Funny Sayings and Winter Fun

A few weeks ago now Jon and Graham sat down in the coffee house chairs at PCC to "have a chat". Jonathan asked what he wanted to talk about. He pondered a moment, then said "There's so many problems- in the newspaper and stuff. And when we're driving we have to be careful not to hit anyone" all with a very serious look on face. A while later we asked how we should solve all of those problems in the newspaper, and he concluded "Everyone should have more cars, more race cars". So, there it is world leaders!

Here are some winter shots:


Here's a picture Graham took of Kate and Eliot, all by himself!

Another fall post, before fall is gone...

Hello everyone!

The warm days are disappearing fast, and there has been lots of fun action at the Shaws to catch up on! Here is a picture of Graham in part of his Halloween costume. Along with his buds Dash and Emmanuel he was a Michigan marching band member. I spent a lot of time making the hat which he unfortunately refused to wear for the most part. Oh well!


Quick updates on growth and development: Last week Eliot had his 4 month check up and shots, which went much better than his last set! No hospital stay for us this time, although he did still seem kind of miserable for the day. He has continued to grow very quickly. He's now 24 1/2 inches long, and weighs 16lbs11ozs, right around 80th percentile in both fields. He started rolling over two weeks ago, much to our surprise; he is so laid back we didn't think he'd have such a strong desire to get moving already. It might have something to do with the fact that he loves to watch everything Graham does, and Graham very rarely stays in the same place for more than a minute.

Graham still loves his little brother very much, and showers him with hugs, kisses, and all kinds of toys and affection. Today I walked in from the kitchen and found this scene (btw Graham is laughing, not crying):


I started to scold Graham, but Eliot had a huge smile on his face. As it turns out, they were both having a jolly time.

Our dear friends the Rippys were here to visit last weekend, and we had an amazing time. Graham was so excited to have them both around, and continually asked "John Wippy" and "Charwotte" to "set the race" (his favorite car game). The guys got to see an amazing football game, and we all had a great time around Ann Arbor.



Graham's current passions are the movie Cars, any related paraphernalia, other cars and trucks, painting with water colors, snuggling his babies, and reading books to name a few. Tonight I asked him what story he wanted to read before bed and it took me a while to figure out that he wanted to read about "Jesus' Last Lunch". He continues to be enthralled with Bible stories, and really loves the Easter story, beginning with the Lord's Supper. What fun to watch him soak it all in!

I'll leave you with a quick video of Eliot laughing. He is so full of sunshine, he's just a joy.



Love you all!

Fall Fun!

We're getting into all kinds of fun things here in Ann Arbor now that the leaves are starting to change color and a hint of crispness has entered the air. Actually, we've had beautiful weather so far, so it's been easy to get outside and enjoy some fun stuff. Sorry, I think I did something wrong with the photos, they look kind of compressed (although Eliot's cheeks really are that chubby!)

First off, the boys and I went to a nearby petting zoo one afternoon while Jon studied. Graham loved feeding the little goats carrots, although his favorite thing was watching the chickens and ducks march around. The hayride was also a big hit, where he enjoyed stuffing hay into every nook he could find. Sorry, no pics of that!

Next we partook of the delicious fall treat of fresh cider and homemade donuts at the Dexter Cider mill--embarrassing how quickly that 1/2 dozen was gone! Eliot has become a champion smiler and is starting to giggle quite a bit. I'm thinking I got two very extroverted boys somehow-such fun to see them interacting with others!

I hope you're all enjoying some nice fall days to. Come visit if you get a chance! We miss you!

A few more

I've gotten better about taking pictures lately so I have a few more I wanted to share. We're starting into the fall season here in Michigan, and so far it's been beautiful, and thankfully not too cold! Jon has been working very hard at school, reading lots of books and articles and studying French alongside his history classes. We've been feeling very welcome in our community still, and are very impressed with all of the opportunities that the University has to offer, both for Jon and for our fam- it's been great! If any of you want to come for a visit, please do! This time of year there's lots of fun to be had picking apples, drinking cider, and enjoying the town. And Graham is already looking forward to this Halloween! On to the pictures. The first one is to show off the great onesie from Aunt Emily's New York trip (a hand-me-down from Maya). It's actually fairly accurate as Eliot tends to wake up to eat right about 2-3 am most nights; however, from my side of things it doesn't really feel like a "party". He's actually doing better all the time with sleeping, and is such a sweetie when he's awake that it's hard to complain. In #2 Graham is showing off his bike gear- he loves to wear his goggles and ride around the house pretending to be Diego or Emily Elizabeth (Clifford the Big Red Dog's owner). Too funny! #3 is just a cute brother pic in their Sunday clothes. What a pair!

