I’ve been struggling again with the point, or value, of this blog, especially since I have other areas of my life that could use this time — the writing, especially, could be directed towards some research projects I have. I did manage to write a brief post on a great mystery novel over at my other blog, but I have been a bit dissatisfied with what I have time to do here — never quite seem to follow a thought through beyond the superficial.
To keep me going, for now, though, I’m focussing on the personal journal aspect of what I do here — while I’d love to have interested readers, if I don’t I will still have a family/personal record that I’ll enjoy looking back on. As well, since family is undeniably a big part of the richness of my life, I’m also contributing to my other hope for the blog, which is that by representing this particular 55-year-old woman’s life, it broadens the overall image of women of a certain age.
Alright, now that the lengthy preamble is done, once again, here’s Nola. As you can see, she’s moved into that very attentive stage in which parents can coax delightful smiles out of her and grandparents can hold extended conversations that consist of expressive eybrow movements, the very occasional cooing sound, and hilarious attempts at shaping a mouth to mimic Nana. In these three photos, she’s paying careful attention, although I never managed to catch a smile.
The sweater she’s wearing in the photo above and the one below is a sweater I knit for her mom, 32 years ago — it’s a very 70s colour, and obviously has enough synthetic in it to have resisted any moths in between, but I love that my 23-year old fingers can touch my new little girl through it.
The jumpsuit below, for knitting readers, is not a handknit, but a very cute item nonetheless — the kids picked it up at a 2nd-hand shop, and she’ll have grown out of it by the next time I see her!
If I had a toy this scrummy to play with I too would not be so bloggy. (I wish I could smell her head)
In fact the only reason I blog is that it is so intertwined with my work the two go hand in hand. At home I never touch the computer unless I have too.
Like you my blog has begun to reveal a side of me that whilst I would not want my family to read it now, may help them understand what makes me tick in the future perhaps, especially my girls. So do not worry, just feed us the photos and we will stay happy.
How wonderful that she is wearing something that her mum wore, and that you knitted all those years ago. Our boys wore the baptismal gown that I wore and I would love for their children to wear it too when the time comes (although my older son is currently an atheist, so the chances may be slim!).
I am happy with whatever you wish to share with us – you do indeed have such a rich life. Patricia
Hooray for more Nola pictures and updates!!
Here’s the thing about blogging…most of us are doing it for free and it should be a labor of love. A blog can also function as documentation of the shifts in our lives over time, and that’s fine. Your life has experienced a wonderful shift, and reflecting that on your blog allows us all to share in it a bit (if you’ll have us). Thanks for that!
Can I just say that Nola sooooo looks like you and her Mommy. And, OMG, that baby girls lips are sooooo pretty. What a preeeety girl, yes she is. Sorry, I descended into baby talk.
Oh, and I totally agree with Deja. Take a break, post baby pictures or whatever you want to do. Blogging without obligation, remember? 🙂
Oh definitely blog. Its your blog, its your life. You will be glad someday just as we are thrilled to share a little tiny bit of it with you. I love the idea of the sweater you knit for your daughter as a young mom now being worn by her daughter, touched by the generations she is. She shall be blessed for it we hope.
That last photo is so intense, the beautiful, intense face and the eyes. For a momemt I had a flash to my baby brother, no reason really, but it startled me. How small and how vast the world is.
Oh look at that little girl! She’s obviously a wise one, possibly an old soul. What a delight.
We have 14 month old cousin I got to flirt with at Thanksgiving, and I joked to my mom that I might have another, as they are so wonderful! She got a look of horror in her eyes and said, “you can’t be serious.” I said, “Mom, remember, I had my tubes tied when the boys were born?”
Guess I forgot to mention that to her at the time, what with having twins and all. It was worth it for a hilarious moment!
Alison: Yes! Baby heads smell the best! And thanks for the support and understanding.
Patricia: I think my sister snagged the christening gown my daughter wore and which had come down through my dad’s family — you have to move fast with siblings! I’ve got at least one garment for each child tucked away in the hopes they might be sentimental enough to appreciate them someday.
Pseu: Thanks for the understanding, as always.
LBR: Well, now you’ve learned the language, you should spread it around — I’d do the same if I got to coo over Lily!
Mardel: Your last comment really resonates — I get them, not often, but enough, those flashes of recognition or connection — across generations, across countries, in places you wouldn’t expect any connection — suggests that the vastness of our world’s population might be traced back to a surprisingly small gene pool? or at least that we’re more connected than we usually think. and, of course, the flashes come more often with my/our increasing “life experience” (read age!)
dana: I know that kind of teasing — I’d subject my husband to it when I got exposed to young babies. In reality, once I was done, I knew I was done, and was quite happy after that to cuddle and leave without, but it was fun to see his look of concern . . .
The documentation of my parents’ era was family movies. They’ve been transferred from film to VHS and then DVD, as I expect the blog to someday be transferred. Now, most of the people in those movies are gone, and I am grateful beyond words to have those images.
I love how babies breathe with their whole bodies, a delight to hold them and feel their little torsos rise and fall. Nola is so lively and beautiful!
All the above commenters have said all the clever stuff (you know I would have said it, if I’d got here first!) so I will just enjoy the pictures of Nola.
Those lips! I love when you post about her,,,,Babies are such a joy, even when they live far, far away and are not yours!!! I can’t wait to be a grandmother! Thanks for the babylove today!
You’re welcome, Karen, and thanks for the enthusiasm. I’m very happy to be a Nana!
Duchesse: We did that transfer as well, although the VHS hasn’t yet made it to digital — I should really get on that, I guess. I have some concerns, from time to time, about archiving of the blog — do I really trust blogspot that much? My daughter Bronwen, a “cybrarian” who works on digitizing special collections for an academic library, says these kinds of questions — how to save digital material — is an ongoing concern in her field. From time to time, I think I should at least cut-and-paste my posts into Word but I never actually get ’round to it.
Cybill: Clever sometimes get tiring to aim for, doesn’t it?! Sometimes I just want to let the blogger know I was there, but haven’t the energy to think of anything “clever” to say. I’m glad you said “hi” and appreciated my little girl.