Meleah Susanne

My little Meleah is not quite a year old now, but she answers to many different names. I read an entire book titled 45,000 Baby Names and Their Meanings during my pregnancy with her, and came up with an extremely long list of names that I liked; including Ashlynn, Ellie, Cayla, Julia, Emmalynn, and various spellings of Meleah. Much to my dismay, my husband didn't want to use any of them. He had suggested Melanie years ago, before we knew that Carter was a boy. I decided on Meleah because it was the closest name to Melanie on my list, and I could call her Ellie for short. We planned to spell it Melia until our midwife pointed out that people might pronounce it like Amelia without the "A," so we switched to the current spelling: Meleah. What happened after that is a bit of a confused mess. I started calling her Ellie and before I knew it she was Ellie Belly full of Jelly which is occasionally shortened to Jelly Belly...and sometimes just plain Jelly. I have also called her Meleah Susanna Banana on many occasions. Therefore my youngest daughter now responds to:

1. Meleah
2. Ellie Belly Full of Jelly
3. Ellie Jelly
4. Jelly Belly
5. Jelly
6. Meleah Susanna Banana
7. Meleah Susanne

Not bad for an eleven month old! Carter's favorite nickname for her is Ellie Belly Full of Jelly, and Lydia's is Meleah Susanne. I think Lydia likes that one because that's what I say when Meleah has just demolished something and spread it all over my house. Any bad light on her competition is good in her book. I just hope that Meleah doesn't get a complex because her nicknames can also be associated with a fat man in a red suit, a gourmet jelly bean, a sticky substance generally served on bread with peanut butter, and a long yellow fruit that's loaded with potassium. However, I've had to live with the name Candy-pooh my entire life and I turned out okay. At least her nicknames sound delicious. Even if I take the more desirable meaning to my nickname, it's still a chubby bear that's not exactly the brightest color in the box. I'm not even going to go into the other meaning.


I was shocked to find out that Meleah was a girl at her twenty week ultrasound, not only because her pregnancy was just like Carter's, but because she was so dang active. Her energy level has not subsided at all since she's been born, and although my ribs are grateful that she's no longer taking that energy out on them, my legs are a little tired of chasing after her. I can't even tell you how many times I've found a long trail of raisins, wet wipes, etc., leading to one little angelic face framed by short blond curls. How can I be angry when I see those big beautiful eyes looking up at me, and that little toothy smile begging me to smile back?

Meleah is really good at saying Ma-ma, Da-da, and her own version of Uh-oh (which sounds a little bit like she's constipated, but still very cute). One of her favorite things to do is to give me something that I drop "accidentally." We say "Uh-oh" together and she picks up the item, gives it back to me, and the game begins again. A few other favorites are: playing with her brother and sister, turning off the TV that everyone is watching, giving and receiving high fives, dancing to music, waving and saying bye-bye (ba-ba), and hearing Mommy's high-pitched reactions to her stinky diapers. She thinks life is full of amazing treasures and is always finding them and holding them up high for all to see. She is also starting to stand all by herself which makes her so excited that she can't help but clap and giggle, thereby throwing herself off balance and leading to a quick descent onto her backside. She's a tough cookie however, and she just gets up and tries it again.

Meleah has been such a good baby, and has made the transition to three so much easier than I expected it to be. The girl is still taking three naps a day and going to bed at 8:00 pm. That's unheard of in my family! Granted, she wakes up a tad bit earlier than I'm used to...but it's worth it. I think my kids just wake up earlier and earlier the more I have, so that they can each have their own individual time with Mommy in the morning. Our current schedule is - Meleah 7:00, Lydia 8:30, Carter 9:30-noon. (Yes, I'm putting him in afternoon Kindergarten next year!) I better not have too many more kids or I'm going to be getting up at the crack of dawn!


Meleah is such a fun addition to our family. I love watching her little body go up and down our stairs fifty times a day. I love watching her shove things in her mouth and swallow immediately, rather than taking the time and effort to chew. I love how she won't even give you a smirk when you're doing absolutely humiliating things to try to make her laugh, but will giggle uncontrollably when she feels the time is right. (Generally when no one else has a clue what is so funny.) I love that she has three teeth on the bottom, and four on the top, which is how it's been for months now. I love that no matter how many times you move the remote or phone out of her reach, she's still determinedly going to go after it. I love how she snuggles up to my neck for two seconds, then is up and going on to her next adventure. I love how she's always played with her hair when she's nursing or tired, even before she really had any. I love my little Meleah, and will forever cherish the sweet moments I've had with her.