Kaelyn's new trick

Kaelyn was not too sure what to make of it when she rolled over from her back to stomach today! She just looked at all of us clapping for her and smiled and then decided that was enough of that. But when we rolled her over to her back, she rolled right back over again. After the third time, I guess she decided that it was okay to be on her belly because she played for awhile. Missed it with the camera, but here's the adorable smile we got!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we went up to mom and dad's on Wednesday after work. Matthew looked forward to the trip for two weeks and was so excited to go that he wouldn't sleep in the car on the way there! It was great to have everone there, and Doug and Courtney were able to meet Kaelyn. Of course, Matthew had the most energy of everyone and just wanted to play and play! And who knows what possessed us, but all of the kids went shopping at 4 am Friday. Grandma thankfully took care of Matthew and Kaelyn during the mornig hours!

Late morning Friday put us back on the road home, as we needed to visit with Chris' family Friday and Saturday evenings. We had a fun night of catching up with Brian and Amy's wedding plans and Michelle's trip to Africa. Saturday wew celebrated an early Christmas with the Carlisle's, as they won't be here for Christmas. And after four years, we finally took another family picture. (I'll have to upload it later as I am still trying to figure out my new camera)

Now it is Sunday evening at 8 pm and all is quiet in our house after a very busy week and a day of putting up Christmas decorations, and off to bed I go!

Update

So, I haven't really had much of a chance to update the blog since Matthew's costume party for school. Unfortunately, the last week of October found Kaelyn with the stomach bug that ended with a two night stay in the hosptial for dehydration. She was released in time to run home and see Matthew for trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Since then, it has been slow to get back into a routine, but I think we are finally there now, as Kaelyn is doing fine. That happened right around her 3 month mark and she was 11 lbs 6 oz and 23 inches long. Matthew has been enjoying pre-school and has quite the imagination now. He loves to pretend to play Star wars (which he calls Star boards) and spiderman. It seems we have entered the unchartered waters of the super hero phase! Sally has been busy with school, which is going well, and Chris has been busy at work.

Costume Party

Last night, Matthew's school had a costume party for all their students. So, we dressed him up as a Cubbies ball player and Kaelyn as a little black cat. They looked so cute, we had to take pictures.

Kaelyn wasn't too sure about Matthew holding her, but he assured me "I won't drop her mom", so I just snapped the picutre really quick!

Then Matthew wanted a picture with his pumpkin and a silly face.

Finally, we made it to school. There were so many games and kids there that the gym was packed! Matthew played several games, but liked the sports ones the best (bean bag toss, football throw, and putt putt) and he actually did very well in them! Fortunately for us, most of the games had little trinket prizes as opposed to candy! Of course they also had snacks for the kids when they were finished with the games, which he enjoyed too!

Back to Work

I officially ended my maternity leave last Monday, Oct 13th. I had mixed emotions about going back, but taking Kaelyn to our wonderful sitter the week before helped me be at ease the first day back. She is such a good baby and usually very happy and does very well at the sitters. I was able to jump right into teaching and enjoy my classes and students, at least so far, this year. It has been an adjustment to getting everyone ready in the mornings and evenings, with trying to coordinate feeding schedules with baths and bedtimes, but we seem to be managing fairly well. It also helps that we are all getting sleep as Kaelyn had continued to lengthen her nights. The last two days she has slept for 8 - 9 hours straight!

Photo Shoot

I wanted to have some good pictures of the kids for when I go back to work tomorrow. So, we had a photo shoot at home this morning. Here are some of the better pictures.

Preschool Field Trip

Matthew had his first field trip Thursday to a local farm. He was excited to have his very first ride on the school bus!

Once they got to the farm, they were able to hold the bunnies, watch as farmer Tony released a homing pigeon, feed the goats and chickens, and gather the eggs from the chicken coop. He had lots of fun!

Kaelyn is 2 Months

Kaelyn had her 2 month well baby visit last Friday. She now weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces and is 22 inches long. (She seems so much longer though!) Her doctor was very pleased with how she is growing and she falls in the 50th percentiles. She even did fairly well with her shots, crying at first but sound asleep before we even checked out! It's hard to believe that she is getting so big.

Matthew also had his check-up the same day and was in the 75% both for height (42 inches) and weight (39 pounds)! Growing like weeds!

