Monthly Archives: February 2012
My vision
Last night I attended a great workshop with the amazing guys at Foto Frenzy www.fotofrenzy.com.au these guys are all fantastic award winning photographers. I have done a few of their workshops before and their knowledge on photography is outstanding. I love going to these photography workshops, it cements not only my love for photography but the fact that I can actually understand what they are talking about is encouraging!
I have a vision in my mind of what I want my photos to look like, I am miles away from this at the moment but I know what I am working towards. I see my photography journey as an evolving one, it is a slow process but I am confident in my ability and I know that if I keep working at it I will get to the place where I want to be with it.
I do love both portraiture and landscape photography. I find landscapes easier but I think that is because landscapes can’t talk and I don’t have to direct them 
I particularly like sunsets and nighttime photography. I chose this photo because I love the colour and the silhouettes. If you haven’t already, check out my Beautiful Places page for some of my favourite photos from places that I’ve photographed.
At the moment most of my portrait photography is kids, I love children and I love taking photos of them. Ultimately I would really like to have more opportunity to do glamour photography. I really like the idea of glamour photography for women to make them feel like special, make them up and take beautiful photos of different looks and poses that they wouldn’t usually have. A few years ago I had some glamour photos done and I loved the experience. Hair, makeup, nice clothes and the photo shoot, it is something that I have only ever done once but I still have the photos and I remember the experience as being really fun. It does look a bit daggy now and I definitely have ALOT more wrinkles but it was 12 years ago BC – (before children!)
This photo below is one of the photos taken at last nights workshop. Eventually this is what I want to be doing.
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Quota Art Show
This weekend the Jimboomba Quota Art Show is being held. I had no idea what that was but I entered it anyway. I have since found out that Quota International is a charity organisation that helps people in need. http://www.quotajimboomba.org.au
I have entered some of my photos into the photography competition. If anyone is interested in going along I have attached the flyer for details. I only decided to do this at the last minute so I have spent today organising to have the photos printed and mounted. I am really excited about seeing the photos in large print. I have no idea what sort of competition I will be up against but I have entered these four photos. Whether I win or lose I am mainly doing it so people know who I am and can see some of my work. Wish me luck!
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No more babies for me!
I love babies, I have 4 of them so it’s just as well I like them! But no more babies for me! I love them, they are cute and cuddly but I have no desire to have anymore of my own. I no longer feel that little tug at my heartstrings when I see a newborn. There is nothing sweeter than a baby and I love taking photos of them but I am glad that I can hand them back
I took Sienna to a baby market today, just to have a look. Would you believe Sienna enjoyed it more than I did? She loves shopping and is always excited to go anywhere with me. She is my wing girl, we go practically everywhere together and shopping is one of her fave things to do. On our way out this morning she asked if we needed petrol and then did I have any money?? She is only 2 so that is very cool
Anyway the markets were nice and if it was 9 years ago and I was just starting out I’d probably be in my element, oohing and ahhing over all of the cute outfits and lovely baby items. But honestly……I was bored! Sure the stuff was nice but how many little girls dresses made out of what looks like curtain material to me can a girl have?? Not only that but I know that I can buy 3 beautiful dresses from K Mart for my girl for $40 and not just one of those. Anyway so Sienna and I bailed from there and we went to Loot Homewares, which is much more our style these days.
Except on Mondays when she is at daycare, I love hanging out with Sienna, she is great company and chatters away all the time. Although when she is good she is really good and when she is bad she is really bad. I do have to make excuses for her though, she gets sick alot and suffers badly with tonsilitis which effects her behaviour. At those times she is feral but at the moment she is well so I am making the most of it!
Babies are gorgeous, they are cute and I look back on my kids baby days with a smile and remember how beautiful they were. As new parents we hang on every move, we celebrate every milestone. We worry about how much they eat, how much the sleep and they turn us into zombies. One little smile and we are mush! We get up all grumpy in the middle of the night and then we see their little face and the grump melts away.
My Sienna as naughty as she can be, melts away any bad mood when she snuggles herself into me and says “I love Mummy”. ♥♥
My Cheeky Girl!
