Tuesday 27 September 2011

Life Lessons Learned

Recently, life has been teaching me some difficult but important lessons. Here are some of them.

Lesson 1: One of the biggest temptations that we, as wealthy westerners, face is the temptation to think 'just one more thing and then I'll be happy'. But we never are happy, are we? New car, new clothes, new house... they always disappoint. But do you know what NEVER disappoints?
New storage. New storage never disappoints. My living room is so tidy now; I just want to rub my face against this thing and nuzzle with it.

Lesson 2: Never buy shampoo at the dollar store.

Lesson 3: You should rarely (if EVER) write blog posts in the second person. You probably want to communicate something important but don't want to be direct about it. You may be taking out your frustration against a person who will never actually read what you are writing. You probably have the best of intentions. However, you might be interested to know that some people find it irritating. You run a big risk of becoming passive-aggressive. You don't want to be that person, do you? No, you don't. (Are you annoyed yet? See what I did there?)

Lesson 4: Life goes in cycles, and that's okay. About eight months ago, I was so ground down by this mothering thing that I wrote this post. I found it again about two months ago and thought 'whew! I'm so glad I'm not THERE any more! I'm glad I'll never have to be back in that place!'  And then suddenly, this month, I am again. I feel like a broken record, always saying "No hitting mama and no biiiiting mama. No hitting the cat. No biting your sister. No weapons, you two, NO WEAPONS!" I am worn out. A month ago, things felt really good. I wish that had been forever but it wasn't. This probably won't be forever either. It's a cycle. In the meantime I'm hiding the knives.

Lesson 5:  On a related note: when infant teething seems like a distant, long-ago memory, along come the two-year-old molars. Beware.

Lesson 6: Don't leave it four months in between uploading photos. It makes the task of posting them seem increasingly impossible with each passing week.

Lesson 7: When in doubt, probably a few randomly chosen photos are better than no photos at all. Even if they are absolutely out of order, span four months and two continents. Which leads me to:

me and my boy. 

Me and my boy. And my girl. And my other boy. 
The boy and the girl and the other boy and the other girl. Okay, this is getting old already. 


Sometimes life really IS about running through a field of daisies

This picture is from when,  APRIL??? Pink and Blue with Holli K's gorgeous kids, S&S. 

cousins = best thing ever
This picture has everything required to make Pink and Blue happy. 1) Miffy the Rabbit (who they call Baby, for reasons that are not clear to me) 2) Miffy ON TELEVISION - first time I played that DVD they went absolutely spiral - they couldn't believe that baby had come to life 3) a tutu 4) another tutu - Blue's love for tulle will not be denied 5) actually, that's it.  Mostly they act like their existence is nothing but a vale of tears, but in this photo, their life was perfect.



This is what I see ALL THE TIME. Just imagine he's saying 'Wattss bee-bee? Wattss bee-bee?' and you are LIVING MY LIFE.  (Wattss bee-bee = Watch baby, ie Miffy)
she LOVES to hide

Have I mentioned these two love Shades of People? They really, really REALLY love Shades of People. 

Wonky parts and all; I was ridiculously proud of this hairstyle. (If you look closely, there's a little crown of joined twists). It lasted approximately seventeen minutes. 

yeah, this was clearly going to end in tears. This was just after the cornrows came out. 
after a bath

the ballet love continues

How grown up! He's riding a scooter! (Except he's not, he's just standing on a scooter and
leaning a bit.  But wow, he looks grown up in this picture). 

And she's on a bike! This is what J thought fatherhood was going to be like EVERY day.
Boy was he wrong. 

hiding-behind-a-tree-while-C-takes-a-photo-of-the-kids-FAIL

This pony is not fast enough. I want another. 

Hey, cat... how's that diet coming?

Family photo session in Australia... My sister and her crew

Technically, the best of our family shots 

My bro and his little boy. Of course, 'bro' is what I call him in real life. All the time. 
making a break for freedom. I was feeling a bit the same by this point, little guy. 
upside down is still where it's at for my two
Be still my beating heart. 
Recreation of a family portrait taken in 1987. Outfits? Not planned.  What can I say?
My whole family just really, REALLY likes blue. EXACTLY THE SAME SHADE OF BLUE.
cousins! Still the best thing ever. Even when they are different cousins. The cuteness does not discriminate by continent. 
This magic mirror turned me into a girl.
It's never too early to think about your long-term mobility needs

I loved this shot. Until I noticed my nose. 

I'm never touching that blue thing again

But you said you LOVED me

Not posed. 

Lesson 9: When it's really late at night, the pictures are only halfway done and the blogger picture uploader has creaked and groaned stopped working, there is only one obvious path:  save to draft, shut down computer, try again, fail, finally get around to installing windows live writer, realise I don't know how to use windows live writer, consider whether it is worth upgrading the computer's operating system, do some research on amazon about prices, dither, eventually fall asleep in this chair. The wiser path, which I plan to take (for once in my life) is: click publish on the pictures that are there already and and then GO TO BED.  I'll post the others another day. Probably. But for now: goodnight to all, and to all a good night.
.

