Our Recent Discoveries:

Jay can climb onto this box by the window! He is also pretty good at falling off of it.

This dresser was just sitting out by the dumpster, so we snagged it! Of course, right when we are about to put all of our stuff in a teeny tiny storage unit for the summer, we decide to start a furniture collection…

Isn’t this desk SWEET?? I was out running one day and I saw this partially purple pupitre on the curb about 8 blocks from our home. I stopped to examine its structural integrity, and then went home for Jeff. It didn’t exactly fit in the trunk of our Honda Civic, so Jeff wedged a corner of the desk into the trunk and then trotted behind the car carrying the other corner while I drove very slowly home. Yep, we’re crazy scavengers. Who now own a purple desk. [para los non-españoles, pupitre=desk in Spanish]

And now on to the not-exactly-free stuff: We got a new laptop a while ago (mine is ancient) so Jeff could take it to school. It’s a tiny little netbook and it’s a good one! And yes, after 3 1/2 years without a cell phone, we finally got one of those too, since we won’t have a permanent residence this summer. We got a sweet T-mobile no-contract plan with unlimited anytime minutes! And that last little black speck up there is the newest electronic addition: an MP3 player! We only have CDs but no way to play them, so we figured a refurbished MP3 player was a good idea. Jeff used his birthday $$ for it! It’s no iPod, but it was about $150 cheaper than those guys.

It is insane how far laptops have come since I got mine back in 2004!

Jeff woke up on June 1st and discovered that he had turned 28 over night. Happy Birthday, husband! This is what the birthday dinner looked like: he requested homemade pizza, as usual. We had mushroom herb white pizza and bacon apple pizza, our own tasty invention. I made him a birthday treasure hunt leading to his present (a nice, big messenger bag). The clues were all lines from Disney songs. My favorite was: “Think of instead, a girl worth fighting for” –answer: Shaina’s back pocket. hee hee hee

You’ve heard me say how perfect the weather always is here in Walla Walla. Maybe that’s why we’ve had SO much rain lately! We discovered that Jay really hates rain. He’s only ever seen it a few times in his whole life, I guess. Plus he loves going outside. He spent TONS of time at the window whimpering on all of the many rainy days we have had recently.

Why do pictures of my child in distress make me laugh so much??

Jay still knows where his “bee-bo” is, and he likes to show it off. He can usually find his toes for us too, and we’ve been working on “head.” (I think that one is harder because he can’t see it).

I love the small glimpses we get out our front window of the glorious sunsets here. Alas, the sun is setting on our time here in Walla Walla. Jeff officially graduates on Sunday June 13th, but he elected to “graduate in absentee” or whatever it’s called, so we can move on Saturday the 12th. We are putting our STUFF in storage like I said, and we will stay with Jeff’s parents in Grandview for the summer during Jeff’s joyful job hunting. If no full time job pans out, then we plan to find some place around Grandview to rent and Jeff will substitute teach and work part-time. We’re hoping and praying that soon we can add “Jeff’s New Job” to this list of Our Recent Discoveries!

Blanket Boy

 
In the past few weeks, Jay has really started loving his blankets. He usually sleeps with these two, but he prefers to sleep on TOP of them with the blankets all scrunched up underneath his chest. He also likes to bite his blankets. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to be too particular about which blanket he sleeps with!

 
Jeff finished up his student teaching this week! YAY! Now he’s home all day again, and now every day feels like Saturday! Jay loves riding on Daddy’s shoulders to go get the mail.

 
Jay also likes couch climbing

 
Playing in the fort Daddy made for him

Bare Bum

Nearly two hours after Jay went to bed the other night, Jeff went in to his room and discovered that Jay had removed his diaper!! I would have taken a picture of him sleeping with his bum bare, but when I saw his little bare booty just laying there, I burst into laughter, and of course that woke him up. He picked up his discarded diaper and started waving it triumphantly. From now on I think I’ll put pants on this boy before bed!

 
…and no, amazingly, he did not pee anywhere!

