18/52 and 19/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014"

Week 18- This is Gemma meeting her new baby cousin Charlotte for the first time. I adore the way she touches her. For the most part there was just a lot of pointing and even some weird hand waving near her head. She did get a little too excited and pulled on her fingers a few times but Charlotte didn't seem to mind. She's gonna be one tough cookie with these two rascals hanging around.

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014"

Week 19- This is Gem observing the big kids playing. She is so gentle in these moments and so innocent and my little baby. My heart bursts with realizations that I can't be with her everywhere at all times holding her and keeping her safe. I love to see her interact but I also just want to scoop her up and have her all to myself again. You know what I mean?

Love and Hugs

16/52 and 17/52

 "A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014" 

Week 16- At my Aunt Jane's house for Easter weekend. She had a blast with her older cousins and the weather was beautiful! I took pictures of her in sunshine everywhere she went.

Week 17- With rainy cold weather back upon us we got a break and headed outside. Gemma is a helpful Virgo so I set her to the task of gardening. She attacked with gusto.

Love and Hugs

15/52

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

Darn it I forgot to take out my camera again this week. So we've got another round of iphone pics for you. Also decided to break the other rule by posting two portraits instead of one. Yay double Gem-Roo! She's a ham I tell ya and a stubborn one at the that. Every time I tried to readjust her hat for these pictures she gave me a roar and repositioned it ever so slightly perfectly askew. Gosh I love her. 

Love and Hugs

14/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014"

Please excuse my horrible iphone pic of Gem this week. I completely forgot about this project and didn't take my camera out once. Instead we were on the go quite a bit and I believe this was Gemma's favourite moment; discovering hoola hoopping at Tumbling Tots. She's a natural, naturally. 

Love and Hugs

13/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014"

Helping her Daddy clean the kitchen and the first time we've seen her toes since last summer. Here's hoping the weather keeps up and we'll be seeing a lot more of them from now on. 

Love and Hugs

12/52

"A portrait of my child once a week, every week of 2014"

It was so hard to pick this weeks photo. There were just so many great ones and a few really great ones of her smiling and looking right at the camera but I just couldn't resist the look on her face in this one. I'm surprised she's still alive and I didn't eat her right there and then.

Love and Hugs

Gemma is 18months old!

I was going for the quintessential pic on the grey chair against the cream wall like the ones from our 12 month photo series but Gemma just wasn't into it. She wanted to run around and play with her Duplo instead. Can you blame her?

I did get her to sit on the grey chair but only if she could hold the remote.

This is definitely an outtake. 

 This one too.

Oh no she's really mad at me now. 

Quick do something. Let her stand on the ottoman! 

 I changed her outfit thinking maybe jeans and sweats might help the situation. 

 Nope! No sitting for anyone!

 Must Dance in moccasins!

A few of Gemma's favourite things: Colouring with her crayons. Or basically making me sit down and colour for her. I love it! Being the Boss er I mean Mom of her dollies. She likes changing their diapers and feeding them bottles and taking them on walks in their stroller. Music! She just loves everything musical. Especially the Wiggles. She's still a pretty good eater but will now clearly tell you NO if she doesn't want to eat something. Her favs are avocado, salmon, cucumbers and chickpeas.

She's talking a little more and has added a few words on top of No!No!No!. Some words she says fully like Help, Bye, Hi, Ball, Hat but others she makes up her own version. For instance when she says All done it sounds like ahhhhJUN. When she says bottle it sounds like baol. And when asking for More she does the sign and says Mo!Mo! Gosh she's cute. She's also showing signs of bilingualism. When we watch her french language learning videos and the little panda bear says Au Revoir she looks up and says, "Bye!"

We are entering the strange and scary world of discipline. Gemma is a powerhouse full of emotional force and to be honest I'm not sure what to do. I definitely tell her no when it's appropriate but I feel she needs even more rules and boundaries and I'm a little lost. Having said that last week was hard but even yesterday I felt like I got her emotions more and could help her better. All I want to do is take care of this baby girl the best way I can! Getting all Schmoopy Mommy I know I know!
 
Did I ever tell you that when our midwife first heard Gemma's heart rate she said it was so strong and fast and will most likely be a boy. I remember spending most of my pregnancy worried I would miscarry like in the past until an experience in one of our last Hypnobirthing classes. The Doula lead us into a meditation and asked us to take the place of the baby inside us. I did and Gemma yelled, "Mom I'm fine, I'm strong and you need to believe in me." It was so amazing! And so true! Gemma is the strongest woman I know. She is firey and bold and brilliant but also quiet and introspective.

But mostly she'd like you to know she won't take no for an answer. She a kinda "go back to the drawing board and sharpen your pencils boys" kinda a girl. With whom I am deeply in love.

If you're curious here's the other updates from her 12 month photo series:

1 Month
2 Months
3 Months
4 Months
5 Months
6 Months
7 Months
8 Months
9 Months
10 Months
11 Months
1 Year Old

Love and Hugs