Halloween Pictures!

In reverse order somehow...

Trick-or-treating at our friend Erin's house. She had a special treat for Eli- animal crackers, and a special treat for Mom and Dad- a baby bottle with mini candy bars! Yum. Thanks Erin!

All dressed up for Justin's Halloween party at SWA. Justin was BamBam, as part of the whole Flintstones cast with his friends from his department. Eli was the Sock Monkey and I was 'Justin: Southwest Employee'.

Eli sporting his Sock Monkey With Skinned Nose costume at his daycare's Fall Carnival. The Deputy Sheriff's badge was a prize for pinning the nose on the Scarecrow, with a little help from his teacher.

Well, Eli loves his pumpkin, especially the long stem! A little prickly in the mouth though. His shirt, courtesy of Grandma, says 'Peek-a-Boo!' with jack-o-lanterns and skeletons covering and uncovering their eyes. Very cute.

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!

Fiesta!

Our church, Plano Bible Chapel, had its 40th Anniversary party tonight. It was quite a celebration complete with Tex-Mex, a mariachi band and lots of fun at Southfork Ranch. Great to see our friends, eat good food and just enjoy a party without any of the work.

Eli didn't get the memo about the time change, so he was up at 6:30 ready to go. I was not. But Justin and I take turns getting up on the weekends and today was my day. Eli and I had breakfast, played and took an hour long walk in the stroller and still had time to play again before getting ready for church. With the fiesta tonight we only had the 11:00 service and no Sunday School. He never naps in the nursery at church so he was reaching the end of his rope by the time we got back home. After lunch he went down for a nap and so did we. 2 1/2 hours later I woke up and realized we had to leave in 20 minutes for the fiesta! Yikes! Fortunately Eli woke up happy and we were on our way on time.

Okay- pictures tomorrow. And by the way, I never got around to checking on the couch cushions last night. I cleaned half of the bathroom, painted my toenails and watched the last half of the Tech-Texas game. Well worth staying up late for that!

Fight Raiders Fight!

Let's hear it for Texas Tech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

National Blog Posting Month

by Holly

Okay Aimee and Krista, I'm in. I guess I have it easier than you guys since Justin and I can tag team posting on our shared blog. :) Since I'm exhausted and don't have it in me to walk to the other room to get the camera, no pictures tonight. I'll just let you know what we've been up to.

Last Friday evening was Eli's daycare's fall carnival. I love fall and everything associated with it so even though he didn't know what was going on, we went. He wore his Sock Monkey costume like a pro and even left the hat/head of the monkey on! Halloween continued with Southwest Airlines' humongous Halloween celebration this Friday. Eli and I went for a few hours in the morning and took in all we could before he had had enough. Justin's entire department was in costume, as was most of the company. It really is amazing that the whole headquarters is transformed into skits, spook houses, kiddie play rooms... Well done. Gary Kelly's employee-voted costume turned out to be ZZ Top. It was nice, but I've seen better from him in the past.

Skip forward to Halloween evening itself and we dressed Eli up for the third time in Sock Monkey, strapped him in the stroller and went trick-or-treating. Now, that only entails our friends Erin and Bryan's house, and a quick stop at a neighbor's who walked out to see what Eli was dressed as, but I think that's enough trick-or-treating for a 10-month-old, seeing as he fell asleep before we were back home!

Today was spent doing random stuff. Justin took Eli to visit Grandma, Pops and Nannie and I had most of the day to myself. I weeded the flowerbeds, did some laundry, made fruit dip and then spent the afternoon at my friend Rebecca's baby shower. She is expecting her baby girl Lucy sometime before Thanksgiving. I was in charge of the food for the shower and we planned for 75 so it was a big deal. We ended up having 55, so that's not too bad. Quite a shindig for a little girl that's not even here yet! And now Eli's in bed, Justin is at a birthday/football party and I'm trying to convince myself to clean our bathroom while Eli's not going behind me 'exploring'. Or maybe I need to make sure the couch cushions stay put...

Thank you for voting for Eli

We want to thank everyone who voted for Eli in the baby photo contest the last two weeks. He did not advance to the top 25 round, but we had fun with it while it lasted. If you want to see the babies that are still in it, the website is the same: http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/.

Thanks again for your time and help with the votes!

Pictures Updated

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

Round 2!

Thanks to all of you who voted for Eli in the baby contest! He did make it past the cut to Round 2, which is the top 100 babies. There are still a lot of cute babies in the running, so we would appreciate you taking the time to vote again this week. The voting for this round is today, October 20th through Thursday, October 23rd.

You may vote once per email address, per computer, per day so give Eli your full support!
He sends you all a big grin and a sloppy baby kiss as a Thank You!

http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/

Most Kissable Baby Contest!

We have entered Eli into a baby contest- KissFM's Most Kissable Baby Photo Contest. There are so, so many cute babies in the competition, and this first round of voting will narrow it down to the top 100, then the voting will begin again. I am asking you to visit this site: http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/, smile at all the other cute babies, and scroll down to vote for Eli Noble!

To vote, click on the circle by his name, enter your email address and a confirmation will be emailed to you. Your vote will not be complete until you verify the email, so please follow through so we can count your vote! You can vote once per day, per email address, per computer so if you have more than one, please vote again but you will need to do it on a separate computer! The voting goes through 10/17, so we would love if you would vote everyday! I'll let you know if we make it to the next round and ask for your vote again at that time if we do. Eli's picture is from his 5 month photo shoot and of course he has changed so much since then, but I love that picture. We hope you are all doing well and appreciate you taking a couple of minutes of your time to help us out!

