Cronbach Construction

Little Sponges.

2012-01-10T17:37:00.001-08:00

Email exchange between Will's speech therapist and me, earlier this week.

Anne: He was fine today! Showed me his belaying technique with his bungee cable and his bed frame and various drawer handles (!). Where had he seen where to belay...hysterical!!!!

Me: We had a tree guy at the house on Saturday morning....took down a dead pine in 'Spider Man' style, complete with tying off a safety line on another tree. Funny thing, I didn't get WHAT he was trying to do with the bungee cord until I read this email. Such a creative, funny little man we have. Guess I need to be even more 'in the moment' than I already thought I was. :-)

Anne: Well, that also explains why he greeted me at the door with his saw attached to the bungee cord and saying how he was g oing to go cut down the tree. He mimicked safety locking the bungee cord to his clothes, climbing (5 inches up his bedframe) and mimicked climbing down slowly and releasing the bungee hook from his clothes complete with a sigh of relief from all the hard work...!!!

Hilarious little dude. And yes, I'm aware that we're already in serious trouble with our little engineer. Haven't had a chance to go through the THIRD birthday photos, but will post soon.

I Believe in Santa Claus

2011-12-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Cronbachs!!

I was planning to write a note with all our fun stuff this year, but something happened yesterday that I thought was much more important.

Because Eli was working Christmas Eve, Monika (Will's au pair from Norway) and I planned to take Will to San Francisco to see the decorations. Unbeknownst to me, I woke up to frozen pipes and after taking a quick shower we had no water. Ugh. When I went to get Will up, he was talking a mile a minute about his day. 'Go see Santa?' 'Go find Santa?' This caught me off guard - as far as I knew, no one had talked much about Santa to him this year. If this is the first Cronbach post you're reading in 2011, I should point out that Will is autistic. While very high functioning, there are still concepts that are familiar to his peers that he just doesn't get yet. Santa is one of those concepts - I had even decided not to worry about a Santa picture this year because the entire process was likely to take more effort than it was worth. Crowded malls, long waits for pictures, sitting on a strangers lap....not things likely to make for a lifetime memory. We simply sat back and enjoyed watching him get the concept of presents this year - too freakin' cute for words.

So there I was, with a little man asking to see and/or find Santa. 'Sure, we can go look for Santa in San Francisco,' I said. 'Franfisco?' 'Yep, San Francisco.' We went to Yerba Buena Gardens and then to Union Square - first carousel ride was a huge hit. A half a dozen times during the morning, Will piped up and said 'Go see SANta!' Monika and I compared notes and we couldn't figure out where he'd picked up the idea, but we decided if it wasn't too crowded, we'd go find Santa.

After lunch, we went to 'Santaland' in Macy's and saw there were only two families in line. Hmm, that's doable I thought. Even if he doesn't want to wait, we can just wave at Santa and say that we found him. The line was fast, the Santa was amazing and Will was really excited to show Santa his tractor that he carried with him. Climbed right up on Santa's lap and hung out like they'd known each other forever.

I might be the only person my age who believes in Santa Claus, but what a sweet Christmas memory he gave me this year.

Phase One Photos

2011-11-26T15:47:00.002-08:00

Forever House, Phase One.

2011-11-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

Since Will is working on a long nap, I thought I'd take a moment to catch up on our move to Napa. Didn't we move just three years ago? Yes....we did. For anyone in California, you know that the housing market has been NUTS for the past several years. When we bought our house in Vallejo, the market in Napa was still too strong for us to afford something we really wanted, so we bought the Vallejo house as a short term investment instead. What a difference three years makes......

The market in Napa softened quite a bit and we would periodically look online and torture ourselves with the 'what if' scenarios. In the mean time, our son Will was diagnosed with Autism and we discovered ourselves in need of public school services, something that we'd never planned to access in Vallejo. Things reached critical mass earlier this year and we decided to turn 'what if' into 'when'. 'When' turned out to be one acre out in the country, with a 1500ish square foot house built in the late 60's. NEVER remodeled. With the exception of some kitchen appliances, I do mean never. Craigslist post advertising 'house for rent' in Hiddenbrooke? Check. Tenants moved in October 1? Check.

Match the list of things accomplished by Cronbach Construction before moving in with the pictures I'm about to post.....

1. New support beam in the garage (sagging roof).
2. New roof.
3. New guest (and Monika's bathroom) - including sub floor.
4. Removal of cottage cheese from four rooms.
5. Demo the non conforming and smelly 'cat pee' room.

Things are still a work in progress (furnace guy is supposed to show up tomorrow), but we are thrilled to be here. I'm not sure who is happier - Eli has a detached shop, Will has a 'dirt' box for his growing collection of Tonka trucks, Chilly is now an indoor AND outdoor cat and I love looking out my kitchen window and designing gardens in my head. All of us are thrilled with the original point of the move, which was better support services for Will. Monika (Will's au pair) arrived from Norway the day before we put the offer in on this house and she's been a great sport about moving from a 2600+ square foot house with her own private bathroom into a smaller house with one bathroom shared by the three of us. There is a master bath, but its a work in progress and I'll save those photos for the Phase Two (or maybe Three) post. Thank you to all our friends and family who have helped us demo, paint, haul trash, move and otherwise offered your support. Eli's calling in all his markers on this house, so if you don't have a voice mail from him yet, you probably will soon. :-)

We do take breaks and because we have room for all the toys, we have a 'guest house' aka toy hauler on the property. Enjoy the first photos and stay tuned for updates!

Cronbach and Son Cronstruction

2011-09-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Preview of our latest project.....all it took was one Curious George episode with safety goggles.

Down on the Farm.

2011-09-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Will and I have visited a local farm several times over the past few months. Super friendly people, they're very tolerant of a little engineer climbing all over their tractors and greet him by name whenever we visit. This weekend, we collected some of our friends and adopted pumpkins. Get a numbered stake, pick our your pumpkin, stake it out and come back to pick it in October. Great idea and lots of fun for the little munchkins. Sorry to have been off the grid lately, the Cronbachs have embarked on a new adventure that I will save for another blog post. It involves power tools, nails, paint and lots of Ibuprofin.....

Yard Work With Daddy.

2011-05-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

To get the full effect, enlarge the photo from the front yard. Pure little man bliss.

Kindergarten Preview?

2011-04-24T16:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-24T16:17:00.001-07:00

While Will doesn't really 'get' hiding eggs (or the real meaning of Easter) yet, I thought it would still be fun to paint Easter eggs. Some disposable brushes, washable paint, boiled eggs and he was on his way. Two egg casualties - one egg hit the floor and the other was smashed on the table trying to replicate the noise egg number one made. :-) Nice quiet day at home with my boys - Happy Easter, everyone!

