I had the joy of meeting up with a few of my fave bloggers the other day. Well, actually, all of these friends are irl friends as well.
And two of them brought their beautiful daughters along.
There was way too much pink for me (mother of boys that I am) and so here are my “not pink” pics of the day…
Boo is writing an autobiography for a school assignment.
Which should be simple.
But tonight he asked me for a list of firsts.
How old he was when he first smiled. First crawled. First walked. First talked. Got his first tooth. Etc.
And I have no idea.
And no-one to ask.
You see, I was so ill.
The post natal depression that I suffered from after his birth actually began during his pregnancy.
DH left exactly 2 weeks after we found out that we were pregnant.
And 4 months later, he took me through Family Court for the first time.. in order to get half the house and to not have any child support or spousal support obligations.
Our court date was 7 days before Boo’s birth.
He didn’t win. (Although, as long time readers of my blog will know… last year a judge wiped those initial orders. Removing a debt of 12 years of unpaid child support and spousal maintenance.)
And 6 weeks later, Boo and I were admitted to the mother-baby unit of a Psychiatric Hospital. Where we stayed for 3 months. Toto was looked after by my parents.
And so, I don’t remember ANY of the firsts. Of either child.
The depression didn’t really begin to lift until they were 2 and 3. And the minute that it did, I was hit with a cancer diagnosis.
Poor boys. It’s not just me that lost so much time and memory. They lost a huge part of their history. And I can’t get it back for them.
And it’s just so bloody unfair.
I photographed this gorgeous boy about 5 months ago…
… and was lucky enough to be able to capture him again just recently.
Honestly.. isn’t he adorable? He’s like a miniature adult… all legs and neck! He moves at lightning pace for a boy who’s only been walking for a month or so!
And the most exciting part? His mummy is expecting another bub… and I’m going to photograph her expanding belly and the newborn!
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Big thanks to Kate… a reader who’s been helping me work through my friend issue. I feel a lot clearer now, after your wise counsel 
.
It will hopefully get sorted this weekend. Cross your fingers for me!
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And in BREAKING NEWS… Nuffnang contacted me this morning and asked me if I would be interested in driving a brand spanking new Honda Odyssey for the weekend and writing a review of it here on my blog!
Are the Kennedy’s gun-shy?!
I truly ruly never thought that I’d ever get to write “This post is sponsored by Honda” (especially when my sentences contain things like “truly ruly”) but that is going to happen!
I’ve got the car already, and can’t wait for the boys’ reactions when I tell them that we get to be Jeremy, Hamster and Captain Slow from Top Gear all weekend (bags being JEREMY!!)!
Woo Hoo!
Phew. I think all my new political “friends” have moved on to more rancid pastures.
In fact, from the state of my stats, most of my REAL friends might have moved on too! Stats are such funny things. I’m never quite sure what to make of them.
If I have 300+ people reading my blog everyday, I almost go into panic mode. I’m so sure that I can’t entertain or amuse that many people.
Crazily, I’m happier when my blog stats are between 100 and 200. Which goes against the grain in this day and age of SEO manipulation.
I’m spending hours and hours trying to improve the SEO rating of my photography blog. It’s insanely frustrating, but, apparently, it’s absolutely necessary in order to appear reasonably near the top of a search of photographers in my area.
*sigh*
I’m not enjoying it.
I’m LOVING the “making pictures” aspect of my job. But, like life, you have to take the good with the bad.
There’s been lots of good and bad in my life lately.
The bad… huge fights with DH over Boo’s soccer registration and uniform. Really awful ones.
The also bad… a falling out with my dear ill friend.
I’m devastated by this. She became very maternal and judgemental and harsh towards me, and I turned to jelly.
I was so shocked.
So, she thinks that everything is okay because she’s said all that she wanted to say, and I’m feeling judged and ill-treated and frustrated because I was too shocked and emotional to say my piece at the time.
