Amanda Maree Photography » Amanda Maree Photography - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

It always surprises me when my personal posts get so much interaction on social media…turns out y’all are hanging around for more than cute newborn photo’s!! At the end of the year I did my Instagram Top 9, there were a few different apps that showed you the cute collage, but one of them I did was literally almost all personal posts…how neat is that? I always love a good behind the scene’s…a sneak peak into the goings on of the studio…a personal project…and maybe you guys do too? So I’m going to make a conscious effort to give you more of me this year. I don’t know that I’ll be posing my almost 4yr old as a newborn like we did last year, my kiddo’s are getting less and less keen for photo’s but we’ll see how go! I don’t have a personal Instagram so there’s no cute top 9 and I couldn’t choose just 9 to share so here’s a little recap of our year.  2020…well, what do you say really? So many highs, for most, many more lows. It was a tough year for us despite covid and lock down…home schooling, yeah that was fun! We started out the year bidding farewell to my youngest brother and his family, who moved interstate, no one could have predicted just how far away Sydney would be in 2020, and we ended the year with him being deployed overseas before we could actually catch up with border changes. He’s still away but we were spoiled by seeing his wife and children over Christmas, and that definitely helped. Who knows what the world will look like when he comes back later this year but we are all hoping it involves a visit! Anyone who knows me knows we are a super close family!

Then of course came lockdown, which wasn’t too bad for me personally, I still had to go to work in the NICU and got to see my friends there, and my kids were kept safe at home. We actually flourished as a family, lots of nature projects and walks and my big boy thrived without the pressures of society and school. Speaking of my big boy, this year has been our hardest yet, being diagnosed ADHD and severe anxiety in 2019, this year lead us to an Autistic diagnosis so we’ve had some huge challenges to say the least. We spent the year navigating our new new, appointments, medications, and way too many tears from both of us. He loved homeschooling and going back into the school system was horrendous but we made it! He started Karate which has actually been the biggest blessing, he’s thrived and collected so many new skills along with a yellow belt and two awards! He also celebrated his 8th birthday and who doesn’t love that! My tiny baby turned 3…waaah! He also started permanent family daycare two days a week and absolutely loves it. He’s super social, unlike my big boy, and has loved being around other kids and an amazing teacher. We celebrated his birthday with a visit to the firestation and his little mind literally exploded!

Sadly we lost my Nan unexpectedly this year, on the other side of covid thankfully, which meant we could celebrate her life and the beautiful person she was. A sudden loss though, always confronts you with regret…not enough time together, not enough moments…not enough memories. It’s moments like these that make me appreciate the gift that I give with imagery. So many people lost loved ones this past year and the change in dynamics of lock downs just added a whole new layer to the grief. I had friends welcome new babies, I had friends heartbreakingly say goodbye to their babies. Loss during covid made everything even more broken.

Another hard part of covid was definitely the closure of the studio for a large section of the year. It broke my heart to turn away so many new families, having them miss out on capturing that brief but special time in the journey of new parenthood. Losing my livelihood was also a challenge and not something I would like to go through again in a hurry. I spent lots of time sorting and folding and rearranging the way too many bonnets and wraps I have! We reopened in July and madly rescheduled as many people as we could in and it’s been all go since then. My heart goes out to my colleagues interstate and overseas though still affected by covid and it’s lock downs, and the many families missing out. My favourite quote has always been…you never know the value of a moment until its a memory…this year has definitely taught us that.

My NICU work has remained insanely busy which is always a challenge, and whilst I welcomed many new little miracles, there were also way too many farewells. We ended the year combining both of my loves, and with Heartfelt I photographed all of the sweet little ones stuck in hospital in the NICU during the festive season. It’s something I’ve done for many years and always gets you in the feels, giving me the strength to step back into all those challenges with a little bit of happiness and joy. 2020 I also struggled with my own health, having multiple surgeries and procedures on my back, one during the middle of covid, which was really hard and add to that being a single Mumma it made life that little bit extra complex.

Buuuuut we made it out the other side…woohoo! And who’s excited for a new year and a bazillion new possibilities? Me, me, me! I can’t wait to meet many new little people making their way earthside this year, I can’t wait to capture your special memories, and I can’t wait to share a little more of me. Let’s all hope for more highs, hey?