Happy 9th Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is 9 today! (Today meaning, just after midnight, when all the sporadic birthday blogs get published, because if it's a good enough time to have a baby, it's a good enough time to post about it.)

All day I've been asking her, "you know what I was doing nine years ago RIGHT NOW?" and then telling her parts of her birth and labor story and she rolls her eyes (because tween) but then she side-eyes a grin with that dimple and I know she loves it.

I told her I wasn't going to let her go to bed earlier because once she was asleep, she'd be all done being 8, and I wasn't ready to authorize a new age yet. She's all, "mom! you do this every year!" Well... YEP I sure do, can't stop won't stop, get on board baby girl.

So! Birthday week! We are just in the aftermath of our second hurricane in a month (both minor for our purposes, still both frustrating) and we haven't had power and I couldn't bake a cake (I bought one for the first time, someone tell me it's fiiiiiine) or make a birthday video until the wee hours (we have power back, yay!) AND I just got back from a fall break trip with Nathan, so it's been an odd week of nerves and scattered attention and all of a sudden WHOA IT IS HER BIRTHDAY.

She's 9! Look at this sweet big girl.

Anneliese at 9 (almost) (as I'm writing this) is a kind, poised, quirky fun kid. She's ever more introverted, but still chatty with us at home. She's social and has lots of friends and giggles, but doesn't seem to be the leader in any group situation. (Except! We hear she is a leader in the classroom, which is fun to picture.) She has a steady approach to life, in many ways some version of an ideal self I think many adults would want to be (myself included): observing and measuring before acting, not reckless but glad to try new things, confident in saying what she wants or needs yet rarely pushy about it, and (usually) maintaining her composure even when she's confused or stressed.

UNLESS YOU RUSH HER DO NOT RUSH HER SHE CANNOT BE RUSHED. She will cry and break down and say she can't move fast or think clearly when someone is rushing her and stressing her and MOM YOU ARE STRESSING ME OUT (yes, it has begun) (she takes seriously 45 mins to shower and put clothes on every day, and I have no idea what she is doing up there -- staring at the wall? daydreaming of underwear? trying to "match" outfits? -- but I can't look too closely at it, I just have to trust that she'll be dressed and ready and she almost always is; we both do better when I don't micromanage her time but SERIOUSLY WHAT IS SHE DOING (I digress).

She loves to lollygag with her head in the clouds, she's very much a daydreamer, and also a big-picture dreamer, and I think it keeps her content and chill with most of what swirls around her, because she so easily can put her brain somewhere else. I sort of love that about her, because for all the ways she is similar to me emotionally, this corner of her brain is nothing like me, and it's interesting and fun to learn it about her.

She loves her violin and craves our attention and notice when she practices and masters a new song or skill. She likes books and audiobooks and has started leaning into some history and nonfiction which is fun. She is very pro-female and girl-leadership and scowls at people who underestimate girls. (YES YES YES.)

She decided this year she'd like to save some turtles, so we now get straw-shamed when we use a disposable straw around her in a restaurant, except when it's convenient for her, of course, and then it's fine. So... basically she's saving turtles at the speed of a turtle, which is better than not saving them at all right?

Despite being a whole head taller than average for her age, she's still plugging away at gymnastics, and getting better, and having fun! She also loves kicking the soccer ball around outside (this might or might not have more to do with attention and quality time with Nathan than any particular love of soccer) and she's still a strong quick little swimmer. She got a new bike for Christmas (after finally learning to ride last fall) and she's pretty good at that now too!

She's more and more independent, walking to and from the bus stop with Charlotte on her own each day, getting around Montreat on foot on her own this summer, and because she's eager for more independence, she's super reliable and helpful and trustworthy, which is... excellent, and a relief. (And a prayer it sticks, please.)

She loves milk and spaghetti and cabbage risotto and pineapples and sloppy joes and easy mac with sour cream mixed in (I don't even know). She dislikes fizzy drinks and all potatoes except the skinniest of fries, or chips. She would never choose ice cream over another dessert, and she'd never choose chocolate over vanilla, though she'll eat both of those things and rave about them when they're the only options. She adores babies, especially her youngest cousins. She loves dancing to music on YouTube and Amazon. She asked to re-paint her room this summer and after a zillion samples we found an aqua we both agreed on, so... yay for feeling invested in her sense of space? (And by yay I mean WHOA I'm exhausted.) She loves playing dolls with Charlotte and sports with Nathan and board games with Mark. She would communicate in nothing but emojis if we'd let her. She loves unicorns and rainbows and sparkles and slime, and her minecraft worlds are created thusly.

