Selfie Mummy

Before we got married and had children, Mr Strawberry and I used to go on road trips and he'd snap the two of us. It became 'a thing' we had to do. It was awesome.

Now it seems it's a thing everyone has to do...but alone in front of a bathroom mirror...with a duck face pout.
Weird.
One of the many reasons I'm glad we didn't have Facebook during my youth.

However, I enjoy being an iPhone generation Mummy.

With phone in hand, I am constantly taking pictures of my little guys and playing online games during the more mundane parts of our days. But when I scroll through the mountains of photos I’ve taken of my children, my husband occasionally pops up but my face is quite rare.

It’s an argument I’ve brought to his attention many times in the past but the poor soul just simply never thinks I might like him to take a photo of me and the boys as we go about our business. I started handing him my phone at opportune moments and he’d take one really crap photo. He has since learnt to just leave his finger on the button and thankfully there’s usually one that's half decent.

We recently went to a family wedding. When we arrived, I took one of Mr Strawberry and I, since we were all dressed up. I was done up to the nines, which is highly unusual for me. I was even feeling extra brave a wearing red lipstick, so it seemed a waste not to.

During the day we ended up going on an unexpected miniature train ride. I guess I must have been lost in the moment (train ride!! The boys and I may have been a little excited) and I took loads of selfies of us all in our little train cabin.

I remember when I was planning my wedding, my darling Mother recommended I get a good photographer because when the day is over, it's all so manic you barely remember anything. She was so right! Years later, I have a few vague memories but I've got a ton of photos which depict the day perfectly. Without them, I'm certain I would question whether it happened at all. So, if that's the case, how am I going to prove to my ageing self that I was present in my children's upbringing? 

My 2014 file of photos, all taken on my phone, already exceeds 12GB. That's a lot of photos. I'm in about four of them. It's bad enough as a mother you lose a sense of self; everything becomes about the baby and we don't have much time for the things we used to enjoy, but to vanish from the photo folders too? 

That's pants. 

And it's time to take matters in to our own hands.

With this thought sitting at the back of my mind, I went away for a weekend for some time to myself and to catch up with an old friend.

Safe to say, I went a bit 'selfie' mad.

Outside my first youth hostel experience (obviously, tired).

Outside the Globe Theatre.

Outside the Tate Modern.

Checking for Dementors at the Millinium bridge.

In front of a Monet.

Outside St Pauls.

With a friend and bright blue telephone box (not the TARDIS).

Outside the National Gallery.

With a blue chicken in Trafalgar Square.

When I was posing for the last one, a bloke offered to take it for me and I told him I was "doing a thing" (plus I was never going to hand my iPhone to a stranger!). Probably came across a little crazy but hey ho.

So, grab your phones, take lots of pictures of the kids, then turn the phone around or press that snazzy button and take some of you too. You know you'll regret it if you don't and when the kids are gone, all you'll have is a much older face and no photos of that less wrinkly version you used to wear when you were busy taking photos of other people.