I forgot... Nathanael is 9!

With everything happening in March, April and May this year, you might not be surprised to realize I never posted about Nathanael's, Christopher's, or Emilie's birthdays.  Though of course we posted at least a little about Juliana's!  However, I realize I still need to post more about that, too.

Nathanael is our spunky 9 year old.  He is an active Cub Scout, great all around kid, loves in-line skating, playing piano, reading Harry Potter, playing game boy, and drawing.  He recently has learned how to change diapers and likes to practice on Jules.  Really!  He was given an MP3 player by Michael this past fall and loves finding new music to put on it (even if it is the Beatles, it's new to him!).

On his birthday, we had a scare with him falling and hitting his head hard enough for him to lose some of his memory, mainly of hitting his head, right before and right after it happened.  We did end up in the ER (with me 9 mos pregnant) with a CAT scan as he showed signs of concussion (losing memory and throwing up).  Fun!  So we really celebrated his birthday the next night.

I love this kid.  He's always been my bright eyed child.  Here he is just overjoyed on Christmas Day when he was almost 2... over a little monkey.  (and Samuel is in this pic too, as I am 9 months pregnant...)

He was in a hurry to get to this life.  He was born 9 minutes after Tom and I entered the ER doors at nearly 3 in the morning in a small rural hospital in Athens, Ohio.  And that includes the time taken to go up the elevator and get into triage in Labor and Delivery!

He's lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Missouri.  He's been to the ER more than any of my children, though we don't count passing through it on the way to his being born.  He's cut his head open, been dehydrated (also right before Samuel was born... I got lost trying to find my way home from the hospital and we started heading to New Mexico... we had just moved to Texas and the hospital was on the edge of town...), and his most recent CAT scan.

He's always been very loving, taking good care of his younger brothers and sisters.  This is Nathanael and Timothy.

This past school year he finished up 3rd grade and did very well in everything.  While he isn't in a hurry to learn everything like some of his siblings, he does very well at just staying with something until he finishes it or learns it.

He's working hard on being a Cub Scout and is halfway done earning his Bear.  He also wants to earn lots of belt loops (extra stuff) and arrow points.

You can tell he is growing up, taking on more responsibility and just paying more attention to what is really important.

We're glad we have Nathanael in our family.  He definitely adds something.  We'll let you know when we figure out exactly what :)