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With Mother’s Day having just passed, it is important to acknowledge those children who have been orphaned in South Africa, and remind them that they are special and loved too. This week, I joined Stacey from Living Lionheart, Mike Sharman … Continue reading
*I am NOT being paid to drag myself out of bed before 5 on Sunday morning to run this race 
Saying “YES” to the offer of running a 10km race at 6am on a Sunday in Benoni was a lot harder to do than deciding on which charity I’d like to run for.
The second I’d accepted the #SlowMagMarathon Blogger Challenge, I knew who I wanted to run, and potentially raise R10,000, for.
#iPadsForLionhearts is the brainchild of Stacey Vee, mom to Travis (The Lionheart), Ryan (The Mighty Squish) and Oliver (nickname yet to be defined). Stacey will deny it but she is a supermom like no other, juggling more balls than there are in most playground ball-pits. Seriously.
On top of churning out 2500 word articles in the blink of an eye, raising her gorgeous boys and generally being amazing, Stacey has set up the iPads for Lionhearts charity, collecting second-hand (and new, when they’re donated) iPads for children with autism.
Taken directly from the #iPadsForLionhearts website:
iPads and autism work together like peanut butter and jam, ice-cream and hot chocolate sauce, Simon and Garfunkel!
Children with autism struggle in conventional classrooms; they find it hard to make friends, to socialise, to even make eye contact. But put an iPad in the hands of these unusual kids and you’ve given them a gift that changes their lives forever!For some reason, an iPad is an interface that just ‘clicks’ for a child with autism. It’s an educational tool, a communication tool and it gives them confidence. Sometimes, an iPad is their only friend in a lonely and confusing world.
But… and this is a big ‘but’… iPads are expensive! And families with special needs are often struggling to make ends meet as it is.
And here’s the part where I ask for your help.
You won’t win a hamper full of chocolates or a weekend away at a luxury spa. What WE could win, is R10,000.00 for this great cause – which could buy at least 4 second-hand iPads or 2 brand new iPads for kids who need them. Imagine the look on the faces of the children when their parents hand them their shiny new toy … a gift that could give them more joy than you could ever know.
Starting today (Wednesday 9am) until 3pm on Friday, you can tweet up a storm to support me in my efforts.
For every 10 tweets of support that I receive, I will have 30 seconds knocked off my race time! There are 9 other bloggers taking part in various distances of the Slow-Mag Marathon, all trying to raise the 10k for their own charities. The people at Slow-Mag have devised a clever way to even the playing field, which involves this Twitter support!
You MUST use the hashtag #SlowMagMarathon and my Twitter handle (@Nicki_Dadic) to send me your messages of support. Take a look at Stacey’s blog post on this for cheer ideas … or you could follow Tarryn Strydom, Twitter Cheerleader EXTRAORDINNAIRE and simply retweet her tweets
From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Lionhearts, I thank you!
Now, LET’S DO THIS!
I’m a bit of an erratic blogger, I know. I go ape after a 4 month hiatus and then nothing.
Again.
I have valid reasons this time – I’m busy registering “One of The Boys (Pty) Ltd” and actually turning it into a business! WOO! And I’ve been spending all-important time with my little noodles Mission ACCOMPLISHED!
Easter weekend is coming up, which means even more fun family stuff! We’re seeing friends and family, visiting the Monte Casino Bird Park for the first time and stretching out on our green grass when we’ve got a moment to chill … soaking up these last days of warm weather.
Speaking of Easter, my friends at Cadbury asked me if I’d like to give away a couple of hampers to my readers and, after seeing tweets about the cost of Easter eggs, I jumped at the chance to share the chocolatey love! I’ll make this easy and say that all you’ve got to do tweet me @Nicki_Dadic with your favourite Cadbury Easter treat and include #CadburyEaster in your tweet too.
FOUR people will win hampers just like this, each worth R400:
The new Cadbury Dairy Milk Novelty Range is made up of a Cadbury Dairy Milk Egg Basket, Mini Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Filled Eggs and the Mini Cadbury Dairy Milk Hollow Eggs and each item contains the “glass and a half” of joy that has made Cadbury Dairy Milk the best-loved chocolate in South Africa.