I've said it many times, and I think it even more often: it's bananas cool that we get to be her parents, to love her, to raise her, to see who she's becoming. All of us who get to know and love her are truly better for it, I really believe that.

Video of the past year:


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Past years of memories:
8th year
7th year
6th year
5th year
4th year
3rd year
2nd year
1st year

Happy birthday, baby Beanie. We love you forever and ever.

Happy 7th Birthday, Charlotte!

Charlotte Booler is 7 today! Happy birthday, baby girl!

She doesn't know it yet, but when we wake up in the morning, we are taking her to the American Girl Store (we drove to Charlotte, which is the closest storefront to us, to spend the night with my mom and put us closer) and letting her finally FINALLY get an American Girl doll, which she has been coveting for literal years. After wandering the Chicago store last summer, she knows exactly which one she wants, and we have two aunts meeting us there for a tea party/ lunch in the doll cafe (I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE), and I am actually legit excited to finally give her this thing she has wanted for so long. (There has been a "responsibility" requirement for such an expensive doll in our family, which she has... um... taken a few extra years to show she can handle.)

Anyway. Doll me strength. Happy doll lunch birthday to this child who has big-girl interests and somehow isn't in a bumbo seat drooling on herself anymore. I know, it's weird how that happened.

Seven!

Charlotte at 7 is a gappy-toothed bubbly chatty funny delight. She has no shortage of personality, and though she still hasn't really ever met a stranger, she's become sliiiiightly more guarded with who gets to see her truly silly side. She loves dancing in her room, lip syncing with a hairbrush, and filming herself talking to the camera about all manner of nothing (as if she's a youtuber, which she longs to be, which I will not allow, despite the hours of footage added up on all our devices showing her life dream about this).

She's a night owl and an early riser, both. She's a lefty who loves drawing and writing her name on everything. She loves puzzles and math. Her favorite mammal is a sheep but her favorite SEA-mammal is a narwhal, and her favorite overall animal is a penguin. (She really likes animals.)

She took a sign language elective at school last year, and now loves signing. She's on a quest to learn more, and notices sign language now everrrrywhere, tons of places I had never noticed myself. She says when she grows up, she wants to be a person who signs sermons in church (or an artist. one of those).

She loves Beanie Boos, and will recite a list of the ones she owns, in order of acquisition, to anyone who will listen. (I don't recommend listening to this, unless you have, like, very specific insomnia needs.)

She reports that the best new places she went this year were a Disney Cruise, and (finally!) Montreat. Of all our kids, she's the one who most craves a new adventure, which is really fun for me, since it feels like a little bit of me, connecting to her in that way.

She didn't do dance this year, because she was a bit overwhelmed at starting a full-day school schedule, and it was all just... too much. (To this I say: YEP I GET IT ME TOO.) She does miss having an activity though, so she will start gymnastics with Anneliese this fall. She also loves running (and is fast!) and finally this winter learned to swim. It's amazing how fast and strong her swimming is now, just a few months later. (However, she doesn't want to be called "quite the little fish" but "quite the little narwhal." Please to make a note.)

She and Anneliese have become thick as thieves this year, which is really fun to see. (Well, really fun insofar as the bickering doesn't exhaust me, because they are very much thieves of the bickering ilk.) When Nathan is home, she sort of has to vy for Anneliese's attention and affection, but most often she can fit right into the group dynamic, and the girls find lots of moments for sister time with dolls and dancing and whatever camping show they're into watching together these days.

Sometimes parenting Charlotte feels like a whole new beast to Mark and me. She's somehow cut from a very different cloth than the other two (I know, I know, all children are different), and it once in a while renders us feeling like hopeless newbies at this whole thing, even though we're over a decade in and she's our third kid. Those days and weeks and spells are... hard. She has her own mind, and knowing what the expectations are, and what the right thing to do is, isn't *always* enough to convince her to do it. But MOST of the time, she is wonderful and quirky and funny and sweet, always the first one who wants to snuggle or have special time one on one with us, often the first who wants to help in the kitchen, the least complainy about chores and cleaning, and these days the best eater in the house (whoa). She is becoming more confident in her needs and her gifts, and it's super cool to see her becoming the person she will be.

