Brian decided it was time for some modifications to Nathan's power wheels.  Granted, Nathan was sometimes having trouble driving up the little hill in our backyard and the additional tread that Granddad, Daddy and Nathan applied to the back wheels didn't completely solve the problem.  So there was legitimate reason for Brian to add some power to Nathan's car.  It turned out that the modifications happened the night before I went into labor, so the next morning before heading to the hospital, Brian took Nathan out back (still in his pajamas) to test out his hopped up ride.  Those Kornrumpf men and their cars!  (Just kidding!  I told Brian to go ahead while I timed my contractions.  We both wanted to make sure it wouldn't pop a wheelie with Nathan on it before we left for a few days.)  Gran and Pawpaw later reported that Nathan spent a lot of that day outside riding his power wheels, grinning from ear to ear!

Here's a video of Nathan riding and showing off some of the tricks he likes to do, including:

• Pulling his "trailer"
• Running into trees
• Man-handling his power wheels out of tough situations
• Riding with his legs propped up on the front fenders
• Playing bumper cars with a big ball
• Leaning into those sharp corners
• Steering with his "trick" grip
• Imitating Evil Knievel

Other amusing snippets include him adjusting his "cool headband" and performing tree inspections.  Enjoy!

I'm still SO THANKFUL for how much Nathan seems to adore his little sister. Not that he hasn't had any adjustment issues, but none of them have affected his fascination and excitement about Sarah. As I mentioned before, he loves to sit down next to her in their respective chairs...
...and was also excited to have his picture taken with her (though he didn't want to put his arm around her).
And here's Sarah at two weeks old with her pink bear.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Nana and Granddad! Carroll did almost all the cooking, the food was wonderful, and the timing for Sarah's feedings and naps worked out beautifully with dinner! Here we are before devouring our Thanksgiving feast:


And after being fed right before dinner, Sarah sat contentedly in her chair through THE WHOLE MEAL! Though she doesn't look thrilled about it here...

Later that day, we gave Sarah her first bath.  Yeah, it took us almost two weeks to give Sarah her first bath.  Some things just don't seem so important the second time around... it's not like she was playing in the dirt all day like Nathan does now!

Since her umbilical cord had fallen off a while before (day eight I think), we went straight to using our baby bath tub.  I think Brian made the call to put it over the kitchen sink, which made Sarah super happy as she stared out the kitchen window during most of the bath!

Scrub-a-dub-dub on her little head!  Daddy handled the whole bath by himself.  What a pro!

Sarah was super content through the whole thing...

...but once we got her out of the water, the crying commenced.

Here we are with our sweet, clean girl!

And that picture (intentionally) is reminiscent of one about two years ago with a different little bundle of joy!

Carroll kept Sarah the other night while Brian, Nathan and I headed to Lowe's to pick up some supplies for a little home project. Nathan had a blast "driving" the racecar cart he picked out (too bad it wasn't as easy for Brian and I to steer that gargantuan cart!) And one of Nathan's new favorite things to do is to direct us with his declarations of "This way! That way!"



I also was pretty amused as I followed Brian and Nathan down the aisle, watching Nathan mimic Brian's hands-behind-the-back posture.  He is so observant and loves to copy EXACTLY what the adults around him are doing!


And for a Sarah update: her right eye started looking gunky yesterday (and I think it had been more watery then the other since she was born), so I called for an appointment with the pediatrician just in case it was an eye infection like Nathan had two weeks ago. When we went in, Dr. Becky said it was most likely a blocked tear duct but gave us some medicine since we were going into the holiday weekend. The good news was that when they weighed Sarah, she was 8lb 5oz. So she gained 13 oz in the past week, almost 2oz a day! She'll be out of her newborn clothes soon if she keeps going at this rate! And because she was growing so well, Dr. Becky told me that I didn't need to come back until she was 1 month old, so I got to cancel the check up we had scheduled for next week and we'll see the doctor again in December.

Ra-ra is Nathan's special stuffed animal. Although he was able to go to sleep without it earlier this week when it got lost in the house, Nathan really does have a special attachment to him. Especially his tag. Nathan really likes to rub the tag between his fingers - I'm pretty sure he does it unconsciously.  You can kind of see him doing it in the picture below...


But from from all that handling, Ra-ra's tag was looking like this back in September...


...and since then was reduced to just a dozen little strings where the full tag once was.

But Nana came to the rescue!  She told Nathan that she would give Ra-ra a new tag!  So she removed a tag from another (less loved) stuffed animal and stitched it onto Ra-ra. That night as I put Nathan to bed, he kept telling me "Ra-ra new tag!"

I tried my hand at newborn photography today and realized that it was a little more challenging then I expected.  It didn't help that my little model started waking up as I was trying to position her, then decided to make me a present in her diaper!  But I think I got a few good ones...

