Baby Maggie Update

(taken from Stacy's blog)

Maggie is having ups and downs. She has not been able to eat yet. Her bowel is not working right. She has been going through withdraws from Phentanyl. However, she has been held by her parents and grandparents. Please keep praying for her continued healing as well as strength for her parents.

Jacob Made it on the Curve!

I took Jacob in for his 9-month check-up yesterday. He made the curve finally on his head size (he is in the middle of the curve - he has a big head that holds his big brain!) and on his length. He is just below the curve when it comes to his weight. He weights 14lb 15oz and is 26-1/2" long. He is doing great. He got 3 shots and his finger pricked - yuck! I take him to the developmental doctor in about 2 weeks and I am really looking forward to that because that appointment will really tell us how he is doing compared to kids his age.

Poor little man (and poor mommy and daddy), he had a rough night Tuesday night. I think he is trying to get his top teeth in because he was up screaming at 10:30pm, midnight and up for the day at 6:00am. That plus his shots (and the constantly barking dog and fan drying the wet carpet) made for an interesting Wednesday. I was ready for a break so we left the house early and went for a walk around Wal-Mart. I made the mistake of going down the toy isle - there are so many toys that he needs - yes, I mean need. =) He is growing and learning and I want to get him some interactive/developmental toys as I know he will enjoy them more than his baby toys (he reminds me that he is no longer a baby whenever I try and cuddle him).

We are going to get him a play table hopefully this weekend. He has learned how to stand up in his crib. Problem is, once he gets up he can't get down. He screamed standing up for 45min yesterday. Carrie Schuessler said that her kids would eventually fall asleep standing up and that tough love is the key - let him cry and he will learn (probably by hurting himself). Oh the joys of being a mom and letting your child learn on his own. I hope that the play table will not only give him something that he can pull up on instead of just being able to do that at nap time (if we don't get him something his first steps might be in his crib!) and the play table will help him learn how to get down from the standing position.

Baby Maggie Panzella update: she is breathing on her own! Praise Jesus! She is such a miracle. She is doing so good. She was held by her parents for the first time Tuesday night and they were going to let Carrie try and breastfeed her yesterday. She should be going home sometime next week if all goes well! Jacob is really looking forward to a play date!!!

Update on the Search for a Wife for Jacob '08: Now that I have a child, I am thinking that arranged marriages are the way to go. I think it is a great idea. I don't have to worry about my kids dating that way. So, we were thinking maybe Hailey Canada, but she is close to his age and the thought of Sean as a father-in-law makes Jacob nervous. Then we thought maybe the Metzler baby, but they are going to have a best friend for Jacob, not a wife. Now we are thinking Miss Maggie. We like her parents and know she is going to be raised wonderfully and has an amazing supportive family, but she is bigger than Jacob. We might have to wait awhile to make sure that she isn't 3 feet taller than my little man. What do you think? Do you like the idea of an arranged marriage for your kids? Vote in my poll (I think we might really be on to something here!)

Update on the Shaw Family

So much has been going on lately. I don’t think I have done a real update in a long time.

Our House: . . . is almost done! We have a tentative closing date of October 20th. Everything looks so good, except for the lighting in the dining room, foyer and breakfast area. We knew that before they put it up, but the pictures they showed us just didn’t do justice for how ugly these lights are. Adam was thinking that our first priority would be to put track lighting in the kitchen, but we’ll wait on that and replace the other lights first. The landscaping looks so nice and I finally have a toilet in the master bathroom! I guess I should start thinking about packing. We should close on a Monday (or close to that) and we will be painting the entire inside of the house (it was too expensive to have them do it so we budgeted to do it ourselves) on Thursday and Friday and then move our stuff in on Saturday. That means I will probably be packing that Wednesday since we use on a daily basis our stuff here. Craziness!

Jacob Update: where to begin? We do to the doctor Wednesday and I can’t wait to see how long he is. It seems like just lately he has gotten longer and skinnier. A couple of milestones that I haven’t blogged about:

• Sept. 9th: Jacob figures out how to crawl . . . rather his version of crawling. He had been scooting and throwing himself by flipping over across the room, but that Tuesday he just started army crawling. He doesn’t get up on his hands, but that kid can move. Adam never did the traditional crawl. Jacob can get to wherever he wants know. It is so cute when he comes and finds me when I am in the kitchen and him in the living room or when he is upset and crawls across the floor for me to pick him up!
  