Pumpkin Patch

The first weekend in October, Chris and I took Matthew and Kaelyn to the Joe Huber Family Farm. They have several attractions, but the most popular this time of year is the pumpkin patch. Matthew could hardly believe that we were going to ride on the bed of a tractor out to the pumpkin patch. Once the tractor stopped to let us off, Matthew thought we had to get the first pumpkin closest to the tractor so that we could get back on before the tractor left. He wasn't too thrilled about the tractor leaving us in the middle of the pumpkin patch! Once he finally understood that more tractors were coming back to pick us up, he got into the spirit of things. He didn't know which way to go first and ended up going through the entire patch before he found his pumpkin. Kaelyn spent her first trip to the pumpkin patch sound asleep in the front carrier!

IU vs. MSU

Last Saturday, Chris and I met up with Jen and Aaron in Bloomington for the IU MSU football game. Of course, Jen and I were suckered into wearing red and white instead of our green. However, we did a lot of cheering for MSU between ourselves as those around us wondered what on earth was going on - people wearing IU colors and rooting for the other team just doesn't happen! So, we had to explain to those in front and back of us that Jen and I are born MSU fans but our husbands are IU fans (and they drove that day : ) ). The better team, depending on who you ask, came out on top that day. GO STATE!

I'm FOUR!!!

Matthew turned four this past Wednesday, the 17th, though it seems that we have celebrated all week long! First, we celebrated over the weekend with family. He had a great time playing with the balloons at the party and trying to sneak a dab of icing off the cake. He has managed to play with everything he received already this week, especially his art supplies. He absolutely loves to paint! Then we made brownies for his pre-school celebration on Tuesday, and cupcakes for the sitters on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon, Chris took off work and we picked Matthew up early and took him to play miniture golf and go to Chuck E Cheese. He had a great time saying "Today, I am really four!" as opposed to his "I'm four, well not really, I'm still three." comments earlier in the week when he celebrated his birthday!

Kaelyn's Baptism

Kaelyn was baptized last weekend during the Saturday evening mass. Everything was very nice and Kaelyn made it through without even crying, which was amazing since she had holy water all down her head and face! We were blessed to have Sally's grandmother from Florida, both our parents, and our brothers and sisters here to be a part of Kaelyn's baptism. We missed having Doug and Courtney, due to illness, but know they were with us in our hearts and prayers. Both Chris and I are so happy to welcome Kaelyn into the church and know that she will grow in God's love.

Kaelyn at 1 Month

Kaelyn is now 1 month old and is growing like a weed, or rather a pretty flower! She is about 9 lbs and 6 oz by our scale - a full 2 lbs more than her birth weight. Needless to say, but nursing is going well.

Matthew is adjusting to having a little baby in the house and really doesn't like it when she cries (which thankfully isn't too often). He will usually put both hands over his ears and pull his feet up to his chest and give Chris or I a pleading look that says "make her stop". He has figured out that sometimes she will stop if she has her pacifier, so he tries to give it to her and then pats her head gently. He is still a little jealous, but it really only comes out when he doesn't get to do what he wants when he wants to. Of course, this very rarely has anything to do with Kaelyn, and more to do with his own bedtime, etc....but that's not how he sees it! We are starting to get into a routine and hoping to be pretty set by the time I go back to work in October.

Matthew's First Day of Pre-School

Matthew started pre-school last Tuesday. He could hardly wait to use his new backpack and to play with all the toys in his classroom. When it came time to take him he said "Mommy you can just drop me off." I was quite surprised when indeed I could have just dropped him off, as he walked right in and started playing without even turning back once! It makes me a little sad to see him start school, but at the same time I can't help but feel so proud of him! After I picked him up that first day, he was so excited to tell me about the playdough and being able to use the glue to make an apple during art & craft time. So, he is off to a great start in pre-school!

Family of Four

We would like to introduce you to Kaelyn Marianne Sternberg, born August 9th, 2008 at 6:09 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 5 ozs and 21 inches.

Both baby and mom are doing well, not quite the case for our son Matthew. He developed a fever Friday night and Chris took him to the doctor Sunday morning - strep throat. Unfortunately that meant that he couldn't come to the hospital at all and instead went back with my mom and dad to Noblesville. He definately was feeling better the early part of the week, as he played many games of baseball with Grandma, Papper, Aunt Jen and Uncle Aaron.