I am SO THANKFUL!!! These first few days of Sarah's life have really been wonderful.  Sarah is a really sweet, easy baby so far. She eats super well and has already gained back her birth weight - we went to the pediatrician's today and she weighed exactly 7lb 9oz! And last night she slept for five hours, got up once to nurse, then slept another four until morning! Not that I expect a repeat of this, but it was sure nice last night!

But to back up a bit, Brian, Sarah and I stayed in the hospital for two nights and were discharged on Sunday morning.  Here are a few pics while we were waiting for our discharge papers to be processed



 We rushed home to see Nathan before he went down for his nap and he was excited to see all three of us!  He wanted me to put him down for his nap :), which I was glad to do... but then I ran to the table to stuff my face because it was 1:00 and I was STARVING!!  That hospital food...

Nathan initially was very interested in what Sarah was doing, whether she was awake or asleep or eating, but then when we let him hold her for the first time yesterday, his excitement grew to a whole new level!


Now he gets a little mad when she's sleeping in her crib because he wants to go into her room to look at her.  He loves watching and narrating diaper changes and helps out by putting the dirty diapers in the diaper pail.  When she's sitting in her bouncer seat, he wants to sit right next to her in his rocking chair.  And he LOVES giving her kisses!


I am SO THANKFUL that he is so loving and gentle with his sister.  I know it helps that for the last few days he's had lots of attention from Nana and Daddy so (so far) he has no resentment/jealousy when she gets attention.  In fact, he's really been loving life because all week (until today) we've had beautiful weather and he's spent hours outside with Nana, Daddy and Granddad.  There have also been no signs of regression, in fact tonight while he was running around naked before putting his pjs on (one of his favorite activities of the day), he ASKED to go poo-poo in the potty and then did!  That was a first! 

Now to Sarah.  Like I mentioned, she is eating great!  Nursing is going SO well this time around.  She is a super fast eater and almost never takes more then 15 minutes to finish eating.  I would have been slightly concerned, but she was also sleeping so well that I knew she had to be getting enough to eat.  She is also a "sucky" baby - in the first hours of her life we noticed how she managed to get her fingers in her mouth and would suck on them.  This actually threw us for a loop for the first couple of days because she would start rooting and we assumed she was hungry, but after nursing for 1-2 minutes she would just fall sound asleep!  So yesterday morning I gave her a pacifier when I couldn't calm her down and didn't want to nurse her to sleep.  So I think she's going to be a pacifier baby...  Like I mentioned, she is also sleeping great.  The first night home from the hospital she fed during the night every 2.5 hours for 3 middle of the night feedings.  The second night, Monday night, she got up twice, sleeping 3 and 4 hour stretches.  Then last night was the amazing 4 and 5 hour stretches of sleep!  I did pray before she was born that she would be a good sleeper since that was such a nightmare (no pun intended) with Nathan early on, so maybe God gave me a "yes" on that prayer!

As for Brian, I think he's already wrapped around Sarah's finger a little!  But with how easy Sarah's been so far, he's had a chance to to some yard work (those darn leaves!), finish up his pediatric anesthesia fellowship applications, and do quite a few projects around the house. 

And me... I feel so great!  Well, I have a nasty cough/sore throat, but except for a lingering backache, I feel already totally recovered from labor and delivery.  My energy level is higher then what it was in late pregnancy and I've even had to motivation to tackle some ridiculous projects, like organize our filing cabinet!  At the risk of repeating myself too many times, I have to say that I'm so thankful that this has been a night and day difference from what I went through post-partum with Nathan.  Last time I felt like I had been run over by a bus, but this time my body's bounced back faster then I could have hoped for!

So thanks to all of you for all your thoughts, prayers, sweet and encouraging comments and your love!  And thanks be to God for such a wonderful past couple of days!

Sarah Frances Kornrumpf arrived on 11/11/11 at 4:13 pm.  She weighed 7lb 9oz and is 20.5 inches long.  She’s super healthy and Mom is doing great!  Here are some of the pictures from the first 24 hours of her life.  I’ll do a separate blog post (hopefully) with more details of how the day went.

Friday morning, in labor and getting ready to head to the hospital.  Final belly pic!

Last photo of us as a family of 3:
And a few hours later, here she is!



And the next day…


The morning’s highlight was a visit from big brother Nathan, and Gran and Pawpaw!

I’d give anything to know what Nathan’s thinking about his new sister!



Nathan picked out “Goodnight Moon” to bring and read to Sarah (in the excitement, we forgot to actually read it).   But we did inspect Sarah’s nose and lips and hair.
And now, our family of four!
And then this afternoon, Granddad and Nana got into town.



And now one more night in the hospital for Sarah, Daddy and Mommy before going home tomorrow!

Great Aunt Karen came to visit us at the end of last week.  She had a conference in Charlotte and was able to stop by and spend two nights with us on her way back home!  We had a wonderful visit (as always) and she also brought some nice presents for Nathan's birthday and took us shopping to round out a few essentials for Nathan and the baby's winter wardrobe.