• Dada: This month he also started talking more. I think it was Monday (09/15 – this is like my vertical baby book since I haven’t taken the time to keep his up, that is why I put dates) that I picked him up from the babysitters and he was just talking up a storm. It was too cute. He says “dada”, but not directed at Adam yet. He is almost there.


• He stood the other day. He just pulled himself up on one of his toys and stood. I was amazed. Of course my camera was upstairs and I just had my phone camera with me, but I still got a picture. He hasn’t done it as much since. He will get up to his knees, but he really doesn’t have anything to pull up with. I think a trip to Wal-Mart is in our near future.


• He sat up by himself the same day that he stood. And he hasn’t done that since either (what is up with that). I proudly called Adam to brag!


• I went in to check on him while he slept last week and found him sucking on the tail of his bear!


• We had to lower his crib on Sunday. When I went to get him up after his morning and afternoon nap on Saturday he was kneeling in his crib with his hands on the handrail looking at me. Adam had our camera (he went to visit the house) and so I had to use my phone. My poor child. I left him screaming so that I could get my phone and capture the moment. I was afraid that he would soon figure out how to stand and throw himself out of the crib. Handy Daddy adjusted the crib down and how if he figures out how to stand he is still too short to fall out.


• He is so fun and mobile these days. His personality is coming out more and more. He hates it when I dry my hair and screams at the top of his lungs. He doesn’t like the vacuum cleaner (I wonder where he learned that one from – Garnet?!?). He doesn’t like it when Daddy tickles his Mommy. He has this unsure cry when he isn’t comfortable and that is what he does when Adam and I were horsing around . He loves his simple toys (I just got him that stacker thing with the rings that everyone had growing up – it was the best $7 I ever spent!). He loves any food that we give him. He loves his puppy and his puppy is learning how to be loved by a baby. He loves his daddy and just lights up when he comes home from work. He loves to move, move, move (he has lots of work to do!) and he is so active that he is about to get kicked out of church and into the nursery because he will not sit still anymore. He likes his naps once he stops screaming (which can take 30-45min) and loves to try and sleep in on the mornings when we have to go somewhere (he is so cute when I wake him up). He loves to play on his own and loves to play with people (it depends on his mood). He loves to just lay (or is it lie?) on his back and just talk. He loves to watch tv (I just got him the Baby Einstein sign language dvd; hopefully he will like it). He just started waving (although he doesn’t understand when you wave; he waved at Dr. Phil on tv and then waved while I was feeding him breakfast yesterday, or he was praising Jesus for his yummy milk, I don’t know).


• He is the love of our life and I cannot imagine life without him. I love watching him grow and change and learn things – my favorite would be watching him learn and figure out things. He is the joy of both mind and Adam’s life!

Juli and Thomas: they left us. Just like that. My sister, my best friend has abandoned me. Kidding, Juli. Seriously, Juli and Thomas left for CA yesterday and will spend 2 weeks training there and then will go to Denver to run their very own My Gym! I am so excited for them. I am sooooo sad to see them leave. It was really hard to say good bye Saturday night. They (meaning mostly Thomas) just cried and cried over leaving Jacob. They love him so much. We will miss them, but I am so proud of them and just pray that God gives them an abundance of wisdom as they enter this next chapter in their lives. We miss you Aunt Juli and Uncle Thomas!

This Adventure we Call Life: So a post would not be complete without a crazy story (I know this is getting long, I need to do this more often so that they are shorter). This morning I was changing Jacob’s diaper and Adam came in and said that the downstairs is flooded (now we are living at my dad’s house while our house is being built and it is a tri-level house so it was the bottom level that has a bathroom and office in it that was flooded). Water was soaked everywhere. Adam vacuum up 2 load fulls and it still squishes out when you walk on the carpet. The plumber came and there is a hole in the pipe (he had to drill the tile in the shower to find it) and to fix it he has to remove the toilet and rip out part of the wall. Yikes! The insurance company is sending a crew (they should be here in 30min) to clean up the water and dry the carpet. I hope they are nice and move things and don’t expect me to do that while holding Jacob. I’m a little worried about Jacob because they will leave loud fans and lately he cannot handle loud noises like that. Oh goodness!