It’s not fun.
But in amongst this stuff has been some fantastic news…
Boo was accepted into the Academic Extension program for next year (high school) at an incredibly good school near us. He sat an exam for this a month or so ago, and we weren’t holding our breath as places are few and far between. I think something like 1 in 10 get accepted into the program.
Well, I most definitely underestimated my youngest son’s academic ability (I didn’t really… I know he’s frighteningly brainiacal (!), but I did not want to risk disappointment). He’s thrilled, especially because he has not wanted to go to Toto’s high school. He’s not thrilled, however, because his father is insisting that he attend Toto’s school.
I think lawyers may become involved. Shoot.
I have lots of pics to show you… but I’m going to leave you with this one…
My parents… after 50 years of marriage. (Oops… Make that 52 years of marriage!)
*awwww*
xoxox
Is it just me, or could this be Toto and Boo at the same age?
My brothers… circa 1963…
Has it really been TWENTY YEARS since I was living in New York and hanging with the radical environmentalists in Central Park?
TWENTY YEARS since I bought this poster only to carry it around the world for the next 3 years before bringing it home and getting it framed?
I can remember the “edginess” of being an environmentalist in 1990. Seriously. It was so NOT mainstream.
Jeez. Way to make a girl feel old.
Earth Day New York 1990
I’m kind of keeping this blog very staid until I’m sure that my less like-minded friends have moved on.
Most have (thank God for site meters!) but … until I’m sure…. I think I’ll stick to pictures.
(I’m itching to vent about a couple of things!)
So… here is my family, celebrating my Dad’s 86th birthday recently… (well, everyone except my darling boys)…
The boys have been SO patient with me. I’ve been taking them for long drives around Sydney, trying to find great locations for photo shoots.
On this day, we drove up the Northern Beaches…
I love Ikea! A quick glimpse inside my boys’ bedroom will attest to that.
And I love Paris!
And, I love Ikea in Paris (where the boys and I had a memorable last meal in Paris a couple of years ago).
So this? THIS just thrills me to bits.
TO BITS, I tell you!!
Well, we did it. Lara and I went to the anti-racism protest at Villawood Detention Centre.
And it wasn’t dangerous.
The police kept the two protests separate, and there was only a little bit of bullying and argy-bargy.
But even that little bit was enough to turn my stomach.
We started with the peaceful, musical and organised anti-racism rally:
And then two women came along intending to visit their partners. They had come a long LONG way by public transport… only to be told that visiting hours were cancelled due to the protest.
Seriously… is it fair to punish these people for the actions of the APP?
And then…. EXCITEMENT!
A member of the APP … the opposing protesters… turned up to heckle our crowd.
The police jumped straight in and removed her….
… but the crowd heard that the rest of her protest party was at the other entrance to the Detention Centre.
They decided to walk there.
Lara and I decided to get there before them…and raced to my car.
We drove to the other entrance to find a much tinier, but much more aggressive group of protesters.
It seemed like everytime I pointed my camera at a member of the APP they made sure they took a picture of me. This was very aggressively done… and none of them would give me a reason as to WHY they were doing this.
And then a lone anti-racist protester appeared in the *cough* crowd. She bravely began chanting “Refugees Welcome, Racists Not”… and was set upon almost instantly with a lot of yelling, finger pointing and spitting.
It was quite noticable to me that the Police did not step in to protect this woman as they had with the APP heckler at the other protest site.
But it was okay… Lara stood with her.
I was still maintaining my professional impartiality. But it was getting more and more difficult. I was hearing so much ugly racist rhetoric that all I wanted was a clean shower. It really was that horrible.
The police blocked the anti-racist protesters on their way to the APP protest site…
We stayed inside the picket line so that we’d be able to get back to the other protest and to my car. It did feel odd to be behind the police line.
So, after a tiny while we went back to the coal-face
The bystanders were among the most interesting and tolerant people that I met on the day…
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