Woods Family

When I first received the e-mail to book this family session in, I knew that I would always have a very special place in my heart for this family.  The "Mum" was my kinda-mum - friendly, warm and what totally floored me was....she read my blog.  This still surprises me when people tell me they read it!!

So, when I went to spend my Sunday morning with the three most gorgeous children I have ever met - well that is when I declared that it isn't work that I do.  In these situations, it was purely being able to have the priviledge to watch the true magic of childhood between these darling siblings. 

I can't wait to watch them grow and blossom into beautiful adults. 

But for the meantime, I will share with you a small collection from their session with me.

Much Love  X 

Our Birthday Boy

Our baby, William, turned one on the 26th February.

 

I honestly feel like the last 12 months has been an absolute blur.  It feels like I only gave birth to this beautiful little boy and when I look at him now, he is a happy, healthy and very active one year old.

 

It may sound corny but this little boy has just completed our lives.  He is funny, happy and is such a boy. 

 

And here are 10 things about our Willsy:

 

1.  He is our little snuggler.  Macie was never very cuddly but Willsy will cuddle us all day long.  All we need to say is "Put your head-y down" and he just gives all the love that his little heart can handle. 

2.  He is funny!  He makes us laugh every day and there are even times when you hear little giggles coming from Macie as he makes her laugh too! 

3.  He idolises his Big Sister.  He will follow her around all day - and the days when she is not here - he will just wander around the house all day looking for her.  Macie is the ONLY person to make Willsy really let out a belly-laugh and it's all by doing some silly little language and dance.  I swear they have their own language!!

4.  He eats anything - including rocks, geckos, bugs, etc.  Every mothers worst nightmare!!

5.  He says Daaaaaaaddddy all day long!  Macie was a "Muuuuuuummmy" girl - so it's nice to hear Dad Dad Dad Dad from the little guy!

6.  If he could - he would spend all day every day outside.

7.  Even though he is a shy little guy, he makes people smile just from saying Hello.

8.  He has a Bunny Rug and he knows if you try to give him an imitation.  If you dare to give him anything BUT Bunny, he will throw it away like it's nothing.  Seriously hilarious.

9.  He will eat Jatz biscuits all day long.

10. He is ours.  He is beautiful.  He has blessed our lives in more ways he could ever imagine.

 

Happy Birthday Beautiful Boy.  X 

 

 

Did anyone ever tell you this?

I love my kids.  I seriously do.  They are my life.  They are my air.  But they can successfully make me look like a crazed lunatic on a bad day.  And don't be fooled by Willsy - he is blossoming quickly into the "Silent Assassin"!! 

When I was pregnant with my children, I had advice literally thrown at me.  So much advice and yet no-one ever told me the crucial bits so I am taking the liberty to share them with you (they will make you laugh - well I hope they do): 

No-one ever told me:

-  that your child can and will successfully scream louder than you. 

-  that your child will announce on every third consequtive grocery shop, that they need a wee and they need it "NOW".  This will make you question whether to drop the trolley and run - or proceed to race around the shop and get the bare necessities while whispering "Don't Wee! - We are nearly there".  I usually prefer to do the latter. Usually the said child is clutching her crotch like it's going to fall off. 


- that regardless of if they have only had 2 minutes sleep in the car, they will firmly believe that that will be their adequate nap for the day.

-  that they will leave their "business" until they have a brand new nappy on.

-  they will declare that they are "NOT HUNGRY" when their dinner plate still has food on it but will then proceed to successfully demolish a tub of yoghurt or an ice-cream cone afterwards in record time.

- that they will have super sonic hearing. They will hear everything that they shouldn't hear - and will pretend to not hear what we ask them to do something.

- that clearly the person who declared the "Terrible Twos" had clearly not reached the "Threes" yet.

-  that they will find all items that they aren't allowed to touch and treat those items like Santas been....and then they will treat their toys like they are poison.

-  that you would become accustomed to the fact that one, sometimes two children will be fascinated by watching you wee. 

-  that regardless of the day you had with your darling children, you will sneak into their room and watch them sleep....and you will fall in love even more with them. 

-  that you will see so much of yourself in them that it makes you want to run to your parents and apologise profusely!!

and, that you will love them unconditionally FOREVER!!!!!

Once upon a time....

...in an orange orchard, there was a beautiful little family who simply loved life.

They knew how to play, laugh and dance.

And they were simply beautiful.

Much Love.  X

And then there is this image which warms my heart....

On a stormy afternoon....

It was a 40+ degree day and the storm clouds were rolling in but we had the most magical afternoon.

I'm so looking forward to capturing this little guy and his gorgeous family on his birthday too.

There is nothing more rewarding than watching the children I capture grow. 

Its more of an honour than a job.

Much Love.  X

Out of Macie's Mouth....

Our darling little Moo is well and truly into her "Threes".

She can articulate what she wants, express her feelings, tell us off for doing something that we tell her not to and she makes us laugh.  Every.single.day.

Here are a few beauties:

*Some of these have been shared on my personal FB page so sorry in advance for any of my friends reading this*

1.  Getting ready for town always involves a fair bit of negotiating and the usual threat from either Heath or I stating to Macie "If you don't stop that tantrum/attitude/all of the above, then we aren't going". 

