Big Mac, before being blogged

New photos of our children and tales of our days of late will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I’ve been working on this post about Big Mac. Having lived two long years of his life before I a) got a decent camera and b) discovered blogging, his babyhood was not nearly as documented as MckNugget’s and Small Fry’s. To make up a little, and also just for fun, here is a stroll down memory lane (For me…of course, this will be new for most of you!) Yes, a short synopsis, in photographs, of Big Mac’s life before it was blogged

Big Mac was born on December 16, 2004. You can read a short version of his long birth story here if you want. It’s an arduous tale, I’ll warn you.

Here’s Big Mac at 3 days old; we had just come home from the hospital. Big Mac was a beautiful, rather fussy newborn who nursed about 18 hours a day. And didn’t sleep much at all. That second one hasn’t changed. I was a rather neurotic first time mother and had a very (emotionally) challenging postpartum experience.

Our fist baby boy was delightful, though, and I did love his babyhood. I think I loved it more looking back on it than I did when I was living it, though, to tell the truth. Here he is in the grass at the zoo. I remember my husband and I took him there when he (Big Mac, not my husband) was about 5 months old. He was a very happy baby. And very attached to his mama!

The next month, I took Big Mac to Phoenix for a week to visit my dear friend Krista. She’s from Canada and was house sitting in Arizona. So we went and hung out with her. Little Big Mac got very tan. He also got these rockin’ shorts and orange shoes. I love orange.

When Big Mac was 9 months old, my beautiful sister Hilary got married in a lovely outdoor ceremony in our parents’ back yard. You can see that Big Mac was highly impressed. He was sleeping in his daddy’s arms here. I was standing up as the Maid of Honor.

We took Big Mac with us on our second anniversary trip. We visited the same place we honeymooned: A gorgeous, woodsy, touristy area near some of the Great Lakes in our home state. I remember getting a few quizzical looks when we mentioned bringing our baby with us on an anniversary trip. The thought to leave him did not occur to us (Or at least to me) at all! Big Mac was 10 months old in this photo and we had just arrived at our cabin. From the looks of our car, we must have just gotten it. Big Mac traveled great on road trips but slept horribly once away from home. We still had fun, though!

Big Mac started walking a few days after his first birthday, right around Christmas. Here is is standing (obviously) a few days before taking his very first steps, I think. I loved this outfit on him. It was one of my very favorites. Also, I had cut his hair at about 9 months, and I instantly regretted it. I did love his soft, spiky look as it grew out, though. Especially now as I remember it.

On this day, Big Mac was helping Daddy plant our garden. He was about 17 months old. I became a cloth diapering maniac a few months before this picture was taken, if I remember correctly. Before that, I had never really considered it. We still have this same diaper cover that Big Mac is wearing here!

Prince Charming and I took Big Mac to the beach a lot during his second summer. Here he is with an empty milk jug. Only the highest quality toys for our children! Our firstborn loved the sand and water as much then as he still does now. I distinctly remember thinking it was quite a lot of work and a rather big production to prepare for and then spend a day at the beach with a toddler. Little did I know then how easy I had it!!

I was just about ready to give birth to MckNugget when this dandelion photo was taken. My husband, 18 month old Big Mac and I were on a weekend getaway somewhere. I don’t remember exactly where. I know there was a waterfall, we went tubing and stayed at a bed and breakfast. Some people near the waterfall sked if they could snap a photograph of all three of us for me. And we wandered some trails near a river. But that’s all I remember!

Big Mac developed a strong love for trucks when he hit a year old. Bob the Builder toys, especially. His friend Sam gave him his very first one, Muck. He was completely hooked after that. We collected all the Bob the Builder toys from Target that we could; he played with them a lot! And he loved seeing school buses, farm vehicles and any kind of construction trucks. Here he is walking on the sidewalk towards a county fair, where we would encounter trucks and tractors of all shapes and sizes. He was 19 months old here, and MckNugget was a two week old. I remember I was carrying him in a fuchsia sling. Shortly after this photograph was taken, I began this blog.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Or, at least much more well documented!