Nocturnal Baby

I've been feeling unwell all day (and most of yesterday) and I'd pretty much decided not to bother doing a photo today when about half an hour ago I heard Seren crying. This is how I found her in her cot.

Both she and Charis seem to be struggling to get to sleep tonight and even though I'm feeling shattered I have a suspicion that I too may have a bout of insomnia when I finally go to bed.

Angelic Glow

Nathan helped me with today's photograph. We have had a play with long exposure and torches before and decided I'd do a portrait photo like that this evening. We may have a few more goes at this over the next week or so as there are lots of different ideas floating around our heads.

Car Journey

Not many photo's taken yesterday. We went to Birmingham to a 'baby meet' to get together with some online friends who all have babies born in the same month as Seren. It was a lovely but manic afternoon and I never actually took many photos and those that I did were not fantastic or have other people's children on so I'm not going to use them for the blog.

The kids had a great time and it was nice to put faces to names of people I've got to know online over the past 8months.

This photo was taken whilst traveling on the way down. It is a typical 'going away' shot that I take. We must have numerous car seat photos!

Getting Home

I've had a busy day today. Busy in a relaxing sense.

First the girls and I went to a soft play centre and met up with some lovely friends of ours for a play and luncheon. Then we went to Tesco to purchase some presents for various recipients.

Nathan came and collected us and then I rushed off into town (aka Manchester City centre).

Today was the first day I was able to give blood since 2005 and I quite enjoyed it. Did my 'good deed' for the day. Then I went out for dinner with a friend, bought myself a new top for tomorrow and then caught the train home.

Pink Fuzzy stuff

Trying to think of something interesting or witty to say but it's not happening.

Poorly Aloe Vera

The best of a bad bunch. I may even have another go at this tomorrow as I knew what I wanted but wasn't set up properly.

I think I may not have been watering my Aloe Vera plant enough as its becoming rather droopy and some of the stalks are bent and snapped. I'm not very good at taking care of plants in general, but I would like this one to survive.

Fluffy Bunny

Here we have the neighbours' bunny who has found his way into our garden. Yesterday afternoon he spent most of his time running around with our dog and children. It was rather difficult to capture him as every time I got ready to take a photo he moved. I'm certain that he was doing it on purpose!

I've had a very busy few days as Nathan has been out filming his graduate documentary and I've been at home alone with three children, a dog and a cat (and of course the bunny). I'm so tired I can't think straight. Partially because of looking after the children but also because lovely Seren has not been sleeping well due to nasty molars making their appearance. I also managed to hurt my ankle at some point yesterday and carrying a baby whilst pushing a buggy does not help it.

Anyway that's got nothing to do with photography I just felt like a moan.

C'est Moi

This is my 'I'm so tired and unimpressed that I have to take a photo' expression.

Mothering Sunday

These are the presents the children 'made' for me. The plants are to go at the bottom of the back garden and will hopefully survive the dog and grow into bushes. The chocolates are for my tummy and many of them have already made it to their destination.

Its nice to be given little things from the girls even though they don't understand what for. The best thing though, is that at this age they think I'm wonderful all of the time anyway so they don't 'need' a special day to show me that they appreciate and love me because they make it clear everyday which is the way I think it should be.

When they are teenagers I expect it will be ever so slightly different!

Brookleena

An especially last minute photo from late Saturday evening. I wanted to take a picture of the cat but didn't think through the whole 'black cat on a black background' aspect of it!

Petite Artiste

Friday was another lovely sunny day and we spent much of the day in and out of the garden. We had a new visitor join us, the next door neighbours' rabbit. He found a place where he could squeeze under the fence and come and play with the dog and eat lots of yummy grass and dandelions. I took a few photos of him but nothing spectacular really.

Anyway eventually it got quite cold so the children decided to come inside and do some colouring whilst I cooked dinner *ahem* took some photos. Because it was so sunny the natural lighting in the room was great and despite the act this isn't the most exciting content, I love the colours.

Exploring

Beautiful sunshine again today. It was a little chilly still but the sun coaxed us out into the garden all afternoon and then on to the park for a walk and play.

My friend and her baby boy joined us, which meant that we both sat on the swings chatting and I left the kids to it. Amazingly there were no bumps bruises or breakages (which is more than can be said for our prior visint to the park on Sunday!)

I tried out a few different shots but toddlers just don't stay still for long enough. On more than one occasion I'd just worked out a good idea for a shot, got myself into position and then toddler a or b would decide to move on!

Black doggies

I'd intended to get another outdoor shot today but alas children and household chores have prevented me. Well that and the fact I've been chatting online quite a lot!

Me and the dug have been lazing in the lounge tonight whilst waiting for Nathan to come home so I thought I'd get a cute photo of him and his little pal.

Tea anyone?

