Jay's 1st Father's Day

Today is such a special day. It's a day that Jay will always remember. It's his 1st Father's Day...

And I am so proud of the Daddy that he is. Life has brought us a little twist in the road with Jay losing his job. But that has meant that he has more time to spend with Alex. This time is so special. Not a lot of dads could adjust so well to being at home with thier child. Not all dads would enjoy it as much as Jay does. Not all dads would do such a great job. But Jay is not just any dad. He is Alex's dad and he is a great Daddy! We are so lucky to have him in our lives and I am so proud that he is my husband and our son's Daddy. I always knew he'd be a good father, but I never knew how good he would be and how much more I would love him.

Because I have to go away today for a week-long work training in OK (thats' a WHOLE 'nother topic!!!) I wanted to make the most out of the time we have to spend together as a family before I leave (Did I mention that I hate that I have to leave at all?!). So we started off the day with a family walk - me, Jay, AJ and Buddy. Then we came back home for coffee. Jay is not a breakfast person, so after AJ's morning nap we are gonna go to IHOP and get brunch. Then it'll be off to Coldstone Creamery to check out their new flavor of icecream - Jello Chocolate Pudding! Jay always talks about when Jello made chocolate pudding pops when we were younger and how much he loved them and how he wishes they would make them again. Earlier this week I got word of Coldstone having this new flavor available on a limited basis. So we are psyched about trying it out.

Then after icecream, my boys will take me to the airport (UUGGGHHH! I HATE that I have to be away from AJ for so long! I am gonna miss him - and Jay of course, so so so much!)

But back to Father's Day....

We got Jay a bunch of grilling supplies, some golf balls and a beer bucket. The present I was most excited about is below. I took AJ to a little local beach area and we had a photo shoot. I am so happy with how it turned out. The frame is doubled sides (well, sorta - I made it that way at least!).

Front of frame:

Back of frame:

HAPPY 1st FATHER'S DAY JAY! WE LOVE YOU!

11 months old

Today AJ is 11months old. Last weekend when I was thinking about this month bday I realized that this is the last month bday before he turns ONE YEAR OLD! That made me kinda sad, kinda excited and kinda amazed.

Sad because I have loved every month of this 1st year and yet I know we can never get them back. Sad because I already feel like my lil baby boy is getting so big so fast and he is no longer that itty bitty baby we drove home from Long Island almost a year ago. And God how I instantly loved that lil baby.

Excited because despite the saddness mentioned above, it is so cool to see him get bigger, stronger, smarter. As cute as he was at 5 1/2lbs, he is even cuter today. And as much as I loved him from the moment I saw his first picture, I love him even more today.

Amazed because it is sorta unbelievable that one year ago we didn't even know about him. We had no idea that our baby was growing in another woman's tummy and in 1 month he would be born. It truely is amazing how quickly our life changed from one year ago.

Post Finalization Pics

The day after we finalized Alex's adoption we went to a fabulous photography studio to enter him into a photo contest and get some really good individual and family post-finalization shots. He did not win the contest, but we all had so much fun during the shoot. We really felt like we got the star treatment. And Alex was quite the ham!

The studio was nice enough to email us some of the pics to post here so all our friends and family can see.

Just look at those cute baby fingers and toes!


Here's our angel baby shot.


Silly, random cowboy pic.


Jay didn't like any of the ones of him and Alex but we both liked this one of me and Alex. Look at how he is touching my hand. He melts my heart!


And finally...our favorite family shot. We will treasure this photo forever since to us it will always symbolize us officially becoming a forever family!