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Feeling defeated :(
My husband and I are struggling with a very hard decision regarding our oldest daughter, Savarnah at the moment. We have been going over and over it for about a year now or probably even longer really but today I made an appointment to take Savarnah to see our pediatrician about getting her medication to calm her down. We know that it could take some time to find one that is right for her and it could make her worse before it makes her better. But we have tried and tried with Savarnah, her behaviour is just such that I don’t believe we are ever going to make any headway with her. She has been having issues at school as you know but this is just the latest in a long line of issues. The child that was bullying her has been banned from leaving one area of the playground and things have been ok there as far as I know, but if it is not her then it will just be someone or something else. Savarnah is the ultimate drama queen so there will always be something.
Last night at her swimming lesson she was mucking around being silly as she often does and the teacher said to her “Savarnah you are the oldest one in this group and you are acting like a baby”. It was true, maybe it sounds harsh but I was glad that she said it, there are not many that do. Most people whether they are her teachers or other adults just humour her, they smile that smile, the one that you know means that they think she’s ridiculous but they wont say it.
Savarnah has been having swimming lessons since she was 2 years old – she still can’t swim. Her brothers swim laps of a 25m pool and she can barely keep her head above water, this is despite having 6 years of swimming lessons. Savarnah can’t swim for various reasons, she has low muscle tone, she has diminished lung capacity but the real reason why Savarnah can’t swim is because she cannot focus long enough to follow the instructions. Year after year I poor money down the drain in the hope that one day it will just sink in. Unfortunately Savarnah is likely to sink before that happens!
Most people who know Savarnah think that she is just a normal kid, and it does seem that way at first but spend some time with her and you will soon realise that she is not. Savarnah is like an annoying noise, like a tic that wont go away. She is 8 years old but she behaves as if she is 3, that is not a lie, her almost 3 year old sister behaves better than she does. The affect that Savarnah’s behaviour has on our family is evident to us, she annoys her brothers to absolute distraction. Her younger sister copies her behaviour and she drives her father and myself up the wall. The silly noises, the standing on her head constantly, the loud audible sighing, the opera singing at the top of her lungs, the fake crying, the crazed laughing, the newly acquired imaginery friend. The other day she announced that she was going to start smoking when she is old enough. Great news for someone with chronic lung disease!! There is no common sense with Savarnah, there is no reasoning. She lies, makes up stories, steals. She has learned helplessness, which basically means that she is lazy. She will not do anything that she is asked to do, she wont even try to do things like open cans, bottles, lift heavy bags etc….all of this is too hard! Getting her ready for school in the morning is a daily ordeal, every step she needs to do has to be told to her over and over and over and still she will turn up at school hair a mess, teeth unbrushed. She doesn’t care, she can’t be bothered. I have reached the stage where I will no longer nag Savarnah to do her jobs, if she gets to school with nothing done and no school bag then that is her problem. At 8 years old she should be able to take some responsibility for herself. Her brothers constantly nag her to do things but I have told them it’s not their problem.
I feel that I am hard on her but I have no choice, if I wasn’t on Savarnah’s case all the time then she would be a mess. The way that she behaves is so erratic, one minute she is deleriously happy to the point where she seems quite crazed and the next she will be flying off the handle screaming and crying. It is a constant roller coaster of emotions with her and it can be quite difficult to live with. This is why my husband and I have decided that we are willing to go down the road of medication for her. We are well aware of the seriousness of this and it has not been easy for us but it has reached a stage where we feel that not only is it going to be what is best for her but also for the rest of our family aswell. It is not fair that her siblings should have to be subjected to the kind of behaviour that she portrays and I don’t like the effect that it is having on our relationship with her. Her brothers are sick to death of her, they are forever asking me why does she do that? I can’t make them understand , they know that she has autism, we all know that but if doesn’t make her any easier to live with.
I feel defeated, I feel that I have lost the battle. I know that it is silly but I have tried so hard all of her life to help her to be a normal child. I think that I have always felt that if I only tried hard enough she would be ok. But I have reached the point now where I can’t do anymore. I need to try and do something to make all of our lives easier and this is the only way I know how to do that now. I am sad but I am even sadder about what this has done to my relationship with my daughter.
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There’s a maniac on the loose!