Tahoe Fun - Check Out the New Haircut.

2011-02-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hit the Deck!

2011-02-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

This post has no photos, but it was too funny to pass up. We spent last weekend at our friend Kelley's cabin in Tahoe. Saturday morning as I was waking up, I heard the door to Will's bedroom open and close. SH**! Baby on the loose! I dashed out to the family room to greet my first time escape artist, happy and smiling. Sunday morning, same routine. It was official - Little Man had officially mastered escaping from the Pak and Play. Sunday afternoon, nap time. Or should I say, escape time. Up and down. Up and down. Eli and I each put him back a few times, and Will figured out that he was supposed to be sleeping in his Pack and Play.

As we were cleaning up the cabin (in anticipation of bailing on nap time and heading home), we took turns poking our head in his room to see what was happening. First, Eli peeked in and observed Will in the act of trying to climb out - the moment Will saw Daddy, he dropped to the floor of the Pack and Play in child's pose, face down on his hands. Second time, I peeked in and Wii man was balanced on the edge, poised to escape. Saw Mommy, dropped the floor of the Pack and Play and...you get the idea. Next time I peeked in, he was in the middle of the room. Same result! He dropped to the floor in child's pose like he was sleeping. It was all I could do to make it out of the room before I busted out laughing. We know that we're in for the next phase of sleep training, but it was just too freakin' funny.

Bay Area Discovery Museum

2011-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

Tracy gave Will a membership to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito for his birthday, so today Will and I decided to check it out. If you've never been before and have a child under the age of 6, GO THERE NOW. For those of you familiar with the area, it's at Fort Baker, under the Golden Gate Bridge. We only made it through two of the four or five buildings and couldn't even think about the playground because it was too close to naptime. Little man had a great time - these were the only photos I could get of his face because he was tearing around the whole time, shrieking with delight. Thanks Auntie Tracy!

TWO!!!

2011-01-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Time has flown - here are two photos from Will's second birthday. Our friend Dawn made the cupcake (to go with the 'Will the Builder' themed cake) and she included a dump truck and a bull dozer with the oreo dirt. The cake came in dead last, behind the importance of dozing and moving all that dirt. And tasting the dirt. Alot of tasting the dirt. My coworker pointed out that his first time trying real dirt might get a different reaction. :-)

This Is Now.

2010-12-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

To steal a post title from my friend Stacey, TWT, TIN. Happy Second Birthday Will! We're only halfway through the day, but we started off the day with a birthday donut at Boonfly and a visit to the ICN nurses at the Queen of the Valley to say 'thank you'. Who knows what will happen after naptime.....

That Was Then....

2010-12-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Cronbachs!

2010-12-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this before December 25th, that means that the mail service works speedy quick.

Eli and I are still on the wild ride that is parenthood and Will is teaching us more every day. A quick recap of our year starts with a trip to the Waimea Plantation in Kauai in February for Eli's (ahem) FORTIETH birthday. A little cold for hanging out at the beach, we still had lots of sunshine and an amazing view from our lanai. No description of the trip would be complete without mention of Will's first cold, first ER visit and(thankfully after we got home), first ear infection.

The annual camping trip to Albion was a blast, even if it included an Eli created baby gate around the fire pit. A few trips to Tahoe (including a snowy Thanksgiving), a visit from Eli's mom, an amazing girl's day at Solage for me, hunting in September for Eli and a SECOND birthday party for Will next week. As I type this, I now understand why it feels like we're going a million miles an hour.

The biggest change this year is the sale of our property in Sonoma. While we were sad to see it go, we decided that continuing to keep it would interfere with other projects in our lives and that waiting for a better market might take longer than we were willing to wait.

We are still enjoy our jobs - Eli will be getting a new work partner at his station early next year and I continue to enjoy working in the wine industry. It's so much fun to be able to say, 'But I'm the best kind of lawyer - the alcohol kind!' :-)

Merry Christmas to you and we hope that this update finds you healthy, happy and ready to enjoy the next few weeks.

Spaghetti - These Speak for Themselves.

2010-11-08T12:14:00.001-08:00

The entire Cronbach family was in on the fun last night - for the record, DADDY put the pile of spaghetti on little man's head.

'Daddy, this looks much better on you. Really.'

2010-10-31T21:45:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

So the hat didn't stay on long and Will the Builder has a cold, but that didn't stop little man from enjoying the rest of his costume. One visit to the neighbors across the street and off to congested bedtime for Wii tonight.

Crazier news - he's TWENTY TWO months old!!! Walking, running, climbing. Rewind, repeat. Busy little man, he made his first playdough with mommy this month and continues to think it's more fun to paint himself than paper. More signs this month - chicken, Cheerios, kitty, apple and he does please on a regular basis now. With both hands if he REALLY wants something. :-) Although good natured and happy, he is mastering the 'You're ruining my life!!!' look when we say 'no'. Loves Bob te Builder (hence the costume) and Curious George is becoming a big hit too.

Has started walking in parking lots and down sidewalks while holding mommy or daddy's hand, which works until his feet and the hand go in different directions. Then it's back to mommy or daddy's hip. :-) As always, fun to watch him grow and figure things out.

Career Options

2010-09-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

Artist in training.

Mommy, mommy you're home!!!

2010-08-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

When I came home yesterday, Eli had already given Will a bath. As I walked in the door, Eli called down the hall upstairs and said 'Look who's home!' This is what happened next - super cute. Please don't call Wal-Mart on me.

A Boy and His Sandwich

2010-08-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

Eli mentioned the other day that Will liked a taste of Eli's PB&J, so yesterday he got his very own PB&B...Peanut Butter and Banana. Half a sandwich, stuffed into his mouth a piece at a time. Yummy!

Fun at the Park

2010-07-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Wish this park was near our house! Yesterday morning, Will, Daddy and I went to check out a local park and discovered that Will likes the teeter-totter.

One and a HALF years old!

2010-06-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was going to start this post with the title 'Eighteen Months' and realized that Will has crossed over into counting his age in years and those ever important half years so I'd better get with the program.

Will is 32" tall and almost 25 pounds now, trying to eat us out of house and home. Anything he can feed himself is a popular food right now - bananas, apples, pears, Cheerios (of course), Annie's Wheat Bunnies and Cheddar Bunnies, tortilla chips (not very often), mangoes, scrambled eggs, avocados, any ripe melon(preferably with LOTS of juice) and a few others I've forgotten. Still loves yogurt, pureed sweet potatoes (now with some kind of meat mixed in), applesauce and anything on mommy or daddy's plate.

Walking is SOOO passe for this little guy - we've moved on to running (little wobbly), climbing the steps into the toy hauler, climbing the stairs by walking not crawling and keeping us moving all the time.

