"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." AA Milne
I love you very much dude
Big love
Dad
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
You are EIGHT
Nooaaahhhhh, you are amazing!! This year you have grown up so much. You'resuch a great big brother & we are so proud of you -
You are really into your History at the moment & I love it! You just did a great project on the Romans and some evenings we sit at the table and draw battles on paper which is loads of fun. You're also still into your running which I also love althugh I'm super tired at the mo so not running enough!! We did our first parkrun this week and you did so well! I love that you can get yourself all the way round!! Running is good for the soul & I hope you keep doing it when you get older. I can't wait to see what and who you will become I know I will be proud! If I can give advice it's to enjoy what you do & undertand that contentness is a way of thinking rather than a situation. It's to love, love God, love people and love life. It sounds glib and wishy washy but it is hard and gritty & it is not the easy option. It's to take advice and let people make you a better person - "If you are irritated by every rub, how will you become polished" Rumi. But it's also to take joy in who you are, relax and let your light shine. It isn't arrogance to appreciate that you have a light to shine but it is annoying to people that want your light if you keep it hidden.
I love you very much dude
Big love
Dad
I love you very much dude
Big love
Dad
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
YOU ARE SEVEN
Another year on & you're still blooming amazing!
You have started running this year & turns out your really good at it!! We all go to the same running club (Run Wednesdays) & you and mum did a race recently in which you did really well, mum thinks you're already faster than she is already!? You and mum are on the banner for the club on Facebook too which is awesome!!
I'm just so proud of you!! You've had to adjust this year to being a big brother & you've been brilliant. You had some worries this year but you are doing great at battling them & overcoming your fears. Don't let anxiety hold you back, it's real and often for good reason but that doesn't mean it's worth letting it have a say in what you do. You are amazing, funny and bonkers & we love you so much. When you get older the things you worry about will be your strengths I know you are growing up to be such a caring thoughtful boy. You should know that this is a strength. You have a strong sense of what is right, you always want to make sure others are ok & that is amazing! This is a short note as to be honest I started it on your birthday & I'm only just now (You are already 8!?) realising I didn't finish it. I'll save up all the goodies for that entry!!
Big big big love you my amazing one!!
Daddy
I'm just so proud of you!! You've had to adjust this year to being a big brother & you've been brilliant. You had some worries this year but you are doing great at battling them & overcoming your fears. Don't let anxiety hold you back, it's real and often for good reason but that doesn't mean it's worth letting it have a say in what you do. You are amazing, funny and bonkers & we love you so much. When you get older the things you worry about will be your strengths I know you are growing up to be such a caring thoughtful boy. You should know that this is a strength. You have a strong sense of what is right, you always want to make sure others are ok & that is amazing! This is a short note as to be honest I started it on your birthday & I'm only just now (You are already 8!?) realising I didn't finish it. I'll save up all the goodies for that entry!!
Big big big love you my amazing one!!
Daddy
Friday, 16 January 2015
You are 6
Hello again! You are 6 and we still think you are amazing. So this year you have gained a little brother - Wilf. You are already a great big brother and you are so proud it's great!! You are also in year 1 now and have Mrs Johnson as your teacher. I'm pretty sure you love school especially maths and books and PE and outside type things. Your best friends are Jack and Finlay but you seem to get on with everyone. You guys are all pretty obsessed with power rangers too!
You got football crazy during the world cup and totally obsessed with it. Sadly England were out pretty quickly but you were always cheering for the winning team so by the end you were a big Germany fan! Now you are more obsessed with Strictly come dancing although I think your interest in that is fading a bit now that Steve Backshall is out!
Be the best you can be. I thought that meant you had to be top dog or Prime Minister or win a gold medal or something but I don't think that's what it means I think it means to really go for whatever you do. If you are washing up dishes, do it enthusiastically, cheerfully and with gusto. If you are playing football do it the same way. Don't write off your achievement or what you are doing but try instead to act wholeheartedly & to live intentionally.
Here's a quote I like by Ted Hughes who wrote this to his son so I thought it would be good to write it to you:
"And that's how we measure out our real respect for people—by the degree of feeling they can register, the voltage of life they can carry and tolerate—and enjoy. End of sermon. As Buddha says: live like a mighty river. And as the old Greeks said: live as though all your ancestors were living again through you"
Anyhow love you loads & love that you're my boy! Hopefully I'll add to this over the year but if not seeya again when you're 7!!
