I ♡ these guys

This is my very best friend with her two beautiful children. There was a time in my life that I treated this lovely lady very poorly. I had a crisis in my life and I pushed her away when I needed her the most. I will forever regret that. It makes me very sad that I wasn't there for her when she needed me. That I wasn't there when her gorgeous daughter was born. I missed four years of their lives because I was stubborn. It took me a long time to feel comfortable around her again. I struggled to overcome the guilt I felt. I couldn't look her in the eye. I needed to apologise. It is only recently that we have spent more time together, that I have been able to talk about some of this with her.  She has the most generous spirit. Her children are a credit to her, they are both sweet natured and kind. I feel very fortunate that she has let me back into her life.

Thank you for letting me capture your beautiful family. I hope to have many more opportunities to capture your family in the years ahead.

Cindy xx



Winter Fun

 In a concerted effort to avoid cabin fever during the winter school holidays, we braved the frigid wind on Tuesday and ventured out to the playground. We had one thing in our favour, the sun was shining. We played for an hour. I chased Mr Darcy around the soccer oval, taking photos as we went. We had fun.

I'm still yet to achieve the photo shoot I want, the girls continue to insist on choosing clothes that aren't particularly photo worthy. Charlotte has worn a Rapunzel costume for the better part of two days now. She even wore it to the supermarket...with her red coat on over the top. She looked liked a confused character. Little Red Meets Rapunzel. Adorable.

The weather has turned even more bitterly cold, the kids were nearly frozen solid after we walked the 3 blocks to the supermarket today. We came home and snuggled and did some fun indoor activities.

I certainly am hoping for a return to winter sunshine before school goes back, they all need a bit of outdoor adventuring every day, Darcy especially. (Partly for my sanity, but mostly for them to burn off some energy and not spend the whole day bickering)...that's no fun.

 

Cindy..

 

 

 

Just Because...

 

As I was searching through my photo folders for 2013, I realised that I haven't been getting the camera out nearly as much as I should be.

I have been unwell with a terrible case of pharyngitis and forced myself to take a day off work...I wouldn't be very popular if I shared my germs!!

My sick day provided me with a wonderful opportunity to spend some one on one time with Mr Darcy, not something that I normally get a chance at. Unfortunately I wasn't well enough to get out and about with him, so I managed to set up a little backdrop in the lounge and get a few cute photos in the 15 minute window in which he co-operated.

I have been having some real issues editing photos on my laptop, so I would appreciate any feedback on the tone of these. I think my screen is far to cool, and as a result I tend to warm my photos up a little too much. I think I will definitely need to go back to editing on the larger screen.

Anyway, I am almost feeling well again, and my voice is back after 4 days AWOL. The kids (and some others!!) thought mummy without a voice was freakin' hilarious.

 

That trunk Darcy is sitting on here belonged to my Pa once upon a time...remember this photo of my tiny little man...they grow up way too fast.

 

Cindy xx

 

 

So We Did It...Finally

With much planning and preparation and keeping of secrets.

We had a lovely intimate ceremony on my Nans property, under a tree. We had immediate family and two of our very best friends there to witness our marriage. We had a small afternoon tea at a local café. We had 3 days away, without the pixies. It was just how we wanted it. Minimum of stress, minimum of fuss.

It was so very difficult at times to not be able to share the secret. To talk about it with someone other than the few who knew would have been a relief. I told lots of strangers, and no doubt bored my boss and co workers half to death with the details.

 

We invited family and friends to lunch three weeks later. I think that was possibly more work than the wedding itself. I prepared and cooked and cooked and cooked. The sun shone for us both days. Our families were gracious and no one appeared too upset that we didn't include them in the ceremony. Our families where also very generous, I wasn't expecting gifts, but we received many, with great thanks. 

I think everyone was just happy that we had finally gotten married...it's been a long time coming.

 

A big thank you to Celeste for taking our photos on the day. You can see more photos here, if you haven't already seen them.

 

A big thank you also to our parents...this would not have been possible without you all.

 

And thank you to my husband and my wonderful children. Things have been crazy, I know I am a control freak, things can go back to normal now...love you guys.

 

Cindy..

 

Celebrate

I am a little, well a lot, late in getting these photos up on the blog, but here he is...my not so little man celebrating his second birthday.

 

We started with a little dinner get together the night before his birthday...just us and the grandparents...nice and quiet and relaxed.

Then he just had time to open his present...tonka truck...before I had to race off to work.

We managed to squeeze in a quick lunch together.

Then I hurriedly iced his cake when I got home from work at 5.30...as you can probably see, I wasn't too successful on this count. Bit of a mess, but it still tasted good and he was happy to blow out his candles and lick the chocolate icing off the toy front end loader.

