You Are Your Grocery Shopping List

If you are what you eat, then your grocery list is very important.

Here’s some things I do to help our family eat better:
– I try not to buy junk food when I’m grocery shopping…..the general rule is that we buy per craving……so if you’re craving chocolate bad enough to drive and get some, then it’s a serious craving and you shouldn’t be denied 😄🙈
– I watch what I keep in the house because it will ultimately be eaten at some point. So I’ve also sometimes had to politely refuse to pack some not-so-good foods leftover from a party, braai, etc
– Having healthy food around the house is good for the kids as well, I find myself having to say less “no’s” when it comes to the kids opening the fridge and cupboards to snack….except when my daughter eats the olives I’m planning on using for dinner 🙈
– Snacking is a good thing if it’s on the good stuff…..having a variety of things to snack on will keep it interesting (fruit, raw vegetables, dried fruit, nuts, wholegrain crackers, etc)
– Even comfort food is not such a bad thing if it’s on the good stuff (well…according to me) 🙈…..when my son cries, I don’t feel bad giving him a piece of fruit or a Provita to distract him (I don’t do it all the time of course)
– Planning the week’s meals helps to put more thought into what the family will be eating and snacking on, and helps to shop better.

How do you help your family eat better?

My Moral Dilemma Today …..What would you have done?

So, the flu has been slowly creeping up on us, and today everyone just woke up with either the sniffles, a cough, a runny nose, sneezing or a combination 😑. So, off we went to go top up on meds and then popped into the shops for some soup ingredients, and vitaminC-loaded foods. So, when I get to the till, the lady rings up my stuff and it comes up to R188 odd, and I actually just had R189 on me *close!*….so I hand her the cash and then realise that the box of chicken stock cubes is still in the trolley 🙈…then I tell her ‘Ag, I’ll just leave it’…….And Then she says “Thatha, ngiyakupha” (Take it, I’m giving it to you)…….it seemed like time froze for a while as I was debating it in my mind….’Should I, shouldn’t I?’…….hesitated a bit, then I nervously smiled, said ‘Thanks’ and chucked it into my plastic bag……but I still can’t help but wonder whether it was the right thing to do 😑. I mean, it’s not her store for her to be giving away stuff for free….I mean if I was the owner of that store, I don’t know how happy I’d be with my staff just giving stuff away……but at the same time she’s the authority that’s been put there by the owner/s and her word is good, she is in charge…….where do we draw the line between favour and a shady exchange (not that I gave her anything in exchange or even asked for it)……..Was taking it ok or not so ok? Thoughts?

The Amazing (Routine) Challenge…..Day 5

I can’t believe we’re this far into the routine, I’m so happy! It’s long overdue…..there’s already been a difference in our lives as hubby and I now get more time to spend together in the evenings…..it’s so worth it ❤️
But alas, today a spanner has been thrown right in my face ….I mean surely there could’ve been a better time for the kids to catch the flu 😑.

So tonight, we had to put the routine challenge on hold on Hubo’s side, his nose is blocked so he just kept on waking up frequently so we figured it’d be better to have him close by.
By the way, Kumi’s been making great progress …..Langa put her to sleep, so when I went into her room to give her a goodnight kiss, she told me “I’m sleeping now” 😄😄 excuse me!

