cathy [pieces of me]

A self portrait.

Something I hope to do more of in the future. I just used my photobooth, and then edited to my liking in photoshop. I just love the wash of sunlight in this photo. Sunshine makes me happy!

I also made some changes to my blog.

Friday Phew!

This is after the immunization appointments for Catie (Kindergarten shots) and Courtney.

This is Courtney's first visit to the "candy drawer" and she was a happy camper.

 Catie got two, because hers was a sore one.

Caroline got one too. Our family doctor is so great! 

Catie, and her pop. 

I survived (well almost) it is still early on Friday. 

This week was filled with lots of driving. Driving my gas guzzling 12 passenger van. Monday, was summer school for two, back and forth. Back and forth. Tuesday, I had to have Cliff take the day off so we could get all of our stuff done! It was an especially crazy day! Summer school for one, a very intensive RCMP Jr. Cadet camp for two, and immunization shots for two. Catie and Courtney. Catie cried, Courtney didn't cry for the first needle, but cried for the second one. Then drop off and pick ups all day. Same with Wednesday, and then Thursday. Plus a "Graduation" for Cameron and Claire. Cliff stayed back with the others. Thankfully, because it was long and warm in the gym. And on my way home from the grad, my check engine light came on. Remember my fiasco with no van large enough for the kids? I am a wee bit concerned. So, this morning, a more quiet day (if that is possible with six kids at home?) laundry (a given) and a drive with my six to the dealership to hopefully figure out what is going on with our van. Monday, school is back in, and I need to be able to drive them all back and forth! Unfortunately to place both girls in the same school. Claire in Reading and Rec, and Carly is in Numbers 'til Noon. We could only pick a school about 15 minutes away by drive. 

Driving all of this week, I was thankful for an air conditioned van. And thankful that for the regular school year, we are able to walk. I feel better about that. Being able to walk. I realize I do not like the driving so much. 

This weekend we are off to a fun "Stampede" style BBQ with old family friends. And with family. Kids will be dressed up like cowgirls and a cowboy. I am the official photographer, so I am looking forward to do that just for fun. I am praying that this year all stay healthy, and now throw up. Last year after the Luau, right as soon as we walked through the door, July Puke Fest 2008 began, and lasted for one whole week. Healthy thoughts! Healthy thoughts. You can see why I might feel a little worried right :D

Have a great weekend!

Cathy 

Trying to read

Sorry...photo is upside down.

Yes, I know how to read. It is finding the TIME to read which is the difficult task. Fitting in all in. I ordered two books from Amazon. And they have already arrived! They came so quickly! And yesterday I want to Chapters and I purchased a book. (I was anticipating a long wait for the two!)

When I was growing up I LOVED to read. I would be the kid under her covers with a flashlight reading to the wee hours of the morning! But the more kids I had, the less time for reading. SO, I decided I would try again. The three books are all business/camera/photoshop related. That is GOOD! I need to challenge myself. So, I will try to read. If not, I think that audio books will be the way to go. 

Anyways! They are all sitting here beside me on my desk! First, I go clean the bathrooms. Then I will open up the box! It feels like Christmas!! I just love to keep learning!

Cathy xo

P.S. The best two books I read were actually last night. My girls Claire and Carly wrote me a book each. So cute. I love it!

Radio Interview today

Buzz Bishop interviewed me. 

From his twitter feed: will have interview with @cathyempey on @virgin953 this aft. what's it like to be a mom of SIX?! a local jon and kate styled story coming up (Listen in between 4 and 4:30 this afternoon)

If you are not local here is the link to the online player!

Interview with @buzzbishop on @virgin953 today between 4 and 4:30 talking all about life with a large family. Langley's Cathy and Cliff + 6!

Time is pst. 

http://vancouver.virginradio.ca/player

Cheers!

Cathy

My other job...

For those of you who do not follow my boudoir blog, well over the past weekend I was working on a special project, and my awesome friend Carol of Carol Kerfoot Photography came to my boudoir to take some photos of me, doing what I love to do more than anything...photography! I just love the finished result! Be sure to check out her amazing work! 

Oh, and thanks to Kaitlin for making me up! 

So, enjoy!

Cathy

Dresses

This is the first of many summers where I will not be pregnant or breastfeeding. I really like wearing dresses, and seeing this photo of Shawna, made my think I need to wear a dress! 

