One Calendar Year

The boys are turning a year old in less than three weeks! Wow. It's true what they say... the days go by slow, but the weeks go by fast.

Me and the boys in utero exactly one year ago today. God was the only one that knew they'd be coming out in less than three weeks at 38 weeks gestation on Tuesday, May 5th. Then the REAL adventure began!

In the beginning, you struggle to get through each day. You question everything you're doing and doing feel like you're not getting a thing right. Showers are a luxury and going to the bathroom just doesn't seem all that private anymore. Your conversations turn into musings about diapers and milk consumption. Cooking a homecooked meal is the furthest thing from your mind and 75% of your cell phone contacts are now for take-out. You count down the hours until bedtime, which really only meant that it was dark outside. Highlights of the day were Facebook and your new love of midnight blog readings. You feel like your life merely consists of feeding, pumping and changing diapers. It's exhausting work. Draining. And you wonder if it will ever get easier.

Then the boys started sleeping a little longer through the night. Thank God! Giggling, then laughing. Hooray! Then they started rolling over. We couldn't believe it. We moved their cribs down and put their swings away. They started sitting up. Eating solids. My God, our boys are amazing. They began crawling. And now, walking. Then you're looking back thinking, "It really wasn't all that hard, was it?" My, how soon we forget! :)

Jonathan wrestles on top of Benjamin, who welcomes the brotherly game

And now a year has passed. Well, almost a year. I still remember those days that were not that long ago, but it doesn't seem possible that these are the same little boys. Those babies were such little helpless creatures. They couldn't even hold up their head. And now, they're walking across my dining room. Unbelievable. All in one calendar year.

And what a wonderful year it's been!!!!