2

My baby boy turned two today. I thought I would handle it better since I've basically been telling people he is two for awhile now. (When people ask how old he is, he says "Two!"--it's the only number he knows.) Then, when I got him out of bed yesterday and I realized it was the last day he'd be one, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

He gave me the best gift on his last day of being one, though. He snuggled up on my lap and fell asleep. I loved every minute of it.

Before Nate was born, when it was just Joe and I and the girls, I had the strongest feeling that I needed to have another baby. It's hard to describe except as just a huge preoccupation with having a baby. It was all I could think about. I hadn't felt that way before and I haven't felt that way since. I believe that these feelings were from God. I think it was necessary for me to feel that way so that we would actually have another baby. After Elizabeth and Natalie's traumatic birth experiences, and after being told that we had a 50% chance of it happening again, we were wary, for sure. But, I couldn't deny what I was feeling. After much prayer and discussion, Joe trusted in my feelings as well and we proceeded on faith.

We had new doctors this time around since we were now in California. It seemed like every time I had to explain my history, I'd get doctors expressing concern or at least astonishment at our decision. And, I can't even count how many times I was asked if I wanted my tubes tied during the c-section surgery. When we found out we were having a boy, we got a lot of "Oh, now you have your boy and you can be done" type of comments. But it wasn't about that at all for us. We weren't having another one to try for a boy. We'd have been just as happy with another girl.

Miraculously, we made it full-term and had a completely normal pregnancy. Our little Nathaniel arrived--our "gift of God". He truly has been a gift and now he is two. It's hard to believe.

He makes us all laugh. Sometimes a little too much. Sometimes we can't keep straight faces when he's saying a prayer. He's just too adorable and he often likes to throw in random things. Our favorite example is one time when we were helping him say a prayer. We were saying thank you for our family like we always do and naming everyone by name and this is how Nate said it: "Detz (thanks) Mama, Dada, Na-na, Na-na, pan-kick (pancake)". He loves his pancakes. :)

Sometimes he knows he's being funny and he just plays it up. One time in Costco he started doing this random thing and making us all laugh. Here's the video....


Unfortunately, he kept doing it over and over, and all at the TOP of his lungs until it became a bit much. He also likes to suddenly sing/yell, "That's... El-mo's world!" (or at least his version of it) at the top of his lungs in stores. He is a funny kid.

Here are some things that I want to remember about Nathaniel right now:

-The way he always says thank you--"Detz, Mama"--and how he keeps saying it until I say, "You're welcome."
-The way he says sorry. For a long time, he has only known how to give kisses to say sorry. Just recently he has started saying "solly". Sometimes if he feels bad for something, he'll just keep saying "Solly, Mama" over and over in such a sweet voice. (Noticing a trend? He likes to repeat things a lot.)
-How he says "Hook!" when he wants me to look at something. He's been doing this for awhile and I have a feeling it might end soon. His vocabulary has been improving so quickly. I don't like it!! :)
-The way he pumps his arm and says "I will go, I will do!" when we sing this song.
-The way he plays hide and go seek: he plugs his ears, closes his eyes, and says "Two...two...two.." Sometimes he says "Two...two...fo-ty...two."

-This look he gives me when he's not happy about something:
-The way he calls balls, "ball-kick". (see above video)
-He is an amazing climber. At 18 months, he was climbing those curvy ladder-things at the park. Other parents are often quite concerned about the things he attempts, and I usually stay close, but he does fine!

-The way he likes to say "Hello" and "Bye-bye" to everyone and everything. Usually, even if he's really upset about leaving something behind, if I say, "Say 'bye-bye (toy/park/mimi, etc)'!" He will happily say goodbye and be over it.

I love this boy
and I love to watch him grow.