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.