Our old stomping ground

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021

A while back we went to our old neighborhood for a little playground hop.

One of the things I really miss about our old place is the nature, and living basically in a forest. Yes, it was tiring most of the time, walking through the entire park to get to a shop, but boy was it beautiful and so fun for little Arren, but I’m still happy we moved, our Neptun Park apartment was just too small for us and made everyone way too grumpy. Having a bigger apartment has given us more space to grow and be happier.

But going back to our old stomping ground really brought back memories, most of Arren’s life was playing in the park, but as we arrived at the playground we were all sad to see that Arren’s favourite slide was gone. Making for a little grumpy Arren trying to figure out why they would move it.

We decided to walk around the other playground’s in the park, only to be disappointed some more, a lot of the fun things have been removed, but we still made the best of our trip and enjoyed being outside in the open air.

We all left knowing that now the best playgrounds are in our new area, which made us feel a little better about the move.

Trains

July 22, 2021

Arren has become train obsessed, this boy can’t get enough. Every time we ask him what he wants to do today he always replies with train. He doesn’t care how short the train trip or where we go as long as he can get his ticket and get on the train.

Living in Europe taking train trips is like second nature. Anywhere we need to go we either take the bus, the train or our good old fashioned feet.

Out of all of those Arren prefers the train, and I’m still too upset with the bus for starting my labour with Asher for me to step foot in a bus again.

We all prefer when the new SKM train rolls up looking all shiny, with AC and new clean seats, well maybe that’s just the parents Arren doesn’t mind the stinky old hot train. As long as he get’s to be on the train.

He really wants to go on the faster train, but Carl and I are saving that trip for a train to Warsaw, when Asher’s birth certificate finally arrives. Hopefully soon, its already been 6 months, but who’s counting. After that we get to wait equally as long for his passport.

It feels like our entire stay in Poland has been a wait, and mostly being stuck in Poland. The pandemic made it really stuck. Small space living and a lockdown really makes you rethink your life decisions, but back to trains.

Hopefully Arren will be able to take the fast train soon an all his little boy dreams will come true.

Experyment Science Centre

July 20, 2021

You can tell a day out was good when no one wanted to leave.

A while back we went to Experyment science centre in Gdynia, it’s been one of those places that’s been on our to do list since we got here, but it was one of the last places we went to visit. What a mistake! The science centre is a delight for any age. Fun activities for children and even a little soft play area for babies, turned out the last place was the best place we went to visit.

Around ever corner you get to try an experiment, and everything is in Polish and English, which was a shocking, but wonderful surprise for us.

From how the body works, to making a damn wall with water, and even an earthquake room this place has it all. You just want to continue exploring and learn as much as possible.

Another highlight for this Mama, was the baby changing room. It’s always nice having a nice place to feed and change your baby on a full day outing and this centre delivered even that.

Science centres are always a valuable learning experience for kids, no matter how small they are, just experiencing how things work, can create a love for learning and a curiosity that makes them curious about the world around them.

Arren Learns

July 19, 2021July 19, 2021

We are finally getting back into the groove of things, since Asher arrived and boy does it feel good. Having that special time with Arren to teach him and make fun things is always the best part of the day even when we have to do scavenger hunts for numbers and he wants me to fly him around.

Arren is a tactile learner and prefers to move around and learn things in a fun way. He is wild, stubborn and usually does everything perfectly the first time. It’s one of the reason I think speech was so hard for him, it is something he’s not immediately perfect at, that he has to continually try over and over again, which frustrates him, but everyday he gets better.

Arren is so smart and can put words together and read some words already, we’re always shocked when we are scrolling through some printables that has no pictures, and he points, says the word and that he wants that one.

I’m hoping he keeps this love of learning he has, and continually stimulates his creative mind so he doesn’t get bored. Every time we hit a roadblock we move on to something else.

A key thing for us is that when he doesn’t want to do something we move to a different location first, more often than not he will be willing to do some writing practice if we are sitting on the balcony or on the steps outside our apartment, sometimes something as simple as a change of scenery can change the feeling of boredom.

A laminator and velcro dots is also a fun way to make little busy binders. Hours of entertainment and learning from such a small thing is something I’m all for. Especially when I have a crawling baby dedicated at destroying all our worksheets.

Asher’s nap time is our main learning time, but we still do other things when Asher is awake, but I help Arren with things he’s struggling with when Asher sleeps like writing, and word building.

Teaching Arren is so rewarding and frustrating, he struggles to sit still, but he’s taught me how to teach him in a creative way that’s sometimes out of the box, and it’s worked. Seeing him thrive fills my heart with pride.

Asher is 7 months

July 12, 2021July 12, 2021

It feels like covid has sped up life, but at the same time slowed it down to a stand still. Everything is just rushing by and somehow Ashie has been here for 7 months, its even crazier to think we’ve been in Poland for 3 years.

