Caught on Camera

I have finally been able to get some pictures of this little guy smiling. Normally, when I pull out the camera, he goes 100% serious, and cant take his eyes off the huge black thing in front of him. I think he is finally getting used to having it around now though, and ignores it long enough to laugh at me, and allow me to snap a picture. I am looking forward to many more pictures of this adorable toothless grin.

Easter

Stella enjoyed Easter so much this year. Last year, we had a basket for her, for my benefit I'm pretty sure, and this year - it was much different. During Breakfast, Andy told her that the Easter Bunny comes to peoples houses and poops out candy...yes, I know...I should have explained, but he did, and Stella was excited. We got her down from her high chair, and told her to go see if he had come to our house, and she was off. She found the first one, and of course wanted to open it right away. Once she saw that there truly was candy inside, she found all 11 others so quickly. The Easter bunny obviously thought Stella would be easier to fool than she was. Next year, that bunny better hide things a little better. I enjoyed watching Stella run around the house with such excitement. After finding each egg, she would hold it up to Andy and myself and be so proud and excited. We got the whole thing on video - and I will cherish that video for ever. She was so sweet!


Andy's mom made the kids these adorable Easter outfits. Our pictures can't do them justice. A lady in our ward was saying how it feels special to have someone sew something for you. Just knowing they took all that time to make something just for you. I think my kids will grow up feeling grateful that their Grandma can do that for them.


(something funny Stella said to Andy last night:

Andy: Stella, can you think of anything we need from the store? (they were going grocery shopping)

Stella: Yeah.

Andy: What do we need?

Stella: Pops (bubble wrap) ... Toys.

Hmmm...)

I see football in my future...

This little guy is two months, well, has been for a little while now, and turns out he's not that little after all. Not that I couldn't tell, but seeing the numbers at his two month appointment was pretty funny. He is off the charts in all three areas, height, weight, and head circumfrence. Milk does his body good. He weighed 14 pounds 7 ounces, and was 25 inches, and I don't remember how large his head was, but it was large. Hehehehe...what a little clunker. He wears anything from 3 month to 12 month clothes, and he has rolls all over. It is nice to have such a good eater, after having to worry about Stella, and her picky little appetite. At least she is picky for fruits and veggies, but I still worry about her nutrition on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure Sterling isn't lacking in the nutrient department.


He has been an angel baby with his sleeping habits. He has slept until 6:20 twice, and 4:30 four times. Last night, due to gas, he was up 5 times, but before that he was doing fantastic. It is wonderful to be getting such good sleep already!


He is getting cuter and cuter by the minute. He smiles and giggles now all of the time. It is so precious to see some of the similarities between he and his sis coming out. Speaking of his sis, she is as goofy as ever. She is doing much better in nursrey now, because we have our friend Karen drop her off, and so she is not in any shock that we are leaving her. The nursrey leader says she mothers all of the other kids in there. What a little sweetie!



She loves to hold Sterling. The love/hate relationship is still going strong. One minute she will be smothering him with kisses all over, and the next she will be stealing his pacifier and throwing it across the room, or biting his feet, etc. We've got to watch her closely!




Stella imitates me all of the time. She also calls me by my first name. Nice. When she wakes from a nap, she will just call out "melissa" over and over again until I come in to get her, but when I ask her my name she says Mama. She loves to take her babies and stuffed animals everywhere. She will literally have a breakdown if we make her leave them.


I will post easter pictures soon. Andy's Mom made the kids some adorable little easter outfits, and Stella had a blast searching for eggs! It was so fun!

