it's not spring yet!

As you can see, we were tricked!! Today, we were reminded that it is still winter in wisconsin. We are expecting snow!! Eli needed to wear his wool hat (thanks Liana!) and his bear suit so we could take Triscuit for a walk. It hasn't started snowing yet, but it will soon. We are looking forward to more 60 degree days in the coming weeks.

Oh, and Eli is getting more practice in the high chair. He just ate some apples and blueberries. He is not yet a fan of peas.....

The 12 Hour Intruder

Since returning from our trip last week, there has been one major, unexpected change to our daily routine. Shelby and I resolved that we would try to wean Eli from his erratic, short-burst sleeping patterns at night. We weren't quite sure how we would do this - we have read several books that offer conflicting and often simple advice (cloaked with a huge amount of filler necessary to make an entire salable book out of concepts like 'it is OK for your baby to cry himself to sleep). To begin, we established a few groundrules: (1) I would try to sooth Eli when he wakes before midnight, (2) Shelby would feed him at least once during the night, and (3) we consider one or more blocks of longer than 5 hours a success. But a funny thing happened on our way to implementing this plan. The first night, I soothed Eli when he woke around 11 and then let him cry himself to sleep. He was not happy about it, but he lived. He woke once or twice more that night, but it seemed like crying himself to sleep once taught him that this was a reasonable alternative to mom. The next night, he slept seven hours. We've been getting consistent blocks of 6-8 hours for the rest of the week, including one ten hour block a few days ago. Granted, he isn't sleeping the entire time - we know that he is waking up a soothing himself back to sleep. And we also need to start the process of going to bed at 6:30 in order to give him his 12 hours of total slumber. But...this has allowed us to reclaim our evenings after he goes to sleep. Shelby even got to work on a puzzle last night!

In other news, we've been scanning our old pictures for posterity. Amazing to see some of our old pictures (and how digital photography has improved over the years!). This took up a major chunk of the weekend, but we feel more comfortable knowing that many of our pictures will be archived.

And Eli is now signed up for another year of day care. We briefly entertained the idea of applying for a switch to full time care (that would give us more flexibility on Tuesdays and Thursdays), but decided that the temptation to work on those days would be too great. So we have another year of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday care.

Such are the mundane trivia that we now perceive as major events. Funny how Eli has that effect on us!

sittin'

Since we got back from our trip, Eli is now become part of the world of sitting! He got his first high-chair experience, and he can even sit up on the floor and play with his toys. He can't put himself into the sitting position yet, but if I put him there, he can stay sitting up for awhile. Sometimes, he gets too eager to grab for a toy, and PLOP, over he falls...

On the precipice

As I write this, we are about an hour away from starting the long journey home in earnest. We will leave for the airport around 7 AM local time, take a 10:40 flight to Miami, do all the things that you do when you land in the US, connect to Chicago at 8:00 PM, and finally arrive at O'Hare sometime near 11:00 PM tonight. If all goes well. Already, we are having a tenuous start. Eli slept better than me or Shelby last night. I always forget that taking migraine pills laced with caffeine before bed can be treacherous. I took two pills at 8PM. My headache went away, as did any ability to sleep for the next eight hours. I will have ample opportunity to sleep on the plane today, as long as Shelby and Eli are OK - but that is a major qualifier.

Since the last entry, we had a few quiet days at the beach. On Thursday, we played around in the water most of the day. Shelby and I made use of our newly purchased body board and Eli spent some time in the pool. I even built him a pathetic sand castle that he barely knocked down. Shelby and I both read our books. One interesting upshot - we learned that by 'double wrapping' Eli at night, we coaxed him into much better sleep than when we only wrapped him once.

Yesterday was our last day in Juquehy. We ate breakfast, brought Eli into the pool, body boarded for a bit, and then got ready to come back to Sao Paulo. Fortunately, we packed pretty lightly for this trip, so getting our gear together didn't take very long. One challenge - Shelby put some of our clothes out in the sun to dry, only to have them get soaked when a sudden rainstorm blew in right before we checked out of the hotel. We were able to dry the clothes in Sao Paulo, but it was still a bit of a wasted effort.

After being blessed with great, if somewhat hot, weather all week, the heavens opened up yesterday afternoon. Torrential rain squalls stretched all the way from Sao Paulo to Juquehy. We appreciated the obvious driving skill of 'Hot Rod' who carefully drove us to Esper's apartment. Upon arrival, we wanted to go to the store to buy chocolate and coffee for gifts, but the rain was too intense. Hopefully we will be able to stop on the way to the airport this morning.

Last night Esper hosted a lovely dinner with Ester (Dawn's host in Sao Paulo), Edecio, and a colleague from the Albert Einstein Hospital. We stayed up very late enjoying nice food and conversation. Though, as I mentioned above, I fear we will be paying for it later!

