Felicity Banks

Firsts

February 27, 2013 at 6:47 am (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

The first year of Louisette’s life has been VERY exciting, and as I tried to think of new and interesting photos for each day I took a lot of photos of significant moments. Suddenly her babyhood is over and I want to make sure I remember every second. A photo a day wasn’t enough, but it’s a start.

In Jan/Feb, she was born:

She took several days to open her eyes for more than an instant:

Another day or two to look at me for the first time:

And another day or two before she was genuinely awake for the first time:

She had her first hundred or so stories:

She noticed her own limbs, and was Deeply Concerned:

In Feb/March, she grew interested in looking at things:

Discovered the joy of dummies:

Would sometimes accept tummy time without complaint (it’s very good for young babies – to develop skills for crawling, and to keep the back of their heads from becoming too flat):

Began baby push-ups:

And learned to smile:

In March/April she began flailing in the direction of dangling toys:

Laughed (complete with joyful flailing):

Visited Hong Kong and Beijing:

Deliberately grabbed a toy for the first time:

Began playing simple games:

Learned the joy of “Ooh, shiny!”

Could sleep anywhere, anytime (including in a freezing Mongolian wind):

And discovered that her hands were both portable and useful:

In April/May she loved to fly:

Loved to sit up:

Realised tummy time meant, someday crawling – and tried SO hard to make it work:

Decided water, her screamworthy enemy, was actually kind of cool:

Impressed everyone with her ability to stand:

Held hands with A Boy:

And plunged headlong into the world of toys:

In May/June she began eating solid food:

Was fascinated by the pretty girl in the mirror:

Began using fine motor skills (I said BEGAN…):

Loved being upside down:

Attempted to interact with the cats:

And found her feet:

In June/July she began saying “Mum” when she wanted me to come, and was suddenly able to push herself up on hands and knees:

Could stand up with only a Jolly Jumper, a hand on her back, or something to hold on to herself:

Could turn the pages of her board books:

And had her official dedication at church:

In July/August, now six months old, she learned the joy of not sharing:

Learned crawling in stages – first she would go up on hands and knees and faceplant herself forward, then she began pawing the ground like a horse – and then BOOM! She could crawl.

This meant that when she saw a toy truck for the first time, she could race across a room and play with THAT:

Meanwhile, walking!

. . . drumming. . .

. . . and drinking from a sippy cup (which took a few days to learn).

In August/September she was suddenly much harder to photograph (too darn quick – but she now threw up only about once a week, down from a six-week peak during which she threw up a dozen times every day):

She also learned to take her books (and Mummy and Daddy’s CDs) off bookshelves:

Visited Questacon and Cockington Green:

Could pull herself up from the floor and cruise (walk along furniture):

She had her skin tag removed (from her face; all this is just to check all’s well – which it was):

Grew her first teeth (that’s a special finger-toothbrush daddy’s using):

Attempted self-feeding:

and taught herself to flip paper pages:

In September/October she couldn’t play outside for thirty seconds without choking on something:

Established herself as a climber:

LOVED water:

Went to Floriade:

Turned out to be surprisingly good at catching a rolled ball (it was another month or two before she was good at passing it back and forth):

Developed anticipation (of falling) for the first time (but could stand up herself by leaning against something):

and could climb stairs:

In October/November she usually (but not always) slept on her tummy with her bum in the air:

Looked awesome in pigtails – but continued to have plenty of bad hair days:

Loved to stick her tongue out:

Was fascinated by her tiny cousin:

Was very comfortable in the water, but continued to try and drink it – all of it – whenever we encouraged her to try holding her breath and putting her head under:

Learned to drink her own bottle (finally – although it took a while for her to have the strength to drink the whole bottle without someone else taking over):

Heartily enjoyed Nanny’s swing:

And made significant progress towards consistently getting down from the couch safely (mastered it a month later, with rare exceptions):

In October/November she grew to loathe bibs (and insisted on finger-feeding herself as much as possible):

Could suddenly clap and wave:

LOVED the beach:

And was reasonably gentle with Ana most of the time:

In December/January she babbled constantly (featuring much “Mum/Mummy”, “Dad/Daddy”, “gat/dat/cat”, and the so-called Indian war cry – then she added “duck” and the occasional “dog”, and then became obsessed with saying “dat” – that – and pointing at things):

