Chicken's On the Good List

Although our first couple efforts at feeding Joshua solid food didn't go very well, we've kept trying in an effort to find something he likes.  The first moderate success was when Ron fed him tiny bits of Cheerios at Easter dinner.  That was followed up by today's session, when he was happy to eat many tiny bites of chicken. So maybe he just doesn't like purees but likes actual regular food. Anyway, we're just happy to have found something that he'll eat.

Family Night at the K

Mom and Ron recently decided they wanted to have a family night with a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium, and they generously got tickets for all of us to see the Royals play the Twins tonight. Joanna was at K-State, and Meghan had to stay home with Joshua, but otherwise all of us "kids" were in attendance. It was buck night, so the peanuts, pop, and hot dogs were all a dollar (while supplies lasted, apparently), and there were fireworks after the game. To top it off, the Royals even ended their long losing streak and beat the Twins in an exciting finish.

Hangin' with the Canucks

Although Canada isn't in my sales territory, one of my coworkers was unavailable, so I filled in for her by going to a meeting in Vancouver.  I was excited to see the city, as everyone says it's beautiful, and I've never been there.  Unfortunately our customer was... the airport.  The Vancouver Airport Authority is who we were visiting, so unfortunately although I got to go to Vancouver, I never got to even leave the airport, as I flew in and flew out the same day for a meeting in the airport, so that was disappointing.  But at least this time I was trying to go to Canada, unlike last time.  Here I am posing with a member of airport security.

A Wriggly Worm

Diaper-changing time for Joshua is one of his favorite times.  He's happy to be naked for even a few seconds, and of course he's happy to have a dry diaper.  It was a reasonably fun time for us, as he sat there quietly and happily.  Over the past couple weeks, this has changed.  Because he's mostly mobile now, he often doesn't like to lay around, especially not on his back.  So changing time is now a bit of a struggle, because as soon as we lay him down on the changing table, he tries to flip over to his tummy to crawl away, which he would do if we didn't stop him. Here he is in the process of twisting away, even though it looks like he's doing a ninja kick.

Almost 20/20

I had lasik about two weeks ago. My left eye went perfectly and I am seeing 20/20 out of that. My right eye had a lot of complications that required an additional surgery. But now things are healing well and I am seeing much better since both eyes can work together again.

Eyes on the Prize

Joshua is getting better at crawling.  Just in the last few days he's gone from barely being able to pull himself forward an inch at a time, to scooching across the carpet with decent speed.  He's not doing it quite right yet, as he doesn't use his legs very much, but he's getting closer to something that is undeniably a full crawl.  To help him learn, I gave him an incentive by putting his bottle down the hallway from him.  Here he has an expression of both glee and determination as he heads toward his goal.

Happy Easter!

Today we celebrated Easter. It was really fun to give Joshua his first Easter basket. We went to church as a family and then we went to Lawrence where Joshua got an Easter basket with this bunny in it that he really likes.

Farewell, Old Bench

When we moved into our house almost eight years ago, one of the included items was a concrete bench along the pathway leading to our front door.  It's deteriorated over the years, and it started looking especially rough over the past year or two.  I think the biggest enemy to it has been the salt that I spread on the walk during the winter.  This year Meghan and I decided to buy a new bench to replace it, and I've looked around at a couple statuaries.  Turns out, that was good timing.  While mowing today, I bumped it with the mower, and the entire thing collapsed.  It supported weight well from the top, but it was evidently susceptible to force from the side.  So it has been loaded into our trash can, and I'll have to step up my search for a worthy replacement.

A Good Good-Friday

Today was a holiday for both Jason's company and mine so we had the day off. Since we are going to Lawrence on Sunday, we decided to have a mini-Easter dinner today. We had ham and scalloped potatoes and strawberry angel food cake trifle for dessert. Here I am with the cake. I had never made an angel food cake before, but we were happy with how it came out.