Mom brought him back home on Thursday and finally we had our family together. Matthew is, of course, a little jealous but overall doing pretty well with Kaelyn. She has been the sweetest thing. She has been nursing well and then sleeps - and that is pretty much it. She is a happy baby and very rarely is fussy. She has even allowed us to sleep for a 4 hour stretch each night - knock on wood this continues : )

Due Date

Well, today is my official due date: August 6th. At this point, the day has come and almost gone and no baby girl. We are still praying to make it through the first day of school on Monday the 11th (5 more days to go) so that I can take a longer maternity leave. However, I can hardly stand to wait to meet our little girl - so if she comes earlier than Monday, then that's okay too! I think she's going to make the decision on this one! We'll do our best to update the blog when she arrives, but it will have to wait until I am home from the hospital. In the meantime, look for an email or phone call to share the news!

The Nursery

Chris and I now have the nursery finished, even her name on the wall! Of course, you can't see her name - sorry, we are still holding out on that one! I love to go and sit in the rocker at night and relax. It seems so hard to believe that this pregnancy is almost over; time has flown by! I will be 37 weeks on Wednesday the 16th and have already had some small contractions. So, while we were hoping that she would wait to make her arrival until Aug 11th (4 weeks from today), it seems likely that she isn't going to wait that long. I am now on the take it easy plan and trying not to do too much. We'll keep you posted as things progress!

Holiday World

This past weekend, Jen and Aaron came down to visit and we all went to Holiday World for the day. Matthew went on his first rollar coaster with Chris and thought it was "scary", but really enjoyed the turkey shoot and train ride. His favorite part of the day, however, was the water park - he rode on the lazy river a couple of times and then explored Kima Bay with all the water sprays and little water slides he could do on his own! He really didn't want to leave to go home, but after 61/2 hours at the park, I had to get off my feet. We're going to have to look into getting season passes next year!

Matthew's first rollar coaster ride with daddy!
Jen and Matthew on the Turkey Whirl. He wasn't too sure what to make of this ride! Matthew riding on the Salmon Run.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any picutres of Matthew in the water park since he was all smiles there until it was time to leave!

Fourth of July

We went to home to Indy for the last time before the baby arrives to celebrate the 4th with Mom, Dad, Jen and Aaron. We went down to the canal and had great seats to see the fireworks. I think Matthew enjoyed the fireworks, even if he did cover his ears the entire night! Matthew enjoyed spending some time with Grandma and Papper while Chris and I went shopping to find a few baby items.

Swim Lessons

Matthew was anxious to head out the door for the first day of swim lessons this Monday. He was a little tenative at first, but quickly warmed up to the idea when they taught them to sing a song and kick their legs. Now he can't wait to do Motorboat, motorboat go so fast and splash me with his kicks! His other favorite is London Bridges, where they swim under the bridge, get captured by the instructors, and then released to swim (with instructor's help) back to me. He can hardly wait to go to swim lessons each night!

School's Finished!

While Sally had already completed her school year at Southridge High School prior to going to Florida, she still had some coursework awaiting her upon their return. The last two weeks have been devoted to finishing Oakland City University classes and studying for the School Leaders Licensure Assessment. The test was this past Saturday and now comes the long wait for results. Once those are in, and hopefully she passed, Sally will be licensed to be a building administrator! While she doesn't expect to move in that direction currently, as a little one is quickly on her way, she will start exploring her options. Now that school is out.....summer officially begins!

Florida Trip

Over Memorial Day weekend we drove down to The Villages, Florida to visit Sally's grandma. We were certainly busy while we were there. We spent time at the pool the first day - of course, Sally burned her back really bad (even with sunscreen), so we found other things to do. Chris played a round of golf one morning so Grandma, Matthew and I went to the village square to look around the shops. While we were there, Matthew emptied Grandma's

wallet of coins to throw into the fountain. He also loved looking for the little lizards that are so common down there. When he found one, he would squat down to watch it and if it tried to get away, he chased it!

We also went to the Silver Springs village square to take a boat ride, shop, and eat. While they say there are 2 or 3 alligators in the lake, we didn't see any during our ride. Matthew loved the boat and still talks about going on it!

At night, both of the village squares have music and dancing. The last night we were there, Matthew was out dancing by himself and a little girl came up to him to dance. He turned tail and ran back to us so quick we were all laughing. The little girl looked so sad. But even more hysterical was the fact that he went back out again to dance, and she tried it again - much to Matthew's dismay! Then when she gave up, he went looking for her... Oh, this will be an interesting story to tell when he gets older!!!