1. My Fascinating Life: a few things about today

• Today, within twenty minutes of waking up, I knew it would be a day spent in the vortex of sick twins. It was tough.

• Within thirty minutes of waking up, I had decided that the DVD player would probably be on all day.

• Within forty minutes of waking up, I had decided not to battle about clothes (or, frankly nappies) and left them in their pajamas all day.

• Being sick seems to make Pink bossy and demanding, and Blue very sad. To illustrate: Within an hour of waking up, Blue cried and cried because Pink wouldn’t let him sit in the toybox with her. Pink seemed quite clear about the fact that Blue was not allowed to sit in the toybox, and told him so in no uncertain terms. She seemed less clear on the fact that she is not allowed to either.

• During their putative nap, the doorbell rang. It was a friend from church, needing me to sign something. Defying statistics, she happened to arrive during the 45 minutes I was cramming potato chips into my mouth and watching Alias on DVD. I don’t think my day looked to her like it felt to me.

2. Does love require work?

If the end goal is to be in a relationship where you perpetually feel the ease of love and infatuation that one experiences at the beginning of a relationship, then that philosophy of love is probably adverse to feeling like the relationship might involve work.  I would speculate, from my years as a marriage and family therapist, that couples who hold these work-free expectations for relationships do not tend to have long-term marriages, but rather tend to seek a new person when the feelings of initial infatuation fade away with their current partner.   And, you know?  That’s a lifestyle a lot of people choose.  We can all think of celebrities (or politicans *cough*) who appear to me on this plan.  I had a professor in grad school who had a seven-year deal with his wife.  Every seven years, they renegotiated if they still felt like continuing.  They aren’t married anymore.

If, on the other hand, your end goal is to be holding your spouse’s hand in the nursing home some day, I think you have your work cut out for you.

3. Perspective.

As moms sometimes, it often feels like these are the “hard” times, when our kids are young and growing and learning, potty-training and having sleepless nights from bad dreams. But trust me, I realize now that this isn’t the hard stuff. The hard stuff is dealing with life and death choices, and helping our kids see that they are loved, that they are worth it. I have no doubt that the parents of these boys taught them those things…and that’s what makes this even scarier. I am not trying to be a downer…just explaining what my perspective is these days.

4. Kristen Bell on Ellen

5. 20 Things to Start Doing in Your Relationships

Pay attention to who your real friends are. – As we grow up, we realize it becomes less important to have more friends and more important to have real ones.  Remember, life is kind of like a party.  You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late.  But in the end, after the fun, there are a few who stay to help you clean up the mess.  And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess.  These people are your real friends in life.  They are the ones who matter most.

Don’t forget to make your way over to the photo contest to win some great prizes!

Happy Friday!

Since a couple of maternity/newborn items are being awarded as prizes … I thought I would take a minute to share this as well …

(ETA: if you are reading this in a reader, make sure to ‘click through’ on the post title so you can see the video

I have to admit when Harrison’s mommy wrote this on facebook, it made me tear up as well, “Thanks again Chelsey, I never thought that seeing us through your eyes would be that amazing and emotional thanks for having the kleenex handy!”

Thanks for sharing your beautiful new boy with the world, Jacque! He is so loved already.

]]> http://machcphotography.com/blog/2012/02/a-newborn-session-a-few-secret-love-day-prizes/feed/ 0 http://machcphotography.com/blog/2012/01/wall-art-for-your-life/ http://machcphotography.com/blog/2012/01/wall-art-for-your-life/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:22:06 +0000 Chelsey http://machcphotography.com/blog/?p=6257 I love getting snapshots of your wall art ‘in action’!

The latest is from Nikki’s house … she titled the email: 23 Great iPhotos ~ too funny … but really, she did a fantastic job and gave me great shots to work with to show off here on the blog! Take a peek and feel free to pin what you like! I love showing off ‘real life’ examples of how family wall art looks in your home.

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If you have some snapshots of your happiness pie, send them over via email to info at machcphotography dot com and I will share them here on the blog.

I would love to show off how you celebrate your family in your home!