2 hours and 5 minutes

One of the great joys of traveling is a growing understanding of local custom. In Brazil, we've found that one such custom is the notion of time. Most intervals are expressed as either '5 minutes', which is a generic term for any time period of more than a minute and less than 30 minutes, or 2 hours, a similarly generic term meaning 'longer than 5 minutes'. So it was with some uncertainty that we left Sao Paulo on Saturday afternoon for Juquehy, a beach on Brazil's coast that is '2 hours away'. Before we left, we finished shopping with Malu, ate breakfast with her, and got a primer on the Brazilian coast. Malu owns a home not far (5 minutes) from Juquehy, so she gave us a list of beach and restaurant recommendations. She also graciously suggested we visit her home for a day to see a different beach. After that, Esper met us at Malu's house and escorted to his home for a light lunch and visit with his family. At his home, we met Rod, our driver to Juquehy. This was not our first meeting with Rod - he drove us to Paraty when we visited Brazil in 2007. Shelby nicknamed him 'Hot Rod' after that trip and was inwardly not too excited about reliving the experience. To sooth Shelby, Esper asked Rod to drive slowly. The ride to Juquehy was uneventful, but '2 hours' actually meant a shade over 3 hours this time. We arrived and almost made a big mistake. There is a Juquehy Beach Hotel and a Praia Juquehy Hotel - these are two different entities separated by more than a mile, despite nearly identical names that can be easily confused in translation. We went to the wrong one first. Fortunately, I realized it didn't look similar to the pictures and we eventually realized our mistake before Rod drove off. When we arrived at the right hotel, we were very impressed. Our room is modern and clean, with a nice patio and a portable crib for Eli. There are two pools, including one overlooking the beach. A large, shaded sitting area is adjacent to the pool and restaurant, allowing us to sit in the shade while Eli sits, reading our books as the ocean waves crash to shore about 20 feet away. We had an early dinner on Saturday night and I watched a soccer game on TV as Shelby put Eli to sleep. As it turns out, there is at least one soccer game on at all times. In fact, I'm watching one as I type this.

Sunday was a quiet day at the hotel. I rented a boogie board after breakfast. Shelby and I took turns watching Eli and playing in the ocean. We also discovered that Eli is a natural in the water - all the kicking and fussing that is challenging to deal with on land is an asset in the water. When he starts swim lessons in a few weeks, he will already be experienced! A constant challenge this week, though, is balancing our tendency to spend a lot of time outside and the importance of keeping Eli protected from the sun. But there is enough soccer on TV and books to read to keep us entertained. After our water time on Sunday, we walked down the street to a local market. We bought 8 liters of water and assorted dessert cookies. Enough to last us a few days. The cobblestone streets are difficult to navigate with our stroller, so we resolved to walk back along the beach next time. For dinner, we ordered a pizza from a local restaurant. Very tasty! Full from dinner, we all went to sleep very early (with a soccer game on in the background, of course!)

We opted for another quiet day on Monday. A tradition when Shelby and I go on vacation is to try at least one new activity each time. This time we tried a professional massage. I had a violent massage in Bangkok several years ago, but this was a much gentler activity. It was Shelby's first massage - but I think it will not be her last. We also took Eli into the pool again and played a little more in the ocean. The sun was hotter than on Sunday so we rationed our time outdoors accordingly. Once the sun set, we strolled down the beach to a restaurant for dinner. We shared a giant pot of shrimp and fish stew. Though the menu said it served two, I think it could have fed eight. Walking back to our hotel on the beach was very peaceful until Eli pierced the tranquility with his customary high pitched wail.

On Tuesday, we visited the beach house of Malu, our host in Sao Paulo. She (and several guests of the hotel) reccommended a restaurant located across the street from her beach house. We figured that we could go to her house, spend a few hours at the beach, and then have a late lunch or early dinner at the restaurant. One problem with this plan - this area is heavily geared towards weekend visitors from the city. The restaurant was not open. Instead, Malu's housekeeper at the beach went to he market and bought ingredients to make us lunch. Again, enough food to serve a small army, but it was all delicious. I think my favorite part was the desert of mangoes, ice cream, and hot chocolate sauce. We also spent time on the beach. It was bizarre to have a tent set up for us on the beach by the local staff. Shelby and Eli spent most of their time under the tent, while I braved the water. The surf was much stronger here than at our hotel, lending itself to body surfing. I didn't dare go too far out, though, as the undertow worried me. I hung close to three Brazilian teenagers who were much less clumsy in the water than me! At around 5 PM, we took a taxi back to our hotel and began the long preparation for bed. We detoured to have a brief dessert of fruit juice and mango at the hotel restaurant, but were once again in bed by about 7:30. Party animals, we are.

