Documenting Delight: day one hundred and seventy two {finn @ playschool}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and seventy one {mini mechanics}

So here’s one thing I am learning about photography as I muddle my way through this project: the picture you plan to take within the day is rarely the one that you end up selecting.

Lately I have been feel a little uninspired on the photography front. Maybe it’s the cold weather? Maybe it’s just reaching the mid way point? Not sure. So this morning I vowed to stomp all over the winter blues, rug myself and the kids up and go for a walk to catch some lovely winter light. I picked a spot at a local park which I was sure would work well. This was the plan in my head and it was going to work out. Then..... we stepped out the door. While the sun was out, it was chilly and the wind, oh the wind. Finn and Harper happily went along with my plan on the journey to the park but once at the park Harper had what I could only describe as a 'weather related tantrum'.  Once my camera came out she plonked herself in the dirt, wept big old tears whilst yelling out “It’s too windy here!!!!” We toughed it out for a while by it was obvious this play moment just wasn’t working. Decent photos taken: zero.

We started walking home, where every 3 metres Harper would fall to the ground and proclaim “I can’t walk, it is too windy to walk!”  We made it to the local shops where there is a car sculpture that the kids have fallen in love with. Happy Harper came back as they climbed over it while we took a break from walking.

This is where today’s photo came from. Unplanned, but a moment worth capturing.

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and seventy {sick little lad}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty nine {singing with style}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty eight

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty seven {moving on from picture books...}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty six {diving into a cupcake}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty five {sweetness}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty four {drawing with concentration}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty three {travelling to welcome a new baby cousin}

Yesterday Lachie’s sister and brother in law welcomed their second child into the world. I heard the news just as I hopped off a bus after a little excursion with Finn.  While I was doing something so ordinary, so everyday, in another city not too far away a loved one was giving birth, greeting a child for the first time, and doing something, well, bloody extraordinary. That within the same day the ordinary and the extraordinary exists together floors me every time.

If you know about my aversion to car travel you would wonder why we made the seven hour round trip in one day to visit a less than 24hr old new baby cousin to Finn and Harper, but therein lies the pulling power of a fresh newborn. The logical thing to do would have been to wait a week, so we could maybe organise a night stop over or hey even give us enough time to buy a present for the new arrival, but I’ve never been a fan of waiting. I’m glad we didn’t wait either. Newborns bring with them so much hope, togetherness and love, made even more powerful by the fact they don’t even know it. It is all simply by their presence alone. Of coarse I looooved holding our new niece but equally I loved seeing the excitement her arrival generated. Smiles that couldn’t be wiped off faces, warm hugs, laughter and loving glances and sighs at a precious new person. Writing this now, the feeling still gives me goosebumps.

To our new beautiful niece/cousin, you are only one day old and we love you already. We can’t wait to watch you grow and change and bring more even love and happiness to our family.

A final note on our day:

As we do most nights, on the drive home, we each stated our favourite part of the day. Tonight’s instalment went as follows:

Harper: My favourite part was seeing “my baby”.

Lachie: It would have to be seeing the baby for the first time and seeing my family.

Me: Cuddling the new baby.

Finn: My favourite bit was driving through all the tunnels. I liked the tunnels with all the lights in them.

Ah Finn, never one to follow the crowd ;) 

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty two {one on one time with Mr Finn}

It has been a hard week in the little Kite household. My beautiful, confident and persistent Harper May has challenged me in ways that I didn’t think were possible over the past five days. The intensity of her tantrums and reactions to the simplest of requests can overwhelm me. They sometimes overwhelm this whole household.  I spent last night in deep reflection and on top of looking at where Harper is right now and how our parenting can help her manage her big emotions (alongside re-establishing calm to our household) I took a close look at what this week was like for Finn.  My energy was pulled almost solely towards my girl this week. Did Finn complain, whinge, act out? Nope. He helped out, he played independently when I was working through a problem Harper and he drew Harper into his play when he ordinarily would prefer to play alone. I would expect the former but I was so thankful that Finn was the latter this week.

