WOW it feels weird to write that title. But yep… my tiny little Lilly is at preschool for the very first time today. I cannot believe it. She will be going twice a week (during school hours). She looked SOOOO small compared to all of the other kids, despite being 3 and a half. It was funny to see some of the other kids approach her and talk to her like she was MUCH younger than them (when in reality she may very well be older than a good few of them). Her tininess may well work in her favour at getting what she wants tho All of my kids have gone through this preschool, and we are very lucky in that the teachers are FANTASTIC. Lilly went and picked up Isaiah each time last year, so she is very familiar with the preschool and teachers, so I am hoping that she will be just fine. Me, however? Well as I gave her a hug and kiss goodbye I had to turn around quickly because while LILLY wasn’t crying, I was!! Soooo hard to leave her there. She looked SO tiny. And coming home with only Zoe? WOW. That was weird. I can’t even remember the last time I had ONLY a baby at home.. Hopefully I will be able to get some work done during the daytime while Zoe naps now…

Also, Isaiah started KINDERGARTEN! He actually started on Thursday and I’m finally getting around to having time to “blog”. He went in with no problems at all. VERY excited. So excited in fact, that even though I do a job for the school every year taking portraits of the kindy kids, he told me he did not WANT any photos, and I could “go home” haha. Cheeky boy. Once he saw he wasn’t the only one I had to take a photo of however, he was ok with it - only one shot mind you! I snuck in an extra one when he wasn’t looking though

Don’t forget to check out the answers to your FAQ on the Embrace blog too

xox Amanda

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Go check it out on the Embrace Workshop blog That’s the only place we’re posting our answers

In the meantime, this is my most recent client. Sigh. Isn’t she divine? See more on my biz blog

xox Amanda

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I just can’t bear it. She is TOO darn cute. Honestly. How can I live like this?! Over the last few nights I have been working on another new hat knitting pattern. This one is for a little cabled pixie-style cap with a chin strap. I totally love it, and I love the way it looks on Zoe, framing her sweet little face. Bonus, because of the strap she can’t pull it off (she’s just starting to notice when I’ve put something on her head, and reaches up to tug at it).

Hehe I think this photo of her is so funny.

And then I tried to take a photo of her in another version of a pixie hood (my pattern of course) that I knit a few nights ago. She was more interested in checking out the long tassels than being involved in any kind of photoshoot

Don’t forget to check out the blog post below, to ask me whatever question you’d like

xox Amanda

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Sooo just for fun, Kara and I are both going to answer your questions! You need to check Kara’s blog to ask her something, and you can ask me whatever you’d like right here. Or, you can always email me if you want to do it that way I guess… We’ll be posting answers on The Embrace Workshop blog in a few days time.

Sooo…what can you ask me? Well.. whatever you’d like! It can be about photography (duh), kids (duh), stuff about knitting, what I like to eat for breakfast, how I take my coffee… er… you get the picture. So ask away, and remember to check back on the Embrace Workshop blog in a few days time for the answers.

IN the meantime, here’s a of photos of Maddy from a week or so ago. She is about to start year 2. I can’t believe it! Jakob starts year 5. And…Isaiah is about to go into kindergarten! I AM SO NOT READY for my baby to be that grown up! Lucky I have Lilly and Zoe at home with me still… I might not know what to do with all my “free time” otherwise

And check THIS out. My brother and his fiancee (soon to be wife in under 2 weeks time!!! WOOHOO) just bought their first house. We headed over a couple of days ago to check it out. Umm.. can I just say that although I am terribly excited for my brother that he has a house… what I saw NEXT DOOR made me so giddy I think I hyperventilated with excitement a little bit…. It was a crap time of day for light, but I wanted to take some shots so I could remember what I wanted and work on ideas and stuff once I got home.

I have a bunch more photographs (just ask Gemma… who I emailed IMMEDIATELY afterwards to brag…muahaha) but I think I’ll save those for my own self.. I already have many plans for this I’m sure you guys know that it is RIGHT up my alley, so very very “me”. Weirdest thing? I knew about this place when I was growing up, because it’s only a very very short walk from my parents house… I’d just never thought of checking it out photographically before. So weird how things can be like that.