Little Bug

Recently Meghan got Joshua this super cute outfit.  It says Little Bug on it, and it has grasshopper-style eyes and antennae on the hood.  Joshua can sit up on his own for extended periods of time now, so I had no problem taking this adorable picture of him while he sat and patiently waited.

Take That, You Six-Legged Jerks

Last year we noticed that ants were somehow getting into our house through a gap in the caulking by the shower.  They marched right up to the ledge and feasted on Alex/s food in his bowl.  Last year I used some indoor/outdoor pesticide and sprayed in the gap, and that took care of it.  This year, the ants returned, and I decided to take more drastic measures.  First, I decimated the exposed population in a murderous insecticidal rampage.  Then I set about to ensure it never happens again by re-caulking the seam so there's no way they can get in the house through that path.  We should be good to go.  And in case you don't recognize that expression, that's my ant-killin' face. 

Brushing Teeth (Both of Them)

Over the past couple weeks Joshua got his first and second tooth, both on the lower jaw. Since he now has teeth, we are brushing them. He actually really enjoys it. Here Meghan brushes his teeth as we begin our efforts to instill in him the importance of oral hygiene. I've got a 33-year cavity-free streak going, so he's got a lot to live up to.

Glow Worm

We have wonderful family and friends, and we received many great gifts from people in celebration of Joshua.  One of the best gifts we received was what's affectionately known as the glow worm.  Based on its appearance, it seems to actually be a sea horse, but it'll always be a glow worm to us.  To Joshua, it's a source of comfort and something to soothe him as he falls asleep.  When you press its tummy, it glows and plays about five minutes of different songs accompanied by a few random underwater bubble sounds here and there.  Joshua loves it, and I don't know how we would have had the peaceful bedtimes we've had without it. 

Chug! Chug! Chug!

Feeding time with Joshua is overall a good experience, as it allows for some quiet bonding time.  But it's sometimes inconvenient that he can't hold the bottle for himself, as he occasionally likes to take his sweet time drinking the entire thing.  Today while we were feeding him, he took charge and grabbed the bottle by himself and held it while he finished it.  He probably isn't ready to do this every time, but it's welcome progress.

Jumpin' Joshua

Awhile back one of Jason's co-workers had given us a jumper that their son had really liked, but at the time Joshua was too young to use it. We tried it out for the first time today. He seemed to really enjoy it. He isn't totally sure how to get the bouncing/jumping part going yet so I think he will have fun figuring it out as his coordination gets better. For now he was happy moving around and holding the straps.

A New Door

Our old storm door was not the best. Not only was the hardware brass and rusting and not very attractive, but it also didn't close, latch, or lock. This caused some major headaches with pets trying to get out, especially Alex. So we got a new storm door. Here the pugs I and are looking out from our new attractive door that actually closes. I am really glad because not only does it look better, but it will really be nice when Joshua is mobile and I can feel satisfied he can't just push the door and leave our house. It also could be adding years to Alex's life so we think it's a very good purchase.

We Earned Enough Tickets to Buy Some Candy

My best friend Jeff was in town today, so we spent the day hanging out.  The highlight of the evening was going to Dave & Buster's at the Legends.  We played a lot of games, particularly the ones where you can compete against each other, such as Skee-Ball, Pop-A-Shot, etc.  It was late at night on a weeknight, so the place was nearly empty, so we were able to play any games we wanted.  We had a really fun time and decided we need to find a way to do that more often.

6-Month Checkup

Today I took Joshua in to the pediatrician's office for his 6-month checkup.  He got another round of shots, which didn't please him.  Here our pediatrician checks him while he's distracted by a tongue depressor which she gave him for that very purpose.

6 Months

Joshua turned six months old today.  It really doesn't seem like we've had him for six months.  Four months seems about right, but the calendar claims it's been six.  He's up to 18 pounds now and continues to be perfectly healthy.  He's been such a blessing to our lives, and we're excited to see him continue to grow and develop in the coming months. 

Here he is with the requisite size reference photos of him alone in the chair and him with his bear.  I also added a bonus photo as he can't help but give in to his urge to eat everything in sight, including the poor innocent bear's arm.

