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.

MARCH

There are significantly fewer photos than usual this month.  March has been chaotic – full of illness and changed plans and sad news and crazy schedules.  To say nothing of still being kitchen-less six weeks down the line from the fire we had back in February.  I simply haven’t picked my camera up as often – I’ve not felt like I had the headspace to do so, and the urge to create and capture the moments just hasn’t been there no matter how hard I’ve tried to summon it.  That’s ok.  This month has been more about surviving and keeping our heads down and putting in the work in order to get us through to the other side of this temporary season that we know will soon pass.

I’ve been mindful to try and make the chaos count.  Doing my best to turn the tricky situations into adventures and reframe the rough days as roads that will lead to better days ahead.  I hope my girls are learning from this.  Learning how to look for the light and how to stay resilient when life happens and things don’t quite work out how you expected.  There have been tickle fights and cuddles and tears and laughter; celebrations and mistakes and triumphs and loss, all wrapped up in the day-to-day ordinary that is life with kids.

It feels like we’ve not spent much time together as a family this month: the husband and I have quite literally been tag-teaming sports events and school pick-ups; various appointments; work shifts and sleeping patterns.  I’m very much looking forward to next month when the Easter holidays will hopefully realign us into the connected unit we far prefer.

I’m pleased with the images I did capture.  They still tell a story.  Our story.  Our story of the mad March of 2019 where we had no kitchen and people got sick and everything felt overwhelming but we made it through and survived anyway because that’s what we always do.

Pieced together in this way these tiny details make up the big picture of who we are right now. Documenting them is always worth it, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.  I love every single one of these images. They all have a meaning for me far deeper than the surface level of what you see.

Every single one brings back feelings and thoughts and moments I want to remember.

Every single one speaks to me in so many ways.

Every single one is a piece of our jigsaw.

This is us.