Spencer's Blessing Day

I know this is coming incredibly late, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Because our ward was reorganized and boundaries were redrawn the day we intended to bless Spencer, we had to do it at our home. It was nice...different, but nice. Darren and I each had our parents and a sister there with us that day. Our bishopric, home teachers, and visiting teacher came as well as a few friends. Because it was done in our home I was able to video it and I went back and typed up Spencer's blessing. Here are a few pictures from his special day as well as the words from the blessing given to him.
Spencer with our then bishop (for another hour), Bill Guttery.

One big happy family

Darren's parents, Jerry and Teressa Stewart

My parents, Marion and Shauna Wells

Our Father in Heaven,
By the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, we take this infant into our arms to give him a name and a blessing. The name that we give him that he will be known throughout this life and on the records of the church is Spencer Chase Stewart. At this time Spencer, we give you a blessing. We bless you with the power to fight the influences of Satan in this world. We bless you that you will have strength, that you will have confidence. We bless you that you will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless you that your body will be healthy and strong that it will be able to accomplish all of the tasks which your Heavenly Father has for you. We bless you with a sound mind that is able to reason, to think, and be able to learn. We bless you with a desire to learn, to study out the great things of this world; the scriptures, the prophets and the good books that have been written by many authors, that you will have the desire to know what is right and what is wrong and that you will develop yourself. We bless you as you continue to grow in this life, that you will have the desire to serve a mission. That you will be able to act on that desire - that you will serve. We bless you that you will have the desire to marry in the temple for all time and eternity and covenant with your eternal companion. We bless you to be happy; that you will remember, even when life is hard, that these are the times to be happy. We give you these blessings in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Two Months Old Already!!

This was last month...
This is today.

It's been a fun two months.

Can you tell who his barber was?

Can you see the remorse in his eyes? Pshaw...yah right!

People are always asking me

"Where did he get all of that hair?"Apparently it runs in the family! ;)

Me
My mother

You gotta love a baby with a head full of hair!

Can we talk about this?

I was looking through some old picture files and I came across these...WHAT HAPPENED?

Where did these two sweet little things go?
With cheeks like that surrounding me, you can see why I am a cheek squeezer.
Okay forget it... I can't talk about this...
Talk amongst yourselves...I'm getting vaklimped.
(PS. Mom, you're not going to get it...it's a generational thing.)

New Stats for Spence

Spencer had a doctor visit today (should have been his one month checkup). He's seven weeks old and has the following stats. Remember that seven weeks ago he was 9lbs 9oz and 21 inches long and at his week appointment he was 8lbs 12oz and 21 inches. Today my little man weighed 12lbs 6oz (81st percentile) and was 24 1/4 inches long (95th percentile). Gahh! He's getting bigger and has started to smile. Look at him hold his head up like a pro. I love this little guy!

Isn't it time for another slide show?

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

More coming soon...

This isn't my baby

But isn't he cute? His momma made this beautiful cake for his 1st birthday and I stopped by to document it for them. You wouldn't know it from this picture, but little Preston HATED that cake. He was scared to death of it. But I'll let his mom tell the story. Just thought this picture was too cute not to share. More posts of MY baby coming soon.

And then there was Aunt Missy

My kids love Aunt Melissa. No, I mean they REALLY LOVE her. I think most days they would trade me in for her. She's just so great - seriously. She calls and talks to me and the kids as least twice a week. Who knows what they tell her when they take off with the phone for twenty minutes? Plus she's fun for me to have around too. That's why we were so excited when she called to say she was getting a flight down to see us. Darren and Alexia picked her up from the airport the morning of the 16th and we had three days with her all to ourselves. The kids swarmed her as soon as she walked in the door.When Melissa comes to my house, she doesn't just come to visit, she comes to live with us for the time that she is here, which really translates to her pitching in. While she was here she helped me clean my house, bathrooms, and do laundry. She helped me make bread and plant flowers. She bathed kids and helped them get ready for church. She even cleaned my microwave for me. Plus she held and smelled my baby the whole weekend. I'm trying to remember if she had anytime to relax the whole time she was here. We did sneak in a game of Ticket to Ride and dinner at Red Robin one night. She's the best! Come back soon Melissa! We already miss you!

