A few of my favorite things...

Another crazy week has come and gone! My older sister was over today and she hadn't seen William in a week. We were marveling yet again at how much this little guy can change in a week! It's been fun to find the things that William loves. It's interesting because these little newborns can't show much emotion. One thing we know he loves is eating. Which is probably why I haven't posted in the last week. That's about all we do lately! One of our other favorite activities is taking bathes. Honestly, I know he doesn't NEED a bath every night, but for the last week it has become a favorite activity! It started partially because Grandma Tyler LOVES giving babies baths. And sometimes he really does need it (with all of his fountains). But giving him a bath before he really goes to bed at night definitely calms him down! He sleeps so much better during the nights when he has a bath first!He rarely cries in his little tub, as long as he has a washcloth on his chest and his feet are in the water. He hates cold feet! He just sits there looking around, soaking it all in. We've been using Johnson's Bedtime Bath Soap and it works wonders! I love how good he smells after, too!
He does cry when we take him from the water to the towel, but as soon as we wrap him up he cuddles right up!

I also love watching this kid sleep! He loves the Utes, but was a little embarrassed by their performance the other night against BYU...He's starting to fill out, too! Yes, he is still a tall skinny little guy, but he's starting to get a nice little belly and some extra skin on his arms and legs! Not quite as skinny! Oh, and speaking of loving watching him sleep...he likes to wiggle out of his blankets and we usually find him with his arms above his head like this.

What a stud!

They grow HOW fast??

William had his 2 week appointment, and boy was it exciting! I love our pediatrician. Dr. Fox was my pediatrician and is good friends with both mine and Danny's parents. We were interested to see if William had gained any weight, because as skinny as he is, he looks like he's filling out a little bit. Here are his stats:

At Birth:

Weight: 6 lbs 11 oz (which dropped to 6 lbs 3 oz in the days after he was born)

Height: 21.3 inches

2 Weeks:

Weight: 7lbs 5 oz

Height 22.3 inches

When he was at his lowest he was in the 9th percentile for his weight and the 89th for his height. He is now in the 15th percentile for his weight and in the 95th percentile for his height!!! Talk about long and skinny! I was changing his diaper earlier today and he started to flex his legs out, so I couldn't resist taking this picture!

Check out those legs! Those skinny little ankles and big feet get me every time! I didn't really realize how much he could grow so fast until we put this cute brown outfit on him for the second time, which, when we put it on him the first time it fit perfectly! But this morning when we put it on, the buttons were a little tighter between his legs.

I seriously can't get enough of this little guy! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind, but the more we figure out this mommy and daddy thing, the more we fall in love with him! He's so sweet and cuddly! We're definitely blessed to have such a calm child! For now at least. He gets that from the Tyler side (ha ha).

He has some great facial expressions... but we're too slow to capture the best ones!!! Here's one of my favorites:

When dessert is that good...

On Sunday we had a family dinner at Danny's parents house. It's starting to be a full house with all the cousins (and another on the way!). We had been talking earlier about that day about how William seems to be filling out a little bit, but when we got there and compared him to his cousin Thomas, we were again reminded just how little William looks! After dinner was finished we had dessert. Andrea had made delicious Eclair desert. By far a favorite of many people there! At one point we looked back at the table to see Jackson-the last one sitting there-giggling to himself, face and hands covered, as he licked every last drop of chocolate and pudding off of his plate! The dessert was so good, I think all of us were tempted to do the same! Before putting it away Andrea asked if anyone wanted more and without missing a beat, Jackson yelled "Me, me, me!"

Oh, to be two years old!

Here we are... coming to the end of week two! I think it might be settling in that he's mine! For a while I felt like "So when are his parents coming to pick him up?" Just kidding. It is a crazy adjustment though! Our skinny little guy looks like his face is filling out a little bit! It'll be interesting to see how he measures at his two week appt tomorrow. We love our doctor (Dr. Fox at Bryner Clinic) and the nurses there are all great, too. Last week when we took him in to be checked after his night at Primary's, all the nurses were commenting about how cute he is. Then when I got in the elevator to go to the car another nurse got on and said, "Oh! Is this that five day old baby everyone was talking about in there?!?! He's so cute!" Score! William made the nurse's cut! He really is a cute baby!

A night in the hospital...

