This is the second part of Lilie’s debut photoshoot. You can check out her newborn session here. For this one we headed out to Jordan River on a gorgeous morning at the end of October. Lilie’s parents love spending time on the beach and in the waves and I wanted to capture them in their element. It is always so nice to get out of town and head up our gorgeous coast. Three cheers for beach time!
I am 100% completely in love with the name Quinn, and here the name couldn’t be attached to a more perfect baby. For the record, Quinn was on my name list for my own child but my husband vetoed it so I’m thrilled that it lives on in another close to me! I love watching young children interact with their new baby siblings. These times are so precious. My heart melted at the photo below where Owen is counting Quinn’s toes. So cute!
The table that Quinn is on in the latter pictures was made by her grandfather. It holds evidence of the time her father went at it with a hammer when he was but a child. Endearing now, probably not so much at the time ;) Her grandfather also made the wheelbarrow that her brother is giving her a lift in. Yay, Grandpa!
I pulled an old Remington from my typewriter collection for this special session. Baby Nathan’s great-grandmother was a published poet and she always did her writing on a typewriter. Nathan’s mom has lots of memories of playing away and learning how to type at her grandmother’s. Sadly, while Nathan was still in his mama’s belly, his great-grandmother passed away. We thought this shoot would make a fitting tribute to her.
This is part one of a two part series for this scrumptious family. They are avid surfers so part two is going to involve sand, surf and snuggles but we wanted to get some images of the first days at home too. There is something so special about those first couple of weeks of settling in as a family. You enter a cocoon and your entire world exists within the four walls of your house. Hours pass just staring at your baby and nothing feels so rewarding. And the love. Oh the love.
This was a really fun and dear shoot for me. Brianna’s grandmother is an incredibly talented knitter and has made gorgeous sweaters for all the new arrivals in her and her daughters’ lives over the last many years. I was so touched to receive one when my Ella was born. Hand-made gifts are always the most precious and I think of the creators everytime I use them. When I heard that Brianna was on the way I asked if Mrs.Fathers would half knit a blanket so we could do a shoot around it and honour all that she has done for the grateful families in her life. Thank you Brianna, Shelly, Blair and Mrs.Fathers for being in my life and making it richer. xo
The last two months have been such an incredibly wonderful and horrid journey. On May.3rd, I woke up in the middle of the night and the world was spinning (imagine drunk spins but times it by a thousand). Honestly, I thought I was dying from a brain aneurysm. It felt that wrong. I couldn’t stop throwing up. I called my parents to take me to the hospital so Gene could stay home with Ella. When we got to the hospital, the doctor said it was an inner-ear infection and, since it was viral, I just had to wait it out. They gave me tranquilizers and gravol. For two weeks, I couldn’t function at all. All I could do was sleep and stare at the wall. Through physio I learned that when your brain is recovering (which apparently it had to do after the infection) it takes in every bit of stimulation that is in its environment in order to recreate learning pathways that may have been effected. Normally, our brains block out all unnecessary messages and just concentrate on the info important at that time. Because my brain was on overdrive EVERYTHING was overwhelming. Every sight, sound and touch was pretty unbearable. After two weeks I was able to move around a bit but I was still constantly nauseous and my head just felt strange. I couldn’t handle anything electronic (no tv, no computer, no cellphone) and I had no energy. That was my life for two months. So what about the journey was so great?
Super amazing part of the journey key point #1- My family rocks my world. They are so incredibly loving and supportive and kind that I tear up just thinking about it. My Mom and Dad put their lives on hold to look after Gene, Ella and I for TWO MONTHS. They took Ella to school, they made us meals, they nursed me back to health. They are my heroes. Gene soldiered on at work and tried his best to stay strong while he was freaking out inside that he might lose his wife (there was a good chunk of time that we weren’t convinced it was my inner ear. The other alternatives were pretty scary.) Ella, my sweet sweet child would bring me blankets and kiss my forehead. Family, everything I do I do for you. You are my heart and soul and nothing in the world means more to me than you.
Super amazing part of the journey key point #2- I was forced to unplug for two months. The only thing that would ease my symptoms was to go outside and sit in nature. Lucky for me, my parents recently got a 7 acre slice of nature heaven. That land helped heal me. I sat with the sheep and the birds and the bugs and the sun. The body and mind have always fascinated me and this whole experience has led to some interesting insights for me. Because stimuli was so overwhelming I became acutely aware of just how much our bodies take in on a daily basis. You know that feeling when you go camping and you are in nature and you just feel so at peace. In the past, I mostly attributed that to the fact that I was on vacation and didn’t have to be on any schedule. I could just relax. Well now I know that it has a lot more to do with the difference in stimuli bombardment. In nature, the whole palette is neutral and calm. In our cities, everything is screaming for our attention. Ads, signs, phones, radios, screens. While we have become conditioned to tune it out and deal with it, it is still effecting our bodies and brains. I actually listened to an interesting program on CBC the other day about an experiment where two groups of people were giving an exam. Before the exam, one of the groups was walked down a busy street while the other did not. The group that walked down the busy street scored lower on the exam. My longwinded point here is that even though I was sick, being away from all the screens that are so much a part of my life felt so much healthier.
Super amazing part of the journey key point #3- Before getting sick, I spent a lot of late nights on my computer editing images because that was the only time I had without a toddler interrupting ;) Really late nights and early mornings led to a pretty decent coffee habit. Tired + coffee = bad eating habits. Really I just had a horribly unhealthy cycle going on. While I was sick, I couldn’t drink coffee or alcohol. I couldn’t spend time on the computer. I spent a lot of time nurturing my body with good whole foods trying everything in my power to get healthy again. Getting sick completely reset my clock and habits. In a way it was the best thing that could of happened to me. Now I am so so grateful for my health and my body and I take time to fuel it properly ;)
Blah, blah, blah! I should really just use my camera to tell the story.
Reconnecting with nature and family:
Thought everyone could do with a little bit of cuteness this morning. This family is close to my heart and it was such a joy to photograph them with their latest addition. The Daddy/Daughter photos always make my heart melt. Another thing I love? Baby leg pudge ;)
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