Stand by me

If you regularly check the blog you are probably shocked to see this post! After all, it has only been 9 days since my last post! I have been such a bad blogger! However, I am back with terrific Shane news. The little man is pulling himself up to a stand!!!!!! YAY, Shane!!!!! He first did it on Wednesday when I was taking his monthly birthday photo 10 days late -Bad mommy!!!! Anyways, I got him in his jersey and started snapping away.



And then he did this.

and then this.

and then he realized he could pull himself up to a stand like this!

If you look carefully at the side of his face you can tell how happy he was with himself! I was too nervous to leave him to move to the side of the chair to get a face shot. After he did that a few more times, I made him sit for more pictures. This was the last shot I took because Shane wanted to stand, not pose. My son has a total Irish temper! Dan is so proud of that! I, on the other hand, am not thrilled! Look at that pout!

I was convinced that he was able to stand because he was not wearing socks. I always have Shane in socks because it is cold. After he stood up in bare feet, I let him crawl all over in his bare feet, but nothing. He has been able to hold onto something and stand for a long time (since 8 months or so), but getting himself to a stand was a different story. In fact, every morning when I go get him, I help him up to a stand, and he stands in his crib while I pick out his clothes and warm his bottle. He is strong and can stay like that for a long time. Here is a picture of him standing with his table. Note, we stood him up.

Well, I have been waiting and waiting for him to do it himself and that day finally came - today!!!! I was editing and Shane was crawling on the floor and I looked up and this is what I saw!


Yes, I know that this picture looks just like the last one of him at his table, but this time he got himself up! He has been doing it all day! He pulled himself up on his stage and at his table! Here is some video!
In other exciting news, Shane tried to share his empty bottle with me this morning! It was so sweet! He finished drinking and was sucking up the last few drops when whammo I had a bottle in my mouth! Mmmmm! He then took it out of my mouth, put it in his, and then back to me, etc. It went on for about 5 minutes until I actually got some formula in my mouth and put a stop to that game. I'm really not an Enfamil kind of girl! He also tried to share his block with Thunder this afternoon. Thunder will, I'm sure, be happy to share food with Shane (translation - eat Shane's food) and he already gets all of the Cheerios and puffs that shane drops because he struggles with getting them in his mouth... but that is a different story! Anyways, Shane was chewing on a block and then tried to shove the block into Thunder's mouth. It was really cute! Thunder just looked at him like he was crazy! It was adorable!
Shane loves, loves, loves Thunder! Here are some recent pictures of the boys! Look at the one where Shane is about to kiss Thunder!




The other day Shane was crawling around and pulled himself up on his knees by Thunder's bowl (It is an elevated stand with Thunder's water & food bowls on it) while Thunder was eating dinner. Shane actually crowded Thunder out of the way (he had to eat from the side) and started pulling Thunder's food out of the bowl. He even tried to put it in his mouth! YUCK! I am working really hard at teaching Shane the word 'No' because I can't get rid of Thunder's bowls and while there is never any food in them, except at meal time (and Thunder wastes no time chowing down), there is always water. Shane loves water so you can see the problem. So far, I say "No" in a stern voice and he looks at me and smiles and I try REALLY hard to not smile back!
Speaking of water, here are some recent bath pictures! How cute is Shane in his duckie towel???? Thanks, Aunt Debbie! We love it!


Speaking of Aunt Debbie, she was over last weekend to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas and her birthday which is this weekend! Happy Birthday, Debbie!!!! She gave Shane some adorable clothes and gave us some beautiful Hanukkah tableware and a calendar her cousin illustrated, it is beautiful! We had it hanging in our kitchen until our Shutterfly calendar of Shane arrived (I totally forgot I ordered it!) and now it is in our loft keeping me organized where I work! Debbie is the best!!! Here are a few pictures.


Last weekend we went to Connor's 2nd birthday party and Shane had a great time! He loved the food!!! He had tons of lasagna filling, potatoes, and a whole piece of cake! None of that stopped him from eating his regular dinner and bottle! He especially loves teething biscuits! This is what he looks like when he is done with one!

