Riding Waves...

I feel like I got my parenting mojo back this week. After weeks of a fractious, teething Bow. The ups and downs of Euna transitioning from nappies to the potty. And I have finally banished the holiday blues and become one with the idea that no one will bring me frozen cocktails at 11am at home. I feel back in love with it this parenting lark.

It goes in waves like that and I'm learning not to take the lulls so seriously. A boring week's just a boring week. A stressful day's just a stressful day. Feeling like that for a couple of days isn't a comment on my parenting or my appreciation of having these kiddos. 

And not affecting my mood is a new zoom lens... Nope not at all... :D :D :D

Here we are on Mersea Island with friends. Enjoying fresh air, whispy clouds and naming pet stones... 

I'm a Rockstar! Honest...

This is the best part of summer. Mainly because it's not July or August so there's no big expectation of good weather but it's so gratefully received. Everything's really green, no sun scorching yet. Plus you have that nice feeling knowing the best portion of the summer is yet to come. That's a nice feeling.

And the first big event of the summer happened this weekend in the form of some old girlfriends with whom I lived with in Uganda coming over for a reunion! We opened some bubbles to toast two recent engagements, talked weddings, new jobs, new men in their lives and I got asked questions about babies... Carrying babies, having babies, being a Mum... And I was surprised at how out of water I felt being the only Mum in the group! I had more than a few waves of "oh God I sound boring" and "please think of something else to talk about Charlie". And so whilst we had a brilliant time catching up and laughing at old photos, part of me felt a little flat whilst I wondered if I was a boring Mum...

I'm not. I know I'm not. I don't want to write profound things about having bigger fish to fry than hitting bars and festivals, as if those aren't things I wouldn't really enjoy doing... Because some days it is just about making sandwiches, trying to sound enthusiastic doing the same puzzle you've done 3,752 times before, wearing vest-cardi combos and checking you got all the poo from under your fingernails. Infact most days it's about that stuff. But that's ok! It's not to be belitted. It's important. And all I have to do is draw an owl in a tree or offer up a dramatised rendition of wind-a-bobbin-up and I'm a friggin' rockstar in this house!

It's not "bigger", there is no universal "better" but my life is soulfully streamlined and simplified now. And that's very cool. For me. For now. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Just occasionally I hear those bars and high heels calling...

And because no one wants macros of the poo that may or may not be under my fingernails ;)

Toddler Talk...

Words I can't quite bring myself to correct Euna on... Because it's really cute...

1. Durka-durka-die aka "butterfly" we can only assume she's fluent in Team America Arabic

2. Gaga aka "banana" and it's rubbing off on Steve and I...

3. Ralph aka "toast" though this one might be correcting itself... :(

4. Duddle aka "cuddle" Cutest. Thing. Ever. Also "lubbly duddle" :D

5. Goilet aka "toliet" particularly topical at the moment as we're potty training

6. Tubbytup/buppycup/buttymup/tummypup (every attempt is a new version) aka "buttercup"

You won't find a "top tips for speech development" post here... (insert that monkey hiding it's eyes emoji that I seem to be using on everything recently)

Some snaps from our weekend! A rather random selection because the more "official" photography side has been busy this week, check the new watermark... Thoughts?

Holiday Blues, Summer To-Do and a Sneaky Snap...

It's been a pretty long couple of weeks adjusting to life after holiday... I don't think holiday-blues have ever been so potent! Proof of a good time I hear my Mum cry! Yes Mum...

Anyway a written off car, FAR too many unexpected bills, two babies with virus', subsequent restless nights and a few redeeming sunny days later and I'm here with a Friday feeling and totally ready for summer! 

I spent most of last summer pregnant, overheated, impatient and wallowing in the shade with my low-zero alcohol lager... LAME. I'm determined to make up for it this summer. And what's better for cementing good intentions than writing a good old fashioned list?! Nothing. So here is my 2014 summer bucket list:

1. Pick our own  at a pick your own... Strawberrys. And maybe asparagus. 

2. Swimming.

3. Beach.

4. Visit my very good friend Mrs R and her clan. 

5. Date nightS... As in plural. 

6. Do a photoshoot of something new. Maybe a freebie so I can do something super creative. I'm thinking a maternity shoot on Mersea Island by the pastel beach huts?

