What a Cutie!

Two weeks from today we'll be on an airplane, flying to the British Virgin Islands for a week long sailing vacation. The whole family is going, and while we've done trips like this before, it's the first time that we've ever brought a baby! Luckily, our family has lots of experience sailing with little kids, as Jennifer was just a few weeks old during her first of many sailing weekends, so we're not too nervous about the situation. But to be safe, we went ahead and ordered a child's safety harness and tether that Joseph will wear on board the sailboat. It will essentially keep him tied to the boat at all times, and the line will be short enough that if he were to escape and explore, he wouldn't ever have enough line to fall in the water.

The harness showed up a few days ago, and I wanted to start practicing putting it on him and letting him get used to it. It's a little hard to see in these pictures, because it's safety orange and he had on his orange shirt, but you can tell by his expression that he actually loved wearing it! It was a little tricky getting it adjusted way down for him, but he had so much fun being picked up by the back and "flown" around the living room like an airplane.

 Of course, once I pulled out the camera and got down on his level, he just wanted to climb all over me and try to take the camera.

We'll keep practicing so there aren't any tears on the boat, but so far, so good!

In other news, as I alluded in the last post, I've been spending a lot of time the last couple of weeks working in the yard. Here's a before shot of the front of the house this time last year:

After some tree triming last August, seeding the front yard last fall, new front door, new planters and expanded flower beds, here's how it looks:

I decided that the huge old shrub on the side of the house needed to be integrated into the front bed, and brought the hosta from the back yard that managed to survive the new air conditioner being placed on top of it to the front. I liked how it was going, and added a few other new hostas under the shrub as well. A wider edged bed and rows of impatiens, and this side of the yard is done! The other side didn't get anything new, other than some annual flowers. I also finally got around to spray painting the gas meter a tan color that closely matches the stone, so it doesn't stand out nearly as much as it did when it was grey. It looks so much better!

We're planning on having the house painted this year, since we haven't done it in the almost 4 years we've been here.There are a variety of shades of yellow paint and unpainted shingles from all the remodeling work so it's time to freshen up the outside to match how great the inside is looking. We finally picked a paint color for the new door - it's called Gale Force, by Sherwin Williams. It's a really deep blue, and from the street it almost looks black. I need to add another coat of paint on it this weekend, then it'll be finished, hooray!

 I've also spent time trying to clean up the back yard. We had to remove a few trees that were in the way of the electrical line to the house for our service upgrade (if KCPL would ever come and finish their portion... over 2 months later!). Also, the slow, hard work on removing the old stone firepit needed a kick in the pants to be finished. Here's how the yard looked last summer...

And here's a close-up of that same portion of the back yard as it looks today! Notice the really big evergreen tree on the fence line is gone, as is the fire pit. I spent all day yesterday digging out the rest of the stones, some of which have been thrown out, but most are hiding around the back fence line. The whole bottom of the pit was filled with concrete, and it turns out that some of the stones were set in the concrete, which made them really, really hard to remove. One section was so big, that all I could do was roll it out of the way and into the grass... hence the rocks sitting to the side of the new garden. Hopefully Joe will move it out of the yard tonight.

I opted to fill the space with a butterfly garden, instead of just planting grass seed. The flower bed is now full of butterfly attracting perennial plants that should provide lots of color this summer. I'm also going to finish planting my herbs in that garden where they'll get plenty of sun. I have a few more day lilies to plant this weekend, and then I'm calling it quits for at least a while. I think. :)

15 month stats

I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but I'll have some pictures coming soon that will help to explain my absence. Since the weather has been spotty but cool, I've spent most of my free time working outside in the front and back yards. And they are really starting to look good!

Yesterday was Joseph's 15 month checkup. We have been working hard since his last checkup to put some weight on the kid, and it appears it worked!

Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz (20th percentile - up from 2nd percentile at 12 months!)
Height: 32 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

He managed to gain 3 lbs in 3 months, so the doctor was really happy. We're continuing to push as many calories as possible into the little guy, but for now the bump in percentile was a reason to celebrate. And no shots at this appointment made for a happy boy who just wanted to run around the waiting room and climb up on the couches, even though there were people sitting on them. Such a social butterfly!