For now, we'll settle into watching her be seven. We'll spend the day doll shopping and eating chocolate cheesecake (her request). We'll delight in this little Booler, and be so joyful that we get to know her and love her. It seems only a moment ago, the idea of a third baby was so hypothetical, just a lark of a hope, and now she's here and human and funny and HER. She made and makes our family complete, and we love her like the sun.

Happy birthday, dear Charlotte. We love you so much, forever and ever, baby Booler.

Memories from Charlotte's 7th year:



(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)

And from years past:

Sixth year
Fifth year
Fourth year
Third year
Second year
First year

Happy 11th Birthday, Nathan!

Welp, Nathan is eleven!

The tiny baby who came home to two mostly-clueless parents and two pups who thought they were human, the baby who inspired the move of Erin's Official Internet Sharings from, like, long emails and LiveJournals and MySpace to HERE IN YE LITTLE CORNER OF THE WEBZ which has already somehow aged itself out of usefulness in keeping up with the times but I can't quite quit it anyway -- yeah, THAT little newborn baby is now eleven.

Eleven!

Happy birthday, baby Nathan!

He started middle school this week (magnet school with a modified schedule starts early and ends early each year). He's still doing orchestra, and loving science and design things, is doing a geometric construction class (?) (something about math and buildings) and also digital literacy (because 2018) and Chinese and all sorts of big-kid things.

He has reached the age of into-every-sport, thinks he is destined to be a great football star (he has never played football, never, not once, but he will be trying it this fall) (the flag variety, I'm not nuts y'all, PLEZ), is actually a really fast swimmer, likes running, and wears out athletic shoes faster than he outgrows them (he's still the smallest kid in his grade) (best of luck with those football dreams, buddy). He has fallen hard for the Croatian national soccer team, the Twins (?) and the Vikings (???) - but is most enthused about Clemson football, because, yknow, Dad time.

He tells jokes that actually (sometimes) have a real punchlines that are (somewhat) funny. He is too old for Daniel Tiger but not too old for Cars and Toy Story. He isn't yet too cool for snuggling. THANK THE LORD AMIRITE?! He loves his little sisters and his little cousins and is compliant and responsible and polite, and only shows signs of teen 'tude when he's overstimulated or beyond his introvert limits (but is better than many adults at recognizing that and escaping for a bit to recharge).

He is bossy but we have no idea where he gets that. *shrug*  *cringe*

His YouTube history is still full of dinosaur documentaries and info about maritime history, now with a smattering of Two Cellos, The Piano Guys, Imagine Dragons, Minecraft how-tos, sportsball highlights, kid chef/cooking shows, drawing tutorials, and Try Not to Laugh videos. (Spoiler alert: he usually laughs. Often at o' dark thirty in the morning when I am trying to sleep late.) (Someone wake me when my mom of the year trophy arrives.)

We got him a cell phone earlier this summer, for the advent of middle school (he'll eventually be taking a city bus home, and I need to text him and also track his every location and move like any millenial parent, duh) and as we were setting up our family cell phone rules, and talking about not disparaging other people or excluding them or saying unkind or untrue things about them, etc - he said "so basically, be a a Hufflepuff?" YES, BUDDY. YES. BE A HUFFLEPUFF.

And he is. Through and through. He seeks to include, he clamors for what's fair (to the point where his exacting nature is sometimes exhausting for me), he is empathetic and kind and funny, and just a truly wonderful little human.

I felt a LOT of feelings this past Sunday, his due date, the night before he started middle school. I cried all my tears and missed his infant self and I think I have that out of my system for the moment, because right now all I can think about is how great he is, how glad I am I know him, and how amazed and grateful I am that we get to be his parents.

Happy birthday, dear Nathan. We love you so much. xoxo


(Click here to watch the embedded video above on YouTube.)


Memory lane:

Nathan's 10th year
9th year
8th year
7th year
6th year
5th year
4th year
3rd year
2nd year
1st year (omg   *sob emoji*)