Cousin Hazel lives in a three-story town home. That means there are a LOT of stairs. On a recent visit, Eli became a stair master. You’ll see what I mean…
Eli loves spending time in Portland with his cousin, his aunt, and his uncle. Hazel gets a little jealous sometimes, because we all know that she’s a pink princess and therefore deserving of all the attention. I think she might have gotten upset after her mom pushed Eli on the swing instead of her. Eli didn’t seem to notice or care… he was having too much fun!
Why is the pain and suffering of toddlers so funny sometimes?
If the first video hasn’t already convinced you, Eli’s becoming quite the mover and the shaker. He crawls and walks ALL around. I mean ALL AROUND. The playground bark makes it pretty easy to track him…
This morning, my picture feed popped up an awesome fall photo of Hazel back in 2009. She was walking, albeit unsteadily, and the fall colors were absolutely gorgeous. It made me smile, because Eli’s at a very similar stage right now.
I thought you might enjoy this as much as I did. As a point of comparison, here’s Eli and Nathan, walking to school:
Soon, we’ll post some video from the past two glorious fall weekends: During first couple of days of October, Eli and Nathan spent some time with the Barkers in Portland. The next weekend, we Kaisers took a field trip up to Whistler. Pictures and video of both weekends are precious. Here’s a preview:
The days are getting shorter in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll admit it. I’m not ready for fall. Mostly because it’s been an AMAZING summer.
Granted, summer weather only arrived in late-August, but we were lucky enough to travel east of the Cascades a few times to feel the heat (above 80 degrees counts as heat in my mind) and relax at the cabin. And we took a couple plane trips to warm destinations and family reunions… both my side and Nate’s. So, I’ll reiterate, it’s been an AMAZING summer.
We celebrated my grandfather’s 85th birthday in August, even though his actual 85th birthday was yesterday, the 24th of September. It didn’t matter when we celebrated; all the Ngs gathered in Lake Tahoe, and I’ve discovered my new favorite destination. Lake Tahoe is gorgeous, and one of these days soon, I want to see it in the winter.
We're on a boat!
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
Happy 85th Birthday, Yeh Yeh!
Our summertime visit wasn’t nearly long enough, but we made the best of it by visiting the beach, eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet (cuz where there’s casinos, there’s buffets), swimming every morning with Eli in the pool, taking nearly the entire fam on a 250 hp pontoon boat around the lake (we could have water skied behind that thing if we hadn’t maxed out on people!), and singing lots of birthday wishes to my grandfather… a month and a half early!
Also in August, Eli had his first camping experience, and I discovered how much my little Pig Pen likes dirt! I had already found out how much he likes sand when we were in Tahoe (playing in it, digging in it, eating it…), but Eli took things to a whole new level at Lake Cushman with the Kaiser sibs and his cousin Hazel. This kid discovered dirt, and dirt + the dog dish + a little bit of water left in the dog’s dish = hours of good times.
Pig Pen aka Eli
dirt + dog dish = good times!
Not to mention Eli absolutely adores his cousin Hazel.
Eli got to spend another 5 whole days with Hazel while at the Kaiser ranch in September. We traveled on the same plane to Texas with Aunt Ailey, but we met up with Aunt Eryn and Hazel at the Houston Airport, and from that point on, we were all travel buddies. Nate’s grandfather turned 80 on September 15th. Unlike my grandfather’s celebration, there are not casinos nor gorgeous lakes in Yoakum, Tx so we spent considerably more time in one place–that would be the ranch, and we at considerably more meat–as in BBQ.
OMG, so much BBQ! And so much cake! And so much happy birthday! We were lucky enough to arrive in Texas just as a cool spell hit and just as the rain drops started to fall. It was the first time in months that Texas saw rain, so everyone was celebrating (not just us, the party-goers)!
Party goers gather, post party
Doesn't this say, "80th birthday"?
Eli and his Great-Grandaddy
Happy 80th, Sydney!
Through all these summertime activities, Eli’s developed into a full-fledged toddler, who can walk (sort of), talks back (mostly in high-pitched squeals and sign language… an odd combination, to say the least), and feeds himself (and his ears, and his hair…) We are really loving having a toddler around the house and watching him grow and change quickly!
So, I guess this is Happy Fall, everyone! To the leaves changing, and to the many changes to come! We’ll try to keep you posted
After my last post, I think a little cute is in order …That and the fact that my dear friend Nicole Adams specifically asked for a baby Eli update, and I can’t disappoint her. Eli’s been doing a lot of traveling around the state. Over Memorial Day weekend, we all went to the cabin in Eastern Washington. We went again last weekend for Uncle Clayton’s graduation from Central Washington University.
