9 years.

On Saturday at 6:57am, my firstborn will mark the day that he entered our lives 9 years ago. I am having a super hard time wrapping my mind around this. It seems like just yesterday that he was my baby boy.  I miss the sweet baby boy he was. He was the best little boy ever. The sweetest. The boy who wouldn't sleep in his bed for anything. The boy who would cry until he vomited. The boy who slept in our bed until he was almost two, us creeping out of the room on all 4's, in the dark, and sitting silently in the dark until we knew he was good and asleep, frustrated as all getup, but also knowing this was a phase and we'd get past it somehow.  The boy, who at age almost-9, still asks to sleep with mom and dad (heck, yeah!) and loves "tickles" on his back and whose teacher says he's the most kindhearted, compassionate, caring child in his class.  Of course, we're not without our struggles. We struggle with independence, talking back, and naughty talk, all things that he gets from TV and friends. All a part of growing up. But we just hold on to the hope that we're doing it right and helping him grow into a good person. Because in the end, that's what you're striving for, right? A happy, well-balanced, caring, kind human.

Of course, I still ache for the baby when I see photos like such...
He was such a beautiful baby and tot! Oh, those eyes!

32 weeks- Mag Sulfate Face. He really wanted to come, but a weeklong stay in the hospital and then bedrest until 37 weeks helped him stay put.

 

Sweet Baby Aidan Thomas. 3.5.02 6:57am, 7lb, 15.3ozs, 20" 

4-5 months

6 months...the first night away from him and the day of the car wreck w/ grandma :(

 17 months...what a character

 

17 months...had to hit the pumpkin patches w/o mama b/c I was on bedrest w/ the twins.

 

Sleepyhead at breakfast.

 

 My boys, reading books in bed. He had such a fondness for his binkies.

 

Age 2. He LOVED books. Still does. Thank goodness he was always so content to have me read, both when I was on bedrest at home, in the hospital, and when I was nursing the twins.