Sara And Pat

June 7th, 2008


Wedding bells have chimed, and my sister is happily married! All in all there was two ceremony's, one at their house in East Lansing, and one in Fife Lake. The first was very small and is where all the papers were signed.





Eli was a ham as always, he really wanted her bouquet.





It went really well, I think he is just happy she didn't bail on him. (just kidding)



June 28th, 2008


Theresa and Dad





The wedding party.




The kiss...




Sara and Eli, Kathy and Logan playing in the grass.





Eli all dressed up!



It was a really nice day, despite the pop up thunderstorms. Jesse's parents home on Fife Lake is really nice, a nearly perfect setting.
The day was good, the wedding was beautiful... and we wish the bride and groom all the best.

click the pics for tons more, as always.....

Pat

Edward Jones took the family to Grand Traverse Resort for a working retreat. Pretty much this means the financial advisers have meetings in the mornings, we have the afternoon to do what we want, and they buy all the food and drinks. They had several nice dinners and such for us, it was a good time. Eli got to go swimming for the first time!




Judging by the smile, I would say he had a good time.



They gave us a really nice room, 6th floor on the hotel side, with a really nice view.



We had some time to just wander around the city, it was kind of like a car show. There are so many classic cars in TC, this Porsche 911 is a prime example...



At one of the dinners they had a texting competition for the kids. They had to text a specific thing to the regional leader. Naturally this resulted in tons of texts coming from the employees them selfs. Eli was under the age requirement to compete, but if they have it next year he is already in training....




There was only one meal they didn't pay for, so we made the most of it. We took Eli to Hooters for the first time, needless to say, he was a huge hit. We couldn't leave with out getting him a shirt signed by all of the girls and a picture.




Eli's facial expressions get progressively funnier as time goes on. He is hysterical, this is my current favorite expression.




Hope all is well with everyone.
As always, click on the pictures for lots more.


Pat

So I was super lazy about updating the blog, school let out and fell into a whole different mindset. I have taken lots of pictures...


Summer is finally here! This is looking up the street using Andy's 300mm fixed lense. Joe brought it over and I got to play with it, its totally awesome. The flowers in the yard are doing really well... an iris in our yard, same lense.





Eli is so close to crawling, its a matter of coordination not strength. He is constantly up on his hands and tippy toes at the same time, in an almost arch position. He scooches forward a bit, but is really good at going backwards. It will definitely not be long!




With school being out, we have been able to spend a lot more time with Grandma Oberst.



Storm Damage


We had some pretty bad thunderstorms several days in a row. There were tons of trees down, it seems like every street was blocked at some point. Luckily we did not lose power, only internet and tv for a week... we dont watch much tv.. but no internet.. for a week!




Eli has learned to sit up really well. He is getting to the point now that we dont worry about him falling backwards much. He can easily go from sitting up to the crawl position... just not back again.




We had a play date with Bobby Kidd the other day. The boys had a great time and Bob and I got to hang out for and afternoon. I look forward to doing more of that...



The ZOO!

RRRAAARRR!!!


Eli loved the penguins!


Cruising around in his new umbrella stroller.



Eli is now 7 months old, its been so fast. He has changed so much, so quickly and he has learned so much. He has a jumper, and when you say "jump jump!" he jumps like crazy! If you put your hand up and say "gimme 5" he does... Sara has been working on him with that one. Just yesterday we noticed him bobbing to music. We though this was a coincidence, but the music went away, and so did his bobbing, bring it back and he starts up. Its absolutely hysterical!

We had to get new car seats, as it turns out the one we had was only rated to 22lbs. We are on the edge of that currently, and we found these with a good price. With the car seats came a new stroller, the old one accepted the car seat and didn't have and independent seat. luckily for us umbrella strollers are super cheap. kids sure are expensive...

We are headed up to Grand Traverse Resort for the weekend with Edward Jones! They have a summer regional, and invite the family along for the fun. Last year was at the Double JJ Ranch, The rodeo was a good time, but the resort should be really nice.

More soon....

Pat

.. and really, who does? He had 3 shots, the standard 6 month vaccinations, and his general check up. The last time he had these shots we had a really hard week. He was really fussy and ran a fever, it was less then fun.
Today we found out that Eli is 27.5 inches long, and weighs 19lbs 11oz. He is huge! While we were waiting for the Dr. he was showing off his crawling abilities and found the paper on the bed the most fun ever to tear up. We completely trashed the paper twice, Eli loved it.

He is so close to crawling, its going to be days. We are baby proofing this weekend, he is going to get into everything... fun for him, bad for us. wish us luck...