In a couple of weekends, Eli’s looking forward to spending some time with his cousin, Hazel. They’ve practiced playing together at the cabin and it’s pretty cute, if I do say so myself.
Eli doesn’t mind the car ride. He especially likes it when there’s sun coming through the windows. Eastern Washington is good for that.
A happy kid in his carseat
Where's Uncle Clayton among all those robes?
Congratulations, Graduate! (Eli is asleep in the pack)
Nathan and I have been pretty melancholy as of late. We’ve said good-bye to too many friends and relatives throughout April and May, and, no matter how much we celebrate their lives, their passings are really, really sad. Throughout all of this, Eli’s been amazing, and his presence shines over these moments of mourning, bringing overwhelming joy. So there’s been a lot of ups but also a lot of downs.
10-month old Eli is starting to feed himself!
Ups
I can sum this up in one word: Eli. The fact that he’s the light of our lives is pretty obvious, but please indulge me as I elaborate with a few stats. Eli is 10-months old now, and he crawls like a maniac. The kid is FAST. And he really loves being mobile. It affords him an element of independence–he can pretty much go where he wants, when he wants–and he’s having fun trying to get there. We’re on higher alert these days, but even if Eli crawls out of our sight, we can hear the ‘smack-smack’ of his hands on the hardwoods and his heavy breathing–he gets a little breathless when he crawls because he’s so excited about it! It’s hilarious! Just trust me.
Eli figured out how to crawl in earnest way back in March, but he’s just now figuring out how to pull himself up to a standing position. We’re really glad he’s not yet ‘furniture walking,’ but I’m sure that will come soon!
He’s also eating more variety of foods–pretty much whatever we’re eating but in a blended up, mushy format. His favorite foods right now are apples, pears, pancakes, and his long-time staple: sweet potato. He’s still evaluating fried rice and tofu stir-fry, but he enjoyed the chow mein. The other day, he insisted on holding his own spoon. It was a little messy, but so worth it. He’s getting his 7th tooth, and we figure we’d better save up now for orthodontics!
Other ups
After two-and-a-half months abroad, Ailey returned home for a couple of weeks before heading back to Liberia. Yeah, it’s dizzying. My sister-in-law has seen more countries and more rural parts of countries that most of us can imagine. She’s doing field work research and advancing land rights in the developing world. I’m so proud of her! So I’m looking forward to kickin’ it with her tomorrow. We’ve got a happy hour and a girls night planned. Fruity alcoholic drinks and a chick flick are in my near future. This is definitely an up!
And we’re headed to Portland this weekend to kick it with our niece. We’ll get to see Nate’s other sister and her hubby briefly, but mostly we’re chillin’ with the kids in P-town. Another up!
One more awesome thing that I can’t believe I forgot to mention before: I got Lasik!!! After more than a decade of not being able to see without my glasses or contacts, I wake up in the morning and open my eyes to… clarity! My old alarm clock used to be hitting Nate and asking for the time. Today, I just lift my head and look for myself! They corrected my vision from a -9, which is a massive correction of near-sightedness. Now I’m a +2! I [heart] Clearly Lasik in Renton. Even if they have had some drama in that office.
Downs
I’ll go in rough chronological order, since it’s easier to list. Throughout this 2011, we’ve lost a number of friends and family members.
November 2010: Uncle Carl (89) and Eli (4 mos)
Our neighbor, Gerry Heffernan, passed away with Alzheimer’s earlier this year. His memorial was last weekend, but we weren’t able to attend.
An inspiration to the Seattle startup community, Tom Music, suddenly lost his battle with lymphoma in mid-April. We honored him with an Irish-style wake and drank lots of beer.
While we were drinking, Susie was returning from a memorial service in Texas for their relative, Carl Chandler. Carl carried the namesake to Nathan’s middle name, representing the branch of Chandlers that first came to this country. He served in WWII, miraculously making it through the D-Day invasion as a medic in the first wave. Later in his military career, he was given the honor of dancing with England’s Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen. He would have been 90 this year.
Our old friend and ‘parking landlord’ of the past 5 years, Fred Cloonan, passed away from a sudden heart attack. Fred also served in WWII as a merchant marine, and he continued his service in the navy, fighting in the Korean War as well. We celebrated his memory and his 80th birthday on May 1.
We learned at Easter that Nathan’s former tennis captain passed away of a sudden heart attack.