Philadelphia for Holly

Now for Holly's take on Philadelphia. Justin read that if you aren't from Philadelphia, you aren't allowed to call it Philly, so I won't.

Here is Justin with Constitution Cow in the Independence Visitor's Center. Now that's cool!

Holly with the Liberty Bell. Its smaller than I imagined it would be. It was still amazing to see and to think about the history behind it and all of the people that have had contact with it over the last 200+ years.

Having a chat with George Washington at the signing of the Constitution at Constitution Center. This was a cool room, with statues of all of the signers standing around having conversations, discussing the importance of this document and what events are about to unfold.

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the site of the first Congress meetings. The head chair is actually the original, where Washington sat to preside. We heard three different times during our stay that the sunburst pattern at the top of the chair was a conundrum for Ben Franklin, as he wasn't sure if the sun was setting or rising over our new country. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he declared that it was in fact rising.

I enjoyed the history of the town. Our hotel was on 18th and Market, which is just a few blocks from all of these tourist attractions. We rode the Subway a few times, but mainly walked a lot. This was nice since as you read in Justin's post, the Subway system is a bit lacking in cleanliness and clarity.

I was determined to have a Philly cheesesteak, but as we didn't find any offered (besides at the little street corner vendors that were a little scary), I settled for a Philly Cheesesteak Omelette at 'Jones', a fabulous 70's rendition of a diner. Shag carpet, bowl-like chairs, tator tots on the side, you can imagine. It was great- best atmosphere in a restaurant that we found.

We also saw Betsy Ross' house, Christ Church (amazing!), Independence Hall, the Delaware River, the Quaker free Meeting House, Ben Franklin's home site and publishing/postal buildings, Elfreth's Alley (the longest continously inhabited street in America) and so much more.

If you get the chance to go, take the opportunity. Besides cool buildings and such, you can almost feel the presence of those that formed our new nation, and that gives me goose bumps!

Philadelphia

So I am sitting around the house looking at our weekend plans last Wednesday and realize that they are full of chores. Knowing no limits to my desire to rid myself of chores, I decide to pitch the idea of flying out of town at the last minute. Holly bites and we are off to the races to see where we can get too. After some complicated digging I determine that the flights to Philadelphia aren't that full, a key to flying for free! So we make last minute plans to fly Eli out to West Texas and Holly and I b-line to the north east.

I really enjoyed Philadelphia. I love American History just slightly more than Texas History. I also am an immensely proud American and love the utter genius that is our form of government. To see and hear amazing stories about our county's founding and the unexplainable success other than by divine providence, was moving. I have tons to write, but I think it would be too boring. Lets just say that after D.C., I think every American should make a pilgrimage to our nations true first capital.

One of my favorite mental games to play while I travel is the social experiment in my head of "What does this city tell me as a tourist?" Meaning, while traveling about what broad generalities can one pull about the culture of the people inhabiting this city. Below are a few of my observations about Philadelphia.

1. Just like everyone expects that every Texan owns a horse, every street corner in Philadelphia does not sell Cheesesteaks. In fact I never ate one. I never found a place, in my standard milling about, that served them except for a pizza place.

2. Philadelphia is a lot less concerned about tourists. The subway stops were not labeled to relate to local landmarks that tourists would know. For instance, if you didn't know that Independence National Park was at 2nd and Market, you would have been completely lost on the subway.

3. The competition for cab fare is extreme. We could not walk along a street longer than a minute or two (no matter the time of day) without a cab driver honking his horn at us to see if we wanted a ride. Every time we walked out of our hotel the door man asked if we needed a cab. It was genuinely odd.

4. Homelessness is crazy rampant. I was amazed the number of people sitting absolutely everywhere. Dallas has its share, but this was amazing. Not a lot of begging, surprisingly, but still very noticeable.

5. For every Starbucks, there is a Dunkin' Donuts. I mean these people must hype themselves up on this stuff constantly otherwise the economics of it wouldn't support. Suburban Station alone has two DDs and a McDonalds.

6. The subway system is a mode of transportation, not a 'gateway to the city'. It was truly a disgusting place. I really reminded my of Mexico City Metros. The cars were nasty, the stations were nasty and the street level entrances were down right scary. There has been no effort to remotely spruce anything up to make it presentable.

So I don't know what you get when you combine all of that, but I think you get a city focused on bigger issues than tourists and vagrants. Maybe they are trying to solve issues the weekend tourist cannot see or fathom. I don't know, what I do know is that it is worthy of the trip. Just do your research first!

Eli's September Update

Eli is now 9 months old! He is crawling, has pulled up to standing on the couch a couple of times, loves finger foods and is a pro at 'mamamama' and 'dadadada' but doesn't associate them with us quite yet. He is just over 21 lbs and is 28 inches long, right in the middle of the curve for his age, but his head is in the 90th percentile. I wondered why his t-shirts were all so tight getting on! We attribute that to being his father's son. Here's a snapshot of this past month.



Eli next to his bag on his first day of 'school'. He started at a daycare in Allen 3 weeks ago and is doing great there. No, Mama didn't cry, but it is hard leaving him with strangers!

