Did you miss us?

I didn't realize how long it has been since I have posted anything. All is good in the Shaw house and we have had some HUGE things happening. Let's see...where to start...

Work: Work is good. It is hard being away from Jacob, but I have my pictures and lots to keep my hands and brain busy so the time goes quickly. I pump at work and I enjoy the comments about it from the office. Poor things...if they walk by the kitchen they hear my milker going. I think some are a little disturbed by the thought of it, but I'll spare you those thoughts. Adam's work is going good. He is back in Apopka. Jacob and I went and had lunch with him a couple of weeks ago. It is hard to get there more often. I'm having trouble adjusting to being gone from the house so much and still getting things done and getting rested. Last week, on both Wednesday and Friday, I fell asleep on the couch - I just couldn't stay awake. I think it will be easier and I feel better once I go to only working 2 days a week. Hopefully that can happen by the end of May (maybe?).

Jacob: He is our BIG little man. We went to the doctor today and he weighs 10 pounds! He is doing great. He is smiling and talking more. His newest trick is holding his arms together in the middle of his chest. Adam says that that is a good thing, that it means he knows where his mid-line is and that is a developmental mark. I said "OK". He is also trying so hard to figure out how to reach for his toys. His favorite is his zebra that hangs on his bouncy seat. The other night you could tell he was reaching his arm for it, so I brought it closer and he was opening his hand and trying to figure out how to make it grab it. I decided that since he loves it so much (whenever he sees his zebra he starts kicking and I have caught him talking to him a couple of times) that I need to buy him a stuffed zebra. I have one in mind that I want, now I just have to find it. Where do you buy stuffed animals? I have never bought one before. The doctor said that I can start feeding him baby food...oh my, this will be interesting. Just when he feeding times have been getting shorter, now we add a whole other element. It should be fun! Also, I think the kid has eczema. I have had it all my life and am really broken out right now and have noticed several spots on my poor little man. The doctor said to try grape seed oil and rub that on his skin. We'll see if it works. I cried and cried when I realized that he had it as it has been such a pain for me and I'm so sad that I gave it to him. Just another thing for God to work on! =)

Our BIG news: So we bought a house! We signed the contract Saturday. We had plans to buy the house we are in in May, but Adam started looking at new homes and found a couple that were priced the same as what we would buy our house for. I thought that he was just looking for something new to research, but when he wouldn't stop talking about it I agreed to go and look. I thought for sure that I wouldn't like the idea any more once I saw the house and that we would end up staying where we are. We went and looked on 4/19 and I hated the first one (I didn't like the plan, the yard or the location) and then we went to the second one...I loved it. We talked with the realtor and got all the details. We crunched the numbers and took my mom to see it the next day. We talked about it a little more (by this point I was getting really excited - a complete 180 from my first reaction to the idea) and couldn't convince ourself that we shouldn't move. We called the realtor and signed the contract on 4/26 - one week after we looked at the house and only two weeks after we decided that this might be a possibility. Craziness! We go next Friday to the design center (it is a Ryland home, fyi) and pick out everything and should be in by October. It is only 3.5 miles away from where we live now (it is called Oak Hill Reserve). They have been building in there since 2005 and it is still a nice neighborhood. It has a community pool, park and playground. I love it! I'm excited, but get overwhelmed when I think about packing...yikes! I'll keep you updated with the progress through pictures.

Well, that is about all that has been happening in the Shaw home. Lots of adjusting and changes. Life is exciting. I am feeling very, very overwhelmed at the amount of BIG decisions we are having to make in a short amount of time. If I think about it too long it makes me emotional. Adam did remind me that we tried building a new house when we first got married - about the same square footage (our house is a 4/2 and is 2002 square feet) - and it didn't work (they raised the price $70,000!) and now we are getting what we wanted, but in a better neighborhood and a better layout. God has really given us the desire of our hearts. Also, when I am starting to feel bad for myself and what we have to decide here in the next week or so (what upgrades we want, how to save more, should we move in with my dad until the house is ready to save money, etc.) I'm reminded of how wonderful and smoothly things are for us. I have a family member battling cancer, I have a friend whose mom has breast cancer, another really good friend who wants to have a baby but is having trouble, another friend whose expenses are about to increase and they don't know where the extra money is going to come from...so many other, bigger things than my kitchen counter top dilemma. We serve a BIG God and He will help me decide if we should upgrade the kitchen counters or not, but I feel very selfish in my wallowing when I stop and look around me at the bigger problems that my friends have. I thank my God that He has been protecting us and growing Jacob and we don't have anything major to worry about. So I guess my point is, yes I need wisdom from God, but more than that...my deepest desire, when I stop looking at myself, is to watch Him work miracles in my friends around me. I have been doing a lot of thinking and my prayer today is "God, help me see around myself and please, please work miracles in my friend's life as it hurts me to see them hurt!"

