#5

April 19, 2008 - 1:30 in the morning, this little guy graced us with his presence...

5 very short years later, he's grown into the cutest little guy ever.

He is the blue eyed, blond kid I never thought I'd have. I can never get enough of his eyes and I seriously can't believe how much he's grown in just the past year. 

His birthday this year was so much fun. He's old enough now that he really 'gets' birthdays and was super excited for his birthday to come. He kept asking how many more days until his party.

On his birthday we took him to Build A Bear. (I told you in Shaylyn's birthday post that most of the kids wanted to do it for their birthdays this year.) I went back and forth between taking all the kids or just taking Nathaniel so he could have a special time with just Mom & Dad. Nate wanted his brothers and sisters to come with him, but then Ailey fell asleep so they all got to stay home.

Nate and I drove to the Trax station to pick up Daddy and then we headed to the mall and into Build A Bear. Nathaniel was so excited for this trip and was talking the whole way in the car about what he wanted to dress his bear as. (All superheroes of course)

He grabbed the first bear he saw, at first, but then we took him down the aisle a bit more and he found a more perfect bear:

Nathaniel was a bit shy and didn't want to help stuff his bear, so I had to do that for him. He did choose the Star Wars theme for his soundbyte and he chose a strawberry scent. 

He made sure his bear was stuffed to just the right stuffiness:

Then, because there weren't any workers or other people around, he was fine to bathe his new bear:

While we were stuffing the bear and giving him his bath, Eric was scoping out clothing. Being the superhero fan that he is, he found all the superhero costumes right away and pointed them out to Nathaniel. You can see which one Nathaniel decided on.

Then, of course, Mommy had to do the dressing of the bear. Some articles of clothing are a bigger pain to put on than others. But Nathaniel was pleased with the results.

We then went about naming his new bear and Batman Bear was born. Nathaniel was seriously in 7th heaven.

After Build A Bear we stopped at the store for a few groceries. Nathaniel chose to have Mac & Cheese for his birthday dinner and he chose some donuts for his birthday treat. He then carried around Batman Bear for the next few days.

On April 28th, we had his party. I told him his party would be after church. We get out at 1 and the party wasn't until 6, so you can imagine how many times I heard things like, 'When are people going to come?'

...Trying to wait patiently...

...Shaylyn and Tanis had lots of fun helping decorate...

At 6:00, family members starting showing up. It was so nice that everyone that lives around us was able to come. Nathaniel was spoiled rotten. After watching his 4th year video, we went to opening presents.

...From Great Uncle Dave and Family: A Star Wars Toy...

...From Uncle Corby, Aunt Adri and Cousin Carson: A Robot Bank...

...From the W. Family: Sidewalk Chalk...

... From Uncle Greg: A Batman Ship Toy...

...From Grandma & Grandpa H: The Batmobile...

My older sister and parents both gave Nate some money and other little toys, but I need to figure out my settings better since all those pictures turned out extremely blurry.

We then had the cake and ice cream. While I was getting the cake set up and the ice cream out, Shaylyn and Tanis played a duet of Happy Birthday for Nathaniel. Which I don't have a picture of yet. Thankfully Eric's mom is my back up photographer and I'm sure she'll have some better pictures for me.

So we lit the cake and sang Happy Birthday and then Nathaniel only half-heartedly blew out the candles. He was more interested in opening up his new gifts.

...Yes we did a Batman/Spiderman theme. They're his faves right now...

I'm seriously in shock at how quickly these 5 years have gone by. This little guy will be headed to Kindergarten in the fall and I don't know what Ailey's going to do without her best buddy with her all day long.

Happy Birthday little Nater Gator. 

What Happens Next...

The Lone Gunman...

So the other day, Nathaniel took a little wooden easel thing I have and decided to use it as a gun. He was running around shooting the 'bad guys'. I decided it was something too cute to not have any pictures of!

What Happens Next...

Happy Birthday Part Deux

April 19th, 2010...1:30 ish in the morning...someone, somewhere is turing 2!

Nathaniel turned 2 on April 19th and we didn't really celebrate it up big or anything, but we did give him his gifts when Daddy got home from work. Then we celebrated it big with family about a week later.

Nathaniel was pleased with his gifts on his birthday, but at his birthday party he was less than thrilled. It's called, we planned a party for him - tried to make him have a nap earlier, which he refused to do, so he fell asleep on the way to Grandma & Grandpa's house and slept through the start of the party.

When he woke up, he couldn't believe all the people that were surrounding him, just watching him. He also didn't want to open any presents, didn't want to blow out the candles on his cake - he pretty much didn't want to do anything!

Oh well. He eventually 'woke up' and had fun, but for the majority of his party, he was NO FUN!

Happy Birthday, anyway little one!

What Happens Next...

Refund, Please...

To Whom It May Concern:

Because I feel like this today:

I am requesting a refund for the whole day!

It all started around 2:30 this morning when Nathaniel woke me up for my nightly wake up call. I did what I usually do when I get this call. I get him a bottle, we snuggle up on the couch until he falls back to sleep and then I put him back in his bed. This morning it took about a half hour for that scene to play out.

