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37/100

I am thankful for this beautiful day we spent in a strawberry field. My friend Alanna came to visit from Newcastle and we spent the day picking little berries and delighting little people. Goodness me those fresh strawberries were the most delicious ones I’ve ever tasted! Do you live near a strawberry patch? You simply MUST go there and take your little ones! It was so much fun and well worth the $12 we paid for our punnet of strawberries. Mmmm. For those of you who are local to me – this strawberry patch is in Bli Bli, Queensland.

Does anyone know where we can go pick other things? Picking fruit is so much fun and it definitely made the kiddos want to eat them more than they would have if they’d magically appeared from the shop.

I’ve posted before about how much Priya loves the insanely talented musician, Kimbra. I mean, seriously, this girl talks about Kimbra more than I talk about Kimbra (which is a lot!). Most evenings before bed (and if she’s brushed her teeth!) she is allowed to pick one of Kimbra’s film clips to watch and sing along to. Here’s a clip from a while back of her doing just that (right after Kimbra’s ‘Paint song’ came out AKA Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know‘).

As I mentioned in my last post about Peach seeing Kimbra for the first time she was sorely disappointed that she fell to sleep during the set and didn’t get to ‘meet’ Kimbra (I hadn’t exactly done a great job explaining how seeing an artist live works – oops!). She was quite confused by this and upset because she had expected she would get to talk to Kimbra.  She’d told me she was going to ask for Kimbra’s dress fromCameo Lover and check if Kimbra has ears (as you can hear her asking about in the clip above! haha, she hasn’t seen them in Kimbra’s clips or photos).

I felt so sad for her because it was my fault I hadn’t explained how concerts work and because she was so sweetly naive in assuming she would get to hang out with you know… a famous singer.

To make up for this I promised her I would get her a dress just like Kimbra’s and with supplies in hand I headed to Heidi’s and we sewed two little baby Kimbra dresses (one for Priya’s BFF too).

(more of the happy girl in her favourite dress here)

When we heard Kimbra was playing in Brisbane again I just knew we had to go and take Peach to see her again. Benedicte (my little sister) was so generous buying us tickets (best sister ever, right?) and I carefully told Priya that we would be seeing Kimbra again. SEEING notMEETING but nonetheless she danced around the house telling me she was ‘gonna meet Kimbra and tell her I wuv her’. I posted a photo of Peach in her little Cameo Lover dress to Kimbra’s facebook wall letting her know that Peach was getting very excited to ‘meet’ her.

You cannot imagine my shock (or insane excitement on Peach’s behalf) when Kimbra posted back that she would like to meet Priya! Um? Are you kidding me? Amazing that she even commented on my photo let alone wanted to take time out to meet P!

As it wasn’t confirmed I didn’t want to excite Peach too much but I did tell her we might be able to say hello to Kimbra at the concert (and even if we yelled hello from the crowd, that’d be fine, right?). When we painted the day of the concert Peach painted a picture of herself and Kimbra and told me she was going to give it to Kimbra. So off we went with our little painting, our Cameo Lover dress and one overly excited little girl.

The gig was at the Spiegeltent in King George Square and we were so happy to find ourselves right at the front of this beautiful intimate show. Here’s a little sneak video of her live – seriously she is phenomenal live. Takes my breath away. So much talent in one tiny body is simply mind boggling.

Perhaps seeing someone so musically talented in her formative years will get P on track to turn out mildly musical *fingers crossed*. As it is, Kimbra’s awesome fashion taste is going to give my sewing skills a run for their money. On seeing the dress she was wearing on the night P’s eyes became wide and fixed “Dat dress not like mine, that dress got no bobbles” Me: ”Yes, that’s a different dress to your one” Peach:“Can we make one like dat? A PUFFY ONE!?”. AHHHH!

Bene snapped these beautiful pictures right before we were asked to put our camera away I am so glad we got some photos but so, so sad that we didn’t get to film what happened right before Kimbra sang Cameo Lover! Kimbra dedicated the song to Priya, the little girl wearing her replica dress! Of course how incredible that was was somewhat lost on the three year old but it was so amazing for Bene and I to hear Kimbra dedicate Peach’s FAVOURITE song to her! Can you get anymore lucky than that? How I wish I’d been able to film it to show her when she’s bigger!

The show otherwise was just incredible. Words can not describe. Just do yourself a favour and see her live! Peach spent a lot of the time trying to get down and get her painting to give to Kimbra instead of actually watching the show though  “I am going to GIVE it to her, I am NOT going to throw it at her” she said loudly in my ear!

(how awesome are Bene’s photos? Straight out of the camera too – no editing!).

During the set a pretty lady (one of Kimbra’s crew) tapped us on the shoulder and gave Priya a little pass that said ‘Guest’ on it which we weren’t sure what it meant exactly but HOPED if we showed it to the man on the door after the gig he might let Peach give her painting to Kimbra. Here is Peach waiting to outside the door after the gig with her painting, quite hopeful.