The Amazing (Routine) Challenge……Day 4

Today’s results:
Mama & Baba win again! 💃💃💃
Now we’re even 😄 Kids:2, Parents:2

Here’s how the evening went:
6pm – dinner
6:30pm – bath, reading, prayer
7pm – downtime……. By the time, I was done bathing them, Hubo was already keen to sleep *airpunch* but I made one
blunder 😑…..I had promised we’d call Gogo, so we had to do just before reading….wasn’t a great idea, by the end of the phonecall Hubo was feeling more lively 😄, and it ended up taking me slightly longer to put him down (Lesson learnt: keep everything the same, don’t throw in Any new things, especially ones that will stimulate them).
No tears from Kumi today!!! Whoop whoop!! After prayer we did goodnight and kisses, and she just complied *happydance* 💃💃💃
9:44 – Hubo wakes up, bottle, back to sleep 💃
10:56 – same story
12:07 – same story …….poor guy, he shouldn’t be waking up this often but I think he’s just not used to sleeping on his own……which is the other problem we’re trying to fix…..so had to leave him to fall asleep on his own……..and yep, the tears and the screaming and and and *sigh*
1smthn am – finally falls asleep! (The crying was about an hour long today but at least it was half of yesterday’s time 😑)
5:20am – wakes up, bottle feed, falls asleep *airpunch*
6am’ish – he wakes up, this time I can’t help but take him out into the bed and squeeze and cuddle him….and breastfeed…..yeah, I did it 😑

Ag man, being a parent is not for the fainthearted hey 😑….I knew the routine thing was going to be tough but man it’s actually heartbreaking…..just seeing your little baby crying and screaming out for you, but you can’t pick him up and comfort him, you have to let him cry it out because you’re trying to do something that will benefit them greatly in the long run, but they just don’t know it in the meantime……and so in the meantime, they’re probably confused, angry at you, and all kinds of emotions are flying because they don’t understand what’s going on. I had a moment of ‘weakness’ in the midst of all the commotion last night….I saw his sweet little confused face and had to steal a moment to just hold him tight for a few minutes, hoping that he’d somehow know and understand that I was there and I love him……before I had to put him back in his cot to cry it out again 😑. The whole scenario actually just made me think of how it must be like that when we are going through tough situations and feel like God is not there with us……..

The Amazing (Routine) Challenge….Day 3

Today’s results: Mama & Baba win (just by an inch!)

Woke up feeling a bit sorry for the little one, after his fall the previous night☺️. We made a few changes today: 1) we adjusted the cot so it’s on the lowest possible setting, seeing the little guy actually managed to climb out, 2) decided it would be better if the kids sleep in different rooms whilst we get settled on the routine, otherwise Hubo will keep on waking Kumi up at night. But the plan is to let Kumi fall asleep on her own as usual, then take her out into our bed (unfortunately), 3) the plan is for me to sleep in the kids’ room to keep an eye on the little guy and so it’s easier to get to him when he wakes up …….I managed to pull Langa into keeping me company…….so if you walked into our house in the middle of the night, you would have found this toddler sleeping on a huge bed and the Mom and Dad tucked into a tiny single bed 😄😄😄……but as Langa says, it’s a small price to pay for the dream we want 😑.

So, the day was pretty much the same as yesterday in terms of the other aspects of the day, except that tonight is typically date-night, but we decided not to go out tonight so as to keep the consistency…..besides the fact that it’s a tight month financially (I still made a special meal, bought dessert, etc…..date night on a budget….more of that on another day). So we also put them down a bit earlier today so we could have more time together.

6pm – dinner for the kids
6:30pm – bath, reading, prayer (Langa did the bulk of it tonight as I was prepping our date night meal)
7pm – downtime….a few tears from Kumi (they are getting fewer each day 😄) & I breastfed Hubo for a few minutes and he fell asleep (PS: I always do it in the dark so he falls asleep easier)
From 7pm onwards – Feelings Of Happiness – yay!! 💃💃💃
10pm’ish – Hubo wakes up…..Langa catches him just as he’s waking up, gives him the bottle and Bam! back to sleep…..boo-ya! *more feelings of happiness* 💃💃💃
11pm – Yaqal’inkathazo 🙈……Hubo wakes up again, I try to give him the bottle but he keeps on smacking it out of my hand lol! I decide to try to let him get back to sleep on his own, so I go back to the bed……..so much drama! 😳…..He cries and screams, and tries to climb out, and gets frustrated……and cries and screams and…..every time I thought he was getting tired he’s start all over again😳….this went on for a good 2 and a half hours!! 😳😳😑😑😭😭 😱😱Wow!
1:27am – He finally goes down 😑
5:14am – He wakes up, I breastfeed him and he goes back to sleep (This time I couldn’t possibly let him go back to sleep on his own 😑)

And that is how day 3 of the challenge went……tough tough night but at least the parents score for the first time lol! Whoop whoop!!

