He's growing up!

Yesterday I took that adorable 3 year old to see his allergist/pulmonologist for a follow-up & a peanut challenge. Judah did great. He colored during most of the 2 hr. appointment & handled all that peanut butter like a trooper. For those of you who don't know what a food challenge looks like... The goal is for the child to be able to eat an entire serving of the food without reacting to it. They start by allowing the food to touch his skin for 10 min., & then go from there. The serving size of peanut butter is 2 tablespoons. We started by giving him just a tiny bit; but every 10 min., as long as there was no reaction, he got a larger portion and a larger portion...until by the time we got to the last challenge, he had to take an entire tablespoon of peanut butter at once! He decided to break that up into several smaller bites, but that poor kid was smacking his lips long after we left the office. The good news is that he passed! His future looks bright with Dad's grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on his horizon!

No kid wears food like Judah. 

Staying mentally & physically engaged during the waits.

I passed!

Because he's doing so well with the slight increase of proactive breathing treatments (he kicked a cold "on his own") & staying healthy overall now, we've decided it's time to add a day at school! He loves school so much & we're seeing so many new or improved things from him, that we can't think of a good reason to keep him home! Well, I could think of a few selfish ones...but I won't allow those to hold him back. I talked to his teacher about it, and she recommended adding Tuesday. I called transportation this morning, and he's all set to start next week! Three mornings a week. Three! Oh my goodness. That means I have another morning to myself! Huh. I wonder what God will fill that with. Anyway, Judah is growing up and changing and becoming more independent and learning new things. It's exciting...a little bittersweet...but exciting!

It's been fun for us to watch him take steps to become more independent. This morning at 6:30, Jared thought he heard something coming from Ezra & Judah's room. He peeked inside, and there was Judah, on the floor next to his bed, playing quietly with his toys in the dark. Happy as could be. I don't love the fact that we had to share our quiet time with him this morning; however, I do love that he got himself down to play quietly and woke up so happy:) I think Ezra was a little confused this morning, but that's OK.

When you think of it, pray specifically for Judah's communication abilities. This is something I'm feeling increasingly more anxious about, because we're not seeing much progress in the way of actual words or new sounds. His speech therapist is using a communication device with him at school, but the going is slow there, too. I can't tell you how badly I want him to have words! This is something I consciously need to surrender to the Lord, but I haven't yet. I'm having a hard time letting go of what I want for Judah, and clinging to God's best for him.



Thanks for praying.

So...

...I think Judah ate poop today.

That Boy

Recently I decided that our life as the Stewart family would make a great comic strip. There are so many times in my week - or day - that if I don't laugh, I fear I will either walk away or have to be committed. I figured, why keep all the good laughs to ourselves? Let's share some with the rest of the world; and then maybe they won't notice that my laundry isn't folded, or my kids don't match, or I'm not wearing any make-up, or the dust in an inch thick. Or maybe they'll at least be more forgiving. 

When I started thinking of all the most recent comic strip-worthy moments I was slightly surprised by an emerging pattern. Contrary to what I anticipated, all 4 of my children were NOT equal participants in our crazy moments. They play their parts for sure; but the number 1 culprit of my messiest, gray-hair-producing, OHMYGOODNESSWHATAREYOUDOINGSTOOOOOP! moments is...Judah. Yes, the one who inspires little old ladies to ooh and aah and pinch his cheeks. The one who evokes feelings of triumph and celebration in the hearts of all who know him. The one whose smile lights up every room he walks into. Ya. That one. 

Within the last 8 days alone he has...

...pooped in the tub. With Ezra. Again.

...crawled out of his big boy bed and up into Ezra's bed to snuggle when he's supposed to be     SLEEPING numerous times and he thinks it's so cute when he does it but Ezra is trying to go to  sleep and I am trying to relax andhejustwon'tstayinhisbed! Whose idea was it to move this kid into a  real bed anyway?

...inspired me to yell right into my mother's ear on the phone, "JUDAH, DON'T EAT THE SOAP!" Lydia was washing the van and Judah saw the soapy water in the bucket and...well, there's no surprise ending here.

...taken the powdered sugar shaker off of the dining room table and given it to Ollie. Again, I think you can see how that ended. *sigh*

...tried "helping" me at ALDI by putting the carton of eggs on the belt at the register. Boy that kid is fast. I turn around for just a second...! I was able to salvage half the carton. Tina, the cashier, made my day by giving me another full carton for free. 

Is it any wonder I have more gray hairs than I should and go through an unreasonable amount of antibacterial wipes canisters?! 

It's a good thing he's so cute. And charming. And endearing and funny and snuggly and wonderful. 

This is the day we drove to KS and picked up the newest Stewart: Oliver Edward. Because clearly our 4 kids and countless high school students just weren't providing the level of excitement we crave. 

Judah is walking, walking, walking! He gets more confident and coordinated every day. I just can't get enough of watching him walk!

Makin' the ladies weak in the knees

I was cleaning at the old house. He was self-entertaining.

He loves a good party, & this one was for Daddy.

He also loves a good donut.

He was so proud of himself for crawling onto Gramps's towel. It only took him 5 minutes to get fully situated.

There's nothing but sweet in this picture. He knows he can lean on his brother any time.