Most recently and most poignantly for me, my grandmother went on to heaven on May 9. She passed, surrounded by her eight kids and many of her grandkids. I gave a eulogy on Saturday, but I think it’s still sinking in… She was such an awesome woman. I’ll post the eulogy in a separate message. And this is why I’m especially sad these days. It’s a bit cumulative, but I really miss my PoPo.
Eli got sent home from daycare yesterday because he threw up. Sometimes, Eli throws up because he eats too much. Yesterday, it was determined that he is really sick. Poor kid.
He didn’t eat much of anything at all, and he didn’t keep much of that down. So last night, Nate went out and bought Pedialyte (which I’m calling Gatorade for babies), and we deliberated about what to do next. Eli was banned from daycare, so we called my mother-in-law. (My own folks have helped out and watched a sick Eli on numerous occasions in the past. We just thought we’d see if Susie was available this time.)
… And she WAS! Sort of. So we all agreed that I would take Eli to work with me, and Susie would pick him up after her doctor’s appointment.
In the meantime, Eli had a marvelous time at my office, napping on Amy’s lap.
Now, he’s playing at Grandma’s.
I’m wondering if his “sick day” was just a ploy to play with cute girls…
ZONKED. No really. Another coworker came by to see what all the heavy breathing was about
How do I adequately describe how awesome Girls Ski Weekend 2011 was?
I can’t, so I’ll have to leave you with some pictures from the slopes.
Bomber Cliffs are RAD!
Backcountry gals
Fist bump. Blow it up!
Checkin' out the ridge
Yeaahhhh!!!
Oh, and since we didn’t all ski and I don’t have pictures of two of our awesome bad-ass girls, I’ll share a few quotes from the weekend.
“Follow the Chumstick Highway to Beaver Valley.” (I kid you not, these were part of the directions to get to our lodge. Given that two of our crew are middle school teachers who’s minds will ALWAYS go there, we had endless giggles about these directions.)
“You MUST try the ramp!”
“I want a dog named ‘Meat.’”
“I’ve skinned a moose before.”
“I have a list for that too.”
Andreas Keller – Where you can eat a pickle with a knife!
“Let’s all hike the Ridge!”
“Are you texting?” “No, I’m writing down all the funny things you say!”
The Kaiser house has been less than fun these past few days. Eli came home from daycare with his first cold, and promptly gave it to Nathan. The two miserable boys spend last week with stuffy noses and fevers. I fear that snot is going to become a permanent fixture on Eli’s face. It was good that last Monday was a holiday. Eli and I stayed home together, and we had the added bonus of Nate’s presence, although he stayed in bed for most of it. When I went back to work on Tuesday, Eli went back to daycare. He managed OK, and got well after a couple more days.
Eli and his daycare buddy
Sadly, Eli’s week turned sour again when another tooth started to come in. He’s not enjoying this one bit. We’ve taken to keeping teething toys in the fridge, rubbing Baby Ora-gel on Eli’s gums at regular intervals, and giving him Tylenol to ease the pain.
Poor, poor teething kid
Somehow, I managed to avoid the cold last week. I’m popping Airborne and Vitamin C like they’re candy, and I hope that does the trick! I’ve got a big weekend next weekend, and I’ve GOT to be well for it… me and the ladies are off to 2011 Girls Ski Weekend! We’ve rented a house in Leavenworth and there’s 9 of us total. I can’t WAIT!!! And I expect my legs may fall off from all the skiing I’ll be doing
Fingers crossed that I’ll stay well through the week and the weekend!
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some happier pictures of Eli (cuz that’s what you want to see, isn’t it?):
A good friend put it this way, “Two of the most sociable people we know take off alone for New Years?!? It defies logic.” But that’s what we do… For the past five or six years, we’ve headed to the Kaiser cabin for New Year’s Eve, sometimes with another couple, sometimes just to two of us. This year it was actually the four of us for the long weekend–Eli, Galt, Nate and myself.
The Kaiser boys say, "Happy New Year!" from the cabin
We celebrated New Year’s Eve along with rest of the East Coast, and were in bed by 10:30 p.m. Then on New Year’s Day we dropped Eli off at mountain daycare and continued a long tradition: we hit the slopes.
It was GORGEOUS!!! The sun was shining, the snow was great, and you could see at least four different mountain peaks in the distance. Did I tell you it was gorgeous?
We love Mission Ridge Ski Resort! And the lines… well, they were nonexistent, which is part of the reason why we love Mission Ridge!
It’s been a FULL 6 months. Heck, just this past one month has been crazy… But FUN. How can you not have fun with this kid?
