Be Thou Humble

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. My internet has been out of commission and it's been driving me crazy! Thanks Cari, for helping me get it all figured out! I'm a total blog-aholic, so I'm very happy to have it working again. I've been dying to share some of the adorable pictures that Lincoln took of Cameron while we were at the hospital. We have such talented friends! For those of you that don't know, the adorable baby in the picture with Cameron is Liam, Lincoln and BreAna's little boy. It's going to be so fun to watch them play together like Carter and Logan have over the years.

So, I guess I'll share some of the experiences I've had with my sweet Cameron so far. I've decided that Cameron has been sent here to humble me, for several different reasons. First of all, the delivery. There was a little confusion with my due date, which I thought was the 2nd, but ended up being the 1st. I kind of expected to go over, and I didn't really mind because I wanted his birthday to be as far away from Christmas as possible. However, I was still very grateful to be getting some regular contractions throughout the night of the 6th. After receiving very little sleep, Randall and I dropped the kids off at my in-laws and headed for the hospital the morning of the 7th. Here's where the humbling part comes in. Once we got to the hospital (a 35 minute drive by the way) they checked me and said that I was dilated to a 4, but my contractions had totally slowed. They observed me for an hour, and then sent me away! I've heard of this happening to other people, but since I've delivered 3 children, including one natural delivery, I thought that I would never have to experience it myself!

After being rejected from the hospital, I talked to my sister-in-law on the phone about how my contractions had slowed and that I felt them more in my back than I remembered with Meleah...which meant the baby was possibly posterior. Hoping to fix the problem, I laid in this crazy position my midwife showed me last pregnancy that helps turn a posterior baby. It was during the time that I was laying in the back of my Honda with my bum in the air (thank goodness I have tinted windows!) that I started thinking...this is not how it's supposed to happen with your fourth delivery!

After losing all feeling in my legs and feet, Randall and I went to Olive Garden and ordered the spiciest/most garlicky thing on the menu. At this point my contractions had completely stopped and we decided to head home. Randall went to his parents house to be with the kids and dropped me off at home to take a nap. I slept like a rock for three hours, then shortly after waking up I started having very consistent contractions that were fortunately not like the back labor that I'd been having the night before. They were coming about two minutes apart so Randall came and got me, and we headed back to the hospital. A little over an hour and three pushes later, my beautiful baby was born! All in all, I couldn't have asked for an easier delivery, and I loved my stay at the hospital. There's nothing like being waited on hand and foot and being able to doze in and out all day without any screaming children in the background.

The weekend after we came home was also very fun, with lots of family visiting, and Jana and Rachel staying with us. However on Monday when life went back to normal, I felt a little overwhelmed (when I say a little I mean a lot) and I had my second humbling experience in the form of an enormous emotional breakdown. I've always been a fairly level-headed person that's not really too prone to tears, but on this particular day...I could not stop crying. Fortunately my sweet in-laws came and saved the day by taking my kids and making sure that Carter got to school. It's really hard for me to accept help from others, but after a day of just being able to hold and enjoy my new baby, I was feeling much better. I chalk the whole experience up to hormone changes and lack of sleep, which leads me to my next humbling topic...why doesn't this kid sleep at night?

It literally took us two years to get Carter to sleep through the night in his own bed. Since then, I attributed my success with the girls to my excellent mothering skills. I'm now discovering that my girls just really liked to sleep and didn't mind if they were in the cradle rather than cuddled up between Mom and Dad in their bed. Cameron has decided to be more like his brother and wake up at extremely regular intervals to be fed and changed and put back to sleep only to wake up ten minutes later if I should dare to put him into the cradle. Luckily he's so dang adorable, so all the long nights are somehow worth it.

