Going back home in 3 days and I can’t wait!
I’ve enjoyed being in London and spending time with Vins (more on that soon), but it’s been rather full – on.
I still have stuff to do here – there’s never enough time to shop and do other people’s errands!
And of course I can’t wait to see my Booni Boo š
Month: July 2015
Two Weeks
Today is Wednesday. And on Sunday Vins and I are off to London for two weeks.
Yes, just the two of us. For two weeks.
He needs a new passport and apparently you can’t renew British passports over here any more. I didn’t dig too deeply to find out more information, because hey – who doesn’t want to go to London?
The thing is… I’m leaving Booni behind. Not on his own, obviously – LagosDad will be here. The nanny will be here. And my in laws will be here. So I know he’ll be very well taken care of. But I’m still worrying. What if he’s lonely? What if he misses us? What if he thinks I’ve abandoned him? LagosDad has promised to take him to playgroup at least twice a week – so at least he’ll be getting out a little.
I’ve left Vin before – once when he was 15 months and once when he was 21 months. Each time I only went for a week. And that was pretty hard. While I loved being in London, and I loved being on my own, I had the feeling that something was missing. Like a part of me was missing.
London with Vins will be…. exciting interesting. I’m used to having either LagosDad, or the nanny or my mum around to help out. So this is a first for both of us. My sister will arrive four days after us – so she’ll be there to help! And also, thank God he’s decided he likes spaghetti and pizza now – so we have a couple more meal options!
I am so excited to get out of here and escape for a couple of weeks – but now that it’s all confirmed, the nerves have set in. What if Booni’s lonely? What if he misses us? What if he thinks I’ve abandoned him? (I know, I’ve said all this already) And… What if he forgets me??
Being A Mum
Becoming a mother was always very important to me. As a teenager I knew I wanted to be a mother eventually. And as a ‘grown up’, becoming a mum and the idea of motherhood was very prominent in my thoughts.
While I knew I wanted to be a mum, I knew there were parts that I wouldn’t enjoy. Just like every parent, right?
And thereĀ areĀ bits I didn’t/don’t enjoy. The waking up several times a night, the disgusting nappies, packing the changing bag at least an hour before leaving the house because you know how long it will take to get everyone ready and out on time – those kinds of things. And now that Vin is older, the constant negotiating is doing my head in. I must add that I usually give in – just for some quiet time! Yes – I am aware that I’m doing the wrong thing and that I mustn’t give in – but you don’t know him. You don’t know how he just drones on and on and on and on. And he sticks his face right up into mine and cries and it drives me bat shit crazy.
Anyway, moving on…
So the things I expected to enjoy, I don’t. I hate bath time. And I hate bed time. Is that wrong? Am I the only one? I know bath time is meant to be all fun and relaxing and stuff. And sometimes it is – but other times… It’s a battle. A battle to get clothes off. A battle to get in the tub. A battle to get out of the tub! It’s not that he doesn’tĀ want to have a bath – he just takes SOĀ long to do anything! I have to ask him at least three times to take his clothes off. And another three times to put his clothes in the hamper. And another three times to get in the tub. ARGH. And it’s usually because he’s too busy talking or he’s too busy pretending to be a transformer (I don’t know why this means everything has to be in slow motion). Sometimes, he pretends to be some kind of construction vehicle. ‘Activating excavator’ (in a robot voice). Sometimes, the laundry can only be picked up if the excavator has been activated. And only in slow motion.
And bed time… UGH. It should be a good bonding experience for us. But by the time he usually gets into bed, I’m irritated. And I’m hungry. We read a story and I sing him some songs – Dream A Little Dream, Hush Little Baby, Twinkle Twinkle, I Love You (Barney), Mr Sandman, Fly Me To The Moon and Goodnight Sweetheart. And always in that order. If it’s not in that order I have to start all over again. So while singing, I have to pat him. And when I finish singing, I have to continue to pat him until he falls asleep. I am aware that this is also my fault. I should not have let him get used to this patting to sleep nonsense. I’ve told him that once the new school year starts, he will get his story and his songs – but once that’s over, mama will leave him in his bed to fall asleep himself. I got puppy dog whining.
I love my boys – and I wouldn’t change them for anything, but does this make me a terrible parent? That I don’t enjoy some of the bits of being a mum that others do?
What Will Booni Be?
Booni will be elven months at the end of this month and I still can’t get over how different Vin was as a baby of the same age.