Not too many words, but he knows the signs for 'hungry', 'more', 'all done' and can wave hello and goodbye. We're working on 'please' with limited success. For anyone who has spent time with him, they know that he has no trouble getting his point across. ;-)

Some random but funny bits - he has gone from being terrified of the vacuum to loving it and wanting to help anytime he sees it. This morning he kept turning on the vacuum and we were getting tired of the noise, so we unplugged it. Silly parents, who thought that would stop him? After a few minutes of trying to turn it on without success, he had an 'a ha' moment and went over to the wall and repeatedly tried to plug it in!!! He loves to share his food with us when he's eating. He learned to clap last weekend and thinks its about the funniest thing ever - I'll post once I can get it on video. Hasn't figured out how to open the doors at home yet but has figured out how to open the screen door on the toy hauler - YIKES! He initiates peek a boo now and is so happy when you figure out that's what he's trying to do.

Just a happy little dude, excelling in his job of keeping mommy and daddy on their toes and amazed at his adventures more and more each day.

....to Little Boy.

2010-06-06T13:36:00.001-07:00

Our friend (and my hairdresser) Eric Haris did the honors and really,really wanted to get at the back of Will's neck a little more. But, because that involved turning on the clippers, Will was having NONE of it. As predicted and promised, he looks very different!

From Baby.......

2010-06-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

After several months of looking like an aspiring member of 'The Partridge Family', we decided it was time for Will's first haircut.

Fun at the Park

2010-05-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Little man is growing up. Here's a photo taken this week at a little sandbox/mini park near our house. Can you tell there's a water feature?

Will's First Visit to the Aquarium.

2010-04-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Marcia and Ellen, Will has a membership to the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Yesterday, Eli and I decided he was old enough to enjoy a visit. He had a fun time being carried through the two tunnels and laughed out loud a few times at the fish swimming over and around him. Not sure what he enjoyed more - the tunnels or afterwards, when we let him down to walk around some of the displays. Looking forward to returning more as he gets older and more interactive!

Don't we all wish we woke up this cute?

2010-04-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

Bodega Bay Trailer Trash

2010-04-22T20:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend marked another first for Will - camping in Bodega Bay. Eli and Marty went fishing on Friday and mama and baby joined them after work. Here's some shots of our budding trashy, NASCAR fan. :-) The photos in the diaper were hysterical - for those of you who remember Ally McBeal's 'dancing baby', Will was the spitting image. Since he's mastering standing up and walking on every surface he can, after a few flops he stood up on our bed (post bath). Giddy with his success, he started bobbing up and down, having a grand time. I could barely stop laughing long enough to take the pictures, and completely forgot that my camera takes video too.

Nate took a swing (and a miss) at fishing with E on Saturday while Will and I wandered the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival. Ingrid joined us for dinner Saturday, along with the Braga family - crab feed, Cronbach style. Newspapers were found and spread out on the picnic table, crab cracking lessons were given, lemons were sliced, butter was melted, wine was uncorked and nothing was left at the end of the night.

So this is ladies night.....Oh, what a night.

2010-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Slight deviation from the normal baby cuteness....here's a photo from last Saturday at the Napa FD Ball. Absolute genius - Wonderbread 5 AND casino tables! Translation - the ladies could dance their 'socks' off while the boys played the tables. No one felt like they were neglecting their dates and everyone had a great time. Thank you to my Foster's coworkers for making it such a fun night!

Think He'll Hate Me for These?

2010-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hot off the presses from tonight's bath.

Ready......Set......Go!

2010-04-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

First it was three steps. Then it was four. Then it was eight. Now we've lost count! He still crawls more than he walks, but that's changing every day.

Fifteen Months!

2010-04-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

So it's more like fifteen months and a week, but better late than never. Eight teeth, loving finger foods (avocados, pears, butternut squash, pears, bananas, pears), babbling, surviving his first cold (while we were on vacation for Eli's birthday) and generally being an all around happy little guy.

No real 'words' yet, but he has lots to say.

Daddy, Quit Splashing Me!

2010-04-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Shades of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.

2010-02-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

'Mom, what's with the laughing the and camera? Mom?'

Apples and trees.

2010-02-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

Looks like little man doesn't fall too far from mama and daddy.

Little man is growing up.

2010-01-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

One YEAR!!!

2010-01-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm having technical difficulties with the amazing video Dara made for Will's birthday, but this week marked another milestone in the Cronbach house - one year ago this week little man came home from the NICU. The photo on the left is from his first bath that day and the photo on the right....well you get the idea. The 'ouch' on his chin is from the trials and tribulations of learning to walk. Not walking yet, but definitely motoring around furniture and crawling up a storm.

Before and After.

2009-12-25T10:44:00.001-08:00

For some reason they posted 'backwards', but I'm sure you can figure out which is the before and which is the after. These photos sum up Will's first Tahoe adventures....four couples, four little kids, three days, fourteen bottles of wine and lots of snow. Woo hoo!

There's a bear in Tahoe.

2009-12-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, so he eats Cheerios and isn't very scary, but here's little man and the all weather BOB in Tahoe a few weekends ago. These photos were taken on Saturday.....there was even MORE snow on Sunday.

Merry Christmas from the Cronbachs!

2009-12-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a short update of our year for those of you who just received our Christmas card...

Last year's letter started off with a February 2009 release date for Baby Boy Cronbach.....hmmm....not so much. After some trips to the local ER with pre term labor in December, William Thomas Cronbach arrived six weeks early via C Section on December 30, 2008, weighing 4 pounds 14 ounces and just over 18 inches long. One of the craziest parts for me was leaving work on Monday the 29th saying 'See you tomorrow' to my coworkers and sending an email to my boss in the wee hours of the morning saying 'Water broke - we're here at the Queen keeping the night shift awake. Feeling okay so far but definitely won't be in today. One of us will keep you posted.'. I have a great boss - he looked at my desk, said 'pretty well organized, thanks for that' and after one short phone call, my four month maternity leave was underway.

Little man arrived early that afternoon via C-Section and spent his first 26 days in the NICU, with visits from us every day. Never on a respirator, but he did have a feeding tube for most of his stay. Fast forward 50+ weeks and he is 20+ pounds, wearing 12-18 month clothes, sleeping through the night, eating like a horse, throwing out some hilarious belly laughs, showing us how fast he can climb the stairs and working very hard on walking. For those of you who don't know, Will is named for both my grandfathers, William Beaver Herndon and Harold Thomas Boone. It was important to both of us that we recognize both sides of our family with his name and it seems to suit him well. We're really lucky - Eli's schedule allows him to be Mr. Mom most of the week and we have a great young woman named Emmy for the days that E and I both need to be at work. For more details on Will, you can review the blog posts over the last year. This blog is 'information central' for all things Cronbach, so we hope you check back from time to time to see what we're up to.