Pat

Eli is now showing two teeth! They are front and center on the bottom... no wonder he has been fussy. They are hard to see in the pictures, if you click on them and go to the full size its easier.




I think we are headed to the East Lansing Art Fest today. We generally go every year, hopefully Eli will like it. The forecast calls for a chance or rain, hopefully it holds off till tomorrow... make that Monday.
I am taking the motorcycle into work tonight to be used in a show. I wont be out till after 1:00am, I really hope the rain holds off.

Click on the above pics for more...

Pat

We have a tooth breaking the surface! I would post a picture of it, but we have only seen glimpses of this. When you pull down his bottom lip, he sticks his tung out... its really pretty funny. The farther you pull down his lip, the farther his tung comes out. I will have a picture up as soon as he will let me.

Eli has taken to throwing things we are not using off of his high chair. We give him a spoon to hold while he eats, it keeps him from wanting the one we are feeding him with, and now, gives him something to throw. After he finished his evening bananas, he proceeded to throw everything off of his high chair tray like it was his job. It's amusing at this point, I am sure it will not be so much later, but for now its cute.

Happy Mothers Day.. almost... Thank You to all the Moms for all you do!

Pat Sara and Eli

As we have mentioned in the past, Eli is teething. Until today it seemed like with out any progress, just pain. This evening Sara could definitely feel a tooth, bottom center! Hopefully this means we will be on to less pain soon, the first is suposed to be the worst.
We are currently in the waking-up-lots in the night phase. Eight times in one night is too much, it makes our days less then fun. We are letting him fuss more then we have in the past, this is suposed to help him learn to calm himself more... and that would be fine. Anything that get him closer to sleeping through the night. It is remarkable difficult to let him fuss, we have jumped at his every noise for so long now.
Eli is battling with a cold.. what that really means is he has a really runny nose and drools like a Great Dane. Needless to say its a less then appealing look for him, and he is coughing more because of it. Daycare called because of his coughing "Eli isn't feeling well, can you come get him?" we thought something was seriously wrong... really, he was feeling fine and ready to play. A runny nose and excessive drool isn't going to slow him down a bit, its just going to completely soak his shirt.
As soon as this tooth breaks through we will have pictures up.

Only a month left of school, the kids last day is June 6th. I will be able to spend lots more time with the family, I really cant wait for that. Eli might even go to part time at daycare, playing Mr. mom over spring break was really nice, I could do a bit more of that.

More soon...

Pat

Eli really wants to crawl, he tries so hard. We have tried tempting him with all kinds of things, in these pictures we are lighting up his glow worm. It didn't work, he has the strength, just not yet the coordination. He can move backwards pretty well, especially on the hardwood floors.








The SET Program recently completed their annual event "Voices". We take our class room, a 30 x 50 room, and convert it into an evening of poetry. Students did all of the install into the room and made it all work. It turned out to be a really nice evening.





Eli in his swing, his feet are so cute... not much else needed for this one...




Eli has been eating lots more solids. I want to tell you he is getting good at eating from a spoon, but the pictures would make me look like a liar.


"Is there something on my face?"


click any of the pictures for more.

more to come soon...

Pat

So I am updating the blog in pictures and captions, mainly because so much has happened it would take me to many pages to talk about it all.


Eli loves to be out and about, he is a pretty social kid. The Baby Bjorn has been lots of fun, he can see everything and go lots of places. This is a picture of us walking around the neighborhood.



We got Eli a high chair, big tray for food and toys. We put it next to the fish take, he loves to watch the fish.




Spring is finally here! Pictured is a Crocus that camp up next to the house, we didnt plant it there, it was there for about a day. Eli and I have been watering all of the plants pretty diligently, and our yard is really coming to life! I strap him in the Bjorn and away we go. We are hoping to get the back yard started soon, just have to get rid of the hot tub... want a hot tub, cheap? Eli got his mom some rose bushes for her birthday, so we better get started soon... they are kinda still in the box.



Eli is teething, which means he drools like a great dane, and likes to chew on things to massage his gums. pictured is Eli chewing on his "dog fish thing". We think he has two at once that are working on coming through, but none have made it yet.. hopefully soon...




Eli is getting much closer to crawling, tummy time is now crawling training. He has the strength, just not quite the coordination. It sure wont be long...



Eli and I hanging out around the garage and the grill.

It wont be long... he is going to want his own... maybe we can start with a side car for mine.



I thought this was so cute. Eli found his reflection in his excersaucer mirror. He loves mirrors.



Sara is in her own office!



She had an official opening , complete with a ribbon cutting.


Lots of family, friends, and clients stopped though to see the new office and say congratulations.