This is Eli's "I'm crawling now, and am going to get into something!" look. His favorite destinations are the ficus tree (in order to eat the fake grass out of its pot) and the loose floor trim in front of the fireplace. "Yes, I hear you saying 'no' guys, but I'm pretending not to!"

Here are the boys playing "Conquer Dad" or something like that. I believe it ended with Eli plowing completely over Justin's head and going for the no-no fringe on the pillow.

Eli got his first haircut last weekend by my grandfather. PawPaw was previously a barber and does all the boys' first haircuts in our family. Eli was fine until he heard the buzzing sound and then lost it. It took Justin and I both to hold him still so he wouldn't get an ear taken off.

I know you can't see it very well here, but this is the finished product. He looks like such a big boy now! And the tears were over as quickly as they had begun. That's Eli's tears I mean. Mine started after the drama had died down and I realized that my baby was growing up.

Happy Birthday Aimee!

Happy Belated Birthday to my long-time friend Aimee! Sorry I missed it yesterday, but hope it was a fabulous day and spent with the ones you love.

Check out Aimee's blog in our links to the right by clicking on 'Houston Family'.

In honor of Aimee, I'd like to share some tidbits about our friendship that most of you don't know. (Okay Abbey, if you do know its b/c you have an unfair advantage!)

*Aimee gave me my first Jimmy Buffett CD for my 17th birthday.
*Aimee and I lived together in the dorms at Tech our freshman year, and after many years are friends again. Praise God for forgiveness and grace!
*Aimee writes amazing poetry and I still have some of her very early work.
*Aimee and I played the flute together from 5th through 11th grade, with one year of bass drums thrown in for good measure.
*Aimee has a kind heart that gives beyond its capacity. (oh, if you know Aimee, you already knew this one!)

Happy Birthday!

Holly's Belated Birthday Photos

I didn't have my birthday photos available back when we posted about my party, but here they are! Still didn't use my camera as much that day as I should have, so if you have any photos from the party, please send them to me!

Heather painted a portrait of Eli as a birthday gift to me. She had never met him, but used a photo off of our blog as her subject. She is remarkable! Thanks Heather Feather!

The food table before the food arrived. We had Dickie's barbecue: brisket, sausage, potato salad, cole slaw, beans, rolls and peach cobbler. Yum!

Holly about to cut the delicious cake. If you are able to enlarge this picture, please do so and check out the amount of chocolate detail! Divine! Abbey made the wreath on the cake table, along with placing feather decorations on each of the guest tables. It was a beautiful evening. Thanks all!

SpongeBob SquareFeet

Some of you may know that Eli has been changed over to a daycare from staying with our friend Abbey. Things were great with her, but it was time for a change due to the distance between our homes. She was quite gracious and supportive of the move and that is much appreciated!

Eli is doing great in his daycare, claps his little hands and smiles when he gets there in the mornings, goes to whoever has their hands out and doesn't cry when I leave. This makes a mother's heart proud. He has three teachers: Miss N, Miss U and Miss B.

Yesterday, Miss U asked me to think about getting some soft-soled shoes for Eli, b/c he's having a difficult time getting traction with his socks as he's trying to crawl. Side note, Eli does not crawl on hands and knees, but on forearms and full body, so he pushes off with his big toes. I understood the dilemma and actually had some adorable camouflage soft-soled shoes that velcro that my mom had given Eli. Well, this morning I got him dressed and was attempting to put the shoes on his squirming little feet when I noticed... what? His feet are too thick for the velcro straps to reach across and well, velcro. Hmmm.... Yes, my baby is SpongeBob SquareFeet and I blame my mother's side of the family. Thanks Nana, for both the shoes and your genes.

Oh, well. Who needs soft-soled shoes anyway? His big boy shoes are super cool, so we'll move to those soon enough.

The Next Generation

So it is official. We are starting a boy's soccer team for sure, now. Dan and Margo Angermiller have announced the adoption of two beautiful twin boys, Bryce and Seth. The amazing little miracles were born on 8/31. Bryce Lawrence was 4 lb 15 oz, 17.5 inches and Seth Daniel was 3 lb 5 oz, 16 inches. They were born at 34 weeks and are eating and doing well.

Dan and Margo have come a long, hard and difficult road to this day. It has been amazing to watch from afar and see their reliance on God and each other to get them to this day.

Congratulations Friends.

Corporate America

For this installment of Justin's "Catch This" we will laugh at Holly's employer. Holly works for the quintessential corporate America company. Really, you should ask her. They send out memos detailing what is acceptable for your "holiday season celebration". She attends hours of training built around a fictitious family on their journey through "insurance land" or something equally as quirky. They have a lady who gets really mad if you unplug your phone to move it on your desk. She WILL call you. If you want to move your monitor you need to call the central support desk and they will send a guy to do it.

However...

Today's installment takes the cake. Holly has recently started working from home. As part of this we were going to get a second line so that she could keep her "business" calls separate. I'll spare you the details, but the monthly cost of the phone line was not worth it compared to the ONE phone call she receives a month. The best part is that she received an email today confirming her sign up for a two hour training class on how to use her new phone that they shipped to our house.

TWO HOURS FRIENDS...
To learn how to use a phone. Seriously? This brings to mind several questions. First, how on earth could you not know how to use a phone. This isn't rocket science. It isn't the most up-to-date, solve the world's problems type of phone. It doesn't even ring if Batman calls. Second, who teaches this class and how do they have any sense of value whatsoever?