We're enjoying the house in Vallejo but we both miss Sonoma. We still have the property in Sonoma, but have put it on the market to test the waters and see where it takes us. No change on the job front for either of us - the fire department and Foster's continue to treat us very well.

Quick travel update - the annual Albion trip (two time margarita contest champ, woo hoo!), a few trips to Tahoe and other mountains, Eli's productive hunting trip in September and I had a work trip to Boston in October. Spent a few extra days on the Cape catching up with friends and having flashbacks about the fun times we had there.

Some sad news this year - the passing of our four footed child, Napa, in early September, from cancer. We had almost eleven great years with her and are glad that she got to meet Will this year and enjoy one last trip to Albion, with lots of time in the water. We both miss her and I tell Will stories about 'his puppy' all the time.

Merry Christmas to you and yours - as always, we love visitors and hope to see you in 2010! With love, Eli, Alicia and Will Cronbach

Time to Buy a Baby Gate.

2009-12-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

No peanuts were harmed during the filming of this video. Look out world, here he comes!

ELEVEN MONTHS and four days.

2009-12-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so mom's a little late with this one. These photos are from this week - Will chillin' like a good 49er fan on Sunday and tonight showing me that he was almost ready to climb the stairs.

And CLIMB the stairs he did tonight - two almost three steps without a hovering parent and four more with mom as a spotter. Yikes! Not ready for this.

The motto of the month has been "Moooom (or Daaaad), I can do it myself. Leave me alone." Insert high pitched squeal and you've got the idea. Not a surprise that little man is so ready to figure it out on his own, but I admit that I'm not quite ready. New finger foods - smoked turkey, bananas, cooked carrots and pureed pumpkin. The 'creep' has officially become a 'crawl', but I think it will be a 'walk' before too long. He's already stood for a few seconds unassisted, but he didn't realize that's what he was doing at the time. Teething count - two bottom teeth so far, but all he really wants for Christmas is his two front teeth and he's working really hard to make that happen.

Happy little dude - loves peek a boo and making crazy funny noises with his tongue, along with looking around to make sure we're watching when he does cool stuff. Neither one of us can believe that peanut/little man/squirrel/peanut head is almost ONE YEAR OLD, but there you have it. Time really does fly when you're having fun!

Eating or Flirting? You decide.

2009-11-28T09:19:00.001-08:00

Two more photos just for fun.

2009-11-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

TEN MONTHS

2009-11-01T18:15:00.001-08:00

I really need to learn to use Picasa. Here's our little man, hard to believe it's been TEN months. A short list of fun facts:

In addition to the nine month list, Will now eats pineapple, chicken (finger food), wild pork (pureed), peaches (not a big hit), cheerios, applesauce and will be trying tofu this week. Sometimes tries to help us with hilarious results.

Sleeps like a champ at night, except for teething. Naps are still a work in progress, but they are improving.
Speaking of teething, Will has two bottom teeth. Now I know why the tooth fairy pays so much money for the little things - it's a ton of work for the little man and my least favorite part of parenting so far, right after the NICU stay. Says the mom who's son had colic for two plus months.
Recognizes mommy and daddy when we enter (and leave) a room.
Loves his 'toy room' aka the living room (the only carpeted surface downstairs).
Still creeps more than crawls, BUT....
We have STANDING!!!!! He mastered pulling himself up on objects stationary and otherwise earlier this week and spent Th and Fri doing nothing but practicing. It must have paid off, because the photo on the far right shows the little man taking his first assisted steps between mommy and daddy yesterday.

Mini Chico Reunion

2009-10-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Will had his first visit to St. Clement while I caught up with David, a friend from my Chico days, and his fiance Amanda. Gorgeous afternoon, followed by a late lunch at Taylor's. It was really special and fun to see David so happy and in love - congrats to the future Mr. and Mrs. Strager!

NINE MONTHS!!!

2009-09-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that little man is nine months old today. Here's the top ten:

1. Eats avocados, bananas, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, carrots, yogurt.
2. Doesn't eat green beans and asparagus, still undecided about cereal.
3. Rolls over on purpose and everywhere - tub, changing table and couch.
4. Creeping but working hard at crawling - gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, back and forth.
5. Trying out new sounds everyday - today he discovered that if you wave your hand in front of your mouth when its open, cool noises come out. Pretty funny, including the few times his hand missed his mouth and 'bonked' his face.
6. Except for teething, he sleeps like a champ at night. Goes to bed around 6P and wakes up around 5:30-6A. Naps are still a work in progress.
7. Speaking of teething, the saga continues. I felt little bumps on the bottom gums yesterday, but nothing visible and he's still miserable about the whole thing.
8. Loves shiny things and looking at mirrors.
9. Recognizes mommy and daddy when we walk into (or leave) a room.
10. Has moved up to the 'big boy' car seat and although it's still rear facing, it won't be for long.....his little chubbo feet touch the seat already.

Can't get the computer to recognize my camera stick, so no picture - boo.

Tall man and little man

2009-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here's my dad with the little dude last week.

Okay, so the view didn't suck.

2009-09-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

It may have been 102+ degrees, but the view at Braden's wedding this weekend was still pretty amazing.

Cantaloupe

2009-09-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

Since he was grabbing spoons full of messy foods like sweet potatoes and avocados, we decided to let little man try and feed himself some cantaloupe. Eli described as more of an adventure in texture exploration, but a good time was still had by all.

Creepy Crawler

2009-09-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

We've been watching Will 'swim' in the tub and on the floor for about two weeks.....look out world, he's on the move!!!

Random Cuteness

2009-09-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wonder what he's thinking?

Bath Time Fun

2009-09-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

The funniest part about tonight's bath was that Will is mastering 'creeping' way faster in the tub than on dry land. He cruised all over the tub tonight (after flipping himself over) and inspected each and every jet in the tub.

Hum Baby!

2009-09-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

Funny enough, this isn't a baby post.....it's a baseball post. Tuesday was 'Firefighter Appreciation Night' at AT&T Park with the Giant's losing to the Padres in the bottom of the ninth, 3-4. Will stayed at home with Emmy while Eli and I enjoyed our first night out post baby. Here's a shot of the rookie pitcher stats....there was a line for time spent in MLB or something like that and it read ONE DAY. His first game - we thought he handled the pressure well. The other shot is of Mike's rally cap and cup - I still say we lost because the cup fell off.

Over the River and Through the Woods

2009-09-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

....You can finish the line. Will and I spent last Friday and Saturday with Will's Great Grandma Boone up in Shingletown. When we weren't just staring at the little man, grandma was watching what I call 'Wi TV' - the baby monitor showing a sleeping baby.

