Happy Birthday Nathanael Levi!

Last Saturday, Nate turned 3! Of course, it seems like yesterday that he was born. I gave birth to him at home, and he was 20 days early. I should have let nature take it's course and trust completely in the Lord's plan for his birth, but I didn't. Nathanael was due during Spring Break. I was panicky wondering how I would handle a newborn in the house while Zack (our autistic son) was at home on break. So, I conspired to take herbs that would induce labor. I really had no idea what I was doing. My midwife gave me some nasty tasting stuff in tea and I drank it. Rob and I left her house planning on going to KK4C to clean the gym before heading home to hopefully begin labor. We weren't on the road 5 minutes before I called my midwife on my cellphone to inform her that the "tea" was working and I was having contractions. She chuckled, knowingly. We went straight home and by the time we got there, I was in full blown labor. My midwife arrived within the hour. Several hours later, Nate entered the world, the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on. Because his birth was induced (I believe) he aspirated some amniotic fluid. For the first 36 hours of his tiny life, he struggled to breathe. He wouldn't eat or open his eyes. He simply worked at breathing very fast, forced breaths. After that, he was fine! He took to breast feeding just fine and we got on with life. He has been a joy of a boy! He was a surprise. We weren't planning on having any more children. It had been 8 years since we had a baby in the house and we thought we were past that stage. But God had other plans! The year he was born was a difficult one for our family and baby Nate brought such joy into our home. Joy that we so badly needed and didn't even know it. So, now he is three and we couldn't imagine life without him!

All of my baby pictures of him are on our old computer, still waiting to be transfered. So I don't have any of those to show. He was a beautiful baby and is growing into a handsome boy. I remember Jessica Duran telling me that she had always thought babies were ugly, but Nate was different and he captured her heart. Of course, she has a little one of her own now, and I'm sure he is even more beautiful to her than Nate. :-) While I was pregnant with Nathanael, I was singing in an ensemble. We had weekly practices so I wondered what effect, if any, this would have on him always being sung to. After he was born, I went right back to practice with Nate in tow. Janet Durham was one of the sopranos and has the most beautiful voice. She was holding him and as long as she sang, he was quiet. As soon as she stopped singing, he would fuss. Of all my children, Nate is the one who I will hear off in a corner somewhere when he thinks nobody can hear him, singing a song. I love it!



One can never have too many toys at once.


I'm not sure what Nate was watching, but his stuffed animal that goes everywhere he does was right there with him.


Last fall, all dressed for the Fall Festival at New Hope.


Although he can climb them safely now, there was a time when he was only allowed to sit on the steps at Kenny and Jan's house. He SO badly wanted to go up!


Nate checking out his birthday cake. All he could think of was getting his hands on the tractor.


Since Nate is allergic to soy, I had to make his cake from scratch. The icing turned out a little runny, but I didn't have time to do it over. It looks like a mudslide! Nate must have thought it was real mud, because he never did eat a bite of his cake. He was happy with the toys.


We try to keep birthdays simple. Especially when they are young. I remember when I was growing up that if it was our birthday, we got to pick the dinner menu right down to the drinks and the cake and ice cream. We didn't have any friends over. It was just family, special food served on our best dishes, and presents. My mom always hid our presents and gave us clues to find them. It was simple, but we NEVER felt deprived. Our day was a celebration! Nowadays, if I'm not careful, I get sucked into thinking that I have to spend a ton of money and invite everyone we know to make it special. That's simply not true. Now, of course, I have had several "large" parties for my kids on their "big" birthdays, like 5, 10, etc. But for the most part, we keep it low key. We'll see...next month is Rebecca's 13th! Anyway, here is our modest party of family only! That includes the only 2 cousins who live in the area. Kailee (beside Rebecca) and Nicky (beside Eli). I just realized that Zack isn't in this photo. I'm not sure where he was! I didn't have his pizza ready, so he must have run off.


Blowing out the candles.


His favorite toy was this "MP3" player. It has 21 tunes on it and it makes him feel like his big brother and sister to wear head phones.


Another year older, and hopefully many, many more years to come! We love you Nathanael!