blog free rest and the energizer baby

A weekend with very little blogging is enormously refreshing after 30 days non stop.

As much as I loved the challenge I was getting tired. Do you know, I will be very surprised if that final portrait ever gets done. Another classic example of me starting something and going hard out until I burn out,

...and so goes the story of my life. The enthusiasm wanes and it all grinds to a halt. One photo left or not. Challenge, thankyou, you were very fun but you are now very done and dusted. On to the next thing...:)

Does anyone relate? When I'm no longer feeling something it's all over rover. I have been known to read hundreds of pages of a book only to give up in the last 50. I'm not joking. (River God, Jono, I know you were appalled.) :)

So I've cleaned and sorted the house which feels great, and I'm itching for more time with my hubby who has been working the crazy hours this last month. (Another reason why I could even participate in the challenge to begin with--all those evenings by myself with a bunch of the day's random snaps uploaded and a keyboard. What else is a girl to do...?)

Well, we had one day together this weekend and we loved it. Em, if you are reading, we bumped into your lovely uncle and he snapped this shot...

And then this this little guy...

...he has reached that energizer baby 'let me at the world' stage. Above shot snapped 30 seconds before the cry for help, because although he is climbing up onto everything he has yet to learn how to get down. :)

Eating the heater.

Grabbing whatever he can reach.

Up the stairs, chuckling all the way because he knows Mummy is right behind him.

You've all been there, you know the drill. It's pretty darn cute, really. I love each new little stage. His head sports a colourful assortment of bruises and scrapes that change position every few days. And we've started to strip bare and tape up the house and all that. You know, otherwise you turn your head for a split second and they're gnawing on the power sockets.

Well...

...we donned the para-rubber and popped out into our wintery garden for a few moments this afternoon. I wanted to take a snap of this...

...Sophia's preschool 'sunflower', in all her glory. If you remember this post and my admissions of ardent black fingered-ness you will appreciate just how delighted I am by this foot high beauty.

The wind was spinning the pinwheel like crazy so I turned to take this shot...

...and all of a minute later I turn back to my boy...

Aaahhhhhhh!!!!

The leaves (note them on the poor plant and in my son's hands) have had a hair cut. And the stem is cracked.

Tips on plant resuscitation?? Anyone...?


:)


x

a case of the mistaken cluckies?

Photography Challenge, Day 22 of 30: 'Hands'.

Someone found his sister's butterfly stickers.

These pics are more for the photo album--memories captured--than anything. I had a plan for the 'hands' shot and then I found Will with Sophia's stickers all over him and siezed the moment. I am glad I did. Love these shots.

Love this boy.

He is delicious. Plain and simple.

A week or so ago, whilst cuddling this bundle, I found myself feeling unusually clucky. The desire to start trying for more children nearly overwhelmed me. These feelings were as confusing as they were strong. I know that I am not ready for another little one any time soon. I hugely admire those who have a lot of children close together (or just a lot of children) I really do, but I suspect that they might be of a different breed to the likes of me. If I am to have any more children--if--I need space between them at least.

I just seriously doubt my ability to be the best mother I can be, the mother I want to be, with the added demands of an extra little one. To be honest, my head has really only just come up above water in the last few months after having my second and he is now eight months old.

I love the idea of a big bustling kind of family, in many ways, but I think we might all be better suited to the little kind of family. At least for now anyway. So what were these feelings about? This overwhelming desire to have more babies so that I can cuddle them and smile at their chuckles and run my lips over the soft downy hair on the back of their little heads?

It soon dawned on me that I had possibly misdiagnosed this feeling. I don't think it was actually 'the cluckies'. You know that feeling that used to come before. That unsatisfied craving in the pit of my stomach that I knew only little people of my own would satiate. Well this deep pang, so similar that I initially mistook it, was something else altogether...

It was, I believe, a feeling of overwhelming, stomach twisting love for this little man. For his sweet chubby cheeks and his dimpled smiles and his chuckling delight at seeing me and having me talk to him. (Seriously, he's that kind of baby, he goes looking for things to delight in and laugh at.)

On a side note: do you like the super long pj pants? I have this tendency to buy clothes 100 sizes too big because they last longer. The children then swim in them for a year and once they finally fit they are practically worn out. Self defeating? Probably. I just can't face the thought of new clothes being outgrown in a couple of months. So my children are well used to rocking the baggy look. :)

Gosh, they are ridiculously long pants aren't they...