I look at him and wonder if babies areĀ meant to be the way Booni is, or if they’re meant to be the way Vin was. By the way, I do realise there’s no right or wrong answer here.
By this age (yes, I’m going to compare again), Vin showed a strong interest in animals and books.
Booni… Booni is like a cross between an excitable (and extremely loveable) puppy and a hungry hamster. Booni actually sounds like a puppy dog’s name!
There’s a shelf in the playroom which holds all the boxes of games and puzzles. Booni loves to crawl up to it, pull himself into standing and either:
a. pull boxes down one by one, or
b. chew the corner of one particular box.
He’s got a whole bunch of toys. He usually picks one up, looks at it, puts it in his mouth and then throws it behind him. And he repeats this four or five times!
If there are clothes in the laundry basket, he removes each item and chucks it on the floor.
If there’s anything on the bed, he’ll reach for it and throw it on the floor.
Whatever he can reach ends up on the floor!
I remembered writing a post about Vins might beĀ when he grows upĀ and although he was much older when I wrote it, I started wondering about Booni.
And I could only think of two things that he (Booni) might be when he’s older.
1. A professional food taster (since he loves to chew things and just eat in general).
2. A waiter in a Greek restaurant – where he can smash all the plates he likes every day!
Keeping It Up
It’s been a week since I completed the Forever Living Clean 9 – and my intentions were to carry on with the clean eating.
However, it’s proved to be harder than I thought!
The first thing I was going to do, was continue with the protein shakes for breakfast and lunch.
The second thing I was going to do, was continue with the exercise.
So what’s the problem?
1. The Clean 9 pack only had enough of the shake mix for the nine days. So I decided to order some more from Jumia. I checked the status of my order five days after placing it – and it said my order was processing. Still. After FIVE days!
2. Vins was feverish on Tuesday after summer camp. Not just feverish. His fever went up and down from normal to 104 until Friday. Turns out it’s tonsillitis.
So I exercised until Wednesday and I was very careful about what I ate. But as the week progressed, I found it harder and harder to eat sensibly. Partly because I wasn’t exercising, and partly because I was at home with Vins the whole time. Thinking about different (and healthy) foods to eat has been difficult! I don’t like the milk here – so cereal is out of the question. I don’t eat seafood – so a bit of grilled fish or whatever is also out of the question. I’ve been sticking to vegetable stir fry (sometimes with tofu, sometimes with chicken) for lunch and dinner.
Ok, so the Jumia order… After feeling a bit irritated with the fact that my order was still processing, I cancelled it. I could have just called them and asked what was going on, but you know what – I couldn’t be bothered.
Then I remembered a comment left on one of my posts.
I called James (the commenter) on Wednesday to ask if he had the Forever Ultra AminoteinĀ mix in chocolate (I’ve only ever had vanilla and really wanted to try the chocolate one). His price (N4000) is cheaper than it is on Jumia (N5500) and I wouldn’t have to pay for the delivery (N450) either! He said he could deliver it to me the same day – but I didn’t have cash at home and I couldn’t go to the ATM, so I asked him to deliver the next day. I told him I’d text him my address and the product I wanted.
I texted him. For some reason my SMS delivery messages haven’t been working for a while, so I didn’t know if he had received it or not.
On Thursday I didn’t hear from him – but didn’t really have the time to call since Vin’s temperature was up to 104 again and we were going to the doctor.
On Friday I called him again. It turns out he didn’t receive my text message and had misplaced my number. He said he’d emailed me as soon as we’d spoken on Wednesday. He had, but I hadn’t checked my mail.
Anyway, so on Saturday morning James rang and said that his partner would be delivering my protein shake that afternoon.
When his partner, Daniel, arrived – I saw that he’d brought the vanilla mix instead of the chocolate. He apologised profusely and said he’d go and exchange it for me right away. I told him not to worry about it, and that I’d take it anyway, but if he could please bring me the chocolate one on Monday (they don’t last long and I’d need them both anyway).
This afternoon, Sunday, James messaged me to apologise for the mix up and said that he and Daniel had decided to give me the chocolate mix for free! Hooray! It really is very kind of them – they don’t have to do that at all, and I really appreciate it.
So…
If you’re looking to do the Clean 9 (James is selling it for N17000 (at the time of his comment) and I bought it on Jumia for N24000) and don’t know where to buy it from – look no further!
You can call James Anderson or whatsapp him on 08034835439, or email him on swahzzee4@gmail.com
Here’s to Keeping It Up!
The Diary of a Lagos Mum 