Eleven Years - NOW 12

[AndyTravis]

Here’s a thing.

My Eldest Daughter turned 11 yesterday. I joined Basschat in the early hours of 1st August 2009, as I couldn’t sleep and was absolutely having a rabbit in headlights Moment at the prospect of being a dad.

So...what does 11 years look like...

I was annoyed yesterday - due to politics, it was the first time I’ve not had a photograph of her on her birthday taken by me. Ella’s 2nd Birthday was the first one I did solo; the band I was in threw her a party for that one 🤣

Shame I haven’t got photographs of 11 years worth of bass sales and purchases on basschat.

I don’t think the servers could handle the upload.

Anyhow...happy 11th Basschativersary to me.

Edited July 31, 2021 by AndyTravis

[oldslapper]

Happy anniversary Andy. Make the most of every moment. My youngest is 25 this year, she’s stuck up in Edinburgh and we haven’t seen her for 11 months (FaceTime isn’t the same as a hug). 
But I remember the moment she was born like yesterday, and it’s flown by. 
Happy birthday Ella, your dad really does love you more than his basses. 😊

[fleabag]

Indeed, happy wotsits to you and ella.

I walked through the BC doors back in 2008, and  was here in the previous 2 incarnations before it was called BC.

Those years just keep sailing by dont they.   Scary

 

[AndyTravis]

9 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Indeed, happy wotsits to you and ella.

I walked through the BC doors back in 2008, and  was here in the previous 2 incarnations before it was called BC.

Those years just keep sailing by dont they.   Scary

 

Yeah. They really do. It’s mine and Jen’s 7th anniversary on the 18th, no idea where that’s all gone.

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

...My Eldest Daughter turned 11 yesterday...

Slightly late, but ...

[Nail Soup]

Happy birthday! 
From my side the arrival of children marked something of a hiatus in my music making. For e few years just the odd strum on the acoustic, then back into a bit of home recording , then a few open mics and finally back into a band. That is over a 20 year period. No regrets, I love music and the kids and was happy to balance it out that way.

 

[Drax]

It’s great how many photos we have of kids today. More photos in their first year than the average 50yr old has of their entire life. 

Made my first photo book recently (via BobBooks) - great way to preserve these memories, stacks of brownie points too. 

[Skybone]

Happy anniversary Andy & happy birthday Ella.

Our two turned 13 this year... where the hell did that time go?

[AndyTravis]

51 minutes ago, Drax said:

It’s great how many photos we have of kids today. More photos in their first year than the average 50yr old has of their entire life. 

Made my first photo book recently (via BobBooks) - great way to preserve these memories, stacks of brownie points too. 

We need to do more of this - a recent loss in the family has prompted us to empty the hard drives of photos and have them up. 
 

Interestingly, our 4 year old was watching ‘coco’ - a quirky Disney film about remembering family members; she asked “why don’t we have photos on our walls?”

So I’ve just painted the hallway and bought 30 photo frames. 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

... she asked “why don’t we have photos on our walls?”

So I’ve just painted the hallway and bought 30 photo frames. 

Careful with that. Next week she'll be asking 'Why don't we have a collection of vintage Bentleys..?' 

[mentalextra]

Hey Andy, love the pics! But once she hits 13yrs, all hell is gonna break loose! Trust me! My two boys were nothing in comparison! Fighting, crashing cars and competing over everything is nothing compared to the psychological torture of teenage daughters!

Enjoy the ride?😊

[AndyTravis]

24 minutes ago, mentalextra said:

Hey Andy, love the pics! But once she hits 13yrs, all hell is gonna break loose! Trust me! My two boys were nothing in comparison! Fighting, crashing cars and competing over everything is nothing compared to the psychological torture of teenage daughters!

