Moving On!

She sat on Libbys bed this morning giving me all of her funny faces, my little clown.

Such a happy girl today - maybe a reflection of my own mood, after finally getting the thumbs up on the sale of our house.  Paperwork has been signed, balls are rolling and hearts are both light and heavy at the same time.  This is how it has to be and removing the weight of worry will be an enormous relief but packing our belongings also means saying goodbye to the house that we have lovingly called our home for the last two years.

 It hit me this morning, when I found Poppy literally hugging the cold white walls as though she wanted to dissolve into them.  She's only 5 and she really doesn't remember time before this house or understand why we are taking her out of it.  My sweet girl has been so poorly lately too, a second bout of Croup that does not want to clear up.  It's left her paler, skinnier, and more emotional then she usually is, if that's possible.

Times are a changing again for the Woods and with a bit of extra love and a few more 'as long as we're all together, thats all that matters' cuddles, this one will adjust I'm sure.   I'm determined to rid her of those dark circles from around her eyes and see more of that big beautiful smile again.  To show her that the world offers so many more bubbles yet to hold.

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

Don't Stop The Dance

.....or maybe in the words of Bryan Ferry! I think though, he has a point.  

My little one didn't want to stop either after her ballet class yesterday afternoon.  She danced like a crazy chic all through the lesson. She danced to the car. And then when we got home, she carried on dancing.   I watched her sweet expressions, the concentration on her face, her spiral curls escaping from their pins and couldn't help but feel total overwhelming love for this little 5yr old. 

There was a time when I danced for hours every day.  It was my life, for a while.  I have all the ballet memories that a young girl could wish for and when it stopped, I guess I thought that would be that.  Now I watch my daughter love to dance as I once did and it's bitter-sweet, reminding me of times that were both joyful and sad.  Not one though for ever living vicariously through my children, I'm happy to see where the wind takes her - just because she is her own little self.

I do wonder if it will take her along similar paths to some of my friends from long ago.  Sweet Ruth, who still dances like an angel and Joanne, who we all knew always would.  I can't know what the world holds for my girl, but I'm glad that for now...she just wants to do what makes her happy, what makes her heart sing.

And then sometimes, it's nice just to be still for a while.

"To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking." ~Agnes De Mille

Header template and storyboard template are courtesy ofwww.templates-for-photographers.com They are a fantastic company that I now have the pleasure of working with.  

Little Green Chair

It's been heavy, heavy heavy here lately.  So many decisions, so many things weighing on our hearts.  And with no real bright light appearing at the end of the tunnel just yet, I've been trying to create my own light.  And it doesn't matter how dim the light or how small the spark, because with a bit of nurturing and tending, it can become a roaring fire in no time.
So I'm not panicking about life.  I'm not sweating the big stuff, the scary stuff, I'd rather just keep on blowing those sparks and seeing where it takes me.

Today it took me to the most fun photo-shoot I've ever done.  Fun because I had a willing subject, and fun because I love spending time with this little one.  She was off to a school camp soon after this, and I treasured the time that we spent together, knowing that one of my little fires would be glowing slightly dimmer without her around for a few days.

She had me in giggles, as I followed her skinny legs hauling my beloved chair to the trees with it over her back, like a little turtle.  Oh the things that we do for art! I think she gets it though, she doesn't roll her eyes at my 'ideas' quite as much as the others!

My sentimental lovely green chair is now back in Lucys room, where it lives and where it will stay for a while.  I don't own any possession, (apart from my camera), that I love more then I do my sweet Grandpas chair.  I wonder if somewhere, somehow, he sees how I love it, and what he would think of the little angel who sat upon it with her curly dark hair and her old fashioned smile.  And that right there is another little light of a memory to keep me fueled for the rest of the day!

Reunited!

Chickens and kids, Kids and Chooks - together again for a few hours today.  Scampering feet, little hungry mouths and squawking - and I wasn't describing the hens.  Libby was in 'chicken heaven' with our birds and my friend Kathys birds combined...she hung out with them while we sipped coffee, chatted and I of course, took my usual million pictures!

  And I gotta say, Kathy is one of the most chilled out and just super nice people to be around.  Nothing fazes her, not Vanessas wicked stories, my zooming in and out in front of her face with my camera, (well not really - I used a prime lens), or my kid whipping her clothes off and jumping in her pool on a whim.  She always manages to bring out some wonderful baked good and she's a great listener.  I hope that she knows that even though I have my face behind my Canon baby most of the time, I am actually listening to her too! ;)

I managed to step away from the camera for a few minutes, but not before my mate Vanessa had it pointed at me!  And you know what?  After the initial shock and my usual natural reaction of trying to run from the lens as fast as I can - I was actually quite pleased to have a few pictures of Lulu and I together - it's not like its a common occurrence!

Mmm, she's quite handy with the camera.  Not to self;  Take Vanessa everywhere with me from now on, so that I will have reminders one day that I was actually there, every step of the way...

And, this is her....she'll love me for this! Mwaaa haaa haaaaa!!!

Ahhh yes, revenge is SWEET!!! I'll getcha next time Kathy! ;)

And my lovely Libby had such a nice time, that she woke up asking if we could go and hang out with friends there again today, tomorrow and every day after that...you up for it Kathy?

Cheers to friends! xx