I have FINALLY been going through pictures from my iPhone and camera. Pictures from FOREVER ago. I've been sending pictures often to my parents in Australia to keep them apprised of the happenings and appearances of their grand babies. But I really want to have a consolidated record of this family of mine. I know I won't remember half the things that I swear I won't forget... so hopefully this blog will help fill in the gaps some day.
I came across these gems from Easter. As in 6 months ago...half a year ago...basically forever ago. But as I scrolled through the sequence of shots I thought it told a pretty accurate story of motherhood.
I'd given all the children new spring pajamas and wanted to capture a picture of all of them together.
No easy task with 5 kids (two of them 16 months old)
But with a little...ok a lot of patience, time, and effort...
I came away with this sweet photo of happy faces looking for the most part in my general direction. Such a sweet memory!
Motherhood feels a lot like that.
Things are hectic and chaotic and it takes a lot of time and effort and patience to have things run smoothly. But then for a moment things fall into place and it was all worth it.
This next series of pictures is from later that same day. We'd just gotten home from church and I wanted to capture everyone in their new Easter clothes (the acquiring of said clothes in correct sizes and coordinating colors had been no small task and I wanted to document my success...and my adorable children). After church is never a good time for pictures (or anything constructive for that matter) but we of course hadn't had time BEFORE church so this was the best option I had.
Just like the pajama pictures, it was not easy to get everyone to sit still,
...or sit at all
...or cooperate in any way,
...even with a different setting
But with a little patience, (which I had none of at this point), and more time and more effort
...it was still a total disaster
Motherhood feels a lot like that too...
Sometimes everything goes wrong, everyone is mad, the house is a disaster, we're running late, and chaos is king. There are some things no amount of patience and effort can fix at that moment and you have to know when to cut your losses. Especially for things that don't really matter. Like maybe trying to take a picture when little people are hungry, tired, and done being in church clothes. (Seeing how adorable the dresses and vests are together...and Grant's pinstripe pants!!! you can at least see why I really really wanted to get that picture right?)
6 months later I'm not sure I like the "everyone looking" pajama picture any better than the "total meltdown" Easter pictures. Both tell stories that are 100% accurate of this phase of life. And besides, how awesome is Lucy's face in the 2nd to last photo?
Classic.
