Christmas 2016

Last Christmas as a family of 3. 

And then there were four.

This little blog of mine has been neglected since my last poor attempt at the 52 Weeks project. Life, pregnancy and full-time teaching got in the way but, after trawling through my archives to try and remember the age at which Olive stopped screaming, I realised how grateful I am that I recorded her early days on here. You think you'll remember all the funny little details, but you don't. So, now that we have another precious babe, little Teddy, in our lives, I thought it was time to start recording things again.

Because Olive was such a tough baby (among other reasons) we waited until she was well and truly out of the baby stage before we considered number two. Well meaning friends, family and strangers told us that we'd done our fussy baby time and we'd get an "easy one" this time around. Or they'd tell us things would be different this time because we'd be "more relaxed" (as if the reason that Olive was a nightmare was somehow due to us not being relaxed enough), but I think deep down we both knew that we're destined to bounce and pat and wander the streets endlessly with cranky babies. Ted came into the world (fairly) peacefully and tricked us into thinking he was at least a bit calmer than Olive, but NOPE. I'm writing this with him attached to me in the Elki wrap (lifesaver) after an hour and a half of trying to get him to sleep. At 10 weeks there are glimpses of our sweet, adorable, blue-eyed boy, but mostly it's lots of crying. 

5/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2016."

Always finds an unconventional place to sit.

4/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2016."

So proud of her drawings (and so am I).

It's so hard to get a candid shot of her now. She either does the cheesy smile above or yells "don't take my picture" and runs away. I do love the occasional cheesy smile shot, though.

3/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2016."

Laughing at Aunty Sarah on Phillip Island

We spent a lovely three days in an Airbnb place on Phillip Island with Sarah and Adrian. Olive loved "staying in our new house" and we loved hanging with our favourites. Could have done without the (rather anticlimactic) trip to Wongathi Hospital because of a chunk of leaf in Olive's eye, and the weather wasn't great (40 degrees one day, 16 the next) but we had a great time admiring the scenery, watching the penguin parade and spying a cute echidna during our wanderings.

2/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2016."

A 40 degree day by the Murray in Albury.

These pics are from one of two ridiculously hot days we spent in Albury on the way to Phillip Island. Despite the weather, we loved Albury - beautiful river, gorgeous heritage buildings, a great art gallery, lovely botanic gardens and lots of good food. Definitely a country gem! Olive loved staying in a "fancy hotel" and our trips to the local pool which had a water slide - amazingly, in spite of her fear of water, she went down the water slide at least 10 times. Small steps!

1/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2016."

A rainy January morning (during a rainy January week).

So, we got to the end of 2015 and although I took a million photos of Olive, I missed having the the weekly documentation of our year, so I've decided to start the 52 weeks project again this year. Last year was such a busy one, with both Lucas and I studying and with me going back to work, so I think that even if I had have started the project, I probably wouldn't have finished it. Now we're in the swing of the new routine I think I'm ready to do it all over again - being on a six week holiday is also helping me to feel refreshed, I think! 

When I finished the 2014 project Olive was newly 2 and was only just starting to talk. In a year she's gone from having about 20 words (mummy, daddy, milk, bird, shoes, no, etc.), most of which she could barely pronounce, to using words like definitely, realised, confusing and obstacle (to name a few recent memorable ones) in context. Every day she gets a little bit funnier and more creative and more clever. She loves to dance and sing, thinks poo jokes are hilarious and asks a million questions a day ("Then what did you say? And then what did he say? What are you talking about? Did me do that when I was a little baby?"). Her absolute favourite thing to do is play make believe with her baby dolls and dollhouse, and because of her only child status, Lucas and I are roped into hours of make believe a day, which sometimes feels really tiresome, but I know these will be some of my favourite memories when she gets to big for it. She's obsessive (which was fairly inevitable with parents like Lucas and myself) and still stubborn, demanding and fiery like she's always been . Some things don't change, I suppose!

52/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

52/52: First Bike!

And that's it! 52 weeks, and though I didn't always manage to post them on time, I did at least manage to take a photo every week. It felt like a bit of a chore at times, but I'm so glad I stuck with it, and I hope Olive is one day glad I did too. 

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

51/52

 "A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

51/52: Her best Christmas smile.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

50/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

50/52: Maybe next year she'll be brave enough for a Santa photo.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

49/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

49/52: Building towers.

Better late than never!

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

48/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

48/52: She eats with such expression.

We're dog-sitting Fabs at the moment and Olive's beside herself with joy. She's forever giving him food, cuddles, water, teddies and whatever else she can find, whether he likes it or not. Thankfully, he's incredibly patient and generally likes the attention (but also likes time-outs on our bed when she gets too much).

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

47/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

47/52: A beautiful morning spent at The Lagoon with Steph and Ash.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

46/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

46/52: Watching videos on my iPhone with breakfast.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

45/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

45/52: Fun at The Farm.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

44/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

44/52: And she's 2! This is definitely the best age yet. All of a sudden she's really started talking a lot more, and she's so silly and funny. She calls herself "Yoyo", which I think is pretty perfect considering her up-and-down, ever-changing moods. She's sweet and full of cuddles one minute, and then screaming "no, me!" (which means, "I'll do it myself") the next minute. Some things I want to remember about her at this age:

* How much she loves to dance (unless it's post-bath and she's ready for bed, when she demands that the music be turned off). 

* The way she says "chocolate milk" ("chockit mook")

* Her favourite game is "where where go?" - a game she made up where she covers her face and we have to pretend we can't see her.

* Her favourite toys are her Peppa Pig, Sylvanian Families and animal figures, which she uses to play out little scenarios. She's always sorting them into families with a mummy, a daddy and either a "Yoyo" or a baby ("baydee").

* She's finally started saying "dummy" instead of "go-goo", but she mostly still calls teddy "tah-doo".

* That she says "whup" or "whup-eeee!" instead of "help!", and she asks for help a lot.

* That she sleeps! All night (mostly)! In her own bed! And she goes to sleep on her own, in her bed and, since moving to her big bed, has never resisted bed time. I thought it would never happen and I'm eternally grateful that it has (and that I didn't give in and do any "sleep training").

* That, as she's always been, she's fiery and demanding and strong-willed, but also sweet and silly and gentle and shy.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

43/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

43/52: After Roli's pirate birthday party (which we sadly missed most of because we were at Ruby's birthday party) they jumped on the trampoline for at least an hour.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.

42/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2014"

42/52: Checking out the displays after a lovely walk in the rainforest.

Linking up with Jodi's 52 Project.