Can you believe that I started this blog when T1 was just under 2 years old and now she is a whopping 17 years old!!!?????? FAR OUT, GUYS!!! Where are all my old, LOYAL (shall I say no agenda) blog friends???? I see you!!!! Sending all of you big, tight hugs for sticking with me and experiencing growth with our little ones to big buffaloes now…..

I wanted to update those of you who aren’t in the know yet how these 2 young ladies of mine, still monkeys in my eyes, are doing so here goes.

T1 is now hurriedly preparing for her IB (international baccalaureate) and has applied to Universities in the UK and USA for Computer Science. She initially wanted to pursue medicine but after a year talking her out of it, she has finally found her ‘true calling’. She wanted to do medicine to help people because both her grandmas died of illness and both her parents have health issues but I know tons of doctors and even lived with doctors at University so I know what it is like to have a doctor’s life, so my heart of hearts REALLY did not want to lose a daughter to the world of hospitals (which I detest) on top of the hours of pain it takes off your life. I rationalised with her and thankfully from my business experience, offered her a matrix to fill and really work out the reasons if it would make better sense for her towards her life goals to do medicine or computer science. Some of the things for consideration were :

1. Will I absolutely LOVE doing this for the rest of my life if I had to?
2. Will I find JOY in doing this if it paid me NOTHING?
3. What is my future in this industry looking like as I know of it right now?
4. How talented, skilled and feeling ALIGNED am I to do this?
5. What benefits and perks will I get in doing this?
6. What is the ultimate goal for me in this profession / industry?
7. How quickly can my income grow to meet my ultimate income goals?
8. Am I selecting this for me, really-really me, or for someone else?
9. And etc.

After doing this, she immediately picked Computer Science even though I was hoping she would do Accounting, LOL. Dammit. I wanted her to do Accountancy because I wanted an Accountant in the family to assist me with my taxes and also, she DID get an A-STAR for Accounting for her iGCSE even though she did not have any Accounting classes at school (due to being an over-scheduled iGCSE-er); which to me meant she certainly had some talent for Accounting but no, she thought it was the most boring thing on earth…..OK, so computer science it was.

Also, I showed her the figures of what top neurosurgeons in New York earned per annum versus what one could earn in a successful business and she canned the doctor idea versus the pain it would take to study medicine, not to mention the TIME it would take for her to arrive at such an income (study 10 years!!!) when her mom could swing it in 2. She finally admitted that medicine was really to help us and I told her that we were good and did NOT need her as a Doctor. So as long as her heart was in computer science, we supported her choice.

Naturally, she is very talented with computers and softwares and has been our official IT Manager at home for years whenever we had ANY IT problems so it seemed like the right thing. She claimed that she didn’t really like computers either, just that she was good at them didn’t mean she liked them; so I asked, OK, what did she like then? She said she liked watching TV all day. *rolls eyeballs* I point blank suggested that she became a TV reviewer then! Not my life, right? But presuming she wasn’t going to earn her desired lifestyle being a TV reviewer, she chose computer science; and THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how my daughter T1 arrived at her degree choice.

T2 on the other hand, gosh, where do I start with T2? She is about to get her period so can get rather moody BUT is absolutely the life of the party in this side of town at the same time! She has such a bubbly character and is fabulously creative and funny as heck that it is hard not to like her despite her much reduced temper tantrums as she matures. She is kind, witty, did I say funny? And lazy…..OK to be fair, she is just NOT INTERESTED in school academics AT ALL. Whilst her sister is the natural straight A student high-achiever, T2 just cannot be arsed. She isn’t stupid. She’s just disinterested. She can recite the latest song lyrics with ease yet if she had to memorise historical facts? Zzzzzz……..

It took so much effort of subtle drilling and coaching over the years that now finally when she is in secondary (OMG, can you believe my little T2 is in secondary????? She is still so TINY, my little failure to thrive baby….), we are seeing some light and I really put it on the teachers at school. From a poor Math student throughout her entire primary years, she is finally scoring A’s for Maths, a day I never thought I might see. It just goes to prove that when you have a GREAT teacher, the world is your oyster. I am so grateful. I have clearly expressed that I do not need to see straight A’s at all but would like to know that she gave it her best, something I got from my late Mom. Her maturity (and competition with her sis, no doubt) has slowly raised her grade profile and who knows, she might end up doing better than her sister although this is not a competition. She certainly has the confidence, charm and positivity, qualities that generally win you more points in life; so I am not at all worried about her.

Both girls are doing well with health and happiness but regretfully, they do not have their grandmas and it has always been a prick on our sides, an extremely painful one might I add. But what to do….I guess they will enjoy each other again on the other side. For sure, they are taking great care of these monkeys from up above, but it’s just not the same with them being right here with us.

Soon T1 will be driving with a boyfriend (maybe she already has one, who knows) and be off to University and T2 will be lonely without the best sister ever to spar with. But she has T3!! T3 has been the best thing that’s happened to us over Covid season and also brings us so much joy. From the hubs saying NO WAY to a little puppy, T3 is now the Hubs’s BEST FRIEND. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The boys…..they really DO love each other so much and go for their daily walks without us the girls, out of choice. I am happy for them. *wink*

So the plan is for us to follow the girls to wherever they go, hopefully more towards UK than USA, but if T1 ends up in USA, then we would meet her in the UK assuming she doesn’t fall in love with an American and decides to plant her bottom there. I would really cry if that happened. I want family to be together. They are my life and I much prefer the UK to the US.

That pretty much sums up the short version of what the girls are up to in 2022.

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Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin is a former Design Architect turned Multi-Million Dollar Digital Entrepreneur. She sets out to prove to all that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.

Mamapumpkin has not only grown corporate businesses successfully in the past and doubled her salary 5 times over 5 organisations but has grown THREE BUSINESSES to 7 FIGURES within an 8 year period. She now shows others EXACTLY HOW after retiring her own husband from employment. He is now the official dog walker, family driver, chef and THE BEST FATHER to their two girls and THE BEST HUSBAND to the woman who CHOSE HIM!

Mamapumpkin is the girl who has nothing but fights for everything including YOU. She is idealistic in her desire to put unbelievable amounts of money and extrardinary happiness into the lives of good people so we can change the world together believing in happiness for ALL. She strives to impact lives authentically wanting to reduce poverty cycles and enable quality education for all and always supports the voiceless. She believes we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.

A beautiful life without limits.

If you wish to learn how to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave to take action. Mamapumpkin's purpose is to build people. Her gift is to help them UNCOVER their HIDDEN GIFTS. She operates fairly and always leaves an impression. You either love her or not and she is alright either way.

She is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything with anyone, as she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.