Today was great fun (for me). I took a surfing lesson! When I was much younger, my dad taught us how to balance on a 'balance board' in our basement. At first, I couldn't stay up for more than a second or two at a time. Eventually, I learned to balance for more than a minute...essentially until I got bored. Today I learned that the board simulated the motion of surfing. While the timing of catching a wave is still foreign, once I stood up I was able to keep my balance and ride the waves all the way into the shore. I don't think it is a pastime that I will do often enough to become proficient, but it was a great time to do it today. Shelby entertained the idea of taking a lesson, but the surf was too intimidating. She did say that she enjoyed boogie boarding, so we bought a boogie board at the local market this afternoon. It was cheaper to buy the board (and perhaps give it to friends in Sao Paulo) than to rent it for two days. Strange local economy. The walk to the market today deserves a mention. A brief, torrential storm hit the hotel right after my surf lesson. Unbenownst to us, this made the sand a lot less tractable than it had been earlier in the week. Trying to push the stroller through the sand was like pushing it through mud - we were both exhausted by the time we made it back to the hotel with the boogie board and more bottled water. Now we are resting up before dinner. I'm watching soccer with the hotel staff and Shelby and Eli are out for a walk. We thought we would order a pizza for dinner, but the pizza place may be closed. We don't expect our last two days at the hotel to be particularly eventful. We expect to continue relaxing, spending time in the ocean, and reading. And, tomorrow morning, about 48 hours before our flight, I expect Shelby to start worrying about the trip home.

Bom dia!

The last week has been interesting. Traveling with a not-quite-yet six month baby is equal parts rewarding, frustrating, and enlightening. The differences from our previous trips to Brazil are striking. Perhaps I should back up...

We left Chicago very early on Tuesday morning. Eli slept on most of the flight to Miami. We knew this would be the easiest part of the trip. After arriving in Miami a few minutes early, we scurried to the car rental station. In November, we had serious problems finding the road to Fort Lauderdale from Miami. This time, armed with a GPS, we found the right road easily. We made good time, much to the delight of great-grandma Roz. We had lunch with Roz and spent most of the afternoon playing with Eli. He was much more interactive than Roz remembered. At 4, we began the trek back to the airport. I got a Slurpee and we made it back to the airport much more quickly than I expected. Upon arriving, we met up with Dawn, a member of my lab who accompanied us to Sao Paulo. For the life of me, I can't understand why there are no sit-down restaurants in the Miami airport. We walked around for nearly twenty minutes looking for one, before retreating to our gate and a dinner of Pizza Hut and sandwiches.

The flight to Brazil was about what we expected. It was long. It was relatively uncomfortable. But, as I write this, it is over. Eli spent most of the flight on Shelby's lap. He slept for the first six hours, on and off, only fussing a lot in the last two hours of the trip. Shelby had more problems. The plane flew through thunderstorms over Haiti, resulting in significant turbulence. This did not make her happy. But again, we made it through the flight, arriving in Sao Paulo around 7 AM.

One unexpected bonus of travel with Eli is that he serves as a golden ticket in lines. We were waved immediately through customs, though we still needed to wait for the better part of an hour for our bags to arrive. We were then whisked right through the declarations. Two cars awaited us. Dawn was driven to our collaborator Ester's house and we were driven to our accommodations. We spent our time in Sao Paulo with Malu, a wonderful host who is just beginning to utilize her lovely home as a part-time bed and breakfast. We couldn't have dreamed of better accommodations. We had plenty of space for Eli and lots of help when needed. She even had a crib for Eli to sleep in!

Soon after arriving we had breakfast with Malu. She introduced us to the area and we learned about one another. She graciously offered to take us on a diaper and supplies shopping trip. By 11AM on Wednesday morning, we had the necessary provisions to take care of Eli in Brazil. Even though we were still full from breakfast, we cleaned up and had a quick lunch with Malu. Her driver took us to our collaborator Esper's class, held at a convention center 15-30 minutes from Malu's house - depending on Sao Paulo traffic. Shelby and I alternated listening to talks and watching Eli. It was not ideal, but it worked. After the talks ended on Wednesday, we visited Esper's lab for a few minutes while he did some paperwork. We then accompanied Esper to his apartment where we spent an hour with his family. Who knew Shelby was so proficient at Legos? One mistake we made that evening was thinking that Eli would fall asleep and allow us a civilized dinner. He ate and fell asleep around 8PM, but instead of staying asleep as though it were night, we woke up around 9PM, fussy and wanting to sleep more. Unfortunately, we were at a restaurant with Esper and other collaborators at that point. Once we realized that Eli needed to sleep in a crib, we excused ourselves from dinner, bought a sandwich and dessert at a cybercafe, and took a taxi to Malu's. We ate and then all slept fitfully.