Finally, some more pictures!

I had to get some new pictures up of my darling boys--even looking at these I'm overwhelmed at how much I love them! Graham loves Eliot and is so sweet to him. Eliot already thinks Graham is hilarious and wants to watch his every move. He loves to sit and chatter back and forth while giving many gummy smiles, and is up for pretty much anything while we're all hanging out during the day. Here they are playing on the couch.






And here with scared faces!











Graham cheesing it up.












Here is Graham with his best bud Dash- don't they look like they could be related? Dash's mom Nelleke has been amazing friend to me as we've gotten settled here; we've spent many hours chatting while the boys play cars and our younger ones sit with us. Dash's dad Mike has also been a great friend for Jon; we're feeling very blessed to have found such an awesome family of friends!

2 month appointment

Hello everyone! We just got back from Eliot's 2 month appt at our new Pediatrician- great experience all around (although Eliot would disagree about the shots). Eliot now weighs 13lbs8oz (getting close to doubling his birth weight!) and is 24 3/4 inches long. That's the 79th and 92nd percentile, respectively. He is a champion smiler and cooer, so mellow and Dr. Yousef our new Pediatrician said he looks great. And this time, I didn't even cry at the first shots! We're still loving our new home and are enjoying some time with Shosho and Babu this week. What fun!

A few more

I thought I'd make up for our recent dearth of postings by adding a few more pictures. Jon took the two boys out on the bus to buy a book, so I'm enjoying some time to myself! The boys and I had a great morning at the pool with our new friends Nelleke and her kids Dash and Scout. We had a blast! You'll notice in these pictures that Graham has learned to cheesy camera smile! I tell you what, he never slows down these days... Sorry the one of Eliot is blurry, but I wanted to show off his chubs. Too cute!

Pics!

Well, Eliot's napping, Graham's out with Jonathan and I have a MILLION things to do, but first I must finally post some pictures! Eliot was 2 months old yesterday (already??? No way!) and continues to be such a sweet quiet soul- He loves to just hang out and watch the world (and his tornado of a brother) go by when he's awake, and spends many a peaceful hour sleeping in between. He has gotten significantly bigger, as you can see, and the chubbiness seems to be increasing by the minute. Graham loves that his brother now smiles at him and makes noises. One of our favorite things to do is sit and talk to Eliot together, and he exclaims "He said 'Goo'!...He said 'na-ga'!... Eliot's trying to talk!" as we listen. He seems very impressed with the fact that he is able to do so many more things that babies can't do, and eager for Eliot to learn how to do them. It's very fun to see. Well, enjoy the pictures! These are some of us hanging out around the house, on the bus, and in downtown Ann Arbor. (Courtesy of Manna's camera- we had a great visit with Manna and Granddaddy this weekend and miss them already)

Much love to all!!

7 weeks later...

I can't believe so much time has passed since our last post! Since that time we have visited all of our extended families, traveled through 9 states and Canada and Jonathan completed a trip to Africa and back, and now we're finally settled into our new home in Ann Arbor, MI. Pretty exciting first two months of life! Needless to say, it's been tough to find time to get online. All of our pictures have been taken by others, so I will try to track some down to post.

In the meantime, I will just let everyone know that both boys are doing great (and we parents are surviving, too!) Graham has had some moments of jealousy, but is so sweet and helpful, and seems to recognize now that this family addition is permanent. Yesterday he carried all of our clean clothes upstairs (never mind they were all unfolded by the time he reached the top- it was too cute to stop him!)

Quick story to report: as I type this, Graham finished his juice and let out a burp, then said "I make burps. Eliot makes burps, too". What a kid he is. He's so full of fun and imagination. He had a great time hanging out with his Shosho and Babu, and still asks about them all the time, but seems to love living in Ann Arbor.

I think we all are really loving it so far. We've settled in a wonderful community of student housing, all of whom have families. In fact, just about all the kids are near Graham's and Eliot's ages, so friends are plentiful.

Graham has been having so much fun with these new friends, in fact, he is having trouble falling to sleep at naptime. He's required to spend some time in his room each day, "resting" but generally a lot more running around happens than sleeping, but at least he's in his room for forty minutes. When Kate went to get him last rest time, he was anticipating her comment about his being loud. He tried to preempt this by saying, before she could get a word in, "Mommy, I wasn't being loud. (pause) I was just sleeping (pause) with my eyes open." Wittier and wittier.

