Super Flash Maya

Craig’s Aunty sent me this quote and it rings so true in my heart that I just had to share it:

“…Every morning in Africa, a gazelle (buck) wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running…”

This is so me no matter what may have happened the day before or during the night, when that 5:30am morning cry starts for a bottle my feet hit the floor running and don’t stop till my head hits that pillow…Some mornings there is a renewed beat in my step where I am ready to take on the world, other days it’s auto pilot and it’s just go go go, drink coffee, try to work on not being as cranky as the day before, more coffee, activities and so the list goes on till the kids are down and my head hits the pillow…

I have adapted so many coping skills much like the gazelle or the lion to see I survive the day… For instance I can zone out certain levels of noise when the kids are playing, which when people stay over I realize may be loud cause I get the comment “can’t you hear how loud they are..?” Nope I can’t ha ha ha Only when the noise hits that certain threshold I know to step in cause someone is either going to be hurt or has been hurt but other than that level nope I can zone that middle noise out… For my personal sanity zoning is a necessity…Another thing never underestimate the power of caffeine or sugar, it really does give you wings, or legs power to run hee hee..!!

But the instinct when your child needs you is on a different level… The day came when I got the dreaded call from school to come pick up Maya as she had been hurt, the senses in my brain over-rid everything that was there and adrenaline kicked in as soon as I could hear her crying on the other end of the phone.. I needed to get there..! I won’t lie everything is a blur you just do what ever needs to be done and pray the whole way through…. From X-rays to talking to drs to the waiting on decisions whether to operate or not, I think I just smiled and laughed with Maya but in my heart said prayer after prayer after prayer…I know I hadn’t eaten since the night before because rushing Cianna to the dr in the morning with a swollen eye meant breakfast was skipped, yes same day both kids two different incidents, both requiring drs visits… But hunger, needing the toilet all those things where the last thing on my mind, that’s the beauty of adrenaline when you need to run, it gives you tools to get the job done..!!

The dr was happy with how the break looked and decided surgery wouldn’t be needed, but we had to wait till the Monday for the swelling to go down and then they would take X-rays and make the final decision before putting a hard cast… She had broken the thinner bone right by her elbow… So once we where Home and she was fed and watered and the drugs had helped her to fall asleep pain free, I did what I normally would do… I hit the ground running… off to the shops to get stuff to help her feel better… This required a super hero t-shirt and her all time favourite treat yoghurt..!! My girls are dairy intolerant so when they eat yoghurt it’s a real treat… Not just any yoghurt would do, of course it had to be a superhero yoghurt from my favourite go to place Woolworths..! This is a side rant of a non girly type mom… Why the shops have only superhero tops that are so cool in the boys section I don’t know, girls can be superheroes too and not everything has to have pink really..!! I have girls that like superhero’s and not princesses which means I am constantly buying from the boys section and getting that ohh how old is your son question..!! Cotton on had the coolest superhero tops but all in the boys section… but our hero needed a Cape so we did we we needed to do, of course every hero has a side kick so little sis needed a cape too..!!

This is our story of the broken bones and we sticking to it.. Maya’s superhero powers kicked in and she was running so fast like flash and tripped and broke her hand, she is a superhero and can’t help herself sometimes they get injuries in the line of duty…!!! Day done, superheroes tucked into bed and head was free to hit the pillow..!

Monday came and it was time to put the hard cast on, more praying and adrenaline to get through the experience…The whole weekend Maya had decided she wanted a green cast with a ninja turtle on it, get to the hospital and what happens the choices are pink or blue, the nurse in shock because our girl with a sulky face chose blue and not pink ? The pain of them bending the cast in the right position and the sad heart with the lack of green kicked in more running for mom and dad, mission kawabunga was in place..!

This is what you need to change a normal cast into a ninja turtle:

• Self adhesive bandage, they sell them at Dischem for R45.
• Acrylic Paint
• Different size paint brushes, note you will need a very fine one for the outlining.
• Water to rinse brushes
• Old cloth/plastic to put under where you are drawing incase paint spills.
• Marker to draw before you paint..
• Torch if you painting while child sleeps
• Bostik super glue (optional)

How to make a ninja turtle cast:

• Section off the area you want green with the self adhesive bandage… special shout out to Dad for driving to Dischem even though he was dog tired and finding the solution to how to make the cast green that didn’t break the bank and made our superhero smile..!

At this point Maya was already happy with the fact it was now ninja turtle green..! But you know we are ‘more is more people’, so we took it up a notch..!

• Put the old material or plastic on the bed ready for when you paint… I let Maya fall asleep then began the painting..

• Outline the face before painting, don’t worry too much if you make a mistake you can paint over it..

• Begin painting… I had to wait for a coat to dry before adding the next layer of paint..It took two layers of the acrylic to bring the colours out..

Then after the second coat was applied the job was done..!!! We put a little of bostik super glue on the edge of the adhesive bandage so that it wouldn’t start peeling off.

When I jumped into bed that night I felt that huge dip in energy, you know when your body has been functioning on adrenaline, sugar mixed with caffeine and its all go go go when you eventually stop you can almost felt every inch of you shutting down…Its that kind of shut down when you feel to weak to go to the toilet… That night my pillow  and duvet were my best friend.. But as the story goes when that 5:30am call for Mama came, you guessed it my feet hit the floor running… Maya came and gave me a big smile and thanked me for her turtle cast and it was all worth it to see that smile on her face… Then came “mom you forgot to put a shell at the back, turtles have shells”… Ahhh a mothers work is never done hey ha ha ha….Wether you are a gazelle or a lion here’s to wishing  you a kawabunga, superhero, girl power, put on your cape and rock it kind of week..!

Love