We’re laying low at the moment, trying to settle into our new roles in our family, trying to adjust our home to suit our needs and trying to prepare for the coming summer.

124 – Baby Bits

I must confess, there are some baby bits that were Ameli’s and our now Aviya’s that I am just so sad to see them grow out of. It seems ridiculous to feel this way about clothes, when I’m not even that attached to my own clothing, but these are just so gorgeous. I’m just going to have to take photos of them though, cause I certainly can’t keep everything!

125- Boat Docking

The weather’s been rather dismal of late, but sometimes you just need to clear the cobwebs, as we did on this day. A walk down the canal, a play in the park, and watching the narrow boat docking… Ameli was very excited. She wanted to hop on. We’ll have to arrange a narrow boat trip in the summer, I think!

If I compare week 18 of this year to week 18 of last year, or even the year before, my life seems pretty dull these days. It’s all about baby eyes, baby smiles, and baby cuddles – I still count Ameli as a baby. But you know what… there will be time for travel again. There will be time for adventure. Now is the time for bonding and attachment.

117/366 – Faces

Not much to say about this really – just some of my little Aviya’s many beautiful faces. (It’s all in a mama’s eye!)

118- Baby Beautiful

Sometimes I have this overwhelming urge to post a blog post with just a picture in it. If I gave in to those urges, you’d have had this picture as a whole post. I resisted… you know… for the sake of your RSS reader. But I think it was totally worthy of a post all on its own.

119/366 – Baby Massage Demo

My company, Little Bliss, is really still fledgeling, what with having a baby and all, so I’ve been doing free demonstrations in the area to get the word out. I love baby massage. It’s so bonding and calming and soothing. And I love that I have a live  model. She was just awesome. She let me massage her legs, feet and arms for almost an hour. Awesome.

120/366 – Duvet Day

A total duvet day. We didn’t do much of anything today. At least, I didn’t! Ameli danced with daddy, did some stamping, cuddled Aviya, and built puzzles.

121/336  Thick As Thieves

Ameli has lots of little playmates, but I think if I had to ask who her best friend is, she’s probably say “Arfur”. These two are thick as thieves, and if one jumps, the other jumps. And if one falls down, the other falls down. And if one climbs a lamp post, wall, climb frame, the other does. I have a picture of myself around her age with a friend I know only as “Heath” by the caption. We must have been like this. She bosses “Arfur” around something fierce though. We’ll have to work on that.

122/366 – Sling Meet

I don’t think I’ve ever been as grateful for sling wearing as I was at this sling meet. Our park was totally ruined by a combination of a circus and a lot of rain. The circus left so much mud, when we were trying to walk back to the car Ameli and her friend P were totally covered in mud. Ameli made the journey home in her nappy, she was that mud covered. In fact, in the last picture* there she was so stuck in the mud. The ranger, who fortunately for my new shoes was walking by had to go in and get the girls out. (Emily, P’s mother, had tried, but she got stuck too!) It was hysterical, but only in retrospect.

Ameli is in such a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ stage – she copies what everyone else does – like in the picture of her following P, or hanging off the climb thing like Arthur! Aviya, meanwhile… slept.

*thanks for that photo Emily!
123/366 – Cuddles

After yesterday’s muddy business, Ameli was rather snively nosed, so we had a late start to the morning. Sometimes in the morning I’ll let Ameli watch a program or two on TV while I wait for the coffee to take effect. This morning I had propped Aviya up and walked in to find Ameli snuggled up next to her baby sister explaining the characters of Chuggington to her. Rather sweet, really.

I must apologise. Most of the photos this week were taken on my phone, in very low light, and some seriously gratuitous breastfeeding in there too.

103/366 – Cool Rider

This is for my dad, really. A half smiley, half sleepy, terribly blurry Aviya both loving Snoopy, as my dad does, and a bit of a biker shoutout… like my dad. 

104/366 – Peeping Aviya

There’s nothing as beautiful as a nursing baby, is there? Those little hm-hm-hm sounds along with the glugging… well, it’s gorgeous. I love it. 

