I miss that.
And so I decided to document again. Just this weekend, to pick up my camera a bit more and not ask for poses or highlights - but just document the every day ordinary...
FRIDAY
I miss that.
And so I decided to document again. Just this weekend, to pick up my camera a bit more and not ask for poses or highlights - but just document the every day ordinary...
FRIDAY
In Norway, with very little exception, babies sleep outside in nature. It's a beautiful tradition which has stood the test of time, and which I first adopted on our first trip to Norway as parents back in 2011, when Ava was just nine weeks old. I was a new Mama... still in the overwhelmed stage but definitely out of the initial "shock to the system - life is changed forever" phase. I was eager to learn and very aware of my own cluelessness and was desperate to do a "good job". I read every book I could get my hands on, devoured motherhood blogs and podcasts and soaked in conversations with more seasoned mothers than myself.
It's only once in a while that you stop and realise that so much of life's direction depends upon a single moment - one decision, one miscalculation, one split-second can send you down a route you never expected. When Ava and I logged onto her parents evening last Tuesday, and David had still not returned, I simply assumed he was running late. It was only when the repeat calls started coming through from a number I did not recognise that I began to wonder...
"Claire, its me... I've been in an accident"
It feels like such a responsibility, doesn't it? The choosing of a name... the responsibility of bestowing on your child something they will carry with them throughout their years. We have always wanted names heavy with meaning and purpose, beautiful and strong, names which work across the three languages that flow from our children's tongues. Scandinavian and Germanic influences, and yet names known and appreciated in the country of their birth.
HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY! Hard to believe our two biggest girls are now well into double digits. How the years fly! It makes me more determined than ever to make the most of every minute. Having Annika now, and dressing her in some of your clothes, it feels like those days were yesterday - and yet a lifetime ago. Time is a funny thing.