Chit Chatting with Jacob

Here are some pictures of my cute man. There is a really funny looking one of him with the hat that he worn when he was first born. It looks so tiny on him now; it is hard to believe that it was a little big on him when he first wore it. It made me cry to see it again. There are also some funny ones of him sleeping on my bed all scrunched up.

Funny story about the pictures with Garnet: I put Jacob on the floor with Garnet in the house for the first time yesterday. I was nervous about what Garnet would do, but he was sleeping and I thought it would be a good time to try. Garnet woke up and noticed Jacob and just sat there awhile and then started to whine. Maybe he was whining so that I knew he was trying so hard to leave Jacob alone, but couldn’t wait much longer. He got up and sniffed at Jacob until I had had enough of his exploring. He did good. I left both of them on the floor while I cleaned up the kitchen (all of 4min) and Garnet just watched him!

Jacob has been developing so much lately. It is so much fun to watch him grow and learn. He is starting to talk more. At first it was a coo here and there and then normally you could get one out of him whenever he smiled, but now he is carrying on short conversations. I was able to catch one on video. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to put videos from my expensive nice video camera onto the computer (the entire purpose of purchasing it), but until then the low-res videos that my old camera takes will have to do. Enjoy!

What a week!

I went back to work this week. It has been an adjustment for all of us. I am now working 3-days a week (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday).

Jacob did great at the babysitters. She has 3 children that he gets to play with. The 2 oldest wait by the window in the mornings for Jacob to get there. I wonder if he is bored at home since he doesn't have any playmates? He is adjusting OK to the new schedule. He has had trouble this week sleep through the night, but last night he slept from 1030-730! It was wonderful! He is rolling over and cooing more. It is so fun to start to see things "click" with him.

I am adjusting to being back at work. It is hard to work when Jacob has been awake a lot in the night. Thursday I was trying to work on only 4.5 hours of sleep! I am staying busy at work which makes it easy to forget that I have abandoned my son. I cry most of my tears Sunday night and have done pretty well.

Adam is adjusting too. He has moved to the Apopka clinic. He has 2 7am days and those are rough, plus he has been covering some in Longwood and he has to be there at 7am. We are looking forward to when he gets on a consistent schedule.

So, in the Shaw house we are getting little sleep and moving full steam ahead. Hopefully only one more "adjustment week" and we will be settled into a routine and happy. Speaking of happy, Jacob is no longer happily napping and is yelling for me.

It's All About Jacob Day Update Part 3

So the little man was fussy on his back so I tried putting him on his belly on his play mat. I then continued cleaning floors (which I finally finished...sometimes I think carpet would be easier as it is just 1 step to clean and not 2, plus drying time!) and heard him fussing. I went in the living room and he had flipped over on his back! He hasn't flipped over completely in a long time (he normally gets caught on his arm!). I flipped him back on his belly and then he flipped over again. Every time he was on his back he would get mad and he would only flip to his right. After doing this about 6 times, I could tell he was sleepy and ready for a nap.

It was 1pm already, so I rocked him a bit and put him down on his belly. I continued cleaning and shortly he was fussing. He had flipped to his back. Why I didn't expect this I don't know. I flipped him back on his belly and blocked him from rolling over. He then proceeded to scream at me for 10min before I finally picked him back up. I rocked him to sleep and 45min after we started, he was down for a nap.

He woke up at 3:30 ready to eat! I fed him and now he is playing. He should be ready to eat again at 7:30, but I don't think he'll be ready for bed then. I guess I will feed him again at 9:30ish and then put him to bed. I guess he doesn't really want to cut out a feeding, he just wanted to sleep longer in the mornings. That is fine by me as I just read today that babies normally eat 6 times a day until they are 1 year - Jacob is just really advanced. My pediatrician keeps trying to get me to add feedings, but Jacob doesn't want to eat more so I guess Dr. C will be happy that he isn't cutting out a feeding.

I go back to work on Monday so I don't know how that will interrupt Jacob's schedule. We will be leaving the house around 8am (or at least that is the plan). We will just see how it goes.

He is a video of Jacob rolling over. I sound really high on the video...sorry. I took it with my camera so it isn't that great, but at least you can watch my super advanced man!

Jacob's in Charge Update Part 2

So my sleepy man finally woke up at 1130. I was greeted with many smiles. No wonder he was so cranky when I would wake him up at 10!

He ate good and is now playing. I think he is getting tired of what he is looking at so I'm off to go put him in his bouncy seat and clean some more floors (he interrupted my cleaning, how dare he!).

It's a Small World

So today I was reminded yet again how small our world is and how much I love that.

