26/52 - the freeze and the trees

Lily

Our little ballerina points her toes and twirls around in her adorable skirt, 

sweetly gifted from her Auntie Megan. 

Eli

Running wild and free.... his favourite way to be.

So much joy in such a little body!

Miles

Nothing quite like a post-bath baby all cosily bundled in a big towel!

This gentle scene made me stop a moment. Not just  because of my gorgeous little boy, quietly peeping out of his towel, all fuzzy and fresh. But I felt so thankful I unintentionally photographed our change table. A strange thing perhaps, but we bought this gorgeous item when pregnant with Lily. We got it second hand - it had been lovingly hand made by the clever couple we bought it from. Solid wood, super sturdy and higher than any of the other change-tables we came across, it was a great find.

Ok, so the activity that takes place on it is not always so wonderful!! But at the same time, a lot of sing-songs, baby chats, dressing and undressing, smiles and coos have  occurred on this little table, now on it's third go-round. A significant part of this season, it will be hard to let it go when the time comes.

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

Highlights of the week that was...

It may have been sunny but it sure was frosty too when we ventured out to our
favourite cafe to treat my lovely Mum. Miles was bundled up like a cute
little Snowman!

  

Nana and Miles... despite the yawn, we had a lovely time!

She's testing out her physical skills and it's my job to sit back and watch her go for it.

We couldn't resist ducking out to the new National Arboretum for the opening of an incredible new playground. It was packed out, it was gorgeous and it is sure to be a new favourite family destination!

She nurtures. He adores.

Hiking his bounty up the hill... this incredible hill just made for rolling down and
running up!

Incredible new playground. It was too crowded to fully explore on Open Day  - but we will be back soon!!

My, how she's grown. Bold as can be, she introduced herself and sang a song
with a little friend at our church Talent night. A far cry from last time,
she was so determined to be brave!

After reaching a special milestone, Lily and I had a little afternoon together that
included painting nails. She got to choose the colours for herself and for me!
And she painted my nails. And I wore them in public for two days!

Mmmm. Why wear the same colour on both hands, says Lily! Clearly, neither
of us are manicurists, huh! But we had so much fun anyway :)

Most nights Mark invents some new form of carrying the kids to bed. This one was a real hit!

It's funny how some things can change the habits of your home so quickly you can hardly remember a time it was
different. We finally (after two years!) got bar stools for our kitchen bench. Now the kids mostly eat breakfast and
lunch up there - and we all love it. They love being up high, giggling together. Mark and I love having them closer to the
kitchen where we are often pottering around prepping meals or cleaning. I love that it contains their mess to the kitchen area! Also love that guests can now sit there rather than hover! All in all... it's nice when an object facilitates life :)

miles.tones // five months

Miles is now the princely age of five months old, which is shocking mostly because it precedes SIX MONTHS OLD. Eep!! Just the fact that it marks half way through that momentous first year... it seems crazy! In our family, six months will also mean introducing solids (Baby Led Weaning for the third time around, yippee) which really means he is growing up. I have a month to prepare myself... for the milestone, the fun and the mess! ;)

Routine

Routine-wise, it is pretty same-same as last month. Wake times are about 1.5 hours though he can happily do up to two hours if the realities of life require it (eg outings and errands). I would say 50% of the time I wake him up for a feed, and 50% of the time he wakes himself. I have been bringing the Dream Feed forward a bit so he now gets about 10 solid hours overnight. I won't look at dropping it until after solids are established, I think. I have to admit I do enjoy that quiet and cosy evening feed too :)


7.30am - Feed, Play Time
9am - Nap
11am - Feed, Play
12.30pm - Nap
2.30 - Feed, Play
4.00pm - Nap
5.30pm - Feed, Play, 
7pm - Feed (top up) then Bedtime about 7.15pm
9.30/10pm-ish - Dream Feed then Sleeps through the Night.

Whachu talkin' 'bout??

 







Miles.tones and More....

Miles is still our bonny boy. Just so happy, chilled out, chatty and easy going. Even getting taken straight from his cosy bed to do a school run on a chilly afternoon, he just rolls with it, looking around curiously and being ever so patient! :)

He is now rolling purposefully from front to back (i.e. not just 'toppling over'!), and always looks pretty bemused as to how his world view changes so suddenly! He gets about 3/4 of the way from back to front but not yet got the final 'oomph' to get over. He wriggles all around the place and kicks his feet with such vigour I cannot keep any socks on those tootsies!

He loves to gnaw on anything he can get those little gums on - especially my fingers. Both the other kiddos teethed at five months so I am expecting a little toothy-peg sometime soon.

