Shuffling with the Shoups

Long overdue update

2011-07-09T13:49:00.003-05:00

AGH - it's been over a year and finally with all that's been going on in our world I'm hoping to resume blogging about what's going on in our world (or Jackson's world because really it's all about him and we're just living in it. :) ) In the meantime, please enjoy the slightly updated format, complete with a couple of the pictures taken on his 2nd birthday by the amazingly talented Erin Jensen, one of my K-State Alpha Chi sisters (if you need a fab photog in the KC area - please contact her HERE ) as well as a few "About Jackson" updates.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-04T15:44:00.003-05:00

More pictures will follow of recipes using the fruits of our labor (aka our trip to the blueberry patch where we successfully picked a gallon of yummy blueberries, enjoyed some hot dogs and blueberry lemonade), but for now, let's start with a family picture of us with our blueberries!

Happy 234th birthday, America! Thank you to everyone we know who has served, is serving, will serve, or is a supportive family member of someone who has/is/will serve! Let the freedom to pick blueberries, worship as we please, BBQ and drink beer with friends, etc RING!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Michigan J Frog Walks!

2010-06-17T07:51:00.004-05:00

I'm sure we're not the first parents to think that our children know exactly when we go for the camera - whether for still shots or video, but we still call Jackson Michigan J Frog for this reason and he shows it again. Last night when I got home, he crawled out of the kitchen, stood up and walked 6 steps to greet me. It was one of the best moments EVER. He did the same for Joey too and I know we're both overflowing with joy with each milestone and can't believe that we can love him more every day, but we do! Of course catching as much on video is the tricky part, but after a few attempts and a mean mom moment (I pulled Mater away from him), we caught a few steps! Enjoy - Jackson has learned the Shoup Shuffle!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

On the move

2010-06-14T07:41:00.002-05:00

We've known it was coming for a long time because as soon as he really started crawling, Jackson had us chasing after him, but it's a whole new ballgame now - Jackson got "Mater" from Trent, Amanda, Riley (and Baby V) for his birthday and is loving being able to push it around as evident by yesterday's video (sorry that part of it is so dark - the hall light is at the other end of the hall, but you can see him motoring around and then making a beeline for the toilet in our guest bath - which he seems to think is one of his own personal toys (along with Buddy's water dish that seems to serve as his "indoor pool".

Yesterday, however, he took his first solo step and while most of the time he still chooses to sit down and crawl to us...or if he gets close enough just fall forward into us, we know that these first few stumbles will soon be a distant memory as Joey and I run after him as he learns his own Shoup Shuffle! Scary, but exciting, all at the same time!

Stay tuned because I still will get a few blog entries finished soon with titles like these:
*Decade in Review
*Up and at 'em
*Jackson is 9 months
*Snow day(s)!
*Jackson is 10 months
*Chompers
*Bluebonnets
*Happy Easter!
*A hippy no more
*Play Ball!
*Jackson is 11 months
*Picture time!
*Having a ball
*A trip to the beach
*Margaritaville
*Turn around
*Jackson's 1st birthday party
*Holy Water
Some may be brief, but I WILL finish them all before this year is over! :)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

2010-05-27T12:46:00.003-05:00

My little man is 1! I have so much to write and many blogs that really just need to be finished with a few words and then have some pictures added. I'm REALLY hoping to make that a priority this Memorial Day weekend since we don't have much planned beyond preparing for Jackson's party and baptism next weekend and hanging out with some friends, but we'll see how well that works out.

In the meantime, though, I still can't believe my "baby boy" really isn't a baby anymore. He's 1!

Happy Birthday, Jack Attack!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

What a ham

2010-04-28T12:47:00.001-05:00

I keep trying to find time to post but it just hasn't happened so while I'm sitting here waiting on lunch I thought I'd throw up a quick picture post with the hopes that I'll get to actually post months 9-11 updates soon...

...til next time, Keep Shuffling!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meet Dixie

2010-03-01T12:51:00.001-06:00

Our insurance company decided that the accident a few weeks ago totalled Ruby so we've added a new (car) member to our family. Meet Dixie. She's got some miles on her, but Joey found her and is loving her so far!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Plbbbbt

2010-02-27T12:34:00.000-06:00

No words - just sounds. He's only recently started blowing raspberries, but once he gets going, it makes us laugh so he just keeps going, even when he should be eating. :)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Mr Mischief

2010-02-25T19:15:00.001-06:00

Well, the crawling is almost full speed now and the hardwood floors are definitely going to have to be cleaned much more often than they have been lately! While Jackson's biggest mischieveous activity so far is just taking all the movies out of the entertainment center (we don't have that many thankfully, but I must remember to get a picture of that), I know that with a smile like this, there's more in store in our future, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

No thanks, I'll stand!

2010-02-19T20:47:00.001-06:00

The crib mattress has been dropped down a few notches just in time now that Jackson has been found like this most mornings lately!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Finding time

2010-02-17T20:37:00.002-06:00

Finding time to blog lately has been challenging, however, since I've opted to give up facebook for Lent and downloaded a blogger app instead, I'm hoping I can do at least a few quick little posts from my phone.
Snow day! Hard to believe this wad taken in Dallas! We had a record amount of snow-a whole foot!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Splish Splash

2010-02-02T21:54:00.002-06:00

Jackson is really starting to enjoy bathtime! These pictures are just too cute not to share! I need to get some better ones of him actually playing with some toys (we're still using the baby bathtub inside our tub to minimize water usage).

Having a good time!

Posing for the camera wrapped in his ducky towel

Waving to all his adoring fans

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson is 8 months

2010-01-27T13:02:00.000-06:00

I have been feeling run down but did at least manage to snap the official 8 month picture despite not having the energy to update much else for now (maybe this will be the weekend??)
Yes, Jackson is now 8 months...2/3 of a year old, only 4 months from his 1st birthday and happy as ever (although I sense mischief in his smile too)!

8 months!

7 months!

6 months!

5 months
4 months
3 months
~2 months
1 month

"Birthday"!
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

What a ride!

2010-01-17T21:01:00.002-06:00

I still owe a holiday/Christmas update and I've started a decade in rewind recap as well, but in the meantime here's a quick happy update. Jackson is now sitting up really well on his own. Still can't sit himself up (without help) from a laying position, but I have a feeling it'll happen soon, however, being able to sit up has allowed him another fun thing with daddy - riding on his shoulders! Here's just one of many rides he's been on and while Jackson really seems to love it, I have a feeling that Joey enjoys it just as much, if not more!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Happy New Year, and a Blog-iversary!

2010-01-02T22:20:00.006-06:00

Today marks a year since I started the blog so I'm quite proud that I've managed to keep it up. There have been times when it's taken me longer to catch up, but I did average at least 1 post a week and that's really what I was hoping to do so I'll call it a success given all the changes we experienced in 2009!

I still need to update from Christmas and hope to do that before my office officially reopens full time on Monday, but do want to wish everyone a Happy New Year before January is over, but for now, the previous post with the comparison pics from the first 7 months will do. :)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson is 7 months!

2009-12-27T22:58:00.001-06:00

Yes, Jackson is now 7 months and Rockin' right along (see 7 month picture-we love our AC/DC)! We've now tried all of the recommended veggies on the pediatrician's list as well as several fruits and a few other things. So far the only strong dislike has been avocado, but we'll keep trying. He hesitated with peas as well, but not as bad and didn't bat an eye when they've been mixed with carrots or sweet potatoes so that's a good sign. He even enjoyed his first taste of beets, which I personally find too "earthy" (I credit Rosanna with that nice description because we shared a salad and pizza a while back and the salad had beets, which I ate, but said they "taste kinda like dirt" and she said, "you mean 'earthy'"). :) I'm looking forward to him trying yogurt soon as well as some other fruits and meats as well. We're still trucking along nursing and it's been nice when I've been home during the holidays and didn't have to mess with stopping to pump because while I still have to stop to nurse, that doesn't feel like a chore to me as pumping often does...but we have less than 5 months til my revisd goal of nursing for his whole first year so now that we're well over halfway there, I'm really hopeful that we'll make it without formula.

7 months!

6 months!

5 months
4 months
3 months
~2 months
1 month

"Birthday"!
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T20:59:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Shoup's!

We have so much to share, but it's been a long (fulfilling of course!) day so we're headed to bed. I have to share that our favorite little elf had a great first Christmas and it was even a White Christmas! (Grandma Shoup and Jackson had a quick picture before it all melted!)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Michigan J Frog

2009-12-18T01:01:00.003-06:00

Well, it's finally happening - I hadn't been wishing for Jackson to speed up and do each "next thing" because I really do want to cherish every moment and every stage - but I am a little excited that he is now slowly getting the hang of rolling. While I look forward to what's to come, the passing of each phase does make me a little sad and it's been nice to not have to worry too much if I step a few feet away from the changing table or our bed to grab something when he's laying there. I do have to say I'm glad he's not too lazy and has decided it's time to get some working out in with the rolling. :) I have yet to actually witness it, but I know it's happened. Most of the last few days I have gone to get him in the morning and found him awake and scooting around on his stomach, rather than on his back the way we put him to bed. I asked and the ladies at daycare have said that he still isn't rolling there either...so for now I refer to him as Michigan J Frog (think to those old WB cartoons with the frog that sings/danced "Hello my Baby! Hello my Darlin'! Hello my Ragtime Gal!", but as soon as the guy turns around, the frog is just sitting there) because it's not been witnessed yet though I imagine by the time 2010 rolls around, we'll have some video to post.

He's laughing more too and it makes me laugh and continues to warm my heart in ways I continue to be in awe of. No pictures tonight, but I'm sure there will be more soon with his first Christmas approaching!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Sleep

2009-12-11T22:21:00.002-06:00

A sleeping baby is a happy baby and it doesn't matter where or how!

Of course he can sleep in his crib!

Mommy enjoys this!

That can't be comfortable, but it didn't bother him sleeping on Uncle Baker's lap!

Sleep to-go!

Like father, Like son!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Sweet Potatoes

2009-12-07T01:53:00.000-06:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving I took some time to visit a local farmers market to get fresh (and inexpensive!) produce to make baby food for Jackson rather than spending so much more for the pre-made stuff. Yes, it is yet another time sacrifice, in addition to me continuing to nurse/pump in the hopes of making it a whole year and keeping Jackson formula free, and I know that I'll probably buy some pre-made food, but again, it's a money saver and there are some things we would much rather spend that money on around the house, etc and I don't mind staying up a little later to make the food - I actually quite enjoy it. For now, yes, Joey and I still get by on Hamburger Helper type things and similar other processed things, but for Jackson I am trying to be healthier and hopefully that health will also trickle down to Joey and I. That said, from a single sweet potato that cost less than $1, I was able to make 10 servings for Jackson to last for the whole week! Honestly, it probably could have made more servings, but I'm going to have to buy more covered ice cube trays because 2 wasn't enough for all the sweet potatoes plus the green beans and squash I made so a few were bigger servings than they probably should have been (but on the other hand, I never thought he'd eat it all, and he did! Even the ladies at daycare were surprised - I told them some would probably have to be tossed, but he kept opening his mouth and wanting more.

Anyway, so since I had the abundance of sweet potatoes and it's one of the first 6 our pediatrician has on the list to start with, we started with it. I only hope that Jackson loves all of the food as much. He made a face one night but only because the food was a little colder than the other nights. I'm trying to get him used to that though, but have noticed he still has a harder time with cold milk too, but we're working on that.

Anyway, Monday night, for our first attempt, I obviously didn't think to keep Jackson's hands occupied and this is what we ended up with:

We're definitely getting better at less food on the hands/forehead/tray but are going through bibs faster than usual as I try to figure out which kind works best and doesn't bleed! I'll take it though because thankfully, he is loving it and lets me know when he was ready for another bite!

We've moved on to green beans and he seems to dig those as well so next up is squash. Now I just need to find some time to get back to the farmers market and make some of the next veggies (carrots, peas, and beets) as well make up some fruits (apples, pears, peaches). I'm certainly needing to get bananas since those are one of the few foods (avocados is another) that doesn't have to be cooked before being processed and made ready for Jackson.

As much as I love doing all of this for Jackson, I do certainly struggle to find the hours to do so. The Christmas tree probably won't see ornaments until next weekend, Christmas cards will likely be New Years cards this year, Christmas gift shopping will have to wait, and the house certainly isn't as clean as I'd like, but at least for that last one, I keep trying to remind myself of something my Grandma Lou has hanging in her house, "Dull People live in Immaculate Houses". :)

For your amusement, I had asked Joey to snap a picture, but he was making fun of me for that and opted to video instead.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

An object in motion

2009-12-04T21:14:00.000-06:00

I had only purchased 1 specific Thanksgiving outfit for Jackson, but I'm convinced that he didn't like it...No, he didn't fuss when I put it on him - it just happened that every time I put him in it, he'd manage to have a blowout diaper (which doesn't happen all that often, although now that we've started more solid foods I'm thinking it could). He wore it to daycare once before Thanksgiving and had a blowout in it, which I dismissed as an isolated incident and wasn't too worried about since I knew I could wash it and put him in it again for Turkey day. Thanksgiving came and I never managed to get a picture before a diaper/wardrobe change was needed in the morning! I decided a staged photo shoot would be necessary and luckily even though Jackson is wearing mostly 6 month+ outfits, this 3-6month one runs big so there's still time. This morning I decided to try it before dropping him off at daycare, but he just did not want to cooperate for a posed picture, however, the result is almost as good, if not better! Most of the time I want to pose him in the chair, he'll be chill and oblige with smiles or at least sit still, but this morning he was just way too excited (must have been working on the diaper blowout that occurred sometime between the time I loaded him in the carset and the time I dropped him at daycare probably only about 15 minutes later)

Below is the result...You can't really tell even tell that it's a Thanksgiving outfit (It says, "Thankful for Mommy and Daddy" and has a picture of a turkey on it), but again, the resulting sequence of pictures is so much better than that.