"What do you do you do for a living?"
"Oh I teach people how to use their office phones."
"Is that a difficult concept to grasp."
"Well you have to go over what to do in case Batman calls. After that it is pretty easy."
"Oh, thanks."

Besides the phone thing, it gets better. As part of coming home they shipped Holly a docking station for her laptop. They shipped a very expensive wide screen monitor. They shipped a new keyboard. Do you know what they didn't ship? A mouse. When she inquired of tech support why they didn't ship a mouse, they informed her that they didn't ship mice. She would have to drive to Richardson to pick it up.

Now wait. They would ship a $300+ monitor, a new docking station, even a keyboard but not a mouse? I was dumb founded. Of all the assets you want to ensure that a real person receives you care about a $10 mouse. I laughed for days.

So ship your TPS reports to Holly. Just be sure to use the correct cover page, lest you didn't get the memo...

Okay I will get you another copy of the memo.

I'm a big boy now!

Eli is sporting his very first set of big boy pajamas- separate shirt and pants, with no feet! Thanks Grandma, for sending them our way! This was also the first night that I found him sleeping with his little bottom stuck up in the air. Yep, I risked waking him to take pictures.
He didn't budge.

Guess who's crawling now? Justin is working on posting a video but is having technical difficulties. (Michelle, let us know if you figure yours out.) Eli doesn't yet understand 'no' so he crawls wherever he wants to and then cries for us to rescue him. For some reason, under this table seems to be his favorite spot to get trapped. He also did a fine job of dust-mopping behind the couch- crawled from one end to the other, stopping for a moment to play with the dust bunnies and then moving on to Mama waiting at the other end. Unfortunately we missed that on film.

We took Eli to the zoo over Labor Day weekend for his first time. We rode the Dart rail down to the Dallas Zoo, which wasn't extravagant but definitely close enough to home and easy enough for us to do in just a few hours. This is Justin and Eli at the Stingray Bay pool. You can actually pet the rays as they swim by. Eli missed out this time but Justin and I both did and they are amazingly smooth. We had a great time even though it was very hot!

Boys Boy Number Two, Three

Welcome to the world Armand G. Fondren III. Good job on really making your mom understand the concept of Labor Day! While Eli is Boys Boy number one, don't worry you are destined to spend your life confused on if you are number two or number three. And you will surely get whiplash as we call you Trey and that guy from Chicago Trey as well. Anyway. We are praying for you and are eager to meet you. Now go spit up on your dad!

Time: 1:33 am, 1 Sep 2008 (Labor Day)
Length: 21 1/2 inches long
Weight: 9 lbs 11 oz.
Name: Armand "TREY" Gene Fondren III

Visit the 'Armand' link on the side bar for pictures to be posted soon.

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!

One Hundred and Seven

By Justin

107, that was the high temperature yesterday. We set a new daily high temperature and an new overnight low high temperature as well. If this keeps up I am moving to Phoenix with Dan and Margo, at least they know to expect it.

I know it is August in Texas, but still, 107? I am sure this has to do with the ice cap breaking in Canada or Gore’s book, but it is still extremely H-O-T. Today the high is to be 106 before a tropical depression slams poor Louisiana and we drop to 97. Hold on for that cold snap.

To beat the heat, Holly, Eli and I will be headed to the mountains of Northern New Mexico for a week on Friday. The high temperature there yesterday was 75. I’ll take it.

Share the Road

By Justin
On my home today in 6 o'clock traffic, on a busy city thoroughfare, I was trying to determine why traffic was moving slower than normal. It wasn't long before I realized the culprit, two people riding bicycles.

Ironically the car in front of me had a 'Share the Road' sticker and waved as they went by. I could have rammed them. For the sake of sharing the road you are holding up the normal flow of traffic. Who came up with the idea that a mode of transportation that impeeds traffic is okay? Who decided that I had to share the mode of transportation built for my truck with them?

So I have been thinking. I am going to saddle up my horse and ride it to work. In fact I am going to do it during the 7 am rush hour on Central Expressway. I am going to pull a huge wagon painted yellow behind my horse painted 'Share the Highway'. After that I am going to get a whole gaggle of teen age punks from the local skate park. We are going to skateboard our way down the two lane Allen, Texas main street during Sunday morning church rush hour. When we get yelled at, we are going to skate our way into morning service, just to see if their is any repentance or just scolds.

So when you hear of a lunatic in Dallas getting killed on US 75 Central Expressway, just smile and think. I guess sharing the road with cars is a bad idea. And I promise, it is... Now peddle the speed limit of 45 mph or get on the sidewalk with your kids, I am in a hurry...

Catch This

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Way Behind

by Holly

Okay, so we have been slacking. Yes Trey, we did miss posting on J's birthday. It was July 6th and he did not have the most festive of birthdays. It started out well enough as we went for lunch at La Hacienda Ranch for the best TexMex around, and he ordered a steak with fried potatoes and a salad. We then went to IKEA to look around and had to leave unexpectedly as J wasn't feeling well. This began a 5-day-long stomach virus for him. He tried to work Tuesday and Thursday and I think he ended up working a total of 6 hours this week. What a fabulous birthday! :( Top that off with the worst mouth ulcer I have ever seen and even though his tummy is better, he's now unable to eat anything but thin soups and milkshakes.