Little Miles is still sporting his crazy baby mohawk. His hair is slowly growing in blonde underneath so it looks like the dark mohawk is all he has right now! I guess none of my kiddos will have dark hair like me - I had high hopes for Miles but they have been dashed, haha. The other hair on the back and sides is about 2cms long, and blonde with dark tips. I am sure such a complex hairstyle would cost a fortune to achieve at the local hair salon ;)

Over the last month he developed a bit of eczema so I have been taking a few approaches to help clear that up (things like less baths and keeping them lukewarm when I do give them, using different bath oils and creams, naturopath appointments, reducing and cutting out dairy etc). Thankfully, it has hugely improved and of course I am not too sure what exactly helped it along - but I am grateful it has! His skin was so red and welted, dry and rashy but now is so much clearer. Not 100% thought, so I will keep things up for now and hope it does not get worse again.

Lily is desperately trying to teach him to say words but sadly no luck just yet ;) Well, she insists his coos and squeaks are words anyway! When he starts solids, we will also start a bit of Baby Sign Language. Oh brother, I am not yet ready for him to grow up so much, lol!!

All in all, he is still our adorable, content, happy and sweet little ray of sunshine.

We love cherishing every little Miles.tone with you, sweet boy!

25/52 - Zooventure!

We were lucky enough to attend a birthday party for some dear little friends of ours last week... at the Zoo! It also included a special guided tour by a Zookeeper to meet and even feed some of the animals! The kids were so excited... and I was glad to have kids to use as a gateway to meeting the animals too :) To make the most of this rare Zoo visit, we stuck around after the party and racked up a six hour stay! It was such a lovely day with our little clan and our friends - relaxed, fun, exciting and surprisingly sunny too! Animals are cool :)

Lily

Oh yes, my four year old is just feeding a tiger some raw meat. No big deal, huh?!

She was super brave and super loving it!

Eli 

A brave little Eli took his Emu feeding task very seriously indeed!

(I can't stand Emus, as I grew up on a small farm and when I had to 'go get the cows' from the bottom paddock after school each day, the Emus on the farm would chase me. Terrifying for 8 year old me! I did my best not to pass my phobia on to the kids but I did give the Emu 'the old side eye' when it came to close to me!)

Miles

He was enthralled with all the animals. Ha!

But in all seriousness, my chilled out Little Mister happily cruised around the Zoo for six hours without complaint. He amazes me how he just happily rolls along with busy family life, getting toted here and there. I try to prioritise his sleep and rest needs as much as I can but with the reality of day to day life, I am grateful he can be so happily flexible - we love having him be part of the family fun!

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

More highlights from the week that was...

Lined up and listening to the Zookeeper's instruction before the
fun  begins!

'Did you see me, Mummy?!'
Hand feeding an Emu... she was loving it!

Emu was pecking so quick, can't believe I managed to capture him!

Eli fed a kangaroo some grass.... very cautiously. Then he gamely touched his ears. Getting away with that, he
tried touching his foot and Mr Roo quickly jolted his foot away. Lesson learned, Eli walked away, accidentally treading
on poor Roo's tail!! Thankfully Eli did not get the swift kick that he certainly could have!! Just glad this kid survived the day all around, haha.

The highlight of my day - feeding the giraffes!

The under 4's needed an adult to assist them feeding the giraffes... I looove these beautiful creatures and was so glad to use Eli as a gateway to get up close myself, haha! Aren't they just so beautiful. With very long tongues!

Ha, Eli really made him streeeetch!

Got it!!

Getting to know a snake.

'I did it!!!!'

My wonderful friend who hosted the party organised a delicious lunch
and a bunch of classic party games for everyone. So hilarious seeing
everyone getting involved, especially in Pinata-whacking!

The classic Sack Race. First the dads raced, then the mums (I was involved in
a big Mum-pile-up and almost died laughing), then the big kids and finally
the littlies. Eli finally put his 'bouncing like a pogo stick' energy in every day life
to use and was jumping around like a mad thing. Too cute!

Boy and Bear

Two Lion Buddies. These guys really made me smile - cute and majestic at the same time.

Battle of the Sexes: Lily and her buddy Edmund wrestle it out.

After seeing our clever percussionist friend Bree on Playschool all week, Lily told us she had set up a 'real' band in her room w 'real instruments for everyone'. We discovered she had made this makeshift xylophone (or marimba?) inspired by Bree and had instruments for everyone in the family - clicking hairclips, tapping wooden coat hangers, etc!! She insisted we sing a 'grown up song' and for some reason Mark could only think of Meatloaf's 'I would do anything for love' (!!) so thats how we formed a family percussion band bashing away on our instruments and singing like crazy! We are a strange bunch, I realise.

Crayon drumsticks for her very own percussion band!

The heavens declare the glory of the Lord!