I love all things photo; capturing memories through photos and also getting an insight into the lives and special memories of others by looking at their photos. So when I was tagged by the lovely Laura to share my 8 photos of happiness I couldn’t have been more pleased.
I have so many photos that narrowing it down to just eight was a major challenge, but I think I have selected eight that highlight the very best memories and I will try not to feel sad for all the ones I left out!
Oz and I
I have been horsey all my life, starting to ride when I was three. I bought Oz when he was 5 rising 6 and he could barely trot a circle with his head in the right place! We went through A LOT of learning together and I suffered quite a few injuries, due to his scaredy cat nature and his size (he was 17.1hh, for non horsery people that is really big!). Over the years we stuck together and formed an amazing partnership. Although he was not bred to be a dressage horse, he rose through the ranks and started to compete at Prix St Georges (which is 3 levels below the pinnacle of Dressage, Grand Prix). Oz suddenly went lame one day and sadly it was the start of extensive lameness issues, which after two years of treatment, could not be resolved. In the end he was in too much pain and he was put to sleep. He really was my best friend. Shortly after receiving his initial diagnosis I booked a photo shoot, as I wanted special pictures to remember this awesome horse by, when he was no longer around. I had lots of images of us competing, but I wanted really special images of us just being together. This and four others have pride of place in our living room to this day.
Our Wedding Day
Mr Hubby and I had been together for seven years when we got married. The day didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped, but in the end everything was perfect really, as I married my best friend. One of the things that didn’t go as planned was our photographer, all the pictures he took were totally rubbish, so the only ones we have are those taken by my sister-in-law.
Baby’s first photoshoot
Mr Hubby and I tried for quite a long time to fall pregnant with Baby. We underwent many tests, cried lots (me not him) and had started to believe (I was utterly convinced) that being parents would never happen to us. We had saved all year and booked our first IVF consultation, then I was late and didn’t want to believe it might be true, that I might be pregant. So I tried to ignore it the best I could, not wanting to get my hopes up for them to be shattered again. We went to the Olympics, which was amazing and the day before we had the cancel our IVF appointment and not be charged, I did a test and it was positive! This scan is an internal scan at about 5-6 weeks! I remember how petrified I was having this scan done, as I thought they wouldn’t be able to find a baby. Then I remember how ecstatic I was when we were given this picture and we got to see her little heart flickering on the screen for the first time.
Baby and I meeting for the first time
Forgive my rather bedraggled appearance. At this point I had been walking with crutches for 3 months, awake for 72 hours and had just gone through a 14 hour labour with 2 hours of pushing, so I was a little battered. In the end Baby become distressed, as she got stuck, and the emergency button was pressed; the room filling with doctors and nurses. I remember saying to Mr Hubby that I knew this would happen; even at this stage I thought it was going to end badly. In the end I was given an episiotomy and she was delivered by forceps. This picture captured the first time I held our much longed for daughter.
Just Baby
I just love this picture. I longed to meet my baby girl for what felt like an eternity and when I look at this picture (taken when she was 6 weeks old) I just see perfection and happiness.
Baby’s First Birthday Party
When you believe you will never be a mum, you imagine all the things you are going to miss out on, first steps, first smiles, birthdays and simple everyday moments. Baby’s first birthday was a really special day for us. I organised an Alice In Wonderland themed party for family and friends, which was perfect.
Baby’s first pony ride
I never want to push Baby into doing anything she doesn’t want to do (apart from eating her vegetables!). Riding has been a huge part of my life and I just hoped Baby would like it too. She had a little walk on a Christmas Donkey when she was 9 months old, but this was the first proper pony Baby ever rode and was (as you can see from my face!) such a special moment for me.
My blogging besties
I have spoken many times about my love of blogging and of the wonderful friends I have made. Blogging really has changed my life. This photo was taken at BritMums Live this year and athough a couple of my closest friends are missing from this picture, I do love it so much. These ladies really do mean the world to me.
I hope you enjoyed a trip through my 8 photos of happiness, I now get to tag some other bloggers to share theirs;
Em
Hannah
Amy
Katie
Lizzie
Emily
I would LOVE to see your happy photos ladies. Please tag me so I get to see them.
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Comments 80
Isn’t Oz GORGEOUS. And I swear I’ve seen that picture of him before. I want to see more please!!
Author
I have popped him in a post before x
Oh Aby I love these!!!!!!! Love your hair in the first one! x
Author
Thanks huni, funny I was desperate for a hair cut and so I cut my own fringe in that first one x
Oh Aby! I ADORE this post. I don’t know if it’s because I’m poorly at the moment and feeling a bit sensitive but it made me well up! Such wonderful images and such wonderful stories behind them. Love, Love, LOVE! Thanks for tagging me. Will do this next week :)x
Author
Ah thanks lovely. So glad you enjoyed it xx
I really loved this post. Reading about your journey to concieve was adorable and then to fall pregnant the day before! Meant to be!
