I am such a fan of my own fur friends and the joy they bring to my life. They give such unconditional love and never expect anything in return other than a kiss and a scratch under the chin and maybe a treat or two. With what Chris and I have been going through lately, our Himalayan, Icky Paddles, has been the most sensitive to the fact that I haven’t been myself. He goes out of his way to give me snuggles, purr for me and make me laugh. For those of you who don’t have manimals, you might not understand. But for those of you who do, you know how in tune they are with how we’re feeling. I’m grateful every single day that I get to share my life with my guys.

Now, I’m going to introduce you to Stanley. Big boy Stan was a big part (both literally and figuratively) of his family. He singled paw-edly converted his family into ‘cat people’ with his charm, love and general fluffiness. He came to them smaller than a beanie baby and grew into a strong, lion-like beautiful boy who owned each one of their hearts. Unfortunately, in the last few years, Stan has suffered from some medical problems. It had been touch and go for a little while but they got an extra year with him that they weren’t expecting.

His owner, Maria, contacted me a couple of nights ago because they had made the decision that they couldn’t allow Stan to continue his suffering. We made a last minute appointment for a shoot to get some shots of Stan and his side kick, Gus. But mostly, photos of Stan being his lovely self. One of the best parts of the shoot was that Stan perked up when I arrived. He even wanted to play with his treats and a little bit with a toy. Mostly though, he just enjoyed being snuggled by his mom and getting a good back scratch.

Here are some of my personal faves.

Stan is no longer with us which is such a tragedy. I’m so grateful that we were able to arrange this shoot and honoured I was trusted enough to capture such a lovely boy with such a big personality. Stan leaves behind a legacy of unconditional love and friendship. He won’t ever be forgotten and it’s my hope that his pictures will bring his family some comfort while their hearts are hurting. My thoughts are with them.

It started off with a drive out to Cambridge where I met up with Alison and her partner, Gary. Oh, and we can’t forget about Bear.. Bear stole my heart. I loved this couple because they were so easy going and very arts oriented. Gary told me that they actually met while playing in a band. My family is so into creative endeavors, I felt right at home hearing stories about musicals Alison has been in and shows they’ve been to see. One of the coolest parts of the shoot was using their grand piano.. My absolute favourite photo of the day is using a reflection that we got from its glossy surface.

Here are some of my faves from the day.

Tomorrow I will post about the rest of my day and you’ll meet Stan the man. Alison and Gary, thank you for a lovely morning. Please give Bear a snuggle from me – he was such a star. Stay tuned for your online gallery.

Fast forward to yesterday when I was lucky enough to work with Nancy again. She called me up a few weeks ago to touch base and let me know that her daughter was expecting! A beautiful baby girl arrived into this amazing fam last week and so I met up with Nancy, her glowing daughter Michelle, Michelle’s oldest girlie (who was part of the shoot in 2010) and then the new addition! Michelle’s oldest is at such a killer age. She is interested in the photos and loves to help.  3 is one of my absolute fave ages to photograph.

Nancy has such a beautiful home and she and Michelle had made back backdrops and had a whole pile of adorable outfits and props. Also, this baberoo was one of the easiest going new borns I’ve ever worked with. Overall, it was so wonderful to catch up, meet one little girl and see how much another one has grown.

Here are some of my faves from today.

Nancy made a little pea pod outfit. Honestly. The cutest thing I’ve ever seen!

Nancy and Michelle, I am thrilled for you and your family at the arrival of this little miracle. I had an absolutely stellar day working with you all. I can’t wait until March when we do a shoot with the whole fam! Stay tuned for your online gallery.

Heather and Wayne are going to look super familiar to you. We did a shoot just a little while ago, I think it was last month in fact. Our last shoot involved Wayne’s son and daughter and of course, fur pal, Hudson. This family is super sweet and they were a pleasure to work with. This time around, Wayne and Heather were hoping for a shoot to get some headshots as well as snap some photos of the two of them together.  Ummm.. Hudson also needed a mini shoot… According to me!

