Happy Birthday Meleah!

Well, it's been a while since I've written and my reasons are two-fold.

1. I really enjoy being in a reclined position these days, especially if my kids are being good, and I can rest my eyes a little bit. I have yet to find a way to lay down, close my eyes, and blog at the same time, but when I do, my posts will be much more frequent.

2. I don't want my husband to see that I've written a new post and wonder why I'm too sick to clean the house and make him dinner, but not too sick to play on the computer.

However, I don't want all the people that I talked into blogging with me to think I've given up on it, so here goes.

Although I've been tired, grumpy, pukey, and lazy lately we still managed to celebrate my little Meleah's first Birthday. Now that she's officially one I feel a little less crazy for being pregnant right now, even though this is by far the closest gap I've had between my kids.

I generally do a delicious cake rather than a cute one for their first B-day since they don't remember it anyway. This year's choice...Strawberry yogurt cake. Thanks go out to Jana and Rachel for putting it together for me! As you can see, Meleah loved it.

Ben and Taryn were in town for Memorial Day so we got together with my side on Sunday and celebrated her Birthday a day early. Isn't it odd that Lydia's Birthday was on Easter this year and Meleah's was on Memorial Day? Anyway, the next day was her actual Birthday and we had Randall's parents come over. I even frosted a chocolate Costco muffin for her to blow out the candles again. Aren't I a nice Mom? Unfor

tunately, she reached for the flame this time, so I ended up looking like a crazy woman screaming and running to her on her Birthday video. My spastic behavior did save her from actually burning herself, however. Other than that, her Birthday celebrations went off without a hitch.

I honestly can't believe it's been a year since she was born. She

has been my smallest baby, even though she eats more

than my other two kids combined. She just seems too little to be one to me. I have truly loved getting to know her little energetic squinty nose personality. That probably sounds weird, but she loves to make this cute little squished up smiley face that looks exactly like a face I used to make when I was a baby. I'll have to have my Mom send a picture of me to show you. She's getting very close to walking and once she does I'm going to be in big trouble. She gets around fast enough as it is! I'm so excited to continue to watch her grow and celebrate many more Birthdays with her!

This is for you Holly!

What's the best thing you cooked last week?

I suppose I would have to say stir fry, even though it was not all that impressive. I didn't overcook the broccoli like I usually do, so that was good.

If time, money, and babysitting were no object, where would you go, and with who?

I would go to Hawaii with my husband. He would love to see the Pearl Harbor memorial from WWII, and I would love to hang out on the beach. It would be great to bring my kids with a babysitter because I know if I didn't bring them I'd be thinking the whole time that Carter would love to see that...or Lydia would love to taste that...etc, but I would definitely want some alone time with Randall. Ü I would also love to take my kids to Disneyland.

When was the last time you cried?

I'm kind of embarrassed to say, because I really don't cry that often, but it was just last week. Fortunately, since then I've discovered that I'm pregnant so I can blame my little outbreak on that. Besides, we all need to do what we have to do to get babied every now and then, right?

List 5 things you were doing 10 years ago:

This happened to be my favorite year of High School, Jr. Year, and I didn't write in a journal so my memories are not as detailed as Holly's, but here they are:

1. Preparing to go to Prom with Casey Randall, and being SO excited about it. Or possibly already having gone, and having had a great time other than forgetting to wear Mascara of all things, spilling a huge cup of RED slushee on my cream dress, and having my date's only dance be with some girl that was on Prom court with him because we had to race out and get to our show after the Prom announcements.

2. Hanging out with Ryan, Randy, Travis, Jason, Lindsey, and Leah and doing stupid things.

3. Hanging out with my friends from my grade and making videos (or was that sophomore year?), hiding walkee talkees behind pop machines to try to confuse strangers, hanging out at Lindsey's and eating all of their food (which I have since discovered must have been pretty expensive for Lindsey's poor parents), having sleepovers, four wheeling, and just having lots of fun.

4. Deciding I didn't like Casey anymore, until I heard that someone else did, so I would start liking him again...

5. Not being as involved with my family as I should have been, but still loving them all the same.

List 5 things you were doing 5 years ago:

1. Carter was a little over 2 months old and I was FINALLY feeling like I could possibly do this whole Mom thing (even though he didn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time).