Scary Stories

If someone would have told me a week ago, that by today, I would be on page 226 of a book, and be dying to find the time to read more, I would have laughed out loud hysterically at them. I am definitely not one who enjoys to read. I am pretty sure I completed about 10 percent of my reading assignments in school, and was lucky to skim a small fraction of the rest. I just can't stand to read. My mind wanders, and by the time I've read one paragraph, I have to go back and re-read at least three quarters of it because I've gotten completely lost in my day dreams. I have read one book since graduating from college, and it was while I was pregnant with Stella. I got it from my best friend Rashel for my baby shower, and it was about a pregnant woman on bed-rest. I read it, and enjoyed it, but it took a while to read, I didn't read more than maybe 5 pages a day.
Lately, people have tried to convince me to read the twilight series. At first, I was highly un-interested. A book about vampires. Please - why would I ever be interested in reading some ridiculous story about vampires. I am into reality, to truth, I can't stand science fiction or anything else that doesn't seem 100% realistic to me. So I would always just kind of politely say, maybe.
After Sterling was born, my mom told me that my sister in law read twilight while nursing her son. This gave me an idea. I kept falling asleep during the night while feeding Sterling, and I would wake up hours later sitting in a chair with a sore neck and sleeping baby in my lap. I decided to try reading twilight during night feedings to help me stay awake. This plan didn't last long though, I was too tired, and had even less motivation than normal to open a book in the middle of the night. So the book sat on the shelf for weeks.
I finally decided to open the book a couple of days ago and give it a chance. I am addicted.
Last night, as I was laughing with Andy about how crazy it is that I am finally interested in a book, and it is a book about vampires none the less, he told me a story from his mission. He ran into this man named JC, who claimed to be a vampire. He said there were hundreds of different types of vampires, and he happened to be the kind that needed lots of vegetables, not blood. He said that once you learn to recognize vampires, you will notice them everywhere. He then dropped the bombshell. Apparently Andy was a vampire as well. JC didn't tell him what type he was, just that he was. This has me thinking... Andy does move rather quickly, and often times at night, his feet are extra cold even under the covers, and he is extremely good looking. He can charm the pants off anyone, and his strength can be shocking. Hmmm... in this picture he even looks a little like a vampire, just a tan one.


Huh. All this talk about Andy being a vampire makes me even more desperate to go see what happens in the story - gotta go.

Daddy's little "SILLY" girl

Stella still loves her Daddy more than anything in the world. Her latest thing is trying to walk around in his boots. She does more falling than walking, but still loves to do it again and again.


When she hears Andy walking up to our door while coming home, she runs to me with a look of pure terror. As soon as the door opens and she sees Andy's face, she screams bloody murder. She gets so full of excitement, I guess the only way to release it all is to yell at the top of her lungs while tensing up so much that her arms shake. What a welcome home she gives her Dad every day.



I put her hair in pig tails for the first time this week. I love them, you will be seeing a lot more of her with her hair up I'm sure - this way she cant twirl her hair into knots with her little fingers!

Things to remember

- How he holds his thumbs in between his pointer and middle fingers like I do.
- How he giggles when his dad makes a kissy face.
- How he sucks his pacifier like it's life and death.
- How he smiles at me whenever I walk towards him.
- How he shakes his head back and forth really fast when lying on his back.
- How he is always sticking his tongue out.



- How he is as chunky as can be.
- How he only cries a couple of times, and then stops, waiting patiently for me.
- How he stares at the same picture of Jesus that Stella did... what they must know.
- How he crosses his little legs and rubs his feet together when he eats.

cutie shirts

something about a boy

I'm not quite sure if it is actually something about a boy, or if it's just something about a newborn, about an infant who is, most importantly, not a 21 month old who yells and demands all crazy sorts of things, but whatever it is...I'm in love with it. I have been enjoying doing the newborn thing all over again. I do miss my sleep, and my time to myself that I used to enjoy when Stella would nap, but it is all worth it. I think I may be a little crazy. Today, while at my last Dr.s appointment for all things relating to being pregnant with and giving birth to Sterling, I left feeling happy to be done with that little portion of my life. Happy to not be going to weekly Dr.s appointments being asked if I wanted to induce labor. Happy to not step on the scale only to see the number go up, up, up and away at ridiculous speeds. Happy to not feel like I can't bend, move, or twist. Yet I still, no more than 2 hours after the appointment, had a little wave of sadness come over me. I wanted to once again be pregnant, to once again have the excitement of another little personality coming into our family. This happened after Stella too. She was two months old and Andy and I were out exploring South Carolina while on a drive one Sunday after church. Andy said he wanted another kid already, I said me too! What?! (She's only two months old crazy people) Don't worry folks... I wont do anything drastic, I will come back to my senses at 3:00 in the morning. There is just something so precious about a newborn though... and I can literally see it slipping away from me again while Sterling grows older and bigger by the minute. Soon he will be just as big as a certain 21 month old I know - running jumping, talking, walking. He wakes up from his naps a little less of a newborn than when I laid him down. Maybe I should just stop everything and not put him down for a second, but I think even then, I would not get enough "newborn" time in to satisfy me. You should be able to bottle it up and save it forever. I guess that's what cameras are for.


"Little silver" (as my Brother refers to him) has his Grandpa Smith's shy pinky toes. They hide underneath the rest - curling inwards.


So precious... I hope I never forget him just like this. So small, so helpless, so soft, so perfect.