He is a little ball of mischief...and a smart cookie.

Love him to bits.

 

Check Out Those Eyelashes!

In just five more days this little guy will be two years old.
He is in the process of giving up some of  his daytime sleeps, so when he asked to go to bed I took the opportunity to sneak in and take some quick photos while he dreamed. This will probably be my last opportunity.
He is growing up way too fast.
 

 

His vocabulary is expanding every single day...

"I don't know" is one of his fave phrases, along with "me a bit"...especially when it pertains to anything food related.

 Booby, Dwink, Eat, Bed, Barbie, Don't Do That, Apple, Bath, iPhone, Out, Up, Me Too, Top Bunk,

Daddy at Work...the list goes on, including all the obvious words like Mum, Dad, Phia, and he can even say Charlotte.

He is still a co sleeping, breastfeeding mummy's boy.

An absolute bed hog, I often wake in the night to find myself with my legs in the bed and my upper body in the cot, very uncomfortable to say the least.

He wants to eat constantly...that is no exaggeration. He grabs me by the hand or beckons me towards the kitchen and says eat, eat, eat. He is also known to go and help himself to anything in the pantry or the fridge or the freezer. We finally resorted to child locks, which he still sometimes manages to circumvent.

He loves loves loves to snuggle. I adores it when he climbs up on my lap and leans right into me, when he wraps his chubby little arms around my neck and lays his head on my chest. He supplies masses of unprompted kisses, and says "I Love You"...gorgeous boy.

His curls are coming  back, especially in the hot weather when he sweats...but he also has the cutest little waves at the front. His hair is also starting to darken slightly...it's not the pure white that it used to be.

He injures himself so much more than the girls ever did...he chipped a front tooth. Unfortunately we have to live with that. Thank goodness its a baby tooth.

He loves to have a bath, or a shower.

He loves to torment his sisters.

He loves when Daddy gets home from work, and is excited every time.

Oh! and he loves nail polish and lipstick and makeup...guess that is unavoidable when you have big sisters :)

 

He's my blonde haired, blue eyed, Velcro boy...love him, love these photos.

Christmas Snippets



Broken

She fell off her scooter a week ago...

She has a buckle fracture of her right wrist...

 

 

It was about 4.30 on Friday afternoon last week when I heard a scream from her, not an unusual occurrence...she ran inside telling me she had fallen off her scooter and landed on her arm.

I gave her 5 minutes to calm down while I held her and then we talked about going to the hospital. I rang her Dad and told him to meet us there after work.

We went straight into triage, where they gave her a dose of panadol, and then off we went to x-ray. Looked like we were in for a long wait, the ER was full of people. She found one of her school friends. They went off to the playground.

She was throwing cushions around, being silly, not in any apparent pain. After an hour I was fed up and told her we were leaving. She agreed.

We headed over to "that Scottish restaurant" for dinner. She hurt it again on the playground there, so we went home so she could sit calmly for a while.

She seemed fine on Saturday morning. No complaints. We packed her off for a sleepover at her Gran and Grumbles that night.

Sunday morning she complained that her wrist was still sore. It was swollen and her fingers were fat. Off we went to the ER again. Only 2 people waiting this time.

The doctor came out to us, I told her we already had x-rays done. She went off to review them. I was confident she would come back and say it was just a sprain.

Another half hour and the doctor came back to tell me that it was indeed broken.

I felt horrendous. I had failed my daughter.

She was fitted with a fibreglass slab and a bandage. She needs to wear it for 3 to 4 weeks.

We have a appointment on Christmas Eve with the Orthopedic Surgeon to make sure it is healing properly.

She has coped quite will with it so far. In fact I don't think it has restricted her much at all. Except that she maybe splashes less in the bath.

It's a good thing that school has finished, it being her right arm and all.

 

It's so difficult to know when she is being genuine, and I feel bad that I didn't trust her enough to stay at the ER and wait for the x-ray results. Live and learn I guess.

 

Cindy..

Party Time

Kinder is over for another year...On to 4 year old Kinder and 2 and a half days a week.

 

We had a little party and guess who popped in to say hello.

 

Guess who got a little frightened and had a little cry...

It only took her a moment to adjust, but she really didn't like Santa sitting in her teachers chair.

Of course it all changed when she found out that he had a present for her...Santa always brings the best books to kinder for the kids.

Lots of sugar was consumed, everyone was bouncing off the walls.

 

We got off to a shaky start with Kinder this year, but it turned out to be a great experience in the end.

 

We have been busy busy busy trying to get everything done that we need to do before Christmas.

Shopping is almost all done, Christmas Puddings are cooking as I type and gingerbread dough is resting in the fridge...it may get cooked...it is very tasty as it is.

