First Out of Town Trip

Sorry for the delay in posts... it's been a busy few days for us! Joseph is still an incredible baby - hardly ever cries or fusses, and lately we've been making strides toward sleeping longer stretches at night. I'll detail what's been going on since my last post to catch up...

Last Thursday Joe and I decided to try and run a few errands with the baby. Joseph had other ideas.  I fed him, burped and changed him, and handed him off to Joe to put in his car seat. Joseph enjoys the pacifier, but is pretty good about spitting it out when he doesn't need/want it, or refusing it. This night, he was not happy to be put in his car seat, so Joe tried to comfort with the pacifier. As you'll see in the picture below, 7 convinced 6 he didn't want it, so we had a little role reversal...

After struggling to get him comforted, we called Ashley and Mikael, who were thrilled at the idea of watching Joseph so we could get out of the house. It's so nice having them so close! They managed to get him calmed down, and he soon fell asleep. They babysat for about 3 hours - Joe and I got our first dinner alone since 7's birth! Of course, it was a quick, 30 minute meal at Ponak's, and I was thrilled at getting to have a margarita again. Ahhh... :)

When we got back home, Ashley and Mikael hung around to watch us give the baby a bath, and then Aunt Ashley got to give Joseph her first bottle.

Friday I was going to head to St. Louis with Joseph for his first trip to the grandparents'. I had a bridal shower and bachlorette party for a sorority sister, and my parents were happy to babysit. Getting everything ready took a while, as I had to pack and clean in between feedings and naps, but I managed to get the car almost entirely packed Friday morning. My good childhood friend Christa was coming to KC for the weekend and was able to stop by, so she got to meet Joseph and visit for a little bit before we had to head to St. Louis.


While we were waiting for Christa's arrival, I managed to capture some cute almost smiles on the camera for the first time! Joseph's been smiling a lot more, but I still don't think it's in response to anything yet. He also giggles while falling asleep - it's about the cutest thing I've heard him do yet!

The trip to St. Louis was actually not as bad as I was expecting. It was just the two of us, and we managed to leave right at 5pm, so we had to sit through about 40 minutes of rush hour traffic before getting across the city. He hung out in the carseat quite well, and managed to go about 3 1/2 hours before wanting to bed fed. So we had a quick gas stop, mommy bathroom break, baby feeding in the car and baby changing in McDonalds session before getting back on the road. The entire trip took about 4 1/2 hours, which is about an hour longer than normal - not too shabby!

My mom was thrilled to see the baby and have the chance to babysit. Saturday & Sunday Joseph got to meet his Great Grandparents (my mom's parents), along with some family friends. My mom also helped take over the bath routine, which Joseph didn't seem to mind at all....

Monday Joe took a super early flight in to St. Louis, after getting bumped from his flight Sunday afternoon. Although getting up at 5am to fly isn't fun, we did get the flight paid for, along with $200 in travel vouchers, which will certainly come in handy for our trips to LA and Phoenix in a few months! We met with our wedding photographer to do Joseph's newborn photo session. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Tim is an incredible photographer, and Joseph managed to stay awake and mostly alert and calm for the shoot. We only had a few fussy times, and had to stop to eat once in the 2 hour session. Unfortunately, it will probably take 2 weeks to get the proofs... we'll be counting the days and will post the link to the slideshow here once we get it. We hit the road at 3pm, and managed to get home right around 7pm. Ashley and Mikael came over for a quick visit, and then it was bedtime for the Jeppsons - we were all quite tired. Joseph's been getting a 4-5 hour stretch between feedings at night, which continued last night, and he's been sleeping most of the day so far... I think he's exhausted from his first out of town trip and meeting everyone. It was a fun trip!