"No, mom, I think I'd rather eat my hand than smile right now"

"Ha Ha! You can't catch me!"

"Hmmm. What shall I do next?"

"I know. I'll laugh at mom trying to take my picture!"

"She managed to get my upright again..."

*Insert evil laugh here!*

"Can I get these shoe/socks off?!"

"No, but I sure can move around and make it hard for her to catch a good picture"

"I'll just be a big blur. Ha Ha!"

"I'm magic!"

"...and now I'm not even sitting up anymore - she'll have to watch me to make sure I don't roll off the chair!"

"Is she going to start trying to make me stand now? I'll teach her!"

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Thankful!

2009-12-04T19:26:00.000-06:00

For Thanksgiving, Joey, Jackson, Buddy, and I were joined by my parents for a rather low-key holiday. While we certainly wish we could spend every holiday with every family member, we were so glad Dad was finally able to make the trip to Texas. Originally we thought he and mom would both be here back in May/June when Baby Shoup was due to arrive, but his cancer diagnosis around that same time meant no travel for him. We've only managed to make 1 trip to Kansas so this was only Dad's 2nd time with Jackson. He's still not back to full strength, but since he's done with the heavy chemo for now (though he is still doing "maintenance chemo"), he's getting more back to normal strength. Maybe we'd have wished he did 3 helpings of healthier food, but the fact that his appetite had him wanting a third piece of pumpkin pie is a good sign and hopefully he'll put some weight back on.

Here's dad having some conversation with Jackson.

My how much has changed since the last time they "talked"

As for Jackson's relationship with Mom...well, he's definitely a ladies man! It seems he only gives his version of kisses to ladies. When he first did it, I thought he was trying to tell us he's hungry, but even after a full meal, he'll still go straight for my chin and showed Mom the same kind of love. I believe he's going to be as affectionate as Joey and is just getting started on the learning to kiss.

She really enjoyed the kisses, but the first time, I almost thought I was going to have to grab him to keep her from dropping him she was laughing so hard! :)

One last kiss before they left.

We had a great visit with Mom and I even getting to see The Nutcracker on Friday afternoon while the guys hung out at home. Saturday arrived and they headed back to Kansas to make sure mom was well-rested for work on Monday and Dad for his thyroplasty (the implant surgery around his vocal chords to get his voice back to normal) on Tuesday...but I made sure to snap some pictures of the 3 of them before Mom and Dad hit the road.

Jackson seemed less than thrilled, but I'll choose to believe he was just disappointed to see them leaving. :)

We have so much to be thankful for this year and are looking forward to Jackson's first Christmas in a few weeks when my Mom and Dad will be back along with my brother, Joey's mom and hopefully Joey's sister too!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson is 6 months old!

2009-11-27T17:00:00.000-06:00

Half a year has already passed since Jackson arrived! Joey and I are so grateful for every moment with him and feel so lucky to be his parents! Joey commented recently that Jackson's smile never gets old. Hearing Joey say it melts my heart - How right he is! Maybe we appreciate it a little more when it's absent for a while, which was the case with all 3 of us being sick at some point or another over the past few weeks, but either way, we consider ourselves so very blessed.

At his appointment Jackson has grown or maintained in every category - he's still average or below 50% in most, but still so happy and healthy that there's nothing to be concerned about. He's finally rolling himself onto his side, but still seems disinterested in actually rolling over. His legs are quite strong though so we're almost convinced he will literally walk before he crawls. We'll count the delayed rolling as a blessing that we get to wait a little longer to baby-proof the house. :) Again, nothing to worry about and he's doing just fine with other milestones. One of the questions asked at his appointment was if he's babbling and I had to laugh because sometimes babbling is an understatement. He definitely has the Shoup "gift of gab" as some have said. :)
I still can't believe it's already time for another monthly comparison!
6 months!

5 months
4 months
3 months
~2 months
1 month

"Birthday"!
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Our first playdate

2009-11-26T00:01:00.003-06:00

Joey and I had originally planned to be in Vegas for the whole weekend of Friday the 13th (to help celebrate the 30th birthdays of our friends Amanda and Lori), but when that trip fell through, I opted to keep that Friday off and drive out to Aledo (about 60 miles from our house - on the SW side of Fort Worth) for a little mother/son playdate with Kim and Ben. At this point in the boys lives, it's really more for Kim and I to catch up since the boys aren't really "playing" yet, although Jackson did have a good time in Ben's exersaucer while Ben looked on. It's really funny because if you know Joey and Stan (Ben's daddy), you'd say it was like watching the 2 of them. Joey is the more boisterous of the 2, always laughing, talking, and carrying on, while Stan is more of the quiet type (most of the time) so seeing Jackson going crazy making all sorts of noise while Ben was content to be held, was cute and funny! We look forward to many more of these and watching the boys grow up together!

Kim & Ben at lunch:

Jackson "testing out" Ben's exersaucer

The boys being posed for the camera. The first is all of our favorite - it looks like Jackson is waving to the camera.

The 4 of us (all wishing the day could have lasted longer!)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Trip to Mississippi

2009-11-24T23:15:00.001-06:00

Halloween weekend for us meant a trip to Vicksburg Mississippi for a Malik family reunion (Joey's dad's mom's family). We were the last to arrive and I didn't even realize just how big of a reunion it was to be - I was really expecting just about a dozen people! :) There are some pictures that other people took, but here are some highlights from my camera.

Friday made for a bit of a dreary drive, but Saturday was a beautiful day so we made sure to take Jackson to the Vicksburg Battlefield - Joey says there are pictures of him sitting on canons when he was little so we obliged with the same pose for Jackson.

Here are the boys in front of the Illinois monument - where there are several Shoup's listed

Inside the Illinois monument:

Other than that, I did a horrible job of making sure we got pictures, but since it was Halloween, at least we got some of Jackson in his costume!

Our little "Jackson-o-lantern"

One of my goals is to do better about taking pictures even though Joey sometimes makes me feel like "crazy picture lady". :) I take some snapshots almost every day on my phone, but haven't done as well with actually using the camera so that's an area that needs improvement, especially if I ever hope to own a nicer camera. I do have a tripod already which I used for many of my pregnancy pictures since by the time I was ready for work Joey had already left for work and at the end of the work day I wasn't usually feeling much like being photographed. :)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Who's a bigger ham?!

2009-11-15T23:12:00.003-06:00

I still owe a post update on our Halloween weekend trip to Mississippi, and the great visit Jackson and I had with Kim & Ben this past Friday, but for now, I just wanted to share one picture from that outing...Kim took us to "The Club" (Mira Vista) for lunch and while she was in the bathroom getting Ben all set in a new diaper, I was taking some self-portraits of Jackson and I. This one made me laugh because I wasn't looking at him while taking it so I was talking and making noise and apparently it worked - we both have big open-mouth smiles, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Friday Night Lights

2009-11-14T22:15:00.000-06:00

Another football game - the last of the 2009 season for the Sachse Mustangs. It was a bit chilly and the kids weren't in the best mood by the time I finished feeding Jackson and tried to snap a pic of Jamie, Camryn, Jackson, and I, but here we all are!

I'm really glad we went and know that once Jackson is able to move around, he will join Connor in having a blast with Joey and all the "uncles" (like Uncle Baker who made sure Connor got some thundersticks at this game)!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Kisses

2009-11-10T12:35:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time I might have been bothered by the slobber, but now I wouldn't trade it for anything as lately Jackson seems to be trying to learn to give me kisses (or possibly eat my face). Here are a few pictures I tried to take on my phone while he was "kissing" me on Saturday evening:

I did have Joey take one between all the kissing. Maybe I'm biased, but what a cute (ornery) little guy! Obviously Jackson was enjoying it, although I'm pretty sure mommy enjoyed it more!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

We Shuffled!

2009-11-08T13:16:00.000-06:00

We have been so blessed to have such beautiful weather for the ALS Walk our previous 2 years and this year was more of the same!

We haven't raised as much money as in the past, but hopefully we'll find a way to get back to that moving forward. We did forgo ordering new shirts to donate the money instead and have actually talked about combining efforts for the many charitable walks we do with our friends and making our own ALS/Cancer/Heart Walk in honor/memory of so many of our loved ones.

A family picture:

I just love the look of wonder in Jackson's eyes in this one

We've made it a tradition to have lunch at one of our old favorite watering holes after the walk. Rick, Brooke, and Baby Avery couldn't make it, but here are our other 3 little ones (with their dads) on their first trip to Adairs:

These are the amazing friends who physically walked with us this year (not pictured is Don who gets special kudos for doing another walk earlier that morning and still making it to Grand Prairie to finish our walk with us). We have so many amazing friends, not just those who physically walked with us, but all of our family and friends - We are so lucky! While it hasn't been exactly the same group each year, we've always had such a great turnout and it's been fun to watch our group go from about adults and 1 kiddo (only Connor the first 2 years) to 18 adults, 4 little ones, and a dog (Jason'g dog Oliver - aka Ollie) this year!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Our little Noisemaker

2009-11-07T21:14:00.004-06:00

Jackson can be quite loud when he wants to, as is evident from the following video. One minute he was quietly playing in the exersuacer and the next, we think all hell has broken loose. Joey and I were trying to get dinner ready so at first I thought Jackson was just done with it and wanted out, but it turns out, he just wanted someone to watch him play! Since he always seems to pull a "Michigan J Frog" when I hold the camera to video him, I decided to just set it on the coffee table and watch him from the couch. (I love how Buddy is just sitting on the love seat in the background!)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson is 5 months old!

2009-10-28T06:10:00.004-05:00

I've always been told the time flies, but hadn't experienced it to this extent yet. I can't believe our little man is already 5 months!

More pictures to come soon, but first, a comparison of the first 5 months (Lesson learned - I'm going to take his picture in our living room chair every month for a better comparison of growth month to month)!
5 months

4 months

3 months

~2 months

1 month

"Birthday"!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Shoup Shuffling to Defeat ALS

2009-10-17T23:35:00.006-05:00

Once again this year, we will be walking in the Dallas Walk to Defeat ALS. We are sad to be walking in memory of Joey's dad this year instead of in Honor of him because that reminds us that we lost him almost a year ago, but we still hope we can help fund research and provide support for others who live with this dreadful disease. This year has been tough for many charitable causes and obviously our time and attention has not been as focused on this as we wish we could be. We haven't raised the kind of money we have the past 2 years, so if you are able to help us out by donating, we'd really appreciate it. You can do so via our team page here!
http://web.alsa.org/site/TR/Walks/NorthTexasWalk?team_id=154900&pg=team&fr_id=6015

Here's a picture of our team from 2 years ago

...and one of our team from last year

...and of course, the reason we walk, in Memory of Ken.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Last 10/17 post

2009-10-17T23:31:00.004-05:00

There are 2 previous posts from just a little bit ago tonight so check those out first. :)

Last weekend, Granny Becky came down and we visited the Pumpkin Patch! It was actually quite chilly so the hat was necessary. We probably should have timed things a little better because Jackson was quite sleepy, but he still was great even though he wasn't really smiley and we even got some sleeping pictures at the end. Thanks again to Jamie for her amazing photo/editing skills! Shall we schedule our Christmas photo session soon? :)

Jackson's girlfriend, Camryn, couldn't help but smile at me!

One of my faves!

Fell asleep hanging out in the "BOB" with Leighton Parker.

Home and all warmed up in my jammies with Granny!

Last, but not least for today, Yes, for all you Texas fans, I realize this is probably more "Tenneessee orange", but it's the closest we have to burnt orange for Jackson to help Daddy cheer on the Longhorns today so it will do til he grows into the Texas outfit that Connor handed down to him - and that's going to be a while!
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Post #2 for the night

2009-10-17T23:01:00.004-05:00

I figured I'd break the posts up a bit, even though I'm still posting them all tonight...