Thursday morning arrived very quickly - everyone slept well. After another breakfast with Malu, we took a taxi to the convention center. I gave a presentation on DNA sequencing before lunch, then we went with the other speakers to an Italian restaurant for lunch. Though Shelby and I were ready for another battle with fussy Eli, he fell asleep on the walk to the restaurant and slept through most of the meal. Shelby had to feed him a little bit at the very end, but it was about as uneventful as we could hope for. After lunch, we met with two of our Brazilian colleagues to discuss a collaborative research project. Eli was a bit fussy, so Shelby and I took turns walking him around the second floor of the convention center. Trying to learn from our mistake the previous evening, we left the conference late in the afternoon and went back to Malu's house. Dawn joined us for dinner. After letting Eli take a nap and eat dinner, we tried to have our supper at a restaurant in the first floor of the Albert Einstein Hospital at Malu's suggestion. The food was good, but Eli fussed through most of the meal. A hospital is a good place for a fussy baby - he didn't look very much out of place.

Friday was our last full day in Sao Paulo. Breakfast with Malu was delightful. We took another taxi to the conference center. Shelby and I gave our lectures in the morning and both went well. We then drove with our collaborator Sabri to meet his wife Patrice for lunch. Sabri will hopefully be visiting us in Madison in May. Excitingly, Sabri's wife works at the snake institute in Sao Paulo, so after lunch we went and saw the snake museum. Who knew that 30,000 people get bitten by poisonous snakes in Brazil alone? All week long, locals complained about the oppressive summer heat. In the late afternoon, a storm took the edge off the heat. Patrice drove Shelby, Dawn, Eli, and me back to Malu's after we finished at the museum. We didn't know this when we arrived, but Malu also runs a store that sells women's clothing. We spent the late afternoon shopping for Shelby. Even Shelby, who hates shopping, enjoyed herself. More importantly, she bought several pieces of business formal clothing for future meetings. After we finished shopping, we had drinks on Malu's porch and waited for Esper and his family to arrive for dinner. We had a lovely late dinner, made even nicer by the fact that Eli slept through almost all of it in his room. We knew we would pay for the late night in the morning, but it was nice while it lasted!

The next post will describe our drive to the beach and our first few days here.

pics

Here are just some recent pics we had.  With Dave gone, I haven't taken many pics lately.  But, enjoy these!  I'm sure we will have many more to add in a couple of weeks after our trip.

Fun with rattles

Eli's become a big fan of rattles.  He can shake them.  He can eat them.  Sometimes, he even likes to shake two at a time!  He is still working on using them more elegantly, but boy does he like the rattles!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

valentine's day pics

Eli was looking cute for valentine's day before we headed out to the gym.  He especially likes his kangaroo.  I need to get some pictures of him chewing on the rings.  Maybe next time.    

Dave also suggested that we put Eli down to bed earlier last night.  It worked!He slept from 8:30 until 3:30, and then again from 4 to 7.  Can't complain about that.  We'll have to try it again tonight!

Wednesday Morning, 3 AM

The last few days with Eli have been nice. For the first time since December, temperatures crept above freezing. Yesterday's high temperatures were in the 50s! Shelby and I took advantage of the nice weather to walk Triscuit and get Eli fresh air. Last night we even walked down to Monroe Street to pick up dinner. Colder temperatures return today, but it was nice while it lasted.

I'm writing this as Shelby feeds Eli. Sleeping at night continues to be a challenge. Around 7 each night, Eli gets fussy. Feeding him offers temporary relief, but he returns to form very quickly. Putting him down to sleep for the night hasn't worked well, nor has bathing him or trying to placate him in other ways. We are now trying to iron out a new wrinkle in his evening routine, in which Eli wakes every hour or so after he is put down for the night. Last night we gave him the opportunity to fuss himself back to sleep and it worked - he eventually did - but he is still up now insisting on another feeding.

Tomorrow (er., later today) will be exciting. Triscuit goes to the vet for his annual paw fixing. We take him there early, bring Eli to day care, work, pick up Eli, pick up Triscuit, and come home. Not exciting to the same level as bringing Eli halfway around the world, but exciting enough nonetheless.

Sometimes the cereal misses the mouth

As you can see here, the cereal does not always get in Eli's mouth.  He is getting a bit better at swallowing it, but it doesn't always work too well.  Nevertheless, Eli is generally happy when he is done eating.  Who wouldn't be happy if they were well rested and had a full belly??

Eli's growing up

I had this picture of Eli sitting in a corner of the base of the couch from awhile ago and I thought I would take another picture today of an older, more 'mature' Eli.  Hopefully you can tell which picture was taken today....

No rest for the weary

As Eli's cold lingers into its second week, it is taking its toll on us all. He isn't sleeping more than two or three hours at a time, often waking when he coughs. Fortunately, he is pretty good natured most of the day, but he is getting very tired and fussy in the evenings.

Tomorrow I will be home alone with Eli because Shelby is giving a presentation at a Global Health symposium. I hope it goes as well as my time alone on Sunday night, when Eli took a nap with me, played for a while, and eventually took another nap himself.

