It's about that time again...

Hello, I was told I needed to post again, so I will. This week is finals week, but it's also the week that both Daniel and Nate are visiting us (plus Laura and Eunice, and plus little Cade and even smaller Emily). YAY! We bought 'Apples to Apples' to play tonight. It's possibly one of the funnest group board games EVER! Next week is training week for me in Tennessee, but vacation week for Dave. (He'll be bored at home most likely, so please call and invite him over).

Jonah is beginning to put two words together, like "where's dada?" That's about as far as he's gotten, but again, I said beginning! He's growing like a weed, still. He's now floating in between 2T and 3T. He will be turning 19 months in two weeks. He's loving his basketball hoop. And wearing mom and dad's shoes. And manipulating, and laughing. He hasn't been eating well at all lately, but he's been sleeping really well! I'll take that trade!

There's not too much news... I was asked what have a done new lately and I said, "I made my first cheesecake and banana bread!" And that was the extent of new for me. But I'm sure it could be much worse. SOoooo I'm not going to get a 4.0 again this quarter. But then when I reflected on why I got the 4.0 in the first place I realized it was fluke! I wasn't expecting it last quarter, so I shouldn't go expecting it this quarter! I should accept my GPA what ever it is (as long as it's above a 3.5) because anything above a 2.5 is good for me and my past GPA's. I will be working on my acceptance, but I think I'm in the 12 step program now. I think I'm done with denial, but I may still be in the anger phase. I think I'll have to wait until my grades actually come out before I go ranting on and on about it... I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Well it's finals week and I should continue my studies. I've got one more test on Friday, so I've got so many days left to mull over it... Good luck and happiness to all and their non-finals week, jerks. Just kidding, I love school.

six months later...

(Thanks for the reminder from Carolyn that I needed to update!) So, since my 22nd birthday,(in short) Jonah turned 1!, I got over mono, went back to School & Rowing, my sister, Dana, got married, I went to Indiana, Tennessee and Iowa for a few races, Thanksgiving (for which Lorena came to town!!); then UC annouced they were planning on dropping rowing (we'll see if that happens) and then came Christmas. After that I found out I got a 4.0 for Fall quarter(!!!My first ever in college!!!) with 18 credit hours (the max amount) and I made the Athletic's Academic Wall of Fame. Woo hoo! I am hoping the heavy schedule will explain my lack of updating this thing... yeah, it's sufficient enough. Jonah has now experienced snow for the first time. It was a Sunday and seeing how our steeeeeep hill of a driveway was not plowed yet, we were'nt going to risk going to church. Instead, we watched Jonah be dibilitated by the snow. He wouldn't move, he wouldn't even touch the snow until he got tired of standing and sat down in it! Finally, Dave let him eat some and he started to perk up. Now, I'm back in school but only with 12 credit hours this time and no racing. All indoor (killer) practices. But what's really cool is that we've been using the slides that simulate a boat on the water. They're so cool! I love Technology...(but not as much as you, you see... but still I love technology, always and forever, always and forever - Kip Dynamite).
Mid-March I'm headed to Oak Ridge, TN for a grueling week of training. What fun. Luckily, Dave got a vacation for that week so he gets to stay home and have fun with the kid. We have one home race in the Spring if anyone wants to spend their Saturday morning and early afternoon watching a sport they know nothing about it is on March 31st, location TBA. It's a scrimmage against Dayton, E Michigan and Indiana. ALright, that's fun and fact filled enough for now. Read and respond to let me know you care! It's homework time!

Oh my goodness...

