the me and mine project {may}

Rich is loving

* Ashlyn's new teeth.

* the uni footy reunion.

* the return of Gomorrah on the television.

* riding the rollercoasters at Lost Kingdom.

* seeing the kids faces when they met Peppa and George. 

Lucy is loving

* a fun family adventure at Paulton's Park.

* running down grassy hills in Heybridge with Dylan and Everly.

* watching Ashlyn get more and more mobile, and looking so proud about it.

* getting to crochet some of the happy place blanket in the place that inspired it.

* speaking at Blog On conference and not completely making a fool of herself.

Dylan is loving

* being on purple level reading books.

* riding rollercoasters in the Lost Kingdom at Paultons Park.

* getting gold star at school twice in one week.

* a fun day out with both sets of grandparents.

* talking to Ashlyn at meal times and making her laugh. 

Everly is loving

* a day at Peppa Pig World.

* anything to do with My Little Pony.

* falling over on the floor with Ashlyn.

* her new palm tree dress (she'd wear it every day if we let her!)

* watching the DVD of the dance show over and over again.

Ashlyn is loving

* smiling a lot and just generally being happy all the time.

* eating toast.

* crawling backwards.

* playing with her skwish.

* Darcy and Wentworth.

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you are seven months old {dear beautiful little lady}

Dear Ashlyn Quinn

I'm going to bypass the bit where I talk about how quickly time seems to be flying and that you seem to be growing up so fast before our very eyes. I'm pretty sure that I'll get those same feelings with every passing month... and passing year. And this month has been so full of exciting developments for you, new milestones to tick off and things you've learned. 

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bikini babe

Everly is very much at an age where she knows her own mind. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't and is definitely interested in what she wears. And while it can be hard to relinquish control, having been able to pick out all her outfits for the past three and a half years, it's also nice to see her developing her own sense of style... mainly because she seems to like a lot of the same things that I do (I have trained her well it would seem!)

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the siblings project {may}

Something I'm learning about having a third child, is that there are some things about family life that never lose their sparkle however many children you may have. And a big one is watching the gap between siblings seemingly get smaller as your children grow. Before Ashlyn was born I felt like the gap between her and the bigger two was going to feel massive. I know that lots of people leave three years as a kind of "standard age gap", but having had Dylan and Everly nineteen months apart, the gap between the two girls seemed huge for us. 

And when she was first born it was. Looking at that tiny, frail newborn made us see how far the older two had come, how much they had grown and changed. They made her look so impossibly tiny, and by contrast she made them seemingly grow a little older and a little taller overnight. It felt like it would be a long time before they would be 'close' to their baby sister. And don't get me wrong, Dylan and Everly are so bright and independent and Ashlyn is still only a baby, but as the days pass it feels like the three of them chip little chunks off of the gap.

Maybe it's where Ashlyn is growing up so fast; with more personality each day. Or maybe it's where we've all just slipped into the rhythms of life with three children now. But that little team of three I thought I'd be waiting a while to see... it feels like it's already there.

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