Comparisons and other such murmurings

I was just pondering today upon the way we, as parents and as a society, seem to be in a constant state of comparing ourselves, our children, our lifestyles, our skills etc etc with others.
I considered the fact that comparing oneself to another can be quite damaging to one's stability as a 'whole person' because whose 'ideals' are we comparing ourselves (or others) to?

I remember reading a portion of Brendan Manning's book "Abba's Child", he explained how our need to compare ourselves to some arbitrary worldly standard (basically being far to worried what everyone else thinks of us) causes us much grieve and insecurity. He goes on to say that if we were only worried about whether we are right in the sight of God and concerned about what he thinks and where we belong than so much of this insecurity will be a thing of the past.

Now there is a point to all this :-) .................
I often have people say to me, "oh your boys look so alike" OR "he's just like his brother". And then I have my own self-talk where i compare my child to someone else's child or some standard that isn't really founded in much. AND then there's the "baby olympics" that goes on amongst friends and acquaintances.........

So as I was pondering these things I went back through some photos and found some "similar age" photos of our boys to see whether they really look alike. This is what I found................. (JK (born 2004) on Left, LJ (born 2006) on Right)


On Their Birth Day




3 Months Old





8 Months Old




And I concede they are similar!!
But I work hard not to fall into the trap of comparing them (not saying that I won't!), they are their own little people with their own God given talents and gifts and personality. And I have been inspired by Rach from Intricate Simplicity to foster my children's interests and provide them opportunities to explore their little groove in life.

I think I might have written this blog for my own benefit :-)
But feel free to join in with my rambling thoughts.

Celebrate the uniqueness in your own life and then in those around you. Together we bring different colour, texture and depth to the painting of life. OH how bland it would be if we were all the same or too similar.

Funny.........

This a fave piece of Rowan Atkinson....................

Warm Fuzzies

Hmmph!
So much for blogging twice a week!!
I'm not very good with goals as I tend to cheat a little.........

But here I am with some yummy photos (taken on Dad's Camera) last weekend while visiting friends and family up in Auckland. JK received his Birthday pressie from his Opa J which was some extras for his Thomas the Tank Engine set. He was so excited and entertained for hours......and 1 week on he's still entertained for hours..........the sign of a worthwhile toy. This last Birthday all his presents where strategically chosen so that they had thinking, problem-solving and creative elements. He received Lego, Thomas the Tank Engine tracks etc and one of those sets with the soft board, nails, hammer and geometric wooden shapes which you then hammer on to the soft board. They are also toys that can be passed on to younger siblings. There are so many trashy toys out there which are neither useful nor developmental and I'ld rather not have my house stacked with them.

Check out that cheesy smile!!

Our little LJ has quite a little personality and is a box of birds in the evening so Ken and I took the opportunity to have a little fun with him and takes some pics. Yesterday he started to show signs of getting coordinated to crawl!! Oh my goodness! Where has my little bubba gone! Doesn't time fly! Here are some of the cutie photos that we took.......(ps...some where taken in the morning after Ken and LJ had a sleep-in together)

Wow...I made it into a photo!!

Snuggles with Daddy on a Lazy Sunday Morning


Warm Fuzzies!!

Diggers, Bikes, Tractors and Trucks

On Thursday's we take Lunch to Daddy at morning tea time.
This Thursday just been, it was a bit of a nippy day so going out and about wasn't that attractive
BUT it all paid off as we saw a raft of interesting things on the way over to the main school building from our little house.

First there was the Groundsman mowing the field...............

Then there was the Digger and Truck doing some earthworks on the fields...............

JK is a very serious spectator and was concentrating rather hard........



And then there was LJ
Very happily perched in his Ergo on Mummy's Back................................



All in all it was quite a entertaining 30 min outing,
we'll do it all again next Thursday...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JK

Happy 3rd Birthday to you our precious son and brother!
You have been so excited about your up and coming Birthday...
You talked about having a cake and a little party with our extended family
We were so proud that you didn't once mention presents in the whole build up to yesterday....

Yesterday morning you woke up to find balloons tied to the end of your bed and streamers hanging from your wardrobe to the curtain rail. It was all very exciting at 6:30 am (eeekkkk!!!!).
When you came downstairs you found more streamers and balloons in the lounge.
The first half of the day we kept to our normal routine (apart from having 'church' at home) and you had your early afternoon nap (you've been suffering from a cold so you were ready for a sleep by 11:30am). After a 2 1/2 hour sleep (wow!) it was almost time for the rest of the family to arrive. *while all this sleeping was happening, Mummy was busy decorating your cake. She made you a gluten free banana cake and decorated it in soft icing. This year it was a Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber cake*



The family came over and there were 13 people in total. We had a yummy afternoon tea with lots of gluten free foods so that you could have your pick. You received some lovely presents including Lego to add your collection. You have spent a good hour this morning playing with it! You have such a great imagination and at the moment you are into building cranes.

Well my big boy, it was 3 years ago that you were born into this world at 5:17am on the 7th May and we have had so many precious times with you. You are such a lively boy and we so enjoy watching you develop into your own little person and the dimension you add to our little family. You are a wonderful big brother and LJ just loves you to bits.

You are God's precious child, our JK and we pray that you will continue to walk hand-in-hand with him for the rest of eternity.

www.Estacreationz.com

I promise I will do a proper post today!
But in the meantime.....
Our Website, Esta Creationz, is up and running, so check it out and keep an eye out for new products. At the moment there will be cards and jewelery, but i'm hoping to branch out into lots of other cool handmade items (mind you.... I do need to discuss that with my partner-in-crime...my lovely sister Emz)
Please bear with us as the whole thing is still under construction so there's no logo or cool colours and backgrounds etc etc etc.
My Dad tutors a group of students in computing and has put the challenge out to them to come up with a logo in exchange for morning tea.....pretty good deal me thinks.

Ok.... it's not officially my 'computer' time of the day so I better busy myself with some housework.....oh and I also should think about my son's 3rd birthday and................................................ah! you know how it is.

Which Austen Gal?

I took the test and I am.............

Take the Quiz here!