My oldest daughter is in Kindergarten, and it wasn't long into the school year before learning that her teacher was pregnant and expecting her third little baby! "Mrs. Wong's" husband is also a teacher, and they teach at the same school (which is, I believe, where they met!) and "Mr. Wong" is one of my earliest influences in photography (once upon a time, I was a student of his at the same school my daughter goes to)! I remember being a youngster teenager, wide eyed and excited as Mr. Wong gently placed his beloved DSLR camera (a Nikon D80, I'll never forget!) and let ME borrow it for a few days! I remember running around, taking pictures of everything and everyone - it was amazing to be able to snap images that showed what I saw and how I saw it. 

That was when I got bit by the shutterbug. 

Back to the present, my photography career is thriving and doing well, and I am even more in love with it than I was back in "the good ol' days" (realizing that was about 11 or so years ago has me feeling a little less youthful than I was 5 minutes ago...) and earlier last year I celebrating 2000 likes on my Facebook Page and pulled two names for a mini newborn give-away. And, of course, as fate would have it I excitedly pulled the name of Hailey's teacher, Christine, from the tin and was absolutely ecstatic that I would be able to do this for Jonathan and Christine!

The school year went by and I watched Christine's baby bump grow week after week until finally, just a day or so after her last day teaching before maternity leave, the announcement went out that a beautiful baby girl, a third little child, had been born and welcomed into the arms of Jonathan and Christine! Little baby Monica! Hooray! I was so excited and couldn't wait to meet her!

A week later, I had the grand pleasure in having the Wongs and baby Monica in my home studio, and the even more grand pleasure of working with Monica. Oh, the cheeks on this baby girl! I was so instantly in love, and I just could NOT get over how laid back, calm, and wonderfully easy she was to work with. And the amazing squishy-ness of this baby, she is my ultimate weakness. I could have spent hours upon hours working with her, and she hardly made a peep aside from her content little snores that filled the room.

It was an amazing feeling, and felt like I was giving something valuable to the Wongs after they had given such valuable things to me. For one, a strong and wonderful start on her educational journey for my own daughter; Christine is absolutely amazing at what she does and if you think I have the patience of a saint, you should see this woman keep a room full of 5 and 6 year olds under control! Outstanding! My daughter misses her so much, but she is also very excited for the Wongs and agrees that baby Monica is "oohhhh, so cuuute!" And two, the amazing generosity and trust in placing a (not cheap!) piece of photography equipment in the hands of an irresponsible teenager that eventually led to a full-fledged passion and amazing line of work; Mr. (Jon) Wong, you may not really realize how much of an influence you've had on me, but you are very much one of those very special sparks in my life that I will truly and genuinely never forget. Thank you. Thank you for my memories, and thank you for trusting me in capturing a few of yours. 

Baby Monica, everyone. 9 days fresh and absolutely perfect!

PS: The "Very Hungry Caterpillar" will very well be one of my most favourite pieces of mine ever! It's TOO cute!