Grandmas and Grandpas a Plenty

We have had so much fun with all of our visitors lately. Some of the fun of having a new little somebody is that all of the older somebodys come to visit. My parents came for four days and drove in just hours after we brought Spencer home from the hospital. My mom has been with me that first week home for each of my kids. She gives my kiddo's their first bath at home. She sleeps in the recliner next to the cradle while she is here and wakes me up to feed them, then rocks my babies back to sleep for me. She taught Alexia how to write her name when Parker was born. She taught Parker his colors when Elijah was born. She came to read stories and color pictures and help my kids adjust this time around too. She was wonderful! I don't think I changed more than one diaper the entire time she was here. This time she brought my dad, who obliged me and made my two favorite things that he cooks - burritos and Navajo tacos. So yummy!

My parents went home and a few days later our other set of grandparents drove up. Darren's parents stayed a few days with us as well. The kids just soak up the love and we all get spoiled when they come too. Teressa got her fill of soaking up the love as well. They came the weekend of conference so while the guys were at the priesthood session, she and I took the kids (and the stash of old bread I'd been collecting for a month) to the pond in a nearby neighborhood. Feeding the ducks was so fun for all of us. The huge fish in the nasty water got their fill of bread too. Elijah that close to the edge made me so nervous. I just knew that I'd be jumping into that cess pool to fish him out if we didn't keep an eye (and an hand) on him.Here is what Spencer was busy doing while we were throwing crumbs. You can tell he took his job (to keep an eye on the new diaper bag that grandma and mom had bought for just a few hours before) very seriously.

One month old today!

Just about a month ago it was like this..."Come out, come out where ever you are!"

This cute little giraffe had been waiting for this little guy for about a year and a half. Remember when I couldn't find Elly? I ended up asking a friend for hers. Then about a month later while killing time in Walgreens waiting for some perscriptions to be filled, I found another one and this giraffe was sitting right beside him just asking to be taken home for baby number four. At that point I wasn't sure there would be a baby number four, but the giraffe had to come home with me anyway.

He's found his buddy. The little boy who will slobber, chew, wipe snot, and leave kisses on him until he is plum worn out. He found him about a month ago. A month ago! I can't believe my baby boy is a month old now. It has been a sweet month for sure, filled with the feel and smell of a new little one. We love you Spence!

Happy Birthday Honey

I think the older he gets, the better he gets.

Darren with his FOUR kids and his plate of home made creme puffs on his 32nd birthday. He likes them with vanilla filling. Lexi and I like them with chocolate filling. Since it is his day we did it his way. Tomorrow I'll make a batch with chocolate - because I know these will be all gone by then - and I know we are gonna want more by then. These are a birthday tradition for Darren. He should have birthdays more often. :)

Look at all that hair!

This is pretty much the first thing people say when they see Spencer. Lexi has been begging me to put his hair into a mohawk. I told her today we would do a fauxhawk after his bath. Then I had to explain the difference to her. My dad would say that I put a curl in his hair. Then he'd lick his fingers and try and smooth it down. ;)
Let's talk about that onsie for a minute okay? When I had my first boy (six years ago) they did not have anything so cute. I was happy to have found a package that had a gray onsie alongside the two white ones. Now look how stinking cute the brown and blue stripe is. Good gravy! I almost don't want to cover it up with clothes.

PS. The fact that I just wrote the expression "good gravy" (not to mention that I say it all the time) is a testament that I am my mother's daughter. Although her silly sayings were things like "Stars and garders", "Oh my hemalonia" (seriously what does that mean?), or "BraRandHideAlen...Melissa! Whoever you are, come here for a minute." I never understood the listing of all names in the family until you got to the right one until I had more than two children. Now I TOTALLY get it! ;)

So I've decided...

...there is no better way to watch Conference than with a little munchkin sleeping on your chest. Seriously it doesn't get any better than this.
I love the newborn stage. Last night Darren was holding Spencer and I told him that he has changed so much in two weeks. Darren then said, "Yeah, he's growing up." And then I punched him.

