The Aquarium and So Much More

Wow! It has been a long time since I have blogged! So let me catch you up on all the happenings here in Illinois.

Mike's parents came for a visit on Memorial Day weekend. We went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Jonas loved the fish and all the fun shows. I think his favorite was the penguin show. They were so cute and Jonas couldn't take his eyes off of them. They also had a jellyfish exhibit. I think that was my favorite exhibit we saw. The aquatic show with the dolphins and beluga whales was pretty fun too. :) After our day in the city we went out to Island Lake, IL where Mike was born and raised and visited their old neighborhood. One of their old neighbors was out watering flowers so we stopped and they all talked and got reacquainted. Then we went out to dinner at an old family favorite restaurant Village Squire. We also played Monopoly and Mike would like to claim his victory. Monopoly is his favorite board game and he enjoyed playing with a slightly larger group. It was a fun weekend we had together.        

Well let's see here....Mike quit is job at Walmart back in April and is now a bank teller at Chase Bank. It is a much less stressful job (at least in a different way), better pay, better hours, closer to home...need I go on? Mike finished up his first semester here at UIUC. It was a little tougher than what he is used to. But is moving on better prepared for his future here at UIUC.

Jonas is growing up so fast!! He is almost eight months old. He now has a great interest in toys, actually anything he can get his hands on! He loves the TV remote. He makes a lot of noise too. He babbles and tries to tell you what is on his mind all the time! He has finally discovered the power of rolling. He rolls across the floor whenever you set him down. And even worse when you are changing his diaper...yeah, what a mess. We took him to the doctor a while ago. He is in the 20 something percentile in height, 50 something percentile in weight and like 87th percentile in head circumference. He has a big head!! Just like his daddy! At the appointment when the doctor said that about his head size Mike says, "I wonder where he gets that from?" The doctor looked at each of us then back at Mike and said, "Yeah!" and laughed a little. For those of you who don't know, Mike has a bigger than average size head to say the least. :p Jonas eats solid foods now too. He loves vegetables. He eats the fruit but, doesn't like it as much as the veggies.

Me...well I don't really think there is anything to report. I'm just a stay at home mom with a pretty normal daily routine. Mike and I teach the 5 year olds at church. They are rascals, but we love them and their spirits and spending Sunday afternoons with them. So I spend a lot of time at home with Jonas and working on our lessons. I do enjoy the time Jonas and I spend together, but I do get a little lonely for my husband's company and it will only get worse once he starts up school again. But such is the life of student's wife.

Well that is all the happenings I can think of to report...the Lord is great and the blessings we have received in our little family are so great that words cannot express the gratitude we feel. Love to all and have faith. The Lord knows our trails and will help if we but ask.

Springy

The weather the past few days has been unseasonably warm here. So I felt the urge to change the look of the blog. I love spring time and the bright colors and sunshine :)

Speaking of sunshine, my little sunbeam is growing so fast!!! He smiles every time Mike and I look at him and he giggles all the time now! He is so big already wearing size 6 mos at only 4 mos old! we've been practicing sitting and he's done pretty well. I can't believe how fast he is growing! He was SO little, and now he is so big! He is such a strong little boy and wants what he wants when he wants it. He has quite the personality. It seems like he is walking a thin line of happy and sad. It seems like one minute he's all happy, smiley, giggly Jonas and the next he's screaming his head off. He is so funny and so cute I just love him so much!!!

Mike is loving school! Except for his Chemistry class...he is struggling a little with chem and some of the concepts, but a sister in our ward has offered her skills as a chem tutor, so she might be getting a phone call soon... Mike got promoted at Walmart to Deli!!! He is making 50 cents more there than as a cashier. When we were opening new checking accounts at Chase Bank, the personal banker said they were hiring part time tellers. Mike filled out an application online and got a phone call and has an interview tomorrow afternoon. We don't know what we are going to do if they offer him the job, but keeping our options open is a good thing right? So we'll see how it goes and maybe have to make a really tough decision...

Me, well I'm just trying to adjust to our new life here in Champaign. I finally finished filling out the Medicaid application so hopefully we can get that all in order soon so we can finally get Jonas to the Dr. I've been trying to find some time to do some sewing on my new sewing machine I got for Christmas. Mike and I were called as the CTR 5 primary teachers at church. We teach the little 5 year old's Sunday School class. Last week was our first lesson and Mike had to work. I had fun and it will definitely be easier with two of us.

Life is good for the Moran Family. We love and miss you all! :)

Happy in Champaign

Our little family

Christmas 2011

Well it has been too long! This is honestly the first chance I have had to sit down and actually update our blog basically since Jonas was born. Our lives are so crazy and busy now it is ridiculous!! Being a mom is tough, but I love every minute of it! Jonas makes getting out of bed in the morning a little easier. (But not so easy in the middle of the night...) He is doing so much better with sleeping and eating. He sleeps until about 5:30 in the morning now and then must be fed every 3 hours there after. He eats 5 ounces or so every three hours, so as you can imagine he is gaining weight like there is no tomorrow! (Plus the fact that he is on 22 calorie formula probably doesn't help) I would venture to say that he probably in the ball park of 14 lbs. (We haven't been to the doctor since we have moved)

Speaking of moving, for those of you who don't know, we have moved out to Champaign, IL for Mike's school. He loves the school and his classes. Although only one class from BYU-I transferred. But what his counselor said was to gather syllabus's (syllabi?) from the classes he took at BYU-I and she can set up a meeting with the dean and maybe they can get some of those classes transferred.
It is a really old campus so all the buildings are old brick and really neat to look at and walk through. But it is very different from BYU-I! I took Jonas to campus one day with Mike in his stroller...we looked really out of place!! Not too many married undergrads with children here... We love our new ward as well. They are so friendly and we are starting to make a few friends as well. But most of the other married students are post-grad students...

Mike was able to transfer to the Walmart here in Champaign. Though the process took much to long. To make a long story short, the Walmart in Utah screwed everything up and they basically had to start all over with the transfer process, but they finally got everything all straightened out and Mike started work on Saturday. He is working as a cashier part-time. But there is a chance that they will move him over to close deli. Which would mean being paid $9.15/hr rather than the $8.65/hr he's making as a cashier. Plus he could work a closing shift into his school schedule better than the cashier job. But nothing is set in stone, but we are hopeful.

Reece moved out here with us too. It is really nice to have him around to help out with Jonas! He just applied at Pizza Hut as a delivery driver so hopefully they hire him and he can start making money to contribute to the community pot! :p

Life in Illinois has been pretty good so far. The weather is unseasonably warm. I'm told the winters here are a lot like the winters in Rexburg, but you couldn't prove it! It was in the 60s today and has been in the 50s for almost a week...I'm starting to believe in this whole global warming thing... :p I am just grateful that we are all safe and happy and healthy. Just remember that yes there are things in life that get us down, but there are so many more things in life to be grateful for and things that make us happy! :)