Author
Thanks so much, glad you liked it x
Lovely pictures. The top one is truly stunning. Love the dark hair x
Author
Thanks my love xx
Love this. Beautiful pictures. I love the first pictures after birth, they always tell a story, and you looked beautiful, not at all bedraggled. X
Author
Ah thank you lovely lady x
I love this. Such beautiful photos all with beautiful feeling behind them. I’m all emotional now, damn hormones! x
#BrilliantBlogPosts
I LOVE this post! Very beautiful, precious pictures indeed. I love your wedding dress! You look stunning. And your baby’s first pony ride, how precious is that?! Lovely post & great photos. xx
Author
Thanks so much, glad that you enjoyed it x
oh Aby, I love this post. What a wonderful way to show off your favourite photos but like you said, I’d struggle to get it down to 8. I love you dark hair and the photo when you first held Baby, you look amazing x
I’m super nosy, so I really like posts like this. Thank you for opening up your photo album for us and sharing the most beautiful moments of your family x
Ahh thank you for doing the tag lovely and I just loved experiencing your photographs. You looked so pretty in your wedding dress and I think the one of you and Oz is just stunning. The stories of your journey into your motherhood actually made me feel really emotional I found I was pregnant the week before we were due to start clomid you see (a fertility drug) – wonderful photos x
Author
Thanks huni and for the tag. We were on Clomid too x
They’re all lovely photos, Aby, but the one with you holding Baby for the first time actually made me tear up. I can only imagine how amazing it must have felt to hold your baby if you thought you would never get to do so. Ah, I’ve gone all emotional now…
Ok so this made me cry I knew about Oz being put to sleep and what a talent he was but reading it today made me teary because I have been there and it’s so awful. All your other pictures are so gorgeous, I adore the one of you moments after having your precious baby girl and I think you look absolutely beautiful. I love that you chose that one of us and I will be choosing that one too, I have it in my desk too and it makes me smile on a daily basis, it’s one of my all time favourites. Thank you for tagging me, can’t wait to do mine. Love you loads xxxx
Author
Thank you darling. xxxx Love you too
Love your post. I am obsessed with photos and often have to clear my phone onto a hard drive for this reason!
You have some amazing pictures in this post and I loved reading.
x
What a lovely idea for a post! I will definitely have to do this one soon, I don’t know if I could narrow it down though 🙂 x
Oh these photos are so beautiful!! Oz is gorgeous! The photos of your daughter are so precious, for some reason I always feel as though I’m never going to be a mum. It’s what I want more than anything, and yet for some reason in the back of my mind all I think is ‘it’s never going to happen, I’m never going to find the person I want to have children with, and even if I do I won’t be able to have them’. I hope one day that I get these moments too. *fingers crossed*
Author
Thank you so much. I am sure your time will come x
I love this post, photos are all about memories after all. I also love that you have had sooo many different looks over the years (I’m terribly plain and just look a little older each year so I’m always impressed with people who can rock different looks) and yet you suit them all and look wonderful. I’m very jealous!xx
Author
Ah thank you, that is so kind of you to say xx
Fab photos! Love the one of you and Baby meeting for the first time, such a sweet moment to capture. And of course the wedding dress one 🙂 Thanks for hosting #TheList
Debbie
These pictures are so lovely. Really well chosen. You’ve definitely been on a journey and these pictures highlight that well. You look incredible on your wedding day! I also wish I looked that great after the birth of Evie haha. Luckily (or unluckily I haven’t decided) we didn’t have any cameras of phones with us when she was born. You must be so proud looking back on these. Especially seeing your little girl who you tried so hard for grow and getting to see her ride her first pony! 😀 xx #thelist
Author
Thanks lovely, I am glad you enjoyed looking at them xx
Oh Aby, I teared up reading this post. You picked really beautiful moments – you with Oz then baby on a horse just brought the whole story full circle. #TheList x
Author
Thanks Becky x
I love this post! It’s sentimental but in just the right doses! I was a horsey girl too as a kid and I did a pony camp when I was 12. Was given a 17 hand high horse too and nearly died. But he was a lovely horse and never let me down. I think I might take this blog post over to our own Irish Parenting Bloggers and tag them group as it’s really lovely.