Eli's first Christmas
In the month of December, we went to Hawaii, Eli tried solid foods and made a sometimes-transition to formula, we celebrated Christmas with the Kaisers (a week before real Christmas), we celebrated Christmas Eve at Auntie Terry and Uncle Benson’s house, we hosted Christmas Day at our house, and then we snuck off to the Kaiser cabin to be antisocial for New Years Eve.
Eli's Hawaii outfit
Waikiki Beach is awesome
Our cowboy got a horsey for Christmas
... and a Chariot!
Ready for the snow!
Happy New Year's Eve!
It’s now January, and according to Eli’s 6-month check up (about a week ago), he’s in the 98th percentile for height, the 50th percentile for weight, and the 50th percentile for head circumference. We have a tall kid!
He’s enjoying the new, neat adventure of eating solid foods and drinking from a sippy cup.
And he’s started sitting up (almost) on his own. We didn’t know it, but Eli was days away from cutting his first tooth during the filming of this video. Now looking back, it makes perfect sense.
Marissa here. I don’t know why or how, but over the past 24 hours I seem to have re-emerged from a relative social-media silence that’s been in effect since Thanksgiving. And with that, I realize that Nate and I really suck at blogging. It only takes few minutes to post an update on our lives, but we seem to not take the time to do that. Instead, we might take a few seconds to Tweet or update Facebook, sometimes with a picture and sometimes with an article. But as I mentioned above, I’ve been fairly silent on that front as well.
Is it raising an infant? Is it balancing raising an infant with our responsibility-laden jobs? Is it that we’d rather see folks in person and don’t care to write about the folks we see in person? Maybe it’s all of the above. But we certainly don’t have a good excuse. We’re in front of our computers or our iPhones ALL. THE. TIME.
So here’s my commitment–call it a New Year’s Resolution if you like–I’ll work to share some tidbit at least once a week. Even if it’s small or half-baked or just a picture with a caption. This is just as much for me as it is for you (you three people who might read this). Eli is growing SO QUICKLY that I’m afraid I’ll forget these precious moments. This will be my way of charting our lives.
Eli's a world-class traveler now. (November 2010 on the plane headed home from Texas.)
Now for the gratuitous Eli picture… can you believe that the most recent photo I have on my work computer is from November?!? (I can’t believe it’s the middle of January…)
This Thanksgiving, we’re all extremely thankful for family. And food. And lately, we’ve had a lot of both!
Our little pumpkin
We’ve just returned from a 1,007 mile trek around Texas–Houston, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Victoria, Yoakum, and back to Houston. It was a tour of filled with family, delicious food, various hotel rooms, gorgeous countryside, and more family.
The weekend before that, we hosted my sister, her hubby, and her in-laws in Seattle for a post-wedding celebration (2-months post wedding). My sis got to don on her wedding dress, and we were surrounded by friends and family as we were served a LOT of Chinese food.
Of course, friends and family were excited to see us, but they were truly there to see and meet baby Eli. We’re fine with that
Eli had a busy day today. He spent most of the day with his friend Sydney. (Eli is going over to Sydney’s house three days out of the week, now that the Kaisers and the Lambs are nanny-sharing.)
Eli in the snuggly; Eli in the jogger
Eli after his bath. (Galt joins to check things out.)
Eli in his chair
Then, when Mommy (aka me) got home, we got Eli all bundled up and took Galt for a run.
Finally, Eli got a bath. Afterward, Eli spent some time rocking in the big person glider.
Usually he sits in someone’s lap while he’s in the glider. Galt noticed the difference and stood guard, making sure Eli was OK.
I looked down at Eli the other night and thought, “My gosh, he’s such a little man!” His mannerisms seem much more intentional these days.
Sly Grin
Not only does he have entire conversations (with us, with his mobile, with himself), he sucks on his hand (and sometimes his thumb), he’s a big smiler, and he’s an even bigger flirt. He’s 10 weeks old now–that’s 2 1/2 months for those of you who don’t want to do the math–and he’s had quite a few experiences in the past couple of weeks: his first bike ride, his first airplane ride, his first swim, he saw Aunt Bethany and Uncle Dan get married (more on this later), he met the extended Ng family and a few more of the extended Marks, and he’s staying at home with a nanny now that Nate and I have gone back to work full time.
Cranky Face
Before I forget, here’s some of his stats from his 2 month check up:
Weight: 11 lbs. 10.5 oz. (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 39.5 cm (50th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches (90th percentile!)
I just spent a few moments checking out Hazel’s blog to see how Eli compares with his cousin when she was his age. If Hazel was a Banana Baby at 10 lbs. and 23 inches, then Eli’s been taking note and following in his cousin’s footsteps. What I want to know is, how on earth did two parents of average height create a baby that’s in the 90th percentile?!? Over 11 lbs. and 24.5 inches—where did this come from???
