Raptors!

Last week Jonah and I went with my mom's group to see some raptors and do a bit of hiking at Macbride Nature Center. The nature center is set back in a gorgeous forest on the edge of a nearby lake. It houses injured birds from around the area as they heal and some of the birds end up calling the center their permanent home. The birds are then used as teaching tools to groups such as ours.

Jonah got to hang out with his friends and see a number of new animals for the first time. The owls were cute; the vulture...not so much! It was hard to see into some of the cages, but we did our best to try.


We also go to see an amazing Bald Eagle up close. It was neat to see something so majestic that close to us instead of just far off in the sky.After visiting the individual cages, we all sat in a bird blind that was on the grounds and tried to blend into nature and see some wild birds.


After a few quick pics with the kids (Jonah grabbed a hiking stick for his picture with Trevin) we had lunch at the picnic tables and then headed home. It was such a fun outing!

We Have Standing!

Once Jonah got the hang of that crawling thing, he apparently thought that the act of standing couldn't be much harder! A few days ago he started pushing and pulling himself up on to his knees and teetered on them while he played or watched the girls. Today, he realized his knees just weren't gonna cut it if he wanted to play with his truck on the hearth. So...standing it is! It's still a bit (a lot) wobbly and crooked, obviously, but he acts likes he's been doing it forever. "Whatever Mom and Dad. This old thing!"

Jonah and the curtains

As Jonah has become more and more mobile, he is discovering all the “fun” things around the house. A few days ago he realized that he can play peek-a-boo by going behind the curtains. He was entertained for quite some time simply by moving the curtains back and forth in front of his face. How amazing it must be to be a kid!


[You can view a larger version of the collage by clicking on it.]

Bath Time

Ahhh. Bath time. It is a relaxing for me because Daddy is in charge of bath time most nights. It is a relaxing time for Jonah too. Hmm, maybe relaxing isn't the right word? He sure does love it though! The toys...the splashing...Ooohh, the splashing! Here are a few still shots to capture the cuteness and a video to highlight the mayhem that is bath time! (Notice the water all over Jonahs face. My bathroom floor doesn't look much better after this, believe me!)

10 Months

Another month has come and gone which means Jonah is another month older. I feel like time is going too fast, but I guess all moms say that at one point or another. No doctors appointment this month so no new stats. However, the pictures this month do a good job showing off Jonahs behavior these days though. Poor Green Monkey got so beaten up during this photo shoot. Bitten...thrown...It was a rough day for him. I don't know what got into Jonah, but when I got him up in the morning he was already this rowdy! Daddy tried to get a few more "normal" pictures in the evening to show off how big he has gotten, but it didn't they didn't turn out much better. Some months are just like that!

Leftover Pics

So, I was on quite a roll with the blog recaps and accompanying photos from Fresno. Then we had to post a crawling video. And stuff about Easter. In the meantime I forgot to post some pictures from Fresno that were real gems. Not to be missed!! Here they are, just for the heck of it.

Here is Jonah being introduced to an outdoor swing for the first time. He LOVED it and Daddy took full advantage of it while we were back home. Jonah got a spin in the swing almost every day. Papa took turns pushing Jonah as well. Sweet moments.

Jonah also got to touch grass for the first time. Remember...we left the land of ice and snow to go to Fresno during Spring Break. Last time we saw grass in Iowa, Jonah was too small to put down in it. He wasn't really sure how he felt about it. Kinda pokey. He got used to it pretty quickly and with things like golf balls and dog toys lying around, he ended up having a good time with it. (By Easter he was crawling in grass like it was nothing!)


The cousins, Noah and Jonah, got to get together to play on a number of occasions. Once under the watchful eyes of Nana and Gramma while we got to go on a double date with the Jacksons. Apparently they were a hoot to watch that night. They also got to play together at a couple of other family gatherings during the trip and were a joy to watch those times too. (We took so many pictures of the Cuz's together that this is just a SMALL fraction of them. How could we not? They are so cute!)

Easter Sunday

Eater Sunday was a bit more low key for us than Saturday was. We started the day at church. Jonah sat with us in "big church" and did really well. During worship he sat on Andrew's lap and angled his neck this way and that to try to see the choir, lights, and screens around the person in front of us. During the sermon he played with one of his new favorite toys (a plastic measuring spoon). He was in a good mood, but very vocal about how good he was feeling. His squeals and sighs and grunts forced Andrew to take him for a walk in the lobby. At least it was a better reason to take a walk than crying!! After church we headed home to see if the Easter Bunny had left anything for our little man.

