One step at a time

When Jeff got home from student teaching this afternoon, he was playing with Jay when Jay decided to go bipedal on us!!! As you can see, he only can do a few steps at a time, but it was such a random surprise! He has been standing alone a lot lately, and he must have been thinking about walking all day today because when he lost his balance, he'd take one step to catch himself before sitting down. So by the time Daddy got home, it was time for some serious showing off! You can't tell in the video, but Jay has some major bruises all over his poor head! He must have bonked his head ten times today!! He'll probably be running around just in time for church on Sunday...

Our new vehicle

Drumroll….. we have a new set of wheels! When we visited Jeff’s parents last weekend, they showed us this little beauty at a local garage sale. It was only $40!  We couldn’t pass up such a deal.

Since Jeff drives our car to the high school every day, I usually just take the stroller out when I need to get things done (our stores are only 1-2 miles away and it’s pretty much always nice here). Today I took the baby buggy bike trailer one mile down the road to the grocery store. Let me just say—it has been a few years since I rode a bike. OW. Our bike seat is like sitting on the blade of a knife!

College Place is quite a flat little town, but the smallest inclines felt like mountains while I was straining to pull my nearly-20lb boy along behind me—and then I added another couple pounds of groceries to the load. If I was a handcart pioneer, I’d definitely PUSH rather than PULL! Phew! My t-shirt was damp and my legs were all trembly when I got home. I decided that while a lot of the problem was the old stiff bike I was riding, the main problem is I am just a wimpy biker!

Well, I am glad that we have a bike trailer but I think I’ll need a better bike (or at least a softer seat) before I attempt to use it again. I have always thought it would be so efficient to be able to tow children and goods behind a bike. I just never realized how grueling it would be. Once again, a Shaina-ideal met reality and it turned out HARD!

Spring is here

I love spring! The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous! It is so easy to run when it’s perfect outside every day, even when you have to push a zillion pound stroller. Springtime is so inspiring—I love to read The Secret Garden at this time of year, because it makes me feel “springy.” If that doesn’t make sense, then maybe you should read it too! Then you’ll understand.

We had a hot dog s’mores roast with some friends at Rooks Park, where there is this cool bridge over the river. Jay loved walking around the park in his basket.

oooooooo!

Jay and I went to the park with some friends, including his “girl friend” Alexandra (they’re only 1 week apart in age, and they always poke each other at church—must be love). Even Jay’s charming-ness couldn’t get her to relinquish her juice box, though!

Jay loves to swing. He would probably swing all day if I’d push him that long. Can you feel the joy?

  Babies are so much fun to take pictures of in swings!

He looks guilty for some reason…

And this is the view out our front door—so green and happy and SPRINGY!  The other day Jay and I just went out and sat in the grass under a tree to enjoy the pretty day. Springtime makes me happy!

Buzzzzzzzz

After weeks of debating whether to cut Jay’s hair or not, we finally did it last night!!! I coerced Jeff into getting out the clippers. Jay was interested in them until they started buzzing on his soft little scalp. Then he started yelling. Jeff only got a couple of good swipes in between Jay’s squirming, but there are only a few uneven spots. Now Jay is Mr. Peach Fuzz! His little head sparkles.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Recovering from the trauma

And now for one of Jay’s new hobbies… I’m not sure I like this one

The Spring Break MegaPost

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS NO LESS THAN 22 PICTURES, plus captions. If a picture says a thousand words, then this is the Victor Hugo version of the Brown family spring break. I hope you can finish looking at this post before next week's update!

This week, Jay and I left Jeff at home and drove the 4 1/2 hours to visit my family. My sister Em and her 2 boys flew in from Missouri, so the only person missing was Brad, (who is almost done serving a mission in Portugal). We did all of the things that we love to do when we get together: we ate tons (and I mean tons) of delicious food, did crafts, went shopping, played with babies, watched General Conference, took a million cute pictures, and played games. And Dad and I went on a 90 minute trail run in the mountains. (I added that one separately because that's something that ONLY Dad and I call fun). Thanks for all the good times, family!

And now, on to the one million pictures: (I only posted about 1/8th of the pictures we took...)

Jay and I met baby Dan for the first time. (Dan is almost 5 months old) Jay liked poking and grabbing Dan because he didn't poke or grab back. Steve (2 yrs old) on the other hand, was much bigger and stronger than Jay, and I think Jay was jealous! Jay got this worried upset look on his face whenever Steve got too close, and they had a few tussles over toys.

