This time next week, our wee guy will be two years old. Two!!! He's not my little baby anymore 😦 I can't really be sad, though, and I don't miss those early weeks/months (much) when we have so much fun these days. He's a bright, busy, boisterous, boyish boy, which still amuses me quite a … Continue reading Almost Two
The school holidays are still a highlight of our lives - counting down the weeks to family time - and these ones just been have been particularly lovely. B.'s parents came to visit us in the first week, and then we visited my family in Auckland in the second week, and we've had many a … Continue reading Springtime with Family
I wrote this post for the blog of our spiritual group, and wanted to share it here too. Since starting our family, or even before that - when we considered the idea of bringing children up in a spiritual tradition - we've been on the look out for books that inspire kids' spirituality in different … Continue reading Reading to Druid littlies – kids’ books that inspire spirituality
I took a big step last week, and sent in my resignation letter to the school I taught at before T. was born - I'm officially not going back to work for the foreseeable future. Hooray! Hooray?? I knew, ages ago, that I was going to make the decision not to return to work after … Continue reading Food for Thought (and Little Tummies)
It's been a whirlwind couple of months, as evidenced by our distinct lack of presence here, but luckily it's been for a most exciting reason - we bought our first home! We're still working through all the things that a major move involve, but we've been settled in for nearly a month and are feeling … Continue reading Time to catch up!
It's been a crazy couple of weeks - I went back to work temporarily, we had a whole heap of visitors one after the other, and - most exciting of all - we bought our first house! Moving day is less than two weeks away now, so we're surrounded by boxes and ongoing mess but … Continue reading Catching Up
{this moment} - A ritual for the end of the week. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. S.
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. S.
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. (I'm late this week because we had an amazing weekend - we met our donor's parents, T.'s third set of grandparents! More … Continue reading This Moment
I was recently moving all our cookbooks (to make space for a project I'm working on for the little guy) and came across this gem: (Aunt Daisy was a New Zealand radio celebrity from the 1930s onwards). I don't think I actually ever looked at it properly when it came home with my sister and … Continue reading Cooking with Aunt Daisy
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule...visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading This Moment
When we found out I was pregnant, I was very excited to start making things for our baby - to add to the wee collection I'd already made as 'practice'! I was secretly drawn to the idea of having a daughter to sew for, for the purely practical reason of imagining that dresses were fairly … Continue reading A Purple Pinafore
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule...visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading This Moment
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule...visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading This Moment
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule...visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading This Moment
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule...visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading This Moment
Four years ago today, we were celebrating what we still (despite the 2013 law change) consider our 'proper' wedding, surrounded by a special bunch of family and friends. It seems like several lifetimes ago, given the huge changes that come with starting a family, but one of the constants in that time has been my … Continue reading Happy anniversary, B!
Sometimes it’s hard to start, hard to know where to begin. My mind is too full, too full of all the good things. And there is so much in my life that is good right now. It has been such a full year. My son is growing, he’s big and strong and loves music and … Continue reading For S.
It's been fascinating watching Little Bear interact with his world and learn how it all works. He has developed very clear preferences about activities and toys! Without further ado, a few of his current/recent favourites: S.
Our little guy turned one last month - one! A whole year! I'm still reeling in disbelief, I think... While I continue to gather my thoughts on how this first year has gone, I wanted to share a few pics and details of his party! It was such a pleasure and a privilege to be … Continue reading Happy (Belated) Birthday, Little Bear!
  I just rediscovered this blog post, written back in April, and set aside because I hadn't added photos. It makes for amusing reading - amusing in hindsight, but also in the knowledge that we haven't attempted another road trip since... We recently drove from our hometown to Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand's … Continue reading Lessons Learned on our First Family Road Trip
It blows my mind that our little guy is over 9 months old now - that he's been out of me longer than he was in! We've had a bit of a bumpy winter, with terrible nights (often up every hour...) but with a bit of professional help last week, we seemed to have turned … Continue reading Where has the time gone?!
Little Lion Man joined us at 1.58am on Wednesday 6th November, with a head full of gorgeous blond fuzz, deep blue eyes and 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. He's a strong wee chap, with a birth weight and height of 4.16kg (9lb 3oz) 57cm long, and he's been feeding so very well that … Continue reading He’s here! And three weeks old already…
This project has very much been a labour of love, with so much planning and imagining even before we got pregnant. I'm a very visual person, and I like to have clear pictures in my head of how things will look before starting anything new, so there wasn't much decision-making required by the time we … Continue reading The Big Nursery Reveal!
Purple Magnolia Cottage 