You got football crazy during the world cup and totally obsessed with it. Sadly England were out pretty quickly but you were always cheering for the winning team so by the end you were a big Germany fan! Now you are more obsessed with Strictly come dancing although I think your interest in that is fading a bit now that Steve Backshall is out!
Be the best you can be. I thought that meant you had to be top dog or Prime Minister or win a gold medal or something but I don't think that's what it means I think it means to really go for whatever you do. If you are washing up dishes, do it enthusiastically, cheerfully and with gusto. If you are playing football do it the same way. Don't write off your achievement or what you are doing but try instead to act wholeheartedly & to live intentionally.
Here's a quote I like by Ted Hughes who wrote this to his son so I thought it would be good to write it to you:
"And that's how we measure out our real respect for people—by the degree of feeling they can register, the voltage of life they can carry and tolerate—and enjoy. End of sermon. As Buddha says: live like a mighty river. And as the old Greeks said: live as though all your ancestors were living again through you"
Anyhow love you loads & love that you're my boy! Hopefully I'll add to this over the year but if not seeya again when you're 7!!
Friday, 13 December 2013
You are 5
Where to begin? Let's just go for some recent stuff. I am still (and always will be) so proud of you. We watched you in the nativity today. Obviously you had the main role - Inn keeper number 3 - we were so proud and pretty predictably mum cried!
You also started school and you love it. Miss Bown says you're awesome, popular and bright and as I said we are really proud of you! You love Deadly 60 and dressing up to rescue people and animals especially the deadly poisonous adder rattle snake vipers. You also love dinosaurs, lego and playmobile. I love playing them with you and running round the house with you although I think school must be really knackering as you are often really sleepy by the time I get in. I need to try to get home earlier I guess!!
This weekend we are starting a new tradition of making Christmas crackers together for the family which I'm excited about as doing anything together is really fun. I think you are down for drawing duties and selecting lego models for each cracker. I've pulled buying miniature drinks for the adults and getting the banging explosive bits!
A great man died this week - Nelson Mandela - he taught tolerance and forgiveness, I hope one day when you are older you will read about him and understand how important these things are. Here's a quote that he used in his inauguration (He borrowed it from someone else but let's say it was his eh!)
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
I don't mind what you do, but be confident that you have a secure identity not always known and recognised by others, and importantly not defined by them. You have an identity in God and you can have a freedom in knowing that. Don't feel you have to be like others or tear yourself apart to be acceptable. You are perfect. When you have a child you will realise that they are perfect and they do nothing to earn it. That's how I think about you and how you should learn to think about yourself. Not arrogant but accepting that you are who you are and that is always enough.
This is a quote from another good guy to read: -
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life
Me and your mum have learnt this first hand. Life is great now and finally me and your mum aren't defined by what we have been through. We are genuinely as happy as I think a family could be. Thanks for being awesome xx
Big hugs
Dad x
You also started school and you love it. Miss Bown says you're awesome, popular and bright and as I said we are really proud of you! You love Deadly 60 and dressing up to rescue people and animals especially the deadly poisonous adder rattle snake vipers. You also love dinosaurs, lego and playmobile. I love playing them with you and running round the house with you although I think school must be really knackering as you are often really sleepy by the time I get in. I need to try to get home earlier I guess!!
This weekend we are starting a new tradition of making Christmas crackers together for the family which I'm excited about as doing anything together is really fun. I think you are down for drawing duties and selecting lego models for each cracker. I've pulled buying miniature drinks for the adults and getting the banging explosive bits!
A great man died this week - Nelson Mandela - he taught tolerance and forgiveness, I hope one day when you are older you will read about him and understand how important these things are. Here's a quote that he used in his inauguration (He borrowed it from someone else but let's say it was his eh!)
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
I don't mind what you do, but be confident that you have a secure identity not always known and recognised by others, and importantly not defined by them. You have an identity in God and you can have a freedom in knowing that. Don't feel you have to be like others or tear yourself apart to be acceptable. You are perfect. When you have a child you will realise that they are perfect and they do nothing to earn it. That's how I think about you and how you should learn to think about yourself. Not arrogant but accepting that you are who you are and that is always enough.
