A Few More Pictures

Sadie is such a good sleeper (knock on wood), we've hardly seen her eyes. We think they're brown.


Eli LOVES his new sister. He wants to hold her, kiss her, give her toys and all of that fun stuff. He's pretty jealous when dad is holding Sadie, but he seems to be ok when mom is holding her. Here he's giving her a ride in the carseat.


Sadie and proud grandma.

Introducing....

Sadie Zeman Sperle
Born on Saturday, October 28 at 2:10pm (her due date!)
8lbs. 12 oz., 20 inches

Baby and mom are home and are doing great. More pictures to come...

Here is a wink from baby Sadie.




















Sadie meeting her big brother.















Eli is very curious about this new little person. He can't figure out why he can't throw things at her!!

Boo At the Zoo, Eli's First Haircut and Baby Update

Saturday was a beautiful, crisp fall day and we spent the morning at Boo! At the Zoo. There were many exciting things for Eli: the scarousel, the haunted train ride, lots of pumpkins, and trick-or-treating (really that was good for me, because Eli doesn't eat candy).

Eli loves the petting zoo. The goats and sheep are pretty friendly and Eli isn't too shy around them. Mostly he loves all of the little brown pebbles that are laying around!


Eli really wasn't into the mummy at all, but he's really into his mommy.


Today, Grandma and I took Eli to get his first haircut. I was really having mixed feelings about it as his hair so beautiful. So, I decided a trim would be ok, in fact, the cut is hardly noticeable, but now his bangs are out of his eyes. We took him to a place called Cookie Cutters that specializes in haircuts for kids. They have a big slide and tunnel in the waiting area, each station has a TV and DVD player and the chairs are some sort of vehicle. Eli chose the old-fashioned fire truck and was so excited about driving and Nemo that he hardly even noticed that a haircut was about to take place.

Here is the before shot.


During the cut he sat so still. He only moved his eyes to see what the hairdresser was doing.


All done. See, you can hardly tell that anything was done. Phew! Did I really pay $16.95 for that?


Baby Update: Well, she's not here yet, but my mom is which is a relief for me and I'm sure it will be a relief to Eli. Baby is due on Saturday and we're still waiting very patiently here at the Sperle house. Actually, Saturday is a bad day to have a baby here on campus as its a home football game and there will be 100,000 extra people between me and the hospital. Luckily, the hospital is only 2 miles away, so I can walk if I need to. I am now 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, half-way there already! The doctor keeps telling me to HURRY to the hospital at the first sign of strong contractions. We'll keep you posted.

Update and Changes

I decided to change the look of Eli's blog because it will soon be Eli's and new baby's blog. I'm not sure if I like it so it might change a few times before it sticks.

Speaking of new baby, she's not here yet. 10 days and counting... I'm 4 cm dilated and patiently waiting for the signs of labor. Dennis will post after she's made her appearance. So, keep checking, you never know when she'll arrive.

Eli can now says 3 words after months of coaxing and waiting: ball (baw), banana (nana) and up (bawwwwp). He does say mama and dada, but he calls everyone dada and mama, so I don't think they count. It's a good thing he does baby sign with us. He does know lots and lots of animal sounds, his elephant is the best!!

The Future of Eli's Little Sister????

Several months ago, we bought Eli a baby doll in preparation for the big day when he has his very own baby sister. We play fun games with the baby like "gentle with the baby," "kiss the baby," "hug the baby," "mommy's feeding the baby," etc. Because of these fun games, Eli thinks the baby belongs to mommy and daddy. Occassionally he'll get the baby out and bring the baby to us like we are somehow neglecting the baby. He'll hug the baby and then hand him off to us and go about his business as if the baby didn't even exist. Today, Eli decided the baby needed to have a little fun and he pushed him around in the truck. The baby flew out and Eli crashed several times. I can't help but wonder if this is what the future has in store for the Sperle family. Oh, the excitement!!

Eli hugging the baby.


Eli pushing the baby in the truck!


He's almost falling out...

Not Much New Going On Here

I don't really have anything to post, but I know that it's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted and that is just too long for some of you to wait. So, here are a few random things that are new with us.

1. Dennis started back to school on Sept. 20. It seems to be going great.

2. Less than one month to go until the arrival of baby #2. All is well. I'm feeling tired but otherwise great. At first, I wanted the baby to come early and now I realize that its much easier to take care of a baby nestled safely inside the womb especially when running after a one year old. So, the baby can take her own sweet time getting here. My mom is coming on October 24, so hopefully she'll wait until then.

3. Eli is now a runner, which is why he has 3 bruises across his forehead.

4. Eli is trying to be a jumper. We went to the zoo and watched the kangaroos and he's been jumping ever since. Granted his feet never leave the ground, but he bends down really low and thrusts his body forward.

5. Ask Eli what the doggies say on a moonlit night and he'll howl. If you ask him what the puppy says he'll just bark once. It's too cute.

6. Eli is passionate about being outside. In fact when he comes in from outside or wants to go outside and we won't let him he throws these fantastic tantrums complete with back arching, head banging and screams like he's going to die. Needless to say, we spend A LOT of time outside.

7. And what does Eli do outside? Plays at the park (he can go up and down the slide by himself), hides under the trees, throws rocks, gets pushed in the car, plays in the mud/water/mulch, watches the trucks at the construction site across the street, plays on the tennis courts chasing balls, looks for animals, and tries to eat poisonous berries, just to name a few.

8. Eli wrestling with dad. Actually, I think this may have been the end of a somersault.


9. Swimming at the OSU rec. center.


10. We broke down and bought a nice, used bike trailer that we can put both kids in. Eli would like it a lot more if he didn't have to wear that darned bike helmet.