As we were getting ready to leave LDS Hospital to come home, the pediatrician told us that his biliruben levels were high, not horribly, but enough that he wanted us to come back the next day to have them retested. So we went home Sunday and returned Monday morning. Shortly after returning home again, the pediatrician called and said they'd shot up even higher and we needed to get to Primary's a.s.a.p. to get him under the lights so we could get it down. To be honest, I was exhausted and a 24 hour stay at Primary's did not sound very appealing, but of course we went. The nurses there told us that most of the time babies HATE the bed because they can't be swaddled in it, so we were preparing ourselves for a long night. Luckily he loved it! It turned out to be a pretty good night. We had to leave him on for as long as possible between feedings, so we got some good sleep, and the nurses and lactation consultant were a big help! We couldn't help but laugh as we watched him lounge about in his sun bed... all he needed was a cold drink with a little umbrella in it!

All the stickers and monitors they put on him were a nightmare to take off! They took one off at the hospital, leaving a nice little raw mark on his belly. They recommended we go home and give him a bath to help the others come off. Luckily my mom was there to help, because he was miserable! They were so hard to get off!
His pacifier has saved us! This kid loves to suck. One of the books we've been reading classifies different kinds of eaters. We put him in the baracuda catagory. The nurse at the hospital referred to it as a "death grip!" We'll put his pacifier in his mouth and his hands go straight to his face (same when he eats).

He's here!!!

It has been a crazy week (I can't believe it's been a week?!?!) so I'm a little late, but our cute little William is here and healthy! What a cute baby. Seriously... he is a dream! He was born February 12th at 5:01 pm, weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long! This little guy is long and skinny!!! But William is a dream. I could sit and hold him all day just staring at him! Danny is an amazing dad and I've been so grateful to have him here everyday! We have tons of pictures so stay tuned because there are more to come!

The waiting game...

I wish I had some exciting pictures to post, or some crazy story, but nothing comes to mind. This Young family has been playing a lot of the waiting game lately. Which, let's be honest, is hard for me because I am way too impatient. Crazily enough though, at least one aspect of the waiting game is soon to be over because we have a week until the due date. I still don't know if I believe it.Sometimes I find myself laying in bed, and in those moments of comfort before my hips start numbing up, I think to myself "No, it can't really be true. I'm not pregnant. I mean really. Parents? US???" That's usually when the sore back/hips kick in, or I get a nice kick in the ribs to bring me back to reality.

Then I start thinking about how even though it's going to be hard, it will be amazing. Just to hold a new little life. Our son. A new little body that has so recently been with our Heavenly Father! Then I think about the family names we are thinking about using, like James for his middle name, which would be after my great-great-great-grandfather, an amazing pioneer and member of the Mormon Battalion. Did he get to meet him? That would be pretty cool if he did.

Okay, not to change thoughts in the middle of this post, but we realized that we haven't shared about "Baby Chuck." A couple of months ago, my youngest brother decided he wanted to call this kid Chuck. And now he always says "How's Baby Chuck doin?" I guess word got out about it, because at our Tyler family Christmas party, with all the extended family, I got a surprise present from a mysterious Santa. I opened it up and inside was a bright pink shirt! Now it's not just Ted that thinks of him as Baby Chuck. Not the greatest picture but we decided we needed to get at least one picture in the shirt before it was too late! So at 39 weeks...

Here's a close up of what is on the belly of the shirt...Thank you to this mysterious Santa (cough cough... Liz and Steve.... ) for the funny shirt!

We're excited (and a little antsy) about all that could happen in the next week!

Those cheerleaders look a little pathetic next to all those girls. No offense...

Tonight Danny and I went to the University of Gymnastics. Let me tell you... those girls can move! I was so impressed! Unfortunately we missed the first half (which usually is my favorite half to watch) where they do the uneven bars and the vault. It was fun to go with Auntie Anita in years past, who knows everything about how they score gymnastics. It made me realize that it's like rugby in that there are SO many little rules that I have NO idea about (I do vote that gymnastics are cooler to watch than rugby. Nothing against rugby... gymnasts are just so coordinated and amazing!). Danny and I did make a couple of observations though:

1: Swoop should NOT wear a gymnastics leotard. Too weird.

2: Cheerleaders look a little out of place at gymnastic meets.

It's true. Let's be honest. Cheerleaders are great at basketball games and football games. But those gymnasts were on a whole different level then the cheerleaders. They cheer for themselves, and run around doing their own flips. There is no comparison.

So... don't go to the meets to watch the cheerleaders or to be impressed by Swoop. But I definitely recommend that if you've never been to a meet then you should go check them out!

Down to weeks...

I apologize to those who have noticed that we haven't really posted any pictures of us lately. We haven't done much out of the ordinary lately to be honest. I did realize, however, that we really don't have any pictures of me looking pregnant. I think it's mostly because I've been told for so long how I haven't really looked that pregnat, so I figured I'd wait till I did, and never got around to it. So anyway, we broke down and just took a picture. It's a little crazy to realize that you've been counting down the months, but suddenly find yourself counting down weeks because there are no months left!!!

