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Afternoon playtime. I could sit and watch her for hours.

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Lovely ladies Lou (who has an awesome giveaway going on right now btw) and Maria passed the Sunshine Award to me over the last week, so to celebrate all the sunshine we've been having, here are my answers...

Favourite colour: Green, but I'm partial to a bit of mustard yellow too.
Favourite animal: Don't hate me but I don't like animals, really. Sorry about that. Thankfully I married someone who feels the same. Josephine my darling, you'll be lucky if you're allowed a rabbit when you're older. Sorry poppet!
Non-alcoholic drink: Sparkling Elderflower. When we were younger my Grandma used to call it 'children's wine' and gave it to us in fancy glasses at family dinners.
Facebook or Twitter: Facebook I suppose, because I have an account, but I'm rubbish at updating it. I don't understand Twitter.
Getting or giving presents: Giving. Love the browsing, the buying, the wrapping. Love it all. But that's not to say I don't like a present or two myself...
Favourite flower: Peonies.
Favourite pattern: Stripes or teeny tiny floral, Liberty-style.
Favourite number: 7 and 18.
Favourite day: Love that Friday feeling. 5.30pm when Ben is on his way home and we have the whole weekend in front of us.
Passion: Being a wife and Mama, crafting, thrifting, knitting, blogging, anything vintage, photography, eating and making our home feel happy and look pretty.

And I'm passing this on to...
Dora
Kristi
Tori
Kellie
Bron

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Josephine's Monthly Portrait. Taken in her nursery on the 18th of every month. In theory, at least. This month it was a week late. Whoops.

What a difference a month makes! Looking back at last month's portrait, I can't believe it. Day to day the changes in Josephine are tiny, but when you compare these shots to pictures taken just a matter of weeks ago, I realise how different she looks. The hair is thinning in places and growing uncontrollably in others, those cheeks are getting rounder and she's getting longer all the time.

I'd been told by many people that things seem to click around week 8; you hit your stride and suddenly things make more sense. As Josephine turned 9 weeks old, and Ben and I emerged from the haze of horrible illnesses, we found our rhythm. We've had 7 nights with only one night feed, I've managed to do actual housework (and not just the washing up) and I've begun noticing naptime and playtime patterns. Being ill (and I mean really ill) with a baby is the toughest thing. I barely had enough energy to lift Josephine and the nights were beyond exhausting, but we made it through. And, in the midst of a banging headache, swollen throat and fever, I'm sure Phiney gave me a hug; a little squeeze that spurred me on to kick the flu. Beautiful, sweet, lovely girl.

So, this month Phiney's realised just how cool her hands are and we often catch her intensely staring at them. Most of the time though they're being waved here and there and everywhere (often grabbing handfuls of Mama's hair in the process!), hence the blur in some of these pictures. She's also discovered her tongue and loves poking it out at us and those fleeting smiles of last month have become full on grins that are easily induced with plenty of kisses and some noisy raspberry blowing. Those dimples are hard to resist.

Of course, if you're trying to catch that divine smile on camera it can be a tricky business. For about 10 minutes Ben and I stood behind the camera making silly noises, pulling silly faces and talking in ridiculously exciteable and high-pitched voices. It wasn't until Ben got in close and started chatting to her that the grin appeared and I managed to capture it. Cheeky monkey. And then she got fed up with the whole thing and decided that some cuddles would be far more entertaining.

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From quite early on in my pregnancy, we knew that once bub had arrived we'd want to have a family photo session to capture our days as a new family of three. I'm sure you've all swooned over these, these, these and these (basically anything by this dude) as I have, but it's harder than you'd think to track down a photographer who wants to capture real life and natural moments as oppossed to cheesy grins and forced poses in front of a white background.

I spent many an hour searching for a photographer we could entrust this task to; someone who would deliver pictures we would treasure forever. Annoyingly, I had no luck. Unless we lived in London and had a whopping budget to play with, of course.Then a few weeks ago I visited this lovely blog and my search was over. I've always admired the stunning photographs Tori takes so was in no way surprised to hear she had launched her own business. Instantly I emailed her and I'm so happy to say that we're booked in for 4 hours of fun in the (fingers crossed) sun towards the end of July. We decided to leave it a few months so Josephine would be sitting up, playing and offering a few more poses and smiles for the shoot than she could right now. We're thinking a family walk before stopping off for a homemade picnic. Just me, Ben and Phiney enjoying our time with each other.

I am so excited about seeing the end result and trust Tori and her beautiful skills entirely. She has sent me the loveliest emails since I contacted her and I can't wait to meet her come the summer. If the pictures above are anything to go by, I know we'll end up with a selection of images that will adorn our home forever. That will simply, yet beautifully, capture the essence of our new family.

All images by TH Photography. Go check out her work.

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I have a love for all things vintage. A serious passion. It's a dream to make it my job one day and I have a pretty good collection of crockery, jewellery, furniture, books and plenty of clothes to prove it. But it's nothing compared to Josephine. Already the girl has several more awesome pieces than me, each better than the last. And it's thanks to charity shop finds (a heap of dresses that were 50p each and I bought on the off chance everyone was wrong and we had a girl. Thank God I did!), brilliant Etsy shops and lovely bloggers around the world.

