Baby Nate

Seven years ago today at 3:21 pm in Monterey, California, Nathan Todd T. entered this world. He weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 12 oz and was 22 1/4 inches long ... a big boy! Nate was born with a head full of hair ... and it stuck up everywhere. He was all of 2 seconds old when the nurses began to ooh and aah over his dimples. His eyes were a bright blue, and never that dark, muddy blue that so many babies are born having until their eye color changes. Once Nate's hair turned blonde he looked just like a California Beach Boy baby!

Here are a couple of pictures of baby Nate for you to enjoy:



This is a picture of two week old Nathan. It was the first professional portrait we had taken of him. You wouldn't believe how hard I worked to get his hair to lay down flat! It was unreal how that hair stuck out everywhere!



When Nathan was about 10 months old, we visited Yosemite National Park. By that time, he had the Beach Boy look going on with his light blonde hair and big blue eyes. I've always liked this picture of Nathan because this is the way I think of Nathan when I remember him as a baby ... smiling with those big dimples and bright eyes. He was always so huggable ... still is, but don't tell anyone that I said that. Apparently, being huggable isn't cool for 1st grade boys.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... the best parenting advice anyone ever gave to me was this: The days are long, but the years are short. It seems like I've turned around a couple of times and my baby boy is 7 years old! I look at him and can't believe this is the same baby who was so quick to smile. He was born knowning how to use those dimples to melt my heart!

It's hard to look at the baby photos and think that this is the same baby who had ear infection after ear infection after ear infection during that first year of life. In fact, he was so sick so much that we made 30 trips to the pediatrician during his first year of life ... and yet, I recall him as a very happy baby. Well, happy unless we were riding in the car and then he screamed non-stop. This is also the same little one that flat refused to eat baby foods. Nate was toothless until he was over a year old, and yet at around 6 1/2 months he decided that if a food looked like it might be intended for babies to eat then he simply wouldn't put it in his mouth. The little guy just gummed everything! Nate was my quickest baby to reach all the big milestones: smiling, cooing, laughing, talking, sitting up, pulling up, standing up, walking, running. It seemed that Nathan was born determined to catch up to his big brother.

Now Nathan's my little artist. He spends much of his time drawing, or creating things. He loves animals and nature and science. He is hoping to find a microscope under the Christmas tree ... and maybe something to dissect, too. Some days, like when I'm talking to him about dissecting things or watching him paint a picture or see him riding his bike up and down the driveway, it is hard to remember him ever being such a small baby.

But then I recall that some things haven't changed. He still has blonde hair, bright blue eyes and great big dimples. He's still a loud and dramatic child, though mostly I think of him as having a quick laugh. He still loves to eat. He still has frequent ear infections, and goes to the doctor more than his brother and sister combined.

And his smile still makes my heart melt.