I have been home all week too, but for a much happier reason. I am finally going to be able to work from home and this week was a pilot to make sure all of our programs were working for the official Work From Home date of August 4th. So far, so good. Justin was well enough to talk me through some computer issues, and I was here to take care of him while he was sick.

Great week for Eli to be at his grandparents' too! It allowed us to get through an unusual week and gave them some time to bond. He's been there since Monday morning, and I miss that little monkey so much! We're headed to pick him up as soon as Pops and Grandma (Noble) call and let us know he's awake from his nap.

Well, perhaps the madness will die down and we can post again soon. Its a shame it took that to get Miss Erin R to leave a comment! We miss you guys too!

Happy Birthday Holly

Well the party is over. The left over barbecue is in the freezer. All that is left now is for us to send the family back home to West Texas.

More than that, it is time to wish Holly a happy 30th birthday...

A New Joy in Parenthood

by Holly

I don't even know how to say this in a pleasant way, so here goes. Eli pooped in the bathtub for the first time tonight. You can't fault him for this; he's been constipated and hadn't gone all day. Why wouldn't prunes for dinner and a nice, warm bath elicit a long-awaited poop? It caught me completely off guard, even though I should have been prepared with the toots and the subsequent red face, but he's never done it during a bath before, so I was oblivious. As soon as it happened, I stood him up where only his feet were touching the water and yelled for Justin. By yelling, I spooked Eli and was trying very hard to assure him it was okay and I wasn't yelling at him. He didn't cry, but I got some very big blue eyes and a worried look. Justin wrapped him in his towel and proceeded with an impromptu kitchen sink bath. I cleaned up the poop. Ah, the joys of motherhood. I'm not complaining- its a little gross, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I needed to. I love that little man, but I would appreciate it if he would stick to using diapers from now on!

Catch This #1

I am starting a new irregular blog posting entitled "Catch This". My goal is to bring you interesting things that happen or are seen throughout my days.

In this first episode you need a little background. The City of Dallas is debating an ordinance that would require all non-breeders to have their pets spayed or neutered. The Dallas Morning News has a blog that tracks city hall happenings. The headline for the blog caught my attention and this is the story:

"King among all advocates of removing animals' genitalia is Bob Barker, venerable former host of the game show The Price is Right, who for years ended broadcasts with the sign-off: "Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered."

Now I love Price is Right, but the best part was the headline that read: "City to Install Plenko Board at City Hall".

Pure hilarity for my otherwise bland day.

Day Game

Ahhh the ballpark. Sitting in the cheap seats (really cheap thanks to a friends Dad!); taking it all in. What could be a better use of a half day off of work than seeing a baseball day game? Holly and I along with our friend Jenise are headed out to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington today for a little afternoon baseball. The 1:05 start is sure to begin with a round of hot dogs and nachos. Now this morning rain needs to get out of town, quickly....

Welcome Baby Seabourn!

Eli and company are excited to welcome a new friend to the world, Luke Seabourn. Feel free to click the Seabourn Family link on the right for a more formal introduction..

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.

April 15th

By Justin

April 15th was the last time I blogged. That is a long time. I honestly think I just needed a vacation for the blog world. We have been busy with a million things and a lot of coming and going but nothing of note. I also think that a comment made about our blog by a reader turned me off to wanting to write. I am over it now and back in action.

The upcoming week is going to be an odd week. Eli's babysitter is heavily involved in our church's Vacation Bible School. To limit her exhaustion we are going to fly him to his grandparents in West Texas on Saturday. He will stay all week with them. We are going to be childless for an entire week.

Of course we have great plans of deep cleaning the house, working in the yard and spending quality time together...but I predict sleep (at least some please Holly!).

Well I am back. Sorry for the long vacation!
Happy Friday

Jonas Paul Maney

by Holly

Congratulations to Paul and Sarah on the birth of their son, Jonas Paul Maney! He was born on May 20th and is so cute! Check out their pictures on the link to the right, the Maney's. We hope you guys are doing well, we pray for the very best for you all as you adjust to being parents and also that little Jonas would grow and sleep and eat well and be a very happy baby!

What's New With Eli?

by Holly

So we've been hounded for more Eli pictures and updates. Honestly, I have been wanting to share these, and just received my first lesson on adding pictures to the blog. (Yes, I learn by being shown and am absolutely useless at teaching myself anything.)

Anyway, Eli is growing and changing, and oh so much fun! He will be 5 months old on May 21st, and we can't believe the time is going so fast. He has two teeth, the two bottom center ones and they are surprisingly sharp. He grabs your finger and has it in his mouth gnawing on it before you realize what's happening! He has been eating baby food for a couple of weeks, starting with carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. I do believe we are starting peas tomorrow- a whole new experience with a different color. These pictures are actually him eating rice cereal which he started before the yellow veggies.

Eli started on the cereal, gained two teeth and rolled over all in the same week and my parents happened to be here visiting at the time. They were so glad to witness this fun stuff themselves. Justin was in Vegas for work and Mom and Dad came to visit and help me with Eli, while also giving Abbey a week off. The picture below is what happens when my dad has a little fun with Eli when undressing him for his bath. My bebe' looks French!

And finally, we drove to Lubbock this past weekend for my cousin's wedding and for Mother's Day and got to go to our nephew Jared's teeball game. It was so fun to watch the little guys play and they won 21-14! Go Mudcats! Eli sported his new shades, courtesy of Grandma Noble. He was a hit!