We also learned today that our trip to Chicago last week was successful. All three of us received five year, multivisit travel visas to go to Brazil. It will be embarrassing when Eli is speaking better Portuguese than us in two years.

It is already time for us to sign up for day care for next year. If all goes according to plan, Eli will 'graduate' with the rest of his 0-1 year old class and his existing teachers to the 1-2 year old room in August. So, like his dad, he is already shaping up to be one of the youngest kids in his class.

Lastly, our solid food adventure is slowly improving. Eli now opens his mouth - more or less - when we feed him. In a only slightly disgusting turn of events, Triscuit is also quite fond of Eli's food. We usually give him the last spoonful from the bottle. I don't understand the appeal. Shelby and I both tasted the cereal ourselves and weren't impressed.

Eli Dancing

Last night we had a hard time settling Eli. Our friends Sue and Joe were over for dinner, so we ended up dancing Eli until he finally went to sleep.

cute pics

Ok, here are more cute pictures -- including the one of Eli sitting in the rocking chair.  I think he is practicing how to look old and crotchety already.  I hope that doesn't set in too soon.

Triscuit deserves a post

I thought Triscuit deserved a post too.  As you can see, he 'occasionally' gets a bath, but he DOES NOT like it.  In fact, he jumped out before Dave was done rinsing him!  And, you can also see the dog superhighway in the backyard....complete with interchanges...

Eli's First Solid Food

The first third of Round 4 was decisive for the fuss. He had us on the ropes, swinging wildly and making us really tired. But the tide turned after we enlisted the help of "Mr. Swaddle", who kept Eli bottled up and ultimately resulted in a 7 hour 'knock out'. He only woke up once, after five hours, while swaddled, even though he was in his crib. So hopefully that is our ticket to sleep for the next few weeks.

Yesterday also ushered in the age of Eli eating solid food. Well, rice cereal in milk anyway. Video of lots of effort and mess for a few rice grains in his mouth follows.

Adventures in Babysleeping

I'm writing this. Which means that I'm awake at 9PM. Which is somewhat surprising. Thanks to Eli.

When we went to the doctor on Tuesday, she suggested we begin weaning him from his routine of sleeping, swaddled tightly, in our room. Moving him from our room would only get more difficult as he becomes more entrenched, so now was the time to make the switch. In the last few weeks, Shelby made great strides in putting Eli to sleep in his crib, giving us confidence that the transition wouldn't be too difficult. That hasn't quite been our experience.

Tuesday night Eli got a one night reprieve since he received his vaccines earlier that day. We started on Wednesday night and were pleasantly surprised when he only woke three times. Thursday night it increased to six times. Last night was at least six times, not counting the times that he woke us and we gave him a while to cry himself back to sleep. His needs are met - we are sure of that. But he is having a tough time with the separation of being down the hall and in a different environment. We've read that it can take up to two weeks before acclimating to a new setting...so we'll get him accustomed to his crib just in time to leave for Brazil in early March. Lovely.

In cheerier news, I did use his waking up as an excuse to buy Eli a really cool bird mobile. When you touch it, the birds look like they are flying above his bed. I'll take a picture of it and put it here, but it is nice.

Eli has also started, we think, trying to suck at our faces in a primitive, but highly entertaining, pantomime of kissing.

OK, enough procrastinating. Time for Round 4.

Too cute

We were playing around with a happy Eli the other night and captured these super-cute photos. I just had to share them.  

Eli has been pretty good lately.  He had his 4-month "well-baby" checkup, and he is still well.  We are now trying to get Eli to sleep in his room unswaddled at night.  He woke me twice last night.  But, since we arranged it so I can feed him in his room, it wasn't too bad.  I'm sure Eli will sleep through the night one day.   We all do, don't we??

Morning in America

Eli continues to vex us with his sleeping habits. Now he generally sleeping about 5 hours from 10-3 AM, and then another few hours after that. Shelby and I have boomeranged with our schedules...we were only sleeping 5 or 6 hours a night when Eli was sleeping less, but we've routinely gotten 8+ hours of sleep the last few, albeit not in a row. This inconsistency is starting to mess up our sleep habits. Though I was knocked out for several hours yesterday while my dental implant was removed and during the immediate aftermath, I absolutely couldn't sleep last night...and Shelby wasn't much better. So now we will face a day where we will both hit a wall around 3PM and want to take a siesta. Maybe we will? But if nothing else, 3-5 AM is a nice quiet time to get some work done...

happy eli in his jumperoo

I thought I would share a few pictures of Eli enjoying things besides gansta-rap.  As you can see, he likes his Jumperoo.  I caught one of his good smiles while we were jumping one day.  But, you should all be happy that I spared you from the "tunes" that the Jumperoo plays when he bounces.  You can also see that Eli was having a stare-down with his kangaroo.  I think the kangaroo eventually won.  Oh, and of course, a picture of a happy Dad hugging little E...before he had to have his tooth implant extracted.  Dave and Eli are now fighting over who gets their tooth first.

