letters to sunday | months nine and ten

Sweet Sunday Baby,

You and me... we are BFF. We hang out all the time... we make each other laugh and we give lots of snuggles. We share toys and meals and we talk about everything. The older you get the more fun we have. I am crazy about you and I kinda think you are perfect.

One of my favorite things about you is that you are such a social butterfly (just like your mama!). You pretty much love everyone. Okay, well, except Uncle Frank. But he's kind of an exception. Everyone loves him so we're sure you will love him, too, when you get older. But there is no denying you are SOCIAL. You get sooo bored when we have "at home" days with no company. Of course we have those pretty regularly, so we're working on that. You always prefer the company of others, even if it's just the puppies. I love that I don't have to worry about you when I leave you with your nanny (Allison)... or grandma... or Aunt Christy. You don't seem to ever be afraid of other people and I am so proud of that! Although, I'm not quite sure what you are actually afraid of. I really hope you didn't get your daddy's fearlessness. However, one could argue that his quality of life is higher since he's not afraid of anything. :)

You are still an animal lover through and through. You and Traveler seem to have worked out the few kinks between you guys and you've finally learned how to tell Hawkeye to STOP kissing you, please. They are both super patient with you and they even let you play in their crate whenever you want! (Which happens a couple of times a day.)

Oh guess what?! You are FINALLY teething. Like, for real. There are teeth in your mouth now! They just showed up overnight. Here I thought you had Pink Eye and just weren't feeling that great and it turns out you had Pink Eye AND you were teething. My poor baby. You've been especially fussy a couple of weeks this month but God gifted me with a large dose of grace and somehow I have managed to truly enjoy nurturing you all day every day (instead of praying for patience during your cries). I love to take care of you. I love that you find comfort in my arms and I savor every one of those moments when you can't be close enough to me.

Speaking of closeness. You are such a little cuddle bug and it makes my heart skip a beat every day! Every time I pick you up out of your crib you lay your head on my shoulder. Snuggle, snuggle - you never tired of it! Actually, you really love to cuddle your sock monkey. It's the cutest thing in the world. I will pick you up and you lean back into your crib and reach for your sock monkey. A lot of times he comes between you and I and you are actually laying your head on HIS head instead of my shoulder. It's pretty adorable.

You are learning to communicate. You are doing this new pointing thing when you want someone or something. It's mostly when you want a person, though. It's your way of saying "You! I want YOU!" Daddy always comes around the corner and sees you and points to you and says "You!" And you flail your arms and giggle as if you are saying "Exactly, Daddy!!!" So cute! You can say "mama" and "dada," but not quite when you actually MEAN mommy or daddy. But, when you want food you smack your lips together. You've definitely got that down. We're working on baby sign language and you almost have "more" and "all done" behind you. We'll get there!

On September 7th you crawled for the first time. Boy was your daddy grateful to see that milestone, because the very next day he had to go work out of town for three weeks. By the time he returned home you were crawling everywhere and even using furniture to help you walk! You were a whole different baby when he saw you again. You are growing up so super fast.

For about three weeks now now you have slept through the night every night. I think we did it. We made it, Sunday Quinn. You are officially a good, solid night time sleeper and dare I use the word "predictable." I think our challenges were many but the big ones were overtiredness (I made that word up - so don't try to use it in a paper in school) and the lack of an eating schedule. Now that you are eating real food regularly we are finally getting on somewhat of a schedule and you go to bed MUCH earlier than you did before. Here's what a typical at-home day looks like for us this month:

7am - Wake 8am - Breakfast (you love bananas, strawberries and eggs!) 9:30am - Nap 11am - Playtime 12pm - Lunch (often we eat veggies and chicken or leftovers from the night before) 1pm - Bathtime after an especially messy lunch 2pm - Nap 4pm - Playtime 5pm - Dinner (whatever mama & daddy are eating for dinner) 6:30-7:30ish - Bedtime

Sometimes on weeknights we push your bedtime a little later if you aren't too tired just yet. Daddy doesn't get home until 7pm and he hates not seeing you at all during the week, so we make lots of exceptions. We are both really grateful that you have adapted to our flexible lifestyle.

Some of your current favorites are: strawberries and bananas, puff snacks (thanks Daddy!), sweet potatoes, chicken, new animals to play with, when friends come over (especially Aiden!), breastfeeding (always), your sock monkey, Grandmommies chapstick (you kind of have a weird obsession with it...), your little bitty board books you received from Mrs. Emily, being outside, when daddy plays any instrument around the house, any toy at Grandma's house, and any power cord you can find (against mamas wishes).

And some things you really don't like: Not being able to play with power cords, oatmeal, yogurt, avocados, being told "no," losing your balance, wearing a poopy diaper (who doesn't dislike that?!)... and that's about it!

I'm really stretching to come up with more things you dislike but you are such a happy, content girl... there's not a whole lot that makes you cry. I am so grateful. I enjoy your company so much, just last night daddy said to me "She is so much fun." It's true, sweetie. I'll tell you so many times in your life: you are the light of our lives. We love you and love being with you and love watching you grow.

