my computer is acting up.
as in….BLACK SCREEN and nothing else.
yuck.
it's getting looked at today.
i am pretty sure it is just the battery but….i know about 1% of computer stuff so who knows what the problem really is.
BOO.
so i sit here on the desktop computer that the rest of my family uses and i looked through iPhoto on here.
and i think i may cry.
i found the pictures from when we potty trained annie.
when she was officially "trained" i took her to the store to pick out anything she wanted.
she chose a box of marbles.
i love that she chose that….it's so her.
and then there was talby…on her teeny pink bike….and her sweet baby face.
where does that go?
when?
how???
oh i miss that little munkin.
i loved my hair that way.
it was a great cut!
maybe soeday again……
look at my babies!!!
so long ago already.
dying.
it physically aches me to look at this.
he has muscles now.
and man sized feet.
and a low voice.
wiping away the tears…..
oh wait….i do remember something that i don't miss so much.
the bang-your-head-on-the-floor-scream-for-a-day-for-no-apparent-reason-other-than-being-three-years-old
kind of tantrums.
but i would do it again in a heart beat.
i just can't believe how fast it changes.
i miss my babies being babies.
i really do.
let's all hope my computer gets fixed really quick because how many posts like this can a heart take???
Kara - I am so glad I am not the one who physically aches when they see pictures of the littles…I do the same (and my kids are only 5 and 4)–but I do miss the baby snuggles, the “need” for mom, and even potty training (a little). love it.
Tiffany - *sigh* This actually made me cry a little. I’m going through that bang your head on the floor and cry stage. =) I love my babies to pieces, but sometimes they can be emotionally exhausting. And you just put it all in perspective for me. And now I just want to stay right here in this stage when they’ll still crawl on my lap and into my bed for cuddles and snuggles. And give me big huge bear hugs and butterfly kisses.
Your kids are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing these!
ana {bluebirdkisses} - Old pictures make me cry too, and baby J is only 7 mos old! But I feel like one day I blinked and he was instantly older. I wish I could slow down time just a little bit.
Sarah - I can’t look at old pictures. I have albums and albums and scrapbooks and all of that, and I can’t even look at them because I just get in an awful teary funk. Darn those kids for growing up!
Corey J - I am in LOVE with myservice.com to fix my mac. It’s so much cheaper than the apple store and they do a great job. My husband stepped on my laptop and they fixed the screen for HALF THE PRICE.
Good luck with your computer!
julia - I will accept that shirt as a hand-me-down.
Surprised the 5 year old at school with lunch. COMPLETE melt down because I didn’t bring cupcakes or cookies for the class (she thought it was her birthday). Assistant principal and two or three teachers talked to her…I had to leave for 10 or 15 minutes. She wouldn’t eat the lunch that I brought. When I picked her up at the end of the day she begged me to come again.
Leslie - I visit often, but don’t comment much. However, I must comment today!
Out of shear exhaustion, I am dying in laughter after reading the “bang your head on the floor tantrum” line. Thank you for that.
I have a three year old.
And it’s been that kind of week. It’s nice to know we aren’t the only ones like that. Thank you , thank you , thank you.
And thanks for reminding me to enjoy these days. With a three year old. 🙂
They are precious.
Lori - I had the same thing with my mac book and I took it to apple. It ended up being a memory card. (Nothing was lost – I don’t understand too much about computers but when I here damaged memory card I think lost info but apparently that’s not the case). They said it just happens – no warning and it cannot be prevented. It took them 15 minutes and it was up and running. Hopefully that’s the same problem with your’s!
Jennie - Thank you for that sweet reminder today, Meg! I have a 19 month old and a 3 year old, and we are certainly in the midst of the three year old tantrums. Yesterday, it involved a fit pitched because “the couch wouldn’t move” to let her by. No lie. I want to pull my hair out on so many days, but this was a good reminder that these days will be gone before I know it. thanks for that.
Kelly - I have the hardest time looking through those old pics myself (my one and only baby just turned 19!!!)…yours made me cry, mine make me weep! The eternal tug at a mother’s heart strings, oh to do it all again. 🙂 sigh..
Ruth Baumgartner - I have been in a bit of a funk since my baby went to Kindergarten a month ago… thanks for brining tears to my eyes, I am not alone in wonderful Motherhood. Now I think, maybe just one-or 2 more?…. What am I thinking! 🙂 Thanks Meg.