So two days ago was my 22nd birthday, and my was it eventful! Well, a few days before my birthday Dave couldn't contain himself from giving me my presents. SO I got an awesome pedometer that measures not only steps, but mileage and it has a clock and a calorie counter! It's awesome! You even set it to your stride length and weight. He also got me the new coldplay CD, Friends season 1 set (yes!) and a huge bag of chocolates that he shouldn't have gotten, but I love him for getting. Jonah was sick last week and the beginning of this week with his first ear infection, so at the beginning of this week he was starting to feel better. Now he's playing even harder than he was before... But when he started feeling better I was feeling super crappy with swollen glands and white stuff all over my throat. I went to the doctor's on the 12th expecting it to be strep. The test they took was negative, but they decided to to some bloodwork and another culture to find out what it was, so I had to wait yet another day to find out why I felt like I was dying. But to get to the climax of my story, my birthday came. Dave came peeking in the front door and said, "Close your eyes..." alright, fine. A few minutes after itching with anticipation he let me come into the kitchen and see his suprise. A Black Tie cake from the BonBonerie, UGH!!! The most delicious thing ever! and ice cream. And then he told our friends were coming over to celebrate. AHHH! That means I have to clean! I didin't feel like cleaning, but I had to, dang. Not only did I have to clean, but I had to actually get dressed, haha. But since it was my birthday, I was up for cooperating. So Anne, Chin, Rachel, and the cottrell's came over to bask in the goodness of the Bonbonerie. The whole day though I had been waiting for the results of my bloodwork, so around 6:30 I finally got a call back from the doctor, Yep, I had mono, otherwise known as infectious mononucleosis. Sweet. Just what I wanted for my birthday! A virus that gives me a sore throat and makes me want to sleep all the time. Awesome. What makes it even worse is that the pre-season training is in 7 weeks now and it will take ATLEAST 4 of those to get over this nastiness. We have to run 2 miles in under 18 minutes and do a certain percentage on our 5k erg test or we can't row until we do. GREAT! Also a magnificent way to start off the year, weak and behind everyone. So the past few days have been so much fun laying around and trying to do what i can. I guess I just have too much time on my hands so I am whining. I was planning on adding some hilarious recent pictures, but it seems as if Blogger doesn't want to ad them to the blog... so, later.

bubbles, bubbles, BUBBLES!

We just got done blowing bubbles - one of Jonah's favorite thing and something I noticed that every kid likes. It's like a ball they can actually catch and not have to throw back!
School's out for summer - woot woot. You'd think that would mean sleeping in and lounging around, but not for the mothers of the world - including the mothers who happen to be students as well. But, I do get to play as much as I want and go to bed as late as I want, I just have to wake up when Jonah does - bummer. Dave and I, however, have devised a plan that has worked out relatively well since the initiation of set plan. I get to sleep in on Sundays and Dave sleeps in on Mondays because it's his day off.
I think I am going to join the YMCA! UC's new rec center isn't allowing students that aren't taking summer classes to use the rec. Major bummer! So, that's what I'll do, seeing how I'm supposed to look semi-acceptable in my bridesmaid dress for my sisters wedding.
Speaking of the wedding, we just made jewelry for the wonderful day to match all of our dresses! We spent the day at my mom's house trying to make just the right combinations for each other AND earrings! It was a blast!
Oh, Jonah's dancing now! A few weeks ago he started, but he would only dance to disco! He has started to like more variety of music, which is good. I didn't know how much more, "It's rainin' men, hallelujah, hallelujah, it's rainin' men, AMEN!" I could handle anymore.

another month gone by!

Jonah will be 9 months old as of tomorrow at 4:23 pm. Weird, weird, weird, and more wierd. I am babysitting Avery Woolston who is currently somewhere in between three and 4 months and it's odd to think Jo was once that age and that it was only six monthat ago. Then again it's probably wierd for my mom to see me with a kid.
This past Saturday was Jonah's first regatta. We went to Midwest Junior Regional Champs at Harsha lake here in cincy to support my home team. It was fun and Jonah and I both got to work on our tans!
Dave and I recently got to go on a date(!!!). We decided to go to a Korean restaraunt, then we some how made it over to meijer but ended the date with me bowling a 162 in a bowling alley in Florence. I do have to say I felt bad for whooping Dave, but I did decide that my next sport is definately bowling. I got 3 or 4 strikes with 4 or 5 spares. How awesome is that! Imagine if I were actually playing seriously! After tellling my mom about our date and my score, she told me that my grandma was a professional Bowler. How cool is that! I guess she went on tours and everything. It must be in the blood line. She said my grandpa was a bowler too, but they never wanted to add him to the tour because he cursed too much for TV. It's true, he cussed a lot, but that's just who Grandpa Smith was - can't beat it. He once shot off the tip of his finger and then laughed about it. True story. I watched him shoot it off. He was crazy, but so, so cool.
School is almost over with for the year. The banquet is coming up for rowing... The new Rec Center is beautiful. I have actually been branching away from the Erg (the rowing machine) lately and getting to experience what other machines are all about. The REC has some awesome stuff!
That's about it... there are new pictures up of jonah if you go to the link on the right of the page. No time to download now - too much homework.