One Month

I know I'm long overdue for a post with some pictures of us. They are coming! I promise. But for now these will have to do... Danny and I have been blown away though, by the fact that this baby's due date is only a month away! We've been keeping busy trying to get projects done and get things ready for when he comes! We had another ultrasound this week, which was great. The last one we had was a little nerve-wracking, but it was nice to hear that even though he is still small and a little skinny, he's growing consistently. Some things were still low, so they're still going to watch him closely, but they sounded pretty happy with his growth. It was also the first time we've really gotten to see his face... he likes to hide behind his hands. The ultrasound nurse was nice and printed out a bunch of pictures for us.

Ultrasound pictures are always kind of weird and it's hard to figure out what you are looking at... but it'll be fun to compare them to his face when he's born! The first one is a profile. He had his lips nice and puckered up under his nose. Maybe he will be a Valentines baby!Then this one is of him looking straight on. His forhead is on the right and one of his cheeks is white, close to the middle of the picture. It's fun to get a sneak peek to what he might look like! One of my projects was to get bumper pads and a crib blanket done. Danny helped me tie the blanket (I was very impressed with his skills!) and then we set up the crib. Woo hoo. This is the fun I had with the great sock monkey fabric my mom and I found.

This story is a little random, but my mom and I went to Motherhood Maternity in the outlets in Park City yesterday (I love that store!) and we overheard some very interesting conversations.

One mother had her almost 3 year old daughter with her. As I was trying stuff on I could hear this little girl say "I'm John Smith mom!" Cute right? My brother would go around telling people his name was Jim Craig (Man From Snowy River). It's what kids do! But the I just about fell over in the dressing room listening to the mother's response. "Makenna, I want you to qualify yourself by saying "I'm Makenna pretending to be John Smith. Don't say you are John Smith, say you are imagining to be John Smith." QUALIFY YOURSELF? What 3 year old (or any child for that matter) knows what that means?! What is this world coming to that a kid can't even pretend to be a cartoon character without having to clarify that she's not really that person... of course she's not! It blew me away that someone would talk to a 2 year old like that. Personally, I'm excited to hear what funny things our kids pretend to be!

Getting closer!

It seems like it was just barely October or November when Daniel and I were telling ourselves "The holidays will be great. They'll help time pass and then we'll be able to focus on getting ready for the baby!" Well, that's what happened. They definitely helped time pass and I can't believe that February is next month!!! I'm at 34 weeks-less than a month and a half away from our due date! Our last couple of doctors appointments have been a little crazy. We went in right before Christmas and our Dr. told us I was measuring small enough that she wanted us to go to LDS to have an ultrasound the next day to make sure he's growing and developing well. "Everything else looks great, so there is probably nothing to worry about. We just want to be sure." is all we've heard since. We found that he is a little small, and that his belly measures a couple of weeks behind the rest of his body. But everything else looks great, so we are hoping he's small because he's small and not because something is wrong.

If nothing else it's fun to see him in the extra ultrasounds we've been going in for. He sure looks cute! He had the hiccups for half the time in the ultrasound yesterday (which, luckily, are a sign of a healthy baby), and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud as we watched his little body jump with each one!

Danny and I also have had fun cleaning out the room and setting up a crib! My mom found another great fabric store, Quilts Etc and Quilts Etc Etc in Sandy (It's so big that it is in two different buildings across the street from each other!), and we found some cute fabric to make bumper pads for the crib. I'll have to post a picture when they are finished. Danny is great and very supportive of all my random projects (like I said... I'm not obsessed!). We're so excited for our little guy to come!

I'm not obsessed. I promise.

Last Sunday Danny told me I needed to read Pickles. "It's a great one!" he told me. So I went and looked at it and this is what I read:

Very funny. In my defense, he has probably only come into a fabric store with me twice, and it was when I already knew what I needed. And on top of that I told him I could come back another time so he wouldn't have to, but he consented because we were driving by it anyways.

But I can't lie. There are certain fabric stores where I really could (and probably do) spend a "week" there in an afternoon (according to Earl's definition). I love just walking around looking and feeling the different fabrics, thinking of all the neat things that could be done with them.

I must admit that is one of the biggest benefits to only working until noon everyday. I have had so much time to do all kinds of fun sewing projects, and I'm lucky to have my very talented mother around to show me the tricks. With Baby William coming soon I've found all kinds of things to keep me busy. I think that I could even say that there have been times when I've let myself get carried away. Maybe. Like the time I bought that sock monkey fabric online. But it was totally worth it. I'll have to show you sometime.

