The Gallery - Love, four years on

Mr & Mrs Young, 29th December 2006

One week today, Young Daddy and I will be celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary (probably by watching a DVD and having a takeaway), so when I saw that Tara's Gallery prompt this week is 'Love', I couldn't resist putting this picture up.

A lot has happened in the last four years – new house, new jobs, and of course, becoming a family of four. I'm just as happy, if not more so, than I was four years ago (and that's saying something – my face ached for about a week after our wedding, I was grinning so much), so to Young Daddy: I love you.

The fourth anniversary is celebrated with flowers and fruit. So now I've won some brownie points with this post, I've got a few anniversary gift suggestions, most of which are related to a certain fruit-related brand called Apple...

Head over to The Gallery now to see all the other love-inspired entries this week.

Motherhood

Sometimes it gets on top of you.

Sometimes you feel invisible.

Sometimes you feel smothered.

But you'll always be there to support.

Always there to make them feel safe.

Always helping them grow and climb.

Always their rock.

Their mother, always.

 This post is for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers. This week's theme is 'Motherhood'.

The Incredibles: a family portrait

This may look like any other family picture, snapped on my phone by a friend, but to me, this photo makes me feel invincible.

We went out of our safety zone, and the world didn't end. We survived, unscathed and exultant.

I constantly question whether things are possible with the babies. Can I make it to the shops? Can I eat lunch out at a restaurant? Could I go to that exhibition I've been dying to see? More often than not I am overwhelmed by the prospect of pushing my boundaries and I don't try these things. London can be a daunting place with a double buggy, and I often feel beaten by the hurdles it throws at me.

We had a friend running the Virgin London Marathon this year, and I'd been wondering all week about whether to go up and support her. I considered going alone, but didn't want to miss out on the precious family time we have at the weekend. Could we all go and watch the marathon together? Immediately I started thinking of reasons why not. It would be too busy. The journey's too difficult. The babies wouldn't nap. But Sunday morning dawned, and we decided impulsively to go for it. 'If it's a nightmare we can turn around and go straight home,' we reasoned.

And so we found ourselves on the DLR to the Cutty Sark, double buggy in tow, where we met up with friends, missing our runner by the tiniest of margins (about 30 secs). We hopped back onto the DLR to Limehouse, where we found a fantastic vantage point and we all (including Miss E and Mr A) cheered on the amazing runners streaming past us, including our friend who was going well. A pit stop for coffee and to use the facilities at a friend's flat nearby reenergised us, and we rejoined the group and made our way to Canary Wharf, cheering our runner on once again. We decided against carrying on with the others to Embankment, and instead headed home feeling elated and happy. The babies had grabbed cat naps here and there and had been on fantastic form all day. Sure they were grumpy at bedtime but it was more than worth it.

My confidence is sky high. The babies have proved themselves to be far more flexible than I give them credit for, and I'm going to capitalise on this new feeling and keep pushing myself to try new things.

And another result of all this positivity? I think I might enter next year's marathon...

Massive congratulations to my mate Nadia, and all the other incredible runners who took part in this year's marathon. Your dedication and stamina were inspiring. And a huge thank you to Geri, Rob and Lee for being so patient with us and for helping lug the buggy up and down steps and on and off trains. You're all stars! x

 
For Week 9 of The Gallery at Sticky Fingers. Theme: 'Portraits'

The Gallery: Joy

I think my face says it all...

 

This post is for this week's Gallery over at Sticky Fingers.
    The theme this week was 'Joy'.

Me - Out of Focus

The Gallery  over at Sticky Fingers (a virtual art gallery with a different prompt each week - to take part you post a photograph using that prompt on your blog) has been going for four weeks now, but I haven't got myself organised enough to join in until now. I was determined to take part this week, and then I saw the prompt. The theme for the photographs this week is 'Me'. And this is where I got stumped. Should I just find a picture of me with the babies? But I think there's more to me than babies. Or what about taking a photograph of something that represents me? This I pondered for a while, but couldn't nail down what I wanted to represent.

My notion of 'me' is a little fuzzy at the moment, and that's when I got some inspiration.....

I'm not sure quite who I am right now. I had a rare night out on Saturday for a friend's birthday and found myself terrified of the thought of making conversation with people I didn't know. Do I talk about my babies (the main focus of my life right now), or do I try to play it cool, and act like the person I was BB (before babies)? I find myself worrying that I'm boring people if I mention them and don't want to be that person who has nothing better to talk about, but the truth is that I don't have anything better to talk about and I don't think I should apologise for that. I listen to others talk about their jobs, so why shouldn't I talk about my current job of being a new mum? It's the biggest thing in my life so I shouldn't feel the need to tiptoe around the subject.

My life has changed so much in the last six months and I'm still finding my feet and trying to get to know the new me. I've transformed both inside and out, and I think it will take a while for everything to come back into focus.