Iggy Pop

Since we've been spending a bit of time at the beach lately, I decided that the below photo is too appropriate for this week's post.  As I've been writing, it crossed my mind that I've never been to the beach with Ygal. How sad that I never will. I'm sure, at some point, we might have taken our families all together to the beach for a vacation ~ to see our little ones splashing around in the surf and making sand castles together.  I guess these thoughts will come up quite often......as time goes by, it will come to our attention all the things that we won't get to experience with Ygal.  Although he is still there.....always is...

This photo is too beautiful.  

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For those of you who don't know, Ygal is there in the front. My adorable husband is on the right.  Cute Tio Diggy is on the left.  These boys grew up in Europe where little Speedos are the norm and totally adorable on little boys!!!  (For the record, Alain no longer wears them ~ ha!).

I hope you all have a beautiful and peaceful weekend.

Capturing Motherhood in a Photo

Oh, I do love Sophie's imagination. That girl is quite creative and enjoys some serious role-playing on a daily basis.  It's one of my favorite things....

Last week, we were at a friend's house setting up for a birthday party. The birthday girl was putting out plates on the table and Sophie asked if she could put out a plate or two. Her friend said no.  Sophie was crestfallen and cried sad tears the entire way home.  It hurt my heart to see her that upset so, when we got home, I pulled out the party supplies and offered her six party plates, napkins and cups......and suggested maybe she have a little party with her "Care Bears".  Well, the tears stopped IMMEDIATELY and she disappeared to her room.  A short while later, I turned the corner to find this.....

Grumpy, Oopsie, Cheer, Funshine and Share (from left to right ~ in case I forget one day) had a marvelous time and Mommy only saw huge smiles and received many hugs from Sophie the rest of the evening!!!

I must have blinked.....

......because Sophie started school today and I have no idea how it got here so quickly.  I did very well leading up to school and dropping her off but I am a bumbling, melting mess now.  Whew.  I know I say it a lot but parenting is certainly not for the weak-hearted!



Big, wide, crazy world ~~~~  PLEASE be good and kind to my baby Goose.  She has such a good and innocent heart.....I hope she stays that way for a LONG, LONG TIME.

Iggy Pop

As you can imagine, some days are okay and other are just so damned hard.  I have my own emotional days when I miss Ygal so much that I feel sure my heart might break in half.  I have so much I'd like to share with him. It's excruciating.  YET I know it's nothing compared to what Alain is going through.  It's hard to see someone you love so much in so much pain, with hurt so strong it's reflected in his eyes.  Alain doesn't have to say a word for me to know he's having a tough day.  There have been a few lately so I wanted to post this photo.....for Alain.  It's such a beautiful one and I just hope that, wherever Ygal might be, he knows how very much his oldest brother loves and misses him.  

PS ~ Sorry this post is so late.  I was running low on digital photos so I had to dig into the archives of hard copy photos. Our scanner is not friendly to those of us not technologically inclined (okay okay, me) so I had to find time to go to Target and scan the photos. Then I had to wait a day for the CD to be ready and picked up.  Won't happen again!  Hopefully.

Happy 300!

Just recently I surpassed my 300th post on this here blog o' mine.  I thought that deserved some recognition. so I took a few little photos in celebration.  Oh blog, you bring me such joy.  Thank you!

I LOVE MY BEACH BABIES!

 

I've never considered myself much of a beach person. But my girls are natural beach babies and Sophie can talk of little else. I had so many reservations about taking Clara to the beach at this age. That was senseless. She took to the water like I've never seen a baby do before. And she didn't try to eat sand, not even once!  I'm telling you....these girls are slowly converting me.

Who Else Loves Sea Birds?

Is it just me?  Because, without fail, they take up the bulk of my pictures....

This little guy looks good from both sides, doesn't he?  What a cutie!

I loved the colors on this one!

Most of my bird photos look like that last one. They're FAST and getting them in the frame is a challenge!  

PS ~ To answer my own question, I think Clara loves the sea birds as much as me. She would get so excited when they were close by.  And she would grin from ear to ear while squealing, "Ba, Ba, Ba". I think Scout and Atticus may have something to do with that!

Not Quite Done With The Beach Yet....

I'm going through the hundreds of photos I took over the course of five days at the beach. Some of them make me pause and go back to look at them over and over.  I really love the nature ones. I hope you'll indulge me....

I am a shell fanatic. I could look at them and take photos all day long. They're amazing and there's always a treasure to be found.

Sophie actually asked me to take this picture. So glad she did ~ it's one of my favorites!

Aaahhh, don't you love this feeling?

Quite possibly my favorite photo of the bunch. Each time I see it I want to be back there immediately!

More shells. I love the colors.

I don't have a great camera but I tried my best to capture the magnificent sunset.

