celebrating henry

throughout this past pregnancy

i kept peaking ahead

to this month-

august

with a scramble of emotions-

love, fear, anxiety, pain, excitement

the birthday of our boy

the due date of our daughter

the anniversary of losing henry

i needed to find a way

to remember our sweet son

and the excitement i felt

on the day he was born-

the day i became a mom

in a way
that wasn't totally 

sad

or 

scary

i needed a celebration.

to find a way to honor 

what a joy he was

in our lives

even

if it was only for just 

11 days

.

something to share 

with our family

who felt the loss of henry

almost as completely as we did

a new tradition

that our future children

would love 

so...

we planned a birthday beach night-

our favorite kind of easy summer celebration

a sand-side picnic

our favorite people

mama-decorated birthday cake

taps at sunset

...

and then

after the sun had gone down

we sent paper lanterns

into the night sky

decorated with our 

wishes + prayers

for henry patrick

on his first birthday

and it was

a celebration

...

with love and thanks

xo

she

emily waldo jagger

arrived thursday

august 8th

at 9:40am

oh, oh...

there is so very much to share

and i will

but i'm completely distracted

by her milky, deep-sleep sighs 

on my chest

it's been almost exactly a month

since i've posted

and it's been a bursting one for sure-

a roller coaster 

of summer goodness

paralyzing anxiety

and love

love. love. love.

with each 

long-awaited 

deep, deep breath 

that i take

weighted only by 6lbs 12oz

of slumbering sweetness

i can feel 

my heart

being stitched 

from the bottom 

up...

welcome

sweet birdie

welcome

xoxo


photos: orchardcove