EIGHT YEARS OLD.

HOW HOW HOWWWWW ARE YOU EIGHT ALREADY??!!!  Weren't you just born yesterday?!??!

Seriously though...EIGHT! 🥳 My baby who made me a mom is eight years old today!  I cannot believe it.  Honestly.  Eight just feels SO OLD and here you are, wrapping up 2nd grade in a few weeks (which means you’re also halfway done with elementary school! HOWWWWWWW THOOOOOO?!?!?!?), taking Sunny on walks all by yourself, staying up as late as you possible can weasel out of us to let you stay up, picking out your own clothes and doing your own hair, living the solo life in your own little basement bedroom suite, destroying everyone you play against it seems on your Xbox, loving (sometimes that loving looks like fighting, tbh 😆) up on your siblings, never ever forgetting to include your baby brother in heaven in any of our family happenings, and spending every possible moment you can outside, usually decked out in your army fatigues and armed with as many Nerf guns as you can strap onto your body.  You are truly such an amazing kiddo - your kindness for others runs so deep and your willingness to help with anything that is in front of you is really unmatched.  I love our ‘date nights’ when daddy has to go to work early so much — and love that you’ve got this deep love for ‘Survivor’ as much as I do (and love to watch old episodes with me too!). Patrick: you are one cool kid and I have loved every single second of being your mama these past 8 years!  Keep doing you, big guy, and you’re gonna do amazing things in this life. We love you so much dude and cannot wait to see what this next year holds in store for you! 🎉

Keeping with tradition, we had our funsies little backyard photo shoot to celebrate our biggest guy turning EIGHT!  And also keeping with tradition I'm oversharing these with you. haha!

He is just such a handsome kiddo and I love his hair at this length and how he gels it over to the side!  Gah! So biased but dang it he's just so cute!

I have no clue when his 8 year checkup is...and I feel like now those visits don't really mean much and these are the fun mom stats you want anyways! HA!

• Patrick weighs 70 pounds and stands *about* 52 - 53" tall  -- he is one big dude!  He is so hoping to hit that 54" mark so he can ride Batman and Mr. Freeze at Six Flags soon!
• He's lost 8 teeth thus far!  All 4 front ones on both the top and bottom!  He hasn't lost any in about 6 months though...so I'm sure he's due soon for some more chompers to fall out.
• Great sleeper - as always!  He goes down instantly (but as he's gotten older he has become a master of trying to stall, mostly by engaging in conversations with us right before he is suppose to go to bed). He sure can stay up super late (thank you KiKi!) if he wants to though ;-) 
• Speaking of sleep, a few months ago a lightbulb clicked and BAM!  No more overnight pullups for this dude!  I am so proud of him and I know he's wanted to hit this milestone for quite some time so it was so great that he did it all on his own, on his own time.
• Shared a room with Teddy for a few months then we quickly realized Ted, like all of our kiddos as babies, NEEDED their own space...so Patrick moved downstairs and has his own bedroom (with a big screen TV, futon, and Xbox!) and full bathroom!  Luckiest kid ever.
• Dude LOVES playing his Xbox - but he is so good about only playing it when we tell him he can and never 'sneaking' to play it overnight. 
• With that said about video games, Patrick loves playing them so much but will choose 10/10 times to play outside rather than play video games and I LOVE that so much about him!  He truly is an outdoor cat and cannot get outside fast enough every day when he gets home from school!
• LOVES to play with the neighbors.  Every single day the kids get home and race outside to play with each other and it's the cutest yet best thing EVER.  They have so much fun together and I standby that we live on the best street in the entire world.
• Loves sports, especially soccer and baseball!  And is so excited baseball is back this year and he's actually getting to play!  It was a long year off of sports for him...so I know he's way excited to be back at it.
  
• Absolutely loves going to Six Flags...especially when it's a solo trip with just daddy! Loves to ride on all of the big coasters and cannot wait to grow another inch or two to ride on the even bigger ones!
• Still an amazing swimmer - would live in the water if we let him!  Had a blast at the beach over spring break and was such a great little fish in the pool and waves. 
• Loves building and creating things - whether it's with Magnatiles or Legos or Playdoh, kid loves to create!  He also will take 'trash' and make it into all sorts of things too.
• Absolutely obsessed with any and all things army!  He loves Nerf guns so much (if he's home there'll be at least one on his person at all times!) and loves dressing up in his Army fatigues and using the house and outside as his personal battleground.
• His second home this past year has definitely been KiKi's Lake and he gets so excited every single time he gets to go down there!  His two buddies Jase and Gary live down there and he has so much fun playing with them - and I think KiKi loves having him down there as much as she can too!
• LOVES his little siblings so much.  Fights nonstop it seems with Rosie but is fiercely protective of her in the same breath.  Really loves playing with them - and Teddy too! - and even though they fight so much they are so quick to makeup and start a new game together.
• Nicknames (not really many...more so what Rosie, Annie and Ted call him!): Papi, P-Ray, P, PatPat are a few.

Welp friends, that's all I've got for my biggest little guy at EIGHT YEARS OLD!  Gosh, I still cannot believe he's EIGHT! (and I feel like I just say this now with every kids' birthday. haha!) But seriously,  it just seems so darn old!  Happy birthday to the dude who made me a mama.  Love you to the moon and back, and back again and again and again big guy!