Here are the lastest going's on in our little life as captured through my 'big' camera...

We went to visit the lovely Lucy and her family one Sunday and the weather was nice and warm so we went to the park.  Mads loved these wibbly wobbly things that bounced around when she went on with her Daddy.

I wonder if this girl will ever grow out of sucking her fingers when she is sleepy?  I don't think I ever want her to.

We have an aspiring Doctor in the house.  LL always gets the treatments- generally a bandage round her leg and then she needs to have her toes amputated. ;)

I love how much my Mum loves my girls.  And how much my girls love their Grandma.

 I love her big blue eyes...

And little pouty lips.

I love that she stares so intently at me nowadays.

Playing in the early evening sun when we went to our first BBQ of the year at my Dad's house.

And sneaking some cake at the same BBQ!

My sister with LL- she really is an Auntie in a million to both my girls.

We have had a new little baby join our family- Teddy, my Mum's new puppy who is four days younger than LL.

Last Tuesday I had one of those 'perfect' Mama days.  

You know those days where everything just seems to go your way?  We didn't do anything particularly exciting, just went by our day to day ordinary life, but it just right.  

We got up and took a long walk in the double buggy to town, the sun was shining and for the first time this year it actually felt like Spring was coming.  Mads and I sung songs the whole way there, and giggled and laughed at different things along the way.  We met a friend for a hot chocolate and Mads had a naughty marshmallow pop before proceeding to eat half my cake too.  She was such a good girl while we there as it wasn't particularly exciting for her and we must have been there about two hours.  We then came home, she ate all her lunch, and then had a long nap.

When she got up, her, LL and I snuggled on the sofa.  Mads always asks to hold her, and I put LL in her arms and she cuddled up to her and stroked her ear.  She turned to me and said 'I love Baby LL Mummy.'  We sat there for about half an hour, just cuddling, and LL was really interactive, smiling and cooing at us.

I sat on that sofa and stared at my beautiful children and I was on a high better than any drug could ever give you.  I wish I could bottle up that feeling and open it up whenever I am having a stressful day with them.  Watching them interact made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  Their bond is increasing every day and as I sat back and watched my amazing little 28 month old cuddle and kiss her little sister, I wanted to soak every moment of it in.

I had to grab my camera.  I want to remember these moments.

These small, little details of our every day life.  

I want to remember the gentle, tender touch of my Mads stroking my ear when she is tired.

I want to remember the first creepings of a smile from LL, the way her little eyes light up and how she is growing more interactive every day.

I want to remember how Mads wakes up from her nap in the afternoons and her hair is all unruly and wild and she looks at me with such happiness and says 'hello Mummy.'

I want to remember how LL makes little sucking noises and coos when she is feeding.  How she is starting to look up at me when she is doing it and there is no where else I would rather be.

I want to remember the way Mads giggles and laughs and splashes in the bath at night times and how she has a fit when you try and wash her hair.

I want to remember how LL can be in a deep sleep and startle herself and her little arms jerk in the air.

I want to remember how Mads face lights up with sheer delight when you pay her attention.  How she doesn't care about anything except pleasing you and hearing your praise.

I want to remember how soft LL's hair and head is, how I could stroke it all day and breathe in her gorgeous baby smell- that intoxicating baby smell.

I want to remember Mads innocence, how completely and utterly innocent she is- how when she laughs and can't stop it makes me often get tears in my eyes.

I want to remember the lazy weekend afternoons snuggled up under the blanket on the sofa watching Shrek, or Madagascar.

I want to remember the way my babies are now- the way they are bonding with each other, and how our first eight weeks as a family of four have been some of the most incredible days of my life.  Tiring, sometimes stressful, frustrating, but just amazing.

Being a Mummy is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  But my children aren't angels all of the time.  

Sometimes I am literally desperate for Mr E to come home from work, one day last week I was actually watching from the upstairs window for his bike to come down the street.

Sometimes I lose my patience with Mads when she is just being a toddler and not doing anything particularly wrong, sometimes I feed LL more than I need to just to stop her from crying.

Sometimes I would love to just go on a night out with my friends who still live in London and don't have children, get ridiculously drunk AND lie in until 12pm the next day.

Sometimes I forget the person I was before I was a Mum.  The person who had no trouble in spending £100 on makeup without flinching or who spent half an hour curling my hair in the morning.  I feel like a completely different person to who I was then. 

I don't remember that person at all.

Being a Mum is hard work, and its not always picture perfect moments of two little girls in matching dresses all the time.  

But then you have ordinary Tuesday afternoons, snuggling on the sofa, laughing, kissing and cuddling...

And you realise that your ordinary life is pretty damn good.  Not always perfect, sometimes stressful but pretty damn good.

Those are the moments I want to remember.

Here are the latest going on's from my little world and what I have captured with my 'big camera' this last couple of weeks...

She also really studies your face now when she looks at you.  Here she is at 5 weeks.

Watching the bond develop between these two is incredible.

 The day she turned 7 weeks.

The smiles are starting to come more and more.

And she is happiest when she is snuggled up like she is in a nest.

The weather actually was sunny one Saturday, albeit cold, so went to the local country park.  All was happy until Mads had the most super tantrum ever!

Having fun on the swings.

Mads kept wanting to be cuddled even though Mr E was holding LL in her sling.

We actually managed to get out in the garden for the first time this year and we blew some bubbles in celebration!

The smiles are beginning to light up her whole face.

She is beginning to get big blue eyes like her sister.

You have to love little baby toes!

I was practicing drawing freehand illustrations with my tablet pen- I am getting there but it is really hard to master!

Two of my friends from university, Claire and Ian, and Claire's fiancee Danny came to visit us today.  We had a lovely pub lunch before going for a walk along the river and going to a playground to play on the swings.

Mads was running around, getting super excited and feeding the ducks some bread.  At the playground she went over to where three bigger children were sitting on a train and they moved up to let her sit beside them.  

She looked so small sat there beside them and we all just took a minute to stand and watch them. We were quite a way from where they were but none of them were talking, Mads was just staring at the bigger children and smiling in a nervous, shy way and all of a sudden I saw her point over towards us and say to them in her teeny tiny little voice and say 'Look that's my Mummy and Daddy.' 

I couldn't help but get tears in my eyes, it was such a childlike, innocent statement but it gave me shivers.

I wish I could keep her my innocent, beautifully pure little girl forever.

The one who is just incredibly proud of her Mummy and Daddy.

These are the kind of moments I want to remember.

My gorgeous girl who loves us just as much as we love her.