Hope everyone is having a relatively stress free lead up to Christmas...I know, that's almost impossible, but we are trying.

Cindyxx

 

Sad News and a catch up

I was hoping to be able to share with you all a plethora of divine wedding photos.

Unfortuantley, things didn't go to plan.

I was in the middle of making up some cute little last minute photo props the night before the big day when the phone rang. It was the brides brother...informing me that it had been called off. My first thoughts of course where with the bride. I was upset and worried for her. Something obviously had gone wrong for her to make such a huge decision.

 

I had geared myself up and I was completely ready for my first wedding shoot. It's really difficult to explain my emotions about it all. I was disappointed for myself, but I was also concerned about my friend. My confidence has taken a little bit of a battering.  I didn't even touch my fully prepared camera gear for a week. I felt like a caged lion, with the need to get out there and take photos...of anyone other than my children. I guess that is frustration.

 

Anyway, life goes on. I hope that my bride and groom can work things out. I am certainly thinking of them.

 

 

So with nothing to do on a Saturday, Sam off work and a lovely babysitter arranged for the kiddos in the evening...what were we to do?? Go out for dinner of course...Just the two of us. That's something we haven't done in I don't know how long. Too long. It's difficult to have a date night here. We had a lovely couple of hours, and we were home in time to get the kids to bed and have a few glasses of wine with our lovely friend.

 

That was a few weeks ago now, and I have had a birthday in the meantime...thirty-seven...with three kids...how did that happen??

 

I think I like being closer to forty. I'm not worried about hitting that milestone. I am relatively happy with my life at the moment. Wonderful partner, three beautiful children, a house, a job, fantastic parents.

 

It was AFL Grands Final Day on my birthday, and the Hawks lost. That didn't go down so well in this household. Although I do think I yelled at the television quiet a bit more than Sam. Maybe I was worried about him being grumpy face for a week. Or maybe it's because I have kind of adopted the Hawks, considering how badly Melbourne are doing. Circumstance made for an interesting birthday.

 

To make up for this, we headed down to Geelong for a nice leisurely stroll around the Mill Market. (interspersed with the complaining of two small girls..I'm hungry, I'm bored, can we go now, I want to go on the carousel, this is taking for...ever!!). I saw so many things I would love to own, but alas the budget is very very tight at the moment...maybe after Christmas I'll ditch the loved ones and make a day of it alone, dragging a trailer behind me.

 

We eventually made it to the carousel, followed by ice-cream for lunch (oh! the horror). A stroll along the waterfront, watched the sea helicopter take off and land, then made our way home...with a bucket of coffee.

It all made for a lovely birthday...thank you to my people :)

Wow! That's was a jumbled up ramble...congratulations if you made it to here!! I will endeavour to update my blog more often, but I have been fairly busy with work and school holiday activities. In fact I should be working right now. Back to the sewing machine for me!! Talk to you again soon.

Cindy.

10 minutes...

Ten minutes was all we could manage out in the cold spring weather.  

Charlotte was the one who said "mummy can we please go now"...

At least it was ten minutes of fun. 

This Girl

has been elusive of late.

 I guess that's what happens when they are at school for most of the day. Some days I miss her. Some days I wish she could stay at school longer.

She has changed since starting school. Some good, some not so good.
She loves to share with her brother and sister, most of the time.
She has a kind heart, and always tries to help her friends.
She has lovely manners.
She can be contrary, not liking it when things don't go her way.
She takes forever to get dressed for school in the morning.
She struggles with perfectionism, not wanting to try something if she thinks she might not get it right first up.
She has been invited to six birthday parties so far this year.
He hair is dead straight and getting so long now.
She won't eat yoghurt if I put it in her lunchbox.
She loves apples, and avacoado in a sandwich.
Her teacher tells me that some of the other kids in her class are in awe of her.
She is absolutely a social butterfly, she makes new friends so easily.
She still fits into a size four skinny jeans.
She would prefer to wear a dress to school over trackies every day.
She is doing taekwondo and fitness circuit after school twice a week.
She loves to read, and is at the right level for someone at the end of Prep.
We have just started giving her some pocketmoney, she likes to spend it on a fingerbun after school on Fridays. Not just for her, but for her siblings as well.
She always wants a hug when she has been in trouble, and she is difficult to resist, it helps calm her down.
Her temper can be volatile.
She likes me to drop her off at the gate for school, she has always been very independent in spirit.

She is a school girl now. She is six years old. I love watching her grow and learn. I am always amazed when I listen to her read, and spell, and add up.
Can you teach me to count by sixes, she asked me this morning as she was getting dressed.
I love that she has a voracious appetite for learning, and that she hasn't once yet complained that she doesn't want to go to school.
It puts joy in my heart.
Love my girl.