After I put Nate back in his bed, I go to the little ladies room (Thanks to #5, it's a nightly ritual as well - I still love you though). While in the ladies room I hear Eric say, "Go back to bed." Which means that Nathaniel has ONCE AGAIN escaped from the confines of his bed and room. I spend a few extra minutes in the ladies room until I am sure Nathaniel has exited the room.

When I get out of the ladies room, I listen for a minute and all is quiet, so I climb back into bed. I try to sleep, but you know it is sometimes a fruitless effort being pregnant. So around 3:30, I hear something going on in the kitchen. I think that one of the dogs is getting into something, so I go to see what's up.

I get into the kitchen and see Shaylyn getting Nate another bottle...I tell Shaylyn thanks for the help and tell her to get back to bed since it is a school night. I try to snuggle with Nate again, but he will not have it. He is just so ornery...So, because I haven't had a lot of sleep and feel a headache coming on, I take him to bed with me.

For the next 2 1/2 or 3 hours, he sleeps very restlessly. At times talking (mumbling), other times crying, and sometimes just not holding still. He is just not sleeping well and so neither do I. Around 6:00 he finally settles down and we get some sleep. I only get about an hour of sleep before the older kids wake up. I stay in bed though as they can fend for themselves.

I am aware of the older kids as I drift in and out of conciousness. At one point when I "wake up" I realize it's time to do Shaylyn's hair, but I should probably go to the potty again...So, just as I'm coming out of the bathroom I hear the front door close. Apparently Tanis & Shaylyn decided to leave for school early, which means my daughter most likely looks like an orphan. It doesn't occur to me to run to the door and call them home either, instead I just crawled back in bed.

A bit later, Nathaniel wakes up. He is actually in a good mood and plays with Lex for a good part of the morning. I do my usual "computer" stuff while they are playing so that I am aware of when it's time for Lex to go to school.

When 12:30 hits, I tell Lex to go. He wanted to ride a scooter so he went out the door to the garage and out the garage. A few minutes later, I hear violent wind and when I go check the door to the garage, it was still open. So I close the garage and the door and lie back down. A few minutes later, I hear violent rain. I check the time and it's time for Kindergarten to start, so I relax.

Now, for whatever reason - maybe about a half hour later - I am in the kitchen and decide to check if there are really any new messages on the phone or if they are all old. Well there are 2 new messages. The first one is from the vice principal - one of those prerecoreded messages that every parent in the school gets and it was about something I'm not even going to pretend to care about.
The next message is from Lex's school teacher asking me something to the effect of, "Did Alex make it to school today. A few kids said they saw him riding his scooter, but he's not here. Call me back, but I'll call your cell as well." (Just for the record, I never heard either phone ring)

Just as I'm ready to freak out that my 5 year old never got to school, the phone rings again. It was Lex's teacher and she said that she found him. He got caught in the major downpour and the vice principal caught him and took him to the nurse's office so that he could get out of his drenched clothes and get into some warm clothes. I breathed a sigh of relief and asked the teacher if he needed his own clothes. She said it would probably be nice.

Well I hadn't gotten ready for the day, so I took a quick shower. Then, while I was cleaning my contacts to put them in, I broke one in half! So, I had to resort to using my glasses (which, by the way, are the wrong prescription and probably have been for 5 years) and I HATE glasses. There is a reason one of my very first 'real' paychecks went towards contacts. So for the next couple days I get to wear glasses that I can barely see out of and which cause me headaches.

So, I figure the day couldn't get much worse...and it was okay for a bit. Nathaniel finally took a nice nap and I was able to watch a show from last night in peace. But, when Nathaniel decided to wake up - it was hell.

Nathaniel spent a good hour or so, just screaming. I don't know why. Sometimes he is just that ornery and nothing can calm him down. And just about the time he decides to calm down and go downstairs to play with his siblings, he falls down the stairs! Luckily he is fine - but the screaming starts up again!!!

So, please can I have a refund on this day and start it again around midnight, where Nathaniel actually stays asleep all night???? That's not too much to ask for right?

Sincerely,
Eager For Some Real Sleep

P.S. I think I should also get credit for not complaining about the rain....besides the fact that my kid got caught in it...

What Happens Next...

Nathaniel's First Birthday Party

I got a little behind with updating the blog, but it's been a couple of crazy, full weeks.

However, hopefully, life has slowed down a bit and I can now go on my merry way.

On Sunday, April 26th, we had Nathaniel's 1st birthday party. We held it at my in-laws house because I didn't want to make everyone drive out to the middle of nowhere with all the construction everywhere. Trust me, every street leading into our little city has construction!

Anyway, so we had his party at our in-laws and Nathaniel absolutely enjoyed himself. He loved to open his gifts and to see all the goodies inside. He was a little bit curious as to why everyone kept looking at him, but he gave us a good show anyhow.

He wasn't sure what to think of the birthday cake and the whole candle thing. (Lex blew out the candle for him...) He didn't even really care for his "cake." Ah, well I guess that is a trait he inherited from his Daddy.

All in all, it was a good night and my little baby had a fun birthday.

Here is a quick slide show of the pics my little sister took with my camera. I'm sure my MIL has lots more and more interesting pics, but I haven't gotten them yet.

Enjoy Nathaniel's 1st Birthday Party!

What Happens Next...