Where was I? Oh yeah, I just realised that instead of continuing to wish for other things that I don't have (like in this case, another baby) what I really needed to do was devote myself to cherishing and soaking up the goodness of this little baby. I wasn't feeling clucky, I was feeling some sort of overwhelming baby smitten-ness. My baby smitten-ness. Of the 'I don't ever want you to grow up' kind.

And I still feel it. Every day. And when I do I take photos and I kiss him and cuddle him and soak him up. Because right in this moment he will always be 8 months old.

And I am going to do my darnedest to make this moment last.

Can any of you relate to the mistaken cluckies? Do any of you also feel the need to space your children out or keep your family size small and cozy? Or is it just me? Bad mummy, you should never have admitted that.

;)

x

p.s back tomorrow with 'sunflare'. Let's hope it's a sunflarie kind of day...

my little super hero

Photography Challenge, Day 11 of 30: Something Blue.









Will in his new shiny blue super hero cape! :)

He is just delicious, this little boy. I'm surprised I got any of these shots in focus at all. I would deposit him down one end and snap snap snap as fast as I could while he bolted forward towards me. I would get two or three shots each time (usually blurry) and then catch him just before he launched himself off the end of the bed. He thought it was all ridiculously funny.

I have, however, fortunately ended up with these first two which are my favourites. I'm finding it hard to decide between them. Any thoughts?









You may recognise the cape? I have been in love, for some time, with the Pip and Bean capes I have seen on Lanie and Nella Hampton. I have checked them out on Etsy and been meaning to order one but at the last minute today I decided I'd have a crack at making my own version. Similar, and not quite as cool, but inexpensive and fun! The construction is shabby (as is usually the case with my sewing) but the end result is what I was after. I made an 'all one piece', quick and easy job (maybe an hour tops). I'll show you what I did at the end of this post.

What is it about a shot of a baby in something ridiculously over sized? I love it!

Have I shown you enough photos yet? Believe me I did narrow them down. I had a really hard time choosing today.

And then there are all those other ones. You know, the ones you can't bear to 'trash' because they each show some other cute little side of the moment. To mum anyway. Everyone else just sees like fifty shots of the same baby. Sorry guys, I've included them all. But I have made them small for your sake! :)

There was someone else who fell passionately in love with the super hero cape. It was all for her really. I started making her a green and pink one but part way through it got coffee tipped all over it so that'll be a job for later.

Here's what I did:

1. Cut out a cape shape with little flaps to tie around the neck and a lip at the end to create a bit of a collar. I cut half of it freehand then folded it down the centre to cut the other half (to match the sides up). Good sides together.

2. I traced a 'W' off my computer screen (because our printer is not in action) then used the baking paper as a template to cut out a felt 'w'. I sewed the yellow 'w' on to a piece of black felt and cut it out to create a black trim around the yellow. Then I sewed the 'w' on to the good side of the blue piece.

3. With good sides together I sewed around the entire cape and left a few inches to pull it through on itself. (Do a few little cuts under the 'arms' of the 'neck tie' before you sew it together so that it stretches out properly when turned right side out.) Sew up the gap then iron. Voila!

Sophia's one is going to be quite cute I think. Will show you a few pics soon. Meanwhile, I'll be back tomorrow with: 'Sunset'.

Hope your weekends have been lovely so far!

:)

x

OH YES! I nearly forgot to mention that it's Wordless Sunday tomorrow! Yay!! I'm really looking forward to viewing your pics...! :)

wordless sunday and baby bums

Photography Challenge, Day 5 of 30: From a High Angle.

I just can't choose. Any thoughts? As for Wordless Sunday, here's my pic for the day...

Can't wait to see yours!!


:)


x

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photo shoot with hugo

What is it they say again? Never work with kids and animals. Or something like that. This week my dear friend Becs popped around and we had a little photo shoot with the kids. If you can call it a photo shoot. It was more like five minutes of frantic snapping (hoping for something good) while the girls giggled and bounced and screamed and wrestled on the beds around us. So I do get the point of the saying. Yet in spite of that I've gotta say, taking pics of kids is quite possibly one of my absolute favourite things to do.

Here is what we got:

Love it! And above all I adore those shots that capture the action of the moment. You know the ones that some might throw away because they are not lined up perfectly or part the body is cut out. Often those ones are some of the best. In fact, this next shot is my favourite:

:)

So fun! :)

And, ah yes, he certainly is a scrumptious one, that Hugo.

x