What is Shane's favorite thing these days? His daddy!!!! Shane lights up when Dan gets home and he even gave him a kiss the other night! Shane does not give out kisses to anyone but Thunder and himself - yes, I said himself! He looks in the mirror and kisses himself like crazy!!!!! When Dan & I were picking out a Hebrew name for Shane (for his Hebrew naming ceremony & Baptism on Feb. 7th) I half jokingly wondered if we should find one that meant narcissist! I do go off on tangents, don't I?... Anyway, Dan said they were just gazing into one another's eyes and he felt like he could see into Shane's soul! It was precious to watch! And then there is this side to Dan... I was out to lunch with Anna and Cathy this week and the waitress saw my bag, which has pictures of Shane and one family shot, and she said Shane was gorgeous and that he looked just like his Dad! I mistakingly told Dan who took that to mean that he too was gorgeous! It was typical Dan! That is why I love him, he can be sweet and sentimental one moment and crazy the next!



I want to end this entry with a little note on tomorrow. January 23rd marks the 2 year anniversary of the loss of our daughter Madeleine to an Incompetent Cervix. We love and miss her more every day. We are thankful for doctors like Dr. Haney who performed my trans-abdominal cerclage which allowed Shane to stay put until his scheduled c-section and we are unbelievably blessed with Shane who is the light of our lives & the best baby in the universe. However, we miss our little Madeleine and will be thinking of her and visiting her in the cemetery tomorrow.

All I want for Christmas is a new front tooth & to learn to crawl!

So, did Shane get his Christmas wishes? Yes, he did! He started crawling the Monday after Christmas (Dec. 28th) and his front tooth started coming in right around the 1st of the year. It is still not all of the way in! Shane crawling and now trying to pull himself up (he can get onto his knees so far) along with all of my work from my editing job has kept me away from blogging. I was hoping to be done with this job, but I do not see an end in site. I have to be done by March 31st, when the National Board candidates submit their portfolios, so I suppose that is an end. I am so swamped right now, that I cannot see my desktop because of all of the files on it.
OK, so let me start with some very late pictures - late as in Thanksgiving late. If you read my entry on Thanksgiving you know that we forgot our camera and purchased a disposable one. Well I finally have the images. Unfortunately, there are not many. Where are the pictures of Shane eating off of his Thanksgiving dinner set from Aunt Geri? Where are the photos of him trying ground turkey from the food grinder my cousin Andrea gave us? Where are the photos of him with all of his other familiy members including his mom and dad? The answer, his mom & dad did not take any more than these. I have pictures of Shane with his cousin Danny, his cousin Jack, his Aunt Jorie, his Aunt Joan, and Grandma Judy - that is it! OOPS!





When I last blogged, Hanukkah had just begun. Shane celebrated the festival of lights for 8 days! He received many presents for Hanukkah, but I think his favorite was this rocking horse from my parents - He LOVES it! He rocks back in forth in everything now! It is too cute! Here is the best picture I have of him in it. It is hard to get a good one because he is always moving in it.

We had my parents and Jorie & Jason over to celebrate Hanukkah. Shane wore his first Hanukkah shirt, which is barely visible in these pictures, and I made potato pancakes for the first time (actually the second time, but the first time they did not come out, so I don't count those.) We opened presents and had a good time! Shane got the horse and giant foam blocks from my parents and Jorie and Jason brought him books and clothes. Here are pictures from the night! Shane's bedtime is pretty early so he is in his pjs for some of the pictures.







After Hanukkah was over, we had a few days to rest up before Christmas. In the weeks leading up to his holiday break from school, Dan kept saying, "I don't care how much it snows when I am on break - it can snow 7 feet and I won't complain." Dan does not love snow, he just hates the stress of driving to work in it so he was hoping it would wait until he was off. Well, Dan almost got his wish. It didn't snow 7 feet over break, but it did snow - a lot! It was too cold to take Shane out in the snow, so we brought the snow in to him! Here is a picture and some video! He was interested, but not thrilled with snow.


We also spent some over break with Kristine and Connor. Connor actually turned 2 on the 20th and his big party is this weekend! Happy Birthday, Connor! We love you!!!! We celebrated the holidays with them and exchanged presents. Aunt Kristine gave Shane his favorite toy in the world. It is a fisher price stage with a microphone and some musical instruments that he can 'play'. The stage is a mirror and my little cutie pie loves to sit in front of the mirror and look at himself and talk/sing along to the music. In fact, he pulls himself up on his knees and puts his nose right up to the mirror! I need to get some pictures of him with it. Here is a picture of Connor and Shane together - how handsome are these boys?

