Lollipop, lollipop…. (365-83)

Here is the second session of valentine’s I took on Sunday. These three were priceless with their faces and they were so good for me!

A very grumpy valentine! (365-82)

This little guy was not very happy today for his valentine’s day session! We got a few good ones but then he just got fed up!

Sneak Peek From Today! (365-81)

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!(365-80)

Brooklyn turned seven today. She was extremely excited about it but I just couldn’t help reflecting back. (sorry for the bad quality photographs, this was back in the film days and I had to scan them into the computer. My scanner leaves a lit to be desired!)

Brooklyn’s birth was supposed to be a planned c-section but she decided she couldn’t wait anymore and she came in the middle of the night by emergency c-section, almost three weeks early. She had a bit of trouble breathing which is why she was in the isolette. She was always my most sensitive child and it started right from birth. She had a sensitive tummy, what I suspect now to be lactose intolerance. I had months of sleepless nights sitting on the couch just holding her and trying to get her to stop crying. I would dance for hours at a time just to quiet her down.

Those first months were such a challenge but yet it was worth it all to see her first smile. This girl has the most amazing smile, and I know smiles, its my business! I think its the dimple she has. Her smile lights up her face.

Now being the most sensitive, she is a drama queen. Whenever she gets a scrape, she cries, she is sensitive to teasing and gets really upset even if its in good fun. But its not all bad. She is extremely sensitive to other people’s feelings. She’ll come and cheer you up and give you a hug if you’re feeling sad, she loves to be a good helper and is so good with her cousin who is 2.

Like each one of my girls, Brooklyn is so special and she lights up my life!

By the way, did I mention her laugh? It’s contagious and I feel so blessed when I hear it!

Ok, I really couldn’t pick which ones to put up here, so I had to do more than I usually do!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!

Valentine’s Day is coming soon! (365-79)

Just a reminder that Valentine’s day is coming fast. This Sunday I am doing valentine’s mini sessions so you can have great valentines to send to school with your kids! There is still time to book and if you’d like more info please contact me by phone 269-3955 or email me at shannon@shannonhaywardphotography.com. Looking forward to some fun sessions this Sunday!!! Here is one more sample I have created for this promotion!

My Little Hoarder (365-78)

Have you seen the tv show hoarders? I just recently started watching this show and it has shocked me. These people hoard various things for various reasons, but it is extreme. My daughter Rebekah is messy. I have always known this. She hates cleaning her room and gets so mad when we tell her to. Now I know that this sounds like most kids but she is different. She hides things. She collects things. She doesn’t want us to know about it.

She had been telling me lately that she enjoys having her room comfortably messy. I tell her that unless she wants to pay rent, she needs to clean her room. Now this may sound extreme, but this room is extreme. There are clothes all over, toys, books (at least twenty) spread around her room. She has junk all around her bed. Sometimes she hardly fits in the bed because she has so much stuff on it.

Well, today was the day. I have had enough. We told our kids it was room cleaning day. They all did fairly well with the initial cleaning. Then it was time to go through Rebekah’s room and find all the hidden stuff. We pulled out the stuff from her bedside table and found stuff just crammed into the back of it. I was shocked at the amount of stuff that she collects! There was a bag that had all sorts of paper clips and bread ties and strings in it. There was also a hospital mask that my youngest had to wear last year when I took her to the emergency. Apparently Rebekah had paid her for that! There was even a pasta noodle!

This girl had shells all over her room. She had random beads that she had found. She had broken pencils, pipe cleaners, feathers, a bell, a broken headband,receipts, hair clips, papers, notebooks, we found four lip glosses. We even found a random key that wasn’t ours and she had no idea what it was for!

Well, we cleaned it and organised it. I tried to teach her what was a good collection and what was worth keeping. Hopefully this was a learning experience for her because it was for me. I learned that I need to let her keep some things so that it makes her happy and she needs to put them away properly so that I am happy!