Happy Birthday

Oh how things change in a year.

It dawned on me recently how much less time I spend chronicling my daughter's life than I did with The Boss. It's a phenomena that I associated with lazy parents prior to having my own second child, the syndrome of having boxes and boxes of nostalgia from their first child's first few years - and then nearly nothing for the second. Yet, here I am. Even in the blogosphere, I haven't given her the focus that I gave her brother.

I don't feel guilty, it's really just more the acceptance that life does get in the way. And that working two jobs and taking care of kids/house/husband and trying to somehow construct a worthwhile writing life, it all sort of leaves you a bit lacking - not as much time to time to sit back and ponder things.

For my son's first birthday, I ran a countdown here of now and then, a timeline showing how we'd grown and changed, how life had spun us and where we'd wound up. For Lila, there is only this. A happy family, albiet in the midst of a whirlwind, still waiting to see where we'll wind up. And perhaps then there will be more of a chance for retrospection and creative expression.

But in the meantime, I'm going to take my beautiful birthday girl out for a birthday ice cream. And enjoy the moment while I'm in it.