Knit On!

Well, I wrote a post about a week ago, but that was a bust. So I'll make a synopsus... Basically, Jonah is starting to REALLY crawl and not just slide along, I am knitting a sweater for Dani's dog, Princess Lulu Wellington III. A link to her website is on the right... We've been going to the parks around Clifton almost everyday recently and it has been a blast! I'll add pictures... I've been babysitting another baby Jonah's age, Walker, two days a week to help out his parents. I'll add a picture... The picture will tell you how much bigger Jonah is than babies his age. Walker is an average sized baby and he's 10 days older than Jo. Jonah is also getting 3 more teeth. Yay for him being able to chew effectively, but boo for me because I have to stick my finger in there sometimes, only to be bit! Oh, Jo Be... My clases are awesome. They're very informative! Ummmm That's all that was in the last blog...
SO Easter was a blast and Jonah had a ton of fun laughing at the dogs. I am currently scarfing down easter candy (thanks mom!) and it is dang good! I haven't had a tootsie roll in a while!
OH! May 19th there is going to be a parade on campus for the completion of MainStreet. The rowing team, including myself, will be carrying a boat and oars to show off to people, sounds fun, huh?!
Dave is working a double today (bummer) so, I am pretty bored, especially since Jonah is asleep. I think I will go clean, and by clean I mean play with some of Jonah's toys and then while doing dishes, eat dinner.

A Long Time Coming

Hello there all, I am writing from the floor of our bedroom. Yes, our computer desk broke during the move. It wasn't all the way broken, but we want new bedroom furniture anyways, so we left it for grabs at our old apartment. And wouldn't you know it, before we could get in our cars to leave some one had already snatched it up!

At any rate, the new apartment is great! The picture Map is from when we had just had Jonah and were still in the hospital. Besides a couple things that needed repairing, it is perfect, and bigger and less expensive than the Clifton Colony apartment. It's just up MLK one more light from our old place, right across the street from Good Samaritan. It's a bit closer to campus. It only took me 13 minutes to walk home after class, the other apartment was 40 minutes!

Yesterday was a beautiful day! After babysitting Walker (my new task for tuesdays and thursdays) and taking care of Jo, I had weights with the wonderful UC Strength Training Staff... I was supposed to go visiting teaching, but our teachee cancelled, so Dave, Jo and I went for a long walk, to Ludlow, of course. We hit up the library, and Toko Baru for kidz and got dinner at Habaneros! It was great, even though I could and can still hardly walk from weights.

Jonah is 7 months now!! He's doing the soldier shuffle quite efficiently. In the picutre he is getting himself stuck inside the toy bin. He is pulling him self up on the couch, on people and chairs. I won't be too alarmed if he starts walking before he can actually crawl! He is already in 18 months clothing. The 12 mths clothing is getting reeeeaaally tight and was already too short to begin with. He is eating solids like it's his business. At each meal he'll eat probably close to 8 ozs of solids on top of an 8 oz bottle not too far after that. I am suprised he isn't chubby, although he is very strong and very heavy. Of course I will be adding pictures.

Nate is openning his very own Picture People location in Lousiville, go Nate! So that means Eunice, Emily and he all moved down to Louisville, unfortunately. But we plan to visit often, seeing how there is a temple about 5 minutes from where they are living.

Classes are going well and I got a 3.2 last quarter!! Woot woot! Alrighty, Jonah is waking. I can tell because he is running his binky along the slats on his crib, what a cutie.

P.S. I love this picture! (Nate took it...)

I'll write again soon.

6 months old!