I did buy a beautiful "goal" dress in a size six, and it is currently sitting in my closest staring at me. I have put on a good 8 pounds by not running, and keeping up the same eating habits of when I was training. 

Where is a great place to buy dresses? I am going to wear dresses all summer!!  I have no restrictions now! My body is my own! The only thing is I need a below the knee to sort of hide my ugly man vein legs!

Any ideas for what would look good on me? I need some help!  And shoes, what does one wear with dresses these days? Oh, and I need reasonable!! 

Cathy xo

Hump Day

Well, it is Wednesday. It seems like I am neglecting my own blog, but really I am not. I am of course concentrating my efforts on all of my other blog. It gets updated a lot more than this one. I wish there was more of me, but there isn't. So...

I hope my Canadian friends and family had a nice long weekend. I was busy with several shoots, and I had the opportunity to be a third shooter at a lovely wedding in Vancouver. So that was a neat-o-12 hour day working. Very eye opening, and really something I am interested in trying again. Weddings are beautiful. 

Anyways. A couple of images from about 1000 I shot at the wedding. To see more, go check out more, be sure to check out my other blog. It links to the main photographer, Jamie Delaine's blog, and also to the second shooter Laura of Dolcepics. AMAZING work there.

Cathy xo

Cheery Cherry Blossoms

my favourite things

A few from today. I took the time to do some photography just for me. This was the morning I was to run my 42.2 km. But my body let me know about a month ago, that I would not be running. So, for over a month I really have done nothing for myself. I needed a few moments to reflect on really just how far I had actually run before I got hurt. 32 km and it felt great. I know that next 10 km I will get to run. I am hoping in October. 

I am renaming October...

 ROCKTOBER. 

I will run my marathon a few months later than I had hoped and planned for. I am going to rock my race in October.

 I LOVE love love the cherry blossoms, and the spring colours. It was a nice few minutes away. It goes to show you can find beauty a few minutes walk from your home. And find joy in other ways and places.

Laundry Fun

OK, so I lied. Playing with my new camera, when I SHOULD have been putting away my laundry is fun! 

FREEDOM, and a trip down memory lane.

The above photos are a series from my computers photobooth. I would sit there in that same spot, the same nursing pillow, a receiving blanket, an a cozy blanket and breastfeed Courtney. Ever so often,  I would snap a photo of us. As I knew this was the last time I would do this for one of my kids. I also like to see how much I have physically changed over the past months. I am so thrilled with MY transformation.

I was lucky, and I was able to successfully breastfeed each and every one of my kids. I know breastfeeding isn't for everybody. So I count myself lucky I could do so with such ease. Without any trouble. Often I would be told that my milk was golden. Liquid gold. And that I had great milk. I am happy I could provide the best I could for my kids. Although not easy to sit down and feed, while the other kids were all over the house etc. We did it. I did it. I think breastfeeding was a wonderful experience for me, especially the MORE kids I had. I didn't like breastfeeding all that much with my first couple of kids. I was younger, I wanted to keep being me. I wanted not to sit and breastfeed. But, once the older ones grew, that time became SO important to me. For my sanity. A time to sit down an relax and just be. And savour every moment with each and every one of them. To keep that special little bond with each and every one of my kids. I feel so glad I could have that one on one time. The more kids I had, the easier it became. Dare I say I enjoyed it?! Sure. At times I was of course impatient, grumpy. But for the most part. I did my thing. 

Today, is always a weird sort of day for me. I will always remember being pregnant for the very last time. It seems as if I am going through a lot of lasts, and at the same time a lot of firsts! This is freedom! TODAY is FREEDOM! 

I posted my last positive pregnancy test two years ago today. Can you believe that! Last year Courtney was in 9-12 month clothes. And today in 18-24 month clothes. And she runs, and climbs. And dances. Smiles. Laughs giggles. And sucks her fingers. And she holds my chest LOL. This girl is a Mama's girl that is for sure! She says Mama. And not Daddy LOL. She has me captivated that is for sure. Our bond is very strong. 

Time sure has flown!

Today, my sixth child is almost 17 months old (well on the 16th of April) And can you believe I just weaned my baby from breastfeeding. It has been I think a week now...since her last feed. She looks longingly at my chest. And grabs for me. And cries for me. It really breaks my heart. But it was time for her to stop. She likes her milk cup. She doesn't really need it. So we did it. Sad, but also now I am F R E E! FREEDOM!

