Wordless Wednesday

Posted on September 8, 2010

A few words – coz I can never keep things brief…..I am blogging from my new toy – the iPad. Very nice!

a little Mackenzinator story..

Posted on August 26, 2010

It’s no secret that Mackenzie hold a very special place in every persons heart that she comes in contact with.  She has a beautiful nature and her personality is one of a kind.  I know as parents we are not meant to have favourites……

We headed out with Mum last weekend to Birrarung Marr and Federation Square.  It was a glorious day for an adventure.  There are photos of the whole family – this is all about Mackenzie.

We sat down to watch a street performer – he was quite engaging with his 8-foot unicycle, machetes and super dooper sharp sword. There was varying degrees of audience participation.  When it was time for him to get up on his unicycle, he asked Mackenzie to hold his sword.  (small Mummy panic moment : super sharp sword + accident prone Mackenzie = surely not a good combination).  She sat on that step and held onto the sword for a good 10 minutes.  Wasn’t letting go for anything, and was so so proud.  Once the ‘bloke’ was on his bike, and he had his arms full of machetes, he asked for M2 to bring the sword to him.  She was totally thrilled and pranced over with the sword held high – holding it by the handle.  When asked to ‘tun it around’ (in the hope that she would hold it by the sheath so that the bloke could grab the handle) she simply ‘turn it around – facing it in the other direction!  Woops – once she got it sorted out and held it by the sheath – there came the problem of height difference!  Finally she managed to pass the sword up.  You can see in image #5 how excited she was! There was a whole lot of little Mackenzie-like jiggling and dancing going on – so so cute.  The bloke was fabulous, and then offered her $5 as a thank-you.  M2 was thrilled – and had a fabulous time trying to jump up to reach the  note.  you can see the ‘air’!  Check out the look on her face once she had the money in her hands.  Priceless!  The whole crowd fell in love with Mackenzie right there – I am not sure that they had ever seen someone so delighted and wholly beautiful.

We were so so proud – for Mackenzie it was a huge achievement.  She can be a total closed book at times, and to see her come out of herself and delight a crowd of people plus the street performer was just gorgeous.  She is treasuring that $5 – along with her first tooth that fell out that morning. The tooth is not going to the fairy – she has it on a card and it is safely tucked away in her treasure box.  Such please in the simple things.  We ♥ you Mackenzinator.

ahhh…

Posted on August 24, 2010

A couple of Sundays ago, I took my tribe + 1 to the park for a picnic and a play.  Twas a loverly afternoon. Exactly how afternoons should be spent when you have five beautiful little girls to entertain, and it is a gorgeous winters day.  I packed up a couple of smoothies, some strawbs, sangas and deliciously yummo corn chips and dip. Perfect.

Milla spent the majority of her time lounging around on the rug munching grass (note to self – FEED HER).  Murphy spent the afternoon in the swing OR eating.  Hard for her to decide which was the most satisfying.  When she was done with those – she ‘cartwheeled’! the Mackenzinator drifted – picking flowers, cuddling mummy, eating and playing.  Madison and her buddy were awfully busy being 7 and 8 year old girls.  Full of singing, secrets, cartwheels and giggles.  *sigh*.

Enjoy.  I did.

I think this last one may just be my favourite.  Funnily enough – it’s only the littlest M that is looking at me.  The rest of the gang are all about Murphy.  I think she is cartwheeling, or standing on her head.  Either way – she calls the shots!

I love all of these little moments of us just being us.  This is totally natural.  I don’t spend hours editing and massaging the photographs.  Usually just a quick click here and there and upload.  I like to preserve the moment just how it is.  I use my family photographs to experiment a little with processing. I am not experimenting with my style of shooting – this is the way I shoot.  I like to tell a story and document the moments.  I think I have achieved that.  They are not all perfectly in focus, nor are they all technically correct.  They are not boring. To me -  I am showing life.  My life.  Our life.  The life I have built with my fabulous husband (who – by the way – is at this moment recovering from having his nose broken in surgery and all the gunk cleared out.  yes yes – I know – I could have broken his nose for him – as could many others that offered – but apparently it had to be in a sterile environment – I just couldn’t swing access to one of those!).  This is the life I love.  This is the way my photography is heading.  Storytelling. The moment. Stay tuned for more moments.