Jessica Johnson - ok. you need to stop this right now. and you are right – GREAT cut. definitely NOT 10 years ago. 😉 wish we could have chatted more, too. and we WILL meet again. before you post pictures of your kids from today 4 years from now. kim and i are on the wait list for craft weekend! REALLY, really hoping to make it happen. even in the snow. miss you, new friend! xxoo
TinaM. - I love your hair in the one pic 🙂 I love flipping through old photos. Thanks for sharing.
Lori Austin - Memory lane is hard on the heart, isn’t it?!
I’ve been watching a 20 month old this week and I keep thinking “oh I remember when my little girl did this” or “oh that stage was so fun”. Blah blah blah! Sniff….
Good thing you rec’d that box of tissues for your b-day 🙂
casey - aw! I don’t even know your kids and I felt my heart get all mushy inside!
I do have to say though, I REALLY needed this today! I have a 2 yr old PLUS I was currently watch two little girls in my home who are 1 and 1 1/2 so I have many a times during the day where I feel like I wanna bang my head against the wall!
Thanks for the reminder (c;
lovethosecupcakes - I blinked and find my gorgeous girlie is planning her walk down the aisle next year.
Mrs. - I love Annie’s chubby fist full of marbles. Life is in the details!
Yaz - I have to say I dont usually post anything on your board but I am always reading and enjoying everything you have on your site. BUT this touched me. My son is turning 5 in January and it literally makes my heart hurt knowing he is growing up so fast. I truly with all that is in me try to enjoy every moment with him. Often having mommy guilt for being a working mother but I am always looking for us to do things together after work or on weekends. He is my only son and I will probably not have any more so I am even more sad that I wont see that infant/toddler stage but I at least did once for a couple of years and when my son potty trained he picked a book when I took him to the store! It is so beautiful being a mother and I never even knew it would be like this.
Kate @ Songs Kate Sang - Right?! Julia is about to outgrow me any second and I am seriously not sure what happened!
beth - i am crying with you. my kiddos are 7 & 9. i long for baby/toddler days. they seem so much older than they should be. i am understanding everyday more and more why parents cry at graduation and weddings and births of grandbabies. okay, i’ll stop now.
Kat - Awww so cute!
How old was Annie when you toilet trained her?
I only ask because I am going through this with my 4th and youngest child atm and she is going to be three in Nov. (I think I have just been putting it off!)
Some days when I look at old pics, it really makes me want to have #5.
My #2 is 7 today and the others are 9, almost 5 and almost 3 and I know it is all relative cause that probably sounds so little compared to yours, but I am still sad that it is going so damn fast!!
How wonderful that we make the time to capture these moments in photos.
Parenthood started back here last night in Aus and I so LOVE that show!!!!!!
Stephanie - I know exactly how you feel. My kids are 8 and 6 and I don’t know how we got here! It went so fast. Everyone always tells you to enjoy the time with your kids because it goes so fast. I always thought, “Yeah right. Whatever you say.” But it did, and it does. I miss my babies.
Tonya - Meg…oh how blessed we are to have the gift of seeing our children grow up…I wouldn’t want it any other way. But that doesn’t mean it has to happen so fast! 🙂
karen - your kids are so beautiful. i like to see them grow up…makes me feel good. maybe i feel like that because they are only 4 and 1 1/2…
Kimbery Dial - I agree. It happens way too fast. Sad to report that it happens with the grandbabies too. So very sad. :*( Praying your computer is fixed pronto! 😉
Jenna - I am getting teary-eyed FOR you! So sweet.
Valerie @ Chateau A la Mode - I totally hear you…makes me sad too!
Aby - I feel your pain! It truly is physically painful sometimes. I have 9 year old twin girls. And that’s it. They’re both going to leave me at once!! Oh my. I dread it already.
Kori - Yes. Please don’t do this again…lol!! 😀 I teared up looking at your pictures thinking of how you must feel knowing I feel the same here about my son. I have a different type of longing also because our first child, a daughter, was stillborn and I always think of what could have been with her. I can never decide which is worse: knowing or wondering.
Anyway.