Last night Meleah was bringing potatoes that I had peeled from the table to Carter who would then wash the potato and hand it to me to be chopped. All the while Lydia was sitting on the floor by Cameron shaking a little rattle over his head to keep him happy while we were making dinner. I couldn't help but think "we got this!" I'm going to try to remember that moment when I'm feeding Cameron for the fifth time at night, or when Lydia and Meleah are competing to see who can make the most high-pitched, mind-numbing screams while I'm trying to get Cameron down for a nap. If that memory is not enough then I can always read this scripture:

D & C 112:10
Be thou humble;
and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand,
and give thee answer to thy prayers.

He's Finally Here!

Cameron Michael Stewart

Born January 7, 2009
8 lbs 0 ounces, 19 inches

Merry Christmas!

So...you know you're doing your Christmas post a little late when Sunny 106.5 isn't even playing Christmas music anymore. Oh well! The fun started early this year as the empty boxes started piling up in my living room. (Gotta love shopping online!) The kids had a blast playing with this train/car/boat/spaceship/airplane. I don't know why I even bother buying toys in the first place. I should just get in touch with a box manufacturer and save a few $. Just in case you're wondering, Carter's not practicing to be a cheerleader in these pictures, he's just pulling the horn for the train. Ü

We spent Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Jensen's house for the last time, and it was so much fun. Tara borrowed some nativity costumes from her ward primary and they looked awesome. Much better than the towels and baby blankets I would have come up with. I wish I had pictures, but I videotaped it instead. Meleah and Lydia were angels and Carter was a wise man. Of course, Meleah only wore her costume for like .05 seconds but it was kind of an inappropriate costume for her to be wearing in the stage that she's in right now anyway. Ü They all opened up their jammies from Grandma, and were so excited to put them on right away.

We opened presents on Christmas at around 9:00 am. I know the day will come when my kids will wake me up at dawn, but my tired pregnant body was really grateful that they slept in this year. They actually woke up around 8:30, but I held them off reading stories upstairs until Grandpa, Jana, Rachel, Laura, and Dalton could get there. Carter asked Santa for a real motorcycle with hundreds of spots (don't ask me where he got that from) but he was still very happy with the Leapster that Santa actually brought him. I tried to explain that he doesn't have a drivers license yet so he wouldn't be able to drive a real motorcycle, but he just figured Santa would bring him that too. Maybe next year.

Lydia and Meleah also loved their presents from Santa. Lydia got a wooden dollhouse, and Meleah a Dora sofa. Santa must have known that the girls are constantly fighting over the Dora chair that we already have, and hoped that this would help prevent some of the hair pulling and hitting that has been going on. Meleah seemed perfectly content to sit in her Dora sofa and eat Pez all morning. Well, at least until her dispenser ran out, and she had to go on the hunt for someone else's stocking.

We had a nice, relaxed day playing with all our new toys. Thanks go out to Laura, Dad, Jana, and Rachel for making the day more fun, and helping undo all those dang twister ties they put all over the toys!

The Stewart family gathering was put off until the next day due to bad weather, so we got to extend our festivities until Friday. We all had tons of fun, and are a little tired and sad that Christmas is over. Lydia keeps thanking me for bringing Christmas and asking if we can have Christmas again. As tired as I am, I would still be okay with that! Luckily, we have something else to look forward to in the very near future. Now we just have to decide if we should spell the baby's name Cameron, Camoran, Camran...any ideas?

Winter is Here!

Well, I can't let all the Vegas people show me up with all their awesome snow pictures, so here are ours. We've hardly had any snow at all this year (thank goodness), but my kids are SO happy to see it finally coming down. We made snow angels, had a snowball fight, and even made a snowman. I'm sure we could have made a larger snowman, but I am 8 1/2 months pregnant after all. Besides, the kids wanted the snowman to be baby Mikey. Okay, okay...I might have given them that idea, but it's really hard to bend over when you're as large as I am right now! Carter was disappointed when I informed him that we don't have a magic hat to make baby Mikey come alive, but not quite as disappointed as Lydia was when I informed her that it wasn't Christmas yet. Apparently, she thought that if it's snowing, that means it's Christmas Day. We also made Gingerbread cookies and once again...there was disappointment that our cookies did not come alive. They recovered quickly however, and we've had a really fun week fulfilling all the standard winter traditions. Carter and Lydia keep saying, "Winter is our favorite season!." We'll see if they still say that when they have to drive in this mess!