105/366 – Tandem 

Tandem nursing my babies. I love how Ameli puts her arm around her sister and holds her, letting the small body rest on her own. It’s precious. I’m so glad we persevered with breastfeeding throughout pregnancy.

106/366 – “Storge” Love

In Greek, storge is the word for affectionate love. I think of it often when I see Ameli and Aviya together. As a parent you have time to prepare for the arrival of a second child. As a toddler, you can never really prepare, because it’s a first. It’s like trying to prepare for labour… you can picture it, imagine it, train for it, but you have no idea what it’s like till you experience it – which is, I guess, what it’s like welcoming a sibling. You might be excited about it, in theory, but you don’t really know what you’re in for. That being said, I’m awe struck by Ameli’s adjustment. Thoroughly awe struck.

107/366 – Warner Brothers Welcomes Bloggers

We had Aviya’s first train trip, first visit to London and first press day today. We went to the Warner Brother’s Welcomes Bloggers event where they were launching a new…

108/366 – Belle of the Ball

We had a second trip to London today for a second press event. There’s a new website launching in the UK called Zulily. It’s the Groupon for parents and children, and it is fantastic. I’m in love with Zulily, with the brands they have offers on and with the concept as a whole. (You can sign up for free, receive one email a day, and get discounts on the things many of us buy often anyway!)

Ameli walked in, spotted one of the founders of the company by a table of toys and made a new friend by the time I’d got the trike packed away! Everyone loved her and Aviya and we had a really lovely day. That little dress at the end is a brand called Jelly The Pug and it is gorgeous. I’m hoping they come up on Zulily again soon!

A lot of food happened this week. I know that sounds odd, but so it was. Food and cuteness.

96/366 – Dinner. Outside Of Home. 

Martin and I went out for dinner for the first time in over a year. We’ve been planning it for weeks and weeks, but just not managed to get out the door. Remember a while ago, I had a Groupon competition? Well, this was one of the things I bought with my £100.

We went for dinner, which was nice. We took Aviya with us, but it was easy enough as she’s a pretty good sleeper. It was just nice to dress up, put on some make up and leave the house and have an actual sit down dinner.Very nice.

97/366 - Foraging

We went for what turned out to be a rather long walk as we scoured the countryside looking for Dandelions so we could make some delicious Dandelion Pesto for dinner. It was one of my first long walks since last summer, and it was really nice to be out and about again!

98/366 –  Daisies, My Love

This sweet little thing is my baby girl. Ain’t she a cutey?

99/366 – Erm….

My mother left today. It wasn’t really a day for photographs.

100 /366 –  Baking

We spent the morning in the kitchen today, catching up with a few recipes. I’ll be sharing them with you over the next few weeks, but look at this big girl creaming the butter and sugar (with supervision, of course)!

101/366 – Dandelions Galore

We’re thoroughly loving the bountiful plenitude of Dandelions available right now.The four of us went out for a walk to find more dandelions and when got home we fried them up into sweet and savoury fritters.

102/366- Erm…., Take Two

I blame children, and work and stuff… no photos again today!

Thanks for joining us for Mamatography this week! Do check out the other participants posts too!

This week was all about cleaning: Aviya’s first bath, Febrezer’s cleaning my lounge, cleaning the cobwebs from my brain, clearing away the clutter of toys. It was also about a lot of cuddles: between mothers and daughters and sisters (and daddy too!). And then there was Nana… who does a lot of cleaning, and is the queen of Nana cuddles. Oh, and she turned 53 too! Happy Birthday Nana!

89/366 – Febrezers and Aviya’s First Bath

We had a team of people calling themselves the ‘Febrezers’ come round to the house today to clean a room for us. They turned up here en masse (five of them) and whirled through our living room, transforming it from erm… embarrassing, to sparkling.  (Head over to their Facebook page, enter the competition, and if you win, they’ll do the same to yours!) I wish they could pop round every day. They left us some beautiful scents, candles and air freshners that even my baby massage clients commented on two days later! What a treat.

Aviya is sixteen days old – I can’t believe it! – and it’s time for her first proper bath, which she shared with Ameli. My lovely girls.

