Gentle Tenacity

Nate in Karate

2008-02-05T00:49:00.000-05:00

I had an amazing ahhhh haaa moment tonight with Nate. I know I haven't been bloggin here much lately, but it's not because Nate hasn't had anything to blog about, but that I've been too busy with my photography business. Anyway, back to Nate, he's just amazing! My sister Sabrina encouraged me to put him in karate with her daughter Amanda. I was a bit reluctant, especially since soccer didn't work out just a few months ago. Well thankfully I was optimistic and went with the flow, because Nate loved it. He didn't stop smiling from the moment that we got into the car until it was time to go home. HE LOVED IT! and he did really WELL. He was such a big boy, but remained cute the whole time. He's got this amazing little charming wit that he radiates. As I'm flipping through all the pictures I took I had the erg to blog. So here I am. In love with my little man and loving that he's in Karate with his cousin Amanda. Doing the things that we moved back to DFW for. It was great enjoy life with family. There's been a bit a drama bringing us down, but tonight brought us right back to where we were meant to be. Amazing, loving moments with family. gotta love it. I love you Nate and I'm so proud of what a big little man you were tonight. I can't wait till your next night in karate. Amanda I love you and am so thankful that you are in this with Nate. Thank to you and your mom for including us in this. What a great night we had. We look forward to many many more!

Pics coming soon!

Cute Moments with Nate

2007-10-21T09:19:00.000-04:00

As Nate's mother I couldn't be prouder of my little man. He's got the sweetest disposition and continues to amaze us with his vocabulary, his comprehension as well as his articulation and attention to detail.

This past month I’ve been sick and the last week I’ve been suffering from pleurisy, which means I’ve been having severe pain in my chest. He hurt me once from a really tight hug, but since then he’s given me the most gentle one arm hugs because he doesn’t want to hurt me. He’s also been reminding me to take care of myself and to be careful.

But onto his little statements that have brought big smiles to our hurts and even been worth the pain that I’ve had from laughing with him.

“Mom come in to my office, Lana’s my assistant. Please take a seat!”

“Oh that makes sense”

“I want that car when I’m your age.”
Oh no, where’s MY Lana”

“Mom what are you doing over there? Don’t you ever leave us again, I was worried.”

“Dad, I knew this was going to happen. I can help you I’m going to turn into superboy. I’m not superboy yet, but I will be soon and then I’ll help you.”

“Hi Dad, how are you? Let go, let’s go play Halo Beee (3)!”

Nate's school work

2007-09-26T17:48:00.000-04:00

Hey McKenna... here are the pics that you asked me to post... 3 months ago. lol!

Nate turned FOUR today!!!

2007-07-27T00:25:00.000-04:00

I can't believe 4 years have gone by since he made Andre and I the proudest we've ever felt.

We had a great day celebrating him and his beautiful life. He’s such a sweet boy and I take comfort in knowing that he is and will always be a good person. I couldn’t be prouder of him. I love him unconditionally and thank God for him every day!

We spent part of the day at Six Flags with grandma. Uncle Mark’s gift to Nate for his birthday! :) (Thanks Mark, we had a great time).

Nate was pleasantly spoiled all day. And I absolutely enjoyed spoiling him rotten!... and he’ll continue to be treated like the little prince that he is… well, until Monday of course. Then reality will hit and he’ll be our great, deeply loved, not so perfect son, that’s 4!

Here are a few pics from today.

4th Birthday Celebration

Part I: Six Flags

Part II: Our Family Celebration

Check back this weekend for part III: Party!

2007-07-21T01:01:00.000-04:00

Nate had a great time at Six Flags with some new friends of his. They are actually kids of a friend of Andre's from high school that he hadn't seen in years. Who... are actually our in-laws. Wow, it's a small world.

It was a fun time!

Soccer Days

2007-06-26T23:21:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that Nate's at an age to play soccer and I'm in shock again by how fast time flies by.
Last week Nate started playing soccer, but he didn't have the greatest time mixing with the other boys. We were a bit shocked at how much bigger the other boys were and after more than half of practice Nate decided that he was done. He had enough and sat with Andre watching the other members of his team "Blue Dragons". After 10 minutes out of practice the coach came to us and tried to get Nate back on the field, but he wasn't having it! After a few words with the coach we realized for sure that Nate was assigned to the wrong team... 5 and 6 year olds... THANK GOD. We were a bit worried about the difference between him and the other boys.

So here we are a week later and we joined his real team "The Dynamos’". He fit right in and was hard at work with his “real” team. He ran and ran and ran, kicking the ball a few times, but in his own silent humble way, he had a great time.

Enjoy the video clip; I'm sure there will be a lot more to come as he perfects his skills.

Nate's pal Sharky

2007-06-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

On Nate’s birthday Nate’s Tia Bena got him the coolest present ever… his very own fish, tank, and everything that went a long with him. He’s been such a great pal for Nate to have. Today the intire day was filled with emotions, including bedtime. We had our normal bedtime ritual, except for when we got to the feeding Sharky part… I couldn’t find him, until I saw his beautiful long fins swaying in the water… under the pump. I rushed to handled it before Nate walked in, but I was caught, Nate rushed to my side and said “oh no, what’s wrong with Sharky?” I said he tried to fit where he couldn’t and now he’s not feeling well, cause he got hurt, but it’s ok. You can go tell your Dada, if you want. So he ran down stairs fine until he got to the bottom of the staircase where busted out in tears and panic “come on Dada, I need you. Something’s really wrong with Sharky.” So Andre came up and handled it so well. It broke our hearts to see Nate this heartbroken. And of course, I was even in tears (I didn't let N8 see me though). Andre explained to Nate that Sharky wanted to go where Nemo went to see Sharky’s family. So they went to get a cup to get Sharky out of the tank and Nate said “Sharky, I’m gonna miss you” (tears).