Kate will have lots of other moms to hang out with while I am in class, and although it will still be an adjustment with two kids, we're feeling very hopeful and excited about the upcoming year.

Sorry we don't have any pictures this go round, but we'll be back updating with vigor in a short bit.

Eliot is almost 5 days old.

Here's a picture of the mother of the year herself (I'm slightly biased) giving her sweet boy a kiss:




















We hate to jinx it, but man, so far, Eliot is SO laid back. When he's awake he just looks around and squeaks, and mostly, as in almost constantly, he sleeps. Kate has to wake him up to eat most of the time. Boy, we feel so lucky and honestly, it's been a lot of fun.

Anyway, Kate's still recovering, of course, and Graham is still adjusting, but overall I just couldn't be more thankful.

It's been so helpful to have Mana and Grandaddy here. It's helped immeasurably. Here's mom and the boy after his first minutes of life:



















Here's three generations of Forman-Brandon-Shaw-ness.




















Here's Grandaddy with Eliot. What a smile on the older one!

A few more Eliot!

Here's proof that Jonathan was there:



















He's been sleeping like nobody's business...



















Graham came to visit and used his special "baby voice" to talk to Eliot:




Finally, Kate wanted me to put up a picture "with his hair in it." Do you think he looks like Daddy?

The Brand Newest Shaw: Eliot Philip Shaw

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Eliot Philip Shaw: born June 28, 2010 at 3:45 pm.

He is 7 pounds, 5 ounces, 19 7/8 inches. He's healthy and a sweet little thing.

Mom did an amazing job. 13 hours of labor paid off: even those last yells and my (Jonathan's) deeply squeezed hands before Eliot made his appearance.

The new Shaw family:



















Mom and Eliot's first moment together.




















Graham giving new brother a kiss.

Buckroe Beach and the Capital

We have taken some very fun family trips together these last couple of weeks. We went to Washington D.C. a couple weekends ago as a last hurrah as just the three Shaws.

It was a total blast, and Graham really loved seeing the museums, especially the Natural History and Air and Space ones.

He also really loved running around on the mall and making new friends.

We had a wonderful time, and by the end of the day everyone felt as tired as Graham looks in this picture:

But, he recovered quickly!

We also went to the local beach, Buckroe Beach, and had an amazingly fun time. Graham was in heaven and I think we're in the process of making a beach bum.

Tonight I had an extended conversation with Graham about the arrival of his new brother soon. It started out as he sat up on my platform of a belly (it's a nice spot for him to ride!) while we walked to the playground. The conversation went like this:

-"Mommy, you're tummy's getting very big!"
-"Yes, it is isn't it? That's because the baby is getting big, he's going to be born soon. After the baby is born my tummy will get small again. What do you think about that?"
-"Oh." Contemplates this information quietly.
-"Are you excited for the baby to be born?"
-"Um, no."
-"Why not?"
-"Because the baby will cry."
-"Yes, the baby will cry sometimes, because he won't know how to talk. But we will love him and help him to feel better when he cries."
-"Like Baby Maya?"
-"That's right, just like baby Maya."

It's incredible to me how he can put things together. We haven't seen baby Maya since she was just over a week old, but seeing her parents lovingly attend to her when she cried obviously made an impression. He is a very sensitive soul, so I know the crying among other adjustments will be difficult for him. We're all in for a big change when the baby comes! Pray for us, especially Graham, in that transition.



We had to put this up because he was so proud that he achieved his first somersault! Yay!

In a couple days we'll put up a post about our trip to DC last weekend. We had a great time.

Funny Story

I had to share this funny story from Graham this afternoon. He picked up one of Jon's and my wedding photos and this commentary followed:
Graham: "Ah! Your Wedding Mommy!"
Me: "Yes, that's when Daddy and I got married".
Graham (seriously): "You're very beautiful"
Me: "Thank you Graham, that's very sweet of you to say!"
Graham (smiling): "Did you dance like a girl?"

I can only guess that he remembers what fun we had dancing at Brandon and Elizabeth's wedding. I'm not sure what it means to dance "like a girl", but I assume that's better than me dancing like a boy!

He's getting so excited about having a little brother. Yesterday he came up to my belly to give it his usual generous hugs and kisses, and lovingly, in a quiet voice said "Bebo [the name he's given the baby] you're getting so big! You're growing!". I can't wait to see how these brothers get to know each other!

I'll add a cute picture from Mother's Day last year just for fun. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms!

Hope you are all well. We're enjoying Jon being done with classes although he still has several papers and his thesis to finish up. It's great to have a few more hours together as a family.

Love you all!

