Bye, Bye Baby

Sweet baby Nathan has officially turned two. I have many mixed emotions regarding this particular milestone.  I miss my baby, but then again, Nathan has not been a baby for a long time now.  He grew up the fastest and is the most active of my three. 
He is the best combination of everyone in our family.  He's athletic and funny like Caden, sensitive and independent like William, inquisitive and thoughtful like his Daddy and spirited like me. 
I love each morning when we wakes up and requests his diaper to be changed by patting it.  Then he holds up his bottle and asks for a milk.  Then he runs to the family room and requests a "show" then sits and pats the seat next to him for me to sit with him.  Everyday, it's the same routine and everyday it fills my heart with joy when he pats the seat next to him.  I'll sit with him, holding still trying not to move for I know too well that something will catch his eye and he'll be off to the races of his day.  However, I love that he makes that daily request and that he still wants me to be next to him.  I'll always take that seat next to my little one, even when he's not so little anymore. 
Happy Birthday Sweet Nathan!  Enjoy being 2!  Love, Mommy

Simple Pleasures

Saturday afternoon on the tree swing. Simple. Fun. Happiness. What more could I ask for...

Say Cheese...

As a photographer, I usually cringe at the words “say cheese”. The words almost always produce a forced, fake smile. Over the years, I have found other word to use to produce a smile like face in an unsuspecting child… “Cheese” however is not one of the words in my bag of tricks.


That being said, my youngest child, who has certainly been over photographed during his handful of months here on Earth, has started to say the words “cheese” when I pull out my camera. He’ll come right up to me, look up, make the forced face smile and say “cheeeeeeese”, then quickly run away and will not look at me the remainder of the time I have my camera in my hand.

I vividly remember the first time I heard those words come out of this mouth and he wasn’t referring to the food. I gasped as if he had said a bad word and looked around to ask who would have taught him such a ‘horrible’ behavior. All and all I assume this is a behavior learned at preschool… but I have not gotten to courage to ask them… mostly because, I don’t want them to think I’m completely crazy. I’m already the Mom with “ttthhhhhrrrrreeeeee” boys after all.

Baby gets a new pair of shoes

Nathan is our little one. He’s growing up, oh so very fast. He is my love, my heart, I love him so much… it actually hurts.


My little buster of a boy rarely has something that did not previously belong to at least one of his brothers. Clothing, sure… blankets, why not… toys, of course… shoes… well…ok. A few months ago, Nathan outgrew a pair of red racing stripe Robeez that I bought for him while I was pregnant and nesting. In the meantime, I have been pulling out barely worn Stride Rite shoes from our past. I kept everything, this little boy has more than he could ever need…
Yesterday, I decided it was time that my little one had his first pair of real shoes.  So after naptime, I loaded all three boys up and headed for the Stride Rite. We were the only ones in the store and Nathan was terrified to have the attention on him. He actually tried to get back into the stroller several times, which I assure you, never happens. He pushed the stroller out of the store and halfway shoplifted the shoes we were trying on him by running out into the mall hallway. However, we finally found the perfect fit and style for my little tornado.  He left the store in the stroller wearing his new big boy shoes.

This morning, he got up and the first thing he did was put on his new shoes.   He dug them out of our shoes basket and he wore them all morning with his pajamas. He seemed excited and proud to have them. He’s my sweet little one… and I love him so.  Here he is in his new shoes....

Progression of a smile

My sweet baby is officially big. After weeks and weeks of discussion, I was finally able to convince Caden to let me pull his teeth. During my daily wiggle check, I noticed that the front top tooth had cut through his gums, so I decided it was time to get down to business.


After an appropriate amount of fussing and fear, he let me pull the small tooth to his right. It came right out. Then, I decided to pull the next loose tooth… the center on to the left. When I pulled that tooth, his cute baby smile disappeared into a snaggletooth look with his right center tooth dangling in the middle. I lost it immediately, my sweet baby was gone and in his place was this big kid with a silly smile.

He too was traumatized by his transformation, so we took a break, did some art (see the self portrait he drew), ate dinner and took the family out for some frozen yogurt to help celebrate his bravery.

At bedtime, I noticed that his center tooth had fallen half out of his mouth and was turning around backwards. I turned in a little further in his mouth and there was a pop…. Followed by Caden saying in his future Daddy voice “what have you doooonnneee?” It was hilarious. The third tooth was out. The transformation was complete. My baby boy is big boy now with a silly smile to prove it.

Wiggle Watch continues into fall...

If you can believe it Caden still hasn’t lost his tooth. However, now we can add two more teeth to the wiggle watch as of this week both top middle teeth are loose as is the next one to his left. My poor baby will soon be without three top teeth.


At this point, I want him to keep the teeth as his Kindergarten school portraits are on Wednesday. He took a baby gate to the eye on Sunday, so I’ll already have that gash to remember…so I would like to maintain his baby smile for a few days longer. Wish me luck; he has P.E. and a soccer game tomorrow.

On Friday night, we finally got a cold front. It was in the high fifties that evening, so Dave bundled up the boys and took them outside to play before we watched our rented movie of the night, “Transformers”. I took a moment to capture the boys playing together in this wonderful fall weather. Hope you enjoy the updated pics…

Wiggle Watch 2009

We’re on wiggle watch over here at the Schmidts. Caden’s third tooth is loose. It’s the top right tooth. It’s getting really wiggly, so Dave and I have asked him a few times if he would like us to pull it. However, Caden has such a negative reaction to this question; we have just left it alone…for now.


To understand why, you might want to know how Caden lost his first two teeth. The first was so loose that it wasn’t even really “attached” to his mouth. It’s was literally hanging by a thread. He would move the connected tooth 90 degrees in either direction…but still wouldn’t let us pull it.

I was so concerned that he would swallow his first loose tooth in his sleep that I convinced him to bite into an apple. He did and it popped right off. He was so relieved…so was I.

The second tooth was easy. It was loose. Caden was in the backyard playing with William. Next thing you know William kicked Caden in the face and out came the tooth. Little brothers can be awesome problem solvers.

Tooth number three is proving to be more like tooth number one. I imagine that it’s going to be in there, hanging by a thread. Can’t wait to see the story behind tooth number three….