Sweet Potato Pie

2009-08-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

Looks like the sweet potatoes are a hit too.

Go Bananas

2009-08-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's official, the little man is eating 'real food'. So far he's tried cereal (not a fan), avocados (big hit) and bananas (HUGE hit). This photo was taken yesterday - Emmy said that Will took the spoon with the bananas on it and started licking it like a lollipop. So far he only gets one meal of 'real' food a day, but that will probably go up to twice a day soon.

Next up - Sweet Potatoes!

Morning Bedhead.

2009-08-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

Will is getting more and more hair, and each morning it looks more and more like Eli's when he first gets up. Couldn't resist taking these shots yesterday morning with my phone before I left for work - once I got to work I realized that one of the photos shows that Will's going to be a REDhead. Look out world!

Seven Months Old!

2009-07-30T19:36:00.001-07:00

To steal a term from a friend, this will be a 'working mom's' post (short). Hard to believe Will is seven months old today, but here we are. He's over 17 pounds now and seems to have a hollow leg where food is concerned. He started trying cereal this week but isn't too sure what he thinks about it. Definitely sitting up on his own now, he's become a master of the 'face plant' if a toy is just out of his reach. No crawling, but lots of teething with no teeth.

Sleeping for decent blocks of time, but not 'through the night' yet. Not looking forward to what is now called 'sleep training' (also known as teaching him to soothe himself to sleep), but that's just around the corner. Overall, he's a pretty happy baby - lots of smiles, especially for daddy when he gets home from work.

So far nicknames are peanut, little man, snugglebug, squirmbutt and the latest, lizard boy (he spends alot of time sticking out his tongue).
Happy 'seven month birthday' little man!

Camping at Albion and Random Cuteness

2009-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

The weekend after Sears Point, we headed out to the Albion River Campground for the annual fire department camping trip. Tracy joined us while we ate abalone and played Will's favorite game....'pass the baby'. Here's a photo of my men enjoying the glorious 70+ degree weather. While Will worked on his flirting skills, Eli (aka Pescados Locos) won the margarita contest for the second year in row!!!

The other photo was taken today during the middle of what I call a 'giggle fit' - uncontrolled, gut busting giggles from the little man. Hard to believe that he's SIX MONTHS OLD this past week - no new stats re height and weight, but he's got a doctor's appt. this week so stay tuned. Teething with no teeth yet = extra nightime feedings, but we're working it out.

Happy Father's Day

2009-07-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Eli's first Father's Day and Will's first NASCAR race turned out to be on the same day! For the second year in a row, we spent the weekend in the toy hauler out at Sears Point and had a great time. It was Will's first night away from home - getting him to sleep in the new surroundings was a little (okay ALOT) hard, but we all figured it out and managed to have some fun too. Wouldn't have taken a baby out to the track without the trailer to come back to (and nap in), but we're already looking forward to next year.

Big Enough for BOB

2009-07-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

After almost six months of riding in his carseat atop the stroller, Will is finally 'big enough for BOB'. Craziness.

Did I mention Will is teething?

2009-06-15T14:39:00.001-07:00

I think this one speaks for itself.

Blackmail Photos, Part One

2009-06-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this won't be the last blackmail photo, but it's certainly the first. Here's our little man at bath time last night, photo taken by our friend (and professional photographer) Bonny Martignoni. Just posting while on a quick break from work....my tech support tells me that our home PC is 'torn apart' at the moment and I wanted to get this up right away.

Daddy's eyes.

2009-05-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

I know I need to rotate it, but going to take a nap is more important at the moment.

Five Months Old!

2009-05-31T16:42:00.001-07:00

Will, Eli and I spent his five month birthday at a baby shower for Dave and Bonny Martignoni's latest grandbaby. Warm but not hot weather....and a solar heated pool calling my boys' names. Daddy and son started out by sitting on the edge and putting Will's feet on the first step....Will loved it. Next step was into the pool, floating around with dad. Although several other people joined them in the pool, the other parents present seemed surprised that peanut loves the water so much. Anyone who knows Eli should not be surprised, although it looks like we'll have to stock up on sunscreen. As mentioned in an earlier post, I see early swim lessons in his future.

Will has mastered rolling from tummy to back (usually waking himself up in the process), giggling mostly on purpose, chewing on his hands, staring at his feet (always delighted to find them) and he's starting to successfully reach for and grasp things on purpose. We're guessing he's close to fifteen pounds, and his pediatrician seems happy with his progress. She says rolling over is right on track with being 4-5 months old and being able to grab things on purpose is right on track with his gestational age of 3 and 1/2 months.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

We spent my first Mother's Day with my parents, enjoying brunch at the Hudson House at Beringer Vineyards. The Hudson House is one of the original residences on the property and not open to the public - Foster's offered a beautiful brunch, complete with the best lamb I've ever had, to it's employees and their families.

The afternoon finished off with a stop at a local nursery in Napa to pick up my Mother's Day present - a mandarin orange tree from my boys. What a fun day!

Memorial Day

2009-05-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the little man in his car seat on our way home from the Presidio's Memorial Day service yesterday. Wish the car seat tag wasn't in the picture, but you can see how much he's grown. The red stripes at the bottom of the photo are what we've taken to calling his 'bunny buddy' - striped toy with bunny ears that he seems to have adopted.

Happy Easter

2009-05-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of Will with Great Grandpa Bill, one of the two men he is named for. Eli, Will and I spent Easter weekend visiting my grandparents in Oregon and showing Will off to all the retirees where my grandparents live. Seems that everyone already knew peanut's name, which we thought was pretty cute. Notice the bunny feet - the outfit had a bunny tail too. :-) I figure I get about two years of borderline girly outfits before Eli and Will cut me off, so I'm making the most of it.

Will is now 13.75 pounds and 24.5 inches long - still making his doc happy and keeping us entertained. He's sleeping longer and longer at night - I wouldn't say he's sleeping through the night consistently, but it happens enough that I've started putting the breast pump by the side of the bed so that I don't explode if Will sleeps for eight or nine hours.

The nanny search is over as well - we found a great young woman named Emily, 'Emmy' for short. She's very calm and soothing with Will and somehow manages to get him to sleep between most of his daytime feedings, which is fantastic. I'm starting my fourth week back at work - it's fun to be back and not having to cart peanut to day care has made a HUGE difference in my readjustment period. I also work from home one day a week, so that helps too. It's definitely a crazy balancing act, but I often remind myself that I have a 'part time' job for most of the attorney world and that makes it better.

12 pounds and growing....

