Colin arrives

Colin is here and it’s like having a new baby in the house. Excitement, no sleep,  apparently random defaecation events and a check up at the vet. (Yes, we were actually so tired after our daughter was born that we once took her to the vet. She’s now the only six year old in Cape Town who is vaccinated against distemper.)

image

Colin is officially called Tigger by the rest of the family, because the breeder told us that she was the bounciest of the litter.
She’s already made the place her own and I’ve consequently resigned myself to fifth place in the house (still just ahead of the goldfish).

Mother’s Day and the Ad Wizard

This being Mother’s Day, I have been snowed under with cooking posh meals for Mum and for Granny and then generally tidying up after the whirlwind that is our three-year-old son, who decided he wanted to spend as much of Mother’s Day with his Mum as possible and therefore woke up at [stupid] o’clock and spent the rest of the day creating mess.
Once again, I am exhausted and that’s one of the reasons why you are getting this quota photo. 

prealex031

That’s a view from a hospital window looking down across Cape Town’s CBD as dawn broke on the day Alex was born.  It was nice watching the sun coming up on that momentous day – I didn’t often get to see sunrises back then. Alex wasn’t actually born until three in the afternoon, but there was a false alarm and I ended up going up round Hospital Bend at 150kph at five in the morning. Pity help the Ad Wizard if he finds himself in the same situation tomorrow when Mrs Ad Wizard is due to pop out their first one, firstly because he’ll be going the wrong way and secondly because they’ve got speed cameras on there now.

It’s amazing how much our lives have changed since that day. And while you try to explain it to people who aren’t yet parents, it’s not really possible. I don’t mean that condescendingly, because people tried to explain it to us and now I appeciate that we didn’t really get it either. It’s like passing your driving test, but bigger. It’s like getting married, but bigger. And nothing can prepare you for it. Not even going round Hospital Bend at 150kph at five in the morning.
(That’s probably not great preparation for your driving test either, by the way).

Best of luck with it all, Mr and Mrs Ad Wizard. You’re about to find out just what it is that I can’t explain.