I will let the photos speak for themselves…
I believe the one taken of my father was sometime around 1960. The one of Eli was taken this evening… Marissa thought the similarity was a bit uncanny.
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)
Enjoy the cuteness. I sure am.
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)
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 and his "Tai Po," Christmas 2010
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 
I don't think Amy minded...
Having fun at Grandma's
This past weekend we finally had a chance to try out Eli’s bike carrier. As you can see, Eli has grown a bit since we received the carrier for Christmas. Photos like this surprise the heck out of me. In only four months he has gotten so big… Latest tally: six teeth, 1/3 of a head of hair (a natural mohawk ), and now he is high-fiving, crawling, and pulling himself up into a standing position.
Eli Then (at Christmas 2010)
Eli Now (this past weekend [04/09/11
Last weekend, we packed up the truck and the kid, dropped the dog off at a friend’s, and headed to Packwood. Ailey had organized a Kaiser-kids ski weekend (sans Clayton, who had some prior commitments), and we all piled into adjoining cabins at the Mountain View Lodge, conveniently located 20 minutes away from White Pass Ski Resort.
Hazel's pretty pink ski boots
Since our small Kaiser clan is still getting the hang of packing up for a ski weekend, we were a few hours off our desired arrival time and completely missed the pizza dinner. Miraculously, Hazel was still awake to greet us at 10 p.m., and stayed awake staring and sometimes crying as Unc Nate, Aunt Ailey, Uncle Ritchie, and her dad drank beers into the late evening. Eryn managed to sleep thanks to earplugs and an eye mask, and I never really woke up from the car ride thanks to some powerful muscle relaxers. (Just my luck, the very morning we planned to leave for White Pass Ski Weekend, my back went into spasms. This is the first re-occurrence of back pain since before I was pregnant… Sigh. I REALLY didn’t miss it.)
We all managed to wake up in the morning somewhat rested (despite the fact that Eli woke up and cried several times throughout the night), and we hit the ground running with a hearty breakfast and a lot of ski and baby gear… and some baby ski gear.
Hazel and the stickers
Eli and the stickers
I learned what being a “lodge mom” is all about, and I even managed to get a little work done. The conditions were meh, so I didn’t miss much except for maybe a beer in the ski yurt. What I got to enjoy instead was some really precious time with Eli and Hazel, and I don’t regret not skiing. Eli is enamored with his big cousin Hazel, and Hazel shared her toys, her books, and her stickers with Eli.
Hazel also had a big milestone that day: she skied for the first time without anyone holding her. Brian said he almost shed a tear, right there on the magic carpet. We were all very proud.
But the most precious moment of the weekend had to have been that evening. We were all back at the lodge chilling, relaxing and getting dinner ready, while the kids played around. We decided to set Eli next to his aunt and his cousin and this cuteness ensued. I LOVE this video!
Oh, and in case you haven’t had enough, here’s some more:
"Baby E-ii, I love you!"
Eli thinks his cousin is SO cool
Happiest kids ever
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.
Check out the ramp that Jess and Colleen built!
Jess on the ramp
This is a fabulous German restaurant
Nighttime in fake Bavaria
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?):
Just hangin' out
Eli's bus commute to daycare
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!
So, HAPPY 2011! Here’s to another great year!
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 is late… Way late. As in almost a month late…
We visited Hawaii at the beginning of December.
Here’s a picture of Eli on the way over:
When does this flight end?
Regardless, we had a great time. Saw friends and family and enjoyed the sun and the waves. I really enjoyed hearing the newscasters telling everyone to bundle up as it was going to be in the low 70′s during the morning. The ended the broadcast by looking at one-another and saying “Brrrrrrr”
70 degrees? This place is P A R A D I S E
Eli Likey
Eli enjoyed pool time!
A Hawaiian Christmas:
Meeting Chris and Tanya’s newborn, Zack:
BFFs Forever.
Can’t Beat an Island Sunset
Heading over the Pali Highway
Not a bad view from the top of the world!
Surrounded by Beaches
When do we head back?
We returned from Texas the Monday before Thanksgiving, which as many may recall was the #snOMG “apocalypse.” That was the storm that shut down Seattle and left us stranded on the plane on the tarmac for over four excitement-filled hours. It was an interesting ending to an amazing trip through the heartland of Texas.
Boots and Hat at the Ready: Texas Bound
We saw family, had dinner with friends, went two-stepping (poorly) and enjoyed a lot of what makes the Lone Star State what it is. Once we landed in Texas we were off and running on what would become a 1,007 mile odyssey from Houston to Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Blanco, Seguine, Yoakum, Victoria and back to Houston. Eli was fortunate to meet cousins (some once removed, others twice, and a few that were even more than that), friends, aunts, uncles, great aunts and his great grandfather.
