Poppy is getting on in months… By the time we have our second bub she will be around three weeks off being three. This age has been such an eye opener for us. She is pretty much toilet trained, can tell us where she is sore, what she wants and how she wants it. She MUST wear a party dress EVERYDAY, MUST help us to butter the toast and MUST brush her own teeth. Most of the time she is a complete joy to behold and we love exploring this new territory with her.

On Valentine’s Day last week in honour of her new found interest in all things of the ‘big girl’kind, DJ pulled the bathroom stool into the kitchen and together they set about making pizza. Not just any pizza – but a heart shaped, dough and tomato sauce made from real ingredients, pizza. Poppy was in heaven.

I made the most of the opporunity and slunk away to the office to get some work done, but it wasn’t long before the aroma and squeals of delight drew me back. These are some of the scenes I came upon:

Oh the joy of mashing tomatoes through a sieve:

I love the little trace of tomato sauce on the corner of her mouth – in true chef style she tasted her creation as she went:

The concentration – making tomato sauce is important work

Finishing up the dough and saving some for next time (yum):

And the result:

It was delicious and didn’t last long, but I think for Poppy the real joy was spending a couple of hours in the company of her daddy. I don’t think it was a chore for him either. They a make a good pair

Hope your Valentine’s Day was just as lovely, heart warming and delicious.

Fran
xoxo

that can express the sadness of today.

Sheye, I hope you have seen Ava dancing in everything you have done today and remembered with smiles all the gorgeous things about Ava that make your heart sing.

Much love

xoxoxoxoxoxo

The moment I met Baby A I knew sleepy images weren’t on the cards. He was as alert as I have ever seen and already had eyes that knew the world around him. We persevered for some time to capture some newborn sleepiness but it was not to be – Bubba A was just too interested in what was happening around him to sleep. He was so lovely and when I went back yesterday to deliver their images he was just as cute and just as alert – only much much bigger

As promised below here are some images of Poppy’s Christmas:

The singing:

Working the santa hat:

And the presents! Cooking Christmas breakfast in her new kitchen:

Discovering Upsy Daisy (Makka Pakka’s friend):

Upsy Daisy then had pride of place at the next opening:

And was even read too! She was a big hit – thanks Granny Scotland!

It also seems Poppy has come up with a plan to have Christmas EVERY day of the year. When asked by my sister last week whether she was having a brother or a sister Poppy responded “NOOOO – Santa Claus!!!”. Apparently I am going to give birth to the jolly man in red!?! Who would have thought? I am not sure I am ready for that…

On the upside, the Santa fear seems to have subsided

Hope you are all well.

I have loads of client sessions to post this week so stay tuned!

Fran x

p.s you can see the images larger if you click on them

Well it has been a long time between blogger drinks. I have a resolution not to make resolutions but if I did it would be to be a better blogger. I will try, especially as this blog is getting a complete overhaul in the next wee while.

I do have a tiny excuse for the lack of blogging:

This little peanut has given me a run for my money and much more morning sickness than I ever had with Poppy Cate. Everyone says that’s because I am having a boy but I will believe that when I see it because I come from a long line of women who have many more girls than boys

We are now 18 weeks and I am feeling a bit better than I was, although the tiredness lingers much more so than with Poppy. Is that because I have a 2 year old in the house???

Speaking of 2 year olds… We had our first really exciting Christmas this year with Poppy understanding the whole concept for the first time. It was lovely really, getting caught up in her excitment, countless renditions of jingle bells complete with hand gestures (Thanks Miss Jacqui!), and christmas hat wearing.

Our only problem seemed to be Santa himself. Poppy was happy to see the jolly man on TV, in books, and to sing about him in songs but one whiff or glance of him out of the corner of her eye and she became a quivering mess, rooted to the spot and unable to walk any further. Shopping trips were spent negotiating a course through the centres that wouldn’t take us past the man in red. Believe me my daughter has the eyes of a hawk and this was no meant feat! Needless to say a photo with Santa was not on our agenda this year…

It made me sad. It wasn’t that I wanted Poppy to be completely won over by the commercial side of Christmas, but it made me sad to think that my poor wee girl was truly terrified of something that she really needn’t be scared of at all.