On Saturday I took Joseph for his monthly haircut. I'm so happy to have found a lady at great clips who is wonderful with little kids and does a nice job with his hair cut too. At the end of the trim, she asked if he could have a sucker, which was a first for him. It took a few tries before he got the hang of it, but in the end it was a big success! I'm going to have to get a few for our upcoming trip, I think!

Quiet Book Pages and Kisses

So I mentioned oh, a few months ago, how I decided to make a quiet book for Joseph for our trip to California in early March. I promised I'd take pictures, and then, well, forgot. Until it was time to pull the "book" back out for our trip to Florida. You'll notice I still haven't finished putting the book together, as I need to add the holes for the page rings, but I'm planning on doing that before our next trip in June.

This is Joseph's favorite page so far - the gumballs are attched with velcro, and have a matching circle of color underneath. I actually had to add strings to keep the gumballs attached to the page after too many attempts at throwing the gumballs at neighboring airplane passengers.

 A peek-a-boo page that hold a picture of Joseph

Vegetable garden page. The veggies pull up out of their holes, and are interchangeable.

Penguin finger puppets. The gray parts are supposed to be the land and rocks, and there are two rows of pockets for the puppets to sit in.

Working mailbox. So far, Joseph only has one letter, but daddy is almost finished. I think. The flap on the mailbox closes, and the flag moves too.

This page still needs some work. The idea is that the train wheels and clouds button on and off. I made the wheels before I sewed the page together, and realized I had run out of space. So now I need to remake the wheels. Also the train cars are little pockets for holding extra wheels if necessary.

I also made a tree page, but haven't finished it yet. So there's the short little quiet book, just waiting for more additions and the cover!

Today we hosted a baby playgroup, and the kiddos who attended were actually right around Joseph's age. It's the first time in months that we've had anyone his age over to play, and he did incredibly well! He was in a super good mood all day, and even waved at his new friends as they walked in the door, and had no trouble sharing his toys. While he still doesn't really play "together", there were still many instances where he and another little boy would trade off playing with same toys, driving cars down ramps and sitting in the garden center together. It was so nice outside that I had the doors to the porch open, so they eventually made their way outside to play on the slide climber. I'm so thankful that Joseph was so happy and got along with everyone so well (not that I really had any reason to worry!)

Joseph's latest trick is by far his best (in my opinion). He has figured out how to give real, honest to goodness kisses! He's not always willing to share them, but if I ask nicely (and sign please!) he'll occasionally lean in, grab the back of my neck and plant a big one right on my lips. It is just the cutest thing ever and seriously makes me melt. Even when it turns into a game for him, and decides it's funny to stay "affixed" to my face for much, much longer than necessary. This little man is turning into such a sweetie!

Recap of our Florida trip

Since Blogger was not working right earlier this week, it's taken a bit to pull this post together. Watch out for all the pictures!

We tried to cram as much into the week as possible, in between Joseph's naps and waiting for contractors and workers to arrive at my parents' house. Joseph's sleep schedule was all over the place, as he's moving into that phase where he could just as easily take one or two naps a day, and always of unpredictable length. Of course, the fact that we spent most of his awake time outside helped to ensure that he slept well at night and naptime!

There's an amusement/go kart facility in Destin called The Track, that has been there since we started vacationing years ago. I remember (and we have the pictures to prove it!) going on these kiddie rides when my sister Jen was just a few years older than Joseph. It was more than strange returning this year and putting my own kid in the seats!

There were a handful of rides for really little kids, and only two of those that allowed an adult to ride. We opted to let Joseph ride the swings first, not sure of how he'd react. I wish I had a better camera to capture his expression - he LOVED it!

He was quite content to sit back, swing his legs and enjoy the ride. Too cute!

Then Granpa took him on the little carousel, which we knew he'd love. Sure enough, this kid has figured carousel rides out - he knew when to wave at Grammy and me without any prompting!

His final ride of the night was the train. I think he was getting a little sleepy, as he wasn't as into this one as much as we expected. A quick trip over to the mini-golf area to view the enormous fish in a pond (without any fish food stands, either...) and a stop at the frozen custard stand capped off the night. Joseph still doesn't really like ice cream in any of its form or fashion. I don't think my parents are willing to accept that, so we opted to get him a blueberry milkshake, which seemed to be a hit until it got really melty and just dripped everywhere.

The next morning we hung out in a sandy spot near the pool, as it was a little too windy to take Joseph down to the beach. He had a blast playing with Grammy.

Could he get any cuter?

