I take hundreds of photos every month, and most of them don’t get shared with anyone, let alone online. And yet the moments in time that those photos capture are just as important a part of our story as the other images that I do choose to share.

I originally created this blog as a way of documenting our lives, a way of watching the girls grow into who they’re going to be and a way of remembering who they once were. It’s something I want them to be able to look back on as they get older, because memories fade but (digital) photographs don’t.

It’s easy (and tempting) to only focus on sharing the fun bits, the memorable parts, the highlights and the celebrations. But I’m learning more and more as I continue through this crazy journey of motherhood that it’s really important to me that I capture the ordinary, everyday times that we spend together as well. The bits of the jigsaw that fill in the gaps to complete the picture. The tantalising glimpses into who our girls are becoming.

The chaos, the calm and all the moments in between.

This monthly feature – The Moments In Between – is a space for me to share all of those magical bits that would otherwise just stay in a folder on my laptop, never to see the light of day.

JULY

July has been such a lovely month in so many ways.  It’s been a good kind of busy with the last few weeks of school, an unexpected bonus weekend away and the start of the summer holidays.  I’ve been very deliberately picking up my camera as much as possible, documenting plenty of moments.  It’s suddenly hit me that come September I’m going to have two out of three girls in high school and that time is flying past, and I’m just not ready for them to be grown up yet.

I have an overpowering need to capture them, to capture us, exactly as we are right now.  This current stage we’re at is vital.  In fact, every single season of childhood and parenthood and all of the challenges and triumphs they bring, is important.  It all matters.  So very much.  Even the messy parts where there are tears and angry words and big feelings and needing to ask for forgiveness and making mistakes and trying again and loving each other hard no matter what.

We have just over a month left of the summer holidays as I write this.  We have no real set plans and I’m doing my best to take each day as it comes, to slow down, to give the girls space to just ‘be’, hoping that I can practice doing the same alongside them (and photographing it as we go).

There are a LOT of photos in this month’s collection and I love every single one of them, just as I always do. I’ve not managed to get in the frame as much as I have been doing recently – I need to try and change that in August. I’ve enjoyed capturing both the details and the bigger picture, the quiet moments and the crazy ones. They all tell such a story, both as standalone images and as a collection.

Our story.

I can remember every detail, every movement, every gesture and expression, from every image. The exact reason why I pressed the shutter in that moment.  The thoughts I was thinking and the feelings I was feeling.  They’re so much more than just photographs. They all have a meaning for me far deeper than the surface level of what you see.

Every single one brings back layers and layers of memories, not just of the moment in the picture but of moments gone before. Every single one speaks to me in so many ways. Every single one is a piece of our jigsaw.

This is us.