I hope to get back to blogging more regularly, but it seems each day passes so quickly, and another night of too little sleep is on us again!

Prayers Answered

Jackson did great through surgery and is recovering well. His tumor was BENIGN and it was a vascular malformation, nothing even remotely cancer related. He will have the same recovery as before, as the mass was removed, but there is no follow up in the way of chemo or radiation.

Read the Kolb's blog for all the details, but praise the Lord for his answers to prayer!!!

May we all rest in peace tonight as we thank Him for our loved ones and His provisions for us all.

Update on Jackson

by Holly

Thank you all so much for your prayers for little Jackson and his family! They feel the love and support of thousands of strangers besides their own family and friends, and it is awesome.

Please check their blog again for an update and some precious pictures of little Jackson. He is having surgery today to remove the tumor from his leg, which so far appears to be contained to the one area. Pray that it has not spread and that he will maintain function of his leg, that the surgery and recovery would go well, and that Seth and Kristen will have everything they need in the way of support and provisions. Seth will have to go back to work in Columbia in the near future, so pray that the timing on this will be okay and that God will sustain their family as they are apart.

Thanks for your love and compassion. May God bless each of you in turn!

Prayer for Jackson

by Holly

Please take a moment to read the last three entries on the Kolb family blog; the link is on the right. These are our friends Seth and Kristen who live in Columbia with their 9 month old son Jackson. Seth works for the State Department.

They learned yesterday that a lump on Jackson's leg appears to be malignant cancer. They are back in the States for medical treatment as of today.

Keep them all in your prayers as they go through this ordeal and stay strong for their son. Pray for fast healing/removal of the tumor, grace and wisdom for the medical staff, and peace for Jackson's parents and extended family.

Thank you all for your friendship and support. We thank God for you in our lives!

Earth Day

by Holly

Well, today is Earth Day! That may mean a celebration to some of you, or a reminder of what you already do, or maybe nothing at all. To me, it is a new beginning. I know there has been a lot of hype about 'going green', but honestly, its taken that much to get me to sit up and take note of what I am or am not doing, to make our family healthier, our waste less, and the environment cleaner.

I have been reading "Green Housekeeping" by Ellen Sandbeck and am captivated by just how much we live our lives according to what is advertised on TV and by what is convenient. So, I am going to share a few tips that I am incorporating into my lifestyle for the betterment of my family and the earth. Some of these may seem like common sense, but trust me, these are huge changes for me, and hopefully the beginning of much more to come!

* Buy reusable shopping bags at your local grocer. One WalMart reusable bag saves 50 plastic bags.

* Check out alternative cleaning products, such as using spray bottles of distilled white vinegar and then hydrogen peroxide for cleaning your kitchen counter, appliances and even your fresh veggies and fruit.

* Think twice before reaching for that paper napkin or paper towel- could you use a cloth napkin instead and then throw a load of them in the wash at the end of the week? Or even use inexpensive dishcloths for this same purpose.

* Place a small glass dish of either baking soda or a cotton ball soaked in vanilla extract on your kitchen or bathroom counter for natural air freshener.

* Take your own coffee cup to work instead of getting the styrofoam one. I'm actually using the last of my WalMart plastic bags to bring home my rinsed recyclable items since my company does not have recycling programs.

Whatever you do, think about the impact you may be having on your family and the earth, and enjoy! Its fun to learn new ways to love the Earth!

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!

Five Years

Five Years is a long time to be married. People will laugh, but it is true. A lot of people don’t make it five years. You add our five years of marriage to five years of dating and that is just genuinely odd. Holly and I have made it a tradition to get out of town to celebrate our anniversary. In recent years we have always celebrated in late March or early April due to a certain Scouting event and its propensity to be on our anniversary of March 15^th. This year we got lucky when I opted out of Twin Arrows due to Eli’s birth. We made the most of it with a trip to Washington D.C.

We left Thursday night with a goal of making it to Nashville and to overnight and catch the 6 am flight to Baltimore on Friday morning. When you are flying free you don’t want to fly on holidays or Spring Break. It is extremely difficult to pull off. We decided to break the golden rule. I had a great plan all worked out until our original flight from Dallas to Houston was delayed due to maintenance. Not good.

We landed in Houston with plenty of time to catch the connection, however; by the time we got to the gate all open seats had been given to other ‘free flying’ passengers. I was not happy as the agent technically gave boarding passes to people below us on the pecking order. Oh well. We quickly changed plans and decided to get to Jackson, Mississippi and overnight there instead. After some frantic calls to my dad and some hotels we canceled our Nashville room and found a hotel in Jackson. The next morning we left Jackson without delay!

We arrived in Baltimore and took a train into DC. This was our first time on a ‘train’. While not a true cross country experience, it was still very exciting for us. Unfortunately on the train is when we learned of Trigger’s death. After some tears and checking in with Eli and the grandparents we arrived at Union Station in DC in time for Lunch.

We stayed at Hotel George right next door to Union Station. It was a nice place, but overpriced for what they billed as boutique hotel. We checked in, scoped out the lay of the land and decided to make an afternoon run to Arlington National Cemetery. Unfortunately our guide said the Cemetery closed at 7pm, when in fact it closed at 5 pm. We wasted a good chunk of time making the run up and back. We decided to see if any tickets remained for a show called Capital Steps. They are a Comedy Troupe that makes fun of political situations. I knew Holly wouldn’t catch a lot of it, but I loved it. She said she enjoyed it and caught a majority of it.

