A Heartfelt Mother's Day

**Trigger warning; babies born sleeping post.
This year I have been blessed by becoming a Mamma (Grandma) to my beautiful Grandson Hudson. We have been truly blessed with him being born on a day of lockdown, in perfect health. It has been the most amazing two weeks!

For those who know me, know I have experienced a not so perfect health birth experience, but never the experience of a pregnancy loss or the experience of a baby born sleeping. For those who also know me, know I am a voluntary queen with little ability to say no.

From the moment I started photography and specifically photographing newborns, I knew I’d like to give the gift of photographing for families who needed precious memories to last them an eternity. For families whose one and only memory maybe one or two images of their child or newborn.

photo by KTJ Photography of baby Hudson’s toes - not from a Heartfelt session.

Just before COVID hit, I felt my skill level was high enough and my emotional part of me was in a good place I signed up with Heartfelt, and organisation that give the gift of photographic memories to families who have experienced stillbirth or have children with serious or life threatening illnesses. The journey usually starts with the photographer going along with an experienced volunteer, so that 1) you learn from that person in both photography skills and personal skills with the parents and staff and 2) you have support for a situation that is an emotional one. Unfortunately for me, sessions were cancelled for quite a few months while we all found our ground with COVID and the hospitals assessed who could be on their grounds in a safe environment.

So my first experience was actually a joyous one, photographing Christmas photos for ‘regulars’ at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) on a lovely weekend where some of these parents had not had an opportunity to have any professional photographs taken of their children.

So far I have photographed only a handful of sessions, but on this Mother’s Day, my thoughts go out to them, and all the families (not just the Mothers), who should be celebrating this day with those babes with them. I am sure today is a hard day for them, and I reflect and give them a few moments of my thoughts. I hope the precious photos Heartfelt volunteers take, give them some sort of peace and a tangible memory of their precious baby or child.

If you are one of these parents, I wish you warm thoughts on this day.

For more information or donations to Heartfelt go to www.heartfelt.org.au/

Mental Health, COVID 19 and Bringing Back Community.

I’m not sure who of my friends know, but from time to time, I go through mental health issues, and with the world events at present, the past week has triggered a lot of things in my mind. 

Now I haven’t always been this way, before my first panic attack at 31 years old I never suffered mental health issues and probably wasn’t very empathetic to those that did. After my 3rd daughter was born with health issues, for 2 years I denied I was suffering Post Natal Depression and tried to ‘ride it out’. My first panic attack was when she was about 2 weeks old in the city. I was in the Carillion Arcade in the city, when suddenly I felt hot and overwhelmed, a weird feeling called panic overtook my body. I had to get out of their immediately. I just took off running with my family following behind, wondering what was going on. 

For 2 years I just told myself I was okay. From that time I have now had a few larger episodes where I need to see the doctor. I suppose, from that first one I have created a brain pattern which creates panic. 

This past week has been a strain on my brain, and it has raced from 0 to 100 in a few short days. Yesterday I saw my doctor who is brilliant with talking with me, and a big chat to my Mum, who under these times is a person of strength to me, as are my beautiful daughters. 

With this, I suddenly had a change in thought patterns. Stopped thinking about the negative and thought about the helpful things I could do for myself and my family. I thought f&ck this fear, and embrace community. To look after my immediate family, to be there for friends and community and get our household prepared for the months ahead. On the Internet I found good resources about getting prepared for a crisis, which talked about creating a healthy body to fight disease, keeping your house clean and reduce the risks of bringing germs into your home, and lung exercises (I will link a couple of these below). 

Yes our social, health and community services are going to be stretched to their limits. There is going to be times of darkness for families. But we need to come together, to support each other. The toilet paper saga showed us how panic creates fear. How fear and panic turns us into unreasonable human beings - it is our natural response mode, the fright or flight. I’m sure the persons fighting over the loo rolls are not terrible people but are people gripped in fear. 

