Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Lydia Update


Lydia is learning to talk. She barks like a dog, says cat and good if asked too, and drops things purposefully so that she can say uh-oh. She still calls Dave "Momma" sometimes, but he doesn't seem to mind. (She also called Aubrey "Momma" while we were in WY.) She says mmm-hmm and a few other words. She is at the age where her vocabulary grows daily; it is so much fun to hear.

Lydia has the cutest laugh. It isn't a usual high pitched little girl laugh- it has a sweet authenticity to it.

Lydia's hair is getting longer, and needs to be put up and out of her eyes. I can tell it is going to be a battle to keep a bow or clip in her hair. We'll see how that goes.

She loves to sit and look at books and will often bring me a book to read to her, but she doesn't sit long enough to listen to an entire book yet. She doesn't, however, mind being held. She likes to give kisses and hugs and is overall pretty cuddly. She doesn't give love out to just anyone, however. Dave and I are going to have to learn about keeping a kid from being shy. Lydia takes awhile to befriend others.
Lydia just got her 7th tooth and her 8th is on the way. Teething is not a favorite of Lydia or mine. She is having to learn not to bite, or eat crayons/sidewalk chalk in the midst of her pain. We try to keep things around that will soothe her little gums.
Lydia is a sweet-natured girl, and I am so glad that God gave her to us. I never thought I would have kiddos born so close together, but I am so thankful that we have our little Lydia. She is such a joy to us all.

Julia Update




Julia is so funny! She has begun placing things on her head and telling me she is married. She doesn't get the concept that you marry a person she just wants to be a bride. I honestly don't know where she got this idea or that it would start popping into her little head so soon.


She also likes to watch me put my make-up on and constantly asks me if she can wear some. We caught her applying some herself and got a quick picture before disciplining her. Usually looking at and trying on some of my jewelry keeps her occupied enough that I can get my five-minute-face on with out her interupting too much. After she puts on one of my necklaces or bracelets she says "Look, I'm a mommy." I don't know whether to buy her pretend stuff for her birthday or to not encourage it. I think I would have to go without make-up or jewelry myself to keep from encouraging her though. (Haven't been convicted of that yet.)


Julia is such a strong-willed, social, little butterfly. When we went house hunting the other day, she latched onto our realtor as if she'd known her her whole life. Julia did not want her mom or dad to get her out of the carseat...just Landra. She also asked a complete stranger to buckle her up when Dave took the girls to a gas station for a potty break. The women cooed over Julia while telling Dave he was going to have to watch her because her sociality could be dangerous.
Julia LOVES the beach. She asks to go often. She likes to be in the water, jumping in the waves. She love the sand, and apparently doesn't mind eating it on a sandwich.
I honestly thought that my first-born child would be compliant, cuddly, timid and blonde. Julia is not defined by any of those things, but she is wonderful and vivacious, and I am so glad that God has created her just the way she is.




Stewart Family Update

Well, our lives continue to change, and we continue to see God working in our day -to-day. The girls are growing, changing, and learning new things all the time, and Dave and I are too. (Just, in a different way.) I have gone to Beth Moore's Revelation Bible Study the last two weeks and have been amazed to find how much hope there is in the book of Revelation. I thought it would be a scary book to study, but it has actually been quite the opposite. I have loved the worship before the study starts. It's very different from what I have grown accustomed too.
Dave and Lydia went to First Baptist Church again last week, and we are feeling like this may be where God is directing us to attend. It is a huge church with great, loving people. Plus, Beth Moore goes there. - (Ha ha.)
Julia and I stayed home from church and slept. We were both sick and needed the rest. Julia's little bug went through her much quicker than mine has for me. I'm pretty sure we didn't have the same thing. I still had a soar throat today, but I found out that gum + diet coke + Bible study = feeling much better. I'll have to write that formula down and remember it!
After our much needed rest and recuperation, we decided to stick with our previous plans to go with our realtor and look at houses. Dave and the girls were going to stay home, but Julia was doing much better and hasn't had a problem since. Anyway, we put an offer on a home in Sienna Plantation. It is a great house that needs a little TLC. It may take us awhile to get into it, though, as it is a short sale (pre-foreclosure) home. I would like to be in it by Christmas, but I won't hold my breath. It'll probably be next year.
So, with a goal of where we want to live in mind, and our house under contract, Dave and I decided that the girls and I would travel with my parents (they are planning to visit this weekend) back to Bartlesville for a week to get the house entirely packed and loaded and have a garage sale. I never would have dreamed that the girls and I would do so much traveling without Dave...but it's just the way it has worked out. It isn't as bad as I would have thought. Plus, it makes us appreciate each other more.
Dave will be driving up October 3 to help us pack up the truck and get back to Houston. It'll be nice to see our Bartlesville home one last time.
I was just realizing tonight how orchestrated our lives have been. Dave and I never could have thought up this plan for our lives ourselves, but we are blessed to have a saviour who did it for us. We are thankful he got His plan through our thick heads.
We greatly miss all of our Bartlesville friends and family, but absense makes the heart grow fonder. :) I am excited to spend time with family this upcoming week, and maybe get a glimpse of some of our friends. Love to all!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Stewart Day at the Lake- August 1st

So, this is back-up blogging. (I just made that term up.) These are pics from the day we spent at Dave's, Aunt Diane's house. Dave flew back from Houston for the occasion. It was already planned and he hadn't seen the girls in 2 weeks. We were so glad to see him and for us all to see this side of the family before we all trekked off to Houston.