Faced with the prospect of the daycare Christmas party, DJ and I started planting a seed in Poppy’s head: “Santa’s not scary… He’s a good man”. We wrote a letter to Santa; she asked for a Makka Pakka (a TV character for those not in the know) and for the sick children on the TV advert that always makes her cry to get better. We read books about Santa, drew Santa and sang more songs about Santa and his reindeer. Even my family got in on the mantra and Pa spent time talking with Poppy about how great Santa is; “Santa’s not scary… He’s a good man”.

The day of the Christmas party came and we got dressed up in our ‘party dress’ and went to daycare. As soon as the words “Santa’s here” rang in Poppy’s ears along with the sound of his bell she clutched onto me like her life depended on it. I tried to get out into the hall so we could see his arrival and prepare her but she latched her talons around the door frame and refused to be budged. So we retreated to the back of the room, as far away from Santa’s chair as we could get. She settled for a while when Santa went into the Babies room, but then the bell announced his arrival into her room and she immediately attempted a pole vault over my head to the safety of outside.

I reassured her and told her to that she didn’t have to go anywhere near Santa; that we would stay at the back of the room and watch the other children get their presents and her teacher would bring hers down to her. It did seem to help watching the other children get their gifts and sit with Santa without then being struck down by some awful incident. While she was still very tense, she was much calmer.

I could hear her whispering to herself and when I got within earshot realised that she was trying to reassure herself by saying over and over again “Santa’s not scary… He’s a good man”. I am not sure that I have ever held her tighter than I did in that moment.

It seemed to help. Though she still did not go anywhere near him she did manage a shy smile, a wave and a quiet thank you when Miss Jacqui brought her down her gift. She also managed, after that, to stand at the fence in the shopping centre and watch while children had their photos taken with Santa. She even waved when Santa caught sight of her and rang his bell and waved. Maybe next year she will be even less scared.

So that was the theme of Christmas 2008 I guess. Poppy got great gifts from Santa – a kitchen, just like her big cousins Ethan and Ellis and Makka Pakka of course, because Santa is, afterall, a good man…

Poppy’s other wish is a longer term one I think but if you have a spare few dollars this year I am sure the Children’s Hospitals could really use it!

I will post some pics of Christmas later in the day because if I wait to post this it may be another 4 months before I do!

I hope the New Year is being good to you all.

Fran x

Well, we have been for a few weeks now but we are just now starting to settle back into non-holiday life! And let me tell you, for those that don’t already know, travelling with a two year old is NO FUN AT ALL!

Don’t get me wrong, the actual holiday part was fabulous!!! Watching Poppy meet and interact with her Scottish family was delightful! She had loads of fun with her Granny and Shen and all her Cousins and Aunts and Uncles. She also had a great time meeting up with and creating havoc with all of DJ’s friends’ children. We had a great time too. Very relaxing and quiet which is exactly what we needed…(more details soon). It’s just that getting there was really really tough, coming home was really tough and pulling Poppy through jetlag was near on impossible!!!

Poppy vomited the whole 30 hours between leaving Brisbane (actually she didn’t start until we got back on the plane at Sydney airport) and arriving in Aberdeen. Actually she did manage to stop vomiting somewhere over Afghanistan or the Caspian Sea – it just felt like the whole way because we didn’t have any spare clothes for us and therefore we continued to be accompanied by the aroma… We actually must make a very public thank you to the wonderful Service Manager on the plane who managed to apply successfully to their medical board to release a Panadol suppository from their locked medical case. This ensured we did not have to land the plane to get Poppy to medical attention – you can imagine my look of horror at that suggestion as we were flying over the borders of Afghanistan…

ANYWAY, enough about that. We had a great time and the flights will simply give us something to talk and laugh about in the future I am sure!

