It doesn’t always go as planned.

Life, that is. 

But in this instance, I’m talking about photography. 

As stated in my last blog post, the twins turned three last Tuesday.  They both had picked up coughs and colds a couple of days beforehand, so we were stuck in the house for quite a few days.  That’s okay.  I’m a fun mom.  We built forts, played games, and generally made the time pass by quickly.

We also made cupcakes on the twins birthday.

I had a wonderful vision of the twins eating their birthday cupcakes on the (clean!) floor….with messy faces and big smiles.  Something that I could preserve on paper.  Something beautiful and fun at the same time.

But, life doesn’t always go as planned.

Sammy, my normally sweet boy, has been testing the limits lately…..what he can get away with, how much can he whine….ya know, being your typical three year old boy.  Add into that that he wasn’t feeling quite up to par, so a photo shoot was the last of his list of fun things to do.

I still tried.  I have lot’s of patience.  I’m a mom of twins!

And I had cupcakes!

These images could best display his emotions about having his picture taken:

And this could describe Sabrina’s:

I assessed the situation.  Hugs and cuddles were given to Sam.  I understood.  He didn’t want his picture taken.  He wanted mama yes, but more so, he just wanted his cupcake so he could eat it and go relax.

Could I blame him?  Nope, not at all.

Cupcakes were given out.

Moods improved.

And I even caught some smiles:

Are they perfect pictures?  No.

But I think the display of emotions….from tears and protests to laughter and smiles (within moments) could accurately describe a typical three year old child on any given day. 

So nope, it didn’t go as planned.  But that’s okay.  That’s life.  And life is sometimes made up of bad moods and grumpiness…. and perhaps if we didn’t have the bad days, the good ones wouldn’t seem so great.

Three.

Three.

Three.

Three.

I guess I have to say it three times before it sinks in.  My babies are turning three today. 

Three!

Thr….oh, you get the point.

Time flies.  This is such a cliché, but so true at the same time.  I don’t think I really *got* how much time does truly fly by until I had children.  I can remember in absolute clarity the day that my babies were born, the night we brought them home, and when visitors came to see our new little family.

Big milestones stand out, of course.  When Sabrina rolled over for the first time around three months….and when Sammy cut his first tooth at six months.  That first year of their lives was filled with new things happening every single day, it seemed like.  I would hear people say, “Remember this, because time goes by so fast.”

It does.

But for me, it’s not just the big milestones that I have engraved in my head.  Not even close.  It’s everyday moments that are even more special to me.  Moments and memories that are so special and close to my heart that I will never ever forget them.

But, I will miss them one day. 

Time does fly.  And so I know that one day, not many years from now, Sammy won’t want me to sing “Over the Rainbow” to him or want me to play trains.  Sabrina will go from being the girl who is almost literally attached to my hip to a sassy adolescent who doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.

In the future, “mama” will turn into “mom”.  Hugs and kisses won’t be so easily received.  And time will be more sparse than it is in our present day.

I try not to think about things “yet to come” too much. 

Instead, I savor.

I hug. 

I kiss.

I play. 

I enjoy. 

For surely, time does fly by.  

Happy Third Birthday to my wonderful, beautiful babies.  You have changed my life in more ways than you will ever know.