Another Family Update

I know I just did one of these a couple of months ago, but there are a few things that have happened lately that I want to remember.

Elly Jelly

Meleah has been so funny lately. I shouldn't say that, because usually what makes me laugh is the stuff that she's totally not supposed to do...like hitting for example. If I should dare to tell her not to get into something, she'll come from all the way across the room to give me a good whack. This is a new experience for me, because Carter and Lydia have very rarely hit anyone and especially not me. Even when I have witnessed Carter hitting someone, I've noticed that he does it as softly as possible. Not so with Meleah! Don't think I let her get away with it, though. I may smirk when she's not looking, but she gets in big trouble for hitting or pulling hair (her other favorite attack mechanism). Meleah can often be found in the kitchen scooting a chair around so that she can reach all the interesting things that Mommy puts up high to keep away from her. She also still loves baby dolls, and will kiss and hug and put them nigh-night over and over again. Dora is still the ONLY acceptable television programming according to her, much to the dismay of her older brother. She loves to make silly faces, and her signature pony tail on the top of her head (the only hair style she'll allow me the time to do), is usually crooked and fuzzy because she still loves to twirl her hair. Some of her most common sayings are: ut-oh, doooon'T, out, ow, opf (off or on), miiine, and a really grumpy form of uh-uh. That list makes it sound like she's grumpy all the time, which isn't necessarily the case. She's just a lot quieter when she's happy. Ü She does everything full-steam ahead. I can't tell you how many fat lips and bruises I've gotten from her flailing herself around. One minute she'll be sitting on my lap, the next she's up and running. She LOVES her Da-da and is usually the first one to greet him when he gets home. He then has to carry her around for half an hour or so before she'll let him out of her sight.

Lydia DeOn

Lydia was given a baby doll from her aunt Susan a few days ago, and has been obsessed with it ever since. She takes it everywhere with her, and always makes sure she's wrapped in her blanket. She's been doing really well with her walker lately, so we've started taking it with us to some gatherings. She was so funny at my Grandpa's funeral because rather than going around the groups of chatting people, she would plow straight through, knowing full well that they would separate to let her pass. That had the added bonus of everyone looking at her and saying how adorable she is, you see.

Carter Cutie

Carter was student of the month last month (the purpose of blogs is to brag right?). He got this nifty certificate and FOUR free ice cream cones from Arctic Circle. We have yet to use all of them. I felt really bad because he was sick for almost a whole week, so we missed his little assembly ceremony thing, but he was still pretty excited about his free ice cream. He's been really fascinated about my Grandpa's death, and keeps asking me if Grandpa's been resurrected yet (we learned about resurrection in Primary the same week Grandpa died). I know he really loved him and misses him, but sometimes I'm surprised how often he thinks of him. I made home-made bread the other day, and I lifted up the towel to show him how it was rising and he said, "It looks like Grandpa Jensen!" I think he was referring to how his body was white after he passed...??? I don't know. I'm sure Grandpa would have gotten a good laugh out of that. His latest line that he uses when I tell him to finish his dinner or clean up the playroom is, "I'm too shy to." I didn't know shyness affected people's eating and cleaning abilities, but you learn something new every day.

Randall just fininshed his first semester of school yesterday and is looking like he's going to get straight A's (I know...I know...enough with the bragging!). I'm just so proud of him. He's really taken school seriously and spent a lot of time making sure that he does well. I'm sure it hasn't been easy, because the poor guy has 3 kids and a pregnant wife to deal with. I've been known to be a bit on the needy side when I'm pregnant. Ü He puts the kids to bed every night, and they love to have that special time with their Dad. I love you baby!

