Editor’s Note: At UnAsked, we are all about kids and family. In fact, nearly all of our writers are moms and dads sharing their family experience with you every day. Each week, our writer, Nicole Ireland, will be sharing her Mom Life with you. As a mother of two, she has tons of Mom Life experiences to share that’ll make you laugh, cry and gather your own little ones close for an extra hug.

On September 2, 2007, I gave birth to my second child, a beautiful baby boy that I named Blake Joseph.

If you could see my son now, you’d never guess that the road leading up to his birth was anything but an easy one. Those months were particularly hard on me since I had to deal with some not so pleasant conditions as a result of my pregnancy.

There were many times that I wondered if I’d ever give birth to my son or if I would just stay pregnant forever. But on September 1st, I finally went into labor, and in the early morning hours of September 2nd, Blake Joseph burst into this world. And he’s been going strong—very strong—ever since.

My life with my son is never dull. And it baffles me that I haven’t discovered at least one gray hair because of his wild antics that seem to grow more daring as each day passes by.

There are times, though, when basic childhood fears rear their ugly head and he allows me the chance to snuggle and hold him like all mommies love to do.

Like many kids before him, Blake has developed a fear of thunderstorms. It doesn’t matter how many miles away they are, at the slightest rumble from the sky, he runs to me, wraps his pudgy, little arms around my neck and whispers “Hold me”. And I, of course, oblige because I remember that fear all too well.

Once the storm has gone on its merry way, Blake returns to his normal self, a wild, rambunctious, little man who tears around my house like a human tornado, leaving mass destruction in his wake. And while it’s frustrating, and occasionally makes me want to pull my hair out, I forget about it all when he stares at me with his toothy grin, big brown eyes and Charlie Brown cheeks.

I love my life with Blake.