Ok, I will be the first one to admit it: I am a slacker. I am not proud of this, but I am quickly coming to terms with it. I guess since I am confessing things, I have another one for you: I am not very good at writing in my journal either. I know, it's shocking. There has been ALOT going on, so I do feel like I have some very good excuses as to why I have not posted in over five (yikes!) months.
Here is a quick recap of what has been happening in the Stanger family since January:
FEBRUARY
*Jared turned 24 at the beginning of February. He admitted to me that he had never had a surprise party so I made it my mission to throw him one. Anyone that knows me will know how hard it was, due to the fact that I get so excited about surprises that I usually blab about them waaaay before they happen. However, I managed to muster up all of the self control I had and threw him a fun surprise party where he was genuinely surprised.
*JJ started walking right around this time, too. He had been standing by himself and cruising along everything, but this is when he finally managed to get the courage to try and move somewhere by himself. He was so excited and this quickly became his only means of getting from one place to another.
*JJ celebrated his first Valentines' Day. I have never really been big on this holiday, but now that we had a new love in our lives, I wanted to make it extra special for him. I made some goody bags for the kids I babysat and got JJ a few special things. His favorite was a big bottle of bubbles. He would get really excited and squeal every time we blew some at him. Babies just make life better!
MARCH
* Around the beginning of the month we found out that I am pregnant with Baby Stanger #2! Yes, it was planned and yes, we might be a little crazy having two kids so close together, but we couldn't be more thrilled! I have been to the doctor a few times and everything is going great! I am due November 13 and we found out today what the gender is. (That is for another post!) I was pretty sick for the first four and a half months, but the last few weeks have been great. I am so excited to have another little monkey running around.
* We celebrated JJ's last "First" holiday: St. Patrick's Day. I dressed him up in a cute outfit with lots of green (ensuring that his mom and dad were the only ones pinching those cute cheeks). I have never been really big on this holiday either, so wearing green was the extent of our celebrating. Maybe if we were Irish we would have made a bigger deal of it...
*JJ turned one! I do make a big deal of birthdays and I love birthday parties, so I threw JJ a Baby Mickey themed party. It was so much fun and our poor little apartment was bursting with all of the people who came to help celebrate. He is such a fun little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. Jared and I have often talked about what we did before we were parents, and have come to the conclusion that whatever it was, it wasn't anything great because we really can't remember. I love being a mom!
APRIL
*Jared graduated from BYU-Idaho! He is so ridiculously great and I am going to brag about him for a minute. Not only did he earn a degree, but because he was able to go to school year-round, he was able to earn his bachelor's degree in two and a half years. Amazing! If that isn't enough, he graduated with a 3.66 cumulative gpa. And if that isn't enough, he did it while working 20 hours a week
and with a wife and baby at home (which was probably the hardest part of all). He is incredible and I am so lucky to be his wife! I love him so much!!
*We
finally got to move away from Rexburg! Hooray! Even though we just moved across the state to Boise, I am totally stoked (do people still use that word?) to be out of there. I am loving everything about Boise- the weather, the shopping, our new doctor, how I don't have to buy everything off of Amazon. However, now that I have been away for a little while, I look back and realize that there are some great things about Rexburg, although I am not eager to move back any time soon. Rexburg is where we had our first home together, where our first child was born, where we grew both spiritually and physically (we got pretty fat!), and where we learned a lot about each other. I do miss all of our family and our great friends, and I wish they would all just move to Boise with us. We are planning a trip to visit everyone sometime soon, though!
*We have been staying at my mom's house until we found jobs and a place to live. Overall, it has been great (with one minor, nameless exception) and I am so thankful to them for letting us stay with them. We both have jobs, so now we are just waiting until we can find somewhere we are all comfortable with. Until then, we will stay cozied up in the room all three of us are sharing.
MAY
*On May 4, my sweet Grandpa Waters passed away. He was such a great man who accomplished so much in his life and I miss him so much. He was so funny and always made me laugh. I will randomly be driving or watching a movie or something and I will remember something he said or did and I will just start laughing. He was such a sweetheart and I'm so lucky to have known him. I love you Grandpa.
*On a much lighter note, I got
a job at The Gap. I know what you all are thinking, and it is totally true: I will not make any money working here. But, my justification is that we will probably break even because we shop there any way and now, we can just spend my paychecks instead of Jared's hard-earned money. Plus, with my sweet discount, we can buy twice as much. It's great logic, don't ya think! The funny thing is that I applied at The Gap in February, way before I knew I was pregnant. I had totally given up on it and was all set on being a stay-at-home mom until I randomly got a call for an interview in the middle of May. Jared and I talked about it and it was too good to pass up, so I took the job. Now, I have the best-dressed husband and kid and our new baby is going to be getting some cute new clothes very soon! I have to order maternity clothes online, which isn't nearly as fun, but I am getting around to it. So far, it has been really fun working there and I hope I can keep working there after I have the baby.
