The Party {Her First Birthday Celebration}

Gathered in our humble backyard, we celebrated your first year in our world; the triumphs and the tears, the laughter and love.  At no time could we have envisaged, one year ago, just how very much you would change our lives and our hearts, forevermore.  Never have we known a love like this; both for you, darling girl and for one another. Often, we sit and we watch you, mesmerised and in complete awe; our fingers interlaced, our souls even more so. As our eyes meet, no words are needed. Glistening with pride and pure adoration for everything you are and everything you have become, we still cannot fathom that our love, our bond, our unity has ensued your creation; your emergence into the world. You were meant for us, of that I am eternally certain.

Sage, you have touched my truest, deepest core. Each smile, each sigh, each movement, each breath - if only to capture each one to relive when you’re grown. I will be forever by your side, embracing you hand, whispering of my enduring love. All that is within me is for you.

I carry your heart with me {I carry it in my heart}

I am never without it {anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling}

I fear no fate {for you are my fate, my sweet}

I want no world {for beautiful you are my world, my true}
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
{Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide}
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart {I carry it in my heart}

By E. E. Cummings

Sage's birthday images were captured by the incredibly talented Naomi Fenton of Look See by Naomi Fenton. I met gorgeous Naomi whilst attending The Nursery workshop hosted by Tim Coulson last year and her eye for exquisite beauty and design is truly impeccable. Naomi's images are currently being recognised though various state-wide exhibitions and her Pinterest board is a force to be reckoned with! Check her out - she is amazing.

The Beginnings of a Working Mumma

Just recently we made a decision...

a decision which ultimately entails big changes to our lives and our foreseeable plans for the year ahead.

A decision which, for me, was unquestionably intertwined with deep emotion and overwhelming doubt. But one that has also brought with it unguarded excitement and anticipation en masse.

If you've been visiting here for a little while now, you may remember our choice back in August last year - that I would take another year of unpaid leave from teaching to stay at home with Sage for the whole of 2013. A complete and utter luxury - albeit not one without many sacrifices, however an incredible blessing nonetheless.

Then, at the end of last week, I received a phone call. Completely out of the blue.

A phone call which described of the urgent need for a Kindergarten educator at our local school - only two minutes away - for an unexpected third class; formed due to an influx of new enrollments preparing for the beginning of a fresh school year.

So once again, Si and I sat,

and we mulled

and we deliberated

and we questioned

and we contemplated

... and we eventually decided that I would accept the position - a role that involves working four mornings a week, finishing just after lunch, with Wednesdays off.

... and in doing so, Si would care for Sage for two mornings a week, and my Mum would mind her for the remaining two.

... and so, as of tomorrow, I become a working Mumma. A Mumma who, although will have short periods of the day away from my beloved girl, will love her all the more.

I have absolutely no doubt that I will crave her. That I will yearn for her and my homemaker/motherhood role like never before. I'm certain that the morning will bring with it the expected ache in my stomach; a swelling throat and pin-pricked eyes.

But at the same time, I will remind myself that my place, my heart and my love is at home and home is where I'll still be...

just a little less.

{Kindergarten is the first formal year of schooling in Tasmania, followed by Prep then Grade One. Kindergartens here are a part of school buildings, unlike some parts of mainland Australia, where they are separate}.

5/52 {The Grotty Edition}

A portrait of my little wren, once a week, every week, in 2013

Sage - ever the little lady... ever covered, top to toe, in dirt!


{The 52 Project, inspired by the ever lovely Jodi}