I read several blogs. It all started with one of my friend's moms blog and then I clicked on the other blog links that she had and found more people I know and it just snowballed from there. I have 18 (gasp) blogs that I read. It is kind of weird. Sometimes I feel like I am stalking people because these are for the most part people I used to know, but have lost touch with and it is kind of like peeking in their windows without them knowing it.

So I'm reading one of those blogs (http://jesseefamily.wordpress.com/) and Stephanie was induced this morning and her husband is updating their blog with the progress of her labor. Guess who is their nurse - Stacy, my cousin! Stacy didn't call me, I found out from their blog. I just think that is too funny. Just thought I would share.

Update on Jacob's In Charge Day Part 1:
OK, so I told Jacob that he could be in charge of his eating schedule today and that I would not wake him. I think he is trying to cut out a feeding and I keep waking him to eat so today is all about him (and cleaning the downstairs since I spent all of my time upstairs yesterday). Since he was in charge, he felt the need to start waking up at 5:30am. I was able to hold him off until 6am (I was tired!). I fed him then and put him back to bed. At 8am he started to get fussy so I put him on his belly in my bed. At 10am I jumped in the shower and when I got out he was crying. I needed to dry my hair before I fed him and by the time I was done (15min later), he was back asleep. It is now 11am and he is still not awake. I'm going to check and make sure he is breathing...he is still breathing. I would take a picture, but lately that has been waking him up. I guess I have to start cleaning. Off to start a load of laundry and start on the floors...I'll keep you updated!

Pictures, Pictures!

Finally some pictures to enjoy!

We went strawberry picking Saturday and had a blast. Jacob really liked how they tasted! I went with some of the youth girls and Juli.

We are having some friends over Saturday night for dinner so I got motivated today to finish cleaning up Jacob's room (who knows when he will move in there) and tidy up the guest room. Jacob took his first nap in his crib and seemed to enjoy it. Before he went to sleep he played with his stuffed animals.

He is sleeping longer at night. He gets up now around 6:30am. I have then been putting him back to bed and waking him up to eat around 10:30am and that hasn't worked out too well. Tomorrow I don't have anywhere to go, so I'm just going to let him sleep and tell me when he is ready to eat. He eats 5 times a day, but I think he is trying to cut out that 5th feeding so we'll see.

Enjoy the pics!

He's Huge!

My Jacob is such a big man! We went to the doctor Wednesday and now he is about 8.5lbs! He is growing so fast. The doctor still wanted me to get in more feedings (I think he wants me to stuff him), but said if I can't that it is OK. He is growing great!

Jacob can't figure out if he wants to sleep through the night or not. Some nights he sleeps until 5am and other nights he only sleeps until 2am. No matter what time he gets up to eat, he then wakes up again (between 6:30-8:00) gassy. He isn't hungry yet or really ready to get up, he is just gassy and screaming. I don't know what to do to help him not have that rude wake up call. Any suggestions?

This past week he got to spend time with 3 of his great-grandparents. My Mimi and Pop (my dad's parents) were so cute with him, especially Pop. He kept just looking at him when Mimi was holding him and at one point he told her that she had had enough and took him from her. When it was time for us to leave, I found Jacob and Pop asleep on their porch - how cute. My Grama (my mom's mom) was so excited and happy to see him. He slept on her for several hours. You could just tell that she just ate it up. Of course I have no pictures - bad mommy. Maybe next time they get to spend time with him he will be awake. He is too cute when he is awake.

He is smiling more at me! Normally it has to be just at the right time...after he eats, once he has puked all he wants and before he gets sleepy. The other night he not only smiled at me so big, but squealed with joy - it made me cry. I woke up Adam to tell him about it. Every once in awhile, you'll get a coo with the smile. He is so fun. It is hard to stop looking at him. I keep getting asked "how do you ever put him down?" It is hard, but when I don't want to I think about how cranky he will be if he doesn't sleep and how I will have to hold him and not put him down and that helps motivate me to let him get his naps in!

Adam was too cute last night. It was so nice outside so we ate out back and enjoyed the weather. After dinner I started playing with Garnet (something I never do). I was trying to get him to catch the frisbee. Adam and I then started tossing the frisbee to each other and playing basketball. It was nice. When we went to bed he said "thanks for playing with me outside. I can't wait until Jacob is out there with us and says 'daddy, daddy over here' and 'mommy, mommy come play with me'." My husband is a GREAT daddy.

Here are some cute pictures of Jacob sleeping. I had to include some pictures of the dog. He is a weird bird. Adam had to completely cut back the tangerine tree this year. When we pulled all of the vines out last year, you could really tell that the vines were supporting the tree and when all of the fruit came in this year (there was a TON!) the tree looked more like a weeping willow than a tree. So he cut it back and the branches are in a pile in the yard. My dog, the crazy thing that he is, keeps getting a tangerine, peeling it and eating it...yes, I said he is peeling the tangerine. He is very talented!