For us there is one sure sign that our two year old is getting sick, she turns into an out of control maniac! Sienna suffers from tonsilitis ALOT, I mean she probably gets it on average once or twice a month. The only signs that we get that she is actually sick is her behaviour. She can have raging tonsilitis and an ear infection and not actually present as being sick! She doesn’t often get temperatures, there is no coughing, no runny nose. None of the usual signs of a child being sick, it is very frustrating because it usually means that it takes us a good few days before we realise what’s going on. Her behaviour just gets worse and worse, she gets very nasty, scratching the other kids and being very naughty and destructive.
So of course you can guess what’s going on in our house at the moment, there is a maniac toddler on the loose. I have taken her to the doctor yet again this morning (after waiting for an hour!) finally we have a referral to the ENT!! I know that this isn’t really exciting news but I think that having her tonsils out is going to be the only solution for Sienna. She has had recurring tonsilitis since she was probably 6 months old and has been on antibiotics so many times I have lost count. The problem that we now have is that her little body can no longer tolerate them and any type of antibiotic gives her horrendous diarrhea. So while the antibiotics clear up her tonsilitis it reacts horribly with her so we are constantly changing her nappy and because she is pooing so much it burns her bottom so changing her becomes a traumatic experience for both of us! It also interrupts the toilet training process because I just can’t have her in undies while this is going on. Not that we are having a lot of luck anyway but it is another setback. Sienna is very good about it all but it isn’t nice for her to have to go through this once a month at least. She gets to the stage where she will come and say to me “I’ve done another poo – again!! Poor little pickle 
So I am sort of happy about this latest development, I have an appointment tomorrow to see the specialist so we shall see what he says about it. I am hoping that he will go ahead and do it though because right now it seems to me like we don’t have a choice.
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Alexis & Oliver
I recently had the pleasure of meeting this lovely family. Other than my own I have never photographed twins before, I had forgotten what it is like having two little sets of arms and legs waving around and two heads going in different directions. These two are six months old and both twins were gorgeous and very well behaved. We had a lot of fun and they were very cute! Their Mum and Dad, David and Naomi were lovely relaxed parents and I could see why the babies were so happy.
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Hold you children even tighter tonight
When I heard about the tragedy that happened today in Brisbane a chill went up my spine and immediately I thought of my own baby girl, I knew that she was at home safe with her Father but still I wanted to go home and hold her tight. Our children trust us implicitly, without judgement, without question until we give them reason not to.
What must a Father have been thinking to have taken his two year old son from his bed at 3am, put him on the back of his bike, ride to the top of a bridge and throw himself and his baby over the edge?? I cannot even begin to contemplate what this man was feeling to do this. We will never know, tonight there is a Mother out there whose baby boy has been taken from her, she put him to bed last night and will never see him alive again and what makes it worse is that his life was taken by his own Father.
I came home tonight and I picked up my daughter, I held her tight and kissed her all over. I listened to her happy chatter about her day, we read a book together and I couldn’t help but think about this poor baby. All of the milestones that he must have achieved, was he chatting happily as my little one does, did he run to his Father to greet him every day when he arrived home? Was he cheeky and mischievious, full of fun and giggles?
I love my children with every part of myself and although I whinge and complain about them, they are from my body, they are my heart and I cannot begin to fathom what deep, dark place this man must have reached. I only wish that he had’ve reached out for help before it got to this. I grieve for this little boy whose life has ended before it had barely begun and for his poor Mother, I cannot even begin to imagine how she must feel.
Hold your children tight tonight and please never ever be afraid to ask for help. Nothing can be so hopeless that it warrants this.
RIP Little One xoxox
Chop her into bits!!!!!!!!
The beginning of a new school year is always an apprehensive time for children and parents alike. It is really difficult getting new teachers and settling into a new class. Some years have been more successful than others, there are teachers that the kids (and us) have liked more than others and of course there have been kids in each class that they have gotten along with better than others.
Even though we are only 4 weeks into the new school year already we have had a few teething problems. I was really dreading this year particularly because last year was such a good one for all of the children. We had teachers that were perfect for them and they were very happy and settled. When you get teachers that you really like you just don’t want the year to end. This year things are very different for them all. We have split our twins up for the first time ever, this has it’s good points and not so good. It gives them some independence from each other but we now have to deal with three different teachers. My older son, Dylan has been struggling with the different teaching style of his new teacher. He had a teacher last year that he loved and the teacher that he has now is very different.
