Life with Jax! Month #12

How do you express in words the most incredible year of your life?  How do I describe the feelings in my heart when I look at my son? Whether he is smiling up at me, furrowing his brow trying to figure out a new toy or sleeping like a little angel – my heart overflows with love for him multiple times a day.

Each month I have written about our life with Jax.  Most months the words came easy and the ideas would flow.  A few months were tough and I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to highlight but none of them have given me the writer’s block like month #12. I decided not to rush it and really use some time to reflect. In that reflection I realized one thing and it puts a huge smile on my face and a sappy tear in my eye to say it: Jax is the best teacher I have ever had.

Even though he only weighs in at about 23 lbs and doesn’t quite speak English yet, Jax has taught me more about the world in 365 days than any other person. He has taught me how to truly feel and reciprocate unconditional love. He has taught me to appreciate the little things and to really understand what’s important in everyday life.  He has taught me the benefits of patience, being flexible and open minded. The funny thing is, if you had asked me over a year ago if I understood the above, I would have said yes. I now know that I was just scratching the surface. It took Jax and raising him from a helpless newborn to a rough and tumble little boy to truly begin to understand.  For the lessons Jax has taught me, I am truly grateful.

So Jax is now one.  It all started so slowly with sleep deprivation and a new world of worry but this roller coaster ride has come whipping around the corner and suddenly we find ourselves with a one year old. An amazing, joyful, loving, sometimes stubborn and difficult but always adorable one year old.

Here are some photographs of our 12th month together.

At the start of this month we headed to Aptos California to visit my sister and her family.  Jax loves his cousins!!!

And playing in the grass!!  My sister has a hill so this little daredevil found it particularly exciting to crawl downhill very quickly!!

Is there anything better that free falling?

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby in your arms?

Greg joins the boys for cartoons!  Easy babysitting here!

 

Jax got such a kick out of pushing his cousins on their scooter!

Even though the territory was not as familiar as home, Jax did some Frankenstein-like walking!!

Easter arrived- Jax had 2 Easters in his first year of life! My sister had set up an Easter Egg hunt which Jax slept completely through!  But when he woke we set up some eggs and he had his own little hunt!

After a week of some of the most incredible weather, the rain finally came. At our NYC apartment Jax can only see out of the window if someone is holding him. He was fascinated by watching the rain come down through my sister’s glass door.

Back in NYC, Jax carried on his his exploration of EVERYTHING!  One of the funny things about Jax is that he loves to have something in his hands at all times. That day it was a block, another day it might be his car, I never know what might be Jax’s object of the day.

Ummm, learning to feed himself.  On a side note- would you look at his eye lashes!! In good light you can see that at the base they are a copper color and then they turn to black!  I’m so jealous, I’d love to have those luscious lashes!

Since the beginning, our little man has crossed his ankles when he eats- whether he is being held or sitting in his high chair!

The feet make him look so civilized while eating, the face, not so much!

One of the best times we had this month was hanging out with my photography/mama/text messaging buddy Kristen of Kristen Burke Photography and her husband Pat and their daughter. Their daughter Caroline is a few weeks younger than Jax and it was Kristen’s texts during those long and odd hours of the night feeding Jax that kept me sane and laughing!  We hung out one late afternoon at their house and before we headed home (with Jax entering major meltdown city) Kristen braved a photo shoot! FAMILY PICTURES WITH ALL 3 OF US!!!  A rarity around here! We will forever cherish these images- thank you Kristen!!

Heart melting! I’m so glad he was smiling as I kissed him!

AMAZING Kristen!!! Thank you!!!! Check out her latest work on her blog here!

The very last picture taken of Jax during his first year. This picture was taken on his birthday and it was the only image taken. Yes you read that correctly.

Due to leap year Jax’s first birthday landed on a Saturday. As photographers that shoot weddings we knew that a wedding might come in and when it did we hemmed and hawed.  The business side of me said one thing, the emotional mother of a one year old said another. It was a tough decision but as we all know babies are expensive so we decided to book the wedding. The wedding was a day wedding a few hours away so we left at 6 a.m. and crept out while Jax was still sleeping.  My heart was heavy thinking about Jax waking up on his birthday without his parents but we flew in Nanny so we knew he was in good company. When the wedding was done we drove home as quickly as we could and luckily did not hit traffic.  We arrived home late but our little 1 year was still up!!!!!!!  Yay!!!  At least we were able to play with him and then put him to bed on his first birthday!

This picture was taken the next day when we celebrated his birthday with Nanny and also Greg’s mother, his “GG”.  I spent all morning baking, building and frosting this ridiculous tiered cake!! What I was  expecting was that when we blew out the candles Jax would smash it and eat and I would be able to get those super cute pictures of a baby with cake on his face.  WRONG. Jax loved the candles, but lit!  As soon as we blew them out he cried. Then he crawled away from the cake!  I tried several times to get him to have some cake but without any luck.  Next year!

Thank you so much for all the support, comments and love for Jax on this blog and also on Facebook!  It’s been wonderful sharing the adventure with you through stories and photographs of Jax! Thanks for joining us on the ride!