This is about my children, move on to the next post if you don't like Mum's going on a bit about their kids.
Ta!
View attachment 30892
This is my oldest son and his new wife.
In the beginning, there were many babies.
All boys.
Not planned, I was too young to be having babies, but, their parents could NOT keep their hands off of one another for much more than a few hours. To say we thought highly of each other is a severe understatement. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, and he is STILL attempting to arrange our reunion. We have crossed over to best friends, and it's so amazing. There is deep love, respect, admiration, we enjoy each other's company immensely, totally get each other's sense of humour, etc., etc. And being the 1% that the 99% efficacy of birth control pills does NOT represent, we decided to just have a family! It saved his illustrious family line, because he was the last male. There is a three volume hardbound series of genealogy books of his Blue -blood, famous Scottish family, in which I now feature as a prominent saviour of one branch of the family tree, or, that's how we like to see me. Jokingly, but, in truth as well! Those books read like a who's who of European hot snots of the 17th-19th centuries. But, so does my family's "Glossy Posse" (though long before it was dubbed such). We have clearly fallen far from our ancestral privileges in position, but certainly not attitudes or sense of entitlement and self-confidence.
I STILL got my scholarship to Uni. STILL had invites to all the honours courses I was lined up to take.Worked, maintained a home, took care of babies, (3 by age 21), went to uni and graduated with my class in the top 10%. It didn't shut my life down to have a full house at such a young age. It never stopped me doing everything I had planned. I have lived all over the world and done everything I have put my mind to do just the same as I would have anyway.
I was able to have two "later life" baby boys, if one considers 33 and 36 "later life". My husband still wants another, which, everyone thinks I can only make boys, so he's already named him James.
The first three are all grown up, oldest one married off last June, a year after completing a degree, with a perfect grade point average, in business management and landing a great job with a multi-national corporation. The angelic wife is a highly talented soprano and already with a prestigious chorale, apparently this pays quite well. I'm impressed. The photo above is from the engagement photos for his paternal Grandmother's society magazine. She's very big on things like that.
The next eldest, a brick wall of a human being, holds National records for various and assorted track and field events I can't begin to keep up with.
And also holds records at his University for most weight lifted in a week, (at day 5 he'd lifted 81,000 lbs.)
I understand this is impressive. I have no knowledge of these sorts of things, but I have seen him power squat 40 pounds shy of half
a ton, so I'd say he's probably pretty well tops in his realm, all this has been between 17 and 20, so it's not a lifetime of hard work. Just something he decided to do at the bequest of a flabbergasted coach that saw an amazing form with grace and strength.
View attachment 30893
The youngest of the first three, is in Uni, (they've all gone to the same one! Brotherly solidarity!) and doing very well. He plays drums and guitar in two different bands, has modeled and rides Motor Cross, apparently swimmingly well. He has sponsorship and seems to own on the dirt track. The older brothers used to complain that all the girls go straight for him, like they aren't even there!
View attachment 30895
Little Wills, about whom I have spoken before, is seven, has perfect grades two years running, (BOTH Kindergarten and First Grade!!) is jaw-dropping with computers, (he curb crawls, riding in his seat in the back of the SUV, scanning for open wireless networks to connect his computer or DSI XL, as I have been informed it's proper full designation is!)
Every time he goes anywhere in the car, he's got the equipment out, scanning like a fiend. He's got wireshark on his computer, but he can't quite make sense of monitoring packet flow and IP addresses and spoofing MAC addresses. I did teach him how, umm, "insecure" WEP encryption is...
What's funny about that is I spent so much time doing those very same things when I was expecting him, it seems like osmosis occurred. Unless the 802.11 frequency saturation from all the wireless infrastructure deployment that year in Mexico somehow mutated him into Wireless Super Boy!
View attachment 30901
"Don't let the blue eyes fool you..."
Obviously an early picture, he's just before his second birthday here. I used this picture because I love those curls!!
British Baby, who is four for two more months, reads books for ten year olds at a conversational speed.
We did not teach him to read. He came downstairs with a book one day and read the whole thing, front to back without missing a word or hesitating a second. We sat in silence for a long time.
I held my mouth open so long it was dry as a wooden god from mouth breathing.
We suppose it's from all the computer self learning he engages in everyday. He won't let you teach him anything. He has taught himself how to do EVERYTHING on a computer, does the alphabet in five languages and even dances to the songs he used to learn them whilst now performing the knowledge for us! Hilarious!
He waited to talk very much at all until he had the lingo down, then one day started shooting us full, perfectly composed sentences, and now, once in a while, we long for those quiet days, as he literally NEVER stops talking! He manages to say Mama every breath!