What to do when baby likes rap?

I like to think that Shelby and I are reasonable parents. We spend a lot of time with Eli. We study parenting books and skim new parent websites. These books and websites all insist that you expose your baby to all types of music and activity to identify their likes and dislikes. True to this advice, I've often put my music library on shuffle and let Eli listen. About two weeks ago, our friend Sue noticed that Eli seemed to respond most positively to...how should I put this...gangsta rap. 

I thought this was coincidental and laughed it off at the time. Now I'm not so sure, and I'm a bit worried that 'ho' may be Eli's first word. Tonight when Shelby left us home alone while she played soccer, I read Eli two books. He fussed anxiously near the end of the second one. I played a little Rolling Stones. The fuss descended into a near-tantrum. I then changed the music to the latest album by mash up artist Girl Talk. The album is essentially rap and R&B vocals overlaid on pop melodies. Almost immediately, Eli smiled. And cooed. And settled into an alert, yet playful mood. At first, I thought this couldn't possibly last. But it did...he stayed in my arms listening to the CD for more than an hour (by the way, my arms are killing me).

Now, happy Eli = good. Eli quoting NWA = bad. While I know that there is no cognition of what lyrics mean to Eli yet, do we really want to have our toddler swearing at day care? Or is that just the price we pay to keep him happy, and we'll deal with the sheepish explanations to his teachers and other parents when the time comes?

Eli in STL

I realized that we never put up any pictures (except the Christmas rollover) from our travels to STL!!  Woe is me!  Well, here are a few cute ones from our travels.  You can see that Eli seemed pretty content at my parents' house.  He is smiling more and more each day.

And, I have one note to make on napping and sleeping.  Although Eli is still waking me twice per night (gosh darn it!), his naps have been a bit easier this week.  In fact, I've been able to get him to sleep in his sleeping bag in his crib during the day. This is a big step up from having to swaddle him in the vibrating chair.  And, yesterday, I heard him fussing and when I went to check in on him, he had found his thumb and was sucking on it contentedly.  Go thumbs!!!!

Eli's World Tour

After arriving in Madison on Tuesday, Shelby and I realized that we are leaving for Brazil in less than 10 weeks - and we don't have a passport for Eli yet! Yesterday we learned that Kinkos doesn't take passport photos of babies, so we had to schedule a portrait sitting at a photo studio. Fortunately, Eli was wearing reasonable nice clothes and was in a smiling mood. 

The notion of having baby pictures in a passport seems silly. By the time Eli is even 1 year old, he won't resemble his passport picture. Yet, rules are rules. So we picked up the portraits this morning and submitted them, along with a mountain of other paperwork, to the State Department for passport processing.

We also stopped by the pediatrician yesterday. Eli is now tipping the scales at 11 Lb, 14 Oz. He is still very small for his age, approximately the 5th percentile.

Eli Posturing

The warm weather in St. Louis continued today. Yesterday we took full advantage. Shelby and I walked Triscuit around her parents' neighborhood in the morning. In spite of Triscuit's ongoing foot issues, he was excited to sniff the trees and explore a new area. 

Eli also had a series of new adventures. First we met with our friends Lauren and Jeff (along with their 1 year-old Elizabeth). It was our first time meeting Elizabeth and a pleasant reminder of what we can expect in about a year. We then visited Grandma and Grandpa's store where Eli was the center of attention for more than an hour. 

After we returned home, Shelby, Grandma, and I walked Triscuit and Eli down to the nearest playground. At first we had to help another family retrieve a remote controlled airplane from a tree, but then we were able to spend time on the swing, the slide, and the tall tornado slide. Gail and Shelby were a little concerned when I brought Eli all the way up the tornado slide, but that just heightened their relief when we made it down safely. Perhaps most importantly, Eli seemed to enjoy himself, provided I didn't swing too high.

Today was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Shelby's friend Julie visited with Eli over lunch. Later, her friends Gena (along with husband John and 1 year old Leah) and Mandy (along with her husband Mike and their 3 year old Max and 1 year old Evie) turned the house into toddler central. Four babies and toddlers in the house at once was a little chaotic - particularly since all the toddlers were very wary of Triscuit. For his part, Triscuit was mild mannered and inquisitive. It was a good day to spend inside, as the warm weather gave way to torrential rain and gale force winds. 

Tomorrow we expect to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. We might go shopping, or we might simply hang around the house.

