I know everyone tells you to bottle up time because it goes by so fast.

My oldest son William turns 5 today. Truth be told, I do not know where the last 5 years have gone.

I remember making a wish on New Year’s Eve, 2003… my husband and I were at a party with all of our friends, and right before midnight I wished it up to the fates, “Please send us a baby this year…”

8 weeks later… on February 10, 2004 – this is what we saw…

A baby, a little boy we could come to find out on May 20th, 2004, that we would name William. Our William. And on September 25th, 2004 at 1:51PM, our family of 2 became 3. Life felt complete and full and exciting.

It’s funny… looking back at photos, William was really never an only child. I was laughing with my husband as I was typing this because I could hardly find any photos of just William. We had Alexander 12 months and 3 days after William’s 1st birthday. Benjamin 17 months after Alexander. And Henry 13 months after Benjamin. Through all of these brothers… William has always been the happiest little man in the world, our precious bundle of joy.

I know every mother says that their child is smart and funny and witty and kind… my William is all that, too. He’s my little companion. Every night we have a ritual. I put all the boys to bed… and then after Alexander falls asleep (they share a room), William goes into Henry’s room, then Benjamin’s room — and if everyone is sleeping — he calls down, “Mommy, I’m ready to come down now.” And down he comes. I make a little bed for him on our couch and within minutes, he’s fast asleep. He just wants to be with me.

I look at William and I sometimes cannot believe my eyes. He loves Star Wars. He loves Papa Gino’s pizza. He loves math equations. He’s always asking me to have him add or subtract something. He loves the color blue. He loves to play on the computer and ask me questions about my blog. He loves Merry Go Rounds. He loves fish and sharks and anything slimy. He loves warm milk. He loves to race. He loves his navy blue Crocs. He loves to sit in the chair across from me and eat off his Wally plate. He loves this whole family – his 2 grandma’s, his 2 pap-pap’s, his aunties and uncles, his cousins (oh, does he adore his cousins!). He loves to swim – but only with his blue goggles. He loves to quiz me on his Webkinz password (I always pretend to forget). He loves to snuggle with me at night. He loves to go grocery shopping and put the items on the belt. He loves his brothers. And he loves to dance, only when nobody is looking. I keep telling him… the ladies love a man who can dance, he always rolls his eyes and says, “Stop it, Mommy!”

Seeing his eyes light up and his smile dazzle, those are the moments in life I love for… it’s because of William that we decided to have other children. I wanted to feel more of what I was feeling, this motherly instinct and love. I waited my whole life for William… and I simply cannot believe he’s 5 years old. 5 years old. My beautiful, smart little man. With one of the best memory’s I have ever witnessed…

I love you the whole wide world. Crazy. A million. And alot.

***Also, one of my friend’s – Katie Duggan – is nominated as one of the WeddingChannel.com’s Most Beautiful Love Stories sponsored by Estee Lauder — VOTE FOR HER – She’s got an amazing story!!***