I lost a fight with my toddler this week, and I bet you did too

fight with my toddler

I love this age with Harley. I’ve already waxed lyrical about how awesome it is now that she’s 18 months old. It’s so fun to be able to play silly games with her now, to laugh or get hugs and kisses (my favorite) and see her personality grow and flourish. I love seeing how independent she is, how strong a sense of self she has. Of course, that also means that sometimes I end up in a fight with my toddler, and I don’t always win. But I really don’t think this is a bad thing.

I actually did my latest Facebook Live about this. You see, Harley has started walking on her own now, and she likes walking everywhere. Except when she doesn’t. For a few days, she was walking from home to the car for school each day, and it was so adorable – even if it did seem to take forever. But all of a sudden, she is absolutely refusing to walk. And as much as I might try to insist on getting her to walk, she will just plant her feet and refuse. So I end up capitulating and just carrying her. And that’s okay. Continue Reading

2 Comments Parenting

18 months old – my new favorite age

18 months old Harley

Today, Harley is 18 months old. It’s strange to believe 18 months have already passed, that a year and a half ago was when she made her dramatic entry into this world. 18 month later, and I feel like things are settling into a groove I can enjoy. I know I’ve enjoyed other ages. It’s also increasingly clear that parenting just keeps getting better, and somehow my kid just keeps on getting more adorable. 6 months old was SO much better than newborn, and 18 months seems to be the best so far.

That doesn’t mean things are easy. Oh, by no means are they easy – that would be the totally wrong word to use. But they are more fun, and interesting, and different. Harley has a lot of personality now, and she cracks me up. She also drives me a little bit crazy. Here is the video of my Facebook Live last night that was meant to be about #AcerForGaming, and ended up being about Harley being, well, Harley. Continue Reading

3 Comments Parenting, Rambling

How to grow real friendships, naturally

How to grow real friendships

I know this blog topic might seem strange to a lot of you. What is this “How to make friends and influence people”? But it feels increasingly relevant and I thought it might be worth sharing.

I keep seeing articles and videos about how despite us living in a more interconnected world, people increasingly feel isolated and alone.

Many struggle with how to grow real friendships, and social media can create the illusion that everyone else is happier and doing better than you. So, what is the secret to forging deep and meaningful bonds with other people?

This might seem silly, but The Sims wasn’t totally wrong.

Okay, it was wrong in many ways – friendship isn’t best cultivated by locking two people in a room together, forcing them to make jokes and exchange gifts until they finally get to a green level of friendship. What, don’t tell me you haven’t done that! But the game was right about all of us needing friends. We need them to feel happy and social, connected and understood, as well as to possibly meet our partners or find the dream job. But how do you grow real friendships, the kind that goes beyond superficial smiles?  Continue Reading

2 Comments Rambling

5 reasons I love my Fitbit AltaHR

Fitbit AltaHR

A couple weeks back, I went to a lovely breakfast with the iStore. It was a wonderful morning of getting spoiled, complete with delicious food, and a gorgeous locale. It was for Mother’s Day, and the PR team went out of their way to make us feel special. Everything about the event was fantastic – from the rose gold cutlery to the incredible goody bag. That’s right, we got amazing presents, too. It was such a treat. One of the presents was a Fitbit AltaHR, which I had wanted for a long time and instantly fell in love with. Now that it’s not just love at first sight, I thought I’d share a little bit more about why I like it so much.

First, though, can we all just pause and marvel at how beautiful this cutlery is? I mean, I don’t even care about rose gold in general, but this is really so damn pretty.

(Disclaimer: Yes, there are now some affiliate links in this post, but the content was written prior to that and is in no way influenced by the links. If you click on these links, I could earn a small commission.)

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Comment Fitness, Geek, Products

It’s not just in our heads – food prices are ridiculous

food prices

Remember a while back when I asked you all how much you spent on groceries? A wide range of answers came in, mostly depending on how big families were, where you were based, and if you were really good about budgeting and meal planning. I tried to be more aware of our spending, but it actually just brought me down. Sure, I could just bulk up on cheaper starches, but that didn’t seem nutritious nor particularly appetizing. In fact, that wasn’t even that much more affordable. I mean, yes, rice, pasta, and pap are all a lot cheaper than steak and roasted veggies for dinner, but they’ve also gone up in price in recent years. Food prices as a whole seem to have gotten out of control, and it’s not just that I don’t know how to shop or something.

I saw this article in my twitter feed over the weekend, and I just had to read through it. I’m not going to go into the whole thing about regulation and retail pricing, mainly because I’m not 100% convinced that it’s all the evil corporations’ fault. However, this quote about the actual cost of living in South Africa jumped out at me: Continue Reading

6 Comments Food, South Africa