It's that time again for ARTEFACT MOTHERHOOD - a project shared with other international female artists who are documenting our journeys as mothers and creating memories for our children through our photographs and words. Have a read through mine and then go check out the next amazing artist in our blog circle!

I woke up feeling all cosy wrapped up in your daddy's arms.  I think I actually (for once!) had a very restful sleep. You (Forrest) and I got up at 6:30 and Nixie you came down about 30 minutes after us.  It's the first day of my bleed too, I always love the first day of my cycle as I always feel so full of love and so full of hope.

We all had a big snuggle on the couch well both of you needed to be right on top of me and at one point you both wanted boob!  Nixie you are needing a lot of extra cuddles at the moment. Yesterday was a tough day for you for some reason (you have had a lot of those lately), you were full of so many big emotions, being 5 isn’t easy, I just wished I knew how to help you through it. We decided to put on a nature documentary, Planet Earth, while I enjoyed my morning coffee and whenever a bird comes on you get so excited, I really love the passion you have for them!  

For breakfast you (Nixie) requested a little bit of soya milk, strawberry and vanilla soya yoghurt, granola & malties which is your current favourite. For you (Forrest) I gave you yoghurt and malties and you are getting so good at eating with a spoon,  even managing many times in a row not to tip your spoon over,  you still want my help with putting things on your spoon but you have to be the one to bring it to your mouth otherwise you refuse to eat!

Daddy made his way down about 8:45. We found out on Fri he has another 3 weeks of furlough. It’s crazy he’s been home with us for 9 weeks now! Forrest, you really love playing with your toolbox, puzzles and magnets,  you love putting things together and taking things apart.  Oh and you also do this really sweet thing when you don't get what you want you prostrate yourself on the floor and just lay there all calmly. You did it while Nixie was having a wee because I wouldn't let you turn on the tap and get water everywhere. You have also since a couple of days ago shown an interest in the potty and even once asked to have your nappy off so you could do a wee in it! Although it’s only happened once so far, you mostly love to wee all over the place!

Last night while I was putting you (Nixie) to bed you asked if we could work on our project today and that you really wanted to paint the bullfinches so that is what we did.  Unfortunately Forrest started getting upset and needed me so daddy took over which has been one of the most amazing perks of him being home. You (Forrest) were ready for your nap and after some boob you were sound asleep. 

After I put Forrest into bed, I came down and you (Nixie) and daddy were talking about what colours you needed to mix to match the bullfinches colours and he was also showing you different ways to use your paint brush. You are getting better and better with controlling your paint brush and being able to do more detailed work. I took the opportunity to do a little work on the computer. I have so much editing to do and so much to try to put together ever since I've started working on my personal breastfeeding project and it’s really hard at times to balance everything! After a little while I went down and joined you guys,  and I was blown away by your creations!  Afterwards you wanted to know what a bullfinches song sounded like so we went online and found some videos. 

You have just learned how to tell the time and you absolutely love telling us what the time is! One day you just wanted to learn and you picked it up so fast, it was amazing!

Forrest, you woke up around noon, two hours after you fell asleep and you did so just as I was trying to clean the kitchen and change the cat litter.  Daddy normally has been the one doing the cleaning in the kitchen so I thought it was time I do it but of course just as I was about to start you needed boob and I had to stop. I managed to eventually finish the dishes but then daddy came and did the rest saying he doesn't mind doing it especially knowing how much I hate doing the cat litter! We are so lucky to have him! 

I made the two of you some lunch, daddy didn't want anything, he had some stuff to do on the computer.  I've been wanting to finish making some of our salves but have been waiting for our logo to be finished so I had you (Nixie) after lunch write it out so daddy can finish it and try to print out some stickers for us and while you did so Forrest found my tampon box and decided to play with them all! Before you went upstairs to give it to daddy you had to cut them out and put them into a special envelope which I thought was so sweet, as though you were giving him some very important documents. When you came back down Forrest wanted to play with the stethoscope and you happily let him test it on you. 

While daddy worked on finalising your logo you and I decided to finish making our rose and red clover salve,  it's been infusing for almost 7 weeks or so now but just as I was getting all of our material out you (Forrest) came in and managed to tip out all of our soy wax onto the floor,  but your face said it all,  you seemed shocked that it happened and immediately just started to put it all back into the bag,  it was so sweet! 

Afterwards you played a bit and then actually fell asleep again while having boob!  You never have two naps in a day anymore so I was very surprised but you didn't sleep for very long maybe 30/40 min.  Daddy came down with our completed labels and you (Nixie) were so excited to put them onto our salve tins. I'm so proud of you for coming up with your own logo and name,  Foraged Love and I can tell you are too!  While you and I were immersed in getting everything labelled we had missed Forrest grab a marker and when we turned to look over at you (Forrest) you were sitting on the floor drawing all over your clothes and the floor!  But luckily I knew it washes off easily so I wasn't really fussed.

Daddy went upstairs the same time you left the kitchen which made me think daddy had taken the marker off of you but I realised he hadn't when I walked into the lounge and you were busy drawing all over the couch!  Daddy rushed downstairs to clean it up while you grabbed some wet wipes to help.. You really are like a little maka Paka. 

Afterwards we had a quick dinner and smoothie and then headed out for an evening walk along the seawall in keyhaven. We were on a mission to find bullfinches since the three of you saw some in the hedgerows there a few weeks back when I had a shoot and were hoping for a repeat. But instead we found a great silty muddy puddle that the two if you loved.  The giggles and squeals made the mess and smell worth it and Nixie you even found us some samphire!  It made both you and me so excited!  You have such an incredible eye and you told me we had to come back tomorrow with scissors so we could have some with tomorrow night's dinner. It was incredibly windy and we were getting concerned that the two of you would get very cold very soon but we couldn't get you to leave on your own accord so in the end I just scooped you (Forrest) into my arms and headed back, it was so windy that I had to walk backwards! Daddy ended up running ahead to get the car and then we stripped the two of you and put daddy's hoodie on you  and his T-shirt on you (Nixie) and between the three of us we made our car stink so bad!!  

When we got home daddy carried you (Nixie) and I carried you (Forrest) straight into the bath. I jumped in as well because I ended up covered in sylt too!  Once I showered myself the two of you continued with a short bath. I ended up taking you (Forrest) out and got you ready for bed and brought you downstairs where you fell asleep within minutes of having boob. It was already  21:00. Nixie you came down and said goodnight and gave me a very sweet cuddle, tonight daddy's putting you to bed since I did so last night we have started doing alternate nights which seems to be working really well.  Although tonight  I'm missing reading our book “The Girl Who Speaks Bear”. When you said goodnight you brought it up and giggled at the house with chicken legs who grabbed Yanka... I just love that we have our own book that we are reading, something that’s just between you and me.  I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to see what happens next. 

Normally we have a full moon meditation but somehow it didn't happen this evening, we didn’t have one during the last full moon either, hopefully we’ll be able to for the next one! Today is the first full moon of the summer and it's called buck full moon because it is usually around this time of the year when the deer begin to grow it's antlers although here in the UK, our July full moon is better known as the Wyrt Moon or the Mead Moon. As per The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide To 2020: “Wyrt is an Old English word for ‘herbs’, and the medieval name Wyrt Moon for July’s full moon reflects the fact that while little has ripened yet, greenery and herbs are plentiful.” This is definitely true if you look out into our garden, it’s currently a green paradise with so much growing yet still waiting on things to become fully ripe to pick although we have been getting some ripe cherry tomatos!

Go next to the wonderful artist Kirsty Larmour in our Artefact Motherhood Project to read her post in our blog circle.