Today Hayes is “two minutes” old, or so he says. Or “two old.” Or, if he’s really up for it, “two old minutes.” What he really means, and I know this because I was there when he was welcomed into this world, is the Hayes is two years old. And what a ride it’s been.

For those of you just joining us for the not-so-frequent posting of the last 6 months or so, you might think that Hayes is an easy kid. He’s easy going. He’s able to express himself, thereby limiting the tantrums caused by the frustration. He’s got a great sense of humor. He loves cars like his dad. He’ll even watch football on occasion.

Truth is, however, that wasn’t always the case.

The first four months were ROUGH. And by rough I mean 3-4 hours of sleep a night and a kid that constantly — constantly cried. And it wasn’t his fault, or an indication of his personality, he just had acid reflux and it took us four months to get it under control. I remember handing Hayes off to one of Jen’s friends so that we could go see a movie around that time. “I can handle him,” she proclaimed, “my kid was a difficult baby.” We returned from the movie to find a broken woman. “I had no idea,” she said. Yup, it was like that.

We could never see having another kid. It was just too hard.

Then, suddenly, we had this Hayes. And he’s AWESOME. To us, he is the ideal kid. And the difficulties we went through to get this Hayes have been worth it. You know what, it’s even gotten us from the “never” to the “maybe” when it comes to “thing number two” (as a coworker puts it).

Most of all, I just want to be a little sappy. I don’t know how I could ever live without Hayes again. I would do anything for him. He’s fun. He’s smart. He loves to sing. He’s a very good boy. Hell, he even makes the Patriots losing easier. Never thought I could say that about anyone.

Happy birthday, Hayes. Your daddy loves you.