The other day after saying the said threat, Willsy decided to have a meltdown.  Probably because he was dressed in clothes including socks and was looking at his feet like they were now alien to him.  Anyway - next thing we hear from Macie is:

"Mate - that's it.  You heard Mum & Dad.  You can't come to town now so stop that crying now.  Now William.  Ok - that's fine.  You can stay home with Boss and Morty (our dogs)." 

Then add in a very defiant stomp of the foot and a swift turn on the heel and she was out of there!!  Meanwhile Heath & I were doing the not-so-serious--while-trying-to-contain-the-snort-laugh Face.  You know that one right?  Usually involves either your head in a pillow trying to muffle the laugh that your body wants to explode out of your lungs - or perhaps your hand over your mouth while the laugh continues to make farting noises through your fingers.  Yep we are classics at those.

2.  Found my wedding DVD today and was so excited to show Macie. So we sat down together all happy and next thing I know Macie is absolutely emotionally hysterical when she can see Heath & I on the alter.

Me: "Whats wrong Moo?"
Moo: "You are so far away."
Me: "I dont understand what you mean."
Moo: *fully hysterical now* "You ran away Mummy - you are so far away - I cant touch you - you are in the TV"
Me: *laugh so hard I may have snorted*
Moo: *past hysterical* "It's nooooot funny Mummy! Come back Mummy! Come back"

I think it's safe to say that Macie FULLY 100% BELIEVES that people live in the TV.

Yep - I'm saving this beauty for her 21st.

3.  And then today, while I was under the false illusion that my children were happily playing together in Willsy's room - I hear the blood curdling scream that makes any parent drop any said object and run like the wind. 

I run into Willsys room to find Macie saying "I was just trying to give him a cuddle Mummy....I picked him up....You are OK mate.  Please dont be mad.  Mummy I am so sorry"...

Willsy ends up with a black eye that quickly forms.  He cried for 22 seconds and was quickly more interested in the lego (such a boy!) but our poor darling Macie took about 22 minutes to settle.  She was just so devastated that she hurt her "brovver".  God Bless Her.

She is funny. 

She makes us laugh.

She is ours. 

X

The month that was....

I was going to do a big, nice, long post which tugged at the heart strings but then I downloaded my photos from my iPhone (I'm a tad addicted to Instagram) and I truly believe the photos tell the better story about what we have been upto over the past month.

 

So here goes....

 

These two are best friends.  Macie is the only person that can make Willsy laugh from the bottom of his belly, no matter how hard Heath & I try.  He walks up to her and just randomly cuddles her - to which she replies "Oh Mate - I love you too."  Seriously too cute and what every parent dreams of seeing with their children.  Well we do anyway!

We took a quick trip to my parents for a catch up earlier this month as we all felt like Christmas came and went without even bothering to say hello.  It was such an awesome visit and we are all dying to get back up there to see all our family again.  We caught up with friends that we hadn't seen in over 4 years and it was like we only saw each other yesterday.  True Friendship has no rules. 





We've spent the month trying to keep as cool as possible while the heat absolutely smacked us in the face.  I have never experienced such long heatwaves here in Goondiwindi....and I must say I did not enjoy it one bit.  Side effects of heat:  My Children hate to wear clothes now.  I bet every country kid is the same....I hope!

We have been keeping cool in our very humble kiddies pool.  One day I dream of a lovely house for my gorgeous children and pool (one can only dream!) - but for now, we appreciate what we have and are very blessed for it. 

And keeping ourselves entertained with good friends, impromptu dinners and late nights teaching our big girls the fine art of yabbying. 

And not killing each other in the process!  Summer does crazy things to me - heat, snakes, mossies makes me into a insanely cranky person!  I love this husbo of mine who just laughs at me when I have a fit!

Meanwhile....these two continue to love each other and make Heath & I melt. 

And we continue to love each other and make important time for just "us" with our date nights. 

It started to rain a few weeks back and had me high-tailing it home from a photo session.  It just rained and rained and rained....and the farm had some minor flooding. 

Macie had swimming block as she firmly believed that she could breathe under water.  Thankfully she doesn't believe that now and can now kick, tread water and hopefully save herself in a dire situation.  We are off for more blocks before the winter sets in.

She is also off to Kindy one day a week this year at our little local town up the road from us.  She hasn't stopped talking about how she is going to school!

She is so ready for it - but her little brother is going to miss her terribly. 

We let the heat go to our heads and decided that we couldn't miss our yearly catch up with our dear friends, even if it meant camping in Chinchilla.  Thankfully they know me too well and we ended up sleeping in a glorious bed!  The kids loved it, and it was so good to get away.  But it rained....or should we say, the ex-cyclone blew over us, and it didn't stop raining!  The next morning we high-tailed it out of there and had a race with the rising creeks all the way home.

We came home to rain....and this....

 

And finally we saw blue sky with a few nasty storms in between.

 

February brings a month of promise, excitement and mystery.

 

Willsy turns one on the 26th which just floors me as to how 12 months has passed so quickly. Macie starts Kindy.  Heath will be busy with the farm, harvest, spraying, etc.  And my photography calendar is booked solid now I had to postpone with the floods. 

 

I promise to blog.  I promise.  I will blog professional, personal and all there is in-between.  Because I love to share.  

 

I live to share.

 

Happy February Peeps.

 

Much Love,

Han X