All this being said, there is a 21 month old sleeping in her crib right now who has stolen my heart, and refuses to ever give it back. As I sang her some lullaby's before I laid her down, she joined in with me. Singing a whole lotta jibberish mixed with a couple of words here and there. I don't think you could ever get tired of hearing such a sweet voice like Stella's try so hard to sing the words to I am a child of God while laying her head softly on your shoulder and patting her hand on your back. Today, and most days recently have been full of pure love and enjoyment for the little people (and the man) I call mine. I have been loving life!

Grandma and Grandpa

The "Grandparents", all 4 of them (and aunt Deb) came to town for Sterling's Blessing, and Stella was in heaven. She has finally learned who all of her Grandparents are, and can now enjoy having them around, rather than just be scared to death the whole time that some stranger is giving her way too much attention. My parents came the week before the blessing, and Andy's parents came for the week after. Stella - of course, got spoiled. She got presents, ice cream, books and books and books read to her, balloons, bubbles, stayed up way past bedtime, didn't have to sit in her highchair, songs sung to her, and the list goes on and on. (I am paying for all of the mayhem now... she is adjusting back fairly well, except for the eating part - she still just wants milkshakes and doesn't want anything to do with protein.)


While in town, my parents really enjoyed themselves. Andy always said that my Dad was born to be a Grandpa. I believe he was born to be a lot of things - he was always a fantastic Father, and my Mom gets so many compliments on what a wonderful Husband she has, but it is true... I think his favorite thing ever is being a Grandpa. He could talk to you for hours and hours about his grandkids. He has always dreamed of taking all of his grandkids for a month every summer on a cross country trip to see something new in his fifth wheel - with or without their parents - and I say... go for it! Let's do it Dad! I love making memories like that. He was also able to do something else he loves to do, but doesn't have enough time for. He cooked, and cooked, and cooked. My Dad loves to cook - it is one of the many ways he loves to be creative, so he took the opportunity to do so while he didn't have work getting in the way. We enjoyed this as much as he did too! My Mom was also in Heaven. Pretty much anytime my Mom is with her Family, she is as happy as can be. She made sure to soak up all the time she could with all of us - to hold her over till her next visit.


My parents were in town at the perfect time to help celebrate one of our Families Best Friend's ever birthday - Karen!


While Grandpa and Grandma Smith were in town, we went to Charleston for a visit. While we were there we saw Fort Moultrie, the battery, market street, Isle of Palms, the citadel, and Andy's old friend Joe. Joe is someone I have heard a lot about. Many of Andy's stories include him, but they had lost touch. Andy looked him up, and his last address was in Charleston, so he called him while we were out there, and sure enough...He found him. It was nice to meet him, and I'm sure Andy is excited about doing more things with him while we live so close.






Andy's Dad also did a seminar while they were out here. Andy and I enjoyed being able to attend that, and Stella enjoyed getting ice with Grandma from the ice machine in the hotel during the seminar. Audrey and I went to get pictures, and Duane walked in with Audrey, so the lady who did mine thought she was doing Duane. She was pleasantly surprised when she came out from the breakroom to see me sitting in her chair, and not Duane. Andy and I also got to attend the temple - something hard to do with small children, and Family far away. It was nice to be able to be there - even if it was short and sweet.



Anyway, we enjoyed having time to visit with our families, and show them around our stomping grounds. We Love You All! Here are some picture I have taken since everyone left... not too exciting, as you can see in the last one - Stella is quite fond of looking at a certain someone these days.

What a Blessing

This is the first picture of Sterling Smiling we were able to capture.

On the 8th, we had Sterling's blessing. It was a wonderful day. Andy's Mom makes the most precious blessing outfits for her grandchildren. I still remember when I saw the dress she made for Stella's blessing, it was so beautiful that I started to cry. Grandma Simth's blessing outfits will definitely be something everyone remembers, and that the kids all cherish for years to come. She also knitted these little blue socks to match. So precious. Unfortunately there are not too many pictures of him in the outfit - not yet at least, because he had a small blow-out while we were trying to get some, so we will have to try again.

A few highlights from the blessing:

-blessed to be a strong healthy boy who would grow in wisdom and righteousness
-be a strong defender of righteousness and virtue
-that he would be sensitive to the spirit and have the wisdom to obey it's promptings
-to be an active father, a good example to his children, and a good spouse
-have a strong desire to serve the savior.

Our parents were all able to come out here for the occasion, and also Andy's sis Deb. We loved having them all here. We miss our families a bunch - and it would have been way to sad to have had to bless Sterling without our parents around to share in our joy.