Three Things Thursday: 19!

Well, today my first born turns 19 years old. I don't know why, but this is hitting me harder than when he turned 18. I think I'm just dreading the day that he moves out (he doesn't have plans to yet, at least until he's done with school). And the older the boys get, the less I see them at home.

It's something you don't really think about as a parent until you realize that the kid(s) have become super independent and don't really need you anymore! I should also mention that raising teen boys of this age is SO MUCH HARDER than I ever imagined. However, I am super proud of my boys, and I wanted to write a few things about Noah since it's his birthday today (and it happens to fall on Three Things Thursday).

I thought it would be fun to pick a few categories and list three things for each of them...

Three Things I'm Proud Of:

1. Taking college classes in high school and graduating with 60+ college credit hours.
2. Saving up his own money to buy a car--he did all the research, the inquiries, the financial stuff, etc.
3. He's very self-driven and I've never had to push him to do homework or anything like that.

Three Random Things I Remember From The Day He Was Born:

1. Jerry almost passed out from emotion and the nurse made him go sit down.
2. I was so surprised at how warm Noah's body felt when they set him down on my belly right after birth.
3. I fell asleep while standing up when the nurse was trying to explain things to me--I was walking from the bathroom to the bed at 1:30 AM after giving birth, and I don't know why she thought I could keep my eyes open, hahaha.

Three Things That I Loved Doing With Him:

1. Running a long run with him riding next to me on his bike.
2. Running races with him.
3. Walking him to the bus stop before school and being there when he got off the bus after school.

Three Funny Things He's Done:

1. On Eli's first day of pre-school, Noah colored all over him with Crayola markers.
2. Emptied an ENTIRE bottle of baby powder in my living room while I was taking a shower.
3. He was such a good sport about our impromptu "senior photos" session--I laughed so hard at some of his cheesy poses.

Things I Loved Teaching Him:

1. How to knit when he was four years old.
2. How to straighten his (newly long) hair when he was 18.
3. The names of the bones and organs in the body--he was very interested in anatomy from age three! (I've always loved anatomy, so it was fun to teach him.)

Things Noah Has Taught Me:

1. What a "poker run" is. (You can find the answer on this post)
2. What the word "salty" means (as slang, not seasoning)
3. How to use a DSLR camera ("taught" is a loose word--I'm not good at it, but he showed me all sorts of cool things!)

One of my favorite photos I took! I was WAY out next to right field when I took this.

Three Sweet Things Noah Has Done:

1. He took cake decorating lessons and he made me a birthday cake all on his own.
2. He's come to some of my races with signs to cheer me on.
3. He's always been sweet to Eli--from the time they were babies until this very day.

Three Things I Miss About His Early Years:

1. His "Bambi" laugh (his laugh was very high pitched and giggly).
2. Asking questions about *everything*.
3. When he and Eli would wait in front of the living room window when I told them daddy would be home from work soon. They got SO EXCITED when he came in the door!

Noah, Eli, and their friend Kaden waiting to see Jerry's car turn onto our street :)

The day that Noah was born, I had absolutely no idea what kind of person he would grow into. It's kind of scary as a first-time parent; you have no clue what to expect and you just do the best you can with the knowledge you have. I know for sure there are a lot of things I would have done differently as a parent, but I can say without a doubt that I am so proud of who Noah has grown to be in the last 19 years! And I look forward to seeing what's in store for his future :)

And because Noah LOVES Shrek, I'll close with this photo...