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and made our way to the capital. We got our tickets for our capital tour and head to the Library of Congress. It is an absolutely beautiful building. I think my friend Jenise has it right when she says it is the most beautiful interior in DC. After LOC we walked around the capital past the Supreme Court and into the new American Indian Museum. Besides being a great building architecturally, they have a really good cafeteria serving food of native tribes from across the country. We left the Museum and headed over to the Capital for our noon tour. We had an excellent tour guide, which is always a plus. Following our Capital Tour we headed back out to Arlington.

Holly and I both said on our next trip we will allot a greater portion of our trip to Arlington. Besides the obvious, the cemetery is truly a national treasure full of great monuments. We simply did not have enough time to visit what we wanted to with before closing. We did get to see the changing of the guard and laying of the wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a must. After Arlington we went to Pentagon City for our anniversary dinner at a pub. We left the pub and then took the metro back to the city for a monument tour at night.

I say if you are going to view the monuments in DC, do it at night. Not only are crowds less, but they have a completely different feel at night. Plus they are practically the only thing open 24 hours in DC. Do the daytime only stuff during the day and leave the monuments for later. We visited the Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, DC WWI Memorial and the WWII Memorial. All amazing. We have to go back to get the other side of the tidal basin!

Sunday we slept in a little and made our way through the rest of the must dos. We started by actually going through the American Indian Museum. We made a quick pass through the Air and Space Museum. We then headed over to the National Archives to view the Bill of Right, Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta, the highlight of the day for sure. We closed our time in DC by eating and partaking at a place called Capital Brewery.

Monday morning we caught an early train back to Baltimore to catch a connecting flight through St. Louis back to Dallas. I headed home and Holly headed to Lubbock to pick up the kid. All in all it was an extremely exhausting, rewarding and active anniversary trip.

Sorry for the long post, but it has to be detailed right? We will post pictures in the next couple of days.

My Heather

by Holly

I would like to welcome a new addition to our friends listed on our blog. If you look to the right you will see "Heather" who was my college roommate and very dear friend. Please check out her blog and let her know you've seen her site.

Heather is an artist and designer and lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She is a beautiful, talented woman and I am blessed to call her friend. Welcome Heather!

The Passing of A Legend

It is with very many tears that we announce the passing of Trigger. We will postpone our full post about our anniversary trip to DC for a few days as we deal with the loss of our kiddo. He wasn't just a cat to me or Holly. He was a member of the family. It is true that his place in the food chain changed when Eli came along, but we still loved and cared for him deeply. He passed while at the vet being boarded for our trip. We already miss him deeply.

2 Year Blog-aversary

Two years-whew...

Who knew we could come so far. Now it is the primary tool we use to stay in touch with so many of our far off and close by friends. In two years we have had a child and shared they joys of that news through this amazing new medium. In two year we have had our ups and downs and journaled them all here. In two years we have come a long way.

Through blogging we have learned that some friends in the Carolina's read but chose to remain silent. There are others like the east coast friends, say our friend at Audelia and 635 or the person who sits across the cube wall at work. You know who you are, and there are others.

A few blog stats:
156 Posts
"Secret Stairwells" had the most comments with 21

Thanks for reading and Happy Anniversary to US!

Texas Weather

This week's weather has been particularly amusing to me. Monday morning I went to work knowing that it was going to be a cool day. With highs in the forties and a chance of rain. They said there was a small chance of snow, but with no accumulation.

Now normally with the slightest chance of the possibility of the isolated probability of one snowflake causes TxDOT to jump into action, the news station put the sorry saps outside in the freezing rain and all we talk about is how it MIGHT POSSIBLY think about MAYBE have some ISOLATED showers. Not this time. For once in their life, the news didn't overreact. The funny thing is, they were wrong.

I was at a Company event until 9 p.m. on Monday night. I left the Nokia Theatre with HUGE wet snowflakes falling from the sky. It was so beautiful. You native Texians know how special snow is to us. It wasn't sticking, but it was pretty. On my drive home I was driving 60 mph in Plano. Five miles later in Allen the roads were slick. The overpasses were icing and I was driving 30 mph. Oops.

The following morning Holly and I carpooled and it took us about an hour to do thirty minutes of driving. Now this Tuesday morning was cold, by Texas standards. But the afternoon high was 55. By Wednesday the temperature was a nice and balmy 65 degrees. From snow to 65 in two days.

Now the big flip happens again. They are predicting snow again for tonight and tomorrow. Fear not, the news won't be caught off guard again. They have crews stationed "around the metroplex for complete Team coverage". Oh boy.

A bombing occurred in Times Square this morning. I listened to fifteen minutes of weather on my way in before it was mentioned. Even then it was a "developing story that we are following, now back to Brad Barton in the KRLD Weather center." I turned it off.

Snow twice in a week? Must be Global Warming...

Now I am off to buy a snow shovel.

Remember the Alamo!

Fellow citizens and compatriots: I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna--I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man--the enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison is to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken--I have answered the demands with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the wall--I shall never surrender or retreat.

Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and of everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country--Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis,
Lt. Col., Commander.

March 2nd, 2008: 172 years after Texas Independence we still stand proud.

Happy Texas Independence Day.

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!