I’ll randomly select 4 winning tweets at 16:00 on Wednesday and you should hopefully have your hampers before the Easter weekend!
This would have been a sponsored post, but I decided to offer up my payment (a hamper!) as an additional prize for my lovely readers. So this post is on the house and I agreed to participate purely because I LOVE ME SOME CHOCOLATE!!!
So, there was a technical glitch that prevented Gareth Cliff’s Ducky MoMo cameo from airing last Saturday.
Could it have been evil genius Dr Heinz Doofenschmirtz’s own diabolical plan to screw with the TV scheduling? Only Perry the Platypus knows …
Anyway, catch Gareth Cliff as the pretentious Ducky MoMo salesman THIS SATURDAY at 9:45 AM on Disney XD!
PS: This was a sponsored/paid-for post.
We have a three an almost four year old who’s grown tired of Teletubbies and Mister Maker. So, after much CAREFUL consideration a couple of weeks ago, (I’m still no fan of shows like Ben 10 or Spiderman or other physically violent programmes) we settled on watching a few episodes of Phineas & Ferb.
From the tattle-tale sister, Candace to the adventures of Perry the (very much silent) Platypus, we’ve been hooked from day one.
It’s the kind of show that not only appeals to kids, but has Dave and I in stitches too! Dave mentioned a while ago that he heard 5fm’s Gareth Cliff talking about being involved in an episode of our new favourite show and I kinda forgot about it, until tonight, when we were all settled down after dinner to watch tonight’s episode. During an ad break, the announcer on Disney XD mentioned the new episode of Phineas & Ferb that is airing this Saturday and Dave picked up that it is the very episode that Gareth Cliff would be in!!!
![Copy of Gareth3[3]](http://oneoftheboys.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Copy-of-Gareth33.jpg)
(WANT that t-shirt!!!)
Here’s a behind-the-scenes clip of Gareth recording his episode, in which he plays a Ducky MoMo salesman (you’ll have to watch it to understand):
Can’t wait to watch (hear?) South African talent shine on an international, award-winning show. Yes, AWARD-WINNING! Phineas & Ferb (which is made by some of the guys who do Family Guy and The Simpsons) has been nominated for a BAFTA and has actually WON an Emmy! How cool? That’s quality viewing, right thurrr!
I also found out that Gareth Cliff is joining a celebrity-filled list of guest voices who have been featured on the hit show, including David Beckham, Ben Stiller, Michael J. Fox, Selena Gomez and Slash! NO PRESSURE GARETH!!!
![Copy of Gareth16[3]](http://oneoftheboys.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Copy-of-Gareth163.jpg)
So, set your PVRs now (because I’m sure your little ones will want to watch it OVER AND OVER, like ours do!) and let me know what you think on Saturday!
I don’t normally get rubbed up the wrong way when I read stuff in the news (or in this case, tabloids), but this really minced my meat/grated my cheese/scrambled my eggs.
Vanessa Lachey, wife of boy-bander Nick, recently blogged about her experience with baby blues, and for ease of reference, I’ll post the snippet that got me a bit annoyed here:
On Saturday September 29th, my baby blues finally got the best of me. I was in my maternity leggings, un-showered with throw up on my shirt, hives ALL over my body (another lovely post pregnancy perk I got) and a sweet, loving little boy who couldn’t look at me and smile to make it all better. He was just too young. I started crying. I was feeding Camden and crying my eyes out. I felt like I had officially come undone. I imagined blissful days, tired nights, but quiet loving moments. I imagined family dinners with the 12 casseroles I prepared ahead of time, and a beautiful post-pregnancy glow that embodied me 24-7. But This was none of that. I didn’t feel like myself. Where was the super woman who always thought and knew she could do it all? Where was the organized Vanessa who had it all under control no matter what the obstacle? She was gone, and I thought… forever.
As I was crying, Nick took Camden, I got in my car, took a drive around the block, put my sunroof down and blared the radio. One Repulbic was on, Feel Again. I had never heard the song at the time, but loved how it made me feel. I went to Starbucks, came home, took a shower, put myself together and came upstairs to give my husband a kiss and tell him I was sorry…I was sorry for the weeks of losing myself. I was sorry for the weeks to come when I won’t be myself, and I am sorry I can’t do it ALL like I thought I could. And it made me feel so much better.