Kenlee and Jaycee on the tube. Dave's Cousins on the Boat. From Left to Right: Doug, his wife Jaquita, Sarah, her son Conley, and Shelby- Doug and Jaquita's son.
Dave and Julia enjoying the ride. (Julia wanted to go tubing so bad that Wade let her get out there with Dave and I to hold her down. Christie held Lydia while we rode the waves.)


Me and Lydia - she's half asleep.


Lydia after a nap and our fun on the Lake.




Kenlee holding Lydia.




More back-up blogging to come!



Monday, September 14, 2009

Happy Days

Lydia, eating a cheesestick, while waiting impatiently for birthday cake. She kept pointing and fussing at the cake until she finally a had a piece of her own.
Dave's birthday cake. There are 30 candles in the shape of a big 3 0. Nerdy, I know.
Dave, blowing out his birthday candles.

(Sorry that my last post was not lined up well. I am still trying to get all this blog stuff figured out. I was dissapointed with the way it turned out. )
We have had a lot of reasons to celebrate these last few days. I am so thankful for a turn of events! :) On Friday our home went under contract and Dave found out that he starts his actual job on Monday!! When I found out all the good news, I started saying Woohoo, Praise the Lord!" Julia joined in by jumping around and saying "Yeah God!" We celebrated the great and exciting news at Olive Garden that evening.
Saturday was free museum day, so we visited the Children's museum here in Houston. It was great fun, and we plan to go back sometime. There was no way we could have seen or explored it all in one day. They are free on Thursday evenings. :)
On Sunday we tried out another new chuch, Sugarcreek Baptist Church. We really enjoyed it, and are praying about what church we should establish as our home church. Sugarcreek is pretty close to where we would like to live, but we will see where the Lord leads us.
Sunday was also Dave's 30th birthday, so we celebrated that by bringing him breakfast in bed, going out to eat after church, eating birthday cake, giving him presents, visiting a neighborhhood park, and making shrimp scampi for dinner. It was a fun and busy celebratory weekend!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Some of the fun we had in Cheyeoming (Cheyenne, Wyoming)

Aubrey's 24th Birthday; the whole reason we surprised Aubrey in Wyoming! The cake was yummy and we had fun celebrating Aubrey's birthday with her.
Birthday Cake delivery- Andy made the cake.

















Lydia enjoying Aunt Aubrey's birthday cake.












Julia enjoying Aunt Aubrey's birthday cake.















Uncle Andy found a worm and Julia asked to pet it. She got to pet it and hold it.
















Aunt Aubrey and Lydia on the Hazelet's front porch
















We had a picnic outside in the 75 degree weather. It was a lot of fun and Lydia loved the watermelon! We grilled out several times while we were there.










We had a great time in Wyoming!

Friday, September 11, 2009

We got an offer our Home!

Please Lord, let us sell our home today!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Jet Lag