As I mentioned in the checkup post, he seems to be right where he needs to be developmentally so there are a few updates there.
*First, is rolling. He actually seems quite reluctant to do this, but he's rocking himself quite a bit and has flipped from front to back a couple times, but I have yet to witness back to front. Hopefully we'll have video to share of both soon.
*He's definitely quite expressive and I need to get some video uploaded of one of his talking spurts. Seems he does a lot of it right when he wakes up in the morning. It's such a great sound to wake up to. How lucky are we to wake up to a happy talking baby instead of a crying baby!
*Thumb-sucking - I wasn't sure why he's starting this, but it's becoming evident by the amount of time his fist spends in his mouth (when he's been fed and isn't hungry) and the "suspicious bumps" along his gums that we might be starting the teething process.
*That leads to food - His pediatrician is OK with starting between 4 and 6 months and while I certainly didn't want to force it, he hasn't been sleeping as long at night and does very often seem hungry so we've tried it a few times. He is certainly not that interseted in the food so again, we're not forcing it, but we'll continue to try it once in a while and definitely be ready to incorporate it moreso in a few months. Now we've got to get working on making baby food so we're ready when it's time to add the fun stuff to the single grain cereals. Here are a few shots of him giving good old rice cereal (which tastes to me like Rice Krispies...but with a bit of an aftertaste) a try:

"No, Mom, I'd rather eat my bib!"

"Maybe I'm starting to like it"

"Maybe not"

Jackson had his first school pictures and I thought I had dressed him colorfully enough, but with the background, I wish I'd gone with a red or something, however, we still couldn't resist buying his first school picture (so this is a picture of a picture - so the coloring is off a bit as well). What a happy boy!

You may notice that Jackson doesn't wear a lot of outfits more than once. In the beginning it was just because he was growing so fast, but now it's because we're so lucky to have received a bunch of hand-me-downs from our friends the Colvert's. HUGE Thank you to Jamie, Jeremy, Connor, and Camryn! Hopefully we can repay the favor in some way, some day! :)
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

It's Saturday night

2009-10-17T22:19:00.005-05:00

About once a month it seems I find myself staying up later than I probably should on a Saturday night for an update. Tonight is that night. Joey & I got up very early this morning to get the house and a big batch of chili ready for our guests. This year's party was relatively small in comparison to some years, but the weather was perfect, there was just enough chili for everyone, and aside from a few spats between Mackey's dog Traveler and the Kerns' dog Bailey, it was an all around great day, with both Texas and K-State wins! Now Joey is at a "Tacky golf" party for Meagan's birthday and I'm home with Jackson. Alas, the life of a parent does involve sacrifice so while I wish I was there helping celebrate, the fact that I'm finally going to be using an hour long Massage Envy gift card tomorrow will certainly help make up for it, If that's not enough, I always love a little quiet time to have control of the remote and do stuff around the house that I find myself not getting to when Joey is home. :)

So now a few quick updates and the best part - more pictures!

Jackson's 4 month appointment went very well! He gained almost 5 lbs and grew 3 inches since his 2 month appointment and based on the "Ages & Stages" Questionnaire, they had us complete beforehand, he's doing just fine in terms of motor skills, communication, etc. I should say that most of the appointment went well - he did have to have shots, but I just keep reminding myself of the ER/hospital stay back in July and a few quick shots is a piece of cake. Jackson might not agree because he was flirting with the nurse and then gave me a "What happened? I thought we were having a good time" look when she stuck the first shot in his leg and proceeded to do what most kiddos do - WAIL! No worries though - by the time we left the office, he had calmed back down. This is defintely pre-shots and pre-scream!

I had promised my coworkers that I would bring Jackson in after his appointment since it had been a while since everyone had seen him. He does not lack for attention, but those days are definitely a treat!

Amy is a natural!

Robin makes her family jealous because they all want to meet Jackson, but it just hasn't worked out quite yet! I love when it looks like he's having a conversation with people!

This shot really shows a lot about Shirley's personality - she is so content to just listen to Jackson and let him know that she believes every "word" he says.

Just hanging out for a little bit on his activity mat between visitors.

I've been trying to get pictures of everyone with him, but haven't quite yet. I did get one of Babs loving on Jackson though. Her grandson, "Baby Jay" (Jayson) was born less than a week after Jackson.

In addition to that office visit, Jackson's daycare was closed on Columbus Day for staff training so I brought him in again. I will say that I don't feel I got as much work done as a normal day, but again, it's good for everyone to have his smiling face there.

Hanging out in his bouncer. I really should take a picture of everything I've taken up with me. It's almost comical watching me carry it all up and down the elevator.

Even though she's really busy, Pat snuck in a quick bit of holding Jackson.

Bryan even volunteered to babysit...Might have to take him up on that one of these weekends!

Jackson tried to show Megan how much he likes her by spitting up, but luckily, he missed her and just got it on himself.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

One update at a time

2009-10-14T23:04:00.004-05:00

Some updates may be a bit out of order as I get to them, but I figured I'd do at least one quick one while I still have some energy and am up past my bedtime this evening. :)

A Huge Congratulations to Bryan and Meagan Baker! We had a great time at the wedding, although Joey and I tend not to end up spending a lot of time together at such social gatherings, we did grab this one shot together! I didn't get any decent ones of Bryan and Meagan (I really need to go back to my tradition of trying to get at least 1 picture of Joey and I and the bride and groom at weddings), but their blog is linked to mine so feel free to wander over and check them out!

It's too bad we were running around so much that weekend that I didn't even manage to take any pictures of Jackson & Grandma Shoup! We'll have to make up for that when we travel to Vicksburg, Mississippi for a little family reunion on Halloween weekend.
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Playing catch up

2009-10-08T22:46:00.006-05:00

I always knew things would be different and busier once a little one came along, but coupled with changes at my work, it seems I can barely find time to keep up with blogging as much as I want. I have so many pictures and stories to share, but for now I'm just going to share a few since I need to head to bed. Tomorrow is my turn to host our Friday morning staff meeting at work so I'm in charge of breakfast and an activity (which thankfully I came up with last week) which means I need to get an earlier start than I have been...PLUS Granny Becky is heading down here in the morning so I want to make sure I leave myself time to run a few errands I keep running out of time for to make her quick weekend trip more enjoyable!

Below are a few pictures to tide you all over until I have time for a proper update to include:
*Jackson's 4 month appointment (I changed the stats on the side with his new weight/height, but haven't updated more than that)
*Jackson's recent (and upcoming) visit to my office
*food, rolling, talking, thumb-sucking
*upcoming travel plans
*new clothes
*Rolling and "Talking"
*school pictures
*Bryan & Meagan's wedding
*Upcoming ALS Walk

Further evidence Jackson is going to be so confused as to which team is his favorite. We had some friends over Labor Day weekend/Opening weekend of college football. "Aunt Sara" was sporting Georgia, "Uncle Ryan" stayed true to Texas, and I, of course, had Jackson ready for a Wildcat Victory!

Jackson sporting his "My Grandma Rides a Harley" gear. It's been hot so I didn't keep the hat on him, but I want to go out and buy him more hats now that I've seen how cute he looks and since he doesn't really seem to mind it!

Jackson & Daddy at Jackson's first high school football game! Vert's Sachse Mustangs even came back to win after we left (we were quite surprised but glad for him because they were not doing so well when we left in the 3rd quarter).

I call this, "Why we usually wear onesies". The shirt fits (or is at least just getting a little small) as evidenced by the first picture, but if he's wearing a shirt instead of a onesie, it tends to ride up a lot so for now I'm thinking we'll keep him in onesies until he fills out shirts a little more!

I wouldn't encourage baby smoking, but put a cigar in his hand, make the robe red, and we'd have our own little "Heff"!

Even when he's sleeping he's happy (I noticed that if I laugh after he's fallen asleep on me while I'm sitting on the couch watching TV, when I laugh, he smiles. I'm not sure if he feels me laughing and likes the vibrations or just knows mommy is happy and it makes him happy...or if he's just coincidentally having a happy dream).

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Who says?!

2009-09-29T13:41:00.002-05:00

Who says you can't sleep at work?!

After his 4 month checkup this morning, Jackson came to work with me and fought off the sleep for as long as he could, but eventually was caught snoozing. :)

3, 3, 3

2009-09-21T12:44:00.003-05:00

Most of you that know me, know that I'm a bit of a numbers nerd. (OK, OK, a HUGE numbers nerd!) Thankfully, I'm in a job where I work with numbers every day and while some days they can get overwhelming, most days I find fun little ways to let numbers amuse me. I've always had a thing about counting and also about patterns of numbers, almost to a fault. I love Jackson's birthday and know that God knew best what day he was meant to be born, however, had he been born a day or 2 earlier or 3 days later, I think I might been a little too excited about the numbers part of it all.
*My birthday is July 27th (7/27)
*Joey's birthday is March 28th (3/28)
*We were married on April 29th (4/29)
*Even Buddy shares a special day in the 20's - at least according to our vet who assigned his unknown birthday as February 22nd (2/22).
*My dad's birthday is 4/24
*My brother's birthday is 12/24.
*So, had Jackson been born on 5/26, he would have fit right in making it a 26/27/28/29 pattern.
*If he'd been born on the 30th, 27/28/29/30.
*If he'd been born on 5/25, he'd be similar to me, Buddy, and my dad with the specific 20th digit matching the # of the month (7/27, 2/22, 4/24, 5/25).

All my craziness out in the open, I realized today that yesterday, Jackson turned 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days old (and at 4:05 pm, it would have been 3 hours and 3 minutes if you want to get that crazy with me :) ). I don't have much else to post right now as I take a quick break from looking at work numbers, but figured it was momentous enough for a post from a crazy number-loving mom since it's the last such occasion (because really at 4 months, 4 weeks, and 4 days, he'll have already turned 5 months so it shouldn't count).

I have not been keeping up with reading about all the specific milestones, but we do have to fill out an Ages & Stages Questionnaire before his 4 month appointment next week so that will give us a pretty good idea of where he is developmentally. He seems to do a little more all the time so I'm not too worried and am confident the doctor will feel the same way as I've skimmed the questionnaire and he's doing plenty of things although he still hasn't fully rolled over on his own.

Physically, I do believe he'll have grown in terms of those pesky percentiles because based on my scientific weighing method (me on the scale with Jackson and me on the scale without Jackson) I think he has cracked the 13 lb mark. Also, while many of the 3 month clothes still easily fit his body in terms of length (I have measured and he appears to be about 25-26 inches and can wear some 6 month onesies without having too much extra material), his head is the hardest part to fit through many of the clothes. We'll just have to wait and see what Dr Foster says though, but we know he's got a big ole brain in that noggin.

In the meantime, we have been trying a few new things. He's done the Bumbo for a while now, but he is NOT a fan so I haven't bothered to catch a picture in the few minutes he's sat in it. Yesterday we decided to try out the Exersaucer and he spent about 15 minutes in it and seemed quite content - mostly staring at the flower with a mirror on it - seems he thinks he's as good looking as we think he is! :) His feet barely touch the ground and we even had a pillow in the seat since he does not even come close to filling it, but he notices when you play with all the little doo-dads. You can see how small he is in it in this one:

...and how he seems to enjoy it here even if he's still not quite sure how to work it. :)

...and also, for you sports fans, a picture of him sporting one of his K-State onesies (and socks). I wore a purple dress to Bryan & Meagan's wedding on Saturday so we were both dressed gameday appropriate and glad the Wildcats didn't get slaughtered (we'd have loved to see a W, but didn't want to get our hopes up after last weeks' outcome).

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Sneak Peek

2009-09-15T06:35:00.003-05:00

Here is just one of the many pictures Jamie took of Jackson a few weeks ago. Jackson was actually a bit fussy for the photo shoot so we can't wait til we get him during a happy time. Regardless, we can't wait to share more of the great photos. We will actually be having another photo shoot with another friend next weekend. My former coworker, Bina, who also has a little boy and a little girl, is taking some classes and is going to use Jackson as a subject. I love having so many talented friends!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Story Time

2009-09-10T12:51:00.003-05:00

Aunt Sheri came in for a quick visit from last night til tomorrow morning. Last night, she read Jackson a book that she brought back from Scotland for him, "Hamish, The Highland Cow". Here's a picture of Jackson enjoying storytime:

Buddy wanted to listen too!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Smiling and Talking

2009-09-06T19:32:00.003-05:00

It seems that Jackson will be cooing away and then once I grab the camera to start recording, he stops. (Makes me think of some cartoon, though I can't remember which one it was, where an animal was talking or dancing and someone tries to tell others, but every time, the animal quits when others are watching)

Regardless, I know some people (especially Granny Becky) who just love to see any video so here's one of him basically just smiling and me being crazy. The other does have him cooing a bit as he's been "talking" to us more lately, but it's still not near as much on the recording as we actually see. Stay tuned for more!

...and because it's kind of funny, here is Jackson doing his best Zoolander impression before we headed to Arlington on 8/22 for dinner with Bryan & Meagan (and what turned out to be a belated surprise birthday party for Bryan and me). I'm not sure if it's Blue Steel or Magnum, but either way, it's cute, despite the popped collar which Joey insisted on.

More to come soon since Trent fixed our computer and I have many pictures to catch up on uploading here!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

3 months and cute as ever

2009-08-31T14:03:00.002-05:00

...and while I'm at it, Jackson is now 3 months old! It really seems this year has gone faster than any of my others. We don't have a 3 month checkup with the pediatrician - our next one is at 4 months, but based on my estimates he's about 24 inches and 11 pounds & change now so while he's still on the small end of the scale, he continues to grow and be healthy so that's all we can ask!