Eli's first bike ride
In case you couldn't see Eli's reaction to his first bike ride, here's a close up
My last post ended with this: I have all sorts of stories about our first venture out (4 days after Eli was born), our first road trip (to the cabin to hang with Cousin Hazel), and milestones, but they will have to wait until I find a chunk of time or until I see you in person.
I didn’t really find a chunk of time, but here’s a written account of our first venture out and our first road trip, starting with the road trip. (I know, sounds official, huh?)
—————————————————-
Damn. It’s TOUGH traveling with an infant. Actually, it’s tough to get ready to travel with an infant. Or at least it was tough for me the first time around. I won’t lie; there were tears.
Circa July 30. Eli age: 3 weeks old. We were headed east to introduce Eli to the cabin. His cousin Hazel was nice enough to invite us along to the tail-end of the Barker Family Vacation aka BFVGPS10. I was responsible for getting myself, the kid, and the dog into the truck. Nate had packed up most of the gear already. I just needed to load the final bags and the young ones, then pick up Nate in Pioneer Square before heading out. No big deal, right?
Eli in his snap-in carseat... the easy one.
Eli's not sure what to make of the cabin.
I tried to remain cool as Eli screamed his head off while I ran around loading the last-minute stuff and the dog. I had everything ready to go, and I was only 10-15 minutes behind schedule. Lastly, I grabbed the crying baby and set him into the carseat… where the straps were too tight to go around his little arms. Dammit. As it turned out, the carseat was my doom. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to loosen the straps.
An hour, several phone calls, several curse words, several more curse words, tears, cries (from Eli), and a $30 taxi ride later, Nate came to save the day. He fixed the problem in about 30 seconds, which brought on even more tears of frustration (from me and Eli). Eventually, we got to the cabin just fine.
And we had an awesome time.
Jet ski on the Columbia! Whoo hoo!
—————————————————-
And while that was the worst to date, there have been some comical other firsts in regards to “traveling” with Eli. The first outing we took as a new Kaiser clan (aside from heading home from the hospital) was on July 11, just four days after Eli was born. It was Nate’s birthday, Eli’s actual due date, and we headed to Redmond to join Keith and Susie at church.
Nate aka “Clipboard Kaiser” had a schedule that he wanted to keep and an ideal time to leave the house. Being that Eli was four days old and we had just come home from the hospital two days prior, everything from getting ourselves showered and dressed to getting the diaper bag packed was a challenge. But we were up to the task!
The task included a load of laundry prior to our departure, washing Eli’s intended outfit for the day. We were both certain that everything would dry by the time we had to leave… We were wrong.
40 minutes prior to our intended departure, I started feeding Eli, all the while shouting out things like “Don’t forget the _[fill in with random baby item]__” to Nate who was running around getting himself and the diaper bag packed up.
20 minutes prior to our intended departure, I decided Eli had had enough to eat and needed to get dressed. Nate took the laundry out of the dryer, only slightly damp.
15 minutes prior to our intended departure we changed Eli’s diaper and put him in his outfit for the day.
10 minutes prior to our intended departure we assessed that the outfit was still pretty damp and we should attempt to dry it further before heading out into the chilly elements (and sadly, it was fairly chilly and overcast for a mid-summer morning). We turned on the hairdryer and pointed it at our son. Yes. When our son was only four days old, we dried his clothes with a hair dryer while he was wearing them. I’m not proud of it, but he didn’t seem to mind, and the hair dryer did the trick.
You’d think at this point that we’d realize the need for additional layers, but you’d be wrong.
We managed to get out the door 10 minutes behind schedule, which wasn’t bad given our antics prior to intended departure. We snapped in the carseat, started the car, backed out of the garage, and we were off! … So we thought.
As we were backing out of the garage, I noticed that the blanket wasn’t in the carseat. “Nate, did you grab the blanket?”
“No Mars, I thought you did!”
Next, I noticed that we’d forgotten to put socks on Eli. By this time, we were at the streetlight, but with a damp clothed son, no blanket and no socks, we determined the need to turn back around. Needless to say, we were late to church.
Amusingly enough, the sun came out just as we crossed the bridge, and we ended up stripping the kid of all his clothes once we got to Grandpa and Grandma’s house. Go figure.
Eli sans clothing and loving it
In Grandpa's lap, sporting his fly dry outfit
The shirt says "I'm a sloppy kisser." It should say, "I drool in my sleep."