Well, most of you know by now that I was stuck in the Denver airport for the whole day on Tuesday. It was so dissapointing. I am finally starting to recover from the emotional event. As my time in Wyoming was winding down, I was thinking about all the fun times the Hazelet and the Stewart families had together, and how I could reenact the events in my blog. But, the tune of that all changed when my babies and I ended up camping out all day in a place where people are rude, customer service falls very short, you pay an arm and a leg for any refreshments, and children have no place to nap or roam. I'll enligten you on the events, however, I am not writing this for a personal pity party, or as a United airline complaint (although I have many), but just as a journal entry. Aah....maybe one day I can look back and laugh.
It all started when we got to the airport at 9:10 a.m. Andy came to help me get through all the red tape, keep the girls in line and get through security. We were (literally) yelled at to go to another line because we wanted to check our bags. After getting in the very long line, and attempting to keep Julia from wondering to every baby or child within her eye sight, I noticed a sign that said all baggage must be checked 45 minutes before the planes depart. At that time we still had about 5-10 minutes before 9:44 and so I convinced myself that all was well. (Our plane departed at 10:29.) After finally making it through the long line, we were escorted to our computerized boarding assistant. Yes, we waited in line all that time for a machine. What were those people behind the counter doing anyway? We looked around, unsure how to use the dumb thing when we finally flagged down a lady who told us my credit card would work. So, we pushed one in the machine which told us immediately that we were too late to check bags. I looked at my watch which read 9:45 and a half; while the machine started directing us to a later flight. We flagged down the lady again for help, explaining I could not wait for a later flight. She informed us that she could not bypass the system and that we would have to wait in another line to see what could be done.
After trying my darndest to keep Julia from roaming to the seeing-eye-dog a yard in front of us, we finally made it to the customer service person at about 9:55. I told the man there was no way I could miss my flight with two toddlers with me and that I needed to check my bags. He said nothing could be done and my water works started. Sitting in silence for a few seconds, I realized I would just have to lug all of our stuff through the entire airport to gate check my bags. The man said that was fine, and in turn gave me the boarding passes for me and the girls and gave Andy a security pass to help me get the three small bags, two carseats, 2 small carry-ons and girls through security and to our gate. We needed to hurry!! So, we ran; me slower than Andy because I was trying to steer the umbrella stroller while carrying luggage; but both of us bogged down with luggage while trying to keep Julia on course. We got in line for security, realizing there was a slim chance we could get through on time and trying to figure out what to do, when a lady told us to go through the premier line because we had so much stuff. THANK YOU! That sped things along for sure. The girls milk in their sippie cups and my toiletries had to be inspected. The bag with the toiletries would have been checked... I guess they have a chemical solution that checks for harmful liquids....whhooo...milk was clean of any fatal chemicals-- good to know. Okay, almost 20 minutes to get there-RUN!
"Julia, stay right with us..."
"Julia, look where your running..."
"Julia run right towards mommy, NO, not for the dog, run towards MOMMY!"
So, we made it to our gate. Phew, 10:25 a.m.-late-but surely they'll let us on. (Doors close 10 minutes before flight is scheduled.) Out of breath, I begged the man to let us on. He said no, he could not, I had missed the deadline. Then the pleading started. The man at the gate called down to the plane, telling them the Stewart's had arrived and that we needed to get on. But, the answer was still no. I cried and pleaded a little more when a man coming from the plane walked though saying "Sorry, we all ready to fly."
The man at the gate said he understood that I was in a predicament, but that the plane had to leave on time, and that he could put us on standby for the next available flight at 12:40. He told us to go to customer service.
My goodness this story is so long. So, we went to customer service, who told us that they could indeed put us on standby, but that it didn't look good for us because the flight was full and even overbooked by 9 people. Ummm.... I HAVE to board this flight. I'm so tired and so are my girls.
Andy helped us trek over to the new gate number and then bought us lunch at Quizno's. After all that, Andy had to leave for work. I called Dave, crying and shaky. How was I going to be able to wait with two babies in an airport for two hours for a two and a half hour flight and survive it all?
I asked the lady at the ticket counter what I needed to do to make sure I could get on the flight. I could do nothing....just wait to see if some seats were available. She only told me the same thing the customer service person told me. No new information or solutions. Why did we have to wait in line for customer service to tell us the exact same thing that each gate person told us?
The flight was indeed full. (It was delayed until 1:05. There goes the "planes have to leave on schedule" theory.) Next flight is at 5:30. I can't even move all of our luggage to the next gate by myself. I asked the lady to call for one of those airport golf cart thingies to take us to the next gate. After getting to the gate, I realized the gravity of our situation. We couldn't even get a snack or go to the bathroom if we needed to. How were the girls going to nap? They were already cranky. I couldn't check our bags incase we didn't get on a flight that day--I needed the car seats in case we had to travel somewhere by car. (The 5:30 flight was full as well.)
Advised by Dave and my Dad, I waved down a lady with the airlines for help. I asked her if we could put our bags in safe keeping and explained the situation to her. But, she informed me nothing could be done. I cried, yet again, telling her that I couldn't even take my two-year-old to the bathroom or to get a drink. She conceded and took my stuff to the gate 47 break room.
Now that I was freed up, I went ahead and took the girls to get drinks and to customer service again. I wanted to make them let me get on the 5:30 flight. That didn't work, but they did make sure I was on the 7:07 flight and let me stay in a special needs room for the next few hours.
I asked for a supervisor, to ask him some questions, but he told me nothing new and offered me no help.
Aubrey and I talked about staying the night in Denver and flying out the next morning since the girls and I were exhausted, but I decided to just come home. Aubrey did drive half way to Denver to possibly stay over-night with us, but at 6, I decided to just go home even if we wouldn't get make it until midnight.
Well, we did get home at midnight. The girls, although still not well-rested, have not started sleeping normally again. Lord, please help us. Now that I have this long story off my chest, I'll be able to share all the happy moments and pictures from our Wyoming trip in my next blog. Thank you God we made it home!!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Aubrey's Birthday Surprise



Well, we've been in Wyoming for a little over a day in a half now. It was so hard to keep the secret from my sister!!! We loved surprising her, and are having a great time. Aubrey was speechless at first, but it didn't take long for us to start catching up! We only wish Dave could be here. :)