ANYHOW, ask me stuff!! You know you want to.

xox Amanda

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How I love her When my day is all chaotic and ridiculously noisy and I feel like pulling my hair out… there she is, this happy, smiling adorable little girl who wants nothing more than to snuggle and smoosh her face next to me and be loved. And then, my day is just awesome no matter what came before. Today was one such a day, where I honestly thought my blood was boiling so hot it was going to start spewing out of my ears and eyes. This week has been pretty boring for the kids (school holidays here, but this week we had nothing planned other than errands) and today it was kind of melting point for all of us I think! But we came home from picking up Matt’s new guitar still all intact and then I put Zoe in a mei tai, grabbed the dog (intending to head out for a long walk sans older children) and thought better of it. We ALL headed out for a long walk, ending up at the park where the kids played like crazy people and I made sure to give them LOTS of running races to wear them out. Smart huh. Well, maybe not SO smart, since Isaiah was still awake at 9pm and crying because he was OVERtired.

I photographed Zoe this afternoon. I set everything up while the kids were all busy playing, and lo and behold as soon as I picked up my camera — in comes the whirlwind of all four of the bigger children, loud voices and crazy movements vying for Zoe’s attention. Sooo did I get the smiles I was hoping for in camera? Nup. But I did watch Zoe adoring her big sisters and brothers. And that made up for it (more or less…*grin*).

See this? She’s looking at Lilly who had wedged herself in next to the window to get Zoe’s attention. And see her cute little butterfly hairclip? Those will be in my etsy soon

See? Huge big grin as her big brothers and sisters pile into the room.

I love the photos of her that I get when she is serious, concentrating. She is SO so so rarely serious (at least when a camera is not in her face!) that they make me laugh.

Jakob decided she would have more fun “walking”

Well, I for one am hoping that tomorrow the Lord will bless me with a little more patience than I had today and perhaps, just maybe, a little less noise from the whirlwind that is my children.

xox Amanda

P.s Don’t forget to sign up for The Embrace Workshop! You don’t want to miss it

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It feels so strange to be writing that title. 6 months old. Really. Really and truly Zoe is 6 months old. Well.. to be completely honest, she is 6 and a HALF months. I just happened to be beyond busy and didn’t have time to photograph or blog about her being 6 months old. I am trying very hard not to feel guilty about that. 6 months old… it feels so OLD for a baby and yet still so little. It both feels like she’s always been with us, and that only a short while ago she was not. I know all you Mama’s know the feeling that I am talking about!
So at six months old, Zoe has already learned to crawl (she started at 5 and a half months, I put a video on youtube but somehow neglected to put that on my blog too!), and she’s more or less sitting on her own. She doesn’t realise that gravity will pull her DOWN however if she throws herself backwards. So more often than not, I will only let her sit if she is in front of me, or on the bed. Her eyes are still blue, though not the same blue as Jakob - hers are more like her Daddy’s beautiful greeny-grey-blue eyes only a little darker. No sign of teeth yet, however she’s a teething monster even while she’s giggling and smiling up a storm. No word of a lie, EVERY single time we go out, people stop us to comment on what a smiley, happy baby she is. It got to the point where we had to avoid eye contact around Christmastime or else we’d never have gotten our shopping finished as we were being stopped that often! It makes my heart happy to know that she brings joy even to complete strangers, though. I love seeing the delight, especially on an older person’s face, when she makes eye contact and gives them her great big happy smile.
I’d love to share with you the most darling photo I have of her, however it’s for Yarn magazine so I can’t reveal it for another few months when the issue hits the stands. And by then she’ll have grown even more! But anyway… I shot these immediately after she’d been rudely awakened (by Lilly, the screaming banshee, of course) so she wasn’t quite her usual smiley self. I like her quietly serious look as well, so it’s good

This first photo was shot about half an hour after the ones below. She was sitting on the actual ground, rather than the beanbag I had her on in those below (and also why the light/colour is different).

So serious! I like to think this is her Blue Steel expression, though

And then she KINDA let a smile slip… just for a second.

