Category Archives: Thomas

The Boys

I love capturing images of my boys together. It happens so rarely that it clearly takes a bathtub to ensure they stay in the same place for more than five minutes. Of course this photo only came about after about 100 other shots, but it was worth it.

These are my favorite faces for February and my entry in this week’s I heart faces challenge.

Right now…

THOMAS is…

  • A great big brother – looking for lost toys and making sure his brother is doing the right thing.
  • Sensitive – we’ve been dealing with moments of sadness and insecurity. Not sure if this is a five year old thing or just the musings of a very sensitive and thoughtful little boy.
  • Curious – right now we’re in the process of identifying every single sign we see on the street (that’s 35 limit, mummy) and reading – numbers (above ten) and putting together letters. It’s all coming together.
  • Smart – Being sick means staying at home, too many toys means it’s too much for him to possibly carry… Thankfully Mummy is still a little smarter.
  • Learning – How to swim. He’s done so well with swimming lessons over the past few weeks. Our timid little boy is now put his head fully under water without fear until we count to 10.

SAMUEL is…

  • Funny – he will do just about anything to make us laugh these days – and do it over and over if it makes us laugh just once.
  • Musical – Drums, guitar, singing. One of my favourite things at night is to sing a few songs with him before he goes to sleep.
  • In Awe – of his big brother. If Thomas does something, you can count on Samuel trying to do the same thing just a few moments later.
  • Slow – OMG – it takes this kid soooo long to finish a meal. He’s often left at the dinner table by himself.
  • Making choices – his favorite color is blue, his best friend is Bowie (and then it’s Maggie, and then it’s George…), his favorite book author is Mercer Mayer (although he doesn’t know that, he just likes the critters), his favorite food is still blueberries (thankful they’re coming back in season).

Looking forward to, and a little frightened about, all March will bring, including travel (for Kei and then me), a big change with Samuel’s daycare, MORE photography (a promise to myself) and, most importantly, SPRING!

Bring it on!

Happy Monday…Oh and Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s day is one of those Hallmark holidays that I can give or take. Actually, now that I have children, it is actually quite inconvenient. Or maybe it’s just because I have small children – one of whom can’t yet write his own name and so I am forced to manage the entire valentine-writing myself. Then I have the other child who can write his own name but sees a pile of 30 valentines on the table and feels overwhelmed by the workload. We managed to finish them up in shifts throughout the day yesterday. I don’t know if there’s a Bah, Humbug! equivalent for this holiday but that’s how I feel.

On a not-quite-so-cranky note, we had a fabulous action-packed weekend. It began with Iron Bartender on Thursday night, then Friday was my first pre-op for my brand new laser eyes (coming soon!) and dinner and a movie with my husband while the boys hung out at daycare for a few extra hours (thankfully I was able to see again by the time the movie started – eye dialation is no fun). On Saturday we had swimming lesson, a trip to the safety Saturday at the fire station, a consultation to get french doors (yay!) and then another night out without the kids – dinner for one friend’s birthday and then a stop by at another party celebrating two more friends. Sunday involved a little furniture shopping and a nap for all four of us – we needed it.

So, because I have not had time to edit all photos from the weekend (surprised?), I will share this little one for the current I Heart Faces challenge. This week is all about RED for women’s heart disease awareness. I took the photo in the back of the car while we were waiting at the grocery store and, since he’s wearing a red shirt, I think it counts. I just love this little slice of life and it’s a good reminder that I need to capture more photos that record our daily adventures. I also love that he’s covering his eyes and not doing a silly face or fake smile for the camera. It makes this one a little different.

 

 

Loving on a Friday…

  • A tribute to the year of the Rabbit (aka MY YEAR!)
  • This exact conversation that occurs with Samuel at least 10 times a day lately. (no wonder the kid gets away with murder).

“Mummy?”
“Yes”
“I love you”

  • Oscar fever – and, after tonight, having miraculously seen 7 of the 10 best picture nominees, thanks partly to a couple of marathon aeroplane trips in the past 12 months. (ran out of time for The Fighter, 27 Hours and True Grit. In fairness, I’ll probably NEVER see 27 hours).
  • Thomas “reading” his Star Wars book to us each night and practicing during the day so he can read it to his friends at school.
  • Flavelsome Beats – plugging my baby brother’s latest gift to the ears.
  • Glee! Mixing my love of TV with my love of musicals. It’s perfect!
  • Dancers among us. Mixing my love of Musicals with my love of…well…life.
  • Feeling completely inspired after a couple of GREAT photo sessions – one at the Portland art museum with a group of coworkers (just for fun) and one for Iron Bartender last night (also fun, but for charity). A few of my favorites from the Portland museum are shared below.
  • 3 nights out in a row (a mummy miracle).

Happy Friday

 

Farewell January…

…it was nice knowing you, but I can’t say I’m sad to see you go.

Oh, there were good moments like Kei starting a new job, an end-of-month girls weekend at a spa (more on that later) and some great progress at the swimming pool for our five-year-old (head  fully under water!). But there were also quite a few challenges like Kei starting a new job (bye bye reliable schedule), a plague that swept through our house and took down Samuel and me at the same time, a workload that threatens to pull me under and, of course, the endless dreariness of a Northwest winter.

I’ve been feeling tired, uninspired and generally crabby –  but the optimist in me hopes that a new month and the promise of only a few more weeks of winter will help pull me out of this funk.

Thankfully my two year old seems to be coming out of his. The past week or so has been an enormous improvement in terms of behaviour and general attitude. He yells less, laughs more and has fewer tantrums. He’s also more likely to wake up in the morning on the RIGHT side of the bed. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I feel like I may be getting my happy baby back.

Which brings me to my I heart faces photo this week – best face photo in January. It’s not a perfect photo by any means, but it’s a wonderful memory of a nice, relaxing bedtime without arguments, challenges or screaming – a routine that is become more common as my little boy grows up. And how grown up he looks!

So goodbye January and hello to a February that promises more photos (with some new equipment), new eyes (hoping literally as well as figuratively) and the possibility of a little more sunshine.

Wasted Weekend

The MLK long weekend had so much promise. 3 days to recharge and relax, get some things done around the house and spend a little fun family time together. We had plans for sledding, we were invited to a sushi party at a friends house, I was going to be ALONE on Monday. Yes, it definitely had promise.

But alas, Samuel’s illness that began Thursday night turned into a five day event, taking me down for a day and Kei for a few hours in the process (he got off easy in my opinion). Thomas seems to be the only one unaffected so far (banging very hard on the closest piece of wood I can find). I am starting to feel almost back to normal today, although a little weak and out of breath. Samuel woke up chatty and happy – a far cry from yesterday when he lay on the couch for hours, even while the TV was turned off.

So, needless to say, there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for blogging and taking photos between loads of laundry (about 10 loads since Thursday), looking after two boys and trying to squeeze in a little of my day job. Oh, and Kei is in week #2 of his job so him taking a day off to balance the childcare has not been an option. Feeling sorry for me yet?

OK – enough complaining. I am going to power forward and make it to Friday and then I am going to collapse in a heap. Good thing I have a girls spa weekend away in the not-to-distant future. I seriously am counting the days.

And since I haven’t picked up my camera in a while, I only have a few iphone photos to share. The boys and I managed to venture into the front yard on Monday for about an hour while the sun was shining. That 60 minutes may have been the only thing to preserve my sanity.