Happy 8th Birthday to Sienna

Eight years ago I became a mother for the second time only this time round I had a little girl.  James was born with brown hair with a red tinge and Sienna's name was already picked out before she was born.  Given that Sienna means "reddish brown" and it is also a place in Italy I thought this was perfect and such a pretty name.  Actually it was one of the Mother's from playgroup that had the name and she was finished having her family and said the name which at the time I thought that's very different.  Then a couple of days later I thought it was beautiful and chose Sienna Rose as her name.  When she was born she came out with dark blackish hair which really threw me but I thought she was the most beautiful little girl on earth.  Being a second time Mum you know what to expect and things are a lot more relaxed than the first time round when one could describe it as not knowing how to swim and someone drops you in the middle of the ocean and says "right swim back to shore now, it might take you a year".  Nothing can prepare you for motherhood that first baby even reading books so your on the job training with no trainer on hand is hard and stressful.  When Sienna arrived I'd learnt how to swim so it was just a matter of jumping right in.  She was a fabulous sleeper up for 2 hours happy, then down for 2 hours, up for 2 hours down for 2 hours and then a great sleeper in the night time.  We would have playgroup at my house with 8 parents and probably 10-12 kids running around but Sienna happily slept in her cot in her room through all of that.

Sienna was born in Brisbane by c-section at 3.05 pm on the 27th February, 2006.  She weighed 3671 gms (8lb 1 oz)

James who is 2 years and 3 months old meeting his new little sister 2 hours after she was born.

Sienna is thoughtful, caring and has a great sense of humor.  She loves animals and crafting, cooking and makes me laugh a lot.  She leaves beautiful little notes for me in places I don't expect like on my shopping list there will be an "I love you Mum with a little heart".  I will find little notes on our Menu Blackboard when I least expect it and burst out laughing.  She handles her own "time out" and has done so ever since she was little.  If she was cranky with her brother she would rouse on him and then go stand in a corner with her arms crossed not looking at him until she calmed down.  It is such a good technique to have and at times particularly when she was very little it was the funniest sight to watch.  I have a picture of her in her swimming togs and goggles and she had her arms folded and was facing the fence away from with only her head turned around looking over with the crankiest look on her face.  I had to race inside and get the camera because she was clearly annoyed but looked ever so cute in the swimmers and goggles but with this cranky face and folded arms business happening. 

This little girl has brought such joy to our family and I love being her mother.

Here she is on the morning of her 8th Birthday with homemade waffles and ice cream with Owl candles.

STILLS : A WEEKLY COLLECTION (WEEK 8)

Linking up with Emma at The Beetle Shack for Weekly Stills.

Sienna doing some climbing at the park.

Hand drawn Tea Towel by James for Nanny & Pop using these fabric markers.  Nanny and Pop are keen veggie gardeners and they have a little cat called T and of course a lemon tree.

Hand drawn Tea Towel for Nanny & Pop from Sienna using these fabric markers.  Don't you love watching your kids drawings evolve like when kids do sticks for arms and then they progress to a circle at the end with fingers.  This time round I noticed Sienna had drawn the eyes looking up at Nanny and Nanny's looking down at her.  It made me love this picture even more.  Sienna has drawn their beautiful lemon tree with lots of lemons.

James doing chin ups at the park.

Sienna was working away in the study to surprise James and I with personalized picture frames with photos in them.  She even taped a cardboard stand to the back so they can stand up.

Doing some baking.

A trip to McDonalds for a cold drink on a very hot day and to celebrate James being elected on the Sustainability Club which is new thing this year at our school.

Sienna at the park for a birthday party.

Around the home.

Chocolate Fondue to celebrate my nephew's 19th birthday.

James at the park with his Ripstick.

James and Sienna at the park.

James, Sienna, Aunty Lisa and me at the park.

Aunty Lisa and Sienna at the Dayboro Bakery for lunch.

8/52 - "The 52 Project"

Linking up with Jodi at Practising Simplicity to take a portrait of your child every week for 52 weeks. 

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

James :   Climbing some structures in the exercise section at the park.

Sienna :  Getting the chalk out to mark road signs on the concrete so she can ride her scooter.

STILLS : A WEEKLY COLLECTION (WEEK 7)

Linking up with Emma at The Beetle Shack for this weeks stills collection.

After school unwind with a bit of ball play at the park.

Sibling competition.

Then it's the bike track for the need for speed.

Weekend dinner.

Sunday afternoon skating - Sienna is in the orange shorts 2nd from the left. This was the "girls" turn for the floor.

My first practice crochet square.

Harvesting our first home grown corn ever in a 007 James Bond Corn kinda of style!!!

A bit of homework after school and my beautiful afternoon backyard light.

This made me smile when I opened the freezer to find this yoghurt being frozen complete with decorative raspberries to match.  Ah....Sienna was here and it certainly made me smile as I was not expecting to find this.

Giving myself a little time out with a coffee, water and half hour read of "Changing Gears" before I start the chores for the day.

After my little read and coffee it was onto sorting and folding the washing.

Then some ironing of uniforms.

KWH - aka "Kids Were Here".  See more posts with KWH.

With the school week over it's Friday afternoon relaxing by my daughter....I think she's got the hang of it don't you.

Using fabric pens to draw pictures on Tea Towels for Nanny & Pop for their birthday.

A little shopping for some new clothes and matching jewellery.

Sienna off to her BFF's Birthday Party.

I made this loaf of bread today using this recipe.

7/52 - "The 52 Project"

Linking up with Jodi at Practising Simplicity to take a portrait of your child every week for 52 weeks.  Here's a look at this week's pics.

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

James :   After school riding at the local bike track and building up a sweat.

Sienna :  After school riding at the local bike track and love how this little girl is all in pink.

STILLS : A WEEKLY COLLECTION (WEEK 6)

Joining in with Emma at The Beetle Shack for Weekly Stills.

Harvest of 3 cucumbers the other morning. These are so delicious and fresh.

I purchased some yarn to make a little blanket in crochet.  First time since I was a teenager doing crochet so this will be interesting.

Sienna washing the car for me on a glorious sunny Brisbane day. I think it had been a year since the last car wash.

Trying to capture different views of her washing the car and loved this one.  The car is on a sloped drive way and you can see the water and her little feet trying to reach to do the cleaning.

Sunday afternoon riding outside our place on the road.  We are in a quite block of 4 streets however this afternoon I think everyone in our neighbourhood was coming and going so there was a lot "car, get off the road" calls from me but they had fun.

James consulting his "Magic Book" doing his latest trick.

I love blue skies and white fluffy clouds.

Afternoon light on our Sunflower and Cucumbers.

Finally sorting through James 2013 school books to toss and/or keep and this one was a "keeper".  It was obviously a draft for his Mother's Day card.

Granny came over for afternoon tea and was helping Sienna with something.

A bit of chess before school but did you notice, one is dressed for school and one is still in his pj's!

AFL sign on yesterday and James can't wait to get back to football this year.

Homework started this week and we are going to do it before school this year because we live closer to this school than our last school which means we have a spare 15 mins in the mornings and the kids are bright and fresh then rather than after school.  This is my plan anyway.