2009-04-06T15:22:00.001-07:00

Here's the little peanut. Growing like a weed and making all the doctors happy. No sleeping through the night yet, but then again he's only 'eight' weeks old! We're constantly amazed by our little man - he's cooing and 'chatting' with us now, smiling (but not 'on demand'), trying to eat his hands (I hear the toes aren't far behind) and is still a pretty happy baby.

I go back to work in about a week and a half, so the nanny search is moving forward. We're down to two promising people, but no final decisions yet. They'll be here an average of two days a week when E's at work. That, plus my working from home one day a week, means that going back to work is much easier than it might otherwise have been. Still haven't fixed the memory stick problem on the camera, but I've found a way to outsmart it for the moment. At least I know I have some choices now....I promise not to go this long without a post again.

Nursery - What a lucky little guy!

2009-04-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

From a sketch to a 'Peter Rabbit' dream....Will's nursery is done! My parents painted the base color while Will was still in the hospital and our dear friend Susan (uber talented, as you can see) painted the murals from the sketches she made. I could go on and on, but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Better yet, come see it in person!

Cuteness personified.

2009-02-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

Eight Weeks Old!

2009-02-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Will - he's eight weeks old today. Weighing in at just over nine pounds and with a healthy set of lungs, I'm happy to report that all of us are doing well.

He's still pretty mellow - not without screaming fits of unknown origin, but those are not as frequent as they could be, so we're grateful. Eli's back to work and I'm adjusting to 48 hour stretches alone with the peanut - so far, so good. I've still got six or seven weeks before I return to work, so I'm just enjoying every moment I can and will worry about house work later. ;-) Napa isn't too sure what to make of Will - she's not jealous, just nervous about the unending noise coming out of the little guy. Just like us, she's adapting to waking up several times a night with Will and wondering what all the fuss is about.

For those of you who live close enough to visit, please come to see us! Because he's a preemie and it's cold/flu season, the doctor says no sick people or children can visit until cold/flu season is over, nor can we take him to public places like the grocery store and Target.

Baby Update without photos - Grrrrr.

2009-02-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

So I finally have a moment to update you on Will's progress and I cannot upload the most recent photos!!! Hopefully I'll be able to get that worked out this weekend, but here's the latest anyway.

Will topped EIGHT POUNDS this week - his pediatrician isn't quite sure what to do with him, but she's stopped preparing us for a setback in his weight. :-) He wants to eat about every 2-3 hours from the time his last feeding started and he's pretty mellow in between. We're learning the value of the swing (thanks Marty and Sarah) and the vibrating chair (thanks Ellen and Bear). Eli the night owl takes the first few feedings at night and we trade off around 2AM - since I'm the morning person of the house, this seems to work well so far.

Eli went back to work this week and I survived my first two nights of feeding all by myself. Whew! My college roomate Tracy came to stay, so Will and I had company during the day, which has been a great help.

I'm finally feeling like I can skip one nap a day and begin to get back into the real world - return phone calls, start writing thank you notes, clean house, etc. Hard to believe that he's already six weeks old - he was due this week! I'll save the rest of this post for when I can add pictures. Again, thank you to every one for the cards, calls, thoughts, prayers and visits - they've all helped, even if we've been too sleep deprived to say thank you properly.

First Bath

2009-02-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick photo.....Will takes after his parents and LOVES the water. Even the nurses in the NICU commented on how relaxed he was when getting a bath. Now that we're home, he gets mad when we take him OUT of the water. ;-) He seems to like just floating on his back while mom or dad supports his neck (and keeps his head out of the water)....I see some early tadpole swimming lessons in his future.

Welcome Home Will!

2009-01-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

Will came home with us late afternoon last Saturday, January 24th. Thank you all for being patient with us and letting us finally bond as a family, without NICU nurses and monitors around. Not going to bore you with the details here, but it was a very difficult month for us and we're just happy to have him home. Right now it's all about sleep deprivation training and learning how to take care of our new little man. He lets us sleep about 2-3 hours at a time but still seems confused about day vs. night. So far he seems like a really mellow baby - cross your fingers that it stays that way. Because of his preemie status, he's on house arrest for the next few months, but we are welcoming visitors starting next week. Give us a call and we'll figure out when and how to introduce you to our little guy.

Baby Update

2009-01-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the land of parenthood. Will continues to 'cook' in the NICU, complete with a feeding tube and isolette. He is gaining weight each day and is now 5 pounds 14 ounces. In order to be available in case he wakes up hungry in the night, Eli and I are staying in our toy hauler near the hospital, so my apologies for inconsistent communications right now.

He's not strong enough to eat an entire meal on his own, but he's figured out the breastfeeding thing and is also doing well with a bottle. I'll spare you the gory details, but there's no shortage of breast milk (insert crude joke here)so that's all Will gets, which makes mom and dad really happy. The short version of our life right now is that we're sleep deprived and really anxious to bring him home. In a few months this will all seem like a dream, but right now it's tough and we just look forward to having this phase of parenthood over.

I have pictures, but can't get my memory card to work in our computer at the moment. Just know that he's starting to look like a chubby baby and is the apple of our eye, no matter where he is at the moment. Thanks for all your good wishes, messages and support - I look forward to having time to return calls and write thank you notes sometime soon.

Surprise!

2009-01-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

William Thomas Cronbach arrived six weeks early on December 30, 2008. Weighing in at 4 pounds 14 ounces, he was 18 inches long. He's still in the hospital and we visit every day, bringing fresh milk and lots of love. He's currently in an isolette to maintain his body temperature and gets most of my milk through a feeding tube, but his progress is good and we hope to bring him home before his original due date of February 10th. It's a little chaotic at the moment - we've had three baby showers without the guest of honor and we're still trying to figure out what we need to finish before he comes home, but we're hanging in there and are grateful for all the support of our friends and family right now.

10 Weeks and Counting.....

2008-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Beginning THIRD Trimester.

2008-11-16T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sooo....it feels like I was just announcing our pregnancy last week and now I've started the third trimester. Yikes! Just finished my 28th week with a spa shower yesterday with the Chico girls and a few other close friends. It was a really nice way to celebrate and gear up for the bigger baby showers that will come in January.

This photo was taken by my friend Dara in Davis just before I started week 28 - definitely look pregnant now. ;-) Still feeling pretty good overall - less than thrilled with the growing feet, but overall still a pretty happy pregnant woman. Of course, you'll have to ask Eli for the real story.....we're getting settled in to the new house and I hope to have some tile photos to post soon. The downstairs tile is done (minus baseboards) and the office has been painted. Next up is family room/kitchen painting and then probably the master bedroom.

EMAIL CHANGE - I'm going to try and send it to as many people as I have addresses for, but our email address has changed. The 'cronbach@comcast' address is now 'thecronbachs@gmail.com'.

No photo post but a quick update.