Each and every piece is beautifully made, in the styles I think little girls should be wearing and in fabrics and prints that offer something so different to what's on the majority of the high street. We want Phiney to grow up understanding that being unique is a wonderful thing, and that extravagant consumption and expensive shopping sprees aren't necessary. That instead it's better for the world to recycle, shop locally or support charity and cherish things from the past. Plus it's obviously more stylish too, dahling.

Most of the above is hanging ready for Phiney to grow into over the coming months, and in some cases years. I can't wait to see her rocking such beautiful pieces and hope it instills the same love for vintage that I have. Scouring charity shops and vintage stores with my little girl is just some of the fun I am so looking forward to us sharing. In the meantime she can rely on me to track down more treasures for her wardrobe. I know. It's such a burden.

Some pieces from here and here and gifts from this, this, this and this awesome Mama. Oh and this lady deserves a mention for keeping her eyes peeled for awesome finds/being such a bad influence. Josephine is sending you all thank you kisses xx

ps. 180 followers? Wowza! Hello to you all, new and old. Thanks for stopping by x

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Everyday I am amazed by how much Josephine changes week to week. Just check out how much older and more aware she looks in these shots compared to these. This week her smiles have gone from fleeting grins to smile sessions lasting 5 minutes or more. I've seen her look at her own hand and slowly, but with great determination, lower it into her mouth where she can have a nice chew on it. And today, as I type, she's having a (late afternoon now early evening) nap in her moses basket. Last week I tried this on several occasions, but she wasn't having any of it. Far happier snoozing on the sofa or in her Mama's arms. This afternoon she's slept in that basket for more than 2 hours.

We're not really sure if any of this is normal for her age. If she's more advanced or not than the average baby. While we read up on pregnancy and labour, we haven't gone down the route of buying any books on our baby's development. Yet. We're firm believers in the idea that every child grows and develops at their own pace. They have strengths and weaknesses different to other children of their age and it's both unfair and unrealistic to categorise them as many books and websites do. To be honest, I'm more interested in what other Mamas, with similar parenting ideals to us, have to say. Thanks to the wonderful blogging community I find myself in, there is an abundance of advice and ideas out there that I truly respect and will definitely take with me on this journey. Words like these are especially interesting and reassuring. But I am interested to know if anyone does have any good book recommendations that you think I might like. I've heard a lot about this one and am tempted by a copy. You read it?

Over the last few weeks I've also been blessed (and I really do see it as a blessing) with finding some new friends whose advice and shared experiences I am coming to cherish. Other new Mamas who all live within 10 minutes of me and who I'm having so much fun getting to know, chat about our babies, exchange stories and discuss any issues we've faced. There's also a lot of laughter involved. A lot. Today we met at the local park's cafe (fast become our stomping ground) and looked on at the older children imagining our kiddos growing up together and us sitting round the same table over the years to come. I know how lucky I am to find 3 awesome Mamas for Josephine and I to spend some of our days with, and it's lovely to think Phiney has Aoife, Ari and Oliver to get to know as she grows.

Pictures taken earlier this week. Phiney soaking up some spring sunshine in her pink tights and stripey dungarees. Too delicious.

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It's been two weeks since my last post, so if anyone's still over here reading this - thanks for sticking around. While I've been catching up on what you're all doing on my iPhone during late night, early morning and middle of the day feeds, I haven't actually sat at the computer at all. And I can tell you it's been rather lovely. Sometimes I think you need a break from this blogging malarkey to enjoy the real world. I often wonder if I'm too engrossed in the virtual one and at the moment I don't want to miss a second of what's happening right here. But now, having learnt to multi-task a little better, I'm back. Blog posts are written, photos taken and it appears a bit of the anal girl who likes things organised has returned.

The last few weeks we've had family occassions galore, our first road trip with Josephine to Norfolk 5 hours away, tonnes of cleaning to do (rather unsuccessfully I might add) Mama and baby groups to attend, new friends to catch up with and fun days out with this little family of mine - the local food festival on Sunday being particularly yummy! And I've got to say that in the majority there is no photographic evidence of any of it. The sign of a good time is when you don't have chance to pick up the camera I reckon.

So instead I thought I'd snap a few little things from around the house today....
*The latest Vogue and the first fashion magazine I've bought in almost a year. I'm interested again after a hiatus thanks to that growing belly of mine.
*Pretty Tete a Tete from my Mum.
*The spring sunshine glowing through the windows this morning, warming up the living room.
*Beautiful Phiney dreaming away.
*Lovely things from lovely people arriving in the mail...more on that to come.
*A very sweet Mama-made present from Jossphine's little mate Bertie, received after a morning trip to our local cafe earlier today.

ps. I'm aware that about 3 weeks ago I said our birth story would be up here soon... it will be, I promise. Soon. Or soonish at least.