FRIENDS

Before I got married I had never really watched the show FRIENDS. My mother is not much of a fan of the show so we never watched it growing up. But when Darren and I got married he already owned the last 4 seasons. Since then we have collected the missing 6 and are always on a round. We start at season 1 and go through all 10 then start over again. So since Tray was conceived he has always heard it going on in the back ground. And now he loves watching it with us and we just think its so funny. Every time we have it on Tray just hangs out and watches contently, which doesn't happen with any other shows or movies. He loves the theme song too. Last night he was talking right along with Phoebe and Monica. :) I know its probably not the best show for a 4 month old to get hooked on, but we get a kick out of it. He knows their voices and always knows when we turn an episode on.

In this picture Tray and I are sitting on the couch watching FRIENDS together. Ha ha Man, I'm a terrible Mother.

Its Official!

Well everyone, we have officially moved to Wyoming! Now there is something I never thought I'd say. And yet its true! Good ol' Wyoming. The land of wind and cold. Beef country. Yep.. Wyoming. Green River to be exact. After many months of job hunting in our beloved Utah and still coming up with nothing, we decided to move out here so Darren could run FedEx for his papa. Darren and a couple of his brothers are eventually going to take over the business as partners. Its definitely not the life I had imagined for us, its a very big change from Salt Lake City Utah. Not everyone is Mormon here! Weird! Ha ha I think I'm suffering from a bit of culture shock. As hard as it is to pick up and leave our family we know that there is a reason for us to be out here. Actually Darren has been really excited about it for months. I on the other hand have whined and protested the whole time. :) What can I say, I like Utah! I like knowing where I am going and knowing all the good places to eat and shop.. I had honestly planned to live there my whole life. Never once contemplated raising a family anywhere else. But I think Heavenly Father had other plans for us. And I am sure I will grow to love it here as well. All joking aside we are very blessed to have an opportunity to create an income for our family. Especially in an economy in which the unemployment rate is sky-rocketing. And lets be honest.. Baby's aren't cheap!! Tray is expensive! So even though I think its cold and I miss my family very much I am grateful to be here. Besides, its horse country out here! And anyone who really know me knows I have always had a dream of owning horses. And I really think in a few years we could start making that dream come true. Always gotta look for that silver lining. :) We are planning on checking out our new ward this week and meeting some people, were excited for that. And I get to spend a lot of quality time with my little Tray-bug. He is just so much fun! He is laughing a lot now, and loves games of Peak-a-boo and "I'm gonna getcha!" We get to hang out all day long. Never a dull moment, that's for sure! We dance and sing and play and read together, I feed him A LOT and we take naps. Its really quite great! We have fun! And both of us can hardly wait for Daddy to get home. Tray gets soo excited! Its so cute. He gets super cranky if Darren is late getting home and he doesn't get his Papa time. And although I really do love my days with Tray, I love the chance to talk to another adult after many hours of Patty-cake and Peak-a-boo. :)

As for his eating situation, He is doing a lot better. I had to start supplementing him with formula to get his weight up. So for a few days I nursed then gave him a bottle, but after a few days he refused to nurse. No matter what I tried. It was like we were back to square one. It was awful. BUT with the extra food he gained 10 ounces in 5 days! It was awesome! Once he found out what a full stomach felt like he started eating like a mad man! He was getting 2 ounces when I was nursing him, cause apparently that's all I can produce, then once he started eating from a bottle he went from 2 to 3 to 4 and now to 5 ounces in a feeding. And he is just LOVIN it! I tried pumping like I did when he was a newborn and giving that to him so it wasn't strictly formula and he would still be getting as much breast milk as I could give him, but after a couple weeks my milk supply, as little as it was, started to dwindle even more. It not the same stimulus as nursing and sometimes when you're just pumping you just can't keep your milk going. So now he is just eating the formula. I give him some juice sometimes and will start him on some solid foods soon. As hard as it is for me knowing that I'll never get to nurse him again, I am glad he is getting the food he needs and gaining weight well. He is just perfect. Everything is coming together great!

