One of my Things To Deal With after my closet declutter was filling a 5-opening picture frame. I bought it because hey, I have five kids and this frame has five openings, IDEAL! But there were too many decisions to be made. Two of the openings are one way and three are the other way, and the frame can be put up either horizontally or vertically which affects which “way” two/three are.
Plus, which of my THOUSANDS of kid photos should I use? And we didn’t get a digital camera until the twins were 6 months old, so I’d have to go through ALBUMS and then SCAN PHOTOS IN. And I do want the kids’ pictures to be in order by age, so what if I want to hang the frame vertically, and I don’t find pictures in the right orientations that I like? OH ACK.
Well, so my plan was to put it in a closet for two years and not think about it, but THAT didn’t work EITHER. After finding it again, I made this decision: either I deal with filling this frame, or I get rid of the frame. I spent an evening on it and it was worth it.
The first decision that really helped was deciding to use all newborn pictures of the kids. We were still using film cameras for the first four kids, so we don’t have very many photos to choose from, and I was further limited by the orientation of the openings, but I just MADE DECISIONS choose-choose-choose and tried not to get all bogged down in what would be Perfect or how sad it was that a certain picture was the wrong orientation or WHATEVER. I just chose five newborn photos that fit in the five openings, and I scanned the four paper ones and uploaded them with the one digital one, and I got the prints and I bought them right away rather than giving in to the temptation of “I should wait until I have a larger order to place” which would have taken AGES.
So here are the five photos:
Newborn Rob
Newborn William
Newborn Elizabeth
Newborn Edward
Newborn Henry
And then I had to decide where to hang the thing, but again I just got a hammer and chose a place, and if I don’t like it I’ll change it later, but here’s how it looks right now. It’s in my kitchen and I like it.
Goal achieved.
Great decision making Swistle! Way to go get ’em! The photos are perfect– I wish I had great pics like that of my kids. Lovely.
I love it!
This is terribly cute. Like, I think I’m ovulating just looking at your gorgeous babies. Well done. The babies and the picture decision.
Jeez, I don’t think it’s fair for one woman to get 5 adorable kids. All beautiful! I thought newborns were supposed to look like monkeys or something. Mine did — but hey, they’re cute now.
Check you out, Ms. Efficiency. Grabbing the bull by the horns and all. Hopefully you’ll inspire others (me) to just GET IT DONE ALREADY!
Lovely! I too often have frame/photo anxiety b/c I print out & place/hang a LOT of photos, but I only have ONE child. So I approve wholeheartedly of the spontaneous decision-making. I think it’s great!
Ack! I love it! Also, the fluffy duck fluff on Rob and William is KILLING me.
LOVE the newborn pictures! What a great idea! And doesn’t it feel great to just choose-choose-choose and get it done?
Oh oh oh, soooo cute! All great pictures, so well done.
LOVE it!! The idea to use all newborn pictures was a great one, and I like where you hung it too. You’ll look at it and smile everyday!
Yay! Good for you. I think the picture frame looks great where it is. And I love the newborn pics!!
I like it too! It looks great.
Love love LOVE it. I think Newborn Elizabeth looks just like Henry.
Kudos on just going for it. Especially the hammering part. I know you said you could always move it, but if you’re like me, you’ll never, ever move it. And that’s just fine. Nail holes are a b*tch to spackle.
I LOVE this idea. All the newborns – SO CUTE!
PS: I once gave my Dad a frame full of pictures of us four kids when we were little and he hung it up at work and then everyone though he had such young children, this was when he was around 60 (we were all pretty much teenagers by then). Hehe.
Love it! Love the decision to use newborn pics too! Funny story, I came across a random baby pic in a desk drawer this weekend and did NOT know which of my kids it was. I stared at that pic for an hour. I only have 2 kids. I even thought for a brief time, maybe it wasn’t even one of my kids because I didn’t recognize the outfit. I decided it’s my #2 though. I think…wow, does this make me a terrible mom!?
Ok, this post was written for me.
I currently have about 10 frames taken apart, spray painted, and ready to decorate my empty room. I JUST NEED to freaking look through my digital camera folders (ohhh boo hoo) and pick which ones I want. I’ve seriously put this off since the summer. And I hate how I’ve already done all the horrible stuff (ie: seeking and buying the frames, taking them apart, spray painting them the color I want, and cleaning all the glass) but I’m hung up on just picking the photos.
