13/52

"A portait of my children once a week, every week in 2013."

Siena: the very first true spring day
Reed: loving the pizza crust

Inspired by Che and Fidel....

12/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, (almost:) every week in 2013."

Siena: throwing rocks into a frozen lake trying to break the ice...and hoping for spring
Reed: starting to walk if someone is holding his hands and mostly smiling at everything and everyone

We missed 11/52 - it has been a hectic few weeks, with lots of travel and a horrible flu that lasted for weeks. 

We were hoping for spring, but it seems nowhere in sight. Nonetheless the spring nature table went up, and our now traditional Spring Bunny (or Easter Bunny if you so chose) story has been told, we made some beeswax eggs and bunnies all in the hopes that maybe if we hope and pretend hard enough the spring might actually arrive. Today we went for a hike; the lake was still frozen pretty solid and it took some heavy rocks to break the ice. I love the drive to the lake, rolling hills, pastures and (what seems like) content cows and horses, every once in a while a deer and today several large, impressive birds of prey, a chipmunk and a black-nosed doe. 

Joining in the awesome Che and Fidel 52 project. 

10/52

Portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

This week I couldn't resist adding a few pics of these two together. They really seem utterly smitten with each other. This last week we were all still mostly recovering from the most miserable cold ever. Looking forward to the spring break and hopefully actual spring.

As every week linking up to Che and Fidel

9/52

This week was all about making it through a nasty cold, and counting down the days until I came back from a 2 day conference. I missed my little ones so much. Being without Reed for days was sheer hell- he is still almost exclusively breastfed. The separation, it turns out, was both physically and emotionally more difficult on me than him. I am lucky that my partner is in many ways a primary care provider for the kids...especially in the last year or so, and that probably played a huge role in how easy the separation was for the kids.

Snowy Days

Even though we had not gotten much snow this winter- or maybe exactly because we did not get it many a time- the few snow storms we had were loads of fun. Hiding in the house with the kids, baking lovely warm treats, settling further into this new house all interspersed with snuggles. One recent snowy morning we got up rather early- lately sleeping until 7am feels like a treat (although I shouldn't complain given that my best husband in the world gets up with Reed every morning between 4 and 5am).
Anyway after working for a few hours- just long enough to make the rest of the day be enjoyable rather than have that overtone of guilt for not having worked- Siena and I made two loafs of vegan chia, pumpkin, chocolate-chip bread in my brand spanking new bakeware! It was total experimentation, and with only 3 table spoons of raw sugar for both breads and no oil, they were nothing to write home about, although they nonetheless disappeared rather quickly.
I think my favorite thing about snowy day, the kind that makes you want to stay inside and cuddle up, is that the snow piling up on the doorstep, and the car, and the windows and the yard hushes everything down to a murmur, both outside and inside.

8/52

A portrait of my children once a week every week in 2013. 

A short hike in the middle of February (but we'll take what we can get). Our local state park has a small raptor center with a dozen or so usually injured birds. Visiting them required a short hike, reminding us all of how much we miss being in Australia where going for bush walks was an option any day of the year!

7/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

This week was all about getting more comfortable in our new space. Painting (with my trusty assistant doing the chalkboard paint), reupholstering and rearranging. Also Reed turned 10 months. Siena said it all when she said "he is the brother I wished for when he was in your tummy mum." Smiles, smiles and more smiles. In about 10 days I am heading out of town for a few days and I am very anxious about leaving the little ones, especially Reed, given that he still barely eats any solids and is still mostly subsisting on mommy juice.

6/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

This week was marked by rainy winter days, kids taking their first together-bath, and an overwhelming number of smiles. Reed seems to be in the everything-is-funny mode. He doesn't skimp on smiles for his mama, dad, sister or any random stranger. His happiness is contagious.

5/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Two lovely snowed in days- playing outside, hot chocolate and the slowness and calmness that comes from everything being muffled by the snow

4/52...I am soooo behind

So almost a year ago one of my favorite bloggy mommies started this portrait a week project. I thought it a great idea, and thought about doing the same for awhile. Then this year many others started joining in- giving me further motivation. But the last straw came after my computer broke down over the holidays and I lost months of not only work, but also my "notes" in which I tried to capture the sorts of moments that I knew I'd forget in a day or a month or a year; simple moments with my little ones; the sorts of moments that eventually all blend into one and stop feeling real. So having lost the last few months of these notes is what ultimately made me decide to participate. My hope is to capture those "boring" moments that otherwise get forgotten, meshed into one; the moments that ultimately make up my life. I wanted to start right at the beginning, but between the start of the semester and buying and moving into a new house time got away from me...and to top it this is a joint portrait, but everyone has to start somewhere.

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

It's been awhile

But I guess that's not too surprising. We've spent lots of time becoming a family of four. It is so amazing that even after falling head over heels for Siena that I was nonetheless surprised to find myself falling in love with my little man. Things once again seemed to come so natural. Of course we are a family of four!, of course I have a son!...not too long after he was born, it was already hard to remember a time without him; a time when I was actually not too excited about having a boy. But here he is now, gorgeous, smiling, with still a mostly toothless grin, charming his way into hearts everywhere.

To add to this big change, we moved cities; in fact, we moved continents, and have left Australia and our dear ol' Mosman and have returned to the U.S. We are living in a rather small, but progressive Midwestern town, in the heart of the country. We started new jobs, found new rhythms and made new friends and all of that takes time. So after nearly 8 months, here I am back in this space.

Family

Our little family has grown and we cannot be happier. We are incredibly in love with Reed.