She went to her first Carols night:

Where she saw her dad play bass for the first time:

And instantly and obsessively grasped the allure of the stage:

She also began standing independently for the first time:

Could ride on her dad’s back:

On December 24th she suddenly realised she could walk across a room pushing her beloved car:

And then she had her first Christmas (and her first taste of ice cream):

On New Years’ Eve she put her face fully underwater and blew bubbles for the first time. Meanwhile, her top two teeth were coming through (and then another pair on the bottom, too):

At age one she could amuse herself very well for long periods of time as long as someone was in the room admiring her (being on the computer doesn’t cut it), and could last about two minutes properly alone before getting annoyed. She could identify photos and certain animal pictures correctly more often than not, and would usually self-settle. When she wanted a story, she would bring a book to us and attempt to climb into our laps – sometimes grabbing our hand and forcibly placing the book in it. She could climb onto some couches without assistance or props (yikes). She still drooled a fair bit, and loved to put everything (including her youngest cousin) in her mouth.

On 2 January she attempted her first solo step. On January 11, she took her first solo step. This video was taken the day before her birthday (that is, January 14). And that’s that: Goodbye, baby: Hello toddler. A whole new adventure begins now.

Happy birthday, Louisette.

Permalink Leave a Comment

Top Twenty-Five Photos of my Louisette 365 Project

February 13, 2013 at 6:55 am (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

I like this shot because it’s so simple and so complicated. It was most definitely planned, and planned to be public – I blogged and tweeted throughout the labour, and every blogger knows “pics or it didn’t happen”. I didn’t really like the idea of having a shirtless photo (most people give birth naked just because labour is a bit like that, and then immediately breastfeed because motherhood is a bit like that – skin on skin contact is great for the baby if you can get it) so I carefully instructed my sister to help me get a shirt on, take the, “Hey look! Baby! Tired mum!” photo, and then take the shirt away again. I also remembered at the time to ask for a shirt immediately after Louisette was born.

My sister took the photo – a few actually – and I thought to myself, “Honest facial expression! No gooey stuff!” because that’s how I roll.

Those photos are rubbish, and have long since been deleted.

Once that job was done, and I’d stated for the record that I was definitely going to have another child (about thirty seconds later) I was free to adore my astonishing miracle. Technically, the birth wasn’t even fully over (the baby was out, but not the afterbirth – which, incidentally, I’m told was a particularly fine specimen).  That’s when my sister took the above photo.

I love it because there’s nothing but us in the photo, and you can clearly see both our faces, and exactly how impressed/unimpressed we are. I love it because I’m not aware of getting my photo taken – just of Louisette. I like that I don’t just have the usual makeup-free flushed face and sweat-tangled hair of all these type of photos, but there is a cut on my lip – the kind of small detail in a bigger story that is the most memorable part (I don’t know if my lips just dried out and cracked, or if I bit it and didn’t notice). And I love that you can see her tiny hand.

This photo was taken when Louisette was four days old, and we took her back to the hospital (we had stayed in hospital overnight and left in the morning – less than a day after Louisette was born) for standard hearing tests. Since it was her first outing, I decided to dress her in all her best finery for the occasion. This photo and the next (taken on the same day) show just how tiny she was.

CJ was soothing Louisette while we were at the hospital, and I caught that moment – wedding ring, tiny exasperated face, and that tightly-clenching hand of a girl already familiar with her dad’s voice and smell. This photo is my absolute favourite. In a way, it is our family photo – we are all represented.

This was the first time I deliberately set up a pose for Louisette – in the washing basket. That is our actual washing, hastily shoved about for a few seconds as I realised the excellent balance of colours.

Louisette used to fall asleep on my lap during every feed, and the cuteness was heartbreaking. It’s not particularly easy to take a photo of something in one’s own lap (something who’s over half a metre long when she isn’t scrunched up). The key is having good long arms. . .

I like this shot for its simplicity, and for the directness of her gaze. She was only a couple of months old at the time.