Is it weird that when I look at pictures of your cute kiddos it sometimes feels like looking at pictures of extended family or someone I actually know….I hope not!! 🙂
Sarah @ Handbags*N*Pigtails - I totally get you on the physical pain thing. Every time I go back through photos from our fiels, I end up in tears and just saying to Eric “how did our girls grow up so fast?!” Theyre still young (5 & 7) but seriously…just yesterday I was birthing them. Insert me bawling here…
Linda - I have never commented on any post before, but this took me straight to my heart. I know how you feel. Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is, they don’t need me as much. How I miss those days.
Michelle from Australia - Great post!
Logan - I took one look at that picture of all of you and thought “Meg needs to grow out her hair”! I love it long like that!
jodynebesnik@hotmail.com - Good afternoon… stumbled onto your blog while searching for “bunting” inspiration. I have to tell you this- *I* have a 3 year old who could almost be a twin to your Annie. I did a double-take. So now we ARE in the bang-your-head-against-the-floor-for-no-reason-only-because-I-am-3 stage. But your post made me pause and think… in a few years it will all be different. I do love the cuddles before bed and the innocence and the giggles. I will try not to take them for granted. Even when the next tantrum is about to start, in .. 03…02…01…… :)jody
elisa - I so avoid iPhoto. No way. Or archives on the blog. Sigh.
It goes waaaaaay too fast. And it’s not fair. Boo.
Grandma Ruth - I don’t mean to discourage you, but I’m actually the great-grandma of a darling three-month old…and I STILL tear up at pictures of my own babies and my grandbabies (who have had the audacity to become old enough to go off to college and one to get married.) Maybe that intense love is what keeps us praying for them year after year.
Alicia @ La Famille - oh my gosh…why would you do this to me!?! i’m already an emotional wreck, getting ready to moving across the country and leave all my friends and family…now this!?! 🙂 i think i need to go find my husband…we need more kids 😉
Michelle - Awesome photos! I don’t even know you and those pictures had me tearing up too! I’m right there with you. Every time I look back at the sweet baby faces of my two, it has the same effect!! Glad to know that I’m not the only mom that this happens to. Thanks for sharing!
alyssa - I agree, how much more can we take! Stop it! You need to tuck it all away, otherwise you’ll make us all cry!!!
tara pollard pakosta - precious photos!
keep em’ coming! I LOVE looking at my older photos, but you are right, it does make my heart hurt a little because I want them to be that small again>!
LOVE this post!
tara
shannon - This post even made me sad!!! That picture of you and all your kids, they were all soooo little in that picture 🙁 I wish they stayed small FOREVER!
Southern Gal - Annie and Talby look so much alike! My heart hurts every time I look at my now 22, 20 and 9 year old. And my grandbaby is now 15 months old. What????? Enjoy every single minute of it. It’s gone in a heartbeat.
P.S. I love your hair like that. Love it.
Southern Gal - Annie and Talby look so much alike! I’m dying everytime I look at my “babies” who are now 22, 20 and 9. My grandbaby is now 15 months old. What????? Just enjoy it. Every single minute of it.
P.S. I love your hair like that. Love it.
Jenna@CallHerHappy - I think God broke you computer so you would be able to look back at these wonderful memories! So adorable. Now, let’s just hope he fixes it too 😉
Jenna
callherhappy.com
Aimee - Awww…
I dreamed last night that I met all your kids at an outdoor cafe, on a beautiful street with cobblestones, right next to a vintage store. They were so sweet, and they were there with an older teenager/young twenties girl, who was watching them for some reason. They gave no indication where you might be, and I was trying very hard not to be rude and ask. 🙂
Our subconciousnesses (huh?) are so funny.
Tiffany - Yeah, this one hit home. Your THEN is my NOW. So, is there one thing…or maybe a few things…that you might have done differently as a mommy when they were little? Or if the “seasoned mama Meg” could go back in time and tell the “new mama Meg” a few pieces of advice, what would they be? Love, A Mommy of Four Little People Who Sometimes Forgets Her Name 🙂
Laura Phelps - the only thing that upsets me more than my kids growing up so fast, is a computer with a black screen.
THAT made me cry.
good luck
xo
Lisa - I was just telling my husband that I can’t really remember the feel of my kids as babies anymore. It makes me sad when I think of that. The thing is we can’t slow it down so I am trying to embrace them getting older and focus on the joy of watching them turn into adults. I’m sure the joy will come AFTER the teen years 😉
Elizabeth Walters - I only have an almost two year old and an 8 week old. I feel like they have grown so fast and they are only babies. I am learning to treasure the now moments because they are gone so fast.
