51/52

Ellery: absorbed in play

Aubrey: birdspotting

50/52

Ellery: wild as the wind, with dirt

Aubrey: rockpool running

47/52

one golden afternoon : joining the dots between the spaces : two little mermen, crabhunters, handfuls, heartbreakers. but that protective hand.

20 months

Growth spurt. Words! From Mama, Dadda, 'no' and 'uh!', to a whole string of words.

doo-doo! (bird)
beach
nee (me)
hello / hi
die! (bye)
m-m-m (milk)
ta
dirt
ant
bee
kick
sweep
boo (boo, and blue)
doodle (noodle)
dee-dee (CD)
um (!)
ages (!!)
yah

You may find me in the comments, adding words that escaped my recall. So interesting to watch your path to language flourish so differently from your brother's.

43/52

Ellery: fistful of starfish

Aubrey: monkey see

A stay-at-home holiday. A trek to the western beach. You wanted to throw them back in. So we stopped.

42/52

Ellery: perpetual motion

Aubrey: bed hair, golden light

loudly, relentlessly

I wrote this post in the thick of winter, from a boundless marsh of illness, with a clingy baby and a moody not-quite four-year-old who whose daily meltdowns sucked most joy from our waking hours. Things have evolved, somewhat, but much still applies.

There is so much I feel I need to say about life right now. But life speaks for itself. Loudly, relentlessly.

Our days overflow. There is no stopping until we are dizzy with exhaustion. I feel in a state of constant drowning, often swallowed by screaming kids and mess and chaos. Unable to attend to the demands of work, because needy kids. Unable to meet the needs of kids, because work.

We've had weeks and months brimful of moments so calamitous and trying they are best put behind us. The dance between two houses continues to wreak a toll. I cannot fathom how we have been doing this for four years. The equivalent (in travel time, in packing/unpacking, in fullness of itinerary) of an interstate trip every fortnight, with two small humans in tow. It's unsettling to say the least. We have so little downtime. We have aged at warp-speed. I realise it's probably a thing among mothers of (multiple) small humans, but I have lost a lot of my bliss.

This island, these four years have been beautiful and astounding and we are ever grateful to have landed here. We've laid down memories steeped in saltwater and sunsets. Childhoods begun in the sand. Eyes drinking in the exquisite ocean-bound world. And there is all the bliss to be found here in these moments.

I think I am allowed to say, we have reached a place of in-between. We are dreaming up changes, mentally readying ourselves for life beyond the lighthouse. It's impossible to know what will evolve, but we are ready and willing and offering our best selves up to what the future may hold.

* Small point, but hat nappy up there belies the fact that I was cloth nappying until recently because nappy changes have become the penultimate screamfest.

41/52

Ellery: rainbow at his heels, friend in sight

Aubrey: boy and the ball

Somewhere along the line I've fudged the weeks. Two kids, two houses, a job and lighthouse logistics are getting the better of me.

The weather is sublime right now. We're booking a mini staycation.

Portraits from a week we had friends stay, a total rarity. And Ellery has been all sorts of gorgeousness, save his newly acquired whine, completing the big kid feel. 

39/52

Ellery: proud of your new chair

Aubrey: pudgy fingers and blueberry mouse whiskers

You both seem so much more grown up all of a sudden. It is breaking my heart a little.

This week you both got new chairs - in the hope it would make table time, whether eating or playing - a bit more focused. Tick.

38/52

Ellery: we played trains under the kitchen table while his brother napped

Aubrey: down the back steps

E: The past couple of weeks with him have been bliss. Tantrums at an all-time minimum. We are loved up, and my goodness it makes life infinitely better.

A: A nice knock on the chin where he fell into a table. And a fractured bone in his foot means we are back to crawling everywhere. Hashtag toddler lyf! Also, first haircut, over several nights whilst sleeping. It could still use a bit more choppity chop.

37/52

Ellery: intense focus

Aubrey: joyous jumping

36/52

Ellery: full steam

Aubrey: gotcha

Bubble play in the backyard. With a snippet of bus.

fathers day 2015

We waited for Daddy to get home from work.

We made biscuits for him on your request, given in a jar with loveheart stickers stuck by you.

We wrote love notes, along the lines of, 'I love you because you are very tricky to find when we play hide and seek'.

The smallest and I picked flowers.

When Daddy got home, we made him bacon and eggs in your cafe.

And we beached til the sun went down.

35/52

Ellery: unleashing your energy

Aubrey: new tricks

So. Much. Wild. So. Many. Questions.

I have a wonderful shot of you both sitting on the kitchen bench, post paddle pool. Ellery with a scowl, probably complaining to me about something. Aubrey with his new camera smile (eyes closed, channeling Ellery). It's a nudie shot, so cutting room floor, but is SO descriptive of you both right now.

34/52

Ellery: homemade mango ice cream on the step

Aubrey: prefers dandelions

Simple homespun delights this week. Thanks be to the freezer gods and our summer laden mango tree. And dandelions, everywhere.

18 months

One and a half ... you are the sunshine in our lives. From the way you say hello to ants and willy wagtails, the way you pucker your lips for kisses. You love music and dancing and being outdoors, but the quickest way to your heart is a game of peekaboo. Or a plate of olives. Or a ride in Daddy's work car. You adore your big brother (even if he can be a bit intense for your liking sometimes) and love to copy whatever he does. You're a bit of a funny guy, with a talent for blowing raspberries and walking backwards. From your doe eyes to your dimples, to your brachiosaurus roar, we are so very grateful you chose us.

33/52

Ellery: cinders and ashes

Aubrey: mini-me

'Cinders and ashes!', his new childish expletive (but from where?). Eyes asparkle, cheek coal dusted from some real firefighting, in Daddy's helmet and goggles.

And speaking of goggles, I give you mini-me.

32/52

Ellery: airborne and wild

Aubrey: lapping up the winter sun

We had the most magnificent weekend on the island. An unusual treat to be there for days off, and the weather was divine. We did lots of morning beaching. Grandma and Pop even saw the much mythologised jabiru! A note to my future self: holiday at home in winter!

31/52

Ellery: They're singing for ME! But it's too loud!

Aubrey: simple pleasures

The week of four. The week of eighty! And forty one!

A small birthday gathering for Ellery, his Pop (bestowing on us our first visit in a whole year, on his very significant milestone birthday!), and his Dad (the week after) ... my three Leos.

His cake, chocolate spelt, smothered in strawberries. Four-year-old delight.

And that face! Eye popping excitement for cake and the spotlight!