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.

Eli's First Winter Storm

Yesterday the weather forecast called for an inch of snow, but now they are anticipating a full winter storm. We spent part of the day today preparing for the impending snow. Our snow blower takes a fuel:oil blend whose ratio I can never remember. I figured that out and bought new gas. Since winter is approaching suddenly, I hadn't taken the time to run the gas out of the lawn mower yet. I did that while I was at the gas station. Simultaneously draining one device from gas while buying gas for another seems counterintuitive.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike visited from Thursday until Saturday morning. On Thursday we had a relaxing day around the house, watching football and eating. I also ran 6.5 miles around the UW Arboretum. While I often run the Arboretum in spring and summer, I had not run more than 30 minutes at a time since I hurt my ankle in August. Suffice it to say, I was tired and sore the next day! On Friday, Mike and Linda watched Eli while Shelby and I worked. I needed to revamp my lab's website and Shelby made a poster for our science conference next week.

Here are videos from our Thanksgiving weekend. We even had an opportunity to bring the family to the dog park yesterday!

The Eli-brary

Today was an exciting first. We took Eli to the library! Madison just opened a brand-new and expanded library branch about a mile from our house. This particular location is known for their children's books. Eli behaved himself in the library. In fact, he was as quiet as a mouse.

Initially I was underwhelmed by the book selection, but then I discovered their small collection of Mo Willems books. Back in 2001 when Shelby and I moved into our house, we installed Dish Network. As we surfed through the many channels now available to us, we discovered that we had the Cartoon Network for the first time. Remember that at the time, this was a pre-Adult Swim, very much children's network that showed cartoons. Somehow we flipped to this channel one Saturday afternoon and caught the end of the cartoon "Sheep in the Big City", a touching cartoon about a little sheep and his misadventures in the big city (and his attempts to elude capture by General Lee Outrageous, who is trying to make a sheep-powered ray gun). Though definitely geared towards children, the dialog was laced with puns (some very groan-inducing) and layered humor. We loved that show, which is unfortunately not available on DVD. I don't understand why it isn't - it seems like every other TV show ever aired has a DVD box set, no matter how awful. At any rate, that series was created by Mo Willems, who went on to write acclaimed books for children. In the back of my mind, I knew this because I looked on his website when we found out that Shelby was pregnant and I was looking for Sheep DVDs to buy. But I forgot about his books until I saw them in the library this morning. They are charming, funny, and infinitely more enjoyable than most of the other books that we've read Eli (though we are very fond of 'A Frog in the Bog'.) So it was definitely a good day at the library.

In terms of Eli's development, he is tracking objects very well. Today he was able to track a brightly colored toy from left to right, back to center, up, down, and back to center for nearly five minutes! He is also beginning to fix his gaze on the pictures in his books. Interactivity, here we come!

After several nights with little sleep, we put Eli down for a nap at 7 PM last night, only to have it morph into an all-night, sleeping extravaganza! Shelby fed him at 10PM and again at 2AM, but otherwise he gave us an incredibly long block of uninterrupted sleep. I'd like to say we took the opportunity to do something remotely exciting, but in actuality we watched 'How I Met Your Mother' and went to sleep. 

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. Yesterday we had Thanksgiving breakfast in the lab. Shelby and Eli made muffins and brought oranges. Today Shelby and Eli made cookies for dessert, and she will be cooking more tomorrow and Thursday. We both really enjoy Thanksgiving and are eagerly anticipating a few days off of work. Then it is back to work for a week before gathering up the family and going to San Juan for a scientific conference. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike will definitely get their fill of Eli. They are coming to Madison for Thanksgiving this week and San Juan to help care for Eli in two weeks.

Let sleeping baby's Eli

Shelby and I are recovering from our DC and Miami trip. The compressed workweek (since we didn't go to the office until Wednesday) led to long and tiring days this week. Wednesday also marked Eli's 10 week birthday. For the first ten weeks, we used a 'Miracle Blanket', aka baby straightjacket
' to prevent Eli from flailing at night. The blanket made an instantaneous difference in Eli's capacity to sleep longer than two hours at a stretch. He is starting to outgrow the blanket, however, and we do not want him to become dependent on it. So upon our return to Madison, we started putting Eli in a baby sleeping bag that is much less confining. The first night he woke up only twice. The second night was more difficult. Last night he woke up twice. So there is still some work to do, but we think that Eli may have turned the corner and is on his way to sleeping through the night more consistently. The next major challenge is to relocate Eli from the Pack and Play next to our bed. His nursery is ready, but he has only spent a few minutes in his crib during the day. Within the next week, we will probably try to move him to his crib at night. Other than our changes in his sleep routine, this week was relatively uneventful. I can't wait until the meeting that I'm organizing is over so we can take a few days to relax together as a family. 

Back from Miami

Shelby and I are back in the frozen tundra of Madison. After a very long night and day. Eli decided he didn't want to sleep last night. Perhaps we were getting cocky - he'd been falling right asleep for nearly two weeks! But last night he was overtired and wouldn't stop fussing. We resorted to taking him for an outdoor walk in his stroller at 11 PM in hopes of getting him to shut his eyes. After twenty minutes of walking, he finally did. We got to sleep at midnight, though I didn't really fall asleep. We woke up at 3 with Eli and started our preparations for our flight. We left Roz's house at 4:30 and made it to the Miami airport by 5:45. On the way, we dropped off our rental car (by the way, if anyone wants to know why the Big 3 automakers are in trouble, drive a Chrysler Sebring for a few days. I think there were more things wrong on the car than right. Including intermittent error lights for the airbags and brakes. Good times.) in the middle of the industrial wasteland where the airport car rental places live. It is an ominous area at 5 in the morning. Fortunately, we caught an earlier flight back to Chicago, which gave us a leisurely layover before our flight to Madison. The Madison flight felt funny, as though it was piloted by a novice pilot. Lots of erratic movement. Shelby was not pleased. But Eli slept great on both flights. 

Before we left, we had a wonderful day with Roz. Shelby and I got to swim again, even though it was pretty cold. More importantly, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving with Roz and Eli. We got turkey and fixins' from Boston Market and had a really nice dinner. 

Here are some pictures from the last few days: