The Funny Thing About Pictures

Yes, I realize that I used to make fun of people who have a blog. I always thought they had way too much time on their hands. Yes, I am bored. I am still on maternity leave and have run out of things to do. My house is in order for the first time since we moved in, all of my pictures are in albums, I have about a month's worth of meals in the freezer (I guess I was in a panic that I won't have any time to cook anymore when I go back to work, yet somehow I managed to do it for 9 years), and a good portion of my Christmas shopping is done - so now I am blogging.

I realize that my last blog was very sentimental. Please don't be misled. I get very sentimental about Izzy. She's my baby and yes, she's got us all wrapped around her little finger. I know I will pay for it later. You will probably find that I write more about her than I do about Brayden and Jena. That's because I have more nice things to say about her right now. I'm sure in a few years that will change, once she is able to talk back and argue with her big brother and sister. For now, she's the only kid in our family who doesn't drive me crazy on a daily basis.


See this picture of Jena? Cute, right? What you don't see is the events that took place seconds before I took the picture. Brayden was reading a book to Izzy on the floor. (The only way I can get him to do his nightly reading without it becoming a major power-struggle is to have him read to her.) I thought to myself, "This would be a cute picture!" So I got out the camera and took a picture. Here it is. Jena, seeing me taking a picture of Brayden and Izzy, got very jealous and started screaming,
"TAKE A PICTURE OF ME, TOO!" So, that's what happened right before she is smiling and looking all cute in that picture.

That's the funny thing about pictures. They only show one fraction of a moment in time. You never see what happened right before - parents yelling at their kids to stop making faces at the camera or a brother and sister fighting over who gets to hold the baby. We as parents like to photograph the happy times. On days when we want to pull our hair out, those pictures serve as a reminder that our children are cute and yes, we do love them - even though at times we may not like them very much. (Did I really just say that?) Admit it - you know you've felt that way too at some point if you have a child over the age of 3. If not, you're either lying or self-medicating.