a sigh of relief

This photo breaks my heart.  Poor little bug, he's getting his blood test and didn't cry but wow was he sad.  It's routine that each year as we near Beckett's birthday he goes through a series of tests and appointments.  In the last two weeks we have been to the lab at Children's Hospital for his complete blood work, Audiology for a hearing test, the Ophthalmologist for an eye check-up (he has cataracts) and then to the Paediatrician for his yearly check-up.

photo by ka davidson

                                                             

I'm happy and relieved to report that all is good with Master Beckett. It's quite stressful waiting for results, I can't help but go through the worst case scenario as I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep.  So when the eye doctor says his eyes look good and the cataracts haven't grown, I smile and sigh.  When the audiologist checks B's ears and says that his hearing is "normal", I feel relief.  The big one is the blood results, we head to the doctor's and when we learn that his blood is good, I'm so grateful I could cry.

photo by ka davidson

When you have a child with special needs there are a lot of tests, you're always watching and noticing and like any parent you are always worrying.  We have a lifetime of tests ahead of us, unfortunately I was born a worrier, my worrying is far more intense since I have had children.  I try to keep it under wraps, control it....I don't want it to rule my life.  Right now, as we approach Beckett's 3rd birthday, I'm happy and so thankful that my babes are well.....may all our babes be well. xx

the garden

It's always been a secret dream of mine to have a beautiful garden and have it featured in a magazine.  My garden is a work in progress, with two toddlers, a baby on the way and a full-time job there's not a lot of extra time for gardening.  I was shocked when GardenWise Magazine called and said they wanted to feature my garden in their magazine.  I was so excited!  I only started to freak out about a week before they arrived - my garden is not my dream garden...yet.  We did the shoot in May, plants in Vancouver weren't exactly thriving - the weather has been horrible here for a while.  Knowing that Heather Cameron would be on site to style the shoot made me feel much better!  She's an incredible talent...check out her blog A Day in the Country.  They delivered the magazine to me today, it's on stands now.  

This is a photo  from my camera on shoot day...Master B was at daycare, so Miss Z was my little helper.  When we moved into our house two years ago we tore out the entire garden, it wasn't really a garden it was a bunch of filler.  We started from scratch, it's been a fun and creative process that never seems to end.  I'm happy that both of our kids love being in the garden, I can't wait til I can teach them how to pull weeds!

My favourite plant in our garden is the Himalayan Blue Poppy, isn't she a beauty?  

a week of nothing

Dave and I just spent a week in Palm Springs - without the kids.  It was so nice to float in the pool, sleep in, read magazines and do absolutely nothing - but we missed our kids SO MUCH.  B & Z stayed at home with my Aunt and Uncle, every time we phoned home (which was a lot) the kids would either squeal with joy or cry hysterically.    At 2-1/2 and 1-1/2 they are just too young to understand where we went and I'm sure a week to them felt like a month.

So as great as it was to feel the sun shine on my skin and rest my very pregnant self, I found myself panicking about my kids and their feelings. I'm such a worrier now. Know what I mean?  We got back late Friday night, I spent Saturday afternoon at Children's Hospital Emergency with Zoë, all is good now. Beckett is now very sick, he has a temperature and is super congested. Poor bugs.  I really don't see us going on vacation without them anytime soon!  

I love this picture!  This massive cactus was just outside the front door of our friend's house where we stayed...it's awesome.

tv week

Beckett, Zoë and I are on the cover of the new issue of TV Week Magazine . The shoot was on May 3rd and it was pure chaos! Katyann Davidson was the photographer, she’s incredibly talented and patient. Zoë wasn’t in the best of moods in the morning, it made picture taking challenging – she even refused a nap that day, so you can imagine how the afternoon went! Things did improve once we started on the cupcakes, whew. Beckett is always easy, he loved it when we pulled out the paints – the boy loves to paint a picture.
These are some photos that didn't make it into the magazine......

I hope you like the issue, it was a lot of fun to do and I’m very honoured that TV Week asked us to be on the cover. TV Week Magazine is in stores now!  xx

q&a with flourish design + style

Sarah from flourish design + style contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would do q & a with her - I was so honoured!  I LOVE Sarah's blog, she posts the most amazing designs.  I check her blog every day and am never disappointed....oh a girl can dream!


Our interview was posted this morning....thank you Sarah for having me on your blog, very sweet of you.  xx

in the garden

Zoë and I spent the other morning in the garden. Gardenwise Magazine was at our house to shoot our garden, it was very exciting and terrifying for me! I love gardening, I'm not very good at it but I'm trying. My mom is the most amazing gardener I know...I'm hoping that her talent rubs off on me and my kids. Miss Z loves being outside and so far it seems that gardening is right up her alley! Beckett was at play school when we did the shoot, he would have loved it - he's definitely an outdoors guy. 


The Gardenwise issue with our garden in it will be out in a couple of weeks. I'll post the cover shot as soon as they send it to me. I snapped the shot above of Zoë as she did some gardening by my favourite garden gnome, isn't he great? He's designed by Philippe Starck for Kartell and he was an engagement gift. I love gnomes, my collection continues to grow in the garden and in the house!

happy, happy day

Happy Mother's Day!  This is a photo of my beautiful mom holding me, I look pretty fresh and that art on the wall makes me think that we are in the hospital ready to go home.  This would be right before Mother's Day, my mom's first. I was almost 10 pounds when I was born and my mom was in labour for 48 hours - you'd never know what she went through by looking at this photo - her smile is gorgeous - and that hair!

I received my very first homemade Mother's Day card.  Beckett brought it home from Daycare, he also gave me a a little pot with a bean sprout in it! It is beautiful and I love it. This is what I have been waiting for, homemade gifts made with love by the people I love most.


Happy Mother's Day to you, I hope it's filled with love and laughs. xx