It’s hard to imagine, but our little baby just turned a year old. It’s been an absolutely awesome - in the truest sense of the word - year. Watching Alex grow and develop has given us a new perspective on life, love, challenges, and sleep deprivation.

I had always heard people say that almost immediately after your child is born, you feel this unmistakable urge to love and protect them. When Alex was born, he had a hard time keeping his body temperature up. We spent that first night in the natal care unit while they ran tests and drew blood from his tiny veins and it was the most difficult, painful few hours I can remember in my life. Those feelings have only grown over the past year to the point that it is nearly impossible to even remember what life would be like without him.

Everything he does makes us so proud and we feel like shouting his praises from the rooftop at least 90% of the time. It’s funny, we even find ourselves defending him against even the most casual comment about something that makes him seem less than iconic. It’s a bizarre relationship that exists between parents and children and it can only be given justice through the experience of being a part of it.

What is so cool about this whole state of our life is that Alex has developed into a person who makes us laugh, and who has learned the things we have tried to teach him, and who seems to genuinely love us back. Every day when daddy gets home from work, he runs over to the door with his arms up waiting for me to pick him over and smother him with hugs and kisses. And when he’s feeling sad or sick, he wants to just snuggle in mommy’s arms and just lay there, contented to just be close to her. To feel that kind of love - and to know that you are the pinnacle of humanity to another person - is probably the greatest feeling we will ever have.

When you think of all the things in life that typically brought you joy, they really don’t compare to the things that you get to experience now on a regular basis. Like when Alex roars when Max gets to the place where the wild things are. Or when he belly laughs when we pretend he’s kicking us to the gound while he swings. Or when he runs around the house with his blanket crammed in his mouth hoping that you won’t will catch him and tickle his clavicles to the point that he seems like he’s going to explode.

The first year of parenthood has been more than we could have ever asked for, even though it’s been riddled with colds and sleepless nights and horrifically stinky diapers. I think it has given us the perspective to understand why our parents have been by our sides even when we messed up or disappointed them. You never want to believe that your child is anything less than the ideal you hold them to in your hearts, and thankfully, ours never is.

If there’s one saving grace about living in New England, it would have to be the three weeks of perfect weather that occur right around the end of September-early October. The kind of days where you step outside and the world smells clean and the slight briskness of the day reminds you to bring along a sweater. These are the days that were made for apple picking. So we obliged, and picked apples (adders as Alex calls them) at a quaint, little, family-run, organic farm in Harvard, Mass.

It was a beautiful setting and we were able to find some great red delicious and blushing gold apples. We immediately turned them into one of the best apples pies we’ve ever had via this recipe (Note: Cut back both sugars to 3/4-cup).

So Alex thinks he can make us disappear with the scrunch of his little face. Little does he know, you actually have to wiggle your nose too.

For months, Alex has been walking around the house holding first a hand, then a few fingers, and finally the tip of a single finger. Well, this weekend, he decided he had had enough of being held back by mommy and daddy and decided to get up and walk on his own.

This weekend, we celebrated Alex’s first birthday with a big picnic party at the park. Since swinging is Alex’s favorite thing to do other than poop, we thought this would be the perfect venue for such an event. Naturally, Alex ended up being sick that day, since he’s sick all the time now that he started going to day care; but he was a trooper.

We had picnic-themed food like ants on a log, bug juice, and sticks (pretzels) and had fun singing bug songs. Some of his friends from school were there, and his great-great-grandmother & great-grandfather both came all the way from Florida!