My mum loves to give presents, and went overboard over Louisette before CJ and I were even trying to conceive. When I was pregnant I was so sick the gifts barely registered, but this giraffe mobile arrived at just the right moment as the nausea hormones lessened and some of the happy hormones were able to get through. I was obsessed with it throughout the pregnancy. Louisette likes it too 🙂

That jacket was the first item of clothing we bought for her (with a voucher) after she was born, and she wore it a LOT because it was so beautiful. Sidebar: she was actually born with genuine furry ears, like a cat or an elf woman.

I just love images with sand, water, and mountains – all together (like here in Hong Kong) is particularly good. I like CJ and Louisette too. This photo almost didn’t make the shortlist, because of the haze. Sadly, that’s Hong Kong for you.

I’m constitutionally incapable of leaving out China’s Great Wall in any list of personal favourite visuals. It’s a stunning monument in a grand setting. I also don’t mind this picture of me.

It takes a rare piece of luck to get such a portrait-like photo of a baby. I’m grateful for the simple background keeping the focus on her adorable face. This list would be incomplete without at least one shot that makes me fall into her big blue eyes.

As you can imagine, this photo is also the result of luck, and a LOT of it. All awake? None feeding or crying? And Louisette cleverly making herself stand out amongst the crowd? Perfection!

Louisette still plays with several members of this crowd, and I hope she always does.

Louisette with both her girl cousins. The cuteness here is off the scale (hugging Louisette was the 2-year old’s idea, and Louisette was delighted); all three are happy and in focus (believe me, that’s not easy!) and the colours work nicely together.

The hardest part of this photo was the speed at which I needed to get the shots in between pulling grass, leaves, and twigs (she always prefers choking hazards to mere dirt) out of her mouth. She’d just started sometimes looking at items briefly before tasting them, so the idea of taking her photo in the ivy happened not a moment too soon. It was actually just a nature strip at a playground (with slovenly youths wandering by lighting fires on picnic tables), but it looks fantastical and lush here.

The colours of autumn in Canberra make it worth braving the cold. I like that we’re both in furry hoods here. This was taken beside Lake Burley Griffin, near Questacon. It’s been called “The Drop Bear Picture” ever since.

The colours happened by accident. It all just came together (although I realised the shot could be great, and flung off the couch cover and moved CJ’s arm to make it just right). I love that we caught the brief period when she was doing that sweet little hand gesture, too.

This shot genuinely just happened. I love the way Louisette lights up in or around water, but I’m rarely able to use a camera at the same time. This is her having a bath in our plastic paddle-pool shell on the balcony.

Ever since she learned to roll over, Louisette has preferred to sleep on her tummy, but this time she was so tired that she passed out without even grabbing Eeyore off her chest first. I guessed – correctly – that she’d stay asleep even if I removed her dummy. Since you can see her whole face, this is a favourite among all her sleeping photos.

This photo was taken on Christmas Eve, when we introduced Lousiette to the concept of presents for the first time. At first she was intrigued, then bewildered, then she got it. I was taking about a million photos, and this one caught the mess, the obsessive photo-taking (CJ took a million photos too, using his phone), and – most importantly – her smile.

I must confess that although I took many photos almost exactly like this one, my camera was sorely outdone by the camera (and photography know-how) of a friend. I’m just glad he passed this on! I love the circles of the tunnel – all the more so with the hat-circles echoing the theme. You can see she’s a tiny bit overwhelmed by the newness, but she’s not going to let it stop her having fun.

I was annoyed that the last photo in this list wasn’t even technically one of mine so, realising that Louisette loved her new chair and that the foam and bricks made a nice geometric background, I took eighty photos in very quick succession. Once I had them down to a (very respectable) top ten, I saw that (despite my conscious efforts) this was the only one in which the photo was actually straight. Arg!

The expression is a classic, so I don’t mind leaving out the ones of her laughing.

Ah, who am I kidding? I love this one too.

PS Thank you to Jolyon for rotating this photo so it was straight!

The ball pit is a brilliant background. . . if you can get a child to stay still (and not weirded out) long enough. This was not a first attempt at this shot. I love her dress (if I’d dressed her specifically for the ball pit I would have chosen a plain colour, and I think that wouldn’t have worked as well – she’d have disappeared into the mass) and her long legs.