 He figured out exactly what to do with those sand toys in no time at all. I think he could have spent all day playing in the sand, if we would have let him. And unless he was really tired and rubbing his eyes, he didn't seem to mind getting covered in it.

Later in the day, we took a trip to a local outdoor mall that has a kids play area. We discovered that they also have a small train that will give you a ride around the whole mall, which we assumed Joseph would enjoy. (He was a champ all week about wearing a hat, even this one that my parents' bought and was a little big. It kept slipping down so he'd have to tilt his head way back to see out!)

Apparently we assumed wrong. Once the conductor started the train up, Joseph started wailing! Not exactly the reaction we were waiting for. It took some serious coddling for him to man up and tolerate the train for the whole 6 minutes we were on it. Maybe next time he'll like it better?

Maybe he was just having a wimpy baby day, because the usually happy to be around water kid was replaced with one who just wasn't having fun. Check out this face...

Of course, if I were put in front of fountains that spray up taller than me, unpredictably, for the first in my life, I probably would have responded in the same way.

Somehow he managed to walk in and around the fountain area, even stepping on and leaning over the ones that weren't currently spraying water, without getting sprayed in the face ever!

The following day, the winds shifted out of the north. The ocean was incredibly calm, and the winds were really gentle. We spent lots of time down on the beach that day and for the rest of the trip, with Granpa teaching Joseph how to build sand castles. Or destroy sandcastles, as Joseph seemed to prefer.

My parents' home is the yellow one in the background, so it's very convenient to just walk outside, a few steps over the new "dune" before we were down  at the water's edge. At least the beach restoration project seems to be holding up well, as last year the water was under the front of their house!

Without big waves to be scared of, Joseph had fun walking up to the water and cleaning off his sandy hands. Being early May, the water was still warming up, so we never actually went for a swim. Maybe next time!

This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip. Joseph absolutely adores his Granpa, and wanted to be right next to him (or held by him!) whenever possible.

Lots of seaweed had drifted onto the beach, which Joseph decided would make for a great decoration on the sand castles. Granpa felt otherwise. :)

We also took Joseph and Granpa to the Fort Walton Beach Gulfarium - a first trip for both of them. It's definitely a small marine park, and the main dolphin pool was under construction, so we were able to see most of the birds, fish, dolphins, sea lions, etc. in just a few hours. It's funny how neither my mom or I could actually remember the inside of the Gulfarium, but when I was a kid I was convinced I wanted to work there someday! :)

Unfortunately, the week was over before we knew it, and it was time to head back home to reality. I wish Joe could have been there with us, but it's nice to know we were able to spend quality time with my parents at one of the most beautiful places in the U.S. And we'll chalk this beach trip up to practice for our sailing vacation next month, where I'm sure Joseph and Joe will get plenty of time to play together!

Fishes

Coincidence? This morning when I reached into Joseph's crib to pick him up, he pointed at the south wall of his bedroom, the one with the "one fish, two fish" mural, and made the sign for fish! He started signing fish and bird while in Florida last week, and loves to look at fish swimming. I know Joe is going to be so proud when he sees this new development in action! :)

* Don't worry, I'll update the blog soon with all sorts of cute pictures and updates about our trip last week!

First days at the beach

Joseph and I are currently visiting my parents at their house in Destin,FL. He's having a great time spending the days outside at the neighborhood pool across the street, on the beach and playing on the deck under the house. I'm trying out thee mobile blogging feature on this phone, so bear with me as I get this all figured out.

Last night, after spending most of Joseph's waking hours at the pool, we headed to a favorite restaurant on the beach. After we finished eating, my parents took Joseph out to the playground on the sand. It was his first time playing on the beach, and he had a good time, until he clapped his sandy hands, spraying sand into his face. Oops!

Today we went to church, then headed to a few stores to look for sandals that fit Joseph. I had found a pair at home that seemed to work, but after a few minutes they kept slipping off Joseph's feet. He was a champ, skipping his morning nap and making it through a fun lunch on the beach. Tonight we just hung out on the deck, where Joseph dined on a "gourmet" smorgasboard dinner while the adults polished off a few bottles of wine and a cheese and cracker tray. Hence the goofy pictures of Joseph playing in the owner's closet under the stairs with Grandma!

Hopefully we'll get to spend more time outside tomorrow as it's making Joseph sleep really well at naptime and bedtime!