Family Surival Kit

If you plan on spending time with extended family this holiday season you may want to consider purchasing a family survival kit. Order soon for delivery before Christmas.
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Ella's Prescription for Contentment

I want to thank you all for the encouraging words after my last blog. I am so blessed to have family and friends who I know are praying for me. After my last rant I was praying and I began to think back to a book that I recently read called Calm my Anxious Heart. (I strongly recommend this book to every woman. It has done wonders for me in helping me to be a more positive person and to remember that God is the one who is in control, not me.) Anyway, I want to share a snippet from the book called "Ella's prescription for contentment".

*Never allow yourself to complain about anything-not even the weather.
*Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
*Never compare your lot with another's.
*Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
*Never dwell on tomorrow-remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

Those words are so true and I'm afraid that I have not been content in all of my circumstances. I am ready for a new day in which I will practice the habit of being content. God has truly blessed me and I am so thankful for that.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Where is the Joy?

I must confess that I am having a very hard time being joyful right now. It has been extremely hard for me to adjust to having two little ones and getting little to no sleep. I fear that I am so tired and cranky most days that I am becoming a bad mom. Landon was always such a good sleeper so I don't know what to do about Jonah. I know that his sleep problems must stem from the fact that we have been traveling so much due to Adam's interviews, but I really want to fix them. Jonah is the sweetest most beautiful little baby, but he will only sleep if he is held or sometimes in his carseat. He has become so used to his grandparents holding him that when I actually try to put him down for a nap he screams and screams. I can even rock him to sleep and as soon as I set him down he wakes up. Poor Landon is dying for attention from me and says things like, "put him in swing, put him in carseat, put him in crib". People keep telling me that Jonah will grow out of it, but when is that supposed to happen? I don't know how much more lack of sleep my body can take. I want to be joyful because I know that God has blessed me so much with my new little baby, but it is really hard.
I have also been pretty sad about the fact that I still can't fit into my clothes. My mom took me out to buy a few things and I had the hardest time picking things out. For the past three years I haven't bought any new clothes (except for a few maternity items) so I don't even know my own taste anymore. I am definately not stylish these days. My idea of an outfit is the same pair of saggy jeans I wear everyday with a t-shirt. I pair this with my hair in a bun most days. I would love to wear make-up and get dolled up, but I am lucky if I get to put on deodorant and clean undies every morning. Oh what has become of me? I know that this is just for a time in my life, but I truly hope that it passes quickly.
****I'm sorry about the depressing post, but it actually made me feel a little better to get it off of my chest.

Busy Busy Busy

So much has been going on since the last time I posted. We have been doing a lot of traveling this past month and with interviews starting for Adam we will be doing a lot more. Adam went to Mexico last week on a medical mission trip and I went to Denver to see his grandma. It was tons of fun, but I'm so glad to be home! There is something about home that is so peaceful to me. Maybe it's my type A personality, but I love having things in order and being back on a regular schedule. I have such a hard time living out of a suitcase. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to keep organized. Inevitably I will rearrange my suitcase only to realize that the pair of socks I needed are lost on the very bottom. So I rumage through to retrieve them and voila my suitcase is a disaster again. Someone needs to invent a traveling dresser drawer system that you can unfold and have all of your clothes neatly organized in their own spot. If you are reading my blog and you patent this system please remember to include me in any royalites:) Well, I could write a novel on all that has been going on, but instead I'll just post some pics to highlight our past few months.

Landon the Clown and Jonah the Lobster

After the "Sugar High" wore off

Jonah and Great Grandma Stewart in CO

Landon's Elmo Cake

We celebrated Landon's 2nd B-day with the fam at the local McDonalds

Landon opening presents

Fall Fun

We have been having such a blast this month. Here are some of the highlights of what's been going on:

We have started a Saturday morning tradition of going to Krispy Kreme for a fresh hot doughnut. Landon wakes up on Saturday morning and comes into our room saying, "doughnut store?" It is very sweet. Landon absolutely loves watching the machines make those doughnuts. Last weekend was the Tech/UT game so Landon got a doughnut with red and black sprinkles to support his team. Go Tech! His favorite part though is the ball machine. We give him a quarter and he saves it all week long in anticipation of putting it in the machine and getting a small bouncy ball. He is getting quite an impressive collection of these tiny balls.


