Jen here with my final First Year post – an open letter to my beautiful daughter celebrating our first year together.

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My Dearest Logan,

On January 5, 2013, an amazing thing happened. You left the comfort of your home tucked away inside of me and made your way into the world and into my arms.

You looked at me with such calmness and claimed my heart in a way I had never experienced until that very moment. I became your mom, and we embarked on a lifelong journey together.

During our first year, I knew you would grow. I knew you would not only grow out of your newborn clothes but also grow with each new discovery. I knew I would enjoy teaching you things – how to shake a rattle, how to smile and dance.

But there were other lessons to be learned, ones that were unexpected and important – the lessons you taught me.

Logan, you taught me that it is all right to be afraid and to trust myself … that I will make the right choices. You taught me to be patient, and if I lose my way, I can try again and try harder. You taught me that I am a work in progress but someone who is worthy of your love today, every day.

You taught me that feeling beautiful makes a woman look beautiful. You taught me to slow down, to strive, to be fully present in my life, and that doing one thing well is much more rewarding than rushing to do many things poorly. You make me want to be a better person.

As much as I have tried to slow down our pace of life, here we are, one year later. Both of us are so different from when we began our journey the day you were born. We grew, we changed, we became more of who we were meant to be.

It was the best year of my life, sweetheart.

I have to admit: it is in some ways difficult for me to say goodbye to this first chapter, first year, of our life together. Though there were sleepless nights and times when I felt overwhelmed by the responsibilities that come along with being your momma, I have loved every second and would not trade it for the world. As sad as I am that so many of your “firsts” have already taken place, I eagerly look forward to all the new things you have yet to learn and experience.

You are smart, confident, determined and funny. I promise to nurture these things in you, among others, so that you do not forget their importance like people often do. I just know you will grow up to be an amazing young woman, and I will do whatever I can to help you become exactly that.

You are everything that is good about this world, Logan, and you are the piece of my heart that I never knew was missing. I’m not sure what I did to deserve such a blessing, but I look forward to telling you and showing you every single day just how special you are and how very happy you make me.

All my love,

Your Momma

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I want to give my *deepest thanks* to Me Ra for allowing me to write this column and for giving me such an amazing platform for sharing my thoughts and photos from my first year of motherhood and Logan’s first year of life. What a blessing!

I also want to thank my readers for following and supporting Logan and me along our journey. Although my First Year column has come to a close, I will share peeks into our upcoming milestones and daily shenanigans from time to time on my photography BLOG, as well as on FACEBOOK. I invite you to join me for the next chapter of this amazing journey of motherhood, whatever it may bring!

First Year Cheers!

Jen