The First Step to Finalization

Today we met with our adoption attorney for the first time. Now that Joshua is almost six months, we should be able to start the process to get the adoption finalized and our attorney will be handling the legal side of things.

Not Too Firm... Not Too Soft... Just Right.

We bought our most recent mattress at Nebraska Furniture Mart.  It was a cheaper mattress, and we recently decided it needed to be replaced.  I loved it because it was a pillow top, which I find to be extremely confortable.  Meghan didn't like it so much, as it was too soft for her, resulting in occasional back pain.  So today we went shopping for a new mattress.  I wanted a softer one, and she wanted a firmer one.  We might have considered a Sleep Number bed to allow for different levels of firmness, except we stayed on one in a hotel while on a trip last fall, and we hated it, as did everyone else who we talked to about it.  So we found one today which is a compromise.  It's firmer than our last one, so it should be better for Meghan, but it's still soft enough to work for me too.  We think we made a good choice.  Here Meghan and the pugs rest on our new mattress.

Barbecuing Like Mongolians

Today Jason had a Kappa Sigma event so Joshua and I were on our own. We decided it would be a good time to eat dinner with Christine. We went to Mongolian BBQ, which was totally delicious. Here are Joshua and Auntie Christine after our meal.

Rockin' Red Robin

Julie was in town tonight, so she stopped by our house, and we all went out to eat at Red Robin.  Joshua liked seeing his Aunt Julie and even did his customary spit-up-on-her routine.

The Capitol in the Capital

Today my company presentation is in Indianapolis. I stayed at a hotel right by the capitol building, so on my way out I snapped a picture of myself with the building in the background. It's quite an impressive building, but it looks even cooler at night.

Motivation

Joshua has been getting better at sitting, but he really doesn't like it. He seems to think it takes a lot of effort and also isn't really very fun or worth it. He much prefers laying down. So I bought him a toy that he needs to sit to play with in hopes it would make him sit more. So far it is totally working. He will sit for several minutes while pushing the buttons on it.

Twin Cities Visit

I had to fly to Minneapolis tonight in preparation for our seminar tomorrow.  I called my dad to see if he and Deb were available to meet for dinner.  They were, so we met up at Applebee's and had a nice meal.  Unfortunately Applebee's dropped one of may favorite items from the menu, but I found a pretty good alternative.  It was nice to take advantage of the rare opportunity to get to see them while I was in town.

Hail No

It was windy yesterday, and I heard there might be a thunderstorm in the evening.  Later, when I heard some hail, I didn't think much of it, as we get small hail a few times a year.  Suddenly, though, I noticed the hail on the back deck was quite a bit bigger.  I decided to move our cars in the garage.  As I did that, the hail got worse.  By the time it was over, I had two hail-damaged cars (I didn't get them in the garage on time) with mine being heavily damaged.  Also, all the screens on the west side of our house were destroyed.  Here I reach my arm outside through one of the holes and then back in another.  Not good.

Running Errands with Daddy

Today I had to go run some errands, and I decided to take Joshua with me. The weather was great, and we had a fun time going from store to store getting everything done. Here he shows just how much fun we had.

Theater of Rock

Tonight I went to a concert for one of my favorite bands, Three Days Grace. They're a hard rock band, but the concert was held at the very elegant Midland Theater. The juxtaposition of styles was odd. Meghan and I have been to the theater in the past for events that seemed to be a better match, such as the Nutcracker Ballet, but the theater was remodeled a couple years ago, and now they have a much wider variety of types of performances. Here I am in front of one of the five giant Czechoslovakian hand-cut crystal chandeliers that adorn the theater.

Spring Grilling

Today was very Spring-like, so hopefully we're finally done with the winter weather that's been overstaying its welcome.  This evening we enjoyed the nice weather by grilling some burgers outside, which marked my first outdoor grilling session of the year.  We're looking forward to many more of these over the next six or seven months.