And all of a sudden, half the year is gone!

And what do I have to show for it? Not much lol.

In a nutshell...

I'm back at work, which is both good and bad. Good, because I'm not sure if I can take anymore of the boredom at home. Honestly I don't know how stay-at-home mothers do it. I guess it's all in the mind :) There's not much you can do with a baby who sleeps all day (and is up half the night....ou ke read aku e party animal la'u small lea). I've gone through all the movies on my hard drive. Yes, all 200 of them. And this was with a little soul trying to sneak her little fingers onto the keyboard to type *%&lkjljsdadcssds8 cos she's smart like that. And then another little soul arriving home from school screaming "MUUUUUMMMMMYYYYYYY I'm HOOOOOOOOOOME!!" Sigh. There was boredom and then there was bedlam. Somewhere in between, my sanity was hanging by a thread. And bad? Bad because I thought I missed work and one day with my nose back on the grind and I started hating it all over again. But on the up side, we've got a new chick in Marketing who is very cool and on to it, so I don't have to worry about doing 200% of the work because 50% of the marketing staff are ditzes. And even better, we are going on a work trip to Fiji for a week. 7 days in Suva and 2 days at Sofitel in Denarau for a retreat. Woot woot!

Tinto is still Tinto. Loud, boisterous, loud, bossy and did I mention loud? Every word coming out of her mouth has to be shouted. It's like big caps AND exclamation marks all in one. My parents are going nuts. We went to Malie for the weekend and they were so relieved to have some quiet and order in the house. Though THAT didn't last long, because after a few hours of the eerie silence, they were calling us to bring the kids back. But back to Tinto - she's growing taller every day and losing the baby fat...which is good, because I was about to resort to Mr Lavalava for her clothes already. She bosses her sister around and talks to her as if she's stupid. She says very slowly "Elita, do you understaaaaand what I'm sayiiiiiing?? I SAID DON'T DO THAT!" Poor Elita she can't talk yet but I can just see in her mind she's saying "I can HEAR YOU dumbass" Hehe. Tinto loves school and her teachers. And when I say love, I mean LOVE. If we meet one of her teachers at the store, she will run up to her, embrace her and say "Teacher Luluga, I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!" Jesus. She doesn't even say that to ME. I feel like strangling her every time she does that, embarassing little shite. She's a fussy eater - won't eat anything exotic - definitely her father's genes. This is her one and only menu for the day - "Mummy I want egg, bread and tea" which means scrambled eggs on toast (brown bread only, mind you) and tea. The girl won't eat anything else. Oh except for her daily intake of twisties - I know, I've got to stop buying that crap for her.

Elita Eden. She's now 19 months. Strong as an ox. Can beat up Tinto any day with one hand behind her back. Literally. She's a bit clingy now with the new baby getting the attention. After all, she IS still a baby herself. Note to self - FAMILY PLANNING!! I try to give her as much attention as she needs. Tinto calls her "The Destroyer" and so she is. Half my mother's interior decor has been destroyed - anything on the lower shelves and walls have been thrown down, stepped on, smashed you name it. She likes to lug her little trucks and tricycle up the stairs and throws them back down the stairs. It is amazing (and frightening) how much excitement she gets from watching them fall in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. She loves to climb. Up the shelves, up onto the table, into the baby's cot. And she has a temper. If I thought Tinto was bad, she's worse. When she's angry, she throws everything down and shake her fist in the air as if to punch somebody. Yes she is an adorable child, my little Elita. One worry though - she should be talking by now like the older chatterbox. She's not. I mean, she talks a lot in her baby language but nothing understandable except for Mummy, Daddy, Mama, Papa, Vai (water), Pepe, Vaini (babysitter), Mia (the gardener). Hopefully she will start talking soon.

Gianna is now 9 weeks old. She's fat as anything. She still has colic and I'm praying it will go away soon so the poor baby can stop crying all the time, and I can get a decent nights sleep. She likes to lie on her back and gurgle a lot, and she KNOWS ME now because she's always giggling when she sees me - one of the best feelings in the world is having your baby smile at you.

And that is my life right now. Kids and work, kids and work.