A Photolistic Journey

Whats new?

2007-09-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well with everyone. I'm still here and chugging along. What new in my neck of the woods? O has entered grade 3 and my lil R has entered Kindergarten. How time flies. He loves it as does O. E misses her R when hes at school but she loves her daycare so she seems ok with it. The first day R went she thought she was going to, was saying hi to the teacher and bye to me! How grown up she wants to be yet, I still want my baby.

I recently got another promotion at work. I now work 5 days a week. I also had another job offer in a different city. Its would be making $6,000 more a year but I don't know if it would be worth actually moving away. I will be seeing the person who is offering me the position this weekend and will get more details then. Again its 99.99% unlikely that I will take it. I really like my job working in the health care industry even if its only in accounting. I would also be leaving my current work really in a bad spot and I'm not the type of person to do that. I have a responsibilty to my current job and I'm a firm believer in fulfilling ones obligation.

O's had his appointment at Childrens hospital. Well actually all three kids had an appointment it ended up. All three kids have a very rare genetic disorder. While it seems to only affect E and R by physical characteristics, O has been affected more in the way of speech, language and learning. Its so rare that the actual disorder they have has no name. All three had their pictures taken and will be published in a medical journal. For education purposes, they have it recorded on their records as Hughs Syndrome. Another rare syndrome that I have not been able to find anything on the internet, yet. At least now we have some answers and will no be able to get O more help in school as needed.

I finished one course. Walked into the final with an average of 92%. The final was BRUTAL though and I'm really worried about how I did. To pass the course I have to pass the final. If I just pass I will walk away with a C+. If I manage a 75% (unlikely) I will have a A-. So wish me luck on that. As well as getting my other course done.

Ok, thats all for now. Thinking of you all and hope all is well with everyone.

Nicki

I'm alive

2007-08-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say hi to anyone who may check in. I am still around but I haven't had time to post anywhere. I now work 4-5 days a week as well I'm frantically trying to complete two courses.

I have also been dealing with alot of family stuff. My beloved Grandmother passed away on August 4h. It affected me more than I could have ever imagined. I only have one grandparent left, and he was married to my grandma who just passed away for 61 years. Grandpa is in a very frail state of health so I fear it won't be long. Only 29 yet I have lost all but one grandparent, both parents and a brother. Just chugging along as best I can.

I have also been trying to deal with some major life altering issues going on in a loved ones life. Very serious and so very hard to cope with. Due to privacy issues I can't go into it more but please thoughts/prayers are always welcome and so very much needed.

And with that, I will be back. I hope.

For friends...

2007-07-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let my friends who I don't talk to very much know how things are going with O's my oldest son. O is severely speach and language delayed and has ADD as well. Well hes now entering grade three. Imagine that? Seriously where did the time go?

Well, come August 28th, we may have some answers. After numerous amounts of tests, we were finally referred to a geneticist a year ago. The geneticist believes that both my boys suffer from a genetic disorder, O very much affected, R minimally. The kicker is that it may be a brand new disorder. My hubby is also affected. All of O's problems fall into a specific disorder. That disorder is usually passed by the X chromosome thus being from the mother. However as hubby and sons have it, its a Y chromosome disorder. Mutation of the genes is upon us. Sooooo, think of us as we venture down a new road. After 18 months of trying to not treat the ADD it has come time for us to actually persue treatment, not sure how/which treatment, that is still upon negotiation. Ah, such is life. Never say never is what I've learned...

Here is my precious boy who has not had it easy:

How time flies...

2007-07-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? Nine days of summer holidays down... only many more to go ;)

I actually have my first photo shoot coming up. Well, my first OFFICIAL photography site. Super nervous but super excited.... They are taking advantage of the promotion on my website.. 75% off everything... The mom is super excited so I'm happy she likes my site!

As I've been told my previous link is broken and I can't seem to correct it so if your interested in seeing my website you will have to enter it in (or copy/paste) manually. www.nickibavisphotography.com

The fam and I just got back from a family bbq on SaltSpring Island. It was nice to go back to my hometown. Very weird though as it had been four years since my last visit. How that little island changes so much.

Here are some pics I took while away...

My hubby:

My hubby and his bro:

The second generation of cousins: (like R's faux-hawk.. the blondie in the second row on the far right?)

..... its up

2007-06-27T21:31:00.001-07:00

Heres a rough draft of my website... www.nickibavisphotography.com

E Loves Dora

2007-06-25T14:38:00.001-07:00

can you tell by the diego stickers all over her tummy?

I have some big news!

2007-06-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm taking the plunge.... I've purchased a website and will be starting to portfolio building... stay tuned for more details.

two more

2007-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

after some wonderful help from the ladies at ilp, i have had some luck... looks like I was having some the post processing. I would like to think these are much better... :) I'm on my way.

I'm losing a battle...

2007-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

against soft photos... not sure if its camera related or me related LOL... here are two recent photos of R and E.

Look at those eyes....

2007-06-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

A story....

2007-06-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

Last March I experience every mothers nightmare.

A little background first. We had a horrible winter cold wise. My kids were sick non-stop. One cold after another and Riley seemed the worst. In February dh and I commented on how much weight Riley had seemed to have lost but we shoved it aside and went chugging along.

It wasn't until the middle of March that Riley seemed to take a turn for the worse. It was at this point that dh and I kind of knew that something was really wrong. We then noticed this small pinpoint rash all over his body, as well as numerous lymphnodes around his neck and groin. He also had so many bruises over his body. I looked these symptoms up on the internet and after reading some very scary stuff, such as the rash being leukemia related, dh took him to the ER while I stayed at home with the other two. After two hours at the hospital, dh called and told me to find someone to look after the other two and that I had better come to the hospital. So my best friend looked after the other two while I rushed to the ER.