We need to be there for our friends to talk to, to share our resources, to prevent social isolation. Be responsible humans to each other so we don’t have to go to draconian methods, which I think seeing these in China has set a lot of bad, unhealthy thoughts in peoples brains. 

This is what our government really is trying to achieve. No matter if they’re liberal or labour, they are humans who also have families who live here, and I’m sure truely want to do the best for our system and health. Our government is us. We need to take their directives for a better outcome during the pandemic. To follow advice on social distancing, cleanliness and remain calm. If they do announce a home quarantine, we need to be best prepared for that, and realise we are not getting told to lock ourselves away forever, merely to stop 🛑 the spread so our services can catch up and not be at bursting point. Wouldn’t it be great if we could reduce the spread so the outbreaks remain a size that our doctors and health workers can keep up with, to give optimal care.

In an article I found of a young South African trapped in Wuhan, some of her words struck a cord with me. Her hardest thing being trapped in her tiny apartment for so long was her mental health and not being able to be in human contact. She advised others to “protect their minds.” She also said "Don't go crazy, don't analyse things, and don't read the news every day and look at the death toll — it doesn't help.

Numbers are numbers and it doesn't impact you until you are sick."

I have been thinking about social distancing, isolation and how we can use what we have - social media for example, to create safe community spaces. Hold online coffee mornings or catch ups. Lots of ideas 💡 running through my head, so watch this space for more coming. I have zoom, so will create some meet ups for anyone feels they would like to join in. 

So winding up, personally these are the things so far I am doing and going to do for a healthy me:

• I have seen a health care worker for advice of my mental health - this is not something to be ashamed of. 

• Prepared my fridge and pantry for if the situation of a short quarantine arises - I did a large online shop which at the moment takes a couple of days to be delivered. 

• Leaving my shoes outside the front door to keep and germs on the soles out in the sun. 

• Increased my hand washing and sanitising - thoroughly washing my hands as soon as I come home from anywhere. 

• Keeping my washing up to date (um those who know me know house is definitely not my strong suit).

• Tidying and cleaning my kitchen (ditto to above). 

• Looking into ways I can help my family  in isolation if/when they get this virus. 

• Reducing my human to human interactions in large gatherings

• Reducing my time on bloody social media. 

I hope this little blog has been helpful, and if you are feeling overwhelmed, please reach out and talk to someone in your circle who is supportive and understanding of mental health. 

Let’s f&ck fear and bring back community

#f&ckfearbringbackcommunity

A couple of good images from the Singapore Government (ours is not so pretty)

LINKS

Links to a couple of sites I have found to be rewarding/positive and not scaring my mental thoughts:

The REAL David Abel - a couple who caught the virus on a cruise ship and their journey in a Japanese hospital thus far

The Patriot Nurse - Prepare not panic

Interview with Michael Osterholm - a Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology

And my YouTube for future online activities.

HeartFelt

HeartFelt

*Trigger Warning
The following blog contains dialogue about stillbirth and may cause some readers heartache.
Please note: the following image is not from a HeartFelt session

The past year or so, I have been contemplating joining an organisation called Heartfelt. I am not sure if you have heard about it at all, but once you have, you will realise how beautiful it is, but also why it has taken me so long to take the leap of faith to join.

I know what it is like, to get to the birth of your baby, and know things are not right, and do not end up with the fairytale ending of taking home your perfectly healthy baby.  Although I was crushed in the following hours after the birth of my daughter, as she was born blind, we were able to take her home within a normal time frame.  And 18 years later, she is a thriving, beautiful, independent young woman.  Many women, couples and their families are not so lucky, their babies are born sleeping, or critically ill.  The amount of heartache these families must feel must be immense, and just writing this, I feel the enormous hole, one would feel in their hearts and souls.

 Heartfelt is an organisation that tries to help these families with a lasting memory of their baby.

 Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia and New Zealand who have come together to form an organisation dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses. Heartfelt is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate and heartfelt manner. 

In Perth any hospitals are welcome to join, although some do have their own private service. If you are a midwife or nurse, you are welcome to contact me, and I can get some fliers organised to be delivered to your ward if you do not have any.

Heartfelt was founded in 2010 by Melbourne Photographer and current President Gavin Blue along with Sydney Photographer Casandra Anguita-Deep and a handful of committed photographers. Heartfelt had its origins in a organisation that operated from 2007-2009 called the Australian Community of Child Photographers (ACOCP) which was started by Siobhan Cowell and Jessie Broome.  

Since 2010, Heartfelt has grown into an international organisation, with over 320 volunteers who have provided photographic services to over 9,000 families.

If you are a photographer or retoucher interested in becoming a member, Heartfelt would love to hear from you. Please visit this page.
If you would like to make a donation to Heartfelt, please go to this page. 

If you are a staff of a maternity ward, or a parent wanting to request a session, here is the link to the organisations contact persons. Please go to this page

Christmas Mini's Perth

It is never too early for the joy of Christmas in my opinion, haha, all that happiness, family togetherness, gorgeous decorations, fine food and merriment. I love the twinkly lights, the decorated houses and the Christmas Carols. But yes, at times, as a Mum and shopper, I have said ‘What, Christmas Trees in October???’. Another But….. but that was before I was a Perth photographer.

Christmas is also a time, where we all want beautiful Christmas photos of our children and families, to have on cards, to give as gifts and update the images on our walls. As a photographer, the problem with this, is everyone wants them a couple of weeks before Christmas, but also everyone only remembers to try and book only a few weeks before Christmas. A little behind the scenes for all you, you are only one of 90% of the population who remember a few weeks before Christmas, and it is too late —bookings are hard to come by, there isn’t time to edit and professional printers have closed off their orders by November for prints to be ready for Christmas.

So to remedy this, I hold my Christmas photo sessions in October! These have been so popular over the past few years and book out really quickly. I have two types of sessions, and love the creativity it allows me to come up with gorgeous scenes that the kids really love.

I have Magic & Wonder Outdoor and Indoor sessions.

The indoor sessions are held at my studio and this year are a custom experience. You will have a choice (from a selection) of backdrops and props, to make the session unique to your family. These are 30 minute sessions with one clothing change if desired.

My outdoor sessions will be held within the City of Wanneroo, and only 5 minutes from Joondalup. You will also get a choice of 2 Christmas scenes from 3. You can choose 2 or simply just have the one set up. Due to the weather factor, and the amount of sessions I can offer, these are quick 20 minute sessions.

Samples of past Christmas Mini & Portrait sessions can be seen here

This year I also have products such as Christmas Cards, USB’s in beautiful gift boxes, Photo Boxes, prints and photo albums to offer.

If you would like to ask me more questions, please contact me here

Or if you would like to book, here is the booking form with all the details and times. On booking an order form and paperwork will be sent to you.

Spring Blossoms

Spring Blossoms in Perth Hills

With Winter moving behind us, the beautiful Perth Hills and orchards come alive with beautiful colours of pink and white. This season only lasts a few weeks and then it is gone for another year. Both S&R Orchards in Walliston, and Raeburn Orchards in Roleystone both offer a beautiful backdrop for gorgeous children’s and family photos.

I have released a few sessions for this years season, so get in quick to book yours.

Best Baby Apps for a new mum

Baby App Date (Update- get it 😂)

KTJ Photography | Baby Photos | Perth

Continuing on from my last blog on apps that can assist at the beginning of the parenthood journey, of course the next natural step is when your beautiful baby arrives. So let’s see what apps there are that can give you a hand……. if that is truely possible.

Baby+

Baby+ gives you everything you need in one app: helpful information, a personal diary, photo tools, development trackers, reminders and so much more!