This is a quote from another good guy to read: -
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life
Me and your mum have learnt this first hand. Life is great now and finally me and your mum aren't defined by what we have been through. We are genuinely as happy as I think a family could be. Thanks for being awesome xx
Big hugs
Dad x
Thursday, 29 November 2012
You are 4
Hi, I wanted to write to you and tell you what we think of you. I wanted you to know you are loved & appreciated by us, by God and by so many people!
You are amazing. Mum and me have been through it a bit over the last 3 years. Mum has had cancer and a bone marrow transplant & we haven't always had the patience we wish we could have had but you have turned out to be something we can be so proud of. This year you have been obsessed with being the next Tom Daily. So much so that we take you to gymnastics and swimming lessons every week so you can do it. In the summer you ran round in your pants pretending to be him which is awesome!! We went to the water polo at the olympics too although your favourite part was the seats that flicked up!
We have had a lot of Pavey discos although Beau usually ends them by wanting to dance with all of us! We went to Cornwall at Easter and to France in the summer with Uncle Dave, Auntie Jen, Naomi, Jonah, Granny & Grandpa B where we had a great time but the pool was freezing & you wanted to jump in all the time!!
You've watched a fair amount of tele (too much?? - maybe!) but at the moment it's all about hero squad. You also love making gingerbread men & bread with me which makes me really happy!
Since my plan is to write to you at least every birthday I want you to know I think a lot about you & I think you are great. You make me laugh & you make me smile. Even when you're a monkey I am so proud! I love quotes, writings & poetry too & so I want to include some in my letters.
This is a great poem by Dr Suess (I have shrunk it a bit but not much!)
Congratulations!
Today is your day,
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains, and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there
in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sites!
You'll join the high fliers!
who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to says so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you
You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lunch
wuth an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where boom bands are playing.
Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
You'll get mixed up of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many stray birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with you left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent garanteed!)
KID YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Alenn O'Shea
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So... get on your way
I have so many hopes for you for today, for tomorrow and for the future. I want you to reach for the stars but I want you to be satisfied wherever you get to. If you get the stars thats great and I'm really proud but if you miss them by miles that's just as great and I'm just as proud. BE content and happy rather than trying to make yourself so, it turns out you its a decision rather than a reality. Anyhow this is a pretty long first letter so I am off. You will doubtless be waking me up in a few hours with a 'Dadeeeeeey' on your birthday xx
lots of love
Dad x
You are amazing. Mum and me have been through it a bit over the last 3 years. Mum has had cancer and a bone marrow transplant & we haven't always had the patience we wish we could have had but you have turned out to be something we can be so proud of. This year you have been obsessed with being the next Tom Daily. So much so that we take you to gymnastics and swimming lessons every week so you can do it. In the summer you ran round in your pants pretending to be him which is awesome!! We went to the water polo at the olympics too although your favourite part was the seats that flicked up!
We have had a lot of Pavey discos although Beau usually ends them by wanting to dance with all of us! We went to Cornwall at Easter and to France in the summer with Uncle Dave, Auntie Jen, Naomi, Jonah, Granny & Grandpa B where we had a great time but the pool was freezing & you wanted to jump in all the time!!
You've watched a fair amount of tele (too much?? - maybe!) but at the moment it's all about hero squad. You also love making gingerbread men & bread with me which makes me really happy!
Since my plan is to write to you at least every birthday I want you to know I think a lot about you & I think you are great. You make me laugh & you make me smile. Even when you're a monkey I am so proud! I love quotes, writings & poetry too & so I want to include some in my letters.
This is a great poem by Dr Suess (I have shrunk it a bit but not much!)
Congratulations!
Today is your day,
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains, and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there
in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sites!
You'll join the high fliers!
who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to says so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you
You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lunch
wuth an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where boom bands are playing.
Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
You'll get mixed up of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many stray birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with you left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent garanteed!)
KID YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Alenn O'Shea
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So... get on your way
I have so many hopes for you for today, for tomorrow and for the future. I want you to reach for the stars but I want you to be satisfied wherever you get to. If you get the stars thats great and I'm really proud but if you miss them by miles that's just as great and I'm just as proud. BE content and happy rather than trying to make yourself so, it turns out you its a decision rather than a reality. Anyhow this is a pretty long first letter so I am off. You will doubtless be waking me up in a few hours with a 'Dadeeeeeey' on your birthday xx
lots of love
Dad x
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