I'm A Get Shit Done Kind of Mama!

The past week has come and gone with a roar of "get shit done" attitude after feeling largely unproductive on the work front for months. I reclaimed our den as my office last Monday - I tossed, I filed, I cleaned. I have a long ways to go to get it to my ideal work environment, but half an hour spent organizing proved to be a great and worthwhile investment. I love the energy in there, I have spent so much time in that tiny space this week and actually got work done! I would have to say that the one tip I got from a prospective business coach that I met with really worked - put your phone on silent, face down!

It has been a string of late nights; and if I keep this up, I would be headed for burn out. So this next week, I seek to find balance... although I am quite pleased with all the items I got off my to-do list this week, not to mention being able to take advantage of the opportunity to team up with Nygard... which if I hadn't gotten organized, would've been a great opportunity lost.

A couple of months ago, I made a connection with the manager at the Nygard Yaletown store. Last week, she called me. She wanted to help me promote my business to their VIP clients at their shopping event next week! So I came up with a great win-win idea for both myself and the store - I'm giving them vouchers towards a glamour session with me to gift to their VIP clients. I designed the voucher and sent it off to the printers just in the nick of time to get them ready for the event.

Just before I started working so much, I had a couple more days since my last posts where I've enjoyed the great weather with Maddi and Sean, including our early Mother's Day picnic last Saturday, knowing that the rain will come on Sunday.

Enjoying a triple berry smoothie on the library steps. She drank half of it!

Da-da gave Maddi a pretty high fashion 'do

Blowing bubbles after our Mother's Day picnic

Thanks for a wonderful and yummy Mother's Day picnic!

Here's the voucher card I designed for the Nygard VIP shopping event

This is how the back of the cards will look

Mother And Daughter Glamour Session with Sarah & June

On Friday, I had the opportunity of doing a glamour session with Sarah and June. It reminded me of how special the relationship is between a mother and her baby girl, no matter how big the baby has gotten.

It was a fun afternoon of girl time, getting pampered, looking beautiful and celebrating the special bond that a mother and daughter share.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Mother's Day Mini Session With The Kaplans

The Kaplans are another family that I have had the pleasure of photographing in the last couple of years. I love seeing this family grow. I love the curls in Oliver and Lucy's hair. I love listening to Oliver talk.

Mike and Nicole, you have a beautiful family!

I think this is my favourite image of the lot!

One Fine Day

Today was a GREAT day! Not that other days aren't, but today was just.plain.awesome!

Started the morning with a smiley Maddi instead of a crying Maddi wanting out of her crib. She ate well at breakfast and then we were off to catch the Aquabus to Granville Island for a Westside Music Together trial class.

Upon disembarking the Aquabus at Granville Island, we walked through the market and picked up "the Jenny" from JJ Bean. Don't go to a JJ Bean and ask for it, they would look at you weird and not know what you're talking about. This is what my friend Krysta, who used to work at the JJ Bean I frequented, had named my drink after having had to explain how I like my coffee every time I went into her store. It's actually not that crazy - it's just a latte with half vanilla, half caramel, light foam.

After I got my coffee, we still had 20 mins before class started. So we decided to stop and enjoy the music in the courtyard just outside of the main market entrance.

The class was an hour long and was UH-MAZ-ING! I don't know if it's just because I'm an emotional Cancerian... but I had to hold back tears towards the end of the class as Maddi gave the teacher a big, long hug when she's just met her for the first time. I think it's been built up from the great morning I've had, the beautiful setting of the class, seeing Maddi getting into the class... and I'm just envisioning how perfect our Summer would be for Maddi and I to have GI days twice a week for a month - and how this will help to put a bit of structure in our schedule (which I've needed, as you can tell from my post yesterday).

Maddi woke up extra early this morning, and the class probably tired her out as well. She fell asleep in the stroller on the way home. Since Maddi was sleeping in the stroller, I decided to meet up with Anne & Marcus at a nearby park. While we were there, I got a text msg from Shaila, one of the moms I met during maternity leave, that she and Zianna were in the area and would like to meet up. I haven't seen them in ages! And when they showed up to the park, they came with Jim, another friend of ours from our parent/infant days, with Hailey in tow of course! It still amazes me to see how much the girls have all grown, I've seen them since they were just a few weeks old!