The Seattle area had some crazy weather this spring break: sunshine, rain, hail, snow, and fog!

We made the cousins matching PJ pants! (Dan had some too, but he was asleep for the picture)

These poor little boys had to sit through far too many photo shoots. An airplane was passing overhead for this one

I wish I had a video of the CRAZY things we were doing to keep their attention and coax some smiles!

mmmm we made and decorated Easter cookies!

no cookie shall go naked...

...but these 3 cute boys did!

We gave them a bath in the morning, and Jay has his rosy "I like to scrub my face in my blankets all night" face. Jay kept floating into Steve. It was hilarious, because Jay didn't necessarily want to be quite that close

I got to babysit Dan, and I think he likes me.

The men watching the Final Four. Poor Butler.

WE WALKED TO THE PARK:

Mom (aka Grama Meri) and I took Jay and Steve to the park one sunny morning.

My mom climbed all over the playground to protect Jay from his own curiosity, and she walked at Steve's inchworm pace up the HUGE hill on the way home. (I walked Jay up in the stroller and then went back for Steve, and they were almost halfway up the hill!)

What a sweet Grandma

WE WENT TO THE PARK AGAIN:

Kyle (my brother) gave Steve rides on his skateboard

I was as long as the slide

I have been wanting to ride a skateboard with my jogging stroller for so long, and Kyle let me try it out with his skateboard. Steve volunteered to be my copilot. I was pretty wobbly for most of the time, but Kyle gave me a few tips and I managed to do a few scoots without tripping or stumbling! It was hard! I think I prefer my razor scooter.

Jay's favorite park activity. If he could talk, he'd say "push me higher!!!" I think that's what his kicks and giggles and squeals mean while he's swinging.

Steve prefers to swing with his auntie.

The g-parentals with their posterity

I love my sisters!

Hobbies

We have several hobbies around here:

Jay loves to crawl, climb, clap, and eat bananas

Jeff and I love to play weekly Sunday Scrabble games. I am on a 2 week winning streak, and I recently got my best score: 512 points!

And I have really started to enjoy the challenge of making cute cards for all occasions:

My brother Brad turned 21 yesterday!! He'll be home from Portugal this summer! YAY!

Who said ducks don't have teeth?

Le bebe au natural

Happy 10 month birthday to Jay! I can't believe he's that old already! Time really does fly. Jay's "GrandmaDear" randomly got a free sample of baby formula in the mail, so today at lunch Jay tried his first-ever formula. Since he won't drink from a bottle, I put it in his cup. He took two swigs and then did a huge, hilarious SHUDDER, and would not touch the stuff after that. I'm glad I didn't waste any money on this experiment! What can I say, I have an all natural baby!

4 months old

10 months old. He still fits the same shirt and vest! (different pants)

Oh, and speaking of "all natural," check out Jay's Sunday pants after church! They looked like this after a mere 20 minutes of crawling around the halls! [There was an activity at the church yesterday, so we think that's why it was so dirty this week.]

Apparently we need to vacuum our poor church more?

Sunny Jay

If you can believe it, Jay will be 10 months old in just a few short days!!! He had his latest doctor visit this week. BABY STATS: 18 lbs 12 oz, 28.5 inches tall, 100% healthy, and 200% happy! Man we love this little person!

Each day, the 4 rooms in our apartment start out clean and bare. After a few hours of Jay happily crawling around dismantling the place, it looks a lot more homey! Jay's toy box is slowly starting to resemble a trash heap-- he just loves junk! Examples: an empty vitamin container, a piece of yarn, a scrap of ribbon, an old water bottle half full, an old membership card, a granola bar wrapper (tied in a knot), and the lid to a baby food jar. Every time I get back from a run, Jay makes a beeline for my running shoes--he loves to bite the laces! Jay's love of random junk is one reason that the only toy we've ever paid money for is a single small ball!

Ok, so this little jump suit is still a tad too long--Jay keeps losing his leg in it!

Other stuff: ummmm My life has been kind of slow lately, but Jeff is officially DONE with taking classes for his Master of Teaching degree. Now it's on to GIVING classes: student teaching (along with job-hunting--prayers appreciated). It's spring and I've still only knitted about 7 rows on my scarf. New goal: knit a scarf by next winter! I'm still enjoying concocting creative cards, and I'm about half way through reading Born to Run. It's like the longest Sports Illustrated article ever written! But far more interesting since it's about the BEST sport ever... RUNNING!