Seeing Attle.

Here are some pictures of our last few days of traveling.

Eli and the Winds of Change

The next two weeks Eli, Shelby, and I are taking an ambitious trip to Seattle and Sao Paulo. I'm writing this from Seattle, where we've been since yesterday morning. Eli was surprisingly quiet on the plane. He didn't howl at all, though he clearly grew impatient at the confinement in the last two hours. The days of carrying him on our lap are probably drawing to an end, but it is hard to justify spending a lot of money out of pocket to take him on business trips. We made it to Seattle and our hotel by noontime. Lunch at the Pike Place Market was followed by a rejuvenating nap. We visited our friends Renee and Eric, as well as their daughter Mia, after Eli's (and dad's) nap. They live about 20 minutes from our hotel, so it is a fairly easy cab ride. We spent the afternoon watching Eli and Mia play together. Eli really liked some of Mia's toys, as well as their dog Lucy. We all ate pizza together for dinner and then returned to the hotel for the night. Eli has a pack-and-play in the room, but it isn't the most comfortable crib he's slept in. He was restless, waking a few times during the night. Eventually he curled up with us and rested until about 6AM.

After he woke up, Shelby and I took turns exercising in the hotel gym. We had breakfast with our friend Esper. We converted the leisure seating at Starbucks into a baby picnic area. A good time was had by all. We then went back to Renee's house and spent the day with her and Mia. Eli took a nice nap in the car and continued to sleep once we arrived at Renee's house. He woke up by 11. Together, we went to Gymboree and enjoyed a toddler music class. Eli is a natural percussionist. We returned to Renee's house and had a 'silly lunch' of french toast. We spent the afternoon at the Seattle aquarium where Eli and Mia had a great time watching the fish and seeing the exhibits. Each time Eli goes to a museum he gets more engaged.

Eli and mom took a good nap after the aquarium while I checked email. Everyone was woken up at 5:30 to have dinner with Esper. A comfortable meal at Cheesecake Factory provided a nice cap on a fun day.

Also, I had to have to Grand Hyatt fix a 'baby chute' in our 17th floor room. A baby-sized, open-able window at toddler eye level is just a touch dangerous. They have now engineered a very sophisticated lock on the window, so we are happy. But I was incredulous about this window earlier in the day.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Eli will be staying with Mia and Renee's nanny. We'll bring her over in the morning, come back to meetings (both Shelby's meeting and one I have in another building), and then pick up Eli in the afternoon. It is very nice having good friends in the area who we get to see on trips like this one...Renee and her family are being overly generous to us, but we are incredibly grateful for their hospitality.

More to follow as we experience Seattle and prepare for a week in Brazil.

Here we come...walking down the street

MVI_0508, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli decides to go on a walk with dad...and then take off by himself.

one more

I went back through the pictures from the day, and I had to add one more picture because Eli looked so happy!

Eli's first haircut

We took Eli to get his first haircut today. Not surprisingly, he wasn't too happy about it. He was much happier (and more handsome) afterwards when he got to play in the toy car and crawl around. We also took him to Didier Farms and he got to play with pumpkins and see some farm animals. It is always fun to "moo" at the cows. And, I think he tried to do that today. Enjoy! We are off to Boston tomorrow!

Dave and the crepe guy in Paris

IMG_0408, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Dave and his new friend, the street crepe guy, in Paris last week.

messy eater

Eli demonstrated his messy habits very nicely today. He put those pieces of cantaloupe on his head, not me. And, he really makes a mess with his avocados. But, he can eat an entire avocado for a meal -- amazing! I also thought folks might like to see Eli wearing his winter attire. I'm sure that will get more use in the coming weeks.....

Oh, and there will hopefully be pics from our trip to the pumpkin patch today. But, those pics are on our other camera and I need to find the cable to get them off of that camera. Stay tuned!

Survived

The entire family survived Shelby's business trip to Duke. Eli and I had a great day last Sunday as I described in the previous blog entry. On Monday morning, I took Eli to school and had a busy day at work. I picked up enough dinners for both of us to last two nights and hunkered in for the night. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold on Monday and was sniffling by evening. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike were concerned about my ability to take care of Eli if I was sick myself, so they volunteered to come up on to Madison on Tuesday. Tuesday morning was cold and rainy, so Eli and I spent the morning playing in the house. We went out to eat lunch with Grandma and Grandpa at Noodles, a notable meal because we ate with Eli sans any specific supplies. Having a little extra food on hand would be useful in the future, but it is good to know that in a pinch we can simply take Eli out to eat. Later that afternoon, Mike and I watched the Twins v. Tigers MLB tiebreaker game. Eli also had a bit of a cold, so he slept through a good portion of the afternoon. Shelby came back to Madison on Wednesday night. Before she came back, Eli spent the day in school and I spent the day at work. By 7PM, the entire family was back together again.

The rest of the week passed in a blur. I can't honestly say if anything interesting happened on Thursday or Friday. Saturday we went shopping in the morning and then spent the afternoon around the house. Today was a milestone, as we left Eli at the house alone with a babysitter for 3 hours (thanks Regina!). Shelby and I played a soccer game in the cold, dry fall weather (we even won). No harm befell Eli and he is now playing contentedly with Shelby.

On the Road Again

This morning Shelby left for a business meeting in North Carolina. This is her first business trip by herself in several years and the first time she has entrusted me with Eli's care. So far, so good. He woke up at the normal time, took a cup of milk, ate breakfast, went on a nature walk, played around the house, and took a good nap. Triscuit is getting into the spirit of the week and has been more protective than usual - he even jumped up on Eli's chaise as I set him down to a nap! This afternoon I will take Eli to the zoo and then to my soccer game, where he will be watched by our babysitter. A busy day, but hopefully he won't register too much disappointment about mom's absence.

Today also marks the start of a particularly busy stretch for us. After Shelby gets back from North Carolina late on Wednesday, we are together until next Saturday, when I leave for a week in Paris. After I return on Thursday night, we turn around for a week in Boston two days later. The last trip might be the hardest because we have to pack for Eli.

Eli is now starting to walk with assistance and make noises that sound suspiciously like words. His first unassisted steps could come any day.

And now, some pictures:

new pics

We had a few nice picture I wanted to share. First, there is another picture from the Feinberg Family Fiesta a few weeks ago. I thought it was a nice picture. Then, there is a series of pictures of me, Dave, and Eli playing the other day. As you can see, Eli likes to go upside down and he likes to be tickled. He also likes to climb Mt. Mom. Lastly, you can see that Eli is playing with his red bat. I don't understand Eli sometimes. Many kids have a favorite stuffed toy. Eli, on the other hand, likes his bat.....

Beetsbeans

Not surprisingly, I try to give Eli a lot of vegetables. He likes some better than others. He is a huge fan of zucchini. He occasionally eats carrots and potatoes. He rarely eats non-baby-food green beans. Tonight, I gave him beets. He loved them!! I was so surprised!! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture. Oh well. Here are a few more pics for you. You can see that Eli was not a fan of the cupcake for his birthday, at first. I need to take more pics around the house. I'll see what I can do....

Eli's Number One!

Not only did Eli turn one year old this week, we also learned that he weighs under 18 Lbs, putting him in the first percentile of weight! Go team!! He eats like a horse (er, a pony?) and the doctor isn't concerned, though I suspect he'll have a small strike zone in Little League.

Without further ado, here be pictures:

Birthday Celebration (#1)

Last night we celebrated Eli's birthday a little bit early with Shelby's family. Eli ate his first cupcake and tried to blow out his first candle. More (messy) photographs to follow.

Eli the Reader

IMG_0157, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli and the Butterflies

IMG_0187, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Eli 'Howard Hughes' - always washing his hands

IMG_0208, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Sleeping Eli in Minneapolis

IMG_0215, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

With ann aunt, uncle neil, and Shelby's cousins

IMG_0230, originally uploaded by dhoconno.

Minneapolytics

A few hurried thoughts. With undergrad classes starting next week, Shelby and I are gearing up for our busiest semester yet. I'm sure we will persevere, but it will be a challenge. There just seems to be so much to do!

1) Last weekend we visited Shelby's Aunt Ann and Uncle Neil in Minneapolis. We had a terrific time. Not only did Eli behave in the car (we stacked the odds by having him take his midday nap on the way there and drove back late night on Sunday), but he was adorable all weekend long. On Saturday we walked around a lake (only 9,999 to go), visited the Mall of America (and took Eli into a butterfly exhibit - go figure), and played around the house. Sunday brought a long walk through the neighborhood, projects around the house, and a visit from Shelby's cousins and their three children. A really nice visit was had by all.

2) Google Analytics continues to surprise me. I'm not certain who the 15 people per day are that visit us to learn the latest in our uneventful lives, but I guess we should continue posting pictures and smarmy commentary.


3) I put Eli to bed unassisted for the second time tonight. Well, I was assisted by a medley of Queen classics that substituted for the traditional lullabies that I don't know.

4) More pictures will follow.

dave

Madison Children's museum

Last weekend we found a new Madison gem -- the Children's museum! There were a lot of fun things to do there. You can see Eli playing in the toddler barnyard. He also liked crawling after these wooden pull-toys that were dinosaurs and pigs. We got him to go into the tunnel to get the pig toy. And, he liked playing the bongos. Overall, it was a really good time, albeit very stimulating for Eli. We now have an annual pass so we can go whenever we want -- yay! I think we will be spending many days at the museum playing with all sorts of toys, but learning at the same time!