diapers and skinny jeans

"A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2013." Sofia - My tongue out and fully concentrated helper in the garden. Alba - Wave your finger in the air like you just don't care. This was a wonderful week. We finally started to fill in our raised garden beds with organic topsoil and a wonderfully heady mushroom compost. Seedlings were transplanted, dirt was flung, and my feet were bare as I've been aching for them to be all summer. Our wet and rainy season has been seemingly non-stop as of late, and we are all hoping and praying for a bit of sunshine over the weekend! PS- I do hope you'll  follow along over on Bloglovin  x Favorites this week: • this sweet babe dancing in the rain • belinda's clever take on a portrait • beautiful lamb in her birthday hat As always, linking up with Jodi

With less than two weeks to go, I've started my preparations for my journey back  into the workplace .  While you can never completely prepare yourself for that first day back on the job, there are a few steps that I've taken to make sure that everything is in place and at the very least, make the transition a bit more smooth. I'm hoping these might help anyone going through the same thing, and maybe even start a discussion, too.  I'd love to know what helped you make your transition! Inventory your freezer For those of you breastfeeding, it was so important to try and gauge how much milk my child would need for the amount of time I would be away from her and plan accordingly.  If you have the ability to start building up a stockpile of freezer milk before you go back - even better! Plan a practice day It's as beneficial for you as it is for your newborn to have a trial run of being away from each other.  Practice setting your alarm when

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Sofia - Running from the tide at our first beach trip of the summer.  Alba - Doing what she does best. We fittingly celebrated the first days of summer by taking a trip to the beach, the four of us.  It still doesn't get old saying that! Alba sleeps most of the day until she decides she'd like a snack of milk or realizes gas bubbles are on par with the world ending. Sofia's fear of sand has vanished, and she is determined to swim by herself though she hasn't the slightest clue of how to do it yet. It's amazing watching her throw herself into the water, smile on her face and sand in her hair. Favorites this week: •  Cole telling his mum to "stop!" • A beautiful birthday girl •  Eleanor and Felix looking gorgeous in the summertime • The ever striking Biet Linking up with Jodi from Che & Fidel

While it has been a magical few weeks being a stay-at-home mum, I have my feet planted firmly on the ground with the realization that my return to work is quickly approaching.   Much  too quickly, might I add. I wish I could say I've taken this whole time to rest, recover, and lay happily in bed snuggling my newborn.  However, my role as mother, and the boundless love that comes with it, stretches to more than just one precious little girl - two of them, to be exact! This bittersweet, slightly painful, slightly freeing time is something I've experienced before. With Sofia, I threw myself into the abyss of seemingly endless 40+ hour work weeks. I fought for months to keep up with the demands of breastfeeding and my diminishing supply through broken breast pumps, no privacy, feeling bad about taking breaks and more. Those are memories I don't particularly enjoy revisiting, however, they have taught and prepared me with beaming confidence to tackle the work transi

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Sofia -  If I come to wipe your face you'll naturally tell me "no" and run away.  If I give you the wipe to do it yourself, I've found you happily oblige. Alba -  Our little mayflower has found her hands - quite the adorable thing to watch in the early morning. Nearly (a week!) late on this round? Who have I become?! Clearly not one who is ever on time to the party - let's just say I'm happily embracing it. ;) I haven't had the opportunity to pull out my "real" camera as much as I had hoped, but it will be getting lots of use this weekend when I head straight back into client work with a wedding downstate. All of you just inspire me over and over again with your portraits and I have such a terrible time choosing a group when the next week hits, but I am absolutely loving Jane Mabel's  wannabe ballerina , the most darling curls of the  ever gr

A few weeks ago, Little Alba turned a month old - still so new and tiny, but a precious soul that seems like she's been here all along.  Her thighs are quickly chunking up, as are her cheeks, and this mama can't get enough! The days are long and my time is stretched thin, but we are having such a wonderful time just figuring each other out. When evening hits, the tummy troubles begin and we rock and sing to make the gas bubbles go away. Once you've finally fallen asleep, you'll remain that way for the remainder of the night and we'll feed again once the day breaks.  You are alert and learning, constantly filling our hearts with more love than we ever imagined.

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Sofia -  Always keen to help mama in the kitchen.  What you don't see behind that silly smile is her determined desire to fling the flour all over the walls. Alba -  Sweet girl, one month old and growing more and more each day. Chunks! I've completely fallen behind in blogging (newborn babies tend to take up loads of time) but I'm jumping back in to recognizing just a few favorite posts from last week including: these polaroids from the talented Sisilia, and the vintage feel from this photo of Being Mumma's. See more fantastic portraits in the series at Che & Fidel

One of Sofia's favorite activities is cooking in the kitchen with me - whether it's helping whisk together the dry ingredients of the beginnings of a cookie recipe, stirring, adding this or that, sprinkling cheese, or watching her Papa flip veggies high into the air from a frying pan. This girl just can't get enough. A few days ago, we made some cookies to go with our afternoon tea and decorated them appropriately with bits of sprinkles and cinnamon sugar.  We ate on the floor with our mismatched tea-set and took turns adding "sugar" and pouring "tea" and raising our glasses and saying, "cheers!"  Such a simple activity, but one that I know my daughter looks forward to - especially during these busy days when mama is usually occupied with her newborn sister. Do you cook with your kids in the kitchen? What are some of your favorite things to make together?

__ "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Sofia   -  Her first day as a two year old, digging for dinosaur bones with Papa. Alba   -  Nestled up close in her favorite spot, still sleeping with her mouth wide open. Over the weekend, Sofia celebrated her second birthday and Erick and I both shared a few tears of joy, pride and sadness for how quickly it has flown by.  I can't quite formulate words yet, for how much this little girl of ours means to us - the one who started it all. linking up with jodi