The Annuals

There are a few things to be praying about. But before we go there, let's talk about some fun things first!

Judah is dressing himself! Well, very nearly. When it's time to get dressed he insists on doing it all by himself - shirt, pants, socks. The socks he nailed awhile ago. As a matter of fact, any time he sees socks lying around (which, let's face it, is a common occurrence around here) he puts them on. He's usually walking around with way-too-big socks on his feet - too cute! The shirt he's got a handle on...as long as he doesn't try putting it on upside down first. Or feet first. The pants. More often than not he pulls the penguin-two-legs-on-the-same-side maneuver. With a little help and a 2nd chance, he's got it. He likes pulling his pants up while standing, which is a little challenging (read: comical), but he gets it. Eventually. It's so fun celebrating each little accomplishment that is represented in the "simple" task of getting dressed! And Judah is always so proud of himself! We've seen Judah taking small steps towards independence more regularly since starting school. They're so good at teaching him skills that allow him to be more independent, and he responds so well to them. I am extremely thankful for the team he has on his side at school. They challenge him and push him, but they cheer him on and love him well, too.

Judah had a 2nd field trip right before Halloween. All the pre-school kids went to school in their costumes and then visited a retirement home. They sang songs to the residents and had a snack with them. I would have paid money to be a fly on the wall! After their visit they went back to school to put on a costume parade for the parents/grandparents/guardians that could be there. Daddy & Gramps represented:)

I've never seen Super Mario look better!

Speaking of Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating for the 1st time this year! After the 1st house Judah knew exactly what was going on! He had so much fun being like one of the big kids, going from house to house, picking treats from the bowls & dropping them in his bucket. It was awesome to see him doing so much walking between houses, and walking with one of us up to each door. He had a big smile for every person that gave him candy...although he still has no idea what it is! Not sad about that.

Eli was our resident mechanic (like Gramps), we had a celeb visit from Taylor Martinez, Lydia provided dessert, & of course, Mario:)

She stuck pretty close to him all night.

Judah learned "Where Is Thumbkin" last week at school. Oh my gosh, just when I thought he couldn't possibly get any cuter... He has added it to his repertoire of songs he "hums" throughout the day. I am having so much fun with him!

Judah LOVES Ollie! I'm not sure the feeling is always mutual; but Judah is oblivious and utterly devoted. When he gets off the van after school he has a smile for me, but the 1st thing out of his mouth is always "Ollie"! He's been going through a tough bedtime phase. Last night, for the 1st time, we put Ollie on his bed with him when he was upset, trying to settle down. He got quiet right away and went to sleep, in spite of Ollie's wiggling. I think it's time to train Ollie to go to bed with Judah.

Judah has a new word: "hot"! Whenever I put something hot in front of him at the table he says, "Ha, ha" and blows. We're also working on some new signs. "I'm sorry" is at the top of that list...for all the times he hits his sister to get her attention. At least he's genuine in his apology!

A few things to pray about:

1. Judah has had elevated blood pressure from the beginning. In the last 18 months his endocrinologist and I have talked about it on and off. Last week he recommended taking action, since Judah's BP is consistently in the 95th percentile. We saw the ped. yesterday, and Judah's BP was actually higher than mine. That's not really unusual for him, but it's high for a little kid. I will be monitoring his BP from home over the next 4 weeks, and then he will most likely join a BP clinic at Children's and go on a blood pressure medication. The tricky thing about Judah is that, because of his kidney disease AND his pituitary disease, there isn't an ideal med. for him. He'll need to be watched closely for quite awhile. I'm sad about adding a medication, but it's the possible side effects that concern me. The high BP is probably because of all of his kidney problems, so my hope is that once he's had some repair there, the BP will drop on its own.

2. Next week Judah has 2 huge clinic appointments. On Tuesday we spend the morning in clinic with his cranio-facial team. I think we're seeing 6 specialists, including his geneticist. I'm looking forward to seeing her! It's been over a year since she's seen Judah. I know she'll ooh and aah over him:) On Thursday we spend the day at Children's in urology. I'm already very apprehensive about this one. Judah will be uncomfortable at best for most of the day. Some of this clinic will be downright painful. It breaks my heart; and as he gets older it only gets harder for him. I've downloaded some apps for him on Jared's ipod in hopes of being able to thoroughly distract/entertain him, since he's not allowed to play with Dad's ipod at home. It's just icky. Icky.