2. Living in my in-laws basement apartment which was actually really fun.

3. Being super excited that Lindsey and Julia were getting married in a couple of months and hoping they would be having babies soon so that I could talk with them about poop and spit up.

4. LOVING being a wife and Mommy.

5. Going through cookbooks and making things like home-made rolls and calzones for dinner that my husband still requests to this day. Unfortunately for him, they've been replaced by instant rice and rotisserie chicken that I picked up from the store on the way home from some errand.

List 5 things you were doing 1 year ago:

1. Getting so excited to have a new baby in the next couple of weeks.

2. Stressing out about having a new baby in the next couple of weeks.
3. Having our driveway replaced and making plans for our fence.

4. Trying to figure out how we're going to pay for our driveway and fence.
5. Feeling guilty that I couldn't do a lot of Lydia's physical therapy exercises because I was the size of a whale.

6. Loving being a wife and Mommy.

List 7 of your favorite hobbies:
I know they're looking for things like playing tennis, or collecting rocks or something, but I don't like any of those things, so here are my hobbies -
1. Eating

2. Cooking in a clean kitchen, and having someone else clean up the mess I make.

3. Scrapbooking

4. Blogging
5. Reading
6. Doing Variety Puzzle books

7. Playing games that don't require a ton of thought or energy.

Name 5 of your favorite foods:
1. Any fruit excluding all melons but watermelon. All fruits have to be the perfect texture in order to be on my favorite foods list. No mushy warm apples, gritty pears, dry oranges, etc. are allowed. I especially like strawberries, raspberries, and perfectly ripe and cold watermelon.
2. Grandpa Jensen or Bob's mashed potatoes with either Bob's fried chicken or Grandpa's marinated turkey. Grandpa's creamed potatoes and peas are also acceptable.

3. Chicken madiera at the Cheesecake factory.
4. Chicken alfredo at the Olive Garden.

5. Lettuce wraps and almond cashew chicken at PF Changs.

Why didn't they give us 7 Favorites for this one instead of the hobbies category? I could have thought of 7 Favorite foods A LOT easier than hobbies.

Name 5 places that you have been:

This is really sad, but here they are -

1. Southern Nevada

2. Utah

3. Tiajuana

4. Southern California

5. Billings Montana/Yellowstone

List 5 of your favorite memories:

1. My wedding day.

2 My children's births (yes, even Lydia's C-section and Meleah's natural delivery).
3. High School - what I realize now was a very care-free time even though I thought I was stressed.

4. College - after I came home from SUU and was working at Safekey with all my friends, and spending hours and hours in a hot tub at Julia's house.

5. Dating Randall. I still have to bring out his old e-mails occasionally to reminisce about how sweet he was to me. Ü

6. I have to add another one and say that although I complain, I have totally LOVED these last five years watching my children grow and laughing at the things they say and do (which totally overshadow the times when I'm screaming and crying about the things they say and do).

I'm tagging Cari, Laura, Tara, Steve & Jess, Taryn & Ben, Jana, Rachel, Mom & Dad, Mindy, Heather, Erica, and anyone else that hasn't done this yet.

Baby on the way!

Those of you that read my blog should feel so special because you are the first to hear that little Stewart #4 is officially on the way. We are very excited, and frankly a little scared, to be bringing yet another baby into the world. I'm six weeks along so the fun part (morning sickness) has just begun. Week seventeen can't come fast enough for me! We are so blessed to be able to have a large family, and I hope I can remember that in the months and years to come!

Happy Birthday Randall!

I just have to write a quick post to say Happy Birthday to my baby! He's turning 29 tomorrow, which is totally crazy! We're getting so old! We're going to go to Ruth's Chris steakhouse (is that how you spell it?), because according to Glenn Beck...it's the best. It better be good because from what I've heard, it's pretty pricey. It's worth it for my honey, of course. I love you Randall, and I hope you have a fabulous Birthday!

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.

