we love the reese's to pieces...

 

sunday afternoon was our last goodbye to lisa, brandon & ella before they departed for the u.s. via sydney, fiji & hawaii (sofreakingjealousrightnow!) so they came by to say goodbye and for one last time for it to just be all of us together. we already miss them so much it's ridiculous so i thought i'd share a few last snapshots of the gang together.

 

the six of us, with the two little ones that have joined us since we all became friends.

cody&danii, lisabrandon&ella, jadedoug&madeline

 

me with miss ella & miss maddie, who chatted nad chatted until lisa & brandon took ella away

 

thank goodness i know it's not goodbye... only until we meet again

we love you guys

♥

sixteen months

 

guess who is 16 months old now?? miss madeline... and getting funnier by the day. she now takes any little handbag she can find and carries it around wherever she goes, filled with her little toys. she continues to gabble away in her own little language and tell us everything she knows. she's bopping her head away every time music is on and dancing around on the floor in circles - just generally loving life!

just this week she has learned how to hug - waits for you to pick her up and then throws her little arms around your neck and squeezes you tightly and then pats you on the back. such a darling. we hear her in the backseat of the car and in her bed when she wakes up calling us to come, mum! mum! dad! dad! so much love for us... we are so lucky!

last sunday at church she was thrashing around in our laps at church - then threw her head back and started yelling, when much to my surprise, i discovered a big fat molar wedged in the left hand side of her bottom gum. and oh my goodness was it huge! i don't know how it even fit in there! but sure enough, it's come through, followed by another one in the same place on top and one just about to break on top on the other size. little tooth machine!

we've also been taking maddie's portrait shot in the cane chair for a year now. it is wonderful to look back and watch her growing. it's amazing to look at these two a year apart and see how different she looks! i seriously thought she couldn't get any cuter - but then i saw this! cluck cluck cluck. what can i say? i'm obsessed.

 

 

last but not least... i thought i'd make you suffer with cute overload... lisa and brandon sat with us on sunday and ella and madeline spent the entire meeting trying to hold hands. oh i love them too much... i have to go now before you all feel sick from all the cuteness! haha x

besties

miss ella and miss madeline at church last sunday

 

i know these two will grow up to be friends (someday when teleporting from place to place is an option of course...), and i know i am going to be devastated when they move back to america. such a gorgeous little family! ♥

baby blessing

so... just to catch up on things, last month little ella-bella was blessed and i got to play photographer (again!) for lovely lisa and brandon. i love it!!! so, i had the best time ever! i got the most adorable pics of them that day and wanted to share a few. not that i think it's even possible to get a bad one of this gorgeous baby or her mama! too too cute!

lisa and baby e in her vintage dress ♥

love love love!

ella ella ella eh eh eh

before

do you remember my amazingly hot friend lisa? the one i had a great time taking preggo shots with here? well, today she let me take pictures again, this time with a new prop... baby ella! what a cutie... i had a fabulous time dressing her up and taking photos, even if it did take all day... you know what they say - never work with children or animals. haha. but i loved every minute, just love seeing something in my head and trying to make it work in real life. hopefully she's as happy with them as she claims to be. haha. was a great day.

 and after

  sweet sleeping girl

 i love this girl! so precious.

our little "aussie" girl, ready to rock the u s of a, with her passport that arrived this morning!!



meeting miss ella!

i can't even tell you how happy this picture makes me! miss ella and miss madeline meeting for the first time. it was adorable, maddie just wanted to touch her so badly - and couldn't understand why we would only let her look... (she has a bit of a flapping habit and i was petrified that ella would get a slap to the head or face!!) it was the sweetest thing seeing our little girl look at that new baby and smile at her... hopefully she'll like her own siblings when they eventually come along. eventually...

seeing ella, for me was the most surreal experience, holding her tiny frame and thinking i had never seen anything smaller in my life, then being amazed to know that madeline was actually smaller when she was born!! how quickly we forget! feeling a new born with their perfectly formed, but tiny body with their minature fingers and toes makes me wonder how on earth anyone could ever deny that there is a god. creation and life are such amazing things!

ella is just a doll and i am so in love with her. lisa and brandon certainly made one cute kid. congrats again to the reese family on the arrival of their beautiful little girl.

she's here!!

miss ella has arrived!!! couldn't even wait until i got back, ella katherine was born 21.05.2012 at 4:51pm, weighing in at a gigantic 7lbs 12ozs from my tiny friend lisa! (and three and a half weeks early at that!) the same lisa that we did the preggo shoot of less than two weeks ago, lucky we got it in!!!!

i am so bummed that i won't be seeing her until i get back but i am so glad everything went okay, a very sweet baby girl has safely arrived and lisa is going to be the best mommy!!

♥♥♥

preggo shoot!

apparently i can take photos too now! haha. last weekend my beautiful preggo friend lisa (see baby shower here) asked me if i would have a go at taking some pregnant shots of her, she is currently 8 months pregnant and looking amazing, so of course i obliged. i in no way claim to be a professional, but i was pretty pleased with the results... especially after her sister-in-law had finished editing some of them. so - the above is an edited one and the ones below - all unedited. she is gorgeous and looking like a goddess with her that preg belly she has going on... so much fun.