Baby Tongue!

Baby Update: Tray has a new found obsession with his tongue! Its so funny! It just started this last week. He'll just stick his tongue out to the side and let it hang there. Its so cute. Everytime he does it we laugh at him so he now thinks its really funny and loves the attention. He tries sticking it out really far to reach things he decides he wants to lick, which I have to admit is super funny to watch. He has such a fun goofy personality. His other new tricks are grabbing EVERYTHING. Clothes, hair, jewelery, food, etc. Attempting to eat EVERYTHING. Clothes, hair, jewelery, food, books, paper, walls, shoes, etc. Diving after anything that looks interesting and scaring Mommy to death. And farting on peoples laps and looking at them and laughing. :) He's so silly. He is 7 months old today! That just seems so crazy to me. He is growing like crazy. He tries to scoot now when on his belly, and hes learning to stand on his own. He stands against the couch or a chair or the back of the church pew. He'll smile and laugh at just about anyone. He is very friendly. He is eating more solids too. We try new things every week or so. We have learned so far that bananas and peas do not agree with him so much. He does however love apples, carrots, avacados and sweet potatoes. I'm very happy he's such a good eater.. He's super messy! But definitely a good eater. He has also found his ears and finds them quite entertaining. He'd pull on them all day if I would let him. One of these days I'm afraid he'll just pull them right off. :) He is starting to make some new little friends in our new ward. Most of the babies are older than him which he's not used to. He's used to playing with his little cousin, Emry. So when these older babies start grabbing at HIS face and taking HIS toys he's not sure how to respond. Its really fun being in a ward with so many young parents. We're really enjoying it. I was told today about a play group some of the mommies in the ward do every tuesday. I'm very excited. I love having a reason to get out of the house and I am looking forward to making some new friends. All in all things are going pretty well out here. Wyoming is really starting to grow on me :) I love when Darren and I have a chance to get out and get to know the area. The other night we went bowling which was a lot of fun. I kicked his booty! :) And Tray loved all the neon lights. Here in Rock Springs they have lots of stuff the do during the summer. Most every night there is something going on. Barrell races, motocross races, stock car races, rodeos. We're excited to have so many fun things to do.

Eating Solids

Baby Tongue!

Tray Standing On His Own

Happy Mothers Day!!

Happy mothers day to all the wonderful mothers out there! And all the soon to be mommies! I love this holiday! Being a mom is the best! Darren made me breakfast, which was wonderful. Then he helped Tray make me a present. And a little bit later he will be making dinner.. so awesome. I am currently waiting anxiously to talk to Sarah today. I'm so excited! Well we moved again! But this time we will be staying put. We signed a lease and everything. :) We moved to Rock springs, which is about 15 miles East of Green River where we previously were. The FedEx terminal is here is Rock Springs and Darren loves being closer to work. We now live right above our brother and sister Devin and Rachel. Which is lots of fun! We stomp on the floor and they bang on the ceiling. Its great! Tray and Emry get to spend lots and lots of time together which I love. Well its been a very long time since I have posted and a lot of stuff has happened. Along with moving into our own place, which I couldn't be happier about, we've been back and forth to Ut a TON! We went for Devin and Rachels sealing which was wonderful. Darren was asked to be a witness and I got to hold little Emry over the alter. It was incredible! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day guys! We also went back there to buy a new used car. We bought a rodeo which I thought I would love but its stick and I am not such a fan of stick when there is a baby in the back. It gets complicated. So we'll probably be selling it and getting something else at some point in time. Then Tray and I went down for the week to visit family and to go to his 6 month check up. He is now 15 lbs! Yay! Up to the 12th percentile. It was so good to hear that he is back on track. I don't think he'll ever be one of the fat babies though.. he'll always be tall and skinny like his papa :) He is growing so fast though. He loves jumping in his jumperoo. He will jump for an hour non stop. Its wonderful! It give me a chance to get something done. He also loves watching finding nemo. Its his favorite. He is now eating some solid foods which is a lot of fun. We decided not to do baby cereals just yet. He eats apples, carrots, and now avacados, which I prepare myself (which is a super huge pain in the butt but a whole lot cheaper!). He loves it! He gets really jealous when were eating and don't give him some big boy food. Its so much fun to see how much he is growing and developing. He is sitting up now and rolling over. He's a little late with the rolling thing.. He just never showed any interest in it. But we have been working it a lot and hes doing great! Anyways we were able to go to Quinny and Cassies play which was so much fun! They both did awesome! Then we went and visited my favorite cousin Andi! Tray had alot of fun getting to know his cousins Jared and Derek. They were really cute with him. Especially Jared. He took it upon himself to entertain Tray whenever needed. Then Darren went back down to get our stuff so we could get all moved in. We finally unpacked the last of our junk last night. It feels soo nice to have our own place and all of our own stuff here with us. It finally feels like home! And the ward is awesome.

Tray and Darren making my mothers day present

Tray sitting up

Tray in his Jumperoo

A really cute picture taken by his Aunt Gina after the sealing

Tray looking silly with Aunt Heathers sunglasses on

Tray in his polar bear outfit from Aunt Christie

A really cute picture of little Emry

Special Little Ones

A new baby is like the beginning of all things -wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.-- Eda J. Le Shan

Lately I have been thinking alot about all of these new little babies that have been born, and all the ones in the making, and just how SPECIAL they are. In a time when there is so much corruption in the world we need the strongest and the bravest of all Heavenly Fathers children. All those little soldiers that Heavenly Father has preserved special for this time. We are so blessed to be in their presence. We are so blessed to have the opportunity and the challenge to raise these sweet babies. I love being a Mom. I love being an Aunt. I love being able to interact with these sweet spirits so fresh from heaven. I get to spend my days with my Tray and watch him grow. It is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I am so blessed to have a loving husband who wants me to be home with our son. I also get to spend a lot of time with my new little nephew, Emry. And I get to see Tray and Emry play and grow together. My sister in law Rachel and I often talk and wonder about weather they know each other. Weather they were friends before they came down. And if Tray has been waiting and anticipating his arrival. Its so awesome! We were able to attend little Emry's blessing this last Sunday, it was wonderful. The spirit surrounding these new babies in unmistakable. And now my other sister in law Christie is pregnant! I am so excited for her and Stu! And for another new baby! Congratulations Guys!

It is not a slight thing when those so fresh from God love us.-- Dickens

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.