finally here

Today was a long, hard day. Teething. Restlessness. Lots of tears.

these photos are about two months old, but I never got around to sharing them here. You can see more from this mini lifestyle set on the RFP blog at http://rawfootagephotos.com/babies/london-ontario-baby-lifestyle-photography-morning-neve-personal/

Neve spent most of the day in my arms, which is a rare thing for my free-spirited, active girl. I rocked her, sang to her, snuggled her, and nursed to her heart’s content, even when she repeatedly bit me to the point of breaking skin. Teeth are vicious things.

these photos are about two months old, but I never got around to sharing them here. You can see more from this mini lifestyle set on the RFP blog at http://rawfootagephotos.com/babies/london-ontario-baby-lifestyle-photography-morning-neve-personal/

Motherhood is amazing. Even on days like today when she’s pulling my hair, biting me while nursing, crying and restless due to teething and extra needy, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. It makes no sense, but it’s undeniable. Sure, it would have been great to be resting on a beach sipping a Margarita, but the truth is that when my girl is like this, she needs me. And my whole being wants to be there for her, even though sometimes I feel like joining the crying party.

these photos are about two months old, but I never got around to sharing them here. You can see more from this mini lifestyle set on the RFP blog at http://rawfootagephotos.com/babies/london-ontario-baby-lifestyle-photography-morning-neve-personal/

It can be frustrating and difficult, absolutely. But those smiles, those big blue eyes, those rosy lips… in an instant all of my frustration melts and all I can think of is kissing those soft cheeks a thousand times.

these photos are about two months old, but I never got around to sharing them here. You can see more from this mini lifestyle set on the RFP blog at http://rawfootagephotos.com/babies/london-ontario-baby-lifestyle-photography-morning-neve-personal/

This morning while I sipped my coffee in the washroom and watched her splash around in the tub, and again while I watched her quietly play in her room, I had one of those moments. One of those I can’t believe I’m finally here moments. The sweet simplicity of motherhood that I dreamed of for so long. I’m here. And even on hard days like today, it’s a beautiful thing.

these photos are about two months old, but I never got around to sharing them here. You can see more from this mini lifestyle set on the RFP blog at http://rawfootagephotos.com/babies/london-ontario-baby-lifestyle-photography-morning-neve-personal/

long weekend

We enjoyed a beautiful, warm long weekend. It was spent mostly outdoors and with good friends, old and new. A few highlights…

We completed phase 1 of our gardening – tomatoes, lettuce greens, cucumbers, zucchini, green onions, radishes and snow peas. More to come.

Neve was introduced to the splash pad experience and loved it. I was completely soaked, but her giggles were so worth it.

A picnic in the park with our spontaneous pals and two back to back barbecues with friends.

Time spent outside. Lots of it. 

Dear Neve – 10 months

Dear Neve,

Two days ago, we officially entered into the double digits. 10 whole months have passed, and I can’t believe how close we are getting to that special 1 year mark.

You are such a big girl, and you are busy busy busy! Forever crawling, climbing stairs (and climbing down, too!), pulling yourself up and cruising around furniture. At your Grandmaman and Grandpapa’s house, you like to pull yourself up at the piano and pound the keys with your free hand. I wonder if you will love music as much as we do. 

You are bright and interactive and you are always communicating with us, either with the handful of words you’ve acquired, hand signs or head shaking. You’ve taken to screaming at the top of your lungs during meal time, and we’re trying to teach you to use your soft voice. So far it’s not working. But we’ll keep at it. :)

You’ve started to be more intentional about playing with your toys lately. For awhile you seemed to only want to move and cared very little about the toys all around you. But you’ve gone back to sitting and playing for short periods of time, and it’s fascinating to watch you. You’ve figured out how puzzles work, and you love turning the pages of your book. You’ve even started pointing at the illustrations. It’s adorable.

You’ve recently started clapping your hands, and in addition to imitating us when we clap, you’ve started clapping spontaneously, too. You also love to use your fist to make funny noises with your mouth. You are a silly goose and you already have a great sense of humour. Sometimes at mealtime, you hold out a breadstick for me to take a bite. When I do, you giggle wholeheartedly and your whole face smiles. Watching you grow up to be such a happy little girl makes my heart sing.

