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!