Enjoy the ride?😊

Step son turned 11 in May. It’s like they’re playing hormonal ping pong.

awful 😂

[Beedster]

Congrats Andy, great photos. My eldest daughter, also Ella, turned nine 4 weeks ago. Yesterday her godfather (and our vocalist) came down from the Lakes and we played her and her little sister the two songs we wrote and recorded (Line in the Sand and Just Like You) to celebrate the birth of each (Ella did a guest, albeit unplanned BV on hers). I'd forgotten how good the songs were and how powerful were/are my emotions about my daughters. Over a beer or two afterwards, myself and singist agreed that songwriting is so much easier when you have something of emotional meaning to say, if I could gather the energy for another seven kids I could probably pull together a half decent album

[AndyTravis]

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Congrats Andy, great photos. My eldest daughter, also Ella, turned nine 4 weeks ago. Yesterday her godfather (and our vocalist) came down from the Lakes and we played her and her little sister the two songs we wrote and recorded (Line in the Sand and Just Like You) to celebrate the birth of each (Ella did a guest, albeit unplanned BV on hers). I'd forgotten how good the songs were and how powerful were/are my emotions about my daughters. Over a beer or two afterwards, myself and singist agreed that songwriting is so much easier when you have something of emotional meaning to say, if I could gather the energy for another seven kids I could probably pull together a half decent album

I’ve got enough for an EP 😉

[stewblack]

Beautiful collage, Andy, realy lovely. My daughter was an absolute angel, remained one throughout her teens and still is today at 25, and expecting her first child.

No reason your lovely girl shouldn't remain utterly perfect throughout her teens.

I love my other duaghter too, however ...

[AndyTravis]

8 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Beautiful collage, Andy, realy lovely. My daughter was an absolute angel, remained one throughout her teens and still is today at 25, and expecting her first child.

No reason your lovely girl shouldn't remain utterly perfect throughout her teens.

I love my other duaghter too, however ...

Ella has always been prim and proper, a great kid. Never any trouble at all - headteacher/governors awards, always top of the class, creative and funny.

Quiet, but confident.

Iris (youngest) is a lot like like Ella was.

Maggie (4) is a nightmare 

[stewblack]

Yeah. Makes you realise that all the parenting advice is just so much hooey. I have three kids, one of each.

All brought up the same all entirely different people now.

[Japhet]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

Yeah. Makes you realise that all the parenting advice is just so much hooey. I have three kids, one of each.

All brought up the same all entirely different people now.

I thought there was just male and female. Learn something every day.

[stewblack]

35 minutes ago, Japhet said:

I thought there was just male and female. Learn something every day.

Trust me.

[KiOgon]

@AndyTravis Lovely to have those 11 years of photo's, unbelieveable how time flies. I struggle to remember my boys at that age, wish we had taken more pics. They're 40 and 37 now, damn I feel old 🙄

[Nail Soup]

3 hours ago, stewblack said:

Yeah. Makes you realise that all the parenting advice is just so much hooey. I have three kids, one of each.

All brought up the same all entirely different people now.

I’ve seen a few studies that put forward the idea that parenting methods don’t make that much difference..... strict parents, easygoing parents, closely involved parents, leave them alone parents..... all those ways usually work pretty well even though they are based on opposing theories.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Nail Soup

[Oopsdabassist]

4 hours ago, stewblack said:

Yeah. Makes you realise that all the parenting advice is just so much hooey. I have three kids, one of each.

All brought up the same all entirely different people now.

I use that line too, 1 blonde, 1 brunette, 1 redhead, sadly my 37 year old brunette son is bald nowadays!!

[uk_lefty]

Great stuff! Photos are so incredibly special, how they can take you back to the entire day and remember the most minute and insignificant of details and always bring a smile to your face.

My kids are approaching 1 and 4 by the end of the year. I had a small "office" OK, music room, built in my garage and have spent every working day in here since early March. This weekend I received massive canvas prints of photos, one of each child, and they're up on the wall today. The one of my girl has her playing my Telecaster while her toy baby doll is on the floor behind her, very cute. 

[AndyTravis]

Well…12. Twelve years.

 

Still here…

 

I won’t share this years birthday photo as we were dancing around at 8.30am in our dressing gowns.

 

But yeah - 12 years.

 

I’ve learned nowt. 😉

Edited July 31, 2021 by AndyTravis

[fleabag]

Is that you on the right Andy ?