We went to a fall carnival at a local elementary school a few weeks ago. It was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop us. Landon got his hair painted orange and blue for the Broncos. We bought him an egg filled with confetti and he had got a kick out of cracking it on my head. The tickets only cost a quarter so Landon played all kinds of cool games and even won some candy. They had a train made of trash cans and Landon rode all around the schoolyard with another girl who had her face painted like a clown. He got scared towards the end because he didn't know where we were. We bought Landon some cotton candy (which he calls cotton balls) and he yummed it up. He was a huge mess by the time he was finished because the rain made the sugar melt all over his hands. He enjoyed himself though.















Last weekend we went to the state fair in Ft. Worth with Landon's cousins and aunts and uncle. We made the mistake of going on the last Saturday night the fair was open. It was so crowded that we had a hard time getting around with those big double strollers. We went to what we thought was a dog trick show, but it ended up being some silly sheep dog demonstration. It was a sad excuse for a show I must say. They had a pretend circus for the kids to participate in and that was pretty fun. Landon was more interested in the cow picture booth though. Of course the highlight of the event was the food. We chowed down on overpriced cotton candy, nachos, and corny dogs. It was great. My sister in law and I learned a lesson in patience as we waited way too long in line for fried oreos. It sound pretty gross, but they were surprisingly good. I can't believe all of the things they fry these days: marshmallows, fried snickers, fried coke, fried pralines. And people wonder why Americans are so overweight.














On Saturday we decided it was finally time to carve our pumpkins. Landon was so excited to help scrape out the insides. After every scoop he said, "EEEEW Goppy Goop." I used to be terrible at carving pumpkins, but thanks to stencil carving kits I have to say mine turned out pretty cute. Adam made a turkey and I made a silly frankenstein. You can tell who the artist is in the family.

Workout Motivation

I know this is very unlike me to have two posts in one week, but I have something on my mind that has been bothering me and I just have to get it out so I can stop thinking about it. As you all know I have a six week old baby at home. As the weather gets cold I am realizing that I don't have any clothes that fit me right now. I have one pair of jeans that my sister in law gave me after my last pregnancy, but they don't quite fit the same way they did last time. My theory is that during my last pregnancy I gained mostly water weight due to the pre-eclampsia, but this pregnancy I actually gained more fat. Anyway, I have turned into one of those women who walk around with clothes that are way too tight. You've all seen them. They walk around with skin tight jeans with a jelly roll hanging over them. Yes, I have become one of them, and it is especially bad when I am sitting down. I really don't have much of a choice right now though. It's either walk around with my jelly roll or buy new clothes (which we can't afford). Even if we could, I don't intend to stay this size, so it would be pointless to buy new things. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and start working out at the gym. I was so proud of myself as I walked into the body sculpt class and got my weights. Their were about 20 other girls in class that day and I was hoping that I could keep up since it had been so long since I'd worked out. As the teacher had everyone stand up to start warm ups she looked at me and remembered me from her classes before. In front of the whole class she said," I see a little pooch!!! How far along are you now?" I was so embarrassed. My face was bright red as I explained that I already had the baby. I think she was trying to make matters better as she said," Oh, I'm sorry I though you were like 9 months pregnant." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Nine months pregnant? I'm so sure. I think I look pretty good considering I just had a watermelon in my tummy 6 weeks ago. I was so embarrassed that I debated on whether or not I should leave the class, but decided to tough it out instead. After all, apparently I have a very large pooch to get rid of - so large that I look 9 months pregnant to some. That workout was one of the best workouts I have ever done. I had really good motivation to push myself this time. After class, the instructor came over and apologized again. She walked with me to see my baby, but then proceeded to ask me if Jonah was chunky for his age because he looked fat. Can you believe the nerve of some people? I've put my foot in my mouth several times before, but I can't imagine doing it twice to the same person in less than an hour. I guess the moral of this story is..... we all need to be more careful of the things we say.
Whew.... I'm really glad I got that off of my chest. So the next time you see me, please feel free NOT to comment on my bulging belly.

Jonah has put on a little weight but I would hardly call him chunky:)

God is in Control

So many things have been going on at the Stewart's this past week. On Wednesday I got a pretty hefty bill from a trip to the ER in Oklahoma from last March. The insurance said that it was going to be taken care of, but I got this letter stating that I would be sent to a collection agency if I did not pay. I called the hospital and explained the situation and they said that the insurance decided not to pay it because it was out of state. This was extremely frustrating to me since I had called the insurance company before my ER visit to make sure it was covered. After explaining the whole situation to the hospital she talked with her supervisor and they dropped the bill. I feel bad that they lost that money, but the insurance company should have paid it like they said they would. God truly was taking care of us because their is no way that we could afford a bill like that right now. Isn't it amazing how God looks out for us?

Adam finished applying for Ophthalmology Residency a couple of weeks ago (one of these days I'm going to learn how to spell that word). He hadn't heard from anyone wanting an interview so he called the Match Program and they said that his application was not complete. They were still waiting on a recommendation letter. Adam was very frustrated because the secretary at Tech said she sent it but apparently she didn't send it to the right e-mail address. By the time Adam was able to get her to send it again the Match had already sent out a batch of applications. This means that his application won't be processed until next week sometime. The sad thing is that many of the program deadlines are this week. Adam is trying to call all of the programs and explain what happened, but I'm not sure if they will make an exception. I have knots in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it. We are praying that everything will work out. I'm not sure what God is trying to show us through this experience. Ophthalmology is very competitive and for Adam to miss half of the school's deadlines is pretty scary. We know that God is in control, so to all of my prayer warriors out there please cover us with prayers these next couple of months. If Adam is meant to work in this field, then God can make it happen despite these terrible circumstances.

On a happier note, we celebrated the first cool day in Lubbock this past week. We have had unseasonably warm temperatures for quite some time, so as soon as the temp got below 70 we decided to celebrate with a fire in our fireplace. Their is nothing more relaxing then the crackling of a fire on a cold night. Adam and Landon got the bright idea to roast some marshmallows and make smores. I have never seen Landon so giddy. He was running around the house with this silly little laugh. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I think he really enjoyed himself. I thought he would remember more about Fall from last year, but I guess he was too small. If he thinks this was fun, he is going to love Halloween.

Here are some pics from last week. Enjoy!





















A balloon artist made this for Landon at the ice cream shop. I'm not sure if it's Lilo or Stitch, but I know it's from the movie.

It's Been Way Too Long

For those of you who haven't given up on the idea that I might actually post again, here it goes:

Most of you know that the reason I have been non-existent lately is due to the fact that we just added a new addition to our family. Jonah Coleman Stewart was born on August 29. He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. He has been such a joy and a blessing to our family these last few weeks. Landon has adjusted well to being a big brother. He loves Jonah sooo much and is always wanting to help. Every time Jonah cries Landon says, "Sad Boy", and runs over to see how he can help. He has become very good at putting Jonah's pacifier back in his mouth, although most of the times it is upside down. Jonah doesn't seem to mind though.
Adam is doing a research month right now so he had been home a lot to help around the house. He is also off next month for interviews so we will be seeing even more of him. It feels like we are school kids who are dating again because we have had so much time together. Our family has had a rough 3 years of medical school so this is a welcome change.
We have done some pretty fun stuff the last few weeks. Gran, Papa, Hannah, and Ben came down to see the new baby and the boys went on a fishing trip. They went to a little lake that was stocked in hopes that they might actually catch something. Landon caught two fish and they brought them home and fried them up in the fry daddy. They were pretty tasty I'll have to admit.


Yesterday we went to see the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. We are super nerdy. We all got dressed up in our orange attire and asked the lady who worked there to take some family pics of us. You never know how pictures are going to turn out when you ask a stranger to take them. We've had several pics where our heads were cut off and things of that nature when we asked a passerby to take them. We got pretty lucky though because she happened to be a photographer. The pics turned out pretty good considering we had two tired kids and used a digital camera.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try my hardest to keep posting despite how busy we are these days.