The fact that it was a shoot on Valentine’s Day was actually an accident. It was the first day that worked for both Heather and Wayne and me, because Wayne has a pretty crazy schedule with interesting shift times. It was a lovely accident though! These two together are trouble and I love it. While we were indoors and I was trying to get shots of them individually, they kept making each other laugh. Then when we ventured outdoors, every time I trained my lens on them, they were doing something funny, like putting cold hands on each other’s backs. It’s so nice to see people who honestly enjoy one another’s company as much as these two do.

Here are some of my faves from the day.

Thanks again for having me out to your beautiful home yesterday! Please tell my fur friend that I say hi. Stay tuned for your online gallery.

Okay, enough about MY (future) kids – let’s focus on some other kids. Some adorable kids.  Two of them might look a little familiar to you if you follow this blog. I have worked with Gizem and Selcuk before (just a few months ago) and this time they wanted the shoot to focus on their niece and nephew as well as their sons. I basically got to follow the kids all over the house and photograph them doing all sorts of things they like, such as: playing a DS, folding origami paper, puzzles, karate and monkeying around with toy cars. It was pretty fab.

Here are some of my faves.

Thank you so much for inviting me to come and work with your fam again – it was my pleasure. Stay tuned for your online gallery!

My mom took me out shopping for some baby items last weekend and we had a pretty fab time. Oh, and she took me out for sushi.. AH-MAZING!  Then Chris came home last night with a rose and some Nerds (he know the way to my heart) and a card asking me to be his ‘Valertime’ – it made me smile.

Here are a couple pics to keep you up to date!

I will do better with posting - I promise!

Apparently, I had NOTHING to worry about! We got lots of fluffy snow at the end of this week and so our plans worked as we intended. Love it when a plan comes to fruition!

In Stratford, I met with Gail, her husband Randy, their kids Jesse, Jaclyn and Jason, their daughter in law, Kendra and their little grand daughter.  This little one was definitely the centre of attention and everyone is very smitten with her  – I totally understand why! Oh, we also can’t forget about the resident fur friend, Hayley – she is a big part of the fam too.

This was a great bunch to work with. Here are some of my faves from the day.

Thanks for having me over on Saturday morning. It was wonderful getting to know you and I seriously enjoyed playing around in the snow with you all. Stay tuned for your online gallery.

When I first arrived at the house, I asked the soon to be big sister just how excited she was. The answer was VERY. She’s at such a great age to be a helper and teacher to the new addition. Love it. One of the biggest differences in the last 8 months is how much more interested she was in having her photo taken. During our summer shoot, she enjoyed it to a certain extent but also had an agenda of her own – which I get! This go around, she was ready for her close up!

It was really nice catching up with everything that has happened in the last 8 months. I’m also really stoked that this shoot is part of my “Baby’s First Year” Package so I’m going to be able to meet the new baby in a few short weeks. Mahsa looks INCREDIBLE! The baby is nearly fully cooked Mahsa and Jay are ready to meet their new little one.

Here are some of my faves from the day.

MAHSA PAINTED HER OWN TOENAILS! Colour me impressed!

Mahsa and her little girlie have such a special bond. I love that they have matching bracelets from Pandora. SO sweet.

Thanks for having me over. I will be waiting (im)patiently by the phone to hear the exciting news! Stay tuned for your online gallery.

So, here goes. My name is Lexie and I’m adopting a baby. I could have also said: My name is Lexie and I can’t have babies of my own. That isn’t something that I usually talk about because it makes me and other people uncomfortable. I know when I was going through all sorts of testing to determine why Chris and I hadn’t been able to expand our family after trying for so long, I felt very alone.

