That Was the Fastest (and totally Craziest) Year of My Life

Guess what, you guys? My boys turned one yesterday.

I'm totally serious.

No, I can't believe it either. This has seriously been the fastest year of my life. Let's think about it: between April 10, 2013 and April 10, 2014, my boys turned from crazy little worms in my abdomen into humans, Katie grew pretty much her entire head of hair, we moved all the way across the country, Mike transformed into a weirdy student doctor who uses 15-syllable latin-based medical terminology instead of English, and well, we're a real, grown-up family. Not just the newlyweds with our token first child. It's real.

But after the kids are all in bed and I'm done frantically baking/cleaning/diapering/singing/wrestling/dressing/brushing/nose-wiping/mouth-swabbing/shoe-putting-back-on/crisis-averting/whatever else the heck happens in my ridiculous life, I'll feel slightly more fond of my sweet, innocent, adorable, perfectly well-behaved children. Who have really changed in the last year.

Mike and I were even musing about this the other day. Here's an approximation of our conversation:

Me: I can't believe the boys are going to be one tomorrow!
Mike: I know! I can't believe they're already so big.
Me: I still can't even believe we have twins!
Mike: I know. We survived.
Me: And you know? It's true what they say. Now that they're a year old, things are starting to get slightly easier.
Mike: Yeah, we're almost out of the sharknado! *
Me: Well, I dunno about that.
Mike: Yeah, it's still hard, but it's not a sharknado anymore. It's like . . . a cownado. Nothing is going to eat you, but you'll still get plowed over by large animals.
Me: . . .

*See reference to an awesome blog that compared the first year of twins to a sharkado here. Or if you don't know what Sharknado is, try here. But a warning: it will probably do the opposite of enrich your life.

So now we enter Year Two: The Cownado.

And now it's the next day and I'm trying to get this up to appease the Grandmas while my kids are eating crunchy leftover birthday cake that I didn't sweep up last night because I collapsed in a stupor as soon as everyone was in bed. And Katie is monopolizing the boys' birthday presents because they can't quite keep up with her when she's running. But here's a commemorative photo series. (Mom, don't cry too much, okay?)

6 weeks pregnant (I cried a lot that day)

Significantly more weeks pregnant

April 10, 2013 (Josh, Peter)

One month old (Josh, Peter)

Two months (Josh, Peter)

Three months (Peter, Josh)

Four Months (Peter, Josh)

Five Months (Josh, Peter)
 

Six Months (Josh, Peter)

Seven Months (Peter, Josh)

Eight Months (Peter, Josh)

Nine Months (Peter, Josh)

Ten Months (Josh, Peter)

Eleven Months (Peter, Josh)

Daddy got just a little too close.

Joshy LOVES birthday cake

But Peter probably loved it even more

April 10, 2014

Happy Birthday, little Hooligans. I sure hope the cownado is less terrifying than the sharknado.