We met the doctor and he explained to us that the rash that was all over Riley was due to his platlets being extremly low. He seemed to think it was nothing, but I asked about leukemia. He said he thought it doubtful but he was sending the tests to Vancouver Childrens Hospital and we were to take Riley there immediatly as he may need a platelet transfusion.

So off I went with Riley to Childrens while dh went home with other two. What proceeded was a long night of tests and meeeting with doctors who were very worried about his condition. It was there that the doctors finally mentioned Leukemia and said it was a possibility. I was so scared. He had an IV put in and more blood tests. The IV was for an emergency transfusion if needed. He was admitted and he was finally moved to a room upstairs at 3am.

With more blood tests the next day we still had no new answers. We finally met with the oncologist. He looked over the results and wasn't able to give us any anwers. He didn't feel it was pertinent to do a bone marrow biopsy and we should wait to see if his platelets raised.

The next day his blood tests came back and his platelets raised a tiny bit which was encouraging. They were even better the next day!! And by the end of the next day he was released as his platelets were double what they were when he was admitted. We were still meeting with the oncologist and he felt pretty safe at this point but there was still the reason to why his platelets were so low. He asked us to come to meet him the oncology clinic in two days, as he should have more results back.

When I took him back to the clinic, he had more blood work (what a trooper he was). We went to the onocology clinic which was one of the most heartbreaking places on earth. And I couldn't believe I was there. We finally saw the oncologist and he had some news.. I was terrified. BUT his platelets were even higher!! Awesome news. The most important news was we finally had an answer. An unexpected answer but an answer.

Riley had a severe case of mono. Who would have thought of a four year old having mono? But the onoclogist explained that its very common. Most young children get mono but it only represents itself as a bad cold and only lasts a short time. What Riley experienced was an extreme case. I never thought I would be so relieved that my child had mono but I was.

It took about a month for the fear to go. I still expected him to have a relapse and the mono diagnosis to be incorrect. But now after 3 months I finally have my little boy back to normal. Hes his normal rambunctious self.

What brought on this story may you ask? My best friend took a picture of him in his hospital bed at Childrens and just finally sent it to me... So here is my tough guy who endeared so much but only an small taste of what some kids we saw experience daily.

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2007-06-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

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2007-06-05T09:48:00.001-07:00

Gotta love the messy face ;)

Just Starting Out Photography Forum

2007-06-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for the small group, Sue and I decided a forum would be best. So heres the link: Just Starting Out Photography

Hope to see you there :)

Photography Group Update

2007-05-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have had a few people interested in creating a small online photography group to share and learn from. Please email me at nicki_beingme@hotmail.com and then we can figure out the best course of action. This is a smaller group besides the one I started at
I Love Photography in the Just Starting Out Lesson forum. I really wanted to go through the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson so I asked other people to join a type of book club. There was a lot of response and its now underway.

Heres to learning more daily and growing with my photography skills.

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2007-05-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Scrapbooking

2007-05-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

I love to scrapbook. It not only documents life in a fun and artistic way but it also showcases photography. I couldn't think of a better combination. But in truth I should say that I used to scrapbook. I haven't done it in about 8 months but I actually want to pull out all my stuff, and lets just say thats a chore in itself and do some layouts. So in this honour, I thought I would share some of my layouts that I did before my 8 month break.

The epiphany

2007-05-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

You know there really isn't a way to descibe the feeling I get when I nail a photo. I had an epiphany, made my son sit down and I shot some photos in manual. I got some good shots but I love this one as it shows the serious side of my oldest son.

Photography Group

2007-05-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

A dear online friend (Hi Sonya ) and I were chatting the other day about our love for photography and how we both would like to grow more with it. Finding time is a huge challenge as we are both mothers and wives. I also work out of the home part-time. So I told her about my idea about establishing a small group of wanna-be photographers to share photos with, to give hard hat constructive critism (hhcc), share photo and photoshop techniques, as well as photography challenges to get us motivated to improve. If your interested let me know :) I'm sure it will be small if anything, Sonya and myself LOL.

My Camera

2007-05-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Tricia, who was kind enough to leave a comment (thank you :) ) asked what kind of camera I have. I have a digital Canon Rebel XT. I jokingly call it my fourth child. Just kidding of course, well, most of the time. I also have two lens. One being the kit lens which is 18-55mm f5.6. I also purchased the 50mm f1.8 lens. That is my baby and the one I use mostly. I love the higher aperature setting. About 8 months ago I was huge into taking pictures in manual and in RAW format. After a long break, I have to slowly get back to where I was. The most recent photos I have taken are in AV setting to which the camera sets the shutter speed for me. However, the ss was too low causing these photos to be slightly out of focuse and not at the level of focus I like. For example these photos was taken about 8 months ago in manual and RAW.

This next photo I took yesterday. You can totally see the difference and I hope to get back to where I was soon. Because I would love to continue with this dream one day. Not for a full-time job but more for doing something I love for other people. Today at work I had a co-worker ask if I would take family photos for her and I said sure. She then told me to let her know prices and I laughed. I told her that all I would ask is for the right to use them for a portfolio one day. What a great opportunity and thanks P for the faith in my abilities.

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2007-05-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

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2007-05-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

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2007-05-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

an introduction

2007-05-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

i am a wife, a mother, a student, an accounting assistant, a sister and a friend

i am a scrapbooker (albeit i have been on a 8 month hiatus)

i am a photographer (well, a wanna-be one)

i am not sure where this blog will go but expect lots of pictures of my life. i love taking photos of my children and hope to practice on other people children.

thank you for stopping by, say hi, and check back often