Getting closer to being a big brother...

Hello all!

I've been meaning to do another post for a while so I might as well just do it! My belly continues to grow and Graham is loving it, looking forward very much to being a big brother. He has named his baby brother "Bebo" and calls him that all the time. Each day he must have several opportunities to "Snuggle Bebo" which consists of a lot of hugging, kissing, and generally loving my belly. Although the other day my baby bump got in the way while we were trying to play a game and he politely asked "Mommy can you take belly off, please?" Not yet! A little less than 2 months (give or take a bit) to go!

Graham and I have both enjoyed the beautiful spring weather, spending lots of time at the sandbox and nearby playground where we have met lots of new friends. He is generally quite wonderful with other kids and loves to see them; if he sees anyone over at the playground he's yelling "Hey kids! What're you doing? I'm happy to see you!" While we walk over. His other favorite new game is hide-and-seek, which he thinks is just hilarious, and he loves to try to count to 10 while I hide.

We're both looking forward to spending a bit more time with Jonathan/Daddy once his classes are over next week, although he will still need to be doing lots of writing and other work. Hopefully we'll even get to the beach a few times as a family before our new addition arrives.

Hope all is well with you all- Much love!

More Graham stories!

Hello everyone!

We recently got back from a wonderful visit to see Manna, Granddaddy, Aunt Keely, Uncle Jovan, baby cousin Mia, and Aunt Emily. What fun! In spite of the long 10 hr drive each way Graham kept a (mostly) great attitude and was always ready to get back in the car to "go to Kentucky!" When we finally arrived Grandaddy was across the street at one of his gardens. We waved wildly and Graham called exuberantly "Hey Grandaddy! Hey! I'm happy to see you! Come back over to Kentucky!!"

We spent lots of time playing and enjoying being together, although Graham wasn't too sure at first about having to share his grandparents with a new baby. He was very sweet to Mia, though, and worried about her any time she cried. She is a beautiful little girl! Unfortunately we somehow managed to come away without any pictures of them together. We'll have to get some next time... She is truly precious. Keely and Jovan are great parents, and it's fun to see them enjoying their new daughter so much!

Graham just had a two year check up. Some results: he is 75th percentile height (almost 35 inches) and 50th percentile weight (26 pounds). He's doing great, and the doctor was very impressed with his language ability, although Graham immediately remembered where he was and put his hand on the stretcher and said "'Member this? I got a shot." And was thus nervous about the whole operation, but the doctor put him at ease.

And finally, Graham's a "modol mite" or a "noble knight" depending on the moment:

Graham's Birthday Blowout

I know it's been a month but

here's a little video from Graham 2nd birthday

Much love.

Belated Birthday Pics

Hello everyone! I promise that our delay in blogging about Graham's birthday and the surrounding time with Granddaddy has not been from a lack of desire to do so; we've been even busier than usual lately with Jon completely overloaded with projects at school, church, and work, plus working on a paper for a conference presentation in March. I'm continuing to work full time and trying to find time to keep our house together and cook at least an occasional healthy meal!

Graham has continued to go with the flow well and I think is enjoying being 2 yrs old. He (and we) had such fun while Granddaddy was here for a visit. We had lots of time playing outside, a meal at Chick-fil-a (a favorite of Graham's) and for Jon's birthday on the 28th we ate at a wonderful French Bistro in Williamsburg. Unfortunately Graham was starving and not in the mood to be wowed by the ambiance or menu choices. When the waitress came up to our table he immediately looked up at her and said, in a commanding tone, "I want FOOD". She kindly obliged very soon by bringing him some incredible soup and the best mac and cheese I've ever had. We had a party for Graham and Jon on Sunday night Jan 31 and I made him a special truck cake. He thought it was pretty awesome, and I'll get Jon to post a video of his response soon! We had a few friends over and had a very nice time. To both of the boys' delight the menu was sausages, fries, and a huge fruit salad as well as some hummus, salsa, and guacamole with chips/veggies. Fortunately they have a lot of overlap in foods that they like! We had a great time, and thanks to all of you for the books, cards, and gifts that you sent to both of the boys! Graham LOVED opening the gifts, and loves reading the books, playing with the trucks, "cooking" with the utensils and pots and pans, and adding appendages to his "'Tato Head".

We will also try to get a picture of my belly soon. We had our ultrasound last week and we have another boy on the way! We're excited, but now we have to decide on another boy's name...
I've also posted a picture of Graham the first night Dad was here; together they came up with the idea of trying on some of Granddaddy's tube sox, and the result is pretty funny. What fun we had!

Much love to all of you!