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!