Can this day get any better?! Well, YES! I think the pictures below sufficiently explain...

Hailey, Zianna & Maddi

We tried to keep their clothes dry...

No amount of hiking up pants or pulling up sleeves will keep their clothes dry when they do THIS!

Maddi's clothes were soaked. Good thing it was a warm day and only a short walk home, because she had to ride home in her stroller with nothing but her diaper on. I guess that's a sign of a spectacular day!

Mother's Day Mini Session With The Cantlies

I met the Cantlies in our prenatal class. The last time I saw Owen was about 10 months ago. When I saw him today, it was incredible to watch his little personality emerge.

Funny that he did the exact same thing Maddi has started doing when I pull my camera up to my face - he sat right down! I think he was posing for me =)

"I'm ready for my close-up!"

This little man is always on the run!

Gorgeous family

Owen sandwich!

Just hangin' out...

Watch out... future heartbreaker comin' through!

Beautiful mommy

The boys

You're just too cool, Owen!

Moving On

I have loved being with Maddi every day for the last eighteen and a half months. No regrets, no wishes for any take backs; although, no doubt there were some very challenging days. However, I think I have been in a bit of a funk in the last few months staying home with her.

Just a couple of months before Maddi turned one, I felt very lucky to have the career option to stay home with her as I watched all the other moms that I have met during maternity leave starting to make adjustments for their return to work - daycare or other child care arrangements in particular. They have expressed feeling anxious, sad and a combination of both as they consider the thought of having to leave their precious babes in the care of someone else after spending every day with them up to that point. Many of the moms I met are also first time moms, not sure if it gets any easier with subsequent children.

Within the last six months, it seems my friends who have returned to work have found a new routine and have adjusted quite well to life back at work and their babes are thriving in whatever childcare they have arranged for them. Me, on the other hand, I feel stuck in maternity leave mode. I miss my mommy friends and their babes who are not as readily available as they were, prior to returning to work. I am supposed to also be "back at work," only my work is at home and I work for myself. Trouble is, it's so easy to blur my time as a mom focused on Maddi as my priority and my work as a photographer and entrepreneur who is preparing to launch her business. I think I'm doing a superb job as a mom (although some days I may not think so), but I've been lousy as an entrepreneur that's starting a business.

I need to be a lot more intentional about being in business. I think some planning, scheduling and organizational changes are in order. Actually, I did have a plan for what I want to do after maternity leave that I was happy about and could work with... I just need to stick with the plan! I am confident that if I do, I will be a lot more efficient and productive during my work hours as well as be more present when I'm with Maddi.

It's time to move on. I don't want to be thinking about work when I'm with Maddi and be inefficient at work, wondering about Maddi when I'm supposed to be working and being productive.

It seems Mother Nature decided to skip Spring and Summer days are here! I want to enjoy these Summer days with Maddi, and the only way I can really enjoy them is if I am fully present when I'm with her... not thinking about work. And if I work when I'm supposed to, I won't have to think about it when I'm with Maddi.

Today, I decided to just enjoy the day with Maddi; not constantly check my emails, left my phone on vibrate, and napped with her next to me. We started the day by going to the dollar store and picked up a pinwheel and a bubble wand, then headed to the park. We made some more friends today and Maddi loved running around in the big open space. She liked the pinwheel when it spun, but then quickly loses interest whenever it stopped and throws it out of her stroller. As for the bubbles, she wasn't quite sure if she liked them at first, but she started to really enjoy them by the end of the day.

Here are some photos from our time at the park. I would've loved to have taken some photos of her with the bubbles, but I couldn't swing the wand and take a picture at the same time. Maybe we'll take some when da-da can come with us next time =)

Mother's Day Mini Session With Sa'a & Aliya

The Traxlers were one of my first clients and have supported me throughout the years as I ventured into making a career out of photography.

I've photographed Aliya since she was just a few months old. It's amazing how fast time flies, how much they grow and change in what seems to be like a blink of an eye. She is now four and such a little sweetheart. She told her mom, "I love you sooooo much!" - that just melted my heart!

Kisses for mama

Pretty like her mama

Such a sweet sight! My heart skipped a beat when I saw this shot.