Pelicans and Predictions

In our family, there is a bit of an old wives' tale that pops up every so often. My aunt has this theory that when she sees pelicans, it means there's a baby on the way. Not too long ago, during a pelican episode, she was pleased to find out that my sister Ashleigh and her husband PJ are expecting their second child in March. Despite a recurrence of these pelicans, she was happy enough that she'd found the reason for them, and continued on her merry way.

As it is with families who are expecting babies, the conversations moved from the usual and mundane "how are you? how is work?" to "how is the baby? do you know what you're having?" and "what does so-and-so think about this?". Now Jorja, Ash and PJ's 2-year old daughter, who is bright beyond her years, and equally stubborn, revelled in the opportunity to join in on these conversations. Naturally people began to ask her opinion on the matter "what is in your mommy's belly? do you want a brother or a sister", to which she'd promptly reply, "we're getting 2 boys". Well, numerous scans and examinations later Ash confirmed only one baby. Jorja however continued to say, "we're getting two boys".

A few weeks later, we were all invited for a family lunch at my parents'. It had been a long, difficult month, and I was feeling exhausted. Coming straight from work, Andel and I just about fell in at the front door when Jorja came rushing out to greet us. She stopped in front of us, pointed her finger at me, and confidently declared, "You. You have a baby in your tummy!".

Holy smoke! A pee-stick, bloodtest and 2 examinations later, Andel and I are proud to announce that we are officially 10 weeks pregnant, and very excited about it too! But none more so than Jorja who seems to have amended her story some. Her new response to all the baby related questions now goes something like this, "My mommy has a baby in her tummy. And aunty Yommin. She's having 2 boys".

Lord help us all!

Second Honeymoon

On Monday 21 November, Andel and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. In case you were wondering where we've been all this time: things have been rather adventurous! Since my last blog I have been on study leave and completed all my exams (successfully, I hope), and Andel has changed work clubs. Twice. Due to all this commotion, our initial plan to see in our milestone in Vic Falls fell overboard, so to speak. Nevertheless, Andel had a backup plan!

On Sunday morning Andel and I checked into Asara Wine Estate and Hotel in Stellenbosch. Asara had come highly recommended by PJ and Ashleigh, and we had enjoyed a tapas lunch there before, so we were looking forward to our stay.

When we arrived, we were a little disappointed to find out that our room wasn't ready yet, but 30 minutes later, it was well worth it. We had been upgraded to the best suite they have! We had spa bath, living room, guest bathroom and a wrap-around balcony with an awesome view! For a brief (insane) moment, we wished we had visitors just to use it all.

A Room With a View

The Good Life

Dream Bathroom

We enjoyed a lazy afternoon, and divine 3-course dinner before turning in for the night. And what a special turndown service we received! The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before reluctantly packing up to leave.

The Turndown Service

What a very special celebration. The service we received at Asara was fantastic, and as a result they are pretty much guaranteed to have us return someday.




Who said you can't be on honeymoon every anniversary?