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Letter to Emily & Sophie – November

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| November 30, 2013 by Kim | Letters to my daughter, Personal Projects

And then there were two!

Welcome to the world Sophie Lee Eales! You couldn’t wait any longer and made your way in to the world 3 weeks early, just hours after last months letter to Emily went live. Your birth and first few weeks have been relatively easy compared to the chaos your sister brought to us. The birth was straight forward, and I was able to cuddle you straight away while Dad cut the cord and before they tried to weigh you. Despite being early, all your stats were perfect (almost bang on 50th percentile for everything), you had a little jaundice but nothing of any concern.

You continued to lose a little weight after leaving hospital, but since then have started to thrive – putting on almost double the “recommended” weight gain and you continue to fill out and are growing up before our eyes. You are already so much more aware of your world than when we first brought you home. We have been pretty lucky with you, while we are still sleep deprived and struggling with juggling everything, you continue to feed well and, while we might complain, you really do sleep pretty well.

And Emily, my gorgeous, gorgeous girl. Such a big month for you with Sophie arriving. You came and visited Mummy and Sophie in hospital a few times and while you were curious about Sophie you were more interested in investigating the hospital room. Bringing Sophie home took a bit of adjustment and it was a few days before you were prepared to get close to her and a few more before you tried to touch her. Now, a month on, you get concerned when she cries, you try and share your toys with her and love holding her little hands in yours when she is awake.

You have been getting more and more adventurous too. You’re running around everywhere and taking a few tumbles as you explore your limits – there have been a few bumps to your head this month. While we have been fairly preoccupied with Sophie, you have still had lots of attention and outings, especially when Granny was down to give us a hand for that first week or so at home. You are loving going for long walks now, investigating your surroundings as you go and picking up sticks, leaves and bark to carry with you. You’re also loving your water play table on hot days and think it’s hilarious when someone sprays you with the hose – always coming back for more.

You continue to eat almost anything we offer you, although you have gone off a few things you would eat previously. We are starting to eat our dinner with you and serving you up a little of what we have to complement your dinner and you especially love eating whatever veges we offer. You have finally dropped your last bottle and are 100% on solids now – getting so grown up! You also have more teeth coming through. The eye teeth are pushing out and it feels like the top ones could come through any day now. We’ve had a few more tears and tantrums than usual this month, which we expected, but otherwise you continue to be your same happy, curious self and we love that you still sleep through the night (and until 6am now too!).

Love you both lots and lots and lots xoxoxo

Have a look at Nicole’s letter to her daughter for November and her beautiful photos over on her blog

(All photos of Sophie were taken by my husband, Nick)

Letter to Emily – October

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| October 26, 2013 by Kim | Letters to my daughter, Personal Projects

Gosh – another month has flown past! We took you for your first trip to the beach this month. You weren’t too impressed with the sand, especially when it was soft and sinky, but were fine if you could walk along with Dad or hold his hand when on the firmer stuff. You enjoyed walking along the promenade and playing on the grass a lot more, but we’re determined to get you familiar with the beach and hopefully you will start enjoying it soon.

We had to get someone in to give us a hand with you during the days as mummy ended up spending a night in hospital in the middle of the month having overdone things and being 8 months pregnant with your little sister. Luckily you love the company and all the trips to the park and playground you are getting. Your walking has improved out of sight and you are now managing the walk to the park and back without the pram which is fantastic.

You are changing and growing on almost a daily basis it seems – coordination improving, interacting more and eating a wider variety of foods – and you still love the taste of everything we’ve given you! You are happy enough to play on your own for a little while or interact with one or two other kids, but get a little overwhelmed when there are a lot of other kids around. We had you playing with some home made play dough the other day, lots of blue food colouring made it look like you had been eating a wayward smurf!

It’s hard to believe that by the time next months letter rolls around, you should have a little sister. You still seem so small yourself and are still too little to understand what is happening. I’m sure you will love her though (and hate her at times too!).

Love you lots and lots and lots

Click on through to check out the next blog in our “Letters to our sons and daughters” circle by Joanne.

Two Little Girls in Blue ~ Family Photography

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| October 18, 2013 by Kim | Children

Another gorgeous photo shoot from up in Brisbane, just check out the smiles! Big sister was very definite that she wanted to have the photos taken where there were blue flowers – luckily these gardens had plenty of variety and we could find some that satisfied her.

