46/52

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week"

Sophie: Playing in the sprinkler on a hot afternoon up at the farm. I can't believe she will turn six in just over a month.

Henry: Baby's favourite game? Peek-a-boo!

Playing along with Jodi's '52' project.

down on the farm

Every second weekend or so we like to head up to the farm where Tom's parents live. Only it's not really a farm.. there are grape vines at the front of the property and horse paddocks at the back but saying "we are just heading up to the vineyard darh-ling" always sounded a bit hoity-toity so we just call it 'the farm'.

The farm is in the swan valley, about 45 minutes from Perth. Tom's parents (well, mum and step-dad) moved up here about 6 years ago when the sold their house in the city and were looking for a more relaxed way of life. We feel so lucky that we have this little get away so close to us.. we drive for less than an hour yet once we get there we feel like we are a million miles away from the city.

Tom's mum has the most amazing veggie patch. Her veggie patch alone could take up a whole post!
There are 4 horses on the property (at one point they had 12!) including a little two week old foal. We collect eggs from the chickens, which is always lots of fun for Sophie and her cousin Ella as the chooks are allowed to wonder around the farm during the day so they always lay their eggs in strange places (this time on a bale of hay in the stables). We make lunch from the food harvested from the garden.. potatoes, lettuce, broad beans, beetroot, corn.. whatever is ready to eat!

Sometimes when I'm having one of those horrible evenings -when two kids are screaming and the house is a mess and you're trying to cook dinner and the washing machine decides to explode all over the floor when I think 'I wish Tom's mum lived around the corner!' but then we drive up to the farm on the weekend and I am so glad they live out here and we get to visit.

Are you lucky enough to have a home away from home?

45/52

"a portrait of my children once a week, every week" 

Sophie: Her personality is so much like mine it's scary. Apparently not being a morning person is genetic.

Henry: His words now include; muma, dada, dog, book, door, hi, bye and yum. He makes us smile every day.

Playing along with Jodi's 52 project.

the pigeon pair

I've been thinking lately about having another baby. Well, not so much about having another baby, but if we will have another baby.. or not.

I always thought we would have another baby one day. Even though after Henry was born I said "I am never doing that again!" I quickly changed my mind once the memory of the birth faded away. But in the last few weeks, I have found myself for the first time, wondering if maybe two is enough for us.

It's funny because during the last year Henry has been a terrible sleeper.. I have barely managed to make it though each day, yet throughout all that time I was still sure that we would do it all again one day.
It was about a month ago that Henry finally started sleeping a bit better and around the same time I wondered, for the first time, if we could actually do it all again. The idea of having another baby became a "maybe" not a "definitely" when people asked. It's almost like things finally started to get a bit easier.. I could see the light at the end of the sleep-deprivation tunnel and I thought.. "I'm not sure if I could do that again".

Some people (like my mum) are shocked that we would even consider having another child. You see.. it's not quite as simple for us as it is for other people (I would need another cervical suture and would possibly be on bed-rest again) not to mention the trouble we have had even falling pregnant.
The other consideration is that I'm just not sure if I could do it all again.. Physically or mentally!
Having babies (the pregnancy, birth, sleepless nights and breastfeeding) seem to leave me feeling like a shell of my former self.. I'm becoming more bedraggled by the day I think!

There is also the environmental point of view that the world is becoming overpopulated and we all need to have less kids not more. My mum is a big believer of this view (even though she popped out half a football team herself! But I guess things were different back then).
I always thought that it was better to have three kids who were brought up to be environmentally conscious than one kids brought up as a thoughtless consumer with no consideration for the environment but I don't know.. maybe my mum is right? (They usually are aren't they?!)

But of course, the amount of joy that babies bring is incomparable and kids really do fill the house with joy (most of the time). Luckily, Tom is happy either way.. he would be happy if we stopped at two and equally happy to have another.. so the ball is really in my court.
I guess that I'm lucky I have time on my side and I don't have to make the decision right this moment.. I can wait and see how I feel in a year or so.

So tell me.. How many kids do you have? How did you know when your family was complete? I'd love to know!

44/52

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week"

Sophie. Henry. That's all.

Playing along with Jodi's 52 project.

Do you play too?

the nursery

I think that some people have a natural talent for taking beautiful photographs. They just seem to pick up a camera and capture an image with the perfect amount of light and at exactly the right angle. Their photographs capture what they see so beautifully.
I, unfortunately, am not one of those people.

So a few months ago I attended 'The Nursery' with photographer Tim Coulson.

I arrived at 10am with my Canon DSLR that I had never taken off the 'automatic' setting. I was feeling pretty nervous (I always am walking into a room full of people that I don't know) but really looking forward to the day ahead.

Tim and Kesh made everyone feel relaxed straight away (they are such lovely people) and as we went around the room and introduced ourselves I realised that most people were in the same boat as me.. they had bought this fancy camera but didn't really know how to use it.

We spent the morning running through the basics of photography, learning how to take the camera off auto and learning a bit about connecting with our subject. After lunch we put our new skills to the test with a little photo shoot outside.

Photography is really an incredible skill to have. Not just as a blogger but as a parent as well and I am so glad I have taken the time to try and learn a little about photography and improve my skills.
I am proud to say that since attending The Nursery I have not taken my camera off manual. Not even once.
Every shot now takes a little more time and sometimes I don't get it right (the photo is almost all white or all black) but I'm slowly learning and I like the fact that I have to think a little more before taking a shot.

Have you attended 'The Nursery'? Do you shoot on 'auto' or 'manual'?

All photos above were taken by me.

43/52

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week"

Sophie: She seems so grown up most of the time, but every so often I catch a glimpse of her still looking like a little girl.

Henry: The only thing cuter than a baby in a wondersuit? A baby in a wondersuit who keeps sitting in a basket!

Playing along with Jodi's '52' project.. Do you play along too?

let's just call it banana cake

I would only be slightly exaggerating if I said that Tom made this banana bread at least once a week.
We always seem to have a pile of brown bananas in the fruit bowl that need using and this recipe is the perfect way to get rid of them. (And I have to admit that having a loaf of banana bread on hand is pretty handy for when people drop in for a cup of tea.)

The first time Tom made this banana bread he said "It's not really banana bread is it? It's more like banana cake" and seemed slightly disappointed at the amount of sugar and butter that went into it (I think he was hoping to convince himself that it was a healthy afternoon tea option) but this recipe is a winner and much better for you than any banana bread you buy at the supermarket.

This recipe is from 'Apples for jam' by Tessa Kiros (one of our favourite cookbooks).

125g butter
180g dark brown sugar
350g (about 4 medium) very ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
250g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp warm milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Butter a 30 x 11cm loaf tin.

Cream the butter and sugar till smooth and whisk in the mashed bananas.
Add the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and whisk in well.

Sieve in the flour and baking powder and beat until smooth.
Mix the baking soda into the milk and stir into the batter.

Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for about 50 minutes until the bread is crusty on top and a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.

Turn out onto a rack to cool.
Enjoy with a cup of tea!

Also.. Banana bread freezes really well! Cut it into slices and freeze in a zip-lock bag. When someone pops in unexpectedly for tea just toast it for a minute (until defrosted and warm) and serve! Yum!