Parenting = Auditing

By Justin

I have thought for a long time that parenting is very similar to being an auditor.  While driving home today I finally put some examples in mind.  

1. You spend your life saying No and I'm sorry but the rules don't allow that.  I don't make the rules, I am just in charge of making sure we all follow the rules.

2. Eli likes to count 1,2,3,5,12,49,69,85,12,5.  See dad I counted to Ten!  Clients like to count: 1,2,3,4...I am sure the rest of the inventory is there.  Done!  Sometimes it is the later numbers that are the most important.

3.  Sometimes you have to ask the same question three different ways to see if the answers match.  

to Eli: Eli did you get in trouble at school today? Eli: No

to Eli: Eli did you have to go to time out at school today? Eli: No

to Eli: Eli did  you play nice and share today?  Eli: No.  to Eli: Why not?  Eli: Welllllll, Emily took my car cause I wouldn't share with her so I hit her.  to Eli: Did you get in trouble for hitting? Eli: Yes and I had to go to timeout.

@ Work: Are you aware of any fraud? No

@ Work: Are you aware of any thing that could be considered shady? No

@ Work: Are you aware of any one taking things home they shouldn't?  Well Stephanie does use her credit card to go to Sam's with on occasion, but she always says she pays us back.  Do you make sure she pays us back?  Oh that isn't my job, isn't that your job?

4. No matter what I say or do, I am the bad guy.  Even if I didn't make the rule, I am still in trouble.  Eli doesn't like that I make him go to bed.  The client doesn't like that I can't let them use the petty cash for lunch money.

5. At the end of the day, they both are rewarding in ways that is hard to explain to the outside world.

How is your job like parenting?

Photo Update

Well I finally updated the photos de Eli link above. Feel free to comment on how very cute and adorable our son is! We never tire of hearing it!

Mondays

by Justin

So you may or may not know that I work four ten hour days each week and have Mondays off to spend it with Eli. Honestly four ten hour days are grueling. I leave the house at 5:15 in the morning to get to work by 6 and leave work at 5 to get home in the neighborhood of 6:15. It is unfortunate that in this scenario I miss absolutely every stick of traffic in the morning, only to be in the thick of it in the afternoon. Catch me any day but Friday afternoon and I will tell you that it is absolutely worth it to spend my Mondays with my son.

What does a typical Monday entail, you ask? Well I am glad you did.

Most Mondays are spent around the house. We wake up and have our bottle. We bug Mommy in her office a little bit and then have our Breakfast. Hopefully we will spend some time playing on the floor and getting into things before our mid morning nap. After nap we try to get outside and take a walk. Then come back for lunch. About twice a month I meet a friend (Rene for those who know him) for lunch somewhere in McKinney or Allen. We have a good time then head hope for hopefully our afternoon nap. We bug mom some more to get through with her work so we can have some family play time and so I can take a child break. Then it is our normal nighttime routine of dinner, play, bath, play, book, bottle, then bed.

Often the schedule changes with things that come up. For example, today we ran a few errands to the AT&T store, The Home Depot and to get my pickup washed (or warshed). Sometimes we try to help mom out and get some of her things done. Other times we just do what we want.

I have learned a few things about my Mondays. One, I could not be a stay at home dad. I would go crazy. I would weigh 300+ pounds. I would not love my child well. Two, Holly is a saint to balance work and mom so well. Seriously, where does she get that energy and zest from? She never seems to want a day of from being a parent like I do! Finally, all the tiredness from work is worth it to have a quality time day (mostly) alone with my son.

Time for bed! Eli went to sleep at 6:15 tonight and hasn't quite learned what daylight savings time is all about. Could be an early morning tomorrow!

Pictures Updated

I put a new web album up titled Pumpkin Patch. Check it out!

Eli's First Campout, and our first with my family in 6 years!

Justin and I went on a hike that turned out to be grueling, but well worth it. We didn't have a trail map so we had no idea how far we had to go to get to anything. Turns out we hiked an hour and 20 minutes up a rocky trail without finding anything. Enjoyed our PB2 sandwiches and some Cheetos and came back down. Great time together!