7. Family road trip. Visit some family or something.

(8. Try not to hurl the tv in to next doors pond in some kind of World Cup overload induced rage. *Optional* :P)

Ready set SUMMER! (Loser. Who says that?!)

A little peek from Wednesday... A sneaky snap post newborn shoot, seeing as the gear was up... :D

Halkidiki 2014: The last of our holiday snaps...

(I wrote this WHOLE POST and then lost it... and then forgot what I wrote... BALLS.)

So here are the last of the holiday pics I am going to share... Promise. ;) 

In short our holiday did everything holidays set out to do. We all got sun, we all swam, we all ate too much, we all slumped back at the room every late afternoon slippery with greasy suncream and sweat and dusting our paths with sand falling out of all our creasy bits... I took ten blissful days away from washing, cooking and crawling around on all fours under the dining table and highchairs scooping up fast-hardening Weetabix and pasta tubes. Best of all I drank frozen cocktails before midday and stood  in the sea and felt the fresh air blowing in to my head and unwinding my brain. 

What an awesome thing it is to just know you're a long way away. Just being far away is like green tea for my head. I think it's not being in the house. Not being amongst that ever-growing-eternally-refreshing to do list that is running a family home. Need to find a gardener to clear that tree and got to buy a new wash basket is replaced with has Euna been eaten by a shark and will I get to end of this chapter in my book before Bow wakes up. 

It's all about having time. Spacing everything out. Talking. Thinking. Talking and thinking about nothing. Fresh air between the ears. When I figure out how to recreate that at home I'll let you know... For a price. And make a billion pounds. And spend it all on frozen cocktails and people to bring them to me in the mid morning. Tru-dat.

(Ah it's ok... I think I wrote this better second time ;) )

So here's Euna... Fresh air between her ears... Because ya know sometimes a girl needs to take a step back from the potty training rat race! That's my way of telling you SHE WEARS BIG GIRL PANTS NOW! :D 

The Mums who tell you baby boys clothes shopping is boring have not lived the dream that is reliving 90's sideways cap trends through their baby boys! "Crabby but Cute" was about right for this teething Bow-Bow and his ill-timed first tooth...

"BIG boat" 

Just nice... Blue, orange, sea shiz...

"Stick Man". That little brown dude comes with us everywhere. 

And I realise I hate those spf sunsuit things. Blimey. Whatta way to make the beach fundamentally UNfun. Especially the ones with floats built in... 

Sand. Everywhere. SO happy she loves the sand...

Beachside baby led weaning...

GREAT BIG WHOLE FACE SMILING! :D

I love this.

And the beaches were blisssssssfully quiet...

We didn't see a lot of this snoozy, teething dude but when we did he loved the wind... Opened his mouth and shook his head in it like he was trying to eat it! Too cute.

Food. Top of my "things I want my kids to get out going abroad" list is new food...

3/4 looking at the camera HAS to be as good as it gets. Family photo WIN! This one is going on the wall!

Thanks Halkidiki! We loved it! xxx

Greek Garden Lunching...

This place was the lunching find of the whole holiday. Rustic Greek garden, fresh fish and the kind of brash, haphazard service that makes you feel like you've barged in to someone's home uninvited and demanded feeding. But the sardines were so good you totally forgive them the arrogance. 

Great lunch. Great memory made. I'll remember this garden for a very long time. I'll remember the wine and the sardines and trying to sell one of Steve's muscles to Euna. I'll remember the greenery and dappled light. 

Thank you nameless Greek fish restaurant. :)

Greek door selfie...

Seascape Series: Green Greek Seas

Photographer, enthusiast or just a the owner of an Insta account... The seascape is the OBLIGATORY holiday photo no? 

From the NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE holiday snaps I thought I'd drag out the seascapes for a little seascape specialty post. Water's wonderful stuff isn't it? Who doesn't feel good for looking at water? Despite a truly terrible action/sci-fi film BOOMING out of the box in the corner (curtesy of the husband) I feel markedly more chilled for flicking through these...

So here's a little Tuesday chill-zone for you... <3