aug, 31st - last day at the beach....

day 934 / 33:

our last morning at the beach.....the holiday really delivered what we were after.....a change of scene, some easy outdoor living and dedicated time with Limi (to help her adjust to having to share us these days). given that she walked around the Shoebox singing 'we're all going on a Summer holiday' for weeks beforehand, we're so glad that we took the hint and made it down to the beach.

sitting outside in the evening listening to the waves, waking up to seagulls, feeling soft sand between our toes, flying kites, jumping on sandcastles and getting to know Claya just a little bit better too were all great tonics for the lack of sleep. 

and after the morning on the beach, one last coffee at The Gallivant {see day 931 / 30}.......

p.s. about the two sugar cubes in the pic above....one is for my hot coffee and according to Limi, the other one is a back-up in case the first one goes 'missing'.

aug, 29th - one month....

day 932 / 31:

one month already. and every time i look at her i'm amazed that just a short time ago she would wake me up with hiccups inside my bump. now those hiccups are accompanied by the sweetest frown that must have been there all along. we're also starting to get smiles and the bird sounds that i remember so well with Limi....as much as i want her to grow, i also so want to slow down this stage......

aug, 28th - good coffee....

day 931 / 30:

A. and i love a good coffee (he would argue that most of London doesn't do a good coffee compared to Australia but that's for another day and another post). with a newborn back in the house, strong coffee has become our life blood again. on holiday, we were thrilled when we discovered the Beach Bistro at the Gallivant Hotel. it's a rustically gorgeous bistro and serves decent coffee too.

it also delivered happiness to a two year old by making extra large babycinnos.

  

A. and i were so impressed by the look of the menu (scallops, salt marsh lamb, freshly caught fish) that we made it down for dinner one night. with Limi asleep at home with my mum and Claya defying the wary looks of fellow diners by not letting out a peep all night, it was great to have some adult time, just the two of us.

p.s. i promise that we don't actually co-ordinate our clothing, we just happened to have packed a lot of stripes this holiday.

aug, 27th - conversations with a two year old....

day 930 / 29:

{Limi putting her jersey on the wrong way round}

me: Limi, your jersey is not the right way

Limi: mama, i'm wearing my jersey the left way

can't argue with that and quite like her style.......

aug, 26th - salts farm shop....

day 929 / 28:

close to our beach village and on the road to Rye is Salts Farm Shop. it's definitely worth a stop. surrounded by fields of sheep, it's a beautiful black clad building with space to sit outside and have a coffee. inside, the shop has fantastic produce that is locally sourced where possible. the lamb is off their own farm, other meat is also free-range and local, a good range of fresh vegetables, delicious deli items, gourmet ready meals and locally made cakes. this is the way farm shops should be.

Salts Farm Shop

East Guldeford, Rye

TN31 7PA

aug, 25th - at the beach....

day 928 / 27:

we haven't spent much time at the British seaside but with Claya still needing a passport and my mum in town, we decided to decamp to East Sussex for a week. it has wide sand beaches and sand dunes that reminded us both of the rustic beaches of our childhood. 

our ritual became an early morning walk on the beach with Limi. we were joined by bike riders, parents walking babies in buggies, horse riders, runners and even brave swimmers......all before 9am.

and while we were climbing sand dunes with Limi........

Claya was back at the house relaxing with my mum.

aug, 24th - big sister in training....

day 927 / 26:

while we are busy soaking up some British sun down at the coast......i just wanted to slip this post in as there have been a number of questions about how Limi is coping with her new sibling.......

our answer is that it is more a case of over-love at this stage. Limi has been in training for this moment for months and months.....even though we never actively encouraged it and tried to steer her away from dolls,  she is obsessed with 'babies' and has been since she was about fourteen months old. i think the main issue is that she wonders why she can't take more of an active role in looking after Thunderhoovsie, wanting to change nappies, bath her, pick her up, feed her (which is an interesting one), violently rock her in the bouncy chair and Claya's least favourite, force her eyes open to play.  after all.....she is an expert when it comes to her own babies: Noah and Panda (Noah is the one being carried in the kitten-drape-pose over her arm, above)......they get dressed and undressed, bathed, changed and put to sleep over and over again during the day.

it's tough on us to keep discouraging her when she's just trying to help and be involved. but as Claya adjusts to the tough love by her sister and we adjust to spending individual time with each of them and time together....it's getting easier to balance. hey, by no means have we figured it all out yet....but we're having fun trying.


p.s. Limi's obsession with babies is at least balanced by her love of Spiderman and doing face-planting dives off the back of the couch. 

aug, 19th - gone to the beach....

day 922 / 21:

the weather has been glorious....so we made a spontaneous decision to head to the beach....

posts may be sporadic this week as we focus on sandcastles, ice-cream cones and splashing in the waves, instead.....

aug, 15th - kidivist in situ....

day 918 / 17:

the beautiful Kidivist mobile {see day 909 / 8} installed over Claya's crib in her small nook in our room. thanks again Anne. it is already capturing her attention.

the teddy bear was given to us before Limi was born. it is filled with sari fabric that was blessed in a temple in India. i love the idea that the insides of this bear have this adventurous history.

the last pic is of the antique sheet given to me by a good friend at my babyshower. she lives close to this market and manages to find the most amazing things.....bet this sheet also has a tale to tell.

thank you again for all the kind comments. we're slowly finding our way with two and appreciate all the encouragement.....it certainly makes things interesting now that we only have one pair of hands per child.........especially at bath time.