I’m not letting that stop me!

I am changing things up a bit this year though.  I always found it difficult to select the recipient because the nominations were always very heartfelt and touching.  This year, I looked back at all the people who have become a part of my life and one person sticks out in my mind.  Although I have not met her in real life yet, we follow each other on Twitter and her story has really touched my heart.  Here is Tracey’s story about her 5th child, her son Jaxx:

Jaxx was born @39 weeks, typical pregnancy.  I had 4 Ultrasounds, 8 weeks, 18, 20 & 24. There were no markers visible for Downs Syndrome or AVSD (heart defect). I had the blood screening which also did not identify any risks for Downs Syndrome.

Labour was not going well, and I ended up having an emergency C-Section.  It was in the delivery room that the L&D nurse said to me “‘we think your baby might have Down Syndrome”. The words shocked me, I looked at my husband as if to say “what did she say?”. When my husband held him, all I could think about was how cute he was. How much he looked like my other kids, trying to see Down Syndrome in his face.

He was instantly taken to the NICU, and was being treated for a severe case of Jaundice. I heard the doctors discussing something about a heart murmur, but no one said anything to me. I think they were more concerned with straightening out his bilirubin because he was really sick. When Jaxx was approximately 2 weeks old, the Cardiologist gave me the news about his heart. He had an AVSD, basically this is two holes and deformed valves in his heart. He would definitely need surgery to repair his heart. He spent the first 6 weeks of his life in the NICU, and has been in and out of hospital ever since.

On September 13th, Jaxx had an AVSD repair. He suffered complications from the procedure, a Chylothorax and a partially paralyzed diaphragm. He was finally discharged on October 11th. The surgery pretty much repaired his heart, but he still has a small hole and a leaky valve.

During his stay in the NICU, I noticed that his pupils seemed a little cloudy. Unfortunately with all of his other problems he fell through the cracks, they neglected to give him an eye test. At his first pediatrician appt. I ask ‘the Dr. to check his eyes. She found no red reflection, and suspected cataracts. Jaxx was sent to an ophthalmologist, where his cataracts were confirmed. He has a fully ripe cataract in his right eye, and a partial one in the left. Which means he has no sight in one eye, and very limited sight in the other.  He will have to have surgery to remove the cataracts in January.

I’ve been following Jaxx’s “adventures” through Tracey and in December, offered her this “Giving is Awesome” photo session.  I’m so happy that she agreed!  We are going to schedule something later this year, once the weather has warmed up.   I can’t wait to meet Jaxx, his parents and his brothers and sisters!

I know Jaxx is going to have a lot of struggles to overcome in his life, but with such a great mom like Tracey, I know he’ll beat the odds as best as he can!

If you would like to follow Tracey on Twitter, she can be found at http://twitter.com/#!/Traceybaby.  I’m sure she will appreciate the supportive words that will come her way!

2011 had lots of ups and a few downs.  Personally, I developed wonderful friendships with some very beautiful people.  I value their thoughts and feelings very much and am honoured to call them my friends.  You all know who you are!

Professionally, I learned a lot about being a business woman this year.  Professionally, I grew some very thick skin and learned not to let rejection ruin my day.  I learned to take things with a grain of salt, and changed the way I handle the sales and marketing aspect of my business.  During a business retreat, we were told to get rid of the things we don’t enjoy doing.  That tiny piece of information helped me make the decision to focus on family photography as the core part of my business, which includes maternity and newborn photography.  I will be discontinuing event and headshot photography from my product offering effective immediately.

The highlight of my year came in August when Dawn, Marcello and their family and friends invited me into their home to capture the birth of Avelina.  It was an honour and a privilege to be able to provide them with the images captured.  I have never experienced such raw emotion like that (besides the birth of my own children), and I am delighted to be adding Birth Photography to my services for 2012!

I feel very blessed to have met and photographed so many families in 2011.  Each of you holds a special place in my heart.  When putting together this slideshow, I tried to incorporate at least 2 images from each session, but it was going to end up being a 10 minute show!  I’ve trimmed it back quite a bit and hope I didn’t forget anyone!

I hope that you’ll enjoy this montage, which is set to music.  There are controls on the bottom to turn the music off, and it will take a minute for it to load.

Thank you to my family, friends, and especially my clients, for a very blessed year!

“Our two daughters, Mikayla and Madison, were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth. Cystic Fibrosis is a multi-organ disease that primarily affects their lungs and digestive systems. Between the two girls they have endured 6 surgeries and 69 days in the hospital. Mikayla (age 10) and Madison (age 8) each do over 3 hours a day of inhalation treatments and chest physiotherapy. They must each also take over 30 pills a day consisting of pancreatic enzymes, vitamins and nutritional supplements. The most exhausting thing about Cystic Fibrosis is that we have to do it all again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. There is no cure for Cystic Fibrosis, but, as a family we are blessed. The median life expectancy has increased so that 50% of children with cystic fibrosis will live to 47 years of age. This gives us hope for our daughter’s futures.

They are our heroes!”

After meeting these girls for their session in November, I can honestly tell you they are my heroes too!  They are not only bright and beautiful, but are both so full of love and spunk!  It’s hard to believe that they are 2 years apart – they practically look like twins!  Mikayla presents herself with such grace and confidence, and Madison is definitely the joker of the family (takes after dad I believe)!

Thank you again for sharing this time with me!  It was such a pleasure to meet you all.  Here are a few images from our session to share with your friends and family.

Much love,

Thank you S family for another great year.  I look forward to hopefully many more years to come!

Much love,

Jennifer

Click on the image to view the gallery.

Thank you so much April and Andrew for sharing this time with me!  I appreciate all the wonderful feedback you gave during our proofing meeting, and I look forward to many years to come!

Much love,

Thanks Tara and Tony for a wonderful session!  I look forward to more in the years to come!

Who am I kidding?!  It’d be too hard to choose a winner – they all laughed at my silly jokes to get them to smile!  They all win!

Thanks for a great time everyone!

I also saw how strong Mom is, not only caring for her husband, but her three wonderful children, during this turbulent time in their lives.  She is surrounded by the love of her friends who helped bring this photo session together.  What a beautiful woman she is, inside and out.

Their three children are amazing also.  I could see how special their dad is to them.  The love in their giant hearts shone through in these images.

It was truly an honour to meet the K family, and I hope these images will carry you through your lifetimes.

Isn’t he a charmer?

Thanks for choosing me as your son’s photographer again this year!  I hope there will be many more to come!

October 2008 (age 2):

October 2009 (age 3):

September 2010 (age 4):

Finally this year, I was able to get mom and dad in some pictures too!  It was great to be able to photograph all four of them, and by the looks of things, they had fun too!  Thanks again for a great session, and I look forward to next year’s!