Funnies

I never knew how fun the toddler stage could be. He keeps us laughing with all the funny (and smart) things he does. Like tonight, I never knew I would find delight in a naked bum walking as fast as possible to the bath tub from his room with the biggest grin on his face giggling the whole way. Also, the "all boy" things he does like tooting and then laughing at himself or purposely hitting the dogs with a plastic golf club and then laughing hysterically (don't worry, even though he comes nowhere near harming them and they usually run away, we still discipline him). He is also starting to really understand things and communicate with us. We will say "nuh uh, Shaw Michael, we do not do that" and he will look at us and say "nuh uh, nuh uh" while shaking his head no. His new thing over the last few weeks is putting my phone up to his ear and saying "hayyyeee!". He is also saying "hold me" but sometimes it sounds like "ohhhh me" like he is really put out with something! haha! We couldn't be prouder of our sweet, smart, and funny boy! I had someone tell me today, "I would have never known he was a preemie until you told me". This statement made me so proud knowing he is right where he needs to be. Here are some funny pictures I have taken this week with my phone.

Playing peek-a-boo with the curtains during dinner. The curtains have now been moved to the middle of the window, stylish I know, and will be taken down this weekend to be washed!

 

I looked over tonight while folding laundry and he had gotten Josh's shoes and had put them on his feet by himself. I was so stunned that he did it and so glad I got a picture of him wearing his daddy's shoes for the first time :).

 

We have this large stand up mirror in our room and he will spend 10 minutes in front of it just talking to himself. Well, in this picture he was looking at himself, smiling really big, saying "awwww!" and then would lean over the hug the mirror! Sweetest thing ever!

 

A couple of nights ago, I had put Oliver in his kennel for eating the left over food in the high chair. As soon as I put him in there Shaw looked at me like "what are you doing?!", went over to the kennel, worked on the hinges for about 2 minutes, and got the door open! I was so proud that I forgot Oliver was even in trouble in the first place!

 

Notice the empty toilet paper holder? One of his favorite things to do is empty it and then tear the toilet paper in little pieces and drop it in the toilet. I always let him do it (ya know, to work on motor coordination, bilateral integration, and all the fine motor skills that come with tearing!ha!) until he reaches into the toilet to retrieve the pieces. Then, the fun is over for me and we move on to something more appropriate!

What a fun time!! I am loving it!

Great Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend full of family time! It was surprisingly busy but relaxing all at the same time. On Friday night the boys and I headed to Little Rock to go eat at one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants and then we went shopping at the mall. Shaw got some new clothes and shoes for the fall and some stuff for next summer I found on sale (I am a huge bargain shopper!). On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to go take Shaw's one year pictures/family pictures at my grandmother's house. She lives on a beautiful piece of land that consists of a big field, large trees, a super old house, and some horses. It made for the perfect place to take pictures. Later that afternoon, we went to one of Shaw's little friend's birthday parties. Shaw loved being around the other babies and watching everyone play. Late Saturday afternoon, Josh decided he needed to take some firewood to his deer camp so we all took the hour drive there. Josh's deer camp is a special place for all of us, but especially to him. My family founded the camp in the 1950s and when Josh and his family moved to Benton, his dad randomly decided to join there...how coincidental, right?! Josh has spent many weekends and deer seasons at this camp and has so many memories with his dad there. He was so excited to get to introduce this special place to his own son. As he walked into their cabin he told Shaw, "this used to be where your Poppa camped". I know it will mean the world to him when Shaw is old enough to go on trips and they can make special memories like he made with his dad. After we left the camp, we went and ate at a popular catfish place that I like to say is in the middle of nowhere. It's a neat restaurant because they have a petting zoo with deer, goats, miniature horses, donkeys, and ducks. Also, their food is AMAZING! Thank goodness I am at the point in pregnancy where I am starting to get hungry again and can actually eat because I ate A TON! Today, we went to church and while Shaw napped I caught up on some Pinterest projects. What a great weekend we all needed!

 

Here are a couple of sneak peaks from our amazing photographer Jessica Morgan!

 

 

How am I so blessed?

 

Here is Shaw and Easton, the birthday boy. They are about a month a part and will be in the same grade growing up. Sweet boys!

 

Good ole' deer camp. This is the "cabin" Josh stays in with several other family friends. I might have to do some deep cleaning for them before I let me baby boy stay there ;)

 

Soaking it all in and getting a ton of mosquito bites even though I covered him in baby safe repellant that obviously doesn't work! Now I am paranoid about West Nile!

 

Many more trips to come and memories to make for these two.

This made me laugh!



 

Unless a family member can tell me different, I would say I am related in some way to 80-90% of these guys! 

 

A sweet fawn that came right up to the fence to see us. 

 

Amazed by the goats. We told him they were billy goats and by the end of the night he was calling them either goat or billy. 

 

Two babes checking each other out.

 

The horses look so interested in him. At my grandmother's he LOVED the horses (which doesn't help my argument of not getting a horse in the future like Josh wants to). He would pet them, play with their ears, call them dog, and even got on one.

