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A New Born, A Toddler, A Body Builder & a Little Seaside Shack

Amanda cover

Good Morning,

Throughout the month of August I am so excited about all the guest writers that are a part of Capture Life.

I will be writing each Sunday about my little family and the start of our new life with A newborn, A toddler, My Body Builder and our little seaside shack.

seaside

What an amazing season in the life of my family.

Look out for

Monday’s with Jeff and Julie Crabtree

Tuesday’s with Em Hazeldean

Wednesday’s with Brisita Rojas

Thursday’s with Jo Hodges

Friday’s with Kate Smithson

Saturday’s with Bethany Bracegirdle

Sunday’s with yours truly.

I am so excited.

Speak soon

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first day on earth

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She is here.

All the waiting.

All the crochet.

All the worry.

And now the adventure actually begins.

This little video is perfect. I’m dedicating to my little girl, on her first day on earth.

Some of my favourite parts of this video…

There’s plenty of reasons to dance. You just got to look for them. Don’t worry though. You won’t be doing this alone. You’re going to meet lots of people here. Some of them will be really nice and some won’t be. It’s not that they can’t be. It’s just – maybe they’re just having a bad day.

Being a person is hard sometimes. You should give people high fives just for getting out of bed.

Just treat everybody like it’s their birthday even if they don’t deserve it, because we all mess up sometimes. The biggest mess up? Not forgiving each other’s mess ups.

Maybe you’ll be a teacher. Maybe you’ll be President. Maybe you’ll cure every disease ever. You might even see the Grand Canyon, swim in the ocean.

Try this, take a breath. Isn’t that amazing? It’s called breathing! You’re going to do it a lot. But nobody knows exactly how much. So enjoy it.

Pay attention. Take brain pictures, because amazing things will happen every day. You’re going to do so much. But it’s not about what you do. It’s about who you are.

You? You’re awesome. You were made that way.

You were made from love, to be love, to spread love. Love is always louder, no matter what. Even if hate has a bullhorn, love is louder. So let your life be loud. Let’s shout to the world.

Things can be better! It’s okay about all the mess ups!

I don’t think I told you this yet. We’re really glad you’re here. We don’t say that enough to each other here because, well, life gets busy.

You’re going to be important and you’re going to do a lot and you’re going to smell great. But don’t get too busy.

Remember to let everybody know you’re glad they’re here. You don’t have to remember all of this right now. You’re going to need a pep talk sometimes. And that’s okay.

For now, remember this:

You’re awake. You’re awesome. Live like it.

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Her name means;

Liberty: Freedom

Elizabeth: God’s Promise

Viviers: Alive

Born: 22nd July 2014

She’s our miracle and God’s promise revealed.

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stay-cation

20140721-113337-41617052.jpgThis last week has been an unexpected surprise.

Last Saturday night we were sure that little miss v, was ready to be born but she has proven to be quite stubborn and is enjoying her time inside.

Strong women definitely run in my family!

Each day we have prepared and got ready like a little baby could be born. Then waited and excitedly soaked up the opportunities as a family of three to enjoy our last days as the three amigos.

We have been on a stay-cation.

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My little man Maximus, had been on 27 planes by the time he was two, so staying home wasn’t something in our vocabulary.

We didn’t plan our stay-cation but it kind of owned us and we loved it.

We went on little outings in our town, we turned our phones off, we ordered take out instead of cooking, we read, we watched a new television series with abandonment.

I put down the crochet hooks, we slept in, we cancelled all our plans, we had long mornings in our pj’s…

Max performed little dance concerts, we played on the swings at the beach, our afternoon naps sometimes went till 4pm and beyond.

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My mum cooked us soup, my 90 year old Granma made us carrot cake, we ordered our groceries online.

Took our laundry to the laundromat.

Ordered pizza.

Ate pies for lunch.

We literally shacked ourselves up and have had a stay-cation.

No baby moon for us, we celebrated and loved life as a little family and enjoyed every moment.

The most special of times.

Now tomorrow I am booked to go into the hospital and little miss v, will be coming to earth.

This last week has been most spontaneous holiday I have ever had. With moments of impatience, but many moments of pure bliss.

I can say we are now ready.

Now how am I to sleep tonight?

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Baby Reveal

baby reveal buttonWell the day is here and I am so excited. Today we had a Baby Reveal Party with my family at our weekly family night. Preparing to let those closest to us know whether we are having a baby boy or girl has been the most lovely of times.

Whether a boy or girl, we honestly didn’t mind, but knowing this was our last planned pregnancy I had a little hope in my heart that the cake would be pink inside.

Here are some photos of what happened today.

How exciting!

cake

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That’s what little girls are made of…

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We are so grateful, mostly that she is very healthy.

Speak tomorrow

Amanda

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expecting

Heart-Beat

I’ve heard people say ‘You don’t possibly think your heart can grow any larger or beat any stronger or ache any harder until you’ve seen the second heartbeat of a child of yours.’

A heart beat that declares the potential and opportunity of new life. The heart beat that promises smiles, challenge and delight. A heart beat that shows the beauty of new life.

A heart beat that declares the faithfulness of God.

We’re 12 weeks baby!

Team V is going to have another player due 27 July 2014.

For those that don’t know my story, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to be a mum for a really long time. Here is a little video I did on Mothers day this year with some of my story.

 

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