This was just a test.....we don't really post anything here anymore. However, facebook is soaking some pretty nice pics of the Seeley contingent!

BABY BOY!!!

This weekend we were blessed with an addition to the family. Dawn gave birth to a Baby boy (named Benjamin Eli Seeley III, 8 pounds, 21 inches) at 1653 on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, on the way to this great event...things did not go as planned. Dawn had previously elected to deliver naturally (versus C-Section with Juliann), and it was only after laboring for 12 hours that she was forced to deliver by C-Section again. While Dawn was laboring, the baby started not to do well and this forced the decision to go to C-Section. Things got even worse when after our baby boy was born, he wasn't breathing adequately and he had inhaled some of the amniotic fluid in the womb. Because his respiratory effort was not good, he was admitted to the NICU. At first things looked terrible, poor Xray, poor vital signs, his cry was not vigorous, and then it got even worse. When I left the NICU for a minute to go back and check on Dawn, she was still in the OR and she was bleeding and intra-abdominal complications. So for the better part of 2 hours, Dawn was in the OR and I did not know how she was doing and Trip (our baby's nickname) was still doing shitty. Fortunately, Dawn left the OR and her outcome, although not optimum, was OK. And, during the evening, Trip began doing better, requiring less oxygen, improved vital signs, better cry. As of this morning, Trip is still in the NICU, but they are discussing moving him to another, less critical area. Dawn is doing well and has been able to visit the NICU and feed/attempt to feed Trip. They will be probably both be admitted to the hospital for 3-10 days. As updates come available, I'll let you know.

The BIG Island

Hello all, hope everything is well with you and yours. Recently the Hawaiian Seeley contingent and Mom / Hatter took a 23 minute flight to the Big Island. Great place, awesome scenery / landscape. Four observations 1) Avoid thd Saddle road at night, when it's raining, and your're hungry, 2) Most of the places to eat in Waimea are bad 3) Everything closes down at 9pm at the latest 4) The Kona Brew Co. in Kailua-Kona is top notch.

Beyond our recent get-away, I've been traveling way too much, but will appreciate the travel next months when I travel to my Sister's Wedding in Cali. After that, no travel for at least 90 days!.

Take care,

Eli, Dawn, JJ, and unnamed additional family unit expected on 8 MAY.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

Happy New Year! (No Dawn has not been drinking....she's pregnant!)

Hope all is well with you and your's and hope that the new year is treating you well. Take care!

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

Happy New Year!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Hello all, hope you're doing well. We're good, warmer than we should be, but good. Our interal thermostats keep telling us that we should be cold, but it's 80, and we're not. We're not rubbing it in, just giving you some insight into our thermoregulatory oxymoronic existence.

Our next child is doing well. Dawn has experienced a battery of "hey how you doing in there" tests. The little fella/gal responds generally with a raised middle phalanx, signifying all's well. We've subjected the newbie to enough ultrasonic photography that we nearly know what the little lady/dude looks like. However, we must wait until nature determines that yes indeed it's time for me to come of the womb and rest firmly on my mommy's chest.

Big D, JJ and I went to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, and wow, was it a waste of money (go ahead Matt laugh). We wasted some good coin to sit in the nose bleed section and watch Hawaii play like a 'pop warner' team. ND was mildly impressive. Not nearly as impressive as their 200 fans. Yeah, I know, I sat there the whole game thinking that if it was Iowa on that side of the field there'd be 25,000 screaming Iowegians. None the less, all respect goes to ND, the fine program that it is (minus any good fan base, good players, good coaching, nor record). Yes, MR, I'm speaking to you, you traitor. (BTW, UNI lost to the Spiders, WTHeck?)

Xmas was good. Sandy Claws found us, and 'holy crap' did it/he/she really spoil our daughter. (p.s., I have to be careful as my 3 year old daughter now has a computer of her own and may be simulataneously blogging / surfing and understand what I saying about her). We did, of course, have to go the beach on Christmas day. It was nice, a little rough, but considering that it wasn't -10 and snowing, we're all good.

We were given one little special island surprise, an electricity blackout. We spent the better part of a half of a day without juice. No friggin bowl games. So, being in Hawaii, we did as the Kama'aina (locals); we went to the beach. JJ had a ball, Dawn enjoyed the sun, and my mental health was preserved by not being able to watch a BigTen team get slaughtered (Wisconsin).

