Christmas Is In the Air

We're getting ready for Christmas at the Sperles. I can't believe it's less than a month away. We'll be heading north again to see all of our family! I can't wait for them to meet Sadie and see Eli.

Sadie reading with dad.


Decorating the Christmas Tree. Yes, it's small and fake, but our small apartment is already too crowded to have a large tree.


Ho! Ho! Ho! Eli is a Santa in training. He already has the rosy cheeks and round belly.


Wildlights at the zoo. They were so beautiful and the weather was just perfect. If only we could have done something about the crowds. Sadie is in this picture. She's nestled inside daddy's coat!

Settling In

We are settling into our new schedule with our new family member. Grandma left about a week ago and I am getting used to getting both kids ready and out the door in attempt to arrive at our destination on time. The house is in constant disarray, but who am I fooling? It has always been a mess and now I have a really good excuse!

Dog pile on mom.


Sadie covering her ears. It's a wonder she gets any sleep at all.


Eli imitating dad and feeding his baby. The baby also gets rides in the swing, bouncy seat and car seat and MUST be swaddled or there is a big "uh-oh".


Eli enjoying his view from inside the dryer.

Sweet Sadie

Sadie wearing her "Little Camper" sleeper.


Getting burped.


Hanging out in the Play Gym.


Taking a nap.

Random kids that you don't know.

Since Eli is getting a big head and demanding more pictures of himself, I thought I better post some of his friends for a change. (Eli is the tiger.)

More Pictures

Here are a few random pictures of Sadie's first two weeks.

Eli being gentle with Sadie in the cradle-swing.


A walk in the L'il Limo.


Proud daddy.


Why is Sadie wearing a snowsuit when its 65 degrees out?


Eli taking Sadie for a walk.

Good Morning, Emily and Ashley

We heard rumors that some certain nieces get up and look for pictures of Eli and Sadie every morning and are always disappointed when they find that nothing new has been posted. So, here's a couple for them...





















































I hope that holds you for just a little while!!!

The Family and Halloween

One week old already! I think all she's done is sleep. She's really good at it! We are all adjusting to a new member in the family. I think we're all a little tired, but otherwise we're doing great!

Sadie snuggled in her car seat.


Eli being gentle with Sadie. He's getting better, but he's really testing us. He was really bouncing Sadie in the bouncy seat. It took him 6 "No, Eli. Don't bounce Sadie so hard. Gentle." each with a one minute time-out in the crib before he finally figured out he wasn't supposed to bounce Sadie so hard. And then again this morning it started all over again...


Sadie in the bouncy seat.


Eli in the bouncy seat. Look at the drool. He just got in his eye teeth and he has a little cold. Poor thing.


Sadie and mom.


Eli helped dad carve a pumpkin. He didn't want anything to do with the guts, but he had no problems holding the knife like a wild man. Luckily, it was one of those safety knives.


Eli was a fierce tiger for Halloween. We did a little trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and there was a party at the community center where he got a bucket full of candy. He got to eat his very first sucker. I think he died and went to sugar heaven. He was a sticky mess. He liked it so much he tried to eat the wrapper and the stick. Needless to say, the candy is put away for mom and dad to eat!

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.

A Walk In the Woods

Eventhough Eli's been in the woods many times, this was the first hike we went on where Eli could actually walk by himself for at least some of the hike. It was a pretty short hike, but it took a long time. Eli had to stop and look at everything. He was so curious and so intrigued by everything he saw. And he saw some pretty cool things: butterflies, bumblebees, spiders, flowers, nuts, sticks, leaves, trees, mushrooms, moss, rocks, a praying mantis, and a caterpillar. I think it was a very good day for Eli.

Leading the way...


The butterfly was so into the thistle, he hardly even noticed Eli. Eli was just about to grab it when in flew away. But, he gave Eli plenty of time to look.


Eli loved the caterpillar until we had him hold it. He did not want it crawling on him and tried to shake it off.


The only thing better than throwing rocks is throwing rocks into the water. Eli didn't even notice that the water was freezing cold. All he wanted to do was pick up the biggest rocks he could find and toss them into the water.

At the Rose Garden

The roses are in bloom at the Park of Roses near our local library. Eli really is a flower fan. When we go for a walk, he always stops to check out the flowers. He touches the petals, smells them, and if I'm not quick enough, picks them and tries to put them in his mouth. He usually loves flowers with button-like centers (daisies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans) best, but I think he fell in love with the sweet, sweet smell of the rose. He walked around the park sniffing like a dog, his hint to us that we needed to help him smell the roses. Here are some wonderful pictures of our day.

I should mention that Eli took a pretty good digger today. Here are the pictures to prove it. Poor kid can't get a break. He was sick all week with a fever and the first day he feels good he falls on the sidewalk and tumbles off the curb.


Eli showing us his sniffing.


Leaning in to smell the roses.


Playing with the petals.