Luke is 1

The number of changes we have undergone as a family over the past year is almost unimaginable. One year ago this month we lived in a house (which we owned) in a town 750 miles from where I sit this morning. I was working full-time at a hospital pharmacy, while Sarah was a full-time mom. Most of our extended family lived within a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home. And our little family was just the four of us: Mama, Papa, Julia, and Mary.

Sarah and I have gotten in the habit of saving our kitchen calendars. It gives us something to use to cue memories (both good and bad!) and also can make us laugh quite frequently. Although March seems like the longest and most tedious month of the year, the page for March in last year's calendar is filled with more things than probably any other three months. One of us was taking Omnicef for the first 2 weeks of the month. A wedding reception. Some friends visiting from out of town. Multiple overnight ER shifts for Sarah. "Did You Match" day (coincidentally on the Ides of March), followed by Residency Scramble, and then actual Match Day three days later. On March 31 I see an entry that says "List house by this day (meet w/Julie before".

And last, but certainly most life-changing and important, on March 26: "DUE DATE. Ed comes to stay."

Fast-forward to today. "Ed," in the person of Luke, is now 1. Can you believe it? Chattering, crawling, munching fuzzballs off the floor, and providing comic relief, he has become an adorable blond attention-stealer. He's one change we wouldn't exchange for anything.

Sarah invited over a couple families from church who have children the same age as ours for Moosie's birthday.

Mmmm...waxy.

Is it OK if I eat this?

First Haircut!

Last weekend, while we were in church, some well-meaning lady came over to us and said, "what a beautiful family you have!!! Three daughters! They are beautiful. And you must have so much pink at home!"

"Thank you. We do have a lot of pink at home. But our youngest is a boy."

"Oh! Sorry, I assumed he was a girl with all of that beautiful blonde hair."

....

It's time. From the minute I first saw Luke when they held him up over the sterile blue drape during my c-section, I have loved his hair. I never thought I'd have a blue-eyed blonde kiddo. Julia and Mary had hair at birth, but they got dark mohawk-style hair that started to look like male-pattern baldness by three months and were completely bald by six months. Luke's mop just grew to epic proportions, kind of like the rest of him. So his Mama just didn't want to cut his hair. I won't let Mike grow his over his ears, but I had a beautiful son with.....I hate to admit it....but.........a Mullet. Long and flowing in the back. And only in the back. And after that comment, I knew it was time. And just yesterday, a coupon from Great Clips arrived. So today's mission was set in stone. Operation Haircut commenced.

Before the 'do. Isn't he just so cute? Mullet and all?

Profile view.

Mullet Baby to the REscue!

Our stylist said that six months is the youngest client she's ever had. Her co-workers agreed. Luke is now the reigning champion in the category of "Youngest Baby to Need a Haircut" at the Ypsilanti Great Clips.

Here is Handsome, trying to snack on his apron. Mmmmm.....hairs

By the end, he was getting a little impatient. Luckily, Mama had a tootsie roll in her purse to share.

Finished product! Isn't he so handsome!!!!

Back in the saddle......

Last week, I got a facebook message from Auntie Jenny (Eichten.) It said, "I miss you blog. Has the Alpaca Ranch been sold off to some "Agri-Conglomerate?"

Ha ha ha.

And how sad! I started this thing after Julia was born, mainly for family and friends to keep track of us. We are busy folks, and so are all of you....and we've let our Ranch go for a few months. And it couldn't have been at a worse time. We moved 1000 miles away from The Motherland, and now we have become slackers. Our Alpacas need shaving. We're gonna try.

...mama won't sell the farm!

:)

New Camera!

Hey friends!

We finally broke down and did it: we bought a new camera. I just about chucked the old one out the window on the day of Annie's wedding...I put brand new batteries in it, took TWELVE pictures. Yes, twelve. And then it died. Of course, by the time it died, we were at the church already, so I missed a LOT of good photo opportunities. (Although I must admit, I probably wouldn't have taken very many because I was busy wrangling three kiddos all day, two of them in white dresses.)

