'One from the archives' by Me

One from the archives, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I thought I'd show you this photo as it's one I took of my daughter when she was about the same age as my son is now. She's on her knees here but in fact she was just learning to walk. She first walked when she was ten months old and I've always been such a proud mummy about that. Trouble is my son is almost ten months old and whilst he's an expert crawler and very strong on his feet he's not walking and I doubt he will soon. I must admit I am finding it rather hard not to compare my two children. I know this is wrong and ridiculous, especially as one's a boy and one's a girl, but my four year old has set the bar really high - for example have I told you how great at reading she is? I need to remember that they are complete individuals and will have different strengths and weaknesses throughout their childhood and beyond. And you know what, whatever they do I know I will always be so incredibly proud of them both.

'So small' by Me

So small, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

So what do you think of this photo? I took it when my son was just four days old and I think it's quite a broodiness inducing image! It's hard not to love tiny baby hands and feet. It's funny but compared to this my son's hands now seem huge. And don't get me started on my daughter's giant hands! It's funny how my baby girl suddenly got so grown up over night. Actually saying that there was no overnight as I had my son during the day, but you know what I mean!

'Little hands and feet' by Me

Little hands and feet, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I couldn't resist showing you this cute photo I took of my baby's hands and feet. I've got to take as many pictures like this as I can before he gets too big! Plus he's obsessed by his feet at the moment and nibbles on his toes at every opportunity. I wonder whether that's a sign of teething!

Happy weekend everyone. Hope you all have a lovely couple of days.

'monkeys on the bed.' by sarah_wood

monkeys on the bed., a photo by sarah_wood on Flickr.

I always wanted a girl. When I was pregnant the first time around I told everyone I didn't mind what I had but I knew deep down that I wanted a girl. I know I would have loved a boy just as much but I couldn't imagine my baby not being a girl. We didn't find out the sex so when I was handed my beautiful baby girl in the delivery room I was so very happy and automatically fell head-over-heels in love. Having a daughter has been everything I ever hoped for. She's amazing. A brilliant little best friend.

When I got pregnant the second time we decided to find out the sex. Hand on heart I didn't mind what I had this time around and was thrilled to be expecting a boy. I did have a few wobbles about it though. I only knew how to be a mum to a girl. How would I cope with a boy? Are they really different? Would I love him the same? Well that little boy is now four and a half months old and I can't imagine what life was like without a son. Why was I worrying? I definitely have two little best friends now!

When I was looking for a photo to go with this post I stumbled across this really fun one. It's such a beautiful carefree image. You really get a lot of energy from it. And I bet the mother and son had a brilliant time jumping on the bed.

'Instagram Little feet' by Me

Instagram Little feet, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

When I had my son I was really looking forward to taking lots of adorable little hands and feet photos. Turns out it's not as easy as it looks to get the perfect cute shot. Funnily enough my favourite pictures have been taken on my mobile phone. I love this one of his bare little feet. Don't you just want to give them a tickle?

'Little hands' by Me

Little hands, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Just wanted to share with you a photo from my Instagram which I really love. It's my son's hands as he sits in his buggy. Aren't they beautiful? Actually all baby's hands are wonderful aren't they? So tiny and so perfect. When I got my mobile phone out to take this photo he actually moved his hands which was very annoying, but then he ever so kindly put them back where they were so I could get this shot. This is definitely a picture that will make me smile if I am feeling down.

'Teddy bear cuddles' by Me

Teddy bear cuddles, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Well that day has finally come. Tomorrow is D-Day. "D" as in "Daddy goes back to work". It's been brilliant that my husband has had so much paternity leave but it's also meant that I've got rather used to having him around and I'm now rather nervous about my first day alone with two children.

Although the past few weeks have had their ups and downs I can honestly say that I've never been happier. As I looked at my family whilst out having dinner at Wagamama this evening I realised I am living the dream - well my dream anyway. I have two amazing children and a totally awesome husband. What more could I possibly ask for - apart from a little more sleep perhaps?

I realise this post is rather soppy but I thought I'd better write this today as by tomorrow evening I'm not sure I'll still be describing my life as "living the dream"! Wish me luck!