Battle Wounds

Today was Jay’s 12 month doctor visit. Babystats: Jay weighs 20.1 lbs, and he’s 30 inches tall. He’s in the 60th percentile for height and the 13th percentile for weight. Long and lean! He’s STILL in size 2 Huggies. Jay was kind of suspicious of the doctor—when he started poking him and looking in his ears, he actually hugged me and laid his head on my shoulder. He hardly ever does that. It made me think: at least he still loves me, even though I brought him to this awful place full of needles! Poor Jay got 3 shots plus they drew some blood. Booooo hoooo!!! I hate being the one who holds him down when they stab him! But it’s better than having him get those awful sicknesses. It makes me feel old (and hard core) when I notice that the chicken pox vaccine is now standard fare for kids. I HAD the chicken pox when I was little!

 
The bandaged boy. It’s hard to see the 4th one—it’s the tan band below his elbow.

 
Jay was very happy to come home, take a nap, and get back to playing with his sweet new wheeled contraption that Grandparents White gave him for his birthday. Turning one definitely has its ups and downs!

 
See, I told you he still loves me….

 
….for some reason!

Happy Birthday, Jay!

 
Friday, May 21st: Jay turned ONE YEAR OLD!!! First thing in the morning, we let him open his present from us. Yes, I wrapped it in Christmas paper. Jay loves his new ABC blocks!

Special things we did: played with blocks, read new stories from Grama Meri, made cupcakes, and had Grama and Grampa White over for the birthday dinner! They brought a cooooool walk and ride toy for Jay. He has already figured out how to push it all around the apartment.

The birthday dinner I just know Jay would have chosen if he could talk: macaroni and cheese (homemade of course), watermelon, and raw broccoli. Jay adores watermelon. He takes huge bites and the red juice gushes down his chest into his diaper.

 
mmmmmmmmMacNCheeeeeeeeeeese. It turned out quite scrumptiously, if I must say so myself. Notice the 2 sippy cups? Jay seems pretty particular about his beverage, and I never know whether he’ll crave milk or water, so I usually have one of each nearby.

 
cheesy watermelon macaroni face!

Picture of the day: believe it or not, that’s only ONE cupcake. I’m kind of sad that we didn’t get a picture of Jay before the candle was blown out. It’s just on video. Oh well! It’s a cute video (too long to post though). I didn’t let Jay touch the candle. He looked so self-conscious when we were all singing Happy Birthday to him!

I made Jay a birthday hat! He hated it, and the rubber band fell off, and it took us a million tries to get this picture before Jay crumpled the hat. So much for my vision of a perfect birthday picture of a smiling boy wearing a birthday hat with a cupcake and lit candle in front of him. Yet another Shaina-ideal trampled! oh well!

My sweet little 20 pound chocolate string bean! He looks so long in this picture. Can you see the watermelon juice soaking the top of his diaper? Jay’s bath was cloudy with cupcake crumb-silt. It was intense.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAY! WE LOVE OUR BOY!

Sometimes I amaze myself…

The best way to stay sane when you have a job-hunting-transitional-uncertainty is to stay busy and learn new things!

What I’m working on:

• Juggling—I wonder if I’m ready to move up to 4 bean bags?
• Sewing—I am working on a dress… the only things left to do are the zipper, the buttons, and the hem, but they seem rather daunting so I’ve been putting it off. When I finish the dress, it may take some courage to post a picture of it because it’s pretty frumpy and I doubt I’ll ever wear it except maybe on Halloween!
• French—The French workbook I ordered just came in the mail, so I’ll be starting ce jour
• Bread—I make all of our bread, buns, rolls, tortillas, etc.
• Cooking—I try to attempt at least one new recipe per week. So far, my favorite sources of inspiration are: www.allrecipes.com and http://simplysogood.blogspot.com
• Running—That road race I ran 2 weeks ago somehow tempted me into training for a sub-20 minute 5k. Jeff helped me plan out a training regime for the summer so I can make an attempt at that elusive time on Labor Day. (running a legitimate sub 20 minute 5k is one of my life goals) We’ll see how it goes!
• Music—I decided to pick up my dear ole violin a few months ago. Boy am I rusty! I’ve been practicing 4-5 days a week and it is slo-o-owly coming back to me. I play fun fiddle tunes, hymns, and I’m also working on a Handel Sonata (it’s tricky!) Thankfully Jay is not opposed to my playing, even if he does hate blenders and other unpleasant sounds. Maybe that means I don’t sound quite so bad? I’m too scared to ask our neighbors what they think, though, and I always practice when Jeff is NOT home.
• Pedestrian—Jay and I enjoy walking around here because of the gorgeous weather. I do 80% of my errands on foot. It’s great!
• Housekeeping—I only pick up Jay’s toys after he goes to bed each night (what’s the point of doing it over and over?). But I am getting pretty disciplined about keeping the dishes washed (some day we will have a dishwasher…or some day Jay will be big enough to do it…). Having a clean kitchen really reduces my stress SO MUCH!
• Memorizing—Although I’ve slacked off lately, I have a goal to memorize all of my favorite scriptures. I have a little Book of Mormon that I ONLY highlight scriptures that I’ve memorized. It’s a good spiritual and brain exercise.
• Reading—We may not have access to a library (stupid city limits—don’t get me started), but I still enjoy good books! I borrow them when I can or mooch off of other peoples’ library cards. My latest joy is Anne of Green Gables, as you know. I’m on book#2 now.
• Netflix—We love our $10/month Netflix subscription!! Lately, we have been watching the Star Trek Next Generation seasons 1 DVD at a time. A classic. Sorry, Captain Kirk.
• Mommying-And of course, I play with my cute little boy all the time too! (ummm...he's at my knee crying right now...)