Before I go . . . a baby update: OK, so I realized that you probably have no idea who Carrie and John Panzella are (did I tell you that they named their baby Margaret Elizabeth? I can’t remember). Carrie is the oldest daughter of Fred and Micki Dunn. Baby Maggie is doing OK. She is still in the highest level of the NICU and has her bad moments and her good ones. She is getting better, but does keep having setbacks. Rebekah, her proud aunt, texts me updates throughout the day (oh I hope I don’t go over my text message limit of 200. I went over by about 350 last month and had to give Adam $40 out of my shopping money – yuck!). Please keep her in your prayers. God has done so many miracles on her already and it is such an awesome testimony to His healing power, but she still has a long road ahead of her. She is a beautiful little girl and Jacob can’t wait to have a play date with her!

Birthday

So my birthday was last week and I haven't bragged on my husband yet. He did a wonderful job. He always picks Jacob up on Thursday (my bday was on Thursday) and Adam drove all the way back to my work so that the two of them could say hi to me. Then he took me out Saturday night to a wonderful dinner at Vito's Chophouse on I-drive and we went to see Cirque Du Soleil (we had been about 5 years ago and loved it). It was a wonderful, full of thoughtfulness from my husband evening. Oh, and I got flowers from both of my favorite men (the big one, Adam, and the little one, Jacob) on my birthday!

PS-please continue to pray for baby Panzella. They have named her, Margaret Elizabeth. We went and saw them last night and she was doing really well, but after we left her blood pressure dropped and they had to increase her oxygen from 77% to somewhere in the 90's. I don't have an update yet this morning, but please pray as the Panzella family have a long road ahead of them.

The Beautiful Panzella Baby

Pray, pray, pray

Just wanted to ask you to join me in prayer. A good friend of mine, Carrie Panzella, gave birth to her 10lb baby girl this morning at 3:39am (she was 2-1/2 weeks past her due date). Carrie is doing fine, but the baby swallowed meconium (she had a bowl movement in the womb) and had to be intubated. The baby is in the NICU. Please pray for peace for the family and that God would just filled her little lungs with air and that she would be able to breathe on her own and quickly recover!

My Big Protector Afraid Dog!

Garnet sheds a ton! He is a big dog (although he has lost 15lbs! - he was a little overweight). He is a funny dog. He barks oh so ferociously at butterflies.

He loves swimming and last night Adam reminded me of the time he jumped off the dock into the lake - well, that wasn't his plan. He thought that the lilly pads was the ground. He was very surprised to find himself in water!

He is doing OK with Jacob. He has his moments. He is really good if there is just one of us in the room, but when there is more than 1 adult, he acts up. He got in trouble lately for chewing one of Jacob's toys. He is getting better, but I don't trust him to leave him alone with Jacob.

Anyway, the point of this post. Because Garnet sheds, our area rug is covered in his hair. I went into the garage today to get the vacuum cleaner to clean all of his hair off of the rug. The vacuum was hidden behind some stuff and I was struggling getting it free. Garnet was lounging in the garage by the door to the house (his favorite spot when the garage is open) and saw that I was struggling. He stood up and I thought, "Oh how sweet! He is coming to check on me." Nope! He high-tailed it out of the garage.

You see, Garnet is deathly afraid of the vacuum cleaner! Here I am thinking that he is coming to rescue me - he is a big goof ball. I love him, but somehow I think that if I did ever need protecting that he would lick the person to death (death by slobber drowning)!

**Note: the vacuum cleaner pictured is not the vacuum that I have. It is a Dyson animal and it is on my wish list for one day. In our old house, I couldn't justify it because we didn't have enough carpet, but we do now! I have 2 friends that have one and they swear by it. One friend vacuum her whole house with her old vacuum and then immediately vacuumed it again with the Dyson animal and was applaud at the amount of stuff it picked up. I have a friend who has a friend (sounds like I'm in the mob or something) who can get them cheaper because of where they work so hopefully one will be coming to live at my house soon!

Our House

I posted this before, but the pictures weren't working. Hopefully they will work now.

Our house is coming along. We are so ready to move in. Sharing an office with Jacob is really hard. He is big enough now that when he is in his crib trying to take a nap, he can pull down the bumper and see me - that doesn't help him fall asleep.

It is fun to watch all of the house progress. It has been a blessing to be able to stay at my dad's house and save money and not have to worry about our old house falling apart, but we are ready for our house to be done!