On a walk up to Tesco this afternoon I spotted this little tea bag dangling away. It has to have been one of the most random things I've ever seen. There were no bins or houses near by. It was just on a bush at the side of the towpath alongside the Rochdale canal!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Today is my brother-in-law Scott's birthday and he is now closer to 30 than 20.

We met up for lunch at Kro Piccadilly, one of my favourite places in the city.

Oh, the reason there are two photo's for today is partly because I never took one yesterday, and partly because I wanted a Happy Birthday Scott photo!

Ivy

Surprisingly enough the weather was pleasant enough this afternoon to spend time out side drinking a cup of tea and watching the children play in the garden. I noticed a little bit of Ivy creeping up our fence and decided to get a quick photo.

Hopefully this is the beginning of more enjoyable weather and outdoor experiences!

Playing

Nathan and I watched History Boys this evening and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Then we played a quick (ish) game of Carcassonne, which of course Nathan won, but only just!

floating

A bit of a last minute photo from late last night. Badly thought through too as the camera kept steaming up so I only got a couple o shots that were even closely usable!

The Dreaded Scales

One of the evils of life.....

Keeping warm

The warm and cosy home of our little soft toys.

Man and his dog (again)

Yeh so like I said, a random object from around the house. I used a lamp with wicker shade to light this photo and love the effect it gives.

Not that happy with the composition though and quite a few of the shots were out of focus. The annoying thing is that I couldn't tell until they were uploaded onto the computer. I'm not sure if its my glasses or my eyesight in general, but I really find it hard to get the focus jut right.

scented candles

Not that you can smell them through the photo of course!

Last night I thought I'd have a go at a similar sort of shot to the one I took of the candle in January. I really do love how the light shines through these candles. It took me a while to get the lighting and focus how I wanted but I'm actually quite pleased with this.

I'm not going to be getting out much over the next few days as Nathan appears to be unwell. SO I'm going to have to find things to take photos of around the house again.... boring!

Brooklyn

My cat. Taken just before I went to bed last night. She's looking a little odd, think its the angle of her head! She's getting on a bit now but still a very beautiful and dainty feline.

The past few days she has been very 'in your face', sitting on me, walking over the lap top, walking over my head, climbing on the bed and wanting to get under the covers! No idea whats up with her, perhaps she feels she doesn't get enough attention but she's a cat, she's not meant to want it that much!

Signs of Spring

Just had a quiet day in today. The weather has been pleasant for the most part so I have been in and out of the house. My crocuses have almost all popped out now and the daffodils are going to be making an appearance soon.

Conclusions from today? I need a Macro lens, or more honestly, I want one! I found taking this so frustrating as I lnew what I had in mind but my lens just couldn't focus as close up as I wanted it too. To add to the fun, some dog had pooped on our front lawn right by the crocuses so I had to deal with that grrr.

I am looking forward to taking some more nature shots as we move further into spring.

Application

Guess what I've been doing this evening ?! (After my compulsory relaxing bubble bath of course)

Faerie

I'm afraid I haven't really taken a photo specifically for the blog today as I had intended to take my camera with me when I went into the city centre this evening. However the camera never quite made it out of the house and into town with me as I had to run for the train. Incidentally I had to run to catch the train home too.

So today's picture is one of a few that I took whilst having fun with Charis this afternoon. She likes to have her photo taken but enjoys pretending she doesn't so I got a lot of the back of her head! We had spent an hour or so doing her 'paint face' as she calls it, and her hair s she has looked extra pretty.

Loom

Seren and I went to The Science and Industry Museum today for their toddler session. After lunch she had a nap and I wandered around the Textile gallery. The sun was shining through the windows and I just loved the way it filtered through this loom.

I think today was the first day it felt like the beginning of spring. The sun was gorgeous but it was still very cold!

Mario!

This is my slightly improved shot of the previous photo, but I couldn't quite get it as I wanted.

Wii !!!

This was an idea that didn't really work and I'm not totally happy with. We didn't have time to spend working on it this evening so I'm going to have a go at a similar if not the same shot tomorrow.

When I say we 'didn't have time', its more that we wanted to focus on playing mariokart :-)

First Class

I went out with my friends last night for a very enjoyable meal and stayed over (Nathan and the kids went home), so this morning I had to make my own way back home.

For some reason when I booked the train tickets the other day, first class was cheaper than standard! So for the first time ever I traveled in the first class carriage. It was particularly unexciting and I didn't even get the option of a drink never mind a free one, but nevertheless I took a photo of my moment as I doubt it'll happen again for a while!

This was taken on my little compact digital camera. The glare from my glasses is a pain I should have taken them off really.

Tropical World

Yesterday we went to Leeds to meet up with some friends. We went to Tropical world to see the butterflies, meerkats and various other animals. As a result I hardly got to use my camera because Nathan was playing with it and I spent a lot of the time running around after small children!

I was also busy chatting away to my pal who is the star of today's photo. She thought it was a little boring but I think it is quite nice really and by far the best of the four - yes only four! - photo's I took that are worth using.