Oh Baby

This sweet little boy turned eighteen months a few days ago. He longer can be considered a baby.

The crazy curls are gone.

He can feed himself with a spoon.

He drinks out of a cup.

He throws a mean tantrum.

 He gives the most beautiful cuddles.

He always gives me a kiss before climbing out of bed in the morning.

He is still sleeping in my bed.

He is still breastfeeding.

He is not saying many words...only Mum, Boo, Nigh Nigh, Nanna, Pa.

 He loves to point.

He adores books.

He's gorgeous and cheeky and my last.

No more babies.

It makes me sad that he has grown up so quickly.

I love that tiny baby stage, but I don't necessarily want to go back there.

I am now looking forward...

To a house without nappies.

To kids at school.

To being able to work more.

To doing things together.

To continuing to guide them.

To continuing to teach them.

To watching them grow.

He had his eighteen months immunisations today. One in each arm. He was very stoic. No complaints, just curious about the cotton wool and sticky tape on his arms.

I love my cheeky little boy so much, and I still remember his birth like it was yesterday.

Feeling a little nostalgic.

Cindy.

First Photos

of the FIVE of us...

finally.

We have been meaning to do this photo shoot since the little man was six months old...

This wasn't a planned shoot, we just took the opportunity while we were at our annual Christmas in July Celebration to ask Celeste to take a few quick shots for us.

Happily she obliged...I'm really pleased with them.

Since these photos, the little man has had his crazy Einstein curls lopped off. He looks so much older now...photos of that experience to follow.

Cindy..

Happy Six Sweetpea!!

This sweet girl turned SIX on the 26th of June...I know I'm a bit slack in posting.

Wasn't prepared for the crazy birthday party competition with Prep Mums, so we decided to forgoe the party this year. A little morning tea cake celebration at Gran and Grumbles with her cousins, was deemed satisfactory.

Her birthday was on a Tuesday, so she had chocolate cupcakes at school. It was strange not to spend her birthday with her.

Nanna and Pa came to visit after school. Her birthday present from them was a little torturous (for ME not her). Anxious I was. She had her ears pierced finally...she's only been asking since she was four!

She was amazingly calm...barely even flinched.

Gran and Grumbles also visited after school bearing gifts.

She also finally got the DS she has been asking for...much smurfanallia...some clothes and books.

One very happy and exhausted SIX year old.

More Pillow Pretties

I've been busy sewing...

This one was a small version at 40cm x 20cm for another of Sophias school friends.

Going back to my original format...including a little detail in the hand stitched hearts. This one is 60cm x 30cm. I think the bigger size makes for more of a statement piece. It looks great on a bed.

Hey there Little Red Riding Hood...Sophia is playing the title role in a little school production...it's really only a bit part, no speaking...but I offered to make the costume to take a load off her teacher. I love it...thankyou to fleecefun for the fabulous and super easy pattern. The only alterations I made where to line the entire cape and take the shoulders in slightly for my small framed girl.
I think if I ever make another, I will use a contrasting lining...perhaps black, perhaps white??

Friday in Photos

Student Free Day

Wagged Kinder

Short drive to Geelong

Beautiful Sunny Day

A Ride on the Carousel

Fish and Chips for Lunch

Time on the Playground

Walk along the Beach

Run up and down a Hill (multiple times)

Strawberry Milkshake and Iced Coffee

Drive Home

Sleeping Children

BLISS

This Girl

I was just taking a few shots to check the light in the girls bedroom...

She is starting to come around to the whole idea of posing for me...

I converted to black and white

...this photo took my breath away.

Grateful

So very very grateful for the existence of these precious little people.

Sure, they're hard work. They make a mess, they often don't get along , and I complain about them over and over.

BUT

They are my world. I love them with my entire being. I fought very hard to get them here.

They are my little weirdos.

Mothers Day is a good time to remind myself how difficult the journey to parenthood was. It also gives me pause to think about all the people out there who haven't been as lucky as we are. 

I had been wanting for the longest time (before Darcy was even born) to order a pendant with the kids names on it, I just couldn't decide what style I liked. This Mothers Day I finally decided!

The hearts are for our babies that couldn't be with us...I still think about them EVERY SINGLE DAY, so I thought it appropriate to have this reminder of them.

The card is from my gorgeous school girl, who is doing so very well with her reading and writing.
So proud of her.
After the kiddos let me has a little sleep in, they bombarded my with cards covered in glitter (which is still in my bed).
Sophia bought me a pair of gardening gloves and a cute little spade (she has high hopes :)) at the Mothers Day stall at school.
Charlotte made me a lovely beaded necklace (definitely one of a kind).
Lots and lots of cuddles...absolutely the best bit of Mothers Day.

Hope everyone else out there had a wonderful Mothers Day.

Cindy.