Watching Football with Daddy

Rolling Under the Bed & Playing in Jacob's House

Hoarding Toys

Jacob likes to hoard his toys when he is playing. He collects them in his arms and tries to eat them at once. I guess it is time for him to learn how to share!

sdfio;j afho;e f ue f sdf sdf;sdf s sdf;

That was Jacob typing. He says that he doesn't need to learn how to share until he has someone to share with.

Pancakes for Breakfast

Jacob had pancakes for breakfast last Saturday. It was his first taste of pancakes and feeding himself (I don't let him feed himself baby food - too messy!). He loved them. He ate about 1/4 of the pancake (he had already had his breakfast). He took some pretty big bites, but handled it fine. In fact, he chokes more with his little puffs that he eats. I think he has a new favorite food!

When Jacob met Hailey

So these are way past due, but these pictures where taken when we took Jacob to meet Miss Hailey in the hospital. He got all dressed up and was on his best behavior. He even bought her flowers before we went!

Who Reads My Blog

So blogger has this new feature that I added to the right side. I don't really understand how it works, but I thought I would give it a try. If I understand it correctly, if you choose to follow my blog you can do it publicly and have your picture added or privately, but you also get updates on your dashboard when I update the blog. Interesting.

Like the new look? I found the stuff at www.thecutestblogontheblock.com

They have such fun stuff. The Roberts Family Blog (http://robertsfamily0310.blogspot.com/) used it and I love it! Happy blogging!

bestest friends, just like my daddy and mr. matt

it's me, jacob again. my mommy thinks i am sleeping, but i'm not. she made me cry myself to sleep for my nap. she says that she has spoiled me by rocking me to sleep, but i think she is crazy. don't worry. i can scream for a really long time and she will pick me up and rock me. she is so silly - thinking she can teach me to fall asleep on my own . . .

that is not why i'm on the computer again. i just had to tell someone and mommy and daddy don't understand what i am saying when i talk to them.

i am so excited! mrs. stephanie and mr. matt are going to have a baby boy! i am going to have a bestest friend just like daddy and mr. matt are. i can't wait.

i wonder what they are going to name him? i like the name jacob. maybe they will name him that!

A word from me, Jacob

so my mommy is getting ready (we are going to my first football game tonight - apopka vs. lake brantley) so i thought i would sneak on the computer and leave a post.

i am so very sad. my mommy told me today that my uncle thomas and aunt juli are moving away. they are buying a my gym in denver, colorado. i don't know why they can't buy one close to me. there is room in my backyard for one.

i'm glad that they are able to buy one. they have wanted this for a really long time and thought that they would be old before it happened. my mommy says that corporate really likes them and is helping them. she says that this is really good for them and that the timing is perfect.

we are going to miss them so much. oh, my mommy is coming so i must hurry and go. i'm sure my mommy will post more about it soon. i did create a blog for them so that i could keep up with them while they are playing in the snow. check it out (i think i did pretty good) http://hobby-family.blogspot.com

enjoy!

House Update

Here is the latest pictures of our house. I hope it looks different today. The last picture is taken from my phone so it is bad, but they have put the blue primer on the outside and Adam went by yesterday and couldn't go inside because they were painting in there. It is coming along. I am getting really excited. Saturday Adam is going to buy a couch from Costco for the living room (I don't know where we are going to store it until we move in). It is so much fun to start thinking about getting it all set up. We are very excited!

Introducing . . .

. . . Jacob's toofers!!!!

He has 2 teeth. It was his Gigi (Adam's mom) who found them this morning. They aren't just the point, you can feel the entire top of the tooth. That is why he was up early yesterday and today and screamed at me all day yesterday. Poor thing. A little Oragel and we both would have had a much better day. Lesson learned.

I wonder how long it will take them to be completely in? As far as I am concerned, they can take their time as he is already eating with much more vigor and I don't need sharp objects piercing me! Ouch!

House update: Jenn your house is winning (http://the-heuslein-family.blogspot.com/2008/09/wowwow.html). I think I'm going to email our builder and tell them that KB in Lakeland is kicking his butt and he needs to hurry up.

I drove by this morning and no paint on the outside. The driveway and sidewalk look good and the cabinets that were in the garage on Tuesday aren't there anymore. I don't know what they have done on the inside, but Adam is going by there today before he picks up Jacob (he picks up Jacob every Thursday and they have Daddy and Jacob time before I get home at 530; too cute!) and I'm sure he will walk through the house.