I really appreciate your prayers for Judah as we head into next week and this particular clinic especially. I'm also praying for good reports all around from both clinics...although I'm not entirely sure what a good one would be at this point. Even neutral news, without any bad news, would be good. *sigh* I'm so glad God goes with us. I couldn't do this without His sustaining love and faithfulness.

Judah went on his 1st field trip on the 15th! Oh. My. Word. I don't think I've ever seen anything so cute in my life! Judah & his class at a pumpkin patch? Oh yes. The sheer volume of adorable was almost too much. I had a great time with him; plus it was a great opportunity for me to meet some other parents while also reconnecting with his teacher and paras. I even met paras from some of the other preschool classes at Judah's school. Everyone seems to know Judah. I'm not surprised.

He loved petting the goats!

He did so well walking all over the farm. It was hard work, & there were plenty of spills, but I had so much fun watching him get around.

He picked out a pumpkin & got to paint it. It is proudly displayed on our front porch! 

Second set of goats. This one liked Judah!

He kept "kissing" the cage. I think he just wanted to snuggle that bunny! 

He hung out in this corn teepee for awhile. Every boy loves a good fort, right? 

We both had a great time on his 1st hay ride!

Trying to put the beanbags through the holes was a challenge...especially with a classmate peeking through! 

He's all about posing for the camera.

Judah thought this was the funniest thing! I have to agree.

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.

First, First, First

August 16 was the first day of school for all 4 of my kiddos. First day of 5th grade, first day of 2nd grade, first day of Kindergarten, and all in a brand new school to boot! (Ridiculously lengthy post to come about that.) And let's not forget Judah's very first day of preschool! 

These are my 3 amazing, beautiful, growing-up-WAY-too-fast older children:

I was a proud mama as I walked these 3 cuties into their new school and classrooms. I was also nervous, apprehensive, and sad to lose Lydia. I'm just choosing to focus on the pride part, because that's a much better caption for this picture. So, I said farewell to these little monkeys, and went on my pretending-to-be-merry way to see about Judah's first day of school. And here he is, my darling little pre-schooler on the first day of school...that wasn't.

That's right. Judah spent the day with the wonderful nurses of the PICU and the 6th floor at Children's.

On the 14th, I took Judah to the ER in respiratory distress. He was already on meds for a sinus infection, but then got hit with a virus that I'm pretty sure he got from his generous-to-a-fault sister;) The combination of the 2 was enough of a trigger for his lungs to tighten up, and we couldn't get it under control at home. He was in the ER for several hours before being admitted to the PICU, due to the fact that the ER doc. couldn't get it under control either. He ended up being on continuous albuterol for about 24 hrs. before finally being slooowly weaned from that to a lower dose and then moved upstairs to 6 on Thursday. It was a scary 24 hrs. for us. And it was horrible to watch the effects of the albuterol on my darling, sweet, laid back boy. The medicine that could open up his lungs and allow him to breathe is also the medicine that made him uncontrollably jittery and combative. A very hard thing for this mama to watch. During this stay we also hit the 2 floors that had previously eluded us: the PICU & 6. While I'm not exactly thrilled about meeting such a "goal", it did give me the opportunity to spread my sphere of influence and make connections with new docs and nurses. And even though we were in uncharted territory, God still had people we know on those floors, whether it was a passing Care Partner or a nurse we know from 5th. We even had the Attending we had on 4th all last summer! God really takes care of me when I'm nervous about being in "the new". Friday we came home, and then spent the weekend not doing much of anything. We finally had some good quality family time on Sunday. Monday I took Judah back to the pulmonolgist for follow-up and a new pro-active/profilactic plan of action. FINALLY yesterday, my BIG BOY got to go to his FIRST DAY OF PRE-SCHOOL!

We waited for the van outside, and his face lit up when he saw it. He walked (with his walker) himself right up to the van door and waited for his driver to open it up for him. He was so happy to see her. And he was off!

