A fortnight of fotos

The last fourteen days or so have felt pretty busy. I'm keeping up with taking a photo a day, but haven't posted them for ages because I keep getting snowed under by the constant need to do... stuff.

But some of the stuff has been really fun - last Saturday we had a long-awaited visit from my friend Sian who has been one of our biggest cheerleaders through the long adoption process.

16 January

they were very happy to see her, honestly, they were just a bit tired by this point.



18 January saw us having a very tiring day:

at the hospital. We begged for, and were given, an appointment with a specialist paediatrician to do a general check on the babies' health. He was wonderful.

(By the way - for those of you counting - 15 January's picture does exist, but has been censored by J as being too naked for the interwebs. And I'm sure he's right. But a crying shame - it was CUTE. And then he did the same to 17 January. Nevermind).

The busyness continued with our official 3 month social work review on the same day. (An unexpected X ray meant we only just squeaked home in time with two INSANELY tired babies, which is a whole 'nother story). That wasn't exactly fun, but we seemed to get through it okay. The next day, I had to go to a weaning information session at our local clinic, which was not all that useful (are things like that EVER useful?) but I'm glad I went because I met some really nice other local mothers. And then afterwards I bit the bullet, went straight to the local supermarket and bought my first packet of baby rice.

It was our first outing in our new side-by-side double pushchair:

19 January

and I have to say, I was absolutely NOT prepared for the difference in the attention we would get - until then, I had been taking them out in one pushchair and a sling. Probably not helped by the fact that the babies' warm outfits are little bear suits and they do look undeniably gorgeous. But I was followed around the supermarket by an audible wave of sighs and whispers about the cuteness. I have never experienced anything like it. I think I unintentionally spread a lot of happiness that day.

What did not spread happiness was the introduction of the baby rice. Notice anything different in my standard 'two babies on a changing mat' photo?

20 January

My two little messy-mouths were not at ALL impressed.

Please, mummy, don't make me taste that again. Look how cute I am. Would you want to make this little face unhappy?

21 January

Well yes, it seems you would. You can torture us as much as you like, but we still have each other. (I came back from washing my hands to find them in this tragic pose)

22 January

I gave them a day off the evil solids for their six month birthday:

which they were pretty happy about. As was I, because it also gave me a break from the horror of cleaning up their new vesuvius-style poos for a day or two. (And seriously. SIX MONTHS? Where has the time gone? And then I remember - oh yeah, we haven't actually had them all that time. So I guess that's okay. Sort of. But SIX MONTHS? Already?)

I took so many pictures of them in their 'january' outfits that I could pretty much hear the camera shrieking in protest. So I declared this week to be kitchen macro week:

24 January 25 January

26 January

27 January

which was fine, but when I was reduced to photographing my dinner on Wednesday night (in my defense, another busy, although fun, day) I thought it might be time to switch gear again.

I've decided that the last weekday of every month is going to be 'sort out the clothes' day, where I jettison anything that they don't fit anymore. I knew that this month, I was going to have to say goodbye to my favourite outfit of Isaias'. It's stripy and velour and incredibly cuddly, and it's baby gap but I got in on ebay for 99p. So yeah, I love everything about it. It was far too big for him when we brought him home, but now it only just skims his knees and is increasingly difficult to button. But oh, it's so adorable. Saying goodbye to this outfit feels like officially saying goodbye to the tiny boy that we brought home.

28 January

See? You can see most of his legs. And check out his new trick!

And that brings us to today. We have to go back to the hospital for follow-up blood tests, and I'm wondering where on a baby you can draw a significant amount of blood. I guess I'll know by this evening. I think I'd rather not. No photos of that, I don't think.

Another Week(ish)

10 January

11 January

12 January

13 January
14 January

A few more recent photos

They've both been sick recently, which has rather cranked things up a notch. We're certainly glad that we bought as much Calpol as we did before we brought them home. I'm trying to cut through a bit of the brainfreeze by taking a photo every day in January, and maybe in 2010 if I can stand the thought. This seems like a good place to post some of them - they are growing up far, far too fast and Isaias is already into his third size of clothing. Behold Project Chubby in action.