Always, Mama

Gratituesday: Rainy Days

It's a rare day when I am grateful for rain. But for three weeks in a row now it has rained on the day when I needed a break the most. So this week, I want to share how thankful I am for the rain.This is a crazy time of year with my work and Tommy's schedule as well. We've basically just been taking turns single-parenting these past few weeks between the demands of our careers. We're tired. (And I really miss him!) Rain is the best excuse to postpone a session (or in Tommy's case, a long run) and hang out together, curled up on the couch. It's also a good excuse to cancel all of my plans and spend a day catching up on work! Both of which have happened the past few weeks and on Mondays no less.

So this week was an easy one - I'm grateful for the rain at the most perfect time. I took Sunday out yesterday and captured a few quiet moments between showers. She loves being outside so much and I love a happy baby!

Gratituesday is a weekly blog post (that I try to keep up with) I got involved with over here. You should join, too! If you do, be sure to let me know in the comments as I would love to read what you write about.

Equipment used for these pictures:  canon 5d mark ii // canon 50mm f/1.2 lens

—————–

Liz Cook is the owner and photographer of sincerely, liz: photography. She is a virginia wedding photographer and virginia portrait photographer who loves virginia weddingsfamily portrait sessions and couple photography.

To see more of Liz’s work, check out her latest work as well as some of her favorite weddings. To hire Liz, simply fill out this form.

A list for Monday

How has it been October for a week already?! Ahh this year is FLYING by! The past few weeks have been a whilrwind between weddings and fall portrait sessions. I LOVE this time of year! In completely random order, here are some things I've been up to lately:

  1. Shooting, editing, and hanging out with some of the best clients EVER!
  2. Finding an actual, real-time schedule for Sunday. Now that she is getting into a routine naturally, I'm trying to somewhat control it by encouraging bed time and wake time at the same times daily. The whole pink-eye thing threw us off for a bit, but I think we have almost gotten it figured out!
  3. I've been working on some side design projects and in my adventures in finding inspiration I came across this lady's work. I'm in love with her design skills and incredible creative advice.
  4. I just wrapped up a project with Lia and I feel like I am on the edge of a cliff about to plunge into a whole new world. It's the best feeling and I am eager to see where my career will take me in the next year! (Also, I cannot recommend her services enough!)
  5. I've spent a lot of time perusing my crossfit pinterest board for inspiration. Between the half marathon, pink eye, sessions galore, and the yucky weather, I have fallen off the workout bandwagon. This is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year to be outside so I am really trying to get back into it. It doesn't help when you feel like pooh every day. (Yes, I still have pinkeye. Sunday, however, is all clear!)
  6. I've been baking lots of paleo muffins. I eat them completely guilt free and Sunday LOVES them.
  7. As I've been tapping into the world of design inspiration I found two sites I wanted to share with you all: 25 logos with a hidden message // 20 creative and entertaining 404 error pages. Some super cool stuff right there! (Yes, I'm a nerd. Don't we all know that by now?)

Last weekend was a first here at Sincerely, Liz: Photography which was a double-wedding-weekend! It started with my sister's ten year anniversary vow renewal that I was honored to capture. It wrapped with another wedding Saturday night and a super fun Lynchburg Snapshot Studio rental at a first birthday party last night! Here is one of my favorite shots from the vow renewal:

I love this family so much!

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks hitting the blog this week! Have a great Monday, friends!

Family Portraits by Brett Alexandra

I am willing to admit that maybe now since I have a daughter of my own, I might be going a little overboard with the family portraits. I know, I know. But when I was on the other side of the state for the Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, there was no way I wasn't going to take advantage of being in the same town as Brett and NOT have our pictures taken! Tommy adores Brett's style of photography (which is very different from mine, as you will see!) so I really wanted to have some pictures taken by Brett specifically for Tommy. In fact, I tried to do it secretly, with just me and Sunday, back in July. But things didn't work out at the time. I am totally okay with it though, because I am loving the pictures that she capture of Tommy and I together! :) Here are a few of my favorites from our session.

If you are in the Hampton Roads area and are looking for a gentle-mannered, super sweet photographer with a wonderful eye for details, please contact Brett Alexandra Photography!

Gratituesday: Our Mondays

Remember Gratituesdays? I have really missed them! So right now, I vow to keep them coming for a long time, no matter how regular they are.

Mondays are the least favorite day of the week. I know I don't have to explain why to you guys. However, Mondays are good days around here. Tommy only works 4 days a week (10hr days), and the day he consistently has off is Monday. I love, love it. It's like our own personal weekend day to do whatever we want or need. We love the weekends and we love spending time with our friends and family... and of course enjoying seasonal activities with them. But when Monday rolls around, we are grateful to have an extra day to spend doing what we need as a family. Sometimes it's grocery shopping, getting hair cuts, or doing yard work. Other times it's curling up and being couch potatoes all day long. But it always includes a big breakfast and an early bed time. Which we love.

And the best thing of all? When we do start our "work week," it's already Tuesday!

So today I'm grateful for our Mondays. Yesterday was a typical Monday spent running, dinner with the parents, and putting the house back together for the weekend. It's such a great time of resetting and recharging for our family. I don't know what we'll do if Tommy's work schedule ever changes!

Gratituesday is a weekly blog post (that I try to keep up with) I got involved with over here. You should join, too! If you do, be sure to let me know in the comments as I would love to read what you write about.