Jen Brandt - Sweet, sweet photos. I miss my little kids, too – and they’re only 4 and 7 now. Seven was a hard one. Just happened two weeks ago. I told my husband that this all needs to slooowwww down.
Tracy Fisher - Isn’t it fun when you find a blessing in your broken computer?
tracy
Kerry - oh mommy! even I can see how they have grown and i’ve only been reading your blog for 2 years… they do grow up so fast. Oh my heart, Be Still. xxx
Vonda - Love your pictures! I totally feel the same way. My oldest 2 boys have both moved out now-they are 20 and 22. We still have the 13 year old and the’princess'(who is 11) at home, but the house is so much quieter now! We used to have a houseful all the time! Dinners were awesome:)! I miss the noise!!! Yes I said that! We still get them home for a dinner once in a while, but not always at the same time. They grow up way too fast! So glad I took as many pictures as I did!
Geli - Every mother is like this, we miss our little ones, don’t we? I used to have baby and toddler pictures all over the house and always was commenting how cute she was. Then one day, she got all her guts up and asked me if I don’t like her as an “older” child (she was 14 then), since I only have her kiddie pictures on display and always talk about how adorable she was. I felt so bad, I had no idea how it came across to her when I was reminiscing…..I still do, but in private and all her pictures on display are current ones – of an adorable 16 year old teenager (with attitude *sigh*)
Shauna - Oh, you are breaking my heart. My 3 are still so little, and it makes me ache to think they will grow up and not be these little people anymore…i think I’ll go hug them right now!!! 🙂
Katy @ Live Laugh Love Craft - The first few pictures of Annie made me smile. My daughter Abigail is the SAME way! Just the other day we were at the store and she picked out YARD SALE stickers! That was all she wanted, and she had the biggest smile on her face as we were walking out of the store with them. 🙂
I enjoyed this whole post. Isn’t it crazy how from day to day, you don’t really notice a change in them, but looking at pictures from even a year ago the change is drastic?
amanda - Old photos are so hard to look at (and videos – can’t even go there!) Mine are twelve, ten, and two and growing up too fast.
AshleyAnn - So many great pictures….iPhoto is a vault of oldies on my old computer too. It is has been forever since I dug around in there.
Good luck on the computer. I had to buy a new one a month ago…yuck on the $$$, but wow how did I live with that old slow thing for so long!
happygirl - I know what you mean. Time FLIES by. Hang on, it goes way faster the older we get. I have a theory on this. You can ask me about it some time. 🙂
tiffany m gardner - wow. that made me cry too. i have an 8 year old boy, 5 year old girl and an 8 month old. on my hard days…i try to remind myself that one day they will be grown. i try to remind myself that cleaning and laundry can wait until tomorrow. i try to remind myself to just breathe and try to love the moment that we are in. thank you for reminding me of all of that today. that is what your blog does for me… it lifts me up…just when i needed it.
Mindy Harris - i feel your pain, sister. and my babies are still 3 and 1! i look at their newborn pics and just DIE.
keri ~ forever folding laundry - I’m going to have to ask that you please stop posting these types of pictures immediately. Because for some reason it makes me go back to old pictures of MY kids and then I become a teary mess before I have my second cup of coffee.
I miss my babies, too. And I know when they’re hairy teenagers I’m going to miss my elementary school-aged kids like crazy.
OK, I need more coffee now.
debi meyers - me too, me too, me too. My eldest is 18 in about 6 weeks.
I started reading your blog when Annie was teeny. Thanks for the years of pure pleasure.
deb meyers
Amy Griffin - My heart hurts looking at the pictues with you. Like it was said before, I wish I could appreciate the moments when I was in them, as much as I do when I look back. I think I am gonna go look at some of our old pictures. HAve a good time remembering.
jennifer Wells - Aww, mine are still babies (oldest in Kdg) and I already miss them being babies. My baby is 7 mths old and I hate the thought of no more newborns! I hope when we get to heaven we get to hold our babies again. It’s heaven and that would be heaven to me so who knows!