You’ve motivated me! I give myself until the end of January to get the photos picked and printed. There- I’ve said it out loud, now I need to stick to it!
Babies!
So cute!
*nomnom*
I have four children, so thought it was a huge coup when I found four-piece swively desk frames at Target for cheap. I bought two. Except then I got home, I realized they were for 2x3s. WTH? THAT is not a photo size! Plus, they were all vertically oriented. I cannot take that kind of pressure! I gave one to my mother, and she took the other to give to a friend at work who also has four grandchildren. Problem solved. Was proud of myself. Just have to try to remember not to create these problems for myself in the first place.
Mine is now just 3 months old, and it just blows my mind how tiny they are to begin with. I mean, the pacifier is almost bigger than Rob in that picture. How quickly they grow. How quickly we forget.
Love the pictures and placement!
Love it! Oh, the delicious newborn-ness :D
I can’t believe I’m going to be having one of those any day now!
Awwww! Newborn babies! *sniff*
And, Tracy H., I hope not, because I’ve done the same thing…and my second child isn’t even a year old yet!
Great Job! I’m so impressed at how you just decided to take on the project and finish it all at once.
I’m getting way too far behind in my photos not making it into an album.
I’m a firm believer in the whole “3M Command” stuff that lets you put up photos on the wall without making holes for nails. I can’t tell you how many pictures I’ve put off hanging because I just can’t bear to put another hole in my wall.
If you haven’t tried the stuff, give it a chance. You may like it…
So THAT’S where all the free-floating initiative went this week. I was hoping to get at least SOME progress on The Mantel Project, but instead wandered around Ikea aimlessly and bought a footstool. Whoops. I think your project turned out really great-looking!
So cute! I particularly like newborn Elizabeth as I think she looks most like my own when she was a newborn.
I think it turned out great!:) Isn’t it amazing how accomplished one feels after completing a project like that? *pat on the back*
Absolutely precious!! I love the decisions you made. Sometimes you gotta just go for it!
I guess you’ll have to buy a bigger frame if there’s a Baby No. 6. ;-P (*Will* there be a Baby No. 6??)
Well done!!!
Love, love, love, love, and love. I actually chuckled a little bit with each photo as I scrolled down, b/c each of them looks ever-so-slightly like their today-selves. My favorite is Rob’s- the teeny yet punchy fist coupled with HA-uge paci= ADORABLE.
Also, I just love the feeling finishing a project like this one gives me. Way to go! Are you on a roll now? This kind of thing puts me in the mood for MORE PROJECTS.
Love it! Inspiring! I’ll have to take a page out of your book, because holy cow we’re coming up on TWO FULL YEARS in this house with ZERO pictures on the walls. Yikes! I guess I’ve got your pre-post decision-making issues – either I can’t find the hangy thingies, or I can’t decide where to put them, or I realize all of my framed photos are from my college days, or I think we should wait for professional pictures, or “I’m sure we’ll paint in here soon,” or the dingo ate my pictures, blah de blah de blah. I’ll have to Nike it like you did. Well done.
And seriously, your beautiful babies all look like the same beautiful baby. Sooo cute!
LOVE!
I really love that.
They look adorable.
And to me? They all look ALIKE. Which is to say, they all look like HENRY, as he was the only newbornstle that I met in real time.
I love the frame and all the pics.
Oh goodness. If I didn’t already WANT babies babies babies, this would certainly push me that direction.
Just precious, each one of those sweet babies. Sigh.
How wonderful. That is such a lovely idea and great way to remember that very fleeting newborn stage.
Love love love it! Please come over and do my house next. I have nothing on the walls and too many pictures languishing in boxes and hard drives. You are an inspiration.
That’s really cool and now, since you’ve figured that dilemma out, I would like you to figure mine out.
I have three kids and I have a frame similar to yours in that the photo spots are in a line and the frame is taller than it is wide or, vice versa, wider than it is tall. It’s a rectangle.
Problem? There are *four* openings and *three* children. All four openings are the same size 3×5.
I have two of these and the first two kids had their 3-month, 6-month, 9-month and 12-month pictures proudly displayed.
And then came along my baby and I couldn’t find another frame like that. Aaand, we never got her 6 or 9-month photos taken (cringes.)
So I gots me a problem. Any suggestions?
This is awesome. Your childrens are adorable. I think these pics are great to display b/c you forget how teeny they once were!
Cardiogirl- I would get overwhelmed and put the frame in a closet.
I like it too!