90/366 - Buckler’s Hard Historic Maritime Village

I get really itchy feet, and I just need to see something new, and get out and experience something different. When Ameli was a baby we did a lot of travelling, and even last year her and I saw four new countries together and visited six in total. This year things are a bit different, and our fortunes have changed, as they say, and there’s not much travel in our future for now.  Even so, there’s plenty to see in England, and many places we’ve not been before, so my mother, my girls and I set off for the coast where we found Buckler’s Hard, an old historic Maritime village, where Nelson’s fleet was apparently built.

It was a low key, but enjoyable day out and away from the usual routines.

91/366 –  Creating A Play Corner

Play spaces in our house tend to be a fluid concept.  We had a lovely play corner in our old house, then a gorgeously laid out playroom when we moved in here last summer, but with the winter came cold and mould, and toys moved indoors. We had a beautiful wooden toybox we’d been give by Fairy back during their Winnie the Pooh campaign, but Ameli has so many toys somehow (after her birthday and then Christmas, I guess) that she wasn’t playing with anything as, for the most part, she couldn’t GET to it.

I finally managed to sort all her play things – excluding soft toys and LEGO – and organise a new colder weather play corner for her and I’m much happier with it all now. At least now Ameli can access her toys!  Oh – and don’t worry: the irony of storing wooden, non-gender specific toys in pink plastic tubs is not lost on me, but it cost £8 on Ebay. There’s a very apt adage about beggars and choosers that comes to mind.

92/366 – Nana’s Birthday

My mum’s birthday falls on April 1st, which always seems to be a leaving or arriving date for me. I left her behind in Malaysia on her birthday in 2001, then didn’t see her on the day again until her 50th, when I was pregnant with Ameli in 2009. I left South Africa on 1 April 2011 again leaving her behind, and then got to spend it with her again just after having Aviya.  All the years inbetween we were on different halves of world on her birthday, so it was nice to spend a beautiful day together, in the gorgeous sunshine, having a picnic in the park.

Here’s her birthday cake, Aviya sunning her bum, Martin and Ameli putting bubbles in her Fisher Price Mater Bubble Blower which she received last week and adores and my mother showing off her birthday presents – and Avi hiding in her new handbag!

93/366 – Pillow Talk

I have another photo somewhere else, with Ameli around the same age, also lying prone on the sofa cushion, so small it served as a day time bed.  Here we are two and a half years later, and Avi does the same and it’s still precious.

94/366 – Bed Time Cuddles With Ameli

How lucky a girl (although she’s not looking so sure!) to be so loved by her big sister. What better way to go to sleep than cuddled…

95/366 – Morning Cuddles With Nana

And just when you thought it couldn’t get better, you wake up to cuddles from Nana.  This is the life.

Thank you so much for joining us for our week in pictures… check the other participants too see how mamas across the world are spending their days!

Grab a cuppa and settle down for a minute. This is a post loaded with pictures. It’s kind of a little bit magical.

82/366 – Mother

I wish there were words to describe motherhood, and the love I feel for my babies. I wish there was a way of bottling the ‘newborn’ feeling. I wish a lot of things, and I’m in awe of this life I’ve been gifted.

83/366 – First Shopping Trip

Squidgeling is 10 days old, and this is her first trip to the grocery store. She slept through the whole thing.

84/366 – The Making Of Harry Potter

If you just heard a little ‘squee’ there, it came from me. I cannot explain to you the excitement I felt when we were invited to a preview of the The Making Of Harry Potter Tour at the Warner Brothers Studio in Watford. Any event that starts with a Starbucks in the foyer is already off to a good start, but this day rocked. My mom and hubby tagged along, if only to point at me and laugh, but in truth, they enjoyed it too.

I think my favourite thing about the tour is that we were allowed to take as many pictures as we liked, and we were allowed to walk through at our own pace – no guided tours or making you go faster or anything.