We bought him a drum kit, won't let either of his percussionist parents teach him a single paradiddle, will only work on his playing in private and then presents his beats when he's got them all laid out and perfect. He's already done his first Edinburgh Fringe gig with a band we hope is up and coming, though not with him in it, of course! as they just got sponsorship..not the same thing as a record deal, but this is Indie!!
He was the official shaker of beans in a can, (only the professionally made version of it), and did a street performance as well. He was soo chuffed with himself.
He's a neighbourhood fixture. People stop him in our streets to chat with him, they give him money, our local pizza take-away will deliver treats that aren't on their menu and pizza when we haven't ordered it, nor do we have to pay for it. Although, as a result of this unnatural attention, he is spoiled rotten and VAIN, as they all are. There isn't anything they can't do in their minds, and that's the first requirement for success. Self-belief. If you doubt you, how can anyone else believe in you, right?
View attachment 30904
He's had his hair cut, Etonian style. He looks so cute, but that long hair was sort of a trade mark. All the older people called him a girl, and all the younger people thought he was so cool. It's funny how you can tell a lot about people by what they think is great!
It's all a bit odd. Wills gets the same treatment as well. Though, he is a speaker of blunt truths, as kids can be at his age, and he often mentions truths about people in public that would be better left alone.
We were finishing a job at a massive, beautiful home of some very wealthy clients one day and he says to the owner, like he's 42 and an Estate Agent, "So, what's the square footage on this house?" The man looks up at us like, "Did this child just ask me that question?!?!?" And he laughs and says, whatever it was, it was massive, and adds, "It's big enough you could come live here and help us run it!" And Will replies, quickly, as a matter of undisputed fact, "Ohhhhh noooooo, you wouldn't want me to live here, I've started farting A LOT lately, and I can't really figure out why, but if that stops, I could take your number and maybe I could move in then if you still need me."
We all had to take a seat to keep from pissing ourselves laughing.
We've had it with all of them. Our second son saw a man at a restaurant one time when he was about three and the man had two front teeth with a very large space between, and an unfortunate outward twist to both of them, and they protruded far beyond what he could conceal with his lips. He was enlisted Army, so I don't know why they didn't sort that out. Maybe they considered it an asset to combat. But, as soon as I saw our lad clock this guy, I started to laugh. I KNEW he was going to have something to say. It was just a matter of what and when. I started shoveling food in his mouth. And when he'd had enough time to think about it, he looks directly at the man, so there is NO slipping out of this social hell, and says, "Have sharp teefies?"
His Dad and I LOST it. We were blowing cole slaw out our noses trying to stifle the laughs, but it wasn't helping, it made things worse. I felt so bad, but it was just the brutal honesty of kids and their complete lack of tact that is so bloody hilarious we could NOT keep it together. The poor guy, thankfully, already finished with his meal, just got up and left. I felt so bad for him, but there were indicators it wasn't the first time he'd heard it mentioned. We then had to exit stage car park because we were laughing so hard we were making a spectacle. As it was unclear to anyone else what we were cackling madly about, we must've looked like we were slipping away mentally.
Anyway, I would not normally put pictures of my children up, but I realized I haven't really said very much about them because of my regard for their privacy and mine, but I am very proud of them.
I just wanted to include them in my journal.
I've been particularly ill of late, and any time I can't function, I get temporarily in a funk. I start to feel like I haven't accomplished anything, and I needed to remind myself of the things I have accomplished. I am very much of the DO persuasion.
I enjoy working and the jobs I've switched off to in the last ten years have been more cerebral and less hands-on, and I need more balance there. I can quantify virtual results adequately, but nothing beats tangible proof of a job well-done!
I figured I was due at least one long brag about my babies. I'd have been an ideal wife for Henry VIII! I'd definitely have kept my head!
The strangest thing about all of it was, deeply embroiled in art school, I had sworn off all distractions. I had no lovers, no close friends, I was nose-to-the-grindstone on my craft and the results were very obvious. But, I am a pathetic romantic at heart, the result of too much poetry and classical novels and plays. I believed there was a person, with whom I would fall so deeply in love, and they with me, that we would live and breathe for each other. That life would not be worth living without them. And, that's true. It turns out it's not romantic love, but parental love that fits that description more perfectly. I am lucky I had a phenomenal support system and navigated any little stressors with help from people who love me.
I don't advocate what I did, and would not advise anyone else to do it. It just didn't ruin me, like it so easily could have under other circumstances.
They are lovely boys and I would walk through fire for any of them without a second's hesitation. Though they won't see this, Love you , boys! You are my world!!
