Happy is as happy does.
Your curiosity is delicious.
The tuft of wild curls atop your head, complete with sideline tresses, are to be treasured.
Your nose crinkles when your parents kiss you.
The way you both curl and stretch your toes at the same time when you laugh is perfect in every way.
Thank you for coming to play.
“Today you are You, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
- Dr. Seuss
Although things have been somewhat quiet here on the blog, behind the scenes is a very different story.
So many amazing and heavenly new people have been born, and I was able to hold them.
Many giggles and tickles have been shared with little people, who are growing far too quickly.
Couples in love have shared with me and chosen me to document their wedding days.
Over the next couple of weeks, the studio will be closed until 4 March 2011 as I head over to Las Vegas for WPPI.
Dear friends, old and new, if you see me there, please come up and say hello – I would love to meet you.
I have scheduled a few posts in my absence for you to enjoy while I travel.
In the meantime, enjoy – and see you again very soon.
x
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
“Can I take a pitcha wif you today mumeeee?”, she said.
Why yes, sweetheart.
Yes, you can.
Camera held steady by me.
Shutter pressed by Miss Mia.
Direction and entertainment by Charlie Bucket.
………………………………………….
Before I finish this year’s January photo-a-day project I wanted to say one thing:
Thank you.
Thank for for being here.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your words of love, your whispers and your smiles.
Thank you for staying even if only for a second to check in on us.
If you have been following the whole project, a part, or even if this is your first visit… thank you.
Hug your loved ones today.
x
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
Two years ago, I took an image of Mia in this cot.
Charlie is three months younger than Mia was when that was taken.
Now I look at him, standing in front of me, in the same cot, feeling quite nostalgic.
Both of them at the same age wake every morning with little noises, chatting to themselves as they stretch and yawn ready to start the day.
Now that Mia is older, morning routine is mostly the same.
Charlie Bucket will wake, chat to himself, wake Miss Mia up, and she will climb into his cot to play with him.
It it one of the things that I simply adore more than anything about them sharing a room.
This beautiful tangible bond they have formed between them is something I hope a part of them always shares for the rest of their lives.
I could have never imagined in the immense struggles for us to get pregnant that I would be as lucky as I am today.
Truly.
I would have never believed it.
I am thankful beyond imagination; beyond dreams.
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.
But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
- The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
…………………………………………………………………..
I was just going to leave today’s entry with this passage, but I simply cannot without telling you why I chose it for today.
When my husband and I were married almost seven years ago, this was one of the readings we chose for our ceremony.
It meant so much then, and now when I read it and gaze with such love at these beautiful creatures we created, it’s taken a new life.
Beautiful little people who love us – even after our hair has been pulled out, one too many raspberries have been blown on soft bellies, and backs have been jumped on.
They make us real.
We have become real.
They give us purpose.
They are the true beauty of my tomorrow.
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
She brings me flowers.
Every day.
Every one more beautiful than the last, and handpicked with love.
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
She certainly does not get her love of puzzles from me.
They are one thing I do not have the patience for.
She, on the other hand, could spend hours (and has) putting her puzzles together, only to take them apart and start all over again.
Every piece has its place, every beginning has an end.
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
Happy Australia Day, friends
Embrace the chaos… 
{Photo-a-Day Project: A personal project that I undertake every January for an entire month taking one photo a day of my children.}
Dear Miss Mia,
I love you – goofy self, and all.
Kisses, mummy
x
