New bike

For his birthday, Nate got a new bike. 

I wish I had a picture of him riding the old one. Imagine his knees hitting his elbows and you'll get the idea. 

7 already?

I can hardly believe how old my kids are getting. It's going too fast. 

Happy Birthday to Nile!

Birthday photo follies

"Okay guys, before we cut mom's birthday cake, let's get a picture."

"Nile, look at Dad. Novak, look at Dad."

"Nile and Novak, look at Dad."

"Novak, look at Dad!"

"Nile!  Fine. That's enough. Mom can just pick one of those."

And now it's official!

Nate "officially" turned eight on Monday, May 20.

His brothers were excited to help watch him open presents.  

Pay no attention to the child in his underwear...

Present 1 (note Nile has entered the frame)

A DNA Science Kit!

His favorite gift from the family by far had to be this new DC Comics visual encyclopedia.   He has a Marvel one which he has been reading every night before bed for the last few months.  I dare anyone to ask him a question about a Marvel character...soon he'll be a DC expert as well.

The next three pictures cover about 1 minute of present opening time.  Good thing this was the last gift he opened.

Just opened it!

Looking for the Joker page...

Nose buried in the book and everyone has left...

Nate turns eight! (almost)

We had Nate's birthday party on Sunday, the day before his actual birthday.

CAUTION: Lots of pictures ahead!

I started preparing a few days early (Friday), with cupcake baking and LEGO Man decorations.  Nate had specifically requested LEGO cupcakes with "that LEGO candy on top."  He also requested white vanilla cupcakes.  I figured even I couldn't mess up cupcakes...

Photos of the preparations

Nate, helping decorate the cupcakes.

Looks kind of like a Crayola factory exploded.

This little guy was the main decoration.

LEGO Man "garland" (without ribbon)

For Nate's actual party, I didn't go to too much effort (really!).  We scheduled it for two hours, and let the kids dictate what we did.  Nate had invited seven friends (two girls), and five were able to come.  It was just about the perfect size party.

We did have a "pin the head on the LEGO man" game.

Bella and Nile were closest.

Then, we played a LEGO Building contest.  I basically gave them a tub of bricks and let them build, then each kid won a prize for their creation.  Prizes included:  Tallest Structure, Craziest Creation, Most White Bricks, etc.

After about 40 minutes of playing, the kids were ready for cupcakes and ice cream.

Novak had his later, after he woke up from his nap.  Incredibly, he slept through most of the party (and associated noise and chaos).

I like frosting...

All in all, Nate had a pretty good birthday party.  I am happy that it was simple and easy, and low stress.  And I loved having it at home, it was a bit more work but it was also nice to have everyone come to us.

Birthday Boy.  Is it true he's eight?

Nate through the years

I spent this week in Switzerland attending standards meetings.  While I was there, I started to look through the old pictures stored on my laptop.  I found so many pictures that I had almost forgotten existed. 

Since I started this blog after Nile was born, I have never shared many of the pictures of when Nate was little. 

Nate turns 7 this weekend, and so I thought it was an appropriate time to look back at how he's grown and changed.  My baby isn't such a baby any more. Here are a few of the pictures I found.

May 2005 (9 days prior to birth!)

January 2006 (8 months)

At the park, April 2006 (11 months)



Swimming in the back yard, July 2006 (13 months)

Little Hawkeye, September 2006 (16 months)


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Playing in the snow, December 2006 (19 months)

At a birthday party, July 2007 (age 2)

Making a gingerbread house, December 2007

"Rocking out," May 2008 (3 years)

Celebrating his 3rd birthday (May 2008)

Nate's first race, September 2008



John Deere 5K, September 2008

Can he really be 5?

Bad mama!  It's been almost a month since Nile turned 5 and I haven't posted a single thing...that's what happens when I get busy with marathon training, work, and life in general.

My little pipsqueak Nile is 5.  It almost hurts me to write that down.  He's going to kindergarten in the fall, and he's SO READY.  In fact, he thought that the week after his birthday he would get to go to kindergarten.  "Mom," he told me. "I won't be at preschool for 'W week.'  I'll be in kindergarten."  He was fine once I explained that kindergarten doesn't start until after summer.  He didn't like it, but he was okay with it.  Now he keeps telling me that he'll be in kindergarten when Novak turns 2.

For Nile's birthday, we let him invite two of his preschool friends for a "party."  I put party in quotes, because it wasn't really a party, more of a playdate.  We invited his friends to meet us at Monkey Joe's for a few hours of playing.  Since we hadn't reserved a room, we were not allowed to bring in cake or presents.  (Grrr...)  But the kids had a blast, and everyone was exhausted after two hours of running, bouncing, and sliding.

After the party, Nile and I returned to my parents' house to pick up Novak and have some birthday cake.  (Isn't this cake amazing?)

Nile's "Royals Baseball Field" cake

The best picture I got of him...

Nile is one of the most amazing kids I've ever met.  I'm a mother, so I'm allowed to say that about all my boys.  And it's true of all of them.  His sense of humor is so much fun.  I love listening to him try and make up jokes.  Today at lunch he told Tom that he had a dachshund in his brain.   

