Just landed in San Juan

Weekend fun

This weekend we ended up having a full schedule, but lots of fun! Saturday morning Joe ran the Hospital Hill half marathon. He's been training for a couple of months now, and did really well, meeting both of his goals - an under 2 hour half marathon, and beating Scotty B! Scotty is really fast and has been hard at work all year training for a variety of races, but mainly triathlons.

After returning home to relax and shower, Scotty and Tricia came over for a yummy lunch of Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. Joe took the rest of the afternoon off, while watching Joseph, so I could run some errands to look for things in preparation for our trip later this week. Then we had our neighbor Carmen's birthday party. Joseph wasn't really in a great mood when it was time to head over there, but some bubbles fixed everything, along with another party-goer, 10 month old Layla. He had fun playing with Layla for a bit, and also exploring Carmen's back yard, until it was bedtime. Joe took him home, gave him his bath, put him down, and returned to the party with the baby monitor. Apparently Joseph really wasn't ready to go to sleep, as he stayed awake for a solid additional hour, reading and playing quietly with his mobile!

We drank a few too many margaritas and luckily managed to stumble back across the street and home to sleep a few hours later. Scotty and Tricia had invited us to go on their family's boat on Sunday, and while it took some serious work to get the group up and ready, we managed to get on the road only 30 minutes later than anticipated.

Of course, since we were moving late, we arrived at the lake right about the time Joseph normally goes down for a nap. We figured we would just let thing play out, and if we had to come back to the dock, we would. Instead of being tired and fussy, the little man happily donned his life jacket, swim hat, tether and took in the sights.

 He had so much fun! Well, we all did, actually. He couldn't get enough of the boat going fast, and was happy to fling his arms into the air and laugh loudly.

We spent some time letting Joe and Ben (our friends Ben and Kristin also came along) practice their water skiing, and then headed over to the favorite swimming hole. Joseph had enjoyed sticking his feet in the water from the side of the boat, so we went ahead and carefully lowered him into the water. As long as I was in the water nearby or holding him, he seemed to really enjoy the experience! He had lots of fun splashing around and kicking, and particularly enjoyed Joe blowing bubbles at him and when I would spin us quickly in circles.

After a while of just hanging out in the lake, we all climbed back aboard and enjoyed some lunch. While we tried to get Joseph to eat (and changed his clothes), he refused because pretending to drive the boat was way more fun!

He was quite content to just sit in the driver's seat and hang out, until the seats started getting too hot (It was almost 100 degrees today, and not a cloud in the sky!)

By this time it was almost 3pm, so we opted to head back as a few of us weren't feeling great and Joseph was finally starting to show signs of being WAAAY past his naptime. We were only in the car for about 5 minutes before he finally passed out and slept all the way home.

We all had a great time and are so happy that Joseph really seemed to like being on the boat. I know he's going to love a whole week being on the sailboat, playing in the water and with everyone! Oh, and on the way to the lake, he finally learned how to sign mom! Hooray! Not that he really needs to, since that's still the only word he says with any regularity, but it's still fun.

Little Fish

This afternoon I decided it was time to head to the community pool and get our summer membership. Joseph had woken up a little early from his nap so after trying (and failing) to get him to eat some lunch, we changed into our swimsuits and headed out. There was a crazy line waiting to sign in and buy the membership pass, and Joseph wanted no part in standing around waiting. It took almost 20 minutes, but finally we paid and headed over to the baby pool area.

Earlier this year when we were in Florida, Joseph was a little cautious about walking into the pool, so I assumed he'd respond the same way. Nope! He charged right in, kept going right to the deepest part of the baby pool and started splashing the water! I didn't even have time to take his shoes off! (Luckily he was wearing his crocs, so it wasn't a big deal) He did fall over, getting his face wet unexpectedly, a few times, and inhaled lots of water. In the past, this would elicit loud screams and cries to be held and removed from the water. This time? He coughed it up, looked around, and kept on splashing.

The cutest thing was that he decided to brave the slide in the baby pool, where plenty of kids aged 2-6 were going down it repeatedly. He'd wait his turn, climb the steps, sit down at the top and push off, happy to be sliding right into the water! Of course, he wanted to do it like he plays on his outdoor slide, sliding down on his belly, which the kids behind him would then do.The lifeguards didn't allow this for some reason, so I had to help him start out going down on his bottom, which he still enjoyed.

We even headed over to the big pool, where they have a zero entry portion. He walked right in until the water was almost up to his shoulders, and he was having a hard time moving...although he did decide to take my hand part of the way in. He splashed, practiced floating on his belly and back, and kicked liked crazy.

We spent about an hour and a half at the pool, and he was not ready to leave. I think I know where we're going to be spending a lot of time this summer! Next time I'll try to take some pictures, especially if Joe's able to join us.

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!