The two girls adored each other and I got the biggest grins from the younger sister when I enlisted her big sister to help me get her to smile. There were giggles and shrieks aplenty from these two!

Cake Smash! ~ Child Photography ~ Northern Sydney

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| October 4, 2013 by Kim | Children

This was my first go at doing a cake smash and it was SO much fun! The cake looked fantastic, the baby was cute and although he took a little time to work out what was going on in the end he got stuck into it all pretty well! I just love the bright colours and he has the most adorable blue eyes. After having a good go at the cake, he thought the balloons were a lot more interesting though and preferred playing with them.

Letter to Emily – September

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| September 28, 2013 by Kim | Letters to my daughter, Personal Projects

September is here and spring has sprung! We are getting out of the house more and more with you and your walking has come so far in just a few short weeks. Mummy and Daddy love getting you out on the oval next to our house and letting you walk along. Lots of exercise for you and now you expect it and get upset at us if we don’t let you out of the pram. Even more fun is when we take the ball with us and let you kick it and throw it around. You toddle all over the place with your arms tucked up like little chicken wings, still taking a tumble every now and then and insisting that Mummy wipes your hands clean for you if you get grass on them.

All this activity has you with an increased appetite, you’re up to 5 meals a day and they just keep getting bigger. You’re loving the appearance of summer fruit – blueberries are your favourite – and are enjoying some simple sandwiches as well. They create a lot more mess for us to clean up but you enjoy them so much and with the warmer weather we are starting to get lunch outside a bit now. We’ve even managed to drop your first bottle of the day some days and you really don’t seem to miss it at all.

You are still getting in two naps during the day, but much to our dismay you are sleeping less at night and waking up far too early for us. Especially for the last week or so! Luckily you go down to sleep really well still and we have a few ideas to help you sleep longer again overnight but for now we will just have to cope with very early mornings. Luckily you’re pretty happy and not grumpy about it. Hoping that all the trips to the oval and the playground will help wear you out a bit too. You’re loving the playground and take yourself to the swing all the time, but then when you actually get in the swing you have perfected the “bored” look. We think you really do enjoy it though…

It’s been a lovely month watching you get more and more mobile and confident in moving around. Your Aunty Kate is sure she heard you say “ma” and point at me the other day, but Daddy and I still haven’t heard it.

Love you lots and lots and lots.

For the next Letters to our Children blog post, hop on over to Sarah’s blog and have a look!

A touch of winter colour ~ Family Photography

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| September 21, 2013 by Kim | Uncategorized

A gorgeous winter morning, a lovely couple and a delightful almost-one-year-old combined with the amazing colours at Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane made this shoot absolutely stunning. The little girl was a bit our of sorts for part of the shoot but you wouldn’t know it from the photos and it gave us an excuse to get a beautiful baby-wearing shot in while trying to keep her settled.

We were only doing a mini-shoot, but I could have kept taking photos of this little girl all day! She had such a definite personality and was fascinated with everything going on around her. A bird joined in on things at the end of the shoot and slowly circled around us – she couldn’t take her eyes off it and got very annoyed when I ruined her view of the bird to try and get a shot in!

Letter to Emily – August

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| August 31, 2013 by Kim | Letters to my daughter, Personal Projects

You had your first birthday this month! What a year it has been, in so many ways the time has passed so quickly, yet it seems like you have always been here. We had a party for you and there were lots of treats for you – your first taste of fairy bread, first piece of cake – you had a ball opening all your presents and looked gorgeous in your new party dress.

Thankfully you seem to have finished teething for the moment, maybe it’s just coincidence, but your sleeping has improved and you have been all round happier and more interactive this month than ever before. Mummy and Daddy have spent a lot of this month with one or the other of them not being well (swine flu is horrid, especially when pregnant!) and you have been seeing a lot more of your grandparents than usual. You have been so well behaved and they are even more smitten with you than before – if that’s possible!

Another exciting development for you this month started about a week ago. You tottered your first couple of steps on your own! You were very proud of your achievement and got lots of admiration for your efforts, so now you’re toddling unsteadily around the place all the time. Usually you have an end point in mind and while you don’t always make it in one go, every day you are taking an increasing number of steps and getting better balance. It’s been so much fun watching you develop this skill and how much enjoyment you get out of it.

I would have loved to get more photos of you this month, but I haven’t been well for the past few weeks, so I’m glad I at least have these beautiful ones from your birthday.