Sharky’s gone now, but we’ll be on our way to get 2 fish for Nate tomorrow.

Here's Andre's prospective:

I was getting ready for bed and I heard a little whimper at the door. The door opened really slowly and Nate had one hand over his eyes and tears were dripping down his arm. I asked, “what’s the matter?” He said that he needed me. Why, I asked. He said, “because something is wrong with Sharky and you need to help fix him. You need to help him NOW. Come on.” He ran as fast as he could up the stairs saying, “I need you dada, hurry!!!” I knew what happened so I was thinking on how to handle it. When I got to his room Jenna was standing by the door really sad. I looked at Nate’s face and he said, “look at Sharky!” A glimmer of hope twinkled in his eyes. I looked at Sharky and he was dead. Poor thing. I looked back at Nate and he said that I needed to fix him. I said, I couldn’t. “Well then we need to take him to the doctor,” he said. They (Jenna, Lana, and Nate) visited his Aunt Stephanie at the hospital earlier that day because she had surgery to fix her back. Nate knew that if they could fix Aunt Stephanie’s broken back that they could fix Sharky too. I told him that that wasn’t what Sharky wanted. I pretended to listen to Sharky…”Oh, Sharky said that he misses his family very much and that he wants to go see them.” “How, Where…where is his family” Nate asked. I said, “in the big ocean remember? Like on ‘Finding Nemo’?” “Oh yes,” he said. I pulled him out w/ a cup and we sent him down the toilet. Nate didn’t understand why we put him down the toilet. I told him that just like in “Finding Nemo” all the pipes and water go to the ocean. He said, “Okay”…He looked at Sharky and told him with a really soft, trembling voice…”I’ll miss you Sharky.” He wanted to see him all they way down the toilet. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of him and kept telling him that he would miss him. My little boy is starting to understand what is pretend and what is reality. He knew he would never see Sharky again. He had faith that I could fix him. A small hope that Sharky would be okay. Death is never easy. We make all sorts of stories and alternate worlds that help us cope with it. The reality is a sad one, but it’s reality. He will experience a lot more death during his time and I hope that I will be there to help him learn how to cope with it. One day, I will be gone and by then I hope that I have taught him enough little tricks to continue a stable life.

Tornados

2007-04-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

We've been having a lot of tornado warnings and sirens leading us to enjoy our tiny storm closet. Most of the time it's when Andre's at work so I have to put Nate in charge of Lana and the flash light while I go in and out of the closet to take care of things. He does such a great job when he's not scared by the LOUD thunder. He takes such gentle care of Lana and calls out to me just to make sure I'm ok.

I'm so proud of himself and his ability to take care of Lana in such a sweet way.

When the tornados pass he’s all about sharing his experience with you, just ask Mimi and Papi. LOL! He loves watching tornado video clips on the computer and reliving it every chance he gets… poor therapist that come to visit Lana. ;)

First "salon" haircut

2007-04-05T14:54:00.000-04:00

He's such a big boy! I ventured out with Nate and Lana to get Nate’s his first "SALON" haircut. All other times have been done by Anthony, Andre, or me. But this time I felt it necessary to go to Fantastic Sam's. :)

The day began with us talking about his upcoming haircut and the donuts that we would get after it. We ran some errands and then went to the salon. He was such a little superstar! Everyone in the salon (5 people) were amazed at how well behaved he was. He charmed them all with his politeness, with his "please, thank you, sure, your welcome" comments. Anyway, he sat there still and did perfectly. There were many comments made that Nate should become a model, which I hope happens soon!

Afterwards, we walked right next door from the salon into the cute little donut shop with a cute little kid’s corner. Both Nate and Lana loved this treat and the moments that we shared there.

Here are some pictures and video clips from out beautiful day. Hope you enjoy!

Another day closer to Nate going to school

2007-04-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

It's so cute watching him grow up before my eyes. He's truly the cutest coolest little boy I've ever known (sure I'm a bit bias). He woke up this morning and came to my room as I'm sleeping to ask if he could play. And in my sleep I said yes. Then he came back to ask if he could watch T.V. Again I said yes. Then a bit later he excited was screaming "Mama Lana's up" as he ran to her room to sing her "Good Morning". He picked out her clothes and got her diaper, then said "I want to stay in my pajamas ALL DAY". Cute! But of course I had other plans and picked him out his clothes. Then he packed his book bag and headed for the door and said "I'm ready to go to school". It breaks my heart... so off we go to enjoy the day before the day comes that I won't have him through the day. THAT HURTS MY HEART TO THINK OF IT!

First Entry

2007-04-02T22:53:00.000-04:00

We spent the day being sick again. And we've been so for a couple of weeks now. First it was Lana and Me and now it's Andre and Nate. Nate's quite the trooper though. He's had nose bleeds, coughing, a skin rash and a fever, but still he smiles on. Of course he's been a bit bratty here and there, but still he's the best 3 year old I could ever dream of. Hopefully we'll wake with all of us feeling better!