Ta!
View attachment 30892
This is my oldest son and his new wife.
In the beginning, there were many babies.
All boys.
Not planned, I was too young to be having babies, but, their parents could NOT keep their hands off of one another for much more than a few hours. To say we thought highly of each other is a severe understatement. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, and he is STILL attempting to arrange our reunion. We have crossed over to best friends, and it's so amazing. There is deep love, respect, admiration, we enjoy each other's company immensely, totally get each other's sense of humour, etc., etc. And being the 1% that the 99% efficacy of birth control pills does NOT represent, we decided to just have a family! It saved his illustrious family line, because he was the last male. There is a three volume hardbound series of genealogy books of his Blue -blood, famous Scottish family, in which I now feature as a prominent saviour of one branch of the family tree, or, that's how we like to see me. Jokingly, but, in truth as well! Those books read like a who's who of European hot snots of the 17th-19th centuries. But, so does my family's "Glossy Posse" (though long before it was dubbed such). We have clearly fallen far from our ancestral privileges in position, but certainly not attitudes or sense of entitlement and self-confidence.
I STILL got my scholarship to Uni. STILL had invites to all the honours courses I was lined up to take.Worked, maintained a home, took care of babies, (3 by age 21), went to uni and graduated with my class in the top 10%. It didn't shut my life down to have a full house at such a young age. It never stopped me doing everything I had planned. I have lived all over the world and done everything I have put my mind to do just the same as I would have anyway.
I was able to have two "later life" baby boys, if one considers 33 and 36 "later life". My husband still wants another, which, everyone thinks I can only make boys, so he's already named him James.
The first three are all grown up, oldest one married off last June, a year after completing a degree, with a perfect grade point average, in business management and landing a great job with a multi-national corporation. The angelic wife is a highly talented soprano and already with a prestigious chorale, apparently this pays quite well. I'm impressed. The photo above is from the engagement photos for his paternal Grandmother's society magazine. She's very big on things like that.
The next eldest, a brick wall of a human being, holds National records for various and assorted track and field events I can't begin to keep up with.
And also holds records at his University for most weight lifted in a week, (at day 5 he'd lifted 81,000 lbs.)
I understand this is impressive. I have no knowledge of these sorts of things, but I have seen him power squat 40 pounds shy of half
a ton, so I'd say he's probably pretty well tops in his realm, all this has been between 17 and 20, so it's not a lifetime of hard work. Just something he decided to do at the bequest of a flabbergasted coach that saw an amazing form with grace and strength.View attachment 30893
The youngest of the first three, is in Uni, (they've all gone to the same one! Brotherly solidarity!) and doing very well. He plays drums and guitar in two different bands, has modeled and rides Motor Cross, apparently swimmingly well. He has sponsorship and seems to own on the dirt track. The older brothers used to complain that all the girls go straight for him, like they aren't even there!
View attachment 30895
Little Wills, about whom I have spoken before, is seven, has perfect grades two years running, (BOTH Kindergarten and First Grade!!) is jaw-dropping with computers, (he curb crawls, riding in his seat in the back of the SUV, scanning for open wireless networks to connect his computer or DSI XL, as I have been informed it's proper full designation is!)
Every time he goes anywhere in the car, he's got the equipment out, scanning like a fiend. He's got wireshark on his computer, but he can't quite make sense of monitoring packet flow and IP addresses and spoofing MAC addresses. I did teach him how, umm, "insecure" WEP encryption is...
What's funny about that is I spent so much time doing those very same things when I was expecting him, it seems like osmosis occurred. Unless the 802.11 frequency saturation from all the wireless infrastructure deployment that year in Mexico somehow mutated him into Wireless Super Boy!
View attachment 30901
"Don't let the blue eyes fool you..."
Obviously an early picture, he's just before his second birthday here. I used this picture because I love those curls!!
British Baby, who is four for two more months, reads books for ten year olds at a conversational speed.
We did not teach him to read. He came downstairs with a book one day and read the whole thing, front to back without missing a word or hesitating a second. We sat in silence for a long time.
I held my mouth open so long it was dry as a wooden god from mouth breathing.
We suppose it's from all the computer self learning he engages in everyday. He won't let you teach him anything. He has taught himself how to do EVERYTHING on a computer, does the alphabet in five languages and even dances to the songs he used to learn them whilst now performing the knowledge for us! Hilarious!
He waited to talk very much at all until he had the lingo down, then one day started shooting us full, perfectly composed sentences, and now, once in a while, we long for those quiet days, as he literally NEVER stops talking! He manages to say Mama every breath!
