So the engagement session was today and it was FANTASTIC. Seriously awesome, I shot over four hundred photos, and had a blast. It made me feel like I really can do this :-)
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This hottie and I are going to be in London in barely three weeks.
So back off, British ladies. If he moves to England for some girl, then I’ll have to move to England so my kids can see their Uncle Stephen, and…well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
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I’ve been really weighed down these past few days with the news about Emily McDonald (warning: sensitive material – Munchausen by proxy is sad, sad stuff) I saw her photo and recognized her instantly. I read her blog for over a year, knew her through MDC, and remembered the stories about her beautiful kids. I guess there were some red flags over the years, but I’m not a medical professional or a special needs parent. So it’s absolutely haunting now to know that so much of what Dakota went through was made worse by her own mother. You feel like you supported this sickness just by being a witness. So many parents are fighting for their children’s lives and this mom could have killed hers.
There really are no words.
You seem interesting. Mind if we become friends?
Oh, gosh. I just read through the articles and that’s absolutely horrifying. I would ask you for her blog address, but I assume her blog isn’t even still up?
Anyway.
Terrible, just terrible.
I did read her blog, though not frequently. I knew she looked familiar. =\
Sad days.
There’s a livejournal cache here. This post was her second-to-last, and has a photo of Dakota. It’s hard to imagine being so sick in the head that you’d actually want to do that to your child for the attention.
Sure :-)
Awesome. Added you!
It’s very sickening. I can’t imagine… I just really feel for Dakota. I knew I’d watched some videos and read some posts when she was on blogspot but it was very hard for me to read up on it all the time.
This is just heart breaking.
PS: Thanks for the links, by the way. I’m reading through now, and I hope that everything is okay for her children.
I hear they’re with Dad, which is a whole ‘nother sad mess, because I’m quite sure he didn’t know what was happening. Can you even imagine finding out that your spouse was hurting your little girl? Ugh. I just feel for that whole family right now.
In reading through her blog it seems like that’s what triggered it. She was getting packages and gifts almost daily for Dakota and lots of attention from people she’d never met before. Apparently she didn’t want to let go of that.
Gosh.
I know, right? You’d have to be sick. You’d HAVE to be, if you think that making your daughter really, really sick and seeing her in pain is worth the attention and the presents. I’m trying to find some understanding, but it’s not easy. Moms aren’t supposed to do that.
It’s especially hard to understand when you know special needs parents and know the hell they go through when their kids are hurting. Stuff like this almost cheapens their experience. I’d hate to see people draw away from supporting sick kids and their parents because of this woman and her issues.
Exactly. And the hardest part is that the disorder she might have is … behavioral, and so she’s completely aware of what she’s doing. And she stated that she knew what she was doing and that it might have killed her, but she did it anyway.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. =\
I’m assuming Raff is a good guy though, and hopefully he takes charge of the kids and can work through this and stay strong.
Yeah, Andrea Yates, post-partum psychosis, that stuff I get. You break from reality, you lose yourself in addiction, whatever. I discovered this worthy cause today – http://www.drawnfromwater.org/ – as terrible the situation is, I still *get* why people could do something like that under the extreme pressure. It doesn’t make it okay, but it makes it a little easier to explain.
But knowing right from wrong, calculating the risk, and choosing to hurt a child for no reason other than your own ego? That’s almost incomprehensible. I accept that people can choose evil, but I still admit to being shocked when they do. Especially a mother, and especially toward her own child. I honestly hope her kids are protected from her forever.