What can I say about Nile?  It's so true that each child has his own personality, and his own individual characteristics.  I suppose I knew that would happen, but you don't really "know" it until you experience it.  Nile definitely takes after my side of the family.  Stubborn.  Bullheaded.  Easily frustrated.  I often hear him echoing sentiments that I know I have heard myself say in the heat of a frustrated moment.  And I've posted on here before about him being the last one at the table at dinner.  Don't feel bad for him.  It's not because he's in trouble, and he's not sad at all about sitting there alone.  He's just refusing to eat until he has to.

But that's not all Nile is.  He's sweet.  Caring.  Funny.  Nile is incredibly loving.  He is so amazing with his baby brother.  Nile takes care of Novak in ways that I would have never imagined.  Every single morning when Novak sees Nile, he asks for a hug.  And every single morning, Nile gives him one.  It's the best hug in the world.  And it's not me or Tom that Novak has to hug to start his day.  It's Nile.

Where Nate is a philosopher, Nile is a technician.  Nate wants to know "why" something is.  Nile, he wants to know "how."  Where Nate generally aims to please, Nile wants to know what's in it for him first.  

Nile has the best "game winning" dances.  And he talks smack!  If it weren't so darn cute...well, I don't know because it's so stinking cute.  

He can sense a camera pointed at him from across the room.  But when the camera is not around, he's in his element.  Usually fighting some invisible villain.  Lately he's been pretending he's a dragon and showing off his dragon fighting moves, thanks to his "How to Train your Dragon" video game.  (It's hilarious when he breathes fire...)

Sure, he has his moments.  Many of them have their roots in the stubborn, bullheaded side I mentioned above.   And he's going to have to learn to control his temper when he gets to school.  But those are all normal 4-5 year old things, and I know he will get them under control.  

I love how, at the age of 5, Nile still wants to snuggle with me in the recliner when we watch shows on PBS.  This is something we couldn't do last year while I was nursing Novak.  Sometimes he asks me to lie with him in bed at night.  I enjoy these little moments, all too soon they will be gone. 

It seems like yesterday he was born.  But at the same time, it feels like he's always been here.  

Love ya, Wiley. 

A half decade

I got this email today.

Anyone else think its just wrong to remind a mom her baby is heading to KINDERGARTEN in the fall?

Not to mention that he is a half decade old...

I thought I had a few more months before having to start facing this fact. :(

Yoda

Last night our good friends the Debaenes brought over a present for Novak's birthday.

He really enjoyed the customized tissue paper (decorated by Emma).

And inside he found a huge stuffed Yoda.

And ever since, that Yoda has been spending a lot of time with another member of our family, who just happens to be obsessed with Star Wars and "fuzzy animals" (a.k.a. stuffed animals).

Birthday cards

We are getting ready for a birthday party for our friend Andrew.  Nate and Nile are making birthday cards.

Nate and his card.

Andrew, playing outside in the sun with a swingset.

"Nate to Andrew, 7" (the 7 is backwards)

Nile's card

Nile's name

2191 days

I've spent the last half hour or so looking at pictures from when Nate was a baby.  It's brought back all kinds of wonderful memories of those first few months of summer 2005, when my whole life changed.

There are a lot of things that strike me as I look at these photos.  How young we all look.  How Nate is smiling in absolutely every single photo.  He's smiling because he is that happy.  All the time.  Even now he is the happiest kid I have ever met.

 

I'm reflecting on the past six years.  The years that have molded me as a mother, first of one, then of two, now of three.  I'm so incredibly blessed to have my children.  Each of them is so very special to me.  But there is something about the first.  The oldest is the first to go to school.  The first to play organized sports.  The one that I have to rely on to be the "bigger brother."  Expectations are so high for the firstborn.  As parents, we want him to be able to do everything he wants.  We want him to succeed, to thrive.  But we also expect him to be mature, to understand that he may not be able to do everything.  And that sometimes, he can't be the center of attention. 

I'm rambling a bit.  But I'm just trying to put into words tonight, how incredibly proud I am of Nate.  He has gone from the kid in preschool who couldn't sit still, who couldn't keep his hands to himself, to this amazingly mature, capable 6 year old.  One who comes home from school and tells me exactly what the teacher told them they would need to do.  Where I need to sign the paperwork.  Who, on Tuesday evening, reminds me that he has a soccer game on Saturday, at 8:30 am, at Richmond Hill, and he needs to be there at 8:15.

Tonight, Nate asked me, "Do you know how many days I've been alive?"  But this question, in its simplicity, is the essence of who Nate is.  He is constantly learning.  Constantly questioning.  His brain is racing at full speed, down the highway, but he's capturing all the details of every road sign.  I love the moments when he lights up because he has understood something.  Watching him learn to read this year has been a joy.  Hearing him read a story to me, well, that's one of the best things in the world.  I love giving him a challenge (particularly a math problem) and watching him work through it in his head.  I actually can't wait to be able to sit down and do math homework with him.  

I couldn't be happier, or prouder, to say I'm his mom.  I told him tonight that I will always think he is the coolest kid in the world, even when he's older and he doesn't think I'm cool any more.  As he hugged me, he said into my ear, "You are pretty cool, Mom."

Tonight Nate is 2191 days old.  

On Friday, he'll be six years old.  

Happy birthday, buddy.