Today my little guy turns 9-years-old. Happy Birthday little man! Nine years ago, at this time I was in the hospital getting hooked up to Pitocin to induce labor to kick the little guy out. It was at exactly 39 weeks and 5 days. If he had gone the full 40 weeks, he would have been born on his dad’s birthday.

And with the way things go in “mom life,” I started this post yesterday and have yet to finish it. But I’m just going to keep going with it…

I had something called “Low PAPP-A” (pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A) which is a protein produced by the placenta during pregnancy. Low levels of PAPP-A could indicate an increased risk of certain complications, such as preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and preterm birth, especially if you go past the 40-week term.

I was really hoping he would make an appearance on his own, but with no signs in sight, we headed to the hospital at 6AM for a really long day that finally ended in success at 9PM when Keelan Thomas came screaming into the world. And then he didn’t stop the screaming for about 4 years.

Happy Birthday Keelan!

Being a mom is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and it continues to challenge me. My son was not an easy baby, nor an easy toddler, but in the last few years the tantrums have calmed down and although none of this is easy, it is more enjoyable these days.

People say you’ll look back on the baby years and miss them, but I thank God I just made it through them. Those were some of the toughest years of my life.

The times I’ll look back on and miss are these years, the 6 and older years when there’s less screaming and crying and more quality time together where I’m not losing my mind from lack of sleep.

I initially started this as a post where I was going to say lovely things about being a mom, but I just can’t bring myself to sugarcoat it quite yet I guess. I see too much of that on social media. I’m way too honest when people talk to me about mom life and am pretty sure I have PTSD from the toddler years.

But anyway, I love my son more than anything, and I know he had a great birthday.

Maybe give me a few more years and I’ll have more good things to say as the toddler memories start to fade, lol.

Of course, I spent a lot of that time spilling my feelings and frustrations into this blog, so I have all that time documented with both text and photos so I may never forget!

But the hugs and kisses and that little voice saying “I love you Mommy” are all worth it. <3

Happy 9th Birthday to my little man, I hope you have a great last year of your single digit ages!