My Baby As a Baby: Memory Lane.

This week, Luke came home from school with an assignment.

For me.

Look through old photos and burn them to a disc so he could make a Power Point presentation of his life; Power Point is the current lesson in his computer skills class.

Now there's an assignment that will make a non-techie mom sweat.

I only have digital pictures for four of his fourteen years. I was a digital holdout for longer perhaps than I should have been. The other ten of his years are on prehistoric film...taken with a mechanical camera. And not all of those are in an album...

Daylight (in which to take pictures of pictures without flash) was totally non-existent this week!

So...since sunshine was rare and we could hold out no longer, we got out the old albums from their hiding place, and we flipped through them last night, trying to agree on which ones I'd photograph to convert to digital.

I extracted enough that could save me (and Luke) from being a flunky, and for hours I took pictures of pictures and edited and cropped and saved and burned that disc.

It almost killed me.

I sat here at the computer and cried like a baby.

Looking through old pictures is at once uplifting and sad at the same time.

Do you know what I mean?
(Please say yes!)

Uplifting because I realize and am thankful for the fact that I've had a really good life, a great husband who is loving, kind and good and three great kids and a life in the country that we've all enjoyed immensely.

And..
Sad, only because I wonder...

Where did my babies go?

Instead of boring you with the 217 files I made, I will post the photos I feel have value as goodl photography.

I'm taking a trip down memory lane. Wanna come?

The photo above, besides being totally adorable because he's my baby, is beautiful because of the light that day on our front porch, the colors and the subject. And did you spy the kitty? She was with us for eighteen years, and is now gone...sweet Sugar Pie.

I took this picture of my baby as a baby one morning when he was still wearing this pair of white fuzzy pajamas. I spotted a similar white blanket lying on the couch across the room in the sunlight, and something went off in my head and I had to run grab the camera.

He had just awoke. The proof?
Those sleepy, puddle eyes.

Love the newborn fingers and the thumb in his mouth, the sunshine behind him.

And who can't like seeing once again the chubby little toes pointed straight at you, and a setting in red, white and blue? Little hands on fat little roly-poly knees...

And those eyes that say "Mommy, you are my MILK MACHINE!"

This was another day where the light was right and he could finally sit up by himself to have his picture taken.

He had just woken from a nap (which to me is the perfect time to photograph babies...they're still a little dazed and a bit more cooperative).

It was a Sunday, thus the little romper he wore to church that's undeniably adorable, just right for the hot afternoon that it was.

I quickly put his hat on him before I snapped this. This kid always wore a hat, even though we was NOT bald, he had his first haircut at three WEEKS of age! But I knew at some point, he would reach up, grab his hats and throw them off. I had to take hats while I could get them!

This one captures my little farm boy in his excitement about books. The little "work boots", blue jeans, and flannel shirt are kind of cute, too.

This photo captures the excitement only a toddler can bring to reading a book, and the open mouth shows the innocent chatter that the first words and recognizing pictures bring out.

"Doggie!" "Kitty" "Twactor"!

Here we see the quiet concentration of a toddler as he studies the pictures very closely. I can almost hear the heavier breathing because when they're this age, concentrating is work.

I love the way his eyebrows are showing his effort, his chubby cheeks practically resting on the collar of his soft little shirt...

Well, that's enough for now. I'm in tears again.

Oh my.

Dimples.

This homework assignment would make you cry too, wouldn't it?