LA Business Trip

My job requires some travel (usually only 1-2 trips a year) and I was due to visit my clients in LA at the end of September. Infrequent business travel is was not a big deal to me. Enter Jesper. Now spending two days in LA was absolutely terrible to think about. Especially toting a breastpump.

My plane left at 7:30am on Tuesday, September 27 and I was scheduled to arrive back in Minneapolis at midnight on Wednesday.

I prepared as much as possible the night before my plane left, but left the house about 10 minutes behind schedule (not a big deal, as I arrived at the airport at the same time as my colleagues had planned to). I drove into the parking ramp and saw that floors 2, 4, and 5 had parking available. Great. No big deal, right? However, after driving around floors 2, 4, and 5 for 20 minutes and realizing that I still had not found a single parking spot and my plane was boarding in 10 minutes, I shot out of the parking garage and looped back around to use short-term parking. Thank goodness for expensable parking!! I made it to my gate just in time to be one of the last passengers to board the plane.

As for the rest of the business trip, it was uneventful. I learned very quickly how to discreetly carry and use my breastpump in airport restrooms, at business happy hours, and in airplanes.

Picture that Josh sent me with the text "Hurry home, Mom! I love you!"

I missed both of my boys, but it actually wasn't as dreadful as I'd imagined it to be. However, I must confess that I woke Jesper up for a feeding when I got home "to make sure he'd sleep through the night." There's nothing better than holding your little baby after not seeing him for a couple days!

September's End

Josh's dad came to visit on September 22 during a stop in Minneapolis for work. He couldn't believe how much bigger Jesper was since the last time he saw him! We're looking forward to having Paul and Gail come visit again sometime in the next couple months and have a little more time to play with their grandson.

Jesper is continuing to get better and better at sitting alone. By the end of September, he could do several minutes by himself and is even starting to be able to reach for toys and keep his balance. I thought these pictures tell the story a little better. Sometimes when you think he's going to fall....

.....he doesn't. :)

In other news, Jesper loves to play with his toys and it's so fun to watch his face everytime he tries something for the first time. We've been rolling the ball to him and he is learning to "roll" it back to us. Ok, so his aim isn't great and sometimes it only goes a few inches, but he's definitely trying to imitate us. :)

By the way, can you guess what his favorite toy is from these pictures?

Jesper has also been experimenting with new foods. He tries about 1-2 new foods per week. So far, avocados are the only foods that he has absolutely rejected. We send cereal and a vegetable or fruit to school with him and then he eats another serving of cereal and a vegetable or fruit in the evening.

We're still making 6 oz. bottles, but he doesn't finish them like he used to. He's only been eating about 4-5 oz. so we're actually thinking of reducing his bottles back down to 5 oz. The lead teacher at his school, Kristina, said that it's pretty typical for babies to vary their bottle sizes from time to time so I'm trying not to worry about him not finishing those last couple ounces. Now I know why there is a stereotype about mothers trying to get their sons to eat more!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Josh and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary this September. It was a wonderful excuse to go on a very nice date. Josh got reservations at Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis (surprisingly, it's almost directly across the street from where I used to live in college and I never knew it existed until recently) and our friend Becky was willing to babysit.

Dinner was fantastic!! We both agreed it was the best meal we've had since eating at La Belle Vie.

Restaurant Alma

It was a beautiful and warm evening (and don't forget - we had a babysitter!), so after dinner we walked down to the river by St. Anthony and had a nightcap at one of the restaurants. Here's a shot of the Minneapolis skyline outside our restaurant.

It's been three beautiful years, and I'm hoping for many more just like them. :) I love you, Josh!

Another Weekend, Another Milestone

Jesper has officially started sitting by himself for a minute or two! Last weekend, he could only do a few seconds. This weekend, he has managed to find his balance. It's amazing how much they learn each day!

We love Jesper's giggle - there's nothing like hearing your little baby laugh. And Josh was making him laugh for about 20 minutes straight today. Ahh...I love weekends!

