Here I Go Again, My, My

Well after our wonderful holiday our return home has been fraught with stress, hence the title taken from the lyrics of Mamma Mia by ABBA; Tuesday’s the day I’m back to Unitas for some radio-intervention surgery to remove an offending catheter from my inferior vena cava (vein in lower body). As a result, Monday evening Mom and Dad were feeling very down, so I decided that I needed to sleep in their bed, as they could not stand to be away from me. Mom, I know that this could be the start of a bad habit, agreed. The funny thing is Dad and I kept taking up more and more space during the night. Eventually Mom turned around and slept with her head at our feet. I heard her telling Shazza on the phone that if she had moved a quarter of an inch she would have fallen off, considering she was now competing for the space at the foot of the bed where the cats customarily sleep. I have to convince my folks that we indeed need a bigger bed; I miss the king size bed from our hotel room in Umhlanga.

On Tuesday morning, as is our habit, we went off to Mom’s group. This was not just any Mom’s group – this was for Sarah’s baby shower as well. We arrived at Annene’s place and Mom popped me down on the doughnut in the lounge to play with Lieben’s toys, and my little friend Melissa was there. She was so kind, she shared her mango with me, but when she wouldn’t share her chocolate chip biscuit with me, I decided to take it . . . let me just say my Mom says she brought me up better than that just in case you’re wondering. Melissa is nobody’s fool and gave me a swift slap to get it back. I just shoved the whole thing in my mouth to prevent giving it up. Mom and Kelly had to intervene, needless to say that Melissa got a new biscuit and everyone else had a good laugh. The rest of the morning was spent with me playing with the boys and Melissa, it was good fun.

As if the morning’s excitement was not enough, while I was sitting with Mom at an appointment on Tuesday afternoon, I started clapping my hands properly, and then throwing them up in the air to show my excitement, I then proceeded to make Mom and Edna say yah! I did this for the space of a whole hour. I have them so well trained. When Dad came home, Mom was very excited to show him my new party trick, but of course I wasn’t up to it, so I did exactly three seconds of it, and stopped.

Wednesday brought with it my old schedule of drumming at Be Sharp Beetles – I was excited to see teacher Liesel again. We are doing parts of the body, and Slade, Enzo, Erin and myself had a good time singing and playing with each other. Later that day, Mom and I popped off to the girls for tea (the other Mom’s group) . . . I haven’t seen them in the longest time. Their boys have also started on solids now so all the Moms had lots of comparing etc to do.

Thursday I was back to physio followed by a visit to Granny.

Friday was a shopping day, as Friday evening Bev and Claire were coming to visit. We were at Cresta in the morning where we found Dad sneaking around on an errand for me – to get a Mother’s Day present. I tried dissuading Mom from going to Cresta, as I knew Dad would be there en route between meetings between Republic Road and Towers, but she wouldn’t listen. Given that Dad was bust on his errand, and the cat was out the bag, he briefly lunched with us. It was just as well that Dad met up with us, as on his bike I reckon my Mommy’s Day present would have been all mashed up; so he asked Mom to take her Mother’s Day present home with strict instructions to me that I must make sure Mom doesn’t take a peak! Later in the evening Claire arrived and managed to participate in my bunzy run. Bev was at a meeting so she missed the bunzy running, but she did arrive before I went to bed so at least I managed to visit with both of them for some time.

Brenda popped by for a visit on Saturday morning; she had arranged with Mom and Dad to use my photo for some printing advertising. As thanks, the picture of me which Brenda touched-up to make it picture-perfect, was printed on a canvas for them. It looks stunning, and I can see it taking up a prominent spot in the house. So I’ve now officially entered the world of advertising, and can be called a poster-boy (so keep a look out for my face on posters advertising printing)!

Hyde Park Corner shopping was the order of the day for the rest of Saturday. Dad was also keen to use the Wi-Fi Hotspot at JB Rivers to download a new service pack for his laptop’s software. After a mid morning brunch we headed to Keedo for some smart new kit for me, including a pair of super cute flannel PJ’s. I also got some cool pop-up books from Exclusive Books to keep my curiosity and learning at a maximum. Chilling around the house was the primary pastime for the remainder of the afternoon.

Being Mother’s Day on Sunday I presented Mom with her first Mother’s Day present ever, some First Eau de Parfum from Van Cleefs and Arpels. I thought this was very apt – First for her First Mother’s Day!!! Midday saw a brief visit to Granny to say hello and to collect a delivery for Mom that was delivered there on Friday – a new Blackberry. Mom was so excited to have her Blackberry back. Afterward we rushed home where Opa was already waiting for us, but not before we amassed some Sushi on the way home for dinner.

Well, that’s it for this week. Please keep me in your thoughts, prayers, wishes and positive thoughts on Tuesday when I’m off to Unitas for the procedure to remove the catheter from my veins. I’m convinced everything will go well, but I do need to call on all of your support during this taxing time.

To all my readers that are Mommies, Happy Mother’s Day, and since it is so difficult to find the words to tell all the Mommies out there how wonderful you are, I will rely on the help of another Mommy, turned comedian, called Anita Renfroe to sing to you to the tune of William Tell’s Overture how awesome you are. This video is compliments of YouTube, so some of you may not be able to access the clip as you are behind a firewall which may prohibit access to that site.

All my love,

Jarrod

Figure 1 Click on the above image to view the Momsense song by Anita Renfroe

Figure 2 Clearly Shatzi slept in my cot while I was on holiday; now it’s a hard habit for her to break

Figure 3 Mom and I reading stories

Figure 4 A resounding yah!

Figure 5 Camo-snoozing

Figure 6 Snoozing-on-the-job

Figure 7 Being cute

Figure 8 Sharing Mom with Sonic

Figure 9 Drumming

Figure 10 Daddy-tacks at Vida E Caffé in Hyde Park

Figure 11 Concentrating on clapping hands

Figure 12 Checking out Dad’s helmet to make sure it’s safe

Figure 13 Wolfing down the biscuit I stole from Melissa

Figure 14 Natural born giggler

Figure 15 Happy Mommy’s Day, Mom