He didn’t ask for much from me this week. He did deserve a lot more of my attention, I know that for sure. So Lach and I put it to Finn this morning that he could choose a special activity to do just with Daddy (don’t worry, Mummy + Finn time will feature later in the day) A visit to Questacon? The War Memorial? A train ride maybe? Of coarse the train ride was selected. We should have known. So the boys took a countrylink trainride from Kingston to Bungendore. A forty minute train ride for our transport-crazy boy. When Harper and I picked them up from the station Finn ran towards me with a squeal.

F: Mum, do you know what my favourite parts were?

M: What were they honey?

F: Going through tunnels, and the view.

He was basically exploding with happiness. Something so simple, but I could tell it meant a great deal to our little guy.

On the way home Lach dropped Finn and I off at the shops to end the day with some Mummy + Finn time. He looked at toys and we shared a date scone. To keep with the transport theme we caught a bus home.

Waiting for the bus to arrive we had a little chat about his day:

Me: Hey buddy, do you know why you had some one on one time with Daddy and then with Mummy today?

F: No, why?

M: Well, we wanted to make you feel special and to thank you for being so patient and helpful this week.

F: Awwwwwwww

M: What do you mean when you say ‘Awwwwwww’?

F: Awwww, I just love that.

*My sweet boy, we need to give you this time more often. I love spending time with you, letting you direct the conversation and doing things that you find fun. I will make sure our next one on one date isn't too far away. Love, Mumma Bear. x

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty one

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and sixty {the dress up box}

{mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest bride of all?}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty nine {where is your smile harper?}

Documenting delight: day one hundred and fifty eight {she feels their pain}

{"oh poor baby audrey. she's sick"}

Sidenote:

Harper’s first plait.....which may in fact look like rats tail. But I’m still calling it a plait.

Another sidenote: Today I completed my first guest post over at Living, Loving, Laughing. A little photo essay of Master Eli playing in our playroom. Pop over and have a squiz.

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty seven {just making a call}

{me: who are you taking to?
finn: i'm just calling up emergency services on my mobile phone}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty six {swimming lessons}

Winter is here and our weekly swimming lessons continue as normal. This morning as I shuffled into the changeroom shivering and trying to pry wet swimming gear from myself and my two wriggling swimming partners I  questioned whether pushing on through the winter months is worth it. Is this complete madness? My theory is that if we commit to year round lessons  it will just become something we do, rather than an activity that we complete in the warmer months then have to re-adjust to after we give it a break for a while. You see, Finn isn’t so keen on the water. It has been a long, hard slog to get Finn to the point where he will willingly enter the pool.  He is now happy in the water, likes his teacher and is slowly gaining some confidence in the water. Even Canberra’s minus temps won’t be able to stop the momentum we have going.

Growing up, I was never far from the beach. I have always been around water, so much so that I never actually remember when I learnt to swim. But I was lucky, water was part of my environment. Living in Canberra, with the closest beach a couple of hours away, Finn and Harper will never have the same experience with water as I did. I can’t change that fact, but it does make me even more determined to make sure that both our kids learn to swim.

So over the coming months  I will be getting in my cozzies and pretending it’s a warm summer’s day, even when frost is slowly clearing outside the Aquatic Centre. Mind over matter. Mind over matter.

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty five {soft boiled egg sunday}

Three things I love about Sunday’s soft boiled egg morning tea tradition:

1.       Lach is the master of cooking soft boiled eggs (who would have thought it was hard? It is. I have tried. I get the timing way off.) This a cooking tradition he shares solely with the kids.

2.       Harper always requests to wear a bib, even though she hasn’t worn one regularly for over six months.  Flashbacks of her eating as a baby come thick and fast.

3.       Both kids don’t leave an ounce of egg ( or “eggy goodness” as they call it) in the shell. When they can’t manage to scrap anymore off the bottom they call for assistance. Daddy always comes to their rescue.

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty four {where ARE you hiding Maisy?}

Documenting Delight: day one hundred and fifty three {baking scones}