My biggest worry at the beginning of the year is how our daughter Savarnah is going to deal with it, as I have mentioned she is autistic so change always affects her behaviour. Already her behaviour at home has been quite erratic, which we always expect. Savarnah stuggles socially more than academically, she is quite bright but she has social difficulties. Unfortunately Savarnah is an easy target in the playground, she has been coming home complaining about a particular girl in her class being mean to her. As I usually do I told her to stay away from her. I always ask them how their day was when I pick them up and lately she has been saying she had a bad day because of this girl. So today I asked her exactly what she was doing to be mean to her?
She told me that this girl has been telling her that she is going to chop her up into a million bits. She chases her around everywhere and when she catches up with her she shakes her and makes her cry. The difficulty with Savarnah being autistic is that sometimes it is difficult to get a straight story out of her but this time I do genuinely believe that she is telling me the truth. When I asked Savarnah had she told the teacher she said that she had but the teacher said exactly what I said to her. Stay away. But then as it turns out she hasn’t told the teacher that this girl is threatening to chop her head off either. So looks like I am off to see the teacher in the morning! Stay tuned to find out how that goes
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Why I run?
We always hear a lot of people complaining about their weight. With all the Biggest Losers and Excess Baggage shows on, it is a hot topic these days everywhere we go. Now I must admit I myself am not the picture of skinniness, nope far from it. I have got excess baggage in places that I would rather not have it! I can’t even use the excuse that I’ve had 4 children because it was there before I had them anyway. But! there is a difference between the overweight me and some (not all) overweight others. I am fat but fit, now I wouldn’t say that I am run a marathon fit but I did run 5km before breakfast this morning. Yes it was a slow 5km but at least I did it! I run between 3-5km about 2-3 times a week at 6.30am before my husband goes to work, I do pilates once a week and I play 4 sets of tennis every Friday morning. I am about to start bootcamp with a friend who is a personal trainer, I am not sure that this is a wise move but I am willing to give it a shot!
I know that I am lucky in the fact that I don’t work and that my husband is home until 7.30 in the mornings which enables me to go out. But I have a belief that where there is a will there is a way. I know from personal experience how hard it can be to lose weight but I know that it will never happen if you don’t have definitive motivation for doing it. I have found that for my own sanity I have to exercise. I am miserable and tired and grumpy if I haven’t exercised for more than a week. I have many reasons why I exercise.
This is what keeps me running up hills at the crack of dawn:
I have rheumatoid arthritis, how it affects me is that my body aches and my joints feel like they are seizing up. Sometimes I can go through stages when it is really good and I am free of pain but I have flair ups occasionally and I can barely move. It is particularly bad in the winter time, the cold makes my bones ache. What helps me to relieve the pain of the arthritis is moving, if I stop moving for too long I seize up. When I get up in the morning I am like a granny hobbling along until I get moving. The running/jogging helps a lot, the more I move the better I feel. I still get the aches but my joints don’t seize up as much.
I have high cholesterol. Or I should say that I had high cholesterol. For the last few years my doctor has been telling me that my cholesterol is too high, at one stage after giving birth to my daughter it was up to 8, normal is 5.5. I have a low fat diet and have always exercised but still couldn’t get it down under 6.7. Since I started running a year ago I have lost 22kgs and I was very happy to find out recently that my cholesterol is now down to 5.7 which is almost normal.
Cancer. My Mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer over three years ago, this was scary enough in itself but it also scared me because it meant that I could get it too one day. Everything that I have read and heard says that being overweight and unfit also increases your likelihood of getting cancer, I want to do everything that I possibly can to try and avoid it.
Old age is a bitch. The fitter and healthier you are when you are old the easier life can be.
I know that life is busy, we work, we’ve got kids, blah blah blah…….exercise can be hard, it’s hard to say no to chocolate, chips, lollies whatever your vice is, it’s hard to find the time. I have four kids, there are days when I am exhausted and my bed is nice and cosy but I drag myself out of it to plod around the block. It is a good way to start the day, gets it out of the way early and it only takes half an hour out of my day. I like doing it first thing in the morning, if I leave it until later in the day then I get tired or busy and don’t end up going. I have always tried to make the effort to do something, even when the kids were babies I used to put them in the pram every morning and go walking with them.
These are my motivators but everyone needs to realise what their own motivation is. I like the saying where there is a will there is a way. If you really want something badly enough then you have to find a way to make it happen