Eli and Bobby Kidd got to play on the floor for a while after the everyone left. They had a great time.



Work has been crazy for both of us. She has lots of new clients and I had this:

The administration asked if the SET Program would be involved with their bi-annual "One World Day". I replied, perhaps foolishly, that we would.





For Sara's B-day I got her a bike!

We can't really put Eli in the Bjorn when we go for rides, so a bike trailer was in order. He seemed to do ok with it, it was sleeping by the time we got home, I will take that as a good thing...



More soon...
click the pics for more of each...

Pat

We went to Grandma Oberst's house last night for Mom's surprise b-day party. we were a bit behind the surprise, but it was nice to get to see everyone all the same. Everyone got to pass Eli around, Eli really wanted cake, we though it better to wait on that one.

I had rehearsal today and took Eli with me. He did really well, ate, slept, and gave the room lots of smiles.
After work today we met up with Sara and went to the Lansing Home and Garden show. This is the Lansing version of the Grand Rapids show we went to a few weeks ago. This one was far more crowded, mainly due to the narrowness of the aisles. They could have been 4' wider and that would have been fine. we just about literally walked through, I guess after the GR show this one just seems small. Don't get me wrong, the landscape displays were well done, and its really nice to see spring... the ceilings are so much lower and the room lighting isn't nearly as good. There were so many people pushing products, I don't need a cheap cell phone case, nor do I need another magic broom thing.
The water falls through out were very impressive. I would love to have one, but they are pretty much the size of the back yard.. we wouldn't have to mow...

Sara has started giving Eli a little bit of cereal on a spoon. He really isn't good at this new spoon concept, but its so cute to see. I know he cant wait for real food, its going to be good messy fun.

more soon...

Pat

We took Eli to the Grand Rapids home show at DeVos Place. Its twice the size of the Lansing home show, and a nice excuse for a road trip. We put Eli in the Baby Bjorn and walked the entire show. He did really well, especially considering how packed it was. His favorites were the red tulips and the bright yellow daffodils, he was neutral on all the home appliances and building companies. It was nice to "smell spring" and Sara puts it. Seeing all the flowers and landscaping is a nice change from the cold and dreary that we are currently in. We are really looking forward to working on the house and the yard, and shows like this are really inspiring. I was able to talk to several window manufacturers and got lots of good information, one that would come out and measure everything for me and sell to me at contractors cost.
Come on spring!

more soon...

Pat

It seems all of a sudden its March, the past month flew by, and we have been so busy. So much has happened since we last posted on the blog, sorry about the lack of updates, turns out Eli doesn't like to listen to my type.

We almost bought a house in Feb. It was huge, and had just about everything we could ever want. Unfortunately it has lots with it we didn't want, like a roof leak, well over a years vacancy and neglect and a lack of heat. It was beautiful, 10 acres, 2 pole barns lots of room and 3 car attached garage. It needed so much work just to make it livable, and the bank that owned it didn't want to back down on the price. It would have been tons of work, and we would have been exhausted everyday... I don't think Eli would have enjoyed the process. The process of negotiating with the bank, arranging inspections, and all that comes with trying to buy a house was such an exhausting and stressful process. It was a weight lifted when we were done with it.
I think we are going to stay put for a while. We are going to take this summer and continue the home improvement journey. We have lots still we would like to do, we chased after the other house mainly because it was a really good deal. This isn't our dream house, but it's still really nice, and we have a list of thing we are going to work on to make it even nicer: windows, siding (hopefully), a deck on the back, and maybe even a second story laundry.
The windows in the majority of the second story are the original to the house, built in 1924. They don't seem to be as drafty as the sub par replacements that were here in the 1st floor when we got the place. So widows are definitely a priority. I have an article I found in "This Old House" about replacement windows in houses like this, what good timing.
The siding is aluminum, but it was at some point painted, and now the paint is coming off. Why the siding was painted in the first place is a mystery, but it could look much better. I found a manual that tells you all about how to install vinyl siding, it doesn't look hard. I have no idea how to do the aluminum wrap on the windows like is common. I am still looking for an easy solution for that part.
The second story laundry is a challenge. We have built-ins that would go away and it would sit under the stairs to the attic. The unit we are looking at is a washer dryer combo, the clothes go in dirty and come out clean and dry. It's a neat unit, runs on 110v instead of 220v, and is Energy Star rated. I really haven't seen many dryers at all that can say that. We are still working out the details of how its going be trimmed out and hidden, but we are both really excited about it.