So there you have it! I usually post about Jay or specific events, so I thought I’d change it up and do a 100% self-centered post. I love my life. It's good. Don’t you feel like you know me so much better now?

bee bo!

"This tiny hippopotamus has something small to say, and if we're very quite now, she'll say it right away.
“Listen!
“bee bo!
“You might not know what bee bo means, or maybe you've forgotten, it's just the tiny hippo way of saying BELLY BUTTON!" [from Sandra Boynton's Belly Button Book]

Jay got this awesome book for Christmas, and since we have no library access and we own a limited number of baby board books, I have read this to him plenty of times. Every time it says “belly button” or “bee bo,” I usually poke his cute little tummy. Yesterday I randomly asked him where his belly button was, and HE KNEW!

Proof:

How is it that Jay can walk and find his belly button but still doesn’t identify his own PARENTS? I am still waiting for a “Mama!”

I love JAY!

 
My little boy is getting so BIG! He is walking more and more—his longest stretch so far is at least 12 steps without falling! He will turn one year old this week.

Here’s what Jay has been up to:

 
Jay helps me make bread. He always wants to be around the action!

 
When Jay refuses to let me feed him oatmeal, I scoop it out in nasty cold coagulated balls, and he feeds himself. Maybe Quaker should market oatmeal balls!

Jay is really IN to  exploring new places. I am always surprised at what I find when I hear his distress calls:
I still don’t know how he managed this one

 
Crash!

Thunk!

 
Last week I officially (and finally) weaned Jay 100%!! (I dropped one daily feeding each week over 3 wks)  He’s finally starting to like moo moo milk (with a drop of Hershey’s in it…), and thankfully doesn’t seem to miss nursing. After 355 days, I am finally FREEEEEE!!! (still working on actually FEELING free, if you know what I mean…)

 
He eats 3 big meals per day, and no snacks (lucky me). He likes to cram as much in his mouth as he can. Chipmunk boy!
[To give you an idea: Breakfast= banana, milk, and oatmeal or toast; Lunch= 1 whole PBJ, 1/4 apple, milk, and cottage cheese; Dinner= milk, and whatever we’re having (e.g. tonight he had a whole chicken quesadilla!]


This week we figured that Jay is close enough to 20lbs for us to turn his car seat around to face the FRONT. It’s SO nice to be able to SEE him. Sleeping babies are so funny! Every time I tried to take away the cup, Jay woke up and started crying—it took me a few tries to finally sneak it away. 

 
Scared face! Jay is TERRIFIED of blenders, electric mixers, my mini food chopper, my hair dryer, and sometimes the vacuum. For some reason, he’s not scared of the Kitchen Aid mixer. It must not be quite as noisy?

Here’s what Jay does when I turn on a noisy appliance:

MAN, I LOVE THIS LITTLE GUY

don’t you?

Balloonsday!

This weekend in Walla Walla, there was the annual “Balloon Stampede,” which means they launch a ton of hot air balloons each morning. I only ever saw 2 balloons, sadly. But I did get to run in the Balloonsday 5k road race on Saturday morning! I’m always saying how the weather here is “always perfect.” Well, it was cold  and cloudy and drizzly on Saturday morning for the run. Fine by me! I wore my tank top anyways, and chuckled to myself when everyone else started peeling off their jackets during the first mile. [of course by noon, we were back to our normal perfect sunny blue skies].