Baby Connect

You can record not only feedings, nursing, naps, nappies, milestones, pumpings but also baby’s mood, temperature, what kind of game he’s playing and attach photos. A web interface is also accessible for free so your nanny/baby sitter, doesn’t need an iPhone to view and enter information. While you are away, you can have access to the updates from the caregiver and set up notifications to be immediately informed if something happens.

Baby Daybook - Feeding Tracker

This baby feeding tracker and care app with logs has it all. It’s key features are: Daily summary - see day to day breastfeeding duration, milk volume, and counts for other baby activities; Statistics - see your newborn’s nursing or other activity trends on friendly charts; Timeline - Understand your newborn baby’s activity patterns across multiple days, weeks or months; Baby Growth Tracking - Track baby’s weight, height, head size and compare progress against World Health Organisation averages; Real time sync; Reminders; Multiple babies; many activity types; day/night interface and Data export.

Baby Monitor 3G

This is a universal video and audio baby monitor for your phone, tablet or computer. Hear every noise, stream live video, and soothe your child remotely. Works with an unlimited reach (wifi, 3G, LTE) .

Baby Nursery Rhymes

Enjoy 20 famous Children’s nursery rhymes in different languages. They all play with cute little graphics and can keep your child entertained while you are finishing that quick cuppa.Baby Tracker - Activity Log

Baby Tracker has been designed by busy parents for busy parents. It offers a simple, streamlined way to track your baby’s daily habits, health and exciting ‘firsts’ of those early days and months. Record feedings, nappy changes, and sleep patterns, and feel free to go back later to add more details and even photos.

Baby Tracker Pro

This is the paid version of the above app. Of course as with all paid versions, it contains extra features that the unpaid version does not, and is more detailed.

Baby Weaning and Recipes

This app includes 193 weaning recipes, including first purees, finger foods, meat, fish and vegetarian meals, breakfast ideas, pudding sand healthy snacks. It includes weekly meal planners, expert articles with advice and guidance, a shopping list and a create you own meal planner. Everything needed to give your baby a healthy balanced diet.

Feed Baby - Breastfeeding App

This app tracks your newborn breastfeeds, nappy changes, pumps and sleeping patterns. You are also able to record bottle feeding and solid feeds as well. Feed baby includes detailed reports and chars/graphs that allow you to visualise some of your most important data. You can export data to CSV reports if you would like to save them on a spreadsheet.

Glow Baby: Baby & Toddler Log

From breastfeeding to nappy changes, log all your baby or toddler’s milestones and track development with Glow Baby. Access informative informative advice and log all of your newborn’s exciting milestones with the best resource for new parents. Track your baby or toddler’s nap, feeds, your pumping sessions and much more!

National Public Toilet Map

There is nothing worse than being caught out is there? Throw in the chaos of being a new Mum just makes things more difficult. This app shows the location of more than 18,00 publicly available toilets in Australia, and includes details of accessibility, opening hours and baby change facilities. You are able to personalise your preferences to return toilets that suit your needs.

Peanut - Meet Mum Friends

What an innovative app. Peanut is the app for meeting other Mothers. They make it easy to connect and learn from like minded women. It promotes - connecting with other Mumma’s like you, near you - Chat and create meet ups - Share experiences through meaningful topics.

Sound Sleeper: white noise

As a Perth Newborn Photographer, I love this app and use it at every session After wrapping your gorgeous bundle, I turn on this great app for soothing white noise sounds. On the unpaid version it gives you 30 minutes free, but the paid version gives unlimited time. Babies in my studio seem to love and settle to the noise. Sounds include hairdryer, hush, shhh, vacuum cleaner and womb for newborns. It also contains further noises for infants, soothing lullabies and a sleep tracker. A good app to try, if your Bub is not settling.

What To Expect

This app continues on from tracking your pregnancy to once baby arrives. This app acts as a broad ‘how to’ guide with expert advice and personalised support for baby’s first year.