Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 August 2013

"The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten."


"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Great film and Wise words! Although I've always known this, the past three years have been a shock to the system at just how true the words are. When you have children everything seems to go in to hyper speed so as a doting parent you need to be taking in every moment and grasping them with both hands. Earlier today Mrs M was looking through some old pictures and inevitably Opeie's baby photos cropped up. It had been a while since we had looked through them and I sat down next to Mrs M and was hooked.


It probably sounds bad and it may be just me but its easy to forget exactly what your children were like in the first weeks, of course I've got an image in my head (how I remember him), for me it was one of the first days I held him on my chest and I couldn't take my eyes off him, I was completely in awe of the little person we had created, but when I looked back on the old pictures and videos I realised just how much I had forgotten. He was beautiful, that has never changed but seeing him so vulnerable and new, made me instantly well up.


Looking through the old photos and videos is always amazing but it isn't great for Mrs M's broodiness which over the last few weeks has been getting considerably worse. Mine thankfully had gone into hibernation, that was of course until we clicked on that folder to be greeted by these baby pictures. I would love another child, maybe a little girl and I know Mrs M feels the same. It's such a shame though that we have such complicated pregnancies. That's probably a blessing though as I could see us with 7 or 8 if situations had been different. Mrs M's ultimate argument being 'what if things were different if it was a girl?" What if? When it comes to the 'wanting more babies saga' there's lots of what if's. sorry, as always I've gone off on a tangent a little.


Seeing the photos made me realise just how independent Opeie is these days, he just used to lay there care free kicking his legs and making funny noises. Everything was a lot more delicate, I was petrified I was going to break him some how so was wary of every little thing I did, a big change from the picking him up and throwing him about play fighting that we do these days. I had no idea what I was doing so in some ways would be looking over to Mrs M for some sort of approval that I wasn't making a huge mess of simple tasks, it soon didn't take long though for it all to come naturally.

Mrs M has been saying for well over a year "i wish I could have him as a baby again just for one day", she says exactly the same about Seth. I thought she was a bit crazy but I'm now starting to understand why. As they get older children need you less and less. Although its amazing Opeie having this new 'i can do it' way about him I do miss helping him doing the little things. He is becoming a great little man though, happy, curious, always asking questions and most importantly beautiful inside and out, when he wakes up in the morning the smile on my face is uncontrollable. I realise every day that I'm exactly where I'm meant to be, and I'm happy.




Sunday, 11 August 2013

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”


Although we put a little aside for the boys where we can and we would never see them go without no matter what age, to me money isn't important, It never has been. Too many people out there obsess about what they have and haven't got and money is the driving force of everything they do. When I was younger we didn't have much money and I've turned out just fine. Although it will be nice to give the boys money towards a house or car etc I think it's so much nicer to be able to give them memories. I do all I can to make sure the boys have got an amazing life to look back on. The blog is part of that, I would have loved something like this to read if I'd have had a happy family life..



I think it's really important for the boys to have things to look back on, photos of family adventures and thoughtful personal gifts and cards that show them just how much they mean to us. Opeie as you know if you're a regular reader is a bit of a bookworm and has been a fan of the Lorax for quite sometime, although he already has the book I thought it would be nice to get him a copy to put aside for when he's older.


While I was having a look on eBay I spotted this eco friendly copy of the book made from 100% recycled paper. I loved the colour scheme and the vintage look so I though it would be a nice edition to add to Opeie's memory box which I have been adding to since before he was born. It's nice for the boys to have books with personal messages in too as books are such a big part of their lives.

I'm going to need something a lot bigger soon for their memory boxes but I know that when they are given to them as adults they are sure to bring back some very happy memories and help them to understand how in love with them I am
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Thursday, 25 July 2013

sketchbook memories #3 - Opeie in the bath wearing daddy's fashion disaster glasses


After getting home a bit later than we expected too last night neither me and Mrs M were in the mood for a big tea so we had a snack. No tea meant no washing up which freed up the remainder of my evening nicely for a spot of drawing. Sketch number three is a picture I took of Opeie in the bath wearing my old glasses.

A few years back I had kind of a Timmy Mallet thing going on with a selection of oversized and colourful specs. Looking back now I don't know what I was thinking and from the picture I took its clear that they were a lot cuter on mini me.



Previous Sketchbook Memories:



Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Sketchbook memories #2 - Opeie at 9 months sitting on Eames chair with Fisher Price ball


I found myself with half an hour to kill last night, Mrs M was in the kitchen making chocolate, the house was tidy and Opeie was fast asleep so i quickly grabbed my sketch book and pencils. Since stating my doodling again I'm taking every spare minute i can to do a quick sketch. Most of my favourite photo's are on the iPad, i have them on there because i like to have Opeie's early pictures easy to access, us parents always have nostalgic moments and sometimes i just need to see his little face as a baby. 

Today's sketch was from when he was around 9 months old, I had brought Mrs M an Eames chair for Christmas and we had placed him on there with various toys for pictures. There was a lovely one of him with Spider-man but the shot with the vintage Fisher Price musical ball seemed to have more character.


It's been a while since sketching faces and i really need some practice so hopefully they will get better with time. When Opeie saw the picture he said 'Baby Opeie'  so it cant be all that bad.


Previous Sketchbook memories posts...

Monday, 15 July 2013

Sketchbook memories #1 - Daddy and Opeie at 6 weeks old


Just over a week ago i wrote a post about finding an old sketch book and how i used to doodle pictures relevant to the start of mine and Mrs M's relationship (click here to read the post), it was my way of dealing with the time we had to spend apart because of our living situations and being in different counties. I hadn't drawn in there or at all for quite some time but really wanted to get back in to my sketching. For my birthday last week Mrs M brought me a new sketch book, i thought it would be nice to sketch for Opeie, photos of him that i love and funny things that happen on this journey of being a dad.

It already seems that finding time to do this is not going to be easy as i always seem to have so much other stuff i need to be getting on with. Being a stay at home dad is a full time job after all. Last night though while Mrs M was busy in the kitchen baking cookies and the boys were in bed i found myself with a little time for a quick sketch. I'm thinking of making this a permanent fixture on the blog, hopefully meaning ill motivate myself to find time to draw and squeeze the quick doodles in where i can. My first sketch is from a photo of me and Opeie that was taken when he was around six weeks old, I thought it was fitting to start the sketch book where in many ways i feel like my life really began.