Whistle While You Work

Wouldn't you want to buy a kayak from this little guy? :)

Last week Joseph and I stayed in St. Louis to visit with the grandparents and to help out at their store. Their office manager, Karen, started on her maternity leave, so they were going to be a little short handed. So we converted an unused office into baby central, complete with his pack and play for naps and changing table on the desk.

Each day, after his morning nap, Joseph would eat lunch on grandpa's desk. It had the most uncluttered space, and best viewing areas. He finished up trying squash and started on bananas while we were there. He loved them both!

He's also a big fan of his new chair, as am I. I had been using the bumbo to feed him, but in the last couple of weeks he'd gotten really squirmy. We definitely needed restraints! He is usually happy just to sit in the chair and play with his toys, particularly the rattle in the picture.

We sold 10 kayaks last week, one of our best weeks ever. Coincidence? I think not!

Best Birthday Yet!

I know I have a lot of updating to do, so I'll go back to a week ago Sunday, my 29th birthday. The three of us had gone to St. Louis for the weekend. On Sunday we woke up and opened presents, and planned out the day while Joseph was down for his morning nap. My parents were on their way back home from a trip to Chicago, Jennifer was in New Orleans with her boyfriend, and the weather was nice, so we decided to head to Grant's Farm for a while. Grant's Farm is this really neat park that is on Ulysses S. Grant's original farm, and has been turned into an open air zoo of sorts. The best part? It's free to attend! I have lots of memories of going to Grant's Farm as a kid, so I thought it would be fun to take Joseph, even though it's not exactly targeted for 5 month olds :)

This was Joseph's first time in the stroller without his car seat, and he did great! He seemed to take everything in, and enjoyed being able to look out at the animals.

The trip into the park starts with a tram ride through the zoo, where we saw buffalo, zebra, wild horses, deer, goats, huge fish and more, I'm sure. It's rather hit or miss if you'll see anything, because they are free to roam around the park grounds, so it was fun to be there on a day when the animals were out and about.

We took in a show about animals with fun talents. Joseph actually paid attention for the entire 20 minutes!

Then it was time to check out the animals in their pens. The goats are a big hit with all little kids - they allow you to go into their pen and feed them from bottles. We figured we'd stay outside this trip, since Joseph is so little, but he was definitely aware of the goats. They are well trained to stick their heads through the fence slats to get whatever they possibly can.

We didn't buy any bottles for the goats. Their response? It's ok, we'll just eat your stroller!

Because Grant's Farm is run by Anheuser Busch, they offer free samples of a few different beers on tap, and also house some of the clydesdales at the park. We took advantage of a free beer each, checked out the horse stables, and then headed back for the tram to the parking lot, as it was getting to be nap time.

Joe had fun playing with and tickling Joseph on the tram ride back.

We swung by my favorite ice cream place in St. Louis, Ted Drewes, on the way home to meet my parents. We all had a quick dinner at a new authentic Mexican restaurant before Joe had to head back to KC. Joseph and I stayed in St. Louis for the week, and my mom took me to the Sugarland concert that evening for my birthday, so Grandpa got to babysit Joseph.

It was definitely one of my favorite birthdays, hanging out with my boys and family!

Explaining cars to 7

As the 2 little girls fought over who got to sit in 7's car seat, I began to explain to 7 about why he is going to want a car of his own when he gets older.

Sweet Potatoes

Turns out, Joseph is a boy who loves food... if his ability to put tons of food away and still stay long and skinny is any indication of what his future holds, he's definitely going to be taking after his daddy as he gets older. This weekend we decided to start him on sweet potatoes - his first real food! To be fair, he wasn't in the best mood when we introduced it to him, so he started off happy, but after a few bites got a little fussy. We continued it for the last few days, and he's definitely enjoying them more.

Next up? Carrots! I decided to make baby food where possible, and bought a 5lb bag at Sam's Club this past week. That made about 60 servings of carrots, with a total cost of about $3 - not too shabby, considering how much more expensive jarred baby food is! The puree actually tastes really good, so I'm hoping he'll enjoy them. After a few veggies, we'll move to fruits... gotta get him liking the fruits and veggies before a Grandma or Grandpa decides it's time for ice cream! :)

As promised

This was our (ok, Joseph's) lunch of oatmeal today. He was particularly messy, as when I'm feeding him, he loves to suck on his thumb in between bites.

