nov, 6th - conversations with a two year old....

day 997 / 96:

Limi: 'Claya is so cute, she's like......a lollipop.'

and Claya adores her sister too, Limi can make her giggle uncontrollably.

nov, 5th - cross blanket....

day 996 / 95:

i kept on seeing this blanket pop up on stylish blogs that i read and after discovering the story behind their production, i decided to buy one for each of the girls. the designer is Pia Wallén, a Swede, who uses traditional techniques to create beautiful pieces (many with this Crux pattern).

the original Crux blanket was made using the wool from their very own sheep farm in Sweden. only one hundred blankets are made each year. in 2011, they launched the Cross blanket, with the same design, using ecological cotton from Peru. again, these blankets are made in small production runs to ensure that the blanket never becomes a mass market item.

they are beautifully soft, carefully made, reversible depending on whether you're having an off-white on black day or a black on off-white day and hopefully something that the girls can keep forever.

i bought mine from story north who were fantastic. they contacted me to let me know that i had bought the last one in stock and would need to wait for the second one to arrive. obviously i am not the only one who's been blog-brain-washed....

p.s. in other news, Claya has discovered her feet!!

p.p.s when Limi draws people, they now have bodies and crazy hair!

p.p.p.s. and finally, father christmas, if you're reading, i'm certain that the adult size blanket will fit down our chimney.....

sep, 28th - passport....

day 958 / 57:

this was my first choice for Claya's passport pic but sadly it got declined.....which is unfortunate, as Limi's passport pic (see below) currently makes every immigration officer laugh (which is surely a very good thing....). 

anyway, i'm using the same fantastic company that I used for Limi's passport {see day 47}. now back to trying to get a pic without an expression......

aug, 7th - freeze the frame....

day 910 / 9:

we are enjoying every moment of the newborn stage (well maybe not the nightly playtime) but mini hooves is being pretty gentle with us......

this pic was just after her heel prick test......she was very brave.

p.s. we have a name.......just trying it out for a few days. naming somebody is hard.

jun, 1st - conversations with a two year old....

[Limi with Fynn Lucas, the brand new baby of our friends from day 800]

day 845:

Limi: i want three mamas, three dadas and three Kellys

me: what will you do with three mamas, three dadas and three Kellys

Limi: squeeze them, squeeze them, squeeze them

apr, 17th - portrait plates....

day 801:

bought these melamine plates for Limi awhile back. they're from the National Gallery portrait collection although you can get them from a couple places now.

they're amazing quality and give us to chance to create grape and asparagus hair and bear toast faces. A. found the cute idea for bear toast here.

apr, 6th - happy easter....

[mabel & limi]

day 790:

happy Easter everyone......

pics by Kelly, Limi's nanny.

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

day 781:

Limi dancing.....

'Mama, my hips are singing.'

mar, 12th - conversations with a two year old....

day 765:

Limi after opening her mouth wide and letting out a whispering scream

'Mama, my scream is out of battery.'

feb, 7th - conversations with a 2 year old....

[Limi getting creative with my eyeliner in the morning]

day 731:

me: "Limi, you're going to be a girl-pirate for your Monkey Music dress-up"

Limi: "i want to be a parrot"

me: "hmmm....well you could be a girl-pirate with a parrot on your shoulder"

Limi: "i want to be a parrot with a pirate on my shoulder"

unfortunately, my skills don't extend to parrot costumes..........

pics of the pirate (no parrot) to come.

dec, 4th - hitching a ride....

day 641:

i remember this so clearly from my own childhood.

oct, 25th - some things in life are free....

day 602:

a coffee at the cafe in our street (well not free, exactly) and my own mini hot water bottle giving me fish kisses.....a simple but perfect end to a long day.

oct, 20th - cal....

day 597:

so, it was my nephew, cal's, 1st birthday recently. these pics are from when he was 7 months old....(yes, completely gratuitous pics of an extremely cute family member)......but anyway, my issue is.....how come boys get all the hair? these locks are just crying out for pigtails while Limi is still cultivating a long mohawk....these are family genes after all.....

anyway, happy birthday cal-cal. 

oct, 16th - weekend....

day 593:

this is Limi's happy-days-face....it appears unprompted and is accompanied with a loud 'Happy Days' exclamation. we spent the weekend down in Somerset {love this part of England, see day 225 and day 226} and obviously it was 'happy days' for Limi.

hope you had some too. x

ps. thanks for the concern. i'm feeling much better at last.

oct, 7th - looking back....

day 584:

A. and i are not very organised but we obviously fake it well because friends always think that we are....that is until they book a weekend away with us and then they realise, that it's all smoke and mirrors. we bought a new video camera last year to capture all those early Limi moments but only downloaded the videos this month........it was actually rather lovely to look back at a bald and pretty funny looking Limi when all she could do was make impressive raspberry sounds....

so here's Limi at 5 months. 
hope you have a wonderful weekend. 
see you back here on Monday. x

jun, 28th - tippity tap....

day 503:

it's been one of those days. a day where only music, dancing or a good book can help....or alternatively chocolate cake, a large glass of wine or an over-zealous bubble bath. 

i chose dancing...well in fact Limi's dancing. Jae had her tap shoes shipped from Oz and bought Limi her own pair so that they could step-ball-change around the Shoebox. it brings back so many memories of step-ball-changing around my own room growing up. 

Limi absolutely loves the sound they make....especially when stomping....good thing that they do most of their 'practising' while the neighbours are at work.

i would never force Limi to go in any direction.....so, if she loves dance as much as I did growing up then I will happily sew on sequins and sit in the audience at every show.....but if she just likes to stomp or make music then we can do that too.......

for now, it certainly gets you out of a funk watching her eyes light up as she clippity-clops around the living-room. who knew that tap shoes even came in such small sizes....... 

ps. although, Limi is determined to put on her own shoes at the moment they do generally end up on the wrong feet.....

apr, 5th - the best.....

day 423:

the best feeling in the world.......

if you crouch down and put your arms out....Limi comes high-step toddling straight into them.

mar, 23rd - humour....

day 410:

seems like Limi is picking up at least five new skills every day.....my favourite at the moment is that she is making up her very own jokes....there are a couple that come up nearly every day....my best is tapping her own chest and in all seriousness saying 'mama, mama' and when i say 'no, no, i'm mama', she packs out laughing and then goes back to all seriousness and says it again.......

feb, 22nd - windows....

we've been blogged by my favourite blog-crush over at 16house today.
how lovely is that.


day 381:

we've been teaching Limi to wave and blow kisses and she's addicted......she blows kisses to check-out staff, people on red London buses, us when we walk into another room and even the mannequins in the shops. 

but my favourite time is in the morning when i walk out the door.....after waving and throwing kisses my way inside...she goes to the huge sash window that looks out onto the street and madly waves again...repeating it all when A. leaves.

she loves that window (and i do too. when we renovated - see day 376 - it was the single most costly thing we did. we now refer to it as the please-don't-throw-a-ball-through-this-window window) i love that it gives us a view of London. and changes through the seasons. and drenches us in sunshine like this.....

Limi could spend large chunks of time pressed up against this window waving at strangers passing by....whether they are on a bike, across the street or walking by just in front of her they get a shout of glee and some arm-flapping, enthusiastic waving.....

of course, it completely makes my day to sometimes come home to see a madly, grinning little face pressed up against the pane.....

feb, 12th - breakfast faces 2....

day 371:

a second instalment in the Limi breakfast faces (see day 350)......

Vegemite kisses....

what would breakfast be with the one-raised-eyebrow......

and lovely smiles.