Sunday 3 January 2016

{The Ordinary Moments #1} Cousins




For the last couple of years, I've been taking pictures of my little family as part of the Me & Mine project, which was created by Lucy. Without this, I wouldn't have captured two years of photo's of me and my boys every month. So when Lucy created the siblings linky, it made me really excited to have another baby so I wouldn't finally be able to join in. 

Somewhere  along the way, I decided that although I couldn't do 'sibling' pictures, I could do 'cousin' pictures. I spoke to my sister in law about it, to see if she was up for me photographing Alfie and my niece and nephew every month and at the end of the year, we would put all the pictures of the three of them together as a Christmas present for my mother and father in law. Luckily, she was really on board with it. 

When I was growing up, I was really close to all of my cousins but two in particular. Gemma is 3 months younger than me and Anthony is a year younger. I have such fond memories of the three of us all playing together and having sleep overs when we were kids. I'm still really close to them now - so much so that they were bridesmaid and usher at our wedding in 2014 and are also Alfie's godparents. 

I'm very lucky that Alfie and his two cousins also have a great relationship. Holly, at 6, is the closest in age to Alfie and Jack is the eldest of the three at 10. I feel very lucky that Alfie gets to grow up with Jack and Holly as he's got two ready made friends in them and they really are the best big cousins we could wish for. Very often, I'll see Jack putting a protective arm round Alfie if they're at soft play or playing in the garden and Holly will very often adapt to doing what Alfie wants when they're playing together. Just yesterday, we were at my in-laws and Holly was building a tower which Alfie knocked over a couple of times, (which we told him to stop doing). Rather than getting upset of falling out about it, Holly very kindly built another tower for him and made a big fuss over him when he knocked it down, as he'd wanted. It's little things that like that which make me realise what great kids they are and how much they put up with from Alfie. (He's going through a not sharing stage and finds it difficult to share his toys sometimes).

Every month last year, we managed to get together and get a picture of them. Some months were harder than others as some days one or the other didn't want their picture taking (it was usually Alfie), but overall I'm so proud that I've captured these pictures of them all for a whole year. It was wonderful to be able to frame them all for my inlaws to give to them on Christmas day. 

I'm really proud of this bunch of photo's, but more than that, I'm proud of the three great kids in them. They're growing up to be such good friends and I'm so excited to continue watching them grow and change over the next year.

I love how something as ordinary as taking a picture, can bring so much happiness to people and capture so many memories. I can't wait for them all to be older and we can look back on these pictures together. 






*linking up with Katie over at Mummy Daddy and me makes three

10 comments:

  1. These are absolutely beautiful photos and a real joy to see how they are growing up so closely #theordinarymoments

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  2. Ah thank you Karen. They're such good friends and until we have another baby, it's the closest Alfie has to a sibling relationship. He adores them :) x

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  3. Oh this is so lovely Nic, they must have been thrilled with such a thoughtful gift. It is one thing to have separate photos of them all but to have them all together in a collage is just wonderful. As I said on twitter, I would love for the girls to have cousins but it doesn't look like it is going to happen for a while. My sister is ten years younger than me so unlikely to have children for a while, while Mr E's brother is 41 and still isn't even in a relationship so we are wondering whether he will ever have children and even if he does, he lives in Manchester so they won't get a close relationship with them anyway. It is one of the reasons we decided to have another baby, so even though they didn't have a large family they would always have each other if that makes sense? I am really looking forward to seeing more posts from you this year, especially now you have your new bobby dazzler camera! xx