Oh, I love newborn photos. What a perfect way to start the day. If I had baby pictures in my kitchen I think I would spend more time there.
The newborn photo idea was genius!
It looks terrific. And newborn William’s hair makes me want another baby, just so I can nuzzle that head.
cardiogirl: put a picture of each child in each photo opening and a picture of all three of them in the fourth.
Looks great and your babies newborn photos are all so beautiful!
It’s neat to have the infant photos all together; they’re all separate portraits so nobody is going to ask you about your quintuplets. LOL!
We got MIL one of those digital picture frames for her birthday. DH had to load it and get it all set up. I wonder if you’ve ever considered one for yourself? They hold a lot of pictures.
That is 100% sweet! They all look so much alike as newborns! Is it hard to keep track of which baby pictures belong to whom or do you have them marked well?
Oh my WORD. You had the cutest newborns EVER.
Jessa- I have them labeled (as part of the name of each digital photo and on the backs of prints) and THANK GOODNESS because I do find them hard to tell apart. Some of them I know because I know the picture, or because I can tell from the background or the outfit. Others, gosh.
Aw, this is so sweet. Love.
Sigh. Now I have to go and get knocked up again. How will I ever fill a 5-hole photo frame so brilliantly?!?
A+ for a job well done.
Excellent work Swistle!
Just when I think I’ve quelled my fierce desire for another baby…I see all your newborn pics and think WANT WANT WANT. Well, another one of my own, of course (not yours).
Newborn photos = love. I don’t know how you’re going to resist having another with those delicious pictures in your everyday line of sight.
aawww! all your babes had so much hair. adorable.
That looks fantastic! I like that frame. Plus, *OMGZ Adorable Baby Pictures Squeee!*.
It’s so cute how dark-haired your kids started out, since they’re totally blondies.
Excellent decision making! You are Queen Of Productivity And Accomplishments!
It looks great! I agree with Jessa that they do look very similar. I’m glad you didn’t do the same thing that Erin did and make us guess who was who, because my answers would have been 1) I’m not sure who that is, maybe Henry? 2) Henry 3) Henry 4) Henry 5) Henry.
Awesome! As a good friend of mine always says, “Indecision kills!” Maybe this isn’t as dire as that, but making a decision and sticking with it is almost always a good thing. And what a lovely collection to have in your kitchen.
go YOU! that’s fantastic.
i, on the other hand, have a house full of empty walls because i’m paralyzed by wall arrangement. no seriously – my entire house. it’s so sad considering the amount of nice photos, frames & mirrors we have just sitting around.
sigh, and yet watch me give advice!
cardiogirl, what if you put a nice pic of each kid in 3 and then a pic of you & partner in the 4th?
Love your kitchen area. A calander, a clock…pictures…a white board! So nice. And organized. And functional!
Oh, the newborney goodness. I can almost smell their newness. Scratch and sniff?
Your newborns are considerably cuter than the vast majority of the newborns I know, holy smokes! They are delicious!
Also, calendar very cute!
You have reminded me again of one of the CONSIDERABLE advantages to having c-sections, shallow though it may be: cuter baby faces/heads. I mean, my gosh, I had relatively straightforward labors and blessedly short pushing phases and still, my kids’ heads BOTH looked quite wonky for a few days. I was so happy that the nurses always insisted on leaving the hospitals caps on all the time!
Love it times FIVE! Well done you!
That is so great – and look at you, making decisions left and right. Go Swistle! But….are you sure you got them right?!?! Because certainly that is teensy baby Henry, not Elizabeth. They are IDENTICAL!!!
What little sweeties!~ I love the idea of using newborn photos. A lot of times we get so caught up in displaying new pictures, that we don’t keep up those precious baby pictures. Very cute!
Holy hell, I think my ovaries just broke. I don’t know why I can’t have just one more. I love the idea of using newborn pictures. Your babies are full of the cute.
@Anonymous & Jen Alright! I like those suggestions. Thank you for allowing me to worker smarter instead of harder even though I think I made you worker harder.
Or something.
Thanks for the ideas!
Gorgeous! Great idea and great execution.
LOVE THIS! Look at all those squishy baby cheeks!!! *dies of the cuteness*
Rob, William and Elizabeth look more like triplets. You had the same kid THREE TIMES! :)
Stop making my womb itch, woman. It’s not time for number three yet!
Oh my, that Henry has the most perfect little round head I’ve ever seen! Beeeautiful babies, all of them!
My ovaries are in physical pain now. Thank you very much.