For you, Joe!

This is for you Joe, because I finally took some photos of you that you liked enough to ask me to make my desktop picture.  Because you struggle every day with confidence, and because you are the most sensitive little boy soul that I know.

I love your face, I love your thoughts and dreams, I love your kindness, I love you inside and out...and I'm so happy that these pictures made you smile!

And also because your Daddy is away, and he misses you too.  This is for you David.
 
Your Son wants me to tell you that he's doing a great job looking after me while you're away and that he's taken to reading a book each night, 'just like Daddy' whilst snuggled up on your side of our bed before he goes to sleep.

If I could capture this little face and bottle these moments with my boy forever, I would!

The Eyes Have It

My boy Joe, that's how I think of him, My Boy Joe.  Even when I'm saying Joey, Joseph, or just Joe..in my head, he's always My Boy Joe.  He's like a creamy, melty, soft, yummy toffee.  He smells of warm clean woollen socks, he looks like an overgrown Labrador Puppy and he has the sensitivity of somebody well beyond his years.  He's a thinker, a worrier and our little Professor.  I can't describe my overwhelming protectiveness towards him and when he's sad, there are shadows in my heart.  He doesn't really get upset or sad about the usual 8yr old stuff.  He gets sad about the world, and about people in it who don't care like he does.  He wants to stop and change all the misery and suffering and he truly believes that one day he will.  If ever I believed in anyone, it's him.  In reality, of course I realise that it's not possible to make all things Unicorns and Rainbows, but I love that this is his ideal.  That this is what he is reaching for. 

From the moment that he was placed in my arms, I melted.  I think I will always think this about My Boy Joe. I remember gazing at his innocent wide open face with my nose, my smaller features, his Daddys expressions and exclaiming at his eyelashes.  I had never seen eyelashes like his before.  Golden blonde at the top and dark at the tips.  Surely it would be the other way around, it was really sweetly strange.  He still has them and when he looks down, they remind me of  sticks on a beach.  Sandy at the top with the striking darker colour at the ends. Little sand-dunes.  Lovely thick multi-coloured lashes, has My Boy Joe!

And as if that wasn't gorgeous enough, he also has the most beautiful eyes that I've ever seen in an eight year old called My Boy Joe.

My little fluffy overgrown Labrador boy with the weight of the world on his very small over grown Puppy dog shoulders, and his very serious expressions.  He is happy most of the time, I promise! ;)

I hope that in twenty years, they'll still be there, those sandy/dark tipped lashes, that are so much a part of  My Boy Joe!

First day of Spring!

This house, this garden, this little sanctuary that we all live in.  I still can't believe that we own this place sometimes, this little piece of land, this tiny part of Australia.  It's totally ours and I feel so lucky.  The garden is the best place to hang out right now. Spring has arrived, along with growing chicks, flowers on our strawberry plants, and little shoots pushing their way up through the soil just about everywhere.  The birds are singing (loudly, its pretty deafening sometimes), and there is a warm breeze caressing the whole of Queensland, it's just magic.

Apart from the fact that she always seems to want to go up and down the bloomin big stone steps, (touch wood, no accidents yet), and we're always trying to guide her away - the garden is the place that Miss Lucy wants to be.  She runs around, the wind blowing in her curly curls, chasing her brother and sisters, and it's just the greatest thing for me to take a seat, (with my Canon, of course) and click away...ahh heaven!  Poppy drags out her princess dolls, teddys, crowns, fairy wings and enters the make believe place that only Poppies can go, singing away quietly to herself as her imagination takes her on a journey.  And Joey is a little fireball of energy, bouncing on and off the trampoline, chasing Poppy and running from Lucy.  It's a busy hive of activity around here at the moment, and so fun just to sit back and watch them all...

And when Daddy comes home at the end of the day, it's another race to see who reaches him first..

I'm going to make the most of this Spring, and from me over here in Oz...G'day! :)

8 Years and Counting.....

On 23rd August, our sweet Joey turns eight!  Our little serious, sensitive, eccentric, fluffy, goofball of a boy is entering the 'aware zone'.  And by this, I mean, the layers of innocence that come with the first seven years of little lives, are slowly peeling away.  From experience, every year now that passes, we will see more of the 'grown up' in him shining through.  He's going to be more aware of other people and his surroundings and what it means to exist in this world.  So bittersweet, watching the transitions of your child, as their last baby characteristics fall away.