5 Months Old

Can you believe Jesper is five months old? I can't. I keep remembering a quote from an old coworker, "If you want the next 20 years to fly by, have kids." I think it must be true!

Jesper is sleeping consistently about 11 hours at night. The vacation to Smith Mountain Lake messed up his schedule a little, and he has gotten up once per night a couple times since then, but for the most part he is a good sleeper. I've also finally gotten to the point where I don't have to get up and pump at night if he's sleeping longer than normal. Which means 8 hours per night for me (finally - sweet sleep!). 

5 Months Old

 He drains 6 oz. bottles (we're just now considering moving him to 7 oz.) at every feeding and has started trying foods other than cereal. We started him on carrots for one week and just tried green beans this last weekend. He likes eating. In fact, I think he eats even when he's not hungry just because it's fun. He LOVES oatmeal and rice cereal but isn't so sure about the vegetables just yet.

Trying carrots for the first time

We returned home from Labor Day to find that it was cold - about 65 degrees - in Minnesota! Out came the sweatshirts and sweaters. Jesper has just a couple long-sleeve 6 mo. outfits that he's quickly outgrowing, so we pulled them out so he got chance to wear them. One of them is shown in the pictures below. There is a bulldog design on the pants!

As you can probably tell, he's teething. He's drooling like crazy (see the patch of drool on his knee) and really loves chewing on his Sophie la Giraffe teething toy. If he has a pile of 5 toys in front of him, he'll pick that one every time. :)

My preppy little boy in his sweater vest and bulldog khakis

Teething!



Smith Mountain Lake

We went to Smith Mountain Lake over Labor Day weekend with the Ratzlaff family. It was Jesper's first vacation. Despite a couple missed naps, he did great! We were concerned about the plane rides, but Jesper was a happy, easy traveler 90% of the time. Unfortunately, he's also trying out his vocal chords, so his happiness translated into playful screeching for part of the plane trips and dirty looks from other passengers. How do you tell other people on the plane that the banshee noises coming from your child are actually because he's super happy? :)

We flew into DC on Wednesday night and hung out with Paul and Jodi. We got to see their house for the first time since they had been back from Europe. I realized it had been 8 years since I had been to DC. Wow, time flies! On Thursday morning, we packed up the car (I'm still not sure how we fit everything in!) and headed to Smith Mountain Lake in Huddleston, Virginia for a weekend with our parents, John and Stacie and their family, and my Uncle Reese and Aunt Rose from Iowa.

We completely enjoyed the weekend. We are Minnesota lake snobs and still thought the lake was incredible - clean, deep, warm and not crowded at all. We also got to meet John and Stacie's new baby girl for the first time. Ariana is adorable and it was so fun to give her a cuddle. Elise, their four-year-old daughter, also looks so much older than the last time I saw her - she's really become a smart, beautiful little girl. And, of course, it's always fun to see the grandparents and share Jesper with them. The only thing that would have made it better is if Curtis had been able to join us.

Here are a few pictures and videos from the weekend. We're already looking forward to heading back there sometime soon!!

John took some photos of Jesper while we were there. Isn't he adorable?

Grandma June rocking her grandbaby

Jesper and Aunt Jodi

Jodi and Ariana after breakfast

Great meals = great conversations

                                       

Jesper and Ariana hanging out with Grandma June and Aunt Jodi

Cousins! Elise holding Jesper

                                          

One of my favorite things that Jesper does right now - grab noses. :) Jesper and Grandpa Ron

                                     

Cousins! Jesper, Elise, and Ariana

Jesper's first pool experience. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

Hanging out with Grandma June in the shade

The whole gang (except Curtis)

Oysters

Josh had been craving raw oysters for a while and he decided during the last weekend of August that we should try preparing raw oysters ourselves at home. He told me, "I know how to shuck oysters, Debi...I watched YouTube videos." I was doubtful, but we went to Coastal Seafoods and picked up 18 raw oysters to try it out.

Josh managed to shuck 14 of the 18 oysters successfully and we had an amazing meal of raw oysters, crusty bread, prosciutto, and cheeses. I guess those YouTube videos were pretty good teachers, after all!