24 comments:

  1. I love every bit of this post.

    Also, Amanda is on my @*$& list (but don't tell her). Totally jealous.

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  2. That photo of the tall trees, and your hubs trying to hide, and those blue flowers...amazing! I LOVE IT!!

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  3. omg did you just quote the simpson's vegetarian episode with that goat picture?

    loved all these pics.

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  4. I must second (and third and fourth) that I LOVE this post. Your kids are beautiful and adorable (but this goes without saying) and yes, yes, yes, new storage never disappoints. The picture of your new storage (which looks similar to what we have in our living room-god bless ikea) made my heart sing.
    My hubby also wanted to add that in addition to shampoo one should never buy condoms from a dollar store, but I pointed out that this doesn't actually apply to us. :P

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  5. FABulous pics!!! Those are the 2 most adorable kids on the planet! Seriously! (except for mine, lol). I love the "watch baby" pic and the hair crown. So cute!

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  6. Absolutely love the picture where Pink is hiding in the basket. Gorgeous. Great post! Great photos!

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  7. Loved the pictures! Also rubbing your face on storage..
    i love new storage..such a beautiful thing!

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  8. Great post and beautiful photos!
    That dieting cat made me laugh so hard! :))

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  9. I second your comment about not writing in the second person, though it is a habit I find hard to break. Nasty, nasty habit. What does that say about me? (please don't tell me she whimpers in fear.....) and I also agree with the don't buy dollar store shampoo though I won't shop at dollar stores, I did buy cheapish shampoo and come to think of it, maybe THAT'S what happened to my hair. hmmmmmm.

    Love the photos, love them. My girl was a hard core Miffy fan too. Love the Miffy. I can still sing the theme song,

    Miffy, the cute little bunny, Miffy the sweet little bunny....

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  10. I love all of these pics. Especially since you rarely post any- it makes it even better. You're taking some really beautiful photos. Makes me realize I need to get motivated again in the picture department.

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  11. I don't know what was better--the pictures or the captions! Love!

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  12. Where is that divine place with the sun gleaming down in strokes and bursts upon bluebonnety flowers amidst the feathery-long trees? Wtf kind of amazing, fairytale place is that?

    Oh and your photos, all ALL of them, are extreme gorgeousness. What an amazingly beautiful family you have.

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  13. Wonderful photos, honey, thank you. Do I recognize that pink tutu?

    Have the twins been feeding Kevin under the table? Gracious!

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  14. So happy to rediscover your blog. LOVE your appreciation of storage. And your family pics made me feel so smiley inside.

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  15. LOVE all of these pics!! And the hair crown--how adorable is that? You and your sis sure look alike! :-)

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  16. Dreamy, wonderful pics. You are are waging war against the sibling wars. It's freaking exhausting. Also, you are so so funny. Love this.

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  17. I just wrote a long commment and blogger deleted it. The problem is trying to sign in with my google account after writing the comment. So I'll go with an anonymous profile. But it's Amanda, FYI.

    Jules - we will toast you with our dainty tea cups. (Because of course we are having proper English tea!)

    C - am very very glad for all the close up pictures on this post because when I was trying to picture your face (you know, for the epic moment when I step off of an 8 hour flight plus 1 hour coach ride to meet you for the first time) I was only seeing a teapot. (ala your facebook profile.

    Much more to say. Will do it in person!
    Amanda

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  18. Do you know there are some blogs that I literally LOVE to see pop up in my Google Reader? One of those is yours!

    I love this post for so many reasons:

    your storage system - makes me all twitchy and like I want to tackle some spaces over here :)
    your beautiful post (yes, that one about the islands - I'll never forget it)
    your gorgeous family pics - I don't know which I like best but the two family ones and the ones of you and your boy, and the nose one LOL
    D also thought parenting would be helping kids with bicycles :)

    Remember it's a cycle and no matter how bad you think things are, someone else is always going through worse (with their kids). K threw an almighty fit at the party on Friday but was upstaged by other twins' tantrums. One time when comparison is good!

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  19. We must be kindred spirits. I am all about storage and organizing lately. I feel like I'm a ticking time clock to get everything organized before "baby" 5 gets here.

    AND, totally with you on lesson 4 also! My two youngest aren't twins, but they are 9 months apart. Just when I think we've passed a phase, it pops back up and slaps me in the face!

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  20. I totally agree w/ #1 (storage)--still, aftert 41 yrs honestly, and completely believe ALL my problems will be solved if I find just the right storage items...and #4 (cycles) we are back in the downward biting/hitting cycle right now too. Except my twins like to hit EVERYONE...which makes playdates and meeting new friends a bit hard.

    Also want to say that my boy...LOVES TULLE TOO! They wear their tutus all the time, everywhere. Oddly, it makes his sister really happy (she tells me) to see him in the tutu. Funny little twins. :-)

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  21. The cuteness level is high! I feel like running through some daisies now!

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  22. Oh how I love your pictures and captions and those adorable kids. Laughed out loud on the "no weapons you two!" comment. Yep, that's heard a lot around here too. Thanks for sharing your family. Just what I needed tonight :-)

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Over to you!