I'm so thankful my aunt and uncle invited us to join them for their beach vacation. The timing could'nt have come at a better time ~ I think it was good for our souls....

Iggy Pop

When I was pregnant with Sophie, Ygal called us pretty early in the pregnancy and said he'd like to visit right around the time of the due date.  He wanted to be there for the big arrival.  Alain and I were both touched by this but worried about the timing and that he might miss out if the baby decided to come early or late.  Being so far away, Ygal had to make a decision and buy his ticket early. A last-minute ticket from Switzerland can set you back for a long time!  Against our advice to wait and arrive about a week after our due date, he made the decision to come for two weeks ~ one week before my due date and one week after.

I took this photo during that visit.  Every time I walked in the room with my bulging belly, he'd look up quickly and ask, "Is it happening? Is it time?".  In the photo above, I caught him just as he looked up at me to ask those very questions.

As some of you know and as others might have guessed, he missed the birth.  Ygal and Bianca left on their flight back to Switzerland with nary a contraction in sight.  As fate would have it, I went into labor about 24 hours later.

Even though Ygal wasn't in town for the actual birth, I will always feel very touched by that visit and how badly he wanted to be there for the birth of his first niece/nephew (we didn't know the baby's gender beforehand).  Once again, this example shows Iggy's commitment to his family and his desire to be a central part.  I relay this story to friends and family fairly regularly so my weekly posts wouldn't seem complete without telling it here.  

It's also nice to think about Sophie reading this post one day in the future and being reminded how very much her Tio wanted to be there when she was born.

SOPhie Was Here!

Where is Sophie?  I can't find her anywhere.  She must have headed down to the beach.  I think I'll head down there myself to look for her....

That footprint looks to be about her size.....I think I'll head in that direction.

Aaaahhh, yes, a happy looking girl with a sunshine and a puffy cloud. I must be getting close.

Well, I'm now sure she must be close by. 

Yep, there she is.....playing in the surf.  Catching sharks at that!

This is a very common sight when you're on the beach with Sophie. And it's a real pleasure to come upon her happy little drawings and her name scribbled all over.  I love that she views the sandy beach as her vast canvas!!!!

Life is Good.....at the Beach!

The four of us are enjoying a few days at the beach with some of my family. It's been so nice and fairly relaxing. Yesterday morning, while Clara was napping, I had the luxury of spending a few minutes at the beach with my camera.  Aaaahhhh, now that's what I call a good time!

PS ~ That is the same umbrella that's been shielding me from the sun since I was a young, young tot.  And it still looks amazing!  They definitely don't make them like that anymore!!!  And, personally, I think it's the nicest one on the beach. Nobody else has a wicked cool vintage beach umbrella...

PPS ~ Sitting on the deck last night, after the kids went to bed, I saw six shooting stars.  It was also the first time that I actually saw the Milky Way clearly.  DIVINE!

What in the world could be more delicious.....

.......than a bubble bath baby????

Iggy Pop

You might be asking yourself why I would choose to post the above two photos of Ygal for this week's post.

Easy.

Iggy was one of the coolest and most confident dancers I've ever known.  It had to be said.  Just look at his form and that swagger. The grin that he just can't help but let out. As someone who also enjoys tearing up the dance floor, I always loved that about him. Immensely. He was just a phenomenally fun dance partner!  These were the only two dancing pictures I could find of him and they were also taken at his and Bianca's wedding back in 2009.

I will miss many things about Ygal but dancing with him would be at the tip-top of my long list.

Smiling Upon My Reflection

You are only real if you can see yourself, see yourself clear and true in the mirror of your soul and smile upon the reflection.

~ Anna Quindlen

PS ~ Thank you, Alain.

Iggy Pop

This week I thought I'd post photos from Ygal's most recent trip to visit us.  He and his family came to Charlotte in late February/early March of this year.  As it turned out, it was the last time we saw and spent time with Ygal.

Ygal was the quintessential family man.  Seriously.  I know people sometimes say nice things about people once they're gone that aren't necessarily true.  I'm not doing that here.  Ygal was a true family man.  He made the long, expensive trip to visit us every couple years or so.  Think of how big the world is....the possibilities are endless....but he came to Charlotte.  Charlotte! I can't tell you how much we appreciated that and loved his visits.  Ygal always made such huge efforts to bring his family together....a family that just happens to spread out over half the globe.  

Regarding that last visit, I am most thankful that I got the chance to see Ygal as a father.  I was actually caught off guard at what a good father he was.  I had no reason to think he wouldn't be...none at all....but he was just that good (and I am not easily impressed). Yaron adored his father and his face would light up when Ygal walked in the room first thing in the morning.  They had a really close relationship.

I'm glad I got the chance to experience that firsthand because Yaron will need and want to hear about that in the future.  From everyone.

And I, for one, can't wait to tell him.