I have been working on a new hat pattern, and Zoe’s head got to be the first tester. How lucky is she Haha. I woke her up at 1am the other night accidently (umm.. mostly accidently) when I’d finished the knitting and wanted to try it on her.

It might not look like it, but she was on the verge of a huge smile here - I was just too slow to catch it with my camera, sigh.

If you’re wondering, those are Itti Bitti cloth nappies she wears. We LOVE itti bitti. I KNOW I’ve talked about them on the blog YEARS ago (and that was, in fact, how I got in contact with Itti Bitti’s owner, and began shooting for them!) but I always want to talk them up. They are THE best cloth nappy ever. Beautiful to look at, snuggly to touch (really, sooooo soft, and they wash and wear so fabulously. We have a bunch of different brands - for instance, I love minilala nappies as well, since the patterns are so gorgeous - but itti wins. I was thinking of doing up a post on what WE do cloth-wise since several people have emailed and asked. If it’s something you’d be interested in, can you let me know either by email or by commenting.

xox Amanda

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The Embrace Workshop registration is now OPEN! For more information, head over to the Embrace Workshop blog.

Also, we’ve been away in Tamworth again on holidays. It poured NON STOP the whole time we were there! Well..ok, there were a couple of very short pauses in between the drenching (no kidding, the roads were flooding off and on) but mainly… it poured. My kids were constantly soaked through and dirty from playing outside as it was both HUMID and warm but raining heavily at the same time.

I shot this of a tangle of weeds during one of the brief pauses in the rain…. I almost never take my wide angle out to play!

And my totally (not) fashionable rolled up jeans and thongs… LOL.

xox Amanda

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Our church had their annual Christmas Carols this evening and of course we all went along. It’s only a fairly small event, on the Church’s front lawn. We had a really lovely evening despite it being really odd weather. Overcast with rain threatening (it held off, thankfully) and a chilly wind! My kids, all dressed in summery outfits, ended up with Zoe’s blankets, my jacket, and babylegs on their arms to keep them warm! This year Madison was asked to sing “Away in a Manger”. She sang the first part solo and then was joined by the band. Oh my gosh, I was SO proud! She is not a shy child by any means (as if you hadn’t noticed, right?) but I still wondered whether she’d have the confidence to get up there in front of a crowd of strangers. She did though and she did sooo beautifully. I felt like I was watching her growing up right in front of my eyes. And I feel like I should add some kind of disclaimer, that these are truly snapshots…..the ISO was soooo super super high because umm…it was DARK lol, and I was really more worried about getting ANY photo of the “moment” than something pretty. Whatever, read on

Waiting to go on stage..

Singing by herself..

And now with everyone singing along! (just ignore the blurred out faces of some of the other kids).

Maddy told me afterwards that she was soooo nervous at first but then it was ok and then when EVERYONE started singing too it was so much fun.

Lilly was also involved in a song “performance” by some of the little kids from the creche. She was SOOO funny! She wore this “huh” expression nearly the whole time but at the same time, I could tell she was having SO MUCH FUN. She’d catch my eye every so often and then get that “twinkle” she does when she’s being serious about something but having a great time.
So this is her getting ready to go on the stage (around her mouth was PINK from the fizzy drink Daddy gave her)..

Again ignore the blurred out faces. And the arm in front of me. I was sitting behind the lady reminding them of the actions.

Speaking of growing up, Lilly had her first EVER sleep-over last night at Nanna’s house! I think I was more nervous than Lilly or Nanna were. I was half expecting us to get a phone call late at night telling us to come and pick her up. But no, apparently after Pa told her to “stop talking” she went straight to sleep. I think it helped that Maddy was staying over with her, and it was after a family christmas party so they didn’t go to bed until late! This one, not taken on the day, but a week ago, of Lilly and her Nanna