Here’s a series of the sets used in the making of the films. There’s the Knight Bus, Diagon Alley, The Burrows, the boys dorm room, the Leaky Cauldron,  more Diagon Alley, the cupboard under the stairs, the Great Hall, Potions classroom, Prevet Drive, Hagrid’s Hut, The drinks fountain from the ball in Goblet of Fire, Umbridge’s Office, the bridge that features heavily in Prisoner of Azkaban, and the Potter’s House in Godrick’s Hollow.

There’s an amazing souvenir shop at the exit, with an unbelievable array of merchandising (at exorbitant prices, mostly!) Here we have wands, chocolate frogs, glasses with the school emblem on, a fabulous display of ridiculously expensive ‘Honeydukes’ sweets, including Berty Botts Every Flavour Beans, which I am lead to believe have some obscure flavours, but I wasn’t going to pay upwards of £10 for some jelly beans! (can’t remember their exact price now), Gallions, Fizzing Whizzbeez and Dumbledore’s favourites: Sherbet Lemons.

And, just to prove we were all there, there’s Ameli having a ride on Hagrid’s motorbike, me at the model Hogwarts, (which was breathtaking!), Martin babywearing (is there anything sexier in a daddy?) Squidge, just like Hagrid did Harry (without the sling, I think!) and Ameli in the side car… be still my heart. Oh, and Butterbeer. Diabetes in a cup. But yum.

85/366 – Gardening, baking, home making

A beautiful sunshiny day. Squidgy and I cleared all the debris out the garden, (thanks to my mother and Ameli for their help!), before Ameli and I made some bird feed shapes for the garden and some butterfly cheese biscuits for us.

86/366 – With A Little Help From Nana

I’m so grateful that my mother has been able to set aside six weeks of her life to share time with us. It’s been so wonderful being able to ‘hand over’ Ameli to her, knowing that my little girl is in safe hands, and is loving having someone to lather her in attention

87/366 – Newborn Photoshoot

My friend Yuri from Urbanvox.net came over to do a newborn photoshoot for us. It was so lovely having someone come into my home and work in our environment to do this, and I can’t wait to see the photos. I took these just for a taster.

88/366 – Peekaboo: Where Are You?

My mom took Ameli to forest nursery, and I went to Starbucks. What a treat. I’ll miss these moments of ‘me’ time when she goes home! My beautiful girlie, here, playing Peekaboo.

Thanks for joining us for our week in pictures!

There’s a lot of newborn newness in this post, so you know… hold on to your uterus and all that!

75/366 – Beauty and the Baby 

I may not be very artistic, but tell me I don’t make beautiful babies?

76/366 – Pretty Princess

What to say. I think she’s gorgeous. Pixie-like, fine and beautiful.

77/366 – Volunteering

Image one is Squidgy’s first day of volunteering for the NCT – not bad at four days old! Meanwhile Ameli inspects the sale items… before dragging it out to us and saying ‘Daddy, I want this one!’ Not that we were looking to buy toys, but she spent so much time inspecting and choosing we couldn’t refuse!

78/366 – Mothering Sunday

It’s Mother’s Day in the UK. It’s my 3rd Mother’s day and it’s the first I’ve actually spent with my own mother in many, many years. We had the inlaws come over too, so we had a lovely day with three mothers and our four children and two of our spouses to share it with. What a lovely memory.

79/366 – My Girls

At the park, I’m sitting with Squidgy, breathing in her newness. Ameli floors me with her beautiful eyes. I just love them. The last picture is not exactly tandem feeding. It’s Ameli nursing, and the baby a bit miserable, so I lay her down on Ameli, who put her arm around her sister and cuddled with her. I adore my eldest daughter. I adore her even more for being such an awesome big sister.

80/366 – Fun Times

I’m not sure who had more fun at Fizzy Kids – Ameli or Nana… She loves having someone around to just focus on her. It makes me a little sad, but there you have it… I hope I can go back to doing this with her in a few weeks time.

81/366 – Footprints and Fingers

I did this with Ameli, when she was just a few weeks old, and we’ve done the same now with the Squidgelicious One. She, unlike her sister, didn’t flinch or make a sound. Ameli will say she wants to play in mud, then cry because she has mud on her. She hates being dirty. She did even as a newborn. Squidgy has no such qualms. She just sleeps.