Landon's first BooBoo

When you wake up in the morning you never know what the day will have in store for you....
Landon and I had a fun morning enjoying each other's company and playing around the house. He loves his sandbox that Grandma bought for him and today he learned how to put water in it and make mud cakes. At first he didn't understand that the cakes weren't to eat, but after one taste I think he got the picture.
Later on we went to the Cingular store to see what was wrong with our cell phone. Everyone in the family has the same phone and everyone has had problems with it. Today ours just stopped working. The Cingular guy was able to fix it pretty easily, but it is still having problems connecting with people. At least it still works though.
After Landon's nap we went over to a friend's house to play. Landon's loves going over to our there because they have so many cool toys and his girlfriend lives their. Her name is Daycia and Landon is constantly talking about her. One day he was singing some random tune in the backseat and the only words to the song were "Daycia Daycia". It's pretty cute.
Anyway, all of the kids were swimming and playing on bikes so Landon thought he would be a big guy and try to ride a tricycle. He did a good job until he decided to get off. As I saw him trying to get off, the thought entered my mind to get up and help him, but before my feet could get up he fell off of the bike and straight onto the contrete. I jumped up to get him and noticed he had some blood in his mouth and dripping off of his chin. I tried to remain calm as I wiped it with a paper towel only to notice a huge gash. It's really hard as a parent to stay calm when your child has a gaping wound in his chin. We called the Dr, but she had left for the day so we went to the ER to see if he needed stitches.
Unfortunatley the Dr. on call was this old man who we have seen before. He's retired but still works every now and then. I don't know why this man is a pediatrician since he is horrible with kids. Landon was afraid of him the moment he walked into the room.
The Dr. said they had a new product called Dermabond that works better than stitches and doesn't leave scarring. Essentially it is a type of glue that holds the cut together.
The Dr. had to put Landon in a straight jacket device to hold him still while he fixed up his chin. The jacket didn't work as well as it should so I had to to hold his arms down through the process. It took the help of another male nurse to hold Landon's head down while the Dr. fixed him up. I have never heard a child's scream that was so chilling. My poor little guy was drenched with sweat by the time the procedure was finished because he had screamed and wriggled so much.
Thankfully though, Landon is alright. He was a little traumatized by the whole experience, but it wasn't anything a trip to McDonalds couldn't fix. I think the whole thing was harder on me than on him. I'm pretty sure I will be having nightmares tonight as I replay the events in my mind. With two little boys I guess I had better get used to days like this. Especially if they are anything like their daddy who is lucky to be alive after all of the shenanigans he pulled in childhood:)

Test Time

As most of you know Adam has been studying like crazy for the past 3 weeks for the USMLE Step 2 exam. Tomorrow is officially the big day and I want to ask you all for your prayers. Adam is very stressed out about this exam. He feels as though the results will be a big factor in his decision on what field of medicine to pursue. I think it is a pretty big weight on his shoulders.
The exam starts around 8:30 tomorrow morning and lasts 9 hours. Let's cover him in prayer. I want to thank you all for being friends who believe in the power of prayer as much as I do.

Pics from the past month

One of Landon's favorite things to do is
walk around the house with a sock on his
hand and pick things up. He calls it his
puppet.



Landon at the barber shop. He wasn't very happy but the dum dum
sucker made it manageable.




Our little Spidey Guy



Splashing around at the pool






Happy Four Year Anniversary to us!!!

"Father's Day Special"