...Doesn't help that he's this cute! :)

Here's lookin' at you! This is a look at the semi-"milk drunk" Jackson after an evening feeding.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

The future Mr & Mrs

2009-08-31T13:56:00.003-05:00

While the computer is still being fixed, I don't have much I can post (or have time to post) from work, however, for those of you who didn't already see it on facebook, we don't actually plan on an arranged marriage, but do think that little Camryn Colvert would make a beautiful bride for our handsome little Jackson!

Camryn, her brother, Connor, and parents Jamie & Jeremy came over yesterday so Jamie and her awesome camera could take some great shots of Jackson for us while we made them dinner. Jamie returned to work today so we'll be patient with her uploading and editing some of the pics, but we know you're all as anxious to see them as we are!

Before we ate and before we did the posed pictures, we snapped a couple of the little future lovebirds (again, no pressue) :) on the couch. I love their faces!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

2009-08-24T16:25:00.001-05:00

Doing a fly by text blog from my phone as our computer is "in the shop" this week. Hopefully Trent will have it good as new soon and I can share more pics and video!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

2009-08-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

Test blog

Jackson Live!

2009-08-17T22:34:00.005-05:00

Well, when I view it, it doesn't seem to have audio and I can't remember if my camera is supposed to or not (I'll try another one with Joey's camera later in the week), but here's a test video of Jackson. It's nothing exciting really although he does smile a little bit for a moment, just testing it out and hoping to post more so everyone (especially Granny Becky, Gramps, Grandma Shoup, Uncle Phil and Aunt Sheri) can see Jackson in action rather than just still shots. I actually started to video this morning, but both cameras died...Jackson does seem to be more of a morning person so I'll try again if he's cooing up a storm and smiling as he usually seems to do in the morning since he was actually a bit fussy this evening.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Here's lookin' at you!

2009-08-17T06:54:00.004-05:00

I'm so thankful my iphone takes such great pictures. I forget to post some on here that I've already uploaded to facebook, but this one is definitely worthy...and one that I might make a black & white, but will definitely have framed for myself!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

College Football

2009-08-16T00:35:00.002-05:00

...and last but not least of my posts to catch up...Anyone that knows Joey or I knows how much we love football season, and especially college football. Many folks know us well enough to buy Jackson some sporty onesies. Last Friday, Jackson sported one of them that went very well with the Texas booties Joey's friend Rick gave us.

...now we just wait for him to grow into his K-State gear!
...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Poker Run

2009-08-16T00:24:00.003-05:00

Mom, Dad, and Phil participate in many "Poker Runs" that serve as fundraisers while being fun for the participants at the same time. I'm not sure about all the logistics of how they work, but one is being planned to help a bit with Dad's medical costs. The poster below is incorrect as the date has been changed to Saturday, October 3rd, but it gives a good idea.

If any of you in Kansas are interested, please let me know and I'll see what I can do to get you more details. There's actually another version of the poster that I'll have to get from mom that also includes a picture of Jackson in his "My Grandpa Rides a Harley" onesie. It's still too big, but it was suitable enough for snapping the picture - and apparently, as much as I fear him riding, he even put his hands out like he was riding for this picture:

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Benjamin Paul

2009-08-16T00:18:00.003-05:00

In addition to visiting Pam, Kevin, and their son Benjamin Paul (here's a picture of Pam with Jackson)...

...we also attended a baby shower last weekend for Stan & Kim and their little boy on the way, who will also be named Benjamin Paul! We are just so excited and can't wait for Ben to arrive just about any day now. He's due to arrive on/around 9/9/09, which would certainly be a cool birthday, but my gut says/hopes that he'll be arriving sometime before the end of August. Not that she needs any practice, but here's Kim holding Jackson. I can't wait to have pictures of me holding Ben, although we won't share a birthday like Kim & Jack do, I'm still excited to have another little "pseudo-nephew".

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Swingin'

2009-08-16T00:10:00.003-05:00

A HUGE thank you to my friend Pam, her husband, Kevin, and their little boy, Ben...Since they're not using it, last Sunday, Joey & I visited their house in Frisco and picked up Ben's swing. Jackson has already spent plenty of time in it - mostly sleeping, but occasionally just staring at the animals which happen to be the same ones as the mobile on his crib. It's hard to get a picture on my camera when the swing is in motion, but here are a few slightly blurry shots. (Now we don't have to carry the bouncer from room to room when we need to put Jack down - the bouncer is mostly in our room while the swing occupies the spot next to the love seat in the living room.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Dimples

2009-08-15T22:10:00.004-05:00

Dimples - Jackson has at least one. If he has one on his left cheek, it isn't as evident yet as the one on his right cheek! With him smiling more lately, I finally caught the dimple on camera a few times! Not only is it cool to see the sweet little dimple, but the smile alone is quite a treat!

This one will make several people smile for another reason - Joanna lives in Chicago and bought Jackson some Cubs gear which I know my high school friend Shawn will love - being the lifelong Cubs fan that he is, as will my coworker Megan, and sorority sister Natalie!

Of course, sometimes he is a serious baby too, but even when he's not wearing a smile, he has a way of putting one on our faces!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Mom or Dad

2009-08-15T21:59:00.003-05:00

The question is - who does Jackson more resemble, me, or Joey? I definitely vote for Joey, but after Mom scanned and e-mailed me a few of myself as a baby, I can definitely see a little of myself in Jackson. Care to guess who is in each picture?

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Our little TV star

2009-08-11T13:01:00.003-05:00

Here's hoping this video works...and yes, I realize our last name was mispelled.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

2 weeks is too long!

2009-08-09T22:20:00.003-05:00

Clearly, 2 weeks is too long for me to go without blogging. I feel like I've forgotten to share so much. Right now it's late on Sunday night and I'm wiped out from lots of activity this weekend so I'm going to make a list here, share a few pictures, hit the sack, and make it a goal to update at least once this week to try to catch up and share more pictures because I know that's the best part of the blog!
1. I still need to find a way to better share the video of the Rangers Live team congratulating us on Jackson's arrival while also sharing his picture during the broadcast.
2. Poker Run for Grandpa Lynn
3. Shower for Stan & Kim (and Baby Benjamin Paul on the way)
4. Visiting the Stutlers (the other Benjamin Paul). :)
5. Baby Pictures of Joey
6. College Football will soon be here!

...and some pictures:
Aunt "Nina" (aka Christina...Colleen's little boy, Rhys, calls her Nina, but has started to be able to say Christina and she really likes Nina so I'm calling her that for Jackson now.) took us to breakfast the day before my birthday before Joey had returned from Bryan's bachelor party weekend. She's very busy working at JCP way too many hours a week while also working on her MBA from SMU, but always makes time for loving on Jackson!

We got a very nice gift from a couple who live in California and used to be in MAPA (Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association) with Joey's dad. I've never even met them...and Joey's not sure that he ever did either, but they wanted to give Jackson something in memory of Ken. We got a beautiful blanket, coordinating burp clothes, and a personalized onesie - very detailed and special as the plane on the blanket even has the same number as Ken's plane. It's just another testament to the great family I married into (along with the great family I was born into). :)

...and another little one loving on Jackson (The Shoup men are definitely charmers - even to other little boys! Bryan's nephew, also named Bryan, or "Little B", just wanted to hold Jackson. His mom Janet helped. Jackson didn't mind at all and just kept right on snoozing.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

My first day of school and my many faces

2009-07-25T23:54:00.006-05:00

OK, so it's not exactly school, but this week Jackson started daycare as it was time for me to head back to work. I actually dropped him off Monday and Tuesday to get some things done before my Wednesday return and managed to leave him there until 5pm so that Joey would actually get in the routine of picking him up as that . He was wonderful for the ladies there of course, however, they commented on his # of feedings, etc and I noticed Jackson's eating habits changing this week as well. It seems he's in a growth spurt evidenced even more today when he wanted to eat pretty much every 2 hours so we're adjusting and I'll probably have to add an extra pumping session at work this week to make sure we don't miss out on all that extra milk he's needing. He's been a bit fussy with the growth spurt, but has still been a pretty happy baby for which I'm very thankful.

We ventured to Keller today for our friend Lisa's baby shower, but Jackson was being a bit fussy and there were lots of other kiddos there so I held him the whole time and didn't snap any pictures, but I'm hoping to snap some tomorrow at Meagan's bridal shower.

Pictures of his first 3 days of daycare:
Day 1 - getting loaded up to go - always with the "fists of fury" up. In fact, Joey's mom sent me some pictures of Joey as a baby and there's a picture of Joey doing this too at his first Christmas. I can't wait to scan in these pictures of him as a baby and share them. I need to get some from my mom too so we can compare and see whose features he's developing...but for now...
Like father, Like Son!

We also took some pictures that night of Jackson and Joey to send to a vendor that sent Joey his Roger Staubach jersey

Day 2 - Getting loved on immediately after arriving at daycare

Day 3 - Self portrait with Mom as she got ready to head out for her first day back at work

...and I've been trying to capture a smile, but they're so quick and sporadic that I miss them and end up with a camera/phone full of funny faces that are worth sharing.
Surprised

Happy (almost smiling?!)

A little Cross eyed (I try to get him to stop crossing his eyes by clapping or something as soon as he starts, but he continues to do it)

Future kissy face?!

...and while I'm listing this last, it doesn't mean that Buddy has become any less important to us. We still love him and take pictures of him too, but obviously we are taking a lot more of Jackson. I snapped this one last night on my phone of Buddy - probably missing Daddy since Joey is out of town for a bachelor party.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-18T20:30:00.005-05:00

Getting home always feels good, but after the past 2 days, it was especially sweet to come home today.

Wednesday was an "off" day for Jackson. He was unusually fussy and seemed a bit warm, but did not have a fever so I wasn't sure if he was indeed just having a bad day or really getting sick (mother's intution was right - I just had a feeling something wasn't right with my baby). I got up with him around 2am Thursday morning when he continued to be fussier than usual (he's been sleeping through the nights about 10p-6a for a few weeks now - yes - lucky us!). He still did not have a fever at that point, but I figured keeping an eye on him would put my mind at ease so I cuddled up on the couch with him. At around 430am, his fussiness turned to screams and the whole house was awake. This time, he had about a 102 temp so after calling his pediatrician's office to speak with the on call nurse, I followed their recommendation and calmly took him to the ER of one of the children's hospitals (Medical City Childrens is closest to us). They ran tons of tests in the ER, including bloodwork, x-rays, and even a spinal tap, to rule out things like meningitis before following the standard procedure for a patient of his age and admitting us for preventative treatment while waiting for the test results. Thankfully, when all the cultures came back this morning, it was just as the doctors suspected from his positive reaction to Tylenol and antibiotics, he just had a little "summer virus" - something that isn't a big deal in an adult or even a child a few months older wouldn't need an overnight hospital stay for. With a 7 week old though, since his immune system isn't 100% developed, they err on the side of caution and run all the tests on the off chance he's that 1 in 100 that does have something serious. It was the first time I've cried scared mommy tears and it isn't something I would wish for anyone. I'm just so grateful that everything is OK and that the staff there took such great care of us. We didn't end up seeing our pediatrician as he wasn't the one from his practice doing rounds the days we were there, but Dr Dreiling from Dr Foster's practice was extremely comforting and just really made me feel at ease about why they did what they did. We will still go back for Jack's 2 month appointment with Dr Foster on Monday 7/27. He'll get shots at that time and I'm hopeful that I won't cry for those. I haven't so far and after all the poking and prodding I witnessed Thursday, a few routine shots should be a walk in the park!

In the meantime, I do now know his updated weight! I've felt like he's been eating well (he never hesitated with the nursing even when sick so we're very lucky - our boy is a good eater!) and from what our home scale says when I weigh with and without him, it seemed he was right out target for the 1 oz per day weight gain...and that's almost exactly where he is. On 6/26, he was weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz and on Thursday am 7/16, he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz (I actually didn't find that out until Thursday afternoon since they weighed him in kilograms instead of lbs/oz and that's when I finally managed to ask the conversion...I'm still not sure why they weighed him in kg and measured him in cm...I never did get the head measurement and length converted from cm so we'll have to wait until 7/27 for those updated stats). On Friday evening when they weighed him, he was up to 8 lbs 13 oz! I'm sure some of that was "water weight" since he had been on an IV, but still - he's gaining healthily. I'm sure he'll still be in the low %'s for weight/age, but as long as he's not losing ground, all is good!

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the whole experience, but did snag a few on my phone to document the actual hospital experience.

I actually took this one Wednesday at home with my camera of him being unusually fussy because it just doesn't happen that often. Usually if we make crying noises, he'll stop and look at us funny as he doesn't cry a lot of "real tears". He's a good fake crier when he needs something! :)

The first picture of "Robo-baby" (which I dubbed him when seeing the shield over his IV which reminded me of RoboCop)

All cozied up in the ER after all the blood was drawn, x-rays were taken, etc

Up in our room after being admitted - he was only hooked up the monitors for a while since the fever was really the main symptom. He didn't like having his blood pressure taken, but it was pretty stable the whole time

Having a snooze with Mom on Friday

On Saturday morning - pretty much back to normal, just waiting for the official go-ahead to go home!