Thanks for joining us for our week in pictures! Do stop by the other participants for a flavour of what the week looks like for mamas around the world!

 Please consider nominating us for best pregnancy blog, best baby blog, or best ‘family life’ blog in the MADS awards. You have to nominate someone as blogger of the year first – feel free to nominate us there too!

It’s finally happened. Our phantom baby became a reality. We’d been waiting so long, it was starting to feel unreal. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s plenty more to follow, in due course.

68/366 – At Home

Waiting, waiting, waiting for a baby that doesn’t want to arrive. Too tired to do much, I’m really grateful my mother is here to keep Ameli company.

69/366

I had a terrible time at the hospital today. They tried the scare tactics and all the rest of it but I was able to stick to my guns. I might not know much about medicine, but I know my dates and I know that this baby is not overdue, despite them deciding I’m now over 42 weeks pregnant.

70/366

No photos of today. I don’t even remember what we did.

71/366 – West Wittering

Sick of being indoors, cooped up and frustrated, we decided to take advantage of the incredibly beautiful weather we woke up to and drove to our nearest beach. It was a truly glorious day, and I got to sit on the beach, absorb the power of the ocean – despite the very slight waves of the UK coastline – and connect with my baby.

72/366 –  Picking Flowers For Mama

A busy day here – another hospital appointment to monitor baby’s heart rate, then off to a friend for coffee, where Ameli picked flowers off the lawn for me. And then I had a long and intense acupressure session when we got home, before rushing off to an NCT committee meeting.

73/366 – The Moment Of Life Beginning

The acupressure must have done it. I had a few contractions on Monday evening, but nothing intense, then woke with pretty intense contractions at 3am. It all slowed down in the morning, but by 17:23 this had happened. Birth story to follow!

74/366 – Sisters

I’m floored by how good Ameli’s been at accepting her sister into her life. It’s been amazing. She’s so helpful and so incredibly kind to the baby, it’s awesome.  Here we have Ameli sitting with the baby, Ameli and Daddy playing with the trainset the baby ‘brought with’  and two more pics of big sister doting on little sister.

Thanks for joining us for our week in Pictures!

A week behind, obviously, so next week’s photos will have a new baby in them… but here were were, just a week ago, still waiting impatiently for our baby to show. 61/366 – Acupuncture For Starting Labour Well, it didn’t work for me, although I did have plenty of contractions afterwards! I’m guessing baby is just not ready!

It’s been an odd old week. There’s been so much ‘to do’ yet I only do it little bits at a time and as a result, the list never gets smaller. Just looking around now, there are things I should be doing and yet I’m not. I’m sitting here…resting!

54/366 – Thlippers

My sister arrived and brought a bunch of presents for Ameli. The froggy slippers were among them and Ameli loves them. Since Deshaine arrived I’ve hardly had any time with Ameli… she just adores her aunt!

55/366 – Painting Planes

Aunty Deshaine brought a wooden model kit over with her, and we were amazed at how easily Ameli put it together, then proceded to pain it and decorate it with stickers. She loved doing it and it was great fun for her and her aunty to do together.

56/366 – Soft Play

I’m 40 weeks and two days pregnant, according to the charts, and Ameli still wants to be running around! Oh, why don’t toddlers go into nesting too? Anyway, this particular day, this particular girl had not one pregnant mama, but three adults with her to entertain her. I just sat and watched the play as Aunty Deshaine and Daddy climbed and clambered along! 57/366 – Coloured Rice

We’re learning colours at the moment, and this is one of our projects. I’ll tell you more about it another day, but I thought it looked rather pretty like this. 58/366 – Smiley Sue

That’s a beautiful face, even when it’s all scrunched up. 59/366 – Memory Game

My sister and Ameli playing ‘Memory’ with Disney cards she brought along. We were shocked by how amazingly good Ameli’s recollection and grasp of this game were. 60/366 – Forest Nursery

Ameli and Nana at Forest Nursery looking at worms. What fun. Thanks for joining us for our week in pictures! Please stop by and visit the other Mamatography contributors!