Ohio

We've been here in Ohio for over a month now, so it's about time for an update on our new lives. We like it here so far, but our lives have yet to normalize into what our lives will be here, so we'll keep you updated. Here are some things going on so far:



-We love our apartment! I love the space and not having to store things in every spare space we can find in the living room. We even have a some empty closet shelves we don't know what to do with, but I'm sure we'll figure out something. I'm trying to get the place decorated, but I'm just so darn indecisive it's taking forever. Pictures to come of my crazy cheap decorating ideas.


-We were going to be adventurous and start a hardcore garden on our patio, but my dad had a better idea. My parents live on an acre of land and my dad thought we could join forces and start a garden in the back yard. Chad and my dad rented a tiller and tilled up some land and we planted away! It's been fun to watch it grow and we can't wait to eat some yummy food! (The radishes are already ready to eat, but who in their right mind would eat a radish? yuck!) We're also growing some tomatoes on our patio so Jay has something to water everyday. We really know nothing about gardening, so it has been fun to learn something new. Here's a few pictures of our adventure:






-The bishopric here in our ward knew we were coming, so on our first Sunday here we already had callings waiting for us (so much for laying low for awhile). Chad got called as the 11 year old scout leader, but after two weeks they released him and called him as the Scoutmaster instead. He's already purchased a new Boy Scout shirt and went to a day of scout camp last week. I stayed up late the night before sewing the patches on his shirt, something I thought I wouldn't have to do for another 10 years or so when Jay was ready for scouts.


-I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Young Women, which means I'm in charge of the Beehives (12-13 year olds). It's been a challenge figuring out how to prove to these girls that I'm awesome. I thought I could just walk in there as a 24 year old girl and they would automatically assume I was hip...apparently not. I think it could be a fun calling once I get the hang of things and get to know the girls a little better.


-Basically, our daily lives consist of Chad studying for the bar exam while I try to occupy Jay. Chad will take the bar exam at the end of July, so only a few more weeks of studying! Jay has been a little difficult to deal with since we made it to Ohio, so keeping him occupied all day without going insane has been a challenge. We're trying a new discipline system that seems to be working, so hopefully it just gets better and better.


-We're thinking about working on making friends, but so far we've gotten nowhere. We're hoping to turn our Olympic Opening Ceremonies party into a "get to know young families in the ward by forcing them to come to our house and eat free food" party. Hopefully we can successfully trick people into being our friends and hanging out with us on ocassion.


Alright, enough about Chad and I. I know 95% of you who read this really just want to hear about what cute (and not so cute) things Jay is doing. Here's the update on his development:


-We transitioned him to a toddler bed quite easily as he mastered leaping out of cribs and playpens in New Mexico. Now we just have to live with the consequences of him waking up before 6 most days and jumping into our bed to let us know he's awake. Sometimes we're a little slow at getting out of bed to play with him and he's even stooped to lying to us to get us out of bed. One morning he told us he was poopy just so we would get out of bed to change him. He wasn't poopy at all, but it got us out of bed. Smart kid.


-He quite the talker. He tells us about everything and anything and is always making up random stories. The other day he was telling us that he wanted to back to his white house (in Utah) because "Jay's new house tipping over. Jay fall down." It took us quite awhile to figure out what in the world he was talking about, but later he finally explained:
"Jay spin. Jay's new house tip over. Jay fall down."
I replied with an "Oh, you were dizzy and the house felt like it was tipping?"
Then he said "Yeah, Jay dizzy."


-Jay has gotten very good at correcting us lately. He has quite the vocabulary, but sometimes things we say don't fit into his names for things. For example here are some sample corrections:

"That's not jam, that's jelly!"
"That's not a shoe, that's a sandal!"
"That's not Mom's, that's Chad's!"

We go through this all day long. Usually it's a "that's not yours that's mine", but he's very quick to correct our terminology.


-Jay is under the impression that anyone that needs to be "taken care of" must not be able to walk. He talks about Grandma Baker taking care of Grandpa Baker because "he not can walk". He also cites Chad's mom taking care of his dad (who broke his hip) because "Papa not can walk. He died." (He didn't die, by the way, we have no idea where that came from) Anyway, when I told him one day that Grandpa Monte was going to come "take care of" him for the evening, Jay immediately said "Grandpa take care of Jay. Jay not can walk."


Alright, I can't think of any more random Jay things at the moment, but hopefully I can remember the good ones if I keep this blog current. Here's one last picture since we've been here in Ohio. My dad (Grandpa Monte) is on the left, and my dad's dad is on the right (Grandpa Carl).