ridunculous…

Posted on August 19, 2010

You know what – I have been busy. Ridiculously busy. In fact – I am not even sure what I posted about last time I posted. A lot of my being busy due to my four Ms. They are a fabulous bunch of kids – but really – do they need to be so so time consuming!
I had a day the other day that I thought – “I MUST blog this”. I think that was sometime last week – I can’t be too sure – everything seems to have rolled into one giant day where I break for a power nap every now and then. Parenting is hard work. Couple that with a photography business that has decided to boom, and a blog{ART} hobby that is also blooming PLUS all the other STUFF – well – things get a wee bit hectic. I’m not even sure where to start.

Let’s go with the Mackenzinator. She has a dicky ticker – most people know that. If not – here’s a quick rundown. She was born with a coarctation of the aorta (narrowing of the aorta), a VSD (hole in the heart) and a few other bits and pieces. She has had her aorta widened, and is monitored. She now has super high blood pressure, and some extra thickening of the heart muscle. We have been medicating her, and watching her grow over the last nearly six years. She is now really starting to feel the effects of high blood pressure, and less blood getting around her robust little body. She gets physically tired, and just cannot keep up. She is a trooper. We had another cardiologist appointment last week. it looks like her heart muscle is thickening even more, and there seems to be some membranous tissue growing around the aortic valve. not so good. Her blood pressure was also a little high (I guess it’s to be expected – mine would be high too if I had a Dr poking around my body). It looks like she will need open heart surgery later in the year to have a go at rectifying all of this. Of course it is now 100% that scraping out some heart muscle and removing the membrane will help. It’s just one of those things I guess. She’s a trooper.

Academically the Mackenzinator is…well… not running with the pack. She just doesn’t ‘get it’. It’s looking like she will repeat Prep next year – which will most likely be a good thing if surgery goes ahead. The alphabet is not making any sense to her whatsoever, and the Golden words may as well be Greek – although she retains some things sometimes, and others – well – not so much. She is enjoying school – I guess that’s a good thing. We will just keep on keeping on with her.

Umm – who’s next. Ah yes – the Grunter. AKA Murphy. She talks with a grunt. A LOUD LOUD grunt. She either grunts a one-word answer or question, and of course we all know exactly what she means. She has the most lovely little lisp that goes well with the grunts – makes it a little less neanderthal I guess. Not by much. Her favourite movie is Mamma Mia. Still. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Once the song ‘Mamma-Mia’ starts, she rushes over to put on the pettiskirt (massive brown/blue frilly thing that is a million sizes too big for her), and prances around the room. She sits for the talking – wiggles for the singing. She know the words to many of the songs – hasn’t shortened those to grunting yet. She is going to be the one that breaks me.

Madison is fabulous. yes – we have our ups and downs – but we are really beginning to connect a bit more. Note I haven’t al great deal to post about her right now…… no particular reason. She is my little rock.

As for Milla – poor kid. i keep forgetting to feed her. The other day she bum shuffled her way (I presume it was her, and not M3 dragging M4) across the carpet and gnawed her way through Mackenzie’s alphabet ‘A’ card (at least someone is getting some use out of it!). Apparently that wasn’t enough nourishment, and she started in on the 100 year old leather strap on an old luggage box. Poor child. She lets me know she is there by screeching and grinning at me. Oh and what a screech it is. She gave herself a blood nose by reaching forward to get something whilst sitting – and toppled over. Whoops.

As for mum – her nasty cancer has grown in the past two months from a marble size to an avocado size. Not good. I guess it’s better than a pineapple – but really – I don’t want any cancer masquerading as a piece of fruit inside my mother at all. She’s off on a train trip up to QLD at the end of the month, and Milla & I will meet her in Brisbane and visit some gorgeous friend (the same people I stayed with last month – I am quite the jet-setter!). Looking forward to it.

To end – here’s a few Happy Sunday photographs from last week. I’m not even sure if they were taken on Sunday – I just can’t remember which day it was!

happy Sunday

Posted on August 1, 2010

So today was/is Sunday.  Apparently it is a day of rest.  Um… no one sent me that memo. Please resend and forward on to the four M’s ASAP.  Thanks.