You’ve settled into quite the little routine these days, with consistent naps, mealtimes, bath times and consistent teeth brushing three times a day. You actually love having your teeth brushed, which is a huge relief. Maybe it feels good on your sore gums? You are still working on tooth number 9, and when it finally pokes through, I think we’re going to have a party.

You still love to eat, which is no surprise considering who your parents are. Your current favourites are pasta with pesto and parmesan, breadsticks, cheddar cheese, berries, yogurt, bananas, cucumber, avocado, cheerios and salt-free saltines. You’re also pretty fond of muffins when I give you the occasional taste. It’s so fun to watch you discover new foods and see your fine motor skills improve as you continue to feed yourself. 

You are the light of our lives, sweet Neve. Your papa comes home and scoops you into his arms, and you smile and say “papapapapapa” and burry your head into his chest. His face lights up and he gives you a thousand kisses because you are his little princess. In the morning (and sometimes at night) when I scoop you out of your crib and bring your warm  little body into our big bed, I hold you close and breathe in your baby scent and wonder what I did to deserve such a precious gift. 

You are wonderful.

All the love in the world,

Maman xoxo 

Mother’s Day

Last year on Mother’s Day, I posed for a photo with my maman and my giant pregnant belly and thought with awe and anticipation about all of the Mother’s Days to come with the new life that was growing inside of me.

This year when I posed with my maman in honour of this special day, we were joined by a spirited, beautiful 10-month-old with big blue eyes and a heart-melting smile.

Mother’s Day 2012

Motherhood is such a gift. I thank God every day for the amazing privilege of raising and loving my little Neve Adele.

Sure, some days (and nights) can be hard. There are moments when I feel like I just need a minute (or two) to breathe, to have some space, to let my hair down without it being pulled with brute baby force. There are moments when I just want to sleep from 11pm to 11am without interruption. There are moments when I miss going shopping and taking my sweet time trying 38 items on. I’m human, and yes, there are moments when I feel pulled in every direction and a little drained. Incidentally, these moments often coincide with extreme teething bouts.

But mostly, and I’m being completely honest, I love being a mom. And by mostly, I really mean always. Because even during those difficult moments, there is nowhere else I’d rather be. Nowhere. Neve has taught me to slow down, to enjoy life more. To enjoy her. To enjoy playing and snuggling and just being. She has taught me to love in ways I didn’t think possible. She has stretched me (and I’m not referring to my stretch-marked tummy, though she takes the credit for that, too! :) ) in so many ways. I am less selfish than I was. More giving. More attentive. More generous. She brings out the best in me.

I am blessed. Blessed with a healthy, happy daughter, and blessed with a mother who has been my biggest inspiration, my dearest friend. She supports me and challenges me. She teaches me and laughs at my ridiculous jokes. She reminds me how to season my spaghetti sauce over the phone and sets a constant example of kindness, humility, quiet strength and honesty. These days, she has blessed me not only by being an amazing maman, but by being such a wonderful grandmaman to our girl. The way she loves Neve makes my heart smile, and the relationship developing between them fills me with such joy.

This year I experienced Mother’s Day as both a daughter and a mother, and I feel so happy, so fulfilled, so blessed in both roles.

a rare picture of me, taken by David (as were all the other photos in this post!) – thanks, babe!

My husband filled a card with sweet words that brought tears to my eyes and replaced my broken 50mm 1.8 lens by splurging on a shiny, new (and so much better) 50mm 1.4. He did the dishes after our family brunch and took care of Neve while I went out with my maman for a few hours.

It was a beautiful day, and my heart is full.

Happy Mother’s day to my maman, my Grandmaman, my belle-maman, my sisters, my aunts, my mama-friends and everyone else out there celebrating motherhood. :)

bits and pieces

Almost two weeks have gone by since my last post, but not for lack of excitement. Here’s a peek at what I’ve been enjoying lately, and what’s been keeping me busy….