Eli is doing really well. He loves standing up, and the other day while I was laying back in the chair and having him stand on my lap he walked (with help keeping balance only) all the way to my head! He is growing and changing so fast, it's amazing. He wants to talk so bad, and is trying constantly. It mainly comes out as a wide variety of noises, some that sound like attempts at words, some just sound like he wants to hear him self yell.
He recently started grabbing for things, toys and most recently his mom's hair. Till recently toys of any kind didn't really seem to exist for him, they seemed to be more fun for us. Not that he is grabbing everything or even playing with toys at all, but Eli grabbing something he sees is a new thing.
He is overall a pretty happy kid. He is getting lots of sleep, and that really makes a difference in his happiness level. Then again, I guess it does for all of us after a while.

We went today to the MSU Pavilion to the Quiet Water Symposium. QWS is an event dedicated to paddling, canoes, kayaks, even some row boats. What I really like is seeing the boats that are made of wood that are on display. There are lots of them there, cedar strip boats to plywood... the craftsmanship is beautiful. I would really like to learn to do that, maybe this summer... with the list of home improvements listed above, maybe not this summer. Either way, it's really a great event to talk through, really inspiring. I am looking forward to taking the canoe out this summer, maybe Eli will dig it.
I bought him an infant sided PFD recently, it was so cool I couldn't resist. It looks just like a high end wake boarding vest, he is going to look so sweet.

On our way back from MSU we discovered how bad south Lansing roads have gotten. No flat tire (that was in my car last week at 6:00am) but they look, and feel, worse then most dirt roads in the bad parts. I knew the roads had taken a beating this winter, but I had no idea there were so poor in south Lansing. Hopefully it gets warm soon, then we start our other really long season: construction.

Work continues to be busy for both of us. I think its going good, we are just so busy it seems like we just go go go... and that means Eli is in daycare for quite a bit of time. He seems to do really good there. They like him, and he comes home happy, I don't know that we could ask for much more.

More updates soon...


Pat

...so the whole house is sick. This entire weekend has been spend laying pretty low, drinking juice, sleeping and watching tv... that about sums it up. Being sick now seems hardly fair, I was sick over the holiday break too...
Eli doesn't have it quite as bad, he is coughing a bit, but no fever or anything.

We are getting him to sleep much more at night, some times a total of 10 hours. Turns out this makes a much happier kid, he smiles 10 times as much, isn't nearly as fussy... who knew good sleep would make such a difference.
I have been steadily uploading pictures to our new Flickr account. we have lots of pictures of Eli up already, more to come soon. Its a really cool site, we are able to put tons of pictures up for family and friends to see. We never really got to share all of our wedding pictures, and now we have a way to. I will be adding them over this week, along with lots of other stuff... check it out.

Have a good Monday.

Pat

Winter break flew by; it seems like we just started it and here it is nearing February. Eli has changed so much, he is smiling a lot, and seems to want to talk all the time. We react as best we can, attempting to carry on a conversation that generally ends with him falling asleep or wanting to eat. He is remarkable strong, he grabs on to our fingers, and he really can put some pressure on. Eli loves to stand up; he can support his own weight, though he doesn't have the balance to stay. He really has yet to get the idea of crawling; he can get into the crawl position, but doesn't really get what he is supposed to do. He generally looks at us as if it's some kind of cruel joke that we put him on the floor and he cant move, tummy time isn't always fun time.
Eli loves bath time, enough said.
We had another Dr appt for him this past Thursday, he weighted in at a whopping 14lbs, 5oz, he is a good eater, that's for sure.

We had a great Christmas. We exchanged gifts at home and joined my mom and dad for dinner at their house. Sara got me several really cool things, a really nice brown 3/4 length leather jacket, but she out did herself on something I have always wanted. The teaser gift was a micro helicopter, like what you see on TV. The gift that followed was a helicopter flying lesson, yes, in a real helicopter. I have always wanted to go in a helicopter, and now I get a lesson with a FAA instructor, and get actually fly one. I am sure it's like a drivers-ed car, tandem controls and such, but all the same how cool!

We are both back to work full time, so Eli is enrolled in daycare. It seems to be going well, and we did lots of research and got recommendations.
There was no school today, so we had a day just Eli and I. It was really nice, we got some stuff done around the house and met Sara for lunch. I think every week should be just a bit shorter. I have taken Eli to work, we have so many lights that cover the audience... he loves it.
Sara and I both work some evenings, so we are juggling where he goes. Eli almost got to experience his first high school band concert, but Sara had a cancellation.

There is so much to catch up on, I really have not been good about updating this. I am trying to make more pictures accessible, I have started a Flickr account. If you click on the picture of Eli in the upper right on the page it should take you to tons of pictures of him. I will be updating that and the blog more soon.


Pat