Already things are changing.  No more big kisses goodbye in the school carpark, no more wiping the crumbs from his face in front of his friends, no more "have a nice day - I LOVE you" as he waves goodbye.  Now its just a quick hug, a straightening of his collar and whispered 'love you sweetheart' under my breath and I watch him walk away......

Things are changing for my Joe-Boy but it's comforting to know that deep down he's still the sensitive, sweet, loving little boy who was placed in my arms almost 8yrs ago.

No time to think about it yesterday, no time to be nostalgic and sad about the years rolling by, it was PARTY TIME!!

We kicked off with a treasure hunt, which had kids flying all around the park in a big screaming mass, trying to find clues...

Followed closely by the 'Doughnut eating competition'.  The funniest thing was looking back at the photographs that I'd taken and seeing, along with our huge line of party friends,  about 5 'unidentifiable' kids all chowing down on doughnuts, and nobody having a clue who they were, or where they came from...

Next was a spot of lunch...yum yum...

The 'tidy up your room game' that had various pairs of socks flying around the park...

The one request from Joey, was a Pinata (but not a donkey one please).  A nice toothy shark seemed to do the job...

The two hours passed in one big birthday blur, which I'm guessing is a good thing..

Even the ridiculously unprofessional, huge comical cupcake seemed to go down a treat!  And I swore that pictures of this monstrosity would not make it to my blog, as I was icing it...

The present opening was a very serious affair, but the cards were the sweetest things.  Seems like, eight year olds love spending time drawing 'best buddy' pictures inside them, along with captions and arrows pointing out who is who....love it!

If I close my eyes, I can still see that small little person, staring back at me, with my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my features, but all of his Daddy's expressions wrapped up in a white blanket, all tiny and new.   I'm so proud of the little boy that he's already become.  I won't will the years away to try and peek into the future, I'm planning on savouring each and every moment of this little man. 
Joe-Boe, Joey-Boy, Joe Boe Belly-O Big bum Billy-O, Joseph David Gene Detroy Wood, BoBo, or just plain old Joey Wood....Which ever way you say it, it all sounds pretty wonderful to me....Happy Birthday lovely Boy!

Today, it was love...

Lucy has finally managed to master the steps to our secret garden.  The garden at the top, hidden away by bushes and trees, that she's been desperate to get to since forever.  Usually she holds tight onto the hand of one of her siblings to get to the top, but today she went solo and was so proud of her little self.  So proud in fact, that her little smiley face  looked  almost effervescent with joy.  Up and down she went, teetering at the top on occasion in a way that would have had her Daddy running to 'save her'.  But she didn't need saving, and she certainly didn't want it either.  The couple of times that I reached out a hand to steady her, it was firmly pushed aside and the determination of her expression, making it quite clear that she was fine and dandy without her Mamas help, thanks very much..

This is often the view, as I run to keep up with her, such an independent little lady, this one. 

She may look like me, but I'm pretty sure she's no shrinking violet, thank goodness for that!

Tiredness got the better of her eventually, and I swapped one little minx, for a couple of others....

Joseph, Poppy & the Bounce!

How I love days like this.  Days where they play for hours and hours, shrieking with joy, giggling, thinking up new games, dreaming up new dreams, it's just....sparkly and beautiful...

'Oh don't watch, Mummy' Joey says as he finally notices me!  'No, no, I'm not - I'm just playing with my camera, don't take any notice of me, you just carry on', I reassure him....but he's already back into the game and pays me no attention...

Swinging eachother round and around, they giggle until they both get hiccups, and Poppys hair is a big ball of electric fluff!

How much longer will days like this last, I wonder.  What age will my boy be when he becomes more aware of what other people think.  How old will he be when that age gap becomes too wide, and playing with his younger sister won't be 'cool' any more.  I am dreading that day....I don't want this to end.  As he approaches 8, I can't help thinking that we might be on borrowed 'Joey and Poppy' time.

My two little eccentric ones.....how I love them so.  And how I love days like today, when it's just love!