He did!! Well, Gramma did. But Gramma equaled Easter Bunny this year. Her basket has been sitting on the counter for a week now. It's so nice that Jonah is too young to know about such things so I didn't have to go through the work of hiding it! Opening his basket didn't seem festive enough so I added some ears! I know he will hate me for these props later, but I have decided to let Future Vanessa deal with that! He got a few books, links and cups in his basket to play with. Yeah! More things to spread all around my living room!


After a nap we headed over to our friends house for our annual Easter potluck. The guys in the group are all grad students so we are all away from our families to be here in Iowa City. This Easter get together has been going for 4 years now and the Krohns host it every time. It is a fun tradition to have with our friends here, full of food, laughter and inside jokes. Everyone but us will be gone by next year at this time. So sad! Jonah dressed up a bit for the occasion and sported his "cappy" hat to dinner. (l to r: Melanie, Greg, Erik, Jen, Us)

Easter Saturday

We had a two part Easter this weekend, starting with an outing on Saturday with my "Mom's" group. We met at a nearby park with our families for a pot luck lunch and an Easter egg hunt. The sun was shining, but it was windy and cold!! Due to the weather we ended up staying for a shorter time than we originally intended, but had a great time while we were there. The "usual's" came with the exception of one of the mom's and her kiddos. (The group is technically much larger than the 4-8ish people who tend to come, but us "usual's" make the group a priority and are getting to know each other pretty well because of it!) A couple of our kids are just over or just under a year old so the egg hunt was a little less exciting for them than it was for the older ones, but the parents really got a kick out of it!

Here is Jonah using his new found crawling skills to hunt down the eggs. We started in a part of the field that was pretty vacant in order to increase our chances of victory. He soon found a few eggs, including a soccer ball egg no less! He really enjoyed examining it and couldn't really care less if it had anything in it. We brought the monkey "basket" that Gramma sent for him to collect his bounty.

These are two of Jonahs friends. Bella, who is often the only girl in what feels like a sea of boys, and Trevin, who just shook all of his eggs onto the ground because they sounded cool banging together in his basket. After the hunt we got the kids to sit for a couple of posed shots. Unfortunately Jonah was more interested in pulling all of the grass out of Bella's basket and the other two were more interested in watching him do it. After the photo shoot, it was time for the crew to grab a little lunch.


We couldn' t leave the park without Dad taking Jonah for a spin on the outdoor swings! (We found Jonah's love for swings while in Fresno at Nana and Papa's house. Those pics to be posted in a "lost footage" blog...) He loooooves the swings!! I am really exited about getting to go to the park more this summer and treating him to this simple joy! I loved going on the swings when I was little with my Papa. It is a very dear memory that I have of the two of us together and I am so excited about Jonah getting to an age where he can enjoy them too. I feel like it's something that will connect him to the Great-Papa that he won't get the chance to meet. It's crazy when something so small can be so special.

We've Got a Mover!

Well...it has finally happened...Jonah has joined the ranks of the crawling!! The last week or so he has dabbled with it, going one or two paces and then giving up or changing his direction entirely. Sometimes he would do some weird Yoga-esque pose with one hand and foot down on the ground and the other hand and foot in the air and just balance there! (Sideways plank maybe?) Anyway...as of yesterday we began classifying him as a real crawler when I saw him move forward, legs and arms in sync, for a good 5-6 paces in a straight line!!! It is so fun to see his face light up when he is actually moving towards his intended destination instead of farther from it! As for us, we are now in the limbo of "woo hoo!" and "oh crap!" because Jonah is all over the place! His favorite attractions right now are dirty shoes, light sockets (already covered!!), and a package that I have yet to mail to a friend. I am in a constant dance of move this, and move that until we can really do some major cleaning this weekend!

Here is a video that Andrew took this morning of Jonah in action. Apparently Andrew has found that when he stands pegs up in Jonah's peg board they just taunt our little man until he successfully knocks them all over. Smart Daddy used this knowledge to his advantage today as crawling bait. Enjoy! (Notice how the face plant he takes in the middle of his trek doesn't deter him at all. MUST...GET...THE...PEGS!)