A little bit of Cathy trivia for you all:

• I have been pregnant 7 times (about 56 months of pregnancy total or almost five years of pregnancy for me)
  
• I have breastfeed all six of the kids (that is 70.5 months of breastfeeding or almost six years of breastfeeding)
• The first one for 5 months full time and quit at 6 months
  
• The next four for about 1 year
• The last one for 16.5 months (was planning to quit last October when she was 11 months)
• The last two kids didn't use any bottles, just straight to a cup.
• We never used a pacifier for any child (they didn't want them, and OH how we tried!)
• There was no 'try' to get pregnant for us.
• I have been changing diapers with my husband for almost 10 years straight...and probably have about 2.5 more years to go! Yes!
• We usually have two in diapers, with a month or two with only one in diapers. Right now like in the past we have two. Caroline is close to being ready, and hopefully by May when she turns three.
• Potty training we don't actively work on. It just happens around the age of three. We tried actively with the first one, and then we let go. We didn't push. We just talked about training EVERY diaper change. We have done a lot of talking about our bodies. And their lovely functions. Our kids potty trained over night. And were done. No troubles. We expect the same to happen with the last two.
• We only have one in a crib now, the rest all in big kid beds.
• None of our kids have asked us where babies come from. If they should ask, we will tell them the truth. We always use correct body part names with the kids.

I am so thankful for the experience I have had over the last ten years. I would never be this person that I am today without all of the life experiences that have shaped me over the last decade. I find it hard to believe that my first born will be ten this summer! Double DIGITS! Life is moving on in such a thrilling way!

Cathy | Self Portrait

Here is a self portrait assignment I was working on today. 

It is hard to shoot self portraits especially with my very short arms! 

We submitted them in black and white, but I still prefer  the colour version. 

I hope you all are having a sunny, beautiful day! Even if it has to be in your mind.

Cathy xo

Out of TV Land

Sorry, these published backwards! So, did you see it? 

Meet Fiona Forbes on my right, and Michael Eckford on my left! They were just as charming, funny and down to earth as on their show Urban Rush! They made me feel completely comfortable and at ease! 

Cathy...it is your turn! I was waiting to sit down on the familiar to me yellow Urban Rush couch! My segment was about 7 ish minutes, and it went by REALLY fast!

Really cool to have a couple of 'Smart Cookies' in the greenroom. Remember Carly filmed a little segment for them, well Sandra (the Savvy Spender!)  was her host. Small world. So, I re-inroduced myself to her, and I asked her for a photo op! Why not, it is not very often you get to meet somebody who has graced Oprah's stage! Wow! The other smart cookie was Robyn (the Cash Councilor) she was in make up. SO awesome to be on the same show!

And of course, me with that darn slate! I stressed for days over this thing! So, I figured it out. I even got to pick which colour I wanted. I chose pink of course. Oh, if you are wondering why Cameron was not in school, well we decided to give him some 'life experience' instead of school. Are we the coolest parents Ever?! LOL. He had a great time, eating something like four pastries/cookies off the greenroom table! He met Michael, Fiona, and the Smart Cookies too!

********

I am back, no wait...I have been back since Tuesday, and today (well late yesterday evening) between bites of my Subway sandwich tonigh I downloaded my photos from my trip to the Shaw Studios/Urban Rush set. I have been busy with my marathon training program too. Last night 7 km steady, tonight 7 big bad hills and about 13 km later we were done! Whew. Next week 8! Anyways...sorry to side track like that. It has just been so crazy!

It was a wonderful experience, and I made some pretty wonderful people. Here are couple from that surreal day! 

Cathy xo

.my baby is nine months old today.

It is hard to believe that a mere nine months ago today I was in labour, patiently waiting our final baby to be born.

I cherish you baby girl.

Happy nine months Courtney! Happy un-pregnancy to me!

Caroline and me...

See, I was on our Fathers Day trip, but I am usually the one taking the family photos. Thankfully my Mom in Law took a few photos of me :D

This was so fun to do, and her smiles were HUGE!

And she decided she wanted to be on her own swing after awhile. It was a great day! I had fun on the swings too! I got some good air when I jumped off LOL!