is always worth taking a camera, even when your fingers start to freeze because it is so cold. 

and my fingers were freezing, and my legs, feet, face etc etc..but a lovely time had with friends..and home for hot chocolate and marshmallows…yum…

i have been a bit absent i know, but when i come back i will tell you of my week…a week of vomiting, coughing, large energy bills, visits to work and large portions of time wondering when and where i am going to get myself an extra pair of hands and who in the heck left me in charge of all these kids!!

teamjames

from sunday's little shoot. Im in the middle of trying to design a business card (I keep getting asked for details and its starting to get a bit embarrassing writing it down on scraps of paper!!), post processing and keeping on top of life as we know it here…so quickly before i turn in..i have to say i really loved the tattoo shots with little Elizabeth. Something about the hardness of a tattoo against the softness of a baby that just works so nicely…This is surely one little girl who has her Daddy wrapped round her little finger!

teamjames

I went over to the wirral and spent some time with some gorgeous babies. Always love, love photographing babies. Especially Mackenzie, who if you are sharp, you will remember that i met him when he was a mere 10 or so days old. Here is a quick sneek peek…

and met the lovely Miss Elizabeth, who's mum and dad have this fantastic flat with these incredible windows which let the light stream in…

nice light = happy photographer!

..think i might be asking to borrow their front room again 🙂

 Beautiful babies. Thanks again Helen and Alan and Steve and Faith!

teamjames

Matilda's birthday, was i think, a bit of a disappointment in the eyes of my bigger kids. She didn't have a party, she didn't get a large helium balloon of her age and she only had a 'few' presents. I can see their disappointment and i guess, understand it to some degree. But like i said to Poppy…she is so young and so little that she doesnt really understand…and so really we would be buying all that stuff for our benefit…..

i think it fell on deaf ears….

Anyway what she did do on her birthday day was…

Have a few presents in the morning when we came downstairs..

went to an indoor play centre in the morning with a little friend and bombed about, dragging me and her baby sister up and down the slides, climbing frame type thingy….which was, of course, built for children the height of….er….children and so i left with an added crick in my back and my neck.

Straight from school to football…Isaac not Matilda. We girls watch, his own personal cheerleaders 😉

Not sure what Maisie was doing with her face….!

After school we had Pizza in the TV room watching Toy Story 2 and then chocolate birthday cake. Which i had imaginatively called 'hidden chocolate button cake'…the kids were intrigued by it, i had actually decorated it with buttons too soon and the icing had fallen off…so i had to re-do the icing covering the buttons which had adhered themselves to the original icing layer …(i did try taking them of so i can assure you it was best to leave them) ….and hence i 'hid' the buttons. 

I have a sneaky feeling that cake will be a request again 🙂

Finishing off the day with a bath and hairwash…there is always something sticky in Matilda's hair and then off to bed. 

For a second birthday i thought it was pretty good. But Poppy asked me this morning ' is matilda having her proper party day today?"

hmmmmm…….

teamjames

and this….

became this…

yes she really did….

and she is a whole lot more noisy now than she was then but incredibly adorable. So at the grand age of 2 and being not quite the baby of the family anymore…(a place we all thought she was going to hold onto!)..here are some Matilda facts…

1. She loves talking and singing. At times it feels like she is hardly ever quiet. She will copy whatever you say to her regardless of whether she understands or not. I have no idea how many words she can actually say…but its a lot. She found her voice a little after her first birthday and hasn't really stopped since…

2. She loves trains..especially Thomas..this is probably due to the influence of her big brother, whom she shares a room with and totally adores. 

3. She is 'into' e-v-er-y-thing…we have learnt if she is quiet…you need to find her….and quick..

4. She is very friendly to other little kids.

5. She is super feisty, especially when it comes to her older sisters. 

6. She asks me about a thousand times a day 'what doing mummy?'

7. She can be a little shy to start of with but she warms up, learns your name and then will be asking you a thousand questions.

8. She is not the most girly girl, she is more likely to be hands into a plant pot than playing princess.

9. She follows toddler tradition with her favourite food being pasta and yoghurt..not usually together but sometimes.

10. She is loud. I find myself so often telling her not to shout at me. I think probably a factor of being in a large family…

We love her to bits. She is a delight….

and apologies for the dodgy singing…..

teamjames