Ava's Memorial Website

Sheye has started a memorial website for Ava. Please visit it and read Ava's story in her mummy's own beautiful, eloquent and raw words. Sheye has a way of putting her feelings into words that is nothing short of breathtaking.

http://avarosemeyer.memory-of.com/

Sheye's Blog

http://www.sheyerosemeyer.blogspot.com/

Sheye, I could never hope to find words like yours to say. I can only send my constant prayers and my deepest love xxoo

Steve

I'm so relieved to post that Steve's operation went really well. They have already had him up and taking some tentative steps, which was painful for him (I was watching him and suddenly I could see all the colour simply drain out of his face...a bit scary) but the surgeon said everything is fine. He's doing a bit of physio each day and will probably try some sitting up tomorrow, just for short stints at a time. The epidural is out and he's mainly having panadeine for the pain. His lega are very sore because of the way the operation has shifted his nerve endings, but that will gradually get better. He's had to have pump-up leg bandages on to reduce the risk of clots, but he's hardly slept at all because of the constant tightening and deflating. Luckily they took them off this morning so I'm really hoping he gets a good night sleep tonight.

I took Isaac in for a visit yesterday and he was most interested in all the contraptions hanging off daddy! Today he asked me some very indepth questions about "what the doctor did to daddy's back" and I went into an lengthy explanation of how inside daddy's back the pieces are like a tower of leggos and one of the leggos had slipped out (rather creative I thought, I was very proud of myself) until Isaac shot me down in flames with...

"you meant to say bones, didn't you mum".

Nothing like a four year old to keep mum's creativity in check :-)

Five Little Ducks

Missy Moo really loves the collection of ducks they have in their bathroom. I bought a big one for using for shoots, I was given one other big one by a lovely client, and I bought the little ones for Cassidy because she loves the "Five Little Ducks" song. Today she actually asked me to take a photo of her with her little ducks, so here she is!

Super Duper

I think I may have posted these shots before, but I've only just got around to scrapping them :-) Did you know we have our very own Mr Incredible around here? Well, we think he's pretty incredible anyway...

An Interesting Day...

What a day, although the lead up to it really started on Sunday...

On Sunday Isaac came down with a bit of a tummy bug. Not too bad, but he was sick off and on all day Sunday and Monday. This morning Steve and I got ready to go into the hospital. Steve was feeling a bit "squirmy" but again not too bad. When we went through all the pre-op discussions at the hospital, the surgeon said he couldn't risk the operation because of the risk of infection. They don't like operating if there's the chance you have a virus which could get bacteria into your wound.

So home we went! All a bit of a let down as we were packed, organised and geared to have this over with. We will speak to the doctor tomorrow, but Steve's likely to go in next Monday or Tuesday, so hopefully there'll be some better news next week!

Let's just call today a dry run :-) :-)

Steve's Operation

Just to keep everyone in the know...

Steve is going in for his back operation next week on Tuesday the 17th. He'll be in hospital for up to a week, maybe less, it will depend on how he goes. For anyone that can't reach me at home or on my mobile, I will probably stay at Mum and Lyall's for the week to make it easier with the kids.

I'll be sure to post the first chance I get and let you all know how he went. Once back at home, we'll be laying low to give him the best chance to get back on his feet as quickly as possible. From all of us, we value your love, thoughts and prayers at this time.

Looking forward to having our healthy daddy and husband again :-)

Miss Amelie

I don't normally post clients on my blog, but the three lovely ladies I did a session for today don't really count as clients :-)

I have done photos for Grant and Cathy and the gorgeous Amelie before but this time I got to meet Cath's mum, Carol for shots of just the girls.

It was a session meant for the studio, but Amelie took one look at the big scary "moon" (my studio light!) and point blank refused to go in there! We decided rather hastily to head down the end of our street for the shots instead!

I haven't had the chance to sit down and look through them all properly yet, but here's a few cute ones that caught my eye. (Yes Cath, I changed the colour of the lollipop in the close-up of Amelie to match her cute shoes!)

Self Portrait

Okay this is scary :-)

Since I haven't made Steve's usual calendar this year for our anniversary, I decided to have a go at a self-portrait...using my tripod and a timer obviously! It was really hard. First of all I felt like a complete wally. Second, it was near on impossible to get the thing to focus when I wasn't sitting there to focus on (I had to press the button on the camera then run into postion as my timer lead wasn't long enough). To a fly on the wall, it must have looked hilarious.

Anyway, this is the end result.

My darling husband bought me the dress recently :-)

Rain Rain Don't Go Away

Still playing catch-up with my scrap-booking :-) Click on it if you want to see it larger :-) :-)

Jumping Bean

Whenever we go over to Bruce and Gill's (or Hannah and Declan's as the kids would say!) the first thing Cassidy does is go straight to the trampoline. Isaac loves it too, but not like Cassidy. We have a hard time getting her off it the whole time we're there. She takes her "baby" on there with her and off she goes! At least we have a good idea for Christmas presents this year....

