A Little Preview...

...of Mare's baby shower!

I know she's patiently waiting for pictures from me, so here is one (ok, this is one of Charlotte, technically...but it is from the shower, at least!). I'll get more pics up later today or tomorrow...this weekend has been busy busy! Oh, and dad, if you don't want to know the gender of "Baby J", you probably shouldn't read my next post!

A Day In The Life

Now that we've had a couple of days of spring,


and the snow has melted,


one of our new favorite activities is walking to the pond in the park behind our house


to feed the geese.


They are surprisingly unafraid of humans and will come very close (well, either they are unafraid or I just make some deliciously irresistible bread!).


Apparently Maya also likes feeding Jane:

(that one took her a while to clean up...natural consequences in action!)

Charlotte just likes feeding herself (and yes, that is banana and avocado in her hair)


I'll end with this picture. I'm not even sure how to describe it. It was almost a scary scene to walk into...the only thing we could think to do was take a picture.

I don't know...

...if there is anything better...


...than a toddler...


...running through a field...


...in the springtime!


And here is an unrelated picture of Charlotte making a Grandpa Schaub face :)

How We Increased The Value Of Our Home

Michael recently installed a pull-up bar in between our dining and living rooms, as we had started p90x (awesome, btw!) and decided trying to use resistance bands wasn't going to cut it. Of course now the bar has become not only a place for Michael and I to show off our mad skillz (as in, when he comes home we make bets on how many chin-ups we can do...my max so far is 2 and he, I believe, has done 3 :)), but also a place for Maya to "hang out" (haha...I'm so punny :D)







Charlotte, on the other hand, hasn't quite gotten the "hang" of it yet (oh, man, I'm on a roll!)

The One That Proves I Take Pictures Of Charlotte, Too!

The last several posts have been pretty heavy on the pictures of Maya, mostly because Charlotte is often slinged or sleeping when I'm taking pictures. But, she is definitely a very photogenic baby :) Here is some proof:

Is There Anything More Amazing...

...than a babywearing dad? Go Bryan!


That's right, there's a baby in there!


Our friends Bryan and Tiffany were blessed with TWO little bundles of joy, and can I just say, these are most certainly two of the cutest babies I've ever seen.

This is Mason Bryan:




And this is Grace Cindi:


Charlotte, my tiny little petite thing, looks like a grown-up in comparison!

The twins were over 7 pounds EACH (that's right, folks, 14+ pounds of baby)! Which, in case you didn't realize, puts Tiffany squarely in the "rock star" category.

Congrats, guys!

The One With The Shiny Red Tricycle

In our thrift-store-spring-wardrobe-shopping today, Maya and I stumbled upon something we couldn't pass up ~ a gently-used but still-in-great-condition Radio Flyer tricycle!


On our way home, she told me at least 100 times that she wanted to try out her new "bicycle" (can't for the life of me get her to call it a tricycle...oh, well! :)). She was practically jumping with excitement when we got home. She helped Michael adjust the seat.






And then she was off.


She can't *quite* reach the pedals to work them, but thankfully it has a bar for parents to use to help steer. Once she's a little bigger, we'll take the bar off and she'll be able to "drive" herself :)


I think her favorite part of the whole thing is the little bell :D

SPRING!!!!!

Ok, so today was the first day it's been above 50 degrees in several months. We opened the windows to air out the house. And Maya was wearing shorts. And sandals. And a tank top. Why? Because we live in Ohio, that's why :D


My favorite thing was that the snow hasn't melted yet, but we still HAD to get outside in our spring clothing. And, even though she had sandals on, Maya couldn't resist stomping in the snow. Strange kid!


Charlotte was happy to hang out in the sling.

We're Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Yesterday it was a warm and sunny 40 degrees, so we took advantage of the day and went to the Akron Zoo. It was great! Maya (as expected) loved the penguins.








She also loved spending the day with her Uncle Chris, who was visiting for the weekend.






Most of the animals were awake, which always makes it more fun.




Honestly, we could have gone ANYWHERE and the beautiful weather would have made it a perfect day :)

Trip to the Amazon

The Cleveland Zoo has an indoor Rainforest, and it is a great place to go to escape the winter blahs! They have some of the coolest birds...






...silliest monkeys...






...and most interesting turtles (this guy was born with only one lung, so he doesn't have enough buoyancy to keep himself flat ~ he swims sorta sideways!).


Definitely made me ready for spring!


We met up there on Wednesday with my friend Rachel


and her son Wesley (who is just about a month older than Charlotte).




We had a great time!






Charlotte kept trying to nonchalantly grab Wesley's hand during our photo shoot at the end. He was oblivious to her advances ;)


I'm hoping that soon it is warm enough to get some pictures in the real outdoors!