Kirsten J - Ahhh what a reminder. How does it happen?!?!? I had a little tantrum thrower, too. I used to put her to bed at night and feel the bumps on her head from throwing herself on the ground. And this morning as she rushed out the door to school….yeah, she’s still kinda like that.
hannah singer - meg! i am weeping with you! love all these photos. such sweet memories!! my little guy will be three right after christmas. it feels like last month we were bringing him home from the hospital, adopting him into our family. i pray the lord has more children in our future! letting go of baby and enjoying the growing is such a tug of war!
happy tuesday, make it great! xo
Tricia - Meg: I absolutely love my six-year-old son, but I sure would love to spend some time with the baby he used to be. It’s such a bittersweet experience to look through old photos! Tricia
seriouslysassymama - I still have a three year old, but when I see pictures of my older girls that little I cry. I cry every time. My husband just shakes his head and says. Forget it, your tubes are tied and we are not having any more babies. Oh well. I love to look at the old pics! I could so use that tantrum shirt!
Christie - There’s a Mumford and Sons song (“After the Storm”) with the line: “There will come a time with no more tears and love will not break your heart.” It always makes me think of my kids – how much I love them and how much their growing up and away hurts. I can only hold on to the hope that there is a day and a place in store for us where love won’t make us cry.
Gemma @ Musings of a gem - Awww Meg! Hope you cheer up a bit 🙂
Gemma x
http://www.homemadegems.com/
Kristi - Wow! This post made me choke up. I am the mother of a 2.5 year old and a 5 week old. Sometimes I find myself wishing them older just so I can have some time to myself. Thank you for reminding me to live in moment and enjoy these little ones while they are little.
Hugs!
Rebekah from Simply Rebekah - FIX THAT COMPUTER!!! I am a sucker for things kinds of things. I can’t handle it. My only child just turned 2. I started crying in the hospital about her growing up when she was only 2 DAYS old!!
Sugar Mama - I just took my son to get new basketball shoes… size 10 1/2 is what he needed!!! When did THAT happen? He was my little boy, the one that I had as a young girl… I never dreamed it would go by so fast. His zit covered forehead and deep voice make me angry sometimes.
And my other two, 12 and 8… they just made me realize something. In December they will be 13 and 9 adding another teenager to the house and the LAST year that I’ll have a child in the single digits. Boo hoo hoo hoo!
jackie - Oops!! I meant I have THREE daughters!!!
jackie - I am glad for one thing.. that I am not the ONLY mother that hurts SO much and gets tears in her eyes when I look back at pictures – and I mean HURT. I am a mother of four… I have 2 daughters ages almost 15, 12, 10 and a son who is 7. My daughter started highschool this year, and my Sarah is in middle school – how did this happen so quickly?? My son doesn’t call me Mommy anymore…I am Mom to even him now! I look back at when they were babies or little tikes and it DOES hurt.. it really does… and know I am glad I know that I’m not the only one and sounds like you understand. And when I was in the thick of taking care of them all when they were babes, I didn’t realize HOW much I would miss it!! Don’t get me wrong… it is wonderful to see them grow too…but boy I miss my babies!!!
Sarah Wolfe - My baby just turned 3… and it pains me too to look at pictures when they were younger too. It was an exhausting time, but much simpler… tantrums and all 🙂
colleen from Alabama - My laptop is on the blink too! My husband is good at that sort of stuff though. He has run about a gazillion scans and they all have found something different!!! I’m using his laptop now. I had a moment this morning like your “picture moments”. My nine year old son was lying in bed and for just a mili-second, his face looked like it did when he was three. It took my breath away! Oh how i wish we could just freeze life sometimes. Wonder if that will be what Heaven will be like, frozen perfect moments.
Joy McLaughlin - Over the weekend, I did the same thing – old computer, old photos. I may have shed a tear or two myself! It goes way too fast! I hope your computer gets fixed today!!
Sue K. - all i can say is… I KNOW!!! why oh why cant i really treasure those moments when i am in the thick of them? only when i look back do i really, clearly see the wonder?! maybe thats why grandkids must be so amazing? hug!!!
nancy - I am the same way when I look at the babes from the past. Where did time go? I think it is a good way to be reminded how quickly it speeds by. I need to press pause a little more often to really soak it in! 🙂
Holly - oh gosh Meg! Me too! We met our high school daughters boyfriend the other night and all I could think was wow, were we that goofy at that age!?
Oh and I was sick on the couch yesterday so I started watching Parenthood from season one…..I am so hooked!
Karen Lehmann - oh my gosh. looking at YOUR photos made ME cry! what the heck! off to look at my own “days gone by” {thanks}