2008-10-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

This is just to sign off for a week or so while we take down the Sonoma office and get the Vallejo office (and Internet) set up. The tile is about 80% done (with lots of hard work by Eli and my dad) and it looks AMAZING. Carpets are cleaned and we're ready for the big move day this Saturday.

On the incubator side of things, life is going well. I've completed 24 weeks so far, and Baby Boy Cronbach (or BBC, as my friend Kathie calls him) is starting to make his growing presence known in the last week or so. Feeling a kick here and there, which is fun and surreal at the same time. Definitely moved from the 'Is she letting herself go?' stage to looking pregnant to people I see on a regular basis. No random comments from strangers yet, but I'm sure that's only a few weeks away.

Overall, it's just been a chaotic few weeks for both of us - getting packed and laying tile, oh and still working too. Hope that everyone is enjoying the last of the warm weather and I look forward to posting the 'After' photos in a few weeks!

Preggo photos - 18 weeks down, 22 to go.

2008-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, here are the first and only photos of Baby Cronbach so far. Both are from a recent trip to Houston to visit my friend Dara. This was my next to last weekend wearing the 'one size bigger' shorts and regular t-shirts. I'm definitely bigger now, but so far I haven't had any random strangers (outside of work) ask me when I'm due or try to touch my belly.....yet. It's this wierd 'in between' stage - not obviously pregnant, but obviously gaining weight. I think I liked the early stages of pregnancy better - back then, it just looked like I'd gotten breast implants. ;-)

During.....

2008-09-27T11:23:00.001-07:00

So I'm not very good at arranging the photos, but you can tell that the TV nook is gone (went from a 4' to 8' opening and looks great), the fireplace is also gone (soon to be replaced by a wet bar) and the office wall is gone, creating a much more usable space. The blue tape on the floor was used to mark the dimensions of our furniture and at the far end you can see more blue tape to mark out E's giant TV. Almost all the flooring will come out downstairs, likely to be replaced by tile. The after photos will have to wait a week or so - tile hasn't been ordered yet and Eli's got a hectic few weeks schedule for the next week or so.

Before.....

2008-09-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the beginning of the latest Cronbach Construction project. Photos on the left are the 'kitchen/family' room and the tile walkway in the right hand photo leads you from the front door to the other two photos. Note the worthless TV storage cube next to the fireplace and the random half wall that was used to create an office......

20 week update - spoiler alert

2008-09-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I cannot upload photos at the moment. Grrrr....

Once my tech support gets home from work on Tuesday, I will ask for some assistance. Until then, here's yet another post without pics. Baby Cronbach is halfway through the incubation phase and behaving so far. NOTE - if you want to make any guesses about the gender, do so now. Right now, before you continue reading.

Ready? Baby Cronbach's name has been changed to Baby Boy Cronbach. :-) Getting ready to shop for little 49er jerseys, wondering how hard it will be to teach him to aim during potty training and to put the seat back down. It's definitely a boy - the results came from the amnio test so there won't be any surprises in the delivery room on that score. I'd say I've 'popped' - officially wearing maternity clothes all the time now but still not really filling them out. Kind of frightening to think that I'll be filling them out in just a few more weeks/months. No more morning sickness, although I still feel like I'm moving at 'half speed' because I'm tired so often. Haven't felt any movement yet but I'm assured that's coming soon. Can't believe that we're halfway through this part of the process - looking forward to the 20 week u/s this week and some updated baby photos. No names yet and we think that we'll keep our 'final answer' a surprise until he's arrived, although that decision could change.

I'll save the house update until I can post some photos, otherwise it just won't make sense.

Never a dull moment with the Cronbachs.

2008-09-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

So....strap yourself in, keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle. For anyone who follows the Cronbachs solely by reading this blog, this will be a BIG update. First, let's get a few things out of the way...

1. We are not selling the property in Sonoma.
2. We still plan to build a house there someday....just not now.
3. I have no pictures to post with this announcement.

NOW, here's the scoop. Eli and I have been watching the home prices fall for the last few years, and last year we started wondering, "What if we just bought something and parked there for a bit while the market stabilizes?" As prices continued to fall, the idea of buying something for significantly less than the cost of building the Grove Street house and getting three years of E's life back became more and more appealing. Plus, if Eli was constructing full time, he'd miss out on quite a bit of Baby Cronbach's first year and we'd have to hire full time child care when I return to work.

So, we bought a house. We closed this week on a home in the Hiddenbrooke neighborhood of Vallejo, nine miles East of my job in Napa. It reminds me a lot of our first house (4 bed, 3 bath), but with nicer finishes, better neighborhood and a much larger yard. And hopefully, no tweaker neighbor next door. For those of you who live anywhere near us in California, the neighborhood has it's own exit off Hwy 80 - take the American Canyon Road exit and head East. You can't get lost because heading East takes you straight into the development. If you get to the golf course, you've gone too far. For anyone interested in visiting Marine World (yes, that's you Dan), we're taking reservations. :-) It was a bank owned foreclosure so there's some landscaping to bring back to life and cosmetic work to be done inside, but considering the horror stories we've been hearing, we got lucky. Eli's first big project will be to take out most of the carpet downstairs and replace it with tile. I'll take some before and after photos once he gets started.

We're looking forward to having a little more stability in our lives (quit laughing, I haven't forgotten I'm pregnant) and not being worried about construction costs for a few years. We plan to revisit the issue of building the Grove Street house in three to five years or when the market stabilizes, whichever comes first. In the meantime, we're planning a big move day for October 18th. And I'm getting excited about painting - woo hoo! I'm so tired of landlord white.

Unexciting Baby Update

2008-09-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

Nothing new to report - I seem to be past the morning sickness part, but I wouldn't say that I'm bursting with energy. All in all, I feel lucky that my symptoms have been pretty minimal. Just finishing week 17 - wearing mostly maternity clothes to work now and one size larger shorts on the weekends. Still don't look visibly pregnant - just looks like I've been enjoying too much of Eli's cooking this summer. Thanks for all the congrats and good wishes so far and I'll post more soon!

Smelly things.

2008-09-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

We don't have a baby yet, so I'm not talking about diapers. This past weekend, during a hot spell in Sonoma, our friends Tracy and Rachelle came to visit. In the process of getting the guest room ready, I opened the window and something reeked. Dead smell - yuck. Thinking it was a rat, cat or something similar, I pulled a typical girl move and waited for Eli to get home from work the next day. 'Honey, do you smell anything in the front yard?' We didn't smell anything until Friday night when we opened the window before Tracy went to bed - whew. Closed the window and turned on the fan...Eli the hero went out looking in the yard first thing Saturday morning. I could take bets on this for Baby Cronbach's college fund because NO one will get this one right. He found a ......dead buzzard/vulture. Really. No, I'm not going to post a picture, but how random is that? Thankfully, our hero disposed of the carcass and all was right (and not smelly) again.