My Sweet Angel

I already wrote about Lydia, but I want to share some of her current quirks and personality traits. I'm also going to try to cut back on the big colorful words because, I'm not going to mention any names, but SOMEONE informed me that it's annoying. (Just a clue - his name starts with R and rhymes with Candle). Anyway, back to my Sweet Lyddies. I've spent hours trying to figure out how to put a video clip onto my computer from my camera because you just can't get a full sense of who she is without hearing her little soft, sweet, voice. It's not always soft and sweet mind you, but when she's not throwing a fit or extremely EXCITED about something, her voice is very endearing. I've wanted to share some of the hilarious things she's said on this blog, and it just isn't funny unless you hear HOW she says it. Therefore, as soon as I find the cable I need for my camera, I'll put on a video clip.

Lydia REALLY loves to sing. She'll sing anything from "I Am a Child of God" to "We Will, We Will, Rock You!" One of her favorite things is to sit on her Grandma's laps and sing the Rabbit Song or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She just loves uninterrupted, individualized attention. She'll do pretty much anything for an audience and a few laughs. One of her favorite ways to catch people's eye is to spin around on the floor in her very own style of dancing. As you can see from the pictures, she also has found that putting random objects on your head usually achieves the desired result.

Lydia also loves to tease, and say things like "My name is Mommy," or tell people that she's four or five even though she knows darn well that she's only three. She's very good about saying thank you when someone pays her a compliment which is really nice because before she learned that, I would always feel like I had to say something. I realize that I helped to create her and all, but is it really my place to say thanks when someone says that she's so cute, so smart for her age, or whatever? Is that weird for anyone else? I've tried to mix it up and say "we sure think so" or "SHE sure thinks so. (Trust me, she doesn't just think so, she KNOWS so!) No matter what my response was, I'd always walk away feeling vain or like I'd taken credit for the gifts that Heavenly Father has given her. I know, I'm crazy, but I love that she can take credit for herself now. That's all I'm saying.

Lydia is a mix between a girly-girl and a tomboy. On the girly side, she loves to play Mommy and feed her babies. She's even tried to nurse a couple of them. One of her favorite things is to get all dressed up like a princess and have "pretties" in her hair. She also eats very carefully and ALWAYS has to have a napkin because she doesn't like to get messy. However, she has no problem getting DIRTY. Much to my dismay, she loves to play in the dirt just as much, if not more, than any boy I've ever seen. (Note: if you have a sensitive stomache, it would be in your best interests to NOT look too closely at her teeth in the picture to the left.) Cars and Ninja Turtles are some of her favorite forms of entertainment. Whenever Carter's around she MIRACULOUSLY ends up with the "girl toy", such as Sally or Flo from Cars, but I've noticed that she usually chooses Lightning McQueen and Michaelangelo when her brother's not looking.

Lydia is so SWEET and LOVING. She gives great back tickles and she's always saying "I love to hold you," "I love squeezes," etc. She's very cuddly and loves nothing more than to fall asleep in Daddy or Mommy's arms. It makes me think of that book that says "I like you forever, I love you for always..." because I can picture myself rocking my little Lyddies to sleep even when she's all grown up. She is just so precious to us, and I can't imagine my life without her.

Happy Anniversary!

I feel somewhat cheesy paying tribute to my own marriage, but we are about to celebrate 6 years of wedded bliss. I'm really making a big deal about it this year because our 5 year fell a little flat. Amazingly, it was the first time I was pregnant on our Anniversary. I realize that there are many selfless women out there who truly enjoy the entire pregnancy experience, and although I'm extremely grateful to be able to have children, I am definitely not one of those women. I strongly dislike many of the aspects of being pregnant. (I would say that I hate it, but according to my son, "we don't say hate.") Therefore, at eight months along, I was admittedly a bit grumpy. This year however, I will actually be able to enjoy food, and hopefully even sleep for more than an hour and a half without having to get up and use the bathroom. Yay!

I have to be careful not to get too sappy and embarrass my husband, but I am so grateful to be creating my eternal family with Randall. He is the greatest blessing that Heavenly Father has ever given to me. It was so difficult for me to see past school and having to leave my friends and family in Henderson, that I almost missed out on the chance to be with him. Fortunately, he was a little more in tune with the spirit than I was back then, and he stuck in there through all my stupidity. Now we have the most beautiful family, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even a college degree and the promise of never having to drive in the snow again! Here's to six years of happiness, and many more to come!