Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
A one-day old little boy showing mummy just how tiring his journey has been!
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This week's theme is: One Word.
Any word you like: Up, spring, sunrise, snotty, peaceful, scream, fast, digital, lazy, sleepy, cake.
Oh Tara, you do like to make our life difficult!
Don't forget to pop over and visit the other entries by using the Linky on the left.
The theme this week, as set by Tara over at Sticky Fingers, is Simple Pleasures. "What are yours? Walking, cuddling up on the sofa, time alone, gardening, curled up with a good book, walking the dog? Give us an insight into the simple pleasures which make your day."
Something popped into my head straight away, but I dismissed it and tried to come up with some other options. I could have chosen reading with a book and chocolate (too corny) or a picture of the laptop (too telling), but each time I kept coming back to the same image and memory in my head.
My simple pleasure is this:
Having a cwtch with my son and staring at his beautiful baby face.
I don't care how soppy or predictable it is, there is nothing I enjoy more. Every Tuesday when I take him upstairs for his nap, I fail to put him in his cot and leave him sleeping in my arms. Why Tuesdays I hear you ask? The reason is simple: on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I work so my mum puts him down for his nap. On the weekend, hubby does it. So I only get to do it on a Monday and Tuesday, and on a Tuesday I spend the entire time memorising his beautiful face and inwardly sobbing about the fact that I have to work for the next three days.
I won't be able to do this forever, I dare say he'll protest when he's 15. Until then having a little cwtch with my gorgeous child is my simple pleasure.
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Now visit the other entries by clicking on the widget on the left, <– over there, see it? No not that one, that's for 'Silent Sunday', the one above it! Yep, that's the one!
Tara has been a bit tricky with this week's theme is: Expressions. 'Laughing, crying, angry, sad, happy, yelling, smiling, shocked, pained, peaceful. Let's get expressive.'
I did consider getting abstract with the theme, but then I thought that I'd just let The Boy speak for himself.
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Tara set us a lovely challenge this week, a real heart-warming theme especially for Valentine's Day: "This week's theme is: Togetherness. You, your children, your other half, your siblings, friends, lovers, Romans."
It's a fabulous theme and thought-provoking for a new family. This is our second Valentine's Day with The Boy in our lives, but probably the first time that I've analysed how our relationship has changed since he arrived. We are shattered. We never seem to have time for ourselves, evenings are spent washing bottles, tidying up, ironing, paperwork, cleaning; all the things that you can't do when you've got a curious toddler around. We have to make an effort to remember to talk to each other. We can't do impulsive things anymore like going out for dinner at the drop of a hat, or popping out to the cinema because there's nothing on television.
And yet, we have never felt more complete. The Boy is amazing and astounds us daily with the way he enhances our lives. We cannot remember a time when he wasn't in our lives, it certainly must have been more boring and superficial!
Valentine's Day is a time for couples to show how much they love each other, but then we only have to look at our son to quantify it. The Boy is the ultimate symbol of our love.
24 hours is a variable time. I know that seems daft, but just think about it. 24 hours of labour seems to last forever; every second punctuated by yet another contraction. Yet 24 hours on a weekend absolutely flies by!
When Tara set the challenge of a theme of 24 Hours, it was going to take some careful planning otherwise we'd end up with some wasted hours of sleep (don't you think that sleep is a waste of time?). It had to be a day in your life: "Any day… share 24 hours of your life with us."
So my 24 hours spans from 6pm on Saturday evening to 7pm on Sunday evening. Yes I know that's 25 hours, but it's called artistic license and it's my blog! The start and end location is the same: my parents' house. In between we fit in a variety of activities, some will be obvious, some you'll have to work out. Either way, it was our weekend.
And we had, in the words of The Boy, fun.
Circles
The theme this week is Shapes, it's rather difficult at this particularly grey time of year to find any inspiration outside the house. It was a toss-up between the keys on my piano, which ended up as my 365 instead or this. The necklace from my sister won.
These photographs are of my parents when they were both five years old.
I love the innocence and happiness on their faces, and the fact that they are both playing in the garden. I used to spend hours playing in the garden as a child; with my dolls acting out The Faraway Tree, pretending I was a pop-singer on the picnic table, or being tied to the cherry tree by my brothers (by my waist-length plaits no less!). I hope The Boy enjoys the outdoors as much as his family has in the past.
Multi-Coloured Bay
This picture is taken from the aeroplane as we flew over San Francisco Bay, and the coloured areas that you can see are salt ponds. The different colours represent different stages of the desalination process. An awe-inspring sight.
This was put together for this week's gallery over at Sticky Fingers where the subject is "Mother Nature".
Golden Crown
The Boy has beautiful hair, I love tousling it with my fingers. If the old wives' tale is anything to go by, his hair is why I had such horrendous heartburn through my pregnancy. At 19 months old on the day of this Gallery post, he has had his hair cut seven times; it is thick, strong and gloriously golden-tinted.
This was put together for this week's gallery over at Sticky Fingers where the subject is "Body Parts"
New and complete love
My husband took this of The Boy grasping my hand when he was five days old. It is one of my favourite photos ever. End of!
This was put together for this week's gallery over at Sticky Fingers where the subject is "Love"