As it stands:
Kids: 2, Parents:1 😄😄😄

The Amazing (Routine) Challenge….Day 2

DAY 2: Wednesday

Today’s Results: Baby wins
Kids: 2, Parents: 0

After the interesting night we had, the troops had clearly found their way back to our bed by the time we woke up.

We started the day behind by about an hour, everyone got out of bed around 8 and we had breakfast then and got ready for the day. We haven’t been doing much in terms of educational activities because my husband and I took this month off any kind of work, so I decided I would take a break from the ‘school work’, so our days have been pretty chilled, anything goes.

11am – Hubo napped (the plan was for him to nap later in the day but he fell asleep when we got to gym…..oh well)
1pm – lunch for both of them
3pm’ish – afternoon snack ( was praying and crossing fingers that he wouldn’t take an afternoon nap…and he didn’t….yay!)
4pm’ish – started preparing dinner
6pm’ish – dinner for everyone
7pm – brush teeth, bath, pyjamas, reading time, prayer.
8pm – put both of them to sleep (later than the plan because we started eating dinner a bit later)

The Drama Begins…….
As soon as I was done reading the stories, Kumi knew it was time to go to bed now, and she started asking for the Dad. Then once we got over that, she started asking for water. I don’t let her drink water at night, for fear she will pee in her sleep. Reminded her about that, but she just kept on asking…..she must’ve asked 10 times or more 😑…the persistence! I must admit I almost gave in there for a moment 😄 but quickly realised that that would take us back. Moving on to prayer time, when I asked her what she wanted to pray for, guess what her answer was? “Water” It took a lot in me not to burst out laughing! 😄😄😄
So anyway, we prayed (not for water 😄) and then said goodnight. Tears, as expected but at least today she didn’t try to get out of her bed…..gave her a furry friend that she held on to for comfort 😄. 9 minutes later when I went in to put Hubo down, she was already asleep …….nice!

It Was Silent For A While……..
At least we were able to enjoy some alone time for about 2 hours, then …
10pm – Hubo wakes up….Langa gives him the bottle, he drinks but doesn’t sleep until I breastfed him 😑
12:40pm – same story 😑
1pm – wakes up again but this time I decide I will try to let him go back to sleep on his own……he’s far from happy, he cries and screams, I put him down and leave the room and keep on checking on him every 10min, each time I find him trying to get out of the cot.
1:27pm – manages to wake Kumi up with the racket he’s making…..I hear her saying something, I think she’s trying to comfort him….but at least she’s still in her bed. I go in and try to calm him down, and put him back down….he continues to have a crying marathon…..
1:41pm DDDOOOOOF!!! (we find him on the floor, he somehow managed to climb out of his cot *sigh*…..I take him into our bed, that’s the end of tonight’s episode 😑

The Amazing (Routine) Challenge….Day 1

DAY 1: Tuesday

Tuesday Results: Baby wins
Kids: 1, Parents: 0 😔

Today we went out and hung out at one of our favourite spots, it was just a chilled day. Hubo napped around 1pm, Kumi had a brief nap around 3 in the car when we were headed back but we quickly woke her up when we got home (poor thing!). We gave them dinner at 6pm, and then bathed them afterwards. I did some reading with Kumi, then the tough part: had to tell her it was bed time And she had to sleep in her own bed. Had the expected tears (shame :() and trying to get out of her bed, and poor thing kept on asking me to come sleep with her, but I’d firmly tell her she needs to sleep in her bed, and then kiss her and tell her I’d keep on checking on her…..did that a few times until she fell asleep…..it took her about 30 minutes.

Hubo, on the other hand, is going to be the more difficult one, as far as I can tell 😅. After putting Kumi down, I breastfed him and he fell asleep. I put him down around 7:30pm. He woke up around 9pm, had some milk but only went back to bed again after I breastfed him. Woke up twice around 11pm, same story. 1am, same story. 2am, same story. 😑. Woke up to him crying hysterically at some other ungodly hour, and I couldn’t take it…..I just took him to bed with us 😑, and he slept until morning 😑.