We've been busy visiting with family and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, so an update is coming once the little guy goes down for a nap. In the meantime, we got the pictures back from our photo session 2 weeks ago... here they are!


www.stlphotography.com/portraitshows/joe

Happy Anniversary

Somehow four years have gone by, as today is Joe and my wedding anniversary. Oh, how time flies!

Last night was the first night in almost two weeks that we had a slight variation from Joseph's new sleeping/feeding schedule, which required an additional very early morning feeding.... not too bad though, all things considered. He's really becoming a happy morning baby, comfortable with spending some time by himself in the crib just checking things out. He seems to "talk" more, giggle and smile and waits for one of us to come get him for his feeding.

This morning was no exception, as we hung out and cuddled before and after his feeding. Mid morning Jennifer came over (she's in town for a couple of days during her Spring Break) and watched Joseph for me so I could go out on my first run since October! I wasn't planning on taking the dogs, but they saw me lace up my running shoes and eagerly ran to the front door, so I gave in. We did our normal 3 mile loop, of which I ran about half. Although I was slow, it felt amazing to be running again! The dogs seemed to enjoy it a lot too.

I also had another milestone day - I was able to zip up and button my pre-pregnancy "fat" jeans! Granted, I could hardly move and would never consider leaving the house with the enormous muffin top I had hanging out over the waistband. However, a few weeks ago, I was multiple inches away from being able to button the jeans, so I know I'm making progress! Just in time, too, because my skinniest pair of maternity jeans are getting scary loose - another week or two, and they may just fall down if I bend over or jump.

Tonight, Ashley and Jen babysat Joseph so Joe and I could go out to dinner and a movie for our anniversary. We wanted to see Shutter Island, but the timing didn't end up working out, so we enjoyed our dinner, ended up getting ice cream at Murray's (only single scoops on basic cones... we're cutting back, since it's the year of the abs :) ) and picked up a redbox movie to watch. I'll still probably fall asleep while watching the movie, as frequently happens, but the few hours off for a date night was really nice.

Tomorrow I have some deep cleaning planned, and then we're off to the Lake of the Ozarks for the weekend, as soon as Joe gets home - should be a fun weekend!

One Month Stats

We had Joseph's one month checkup yesterday. Everything looks good, the doctor agreed he's growing well and he's still the cutest baby around!:) He now weighs 10 lbs, 11oz, so up almost 2 lbs from his birth weight, which puts him in the 75% percentile. He grew 2 1/4 inches, so he's now 22 1/4 inches long, which also is 75% percentile. His head circumference is 15 inches, and 50% percentile.

He's smiling at us daily and giggling frequently. They aren't always in response to anything, but still adorable. And last night he went 6 hours between feedings - a first! If things just get easier and more fun from here, I'm excited - the newborn phase hasn't been nearly as bad as it could have been, especially because he's usually so calm and easy. We're having lots of fun!

Giggling Little Boy

It's amazing how alert Joseph is becoming. He makes definite eye contact much more, and when he hears my voice or Joe's, he tries to look around to see where it's coming from. He also gets a kick out of the "how big is baby" game, and giggles pretty frequently when Joe plays with him. Friday night I managed to catch a few big grins and laughs on the camera, and a few cute video clips (which I'll post once I figure out how to do that!)

So without further adieu, here's our giggling little man, on his 1 month old birthday! We go to the doctor for his 4 week checkup on Monday (tomorrow) so we'll find out just how much he's grown.

Tummy Time

New this week, tummy time success! I've tried tummy time previously with Joseph and he screamed bloody murder within 15 seconds of me putting him on his belly. Jennifer gave us this adorable playmat, so I figured I'd pull it out and see if it got us anywhere. The first time I put him down, he was nice and calm!

He seemed to be enjoying laying there, so I actually took the time to assemble the crossbars while he hung out on the mat! I still need to add batteries, but didn't want to leave him alone or push my luck by pulling him off and putting him back down.

We've done a few minutes on the mat every morning since pulling it out on Wednesday, and he hasn't fussed once! I don't know whether he's just getting used to it, or if the playmat is magical, but it's great regardless! It's fun watching him be calm and allowing me to show him himself in the mirror, play with the rattle and crinkle the noise-making leaves while he takes it all in. Great toy, Jen!

First St. Patrick's Day

Joseph's first St. Patrick's Day was quite fun filled, although he managed to sleep through most of it. Joe worked Wednesday morning, and came home around 2pm. I got Joseph all ready to go out in all of his green - green diaper cover, green onesie, green and white striped sleeper, and to top it all off, the green monster/dinosaur/lizard/whatever the heck the fleece costume we found after Halloween last year is (it was about $2 on sale, and we figured it would be cute on him someday... we were so right! :))

We started off going to get a late lunch, and after a pit stop at home for feeding and diaper changing, headed to Westport to get some ice cream at Murray's. They chose St. Pat's as their opening day for the season, and we didn't want to miss it! We put Joseph in the Baby Bjorn, as we figured it would be easier to keep him close to us and save us the hassle of navigating any crowds with the stroller. He slept through the whole experience.

After Murray's we wanted to go run some errands, and headed up north so we could hit a strip with Target (a few returns), Kohls (a few things to exchange) and Babies R'Us (a few more things to exchange). Joe wore Joseph the whole time, and he stayed asleep for the vast majority of the errand-running. By about 6pm it was getting to be feeding time again, and Joseph was definitely starting to get fussy, so we strapped him into his car seat and headed for home.

The hood was a little large, and kept slipping down over his forehead on the way home. It didn't seem to bother Joseph at all!

We're not really sure if Joseph enjoyed his monster suit, but we sure did! It was great having Joe available to hang out, and take advantage of the nice weather with us. What a fun day!

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!