Mine. Four compelling, riveting and equally beautiful souls.

They make me laugh, and cry. Sometimes at the same time. On occasions they drive me up the wall. Probably more often than not. But without them who would I be? Sometimes I can hardly believe I’m so lucky. Sometimes I can hardly believe they’re all mine.

Thank you for sharing in my journey. Especially for your lovely, uplifting words regarding my ‘Day 18′. I truly felt every bit of love. And for that, I am beyond grateful. Until next year my friends…

Nic xxx

Just five minutes earlier you lost your very first tooth. You have waited more than a month for this day.  And it is here. But it was more dramatic than you probably thought it would be. Your bleeding mouth scared you and you cried. And cried.

But you stopped when I lifted the camera and told you it would be ok – that tonight, the tooth fairy would come. You moved the bloody tissue, then you smiled the very best smile  you could, with tears still drying on your cheek. There, I could see it…your beautiful gap and guess what?! There is another tooth already peeking through.

Baby girl, you are growing so big.

Despite your attempts at lipstick and nail polish.
Or at wishing you were three years older.
You are five. And a half. I must not forget the half.
So soft and delicate. All things innocent.
Away in dream land.
No doubt singing under rainbows and dancing with the butterflies.
Never stop dreaming.
Sweet child of mine.

Daughter number one.

Is so obviously a poser.
Wonders off with the pixies. Often.
Beautiful.
Has hair I could only dream of.
Loves to give big, long kisses. On the lips.
Forgets her brother is three years older.
Screams, cries and whines like there’s no tomorrow. Still.
Wants to play the iPad constantly.
Will try and put makeup on and hope you don’t notice .
Doesn’t really like dolls or any toys. Sadly.
Shines like a warmer summer’s day.
Is 5.35 years.

You can see last year’s pic HERE.

And one more for good measure because I couldn’t not:

If I had a choice to have breakfast at my mum’s house every Sunday, there would be no stopping me. With bacon and the most amazing poached eggs, followed by pancakes with any topping you desire, I’m sure you would too. It’s not hard to guess what the kids prefer Nanna serve their way (and unfortunately it’s not eggs on toast).

Lily is my huggle bunny. There’s no denying it. She loves to randomly cuddle for no other reason than she feels like it. Like today, when she had a cuddle with ‘daddy’ while he was fixing her bike. I guess in this instance, she thought maybe it would give him powers to get the job done quicker?

The wonders of the trampoline. They can literally spend hours on there during the course of the day. Ten minutes here and twenty minutes there. They jump on there together, apart, with stuff (like beanbags and balls) or simply by themselves. Sometimes they take a moment and just quietly lay there watching the clouds roll by. They fight and scream on there. Sometimes they cry. I can’t tell you how many times I want to pull my hair out at the noise levels…. particularly Lily and her incessant need to scream in times of joy and in times of sorrow.

The greatest lover of the trampoline would have to be Willow though. She loves to bounce high, and she can jump as high as the rest of them. Byron and Lily think she’s one big rag doll the way they jump her around and you know what? Most times she thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world.

We hit the road last week for a trip down to Sydney, only a mere 12 hours away. Of course I had palpations and night sweats at the thought of packing up in the car with three kids, including one toddler and driving such a long way. But you know what? They were as perfect as perfect could be. Willow sat happily in her car seat just looking out the window, dosing off to sleep or asking, “what your doing mumma?“.  Lily and Byron watched their DVDs, ate lollies and well, just sat there. There was no fighting and no arguing, which was most probably due in part to Byron having his ‘own space’ in the third row (I’ve never been more grateful to own a 7 seater car as I was driving those long legs). They were truly the most perfect little angels and because of this I have come to the realisation that I LOVE road trips. Yep. I want to go on more of them – drive and drive and drive. There is something uniquely fun about it even if you’ve travelled the journey before.

Naturally, the trip away is always more excitable than the coming home journey, but there is no denying there is nothing more exciting than stepping foot back on your own turf.

I’m an avid blogger and always try my best to keep up to date but it seems I have failed dismally these past few weeks *cough* months. I do have a good excuse I promise. See, this time of year is normally busy to say the least, but add on to that, lots and lots of newborn babes arriving left right and centre and it becomes chaotic. Which, is case in point here.

That’s ok, it just means I have so much more to share soon and I will – lots of newborns and beautiful families. In the meantime, enjoy a Beloved session I had the pleasure of experiencing back in September. How lucky am I to have captured this family for the second time…the first when little Will was just 9 months old. He’s now a beautiful, energetic toddler.