Crayola!

There are so many things Eric does that are overwhelmingly cute. So cute, that it actually makes the heart hurt you love him so much. Like the way he says, more. He doesn't just say it, he sings it..."moooooooo-rrrre!" Or the way his feet run in place when he is excited. He is meaning to run forward, but for a second or two, his feet fail to take him anywhere out of pure excitement. Or the way he knows to say "tank you" after he sneezes and you say "God Bless You". Or the way he pronounces the word "apple sauce". The list goes on and on...

including the way he colors.

The way his feet dangle from the chair because they are not long enough to reach for floor. The way he sorts through all the crayons and yells out the color he's about to color with. The way he holds his mouth open with his tongue out when he's really concentrating. Or the way he hold his head one inch away from the paper...as if he's writing the worlds biggest secret.

Mam-mee!!!

Since my sister is too little to talk, and I'm really good at using Daddy's laptop and saying ABC!, I figured I'd take it upon myself to write this on behalf of both of us.

Thank You For...

My morning muffin runs.
Burping my sister so her tummy doesn't hurt.
The time you spent with me out on the playground.
Our nightly walks around the neighborhood.
Changing my sisters diaper.
Putting together my puzzles with me.
Watching OSO and Choo Choo 50 times a day.
Picking out new cloths for me and my sister.
Getting my applesauce for me when I wake from my naps.
Rocking my sister in the rocking chair.
Taking me to school.
Letting me put stickers all over you.
Sitting with me while I took a bath.
Running over the mat when I'd say it's Mam-meee's turn.
Feeding the birds with me.
Wrapping my sister in a blanket so she wasn't cold.

I also want to thank you for helping my Mommy and Daddy out SO much over the past two weeks! For doing every load of laundry, and every load of dishes. For running to the grocery store and cooking Chicken and Dumplings. For watching my sister when they were out with me so they didn't have to take her outside. For watching their trashy shows with them. However, they think the score is pretty even since you made them watch Prince Poppycock! And for allowing them to go see a movie together while you watched us! But most importantly, for being my playmate over the past two weeks! It was very important to Mommy and Daddy that I had a very good time adjusting to my sister being home, and I'd say, thanks to Mam-meee, I've adjusted perfectly!!!

WE LOVE YOU MAM-MEEE!!! And even though you've been driving home for 10 minutes now, we miss you like crazy! You're the best!!!

I'm A Week Old!!!

Time flies when you're having fun! Boy is that true! It's the only thing that would explain the fact that this past week getting to know our Sara has flown by!

Here's what she's all about!

-She is the QUEEN of dirtying a beautiful brand new diaper that you just changed her into!

-She makes the silliest faces!

-Just like we predicted, she has the serious case of the hiccups approx. 5 times a day!

-She is very kind! When she wakes in the middle of the night to eat, it's not an immediate cry. She will slowly wake and you can hear her little mouth moving asking for some food. She gives you a good enough warning so you yourself have time to slowly wake up. Thank you Sara!

-Boy is she an eater! During the day she goes approx. 3-4 hours between feedings. But at night, from 7 to 11-ish, the girl cluster feeds! She eats every 1 1/2 to 2 hours! Works out nicely because she is then pretty full for bed time!

-She loves looking out the window!

-She never cries during her diaper changes. However, that's only because we only unbutton the bottom half of her PJ's. When we change her, and her arms are cold, let the crying being! Cover those cold arms up, and the crying stops!

-Oh...and she is the cutest thing ever!!!

Love At First Sight...

When we found out I was pregnant with Sara, we felt Eric was too young to understand the concept, being he was only 13 months old! As time went on, you could tell he started to notice a change in things...like my stomach! Still feeling he was too young to understand, we went about our days as if a change wasn't going to take place. Then the day came that opened our eyes...Paul randomly asks "Eric, where's Sara?" Eric came running over to my stomach and tapped on it. Somewhere along the way, he figured it all out. We now realized it was time for us to help him understand what this change was going to be like.

We read him books on being a big brother. We'd buy her cloths and explain they were baby sister Sara's cloths. I was starting to feel good about things...until I held baby Hannah. Eric did not like this one bit. He wanted her out of my arms. He would crawl all over me, insisting I put her down. Once she was out of my arms, he'd go on his merry way. He didn't necessarily want me, he just didn't want me to have her! Needless to say, panic set it...BIG TIME!!! And the tears for Eric's feeling started to roll down my cheeks.

And then the day came. Sara had arrived. How will he handle the fact that Mommy hasn't been around for a couple days because she was spending it in the hospital with someone besides himself. Is he going to look at me as if I turned my back on him? As he turned the corner and came running up to me with opened arms I melted! This feeling was short lived, because his eyes caught glimps of Sara. I held my breath as I wondered what his reaction was going to be. I will never forget the sound of his voice when he said "Ba-beeeee!" with pure excitement! It was then I knew everything was going to be OK. He has accepted her with open arms!!! '

When I hold her, he sure comes running over, but it's not to get her out of my arms, it to get closer to her! When he wakes in the morning the first words out of his mouth are "Ba-beeee" and we have to go give Sara a good morning kiss! The only difficult part, he doesn't quite understand his own strength. We have to say the word gentle just about as many times as he says the word "ba-beeeeeee"! Way to go Eric!!!

Eric and Sara! Here are your very first moments seeing one another! We can not wait to see this beautiful relationship of yours grow! But for now, until Sara can guard herself from some very strong kisses, and being rolled over from big brother pulling her blanket to see her feet, we'll do a little bit of supervising! hahaha! We love you both more than you can imagine!!!

Sara Elizabeth Has Arrived!!!

