Natty's birthday week

My favorite first-born son, Natty, crossed a big invisible line from single digit numbers to double digit numbers last Friday when he celebrated his tenth birthday. Ten years ago he was a small, helpless, teeny tiny, nursing newborn...sleeping in moving boxes because they were everywhere in the house (we were packing up our house in Virginia to move and we moved when he was eleven days old! Whew!)

Just ten short, fast years later, he is no longer so small or helpless or teeny tiny or nursing (despite people who told me he would not ever stop nursing if I let him wean himself....) and he no longer finds himself asleep in moving boxes.

Sean took vacation days from work to celebrate Natty's whole "birthday week" with us and it was quite busy and fun, to say the least.

Underneath all of the great moments, though, I've been emotional, crying because my little boy is getting so old, so quickly. While I love the person he is, I love his little newly ten-year old self down to his very core, I truly miss those pudgy-little-hand days of toddler-hood, those mouth-full-of-baby-teeth smiles and that sweet small squeaky voice of him as a three-year old.

No matter how tightly I embraced each moment over the years, the hours staring at him, holding him, carrying him, playing with him, enjoying him, etc. the moments still rushed by, faster than fast. I continue to try to hold fast to all the moments but still know that next year and the next, I'll be wishing I could slow everything down, add about twelve hours to each day, hold on to each moment and remember everything better.

But, in any case, this isn't about me, this is about Natty's celebration!!

TEN YEARS OLD!!

We kicked off his week by retrieving him from his grandparent's house, where he was so happy- biking, swimming, eating ice cream and watching movies every night, digging in the dirt, playing with my parents- to bring him back here where he was miserably bored.

He invited some friends over to celebrate with him (instant boredom reliever) and to sleep over for a night. The day/evening/night/morning was overwhelmingly chaotically fun, complete with massive dart gun fights, boating in the pond, dirt cake (that's the picture on the right and those are mushrooms on it!), presents, a movie, scooter riding, pizza, LEGO play, children running everywhere, Playmobile play and in the middle of it all, we had our new refrigerator delivered so I had coolers of our frozen food all around my feet as I tried to navigate and work in the kitchen. WHEW!

The good news there is that everyone had a blast, I have a great new fridge and for a few extra dollars, the fridge men moved our piano into the house from the garage, where it has been waiting for a long time for someone strong and manly to carry it up the stairs!

Natty's celebration week continued with another trip up to my parent's house, for visiting and pool swimming and another trip later in the week back up to the same general area, to visit my grandparents, aunt, some family friends and to open more presents.
Unfortunately, though, there was little celebration with my grandparents as my grandfather is doing very poorly. It was our first birthday celebration with family, without G'pa up and about, singing and digging into the birthday cake and ice cream with us. It made for quite a sad visit. :(

The big trip out on Natty's actual birthday day was when he and I made the trek up to Knoebels together, alone. It was a perfect day for Knoebels- not too hot, not too cold, not crowded at all, no lines- a wonderful long, relaxing day.
Somehow we managed to squeeze ten hours into the day there, from 11:00 in the morning until it closed after 9:00 PM.
We visited spots we hadn't stepped foot into before- like the Knoebels history museum, mining museum and all of the gift shops!!

Natty almost made it onto his first roller coaster ever, but fear gripped him at the very last minute and he quickly scrambled off and ran away, leaving me stranded on the coaster alone! It was a great ride for me, anyway. :)

We played miniature golf, rode the Looper six times, drove motor boats and antique cars, relaxed together on the 14 minute skyride, hit the carousels and grabbed the rings, rode both of the trains, played in the shooting gallery and drove around on Natty's favorite- bumper boats (which he went on no less then ten times...)

We ate ice cream (with sprinkles), breakfast (for lunch), cotton candy (which nobody really even enjoys eating- except Francie- but it was the thrill of getting it, taking a picture and then throwing it away that counted) and dinner (where he had all the waiters/waitresses sing Happy Birthday to him and bring him a free huge cupcake).

We laughed, we talked, we bought presents for everyone and we held hands as we wandered around together. I loved it! And, if Natty enjoyed the day as much as I did, then I'd say he had a pretty awesome birthday day (and altogether, a pretty fabulous, wonderful birthday week!) :)

Happy tenth birthday, Natty!!