(These first two were actually taken at the end of 2009)

Our champion drooler, leaving his mark
Smiley McSmilerson

Our pudding boy

This boy really, really loves his monkey. Thanks, Aunty Lucy.
She's either paying attention or slowly losing her balance. It's hard to tell.

Isaias likes to play with ducks in the bath
So does Lulu
Except when John gets bored and they all attack at once. Then she LOVES it.


It's been very cold.


My head isn't that big in real life, is it?

Can I have a pricecheck on a disgruntled baby, please?

First Snow

They weren't quite sure what to make of it, but we had fun.

Finally, some photos from home!

Most of you know that we live in a small Victorian terrace- those of you in Australia, you've no doubt seen these in The Bill. This means that we only have windows at the front and back of the house (since the side walls are shared with our neighbours). Also, it's always raining. This means that our house is dark. Like, DARK. As in, really, really dark. This has been driving me absolutely crazy because I've got these adorable babies, constantly doing cute things, and it is impossible to get decent photos when there is no light. (SLR users - when I say dark, I've set my portrait lens to f/1.8 and in the middle of the day I'm still needing a shutter speed of about 1/2 s in natural light. At f/1.8. So yeah, dark).

Anyway, long story short, I got myself a really bright light, and now we have some photos that aren't just a big blurry mess. (Note two for SLR users - I also pulled out my big flash, which helped a lot, and yes of course I should have done that earlier. But even using ceiling bounce, which is really my only trick, I find it hard to get nice light with this as my primary source. Any tips for home lighting setups that can be managed between naps would be much appreciated. And mum, don't just say move back to Brisbane please).

So anyway, less talking, more cuteness, yes? (And apologies, by the way, to anybody who is getting a thankyou card from me because these are the same photos. Pretend to be surprised, okay?)

I really, really underestimated how hard it is to get two babies looking at the camera at the same time. Or even with their heads facing in approximately the right direction. Trying for smiles as well? Or matching clothes? Hmmmm, not yet.


I'm so pleased about how chubby they are getting.

This is beautiful baby Lulit.

and her little feet
Lulu has found her hands
and loves to smile and shout
and this is her pirate face. She opens her mouth like this and makes a loud 'ARGGGHHH' sound, like a pirate. I wasn't really expecting a baby who was ready to sail the high seas.
Baby Isaias wasn't really in the mood for smiling (he's still in his pyjamas, to my shame) but I got this one:
and this one:
but overall, he found the whole experience fairly confusing. I'll try again another day.
(Note three - does anybody know how to get around the issue of the blockiness of these photos on blogspot? They are not blocky in real life, and look completely different on flickr).

Finally, some photos from Addis!

I've been meaning to post photos of our trip, but have found it hard for two reasons - firstly, the two new little people in the house never letting me get near the computer, of course, but secondly - unexpected freaked-out-ness about their early little selves. I look at their early photos and they are still my beautiful babies, but they are so tiny that I hardly recognise them. It's only now that they are filling out that I can really see how terrifyingly titchy they were. And that makes me feel really sad.

So, I am going to post the photos with a commentary about when they were taken, otherwise you'll think you're looking at different babies.

Stage one: This is the babies on their first day home. They are cute, but did I already say terrifyingly titchy? I can hardly bear to look at these photos, and that's not just because I look h.a.g.g.a.r.d.

No, it's because my beautiful girl and boy look so unbearably tiny.



Stage two: The next few days. We've dressed them in tiny clothes that are somehow still way too big, and they are just beginning to figure out which way is up. We get some smiles, but there is a lot of uncertainty. As indeed there should be.



Stage three: Ahhhh, this is more like what the babies are really like. They are starting to fill out and their personalities are really beginning to show. Tummy time is still a complete mystery to them, by the way.

Yes, baby girl, it's all been a bit of a shock to mummy too.
Stage four: A few weeks in. Is it just me, or are they starting to just look like ordinary spoiled children here? Maybe it's just the light, but I think they are starting to glow.

So, that's the baby pictures from Addis. They have woken up, so I must go. More later.