365 Days Old

On February 15, 2007 the boys turned 1 year old. We had a big party for them. Many of our friends and their children came. My mother made everyone lasagna. It was, in a word, awesome.

To be surrounded by people you care about, and who care about you, always makes for a special time. A time in which you have claimed a moment in your life that is completely, and utterly, yours. Nothing else intrudes, and for that short while you feel, I don't know, a sense of community I suppose. It's something I think we all wish we had a bit more of.

Not too mention we had, like, a buffet of booze for everyone as well. Yeah, that always helps. I mean, a birthday party for two 1 year olds, who are surrounded by other kids all under the age of 3 is really a party for the parents isn't it? The party was on a Sunday. It feels good to drink champagne on a Sunday. Extra "Stickin' It To The Man" bonus points for drinking champagne on a Sunday afternoon.

Whenever people ask how old my children are and I tell them that they are 1 year old, I usually get the "Boy, time really flies by eh?" kind of response.

But to me, in some ways, it feels like the first year was a lifetime. Like a million years. I don't mean this in a negative way. Yes, it was tiring, but that's not the point. It just seems like the boys have always been here and I find it difficult to immediately place myself back in time to the day we brought them home from the hospital.

I imagine the first year of a child's life is exceptional for any parent. It was for us. In a short span of days, the boys have grown from 7 lbs to almost 24 lbs now. They are about to walk, they are about to talk. They show real signs of their future personalities. They have teeth. All of this in only 365 days. It really is incredible.

I think the 1st birthday party is more of a milestone for the parents than for the children. I mean, the kids don't really know what's going on aside from suddenely being allowed to smoosh some incredibly sugary cake into their mouths and then having to deal with the subsequent sugar-high. (See below photo for evidence of this)

Yep, the 1st birthday is a time for the parents to take a brief moment and kind of congratulate themselves on achieving a milestone. It's like "Wow, I managed to sustain and nurture this little life with relatively few screw-ups for a whole year!". It is a confidence booster for sure. I am certain that this is exceptionally so for first-time parents.

The thing is, I still can't quite get over how it doesn't feel like the first year flew by at all.

I suppose, the best way to put is that the days felt long, but the months felt short.

Happy Birthday boys.