Raw Footage Photography | As I work to grow my photography business, I am putting more and more time and effort into keeping up with social media by regularly updating the RFP blog, twitter and by keeping the content on the Facebook page fresh and new. I’m making a point to be more interactive, and while I enjoy it, it takes up a lot of time. If you’re not a “fan”, have a peek and, if you feel so inclined, show me some love! :) I’m also just wrapping up my very first mini sessions, which were so time consuming but so wonderful. I set up in a local nature park and photographed mamas and their littles for two days.

I still have a few rescheduled minis to shoot this weekend, and I’m currently immersed in the world of editing (aren’t I always?). I loved preparing for these mini sessions and did a little decorating and a little cake pop baking to make them extra special.

See the sneak peeks here. I’ve got a lot on the go right now, and I’m particularly excited about an upcoming styled engagement shoot and a few lifestyle family shoots that will help me take my portfolio in the direction I’m headed as a photographer. Stay tuned. :)

Maman love | I initially wrote “maman duty”, but that makes it sound like a chore.

Being Neve’s maman takes up most of my time, but it is so rewarding and wonderful and sometimes difficult… but most definitely not a chore.

I decided recently that I was going to do my best to be fully present for my girl during the day. No more trying to get stuff done on the computer while she inevitably gets into the dog’s food or frustratingly warming up the dish water again because I keep getting interrupted. Chores, business stuff and other tasks are mostly saved for nap time and after bed time.

While she is awake, Neve and I play, read, sing, go for walks, play at the park, share meals and just chill. This has been the most enriching and rewarding experience of my life, and because I am no longer trying to fit everything in while simultaneously supervising her, I am no longer getting frustrated by the humbling fact that I can’t do it all at the same time.

Instead of supervising her activity and making sure she doesn’t get into trouble, I’m engaging with her and getting down at her level. I’m seeing the world from her point of view and trying to take an interest in the things she wants to explore. This takes time. almost all of my time, in fact. But it’s awesome. And it’s teaching me that chores and bills and business duties can wait a bit. Not too long, mind you, (lest I lose my mind!), but at least until nap time. :)

Projects | Gardening, backyard renos, reorganizing drawers, and the never-ending list of DIY stuff we want to tackle. With Spring has come a renewed motivation to get stuff done. Time consuming, yes. But that feeling you get when you cross something off your list? Oh, baby! :)

With that said, I’ll try and be a little more present around these parts. Bear with me! :)

6 days away

The blog has been a bit dormant lately. We were away. Then we came home and got busy. You know how it goes.

10 days ago, Neve and I hopped onto the smallest plane I’ve been on since the rickety excuse for an aircraft that took me to mexico 10 years ago. A couple of hours later, we landed in a tiny northern town where my sister and her family and, like, 8 other people live. It’s the kind of place where you’re surprised to see a car in the street, and you’re almost annoyed at having to move to the side to let it pass. It’s the kind of place that feels quaint familiar in a comforting sort of way. It’s also the kind of place where it randomly turns into Winter again in the middle of April (can you say snow/freezing rain storm?).

We flew in on Friday the 13th, and I felt good about being in a heavy metal contraption thousands of feet in the air that day. Of course nothing bad would happen, because everyone would have expected it.  And it sure beat the 9h + drive that usually keeps us apart for most of the year. Neve did awesome on the plane, and  the flights were smooth and uneventful. Big sigh of relief.

We were gone for 6 days – simply not enough time to spend with my far-away family that I only get to see a handful of times per year (if I’m lucky), but far too long to be away from my man. I was constantly torn between feeling homesick and wanting to extend my trip. Hooray for texting and Skype and speaker phone that allowed Neve to hear her papa’s voice every night before bed.

My niece, Abbie, was kind enough to snap a few frames of me and my girlie!

Despite being far from the man and the dog in our lives, Neve and I had a blast. I got to spend so much time with my big sis, and we laughed and shared stories and had deep conversations and confided in each other while sipping tea and nursing babies. Of course I don’t have a single photo of my lovely sibling, because life gets kind of busy when you have a baby to care for and 5 nephews and 1 niece to hang out with. But I managed to capture a few moments featuring 5 of her 6 beautiful kiddos… (The adolescent male is an ever-elusive creature and didn’t make it into any of the shots…).

