Know you what it is to be a child?…
It is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief;
it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear,
it is to turn pumpkins into coaches,
and mice into horses,
lowness into loftiness,
and nothing into everything,
for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul.

– Francis Thompson

This child.  I adore her, with all I have.  Every single day, I breathe her in, I wrap her up in my hope, I find her burrowed a little deeper into my heart.  In the middle of the night, when her tiny hand nestles in mine, I hold her tight and thank the Universe that she is mine.

Dear, darling Ivy.
Happy Fourth Birthday.
Endless Love,  Mummy.

Tonight, I put Ivy to bed, and she was three.   Come tomorrow, she will wake four.

I don’t quite know how to feel.    We’re entering the unfamiliar.   I’ve known all about one year old girls.   And I know about girls aged two.   (They’re just delightful..most of the time).   And little girls aged three?  They’ve mattered most.     For the past year, I’ve had two of them.  All those days of Ivy sharing Ava’s age.  A strange thing, her older sister being older, until she no longer was.  Is she younger now?  I don’t even know.

As I tucked Ivy in, excitedly talking of birthday cakes and wishes, I felt afraid.  I’m not ready to give up three.  It seems we’re leaving a little more behind.   I want to be able to hold this moment and know that our days will always center around princesses and sparkly shoes and Dora.  What happens at four?  A part of me is excited to find out, and so very grateful that I even can but a part of me can’t help but wish and yearn and fear the unknown.

Tomorrow will be all about our birthday girl, we’ll laugh and love and be thankful.   I’ll wish for different but I’ve become used to mixed blessings and the birthday celebrations tinged with missing.

Today though, I just miss simple, happy anticipation.

Sheye x

As promised, a few more photos from the Wovenplay shoot.  It’s not often commercial clients request some grain and blur so, yet another reason why I loved working for them.   These images here were the last of the day..you know my favorite moments to shoot are always right before the sun slips away. Thank you, Molly & Poppy – you were the most gorgeous, perfect models.

Sheye xx

ps, I saw today that Tiny People had a little Wovenplay at half price.  Go! Quickly! x

I encounter beautiful people every day but for the most part, not in person.  Last week I had the joy of meeting an incredible group of gorgeous souls who’d come together for Jesh de Rox’s Life (as an Artform) workshop in Canberra.   I struggle to describe those days and anyone who was there would be nodding their head in agreement.   I’ve never been to another in-person workshop and I went to this one because I love Jesh’s incredibly pure and beautiful view of the World and I knew it wasn’t really going to be about taking photos.

What I didn’t know was that it would be life changing and that I would come away having made some of the most amazing friendships.   That I would learn how to see more, say more, be more.  How five brief days can alter perspective so dramatically, I’m not sure.   But they did, and I’m so glad for it.

To Kelly – thank you for opening your beautiful home up to us.   To all who were there, from the bottom of my heart,  thank you.  And to everyone who might ever get the chance to attend a Jesh workshop, go.   If need be, beg, borrow or steal to get there.  You will never regret it.

Sheye x