Eli's Christmas Roll

This has been an exciting and confusing week. It started innocently enough - Shelby and I went to the gym on Monday morning for a swim. I flew to New York for a business meeting and expected to return on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, a snowstorm paralyzed the midwest on Tuesday. For a while, my flight looked like one of the only ones that would make it to Chicago. I boarded the plane and thought I had beaten the odds. After about ten minutes, we were pulled off the plane and told the flight was cancelled. Due to the number of other cancelled flights and busy travel period, seats on other flights were scarce. Eventually I managed to catch a flight to Dallas, leaving at about 9PM. I arrived in Dallas at 1 in the morning and slept for a few hours in the Hyatt attached to the airport. Before I left the airport for the hotel, I arranged a seat on the direct flight from Dallas to Madison on Wednesday morning. I woke up and took the shuttle to the airport. On my way to the terminal, Shelby called and told me that the flight to Madison had just been cancelled. I then arranged to fly to Chicago, expecting to arrive around 12. The only flight with seats on it from Chicago to Madison was scheduled to leave at 11. I asked American Airlines to give me a seat on that flight, in spite of the scheduling. I arrived in Chicago around 12 and discovered, after running through the airport, that the Madison flight had not left yet. I was able to jump on that flight and make it home by mid-afternoon, tired but intact. I spent the rest of Christmas Eve with Shelby and Eli, watching several episodes of Newsradio and basically trying to rest. 

Yesterday we got up early and loaded the car for a drive to St. Louis. It took us nearly two hours to get everything packed and loaded. We drove to St. Louis to visit Grandma Gail and Grandpa Allan. The drive was challenging. No restaurants were open, so places to change Eli were few and far between. We stopped at a gas station near Oglesby and a rest stop near Springfield. Neither was ideal for changing Eli. All told, it took us about seven hours to arrive in St. Louis. 

After arriving, Eli responded to his seven hour confinement by having an unusual amount of energy. So much so, in fact, that he rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time! He did it several times!! 

After his playtime, we all retired to bed by about 9. We are trying hard to get Eli into a pattern of sleeping from 9-7. Since our trips a few weeks ago, Eli's sleeping has become more irregular. He now wakes at least twice a night, and I don't think any of us are particularly happy about that. Perhaps by lengthening the 'night' window he will become more regular. If nothing else, it should allow us to get more rest! One side effect to new parent-dom is that it is almost impossible to shake a cold. I've had a sore throat since Thanksgiving that I just can't shake - though I'm pretty sure it is exacerbated by lack of sleep. After getting a solid rest last night, even just for one night, it began to feel better. 

Eli's first hanukah

As you can see, Eli is enjoying his first hanukah gift -- a stuffed curious george!  Thanks to Grandpa Allan and Grandma Gail for sending it along.  We will wait until Dave returns before opening the others.  And, as you can see Triscuit also enjoyed his gift :)

Well, I know I haven't posted much in awhile.  But, I thought I would share an image of the snow in Madison for all those folks who live somewhere warmer.  Yes, there is a lot of snow here and we are supposed to get another 8 to 14 inches between now and Wednesday night.  Needles to say, I think we are on pace for  a record December snowfall (35 inches was the past record).  You can also see how Eli gets all suited up for the cold weather.  Fortunately, he has a bigger warm suit (thanks G.G. Roz!) for January when he starts getting even bigger!  On top of his suit, he gets a blanket and a cover for his car seat.  I think he actually gets quite hot in there, once we come inside.

I'll write more later with new pics from Hanukah.....so you'll have to sit tight and wait for those!

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks.

Eli and the Chancellor

This week was eventful. As soon as we returned from San Juan, we turned our attention to an important presentation on Friday. Once a year, the UW-Madison Chancellor, along with the Medical School, Graduate School, and Vet School deans, visit our department. This year, I was asked to give a spotlight presentation on our research. Because of my commitments in San Juan, I volunteered Shelby and one of my graduate students to give the presentation. About two weeks ago, I learned that I too had to give a (different) presentation. So both Shelby and I spent much of our time this week preparing our talks. Fortunately, the talks went very well. 

Except that the major winter storm that traversed the northern half of the country played havoc with our best laid plans. Eli's day care was cancelled, requiring us to bring him with us to the meeting. We weren't sure who would watch him, but we didn't have many other choices. Lucky for us, one of our colleagues offered to keep an eye on him. He behaved himself and even got to see monkeys up close and personal (through a protective glass wall). 

Several feet of snow now blanket Madison. At least two accidents have occurred right in front of our house, including one hit and run that required me to call 911. Two cars were hit by an out of control car coming down the hill. One of the cars that got hit had its door smashed in, so the passengers couldn't get out. Like last year, we will need to have our neighbors get our mail because we can't get to the mailbox!

Eli is coping well with snow. He seems to like going out and seeing new places. This morning he got to spend time at the health club while Shelby swam and I ran. After that, he went to the coffee shop, the grocery store, and the book store. So much excitement! He behaved well all morning and has actually been on good behavior all day. 