Congratulations to our brother and sister in law Devin and Rachel, who were blessed with a beautiful baby boy February 25. Little Emry Devin Anderson! Trays first little cousin. :)

Aunt Heather

For a while now I have been promising my sister Heather that she would make an appearance on the blog but for some reason all the cameras in the world seem to be lost or broken, including mine. I can't find it anywhere! Anyways I've been putting off doing this post because I haven't been able to find my camera. Then today I realised that I had some pictures of her already on my computer! Ha Ha silly me. Anyways! Ever since Tray was born he has been loved so very much by so many people. He has an incredible family and is constantly surrounded by love. He and his aunt Heather often hang out and do all sorts of fun stuff. You wouldn't believe the games she can come up with for a 4 month old! Weather its running from the bad guys or catching the goblins, they're always on some kind of adventure. She has been really great and helped out so much. She never hesitates to change a diaper, even if its one the rest of us run from. :) This last week she helped me give Tray a bath in the sink which was very interesting! She got the perfect picture of our little experience. Since Tray was a couple weeks old I would fill up the tub and either me or Darren would just get in with Tray. It seems so much easier to me. I can hold him in my lap and not have to worry about him sliding all over the place and he just loves it! He's like a little frog when he gets in the bath tub. He kicks and splashes and bounces off my tummy while smiling like a goof ball. But for lack of time we tried the kitchen sink. I think its pretty clear what he thinks of it..

Ha Ha I love this picture. So funny!

We love you Aunt Heather!

4 Month Check Up

Although Tray is not quite 4 months old yet, we went in for his 4 month check up last night. He was originally supposed to go in in another week but we will be with Darren in WY next week. So we went in last night instead and found out that Tray has only gained one pound since his 2 month check up. It was quite devastating. He went from being very consistent in the 10th percentile down to being in the very scary 3rd percentile. It is very frustrating for me. Since Tray was born we have had many trials to overcome when it comes to feeding. I have always wanted to nurse my children and I was determined to do so. After every breastfeeding problem imaginable and weeks of tears we were finally able to nurse. It has been wonderful and I really thought we were making progress. He had been gaining weight great and growing like a weed. It was kind of a blow to the stomach to hear he had completely dropped off the chart. Especially because the majority of my days are spent feeding him. When he's hungry he eats, when he's upset he eats, when he wakes up during the night HE EATS! I swear that's all we do. So it was very hard for me to hear that it just hasn't been good enough. So now we get to start experimenting to try to figure out what he will actually eat so he can start gaining the weight that he needs. Its been pretty rough and will probably continue to be a challenge. But I am sure it will make us all stronger :) I found a quote this last week that I decided will be the new motto for our family.. "Every obstacle presents us with an opportunity to improve our current conditions" So that is the light that I am trying to look at this "obstacle" in. And even though things aren't ideal right now we still have so much to be grateful for. Tray is beautiful and so alert and fun. He is developing great and just so smiley! And he is otherwise very healthy. And for that we are very blessed.



Other than that things seem to be going pretty well for us. Darren started working with his dad doing FedEx a few weeks ago and its been great so far. Although Darren has had to go back and forth to Logan alot, and that's hard on all of us. Tray knows his daddy very well and definitely notices when he is gone. We both miss him very much. But hopefully the back-and-forth thing won't last too much longer and we'll finally be able to settle down.

Busy Busy BUSY!

