Snapshots at One Year

It's a cliche to say that a picture's worth a thousand words. Even though that cliche, like so many others, rings true, pictures can't say everything.

For instance, this picture of our beautiful babies can show it's their birthday. The hats and sign give it away, right? But it doesn't tell how Micah only recently got his first tooth while Mal has four chompers. It can't describe the meals we share in those chairs. A picture will never tell the worry Rachel and I have over the kids' nutrition and diet. It'll never convey the fun I have with the kids nightly as I try to clean the remnants of those meals by brushing their teeth, singing Raffi's song and fighting like the dickens to keep the kids in one place for long enough to get something meaningful out of it.

You can see from this picture that Micah and Malorie got matching outfits from their Grandma Finck for their birthday. You may be able to imagine her working hard at the sewing machine, and the anticipation Rachel and I had as we opened the package after it arrived. However, the picture doesn't show Micah busting out of his outfit in the legs, which forced Rachel to take it off of him soon after the picture. You might guess that he is still growing exponentially, but the picture gives no hint of how much he has slimmed down since he started walking. You can see that the outfit may be a bit too feminine for a baby boy. However, without the back story of Rachel washing a dark blue onesie to try to "man up the outfit," you'd never know the true humor of the situation.

The picture of the kids in the pool on their birthday tells a story of wet adventure. An astute eye might pick up that the bottom lobe of the pool is popped. But no one could possibly know that Mal swam with no diaper. Or that Rachel worried the whole time. Nobody can tell that Rachel and Natalie chose to hit the backyard pool because it's easier to wrangle kids there than at the neighborhood pool.

You can look at Micah and Mal eating their birthday cookies, and laugh at Micah's frosting mustache and Mal's chipmunk cheeks stuffed full of frosted sugar cookie pieces. But without words, you could never imagine Rachel burning the first batch of cookies, flooding the house with smoke while the kids played in the pool out back. You couldn't possible know the bad mood Rachel was in when I got home from work because of that incident and the fact that Malorie skipped her morning nap. The picture gives no hint that Rachel bounced back from her mood in time to enjoy a great night with the twins and me, or that the kids got a second serving of cookies so that Daddy could see them eat.

The picture of the kids with their new wagon they got for their birthday will show they liked their first present from us. However, without the detail only words can provide you would never know that Micah was terrified of the wagon as I first brought it into the room, singing "Happy Birthday" the whole way from the kitchen. You'd never know how much research Rachel and I did to find the wagon we liked best: the one with a canopy, cup holders and an affordable price tag. The picture won't let you in on the fact that it rained tonight, so the kids had to take their first ride around the house instead of around the block.

Pictures are great. But no picture will ever come close to capturing how much fun, angst-filled, amazing and heart-stoppingly wonderful the past year has been. We love you more than pictures or words could ever tell Micah and Malorie. Happy Birthday kids- Love, Mom and Dad.