Sara Elizabeth was born Wednesday, September 8th at 11:53 am!!! She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz. and was 20 inches long...and is absolutely perfect!!!

The Plan: Wednesday...go to our 12:00 Dr. appointment where we were most likely going to be sent to the hospital so I can be induced.

Sara's Plan: Wednesday...4:45 am..."Ummmm Paul, my water just broke!"

Out the door we went! But not before rushing around the apartment to quickly pack our hospital "bag". Yep, I'm pretty sure we're the only two people who show up with their overnight bag packed into a Stop N' Shop grocery bag! How do we know this, because everyone we walked by made fun of us for it!

Eric's labor happened naturally as well, however, it was approx. 12 hours and needed pitocin along the way to help move things along. I had a feeling Sara's was going to be the same, however, I found myself laboring in triage pretty heavily as we waited for a bed to open up on the labor and delivery floor. It was then that we thought...maybe this won't be quite as long as we thought!



And we were right. Seven hours later little Sara was here!!! And she was perfect!!!



I'd like to introduce you to Candi! A.K.A...the best nurse ever! We were also very pleased to see that, although she wasn't our Dr., the same Dr. who delivered Eric walked through the door to deliver Sara!



Later that night, we got a very special visit from Auntie Ally! Not only did she come with love and excitement for Sara's arrival, but she came with BOB's!!! What a beautiful treat indeed! We ate, and ate, and ate, and yes...ATE! Thanks Auntie Ally!!!





After delivery, Sara was taken to the nursery to make sure everything was OK. Needless to say, she was gone a lot longer than we would have liked her to be. Once we finally got her back, we had such a wonderful time bonding with our new little girl!





The next morning Grammie and Big Brother Eric arrived!!! Sara was VERY excited to meet them, as they were her!!!





Eric did extremely well with her!!! What a special moment indeed to see him meet his sister for the very first time!!!





Seeing him try to share his banana with his little sis, well, you know it had to be love at first sight, for big brother does not usually share his food!!!



But he does share his kisses! Melts our hearts to see them together!



The next morning, Grammie arrived to pick us up so we can finally be a family at home! But not before needing to get the car jumped by AAA!!! What timing!!! Thank you Grammie for pulling through for us!!!



Our family is now complete. No words can describe the overwhelming feeling we have as we sit back and look at what we've become as a family. All we do know, is we are incredibly thankful for that feeling that there are no words for!!!

WE LOVE YOU SARA!!! WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!

I'm 22 Months!!!

Yesterday I turned 22 months!!! Hard to believe I'm almost two!!! With my sister arriving any day now, Mommy and Daddy thought it would be fun to look at what I've been up to, that way they can always look back on what I was doing days before I became a Big Brother!!! So here's what I've been up to lately!

I LOVE...
-Going by the past, you'd think the first thing on this list would be Flags. However, the day has come that my love for them...has become a like. I still smile when you show me one, however, I no longer point out each and every one with a high pitch squeal as we drive by them. Crazy...I know!!!

-Bugs...I LOVE bugs! Ladybugs used to be my top bug, but the Bees have taken first place! And Daddy couldn't be more excited (yeah right!)

-Puddles...Stepping in puddles is one of my favorite things to do! Mommy and Daddy get very excited when it rains outside knowing the next day is going to be filled with splashing! They weren't too surprised when my Daily Sheet at school said..."Eric didn't really enjoy the sprinklers today, but he LOVED splashing in the puddles!"

-Coloring...My favorite colors are Yellow and Blue!

-Playing With Daddy!!! We have SO many fun games we play together!!!





And at times...I make up my own games! Like saying, "OSO!" and then flying backwards onto to the air mattress!



I DON'T LOVE...
-Sharing my food! Under NO circumstances, do I share my food!

-When Mommy and Daddy sing along to music I'm listening to. I pretty much look at them and say, "No" just about every time!


I'M VERY SMART!!!
Puzzles...I love putting together my puzzles! Mommy and Daddy remember the time where I had no idea what to do with the pieces, and now, I can put them together with my eyes closed!



Counting...I can count to 10!!! A lot of the times we try to guess when Daddy is going to come out of the grocery store. Mommy and I will count to 10...funny enough...we've been right a bunch of times! Just as we get to 10...Daddy walks out of the store! (Sorry I'm not in the video...if I saw Mommy's phone, I would have wanted to watch videos on it, so Mommy had to hide it!)



Colors...I know my colors! At times I get them wrong, but Mommy and Daddy are pretty impressed with how little I tend to mess up.




I LOVE MUSIC!!!
I've been listening to music for a very long time now. However, it's only recently that I've started to sing along with them!!!




Eric, not a day goes by that Mommy and Daddy don't turn to each other and just smile. It's a smile that says so much. There are no words to describe what you've brought to our lives, and we are so excited for your sister to bring the same! We Love You! And thank you for the smiles you bring to us each and every day!!!

Run Away...and at such a young age!

Ding-Dong!

Eric has recently discovered a new trick. Whenever the delivery man comes (and he does quite often) Eric has now discovered that he is tall enough to greet him! The delivery men love it, for they are not expecting to see little man open the door, as does Eric, so it works out perfectly, right? Well, sort of...



The other night as we were sitting as a family, Eric all clean from his bath, cozy in his PJ's, Mommy and Daddy all settled in for the night in their PJ's, it happened. Out of the clear blue, Eric decides to sprint for the door. Before we knew it, he was out the door, around the corner, down the hall, and he couldn't have had a bigger smile on his face! The boy had successfully run away at the young age of 21 months!!!

Looks like we might just have to start using the top lock more than when we just go to sleep for the night!!!