First Year

Being almost 33 weeks pregnant and unable to do many of the things I used to enjoy doing (mainly because I have no energy in this 100 degree weather), I've been trying to think of hobbies to occupy my time. I then remembered that once upon a time I had a blog, but that blog is a health motivational blog... Seeing as I've completely let myself slide this first year of marriage, I would feel guilty even thinking of posting in that blog. So I thought, hmmm, I bet everybody would just love to read about my life and random thoughts, so I'm going to write about the life and times of us Bakers! I know you're excited (all two of you reading this)...

So, here I am on our 1-year anniversary thinking to myself, "I feel like Scott and I have known each other FOREVER!" and at the same time thinking, "How on earth has this first year of marriage gone so fast?!" and "How has so much happened in one single year?!"

Being my OCD self, I immediately started organizing and categorizing my recollections of this past year in my brain, and realized that I should probably record these thoughts for future posterity and figured this blog was probably the way to get me excited about that. Here goes:

Major events of this last year:

• Marriage to Scott July 15th, 2011
• My back goes out July 22nd and stays out until October 15th -- Boy, was that fun!
• Honeymoon to Hawaii's (Big Island) Wai Kaloa Hilton-- Incredible! (Other than my back being out) Haha!
• I had a fever of over 100 (up to 104 for two days) for two weeks at the beginning of October with no explanation from doctors
• 3rd week of October - I'm finally free from all of my ailments! Wahoo!
• October 26th - Got a new nephew, Kimball (Lance and Becky's)... So stinkin' cute!
• November 6th - Scott has an ER visit -- His turn! Takes a few months to recover mentally and financially!
• December 28th (?) - Got a new nephew, Isom (Kempton and Bonnie's)... Also, so stinkin' cute!
• In December, I start to notice that out of nowhere I'm extremely competitive and angry... What the junk?
• January 2, 2012 - I did my first workout in a long time and laid on the floor bawling after the warm-up portion of my video because I'm so depressed about how far I've let myself slide.
• January 3rd - Laid in bed bawling that night because of my 50lb weight-gain over the last year... Then realized I was way too emotional about everything and cried some more. Then got really motivated to get back on the bandwagon to get those 50lbs back off.
• January 5th - Found out I was pregnant (as of December 1st). Haha! That explains everything! So much for my motivation to lose weight... Hopefully it will come back after baby is born!
• In February (I'll have to ask specific dates :s) Grandma Lance passed away. I sobbed for an entire weekend because I was picturing her back with my Grandpa Lance and happy a full of life again.
• In April (again, forgot the specific date) Aunt Carolyn passed away. After her ridiculous health struggles, I was again glad that she could be free from all of her pain. I always admired her positive attitude and sense of humor despite her struggles. What a great woman!
• April 24th - Find out that our new little one will be a GIRL - Jayna Lynn!
• May 2nd - Scott starts his new job as a PSR. What a blessing, except his ridiculous management team!
• May 14th - My last day working at BSU as an accompanist after 11 years. Very bittersweet! Still teaching voice though (would never forgive myself if I quit that)
• June 15-17th - Cox family reunion and baby shower... Fun times, but the last time I'm travelling while pregnant!
• July 14th - Boise baby shower... Way fun!
• Spaces in between? Pure boredome... I'm not good with down time!

Bored yet? Sure hope not because now I get to post what I've learned in this crazy, eventful year:

• First off, I've learned that no matter how much you think you have your life put together, there will always be trials to test your boundaries, your faith, and to keep you humble.
• Marriage is wonderful! One of the reasons is because as you go through trials, you have someone by your side helping you with your trials and loving you despite your trials.
• Marriage is difficult! One of the reasons is because as your spouse goes through trials, you realize that those trials are also your trials. Therefore, you have twice as many trials, but twice the help to get through them. The difficult part for us this year has been to remain positive despite the rough start.
• I've learned that being single for almost 32 years (for me) and 31 years (for Scott) was such a blessing (though it didn't seem that way at the time)... We both learned so much in those years that prepared us to be a better spouse for one another and wouldn't give that up for anything. The greatest admiration we have for each other, is the other's ability to empathize... I can't imagine being married to someone without this incredibly important attribute!
• Despite my efforts to keep ties with friends, it's next to impossible to do when you're creating the strongest, longest lasting, and most important tie. The realization that your friends will come and go hit me hard (being a person who has a hard time letting go), but I'm so grateful for an incredible family and husband that will always be there! This is not saying I don't love my friends to death and that I won't continue to keep ties... I just had the realization this year that most people have right after high school. I'm a little slow.
• I've learned that back pain and pregnancy totally change a person... I keep joking that Scott has yet to be married to the girl he married. But then again, having a child changes a person, so we'll just continue changing together throughout the rest of our lives. Goodbye old Jerusha, hello new Jerusha. Hopefully I can make these "progressive" changes rather than "digressive" changes.
• Most importantly, I've learned that I married the perfect man for me! It has seemed through this year that our strengths and weaknesses have perfectly complimented each other. We've definitely had the trials to test this. I'm so grateful for Scott's ability to always make me smile (even during all of my hormonal sob-fests), his fascination and drive to help and love everyone around him, and his incredible gift of communication... There's nothing that we can't/don't talk about.

So there you have it, a year's worth of brain-dump. Don't worry, all posts won't be this long! It will also be much more exciting in the future as my sis-in-law Becky teaches me the blogging ropes. I'll be able to do pictures and all sorts of fun stuff!