It seems strange to me that although I rarely leave the house these days I can still feel like I've been running all over the place! This last week or so has been pretty busy. There has been alot going on. Alot of events to attend. Don't get me wrong I love every chance I have to be out in the grown up world again but its pretty tricky with a 2 1/2 month old that likes to eat every 2 hours. But I have been trying make due. It has been interesting to say the least. Anyways we had the awesome privilege to go to the open house of the new Draper Temple. It is beautiful! Tray loved all the lights :)

It really was gorgeous. But midway through the tour Tray got super hungry and they don't really have any place to nurse so I ended up having to give him some formula. Not good. He was up ALL night crying with a tummy ache. The poor thing. Then my dear sister in law, Christie, received her endowments but unfortunately I couldn't make it to that. I did get to go to Stu and Christies sealing though! To do so I brought Tray with and nursed him in the car right up until it was about to start then ran in handed him off to his Aunt Heather and ran to the sealing room. But I am glad I did. It was so awesome! I was tearing up the whole time. I am so happy for them! My oldest brother Cody was able to fly in for the happy event as well which was really nice. It was great to have him here. His family was not able to come out with him, so we missed them. But it was fun to have him meet Tray. That and he was really good at getting Tray to fall asleep, so I loved that :) Darren also started a new job. Its nothing special and hopefully we can find something better, but for now we are grateful for it. I swear NO ONE in Utah is hiring for a decent job! If anyone knows of anything please let me know! So he has been pretty busy working lots of hours. But he is doing really great and they love having him. Such a hard worker! :) Tray misses his Dad alot though when he's working. He gets really happy when Darren is home and has time to play with him. Tray tell the wildest stories to his Daddy. Its cute! Here is a picture of Tray talking. This is my all time favorite picture!

Ha ha I love it! He is so alive and alert it is so much fun. He talks and smiles ALL the time! AND... I've heard him laugh twice now! Its pretty much the most adorable sound I have ever heard. But unfortunately he has decided to only be giggly at 2 in the morning when I am the only one around to hear it. (Frustrating, yet Flattering) :) So no one believes that he has done it. Man he is just soo cute! I can't seem to get enough of him! But I guess all Moms get that feeling. :) He is looking more and more like Darren everyday which Darren loves. He'll say things like "Man I love that you look like your Papa!".. Honestly I don't know weather to sit back and enjoy the cute moment or slap Darren for insinuating that he is glad our son doesn't look like his Mama. Ha ha Well anyways.. Until Next Post!

Grandma & Grandpa Young

Today I wanted to post a very special thank you to my parents. The past few months have not been easy ones for our little family. And I honestly do not know where we would be if it weren't for my parents. They have been our saving grace! My mom has been especially amazing. Being new parents is pretty hard stuff, but We have been lucky enough to have my mom close by to help us (especially me) learn the ropes. I swear she knows everything about everything! She has been there for me and Tray every step of the way. She was there when he was born and is still helping me everyday. Weather it was helping me figure out how to feed him, bathe him, burp him, get him to sleep, or even taking him after a super long night just so that I could get some sleep myself, she has done it all. She is an instant baby-sleeping machine! :) There have been times I would try and try and try to get Tray to take a nap, then after alot of rocking, bouncing and frustration I give him her and he is out like a light! Its pretty much amazing. No matter how much I need her help she is always ready and willing to help me. And there has never been a time she hasn't been excited to see and hold and play with Tray. And for that I am very very grateful. Kudos to all the new parents out there who are learning how to do everything on their own! I'd like to think We could have done it, but I sure am glad that we did not have to.

So, to Grandma and Grandpa Young-

Thank you soo much! Thank you for your love, for your support, for your constant concern for us. Thank you for helping us move a thousand times. Thank you for putting a roof over our heads and food in our bellies (We know how much food it takes to fill my husbands belly :) ) Thank you for being willing to hold Tray so I can take a nap or eat or take a shower! Thank you for the late night prayers and the early morning hugs. Thank you for loving Trayden. We love you both So much!

A Tribute To New Daddies

I have always said that I think there is nothing cuter than a new Dad. There is just something so special and so endearing about them. And being able to see that bond develop is simply irresistable! Darren is such a terrific Dad! I can't help but just watch them together and think to myself how lucky I am to have them both. I Love them both So much! ( I love this picture! )