a little quote from the lovely notebook doodles….

Some gorgeous friends gave Milla a little set of pink angel wings on a metallic-like singlet. I LOVE it.  Matched up with her spiky hair – she’s a little rockstar!

She is 7 weeks tomorrow.  Time is flying.  She is sleeping around 6-8 hours a night – so I am starting to feel vaguely normal when I wake up.  that normal feeling lasts around….. umm….. 5 minutes – until I get going and realise I have to feed, dress, beautify, clean, neaten, brush, love, cuddle and kiss a small army out the door by 8:20am.  No mean feat!  Unfortunately my little tribe have not started to salute me as yet.  I am working on it!

As far as milestones go – I have no idea if Milla is hitting any.  She is a champion burper – if she doesn’t burp – she’ll let me know about it by letting out blood-curdling yells until she is vertical in my arms, at which point she lets out a belch that would put her father to shame – after which she will happily go back to sleep. She has smiled a few times – not too often – I think she saves them for when Wilbur wiggles his head from side to side with a massive grin on his face for her!

OK – so what does a two year-old Billy Ray Cyrus look-a-like do when her two big sisters go to school?  “Poto Mummy poto?”  Murph is a little lost without her big sisters – although she seems to be enjoying the mummy-time.  She is definitely not missing the incessant pulling, poking and prodding that she generally has to deal with from the big M’s though!

She love to get my Canon 350D, sling it around her neck, and take ‘poto Mummy poto’!  lenses are not necessary for her – neither is holding the camera the right way and looking through the viewfinder.  Such a talent!

Looks can be deceiving.  The photo above depicts two happy girls about to start school for the year.  One of the girls is perfectly happy to go to school.  The other is perfectly happy to go to school – but not so happy when she realises that Mum and Dad don’t stay.  I swear the sounds that came from Mackenzie were akin to those a rhinocerous makes when it bellows.  I honestly thought the RSPCA was going to arrive in the school ground.  It was an impressive noise.  The happy little face was no longer recognisable as Mackenzie.  it was all open mouth and tonsil.  My poor child.  I did not cry.  I was too busy standing outside the door fending off the animal catchers that were surely coming.  Wilbur on the other hand – was attatched to Mackenzie’s arms – via his leg.  She was not letting go.  Not for anyone.  It took two teachers to prise her away – and then at least 15 minutes for her to calm down.  We could still hear the bellowing as we walked down the hall and around the corner to the staffroom for much needed scones, jam and cream.  Then apparently – she was fine.  Back to normal Mackenzie.

We had some reservations about sending the Mackenzinator to school Will she be ready?  Will she cope?  Will the school cope?  Kenz has a dicky ticker (aka – dodgy heart).  She has high blood pressure, and a few little cardiac anomalities – all of which contribute to her inability to keep cool, and her inability to ‘keep up’.  She gets incredibly hot (especially since it is the height of summer) – even when she isn’t doing anything much – so when she does exert herself – ie – bellow like a rhino- she heats up quicky. No doubt this was on her teachers’ mind on Monday morning, as they tried to stem the bellow (whci may have been mistaken for a rhinocerous’ mating call – who knows!).  I came home and burst into tears – petrified that we had sent her to school too early.  She turned 5 in October – so technically she IS old enough – but really – she is similar to a four year old in so many ways.  I may not be giving her enough credit – she may surprise us all.  We just haven’t found where her strengths lie yet – maybe a zoologist / rhino whisperer in the making!

Oh golly gosh – this little man was just beautiful.  It was a million degrees in the shade, and little J was oh so patient.

Thank-you M, J and baby J – you were lovely to meet and chat with – so relaxed and beautiful.  Enjoy your little man.

Okay – so technically ‘mine on Monday’ isn’t anything out of the ordinary for me – coz really – all I photograph at present is MINE – BUT – I thought I’d take the lovely Amanda’s lead, and try and make sure I snap MY M’s at least once a week!  It’s a great idea – I was looking back in last years photos – and there are not too many of all of my girls – so let’s work on it!

Oh golly – I just realised I was SO SO focused on capturing these three, that I forgot I even had a fourth!  How could I forget the littlest M!

Lucky I have a snap or two of her hiding on my hard drive – unfortunately this time… it just doesn’t match the series!

You know – I have been really struggling to capture Milla how I wanted to as a newborn.  Raw. Organic. Natural.  She just refuses to sleep when she is out of her bed in the daytime – no matter what I do.  I have tried – oh how I have tried – but to no avail.  So – I have had to try a different approach – but it doesn’t mean I am not disappointed.  I had all these fabulous ideas that I really wanted to try – and have managed NONE of them.

Here’s my sweet thing….

I think I am ready to talk about ‘the incident’. Just. Let me get it out quickly – and then it may not hurt so much.

MackenziecutherandMurphyshair.

There.

Apparently M2 was hot – so she cut the front of her hair off.

Not stopping there – and trying to ‘help’ even more – she decided that Murphy’s hair was ‘in her eyes mummy’, so she cut that off too – ‘but I left her curls mummy’ – as if that would diffuse the wrath I was am still feeling.

My two year old child is now a Billy-Ray Cyrus lookalike – complete with mullet.

Two years of absolutely gorgeous hair – gone.  POOF.  in an instant.  Mackenzie presented me with a box of hair – proudly.  It was all I could do not to jam it down her throat.

I was livid.  yes – I most likely reacted badly.  If you could call yelling and then bursting into tears a bad reaction – the yes – that’s what I did.

She really thought she had done the right thing – never mind the ‘do not use scissors rule’.  That rule has now extended to the “no scissors, glue, sticky tape or anything that is remotely even fun for you” rule.

Apparently it will grow back.  I don’t believe so.  It will never be the same again.  My wispy whimisical waify little daughter gone – morphed into Billy-Ray.  UGH. I am not taking her to the hairdresser to get it fixed – that would mean the cuttage of more hair – and I will not allow that! There has been enough cuttage!

As for the Mackenzinator – her ’style’ nearly sort of suits her. The photo above does show her mid-tear (not her best smiley face – but hey – who was smiling at that point – certainly not me), and really accentuates her square large head and forehead! With any luck it’ll have grow a little before her first year of school starts, and she’ll look a little less like ‘early man’!  Just for the record – she is no cooler in temperature – but in style…. well – you be the judge!

I guess I should add that I will NOT hold it against Mackenzie forever – and I am slowly forgiving her………

I may as well have given birth to one child four times over.  They all came out the spitting image of each other AND their father – except Madison – who had white blonde hair!  The gene pool was not nice enough to give me a boy (actually – we can blame that on Wilburs dodgy Y’s) – so I got a fourth gorgeous girl instead! At least we know they are all from the same family!

I LOVE the look Milla is giving here – it’s a typical ‘ha ha Dad – take that’, as she simultaneously weed and pooed all over his hands!  Love your work Milla! xo

of a 7 year old ❤

A small exchange overheard today:
M1: “don’t use too much water Mackenzie – we are in a drought”
M2: “what’s a drought”
M1: “it’s where there is only THIS much water for families to use (holding her thumb and index finger slightly apart). We can’t use it all because the Indians have none. They have to drink mud.”
M2: “oh” curiousity obviously satisfied!

So – they are teaching Madison something at school – it’s just getting a little lost in translation!