*Jared got a job at Best Buy. He went on a few job shadows at a bunch of doctors' offices and at St. Lukes, but he is competing in a market where a master's degree is a requirement. Luckily, he applied at Best Buy and snagged a job in the computer department, which he loves. He is working a lot and is already on his way up. Have I mentioned how great he is?!
*Around the end of the month, JJ had his first big accident. We were on a walk and I was pulling him in his wagon. I didn't buckle him in because he usually sits pretty still while he's riding. (I know, a rookie mistake.)
We stopped to pick up a rock on the curb and the next I knew JJ was falling face-first out of the wagon and onto the sidewalk. Luckily, he was already leaning out and the wagon isn't too tall, but let's just say there was a lot of blood and crying. I managed to stay pretty calm throughout the whole ordeal until Jared came to pick us up and then I just lost it. It is really scary seeing your little boy bleed that much! Anyway, he was ok. No concussion, no brain damage, just a few scrapes and a fat lip. The coolest thing was that he healed really fast and after about five days, you couldn't even tell that he had been hurt. It was pretty amazing. Needless to say, JJ wears his seatbelt every time he rides in the wagon now.
JUNE
*JJ took his first trip to the zoo. The Boise Zoo has had a lot of improvements since I was there last and we had so much fun watching his reactions to all of the animals. He loved the penguins! There is a spot where you can go down below the tank and watch them dive and swim under the water and he sat and squealed every time one got close. He is such a good boy and didn't really throw any tantrums the whole day. We will definitely have to go again!
*We went on a vacation to the Oregon Coast and had a blast! It was JJ's first trip to the ocean and he loved everything about it- the water, the birds, the sand, and the food. We rented a house right on the beach and had the most amazing views from our balcony and windows. The best part is that my dad flew over from Georgia and my brothers and my sister-in-law all met us there. It was so nice to relax and spend time with everyone. My brother Jared cooked for us and we all went on long walks on the beach. It was so much fun and it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone.
I will be very impressed if you made it through this entire post up to this point. It's alot, I know. I wouldn't blame you if you just scrolled through and looked at the pictures (I do this most of the time). I will do another post soon after my ultrasound tomorrow and will maybe even post some pictures of our new little monkey. And who knows, maybe I will even do another post in a week or so (right after I update my journal).
As for the baby details, everything is great with her and me. She is measuring right on schedule and we got some great pictures of her face and her long Stanger legs (lucky girl!). She is a wiggler and loves to let me know she is awake. Jared has even been lucky enough to feel her moving around a few times. As for names, we pretty much have it narrowed down to a very short list, but it is always up for discussion and nothing is certain yet. I am so excited to have her here so I can finally have a shopping and pedicure buddy!
*Jared turned 24 at the beginning of February. He admitted to me that he had never had a surprise party so I made it my mission to throw him one. Anyone that knows me will know how hard it was, due to the fact that I get so excited about surprises that I usually blab about them waaaay before they happen. However, I managed to muster up all of the self control I had and threw him a fun surprise party where he was genuinely surprised.
*JJ celebrated his first Valentines' Day. I have never really been big on this holiday, but now that we had a new love in our lives, I wanted to make it extra special for him. I made some goody bags for the kids I babysat and got JJ a few special things. His favorite was a big bottle of bubbles. He would get really excited and squeal every time we blew some at him. Babies just make life better!
*JJ turned one! I do make a big deal of birthdays and I love birthday parties, so I threw JJ a Baby Mickey themed party. It was so much fun and our poor little apartment was bursting with all of the people who came to help celebrate. He is such a fun little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. Jared and I have often talked about what we did before we were parents, and have come to the conclusion that whatever it was, it wasn't anything great because we really can't remember. I love being a mom!
*Jared graduated from BYU-Idaho! He is so ridiculously great and I am going to brag about him for a minute. Not only did he earn a degree, but because he was able to go to school year-round, he was able to earn his bachelor's degree in two and a half years. Amazing! If that isn't enough, he graduated with a 3.66 cumulative gpa. And if that isn't enough, he did it while working 20 hours a week and with a wife and baby at home (which was probably the hardest part of all). He is incredible and I am so lucky to be his wife! I love him so much!!
*We finally got to move away from Rexburg! Hooray! Even though we just moved across the state to Boise, I am totally stoked (do people still use that word?) to be out of there. I am loving everything about Boise- the weather, the shopping, our new doctor, how I don't have to buy everything off of Amazon. However, now that I have been away for a little while, I look back and realize that there are some great things about Rexburg, although I am not eager to move back any time soon. Rexburg is where we had our first home together, where our first child was born, where we grew both spiritually and physically (we got pretty fat!), and where we learned a lot about each other. I do miss all of our family and our great friends, and I wish they would all just move to Boise with us. We are planning a trip to visit everyone sometime soon, though!
*JJ took his first trip to the zoo. The Boise Zoo has had a lot of improvements since I was there last and we had so much fun watching his reactions to all of the animals. He loved the penguins! There is a spot where you can go down below the tank and watch them dive and swim under the water and he sat and squealed every time one got close. He is such a good boy and didn't really throw any tantrums the whole day. We will definitely have to go again! 
