A Visit With Santa

You can tell by this picture that Eli did not enjoy his visit with Santa and that Sadie couldn't have cared less who was holding her. Oh well. It was a fun time anyways.

The 100th Post

This is my 100th post on the Eli and Baby Sadie Blog. I have posted about 2 births, baths, sitting, walking, eating, falling, family, vacations and more. That means, you have read a lot about my children and you probably know more than you need to know. Thanks for tuning in every week to watch my children grow. It's been an exciting run! And, I'm sure, the best is yet to come.

Now, for the pictures.

I took pictures of Sadie's first bath, but they weren't very cheerful. She hated every moment of it and screamed her head off. I realize now that she likes the water really, really warm (like Eli) and is perfectly content to sit for long periods of time as long as the water is warm enough. So, these pictures are from her 8th? bath.



Last Thursday it snowed in Columbus. It doesn't snow in Columbus very often so Eli doesn't have the opporunity to enjoy snow as much as he would like to or as much as I would like him to. It snowed several times last year, but he was oblivious to the fact that white flakes were falling from the sky. So, when it snowed Eli and I went out in our jammies and played in the snow. When he touched it, he said "Oooooo". I think that about says it all.



Eli got this very cool sled as a gift and this is the first time he got to use it. As you can see, the snow is already melting. It was gone about an hour later.

The Many Faces of Sadie

Finally! We've had some camera difficulties around here so I'm just getting some pictures posted. Sadie looks sort of washed out in these pictures, but such is life with flash. These are the best ones. I can't believe she's already 6 weeks old and almost 11 pounds! She's starting to smile, follow people and objects and knows my voice. She's also pretty tolerant of Eli.






Eli fell down our front porch steps on Sunday. He fell so hard his head bounced off the cement. It must have looked worse than it was because he only cried a minute.

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.