Having some tummy time on Mom right before heading home. I have a feeling "Bobblehead Baby" will soon be gone - he continues to grow stronger and hold his head up longer and longer each time.

"Seriously, Mom?! Enough with the pictures!"

Precious baby feet, barcode and all!

Going home!

I have to say that given the mild circumstances of the visit, I just don't know how those of you who've had longer stays with sicker babies did it. I know you do what you have to do, and I had admiration before, but it's deeper now! One of Joey's friends commented on facebook that he and his wife "hired impersonators" when their son was kept in the hospital for quite a while when he was born quite early last year and that they weren't as strong as they appeared. I know that's not true, but the humor wasn't lost on me. As I sit here typing with a peacefully sleeping normal Jackson (although maybe a bit more clingy today, but maybe he knows I'm headed back to work on Wednesday) I'm thankful for his health and pray that it only makes him stronger.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Daddy's little man

2009-07-14T22:16:00.005-05:00

OK - so far Jackson really is a mama's boy since we spend most of our time together, but I'm sure in time, he will be Daddy's little man too...He already wants to be like Daddy - and other than being a bit smaller, looks just like Joey here (complete with an outfit just like many that Joey wear - polo type shirt and khaki shorts - which thankfully weren't soiled in today's "sprinkler incident") AND hogging the remote:

Sidenote about the "sprinkler incident" - I was changing Jackson this morning after his morning nap (that I'm hoping he'll take while I shower/get ready on work days) and since I haven't been peed on lately, I let my guard down while trying to figure out what to dress him in today. You can all guess what happened - that's right - the sprinkler came on...while 2 drawers were open (as my OCD had taken over and I was doing some reorganizing while deciding what to dress him in - something I do in my own closet from time to time while trying to decide what to dress myself in)...Did I mention that as I was trying to clean up and toss all the clothes that were soiled in the incident to the hamper, I forgot to cover Jackson up or hurry up and get a diaper on him. Care to take a guess what happened AGAIN? Yes, that's right - more pee! I'm not sure how he mustered it all up, but I guess I don't have to worry about him being dehydrated! :) Reminder Lesson learned - no more hanging out naked on the changing table for Jackson! It was a good laugh and luckily I managed to avoid getting sprayed - but I am having to do an extra load of laundry!

Later that morning we headed downtown to have lunch with my friend Pam and Jackson was great in public as usual. I took a few pictures because he just looked so cute in his outfit (obviously I have a thing for guys dressed like him since what he's wearing is pretty much Joey's attire anytime he's not at work or required to be in something else) and then realized that in picture 1 it looks like he's doing "pounds" and then picture 2 it's like a few people I know do that open their hand because the "pounds" got "blown up"...Oh, and yes, his feet look huge from the angle, but I assure you they're still tiny and proportionate to the rest of his body. :)

...and last but not least, I was wanting to send a picture to the Dallas area K-State alumnae chair to announce his birth on the weekly e-mail. I went ahead and put him in one of the outfits that some of my fabulous ABC peeps gifted me with even though they're Baylor, Mizzou, and UT alums (shout out PJ, Nick, and Luke!) and put him on the blanket that Christina, got me/him. The outfits are for 6-9 months so they're obviously a bit big, but Jackson is growing and I can see that he WILL grow into them, hopefully in time for football season - or at least towards the end of it!

We have lots planned this week as it's our last full week together. :( I go back to work next Wednesday and while he might not stay full days Monday & Tuesday, Jackson will be starting daycare then so I can do a few more things around the house and I guess adjust to being away from him. We will be visiting Jackson's girlfriend Camryn and her mom Jamie on Thursday. Friday, we have a lunch date with some of my Fox peeps and then Saturday, Courtney will be in from Wichita Falls then we have a little birthday party for Joey's friend Collin.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson's first big roadtrip

2009-07-13T18:52:00.009-05:00

OK, so we sort of had his first road trip when we ventured to Fort Worth for Kim's baby shower on 6/27, but this one was the long one - to Kansas. Unfortunately because of Dad's treatments, traveling just isn't feasible for him at this time so Joey, Jackson, and I loaded up the car Thursday evening and headed out, driving through the night to spend the weekend with my family. We arrived right around 5am Friday morning, making pretty good time thanks to Jackson's excellent sleep habits. We only stopped 3 times...and those were as brief of stops as we could make them and only for fuel and pitstops/driver changes for Joey & I. Once we got there, Jackson had breakfast and we all napped and just spent the day with Mom, Dad, Phil, and Sammy. Saturday we had a full day of visiting before making our return trip on Sunday. It was great to have 2 full days and went way too fast. As much as we love being home in our own beds, it's always hard to say "bye". While we were there, Jackson continued to work hard to hold his head up on his own and we continued to see more of his personality come out with smiles. OK - some of the smioles might have been gas as we discovered that when I ate anything with cabbage (including my favorite when I'm in Lawrence - Runza!) that Jackson's tummy hurt so no more cabbage items for me for a while, but I have a feeling the "Bobblehead Jackson" days are numbered, which is exciting and a little sad all at the same time! The following are quite a few pictures of our visit from our cameras, although I know Mom and Aunt Joyce got some great ones too so I'll wait for those and maybe share them later.

Who knew that 3 people going for just a few days would need this much stuff - plus the other 3 bags in the back seat! (Yes, you do see golf clubs - Joey got in a round of golf with Dad's approval while Dad was getting his fluids)

Jackson was ready to hit the road! He fussed for a bit and then zonked for most of the trip.

...Mom and I brought lunch and Jackson to the hospital so the nurses and doctors could meet the little ray of sunshine that helped Grandpa gain 5 lbs back last week!.

Meeting Uncle Phil for the first time

Telling stories with Grandpa

Sammy wanted to meet Jackson too!

Phil took the picture while the rest of us napped (Joey wasn't yet back from the golf course)

On Saturday, Christi and Jeff Claycamp, and their 2 beautiful girls, Natalie, and Nicole came to visit. Christi helped Natalie hold Jackson

Nikki got a turn too. Unfortunately the pictures I took of the girls kissing him didn't turn out as well as I had thought - my camera is too slow!

We spent a little time out by the pool. Jackson and Grandpa Lynn have the same kind of hat!

3 of my favorite guys (missing Phil, Buddy, and Sammy of course)

Christi, Jeff, and the girls had afternoon plans, but the visitors kept coming! Granny Great immediately got to hold her 20th great grandchild!

With Great Aunt Dee with Granny Great and Deano looking on.

With Great Aunt Joyce and her grandaughter (my cousin Dustin's little girl), Elliott.

Jackson wasn't so sure about Deano at first...

...but then he decide he's alright! :)

4 generations!

My immediate (Habluetzel) family!

Meeting Dad's sister Karen (aka Aunt "Sheila")

Joey feeding Jackson at the Cracker Barrel in Owasso, Oklahoma on our trip home on Sunday. It's amazing how different people act when you have a little one. No less than 5 of the employees came up to check Jackson out, ask how old he is, how much he weighed, etc. He's a charmer already - just like his daddy!

Our first experience in a public bathroom changing area at the Cracker Barrel. Jackson says "Go Mom!" (or maybe he was just stretching from all the time in the car)

Asleep in the backseat. That mirror is greatness!

Crossing the Red River - officially back in Texas!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

What a catch!

2009-07-09T12:39:00.005-05:00

We decided long before he arrived that (even if he had been a she) our baby would be coming home from the hospital in a Rangers onesie to support Daddy's favorite team during baseball season. It worked out that just before we left, the hospital photographers finally showed up to take Jackson's first professional pictures. I had managed to think ahead enough to have Joey grab his ball glove thinking it would make for an even better picture...and I think it's safe to say I was right. (Hey - I'm normally modest, but I think Joey & I produced quite a handsome little man!) This week I finally managed to get a soft copy of the picture (thanks to Dad for scanning and e-mailing it to me) to my Fox Sports rep, Bruce, who, at my request was able to have the guys of Rangers Live (the pregame show) send a shout out to us yesterday (7/8/09). Of course, it rained at our house (and maybe hailed from what I hear - I was actually visiting my coworkers and missed all of it) yesterday and when I got home, our power was out for a few hours. It finally came back on, but I was in the middle of feeding Jackson and didn't turn the TV back on right away. About 5 minutes after I finally turned it back on, Joey called (on his way home from a rare midweek golf outing with some coworkers) to say his friend Brad in Houston had seen Jackson on the game! At about the same time I got a message on my facebook from one of my other rep friends who had also seen it. Unfortunately, I missed it, but Bruce is getting us a copy so we can have a souvenir for our little Rangers fan (and for Joey too - he's been bragging about it to all his friends). Brad is also going to try to "rip" the footage to a shareable file from his DVR.
Here's the picture that was taken when he was just 3 days old and was Jackson's first TV appearance (Joey hopes that there are many more in the future as he's already dreaming of Jackson being on the PGA tour one day)!

...and a few other things - Every day it seems we're starting to see a little more of his personality come out. Yesterday I snapped a quick picture on my phone of Jackson smiling. The smiling might still be due at least in part to gas, but it's just so darn cute that I had to share. He's a happy baby though so I know there will be plenty more of these for everyone to see soon!

...and I'm a bad mom for leaving my camera at home when we went to dinner with Trent, Amanda, & Riley on Monday night, but I will get a picture of these 2 future playmates together sometime soon. Before that though, I was able to take a picture of "Uncle" Bowen holding Jack when he came to visit and introduce us to his girlfriend, Kathy. Buddy watched for a little bit, but as usual is content to just stare out the window.

...and now it's time to finish packing for our trip to Kansas. When we return Sunday, I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures of Jackson with Granny, Grandpa, Uncle Phil, Granny Great, Dean-O and more!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

More visiting

2009-07-06T00:44:00.003-05:00

I know I should be sleeping...Jackson slept quite a bit on and off today and I was convinced it would take me forever to get him to sleep tonight, but all the excitement of his first Independence Day/holiday weekend must have tuckered him out! It's been well over an hour and he's still sleeping quite soundly in his crib (swaddling is an amazing helper for getting this child to sleep!) so much so that I had to go check on him just because I had that "new mom worry"...and again, while I should be asleep I've managed to get a few little things done around the house and figured I'd do one more before hitting the sheets. "Uncle" Bryan & "Aunt" Meagan came over tonight just to see Jackson and Buddy and grab some dinner (Sushi - Yum, how I've missed you!) with us and I've been making an effort to take pictures of Jackson with all visitors from now on. Nothing too exciting as he slept through the whole dinner so we had some great catch-up time with our dear friends (we are SOOOO looking forward to celebrating their wedding in a couple months!), but it's always great to see friends and watch everyone get a little snuggle time with Jack.

I even managed to put him in an outfit - complete with shoes! Being a "surprise" (gender-wise) baby means that we aren't overwhelmed with too many boy clothes yet (Joey seems to think I'm going crazy because I've picked a few up using gift cards lately, but I've been buying different ages for him to grow into - so :P )...Since it's warm, I don't feel like a horrible mom with him pretty much living in onesies and socks only during the day, but it's nice to see him in a full outfit once in a while...but all the shoes we have are so big that they almost look silly on him so far that we haven't really bothered (hey - I really only seem to wear flip flops lately so why should he have to wear shoes!). Today though he got to wear the shoes that match the (dinosaur) theme of his outfit...although the only picture I took was right before I took the shoes off to change him...

Hopefully he'll be able to wear the outfit another time or 2 at least before he grows out of it - although I'm fine with him growing, but it's funny how quickly they're supposed to grow into new sizes at such a young age - I have some clothes I've been wearing for years - and we all know Joey's favorite polo shirts - they've been around for decades it seems! :)

Then, of course, Meagan and Bryan oohed and ahhed over our handsome little man (I'm not sure why my camera is making some pictures blurry and some not...perhaps it's a good thing we bought Joey a digital camera and I should start taking advantage of it more when it's nearby!)

I can't remember if Joey and Bryan were telling Jackson stories or the other way around...

...but this is only the first of many pictures I'm sure will be taken where there are plenty of laughs between the boys...and maybe the singing of some more Beastie Boys songs!

What a natural - we can't WAIT for Meagan to open a daycare so we can see her every day!

We have another "date" tomorrow with the Viavattene's so hopefully we'll manage some pictures of "Aunt" Manda, "Uncle" Trent, and one of Jackson's future partners in "crime" - Riley!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-05T10:22:00.006-05:00

I'm a day late, but it's worth the wait for our unplanned patriotic coordination (me in red, Jackson in white, and Joey in blue) picture, right?!

...of course, you should see the full progression - we took a great picture, then as Joey leaned in to kiss Jackson, the little guy had one of those reflex movements and scratched Joey in the eye...

...but then they did take a good picture together of just the 2 of them. :)

Jackon in his 4th of July bib - I didn't find any festive outfits I liked that were small enough to fit him so he matched Daddy wearing Rangers gear and had the bib on throughout the day (mostly for feedings, but a little more to be patriotic).