What a great time we all had!

Superhero Status

“Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero!”- Marc Brown

 

That's right! Shaw is going to be a brother...a BIG brother! That is him holding the picture of his little brother or sister when he/she was about 8 weeks along! We found out back in June that we were expecting again. Shaw was only about 10 months at the time when we found out so it was obviously a huge surprise, but we are super excited to say the least! We can't wait for this new blessing to arrive and for our kids to grow up so close in age. I am now 14.5 weeks (15 weeks on Sunday) and the expected arrival date is March 3rd. Yesterday the Dr. confirmed there was a strong heart beat with a heart rate of 160 (very close to Shaw's at the same time....another boy?!) so I figured it was time to announce the big news. We have already been praying that this pregnancy will end dramatically different than Shaw's and we will experience everything that comes along with having a full term baby. To say we are scared is an understatement but this was obviously God's plan for our little family, and we know that he will provide our every need. If you wouldn't mind joining us in prayer over the next 6 months that we would have a healthy, full term baby we would greatly appreciate it. So, for the last three months I have been one sick, exhausted momma. Throwing up, all day nausea, headaches, and extreme fatigue have pretty much been my life since the middle of July. With Shaw I threw up all day everyday until about 19 weeks. So far, this pregnancy has been a tad different in that I USUALLY just throw up in the mornings. We are excited, and blessed beyond belief to be on this journey and for our little family to be growing. Like my dad said, "at this pace, y'all will have a whole herd!". Haha...oh dad, not a herd, we are just going for a baseball team (just kidding mom!). Here are some more pictures of our sweet boy aka the new superhero in town during our little photo shoot earlier today.

Changes

I sadly have no pictures to share on this post because even more sadly I have taken very few over the last month and the majority have been with my phone. Just wanted to give a little July/August recap mainly for my own memory's sake. So, two weeks after Shaw's first birthday party we moved back to our home town. After some life changes (more on that later this week) we decided North West Arkansas wasn't where God wanted us to be. After much prayer through the months of July and Augst the doors started flying open...yes, flying open for us to move back home. So, we moved home. We are currently back in our first home which is under going some remodeling. Not sure what I was thinking to unpack, have no furniture for the first few weeks, paint, redo floors, and the kitchen?! Oh well, at least when it is done it will be done for good, right?! I am currently working for three of the local school districts through a contract company. I love the school environment and the hours. I feel that treating kids in the schools in my calling and what I want to do for a while. Josh is back at the down town Little Rock office and boy is he happy. He has so many close friends and coworkers there. He came home one day last week and said, "I sure wish my work day would have been longer"?! Who says that? That boy does. He loves who he works with and loves what he does, he also loves that so many of the guys he works with were also some of his dad's best friends which keeps his sweet spirit alive. Josh is also in school at UALR. That is one of the "flying doors" we had at the beginning of August when we found out they had just been approved for a Civil Engineering program. Sweet Shaw Michael has had a pretty rough time over the last few weeks. We moved to the house that he was in until 4.5 months but he obviously doesn't remember it. So, he now has a new room and new everything. After three days of being home mommy and daddy both sadly had to start work and so he started with a new sitter. He is just now getting used to her and going there. Keep in mind I stayed home with him until almost 5 months and then we had one sitter who became our in-home nanny. So, the poor boy has gone from getting to sleep in to whenever he wanted and romping around his own home to getting woke up at 6:45 and being in a strangers home with 3 others kids. All of this has been super hard for me and I have cried several times over it but I have prayed specifically that God would ease his young mind and make him feel safe. We have also started a morning prayer on the car ride over that he has a good day. I am just waiting for the day when he says "amen" in unison with me :). The poor baby has also been teething for over a week. It is like all his teeth decided to come in at once. He has two new ones with at least three more making their way. Teething is always rough...for everyone! Along with all those changes we have another BIG change that is coming to our lives. More on that towards the end of the week (if you haven't already guessed what it is by now). We are in a crazy busy stage of life and I can't wait for all these changes to become our new routine, and for us to be back settled in with family and friends. Oh, that is another thing....we have family and friends close by!! I have cried so many tears of joy recently because of this! What is life without family and friends?! Well, to this this little family it is hardly nothing because we love our peeps!

On a different note. Shaw turned 13 months yesterday. I am thinking I will now do his regular monthly posts every 3 or 6 months but here are a few things he is doing these days:

• At his one year appt he weighed 18 lb 6 oz (1%) and 29.25 in (25%). He is long and skinny :)
• Size 12 month clothes for the most part
• Still loves to sleep
• Eats everything that is presented to him
• Had only two sick visits his whole first year (one cold and one ear infection)
• He still takes 1-2 at least one hour naps a day
• Says several words but none are different from his 12 month post I believe
• 4 teeth with several more on the way
• Crawls like a speed demon and wants SO bad to walk. We figure it won't be much longer since he stands pretty well on his own and walks good with just one hand held.
• His Pops has quickly become his favorite person
• Loves to sit in the floor and play with blocks and trucks/cars
• Same sweet and hilarious personality as before!