Snack Packs

In self-defence, now that it's school holidays, we created elaborate "Snack Packs" for the children this morning. One of my least favourite cries just happens to be - "Mum, what can I have to eat. I'm hungry". Grrrrr. Didn't they just eat??

So each of the children now have a divided plastic snack box packed with all of the following:

sultanas, peanuts, dates and mini marshmallows
grapes and cheese cubes
jatz sticks (little stick shaped crackers ideal for dipping)
carrot and celery sticks, tiny tomatoes, cucumber cubes
a dip made with avocado and cottage cheese
a hard-boiled egg
They are also allowed additional fruit (we currently have nectarines, peaches, bananas and mangoes - I love the fruit this time of year).

They are allowed to nibble on these snacks any time throughout the day, but once they've finished their box, that's it for the day. Hopefully this will prevent the constant calls for food!

Someone Else's Body

There are times when I really struggle with the fact that our son relies on me to be his body. It is difficult in two distinct ways:

Firstly, it's not easy to be constantly interrupted by his needs and wants, when I have needs and wants of my own. At times it feels like such an intrusion to have to be someone else's body. In addition, it's physically demanding to have to engage in transfers so many times throughout a day.

Secondly, I struggle with my own selfishness. Whenever I sigh out loud because he needs another nappy change, or wants to lie on the floor, or get up off the bed, or get in the walker, etc, I feel so guilty for resenting his requests. I immediately condemn myself for not having enough compassion to understand what it must be like for a nine-year-old to be totally reliant on other people for his every basic need, let alone the things every child should be able to enjoy.

It is a real challenge for me to overcome this feeling on a daily basis, and just get on with the business of loving.

Books and Movies

Here's what we've been watching this week:

The quirky and delightful dead letter office starring Miranda Otto and
Ordinary People - terribly sad and yet with glimpses of hope

And here's what I've read this week:
Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts, which was just as good as My Sister's Keeper and
With No One as Witness, a dramatic crime novel by Elizabeth George

Ninety Years

On the other side of the world, and in a different time zone, my grandfather will soon be celebrating his 90th birthday. One of my most vivid memories of Opa is when he was here in Australia and had his 70th birthday with us. The whole family went out to a fancy French restaurant for dinner. In Holland, it's not uncommon for the 'birthday boy/girl' to stand on their chair while everyone sings to them. So - you guessed it - my 70-year-old grandfather got up on his chair in the restaurant while we sang to him! Here is a wonderful photo of my dear Opa:

Happy Birthday and lots of love from all of us!

What to Say?

Often as I'm doing things around the house or garden, I find myself composing little blog entries in my mind. But when I actually sit in front of the computer I've forgotten all those wonderful ideas and end up wondering what to say. It's very quiet in the house this morning. Garry is reading (The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman), Christopher is still asleep, and we can just hear Catherine singing quietly in her bed. That's a good sign that she's starting to get over the chickenpox at last. The cat, Hermione, is so lethargic that she can barely move two steps without lying down for a little nap. Soon we'll be into the busy routines of our day and this peaceful interlude will be just a fleeting memory.

As Christopher says, "It's a good life, mum".

Two-Minute Day

Because it's the start of school holidays, Catherine is sick, Garry is recovering from a back injury, we're still homeschooling Christopher this week, and Christmas is rapidly approaching - I was starting to feel really overwhelmed by the house. The hot weather here isn't helping either. Yesterday I felt so unmotivated that I couldn't even bring myself to use Flylady's 15 minute concept.

I finally decided that enough was enough - surely I could do 2 minutes of house keeping?!! So I set the timer for 2 minutes and did one little job in one room. Since that wasn't too bad, I moved into another room and did another 2 minutes. As soon as the timer went off, I stopped that job. I found myself getting into the swing of this, and eventually ended up doing a couple of hours of housework without any stress. Catherine also got into the fun and was a great help with the timer, so I was able to teach her a few little jobs along the way :)

So by the end of the day, as we headed out for our anniversary dinner & movie, I was able to leave the house without feeling guilty about doing no work, and without having to apologise to our babysitter about the mess - because things were presentable.

PS: We went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which we both really enjoyed. However, we won't be letting the kids watch this one in a hurry. The scenes in the maze and graveyard are still well beyond their 'scare level'.

For Garry

Thich Nhat Hanh, whose writings I have enjoyed in recent years, talks about a concept he calls 'your heart sutra'. In honour of thirteen years of marriage, I thought that today I would copy my heart sutra for Garry onto the blogsite:

My love, without you I would not be whole. Your presence in my life is the greatest gift imaginable. You are all I could ever have hoped for and more. I deeply admire you, my darling, and am frequently challenged by the way you parent our children so patiently and kindly.

I pray that today, and every day we share together, I will be able to be all you desire as your wife. I readily commit my heart to you, my beloved husband. I will do my best to always listen to you with compassion and understanding. I will be here for you whenever you need me.

I am so very thankful for your love, and for all the special qualities that make you my personal hero. You still make my heart beat faster with your smile, my dearest.

Love forever,
Tamara.

Sculpture

When I was in Paris last year, there was a sculpture at the Louvre which I really admired. Ocky noticed this and took some photos of the sculpture. She then created a copy of it in Holland, after which she created a silicone mold. She brought this mold with her when they came to Australia last month, and used it to reproduce the sculpture for me. The result is absolutely striking! Here is a photo:

I can't believe how much effort and time has gone into creating this beautiful work, but I am thrilled that he is now living with us! I still need to track down his name, but I think it's something like Antonius. Have to do a bit of research on that.

Chickenpox

Poor Catherine has caught chicken pox and is therefore not a happy girl right now. She started showing her first spots on Friday (last day of school for the year), and is now quite well covered. She has been so sad! She thinks she "looks horrible", poor kid, and not much can console her.

In addition, Garry had a fall this week and his back is playing up - so I'm now nursing three dependent family members :)

The bright light in all this is that hopefully we'll be back to normal in time for Christmas. If Catherine passed the chickenpox on to any school friends they won't be quite so lucky.