Life with two kids is crazy, but boy do I love it, its nice to have a lively living space even when it’s two kids crying at the same time. They seem to egg each other on when it comes to crying, but when they laugh it’s a beautiful belly laugh all through the house.

Asher is our crazy little guy, he’s so sweet and intense all at the same time, he sleeps well in the evening takes his naps, eats everything, but he will try to rip your hair and face off while biting your nose with his 3 and a half teeth.

At 7 months Asher is :

crawling and getting into everything.
Pulling everyone’s hair in a ferocious way, so much that Arren is often crying.
Drooling on everything, making Arren get a towel to dry his belongings.
Pulling himself up to stand so he can really get into everything.
Perfecting his pincher technique just so he can zoom in on a tiny piece of paper from across the room, crawl to it and gently like a gentlemen pick it up to put in his mouth.
smiles and laughs at everything. except for the car seat
cries when he has to go in the car seat.
loves to share his food, but is unwilling to share his broccoli, broccoli is his favorite food.
makes every diaper change a pain because he crawls away.

I sure make strong willed, cute children.

Happy Mothers day

May 10, 2021May 10, 2021

Happy mothers day from my crazy circus to yours. A family photo isn’t complete without a cloth diaper on a lamp, a hidden plate of candy and a tea cup.

My first Mothers day as a mother of two was as uneventful as the previous mothers day but this time I got some photos out of it.

Being a mother can be infuriating, frustrating and most of the time you feel like you’re running a zoo, but most of the time it’s filed with lots of happiness and contentness that you have your children in your life, my boys fills my heart up with so much joy and watching them grow up is a gift I really appreciate.

Arren my first born son, the most stubborn little fighter in town, but he’s always trying to make us laugh, he’s selling Carl out for toots and basically rolls on the floor laughing when he does, he’s so fun and adventurious and he makes us get out of our comfort zones all the time.

Asher the little baby, is the perfect addition to the family. God, knew I needed a calm baby after the intensity that was Arren. He’s so smiley, grabby, adorable beyond believe and loves to explore. He’s so dedicated to move that it’s upsetting to see him hit milestones faster and faster.

I never thought I would be a boy mom, but I love these boys so much.

Photos of life lately

May 7, 2021May 7, 2021

a whole lot of photos from life lately..

park dates with Arren. I’ve been starting to take Arren out for one on one dates, and boy, does he love the time together, we chat, balance, play, and he always acts like such a jokester.

building box houses. Arren is a round sticker artist.

tower building, he makes a mean building, including stairs.

Easter 2021

May 5, 2021May 5, 2021

I’m still playing catch up on posts so nothing says delayed like an Easter post in May right?

With two boys life is a little crazy, but I love it. Everything is just so much livelier and happy, but with that comes a lot of things that are put on the backburner, including updating my blog and my floors that only get mopped twice a week these days. So without further ado the Easter post.

We started our Easter weekend with some fun Easter themed work activities for Arren. Out of all the holidays Arren’s favorite is Easter, he prefers it over Christmas, there is just something about a bunny, eggs and Jesus’s resurrection that makes this boy really excited, throw in an Easter egg hunt and some yummy treats and you know it’s going to be a good time.

Even though Asher is too little for the activities he was pretty content with his Easter bunny and proceeded to try and bite his head off, soon after Easter we noticed he was starting teething, two babies that started teething at 4 months, we deserve a prize or something.

with covid restrictions still in effect this year’s Easter looked just as grim as last year, this year even all the Polish people seemed over it, so many people were going for walks in their sweats, instead of nice outfits, no church and a lot of glum looking faces as Easter was toned down for the second year.

I decided to make the best of it and gave Arren a weekend Easter egg hunt with map included, the map was a nice touch for him and we were pretty shocked to see Arren really understanding how to use a map an finding all of his treats really fast.

We started are morining of with pumpkin bunny cinnamon rolls, which I prepped the night before, I started really strong and had so many plans for a feast for easter, but after making dinner rolls, and only having a couple we filed up to much and were too full to make a full feast.

Dinner rolls and lemon squares make a perfect feast for year two of a covid Easter.

Hopefully next year will be a different Easter.

Gdansk at night

May 4, 2021May 4, 2021

One of the best things about living in Gdansk is the safety, it’s something we are not really used to coming from South Africa. Walking around the beach in the middle of the night is a freedom that we all love.

Having Arren be able to freely play, run and explore is a blessing.

Seeing the Baltic sea, surrounded by forest is a magical sight, you can almost see the vikings coming over if you imagine hard enough

Everywhere you look you can see little memories that we’re still in a pandemic, from the masks on the beach to the keep your distance stickers on everything.

but, the playground is always at 10% full when its under 10C the Polish people really seem to hate the cold, we don’t mind as long as there isn’t a deep layer of snow Arren is always ready to go.

Soon we will long for night to actually come, when it seems like an endless day, that never ends during the Polish Summer and we will be longing for the leaves to start falling.