Rosemary’s First Year
As a break in the normal pattern of wedding and engagement photos, I wanted to commemorate this week as May 4th was my daughter Rosemary’s birthday. It has been such a special year to witness all of her “firsts” and we are amazed at how big and independent our now toddler daughter has become. I have taken so many photos over the last year that I wanted to share some of my favorites of her first year of life outside of the womb!
We tease that she may grow up to be very punctual as last year I started having contractions on and off the evening of May 3rd and right around midnight my contractions started becoming consistent, which was May 4th, also her due date. I labored at home through the night and into the morning before we headed out in the late morning for the birth center. I remember it was one of the first truly warm and gorgeous spring days of the year with lots of green peaking out, thought I will admit I only took a few glances as I waddled out of our door into the car and on the drive to our birth center as I was trying to remain as calm as possible through my contractions. After 16 1/12 hours of labor, when Rosemary finally made her arrival, I was amazed to see I had been correct all along when I had pictured her having lots of dark hair. It seemed surreal to meet the little girl that had been inside me for over 9 months.
Sharing life with our “Baby Rosie” as we most often call her, (among many other nicknames), has stretched us and changed us both, but it has also been the greatest joy we can imagine. It is hard to be prepared for all the changes a woman’s body undergoes during pregnancy, the hard work of labor, the wonder of delivery, and all the changes thereafter, but she was so very worth it. She has been such a smiley, joyful baby from the beginning who soon learned how to laugh and how to make us laugh. She loves attention and meeting new people. We have enjoyed many a fun weekend, and then on Monday morning I wonder what happened to my happy girl when daddy leaves for work, I try to set her down, and Rosie seems to be bereft without an audience of adoring fans. Rosie was a very early roller starting at 2 weeks, and consistently after four weeks. She started crawling at 6 months and started mastering walking at 11 months. She is VERY curious and is already trying to learn how to climb. She will often try to crawl right off an edge of the bed, couch, etc. until mom and dad catch her. She finally got her first two teeth before a year and while she chatters and makes lots of sounds the only ones we recognize are “Dada” “Mama” and “Yeah!”, and only dada is used consistently when she sees or wants dad.
Rosemary Zafirah, we are so grateful God entrusted you to us. You bring so much joy and delight to our family and we love seeing your little individually personality forming. You have already added so much to our family and we treasure the time God has given us to raise you.sfc When we picked your name I hoped you would live up to and lean into living your life as a fragrant offering to the Lord, like the fragrant herb we named you after. And just like I felt victorious after delivering you into this world and we gave you the middle name Zafirah, meaning victory, I pray that you would live a victorious life in Christ by his power and strength. We can already see the zeal God has gifted you with and pray that you would be a leader in your generation. We love you so much sweet girl.
Rosemary’s newborn photos from our birth center were taken by Casey Hurley Photography, family photos were taken by my friends Hannah Laatsch, Stephen Lawrence, and Ashley Lawrence, and the rest were taken by me.
