13/52 - Easter Adventures (Part One)

Lily

Grubby feet, pretty skirt...

This girl goes adventuring her own way!

(Out to lunch at Rodney's Nursery and Cafe for a family birthday celebration over the Easter Long weekend)

Eli

This boy seriously came up to me, post-chocolate-egg-devouring and asked earnestly - 

"Dis a lovely face?"

Yes, darling son - even covered in chocolate, to me it is always a lovely and lovable face!

Miles

My little delightful....

Project 52: A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2013.

More highlights from the week that was...

Gasp - a photo of Mark and I together!!

A serenade from the balcony by Eli

He takes counting for Hide & Seek very seriously!

Singlet lovingly cross-stitched by my sweet neighbour and friend, Kat - I love it!

Driving home from church and Miles was crying. I turned around to see Eli with his hand in the capsule (you can kinda see in the mirror reflection). 'Eli, are you holding your brothers hand?' I asked. He replied seriously 'Yes, when he cwying'. *melt*  A sweet brother's soothing touch!

Sailor Boy

We hosted a singing/supper night at our home for our church family. Over 40 people somehow squeezed into
our lounge room to sing praises to God. It was so encouraging - most of all seeing these tiny two with big songbooks,
big hearts and big voices - joining in so joyfully!

Complete.
I added the final token to my beloved necklace I received for Mother's Day a couple years ago.
I love that Miles' charm is still shiny and new - just like him!

Took the kids to get long-overdue haircuts...
this was only Lily's second cut but it's like that girl spends every day in a salon!!

We got some delicious new carpet in our bedroom after the ensuite vanity sprung a leak, damaging the vanity
 and the carpet. Thankfully our insurer came through! The new carpet is so crazy-soft I keep walking around on
it and am tempted to sleep on it... Miles is loving it too!

They play and play and play... lost in their own little
sibling world. I love, love, love it.

Mark's parents brought the kids a childhood's worth of Lego... best of all - it was their Daddy's when he was a kid! 

Who is that adorable boy in the mirror? I am enchanted!

Putting them in 'big boy' shirt and pants for
the first time is always a shock.... my little man!

Chilling on the couch with my baby boy... 

12/52 - fireworks, parties, preschool!

We trooped out to the annual Skyfire fireworks show as we do every year, sitting on the edge of the lake with picnic packed to overflowing. We arrive hours early to guarantee a good spot but mostly it's because I love nothing more than just being out with my family and no distractions for a few hours... just time, sweet time, to chat, play together, eat, and watch the kids wrestle, run and dance wildly on the grass. Love it. Oh yeah... there were fireworks at the end, but let's be honest, they were just the excuse to attend! Sure they were gorgeous but little outings with my family are the most beautiful thing of all to me!

Lily

Her pretend grumpy face (not that different from her real one!) and thumbs in her ears. 

They were shooting cannons as part of a military display near by - very loudly - to the lady's displeasure!

Eli

Yep, he's a dude!

Miles

My little muscle man. He just gets toted along and is happy to chill out and get snuggled, no matter the locale.  

He spent most of the afternoon/evening in my arms. I held a folded blanket around his ears during the fireworks and he didn't even flinch!

Project 52: A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2013.

More highlights from the week that was...

Running free...

'Eli, let's snuggle together on the chair' she said. So they did, giggling madly together in sibling collusion. 

While doing a spot of gardening, we found the perfect spot for Miles to hang out.
Well, he didn't stay there too long but it was cute while it lasted!

'We want to help take down the washing' they said while I was gardening... and invented their own way of doing so!
Not sure the 'yank' method is going to catch on...

my little sidekick

*making playdough*
I got to spend the morning as a helper at Lily's preschool. It was a lovely way to get to know her school,
the teachers, the other kids and what she gets up to all day. Thankfully she is at the age where she is proud and
not embarrassed to have me there!!

Digging into her snack

No surprise she spent a lot of time at the craft table! Box construction is
the best.

Watching over the chicks they have watched incubate in eggs, hatch, and now grow into very jumpy little chickies!

They are super into science, nature, environment and animals at this school. Like... really. I am in awe of this nature
corner - they have quails (laying eggs), stick insects, mice, caterpillars, a worm farm, frogs, fish, silk worms and more!

It seems like she has a princess party every weekend these days!!
Little Prince gets to come along too... lucky boy!

Ha! Could there be a more stereotypical boy/girl photo!?