Speaking of 'sconsin' and stuff that takes up space, Ms. Ellen Schimmels (Psychiatric smart girl, and party girl) is coming to see us. We're exited, and yes (Ellen if you're reading this; we're good) spent a $100 on booze. We'll have a great time and implant as many grains of sand into Ellen's property as possible through regularly scheduled trips to the near water space commonly referred to the "BEACH". Hope the weather's good where u'r @. Take care,

D, E, and JJ.

Holiday Season 2008

Hello all,

Hope you're doing well. We're doing peachy. We (I) drug several hundred rubbermaid containers out of the attic today, or at least it felt like a hundred. They were packed with as much holiday cheer as you can stand in one sitting, including dust, old shit we don't need, more old stuff, broken stuff, and a few really nice holiday items. Big D and JJ decorated our fresh tree like pros, and yes, the tree I picked up from Home Depot in Kapolei Hawaii was probably better than any tree than I can remember from recent past. This of course flew in the face of my hypothesis, which was that the real trees here would be terrible, or that they'd try and sell us a palm tree with a scott pine tag on it...no such luck. Anywho, we've been busy lately.....mostly with work, but some other various enjoyable activity.

Prior to picking up the fourth member of our team, we decided we should do some traveling, so we packed up and took a 30 min flight (which is less than our usual commute to work) to Kauai. Great place, laid back and beautiful. The very first conclusion that we came to is that in order to really see Hawaii, people need to get off of Oahu and go to the neighboring islands. They are a world apart from the hectic nature and overdone-ness of Oahu. Don't get me wrong, where we live is agreat place, and I wouldn't trade if for anything, but the other islands are the real Hawaii. Big D and I spent Turkey day at home, I cooked a 5 lb. bird, that was tasty. The ladies enjoyed it and we're still making turkey sandwhiches. After turkey day, we relaxed a bit and took a day and went to the North Shore to eat mediocre Mexican food and see big waves. The mexican food lived up to it's mediocrity, but Waimea was a flurry of activity. As we arrived, there was some "Lost" star and his posse hanging around (I'll have to apologize, I didn't recognize him), a guy being drug out of the surf after nearly drowning, and the rest of lifeguard crew being dispatched to help a wayward set of three lads that we're drifting out to sea. The surf was "wow bob wow". I've attached a few pics.

We're looking forward to the holidays and spending Xmas on the beach in 80 degree weather (by the way I'm sunburned after spending afternoon on the beach). Let us know how you're doing, we'd love to hear from you. Expect to recieve our Xmas cards in Feb, right on time for us.

Take care,

How's it?

Hey all, hope you’re well. Dawn, Juliann, and I are doing well. We’ve begun to become familiar with Hawaii (pronounced Haw Vah ee). The food’s fantastic, the people are very friendly, and the scenery (beaches) are outstanding. The traffic sucks, but we can deal with that. We’ll become accustomed to that. We’ve bought a house and it’s beautiful, with a tremendous view. From our back yard we can see Pearl Harbor, Waikiki and Diamond Head. No sooner than getting the keys to the house, Dawn and I were off to the home improvement store.

We transformed (much to my chagrin) the back half of my man space to JJ’s play room. Juliann now has her own play room, and it’s pink, really pink, with a rainbow. She loves it and uses it every day.
Grandma Julie left on the 28th of July, only a few days after Juliann’s 3rd Birthday. For JJ’s b-day we headed to the “Sea Life Park” and we swam with dolphins.
Our jobs are great, both busy and rewarding. Juliann’s school is outstanding and Dawn and I have been named to the development committee helping to steer the activities of the school.

We’ve been able to find fun things to do. Mom and Dad have decided to run the Honolulu marathon and have spent a few weekends over the past few months running 5K road races. Dawn finished 3rd in the Mango Days 5K in July. Eli finished.

We’ve entertained our first mainland visitors. Jeremy and Lori Johnson came to Oahu for a few days. We spent our time by seeing some of the island and relaxing. It was great to see them and we expect to see several other visitors. We hope that everyone is doing well, take care and get a hold of us.

Eli, Dawn, Juliann, and Juliann's baby brother / sister.