Wheew. What a busy week. It seems like we have been celebrating all week long.
Adam and I had our four year anniversary last Thursday. We decided not to buy each other gifts this year because money is pretty tight right now. Fourth year medical school brings about more expenses than loan money allows so we are having to get creative with our budget. Anyway, the traditional four year anniversary gift is fruit or flowers so I decided to make Adam a little something. Technically I didn't buy him a present, I just bought some fruit that was on my grocery list and made a little something:) Mawmaw helped me make the most beautiful flower arrangement out of fruit. I found a picture on the internet from an edible arrangement shop and we copied it. We cut pineapple with flower cookie cutters and made chocolate dipped strawberries for the tulips. It took us all morning long, but turned out pretty incredible. (As soon as I figure out how to add pictures to my blog I'll post it.) Adam was shocked when I met him at the hospital with this huge arrangement. He and his coworkers all loved it. He was a little embarassed because he took the "let's not get presents" conversation to heart and really didn't get me a present. Going out to dinner with him and spending time together was present enough for me though. Especially considering that the Mavs were playing that night. Nothing says love like missing an NBA finals game for your honey.
On Sunday I woke up bright and early and made Adam a special father's day breakfast before church. He rarely gets a home cooked breakfast because he usually leaves for work before we get up. Landon was very excited about giving his daddy the present we made. They have a little place here called the Mud Room where you buy unfinished pottery and paint it yourself. It's pretty inexpensive and very fun to do. After you paint the pottery they fire it for you so that it's safe to eat on it and put into the dishwasher. Landon and I made a grill platter for Adam that had Landon's footprint on it. I painted a shoe around his footprint and put a sweet little poem on it. The poem said:
Here is my little footprint,
one day it will fit your shoe.
I watch what you are doing...
because Daddy I want to be just like you.
Adam thought that it was the sweetest thing he had ever seen. I didn't see any tears, but you could tell that he was so proud to be Landon's daddy.
For lunch I told Adam that I would take him out to eat anywhere he wanted to go. Since we never eat Chinese food and it's Adam's favorite he decided to go to a Chinese buffet. I was surprised that I actually liked it. Normally I don't like Chinese food because it's very greasy and always makes me tired after I eat it. After we ate we headed to the register to pay for our meal and were shocked by the price. We asked the woman at the register why it was so expensive and she directed our attention to a small hand printed sign on the window that we had failed to notice. The sign read: "Happy Father's Day! Father's Day Special : $7.50 per adult. We love you!" Now, reading this sign you might interpret it as a "special deal" or you might think that their were "special" items on the buffet for this Father's Day occasion. You would be wrong though. Their were no special buffet items and the price was actually more expensive than usual. We paid the bill and made jokes all the way home about jacking up prices on holidays and calling it a "Special Deal". A few hours later we came to realize that the Chinese restaurant actually had given us something "special". A little extra present to go home with that would last the whole night through. I don't want to go into too many details for fear of grossing you out, but Adam ended up sick all night long. What a great Father's Day present from our friends at Chinese Garden. Happy Father's Day!

Herpangina

For the past week it seemed as though Landon and I were suffering from a terrible case of allergies. It's not that surprising seeing as how we live on the dusty plains of Lubbock, TX. It is so dry and windy here that everyone suffers from allergy problems. On Sunday night I decided that Landon might actually have a cold because he started having a fever and was extremely fussy. He would wake up from his nap crying uncontrollably and nothing would console him. That's just not like Landon. I couldn't get him to eat for two days so I decided to take him to the doctor today. The doctor took one look at his throat and decided that he has a virus called Herpangina. She showed me the sores on Landon's throat and how red and irritated it was. No wonder he wouldn't eat anything. He also had some red bumps on the bottom of his feet that I hadn't noticed. I pay pretty good attention to what is going on with my son, but apparently I have failed to check the bottoms of his feet. Who would have known? Unfortunately their is no medication for the virus, it just has to run its course. It's extremely painful and some children get dehydrated because it hurts to eat or drink. So Landon and I will be homebound for the next few days while he recovers. I'm glad to know what is wrong with him, but sad that I can't do anything for him.
Aside from the sickness things have been pretty normal at the Stewart household. Adam has been working hard and Landon and I have been playing hard. I feel so blessed that I am able to stay at home with my little boy. I can't imagine dropping him off at a daycare every morning and picking up only to seem him for a few hours out of the day. I would miss out on all of the cute little things that make him Landon. He surprises me so much everyday with how much he knows about the world around him. He retains things like a little sponge. The other day we came in from playing outside and all of a sudden their were little winged bugs all over our wooden walkway floor. We played a stomping game in an effort to kill all of the bugs with our shoes. Later we called the landlord and found out that we have termites. (Thankfully we are renting as it appears it is going to be a pretty big expense to have the bugs evicted) So now every day Landon goes over and points at the walkway saying "Bug, Bug". Of course we haven't seen the bugs since that day, but he remembers them. From now on our walkway will be imprinted on his memory with having bugs all over it.

I finally decided to join all the fun and start my own blog. Everybody seems to be doing it so I figured if I didn't figure this thing out I would be left back in the e-mail age. Technology has come so far and I need to make sure that I keep up so I don't end up like my mother who barely knows how to do a google search. I can't promise I'll post often as writing really isn't my thing, but I'll try.