So, I went online and bought a Canon Rebel. It's a digital SLR camera. Don't ask me what that means. I wanted a camera that took a picture the instant you pressed the button. I hated waiting for our old camera to think for a second or two before it actually took the picture. By the time the camera would click, the Kodak moment was gone. Well, our new camera takes pictures the instant you press the button. Yay!

I guess it has a LOT more to it than that. I am now a student of photography, I guess. Mike is, too. We are having fun thinking about physics and how it relates to shutter speed, aperture size, and light. Wheee!

I also think that turning my husband into a photography nerd will help us take more pictures and post them up here. We need to do that since we are moving to Ann Arbor in ten days. Let the chaos begin!

Selling the house!

We're selling our house! Boy is it a lot of work to get your house ready to show. Remind me to hire somebody to do it next time. The goodwill in Duluth is very happy with us right now. :)

Click on the link above to see the virtual tour if you're interested in seeing what a clean house looks like. Obviously, the kiddos weren't around when we took the pictures...

Here he is...

Luke Michael Roger Sprengeler
Born 11:15 pm March 26th
11 lbs, 5.6 oz, 22.3"



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...and the verdict is in!

Hey all!

After a long-anticipated announcement today, we now know where we will be moving! I have been accepted into the Ob Gyn training program at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan! We are excited about the turn of events, although moving out of Minnesota will be a big challenge for us....we are both homebodys. And we have The Grandkids. However, the program and the community we will be moving into are both fantastic and I think we'll fit right in.

More info to come....

PS: Grandmas: we will only be 20 minutes from the DTW airport....we'll be there to pick you up as soon as you land. :)

PPS: Baby "Ed" is still in the cooker. We are due a week from tomorrow, induction is set for Friday the 26th is he or she isn't born by then. That gives me a week to pack up some stuff so we can get ready to sell the house! Our goal is to have the first showings on Holy Saturday. That leaves us with not much time and a LOT of cleaning to do!!!

PPPS: Just in case you were wondering...nope...we're not bored. We have enough going on to keep us "occupied." ;-)

We've been busy.

Oops. Sorry it's been a month since I posted to this beloved blog. There are many excuses I can think of. And some of them are legitimate, while some are of the "there is no excuse for that" variety. I really am sorry...but before I spend the next few days expounding on many of the details as to why I decided I was too busy to post anything up here, I would like to introduce you to somebody:

"Ed"

(sex unknown. nickname courtesy of your older sisters)

ETA: 3.26.10

(alien-baby picture) actually, the little circle is the lens of the eye

Actually, I think he or she looks kinda like a pirate. Ahoy maytee!

Helloooooo out there!

Good excuse, huh?

...whew.

I have the pleasure to announce to all of you out there in blogland that Mary Sarah Jayne Sprengeler was born Friday, May 30th at 2:37 AM. For those of you keeping score at home, that's actually only 4 days overdue. However, she somehow managed to weigh over a pound more than the J did when she was born, at 8 pounds 14. Luckily she's long and skinny, just like her older sister. I think Sarah said 20.7 inches. My favorite part: she has big long monkey-feet, just like me. Mother and daughter are well.
Now the females and males at our house are equally matched - too bad the other two members of my team are Simon and Bung, the neutered wonders.
I would be posting pictures with this, except my baby-induced sleeplessness has caused me to leave the camera at the hospital. (I really can't complain - Sarah's been getting a lot less sleep than I have the last two days. I suspect that that will change.) If the past repeats itself, we'll probably get around to posting some pictures by the time Mary's 9 months or so.
There are a couple of funny side notes that go along with this labor and delivery story. One involves a lawnmower and someone who has not mowed a lawn for 13 years. The other one involves no epidural or pain meds and the most hardcore cheapskate you'll ever meet. I'll leave you to ponder who the main character is in both those stories. You'll get the lowdown later when Sarah comes home from the hospital.

Guess What

(May 2008)