25/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (47 weeks)

You're high-fiving and clapping hands. You know where your head is, where my nose is and you stretch your hands up in the air when we say "armies up". Florence, you practice standing all day - you hold on, find your balance and let go then look at us with the proudest smile on your face. Anna, you love being tickled and will lie perfectly still while I trace imaginary shapes over your cheeks and down your tiny body and across your little legs. You both have a head of the softest goose down hair which I can get lost stroking as you drift off in my arms. Seven teeth for Anna and still only the bottom two for Florence, although those top two are trying their hardest to come through. With this baby mixture of gums and teeth you enjoy all sorts of real food from slices of cheese, to gooseberries, biltong, carrot juice sipped through a straw, scrambled eggs and guavas. You dance to music and chat all day long with wolf cub howls (Anna) and gurgling brook noises (Florence). You love your baths, sitting face-to-face, negotiating rubber ducks and other members of your bath toy menagerie. You particularly like your teeth being brushed by an electric tooth brush, and wiggling your hands in cups of cool water. You are playful and happy and full of laughter. Florence you love playing peek-a-boo with whatever object you come across from a nappy to your high chair tray. Every other object becomes a phone and is whipped up to your ear as you listen intently to an imaginary conversation. Anna, you love being chased and delight in the anticipation of surprise. Oh my little ones, how much those big hearts of yours love the life you lead, which expands each day.

Skinny laMinx 'Paradise is Here' collection

Skinny laMinx has just launched their latest range called "Paradise is here" and I am absolutely obsessed. So much so, that i am putting in an order today. Here is the collection:

This is the fabric I have ordered to cover one of my beloved chairs. 

Shop the collection here. 

my go to lip product

Just had to share my favourite lip gloss of the moment with you: Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Fame. It's the perfect deep pink for cold winter days.

24/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (46 weeks)

My little bush babies. We have just spent a week at Sibon in the Timbavati, one of my favourite places on earth. A place where your soul can replenish through the silence, the smells, the sounds, and the freshness of the winter air. Most days were cold and you were wrapped up in beanies and woolens but this particular afternoon had warmed up enough for me to strip you bare and introduce you to the joys of mud. The pure delight of a bowl of water and dusty ground far outweighs that of any toy. You were fascinated, although somewhat tentatively, by the feeling of wet mud squishing through your toes and dripping on your chubby legs. Staring out at this scene I was transported back in time, to idyllic childhood memories in the bush, when ordinary life was suspended and we could run free, barefoot across the kikuyu grass, chasing warthog with make-do pellet guns, telling stories of pet lion cubs and adopting tortoises for the length of our stay... Seeing you love it here made my heart swell - The look of excitement on your faces when you spotted an impala with fingers pointing and mouths wide open; feeding you at look out points with views of endless mountains; watching you taste biltong for the first time; listening to you talking to curious hornbills that came pecking around the camp after lunch; having multiple family members around all the time and evening baths with your cousin... You flourished this week, with dust under your finger nails and winsome stray burrs in your hair. I didn't want it to end.

what the twins wore

On safari: brown cords from Woolworths and socks from Gap

23/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (45 weeks) - Florence Willow (top) and Anna Clementine (bottom)

Your beautiful, big eyes constantly take in the world around you. Learning. Absorbing. Wondering. From examining the smallest detail of a label on a toy, to the relishing of swishing your hands in a cup of cold water while sitting in a warm bath, to the realisation of cause and effect of a light switch on an alarm clock, to the discovery of clapping your hands or your tummy moving up and down as you breath, to the wonderment of the chandelier that hangs over our bed, or the fascination of the old map of Africa that hangs outside your nursery. May you never stop being so curious about the world.

best advice

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what the twins wore

Snug as bugs in our pink coats from Country Road at Woolworths

what the twins wore

My lion cubs turned into polar bears! Snuggly suits fro winter afternoon walks from Woolworths.

what the twins wore

Keeping these squishy baby legs warm in star-printed stockings from France. 

what the twins wore

Can't resist a bit of gold! Pink long sleeve onesies with gold birds from Cotton On. 

22/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (44 weeks)

Winter morning sun warming up our apartment and casting a golden glow over these perfect little bodies. I already know that this time of the morning, this time of the year, will make me nostalgic for the very moments I'm getting to spend you right now. For golden bodies in our little cocoon, the outside world a million miles away.

what the twins wore

A great find! Maroon corduroys with tie detail from Ackermans

can I get married all over again?

If I could get married again this year, to the same man of course and without giving up my first wedding, here is what I'd go for:

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