Life with Jax! Month #10

When you have your first child, there are many important milestones: first tooth, first steps, 1 month, 6 months etc. We had those, and of course they were fun to experience, but none of them had an impact on me like the day we hit 40 weeks. As many of you know, I am doing a personal photography project with Jax called 52 Thursdays to document his first year of life. For the project I organized my calendar to list all the weeks and I kept seeing 40 weeks on the horizon.  40 weeks to grow Jax inside my belly and now 40 weeks of him growing out in the world.

On the day we arrived at 40 weeks, I took a shower and it made me laugh when I looked around.  I saw things I obviously see everyday but they had new meaning on this milestone day.  It was so clear to me during that shower how much Jax has completely integrated into our lives. As you may remember reading, I was not one of those Moms that looked at my newborn baby and proudly said, “I can’t remember life without him in it!”  Oh I remembered my other life for awhile, not that I didn’t love being a Mom, I just sometimes loved sleeping 8 hours amongst other things!  But now I can officially say, “I can’t remember life that clearly before Jax!” He is 110% weaved into our lives and deep into our hearts!!!!

Here are some photographs from our 10th month together.

Our robes that now hang together…

Our shower rack that now holds everyones washing tools!

 

Although our winter was one of the most mild ones EVER, we did have a fun and beautiful snowfall!  Our neighbors lent us a sled and we went into our building’s courtyard to see what Jax thought!  He mostly stared at it with a blank face but we did manage to get a smile out of him!

Now that Jax is mobile it’s hard to make anything at his level off limits!  He is Mr. Curiosity!  If it has wheels and moves, Jax will explore it!

The refrigerator is another fascinating point for Jax.  It is hard to open it without hearing the pounding of his crawling as he races for it!  He LOVES being in there and does not seem to mind the cold at all!

Jax and Maxi are still determining the boundaries of their relationship. They are both very curious about the other but Maxi mostly enjoys observing Jax when he is tied down to his high chair!

Jax has perfected his crawl and its amazing how fast he is!  He also is understanding a little bit the concept of being naughty as you can hear him giggling as he speeds away!  I wonder how long it will take him to figure out that those giggles are what’s giving his secret away!?

Our apartment is completely one level except one place where there is a step up that is about 2 inches high.  For the longest time he would not attempt this step!  Gradually as his need to explore other rooms grew he learned how to go over and down the step.  It’s hysterical to watch because it’s NOTHING really but he takes it so seriously!!!  The concentration on his face as he goes up and down is so endearing!

Every naptime and before bed we bring Jax to the window so he can tell everyone its naptime or bedtime. Then we bring down the shades.  When he wakes, we go back over and pull up the shades and tell everyone to wake up!!!!  I hope you’re all listening, especially when Jax says it’s time to take a nap!!!!

On Valentine’s Day I imagined taking a baby heartthrob image of Jax, perhaps in jeans and a tank top with his girlfriend’s name (Caroline Burke that’s you!) falsely tattooed on his bicep… but instead Jax had his first cold.  It was heartbreaking to see him this way.

When crawling became mundane, our little monkey started to use objects around the house to do what they call “cruising”!

40 weeks in + 40 weeks out = one curious fun-loving little boy that we can’t imagine our lives without!  Who needs 8 hours of sleep all the time?!