Also, I've been trying to do better at taking pictures of Jackson with all his adoring fans/visitors. Here are a few...

With Joanna who came in from Chicago and brought him some Cubs gear (to further confuse him as to which teams are supposed to be his favorites) :)

While Joanna was holding him, he was practicing holding his head up.

With "Uncle" Collin at his place for a small 4th of July BBQ

Jason's dog Oliver checking Jackson out while Stacie held him

..and from a few days ago - the first full outfit I've found (and liked) that Jackson can fit into - although a few of the newborn size are finally getting snug on him so we might actually move into 0-3 month outfits soon!

...although I'm not sure he enjoyed wearing pants at first - this is a picture of the preview to the "quivering lip"

...but there were less tears once he had his pacifier frog!

Last but not least, naps with Daddy are some of the best!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

The difference a day makes

2009-07-02T21:48:00.003-05:00

So many ways that things can change in just a day or 2:

1. The other day, Jackson still wasn't so sure about his bouncer as evident in the previous picture, but just 2 days later, here he is - sound asleep in it.

2. We haven't been able to snap a picture of it, but yesterday, Jackson was just holding his head up in short little "micro" seconds...and tonight he held it up and looked at me for at least a few seconds. Those neck muscles are growing stronger by the day and it's so fascinating!

3. Knock on wood that night 3 goes as well as night 2, but after rereading about "The Happiest Baby on the Block", the past 2 nights, we've gone back to swaddling Jackson, and added a few other of the "S's" in the pre-bedtime routine, and it has resulted in him sleeping a full 8 hours in his crib! The first night was rough for Joey & I as it was the first time Jackson slept in his room away from us, plus the motion part of the monitor went off at 4am and scared the heck out of us (he's fine, but somehow wasn't on the right part of the bed so his breathing motion wasn't detected - we've since turned that part of the monitor off for the time being until we can dig back under the mattress and mark the spot he needs to lay in to not set it off unless he were to stop breathing or something.

4. Unfortunately this part sucks, but Grandpa Lynn is back in the hospital again, but we're hoping that our visit next week will help get him feeling better (and that he is feeling better before we get there so he can enjoy or visit).

A few more pictures:
Chillin' in my crib:

Buddy watching me take in all the sights on my Activity Mat.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

1 month, already?

2009-06-30T07:53:00.005-05:00

As fast as this year has gone, it really should be no surprise that the past month has flown too, but it is still hard to believe Jackson is already a month (and a few days) old! I feel like a bit of a slacker since Jamie now has 2 kiddos and is already posting more than me so I figured I'd take advantage of my new routine (trying to get up and stay up when Joey leaves for work each morning) and do a quick post this morning.

First, I don't believe I ever shared the link to the Caring Bridge site I have set up for Dad, but here it is:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lynnhabluetzel
You do have to create a log in to view the updates, but you can sign up for notifications that way so it's hopefully more harm than good for those of you that are interested.

Next, of course is a Jackson update. He had his 1 month checkup last Friday. I actually had my 1 month post-partum as well and I'm back to "normal" so that's good, but enough about me. :) Our little guy is still little, but he's healthy so what more can we ask for (some babies are just smaller and if the doctor isn't worried, neither are we). For those of you that are curious though, Jackson is now weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz, which keeps him in the 5th percentile. As long as he maintains or grows steadily into a higher %, I'm happy and from what I've read, in the early months, babies should gain about an oz a day and since he gained more than that on avg from his 2 week to 1 month, there's no concern. That means he should be about 9 lbs by his 2 month appointment (which happens to fall on my birthday - 7/27) so we'll just wait and see. As far as length, he's in the 25th percentile at 21 inches long currently. He's also holding his head up a little more every day and we've enjoyed some good tummy time on the mat although I keep forgetting to snap a picture so hopefully that will happen this week.

Enough about all that though and on to more fun things - pictures. Aunt Sheri came to visit for a few days last week and of course is as smitten with Jackson as we are. We also ventured to Fort Worth while Daddy was in San Antonio for "Aunt" Kim's baby shower. Of course there are a few random other picutres from day to day stuff too.

Meeting Aunt Sheri!

I don't hate bath time quite as much anymore (although I still don't like it that much either!)

Getting ready to get a new diaper!

Most of the time I'd rather be held than in my rocker/bouncer

I already talk with my hands a lot!

I was exicted to see "Aunt" Kim again at her baby shower. I was her birthday present too - we're both May 27th birthdays! I can't wait to meet my pal, Ben when he arrives in September!

Buddy still doesn't like to hang out by me for long, but I will make him my friend!

Because Grandpa Lynn still isn't feeling that great, it sounds like I'll be making my first long-distance (excluding the one I already took to Fort Worth) :) road trip to Kansas the weekend of the 10th. Stay tuned for plenty of pictures from that although hopefully you'll see more before then as it's my first 4th of July coming up this weekend!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Long time!

2009-06-22T13:14:00.006-05:00

The joys of new parents (as we're quickly learning) are many, however, the free time is definitely slim so while I've always tried to be at least a once a week poster, it's been almost 3 since my last update. It has been amazing and we're starting to ease into a little more routine every day so that hopefully when it's time for me to go back to work everything will fall into place.
We are looking forward to our visit from Aunt Sheri later this week, and we'll have our month checkup (both Jackson and Mommy) Friday so hopefully he's continued to grow and mommy has continued to "shrink". Saturday, daddy is headed to San Antonio until Sunday afternoon to visit his friend Will who is temporarily home from Germany/Iraq so mommy and Jackson will be venturing with "Aunt Christina" to Fort Worth for the shower for "Aunt Kim" (who is so gracious to share her birthday with Jackson). Not much else to say for now, but of course, we'll share some pictures of the past few weeks!

Cuddling with Granny Becky before she headed back to Kansas 5/31

Cuddling with Grandma Shoup on her visit

Sometimes, you just have to cry...

...but a lot of the time, Daddy can make it all better!

We did some backyard pictures on 6/7 - Jack & Grandma Shirley

Our first bath - we did NOT like this!

Between screams, we got all dried off in our huge ducky towel!

Having a snooze on the quilt made by Granny Becky, wrapped in the blanket made by Granny Great (Great Grandma Liby)

Self portrait with Mom

Taking in all the sites on my activity mat

My feet are good sized, but still pretty tiny!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

The Suspense is over!

2009-06-02T19:37:00.005-05:00

As most of you probably heard by now, Jackson Kenneth Shoup joined us at 1:02 pm last Wednesday, May 27th, 2009. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 1 oz, and 19 & 1/2 inches long. A few pictures of his first day:
My doctor holding HIM up for the first time. I'll admit that as soon as I heard Joey say "It's a Boy", I teared up with excitement. I assume I would have cried had he said "girl" as well, but while I wouldn't let myself have a feeling either way boy/girl, I really did lean more towards boy.

Such a proud papa!

Daddy changing diapers - he's pretty good - although the first change was done for an audience so there were some nerves and yes, he did get peed on. :)

I'm ready for my close-up!

We were so crazed trying to get out of the hospital that we FORGOT to take Jackson's picture in the car seat. I can tell you that he didn't care for it much, but today's trip to the pediatrician went much better so we did snap one this time!

It's been a whirlwind week, that's for sure, but we're loving it! Yes, we're probably a bit sleep-deprived, but that's "normal" so we're just taking it in stride as best we can, especially considering for many, the first week's can be much rougher, whether it's a sick baby or a sick mom that result in more hospital time than we were lucky to have. I'm still a bit sore from the c-section, but the more I move around, the better I feel and of course the pain pills don't hurt and I'm just trying to space them out further apart to ween myself as much as possible.

Joey has been the picture of a perfect father, doting on Jackson, encouraging me, and still making sure Buddy gets plenty of attention so that's made the whole process so much easier on us as a family. I'm sad he's heading back to work tomorrow, but know I'll be able to handle it, although I may not get near as much done as I hope, it will all come with time.

My mom came and stayed with us Friday (with me in the hospital giving Joey a break to come home, get a good night's sleep, and "prepare Buddy") and Saturday (our first night home!). Granny Habluetzel LOVED meeting Jackson (even though he wasn't a she as she had really thought). :) Unfortunately, due to my dad's illness, her stay was abbreviated, but hopefully she and dad will be able to come back for longer once he is on the mend. That said, his diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer was MUCH worse than originally expected and especially tough to receive while in the hospital just a day after Jackson was born, at least for me, and that's been tough, but we're confident that since the doctors seem optimistic that all will go well, although we know that the road will be a bit rocky with chemo starting in just a few days.

Jackson had his first pediatric appointment today and is already back at his birth weight so that's very encouraging with the struggles of nursing that I've felt, but it means that despite the small hurdles, things are going right. We'll go back again next week and hopefully have another uneventful visit.

Tomorrow, Joey's mom will fly in to stay with us for a week so that will be a great help since Joey is heading back to work and while I'm hopeful that I can do a lot on my own, I know that it won't hurt to have an extra set of hands and of course, introduce Jackson to his Grandma Shoup!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

2 posts in one day?!

2009-05-26T22:12:00.002-05:00

Well, my post this morning was a bit sad, but this one will have a totally different tone because at my 39 week checkup today, while there is nothing seriously wrong, Dr Staub does have a few concerns about Baby Shoup - first that he or she has a rather large noggin (all the better for that might brain), that coupled with the fact that he/she isn't really dropping and doesn't show any signs of wanting to come out on his/her own, and my slightly high blood pressure, he recommended we go ahead and "evict" Baby Shoup...TOMORROW! While it's certainly exciting, it was definitely a shock to me to be sitting there thinking Baby would be baking for a while yet, and learn that in less than 24 hours we'll be holding him/her in our arms and FINALLY be able to call him/her by their name instead of just "Baby Shoup". What a whirlwind of emotions today has been. I'm just tying up as many loose ends as I can and preparing for the fact that tomorrow, Joey, Buddy, and I will go from a family of 3 to a family of 4. We head to the hospital around 10 and should meet him/her around Noon if all goes as suddenly planned and will update as soon as we know more. As you can guess, there is a CRAZY amount of shuffle going on around here and we just can't wait to share all the excitement!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Words that start with the letter "C"

2009-05-26T03:35:00.003-05:00

Oh, Cookie Cookie Cookie starts with C...but unfortunately, as great of a word as Cookie is, there are some other C words on my mind lately. First, obviously is Contractions. I believe I've had the first few indicating Baby Shoup might make an unforced appearance sometime in the next 3 weeks...not long or strong enough ones (or frequent enough - maybe 2 a day for the past 2 days?) to think it will be in the next few days, but you never know so stay tuned on that front. They have not been unbearable which makes me question if they are actually contractions or not, but I'm pretty sure from all my reading that they are and I'm just blessed with a higher pain tolerance than some so hopefully it just means labor, while challenging, will be doable and won't have me screaming at Joey (any more than usual at least).

The other C word that is definitely weighing heavy on my mind is the not-so-pleasant C word that too many people close to me have had to deal with lately...Cancer. :( Dad has been sick for a while with what I originally thought was just a prolonged cold...but after the doctors called it pneumonia about 2 weeks ago, last week it landed him in the hospital at which point during an MRI, they found some "spots" they have done biopsies on. While the unofficial results aren't back, the doctors have indicated that there is cancerous tissue. I'm not even sure which kind yet; the biopsy results will hopefully give a better indication, but there are 2 spots around Dad's shoulders and one near his lungs so while it seems the doctors are leaning towards lymphoma, there is the chance of lung cancer. I'm not sure if the worry in my head and heart is the reason for my insomnia (although it's probably also largely due to the holiday weekend and my erratic sleep/napping schedule), but alas, I'm once again awake in the 3am hour. Obviously the timing sucks with Baby Shoup due to arrive any day now (or as many as 20 days from now), but since the doctors are already starting to discuss another C word - Chemo - it seems they are very positive that whatever it is, can be overcome. I love where we live, but it's times like this that make being 500 miles away from family hardest.

That said, right now it seems that more prayers are in order as we journey once more into the uncertain future, but I'm keeping my head up and we will continue to push forward and keep everyone posted on progress in both areas.

...Til next time, keep Shuffling!

