Moments I don't want to forget

I write this blog for our family because, as time goes on, I realise more and more that I am the keeper of so many memories.  Looking back through the last few posts, I was struck with a heavy heart by how much I had already completely forgotten.  These memories only resurfaced because someone had taken a photo and I had bothered to quickly jot down the meaning behind the image.  Thank God for photos and the power that they hold to elicit one's connections to the past.  Already Matthew's hands are no longer as chubby as the one giving me a wave.  Thankfully, though, Dave has new shorts; I ordered him two new pairs this past summer and quickly threw the ones above in the garbage.

For the countless hours that I have spent nursing over the past 18 years, it is astonishing that I have so very few photos of myself with a baby at the breast.  Matthew was absolutely charmed a few days ago when I showed him a photo of him nursing.  A slow smile crept across his face as he realised that he was once in Baby Simie's spot.

This is one of my all-time favourite photos.  Baby Simon was so young and we were taking some time to just be down by the river.  Hannah insisted on a family photo in the same style as the ones we had taken following the last few babies.  I am so happy that we listened to her.  This photo is an outtake as Rosie the dog had just decided to join the shoot with a good old shake off after a dip in the river.  So much pure joy in this shot.

This photo is a rare one -Dave and me!  I cherish it - it is probably the best couple photo we have ever taken.

And these two - what a hoot!  They are the most conspiracy-minded of all the grandparents and we actually caught them in the act.  If they were on social media, they would be censored...

This is probably the first and last time my dad held the baby named for his brother and cousin.  But that's a whole other story with a slightly different theme.

Theme: Matthew age 1, 2 and 3

Somewhere around his first birthday.  Where is the actual photo...

Thank God that Hannah had the foresight to take a photo of Matthew on the fourth of every month until he turned one.  Such a collage surely counts for the missing first birthday pic?  As an aside, what a felonious looking baby he was in his second month of life.

And there she is!  Hannah, our beloved Hannah holding Matthew and a baby who is not our own, but is our goddaughter.  Joe also happens to believe that this baby is the most perfect baby who ever existed.

Matthew somewhere around his second birthday.  I do have a movie of the momentous event, but such clips take far too long to load on blogger.  So, a gas-masked, Covid-ready Matthew to the rescue.  And, there, I did it, I mentioned the virus-that-shall-not-be-named.

My sister Martha holding Mariana and Matthew when Matty-boy was still very much a blondie.

My longest nurser.  He also loves books.  The two combined.

And below:  Somewhere around his third birthday.  Can you sense the leitmotif?  I seem to have temporarily misplaced actual birthday photos, so we will opt for approximate recreations.

A long hiatus

 As I wrestle with my online activities, particularly my involvement in the world of social media, I've come to realise just how valuable this blog is to our family.  What initially kept me from writing in the past two years was a combination of technology, lack of time and the colossal endeavour of "catching up" a blog that would cause me to give up yet again.  However, I recently decided to have the blog published as a keepsake for our family.  (It is, after all, our family photo album for the past 14 years.). As I read through the preview sent to me by PixxiBooks, I am so moved by the written account that I kept for so many years.  So moved that I have decided to pick it back up without an attempt at filling in the last two years.  If I try to do the latter, I will get nowhere and inevitably abandon this family project once again.  So, where do I pick up?  

We are now a family of 11.  The arrival of Simon Leo on Canada Day 2021 brought the overall numbers up as well as those of the boys in the family.  He is a very quiet presence who slows me down in the best ways and reminds me that life really is about life.  The twins moved out in September to begin college life in Barry's Bay.  Thus, they lived two months with Simon and those months will probably be some of the only extended periods of time in which we live as a family of 11.  Having grown up as one of three children, the joys and sufferings of a large and wide family are quite new to me.  The disparity in age between oldest and youngest is both a joy and a heartbreak.  I feel more and more that my life is to serve as a heart and an anchor to that of my husband and children.  If you've read Where Nests the Water Hen, you'll have a good understanding of what I speak.  The recollection of that story never fails to bring tears to my eyes.  

Here are some photos to catch you up.  They're primarily of Joe because he had some big events before Simon was born.  Having hardly ever attended St. Andrew's in person (read pandemic), he somehow managed to graduate from grade 8.  My father's card to him said:  "Congratulations to the most truant graduate that I've ever known!"  The graduation was a socially-distanced, outdoor event (read miserable).  Dave looked jovial while Joe and I forced smiles that read "We will not comply".  

Two days before I went into labour with Simon, Joseph was confirmed by our wonderful bishop.  My smile was very real this time and probably mostly a product of a good night's rest combined with an afternoon nap, definitely not the 30 degree heat.  Rosie, our 18 month old Golden Doodle is Joe's greatest passion and he insisted on bringing her to his graduation.  Hence the photo of her on his shoulders in front of the curling rink that sits across the street from the school.  The target is somewhat pertinent seeing as Joe spent a good portion of his final year in the principal's office due to non-complicity with mask mandates and a public declaration of his rights not to wear a mask.  Dave and I are both very proud of him on this point, to somewhat varying degrees.  Insert smiley face.

And that's all for now.  Supper beckons and I must make haste.