7/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (29 weeks)

A photograph of the three of us smiling - it had to be the selection of the week. This was a week of your dad's birthday and early snuggles while you watched with joy as he opened his gift (although I think the dangling twine may have to take some credit for the look of glee on your faces). I baked him a cake the day before which is a rather an unusual activity for me while you played with heart-shaped measuring cups under the table. It was a cardamon and Greek yogurt cake and it was delish, bar the burnt crust which I blame on an oven with a broken thermostat. Granted it did take a span of seven hours to make in between naps and feeds and playtime. Birthdays and baking are better with you babes.

& Other Stories

I visited & Other Stories for the first time in Paris. Although the brand has been around for a while and I have been ogling over their look books since launch, I hadn't visited a store until last week in Paris. What did I want? Everything!

Back in action

I am sorry I have been quite on Bury and Discover for the past couple weeks - I was having a ball, I must admit, in France. First skiing for 10 days and then hitting the city of love for 3 nights. Here are some pics from my holiday, if you would like to see.

Boarding the A380. 'The biggest plane in the world' my husband never failed to remind me. 

Arriving at Gare de lyon in Paris, watching the commuters go by. 

First day skiing. Blue sky, white snow and freezing cold. 

The team (from left to right) the husband, the mama, the dad and me

It snowed for 48 hours, everything turned white

We skied and skied and skied

Sometimes we skied above the clouds

Then, at night, we played scrabble

Finally we arrived in Pairs and this was our view

We visited Place des Voges and fell in love all over again

We put our locks on Pont de Solforino

We visited my old apartment building

We wondered around Musee d'Orsay

And we hung out in the Tuileries

6/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (28.5 weeks)

I wish you could hear the laughter in this picture. Anna has the type of belly laugh that you cannot help but return. Her wicked sense of humour is as entertaining as the laugh itself. Florence is the most generous baby with her smiles, breaking into wide mouthed smiles with no prompting at all. Her little squeaky laughs are becoming more frequent now, her sister being the most cause for giggles. My heart sings when I see these two smiling, hear their giggles and feel their eyes sparkle; my laughter resonates with theirs.

Keep me laughing funny monkeys.

Twinversations ll

The twins generate a lot of conversation from all sorts of people - from strangers to car guards to family members. Of all the advice shared, conversations had, and praise given, the three worst questions I am asked about the twins are:

Q: Do you have a favourite?
A: This is a bizarre question and you will not believe how many times I have been asked this. Do these same people ask parents of more than one child which of their children they prefer?

Q: Are you going to have more children?
A: Here I am with two under two (two under under 7 months in fact!) and you are asking me about my next one? I have my arms full for now. That is not to say I categorically do not want anymore children. But, right now, I can't imagine when I would have the time to make another baby let alone raise another baby.

Q: When are you going to cut their finger nails?
A: Two babies equals twenty fingernails. TWENTY. Twenty teeny, tiny, sharp claws attached to very wriggly hands attached to very wriggly babies. Cutting these twenty tiny fingernails is even more difficult that it sounds. So I do it once a week and I apologise in advance if you happen to be a victim of these teeny, tiny, sharp claws on the day before grooming day but I also ask in advance that you do not respond by asking me when I am going to cut their finger nails.

Read about twin reactions and other twinversations.

5/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014

Three things about this week captured in this photograph:

1.  Sweltering summer days call for bare baby bums which I can't resist gobbling up, planting smooches all over those perfect little bodies.

2. Florence, you are the most comfortable with your feet up. On anything. Preferably on Anna. Anna, you are learning the art of patience. Of being a sister. Of delighting in Florence's soft padded tootsies pressed firmly against you.

3. The twin-ness of you amazes me more every day. You don't know any other way than together. I find you asleep in your cot at night with legs entangled, you reach for each others feet in the bath, you talk to each other in ways even I can't decipher. Little hands find comfort in stroking the soft downy skulls of the other. You are separate but one.

RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman

{Photograph by Nigel Parry}

I was shocked and saddened by the news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death (funny how we always refer to him using all three names). It also dumfounds me. I saw him once in New York, when I was back there on a visit a few years after I left . He was leaving a restaurant I was at, a west village local spot. It made me feel very local and very cool to be dining where he dined. He was a genius; one of my all time favourite actors - if Philip Seymour Hoffman was in it, I would watch the movie. RIP.