For some reason this 1,000th post seemed significant to me and I haven’t really been able to pinpoint why I feel this way, but this morning as I started thinking about how I wanted to answer some of your questions, I realized that this 1,000th post for me is more about why I blog and what it means to me and our family. I still remember in 2005 before Barry and I were getting ready to leave on our January – June Australian adventure and he set this blog up as a way to keep our families up to date on our trip. We’d clock into an internet cafe and I always had to whisper-talk to Barry about what ‘code’ to use because he’d set up the writing portion of the site for a computer nerd – and computer nerd, I am not.
By the time we came home from Australia and got our jobs, we weren’t really sure what to write about and the blog fell off the grid for a bit. It makes me sad to think about that time because we had plenty going on – camping trips, dinners with friends, bike rides, and plenty of fun. We’ve got pictures and some half-accurate memories, but I wish that we’d kept writing during that time. Shortly after we got Sydney, I discovered The Pioneer Woman and her pictures and ability to write about the everyday adventure inspired me beyond words. So, we launched the blog up again and during our wedding planning we started to post with more frequency, with horrible pictures and writing that wasn’t coherent. (Can’t say that we’ve improved that much in the past five years, but we’re more thoughtful than before!)
It wasn’t until Little Miss Maggie Mae showed up on the scene that I realized how strongly I felt about documenting our lives. Time seemed to speed up and I could hardly remember one day from the next. I’d always found an outlet for my thoughts through writing – journals, notes, letters… – and the blog seemed to fuel that need that I felt to dump out my thoughts. Today when I think about our blog, I feel thankful that I’ve kept it up. I hardly ever go back and proof read (sorry, folks!) and rarely do I regret my writing.
Personally, I think everyone should document their life – through pictures, words, drawings, songs – just document who you are. I know that I love reading my baby book and the notes that my mom wrote about me. It gives me snapshots of who I was as a young child, but more importantly, who she was as a young mother. I hope that someday Maggie will read this blog and she’ll get a feel for who we were, her parents, when she was young and even before.
Sure, so much of our lives isn’t on here, but the snapshots that are make me feel happy, proud, excited and extremely blessed. So, this 1,000th post is significant to me because it makes me realize that the words and pictures that have followed us on this blog from 2005 are truly the fabric of our lives. I blog to document that ever-changing fabric.
And now for some of your questions…if you’ve got more, feel free to ask. Seeing these come through has been really fun. We’re not using formspring in the traditional way, but we’re still getting some of your questions.
How old was Maggie when it was evident that she’d have curly hair?
Oh, the hair. I’d say that around 5 or 6 months we knew it’d be curly. We took a trip to Hawaii when she was almost 6 months old and that was the first place that I remember thinking that her hair was ‘having a party on top of her head’ for the first time. That said, I also remember very, very early on another parent of curly-haired children informing me that it looked like Mags was going to have curly hair, something that wasn’t obvious to us yet.
Where do you get majority of Maggie’s clothes?
Most of Maggie’s clothes have come from local consignment/second hand shops. We’ve had some hand-me-downs from friends, but I really enjoy trying to find great deals in the local shops near our house. My mom has also made Maggie many dresses, skirts and pinafores. Occasionally I’ll find something on zulilly.com or a Groupon and buy it, but for the most part we’ve been able to buy used items. We almost always buy new shoes.
What kind of camera do you use to take your pictures?
I have a trusty-old Canon Rebel that I love and adore. Sometimes I daydream about upgrading my camera body from time to time, but I really am happy with my current set up. I have a number of lenses, with my two favorites being the 35mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.8. I try to only shoot with natural light and shoot in Manual mode as well. I edit my photos using Lightroom. I poured over my owner’s manual and read many online tutorials when I first got my camera and still follow fellow photographers whose work I find inspiration. I still have a lot to learn, but I love taking pictures.