Pink lemonade in china tea cups.... it's tea party perfection!

my little gentleman - oh yes, he can handle fine china!

My little prince rocking out on the harmonica

Oh yes - before Miles was born, my lovely and talented friend Bec asked if she could come and take some photos of Miles a week after he was born. Could she??! More like Would she! I was so touched that she offered to do this for our family.

A week after he arrived, along she came, and she took the most glorious photos of my darling baby at only seven days old.... I love every single one - and feel so extremely blessed to have such a kind and generous (not to mention crazy-talented) friend. So grateful I get to gaze at these images forever that so perfectly capture delicious teeny newborn heaven. Thank you, wonderful Bec...

You can coo over the images with me on her beautiful blog!

Miles.tones (2 months) // Baby Daze #4 (8 weeks)

Ok, so Miles was eight weeks on Monday, but is two months today(the 21st)... or at least I think that's how you count it!? I may have three kids but I still get confused on the myriad of ways to track their age... and as math is not my strong point, as soon as they get to 12 weeks, I just track in months and call it good! :)

And as things are pretty busy around here, I am just going to combine the two posts series (Miles.tones and Baby Daze) cos... well, that's all I have time to do plus really, they make sense to be together anyway, don't you think? Who knows why I decided to post them separately originally. Why don't we blame the post-partum hormones, they are so convenient!

Anyway - my baby boy! Life is a bit of a whirlwind these days but the little spot of calm in the centre of it all is this precious baby. If the hormones are sending me into a tizz, or life's just getting too busy, rubbing my cheek against that teeny little head and breathing in his delicious newness just calms me right on down. This. It's what matters.

Sleeping: He is still sleeping wonderfully well, including still sleeping through the night - yippee! Generally he goes from Dream Feed (about 10.30/11pm) to wake time (7.30am). Once a week or so he might wake for a feed about 4 or 5am but it's only occasionally. Naps are fine too. Wake time is about 50-60 minutes

Feeding: He is breastfeeding like a champ still at generally three hourly intervals, and at recent check up with the Health Nurse she confirmed he has gained plenty of weight! He is now 5.3kg which is 50% percentile...  (and 75th percentile for length and 25-50th for Head Circumference).

Routine: Still on a three hourly Eat-Play-Sleep routine in the day, though it is pretty loose and flexible, especially due to the realities of life with two busy older siblings! He just rolls with it and I just do my best to protect his sleep rhythms where I can to keep him rested and regularly napping, as I know sleep begets sleep.

Miles.tones and More...

Our little boy is becoming quite the personality! Beautiful smiles (though I'm yet to capture one on camera) - but oh, those smiling eyes and big gummy grins are just delicious! I love just holding him and the way he stares into my eyes like he is trying to have a 'deep and meaningful' conversation just through eye contact. He is getting chatty, with coos and gurgles. Loves to kick his little legs around like pistons when he has blanket time - they really go, go, go! I saw him staring at his hands in wonder the other day - always a big shock for them to discover those limbs.

Miles is just a placid and relaxed little fellow. He is happy kicking around on a blanket, puts up with overly-affectionate siblings and loves to be snuggled and chatted to. He is so easy-going, so sweet, so peaceful. Yep, I'm still besotted with my baby boy! My favourite time with him is after the dream feed each night, sitting back on the couch with him nestled close in the quiet, his little head on my shoulder, snoozing away. They just fit there so perfectly, don't they?

Two months old... one month left in Newborn Land. It's a short-term visa so we are determined to make the most of our stay!

Previous Baby Daze entry can be found here. 

balloons aloft!

An early start is totally worthwhile once a year for the annual Canberra Balloon Festival.

Rolling out of bed at 6am (after confirming the balloons were indeed lifting off that day), our entourage trekked out to the lawns of Old Parliament House for some gorgeous sights.  Five of us, plus Mark's parents and my mum.... a whole lot of family for a whole lot of early morning fun!

I love the sight of balloons lifting off in the misty Autumn air, but even more I just relish the pleasure of a little family outing and tradition.

The peacock was a favourite!

Miles was like 'Yawn. Balloons.... whatever.'

Not a great shot but this is Darth Vader!

Eli bubbling over with excitment at all the balloons!

If you ever wondered where Eli gets all his funny faces from....

A hot breakfast and a Lion balloon impression!

Goodbye Hugs as Daddy goes off to work...