My parents had invited us to join them on this trip to see everyone under the auspices of making the “Night at Old Pearl City: dance at Turner Hall.” We were promised lots of Polka and Texas two-stepping, and we were not let down! Marissa and I had a great time and enjoyed every minute of the dance, though our feet are a bit worse for wear… (I simply can’t dance).
For a run down of the itinerary:
Tuesday, Nov 16th: Fly into Houston. We were looking forward to seeing Jap and Louise Lott and we ended up staying with their daughter Cindy and her husband Mark. It was 80-degrees in Houston and beautiful clear skies.
In good hands!
At some point I will share stories about Jap and Louise. A few years ago they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary and are simply an amazing and inspirational couple. He was a fighter pilot in WWII in the Pacific and generally quite the hell raiser. They are kin through my Grandpa who grew up in Yoakum, Texas (my parents are both from the same small town).
Wednesday: We are off to Kerrville to see my Aunt Sharon. She is my mother’s sister and was amazing with Eli. Simply put, it is the highlight of my trip to spend time with Aunt Sharon.
Eli meets Aunt Sharon
Thursday: Off to Fredericksburg, which was the “vacation” of this vacation. It is a beautiful town that was originally settled by Germans and retains a lot of the history and offers delicious German food. It is quite the tourist area now. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go into the Nimitz Museum. We will definitely take Eli in the near future.
Friday: Fredericksburg to Yoakum by way of Blanco and Seguin… The joke during the trip was that if we had 7 minutes of free time my mother was certain to call some distant relative and let them know we would be visit’n (correct spelling).
We stopped by to see my second-cousin-once-removed Carl in Blanco and his 46 cats. Carl was part of the initial wave of US soldiers to land on the beaches at Normandy. After the war, he was an executive with the Red Cross and worked all over the world. Side note, their daughter was born in Korea and they actually had Texas soil underneath the birthing table so that she could be born a Texan. Marissa and I did the same thing with Eli, but didn’t know that we were following in other’s footsteps.
I have met Carl before and thoroughly enjoyed seeing him again. While his health is failing, he was gracious, funny and whip smart and seemed to take quite a liking to Eli. Eli also took quite a liking to Carl and his cats.
Then it was off to dinner in Seguin at a huge colosseum built to the mastery and worship of the almighty catfish! (Sadly, catfish is the only thing I am allergic to so I didn’t have any.) The onion rings were great and the beer was cold and delicious. We were also able to introduce Eli to my cousin Benji, his wife Phoebe and their daughter Bentley who is a week and half older than Eli.
Cold and refreshing: Shiner Bock: D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s
Then we were off to Yoakum.
Saturday: Trip into Victoria to see my Mom’s side of the family:
Aunt Linda, cousins Meredith, Wendy, Jake and their respective kids and friends for amazing BBQ. Marissa and I went for the sampler plate which included ~4 lbs of meat and a pickle (as I recall).
Saturday Night: DANCE TIME
The whole family started to arrive, my sister and brother-in-law Ailey and Ritchie Hughes, Aunt Kay, Uncle Mike, cousins Rachel, Jen, Josh, Courtney, Tommy, Aunt Corliss and Uncle Owen. The list goes on and on and on. It is simply too much fun seeing everyone.
Eli knows his Aunt Ailey!
We drank, we danced, we caught up, we admired Eli. Eli actually got to go to the dance, though he ended up sleeping under the table… (is that in the parenting books?)
Cousins Jen and Josh: Pearl Beer: $0.50 / can: Just the right price.
Sunday: We had an early Thanksgiving at my Cousin Courtney’s place and Eli got to meet their six horses, five or so dogs, and ~20 cattle. Needless to say he was thrilled!
They prepared an amazing spread and it was fantastic getting to sit down and enjoy the time with everyone.
Monday: Back to Seattle (via Houston)
The flight was interesting to say the least.
2 hour mechanical delay in Houston
4 hour flight – no problems
1.5 hour delay as the jetway was broken and they couldn’t move it to the plane
1.5 hour delay as the tow comes to get us, which then gets stuck in the snow
45 minute delay as no one made it to work and there wasn’t anyone to operate the working jetway
45 minute delay waiting for luggage
A patient and easy going kid… PRICELESS
The happiest people on the plane!
—————–
It was an amazing trip and we had a great time. However, it wouldn’t have been possible without my folks. They were great, watched Eli, put together the trip, and just made sure it happened. It was awesome. Thanks Mom and Dad!