It was so special to see Neve being loved on by her cousins. With a Boy-Girl ratio of 5 to 1 among my sister’s children, my little pink baby was somewhat of a novelty. My 4-year-old nephew repeatedly declared that “Neve is the cutest baby Auntie Sophie could ever have” before giving her a big kiss on the cheek. My 7-year-old nephew would wrap his arms around her, rub her soft ear lobes and cheeks and squeeze her tight. “She’s just so soft”, he would say. My niece, who is a talented budding photographer, took dozens of photos of my girl. My littlest nephew, only 6 months older than Neve, had fun playing with his under-two counterpart.

I’m learning that there is little that warms a mama’s heart more than watching close friends and family love on her baby. When you love my baby and make her feel special, it’s like a high-five-meets-a-giant-bear-hug kind of moment. It’s a beautiful thing. :)

We played scrabble. We played at the park. We played with toys. We watched funny videos. It was grand.

My niece and I were able to sneak out for a quick little evening photoshoot the night before our departure. That was the night that Neve didn’t go down at 7pm, and the night that the golden-hour sun rays were hidden by a thick layer of clouds. But even with the odds against us, we got some beautiful shots.

 

All in all a lovely visit. And as much of a relief as it was to land in London 6 days later and  be greeted by my sweet, handsome husband and loveable pup, I couldn’t help but feel like our visit was far too short.

Dear Neve – 9 months

Dear Neve,

You are 9 months old. As of today, your time spent earth side will surpass your time spent inside my belly. You are growing beautifully. 

You weigh 18 pounds and measure 29 1/2 inches – the 100th percentile for height. You’re a tall girl, just like your maman, and I still find it fascinating to think that you are so much like me, that you came from me. Your strawberry blonde peach fuzz hair is starting to grow out and you are currently working on your 6th, 7th and 8th teeth, all at the same time.

You are as active as ever, crawling at the speed of light and climbing multiple stairs all by yourself. If there is something for you to pull yourself up with or climb over, you’re all over it. It’s amazing to watch you explore your world and develop and master new skills every day. You are still on a mission to get Lexi’s bone and have taken a recent interest in her food and outdoor booties. You still love snatching our cell phones and playing with our shoes.

We are trying to give you the freedom to explore while setting safe and consistent boundaries. Amazingly, you often seem to understand us when we tell you to sit down in the bathtub, stop and turn around, or put something down. You’re such a smart cookie! 

You love pasta with tomato sauce and your grandmaman’s soups. Your grandpapa let you lick his piece of chocolate and you seemed to love it a little too much! Your new favourite special treat is multigrain cheerios, and you are drinking water out of a cup like a big girl.

You call me maman  and you crawl after me when I leave the room. You are such a happy girl, and your smiles make me stop and count my blessings all throughout the day. I love hearing you babble in your crib. Sometimes I spy on you for a few seconds when you first awake from your nap before scooping up your warm little body and kissing those soft, squishy cheeks. I love hearing you “sing” in the car, your sweet little voice exploring the different sounds it can make.

I love your giggles when we find that ticklish spot under your chin or blow raspberries on your belly. I love it that you love being outside, and I love watching you intently feel and study everything around you – the grass, fallen leaves, twigs, even the wooden deck beams.

I love the way you crawl excitedly to the door when your papa arrives and hug his legs before he picks you up. I love the way you smile so big when I open the car door because you know I’m taking you out of that dreadful seat. I love that you are determined and never give up, even if it drives me crazy sometimes. I love the sweet relationship you’ve developed with Lexi, how you let her lick you and she lets you pat her back and pull her fur. 

I love those blue eyes that sparkle in the sunlight. I love the way you’ve recently become a cuddle bug, the way you nestle your head into our chest and squeeze your arms around our shoulders when we pick you up. I love you. 

You are perfect. You are lovely. You are bright. You are special. You are so, so loved.

-Maman xoxo