xox Amanda

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I am officially tired tonight. Although knowing me, I will go to bed around 1am as usual and suddenly be wide awake for another couple of hours. Today has been long. And when I say long, what I really mean is busy, frustrating, and draining. I woke up after a long night of not sleeping too much, having been woken up twice during the night because Zoe had vomited and we were both covered in it (fun times). Laundry and general picking up and cleaning around the house first thing. Then we went out and did some more Christmas shopping. I do enjoy Christmas shopping.. I love picking out (what I hope is) the perfect gift, taking my time over choosing and looking and purchasing (that goes for in store and on line!). The shops are PACKED now. It took forever to find a place to park. Lilly was a monster - screaming the place down because, well I can’t remember, I probably said no to whatever plasticky horrible toy she wanted me to buy, and then going past the lolly aisle, even more screaming. Call me a bad parent, but I went right ahead and grabbed a little bag of barbie chocolate coins to shut her up. We then went and had coffee (latte for me, babycino for her). All the while Matt dutifully follows me around with Zoe in the pram because my shoulder is killing me and I can’t sling her today. We manage to make it out of the shops alive, head over to preschool, pick up Isaiah, go to the school, drop off a gift to Madison who is going to a party, say hi to Jakob who is also going to the party, and make fun of my sister in law’s hair. Head home, with two children fighting in the back seat. Tell said children that if they do not stop fighting they will be having a nap when we get home. This has the undesired effect of causing Lilly to start yelling “NOOOOOOOO!” and Isaiah to say very calmly, “I am not tired.” before yelling, “I’m HUUUUNGRY!”. More fighting in the back seat. All is well at home, Matt goes off with Lilly to the hardware shop, and Isaiah and I make a card for one of his friends while Zoe has a (very quick) nap. Matt comes home and Isaiah and Lilly are fighting again. Really, there is no “warm” between them. They are either hot or cold. Best friends or throwing punches. Manage to clean up a bit more around the house with Zoe on my hip. Matt goes out and picks up the kids from the party. Everyone home, everyone hungry. Then…I can’t remember exactly what happened. Lilly was wearing Madison’s swim goggles, Madison FREAKS… goes over and tackles her to the ground, puts her hands around her neck and starts trying to yank off the goggles while Jakob is yelling “GET OFF HER” and I’m trying to tell her to STOP. She is FREAKING OUT though and I finally pull her off Lilly and send her to her room. There is where it all goes even more wrong. Madison, if I have never mentioned it (and I probably haven’t…) has an insane temper. INSANE. She will scream and thrash around and yell and throw punches and get absolutely hysterical. If you think I am exaggerating, let me tell you I am not. I have filmed evidence Just sayin’. Anyway, we attempt to calm her down, she tells us (by “tell” I mean yelling at the top of her lungs, so loud that her voice is going hoarse) that she is going to leave the “whole house forever” and storms through the house and out the back door. Long story short - this goes on for about an hour before we finally calm her down. Meanwhile Lilly is crying in her bed because Madison’s violent anger had scared her so much. Calm Lilly down. Calm Maddy down. Everyone is finally in bed with prayers said. For another TWO HOURS those four children are up and down and in and out of their rooms for whatever nonsense reason they can think of. Meanwhile Zoe is not feeling well. She is utterly exhausted and desperate to go to sleep. She has stomach pains and after a while starts crying in a panic, these huge gulping hiccuping sobs and looking up at me with wild eyes while I “shush” her and hold her and walk with her and rock her. A little over an hour ago, I finally managed to calm her down and put her to sleep. And now I am sitting here. Emptying my brain of the chaos of today.

Oh my GOSH that was long. And tomorrow I will probably really regret posting all that.. but for now it is tonight and so here is a photograph of a puppy because you endured reading (or not….skim readers!) all that.

xox Amanda

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Like, really really ready?
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You are????
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Ok…scroll on down then….
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NO really, keep on scrolling!
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Nearly there…
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OKAY, go!

Yes!! You read that right. Hop on over to the EMBRACE WORKSHOP blog and check it out. You will want to bookmark it and check OFTEN because we have lots of things to post and some AMAZING vendors will we “reveal” over the coming days. More info in regards to pricing and availability will be released on the EMBRACE WORKSHOP blog within the coming weeks too. Make sure you bookmark it!

Did I mention you need to go over there and bookmark the EMBRACE WORKSHOP blog?? I did?? Well, what are you waiting for then?!

xox Amanda

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