Okay not really, but I thought about it. I told him not to use such filthy language in our home. He's two weeks old. He is NOT growing up. Let's not rush things okay?

So in two weeks I have observed the following about Spencer:
* He has Darren's nose.
* He has Alexia's eyes.
* He has Elijah's lips.
* He is a lazy eater and takes FOREVER to nurse. Did you know Little House on the Prairie is still on TV? At 4am?
* He has more sideburns at two weeks then his daddy does at 32 years.
* He poops.
* A LOT!
* He still has that new baby smell.
* He has stolen my heart.

In other news...My camera, Photoshop and I are loving having a baby around.

Love the Honesty

My hair is naturally curly and it's way past time to have it cut. At some point or another each of my kids has commented on my hair. Alexia, before she learned tact, would tell me that my hair looked a little "scuzzy" - (one of those words that belong to our family). Parker generally took the gentler approach telling me after a shower that I looked so pretty and should do my hair all the time.

So while I do leave my hair curly a lot, I do like to wear it straight more often now. When I do that I generally wash it the night before, leaving it in a towel for a while, then just before bed I brush it out, put some goo in it to help it through the trauma of the straightening iron, and go to sleep with wet hair. Needless to say, it is a bit wild until it meets the iron the next day. Yesterday morning when nursing Spencer I took the pony tail holder out of my hair and set it on the arm of my rocking chair. Pretty soon Elijah came over to see what was going on. He's very curious about the whole nursing thing.

Elijah: Momma, what happeneda your hair?

Me: (giggling) What babe, you don't like mom's hair?

Elijah: (after picking up the hair tie and holding it out to me) Here mom, use dis.

...sigh...

I am sooooo in love...

More of Spencer

I'm sure some of you will be tired of pictures of Spencer soon, but I don't have any family here in AZ and so this is the easiest way for me to make sure they get to see him. Here is another slide show. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grrr to Swine Flu!

Because of the swine flu the hospitals in AZ have restricted visitors to allow only people 12 and over. That means my three sweety pies don't get to come into the hospital to visit me or their little brother. That also means that the "family" picture with Spencer only includes mom and dad so far. Darren did bring them to the outdoor Healing Garden tonight and I walked down, after putting Spencer into the nursery, to spend thirty minutes with them. After I got back up to my room, I opened the blinds and held him up to the window for them to see him. When I talked to Darren on the phone later he told me that they could actually see him pretty well.

Swine flu - what a dirty trick!

Spencer is Here!!!

Here is the short of it, after a long day, Spencer Chase Stewart was born at 5:52 pm yesterday (9-21-2009). He was born 9lbs 9oz and 21". Here is are some pictures.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And a short video clip.



We are excited to have him here finally. I'll share more later.

Dear Ant Kade

On Sundays while Elijah (and sometimes mom and dad) takes a nap, the older two kids get quiet time. Last Sunday I asked them to write letters to Aunt Becca, Melissa or Rachelle. Not sure Parker got the memo. He did write a letter - to Aunt Kade (Katie). He asked me to send it to her on Monday, but I really want to keep it and so I think I'll send her a copy. A little background info first. Katie is pregnant and has to have daily injections in order to thin out her blood. I'm sure that there is a more medical explanation I could give, but that is the information that the kids got from me. Here is Parker's letter to her:
(Click on the letter to view it larger).

I'm still here...

playing the waiting game...and nesting like crazy.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant now. I had an appointment yesterday and baby love is at a -2 position, I'm 2 cm dilated and effaced 50%. I'm also measuring at 40 weeks instead of 38. Yikes! Look, I know I've given birth to a 10lb 13oz child before so I know it can be done. I would just prefer not to do it again. The midwife stripped my membranes while I was there, but obviously I'm still here.

Here's something to look at while you are waiting with me. Darren took these next two pictures for me.
This one of Elijah was taken a few Saturday's ago. We love a good rain storm around here. Playing in it beats watching Saturday morning cartoons anyday.