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In The Picture

A couple weeks ago Alison Tate wrote on The Huffington Post about how, as a mom to four young children, she hates having her picture taken. She’s tired and crumpled, holding onto some baby weight and not feeling very attractive. At a family party, however, her four-year-old son asks if she’ll go into the photo booth with him. She hesitates at first, but then realizes that she wants them to have pictures of her. “I want to be in the picture,” writes Tate, “to give them that visual memory of me. I want them to see how much I am here, how my body looks wrapped around them in a hug, how loved they are.”

The post received a huge response. Of course it did. When Tate talked about even avoiding mirrors, I was nodding. Sometimes — especially during those first few months postpartum — it’s easier to just avoid looking in the mirror. There were days I would rather risk going out in public with fizzy hair all askew, cheese sauce on my chin and a wildly overgrown eyebrows than have to look squarely in the mirror and accept what I saw. Store windows became evil, reflective surfaces threatening to expose my ill-fitting pants and heavy mid-section. Cameras? No way.

So when Best Buy asked if they could send me a camera in order to document me spending time with my family, I said yes. Yes, I would take pictures of myself and my children and my husband all together. I’d take pictures of myself, just the way I am, and post them here for all to see. Because Allison Tate is right, the kids don’t care. When they look at me, they see their mom and they know how much I love them. They deserve to have the memory of that love for the rest of  their lives.

So, we went to the movies! We went to see a preview of the Scooby Doo caper Music of the Vampire that will be airing on Teletoon this Saturday. It’s a 2011 animated feature in the style of the classic TV shows and I really enjoyed it. Colum and Irene were terrified at times, but I kept reminding them that the monster is always just some guy in a costume on Scooby Doo. Always.

 

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I like to drive. So do all my chins.

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I can’t believe the theatre is so empty at 9:30am! Yes, I can.

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This makes it look WAY more happening than it really was.

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All of us together! With Scooby! This very well might make it onto our holiday cards. If I sent out holiday cards.

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Because it’s never too early for popcorn.

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Mary kept her dad busy chasing her up and down the side steps throughout the movie. Irene was in snack heaven.

And I must admit, it’s nice not having to be the one behind the camera all the time. We’ll have to do this again.

Do you think you’ll be able to brave the camera lens with your kids this holiday season, moms?

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The Month in Review Photo Post Thing, 01/12

I thought a photo recap at the end of every month might be fun. This could easily go the way of this blog’s advice column, weekend in the city video series, event listings, attempt to review every single playground in the city (yes, I did), and the list goes sadly on. But I still have to try, so … ta da! The inaugural month in review photo post thing! Currently accepting naming suggestions.

Two major Mary milestones happened around the new year. She moved from cradle to crib (but is still in our room), for one.

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And we broke out the Jolly Jumper! Her staying power is still a little weak, but we’re working on it.

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And then I dressed her like an elf, a Christmas elf in January.

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I bought a cheaper sewing machine because I didn’t want to spend fifty bucks on a sleep sack when we have so many blankets that could be easily sewn together. And then I sewed one! All it needs is velcro. Actually, nearly a month later, it’s fine without the velcro. So $100 for the machine minus $50 for the sleep sack plus $20 in flannel, elastic and velcro that I may never do anything with and … I made my own sleep sack for only $20 more than the retail value. Yay me!

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I got a fancy new Blackberry with a decent camera, so now my pictures won’t suck so hard. (Because I’ve decided I will never actually hook up a camera to upload pictures the old-fashioned way on any sort of regular basis and I’m just rolling with that.) (They will still suck somewhat because I’m still the one taking them.)

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There were boardgames with Grandma and Grandpa (and we all know where that led).

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Irene started calling all elastic bands Silly Bandz and wearing them around like so many rubbery bangles.

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We watched playoff football as a family and I was so proud the kids were mature enough to finally let me watch a game in peace. Er, we watched football as a family for ten minutes and then Colum and Irene started playing football, slamming into the couch and tackling each other on the carpet in front of my game. (Giants for the Superbowl, yo!)

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We attended the funeral of Ed’s mom’s cousin, a good woman taken long before her time. Unfortunately it was the only occasion even remotely formal enough for Mary to wear this beautiful dress, a gift from one of her many great aunts.

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Colum played hockey first thing on Sunday mornings and practiced outside on Monday evenings, even in a snow storm.

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Irene decided to raid the too-small clothes boxes again and squeezed into a size 18-month white dress. She paired it with an OshKosh hoodie, striped leggings and winter boots. And she pulled it off, for crying out loud. She pulled it off.

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Mother’s Day and More

This was the best Mother’s Day so far, mostly because Colum was so incredibly jazzed about it. He worked on a special surprise card for two days at school and kept talking about breakfast in bed all week. (Do you know how hard it is to eat cereal and sip coffee in bed with two kids bouncing around on it? Yes, of course you do.)

Here is the card:

It says: "Mommy," at the top and that teensy picture is me. Then it says, "I love you."
"... because you let me watch tv." As pictured.

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This was apparently a popular reason for loving your mom in Colum’s JK class. At least I didn’t get, “because you let me play video games.” Mean anti-video game position vindicated!

And as long as I’m uploading pictures … here’s a solid month’s worth.

My friend Helena suggested I do a compare and contrast, reconstruction kind of thing with old pictures of Irene’s pregnancy. I thought it was a good idea and took a couple shots at 17.5 weeks. I am now 19.5 weeks, but better late than never, right?

Colum and I about three years ago.
Here we are at 17.5 weeks now.

And more shots from that same day:


And because it’s feast or famine with photos here at Playground Confidential, here are some random shots of us at the beach yesterday evening.

And, finally, with all due respect to Charlie Sheen, THIS smile means winning.