Just as I suspected

2009-05-19T07:03:00.002-05:00

Call it my first glimpse into mother's intuition, but I had a feeling that at my checkup yesterday that I wouldn't be hearing any progress type of news on Baby Shoup. While I suppose I was partially wrong as he or she is head down which is definitely a great start, my doctor did confirm that in terms of dilation, nothing (nada, zip, zilch) is happening yet. Of course, he said that he's checked some women who go into labor just a day or days after no dilation, but I have a feeling that won't be me and that Baby Shoup is still snuggled up in there and not quite ready to make an appearance. That said, we will continue to wait with as much patience as possible and fill our time with all the little things that still need to be done and be thankful that our now full term baby should have a decreased chance of having problems and be fattening up to be even more healthy the longer he or she stays put.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

The final countdown

2009-05-15T06:09:00.003-05:00

First, please feel free to sing Europe's version of the song all day long as I'm sure I will be now that it's stuck in my head with my blog title. :) Now...on to the subject...At the first appointment with my dr, he said that based on my June 1st due date, the absolute latest he'd allow Baby Shoup to be born is June 15th...and while he or she could feasibly arrive any time between now and then as I'm officially considered full term these days, today, being the 15th of May officially marks the point where in no more than a month (though hopefully is not too stubborn staying put til the very last day possible) we will be holding our little one. Monday at my 38 week apopintment is the first time I'll have an internal exam to see if there is any progress. Other than a random sporadic mild contraction or 2, I just have a feeling Baby will be staying put for a while, although there has been plenty of movement in there lately which makes me wonder if he or she is getting ready to "head out". We'll keep you posted if anything is happening, but for now we're going to continue to finish up things here and there and even take in a Rangers game tomorrow night.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

A place for my stuff

2009-05-10T20:36:00.005-05:00

At long last I believe almost everything for Baby Shoup is in place in the nursery and aside from a few finishing touches (hooking up the monitor, finding a rug we like, setting up the bouncer), I feel prepared. (Well, I will once a few more things are done around the house and I actually get MY hospital bag packed!) :) So, a tour, if you will...

A view from the doorway:

The closet - which still has plenty of room for boy or girl clothes obviously once we know which Baby is. :)

The dresser/changing table:

A close-up of the shelves I hung this weekend and my "Buddy Art":

A close-up of the starfish favor from my Ward Group shower complete with the tag that says, "A Star is Born. Baby Shoup - Due June 1, 2009"

...and a super close-up of one of my favorite ideas that I had for the room - a black and white photo collage of Buddy, our first "baby". I actually hope to get an 8X10 of Buddy & Baby once he or she is home and replace the big picture with that, but for now, it's ALL Buddy.

The built-in's, which still have plenty of room too - but that we know will be filled in no time!

...and a new view of the crib/nightstand (I still need to re-straighten the hearts on the wall, but had to include the picture with the new Texas Rangers receiving blanket I found to take our new little sports fan home from the hospital in - to match the onesie he or she will be sporting):

..Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Showering

2009-05-08T02:38:00.004-05:00

Last weekend was quite a busy one, starting with the shower that my fabulous Ward Group coworkers threw on Friday afternoon. It was great to have a beautiful afternoon at Shirley's for everyone to shower love on Baby Shoup (and me :) ). Gaela Renee took some great pictures with my camera which I'll to upload the rest of soon, but for now, here's one of me and one of my favorite little onesie for Baby Shoup:

I wish I'd thought to have someone take a big group picture, darnit - I always think of those things much too late!) Thanks so much to Shirley, Rob, Barbara, Pat, Gaela, Robin, Amy, Megan, Robin, Carissa, Bryan, and Shon for being such an amazing group of people to work with every day and to Stephanie, Mary, Susie, Lauren, Kathy, Essie, Jennifer, Jane, and Candy for coming out to help us celebrate! I'm so amazingly lucky and I know mom even mentioned she worries a little less about me being so far away from home (even though, yes, I am 30) with such great people surrounding me.

---------------------------------
I also had a shower on Saturday, but don't have any pictures on my camera so I'm going to wait until I get those from everyone else to post about that shower.

...and I'm on the last load of laundry for the time being and hope to get a few little projects done in the nursery this weekend and might just have completed nursery pictures by the end of the weekend. What a great Mothers Day present that would be for myself. :)

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

3 years already?!

2009-04-29T20:25:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been already been 3 years since we were with about 40 of our closest friends and family celebrating our wedding day on the beach. Happy Anniversary to us! :) ...and with that, a trip down memory lane with just a few of our favorite pictures from 4/29/06! Here's to many more!

Buffett, Big Feet, and Baby Bedding

2009-04-25T10:27:00.004-05:00

Joey & I had a great time at Jimmy Buffett last weekend although I left before the concert after being out there in the heat for 5 hours, I'd had about all I could handle. Unfortunately I only managed to snag this one picture of us when I was leaving (and dropping Joey back off on my way home - he only lasted another 3 or so hours and I came back to get him)

It's been quite hot and it was a busy week so unfortunately my feet have been a bit swollen, but hopefully putting them up most of the weekend (aside from a few errands and our day long childbirth class tomorrow) will help. I haven't taken a ton of pregnant pictures, but here I am at 34 weeks

...and "Granny" Habluetzel has finished the Baby Bedding and it's now in place - although I'm not 100% sure the bumper pads were meant for this crib (although I know they won't be in place too long for safety reasons) - either that or I'm just not sure I undertsand how to put them on right. Oh, the joys of being a new mom-to-be. :)

A little more character

2009-04-17T22:50:00.003-05:00

After searching on Ebay and finally purchasing some knobs we like, we discovered they didn't exactly fit onto the dresser. Just a minor setback though as it's nothing a drill can't fix and now I think the dresser looks better (thanks for the idea, Christina). :) The picture isn't the best quality, but I think in person it really looks great and adds a little character to a new dresser so that it better goes with the old crib.

We say a little prayer

2009-04-15T06:51:00.004-05:00

...or a big prayer. So many things to pray for lately - health for Baby Shoup being an obvious one, but we have a few more prayer requests to put out there these days. Today, I ask you to pray for Pat, our media director at Ward. It's been a whirlwind as it's all happened so fast, but she's basically having at least part of one of her lungs removed today. We are confident all will go well, but there will no doubt be some distracted thoughts around our office today.

Pat's Caring Bridge Site

We also send prayers out to some of Joey's extended family in Mississippi. His cousin Leanne had an emergency c-section last week (at about 28 weeks) to premature identical twin girls. Unfortunately, the smaller of the 2, Layla Grace, did not make it. Please continue to pray for Leanne and Brian, as well as Briley Kate who continues to fight.

Home Updates

2009-04-06T06:06:00.005-05:00

Thanks to a last minute reschedule of the Childbirth class Joey & I were supposed to have on Saturday, we were able to get a lot more done around the house than we expected. I started out re-alphabetizing and organizing all of our CD's (which required a Sunday trip to Ikea for more storage boxes) which Joey thought was a crazy task until it was all done and he now knows where all his CD's are, and which ones he only has a case or the CD for. While I was starting that, he got caught up in an HGTV show and while I had mentioned it quite some time ago, he finally realized just how easy it would be to add hardware to all of our kitchen cabinets so off to Home Depot he went. The result looks great and while there is 1 drawer left to do (the screws that came with the drawer pulls weren't long enough so I had to swing by and pick up some longer ones, but unfortunately 2 didn't break off the way they needed to), we're so pleased:

In addition, before our trip to Miami I had met my uber-creative friend, Lisa, during a lunch break to pick up the art she painted for Baby Shoup's room. I still need to adjust where the nails are on the wall (I just plunked the 4 pieces up on the wall where there previously hang 4 flower pictures so they're kind of crooked now as well), but the wall above the crib now has some additional color. Thanks so much, Lisa for the beautiful colorful hearts! I guess while I had said there isn't a real theme to the nursery, LOVE is a very suitable theme!

30 week belly

2009-04-02T06:48:00.002-05:00

My hair had been windblown by the humidity and the golf cart ride around for pictures, but here's a picture of me and my seemingly huge belly (at least in that particular dress). I"m hoping the professional pictures have my hair looking a bit better, but we'll have to wait and see...

Congratulations, Sheri & Mike!

2009-03-31T06:59:00.003-05:00

Joey & I officially gained a brother-in-law this weekend! More pictures to come later, but below is the only decent picture I managed to snap of the happy couple (and their dog Bella - who had her own pearls and actually wore a veil too, but as you can see it was a bit windy so the veil wasn't staying put as well as necessary for pictures).
Congratulations, Sheri and Mike!

...and of course a picture of the best "Matron of Honor Man" ever! :)

The best kind of tired

2009-03-22T20:52:00.003-05:00

Joey & I are feeling the best kind of tired today - the kind of tired you get after being extremely productive, which we were all weekend.

Friday we relaxed and enjoyed dinner with friends at Tony's (Happy Birthday to Ryan, Sara, and Russ who are also celebrating March birthdays along with Joey!), but we wrapped up right around 10 and were home and asleep before midnight.

Saturday, we did some major cleaning/purging with Joey taking a very large dropoff of miscellaneous items to Goodwill after we consolidated quite a few Rubbermaids/boxes down and did some slight reorganizing around the house (mostly stemming from us needing to move all our stuff out of the future baby's room since he or she will need all that room for their stuff)! I also managed to finally get 1 of our Ipods fixed by the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store. (Unfortunately the battery of one I bought Joey as a wedding gift has given out and right now we've opted not to replace the whole Ipod since we have the Nano Joey was given by his work after they hit a specific goal a year or so ago and the video one I was given by a station 2 or 2 years ago.

We were exhausted, but Christina was able to pick up the dresser she ordered for us from JCP late Saturday so she dropped it off (she knew just how much I've been dying to get it and put it together!) and while I'd have loved to put it together right away, 11pm is a little late to start that kind of project...but don't think I didn't wake up wanting to get right to it today! We did a few more little things first and I started on sorting everything out while Joey watched a movie and did a few other little projects before we really got it going. We work really well as a team though with a great assembly line and I think this is the first time we've put something together and not had to take anything apart after using a wrong screw or having a piece facing the wrong direction so that's a bonus...So at long last, Baby Shoup has a place for his/her stuff (aside from all the great built-in's)! Tah-dah! Here it is:

It already has a few things in the drawers, but I have a feeling it will be full before we know it! We do actually plan to switch out the knobs it came with and put something with a little more character, but we haven't found anything we love just yet so stay tuned for that.

More updates to come this week I'm sure as my 30 week dr appointment is tomorrow and then later this week, we're off to Miami for Sheri and Mike's wedding, but for now, it's time to call it a night and a weekend!

3rd trimester=Sleepy Suzy

2009-03-16T07:05:00.006-05:00

I'm a bit behind on updating as the 3rd trimester has been an exhausting one so far, but I wanted to post a few things on here real quick and hope to catch up more later this week or next weekend...

Joey & I had a great trip to Kansas last weekend and I really enjoyed the shower my Aunts Joyce & Dee threw for me. Baby Shoup is already so loved although there was definitely some heated debate about whether "it" is a he or she. I guess only time (and about 11 more weeks) will tell! I'll post more pictures later, but here are just 2: 1 of the hostesses with the mostest...

...and another of Me, "Buzz", Shandi, Deedra, and with Grandma Lou - apparently the wrinkling of the nose MUST be from the Liby side since Shandi and I are both doing it here!

Next is a picture of the recliner we purchased for the nursery. It looks great draped in the star-shaped afghan that Sue Affolter (one of my mom's cousins) made so I'm not sure if Baby Shoup or I will spend more time wrapped in the blanket! :) You can also see the completed pillow that goes with the bedding mom is working quickly to finish! Plus Joey's baby pillow is in the chair as well.

Now we're just awaiting the arrival of the dresser to start getting a little more organized, but we picked up the mattress for the crib this weekend too so progress is being made and I'm sleeping better at night not worrying about baby not having a place to sleep (we have a mattress cover and I "bought" (with a gift card!) some plain white crib sheets so we have the basics! I think I've also had a revelation about the wall art thanks to ever-so-crafty, Lisa, but I'll wait until the pieces are finished to post! :)

This last picture is a bit old, but it's me at 26 weeks (3 weeks ago now!) Yes, it's the point (especially in certain items of clothing) that you can tell I'm pregnant and not just fat. :) I probably won't get pictures from this week (I have this thing about odd numbers) but next week is 30 weeks and our trip to Miami for Sheri's wedding so hopefully I'll be looking fabulous and will have some pictures to post of more belly.

I'll need to update more on the progress (or lack thereof) on our converted garage. What we had hoped to do isn't going to happen due to this weekend's discovery, but we're working towards a quick solution so that I'll not just consider the room a "junk room" anymore, but hopefully it will resemble more of a dining room (although maybe not with a table quite yet) soon!

More to come later!

Slow, but steady progress

2009-03-02T07:16:00.003-06:00

I finally feel like we're making progress on getting the house ready for Baby Shoup. It might have taken a little extra nagging and some hormonal tears, but on Saturday Joey & I went on a hunt for a leather rocker/recliner and a dresser for the nursery. We found the recliner very quickly at The Dump and arranged to pick it up yesterday with Christina's help (and her truck "Big Red Fred") so it's now sitting in the nursery next to the pile of boxes that we still need to go through and find a new home for. We didn't have as much luck on our hunt for the dresser, but again, thanks to Christina and her employer, we found one that is just the size we were hoping for. She's going to help us order that this week and then we'll just have to wait for it to be delivered and I'm sure it will be filled up in no time as Baby Shoup will be "showered" for the first time this Saturday in Kansas where I'll get to see a lot of family and friends who it's been too long since I've seen.

