Adlee & Finley

Adlee and Finely are the children of my oldest friend. Carmen and I became best friends the FIRST DAY OF GRADE ONE (dinosaurs were still roaming the earth)!!! I thought I knew Carmen pretty well. We went through elementary school, puberty, first boyfriends, horrible tragic losses and each other's weddings together. Then last month I was introduced to a whole new level of this person that I thought I knew really well.

Two things happened...1. I sat with Carmen while she was in labour with Finley. WOW, and I mean WOW...the well of resolution this woman drew from while she endured was NOTHING short of amazing. 2. I got to know Adlee, the most astute, amazing, alluring, astounding 5 year old ON THE PLANET...yup, she rendered both my husband and my own 6 year old ball of fire, Sam, speechless at the same time. Any woman responsible for bringing this STAR of a human being into the world has got to be elevated to well, I don't know what...Wonderous Goddess of All Light and Wonder???

Carmen, you are amazing!

H-Man!

Amazing Face: Bradaigh

Bradaigh is awesome! Bradaigh has been on my blog before. Bradaigh's 18months old, gregarious, gorgeous and funny.

Bradaigh has Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic disease that affects organs such as the liver, lungs, pancreas, and intestines. It disrupts the body's salt balance, leaving too little salt and water on the outside of cells and causing the thin layer of mucus that usually keeps the lungs free of germs to become thick and sticky. While the lifespan of people with CF varies, it is less than half of those living without it. The medications that Bradaigh requires are not covered by health care and cost more a month than my mortgage payment (A LOT more than my mortgage payment).

Everyday, Bradaigh's mom, Rhyanon, follows a strict schedule of exercises, administers costly medications and follows specific hygienic practices in hopes that Bradaigh stays infection-free.

If you remember from a few months ago I introduced Amazing Faces as a way to showcase someone who's beauty came from beyond their worldly assets or outward appearance. While Bradaigh truly is a beautiful 18 month old boy, I wanted to feature him as an Amazing Face to raise awareness of this disease. Who knows, maybe you can help....?

To learn more OR to make a donation, click here.

Duncan & Noah

I've always wanted to be brothers. Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, Duncan and Noah, you know...brothers.

Okay you might not get it, Rob barely gets it and we've been married for almost 12 years...BUT I just love the rough and tumble no-nonsense simplicity of a relationship between brothers. It starts young...believe me, you can see it here in these two future-heart-breaking dudes.

(You may remember Noah and his amazing mom Ashley from Ashley's belly shoot earlier this year...click here to take a peak.)

Bif

Normally, you'd have a difficult time getting me to acknowledge a cat at all, let alone devote a whole post to one. It's not that I mind cats, it's mostly that I am highly allergic to them so I just stay away from them. In fact, before my allergies kicked in around 12 years of age, I was chief cat-lover in our house. I won't regal you with stories of Sam (the evil viscous first cat) or Harvey (the solemn loving beauty of a black cat) or Bert (the feisty squirrel-chasing bad cat...who subsequently DID NOT end up on a farm as I was led to believe for 20 years) but I will show you a couple of images of the only cat I currently acknowledge. This is Bif. He is kind of a man, not really a cat. He's my brother's family's cat. He's like the weird janitor-guy at a high school (Bif, not my brother) who would rather that you don't talk to him at all and he does his best work at night. Bif hides all day, he won't rub up against you keening for scratches, he's frankly above all that Cat-i-ness. BUT at night he kinda goes ballistic. It sounds like a 220 pound dude's running through the kitchen bouncing off the walls and knocking sun catchers off the windows. I'm not sure why but Bif appeals to me. You can like him or not, he won't care either way.

Brownbridge-Skinnider-Finley Family!

A whole lotta wacky, a whole lotta fun, a whole lotta love! This shoot was Donna's Mother's Day gift from her kids! (she's the one belly laughing 6 from the right in the following photo). SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad this was an outside shoot because this group can get LOUD! Thank you to everyone in this family for working so hard to make this a special gift!

Baby Liam ...and Hudson!

I couldn't decide who I wanted to steal more...wrinkly-headed wee Liam or grinny-dog Hudson. Combine the two with a set of parents that didn't flinch when I said I wanted to pose their baby in their pile of yard waste and we've got an awesome afternoon of newborn photos!