Taking stock

Making: little pants for Henry
Cooking: beetroot bolognese
Drinking: tea (of course!)
Reading: the manual for my new sewing machine
Wanting: a fairy-godmother that comes and cleans the house while I sleep
Looking: at the warm banana bread in front of me
Playing: April Maze
Wasting: too much time on Pinterest
Fixing: the hem on my husband's pants
Deciding: if I should make another pot of tea
Wishing: I had a craft room
Enjoying: the perfect spring weather
Waiting: for the mailman to come
Liking: not having to get up and do the school run every morning
Wondering: if I could ever give up tea?
Loving: the latest issue of Kinfolk
Pondering: how life tuns out
Considering: a weekend away with the girls.. no husbands and no kids
Watching: Blue Jasmine -it was so good!
Hoping: to get my hands on Beci Oprin's new book 'home'
Marvelling: at the little tree in the garden that came back from the dead
Needing: more time to craft
Smelling: the eucalyptus spray I clean the dining table with
Wearing: Jeans and a stripy t-shirt as usual
Following: Henry around all over the place
Noticing: How the days are getting longer
Knowing: that I should go to bed earlier
Thinking: that I should probably do some exercise one day soon
Buying: fabric (of course!)
Getting: not a lot done these days, but that's okay
Admiring: people who manage to get a lot done
Bookmarking: blogs for future reading
Opening: the box of fruit that just arrived on my doorstep
Giggling: at myself for bumping into a pole today and then saying "oh I'm so sorry" before I turned to realise I was talking to a pole. It was also in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Oh dear.
Feeling: exhausted but content

I am playing along with Pip's 'taking stock'. (I couldn't resist playing along as I love writing lists and filing in forms.. anyone else funny like that?)
Feel free to play along if you like..

(Photo of Henry and I by Anneli Hansen photography.. lots more photos from her soon!)

40/52

Does anyone else feel like the weeks are just flying by at the moment? I feel like I just posted 39/52 and here we are again..

Henry: It rained every day last week and our living room looked like a chinese laundry for the entire week. Henry thought it was the best thing ever.. the clothes rack became a cubby-house and the kids spent hours hanging out under the laundry.

Sophie: Every single day I get told "Your daughter looks so much like you".. I don't see it at all.

Playing along with Jodi's 52 project.

39/52

Henry: Exploring as usual. His little finger ready to point at the next thing that captures his eye.
Sophie: Cuddles with Granny. Is there anything better?

Playing along with Jodi's '52 project'

37/52

Okay so I had planned to join in with Jodi's 52 project every week this year but, well, life got in the way.. So here is my second set of photos. Hopefully I'll be able to join in a bit more regularly from now on.

Sophie: Playing with her cousin Ella who is a few months younger than her.. these two are going to have so much fun growing up together!

Henry: Such a little cutie.. growing up so fast!

Life lately

Such a lovely few weeks.. Henry is finally starting to sleep a bit better at night, we had a lovely party for his first birthday last weekend and the days are getting warmer and longer..

Photos are all via Instagram. You can follow me @grow_cook_sew

x

One!

Henry turned one on Sunday. ONE! I think I can say without a doubt that was the fastest year of my life. I feel like it was just born yesterday and here we are celebrating 365 days of Henry being here in the world!

Although the year has flown, it feels like a lifetime ago that I was lying in bed praying (as much as an atheist can pray) that this little boy would be born safely. Most people can't believe that I spent most of the pregnancy lying flat on my back in bed but I think we would do it again in a heartbeat..
It was a small sacrifice to get a beautiful, healthy baby boy in the end and I try to remind myself every day how lucky we are to have him here.

Happy birthday cheeky monkey. You are one awesome little man and we love you so!

Sydney

We recently went on a holiday* to Sydney and Hobart. We spent a week in each city visiting my folks (My Dad is in Sydney and my Mum recently moved to Hobart).

It's a strange feeling going back to Sydney.

I spent 28 years of my life living in Sydney but have spent the last 2 years living in Perth.
I love Perth, I'm so glad we moved here, it's definitely my home now and I have never had the slightest sense of regret about leaving Sydney until, of course, I went back.

Sydney is such an amazing city. I would be lying if I said that I didnt get stabbing pains in my heart thinking about how much I miss living there. (Okay, well maybe it was not quite that dramatic but you know what I mean!)

I didn't actually get much time to visit any of my old favourite places as my dad is very ill and I spent most of my time visiting him (He had not seen Sophie for almost two years and had not met Henry yet so it was lovely for them to see their Opa) but I really hope to go back to Sydney soon and spend hours wondering around my old haunts.

*I'm not really sure that you can call it a holiday when 48 hours before you are due to fly out your husband calls from work and says "I now have to go to Hong Kong for 3 weeks INSTEAD".. I don't think flying around Australia with two kids on your own counts as a holiday does it?!  No, probably not.

11 months

Henry is 11 months old today! How time flies! Here are a few photos from the last few weeks.
(I'm hoping to be back here a little more often now that life is slowly resembling some kind of normal.)