There are moments when I am so overcome with gratitude that I start to see everything through the lens of being a gift.
I have slowly been compiling photos for a baby book for Jack, and those first few weeks after he was born feel like a distant memory and yet like it could be yesterday.
The feeling of being called Mom for the first time and referring to Ben as Dad. The titles felt foreign yet strangely familiar.
The two weeks leading up to Jack's birth feeling like we were reliving the freedom and carefree life like we were back in college. Maybe that's why he waited two weeks to come out - we were having too much fun. Iced coffees and PBJ morning beach picnics, surf and walks, trying new restaurants every night and ice-cream on the way home... each day a ticking time clock for the instant we knew would change us forever.
But those two weeks after Jack was born were pure bliss. This new rhythm to life beginning to take shape with every little breath and sleepy baby stretch. Friends and family flowing in and out of our home that was just beginning to feel like home.
In this way, it truly wasn't Home until Jack arrived.
The constant questions of newborn life - is he cold? Is he tired? Is he hungry? Is he teething? - with every little cry. Just new parents figuring it out together. Those are moments we will never get back and ones that I will always look back on with the joy of the memory but the sadness that it's over.
Our little redheaded, smiley, toothy Jack turns 1 in about a month and in a way it's a birthday for us, too. One year of being parents. And it's crazy to think - but it truly does get better and better.
I have slowly been compiling photos for a baby book for Jack, and those first few weeks after he was born feel like a distant memory and yet like it could be yesterday.
The feeling of being called Mom for the first time and referring to Ben as Dad. The titles felt foreign yet strangely familiar.
The two weeks leading up to Jack's birth feeling like we were reliving the freedom and carefree life like we were back in college. Maybe that's why he waited two weeks to come out - we were having too much fun. Iced coffees and PBJ morning beach picnics, surf and walks, trying new restaurants every night and ice-cream on the way home... each day a ticking time clock for the instant we knew would change us forever.
But those two weeks after Jack was born were pure bliss. This new rhythm to life beginning to take shape with every little breath and sleepy baby stretch. Friends and family flowing in and out of our home that was just beginning to feel like home.
In this way, it truly wasn't Home until Jack arrived.
The constant questions of newborn life - is he cold? Is he tired? Is he hungry? Is he teething? - with every little cry. Just new parents figuring it out together. Those are moments we will never get back and ones that I will always look back on with the joy of the memory but the sadness that it's over.
Our little redheaded, smiley, toothy Jack turns 1 in about a month and in a way it's a birthday for us, too. One year of being parents. And it's crazy to think - but it truly does get better and better.