Author
Thanks so much. Consider yourself tagged! x
I loved this post Aby. I am also very horsey. My mum was really into it and i and my first pony at 2. I rode all my life. My mum had our horse Falon before she even had me and sadly at the aged of 30, just before they emigrated to oz she became really ill and had to be put to sleep. She was the most amazing horse and i grew up with her. She was my mums first baby 🙂 She competed at so many levels at all sorts of things. Mainly endurance riding with my mum. Both me and my mum won the same championship, 12 years apart on the same horse which made the news. I love the picture of your wedding day you looked so happy and the pictures of Baby are adorable. 🙂
Author
Ah a fellow horsey person! Thanks huni x
They are all such precious memories. I love the picture of you with you horse, and of course all the baby related ones and it has to be said you looked stunning in your wedding photo. Great collection
Author
Thanks lovely lady, very kind x
These are all beautiful photos Aby. I used to be a horsey girl too and had one on loan for a while. I always said that if I couldn’t have kids I would get a horse – I still want one though! Thanks for hosting #thelist
Such happy photos! Love your face in the one with baby on a pony 🙂 #TheList
Oh I LOVE this post. Its amazing how you can tell an amazing story in just 8 photos. I was utterly pulled in, and I feel so happy for you and your husband that you got your ‘baby’ 🙂
Anna xx
Author
thanks so much for your lovely comment x
What beautiful photos and such emotional meanings behind them all too. The photo of you meeting baby for the first time is gorgeous. You don’t look bedraggled at all! You have that new mummy glow! Thanks for sharing the photos, really lovely #thelist
Author
Ah thanks so much x
Gosh what a stunning post! Really moving. And the ones of your darling baby are lovely. Love this and what a lovely post for you to look back on in years to come 🙂 Jess xx #thelist
Author
Ah thanks you huni. Glad you enjoyed it xx
Great idea for a tag & lovely photos & memories. The picture of Baby at 6 weeks is just gorgeous! #TheList
What lovely pics. It is the photograph equivalent of three nice things – bet this brightened your day xx #thelist
What a stunning array of photos; my two favorites were you and OZ and the scan that showed you would welcome a beautiful princess into the world. It just goes to show never give up on your dreams because someday your wishes will be granted!
I loved reading this post and taking a little look at your happy times. I bet it brought back some lovely memories. I would love to do this and take a trip down memory lane.
Author
Consider yourself tagged huni xx
Life is about special moments like these. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I love this post! So lovely to look back on your favourite photos. That photo of you and Baby on her 1st birthday is just precious and you look so different in the one with your horse xx
I love your wedding photo. It is beautiful as is the picture of your new born moment. Angela xx
I really miss having a horse.I grew up with ponies and horses for the first 10 years of my life.A beautiful selection of photographs Aby.
These are such lovely photos. You look gorgeous after the birth of your baby, you have a glow about you! #thelist
Author
Ah thanks you, you are very kind x
Oh gosh I’m totally welling up reading through and looking at your beautiful photos! What absolutely stunning pics and I just love how you’ve come full circle from bonding with Oz to having beautiful Baby and now starting her own riding journey – so so lovely! Mim x
Author
Thanks Mim, glad you enjoyed it x
This is so gorgeous – I love every photo. How amazing that after everything you fell pregnant naturally. And your horse, beautiful 🙂 thanks so much for hosting #TheList
Author
Ah thanks huni. I was on Clomid but apart from that natural 🙂 x
those photos are great. I love the big smiles. I’ll be posting 8 photos on happiness on my blog =)
This is just perfect. So lovely to look back and remember. Wonderful idea x
The photos are gorgeous! It’s always amazing to look back and have memories like those 🙂
Such beautiful and poignant photos, they brought a tear to my eye! Thank you for sharing #TheList
Author
Ah thanks, glad you enjoyed it x
Wow, some amazing experiencing and just reading this post makes you realise the power of photos and how emotive they can be X
What beautiful photos and lovely memories! #thelist xx
Really lovely photographs – thank you for sharing them with us.
What a lovely post, you’ve picked some amazing moments and the photos capture the emotion in them. They all obviously hold a lot of memories for you and are ones you’ll treasure. I find it so special the way photos hold so much more than just being a picture, they’re a window into your memory, triggering so much more. #thelist
Author
Thanks so much, it was a lovely post to write x
Aw, that photo of you and your horse is stunning! Great photos. #thelist
Author
Thanks so much x
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Wonderful post and photos. How lovely your daughter is taking after you and riding a pony. She looks super cute sat on her pony. How relieved you must have felt when baby arrived safely. That photo of her at 6 weeks is utter perfection x
Author
Thanks so much, yes I was very relieved 🙂 x
Such a lovely post! Your photos are really great and I can see why you like that one 😉 haha! I must do mine!!! xxx
Author
Thank you huni, it was a lovely tag to do xxx
Love seeing these and reading the stories that go with them. Great that you are passing I your love of riding to your daughter. I just did this tag too. So hard to choose!