(You can read the full post here)
Now, I get that taking time out for yourself is important, hell … I don’t get enough of it at the moment and it’s slowly killing me. But I recognize this problem and I’ll (try to) sort it out soon. What I don’t get is that she felt she had to say sorry. “… sorry for the weeks of losing myself. I was sorry for the weeks to come when I won’t be myself, and I am sorry I can’t do it ALL like I thought I could. And it made me feel so much better.”
I’ve apologised to Dave for being a raging b!tch when I was in the throes of PND. I’ve said sorry to ME for putting myself under so much undue pressure. But I never have and I never will, apologise for the way I felt – for the exhaustion, the feeling of being “alone”. Its something that HAPPENED and I DEALT with it, with the help of a qualified specialist and medication. And I will talk about it as much as I can because so many women (and even more men) think that simply getting away for a quick open-roofed drive to Starbucks will solve all of their baby blues issues. If I’d driven off for a coffee on the day that I broke down, I probably would have kept driving until I drove right into the sea or off a cliff.I was at my lowest and the last thing I needed to do was apologise and luckily for me, no one expected me to.
All I’m saying is it DOESN’T always have to be sunshine and unicorns. In fact, most of the time it isn’t and we SHOULDN’T have to say sorry either!
What are your thoughts on Vanessa’s post? I’d love to know!
Little Mika Moo. Where to begin with you …
The first 8-12 weeks of your life were a total nightmare. I lie. The first two or three weeks were cool – I thought I had the “two kids” business down pat. You never really slept that much, but I took it in my stride.
The proverbial shit hit the fan a couple of days (or weeks? I’m really not sure – it’s all a blur) before we went away on our December holiday to Port Alfred. You weren’t breastfeeding well. You were always grumpy. I took you to Magic Mike the Chiro and tried a bagajillion (credit to Emma Sadlier for that word) different formulas, colic remedies, reflux meds and anything else that was “safe” for me to experiment with. It sucked. In fact, it sucked so much that I came home from holiday with a shiny new disease. Post-natal depression. Yip. It wasn’t pretty. I lost the plot in Dr Maraschin’s rooms, blubbing all over his wife’s cardiganed shoulder and eventually went to see a fantastic Serbian (sssh, don’t tell Dad!) psychologist who prescribed some fantastic medicine that saved my life and probably also your Dad’s.
It was a tough pill to swallow (well, figuratively. Literally – it was a tiny little tablet that I could swallow with a bit of saliva. But anyway) – I couldn’t understand why I was so sad, when I had so much. You, your beautiful brother, your amazing Dad. Why was I sad? BECAUSE I WAS F%&KING EXHAUSTED, that’s why! Sheesh! I think I averaged 2 broken hours a night and possibly an hour’s nap during the day (on a good day) for almost 12 solid weeks. It’s a miracle I’m still here today, tikking away at my fancy backlit keyboard. It really is.
BUT, enough with the depressing stuff. Pun intended.
You are now almost 17 months old. You still wake up once, sometimes twice a night, but it’s bearable. You have your bottle and then pop right back off to sleep. Hell, you even say “tata” and wave your chubby little hand at me some nights. It’s SO cute. You still only have your top and bottom front teeth, so 4 in total. I think your brother was pretty much the same when it came to his teeth-to-age ratio. He’s got a BEAUTIFUL set of pearly whites now though, so I’m not worried about you still being toothless at 13.
Your repertoire of words currently consists of: Anna, out and “uh uh” (no). You call EVERYONE Anna, Dad and I included. You do understand instructions from Dad and I though – when I say “Gimme a KISS!” you open your mouth as wide as possible and try to swallow me whole kiss me. If I ask you to take something to Daddy/Luca/Anna, you happily oblige. Unless it’s food and then you’ll have a taste first and only give it up if you’re not enjoying it.
Food. You LOVE food. But you love ALL food, unlike your brother who basically only eats food that’s white. You march off to the fridge, grab a peach and hand it to me to be washed, before devouring it. You hold a tub of Woolies blueberries in the crook of your arm and watch TV as if it’s a box of popcorn and you’re at the cinema, watching the latest animated blockbuster. You love cake. You ate every kind of cake at Ben’s 1st birthday party recently … so much that I was genuinely concerned about you puking all over my car on the way home. You love ALL food and you’re just like me in that you’ll try anything. I love that about you. You’re our little adventurer.