Love you lots and lots and lots xx

Follow on to the next letter (and beautiful photos) in our blog circle from Nicole Herda to her daughter.

It’s such a perfect day ~ Family photography ~ Brisbane

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| August 2, 2013 by Kim | Children

You wouldn’t have known it was the middle of winter in Brisbane! The morning was clear and mild, the flowers were blooming and everyone was in a great mood for this gorgeous family photo shoot at Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane. I had headed up for the weekend as a bit of time out for myself and still managed to fit in four shoots! This was a mini shoot to catch young Jack as he gets close to one year old.

He has the most glorious clear blue eyes and was such a happy little chap, he readily engaged with the camera and obviously adores (and is adored by!) his parents. The flowers made a lovely, colourful backdrop to the photos, it was so lovely to see them all out in the middle of July.

Expect to see a few more of my shoots from Brisbane over the coming weeks. I had a fabulous weekend catching up with friends and doing these shoots.

Letter to Emily – July

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| July 27, 2013 by Kim | Letters to my daughter, Personal Projects

Another month goes by and this one seems to have seen you change from being my baby to a little girl. Your personality is really starting to come out and you have the most beautiful smile for us. Your mobility has increased amazingly – both your balance and confidence are growing daily and we’re sure it won’t be long before you are standing and walking without any support.

This month I made sure I got some photos of you a few times. I did some mini sessions for some other bubs around your age and had dad bring you along at the end to get some photos of you as well. I love how these turned out and although you were a bit grumpy to start with, your smile came through and you even had some fun on the swing. I love how in the first photo below you have kicked your right shoe off – you are always doing this and it rarely stays on for more than a couple of minutes at most. We also got some photos of you having a bath – how this has changed since the last lot we took! You stand at the bath and watch daddy getting it all ready for you, then you sit up in the bath and play with your toys while you have a wash.

You’ve had still MORE teeth come through, a total of 12 now. The molars are still giving you a bit of grief as they come through fully, so hopefully we can have a break now before you get any more. Your other teeth are coming through further and you have a big toothy grin now. Your feeding well and eating more and more solids, and more variety all the time. We’ve dropped your last bottle of the day and you don’t seem to miss it at all, instead we finish off with some yoghurt and banana which is a firm favourite. Lots of “mmmm mmmm mmm” sounds as you eat it. And just the last couple of days you’ve dropped the daytime bottle as well, I think it may make a reappearance, but will see how you go.

Your coordination is also improving almost daily. We bought you some stacking rings and the past week has seen you go from trying “knock” them into place to purposefully picking each ring up, lining it up on the pole and letting it fall into position until you have put them all in place! We’re very impressed with this and you seem to be pleased with yourself about it too. You are also balancing on your own for longer and longer every day. In the last week you’ve gone from just a couple of seconds to more than 10 seconds standing on your own yesterday! Can’t be too much longer before you try taking those first little steps.

We are loving watching you constantly learn and grow. This last photo is my current favourite of you. Looking up, straight at mummy holding the camera with a great big grin just for me!

Love you lots and lots and lots. xxxx

Follow our “Letters to our Children” blog circle and head on over to see Sarah’s beautiful photos and letter to her son.

Winters day mini shoots Part II ~ child photography ~ Northern Sydney

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| July 23, 2013 by Kim | Children

Part II of my winter mini shoots shares the photographs of two more little boys who will be turning one soon. These were taken on the same chilly morning as the last ones I blogged and the little guys braved the cold and put on some smiles for me.

This first little guy hadn’t been too well during the week but nothing could stop him from smiling that cute little grin and letting us see those two bottom teeth. He seemed pretty impressed with the print his mum had made up listing all his stats and some of his favourite things – I thought it looked pretty damn good too! Since he wasn’t feeling too well still, it took a little to get him interested, but then mum brought out one of his favourite toys – the orange truck. Well, you just couldn’t stop him playing with it and the suitcase made the perfect surface for him to run it along. He really is a happy little fella and with those beautiful blue eyes made a gorgeous model for these photos don’t you think?

This next little guy had also been a bit crook during the week and came along all rugged up for the shoot. He still managed to pull out some smiles though – especially when he was in his little red wagon. And check out those eyelashes – he has the most amazing, long curling lashes that will be the envy of every girl when he’s a bit older!