I jest – today was a lovely quietish day.  Mum had a ’sleepover’ in the caravan last night.  No no no – before you wonder at the horror of me sending my fairly sick mother to sleep out in some dodgy van – OUR VAN IS NOT DODGY.  It is a small luxurious container on wheels.  With heating.  And cupboards. If I could swing a cat in the bathroom – I would move us all out there permanently. After a lazy morning, we loaded up into the car and went ‘out’ for lunch.  I use the term “out for lunch’ incredibly loosely.  We had McDonalds.  Need I say more.  The Ms were in heaven. Ugh.  Why they love that stuff I will NEVER know. Then we played in the park and came home for some serious trampoline use.  Fun. Enjoy our day….

More Daddy……

xo

This one melts my heart.

I LOVE EVERY. SINGLE. photograph (yes – even the sneaky photographs of me.  It must be the hair – how, when and why coming soon!).  Right there.  That was our day.

xo

gorgeous little chubby chops

Posted on July 31, 2010

Oh my – this adorable girl was so delectable – I could have gobbled her up.

Some gorgeous chuckling, and a good old cuddle from Daddy….

yet another chuckle……

and lastly… a group hug and some tucker…….

It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with all of the A’s – thank-you for coming to visit!

squishable

Posted on July 11, 2010

This gorgeous little boy just blew me away.  Check out that hair.  And those lips.  The eyes. Aww – I just wanted to squish him up and keep him.  Little B is 6 months old and is so close to being on the move.

Thank-you M & M for bringing this little package of goodness to visit me.  I think he will be keeping you on your toes!

mini mini mini sessions…

Posted on June 29, 2010

Last Saturday I held a mini mini session day.  it was super successful and the gorgeous families that came to see me were fabulous!

here is a super sneak peek for everyone!

Such fun to be had!

just a quickie…

Posted on June 11, 2010

Oh golly – life seems to be passing me y oh so quickly.  This gorgeous little bean is early six months old.  I am not quite sure where those months went.  They have been a whirlwind of stuff.

Things are motoring along here at the rate of knots.  Mum is doing well – thank-you to EVERYONE for all the strength and thoughts – I truly appreciate it.

My Ms are all wonderful..  the three biggest ones consume 16 weetbix between them each morning.  Needless to say i seem to spend alot of time grocery shopping!

xo

crap crap crappity crap

Posted on May 25, 2010

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Other times they do.  It’s just the way it goes. We all have a crappy moments – you know – you step in a puddle and your shoes get wet and it is only 3′C outside – so now you have a frozen foot, then you drop your keys down a drain and your umbrella turns inside out.  You try and use your mobile phone to call for help – but the battery has conked out. Your four little children are having a a puddle party – but are wet to the core and you have no spare clothes.  Crap.  Things are just not going well.  You deal with it.

Things are not quite going to PLAN.

My world came tumbling down on Friday at precisely 3:56pm.  Mum called.  She gave it to me straight.  Livercancer.Monthstolive. If I say it super quickly – it may not be true. CRAP CRAP CRAPPITY CRAP. Saying it quickly didn’t help.

Needless to say, there has been alot of crying. You know what. Get your cameras out. Go and have fun. Drop absolutely everything that seems important (that really isn’t) and go and enjoy it. If your little tribe of people want a lolly after breakfast every now and then – let them.

I am just waffling. I am not looking for massive amounts of sympathy. Sympathy and tears isn’t going to help. (I tried crying. The cancer is still there. ) The cancer is there and it is going to do it’s thing. I just need some strength for my girls. Lots of strength. My Wilbur is out in the middle of the ocean feeling helpless watching and listening to my tears via skype.

We are going to enjoy our time and have fun and just be. BUT I need strength lots of it. Please send me some – and go and love your family.

Having said that – I realised that I have zero to no photos of mum.  Definitely none with her and our girls. None with her and myself.  We are going to fix that.  We started over the weekend and spent some time just being together.  They are perfect.  Okay – so they may not be technically correct, blurry and overexposed – but they are of US.  Enjoy – I certainly will.

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