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31/365
stuck inside for another scorcher. on the lookout for her big sister. a game of dress up hide and go seek. a whistle for a clue. the pitter patter of little hands and knees. peepo! and a that big sister hug she adores.
these two are just starting to hit it off.
and that my friends completes one month of photos. one down eleven to go.
30/365
you bring them inside for a few moments to cool down on forty degree days. you love your girls.
30/365
simple amusements for an indoors day
29/365
part of her summer evening ritual.
29/365
at the pool again for our evening cool down. with another string of days above 40 degrees stretching out before us, i think there'll be a lot of photos involving water. it's such a lovely time of day to get out. the air is still hot and dry but the scorch factor has all but vanished. our local pool is quiet at this time of the evening, usually just the regulars. the bronzed teenage lifeguards hang around the kiosk chatting or hosing down the concrete in between flirting with each other. family groups laze about under the waterslide BBQing dinner. the odd duck feels safe to land in the pool now that the hoards have left for the day. there's a lovely rhythm to it all. it's just the ticket after being stuck inside all day. what are your summer evening rituals i wonder?
28/365
living in a blended family has its challenges, like any other family. moments like these are some of the sweetest.
28/365
yesterday i heard zahra say to niamh " when you're older i think we're going to get on just fine". i think she's right. she is the bees knees big sister. after explaining this concept to her this morning she replied " but i don't want to be the bees knees". i do believe this has something to do with little hands in, on & around everything that zahra doesn't want her to touch. i hear you baby.
has anyone else noticed the rather crafty looking banner above and lack of crafty posts these days? the quick craft update is that well there hasn't been much apart from knitting and ideas swirling around in my head...a dress i'd love to turn into a top and skirt, postcards, yep been thinking about those for a while now. oh, wait. there was the skirt i made zahra 2 weeks ago. turned out rather well, just haven't.quite.got.there. how do those crafty, homeschooling mama's with five kids pull it off?
27/365
one of your favourite things is to sit on the swing under the apple tree & sing or cuddle chooks, or your dollies, or swing really high, or spin around & around. it's the place you go when your happy . it's the place you go when you tell me you're bored & i tell you to go find something to do, it's the place you go when i ask you to clean your room, it's the place you go when you want to be by yourself. it's your favourite place to sing to the wind & let all your worries fly away. we are so blessed to have such a place right in our yard.
today you and i went to the pool. just you & me, like old times. it's not often we find ourselves together, anymore, just the two of us. i watched you practice diving & i carried you on my back, weightless. we ate lollies & held hands. it made you happy. it made me happy. i love you baby girl.
27/365
it's all about being up and about for you my little nevie noo. ever since you could roll you've been trying so, so hard to be upright and on the move. you've been standing for a few weeks now and i just know that anyday those feet will move in time to the rest of your body and you'll be running. running to keep up with your big sister, running away from mama and those nappies she likes to put on, running away from clothes, running for boobie and cuddles. running to your own rhythm.
26/365
we headed down to the river today and caught some live music, met up with dear friends, ate sausage sandwiches and hung around while the kids played in the sand and climbed trees. it was lovely to get out and about, breathe in the river air.
25/365
the artful dodger
dig
24/365
light
23/365
may i take your photo?
bathe
we've been convalescing. slowly making our way back after a nasty tummy bug hit us for six. small seeds of thought about another baby had slowly started creeping in. i was brought back to earth with a jolting thump. this lurgy took me straight back to my nine months of pregnancy with niamh. those small seeds have been put straight back in their packet and up on a high shelf for another time when a} i either don't remember the horror or b} i'm emotionally and physically ready, should another similar nine months on the couch come to greet me. and no i'm not so dedicated to this project that i dragged my sick and sorry body out of bed to take these shots. william took the lovely 'friends of the earth' shot and i pottered around rather slowly today shooting the rest.
22/365
this girl of mine is patient beyond measure. i do believe it's not a trait she inherited from her mama.
22/365
this was the only photo i was going to post today. but then i was compelled to post these too.
because if i gave you the impression that life is always smooth sailing around these parts, you might just wonder where i had been stashing the teething ten month old, hair pulling, 4WD baby when you pop round for a cup of tea. despite that distant, far away look in zahra's eye, i know, hope, believe she loves her little sister.
21/365
after taking zahra to see frozen at the pictures last week she has spent a good proportion of her time belting out the tunes and trying her hardest to be a snow queen. without something floaty and white she is finding it a little hard. a rainbow silk will have to suffice. of all the toys i've bought zahra over the years i would have to say silks have been the best buy. their longevity...she still plays with them and now naimh is discovering them, they're natural, open ended and great for her imagination. one day it's a snow queen cape, the next a belt for a pirate and the following day a sling for her babies.
this girl of mine is equally good at running away from my lens as she is posing. "how about like this mama?" as she puts on a contemplative face, "or like this?" spreading her snow queen cape in the afternoon light.