Friends

My photos have built up on me lately but I'm slowly going through and sorting them. I can't remember if I've posted this one before :-) but it does show what good friends they are sometimes. I think one of my favourite things to hear is when one of them says "Come on Isaac" or "Come on Cassidy" because it's one of them calling the other to play. Usually something cheeky- like jumping on the bed like they were doing a few moments before I took this shot!

No More Lambs

I used quite a small, fine text on this one so you may need to click on it to be able to read it :-)

New Look for InHouse

Finally the first part of my logo makeover has been decided - the business card design! The confirm email has been sent to the printers, so it's done now! I have been so frantic to get it "right" this time, I'm still not sure what "right" is. But I knew I wanted a fun and funky new look (the old one was always too corporate looking for me) that focused more on kids and family, which is what I want. I've know got to sit down and design new pricelists, DVD covers, forms...ahhh my mind boggles with it all but I do like doing it just the same. I just need TIME!

Just to explain, this is the "inside" and "outside" of my business card. Imagine the two stuck together back to back and folded down the middle like a birthday card. I wanted something a bit different so hopefully these accomplish that! The colours probably look a little "flat" because I had to convert to cmyk colour space for printing (I don't reccomend anyone trying to do that, it's a nightmare).

Also I must mention that the extemely talented Nathanael Moore, a friend of Steve and Emma's, created the door and other graphics for the new website for me. He is amazing, you tell him what you see in your mind and he gives you a graphic! Great person to know when you want new logos :-) :-)

Cooking Jamdrops

I think I went a little mad today....

I decided to make jamdrops. This was okay. The kids wanted to help. Although unnerving, also okay. It then started to go downhill. I burnt half the batch of jamdrops to an inedible state whilst I was trying to stop them eating the other half of the mix. Then, I had an even sillier thought. I'll make a cake while the kitchen's a mess and I have all the stuff out!
I sent the kids upstairs to get ready for rest time when I realised Cassidy had been to quiet for too long. I went to investigate. I could smell the nail polish from the third step. I found her in our ensuite with nail polish on every digit up to the first knuckle, down one leg, on her relatively new Pumpkin Patch top, the tiles and the vanity. I stared almost blankly at the devastation before me, sat her on the toilet (actually I think she was too scared to move) and started the very slow cleanup.

Hence, by the time I had her in bed and had sat down to collect myself was about the same time I remembered my cake.

Note to self: next time, stop at the jamdrops and move the nailpolish to another drawer.

Beautiful Boy

Leave it all Behind

Couldn't resist scrapping that cute backside....

Cute Kiddos

We went to feed the ducks yesterday after the doing the groceries - always a good bribe! I didn't get any photos of feeding the ducks (kids very close to pond edge makes mummy very on edge also!) but got some afterward of my mad two running up and down the grassy slope.

Cassidy chose that point to wet her pants :-) and I had no spares on me, so I stripped her in preperation for going back to the car. She took off on me, bare backside on display for all the lovely people walking their dogs along the boardwalk! Such a charmer, my daughter.

The Best Songs

I had just hopped out of the shower this morning when I heard the strains of the theme song to "Max and Milly" in the background. I peeked around the corner, and there were my three tinkling away on the piano having a lovely time. The were so gorgeous sitting there...until there was a scuffle about seating arrangements that is. I have to photograph the peaceful moments around here, cause they just don't last very long :-) :-)

It's really scary to think that this is my first scrapbooking page in about 2 months! I haven't stopped taking photos along the way, so this is a bad sign! I reckon I need two solid days in front of photoshop to catch up. As I've always said, you have to scrap them as soon as you take them otherwise you lose inspiration for the shots and the feeling that goes with them. How am I sure of this? Because I only took these shots this morning and voila...a finished page in under an hour!

Hard Day at the Beach

I was cleaning out all my photo files that I haven't sorted and found this one - taken by Steve - when we camped at Marcoola. I was really lazy that weekend and didn't take any photos but Steve got this one at the beach one morning. Cassidy had been up early that day, and a couple of hours at the beach was just all too much. She spread out her towel on a boogie board (she's not all the fond of sand, so one can't be too careful!) and went straight to sleep just like that. Steve had to carry her back to the campsite laid out like this and people kept asking her if she was alright! She's just so cute sometimes :-) :-)

Cassidy's a Big Girl!

Steve and I had three nights away last weekend at Mt Tambourine - which was lovely - then we got to come home to the wonderful suprise that Cassidy had started doing wees on the toilet for Nanna! (Wouldn't do it for Mummy after she begged, pleaded and bargained, but did it for Nanna no worries :-) ) Since the breakthrough, she hasn't looked back and has been going so well...I've even been taking her out in undies with success! Miss Tamara is very proud of her at Kindy and Cassidy's been coming home with handfuls of stamps from her efforts. It's so strange looking into the bathroom and seeing my baby up there like a big girl...Mummy and Daddy are very proud of you sweetheart xx