Format Changes

So it seems that my last format couldn't stick. Every time I went to the blog it wasn't working in a different way, without me tinkering with it at all. Alas, I have changed it again. Please be aware that with every change I loose the link section of the blog. I tried my best to track down all the links, but if you are missing please feel free to email me. Let me know what you think of the new layout.

Water is not Hypoallergenic

By Justin

A friend noted that if I wasn’t married I should title this blog Justin’s Rants. If you feel I have mislead you on the purpose of our blog, sorry. I honestly feel that our life is pretty ordinary and bloging about ordinary just isn’t much fun. I would rather point out the crazy and rant about it

I am not a germ-a-phobe. Never have been. I think it might be impossible to be a Boy Scout and be a ger-a-phobe. I do have a minimum standard of washing your hands after using a restroom, particularly a public restroom.

As part of my researching for my rant I have become increasingly aware of people’s hand washing routines in the bathroom at work. Guys are the worlds worst at washing hands after a restroom stop. We all know it. I have classified three types of hand washers:

First the ones that actually wash their hands, soap and all.

Second the non-hand washers.

Third the guys that turn on the water, but don’t use soap. Now these guys are interesting, some how they have taught themselves that water is naturally hypoallergenic. By simply turning on the water and running their hands under it, they are clean. You can tell these guys simply by listening to the amount of time they have the water on. There is simply no way you can get soap on your hands and wash it off in less than three seconds. What really makes me laugh is they are not only wasting water but the paper towels to dry their hands off with as well. It is a double slam on the nonrenewable and renewable resource side. Maybe that is the cause of “global warming”, Trey?

I will say that I encountered a new low last week. While doing my business I heard the water come on and turn off in a matter of one second. Litterally. Do it in your head right now. SHHHHHHt. Then I didn’t hear the paper towel dispenser. CSI Noble jumped into action. I washed my hands, with soap, and got my paper towel. Before I completely pulled open the door I ran the paper towel down the handle. Sure enough, there was no moister on the handle. So we can reasonable conclude that this guy turned on the water because I was in the restroom to make me think he washed his hands. Wow. Save the water next time bud, I am on to you.

OK. There is the rant. Wash your hands. Just please use soap. At least while I am around.

Pay it Forward

Holly and I refinanced the house on Friday afternoon. Why it takes a mountain of paperwork to say yes we will pay, we agree to how much we will pay, and you can kick us out if we don’t pay, I will never understand. It is truly legal and government craziness gone amuck. Now we have two stacks of useless papers in the filing cabinet, one from the original contract and now the refinance.

As is now customary in the Justin and Holly marriage world, any major item is celebrated with a good meal. While driving around in a relatively unknown section of the Dallas suburbs to us we ran across a place called La Hacienda Ranch. It was some delicious Tex-Mex fare. They had a very diverse menu and you could spend as much or as little as you like.

We had Eli with us. He just slept the meal away. Holly and I did what too many fat Americans do; ordered much too large of a plate plus an appetizer. I was still stick to my stomach the next morning. It was just too good to put down.

We were at the restaurant at 4:30, long before any crowd had started. We were actually the only people in our section for a long time. After our appetizer came a couple that were in their late 50’s early 60’s came in. We made eye contact and the gentleman made a whimsical comment to the hostess that I chucked and smiled at. I might have even said “good evening” as he passed by, but I can’t remember.

As our meal was winding down the waiter came by and dropped the check. I wasn’t quite finished with my meal so I didn’t look at it, and I just sat it on the edge of the table. Two minutes later he came back by picked it up and said he was sorry but he needed to do something. I figured that he forgot my refill on my adult beverage.

Two or three minutes passed and he came by a few times. It was clear we were waiting on our check and the waiter told us that the check had been paid. We were very confused. I asked on the house? He said something like that. It took me about ten seconds to realize that the couple in the corner had paid for our dinner.

I ran the waiter down and he confirmed that they had but he insisted that they didn’t want us to know that and to not acknowledge it. I made sure to inform him to express our deep deep gratitude after we left.

I was curious why someone would do that. We didn’t look struggling. We were eating a nice meal. Holly was dressed to get out of the house. Eli was in a name brand car seat. I wasn’t wearing my holey jeans. Maybe they wanted to celebrate Eli with us. Maybe they just are nice people who have means and like to spread the love. May they are Christians and heard a sermon on helping your fellow man. Maybe they just like to try to impress people.

I think they are amazing. I don’t even know their names, but I have prayed for them to get back everything they have given so humbly. I am on the look out for a situation I can do the same. To “pay it forward” and “pay it back” the same kindness that happened to me. How the world would be different if we all did what this kind couple demonstrated.

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!

EPA = SUV

While driving down the highway on my way home yesterday I noticed a Dodge Durango with government plates driving in the HOV lane. I ran up beside it to look at the logo on the door and guess who it was? The Environmental Protection Agency Region Six. I started laughing.

How ironic is it that the Federal agency in charge of cleaning up our air and keeping the environment protected drives a Dodge SUV. I decided to do some research. The Dodge Durango gets about 15 miles per gallon. On the EPA’s website [www.epa.gov/greenvehicles] it is well below the top twenty five “greenest” SUVs. In fact on a ten point scale, with ten being good, the SUV gets a 6 by EPAs own standards.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I get grief all the time for driving a Ford pickup and how economically unfriendly it is. I guess I will consider getting rid of my ride…oh who am I kidding, I love my pickup!

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.