What fills our hearts everyday

There is nothing in the whole world that sounds better than this.

Her first boo boo

Leah showing off her extra large lip :((



Ohhhh, this cold thing feels good on my boo boo

Today she came home with her first boo boo. She was standing up ( yeah Leah!!!) but attempted to clap at the same time...then proceeded to fall on her face. Those beautiful pearly whites of hers banged into her lip and she has a nice swollen lip. It is so sad, but as usualy she takes it like a trooper and couldn't be happier.

Wake up silly girl

As I go to Leah's crib each morning, I often wonder what in the world is so funny. At first I will hear noises and then as I make my way to the crib 9 out of 10 times she is laughing about something. I just wish I could get into her head and wonder what she is thinking ( or perhaps seeing?????). Either way it beats a crying baby anyday......and I can only hope that she laughs her way through life.

A visit from Madalyn

Leah loves seeing her "godsister" Madalyn

Uh-oh......Maddie has a juice box and a microphone,and we know what that means.....crazy Maddie will soon follow.


" Hey Leah, did I tell you.......... I'm gonna have a baby sister!"

Innaugartion Day 2009....A letter to Leah

Dear Leah,

There have been many new ways that I now know I am a mom. One happened today and I wanted to share it with you. I woke up this morning so excited and proud to watch Barak Obama become the President. Both the inspiration I have felt and the historical context made this day one that I knew I would remember forever. I have always been into politics , history, and social change for the good. I can remember being a little girl and wanting to join the Peace Corp. But with all of the excitement and anticipation about todays's events...all I could think of was you. First off.....I just wanted to spend the day with you. I couldn't , which made me sad but it was really important to me that you see it ( even if you have no clue what's going on). And mostly, all of this hope and change made me think about how much I care about your future, the world you live in, and who will be your role models. Obviously I think it's amazing that the year you were born, a man born to white woman and black father became our President. I think before this event happened I would have always told you "yes, you can" but now it just has such important meaning. So hopefully one day you will grow into a socially conscience , bright, and inspring young woman and you can say ......I saw the day this happened. For me it just puts what is really important to me into perspective. I love you more than anything and hope your future is filled with all the possibilities you can dream of.

Love, Mommy

Holiday Party.....Rescheduled

The baby crew showing off their hats from Emma!

Leah loves her secret santa gift....she got them a few weeks early, here she is modeling them.

We had tried for weeks to reschedule the holiday party that had to be canceled due to all of our munchkins being so sick. Even though everyone couldn't make it to Janelle's ( poor Riley, both Sophia's, Layla, and Noa off in Israel) we had the party ta it's new location , casa de Madilyn. It was so nice to see everybody and share some holiday spirit even ( yes, you can still celebrate well into January). Mommy may have been happier than Leah since she spent the first half in tears. That's okay little mama you will soon be in daycare and around alot of babies. Thanks so much to Ana and Steve for hosting the last minute party , Emma for our beautiful hat and to our Secret Santa Layla.........we love the boots!

Playtime is back...now we just need some healthy friends.

Getting more and more confident where she can stand

" Welcome to my house!"


"Look Daddy ....one hand "

Helping Mommy get ready for work

Lele looking for what she can wear in Mommy's closet

"Mommy, you should wear these....."

Ahhh, nothing like getting dressed for work in the morning. The work day mornings have been very interesting lately. For a few months now Leah has been happy playing in her crib, but lately she wants to be in on the fun of the morning routine and is not happy until she is out among us. So here she is in her favorite place.....my closet.

Look who's feeling better!

Chris helping Leah feel better

I like food again

"Look Mommy I am all better.....can I please go out with Daddy and Chris?"

Nothing can make you feel better than some brotherly love. It has been a while since we have entered some new posts because there were so many days of not feeling well and no action in the Shaw house. Finally.....Leah has started to become herself again, playful, happy, engegaed, and curious. While Chris was over for the weekend there was a mini snow storm ( although we were gearing up for 8+ inches). It was so cute to see how excited daddy and chris were for the storm....the whole day was built around it.....wake up, go buy new snow pants/boots, visit the sled store to but a small one for Leah and blow up the monster one we have, hang at house until snow falls.........well the snow arrived and daddy and chris went out for some snow fun. We decided that fater 2 weeks of being sick it may not be so great to bring her out there the day she is finally better , so we will just have to wait until the next one.

Such a sad week

What a week it has been for Leah. She came down with that dreaded stomach bug and we soon followed a day later. Having one day in the house with all of us VERY sick was not easy but thank goodness mine passed after a day. We are now on day 7 and it has been truly horrible. Today was the first day that Leah ate food in a week and it shows. In addition to her not keeping anything down ( i have a new respect for grabage bags as bibs) she now has........ a cold, horrible cough, and her 5th ear infection ( which also means we will be most likely off to an ENT doctor soon). She just sits there and moans, won't move an inch, tears falling without crying, tries to talk and can't (lost her voice), stares into space, and lays on us for hours. Needless to say this has been the most heart wrenching experience. Of course we want her better, but I am most concerned that we won't have the same Leah back. The value of your child's smile is EVERYTHING and I would do anything to get it back. I am home from work with her again today and just praying that it will make some kind of turn around today. I really understand that your health means the world. We just feel so bad that we actually see her in pain, which we have never seen before ( other than a fall and 2 second cry). While yesterday was my birthday and tomorrow is her 10 month birthday , I can only wish for her to get better.

Happy New Year 2009!

The New Years Crew (minus me)
Lucas ( the Tank) is doing fine in 09

The Shaw Family bringing in the new year

Leah and Lucas's first date

What a wonderful year 2008 has been. Our Leah has come into our lives and nothing in my life has been so special. We are truly grateful for what an amazing year it was and can only hope that 2009 is even better. We went over the Jen, John's and Lucas's for the Baby New Years Bash...but to make it interesting Leah threw up all over Mommy just as she finished getting them both dressed. This was SERIOUS throw up (haven't seen that in months) and it looked like a bomb went off in the kitchen...but we cleaned up and headed to Fishkill. We had such a perfect night, John cooked an amazing dinner ( he needs to be a chef), Leah slept all night but Lucas got to see the ball drop, we drank ( of course) and play games till 3am. We stayed at Bed and Breakfast Redahan (heheh)and loved it.....we even topped it off with a trip of all 6 of us to Cracker Barrel( what a way to start a diet!). Oh wait I forgot........Leah threw up all over their living room the next morning before we went out for breakfast........another outfit GONE!( which promted me to realize it was not overeating and she had a stomach bug :(((. Once we headed home I headed for the doctor and Leah spent the first day of 2009 in my arms wimpering with a stomach virus. I just put her to bed and realize even with craziness like her throwing up all over Mommy I am sooo excited to see what this year has in store for us. I am off to do ALOT of laundry.