The Wilson 6 Chronicles

On this day, nine years ago, my first baby boy was born. Zachary was born on his due date which is supposed to be rare for first babies and was such a wonderful baby right out of the gate, um, womb. He was the best kind of baby to learn how to be parent with- he slept easily and cried rarely. He has grown up to be such a smart and funny big boy. He has my love of reading and talent for talking back. He has Justin's love of 80's music and an appreciation for fast cars. He is talkative and good at telling a funny joke. He loves his brother and sisters (except Eleanor- I would only call that emotion mild tolerance) and is ready to help me out to take care of them whenever he is needed. He is my right-hand man when Justin is out of town and I know that one day far far into the future, he is going to make a wonderful partner to some lucky person. Let's just hope that person comes with a steel countenance because I have high standards for my first boy. He is almost as tall as I am and honestly, that freaks me out a little bit. When did my baby boy grown so tall, when did he learn to write in cursive, when did he learn how to spell asshole? Sigh. So, today, I am going to hug my little boy and wish that he stop growing so tall and wish him Happy Birthday #9.

When I was pregnant with Eleanor, I spent the entire pregnancy in a hormonal freak show worried about Alden's reaction to being "replaced" when she was born. He was only 15 months old when she was born and I was convinced that he was going to be devastated by my betrayal of having another baby when he was so little. He was going to hate me and never forgive his little sister. I cried myself to sleep at night over it and cried over his crib the night before I was scheduled to be induced with Eleanor. Hey- I told you it was a hormonal freak show. But things have turned out so much better between the two of them than I could ever imagined. They are as thick as thieves and are, for the most part, the leaders of a 2 person gang set to destroy any semblance of peace during my day. They are complete opposites but compliment each other so well. Alden is laid back and calm- very low key and happy to sit and do the same thing all.day.long. Eleanor is constantly in motion and always on her way to get into something that is forbidden. She is the yin to Alden's yang. They tend to take care of each other too- if Eleanor is sneaking popsicles or candy, she always gets one for Alden too. If Eleanor is tired and wants to lay down, Alden will turn on Dora for her to watch so she can wind down and take a nap. It really is a cute little dynamic they have. This past week, we have all been fighting a cold that has managed to work its way through the entire family. Alden was sick with it Wednesday and Thursday and it hit Eleanor on Friday. She was just pitiful and low key which is not the norm for her. So Saturday night, Zachary went to Grammie's house and the Middles and Harper all curled up in the bed with me to hang out and watch tv. This was a treat for Alden and he was out in no time (the girls had long been asleep). In the middle of the night, Harper woke me up to nurse and I sat up to check on Eleanor and saw the sweetest sight. Eleanor was holding Alden's Doggie (his prized possession) and Alden was hugging Eleanor. And she woke up this morning feeling 100% better after 2 days of sickness. So I think that not only do the Middles have a strong bond, I think together they have a little bit of healing magic.

With the very anticipated warm weather that we had this weekend, we took the opportunity to get out of the house and go geocaching. We haven't been out with the GPS since last May (when we had the run-in with the questionable red-tailed hawk of death) because well, it got really hot in June and I was really pregnant, then after Harper was born, well, let's just say that geocaching wasn't at the top of things-to-do list. But with the glorious weather, we loaded up the GPS with coords and headed out- only to be met with grumpy kids who had no desire to walk anywhere and were hell bent on jumping into the Pacolet River at all costs. At more than one point in the afternoon, I was carrying Harper in my front in a sling, and had either Alden or Eleanor riding piggyback. We started out with a trip to everyone's favorite place, Hatcher Gardens, which went fine (and we even got a glimpse of some blooming flowers- yay for spring!) and we finally grabbed the cache that is there. Then we headed to the Pacolet River Heritage Preserve which the intentions of getting the 5 caches there- we managed 2 and were lucky to get those given the Muggle traffic and the dispositions of Alden and Eleanor. Alden, for the most part, was okay- just tired at the end of a 2+ mile hike but Eleanor was downright miserable- bless her heart. She is so independent and doesn't want to be carried "like a baby" but she's not quite big enough to walk the whole time. She wanted to be anywhere but where she was at the time. Well, as long as she could get as close as possible to jumping into a body of water, she was fine. She is a tough little cookie- ready to jump in a creek or slide down a hill. Let's just hope that our next adventure is a little less dramatic.

Back in December, we got some pinecones (thanks Lisa and Laura!) with the intention of making birdfeeders while Zachary was out of school. But then, my lips started going insane and quite honestly, I just didn't feel like any kind of "activity time" so it was put off. So, while Justin was gone golfing this morning, we got out the peanut butter and pinecones and made a few birdfeeders for our feathered friends outside. The kids managed to keep the mess to a minimum and hopefully, the peanut butter smell is going to fade soon. Yuck.