I couldn’t believe how many people ran with ipods! Personally I run a road race for the atmosphere, so shutting it all out with earbuds seems pointless to me. Every time I came up behind an ipodder, I had the mad temptation to tickle them! It would’ve been so FUNNY! Don’t worry, I resisted. There were over 300 people in the race! Jeff and Jay were my fan-and-foto club, so that’s why we have pictures.

The START. Can you find Shaina? Hint: I’m wearing a headband to the left of Chuck Norris, right in the middle of the picture. I was wedged behind some slo-o-ow walkers when the race started. grr.

It’s so easy to smile at the beginning of a race!

Me finishing—waaay up there to the left of the cones. Yep I beat the hard core double duty stroller man.

You’ll only care about this if you’re a runner: I managed to hurl myself through the 3.1 miles in 21:21—just a hair under a 7 minute mile pace. Jeff counted the finishers and I was the 4th female to cross the line! I was pretty happy since the reason I didn’t run this same road race last year was because I was 8 1/2 months pregnant! Even though my body is a different shape than it used to be, it’s good to be in some kind of shape!

Woman vs. Wild

Hello. My name is Shaina White and I am going to show YOU how to survive in the outdoors if you ever lock your keys in your apartment. I will be parachuting into the middle of residential College Place, WA to give you an accurate example.

Now, the first thing you’ll want to do is build yourself some sort of shelter. In this part of Washington, we are lucky to have a few trees, which make a suitable location for a lean-to. 

After you’ve chosen your tree, clear a small area and gather plenty of sticks. Poke 2 sticks into the ground and lay a stick across them to make the lean-to framework. Lay sticks all over the place to keep out the wind. Then, gather bark chunks for the roof.

Good. Even though rain is not too big a problem in southeastern Washington, it is springtime so you’ll want to be prepared just in case. I recommend some makeshift thatching to finish off your roof:

Now that you have your shelter finished, you may want to plant a garden because you never know how long it will take your husband to get home from school with the second apartment key. (In residential areas, there is not sufficient wild animal and plant life alone to support your diet).

For the garden, clear a small area and build a fence by sticking spare wood into the ground. This fence will keep out pesky critters that may want to eat your veggies. Better yet, the fence my tempt said critters to try and find a way in to your garden, and then you can eat the critters along with your fresh veggies. Don’t forget to plant your seeds!

Well done! Now, a few finishing touches and you’ll be ready to wait out the afternoon in comfort and style:
 
A simple flower adds such a cheery air to a rustic lean-to.

Hurricane Jay: unfortunately, there are some natural forces that even a seasoned outdoorswoman like myself cannot avoid:

note: While the situation depicted above did really happen, we only had to wait about half an hour out in the yard.

Sneaky Mommy

Who would have known that just a  few little pieces of tape could make my life SO much easier?? (for now)

I love the view out our big front window! I love fiery sunsets! (and I also think that little house across the street is pretty cute)

Feel the fire!

This week I spent a lot of time in the kitchen—I love trying to cook new things, especially when the actually turn out yummy! My successes include: egg rolls from  and pitas (both from 100% scratch). Failures: fried rice that was supposed to go with the egg rolls (it was bland), and the Greek salad that was supposed to go with the pitas (it was just yucky). At least we had ONE edible thing each night!

Proof of yummy egg rolls (there’s some in Jay’s mouth and on his head). I combined 3 recipes from allrecipes.com to make these goodies—the wrappers took the longest to make. I did NOT deep fry the egg rolls. I just baked them. Way healthier. I also made the sweet and sour dipping sauce for them. mmmm

I didn’t get a picture of the pitas because I was too hungry to remember photography by the time they came out of the oven—but they looked flat and round like most pitas.

I started reading Anne of Green Gables once again this week (it’s one of my faves—another one I enjoy reading in springtime). In Chapter 2 alone, there are enough awesome one-liners to fill a quote book. Some of my favorites are:

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel good to be alive—it’s such an interesting world.”

“If you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, don’t you?”

and:
“You’d find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair.”