And best of all, for my birthday last month Danny's awesome parents gave me a gift card to the best fabric store of them all: Material Girls. That is definitely a store where I could spend a week there in an afternoon!

I Love the Cannery!!!

My mom has always been big into food storage. I think I started being a big advocate after the huge earthquake in Peru during my mission. But I really became a fan of the cannery when I had to teach part of the Priesthood/Relief Society combined lesson on food storage. I did my research for that lesson and came to realize even more the importance of having an adequate food storage. I did, however, feel guilty for getting so excited about it, and encouraging everyone to go to the cannery when I myself had never been. So I swore to go.
The problem is, Danny and I live with my parents. Which shouldn't be an excuse not to go, but it has been.
Danny and I have some Peruvian friends who we have been helping with their transition to the U.S. over the last year. Marleny and her two sons have been living with family, desperate for their own space. It was a crazy situation. Last month they were finally able to find an apartment that is perfect for them. It's been hard, especially considering that they speak little to no English. Their landlord is the greatest and watches out for them. The only furniture they have is a kitchen table with chairs, and they have very little kitchen appliances. We've been trying to figure out what we could do to help them and it hit me. The cannery! Not only would it help with her grocery shopping (she doesn't have a car), the prices are awesome, and it would be a good chance to let her see more of the resources the church has to offer. We mentioned it to her and she thought it sounded great.
We went tonight. A perfect night, because the storm had driven everyone else away. We had the place to ourselves and the missionaries were all very helpful! As soon as we are in our own place again I am definitely getting my food storage going. The cannery is so cool! I'm excited to go again. If you've never been, I'd love to go with you!
(And just a side comment... if you are planning on D.I.ing anything, or know anyone who is, things like furniture (anything for a kitchen or to fill an empty living room or bedrooms) we know an awesome family who would be grateful!)

A great day...

Today we got to go to the airport because.... Tommy Boy is home!!!! I can't believe it's already been two years! He's as skinny as ever, but as tall as ever, too! We're excited to get to have him around for the holidays and especially he can be around when baby comes!

It's also a special day because..... IT'S BIFFS BIRTHDAY!!!!! Happy birthday to my cute little sister Sarah! It's so fun to be able to hang out with her more these days as we are living in the same house! I love it.

Conversation of the day...

Students 1 and 2 (both girls) excitedly: Mrs. Young!!! Your tummy is really starting to stick out!
Student 2(a boy. We'll call him Joe): Yeah... maybe you should go to the gym!
Teacher: Joe! That is not a very nice thing to say to Mrs. Young! Why would she have to go to the gym??
Joe: I don't know... maybe she's eating too much.
(Then sensing he was in trouble he pointed to the girls and said: They said it first!)


Apparently he had forgotten why it is that my stomach is getting bigger, although I have been eating more lately... gotta love the innocence.

He's official!

Tuesday we all went down to the Salt Palace where law graduates (who passed the bar) officially became lawyers! Danny stood before the Utah Supreme Court and the Federal Court for the District of Utah, raised his right hand and was sworn in! He's official! A very big congratulations to him. I've been so impressed for the last 3 + years as he's made it through gruelling midterms, finals, papers, study sessions and the awful bar exam. That was a whole lot of hard work and it was so cool to see it pay off! I'm lucky to have such an awesome husband! We've also been able to spend a lot of time with family lately, which has been a lot of fun. A couple of weeks ago we went up to the Eddington Cabin for the evening. It was gorgeous, and perfect timing to see the leaves in their fall colors as we drove up the canyon. Unfortunately the sun is blocking them out on this picture, but there we are!

We also spent a couple of days up in Park City with the Young clan. It's always fun to see our cute neices and nephews! Cute little Thomas is growing so dang fast, and Kensie, Lincoln and Jackson couldn't stay away. I can't lie... I couldn't either! Here he is getting ready for lunch... he's a thirsty kid. Mwa ha ha ha. Thank you Babinski's for the cool binky! Seeing all those cute kids together definitely makes me even more excited for our little guy! It was fun to go to the outlets, especially knowing it's a boy, and pick out some cute outfits! I can't wait!

Living at my parents we spend a lot of time with my family, too. It's fun to hang out with Ted and Sarah more. Tom comes home in a month and a half (crazy!) so it'll be a full house if we're still here!

Ted went to his first dance last weekend... what a stud.