Usually for this list, I leave out the blurry ones (which cuts out a large proportion of even the good photos). But this perfectly captures a moment when Louisette is industriously emptying the ball pit (apologies to the Hellenic Club, incidentally) and her two-year-old cousin (borrowed specifically to thrill Louisette on her birthday – she was out of her mind with delight to have her cousin, both parents AND a playground all in one hour) doing backstroke. Because it’s a ball pit, and that’s what you do.

I wanted a really excellent birthday portrait to end the 365 project. To cut a long story short, I took over three hundred photos and used up six batteries – but I expanded this blog entry from a top twenty to a top twenty-five in a single day. The balcony in the morning has really excellent natural light, and so when I saw Louisette playing with the ball in front of her decorated box, I thought, “Man, if only this whole scene was happening outside where I could get a nice photo of all the colours and smiling together.” So I picked everything up and moved it – and it worked.

The other birthday photo I really wanted to finish off the 365 Project was a mother-daughter moment to echo the first photo in this set. I dressed in dark pink to complement her (then trimmed it out of the final shot but whatever) and picked a plain background – in this case, our carport – still using morning light. I chose this one out of the final four because Louisette is facing the camera and I’m facing her – just like in that first photo we had together.

Also, she’s adorable.

Permalink Leave a Comment

Monthly Photos: Lady in Red

January 30, 2013 at 9:35 pm (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

PS The rather brilliant Australian fantasy author Rowena Cory Daniells let me start my ebook  blog tour at her place, where I talk about how the book that I wasn’t meant to write came to be.

————————————————————————————————————————

When Louisette was four days old, I put her in a red dress and took the photo below. I liked it so much I tried it again exactly two month later – and a (mostly) monthly tradition was born. Here are twelve photos taken over one year, on roughly the same day of each month (as you can tell, I forgot a few):

Permalink Leave a Comment

Cutesplosion

January 22, 2013 at 10:05 pm (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

1-2 months of age:

2-3 months of age:

3-4 months:

4-5 months:

5-6 months:

6-7 months:

7-8 months:

8-9 months:

9-10 months old:

10-11 months:

11-12 months:

Permalink Leave a Comment

Top Cat Pics

January 20, 2013 at 10:25 pm (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

We have two cats: Indah, who is grey, grumpy, and close to fifteen years old; and Ana, who is fluffy, friendly, and not overly gifted in the brain department. From the time I was pregnant, Ana began mucking up – she stayed out on the town for several nights at a time; she visibly lost weight; she grew ill; she got into fights. All in all, she displayed a textbook case of sibling rivalry – she was no longer the youngest, cutest thing around. But she slowly, slowly came to accept this new beastie in her life, and discovered that the most efficient way to get patted was to drape herself elegantly within reach of the grabby thing. It’s a risky strategy, but both she and Louisette are getting much better at it.

Without further ado, the year in cats, from when Louisette was barely a month old:

On 2 Jan she had her first “educational moment” with Indah, who when provoked offered several warning meows and finally lashed out and drew two tiny dots of blood. Hopefully both of them learned from the experience – normally Indah is smart enough to move to higher ground much sooner. But Ana will now approach her for a pat:

Permalink 2 Comments

A full year in daily pictures!!

January 15, 2013 at 11:11 pm (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

This is it: the final month of daily pictures. You can see the rest here (just keep scrolling down). I have been sorting them into special albums – funny, cats, sheer cuteness – for weeks now and soon you will see some truly excellent collections. Stay tuned! You can also see the official 365 photos (only one a day, but you can view them month by month which is fascinating) here.

Louisette had her first birthday yesterday. She has just started walking on her own (see the real live video on facebook!), and we couldn’t be more impressed. Her first Christmas was a blast, and yesterday was her birthday (the last ten photos are all from yesterday – I took hundreds of photos since it was the last day of daily pictures and I wanted to make sure I ended well).

Permalink 2 Comments

The Penultimate Month

December 26, 2012 at 8:06 am (Project 365: A picture a day for a year)

I’m pretty delighted to have just one more month of daily Louisette photos to go (and then I get to SORT them into my favourites – I can’t wait!) To see the rest, click here and scroll down.

In the last month she suddenly got a lot better with her hands (clapping, Indian war cry, undoing nappies and pants, pointing) and saying “cat” (more like “gat” but it’s clear what she’s talking about) and she played on a real live beach for the first time.

Permalink Leave a Comment