Just wanted to let you all know we are back and safe and had a great time. Looking forward to catching up with you soon.

Fran x

Here are a couple of my favourite snaps…

This is Ellah! My beautiful little niece born on 3 July, one day before Poppy’s birthday, three weeks early. And let’s just say it is a good thing that she was three weeks early because she was born weighing in at 9 pound three ounces (over 4 kgs)!

She was born by Caesarian because they finally discovered that the excruciating back pain Clare had been experiencing was actaully Ellah completely taking over the room that once belonged to Clare’s kidneys. The kidneys were not happy (the sonographer told Clare they were ‘angry kidneys’) and Clare went into the early stage of kidney failure. Ouch!

Things are on the fast track to improvement now though and honestly, if there has ever been a big enough reward for such pain and drama it is Ellah – she is absolutely gorgeous! She has got THE MOST INCREDIBLE HAIR I have ever seen on a newborn!

I flew to Townsville for the day (yep life is that crazy at the moment) to meet her and take her newborn photos (We had intended for the the three of us to go up for a couple of days this weekend but Poppy’s three millionth ear infection and the threat of grommets put an end to that as well…). Clare warned me before I got there that she really didn’t look very newbornish so I shouldn’t get too excited about newborn poses… And wow – not many two week olds look this alert:

But after some cuddles with her Aunty Fran Ellah did snuggle up for me so I could take some photos of her looking semi-newbornish:

Oh the hair! It reminded me of the hair styles of the 1920’s – so cute!

She might be big for a newborn but she was still tiny for me considering my baby is now two! And she was still little enough to be cradled in her Daddy’s hands (just):

With Mummy:

You may remember the next image from their maternity post. We did the same again with Ellah – cause we all know that this is where the bumps REALLY begin – unfortunately the weather wasn’t as beautiful but we will do it again next time I head up that way

Much love to you all up there! Can’t wait to see you again

Fran xoxox

So many beautiful babies at the moment!

This little one is the bubby of Gaylene and Damien whose maternity post is here

I love everything about this next image – the wrinkles, the little fist, the pursed lips – she really is too cute!

If I didn’t have a two year old giving me a run for my money at the moment I would have asked if I could take her home!

I am taking some more photos this week at their family session so I will post more then.

Fran x

Friday week ago was Poppy’s 2nd birthday and we had invited a small bunch of family and friends around to celebrate on the Saturday afternoon with a BBQ. Poppy had been given a trampoline by Granny and Pa for her birthday and was looking forward to jumping merrily all afternoon. She was quite excited about the fact that it was her birthday and had been singing ‘Happy Birthday dear Poppy…’ for a week in preparation.

Saturday arrived and she was in a top mood all morning playing and chatting away. We had started the preparations – balloons and all – when it started. One minute she is fine and running around, the next – well let’s just say it wasn’t pretty… We thought she may just have put her fingers in her mouth a little too robustly but three more incidents later we decided that it could infact be contagious and that we should cancel the party… What does one do with 60 or so cupcakes?

Some images of the party that wasn’t…

The beautiful invites by Sarah Jane Studio on Etsy:

Decorations:

Party favours:

The cake, made with lots of love by Granny after Poppy requested a ‘tramampoline’ cake:

Granny flew home from Townsville in time for Poppy’s unbirthday party. She had made a dash up there a couple of days before for my sister who had her baby early due to complications (can’t WAIT to get up there and meet the new wee family member!). Given mum made all the party food we thought it only right that we still cut the cake while Granny was here – she headed back up to Townsville a couple of days later with my Nan to do what it is that Mums and Nans do best – cuddles, care and washing ;0)

Happy Birthday my darling Poppy Cate! It was a very memorable day…

And to my Mum who always goes above and beyond the call of duty – you are simply the best!

Fran xoxo