I had planned to write the birthday blog posts for our two April 4 babies BEFORE their birthdays. 

A fanatical list maker and obsessive planner, I marked my calendar one week before to begin drafting the posts, since I had two boys to write about on one day, and I can only fit in so many words at 4 a.m. before cute little feet come pounding down the hallway.

There’s this self-induced pressure that comes with writing about something as big as one full trip around the sun for the children you love and raise and want to document every detail about so that you never forget what happened in each season. Especially when you are supposed to be a “writer.” (I clearly use that term loosely.)

Maybe event planners feel this same pressure to make their children’s color-coded, Pinterest-detailed, creatively-executed birthday parties the very best.

Maybe bakers feel the crunch in the “wow-me” birthday cupcake decorating department, too. 

Writers do, too. 

And so capturing the gifts and personalities and strengths and we’re-working-on-that-because-clearly-we’ve-failed-there areas of each child in a way that does these superheroes justice is not something I take lightly. And not something I feel like I can rush.