The testing was invasive and scary. I know I’m very blessed to have the husband I do and the family I do because without them, I don’t know how I would have been able to get through it all. There were a number of procedures where my mom sat next to me, letting me crush her hand while a gaggle of doctors did their thing at the end of my exam table. Without her as an anchor, I don’t know how I could have dealt with everything. I know there were nights where I was so angry about how ‘unfair’ this was that, were it not for Chris, I would have been bouncing off the walls. But most people don’t know about all that. I didn’t talk about it much because it’s not pleasant.

In the last few months we found out that there was a very small chance we could ever get pregnant either naturally or with fertiility procedures. That left us with a couple of options. We could try  a specific fertility treatment that was very involved and invasive and expensive for a 15-20% chance of success. Alternatively we could explore other ways of becoming parents. I remember the doctor telling us all of this information and being shocked. You never expect news like this to be delivered to you.  I remember looking at Chris and my eyes starting to fill up with tears. I remember him squeezing my hand. I remember getting in to the car and breaking down. I remember him telling me that everything would be alright.

Making the decision to either go the fertility route or explore adoption was the hardest choice we’ve ever had to make. Chris and I have always found that if we want something enough and work hard enough for it, we’ll get what we want in time. I suppose that we can still believe in that system although it’s not exactly what we had originally hoped for.

In the end though, we agreed that our goal was to be parents. That meant that whatever avenue we took to get to that point was secondary. That’s when we made the decision to pursue adoption.

Since then, a LOT has happened. We have started out homestudy (an in depth interview with an adoption practitioner), the STACKS of paperwork and also PRIDE training. This weekend was our first taste of PRIDE training and it was incredible. We met all sorts of different people hoping to adopt little ones, older children and sibling groups. There were single people there, same sex couples, young couples and older couples. But what we had in common was the fact that we all knew where the other people in the group were coming from. That was the first time that I felt truly understood.

I think the hardest thing about this journey is the conflicting emotions. Some days I’m completely focused and joyous on the fact that I’m going to get to be a mom. I’m going to have a son or daughter to introduce to the world and raise and love. I’m going to have the privilege of being a parent. Then, there are days where I’m ticked off that I have to jump through these hoops for something that comes so easily for most people. There are days where I’m devastated that I don’t get to carry a child. That’s something that I’ve dreamt about my entire life. On those days, I feel cheated. That’s one of the reasons we’re looking specifically at adopting a newborn – so that if we can’t experience the miracle of creating our own child that we can still experience the miracle of life from the very start.

Phew – this is sort of heavy. But it honestly feels good to put this all out on the table. It’s important for me to share this because I want people to know you’re not alone. I’m sure my fam is sick of hearing me say this specific saying but, here goes. I HATE when people say “Misery loves company” but I do find comfort in the idea that there are other people out there who know what I’m going through. And I may know what you’re going through. That’s comforting.

Soon, we’ll be back in a waiting pattern. Right now, there is lots to do. We have paper work, checks to complete, training to attend and the rest of our homestudy. Once that is all complete, we’ll just be waiting to find a match.

I want to thank everyone for the support that we’ve received and the true, sweet and kind enthusiasm that our friends, family and even complete strangers have shown. This hasn’t been and won’t ever be easy but we’re looking forward to the day that we get to bring our child home.

Anyway, it all worked out as I finally got a chance to meet these 4 (plus the resident fur-friend, Hudson) on Sunday. Their house really lent itself to some indoor photography – it was perfect. And this fam – holy cute, Batman! There were lots of smiles and laughs. One of the funniest things that happened was that Hudson wasn’t very sure of me (I’m a little sketchy, I get it) and had been keeping an eye on me for the whole shoot. A little bit into the shoot, I was on the floor trying to get a specific shot when Hudson left the shot and walked over to me and laid down across my legs and settled in for a snuggle. It was adorable and pretty funny.

Here are some of my faves from the day.

Heather and Wayne, thanks for introducing me to your family – furry and otherwise. You all seem like a pretty fabulous team. I’m already looking forward to our shoot in March! Stay tuned for your online gallery.