Remember when we first arrived in Mexico?  It seems like forever ago. We arrived to Ivan’s mum’s home which was overflowing with Ivan’s mum, his brother, his brother’s wife, their 4 year old daughter,  few week old son and all their belongings (these guys have a lot of stuff!). The place was a crazy house. For two nights, Ivan’s mum lent us her tiny double bed and after we finally put Mika to sleep we would lie awake to the sounds of a tiny colicky newborn screaming his little lungs out. After 24 hours of being in transit, this was less than ideal.

So you can imagine how relieved and grateful we were when we were told that we could stay (rent-free!) in an empty 2-story 3 bedroom home with a courtyard in a pretty nice neighbourhood. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the kindness of these people who lent us their home (and Ivan’s brother sorting it all out for us), we probably would have left Mexico a lot earlier at a time when we probably wouldn’t have been so ready to leave. But they did lend us their home and we did stick around for longer and we have some glorious memories of that home. Lazy days in the hot sun, reading my Spanish books, paddling in our tiny pool, days of family naps, scrabble and card games, evening walks to the lagoon, cooking meals in our kitchen, climbing the stairs with baby, hanging up laundry in the courtyard…It’s amazing how many memories can be created from only 4 months!

This is the family who lent us their home. The husband wasn’t around for the shoot, but this is Adriana and her two beautiful little boys. We’re so grateful for their kindness! (Oh and it worked out perfectly – we’re moving to Seattle at the end of the month!!)

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A few days before Mika was born, I was grabbing a drink with one of my best friends Pablo and he asked me if I missed doing anything yet. You know, going out till 4AM, being so drunk that you wake up with a broken foot, going out for breakfast, even just waking up late.

My answer then was “No, not yet.” And if he was to ask me that now one month after my baby was born I would say “No, period.”

Thing is, there are some good and bad memories that I ponder on sometimes. I loved living in Vancouver with Pablo, going for coffee in the morning to Elysian and taking the last bus to Pam’s house in Kitsilano. But even if we were all to move back to Vancouver and spend a year there, (without a baby) it would never be exactly how we remember it.

Things change, people change and when you are expecting or have a child, things change faster. Your body and mind adapt, it’s hard work, it’s stressful once in a while, but it beats any experience I’ve ever lived. Coming home to my family is my treat for working hard during the day. It’s never a duty and never a chore. And I look forward to all the memories that will be created with Mika in our lives.

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I met these gorgeous two at a friend’s brunch on Sunday. Meet Tohru and Naira…

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So if you’re 7 months pregnant and are looking for a way to forget you’re pregnant… spend a morning photographing a beautiful family – playing in the backyard, eating brunch and perusing a french market.  You’ll forget you’re pregnant… until you take a moment to rest… at which point you will be snapped back into reality.  Yes, you are large and pregnant and no you are not as nimble as you were pre-pregnancy.  Drat.

But photograph a beautiful family is what I did – and I have been ever so slack at putting up some pictures.  (My computer decided it was ‘at capacity’ for a while… hmmmf… but now we’ve had words with each other and it is back up and running smoothly).

Overall, I was pretty happy with these pics.  I would have liked to have a few more shots with everyone, but that’s maybe a lesson for me in managing a dynamic group!  Zac’s family is so gorgeous… here are some of my favourite shots.

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My friends Kylie and Jordan manage to produce the most incredibly beautiful children. Whenever I’m around them I can’t help but want to photograph their every movement. Jack is now at an age where he doesn’t want to be photographed by me all the time which is…understandable.  Henry on the other hand, is the perfect little model.  He has the most gorgeous smile and entertaining expressions… here are some of my favourites from today’s outing.

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