If I hadn’t taken millions of photos from the millisecond Alice was born, my memories of the past year would have morphed into a bright, sparkly, rainbow blur of happiness and pure love moving faster than I could possibly comprehend. Luckily I do have those million photos (and the most expensive storage plan Apple offers), and looking back on them truly knocks me off my feet!
Matt and I are fully aware we won the jackpot of life - our grand prize being front row seats to the best show on the planet - watching Alice grow and helping her live her best life. We’ve had an unimaginable blast this year getting to know our daughter and discovering the person she is. Each day we add more adjectives to our list:
Curious, Intelligent, Courageous, Determined, Clever, Mischievous, Effervescent, Cheeky, Beautiful…and these are just from this week.
Obviously we’re on Instagram where reality isn’t always reflected in a real way. It hasn’t been non-stop bright and sparkly rainbows 24/7, so thank you to everyone (friends and family in real life but also here online who we’ve never met in person) that have been by our side on this journey so far…your solidarity, simple words of encouragement, and helpful advice have been priceless and just the right things we needed to hear at just the right times.
This has been the ultimate joy and adventure of our life so far, and we can’t wait to see what’s next. Probably a stinky diaper - maybe not the most beautiful way to wrap up this post, but we wouldn’t want to change a single thing about our life right now.
We love you, Alice Julia…
Happy Birthday! 💫
I’m ending 2024 filled with immense gratitude and bursting with a whole new level of love I’ve heard about but couldn’t possibly prepare myself for. Matt and I welcomed magical Alice Julia into our family on November 4th, though it truly feels like she’s been in our lives forever.
We’ve been lucky to travel around the world and experience so many incredibly awesome things…but the journey to get to this moment and the two months we’ve shared with Alice so far has been the most exciting adventure yet.
Thanks to our family and friends who supported us and were there when we needed them the most. Having a baby really does give you clarity and show you who your people are…some relationships have strengthened even further than I could imagine. And as an added bonus, I’ve reconnected with so many friends from my past that showed up and stepped up for Matt and me in ways I never expected.
We wouldn’t be living this new dream without the stellar team at @elevatebaby_ , especially @taylorfrey , @kyledeanmassey , @hello_kayde , and @_tararosie . We were in the most capable hands of @cathafischermd and her team @springfertility and will be forever grateful to them. Our fantastic hospital & nursing team at Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick made us and Alice feel welcome, supported, and safe. And most importantly, our lovely and generous superstar surrogate Megan and her beautiful family will be part of our lives forever.
As I’ve watched my camera roll morph overnight from symmetrical skyscrapers and stunning landscapes to hundreds of pics (ok, thousands) of one adorable chubby-cheeked cheerful baby with the occasional side-eye, I realized I needed to share some of my new reality here. We have every intention of picking up documenting our travels where we left off, but when that happens, we’ll be a party of THREE wide-eyed globetrotters eager to see the world and create new memories together as one family.
Happy New Year - bring on 2025!
@joeydinapoli