The upcoming week should be busy. I have to go to New York Monday/Tuesday for a meeting, so Shelby and Eli will have the house to themselves. Later in the week, we'll take our longest ever driving trip with Eli, as we visit grandparents Gail and Allan in St. Louis. Six hours in the car with Eli promises to be...interesting. 

The Lil' Traveller

It has been an incredibly busy week since the last blog entry. Eli explored San Juan with his grandparents, while Shelby and I organized and participated in a scientific conference. We all stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, a very fancy hotel distinguished by its terrific pool/beach and its unbelievably expensive drinks. Eli got to dip his feet in the pool and play a little bit in the sand. Shelby and I also had a few opportunities to escape from the meeting and play in the ocean. The night of Eli and Shelby's arrival, we went out for a business dinner that never quite materialized (the wait at the restaurant was too long and the restaurant too trendy). The next night we went out for a quiet dinner with Eli and my friends George and Katie (and Katie's sister). It was nice to escape from the pressure of the conference and spend time with personal friends. Eli behaved himself for the most part in the restaurant, though he is once again fussing quite a lot at night. Thursday night (note that I am only talking about the nights, because Eli spent the days with grandma and grandpa mostly) we went out to dinner as a family. Eli got fussy during dinner, so I ended up walking him around old San Juan for thirty minutes while he tried to put himself to sleep. The Christmas lights captivated him, and he simply didn't want to sleep, lest he miss some of the excitement. Eventually he went to sleep and I got to finish dinner.

Our meeting ended on Friday afternoon and I planned a kayak tour with my coworkers and colleagues to celebrate. Grandma and Grandpa agreed to watch him so we could tour the bioluminescent bay closest to San Juan. We were gone from about 4:30-10, and it sounds like Eli fussed - loudly - the entire time. So our first Adventure in Babysitting was not terribly successful.

We woke up early the next morning and began the long journey home. We left the hotel at 5 AM and didn't arrive in Madison until 7PM San Juan time. We flew through Miami, had a quick pit stop and Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then drove back to Madison. Eli was definitely more interested in his surroundings on the plane this trip, but he was still very well behaved. While we are happy this trip went smoothly, we are still trepidation about taking him to Brazil in March!

Back in Madison, it is very cold and snowy. The ground is icy and the temperatures hovered around zero for the last two days. These are the unfortunate days of the year when daylight is short and it is simply uncomfortable (and a bit dangerous) to spend time outside. Hopefully these days will pass quickly and it will be spring before we know it. One slightly interesting consequence of Eli's first few months is that we are watching much less TV than before - so much so that we cancelled our cable service this week. Unfortunately we still need to pay the cable company to receive the broadcast networks and their HD signals (living in a valley next to a forest prevents simple antennas from working well), but we will see if we miss not having hundreds of channels (with nothing on).

Puerto Rico

The family is now in Puerto Rico. From all accounts, Eli was a superstar on the plane. Very little fussing at all. Now everyone is relaxing and settling into the hotel. Dave gave his talks at his business meeting already and is now transitioning into his role as meeting co-chair. This should be easier than what he's done the last few days - if all goes well, it's all downhill from here. 

Oh, and there is a lot of snow in Madison. If you're reading this from there, suffice it to say the weather is nicer here!

dave

The sound of silence

The colds that Shelby and I have given back and forth to one another have now given way to laryngitis -- for us! Eli taunts us with his healthy, working, yelling vocal chords. This hasn't stopped us from taking pictures, though!

The last few days have been hectic as we prepare to go to Puerto Rico next week. Shelby prepared a poster describing her recent research, while I dealt with last-minute planning for the meeting and making my own talk for a satellite meeting that precedes the meeting that I'm hosting. We leave on Saturday for Chicago and I fly to San Juan the next day. Shelby, Grandma Linda, and Grandpa Mike fly to San Juan on Tuesday. Tomorrow we will gather the supplies and start loading the car. 

In other travel news, the ever lengthening trips with Eli just keep coming. It looks like we are going to spend two weeks with Eli in Brazil in March. Let him see how the Southern hemisphere looks during our winter. If he were old enough to understand, he would be confused. All readers who think that we are nuts for taking him to Brazil in March can register their (roundly ignored) comments in the appropriately named 'comments' section. I, for one, think it will be a great adventure. 

Eli's first parent -teacher conference

We had our first parent-teacher conference today.  Eli is doing well.  The biggest thing is that he is very alert and seems interested in all that is going on around him.  I would agree with that!

I think Dave filled you in on most of the happenings.  We did have a nice thanksgiving.  I posted a picture of that above.  The other pics are some random cute ones we have.  Eli is also spending more time on his tummy.  You can see he likes his tummy time mat and we have another tummy time spinny thing that I'll have to post a picture of later.

He is also practicing sitting up.  But, I can only have him up in  a corner or on my lap.  Otherwise he falls over, which is no good.