At first the gentleman seemed quite reluctant about the idea but said he’d go check and we were delighted when he came back and said I could bring Peach backstage to meet Kimbra. I felt bad about leaving Bene but we excitedly followed the man out the back nonetheless.

And there she was, beautiful Kimbra waiting to meet Peach! Kimbra was so sweet and I could not believe that she was being so generous with her time and meeting her biggest tiny fan. It was truly the loveliest thing. Kimbra was not rushed at all, took the time to talk to us, asked Peach about her painting and even showed Peach that she did in fact have ears! She even asked where Priya’s little brother was because she had checked out our blog (wow!). I was completely touched by how sweet and genuine Kimbra was, a total doll. So generous and kindhearted to do this for Peach (ow lucky I am that Peach chose someone so talented and lovely to admire!).

 Of course, P became quite shy and very starstruck (as was I!) but even the shyness did not stop her from being passed to Kimbra and having a photo with her favourite person. These are being printed BIG for Peach’s wall (whenever she decides to leave our bed and get her own room, haha).

This is 36/100 in our thankful project and how incredibly thankful to Kimbra we are!

Look at Priya’s little nervous excited face! The first photo she’s looking at her photo of Kimbra “it’s Kimbra!” . Yes, sweetheart, she’s holding you!

(and someone please tell me how Kimbra can look so gorgeous having just given such an incredible performance singing her lungs out?)

So there you go, little miss P has met her ultimate idol at the ripe old age of three years old. What excitement will ever compare I know not! I am afraid life will seem a little dull from now on but Peach remains ever hopeful. Just this evening I heard her uncle asking her “Did you really meet Kimbra?!” and Peach quite matter-of-factly replying “Yeah. She’s my best friend”. 

35/100

I’ve posted before about how much I love Baby Wearing but todays post is specifically about how much I love my ErgoBaby Carrier.

This morning I got the final word that I will be able to help as a demonstrator for ErgoBaby on the Babes in Arms stall at the Toddler & Baby Show this weekend (if you’re in BrisVegas, you should definitely come say hello! Plus, Ergo carriers are on a special price!).

 I can’t tell you how excited about this I am because there is nothing that would please me more than helping mama (and papas!) invest in  a product that will make parenting so much simpler and more enjoyable.

It has been our trusty companion through every stage of parenting thus far and countless hand free adventures

From international travel & long walks on the beach to adventure days & daily outings our Ergo carrier is the perfect answer for breastfeeding babies, TWO babies, papa’s and babies, sleeping babies, kids wearing babies and safe, secure and content babies. We love, love, love it!

 I could write the longest gushing post detailing exactly how incomparably freeing and lovely it is to have your babe asleep on you AND be able to get stuff done but the fact is – pictures speak louder than words so please enjoy a massive selection of assorted photos featuring the best thing we ever bought for our babies.

34/100

I used to collect dolls when I was growing up (what am I talking about, I still do!). I loved dolls. Long after my friends had all stopped playing with theirs and started doing whatever ever it is preteen girls are doing, I was still addicted to my dollies. I’d make my little sister, Bene play along with me and we’d spend hours up to our ears in My Childs and outfits. One day, after we’d been playing for some time my sister pointed an accusing finger at me and said “You don’t ever PLAY with the dolls! You never do! You just sit there and dress them, do their hair and then RE-DRESS THEM! I am not playing until you actually PLAY!” before storming out of our room. There wasn’t much I could do because she had me pegged, I didn’t actually want to play with the dolls per se, I just wanted to spend hours endlessly dressing them and grooming them. Being five years her senior I thought I might have been able to fool her into believing this was how you ‘play’ with dolls but no dice

Which leads me to this shameful confession that I am frequently filled with absolute gratitude that I was given a daughter who enjoys being groomed. How superficial is that? It is, I know but oh – it gives me such joy dressing her and brushing her hair. Plus, she couldn’t look more like a My Child with that little round face and button nose if she tried. Oh! Sometimes I just wanna squish her, this little doll of mine!

33/100

 This Saturday past I had the honour of photographing a birth at the birth centre where Theo was born. It was such an incredibly beautiful birth and I am so grateful that I was able to document it for the family as they welcomed their little boy, Ari.

 In part I felt like I was intruding on something sacred meant to be shared by only these two. It was so touching to see the chemistry between two people that created life bringing it forth together, working in harmony. Such a beautiful intimacy that made me feel like ‘this – this is what love is’.

How truly lucky I am to have had this honour to capture it.

(I will blog again about the birth with more photos soon – I can’t wait to show you the sweetest little product of this labour, Ari Elliot! Adoooooor-able!)