(Great) Grandpa Tom Joliat (1924 - 2009)

It's a sad time for us...Elena's great grandpa passed away this week.

Grandpa Tom, simply put, was one of the best.  He was a true family man; always supportive and nurturing to everyone he loved. As the oldest of 15 grandchildren, I am blessed to of had my grandpa for so many years - to watch me grow, graduate, become a husband and now a father.  Although his time with Elena was brief, it's special knowing she was held by her great grand dad.

He was a true inspiration that will be forever missed.

Elena certainly has another special guardian angel watching over her.

I just wanted to let you know that the transition to work has been going well. I started a new position and I am really happy my new group. Elena has been doing really well at daycare as well. She is one of 2 girls, so the ladies were so SO excited to have her there. She is doing the bottle great, which is a relief for us, and the ladies say that she is rarely fussy. She is a really easy baby. Jason's group is moving offices to Birmingham which is 2 mins fromt he daycare!! He starts at the new office on Monday, and can go visit Leni everyday at lunch if he wants! Today he stopped in between meetings to check up on her and took the following picture with his camera phone.... She was having a blast dancing and kicking her feet to the music of that toy she is playing with!
-MD

HAPPY PRE-ST. PATS!

Yesterday we headed downtown for the 51st St. Patrick’s Day Parade in historic Cork Town, Detroit with our next-door neighbors Joe, Janette and their 3-month old Addison. It was a beautiful sunny and 60 degree day, just perfect for drinking and watching people slowly walk down a road. This was Elena’s first ever experience with the infamous streets of downtown Detroit, we told her it doesn’t usually look this way… and just left it at that. We set up camp out in front of the Gaelic League - the drunken heart of the parade. I quickly realized I totally pulled a rookie dad move and forgot to bring any beer/refreshments. With a stroller I now have a mobile cooler at my fingertips and I totally blew it. We were so freaked out about forgetting Elena’s hat, mittens, food, diapers and every other baby supply that our St. pats priorities obviously got all screwed up. Luckily beer was abundant and we were able to quickly remedy the situation. Mid-way through the parade we made our way inside the G-league for some corned beef and live Irish music. Now this was truly a mistake/stressful experience… I was on constant guard protecting my little Elena from any and all stumbling drunk O’ Irishman who came within 4 ft of her, and there were plenty. When on the street if you bumped us, it was shame on you…once we made our way inside, it was shame on us. (To be clear, we were not in the bar – we were outside in a non-smoking tent) Overall - it went quite smoothly considering the event. I give us credit for being adventurous and fun young parents, but it doesn’t come without a stressful price-tag. Elena did love being outside. Not one tear was shed. Some day she’ll be saying how she first went to this parade when she was 3 months old and I’m sure they’ll probably respond with “what is wrong with your parents!”

CHILLAX!

I just thought this was a funny picture – SO CHILL OUT! Don’t start silently judging me on how I’m a bad dad and you can’t believe Elena is already playing video games. She’s 3 months old people! I mean get real. Now maybe at 6 months we’ll try again… but right now the controller is just to darn big.

1st Day of Daycare

Well, today is the first day of daycare. :o( I don't start work until Wednesday, but I wanted to put her in today and tomorrow, so she can get used to it while I am still at home. This way if anything happens I can go there to help or if I need to cry, then I will be in the comfort of my own home and not at my desk at work!!!! We dropped her off around 8 this morning and she was sleeping. The next feeding (with the bottle) started off a bit rocky and she was crying a lot, the ladies said. I was so sad when I called to see if she took the bottle and I heard her crying in the background. They suggested I call in 30 mins to see how it was going (longest 30 mins of my life!), and when I did she was fine and had just taken the bottle. I WAS SO RELIEVED! She is being calm now apparently. I plan to call around noon again and maybe go for a visit to check on her.

Today, I will be running a lot of errands. I have to go to Target & BabysRUs. I would like to go for a jog outside if possible. It is chilly, but if I bundle up I should be fine. Maybe I will jog to the daycare?! It is about 1 mile away... which is not so bad.

I will give another update soon! Love, Mary

Polo Shoot

The little lady in Green...

Sonja and Sarah visit

Sonja and my friend Sarah from John Carroll came for a visit this weekend. We all had a really great time. We hung out at home and ate great Middle Eastern Food from Mr. Kabob, and then went to the mall. There was a lot of great sale items at the Limited. So I bought some new cute work clothes for myself!! After all I have to make sure I look good when I go back to work ;o) Especially because the last few months of my pregnancy I literally felt like I was wearing the same clothes everyday... maybe because I was! Only 2 pairs of pants would fit me and a few shirts, since I was so HUGE! I didn't want to buy new maternity clothes since I didn't have much time left! My good friend Erin let me borrow all her maternity clothes which was nice. I didn't have to buy too much. I wore those clothes to death! No offense Erin... I am excited to give them back to you today. Near the end of my pregnancy I wanted to burn 'em!

I will post a pic or two from the weekend once Sonja emails them to me. You better send them soon, Son!!! People like to see pictures on this blog!!

I have the feeling that Sonja will take FOREVER to email me some pics, so I will put this pic of Leni as a placeholder, since it is super duper cute. It was taken last weekend.

Pizza and Beer

This last weekend Grandma and Grandpa Vizmeg came to visit again. It was a quick visit, but they babysat Elena while Jason and I met some friends out for pizza and a beer! It felt really good to go out - we felt like we having been out in forever! I even took the time to dress up a bit, which was fun. I would post some pics from the weekend, but for some reason they are not on the camera. I went to download them and nothing was there. I don't really understand what happened.

Mom - Please email me like 1 or 2 good pics from your visit so I can post them on this website. (This is actually a message for Rob, since my mom has no idea how to do this. HA HA)

Love, Mary

Pic - courtesy of Rob: