I'm Too Cute

Jacob is my favorite little boy. He is too cute now. He is 3 months old! Time has flown soooooo fast. I figured it was time for another update:

Today we went and had professional pictures taken. My sister works at a photography studio (http://www.michaelcairns.com/) and he did our pictures for us. We got a CD and they are so good. They still need to be retouched a bit (the naked ones will have a solid black background), but at the end of the post are some of our favorite!

EATING: He is eating so well. I think he is trying to nurse less. About 75% of the time he takes 30-45min to nurse (instead of an hour). I think that means he is eating faster and not less. I still feed him every 4 hours during the day, but now only once at night. He gets up at night anywhere between 3:30-4:30am. We give him 2oz of formula after he nurses right before bed and that helps him last longer. He is nursing really well. I could tell a big difference about a week past his due date; it is like it really clicked then. He is thankfully starting to be more awake through his feedings and just looks at me and at my arm (poor thing - my arm is the only thing in his line of sight. If you see me one day with drawings all over the top of my arm it is because I finally felt so badly about him just staring at my pasty white arm and decided to do something about it!).

SLEEPING: He is sleeping great. He goes to bed around 10:00-10:30pm and sleeps sometimes as late as 4:45am! He then wakes up in the mornings between 6:30am and 7:00am, but he isn't ready to eat...he just needs to be cuddled while he sleeps longer. He then wakes up for his day between 8:00am and 9:00am (I like the 9:00am days!). He has started taking naps during the day. Normally he is awake about an hour after his breakfast and lunch and then goes down for a nap. He falls asleep on my chest and I lay him down on the couch and he is good to go. The only downfall to that is that when he doesn't get those naps or if he is off his routine too much he gets cranky, but for the most part, even when he is over tired, I can get him to fall asleep on me.

BATH: This kid still loves his bath. He gets a bath about every other day (he doesn't get that dirty, but his hands do get pretty sour smelling). As long as he isn't too hungry during bath time he just relaxes and enjoys the water.

WAKE TIME: I love his awake time. He is so alert and looks around. He loves lights and the fan. He always find the lights and stares so intently at them. I think he only blinks every 5min or so! He loves his bouncy seat and is starting to enjoy the swing more. When he is awake sometimes I just put him on the couch, in a crack so he doesn't go anywhere, and have him face the window and he is as happy as can be for at least an hour. He is trying to smile. Today during his pictures he was responding to everyone talking to him and you can tell he wants to smile so badly. Any day now I know he will do it. He did smile at me when I was talking to him, but he wouldn't do it again so I don't know if it was a real "response" smile or just gas.

FRIENDS: Here is a picture of him with his friend, Luke. Luke was born about 2.5 weeks after Jacob. He was supposed to be 6 weeks older than Jacob. They are too cute together!

DOCTORS: Poor thing has 2 doctors appointments this week. He gets him flu shot tomorrow and then goes to his pediatrician Wednesday and will get more shots. Wednesday will be a long day as he is cranky after those shots. The good news is he gets to get weighed! We are guessing he has to be close to 9lbs, but we will know for sure on Wednesday.

MOVEMENT: He is still a mover. He never stays where you put him. He doesn't move far, but he is always on the move. We like to put him on our chest and kind of hold him back and watch him move his head. It is so slow and controlled...then he gets tired of holding it up and it starts to bobble and then falls down. Too cute.

Here are some pictures from our shoot today...enjoy!

Wonderful Friends

We have the most wonderful friends!

Our dear friends, Matt & Stephanie Metzler just dropped off a card, sparkling white grape juice and strawberry shortcake in celebration of our anniversary. Isn't that so sweet of them?!?

Thank you so much Matt & Stephanie. I LOVE strawberries and LOVE whipped cream. You are too kind. We love you guys!

Busy Days

We have had a busy week in the Shaw household. Tuesday was our 3-year anniversary. Adam got me a dozen beautiful roses. He cooked us a wonderful dinner that night of bacon wrapped filet's, asparagus, sweet potatos and champagne...yummy! We then went to Belugas in Winter Park Saturday night for a great dinner. My husband is so wonderful!


Jacob is fabulous and still my favorite baby boy!

This is Jacob trying so hard to flip from his belly to his back. He got on his side, but just couldn't roll over that arm.

We had a wedding Friday night, so he got all dressed up and looked so handsome! This is also his Easter outfit. The poor kid only owns one nice outfit that fits him.

He is a big boy now and is not only in newborn diapers, but in newborn clothes! This is his first newborn outfit that he wore.

I had to go out and buy him some newborn clothes today. He has lots of 0-3 months, but not that many newborn outfits. Thankfully Adam's great aunt and uncle sent us a gift certificate that I used to buy him some new cute things. My new favorite thing is gift certificates (I LOVE shopping for clothes for him...and myself!). Babies R Us had a buy one get one 50% off on all of their Carter's clothes - so between that, the gift certificate and some sales at Target I was able to get him 7 outfits without spending too much! He is just too wonderful!

I'll post an update on how he is growing and changing soon. He has been off the past couple of days. I worked Thursday and Friday because Rachel (a CSR in my office) was who got married Friday, so I went in to help out and took Jacob with me. That got him off of his routine and his stomach has been hurting him, so I didn't get much sleep last night. He is fussing now and demanding my attention and I have ignored him long enough. More later...

Call me lazy...

...but I don't care!

Today is the best day - it started at 11:15am! I haven't felt this good in a week. Jacob had a rough night Saturday night and I only got 4 1/2 hours of sleep...then, Sunday was a crazy day (we went to church, then straight to a youth meeting, then home for about 2 hours and then off to young marrieds) and I was soooo tired. Jacob decided last night to get up at 12:30am, then 4am then 6:45am. By 6:45am I was so sleepy that I asked Adam to give him a formula bottle so that I could sleep a little longer. Thankfully, my wonderful husband took care of him and Jacob drank just 2oz and went back to bed. About 9am he got fussy and I thought it was time to get up, but I put him in bed with me and I didn't wake up until 11:15 and he then slept until 11:45! It was wonderful (and helped us get back on the eating schedule that I love so much). I don't like my day starting so late, but I feel so rested and really needed that. Isn't he cute sleeping?!?

I just had to take a picture of him yesterday. He was so cute bundled up for the cold. So I have big news - he is wearing newborn diapers! This is a really big thing. I'm not sure if they really fit him, we'll see when he has a really dirty diaper. I'm hoping that they don't prove to be too big. You see, preemie diapers only come in packs of 20 and I can only find them at Target and Babies R Us. That means that I go through 1 pack every 2 days and have to drive to Altamonte just to buy diapers. I can get Newborn diapers at the grocery store and the smallest pack is a pack of 60. I'm so excited!

Jacob's favorite thing right now is dancing and singing. I'll put the TV on the worship music channel and we'll sing and dance together (well, I sing and he sings in his head). He just looks around and seems about as happy as he can be. If he is fussy, I just dance and sing and he calms down.

Everyone keeps saying that Jacob looks just like his dad. I do agree, but people he does look like me some! He has Adam's chin, but he has my nose, cheeks (although they are a little small right now) and my lips. Some of the faces he makes are my faces...so I pulled out the baby pictures to compare what Adam and I looked like to what Jacob looks like and he looks like both of us. See for yourself...

Today We Celebrate!

Today marks the WONDERFUL day of Jacob spending more time at home than he did in the hospital! That is truly a reason to celebrate. He is so amazing. It is a wonder that I get anything done and don't just stare at him all day long.

I baked a cake to celebrate. Since I am not working and not really working on anything for youth I don't have a creative outlet...so I had to get my creativeness (is that a word?) out somehow. It tasted really good. It was 4 layers - the bottom was yellow cake, then 2 layers of marble cake and another of yellow cake all with chocolate frosting between the layers and butter cream frosting on the outside. It was yummy! Jacob really enjoyed it! =)

God is so good and it is such a treat when He shows us a heavenly concept in such an earthly way. What a better way to understand His love for His children, but by experiencing it for yourself with your children? I love Jacob so much and am so proud of him and want to do everything for him - God feels that for us but a billion times more.

Today Jacob looked me right in the eye and smiled...it was a coincidence, but it melted my heart. I long for the time when he will look at me and recognize me and respond to me. I love getting to know him and look forward to a time when he will really get to know me. When I thought about that, I was convicted. Isn't it the same with our Heavenly Father? Doesn't He long for time with us, a response from us? OK God - lesson learned (I like learning God lessons from my son).

On a different note, Jacob is trying to sleep through the night (I don't know how that parallels with our relationship with God, but it does show that God is looking out for me and my sleep!). Thursday night he skipped his 1am feeding and we woke him up to eat a little after 3am and then he was up at 7am and then 9am. Last night I said no more waking him up, if he wants to sleep through the night, oh Lord please let it be! Well, he got up at 3:30am and then was fussy because he was gassy at 6:30am so Adam put him in bed with him and then passed him to me around 7:30am and Jacob wasn't ready to eat until 9am! Oh may he repeat that tonight! I would really like for him to be down to 1 feeding by the time I go back to work. So for now, Jacob gets lots of prayer about his sleep and about his gas (he is going to love these stories one day - I might turn out to be one of those embarrassing parents after all!).

We're Alive...

...just in case you were worried. I know I haven't posted in awhile. I have been sick - yuck! I don't have the flu, but have felt poorly all week. I'm feeling better now...I just have this weird cough left and my voice is horse (do you spell that the same way you spell the animal?).
Jacob is doing GREAT! God has protected him from getting sick and we are so grateful.

I took him to the doctor Monday just to get weighed and our little man is a HUGE 7lbs 3oz! I tweaked the feeding plan that the doctor put us on. I am back to feeding him every 4 hours - my most favorite schedule - and it is working out much better for us. When I tried every 3 hours, he wasn't eating as much and wouldn't take a full feeding so it was uncomfortable for me and frustrating.

I now offer him a 2oz bottle after most of his day-time feedings. Sometimes he takes all of it and sometimes he just takes a little. I don't like not giving him purely breast milk, but he needs more food right now than what I have so whatever is best for him. Sometimes his little tummy doesn't like the formula and he spits up a lot so I don't offer him as many bottles. Whatever is right for him that day is what I do.

Tomorrow is a big day for him - as of tomorrow he will have been home longer than he stayed in the hospital. I'm baking a cake to celebrate (I'll post pictures tomorrow)!
Enjoy some updated pictures. The one of him on the couch captures his acrobatics the best possible. I put him on his belly and he starting flipping his head back and forth and arching his back - all to just look around. He is too funny!