On Christmas Eve morning Shane woke up with watery red eyes! Dan and I both thought pink eye! We raced over to Dr. Lo, who also saw me/Shane the day before Thanksgiving, and learned that it was just a cold virus - no pink eye! Phew! However, his eyes were still running on Christmas so many of his pictures look like he is crying. He isn't! On Christmas Eve evening, we took Shane to church and he found a girlfriend in the next aisle who he was screaming/squealing to the entire time. It was cute - his screams were of excitement! My little man really likes the ladies and he wanted her to pay attention to him. It was truly adorable! Here is a picture of Shane before he left for church.

On Christmas morning Shane woke up to find that Santa had been to our house! Shane received many presents from Santa, but I think he liked all of the wrapping paper the best! Here are some pictures of Christmas morning! Notice the ADORABLE 1st Christmas hat - it came from Jason's mom!






After a relaxing (so relaxing that I was sure some catastrophe was lurking in the future - I mean the presents were all loaded in the car, the Christmas cake was made and frosted and did not require any re-baking or fixing or emergency runs to the 24 hour Walgreens to buy chocolate syrup to decorate it because I messed it up & had no more frosting & Walgreens did not carry icing- yes that actually happened one year.) morning of opening presents and hanging out we headed over to Dan's parents to celebrate Christmas with them, John, Geri, Danny, Joey, Colleen, Bill & Liam. A great time was had and Shane was again spoiled rotten! Dan's parents bought him a chair with his name embroidered on it and Shane and I read books in it every day. Well, Shane sits in the chair and I sit on the floor and read him books every day. He loves it! He was spoiled with outfits from his Uncle Joahn and Aunt Geri as well as a beautiful 1st Christmas ornament & a phone that he loves! His cousin Colleen had more clothes for him and his cousins Danny and Joey had a truck with blocks for Shane. The favorite may have come from his cousin Jack - no not the white sox shirt - the crawl ball - I swear it made him crawl! Here are some pictures from the day!







On the 28th of December our little man started crawling! We were so proud. I can't even believe this video was only from a few weeks ago because Shane can really crawl - FAST - now! Here is the video.

That night Dan and I had a party to go to and Joey came over to babysit Shane. Shane was one lucky boy because Joey took really great care of him! I sure did marry into an awesome family! I have the greatest in laws and the best nephews and nieces ever!!!! Shane will grow up with lots of love around him! Here is a picture of Joey and Shane right before we left.

The next day we headed out to the Museum of Science & Industry with Danny. It was a long day for Shane as we left our house at 8 AM, picked up Danny at 9, and got to the museum at 10. We stayed until 5PM and then headed to Panera for a quick dinner before dropping Danny off and heading home. It was 8 when we got home. Shane even saw his first movie - an Omnimax about cycling - he was perfect in it! I was so proud! Danny had never been there so we tried to get in as much as possible! Here are some pictures of Danny & Shane. The one of Danny by the buildings show skyscrapers made out of legos - they looked great!




New Year's Eve was very low key this year! We had planned on staying in with Shane and Colleen and Bill had a party so Liam came over for the night. We love him so much and he is so wonderful with Shane. Liam cracks me up and is always so happy! I even gave him ice cream on his waffles for breakfast the next morning! We rang in the New Year early with the boys and they were both sound asleep by 9:30. Dan and I had a drink (a glass of wine for me and a few sips of beer for Dan) and tried to stay up until midnight. Once we realized that was not happening, we decided to shoot for 11. We watched Dick Clark ring in the New Year (sort of - I actually fell asleep a few minutes before 11 and Dan kept waking me). Here is a picture of Liam and Shane.


Over break Dan and I did get to the movies once (thanks Mom & Dad) and I got to return some Christmas gifts alone (Thanks Geri) - see I have the greatest family ever! Here are some pictures of Shane with my mom and with his Aunt Geri!



Here are a final couple of pictures of Shane and Dan.


Shane (and his mommy & daddy) want to wish his Aunt Geri & Uncle John a very happy 25th wedding anniversary and a happy birthday to his cousins Jack & Sarah and congratulate his cousin Melissa and her fiance Jason on their engagement!