Browsing Category: Rambling

2017 – Looking back on the year that was

good mom

I know, these are totally cliche, right? Looking back on how the year went and all that can be a bit lame. But so much happened this year, and it’s nice to have one place where I can think about everything that happened, and also start to think through what I want to do in 2018. Looking back on the year that was can help me figure out what I want the year ahead to be like.

I did this last year and used a rather deep diving set of only 10 questions. It helped me to formulate my 2017 goals, which I somehow managed to achieve this year. So, I might as well use the same questions and see where it gets me. Continue Reading

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2017 – How I achieved my goals

caught, not taught

At the beginning of the year, I set myself three main goals. I figured three was enough, that I didn’t need to strive for a million different things, and wow, three was more than enough. But seeing how I achieved my goals, I’m still pretty proud, especially considering how massive my main goal was. The three things I was striving for were:

  • Emigrate to the States
  • Feel like myself again
  • Reconnect and grow

Yeah, I was rather ambitious. But I think I was fairly successful. Continue Reading

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Moving to the States – the first four months

four months

I know we all talk about how time moves so quickly, especially when we have kids. This is still totally true, but moving has just highlighted this for me. Four months ago, we got to the States. Four months ago, we left our life in South Africa behind. So much has happened since moving to the States, I thought I’d at least try to pause and look back.

On the one hand, I keep talking about all the things I want to do, to buy, the ways I still need to settle in. And yet, in just four months, we’ve gotten all our American admin sorted and set up our home. Sure, I still need certain things around the house and I’m still getting used to it all, but at the core, we are up and running here in the States. Continue Reading

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Harley the Two-Year-Old

Harley the two-year-old

Harley is now a two-year-old. I honestly can’t even wrap my head around it. I mean, I can, but I can’t. On the one hand, I look at old pictures of my little monkey and I hardly even recognize that squishy face. She has lengthened and grown and become a real little girl, capable of so much more than I ever thought a two-year-old could do. On the other hand, she is still my baby, my tiny human who seems to take up a huge amount of space in my heart and my home compared to her size.

Harley turned two a couple weeks back, and I kept promising myself that I would write about it. There isn’t much to write about the day itself because we don’t know many people here and decided against trying to do any kind of big shindig. Instead, her school had a small celebration for her with cupcakes I sent in, we gave her a whole bunch of presents from us and her South African grandparents (more on that soon) and saw my mom the next day to celebrate together (and give her even MORE presents) over sushi and soup thanks to the plague Harley gave all of us from starting a new school. Continue Reading

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Starting over

starting over in new home

There’s this research that was done back in the 60s all about the amount of stress people go through with various life events. Holmes-Rahe is often mentioned, even by those who don’t know the details of it, to talk about how death, marriage, divorce, pregnancy, and birth can all be so stressful and life-altering that they put a serious toll on the person or people involved. I looked up the stress inventory, as it’s called, and moving or changing residence is towards the bottom of the list. Clearly, these researchers had no idea what they were talking about – starting over in a new country has been one of the most tumultuous things I’ve ever done.

It’s not just the physical moving that’s been difficult, although of course, that has as well. Moving day was a nightmare, one that was compounded by the fact that we were getting on a plane at the end of it. But it’s so, so much more than that. There was all the stress of leaving, the stress of getting things done when we arrived, and only now that we are slowly settling in am I finally unpacking it all – literally and figuratively. Continue Reading

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