Jonah had his sixth month check-up today. He is 21 pounds and 30 inches long. He is way above the 95th percentile for height and in the 90th percentile for weight. He is currently sleeping off his vaccinations right now. He wasn't too sad after he got them done, but that is not to say he wasn't grumpy. He just wasn't screaming his head off like the other kids that got their shots today. He is a good boy! He is sitting up by himself with ease now, we just still have to be careful. If he gets excited he kicks his legs and falls backwards. He is in the early stages of crawling. He loves to do the soldier shuffle. He is starting to lift his butt up while laying on his belly. It's cute, of course. He is becoming more independent and tons more talkative. He is eating tons of solids now and loving it. He is just great all around!
(This picture was obviously taken in the gracery store. I had just realized how closely they matched and it was cute, so I took a picture.) We move into our new apartment on the 11th, so anyone that would love to offer their braun, that would be greatly appreciated! The new apartment is up MLK a little ways. It is close to the hospital and close to campus! We could walk to either place! It's two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, dishwasher, washer/dryer, dining room and SUPER HUGE closets! We are so excited to be moving into a better place that is less expensive!! So excited. And I'll be able to walk to class instead of trying to find a parking spot, WOO HOO!
Classes and grades are doing okay. I love my classes, but it is definately difficult getting all the assignments in on time with Jonah and rowing to add to the difficulty of the assignments. My grades aren't suffering too poorly, though. Still getting A's and B's. Rowing is going well. We're back on the water now! We row on the Little Miami now, instead of the Licking in KY. It feels great to be back on the water! We got a few new boats with RED RIGGERS!! How sweet is that! We were demoing a boat a new company called WinTech this past weekend. Cool boats, small seats. We have two coxies that have never really coxed before, so it has been interesting, to say the least.
This weekend is the team's sleep over at Steph Celek's house. It should be really fun! Neither Jonah or I have met Steph's daughter, Jordan, yet so it should be a blast just for those two! I hear Jordan is a red head just like Jonah! I, however, probably won't be spending the night because Dave will be all alone here at home. I don't want that. I am taking Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon chips. I got the recipe from one of the ladies at church from an Enrichment activity, so thanks to whomever!

Alrighty, I'd better get back to cleaning and homework while I've still got time!

Jonah is eating solids regularly now, as you can tell by the image! He's getting to be a comedian. He makes a bunch of weird noises just because he knows that we're going to laugh - What a stinker! On a different note, Sara C. and Katie came over to visit tonight. The girls and I ended up going to Applebee's after Jonah went to bed. It was a lot of fun! They're used to hanging out and stuff, so my excuse for being extremely over-zealous was, "I don't get out much..." I know they understand.
Okay, so I am doing the plans and stuff for V-day. I am planning on suprising Dave with a dinner at a Korean Resteraunt I found in tHe phone book randomly. I know David doesn't read this, that's why I am spilling the beans to you guys! Sara and Katie are going to come home with me after practice and sit on the baby, does that sound fun? So is it customary to get your spouse something for V-day? I got him a card last year... should I do anything else? Any suggestions?
Oh, Here is a little quote I thought I would share...
"The athlete's anerobic threshold, the point at which the body's muscles have exhausted their oxygen store and start burning other fuel. For regular folks, reaching that threshold is quitting time; anaerobic work is 19 times harder than aerobic work. But rowing is all about harder. Elite rowers fire off the start at sprint speed -- 53 strokes per minute. With 95 pounds of force on the blade end, each stroke is a weightlifter's power clean. Rowers cross their anaerobic threshold with that first stroke. Then there are 225 more [strokes] to the finish line." -- ESPN Magazine

Super Bowl Sunday

Well it has been a while since my last post. Things are getting busy with school and rowing and the baby and NOW we're trying to find a new apartment. The management is jacking up our rent to $695 a month! From $635! You just don't do that to people with a newborn. Although we have enjoyed our stay here at the wonderful Clifton Colony, we're not dealing with that bologna. We've seen a few apartments and they have turned out to be a total bust! The landlords talk up the property and neighborhood and then it turns out to be a dump in the ghetto. Thanks! We are looking in several parts of town, which makes the search even more complicated. Alright, Dave wants my company! I'll finish this later.