This is where I'm supposed to put a picture of me, but I haven't taken any since I was like 3 months along, so it wouldn't really be accurate anyway. Just consider yourselves lucky. I'm getting so excited to have my little baby boy that I can hardly stand it. It seems like by the time you're on your FOURTH child that you wouldn't be as excited, but I just ache to hold him in my arms. This has been a pretty good pregnancy so far, and it has gone by so fast. It definitely helps to have the holidays to distract me during the very end. I'm really looking forward to Christmas, and I'm sure that Randall will be very happy to see that I spent my time writing this post today instead of shopping online!

Well, that's the latest on us. Hope I didn't bore you all to death!

Kim's Tag

Where is your cell phone? Either on the bookshelf, my vanity, or in the diaper bag...I think. Luckily I can call it if it's not in those places. I wish I could say the same for my keys.

Where is your significant other? Putting the kids to bed.

Your hair color? Blonde except for my 6 inch roots which are a not quite brown, not quite blonde color. It needs help.

Your mother? An excellent example.

Your father? A fun, laid back guy.

Your favorite thing? My family.

Your dream last night? I have no idea. Whatever it was, it was way too short.

Your dream/goal? To get my degree, and to be much more organized than I am right now.

The room you're in? My bedroom.

Your hobby? I like to cook, read, scrapbook, do variety puzzles, and play games.

Your fear? Any of my family members dying, being seriously injured, or even just being really sad about something. I also hate heights, snakes, spiders...pretty much any kind of bugs or reptiles.

Where do you want to be in six years? I don't really know. I'd probably like to be in a bigger house not far from where I am now.

Where were you last night? At my Grandpa Jensen's house, and grocery shopping with my Mom.

What you're not? Organized!

One of your wish list items? A huge tub and a double headed shower. Oh yeah, and a garage...all new appliances...a dining room set...

Where you grew up? West Jordan and Sandy Utah, and Henderson Nevada

The last thing you did? Played games with my family.

What are you wearing? Pajamas, of course!

Your TV? I'm sort of embarassed to say that we have 3 TV's but none of them are all that impressive.

Your pet? I'm way too lazy to take care of animals along with my five bzillion kids. Alright...I know I don't quite have five bzillion kids, but it sure feels like it sometimes.

Your computer? Ummm, not sure what to say about it. It's an e-machine? Don't really know anything else.

Your mood? Pretty tired, but happy

Missing someone? Grandpa Jensen

Your car? Maverick, a Honda Pilot. I still miss Alice, my Oldsmobile Alero, but Maverick's okay too I guess. I just shouldn't have replaced my girl car with a boy. They don't communicate nearly as well.

Something you're not wearing? Socks? Shoes? Earrings? Does it really matter?

Favorite store? Old Navy when I'm not the size of a whale (my infrequent un-prego years). I also manage to spend a lot of money at Kohl's and Amazon when I'm shopping online.

Your summer? As fun as can be expected since it was my morning sick time.

Love someone? Yep!

Favorite color? I love them all.

What was the last time you laughed? Playing what if/then tonight with my family. We had some pretty funny combinations.

Last time you cried? I've been teary a lot this week, but I full on bawled at Grandpa's funeral on Friday.

I tag anyone that wants to do this!

Grandpa Jensen

Moyle Christian Jensen

November 15, 1932 - November 17, 2008

Carter said it best last night when he said "I want Grandpa Jensen to come back alive again." When I'm thinking selfishly I agree with him, but I know that Grandpa is happy now with Grandma, Jerry, and all his other loved ones that have gone before him. I am so grateful to be a decendant of Moyle and DeOn Jensen, and I will live the rest of my life remembering these famous words from my Grandpa..."Always remember whose you are!" I hope I can live up to his expectations and remember who I'm representing here on earth. You will be missed Grandpa, until we meet again.