12+16+20 = 3

I know it sounds like crazy Maths, but in this case, it's true.

 A few weeks ago while hanging out with my eldest three girls, I noticed the height thing.  All three of them exactly the same.  With their ages pretty spaced out it's not something that I ever thought would happen, but there there were all standing in a row, and it made me smile.  Today I captured it.

Because this can't last forever.  Before long, one or maybe even two of them will sprout up, overtaking the others.

 So different these three, which makes it all the more interesting and ironic that they are equal amounts from the floor.  It's another fleeting moment that wont last long and I'm acutely aware that I'm on borrowed time with all my girls still safely nestled in our home.   As it is, I'm pretty sure it was only a few days ago that I was wiping their snotty noses, patching up their grazed knees, and blowing bubbles for them in the bath with soap suds.

This next image, is a bit of a milestone.  Libby has been shy of her 'alien feet' as she calls them for as long as I can remember.  She doesn't often flash them around and it's only lately that she's felt comfortable enough to wear open toed shoes, or flip-flops.  We all love them though, just part of her uniqueness and this was an opportunity not to be missed. :)

I can't take for granted days like today, hanging out with my 3 (still little to me) goofballs. This was a funny moment, and I really can't stop laughing when I think of it, but believe me when I tell you that some things really don't need to be shared.

 As I pack away my camera and continue to watch them, I can't help but wonder what the world has in store for these three.  I know I can't keep them as close to me as I'd like forever physically, and I'm looking forward to watching them unfold their wings, just not quite yet. :)

Easter in Oz

 We've been here for almost 3 years. this will be our second Easter in this house. The weather is just about perfect, and this is the time of year that I'm most comfortable.  I still hear splashes coming from the pool on warmer days and the nights are no longer unbearably hot.  We've pulled out our warmer weather gear for the cooler days, but very rarely need to use them...and the humidity has left us for a while.

My little girls are delighted to be able to do all the outdoor things again, the cool breezes set the scene for garden tea parties, playing on the trampoline, fun at the park and just being able to kick back and get lost into their little dreamy worlds.

Easter has been good.  David has been home this year and with a week off from the usual madness of preparing for an open house, the relaxed atmosphere has been exactly what we've needed.

Eggs were hard boiled and painted, Easter Bunnies delivered and there has been a handful of sugar-high little people running around the house and garden.  It's ok, it's once a year and it's Easter.

 I'm hoping they consume the crazy amount of chocolate in a couple of days, get it out of their system and back to the normal amount of sugar in their diet.  Probably a big hope!

And I can assure you, the other kids were all around, just hiding from my camera, it seems if you have it constantly pointed at them, they develop little ways to avoid it, making it look as though your family is only half the size that it is!  I'll forgive them this though, just being with my family at Easter is enough for me. :)

Two

On this day two years ago, I held my last baby for the first time.  On this day two years ago, I laughed, I cried and I stared at the tiny new person in my arms, unable to look away for a second.  I barely slept for the first week, not because I was exhausted, but because I couldn't tear myself away from her.  A tiny little ball all curled up and so dependant.  Those milky lips, soft peachy skin and fine dark downy hair.  I can still hear the little mewing sounds that she made, still feel the warmth of her small weighted little body and still smell her sweet pink cheeks.  Each memory is startlingly vivid, the details so etched into my mind that I feel I can almost run my fingers over them.  Slight panic sets in when I allow myself to think back and relive the first moments, my only way of recapturing them now, in my mind.  

She's two. This tiny new little person has been here to gaze upon for two whole years.  How fast that time went and how very here and present she is now.  Was there ever a time that we didn't have her, hold her, tickle her, teach her, rejoice in her and comfort her.  All of her firsts, her precious little milestones are slipping through my fingers.  I can't keep a hold of them and it makes me want to grab onto her and never let go.  If the last few years are anything to go by, I'll wake up tomorrow and she'll be moving out, going to collage, too big to fit into my lap.  

She woke up this morning, in her new 'big girl bed' and still sleepy and warm, opened her presents with her family who love her to the moon and back again. 

I watched her as she played and I tried to memorise each tiny thing she did.   Another milestone slipped through my grasp and I had to reconcile myself with the fact that I will always have these memories.  She's getting older and I have to make myself ok with that.  I have to look at the here and now and not let the present pass me by because I'm mourning the past. 

The bottom line is, I guess I know why I ended up with seven children, quite simply, I love being a Mother.  And this little sweetheart really was the cherry on top of my cake. 

So much I learnt from her today.  That she loves to sing Happy Birthday 24/7, that she likes new clothes a lot, that she's obsessed with shoes (thank you Jodi xx), that she is one of those fab kids that you can take into a toy shop and come out with nothing, and she's still all smiles, and that she adores 'hedge-hegs'. 

She's Two.  She's growing up into a wonderful special little girl.  But she's still my baby, and she and I have more then one connection. 

Happy Birthday my little Lulu! xx