Preschool Pancakes

I just dropped off my not-so-little baby boy at preschool for his first day! WAHHHH!

Yes, I cried, but not until after I said my good-byes and walked away. And only because I'm SO PROUD of him. Though yes, it's bittersweet to send him off to school for the first time, it's also really exciting. I think he will enjoy it and thrive and make new friends and learn so much. His preschool is fantastic.

(More pics coming soon!)

This morning he knew it was the day when he'd start preschool. We made pancakes together (his request) while Lola took her morning nap. Around 11:45 when it was time to start getting ready to go, he really started dawdling. He crawled back in bed, informing me that he wasn't going to school today. "I'm going to take a four-hour nap," he said.

Finally, he made his way downstairs for a quick snack. Then more dawdling at his train table.

"I'll go to school another time. Not right now. I'm want to fly a kite now instead."

So there you have it.

I promised to look for string for his kite and that if it was windy enough, we'd find a field to go fly it in after school. I also promised a trip to Izze's Ice Cream. (Okay, okay, so that last part is just as much a reward for mama!)

A few minutes after saying he would NOT be going to school today, he gently walked to the front door and said, "Okay Mama, I'm ready. Let's go."

*Melt.* My brave boy.

Then he told me he would miss me and asked if Lola would miss him while he was at school. Once we arrived, he played with some puzzles and said hello to the yellow and blue parakeets, named Sunshine and Moonie. One of them squawked at him. "He's saying `hello!' and `welcome to school!'" I told Graham. He lit up and said back to them, "Hello! Hello!" We hugged and said good-bye. His lead teacher, Miss Margie, called him over to play with trains. He didn't cry and I didn't see him look back at me.

I think he's going to like it there.

A celebration of mother & son

Today was one of those days... a day in which so much emotion and gratitude and happiness arises that you barely know what to do with it all. So I simply did my best to soak it all in.

We could hardly wait to wish Graham a Happy THIRD Birthday this morning. We spent the whole weekend celebrating, with his party being yesterday and his real birthday and our family's Mother's Day outing being today. Jeff's parents were up from Iowa and his brother in from Brooklyn. I know Margaret must have loved celebrating with BOTH her boys and her grandchildren, too.

To celebrate both events, we decided to ride the train! The Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway took us on a two-hour scenic trip along the St. Croix River while also serving up a lovely Mother's Day brunch. Nothing could be better than a train ride for a 3 year old. Meanwhile, the moms loved spending time with our family while the woods passed by our train windows. We saw a gigantic bald eagle's nest and an abundance of yellow, spring flowers dotting the ground as we rumbled along.

Our entire train car sang "Happy Birthday," to Graham, which pleased him I think, even though he lowered his eyes and covered his ears. Sweet boy. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. We never could have imagined the utter joy he would bring.

"Toddler First Class" — right on!

The Nelson Fam

To motherhood!

With our sweet birthday boy

GoGo Greg holding his neice, Lola

A train conductor needs good fuel.

This fellow tooted the train horn just for the birthday boy!

Nana at the Mother's Day brunch

A proud Papa holds his granddaughter

That sweet face

Mama & daughter

"No more pictures!" 

Growing family

Alisa's friend Emily Rumsey (fellow doula, and also an amazing photographer and nurse-midwifery student) came over a couple of weeks ago on Lola's 6 week birthday to document our sweet, little family. Here are a few of our favorite shots! If you want copies of any of these (or if you want to see the photographer's entire gallery of our 250 photos), e-mail us. xo.

Dirty and loving it

Spring is here... and with it brings one dirty little boy. We've been having fun digging in the dirt and getting muddy. (Let's ignore the fact that it might snow tomorrow. Sheesh!)

A few days ago, this was all that remained of Graham's 3-foot-tall snow mountain. (We had A LOT of snow mountains.) "I'm king of the mountain!" he would yell after climbing atop it. He has since cried over the fact that our snow is now gone.

Dirty fingernails seem to make up for missing the snow, though.

One is never enough!

We are currently losing the battle to wean Graham of his beloved "dragons" (pacifiers). I guess we need to let go of this for a bit...

First family-of-four-outing

Lola is 10 days old today and we thought it about time we had a fun family outing. So we hit a local favorite, Izzy's Ice Cream for some scoops and smiles. It felt like an ice cream kind of day since it was sunny and a balmy 40 degrees! The first family outing was a success.

(Nevermind the epic, 40-minute-long temper tantrum G had later when Jeff took a bite of the pizza they were sharing. G wanted Jeff to spit his bite back out and "give it back." Jeff swallowed. G's fury was unleashed...)

Aside from being the expected sleep-deprived parents, we're holding our own so far and doing our best to give Graham the space to express his feelings and frustrations. Mostly though, he's pretty smitten with his little sister.

xo,
A