My parents have been refurbishing this 12 ft trailer and had it ready enough for us to be the first to use it. It has a full size bed, sink, icebox, 3 burners and a stove, closet, some cabinets and a booth with two benches. Yes, we trekked to the outhouse when needed and bummed my parents' shower! Time ran out on getting the outside fixed and painted, but I can't wait to see it completely done. Most of the work was due to the trailer being shot up by someone before they acquired it.

Eli is sporting his camo with an inchworm that says "Inching Along". Well, he's not quite yet, but he made the most of his trip! He loves the outdoors and was fascinated with the campfires. Since we were a little cramped for space in our trailer, he slept in his pack 'n play in my parents trailer. We were definitely on vacation!

Eli kicked back in Papa's chair. He was content to just chill and watch Justin or Kelly chop wood, watch the campfire, or Jared and Tyler playing baseball.

***Thanks to Amy for the winter clothes for Eli! What a blessing!

We were camping in the Agua Piedra campground between Tres Ritos and Sipapu, NM. There were no electricity or water hookups so we haul water and run a generator when necessary. Otherwise, we rely on sunlight, flashlights and propane. Ah, the time went so fast, even though it was 8 days. Pan fried potatoes, s'mores, Justin's dutch oven peach cobbler, grilled corn on the cob, and so much more wonderful stuff to eat. We'll be going back next August if anyone wants to come!

Our group included Justin, Eli and myself, my parents, my brother Kelly and his wife Teresa and two boys Jared and Tyler, along with a family that Kelly knows from Oklahoma, and a two day visit from Bill and Wanda who are long time friends of our family from NM.

Great times, and I can't wait to do it all over again!

Eli Photo Update

A picture update...Holly, Eli and I went to a nature preserve in McKinney a couple of weeks ago. Eli took it all in and more! He loved the view in his marsupial pouch! My back didn't enjoy it so much after two hours!!!


Eli went swimming for the first time at the Draper's! He freaked out a little at first, but got comfortable with it. Yes we know we are white, but we do not plan to die of skin cancer!

Eli found his feet and loves to play with them. He can get four toes in his mouth now!!! We try to avoid this at dinner.
Just plain pooped out. Too much fun this day. Besides Larry and Bob can just sing him to sleep at any point. The arm prop is our favorite part of this picture.

This is not Eli's first Southwest plane trip, but it is the first documented family trip. The last two times he flew he was with Holly alone. The reasons are too numerous to name here. The best part was the unexpected guest of Jenise (a friend and coworker) on this flight. This flight was this Saturday for a visit to the West Texas grandparents!

Here Holly gets in a last minute snuggle nap. We left Eli with Nana and Papa Jack in West Texas for a WHOLE WEEK.

A few more pictures are on the Photos de Eli link.

M.I.A.

I will forgo the song that is in my head about "We've been to ... ... ... ..." and just say we have been busy. First off we owe a big congratulations to my childhood and boy scouting friend Scott on his marriage to Laura this last weekend. Scott and I go way back. His mother has pictures of us in diapers. Laura found a good man!

After weeks (or months) of hounding, I have added pictures to our Photos de Eli link. There you will find two new folders, one of Eli and the other of our DC trip. The photos of Eli are in time order so the most recent are at the end of the group. Here is our cute little boy now....

More details coming soon!

Eli's First Day with Abbey

by Holly

Well, today marks the beginning of a new chapter in Eli's young life. Its his first day staying with our nanny. I'm not sure 'nanny' is the right term, but its the best I can come up with. What do you call the person who you trust to care for your baby, to feed him and change him and love him and teach him new things, when you can't be there to do it yourself? Abbey is one of my best friends and I love her dearly. That is why it isn't harder to leave Eli and come to work. He's in good hands and will love going to her house 3 days a week. Abbey has two children, a daughter who is 3 1/2 and a son who just turned 1. I foresee lots of fun to come!

It was crazy getting out of the house this morning, and hopefully it will be better tomorrow. I had the 'first day of school' jitters for my son, even though he was just cooing and smiling all the while. At least one of us was calm! I also had a paper sack full of stuff, a diaper bag full of stuff, Eli's nebulizer, an insulated bag with frozen breastmilk, the extra car seat base, and the car seat with the baby all strapped in and tucked in tight with his fuzzy car blanket. And that was all for him! For me, I had my purse, lunch, breast pump, to-go cup of water and a glass of milk for breakfast on the run. Oh, and our diaper bag in case I needed something between Abbey's house and mine this afternoon. Whew! I know that most of his stuff will stay there and I won't have to deal with that daily, but please say a prayer for me tomorrow morning around 5 a.m.!

