Julianna is my sweet girl. She was delightful to have inside of me for 10 months – well, the first three months weren’t that delightful because of the morning sickness – and more delightful for the last 12 months. Her smiles melt my heart, her curious attempts excited me, her funny side cheered my day, her hugs and kisses were delicious, and the list goes on.

I didn’t know how much she would change my life before she arrived. First of all, I learned so many life lessons from her. She taught me what unconditional love is, she taught me how strong a mom can be, she taught me life is full of joy if love is all there is, she taught me there is no limit in possibilities, she taught me to enjoy when it lasts, and this list goes on, too. She changed my life inside out, upside down, front and back, and all the way. She is my world and my life is mosaic made of pieces of her. At least it looks that way for the first year. And it is a beautiful mosaic that I will cherish forever.

This is how it all started.

3.73kg and 54 cm baby girl Julianna was delivered early morning on December 17th. My first week of recovery was painful enough not to be able to take photos of my tiny baby. This photo was taken when Julianna was a week old.

At the one month old mark, she was able to sit leaning back on the couch. She started to smile a lot. She got lots of comments on how much hair she has.

She didn’t particularly like tummy time but she didn’t mind either. This is the time when I researched so much to make sure I was doing everything right for her. So little I knew then, internet and motherhood books were my bibles. Eventually I realized she will turn out just fine and in old days, moms raised their babies just fine without internet and books. She lifted up her upper body comfortably around 3 months.

When she was about 4 months old, she had her first road trip – to the Tulip Festival in our south neighbour land. I learned my travel life is going to be different. She did extremely well with the long car ride and I had a gut feeling that she will have a travel bug in her like her mama as she grows.

We lived downtown Vancouver until we couldn’t handle the space full of baby stuff every single corner and on the dining table. We needed a bigger space and moved to our lovely home when she was just over 4 months old. This is the first nice picture of her from our current home, which is also my home studio. She was 5 months old when she temporarily sat without any support.

At 6 months, her bottom two teeth came out. She might have been a little cranky but she didn’t express any pain from teething. Now she has 8 teeth and will bite anything she can put in her mouth including my finger.

My friend owns this cool camping car. One day before the summer started, we decided to go camping – first camping trip for Julianna. Securing her car seat base in this van was problematic but we managed to find a solution. After that, the trip was a smooth sailing. Julianna might be one of the coolest baby in Canada who travelled in this coolest camping car at such a young age.

Like all the moms in the world, Julianna is the most beautiful baby in the world to me. I think she is going to become a gorgeous lady and possibly break lots of men’s heart. At 8 months, she started to stand up and cruise around holding onto furniture.

The first plane ride took her the other side of the globe – 12 hours to Korea. We spent a week there visiting my family and then took off to Bali – 7 hours on the plane. Julianna had no problem with long plane rides. Bali was so different from what she had experienced before and she was taking in everything with no complaint but just with fun and joy. She had many baby sitters here and there and was so good in all the kind balinese people’s hands. She might not remember this trip but I will with so many precious memories.

Her first Halloween! The cutest hen ever!

The fall was great! She walked holding hands, and felt fallen leaves under her feet, in her hands, and in her mouth – she has to taste everything.

Then the first snow came. I was so excited to take her out so she can touch and play with snow. She didn’t know what to do with it. Another life lesson – Don’t get disappointed when other people don’t act as you expected.

Then she turned ONE! How did that happen? Really how did that happen? I still can’t believe she is a year old.

Today, I confirmed that I am not going back to my full time position at DDB after my mat leave. I can’t miss out my little girl’s 2nd year and I still want to be the biggest part of her second year. So here I am changing my career from a full-time web developer/part-time photographer to a full-time photographer. My girl changed a big part of my life – my career. Now I am a full-time mom/entrepreneur/photographer. And I love this title! Thank you my little girl with a big heart for making mama to take the leap.

The last piece to share – my baby’s first year in 4 minutes and 2 seconds.

Julianna’s First Year from Rachel Yoon on Vimeo.