the problem with a 7-year gap

While I was post-less since (aaacckk!) halloween (click here for my confession), I took to Facebook to post short updates.

Two FB friends recently mentioned to me that it seemed Noah was my favorite. And I realized then that herein lies the downside of my kids' 7-year gap...

True, the volume of posts (anecdotes & photos) of Noah on my FB page is bigger than that of Isabella's. Partly because a 7-year-old naturally has so much more moments of say, calling fertilizer "karabaw's poop" in a test, than a 15-year-old would. But also because Noah is too young to care if I embarrass him; and Isabella, at 15, I assume would be. So I censor my updates on Isabella and when I do publish a post about her, I refrain from tagging her. I am so afraid I will embarrass her that I ask permission to post a photo of her on FB.

In fact, I recently watched Isabella compete in her first track & field meet. Had it been a school program of Noah, I would have sat with him while waiting for his turn to perform, taken gazillions of photos of him (& his friends) at every opportunity. But at Isabella's track meet, I resisted the urge to hover. I sat at a distance from her. I still took a lot of photos (that I will NOT upload on FB without her approval), but I did so from a distance, putting my cam's zooming ability to the test. It didn't help that I was the only parent there watching. I kept wondering if she'd rather I just left. So I tried to act nonchalant and tried hard not to cheer so loudly during her events.

Yes, this is the problem with my kids' 7-year gap. It can be misinterpreted as favoring one over the other. When the truth is, I love both of them equally. I just need to show that love in an age-appropriate way. And because their age-gap is so huge, my posts about them will inevitably be remarkably different. After all, they are worlds apart. One of them is kissing only Mommy these days while the other could already be kissing boys... 

... (though I seriously hope not. Yet.). I can broadcast anything & everything about Noah - in big, bold letters & an exclamation point. But Isabella's stories need to remain thought balloons & my reaction to them, in parentheses.

Photos from pinkwallpaper & annnniegirl.

Click here for a previous post about my kids' 7-year gap & a feeble attempt at poetry.

dear person taking my photo

While picking the pumpkin shots for this post here, this letter started writing itself in my head. Because how many times have you crouched down or tilted your head or bent your body in an attempt to fit into a photo... Only to discover later how much head space there was above you so you could have actually just stood up straight?

So it's not just you, dear T who took this particular photo. I am also addressing this letter to a lot of other friends (& random waiters in restos)...

Dear person taking my photo, I really wish you would tell me if you were going to zoom out enough for me to fit my whole un-contorted body in the photo so I can get out of my contorted pose. Please do not immortalize me in a photo with my upper body in an unflattering right angle. Also because crouching down - worse, squatting unnecessarily - is not really a breeze either (yes, I'm that unfit) especially when I'm also trying to suck in my tummy (hehe).

Plus, it makes you seem like a professional photographer! The one photography lesson I retained from the hubby (yes, all that aperture talk was lost on me) is to resist putting people's faces in the vertical middle of the frame and instead, minimize the space above people's heads - especially if that's mostly just a blank wall or unsightly ceiling.

So dear non-professional photographer taking my picture... Kapag kasya naman ako sa picture (if I fit into the picture anyway), please please tell me not to bend or crouch down anymore.

Photo is my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Dear... series.

special occasion profile pics

I love special occasions. I don't necessarily decorate the house on every occasion (except of course for Christmas). But I realized this Halloween that I do "decorate" my FB page.

That photo above is my Halloween profile pic this year. And this one was last year's Halloween (Fall?) profile pic...

This was my New Year profile pic...

And my Dragon Chinese New Year display photo: with Mushu the dragon from Disney's Mulan!

Hmmm... I don't have Christmas profile pics yet. Worst-case, maybe this photo with a minion can work. 

Can he pass for Santa's elf?

Oh, what the heck! I've still got the Halloween spirit so will be keeping my Frankenweenie profile pic for a while. Hopefully, by the time Christmas rolls around, I'll have a more Christmassy display pic. Haha! If only decorating the house for Christmas were as easy as changing a profile pic...

Photos are all my own.