9 years ago today....

I became a mother. Wow. Has it REALLY been 9 whole years?! I can't believe it, the time has gone so fast. I remember absolutely everything about Joshua's baby and toddlerhood. I remember going to the store for the first time without him and thinking to myself "I'm a mommy and nobody here even knows it" I didn't like that nobody knew it and to this day I still prefer to have my beautiful boys with me when I go places because I am so so proud of who they are. I remember coming home from work on the day before his first birthday, knowing that I didn't have to go back the next day (because Mark and I took the day off to spend the day with him) and taking him outside to eat popsicles to celebrate the first official day of Summer. I have pictures of him sitting on a little blanket on the lawn eating popsicles one after the other in his little white onesie with not a care in the world. To this day he still goes through life with not a single care in the world, just a knowledge that everything has a way of working itself out and there is no reason or need to worry. I.Just.Love.This.Kid. This boy has changed my life in so many amazing and wonderful ways. This boy taught me what absolute and unconditional love at first sight feels like. This boy has a spirit about him that everyone around him can feel and see. This boy, my son, is more pure and innocent than any other 9 year old I know and I am so so so incredibly lucky to be his mom. There are times that I look at him and wonder how I got so blessed that he chose me to be his mother and other times (many times) that I look at him and know that I absolutely don't deserve him. Happy Happy Birthday my sweet son. We love you so much and are so thankful that you are a part of our eternal family.

His story:

I went to the doctor about 3 weeks before his due date. The doctor checked me and was so surprised to find that I was "progressing" a whole lot more rapidly than he expected me to be. His exact words were (and I quote) "SO, we'll see you next week if we don't see you before then!" He had a little gleam in his eye that told me that he really truly believed he'd see me sooner. Just for the record, I think this should be against the law. It got us SOOOOOO excited to have this baby right away and we started preparing to have this baby ANY DAY.... yeah right. We showed up to the appt the very next week stuck at the very same place as the week before. Grr. Then again a week later. Double Grr. I told the doctor how unfair it was that he told me 3 weeks prior that I would have this baby and I STILL HAVEN'T HAD THE BABY!!! I think he felt a little sorry for me because he scheduled me to be induced on the 23rd (this was the 21st) Wouldn't you know it, the very next morning my water broke! I called Mark at 6:15 am and said, "I think we're having a baby today!" I could hear the smile on his face when he said "okay, I'll be right there!" I took some time to put on my make up and do my hair and was waiting for him when he got home 15 minutes later. Our hospital was awhile away and my contractions were getting a little stronger as we got closer. I remember being at the hospital by 7:45, having an epidural by 8:30 and after a few pushes delivering an absolutely amazingly beautiful baby boy at 2:10 in the afternoon. He had the biggest and most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen on a newborn and I felt more love surge through me when I held him for the first time than I had prepared myself for. I knew I would love him, but WOW, seriously WOW. The whole experience couldn't have gone more smoothly and I remember thinking people that said having a baby was hard were crazy because it was such a wonderful and easy experience for me. (This line of thinking didn't last long as my 2nd, 3rd and 4th babies were c-sections)

Anyway, we couldn't have been broken in any more smoothly than we were with this sweet kid. We just love him so much and are so so thankful for him in our lives.

on a slightly different note...sorry about the hiatus as of late. It seems I fall into this rut quite frequently. Where I update pretty irregularly on a regular basis until WHAM I kind of disappear off of the face of the planet for awhile. I have two reasons for this last gap. #1) This is my 100th post and I tried to take Lisa and Reagan's lead and write 100 things about myself for my 100th post....yeah, um I'm BORING! I got to 53 and I got nothin' left. (I decided that writing about my son's birth was a good substitute for my 100th post so that solved my little problem) and #2) our laptop's battery cable is going out and only works it seems when the sky is a certain shade of blue and the temperature inside is 72 and a half degrees. It is sooooo temperamental - so I've had to say good-bye to my late night posts and my comments on everyone's blogs as of late. I've got SO much catching up to do and hope to do so this week sometime!!! Hope you all had a great weekend! We had a fun day today celebrating Mr. 9!!! (I promise to add pictures tomorrow - I didn't have a digital camera when Joshua was born so I have to *gasp* scan them! Eek!)

I absolutely LOVE the above picture. Sweet sweet little Elise and my little surfer dude giving the "peace" sign. So cute!

I've always known that Will looks just like Joshua did as a baby but the picture above is KILLING ME! If I didn't have a date on this one I don't think I'd know who was who years from now. It is SO CRAZY!
Here are the first day of summer pictures I was talking about, I remember this day like it was yesterday, I truly can't believe 8 years have passed since then.