'A tiny little hand' by Me

A tiny little hand, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Another baby picture from me I'm afraid as I've not really been taking much else to be honest. Perhaps I'll get the chance if it ever stops raining. I should make sure I take lots of pictures though as my little boy is growing so fast. I need to cherish every little moment. I can't believe he's ten days old already. He'll be celebrating his first birthday before we know it.

Happy weekend everyone. Here in the UK we're just about to have a long Bank Holiday weekend so it'd be nice if the sun came out at least once.

'My beautiful boy' by Me

My beautiful boy, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

It's been raining all week. All week except for Tuesday that is. On Tuesday the sun was shining brightly. Perhaps it wasn't perhaps I only thought it was, perhaps it was only shining just for me as that was the day my beautiful baby boy was born. Oh how we all love him so much. He's going to fit just perfectly into our lives and we're already loving being a family of four.

'And off she went' by Me

And off she went, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

So have you made any new year's resolutions? I've been thinking about them and haven't really made any as such. I'm not really good at resolutions at new year. I often make better resolutions with myself on my birthday as it kind of feels more significant. Or quite often I'll just resolve to do something and then start doing (or not doing) it there and then. I guess that in 2012 I want to just be the best mum I can to my little girl and to my new baby. It's going to be such a change having two children and I really want to get it right.

On a personal level I guess the one thing I want to work on is my photography. I know it won't be long before I have a million and one other things to be thinking about but I really don't want photography or my blog to fall by the way side as it's turned out to be something that's rather important to me. I'm sure I'll be snapping away at our new arrival though so expect me to post lots of cute photos of baby feet and such things!

Here's one from the archives. It's a cute picture I took of my daughter at Bodium Castle in Sussex when she was just 11 months old. She's never been one to sit still as soon as she was able to get moving she was off.....

'Balloons' by Me

Balloons, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

It’s been a while since I announced I was pregnant so I thought it was time for a little update on how things are going. I’m nearly 16 weeks now and still have morning sickness but it’s not too bad. In fact I’d say it was just getting tedious. But that’s a good thing. My morning sickness when pregnant with my daughter was soul destroying and miserable for the whole nine months.

And excitingly I finally have a little bit of a bump. Although to be honest nobody’s really going to notice because it’s nearly winter and I’m wearing coats and big jumpers at the moment. It’s rather annoying actually because most of my maternity clothes from first time round are quite redundant. I lost a little bit of weight recently so the trousers I wore before are all too big for me now. The tops fit fine but because I was pregnant in the summer before I just have lots of little t-shirts which aren’t going to be much use over the next few months. I guess perhaps it’s an excuse to go shopping. Don’t want to spend a fortune on maternity clothes but I have bought some lovely pairs of jeans which are so comfy. As I live in jeans these days I thought a few comfy pairs were an absolute must.

And talking of shopping I don’t think we’ve done any whatsoever for the baby yet. We’ve realised that we pretty much have everything we need already except for a buggy. We need a new one of those as our original one got broken. No idea where to start though as I’m really looking for the perfect one.

Anyway, I could go on but I am sure you’re keen to see a photo of some kind. Well here’s one I took of some of the balloons we’ve had kicking around the house lately. We’ve got so many left over from birthday celebrations and from Halloween. Seems a shame to pop them and I don’t think my daughter would be impressed. I think we may have to discretely let a few go soon though!

'Sleeping Beauty' by Me

Sleeping Beauty, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I have a rather big announcement to make. I am pregnant! Baby number 2 should be arriving some time at the end of April. I’ve been dying to share this on my blog but decided to be good and wait until after my first scan. I must admit that even though it was very much planned the whole thing does still seem rather surreal. I can’t believe in six months I’ll have a newborn baby in my arms! I am very excited though and looking forward to becoming a family of four.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may have noticed that I’ve used this photo on here before. Apologies for this but it’s one of my favourites and I was having real difficultly trying to find a photo to accompany this post. I decided to use this one of my daughter as a baby again as I just love it and I know that when the new baby arrives it will have the camera pointed at it A LOT. I hope he or she doesn’t mind!

'Sleeping Beauty' by Me

Sleeping Beauty, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I hope you've had a wonderful day and have been totally spoilt.

Today I am sharing with you a photo I took of my little girl last summer. I'll let you into a secret - she was actually asleep on my chest and I had the camera to hand so I just did a few arms length shots and this is what resulted. I love it, but of course I love any photo that she is in and trust me I take A LOT of her!