Since I now know why Jacob has been a pistol, maybe after some Oragel I can get some pictures up tomorrow . . . we'll see what the little boss man lets me do!

What a day!

Oh what a day it has been. No pictures today. Our day started at 4:40am when Jacob decided to wake up. Adam tried really hard to get him back to sleep, but he kept screaming (that would be Jacob screaming, not Adam). I then nursed him and got him back to sleep in his bed. He got up about 8am and I finally got him out of his bed at 830am. I was so tired (I still have a headache from interrupted sleep).

We then had a really weird day. From the time he woke up until 11am, I had nursed him 3 times. He slept for about an hour when the constant barking of the dog woke him up (if my eyes could kill, that dog would be dead as a doorknob and then some!). Needless to say, I am still angry at the dog. Jacob was up and crying from oh about 1030am until 245pm when I finally got him to sleep.

He is still asleep now (it is 400pm) and we have to leave in 30min, but I am not waking him up. I have to go to the dollar store before youth and then get to youth early. I will probably be late, but I am not waking up that kid of mine for nothing!

Maybe Friday I will have time for pictures and posts. I like to do several posts at a time and save them in drafts and then publish them through out the week. It is easier for me to take an hour to blog instead of taking 10min each day. I'm weird.

I do have to tell you my 3 roach stories (nothing tops Rachel Grubb waking up to find one crawling on her...she slept with the light on the rest of the night!):

Roach story #1: We went to Chick-Fil-a for lunch on Monday (they were giving away free chicken strips if you wore a sports team something so we all, Jacob included, dressed in our FSU shirts and got free chicken - even Jacob!) and I needed to feed Jacob the baby food that I packed. I was rummaging through his diaper bag to find the spoon that had fallen to the bottom and I found a roach. GROSS!!!!! I just calmly pushed the bag towards Adam and told him what was in it. He killed the roach, but then couldn't find it. I made him empty out the bag just to double check that the roach wasn't in there.

Roach story #2: That night (Monday night) I was taking a bath and I saw a HUGE roach behind Jacob's rubber ducky on the side of the tub. Again, calmly (I don't know where I found the strength not to scream) I asked Adam to come and get it. My face was covered in soap and I just sat there with my knees pulled up tight and my toes curled waiting for Adam to finish shaving and rescue me from this filthy beast. Well, Adam tried ever so hard to rescue me, but the roach fell into the water! Adam picked it up and it fell again and he picked it up and it fell again and...you get the picture. I couldn't scream because Jacob was asleep, but I was screaming on the inside. I was just frozen on the outside. I'm pretty sure the roach pooped in the water. Needless to say, I was done with my bath. I drained the water, finally washed the soap off my face and started breathing again for the first time in 10min!

Roach story #3: So last night I was trying to go back asleep after being woken up by someone (I will not name names) snoring. I felt something fall down my neck and I thought it was my hair. I felt that area and realized that my hair was too short to do that and had a fleeting thought that it might be a roach, but I was too tired to think about it and I didn't feel anything any more. Well, this morning, with Jacob sitting right next to me. I got out of bed and what did I find where I was sleeping?!?!? A roach!!!!!!!

I could go on and on. Those are just the latest roach adventures. I am so over the roaches. They are so HUGE and GROSS! I am not just being girly here, we have a big problem and my stomach can't take it anymore. Die you filthy roaches! We are getting bug bombs at the grocery store on Sunday (if I can last that long) and that will be the last of those menaces...hopefully!

Curtains

Don't buy curtains - ever! I now know why most of the people I know don't have curtains in their house. They are a pain to buy!

Sunday I went to Jo Ann Fabric to get fabric to make curtains for my new house. I knew what I wanted and they were running 50% of their decor fabric. I thought it would be easy, but nooooo. I couldn't find what I was looking for.

So, off to the mall Adam, Jacob and I went. 4 hours later and lots of frustration, we finally picked out and ordered our curtains. It was pure craziness! The picture is of the striped ones we are putting in our dinning room. I hope I like them because I don't ever want to go through that process again.

Our House: it is beautiful! The builder is still saying the beginning of October. They have the form boards up for the sidewalk and driveway. The walls are textured and the outside is stuccoed. It seems like the next step is pouring the concrete and painting inside and out. Hopefully I will have pictures up soon!