The visit got off to a little bit of a rough start... Nathan had been watching for Aunt Karen out the front door, but walked away right as she pulled up, so when she walked in the house he got upset and started crying.  But after we got him calmed down, they were best friends for the remainder of the visit!

Some of the hightlights:

• Karen was talking about how she and Kevin get such a laugh now whenever they try to swat bugs because of how Nathan loves to swat mosquitoes.  I thought Nathan was playing during the conversation and unaware of what we were discussing, but he immediately started smashing bugs again! He continues to amaze me how aware he is of what's going on around him!
• Nathan was playing the the backyard and Karen and I were sitting on the swing.  Nathan came up and we realized his feet were pretty dirty inside his crocs.  Karen tried to blow some of the debris off and Nathan thought this was hilarious and a great idea, and proceeded to do it repeatedly.  Which would have been fine except for the fact that he was practically putting his foot in his mouth!
• Nathan always seems to find Karen's sayings hilarious.  This time it was something about "goofy" that he kept repeating and then laughing hysterically at himself.  Yep, pretty goofy!
• Karen got to accompany Nathan and me to the OB on Friday morning for an ultrasound and checkup.  We found out that the baby is head down (the physician wasn't able to tell the week before because the baby hadn't dropped yet) and already about 7lb big.   But everything else looked great, and we confirmed that we are having a girl (which we later celebrated by going crazy for girl clothes at Target!).  
• Nathan went the whole day (except for naptime) in his big boy underwear!  He told me that morning before we left the house that he wanted to wear it, so I packed some extra pants, undies and diapers just in case, but Nathan did great going to the potty while we were out running errands!  We were so proud that he didn't have an accident!
• Saturday morning before she left, Karen gave Nathan his birthday presents.  She got him a really nice toddler backpack, a new book and a cool card.  She also stuck in a toy car that she got out of a cereal box, and as predicted, the toy car was the biggest hit right off the bat.  But here's Nathan trying on his red backpack for us!  We put it straight to use the next day when we took Nathan to big church with Brian and me (he had been having a bad runny nose and cough, so we didn't let him go to class or kid's church, just in case).  He helped me pack his backpack with his water bottle, toys and snacks, though he ended up wanting us to carry it for him. 

I know there is more funny stuff that I'm forgetting because Nathan kept doing things "imitating" Karen, to which she would say "I've got to be careful of what I'm teaching him or I won't be invited back!" But we had a great time and really enjoyed the visit. In fact, the next few times that Nathan woke up from his nap or in the morning, he would check with me "Aunt Karen gone?" just to make sure she hadn't come back!

PS. I remembered two other things to add.  We've been teaching Nathan to say "excuse me" after he passes gas or burps, but he is always sure to name his infraction, ie "excuse me gas".  This cracked Aunt Karen up!  Also Aunt Karen brought Cheerios with her for breakfast and Nathan kept asking to snack on them all during both days she was here - like we had been depriving him all his life!

Nathan had his two year check up this week, and I'm happy to report that he continues to grow!  Once again, he's not only gained weight and grown taller, he's moved up in the percentiles.  Here are the latest stats:

Height: 33.5 inches, 31% (up from 32 inches at 18 months)
Weight: 27.0 lb., 37% (up from the 25.5lb and 25% at 21 months)
Head Circumference: 19.5 in, 73%

Nathan has also punched through some more new teeth, two canines on the bottom!  Hmmm, maybe that’s why he kept waking up during the night earlier this week!

I meant to do some kind of birthday post last Saturday, but Nathan and I ended up having a full day, with a friend’s birthday party in the morning, running errands all afternoon and lots of time spent outside (because he LOVES to be outside and the weather was nice, though a little cold).  Then, after Nathan went to bed, I watched the Tennessee game and made headbands/bows for our little girl until way too late… meaning I just never got around to writing any happy birthday message.  Oh well!

In other news,  I didn't have the energy or motivation to do a costume for Nathan this Halloween, and neither Brian nor I were that gung-ho about taking him trick-or-treating… so no cute Halloween pictures to share.  This may be the last year that we can get away with that!  But I do have some pictures from a hayride that Nathan and I went a few weeks ago as some fall-themed pictures to include!  (Just a few days late on that “Happy Halloween”!)
 

Nathan wasn’t feeling too picture-cooperative that day, and this was the best smile that I got out of him!


Of course, Nathan had to spend some time inspecting the tractor that pulled the wagon for the hayride.


Nathan’s giving our playgroup buddy a high-five.  These boys get along so well and I’m so thankful for the great support system that our playgroup is this year!


 I’m so glad I was able to capture this expression of Nathan’s on camera.  He makes this expression all the time with me and Princess (and with anyone he’s about to love on)… he gets this big, goofy grin on his face and hunches over and takes little, stomping steps towards the person/animal before hugging/loving on them.  It sounds goofy… it is goofy… but its just so sweet because Nathan is such an affectionate little kid!


A fun fall outing for Mommy and Nathan!