Yes, he even got food into his eyelashes.

"what mom? keep feeding me!"

Mealtime is definitely fun! Next up? Sweet potatoes this weekend!

Cereal...yum!

Sorry these few pictures are small and grainy - they were taken with my cell phone camera.  Joseph has made great strides into the world of cereal these last few weeks. He figured out the spoon in no time at all, and really enjoys his oatmeal for lunch. So much so, that a few days ago, he decided to try go for the cereal I was having for breakfast...

I have some really cute pictures of him eating, but they're on a different computer. I'll get them here soon, I promise!

He's also really starting to immitate us - he's taken to sticking his tongue out, sometimes will shake his head, and has started trying to blow raspberries. He also (finally!) rolled from his back to his belly again today, for only the second time ever.

While he's still sleeping well at night, he's definitely starting to stay awake more during the day. It's getting a little tricky trying to keep the house clean, laundry done, meals prepared, dogs walked, data entry for Joe and train for the half marathon in October, all while playing with Joseph when he's awake. It's keeping me busy, that's for sure! :)

Meeting Grandpa Joe

Right after our trip to Phoenix, Joe's dad and his wife came out to KC to meet the newest Joseph Jeppson! It was a quick weekend visit, but we really enjoyed having them over. Joe made sure to show off our house and take them on a whirlwind tour of the city in the few hours we had to spend with them. We took them to lunch at our favorite BBQ place, Oklahoma Joe's. The downtown art fair was going on, so we wandered around that for a bit (it was really small this year, which wasn't a big deal as the weather was really hot!). Then Joe took the group to his office to cool off and show it off. By this time, Joseph was getting fussy, so we hopped in the car for the ride home, and ended up taking a very long scenic route so he could continue his nap. While the baby was awake, he had lots of fun playing with his grandparents.

(Trying to chew on Grandpa's nose)

Hanging with Grandma Dianne. They played together whenever he was awake.

5, 6 and 7 all together.

7 was sick of pictures and decided it was time for a nap. Fussiness ensued. 5 and 6 decided to copy :)

Joe mentioned to his dad about the goofy wiring issue in our pantry - when we finished the pantry, Joe added a light inside, and wired it to the preexisting panel of switches in the hallway. For whatever reason, the hall light switch had to be on for the pantry light to work. Joe's dad asked to take a look at it "It'll just take a few minutes..." We all know how those stories end up!

Apparently Joe found the fix in just a few minutes, but he had this neat system at his house where he installed a motion detector switch in the pantry hallway - when you walk in, it trips the switch and the light turns on. 60 seconds later, the light automatically turns off if you're not still there. 6 has always thought that was really neat, and 5 insisted it wouldn't take long to wire the switch to do the same. So off they went to the hardware store.

That switch didn't take too long to install, but 6 hates that I leave the light on in the laundry room, so they decided to install another one down there (the light is just on a pull cord, and hard to pull with a full load of laundry... and the basement is rather dark so it's hard to see when the light is off... in my defense). While they were installing that switch, it became apparent that something was amiss with the light upstairs, as it flickered when the motion sensor came on.

At this point, the 5 minute project was now running at 4 hours, and it was definitely dinner time. We headed to Houlihan's for a light dinner, still a little full from the huge BBQ lunch. We said goodnight, and the project was put on hold until Sunday.

After a few trips to the hardware store Sunday morning, 5 & 6 realized that there was nothing wrong with the wiring or the switch (as previously suspected), and instead the problem was simply the lightbulb. But switching lightbulbs wasn't as easy a fix as it might seem, as an old style bulb didn't fit in the fixture. A little rewiring later (and stealing the guts from an old fixture to make the old bulb fit in the current fixture), and the project was finally complete!

Although 5 spent most of his time at our house working on these minor electrical issues, we hope he didn't mind too much. 6 really enjoyed getting to work with his dad on the projects. 7 and I hung out with Dianne while we waited for said projects to be completed, and I know 7 had fun getting lots of attention.

Our next planned visit is for Thanksgiving in Detroit, which I'm sure will be here before we know it. We're hoping we can get Joe 4 to come, and take a good picture of all of the currently living Joe Jeppsons!