21/365
tonight i am indulging myself with not one but four photos. after a long and tiring yesterday with barely a photo to show for it i hit the jackpot today. niamh is so sensitive to sound that ever since her birth i haven't been able to snap her sleeping. even a crow flying over saying "caw", as they do, would wake her. but today as we drove back from our little outing up the valley, after visiting a local ceramicist, she fell asleep. while stopped at the traffic lights i snapped her peaceful in her carseat. she didn't even stir with the shutter noise. poor babe is tuckered out. those little lashes & full lips. gobblelicious as zahra would say.
twenty days into this project & i've doubted myself a few times. have i bitten off more than i can chew? can i do it? do i want to do it? i've contemplated the 52 project & thought maybe that would have been more appropriate, especially after a day like yesterday. but then i think about what this project is offering & teaching me. i'm picking up my camera more {something i've been trying to do for some time}, it's becoming a permanent fixture in my basket as i take it with me most days. i'm capturing those fleeting & precious moments of my kids growing up, and it's challenging me photographically {portraits...never really been my thing, low light with a slow lens anyone? babies that don't sit still on command}. all of these things are feeding my creative spirit and this can only be a good thing right? so, tonight i'm thinking that next year would be a good year for the 52 project and the 365 is right for me in this moment.
20/365
today was long. will is working 12 hour days which means i have the girls from 5 in the morning till 6 or 6:30 some nights. tonight we'd eaten and i was getting niamh ready for bed when he got home. zahra was waiting for her evening pool fix and i was tired. niamh came down with a tummy bug this afternoon which meant numerous linen and clothes changes. i shoved my camera at him as he was leaving for the pool and asked him to take zahra's photo for the day. meanwhile this is all i was able to catch of niamh in between bouts of vomiting. the poor love.
tomorrow is a new day.
19/365
swimming nudie in the river this evening you kept wanting me to join you for a skinny dip. the joys of explaining social norms to an eight year old who believes everyone should get their gear off on a forty degree day and enjoy the feel of cool river water on bare skin. i'm with you baby, not sure those kayakers are though. love
19/365
first dip in the mighty murray
you amaze me little nevie noo how quickly you're learning and growing. it feels only a blink ago you were finding your feet and toes, in awe at these things attached to your legs. these days you are finding your feet, grounding yourself more solidly on this earth, coming into yourself a little more each day.
18/365
it's about this time every year that i ask myself what i'm doing living in such a climate. i'm more of a cold weather lover, where layers of wool can keep you warm outdoors and the cold air feels fresh and good on your bare nose and cheeks. the girls stared out the window today at the dried grass and saggy leaves on the trees. it really is just too hot to venture outdoors. so inside we've stayed for a week now. we're a little cabin feverish but keeping ourselves occupied with board games, books, craft, chocolate cake, gelato and long sleep ins in the morning. we're due for a milder thirty five next week. whoohoo.
17/365
17/365
a look of big sister adoration
16/365
a string of super hot days. a little cabin fever. a simple thing...for the growing babe. turns out my big girl enjoyed it more!
16/365
mama: put dirty dishes in
niamh: take dirty dishes out
mama: put dirty dishes in
and so it goes
15/365
what she loves doing most.
there are so many things about this photo that remind me of childhood. bruised shins, legs stuck out straight from the couch, waiting to grow bigger, summer holidays, finn family moomintroll, getting so lost in a good read that i couldn't hear mum talking to me, long, lazy days that seemed to stretch on forever.
15/365
oh how this girl likes to help out. help with electrical cables, help with unfolding laundry, help with general unpacking of anything. here she is helping me with my knitting.
14/365
being driven indoors by the furnace like heat that is summer round here, has sparked our creative spirits. zahra has been asking for a skirt, so what better excuse does a mama have to head to the sewing machine. half way through stitching her a quarter circle skirt she sidles up to me with some fabric scraps and asks if she can have a go. i've been waiting for the day zahra would ask to use the sewing machine again. having tried it a few years ago she decided it wasn't for her (something about fingers and fast moving needles i think). i showed her how to make a simple seam and guide the fabric. she sewed while i worked the pedal. the result? a simple quilt for her dolls which she stuffed with fleece and finished off by hand. proud mama moment.
14/365
these days are sooooo hot. our evening routine has evolved to include a pool visit after dinner. cool off, take a shower, then home for bed. works a treat. there's nothing like water play to tire out the kiddos. the house is closed up, doors and windows shut tight, curtains drawn, to keep the heat at bay. it's our summer cave. makes the house dark and coolish. some days i just want the light to flood in. its too hot to venture out except to hang out the laundry or water the pot plants. the heat surrounds you. envelopes you in a thick hug, reaching every inch of skin and the bottom of your lungs. we hang out in our summer cave waiting for the sun to go to bed and the temperature to fall.
13/365
i thought the hardest part of this project would be finding the motivation to take a photo every day. but really the hardest part is choosing just one photo at the end of the day. for a baby that would scream when taken anywhere near water, baths included, you've become a young lady that is hard to coax out of the water. you spent your final moments at the pool this evening just floating like a starfish, eyes closed, body relaxed. i wonder what you were dreaming of sweet girl.
13/365
you love water. when you were growing in my belly you, we, were happiest in water. i laboured in water and thought you would be birthed in water, but not so. you are my little piscean water baby. dancing every time i draw a bath. trying to climb into the shower with me. apart from boobie and being nude there is nothing you love more than being in water.
12/365
just one photo today. it was too hot to move around much. we put the cooler on and played monopoly. made orange sorbet and mooched in the heat. it's supposed to reach 46 next week, ouch.
j
