These are a few of my favorite things

We had a lovely Christmas. Lots of thoughtful, beautiful gifts were exchanged and I wanted to write a post on just a few of them. One of my favourite gifts to Jack was this gorgeous American Apparel Stripe Sweater Crew Neck. It was like it was made to match his green toddler Vans. He's also wearing a pair of skinny jeans from Zara kids.

As you can see, Jack is clutching some matchbox vehicles throughout the photos, as is so often the case. Where there's a Jack, there's a car, truck, van or lorry. So he was delighted when Santa left a tonne of little mini machines. It amazes me. We could spend a fortune on a huge toy and he'll be too engrossed in examining every tiny detail of a pack of £5 matchbox cars to notice it.

However, no gift this year compared to the present my husband gave Jack for his 2nd birthday. Jack's daddy is an exceptionally talented professional illustrator, and unbeknownst to me, he had secretly been working on a book called Jack says Hello, Maisey says Woof  featuring Jack, and our doglet. The book is absolutely amazing and as you can imagine, it is a joy reading it to him. Barry has included him and I in the book too, along with loads of Jack's toys and clothes which he recognises. It's even written in rhyme. I wish I could include the whole book, but I can't. So, I have added a few of my favourite double page spreads. If you like his illustration style, and want to see more, he blogs too. Find him here.

 

Little Saint Nick

It's Christmas eve! Didn't that roll around fast? We're pretty on the ball this year, and it helps that we're off to my parents for a slap up dinner tomorrow, so we were able to go on a nice relaxing walk through Peatlands Park this morning. It was most enjoyable. No snow this Christmas it seems, so it was pretty mild. By the way- this young man turned 2 on Friday. Imagine- 2! What a big handsome boy he has turned into.

I would have liked to have made Jack's outfit just a little bit Christmassy for our xmas blog entry, but he told me in no uncertain terms that he was not for wearing a santa hat. Oh well. I suppose there is no point in learning to talk if you can't make your feelings known. So instead he opted for a matching ribbed hat and scarf from H&M and his red wax coat and jeans from Zara Baby.

Now, Jack and I are off to sprinkle 'Reindeer food' onto the front garden in the hope Santa will leave lots of lovely gifts. Happy Christmas, friends!

Touch and Discover

Today Jack had a playdate with his wee pal Jake. He wore the Cos Raglan sleeve baseball tee. I love Cos for me, so it's no wonder Jack's wardrobe includes quite a few pieces from the kids range. 

Have you ever gone out of your way to find a certain toy from your childhood for your own little one? I have. One Christmas Santa brought me a Texas Instruments Touch and Discover. I loved it so much! My siblings and I had years of fun out of the thing. The 'touch screen' was simply ahead of its time. I had been on the lookout for a T&D on eBay, they're pretty rare now, but eventually someone listed one - in great condition with the original box and instructions no less! I won it for a mere 99p! Below Jack is enjoying learning about transportation (his favourite subject!). Who needs an iPad when you have one of these babies? Hopefully my little beauty will get as many years of joy from this as we did.

On a Cold and Frosty Morning

Brrrr. Technically, it's still Autumn. But it feels like winter. Every night the temperatures dip into the minus and we wake up to heavy frost. They say there's snow on the way next week. The photographer in me gets excited for the photo opp, and the wife in me worries about my other half having to battle through it to get to work.

I have been keeping Jack warm in his new cowl neck tank top from All Saints. I have mentioned before that unfortunately All Saints dropped their kidswear range. Occasionally I find bits in TK Maxx, or eBay, in this case. Above, he is wearing it under his Zara quilted coat, Zara jeans, H&M hat and mittens, and Aigle Perdrix wellingtons. Below, he is wearing it over an H&M vest. 

Little Boy Blue

Jack was battling a nasty old cold all week. It was difficult to see him so miserable - I felt so powerless. We were delighted when he seemed to turn a corner today. So we wrapped up warm and took a trip to the beach. We didn't stay long as even in our warmest coats, it was still freeeeezing! The last thing I wanted was Jack to get sickity-boo again! Jack was wearing a hat, mittens and chinos from H&M, a puffa jacket from Zara kids, and his Aigle Giboulee welly boots.

I'll leave you with a portrait I snapped of Jack last week. It made me briefly question whether I should get this young man a haircut. Then I caught myself on and realised there is no way I could bring myself to get these beautiful golden curls chopped off!

The child is my pride and joy.

Gentlemen take Polaroids

Jack and I were being total hipsters this morning and taking photos of eachother taking photos. We're stuck in the house today, as the poor wee man is suffering with a chesty cough. Even still, he's in good form. I attribute this to the 'magic' vintage turtle neck he's wearing. (Thanks Lauren!) It has kind of become known as the 'sick jumper'. At the first sign of a sore throat or cough, we layer Jack up and pop this on top, and it seems to keep further symptoms at bay. I think it was the retro vibe of the jumper that inspired me to hand him my Nans old polaroid camera. Snap!

It also gave me a chance to try out my new camera indoors. I upgraded from a Nikon D200 to a D700. An early Christmas present to myself. Worth every penny.