Has It Really Been a Year?

Exactly 1 year ago yesterday (the 19th) my baby, Jesse Stay III, was born.  As our fourth child, we decided we would have a little fun with it, and we Twittered the entire experience, shared the first cries (with an idea from Scoble), and even Ustreamed right before and right after the event.  You can watch our very first few minutes with him here.  According to Ustream, he was just the second baby birth ever Ustreamed on the site.  Since then, there have been many more.  I also believe he was one of the first (I’m pretty sure Scoble was the first) babies to be Twittered throughout the entire experience. You can see all of that here.

Little would we know that just a few months after his birth, his namesake, my Grandfather (and my namesake), would pass away a few months later after he was born, and subsequently his Great-Grandmother as well.  His name was well fitting, and timely, and we’ll always have stories to tell him as he grows older.

Since his birth, we have recorded his life on SmugMug, Flickr, Facebook, and streamed the entire experience through FriendFeed, and various bursts on Twitter. He has become the subject of several cute photo posts on this blog.  I hope he is able to appreciate this live history we are giving him, as he truly grew up in a time where his life could be documented live, as it happened.  I still continue to do that, in a more private manner, for my older children.

His is a special generation. At one year old, who knows what the world will be like in 17 more years when he gets to leave the home and go out on his own.  I’m looking back and 17 years ago I didn’t even have internet, and cell phones were not to be found. It’s amazing what can happen, and I’m excited to document it and help others understand it as it happens.  Baby Jesse, one year may be a life-time for you, but an entire generation awaits!