We bought him a drum kit, won't let either of his percussionist parents teach him a single paradiddle, will only work on his playing in private and then presents his beats when he's got them all laid out and perfect. He's already done his first Edinburgh Fringe gig with a band we hope is up and coming, though not with him in it, of course! as they just got sponsorship..not the same thing as a record deal, but this is Indie!!
He was the official shaker of beans in a can, (only the professionally made version of it), and did a street performance as well. He was soo chuffed with himself.
He's a neighbourhood fixture. People stop him in our streets to chat with him, they give him money, our local pizza take-away will deliver treats that aren't on their menu and pizza when we haven't ordered it, nor do we have to pay for it. Although, as a result of this unnatural attention, he is spoiled rotten and VAIN, as they all are. There isn't anything they can't do in their minds, and that's the first requirement for success. Self-belief. If you doubt you, how can anyone else believe in you, right?
View attachment 30904
He's had his hair cut, Etonian style. He looks so cute, but that long hair was sort of a trade mark. All the older people called him a girl, and all the younger people thought he was so cool. It's funny how you can tell a lot about people by what they think is great!
It's all a bit odd. Wills gets the same treatment as well. Though, he is a speaker of blunt truths, as kids can be at his age, and he often mentions truths about people in public that would be better left alone.
We were finishing a job at a massive, beautiful home of some very wealthy clients one day and he says to the owner, like he's 42 and an Estate Agent, "So, what's the square footage on this house?" The man looks up at us like, "Did this child just ask me that question?!?!?" And he laughs and says, whatever it was, it was massive, and adds, "It's big enough you could come live here and help us run it!" And Will replies, quickly, as a matter of undisputed fact, "Ohhhhh noooooo, you wouldn't want me to live here, I've started farting A LOT lately, and I can't really figure out why, but if that stops, I could take your number and maybe I could move in then if you still need me."
We all had to take a seat to keep from pissing ourselves laughing.
We've had it with all of them. Our second son saw a man at a restaurant one time when he was about three and the man had two front teeth with a very large space between, and an unfortunate outward twist to both of them, and they protruded far beyond what he could conceal with his lips. He was enlisted Army, so I don't know why they didn't sort that out. Maybe they considered it an asset to combat. But, as soon as I saw our lad clock this guy, I started to laugh. I KNEW he was going to have something to say. It was just a matter of what and when. I started shoveling food in his mouth. And when he'd had enough time to think about it, he looks directly at the man, so there is NO slipping out of this social hell, and says, "Have sharp teefies?"
His Dad and I LOST it. We were blowing cole slaw out our noses trying to stifle the laughs, but it wasn't helping, it made things worse. I felt so bad, but it was just the brutal honesty of kids and their complete lack of tact that is so bloody hilarious we could NOT keep it together. The poor guy, thankfully, already finished with his meal, just got up and left. I felt so bad for him, but there were indicators it wasn't the first time he'd heard it mentioned. We then had to exit stage car park because we were laughing so hard we were making a spectacle. As it was unclear to anyone else what we were cackling madly about, we must've looked like we were slipping away mentally.
Anyway, I would not normally put pictures of my children up, but I realized I haven't really said very much about them because of my regard for their privacy and mine, but I am very proud of them.
I just wanted to include them in my journal.
I've been particularly ill of late, and any time I can't function, I get temporarily in a funk. I start to feel like I haven't accomplished anything, and I needed to remind myself of the things I have accomplished. I am very much of the DO persuasion.
I enjoy working and the jobs I've switched off to in the last ten years have been more cerebral and less hands-on, and I need more balance there. I can quantify virtual results adequately, but nothing beats tangible proof of a job well-done!
I figured I was due at least one long brag about my babies. I'd have been an ideal wife for Henry VIII! I'd definitely have kept my head!
The strangest thing about all of it was, deeply embroiled in art school, I had sworn off all distractions. I had no lovers, no close friends, I was nose-to-the-grindstone on my craft and the results were very obvious. But, I am a pathetic romantic at heart, the result of too much poetry and classical novels and plays. I believed there was a person, with whom I would fall so deeply in love, and they with me, that we would live and breathe for each other. That life would not be worth living without them. And, that's true. It turns out it's not romantic love, but parental love that fits that description more perfectly. I am lucky I had a phenomenal support system and navigated any little stressors with help from people who love me.
I don't advocate what I did, and would not advise anyone else to do it. It just didn't ruin me, like it so easily could have under other circumstances.
They are lovely boys and I would walk through fire for any of them without a second's hesitation. Though they won't see this, Love you , boys! You are my world!!