'Will they ever?'

2008-08-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

You can all quit wondering now. After twelve plus years of marriage, lots of people had stopped asking. Most assumed that two only children just wouldn't ever think they were 'ready'. Well....stop the presses! Baby Cronbach is due to arrive on or around February 10, 2009.

I'm finshing my 13th week this weekend and still waiting for that second trimester burst of energy to arrive. Overall, I've been pretty lucky with the symptoms. Minimal morning sickness, really tired and 'the girls' are definitely getting ready to do their job. We're both excited - all the grandparents know and we both told coworkers (and bosses) last week. Let the fun begin!!!

The house project is still moving forward - I just haven't been up there with my camera to get new photos.

Back to work, Cronbach style

2008-08-02T08:43:00.001-07:00

July was a busy month for the Cronbachs. My promotion to Staff Attorney took effect on July 1st, so I came back from our annual abalone trip to Albion and started a new position with Foster's. My boss and dept. head created the position for me, so it's a work in progress and I'm having a blast. A little overwhelming this month because the person who was supposed to be the backup for most of my previous role's responsiblities was also promoted, but things should settle down in a month or so.

Eli was cleared to return to full duty on July 1st and jumped right back in with both feet. It was nice to have us both working a traditional schedule, but now that he's back with his second family it feels like our house has returned to normal. He was sent to the fires in Paradise, CA (part of the lightening strike fires) for about a week in early July - a preview of the rest of fire season for the Cronbach family, I'm sure.

OUCH. HOW'D HE DO THAT?

2008-04-12T13:39:00.001-07:00

Two weeks after we made the decision to wait on starting the house itself, Eli calls me at work. "Hey hon, I've got to go over to the Queen (Napa's hospital) and I'm pretty sure that they're not going to let me drive home. Can you come pick me up? I'll call you when I have more details. " For those of you who've heard some of my Eli classics in the past, this was kind of like the "Honey, have you seen the news? [ I say 'No'.] Good. I'll explain it when I get home." calls.

Turns out, the ER docs let him drive his manual transmission truck home with a painful diagnosis - torn bicep. During a structure fire, Eli separated (tore) his bicep muscle from the right shoulder, leaving it to puddle down above his elbow. I'll leave it up to him to give you the details. Being Eli, he finished fighting the fire and the phone call described above was made from the fire scene just before a coworker took him to the hospital. After some fits and starts with the work comp system, Eli got an MRI in record time (two days) and surgery in just over a week. He's now seven weeks post op, five weeks into PT, and I think three weeks into modified duty (four ten hour days a week in Fire Prevention). The shoulder is healing well and Eli's being the best patient he can be.....stop laughing, he really is following doctor's orders. Right now he expects to return to full duty sometime in June.

The fun part is that he's home every night for dinner and we've even started carpooling to work a few days a week. This is the first time in the almost thirteen years we've been together that he's home every night - that's my favorite part. I think his favorite part is that he can wake up with his coffee while I drive us to work.

Construction Update

2008-04-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Since this is supposed to be a construction blog after all, I thought I'd update you on what the Winter brought to Cronbach Construction. Most of you have heard by now (because I'm such a slacker about updating this blog), but what you consider 'actual' construction will not begin until Spring 2009. The short version is that the bank we have chosen for our construction loan changed some of their rules since we started this project and they now want us to have 5% of the loan amount in 'reserve'....cash. I use the term reserve loosely, because if we had that much extra cash around, we would spend it on construction and keep it off of the final mortgage.

After an idiotic financing suggestion by someone at the bank, we decided in January to wait the year out and save the money. The idiotic suggestion goes like this:
Bank: "Well, you own your property outright, so you could take an equity line of credit against it and put that money in the bank."
Eli: "You mean you think I should take an equity loan from you, begin paying interest to you on it, all so I can qualify for a much larger loan from you?"
Bank: "That's right."

And we wonder why the mortgage industry has problems. Even my math skills aren't that bad.

Bottom line is that Eli will still be working on the property this Summer on his days off - the two main projects moved to the top of the list are 1) building rock walls and 2) putting in the septic system. Since our construction permits are good for three years, we can take this summer 'off' and not back ourselves into a corner on that issue. I plan to get up to the property this weekend and take some updated pictures, and I promise not take another two months to post them.

Somewhere......

2008-02-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

...over the rainbow. I know this is not at all construction related, but it was so pretty I couldn't stop myself. This photo was taken with the wine dipped camera on Super Bowl Sunday in Sonoma. For those of you who can't join us this weekend at my Bar passing party, we'll make sure to drink your share!!!

Dinner at the Swiss Hotel

2008-02-02T12:16:00.001-08:00

And a great time was had by all - now let's get ready for the BIG party!

As for the camera in the wine glass....no, we weren't that drunk. Eli got me a 'beach/sand/dog' resistant camera for Christmas and it's waterproof. To maintain the integrity of the seal, you're supposed to clean it - by SUBMERGING it in water and turning it on and off a few times. ????? As I was describing this to some people at the table, Eli decided to demonstrate with wine instead of water....I don't think the people seated around us will ever recover. :-)

More Swearing in photos

2008-02-02T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more from the ceremony....thanks again to all who came. It was a great cross section of family, friends, and mentors and I'm still amazed that this part of the journey is finished.

Alicia H. Cronbach, Attorney at Law

2007-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

December 28, 2007 marked the end of five years of hard work - I became an attorney. Taking the oath in the Board Room at work, surrounded by a small group family and friends, was an amazing experience and one that I will remember for years to come. My coworker Danielle did the honors as a Notary Public and we both managed to get through the oath without tears. Can't say the same for the toast I gave afterwards.... For those of you who couldn't make it, here's the important part on video. More photos are coming, but I wanted to share this short clip (the sound works but it's really low) taken by my friend Dara. Thank you to all to encouraged me on this adventure!

Thanksgiving, part two.

2007-12-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

Along with our friend Dara, Eli and I enjoyed the bird(s). Typically, the entire birds are used, but we went with just the breast meat because it was a small crowd. Would definitely recommend it and we plan on trying it again. After recovering from the food coma, we all played with Dara's new Nitendo Wii.....most you of you know that I'm not a video game person, but this thing was FUN! However, after two days of playing Wii, all three of us were saying "Ow...wii" - maybe we're just getting old, but our muscles hurt. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

2007-12-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's December, but I wanted to share Eli's Thanksgiving cooking. Ever hear of a Turducken? We had one this year, Cronbach style. Turkey, stuffing, duck breast, stuffing, chicken breast, stitch together, and roast.