We left our house at straight up 6:00 and got to Abbey's at exactly 6:30. After 15 minutes of instruction and thank-you's, I left at 6:45 and got to work at 7:10. Not too bad! We'll see if I can shave a few minutes off tomorrow.

Eli is feeling much better, although he has a lingering cough and sore throat. He had his two month checkup yesterday and got 5 shots and an oral vaccine. Poor baby! Justin said he screamed for a while and was fussy the rest of the day. I think I would have cried; Justin just treated himself to Jack in the Box and muddled through. We're still doing the breathing treatments, but hopefully that will be gone soon.

Hope you are all doing well! I hope to get back in the blogging world soon!

Eli is Sick

.Well it was bound to happen eventually. Eli has a "reactive airway". Now I don't really know what that means, but he is wheezing and couching deep in his lungs. We took him to the doctor Saturday and now we are doing breathing treatments every four hours. Poor baby. Holly goes back to work Monday and she was not looking forward to leaving her healthy baby with the sitter, it is even worse now.

On a brighter note, I have uploaded our month two pictures. It includes our trip to Friona. Click the Photos de Eli button above!

One Month Down

by Justin

Well we have made it this far. We are transitioning well. Learning the difference between wet diaper cries and hungry cries. More importantly we haven't inflicted any known harm on Eli for a whole month!

I have uploaded some one month photos on the web album link. Here is a sample.

Otherwise things are just going. Holly returns to work on Feb. 15th or there abouts. I have started my new ten hour day schedule. It is taking some getting adapting too. We have made a few decisions as of late. We are refinancing our mortgage into a low fixed rate. We have had an adjustable rate mortgage that has paid off well for us, but now is the time to lock in for awhile. We have also decided that we are going to celebrate our five year anniversary in March in D.C. I have started scoping out the best place to stay and how long we should stay. If you have any beta on the location feel free to pass it along. Lastly for my dad's birthday (Jan 11) I decided I would schedule a trip for the two of us instead of gift. Is there a better gift than the gift of time. I am scoping out a few places but I am thinking Big Bend in April or May is a good idea. If you have any good camping ideas pass those along too. All right....good day all!

Eli's First Bath

Eli had his first bath today (1/2/08). A milestone for sure. He enjoyed some of it, but mostly he was unsure what in the world was going on. Holly was glad he didn't pee on her! The video is seven minutes long and 71mb, so give it some time if you are on dial up or slow connections. Happy viewing.

The First 48 Hours

Well it has been an exhilarating 48 hour ride. Lots of visitors and lots of staring have dominated our time. We have naps interrupted by nurses interrupted by more visitors. What a blessing to have so many people come and visit, pray and care for us.

Mom and Eli are doing great. They have had some challenges with feedings. Otherwise every nurse and doctor seems pleased with their progress. I have changed my first four diapers, including one where the pee soaked through the blanket! I was actually excited to be able to do that. We have prayed and waited so long for him, that it will take awhile for these little things to be mundane and old.

Here is visitor list in order of appearance:
Jenise - honor of the first non-grandparent visitor
Nathan, Abbey, Salomae & Jachin
Mary C.
Jordan and Lisa
Jim L.
Rosemary
Honorary Aunt Erin and Uncle Bryan
John and Robin
Larry and DeeDee
Andrew and Amy
Kathy and Abbey
Jeff, Teri and Rachel
Uncle Shawn and Aunt Dana

Thanks for your continued support and prayers. For all of you who have called and we missed you (SETH) please, please feel free to call again. I promise we were just tied up with baby business as the time. Our continuing prayer request is that Eli and Holly get to working together with their feedings! A few pictures:


Pops and Grandma meet Eli for the first time (Justin's Parents with Holly's dad in the background)


Papa and Eli having their first nap together. (Holly's Dad)

Nana meeting Eli for the first time. (Holly's Mom)

Eli just chillin'