Random, but another fun moment in the Tyler house... making "bathtub gin!" (as my dad calls it) AKA... homemade rootbeer! That is good stuff. I love dropping the dry ice in. Don't my parents have the coolest bathtub??

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Our ultrasound with our doctor isn't until the end of September, but we are so lucky because our aunt Liz works at a hospital doing ultrasounds and let us come in to get a sneak peak! We are so excited and even though we still have lots of time, I think we've decided on William. My aunt is so great! It was so cool to see how developed they are that early. We were 16 weeks when we went in. She showed us all the different parts of his brain, and his stomach and bladder. Notice his foot... it's 2 cm long!! She told us he was a wild child because he was moving all over the place (we could barely get a good profile picture) but I hope it's because of all the candy I ate that day and not because he really is a wild child...
Here are a couple of the pictures we got of our cute little guy!!!

Bad Blogger Good News!!!

Okay, I am going to postpone the rest of our summer pictures, because it takes me too long to do it, and if I wait to post this until after all the other ones I'd like to post are done, it'll never happen. We have the greatest news ever... take a few guesses... yes, Danny finished the bar (hooray!!!), and yes we moved out of the Village (hooray! Okay, not so much hooray, we made some great friends and we will miss it, but we will not miss the ants!), and yes, we had our one year anniversary last week (another hooray...sorry to those who have not received Thank You cards yet, they are on their way. Seriously.).
That's all great news, but we have some even better news... (better than no ants? YES!) ... Two is about to become three! Yes! We are pregnant! Woo hoo! Okay, "about" means six more months. We are due February 15th. To answer some questions that we are sure will come: I'm 15 weeks, we do not know the gender yet (YET... we'll know by the end of September), yes I have been sick, but not too sick. Luckily. Well, it still is a pain, and I think it's finally easing up (I shouldn't say that because every time I do another wave of awfulness comes). We don't have a specific name picked out (a lot of that will depend on the gender. Obviously) but we do have some we like. For example, for a boy we like William, Spencer or Tyler, and if it's a girl we like Emma, Lucy, Audrey and Ann(e) (we are in the debate of Ann and Anne. More will come on that later if it's a girl!).
We are very excited and trying our best to be patient (I think I have more of a problem with that than Danny does...) to wait and find out what it is. He's convinced it's a girl, but I've had dreams it's a boy. I never thought much about my dreams until I lived in Peru, which is the land of dreams. Dreams always mean something there. But I still don't know if I'm convinced, so I'll keep my mouth closed until we find out.
So that's our exciting news!! We'll keep you updated.

Summer Pictures Part 2

So here are pictures from 2 more exciting events this summer. First of all, Ted finished his Eagle Project! Go Fred! He chose a really cool one, too. This is the Place Monument Park has had a problem with mice so Ted and his group made these really cool owl houses, with little things different from bird houses, and got to go choose where to put them up. Here are some of them ... they got to ride in this thing way up into the tree. The guy also let them pick cherries in it from the very top of the cherry tree.

It was also fun to go see This is the Place... because I don't think I've been up there since we would go up to visit Rachel Doxey when she worked in the Zions store back in high school. The park has come a long way since then. And it's always fun to see the llamas.

Here are the cool owl houses. You'll have to watch for them when you go up. They are right by the llamas.

Another fun thing was the 24th of July. I have to admit that I LOVE parades. Especially the one on the 24th. They are just so exciting! So I took the two cute girls I nannied for the summer down. Sarah and my mom had braided their hair and they looked so cute. This was one of their favorite floats because it had a ballerina. They also got to see their first real clown up close. It was a very exciting moment. :)

We also ran into one of my favorite people. Matt sat with us for most of the parade. It was great to see him again! He still calls me Leah-Miss-Honey.

Summer Pictures Part 1

I've been a horrible blogger (I think that most of my posts start like this), but here are a whole bunch of pictures from summer excitement to make up for it. There are a lot of them, so it might come in a series...

First of all... Brighton! It was so fun to go up and help with the Legend Ceremony (hence the awesome clothing) and to go up for a couple of devotionals during the summer. Brighton will always hold a special place in my heart (and in my stomach on Thursday nights with those scrumptious cinnemon roles!!). I love driving up the canyon, singing camp songs, feeling the spirit and being with great friends!!!

Danny and I also got to go up to his family's cabin a couple of times. It's such a neat place with a lot of history! It's always so relaxing to go up and be away from everything and just get to spend time with family, eat cabin food, play games and not have to worry about anything! Danny's dad bought a raft so we were able to go out on the lake, Tibblefork. It was such a beautiful day! And it was only a few days before the dreaded bar exam, so I think it was good for Danny to relax a bit before jumping in.