First Day of First Grade

Sabrina started her new school year, in first grade, today.  Manburger was here to make sure she got to school on time.  He even made an awesome back to school breakfast of toast, eggs, bacon, and orange slices.  Sabrina was very excited and has a few of the kids she knows in the neighborhood in her class.  She likes that she gets her own desk this year too.  Perhaps anyone with a younger brother can appreciate the photo we took on the porch this morning;  Clark is turning out to be a real ham...

End of Summer Fun

After over a month without rain, we finally had a brief downpour.   The kids were so excited to play outside in the deluge.  They were soaked in seconds.   It's funny, in May we were so tired of rain, but come August, rain seemed like a rare treat.   That evening, the weather had cooled off enough for us to enjoy sitting on the porch and eating popsicles and showing off Eliza to some of our neighbors.

We also woke one morning to find that someone had "heart-attacked" our front door.   What fun!

Yogurl's due date

We've done this type of photo with all our other kids, so we had to continue the tradition.  Here I am with Eliza on the weekend of her due date.  She was 7 days early, which makes her the latest of my babies.  She is a sweet, healthy baby and we are so happy she arrived when she did.

Eliza Turns 100!

Okay, so she actually had just turned 100 hours old when I took the above picture, but I thought that was a good enough milestone to add a new picture to the blog. While I was at it, I thought I would add a few pictures of Clark and Sabrina holding her. She was probably only about 75 in those pictures, so I'm sure you'll see a big difference in her age.

New Baby!

 Eliza has arrived! She was 7 pounds 5 ounces, which makes her our smallest baby, but only by a little. I have to admit I hoped she would be born on August 13, because then she would have been like a little Fibonacci baby. 8/13/2015! Wouldn't that have been cool! You see there would have been a 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 all in her birthday, which is the start of the Fibonacci sequence. Plus 8/13 as the birthdate would have been great since 13 is the next number in the sequence after 8! Well it wasn't meant to be. Yogurl had contractions all through the 13th but didn't have her until 2:40 pm on the 14. She was so strong through it all, and I am so proud of my beautiful wife! I also think 8/14 is a nice birthday.

You might wonder why I included a picture of Yogurl 6 months pregnant, but this is actually her the day before she delivered. 

This picture is just a few minutes after the birth of our little girl. They had to get dried up a little, which is why there are so many towels involved. Eliza was born in a big bath tub, which was really fun to see. The midwife tried to grab her and bring her out, but she kept swimming away from her. When the midwife finally got a hand on her, Eliza spit water out in her eye and slipped away. I will be amazed if this story isn't edited out soon by my wife.

Here is our family (except for me, the picture taker) the day before Eliza's birth. Yes Clark already takes pictures like a deacon. If his daddy is any indication, he will get through this act-goofy-for-pictures phase in a few decades.

And here is our family now! You can't see that Yogurl broke a crown eating a granola bar during labor. But you can see something different about Sabrina's smile. 

That's right! She lost her first tooth yesterday. The tooth fairy came during the night and left her some money. One of the problems with living in a yuppie area is that Sabrina's friends have a tooth fairy who reportedly leaves between $20 and $100. Fortunately, our fairy, Ms. N. Forma Pauperis, brought her a much more reasonable sum. Sabrina was happy with the mere pittance she received, which was a relief.

And now for more pictures of Eliza.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

37 weeks!   I am trying hard not to think too closely about labor and the exciting part of delivery.  While I am very excited about this little girl arriving, hopefully soon, pondering on the complexities of pain and delivery don't do much for my pregnant mental state.   It's like gearing up for a fight, except you have no idea when it'll start.    I know I'll be taken care of well and everything will go smoothly.

Our big girl's special day

Our oldest turned 6 this past week!  I can't believe how quickly the time has flown since she first arrived and Manburger and I became parents.   We had a great time with Mimi there visiting.   Sabrina requested oatmeal with peanut butter and raspberries for breakfast; salad with chicken and hearts of palm for lunch, and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Her cake was a lemon cake with strawberry curd filling and a whipped cream frosting.   She got lots of art supplies that she is excited to use and share with her brother.   Of course, we don't have any cake photos b/c just as we were getting ready for the cake, we realized that our camera battery was dead.  Mimi took some photos on her camera and once I get some copies, I can put those up.   Sabrina is such a great helper and is great friend to her brother and a very inquisitive little girl.  We love her so!