week they'd be on the first floor of the mall, and suddenly the following week patrons could no longer find them (on the ground floor). My mom had countless coffees in that store with her friends and they often chatted about their dilemma and of course, how the landlord was the devil incarnate. On one such day, the landlord came past to hand-deliver their rent invoice, and of course my five or six year old self piped up and told him he was a naughty, nasty man for putting my mommy's friend's through this, and that he was affecting their income and it was just NOT OKAY. Did I even know what I was saying? I ...

I've been quiet on social media and my blog. In truth, I retreated. Perhaps unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally - I still can't decide. I needed some quiet. I needed some peace. I needed some 'me time'. I needed to figure out what to actually say - because there's SO much. If you follow me on social media you'll see that we made a very special announcement this week - I'm pregnant with our next little bundle. Firstly - let me make this clear - we are over the moon! Knowing what to expect has made it that much more exciting (um - overwhelming?). We've done this before - right? We know what's coming - right? Or are we deluding ourselves? Time will tell. So why all the confusion? Well, being pregnant the second time round while running after another little human is a whole different ball game. Let's be honest right now - I don't really do pregnancy that well, but I hoped that the second time round would be different. Cue the al...

The baby clinic sister that I take my little monster to recommended moms and babes . At first I was like, ‘huh?’ What even is that?! The concept seemed weird, and honestly, the thought of taking my crying bundle of joy to a sit-down mommy and baby class was overwhelming. And so, naturally I ignored it. My mommy brain also signed up for few bub hub classes and at one such class one of the moms was talking about moms and babes , and suddenly the penny dropped. I called and was immediately told that the first (trial) class was free, allowing me to make my decision after having experienced it first-hand. The morning of that first class I was anxious as hell. My son just wasn’t cooperating and I honestly didn’t know what I would be able to offer this group, or what I would even get in return. Would the moms be friendly? Would I like the instructor? Is this a cult? Deep breathe, strap baby in the car-seat and just go! It’s always a tad awkward when you arrive at a new place and...