It was strange for me to be home alone. To pass the time I swept, mopped, walked the dog (another post to come), wiped down all our dining room chairs, pottied the dog, dusted, washed the sliding glass and front door, and then checked my watch to see how close I was to having Judah home. I wasn't. It was 9:50. I still had 2 hours! So...I thawed chicken for supper, put laundry away, and plopped down in front of the T.V. to watch "Say Yes to the Dress" on Netflix. (For the first time that I can remember, I was actually instructed by my husband AND my mom to "waste some time". Weird.) At 11:40 I went outside to wait for my boy.

I could see him pointing and smiling at me through the van window:) He was in the BEST mood! I also got a note from his teacher (a gift and a treasure to me) about all the things he did at school. Something I asked her to do for me, if she had time, since Judah can't tell me. He was so expressive and animated as I asked him specific things about his day; and when I started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle", a song they sang this morning, he started dancing and doing the hand motions with me! I didn't even know he knew them! At the end he bounced up and down and clapped! It was such an amazing moment for me, and I'm so thankful I had that with him.

School is going to be so good for him. I can't believe how far God has brought me in this; how He has gently addressed and dealt with each one of my fears and anxieties. I am now so happy for Judah and so excited to see how he is going to grow and be challenged this year. If we can keep him healthy, then we'll probably move to 3 mornings a week rather than 2 before the semester is over. He loves it too much, and I really can't find any good reason to keep him home with me. I certainly can't provide everything he gets at school. It's hard to let go, but the smiles on his face and the MANY conversations I've had with school staff and nurses make it easier. They really do take good care of him.

*sigh* My little lion is growing up.

No Words Needed...

...just tears, cheers and shouts for JOY! 

Judah's 1st Stroll

One more thing! I took this video of Judah walking with his shopping cart after his birthday party. Sorry it's sideways. I'm not super computer savvy. But at least it's here!

1st Day at Summer School

Our Little Lion made it through his 1st morning at summer school, his 1st van ride home, and is now sleeping soundly! We left the house at 10:10 this morning to get Judah to school on time. I feared that I was going to hyperventilate on the way there, but I made it without incident. Lots of deep breathing. Holding Jared's hand. Texting my "support group". Finally, we made it & we ALL got out of the van to take him to the entrance of the school. ALL of his siblings AND Daddy gave him big squeeze hugs and kisses before Mom walked him inside. His OT met us at the outside door, which was awesome, and she & I walked Judah down the hall and to his hook to hang up his backpack. As soon as I actually took him into his room he let go of my hand and hit the floor to explore. He found some toys right away, a table he could reach and stand up next to, and the plastic bin containing the song cards for circle time. That boy loves his song cards! He gave me a kiss good-bye, but he didn't even look at me as I stood up to leave...and he certainly didn't turn around to look for me after I walked out the door. I checked. He looked so adorable in that room, crawling around, exploring, a look of wonder on his face as he took in his new surroundings.

Judah's OT sent me this short video during school time, and texted me later to tell me that he had done GREAT & he was on his way home! I love her.

We were ALL waiting on the front porch for Judah's van to pull up. My heart broke when I saw him through the window, crying inconsolably. I grabbed him as soon as I could and just about squeezed the tears right out of him! His driver said he didn't like the stops, but did fine as long as she was driving. His van rides are now at the top of my prayer list.

He got plenty of snuggles and hugs as soon as he got home; lunch, and then off to bed. I imagine he'll be taking a nice, long nap today!

Judah's backpack full of non-school supplies. At least it's lightweight! 

Has there ever been a cuter preschooler?

He gave me lots of lovins before we left. Smart boy.

He made himself right at home!

Did I not say I got the PERFECT backpack?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDAH!

We had a small "family" party on Saturday, the 2nd.

Judah's favorite song card is "All the Fish", so the fish cake was perfect!

He loved every bite.

He had LOTS of birthday cards & pictures to look at, thanks to his siblings & friends.

This year he really got into the presents!

I'm surprised we made it this far into the party without a picture of Judah AND Lydia.

Big Boy Flashlight

BOOKS!!!

He got a shopping cart to walk with & a bike to ride! He is so over the stroller.

1st walk on his new bike

On June 4, we turned around his car seat! 

We sang again & had birthday treat, just us Stewarts.

He wanted to touch the candles. The whole blowing thing is a mystery to him;)

Still his greatest advocate...next to Mommy.

333333333 Happy Birthday, Champ! 333333333