Our first family holiday

Cape Town and Riebeek Kasteel, March 2014

happy weekend

Happy weekend everybody! What are your plans? We are, with a doubt, going to see The Grand Budapest Hotel this weekend... I cannot wait. And the rest of the time we are playing house house - searching for carpets, fireplaces and even some furniture... fun times ahead!

Here are some links from around the web

As you would have heard by now Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have split up. They announced their separation of Gwen's site Goop and called it "conscious uncoupling" wtf? What do you think? 

I think this is what Sunday breakfast is going to look like in our house: poached eggs and asparagus!

Are you a fan of Zanna Rassi - Marie Claire US's fashion editor and she is on E!News too? She is expecting twins anyday now... I love her #stylemybump instagram shots.

The coolest DIY for kids.

I want this pineapple to live on my wall.    

Apparently women fake it until they make it.

Do you use the net for make up tutorials? I do! I think this one is fantastic. 

I need this stamp for my craft cupboard.  

Wishlist

This watch.

12/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (34 weeks) - Florence Willow (left) and Anna Clementine (right)

 

With all the crawling, sitting, tumbling over, kneeling, lifting, rolling, squiggling, flying, stretching and squirming that is going on in our house at the moment it is difficult to get a picture of both of you without movement blurs across the frame. But all this newly discovered movement of yours reminds me to pause for you. To breathe. To be in the moment as I am witnessing your growth in front of my very eyes. To take each new movement and really savour it - your straight arms flying out in front of you as you crawl, or your little padded feet tucked neatly under you as you press up onto your knees, or the look of determination on your face as you set your sights on reaching an object on the other side of the carpet. You are both my non-stop movement and my constant reminder to pause and take it all in.

plants in the house

How do you feel about plants in the house? I am obsessed with them lately. This weekend I will be heading to the nursery to get a whole lot for our lounge. Here is some indoor plants inspiration...

{source}

{source}

{source}

{source}

{source}

11/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (33 weeks) - Florence Willow (left) and Anna Clementine (right)

My little cublets, I can officially announce that you are now sitting by yourselves and crawling! All in the space of a week.What amazes me is how closely you track each other with your milestones. Florence you rolled first and then Anna followed three days later. You both could suddenly sit. Anna, you got there by yourself on Saturday and Florence you did it today. (In both instances we didn't even see you get up, we just found you sitting after placing you on your tummies.) Anna, you've been moving forward for a while now but this week you worked out how to move forward on your hands and knees and you are gaining confidence in executing this new movement all the time. Florence, while you mastered the art of moving backward, your inability to move forward frustrated you and you would immediately go into a flying position, with your roly arms and legs stretched out in front and behind you. However, today you watched Anna, you tried with all your might and you crawled. I could see the concentration on your face as you worked out how to move your hands and knees forwards and then you grinned up at me beaming with pride. As I witness you achieving these milestones (*proud mama*) at such a similar pace, yet in such different ways, I am reminded both of your individuality and your deep connections as twins. Well done baby girls, it is a privilege to watch you develop and change and grow every single day.

10/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (32 weeks) - Anna Clementine (top), Florence Willow (above)

This week was one of many firsts. Our first family holiday. Your first flight. Your first breath of clean, salty air as we walked along the Sea Point promenade. Your first view of rolling hills of grape vines. Anna, you had your first taste of olives and tomatoes and grapes. In fact, you can't seem to get enough of new flavours. Florence, you tasted a grape with a mix of suspicion and delight. And your two bottom teeth have most definitely cut through. It was a week of change too. Florence, you suddenly started eating with more eagerness, opening your mouth for a few spoonfuls. And you are speaking more every day. Anna, you are moving forward very easily now and even crawling once or twice. You are both sitting - not getting there yourself, but balancing for long enough once we position you. You are both noticeably more interested in what the other is busy with, be it an object or an activity. I may be imagining it, but I think your faces changed too. Almost imperceptibly your necks grew longer, making me want to run my fingers down that beautiful valley it forms from the base of your heads to your spine. I love experiencing these firsts with you. And I love witnessing your continuous change. It makes me see things with fresh eyes. To relearn the obvious. To seek adventure in the mundane. The normal becomes new with you and not a day goes by I don't thank-you for that.

9/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (31 weeks) - Anna Clementine (top), Florence Willow (above)

You became seven months this week. Seven months crosses over that half a year mark. It sounds far removed from the tiny new borns I cradled against me. And you are both big, beautiful roly, poly babes with delicious folds of skin on arms and behind knees and around ankles. And yet you are still my tiny babes. Seven months is only 30.5 weeks, barely a breath on this earth. My sweet souls that I rock in my arms. My babes that are discovering newness each day. Whose heads are still covered in baby down which gets sweaty as you breastfeed, your bodies against mine.

You do strange things to time. Day after day... Days somehow blend together. They become a time I will refer back to. That time when you were babies, when detail of months fade and distinctions matter less. Yet it is our everything right now and I want to remember these times distinctly. Not as a time but as this time when you were seven months old. The day you slept on my bed with me and a thunderstorm sung it's sweet melody as you napped in the afternoon. The day we popped out for iced coffees and visited the apartment below ours. The day you both enjoyed a dinner of zucchini and corn purée and Florence, you shared my green smoothie for the first time, eagerly lapping the glass, grasping it in your baby-dimpled hands.
 

Seven months. But a breath on this earth but a life without which I cannot imagine. Thank-you for making each moment come alive for me. For making me feel more. Appreciate more. Love more.