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    1. Ah thanks hun :) It was such hard work to do, even getting the pics in the frame because the glass kept falling out but I'm so, so glad I did it. The frame now takes pride of place in their kitchen :) I love seeing how much they've changed over the year. I'm very lucky that I've always had lots of cousins growing up. The 2 I mention in my post are actually my mum's cousins and my 2nd cousins... Our family is really odd in that my Nan is a twin and one of 5 and there are 18 years between her and her twin and Gemma and Anthony's mum's (who are also twins, yes - my great grandma had 2 sets of twins 18 years apart), meaning my Mum and her eldest brother are only a few years younger than their auntie's! My mum is also 1 of 4, so I've 4 1st cousins and 3 second cousins, but I'm the same age as my 2nd cousins....Gosh, that sounds so confusing haha. I'm the same as you with 9 years between me and my sister (she's about a year younger than Anna) so it'll be a long time before she has kids and even when she does, Alfie will be too old I think to have a really close bond with them. It makes me really glad that Alfie has Jack and Holly as there are no other kids in the family and none of my friends have kids, so I love that he's got a good bond with them and will always have them to grow up with as they're relatively close in age. I just can't wait to add another 1 (or 2!!) to the gang ;) I totally get what you mean about the reasons for wanting 3 and when I watched one of your vlogs about the reasons behind it, it all made sense and really made me think again about also wanting 3. Before we had Alfie, we did both say we'd like 3 kids... we need to get on with making baby number 2 though first haha... That last comment made me laugh 'bobby dazzler camera' haha - I can't use the thing yet though as I've no idea what I'm doing with it. I've requested a manual to be sent out as I've not got access to a printer. From what I've used of it so far though, I absolutely love it. I've already got next week's Ordinary Moments post planned ;) xx

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  4. What a lovely present! I was really close to my cousins when I was younger, even though I was quite a bit younger than them, but age and distance has got in the way over the years which is such a shame. My kids and my sisters kids live in different countries so although they adore each other, they don't get the chance to see each other anywhere near as much as we'd like them to, so it's lovely to see how close your little cousins are.

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    1. Thank you :) I'm so pleased we stuck with it all year. I'm hoping to be able to do it again this year. Oh that is a shame about you and your cousins and your children's cousins. It makes me feel very lucky as I had four 1st cousins and three 2nd cousins growing up. I love watching the three of them and I can't wait until we add another one or maybe even 2, to the gang :) xx

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  5. Awww thats brilliant, fab idea for a present, I bet they were thrilled! We chose one of our #meandmine photos as a gift for the childrens great grandma this year and she was over the moon. Im so thankful for blogging, because I probably wouldnt take half the pictures (or record half the memories) as i do. Your little boy and his cousins look like they share an amazing bond xx

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    1. Thank you Hannah, I'm so pleased I did it. They loved it and it now takes pride of place in their kitchen, I'm hoping we'll be able to do the same again this year. I totally agree that if it wasn't for blogging, I wouldn't think to capture all these photo's or even just appreciate the 'ordinary moments'. I'm very thankful to have found all these amazing blogs to read as it does make you think more about things and appreciate things more - such as taking a family photo. I have now got 2 full years of me and mine :) Yes, they do have a great bond and it's such a privilege seeing them grow up together :) Oh that sounds like a lovely gift for your children's great grandma, I bet she really treasures it xx

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  6. What a wonderful idea! I love this and might possibly borrow the idea from you for next Christmas ;) Gorgeous photographs Nic xx

    It's wonderful to see the little ones with their older cousins. Olly and his cousin adore each other and their relationship reminds me of mine with my sister when we were younger. I'm hoping their relationship will continue to grow and they'll look out for each other when they're older as I'm sure Jack and Holly will with Alfie xx

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    1. Thanks lovely. My in-laws do so much for us all so I always try to put a lot of thought into their gifts and I'm so pleased with how this turned out, even though it was hard work haha. That said, I am hoping that we can do it again this year, but with more out door / seasonal pictures. Would love to see if you did it this year :)

      I often see pictures of Olly and your nephew and think what a lovely relationship they have, which I think is helped by how close you and your sister are too. I'm sure Olly and Kai will have a great relationship when they're older. We hit the jackpot with Jack and Holly as they're so patient and loving with him (even when he's being a little ratbag haha) xx

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