You adore your big brother and always want to do what he’s doing/have what he has/sit where he’s sitting etc. The two of you fight constantly all the time non-stop sometimes, but occasionally there are the most awesome “moments” where Luca will do something for or to you that creates that look in your eyes … the look that someone gets when they honestly believe that THE MOST AMAZING THING has just happened. It’s beautiful!
While your brother always looks like the trendiest kid in town, with his skinny jeans and quirky t-shirts, you look like a hobo. All the time. Your signature look includes:
It’s how you roll. You’re a rough-and-tumble little dude and that’s what we adore SO much about you. Perhaps Luca was just as strong, but as second-time parents, Daddy and I know that you won’t “break” so we just let you be. And you love it.
You giggle like an escaped mental patient. You have a dimple that tears at my heart-strings every time it appears. You also have a very dimpled butt that just BEGS to be kissed. When it’s clean … which is not often. You’re a daredevil and you’re fiercely independent … but at the same time you run to me to lift you into my arms when you’re scared or shy. Something tells me you’ll be the family’s protector. You’ll be big, and strong and you’ll love with no limits.
Just stay my little baby forever, okay?
It’s been almost 4 and a half years since I found out I was pregnant with Luca. One afternoon, after drinking a margarita and jumping on a trampoline (as you do), I realized I wasn’t feeling too hot. I had never been (and am still not) “aware” of my cycles. If asked on the spot when I’d had my last period, I would have to whip my pill out of my handbag and do a little recap of the last 4 weeks. That’s just me. Anyway, after a bit of a boozy afternoon, I felt a little queasy. After ruling out “dodgy” tequila, I decided to pop out to buy a (4) pregnancy tests. Which all turned out to be positive and, just like that, our lives changed forever.
Dave and I packed up our first house in Northriding and moved to The Parks. We wanted to be somewhere more family-friendly … well, we really wanted OUT (off?) of Bellairs Drive in Northriding.
Luca was born 9 months later and (this WILL sound cheesy, no matter how you phrase it) we began to experience love like never before. We still do. Luca is an amazing kid, with an enormous heart and a sense of humour I’ve never experienced in a kid. He’s cute, he’s funny. He loves animals, his friends and sometimes even his brother. He’s now, at 3 years and 10-ish months, finally out of ALL nappies, including night-time ones. He’s not a baby anymore, yet he still asks me to hold him when we sleep together in our big bed if Dave’s away. He has the darkest, most soulful eyes I have ever seen. He can go from sad to happy in a nano second … he’s a true Gemini, just like his mama.
He has beautiful olive skin, that tans to an enviable golden brown within minutes. He loves to play by himself, but also LOVES having us play cars or Lego with him. At the moment, Phineas & Ferb is his “FAVOURITE SHOW” and he sings sweetly along to the Winnie the Pooh “Hug & Kiss” song. He comes into our room after being tucked in for two hours, because “I need to talk to you, Mom and Dad” and is BEYOND cute when he wakes up in the morning with puffy “Chinese” eyes.
Dave and I marvel, every day, at what an incredible child he is. He “reads” certain words: mom, dad, Luca, Mika, Anna and Fila. He can count to 30-ish and backwards from 10. He LOVES Little Kickers and sometimes enjoys swimming (when he’s not forced to put his eyes/head under water). He ADORES his “big” school, especially Teacher Sue and all of his new school friends, even though he only remembers one or two of their names.
We love you little noodle. Keep being who you are … because you are our little superstar!
Oh. Hi blog! And “Hi” anyone else who’s reading this!
I’ve been a busy bee. So busy that blogging, or at least returning to the world of blogging, has been at the very bottom of my priority list. But I do miss it … I miss the feeling of release after sharing something here. I miss reading other blogs … well, some of them I want to come back. I hope to … soon!
Sheena and Dave, you guys WIN!
An Energizer Night Race hamper worth R1500 will be on it’s way to each of you soon!
See you on race night!