In other news, shortly after finding out that Russ and Dawn's little girl Finley had arrived last Sunday, we also found out that there's another little one on the way for our group of friends. Stan and Kim will bless us all with Baby Tigrett sometime in September! It's Baby-pa-looza around here, but we couldn't be happier that Baby Shoup will have so many playmates close to his/her age. Trent & Amanda even brought Riley over on Saturday night and he's such a happy baby. He seems to love the attention (and of course be a big flirt with all the girls) although hopefully he slept very well after all the entertaining he did. We only hope Baby Shoup and all his/her friends-to-be are happy and healthy babies too. He/She certainly is active in there - not overly so that it wakes me at night, but usually once I'm awake in the morning he/she is as well. Granted, he/she gets in a few naps during the day (yes, I'm jealous!) :) but plenty of times during the day I get to enjoy the kicking/punching going on inside and even on the outside from time to time as well.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

2009-02-23T07:00:00.003-06:00

In honor of Buddy's 5th birthday (best guess estimate given by the vet when we rescued him about 3 & 1/2 years ago), I figured I'd post a few pics of our first "baby" from way back in 2005 until recently.

One of the earliest pictures of our sweet Buddums:

Always a fan of napping on the chair (or couch):

The hunter-dog:

Attempting to make a break for it out the hole that his pal, Landry created in our fence (which thankfully my dad repaired when he was here at the end of December):

...and of course, having a stare-down with his stuffed squirrel "Nuts" (I believe this might have been Nuts 2 as Buddy is quite a fan of destroying the pesky squirrels)

Happy Birthday Buddy Bear!

Double Digit Days

2009-02-23T06:07:00.002-06:00

That's right, folks - This weekend we crossed the threshold from more than 100 days until Baby Shoup's expected arrival date to less than 100 days! There is still so much to do, but my hope is that some of the major projects that we (Joey) keep putting off will get done in the next month.

We're excited to meet the newest arrival to our group of friends. Finley Marie Watkins arrived in the early morning hours on Sunday 2/22/09. We're going to try to make it up there to visit Russ, Dawn, and Finley this evening. They're the first of our friends who go to the same hospital as I do so it'll be nice to get a preview of the digs before we actually tour during some of the classes we'll be taking over the next month or so.

Emerald & Savannah

2009-02-16T18:51:00.005-06:00

No, these aren't potential names for our baby on the way! :) Emerald is now Joey's former car :( and Savannah is my new car. :) Yes, I do get the better end of the deal, folks, but then again, my daily round-trip commute to work is less than 1/3 of what Joey's is so it's really the more practical answer. He gets to take over with Ruby (formerly my car) and I get our brand new ride (to us at least - because Savannah is actually an '05 so she's got a few miles on her). We signed all the paperwork on Saturday and today, Joey drove Emerald for the last time on his way to pick Savannah up. I had Ruby cleaned bumper to bumper (waxing, carpet-shampoo, detailing, etc) for Joey so hopefully he will feel somewhat like he got a new car too, but I just thought I would take a moment and reflect on Emerald - who was a great car while he had her (2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue). She definitely had some better features than Ruby, but she also has about 65k more miles so it was time for her to "retire".

We were going to take pictures yesterday afternoon, but just did not quite get around to it so I snapped 1 of her in the garage this morning before heading to work. We'll miss you Emerald! :)

...and Welcome, Savannah! (She's an 05 Lexus RX330 and her name comes from the color - which is technically Savannah Metallic) The picture is dark because I took it after I got home tonight, but I'll take another maybe this weekend when it's more light.

Car-shopping, Baby-registering, and hiccups, Oh my

2009-02-10T20:40:00.002-06:00

We were quite busy this weekend and boy did I pay for it yesterday. I started feeling a little icky on Friday as the weather started to warm up (and I think I've figured out the south wind brings out the worst of my on-again, off-again allergies), but powered through the weekend.

We kicked it off celebrating Bryan and Meagan's engagement Friday night with a great time at Rick & Brooke's house. We all had a great time (although I'm now sad that I didn't even bother to get my camera out - Please share, Meagan!) and Joey defintely had a great time and didn't want to leave after midnight. Gant & Courtney came in from Wichita Falls & stayed with us so a stop at Whataburger on the way home was necessary.

Saturday started out calm with the guys fetching donuts before Gant & Courtney headed back to the Falls. After that Joey & I decided to venture out to do some car shopping. We were really just planning to hit CarMax to try out a bit of everything, but ended up hitting the nearby Chevy Dealership afterwards spending way more time (and way more of my tissues as my nose continued to run non-stop) as they tried to get us in a car. We're planning to get something sometime before baby gets here - hopefully within the next month or so, but aren't in a rush, although Joey definitely was ready to sign on the dotted line for a brand new car - above the budget we were hoping for. We've asked a few friends with car connections for advice, etc so we'll be looking again this Saturday and hoping we find something just right.

Sunday, the Colvert clan (Jeremy, Jamie, and Connor) helped us out spending several hours at Babies R Us helping us figure out what to register for, etc (only after the obligatory lunch at Hooters - I promised Joey as I knew he was a bit hesitant about all the baby shopping). We might not need exactly the same things, but it was great to get advice from some seasoned pros! Now that we know their new addition will be a little girl, it's time to get even more excited for them too as Baby Shoup will be very close in age to her - even though we aren't finding out what Baby S will be - it's still so exciting to find out for everyone else!

I did have an interesting tummy feeling this weekend and I tried to get Joey to feel it too, but apparently he's still not quite able to feel things on the outside that I'm feeling on the inside. It seems Baby S had the hiccups. I know the feeling all too well and figured that must be it. I've been feeling him/her quite a bit every day and it always makes me stop and smile - I'll be even more excited when Joey and/or Buddy can see/feel the movement.

Hope you're all having a beautiful start to the week!

If I have to...

2009-02-03T07:03:00.002-06:00

Since Meagan tagged me, I suppose I'll follow through...

1. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2. Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were tagged...
3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

In no particular order: 10 HONEST things about myself

1. I am a lifetime member of Girl Scouts. I had a really great time even though by the end of high school I was 1 of only 2 girls in our town still involved, but I did get to experience a lot of great things for little or no money in the grand scheme of things.

2. I hate that I do it, but I’m a scab picker – often someone has to tell me to quit because it’s a subconscious sort of OCD thing I think.

3. I love trivia and playing games and wish more friends would be willing to have a game night...it always tends to turn into drinking games.

4. I turned down a trip to the Superbowl from a station a few years ago and wonder if I'll ever have that chance resurface...

5. Until about midway through college, I always thought I'd end up living in the same small town I grew up in, or one close to it and as much as I enjoyed my upbringing there, I just can't imagine living there and am glad my life has turned out the way it has.

6. I failed a class in college. That's hard to admit since I was valedictorian of my high school class and think I'm "smarter than the average bear", but I truly believe that foreign teachers can make a (in this case negative) difference because when I retook the class, I had a high B without trying as hard as I coud have.

7. I love to make lists, but sometimes faced with a task like this, I draw a blank on what I actually want to admit.

8. I love Seinfeld and quote it as often as I deem appropriate.

9. I hate those little earbud things for Ipods and such. I have to have the regular “outie” headphones. It's not because I don't like things in my ear - I just don't like the way they feel.

10. I wasn’t able to swallow pills until a year or so into college. I still have a hard time swallowing pills w/o water, but I can take multiple pills at a time and am thankful that I no longer need to crush up children’s Tylenol in ice cream to take pills.

Now I will tag 7 other peeps and they can do the same things and share all their interesting facts! Jaymie, Corri, Lisa/Robin-DallasEats girls, Lisa H, Joanna, Katie, Jeff & Sarah B

Brrrrr!

2009-01-29T05:04:00.005-06:00

Yes, I grew up and Kansas (and still have my mad "driving in ice/snow" skills), but holy cow is it cold for the Texas Temperatures I've grown accustomed to! Yesterday was a record day (at least for the last 6 years) with over 300 area school districts closed because of the ice. I worked from home a bit in the morning and headed in around 1030 once a lot of the crazies got off the road, but Joey still had to be to work at 730. Luckily he left about a half hour earlier around 6 and made it just in time. Business seems to be back to normal today with just a few slick spots and a lone school closing in the outer area of DFW, but we're off to Georgia. I know all my Kansas friends and family will get a good chuckle, but these are just 2 pictures I took yesterday that led to the "Winter Blast" in our area.

Yes, those are teeny tiny icicles, but they're there and they cause chaos in Texas! If you think that's bad, one of my Austin area sales reps said that if he dropped an ice cube out the window, they'd shut down I-35 in their area. :)

Hope you're all keeping warm!

We have a match!

2009-01-26T06:53:00.007-06:00

Mom went on the hunt for different fabric than the cream we had that previously was going to fill the "gap" between the yellow and striped fabric we had found for Baby Shoup's bedding. I found this green polka dotted fabric online and was hesitant at first, but mom found it in a store and it works beautifully (I think) so she's moving forward to finalize all the bedding. Now we still need to buy a mattress, finish cleaning out the nursery, and find a dresser/changing table. I believe we're also going to try to find a nice leather rocker/recliner as Joey would like it to be his chair after the need for it in the nursery is gone. :) Plus we still haven't been car-shopping and need to get busy with that as the weekends have started filling up quickly.

This weekend I had a baby shower to attend and while I went to that, Joey went to a "Beer & Diapers" party for the father-to-be. I think the boys had a little too much fun, but hopefully they get some of the craziness out of their system as their need for sleep and sobriety will be more abundant once the little bundles of joy arrive! At Dawn's shower I got to hold Riley (Viavattene) quite a bit while Amanda helped out with recording the gifts. He's such a cute and happy baby and is also a big flirt, which is no surprise given who his dad is. :)

We went to my friend Pam's birthday party once Joey got home (and took a nap) and it's amazing to see the difference in people baby belly's because there were 2 other women there who are only 1-3 weeks further along than me and I don't even think I look pregnant compared to them. I suppose that's to be expected since I'm still technically below my pre-pregnancy weight and with the weight gain last month that in time I'll actually "look pregnant" to strangers.

On Thursday we'll be headed to Georgia for the memorial for Joey's dad. I'm looking forward to seeing his mom and sister and meeting some family that I have yet to meet, but of course we know it will be an emotionally draining weekend. It's nice to know that several of Joey's friends will be making the trip to Rome as well. We're so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!

All's well

2009-01-20T06:45:00.000-06:00

Another routine checkup for me & Baby Shoup yesterday. I really think I spend more time in the waiting room than actually back getting the checkup, but considering I don't have any complications and rarely have more than a question or 2, that's OK. I did manage to gain a few pounds this month, but am still below my pre-pregnancy weight. Baby is measuring right on target size-wise so Dr Staub is pleased with how all is going.

I receive weekly online updates and this week, it tells me Baby Shoup is roughly the size of a bottle of root beer...It's rather amusing that all updates are usually in comparison to food items - from a sesame seed in the very beginning to all sorts of things in between - like avocados or baked potatoes (which after I read the update for that week had me craving baked potatoes oddly enough).

Joey & I continued a successful weekend of purging, but also had a few friends over just because on Saturday. We still haven't found a dresser/changing table, but continue to look and have decided we'll probably splurge on a leather rocker/recliner/glider for Baby's room (that Joey hopes to make his own after we don't need it as much any more in the nursery), but have yet to shop for that either. There is still plenty of time, but our time fills up rather quickly as his sister has finally set her wedding date for March 28 (Joey's birthday) and there are plenty of other fun things going on between now and June 1st.

Baby Shoup Picture Update

2009-01-15T07:31:00.004-06:00

These are from the week of 12/29 - the most recent sonogram pictures of Baby Shoup. My favorite is the 1st - the clearest picture of 5 little toes on 1 of his/her foot (well - it's clear in person - sonogram pictures aren't that easy to take a clear picture of)! The other is a profile similar to those we've seen before and if you look closely, you can see an arm, which was pounding the "fists of fury" during the sonogram and I'm starting to feel him/her "punching" me a little more lately.

Halfway and Nesting!

2009-01-12T06:02:00.006-06:00

Well, it's official - Today marks week 20 of our pregnancy so we're about halfway to everyone actually meeting Baby Shoup (give or take about 2 weeks either way) and finding out whether it's a boy or girl that will be keeping us awake for one reason another for the next 20 or so years of our lives! :) It's gone fast, but there are some days, where I know I wish June 1st would just get here already. I'm sure later on, we'll wish we had more time to prepare, but I feel confident we'll be reasonably ready by that time. :)

Aside from this Saturday when Joey & I were basically useless, watching 4 movies, some TV, and just having a wonderful day of vegging, it seems we've started the "nesting" process. It started Saturday night when I decided that all of the boxes in the built-in's in the nursery-to-be needed to come out to be reorganized and find a new home as we start to accumulate things for Baby. Those boxes are still neatly stacked in the nursery waiting for us to reorganize them into better boxes/Rubbermaid containers for storage in the attic, but they are already relatively sorted so it's just a matter of putting things in boxes better suited for attic storage. We moved on to other rooms of the house and had a purge-fest Sunday afternoon, with several boxes of things set aside for delivery to, most likely Genesis Women's Shelter. Actually I'm hoping they'll come pick the items up as we've decided that's where our old entertainment center will be going and they're definitely going to have to pick that up. I've listed it several times on craigslist.com with no success and while we hoped to get even just a little bit of $ for it to have a little more savings during the time I'm on maternity leave (since short term disability doesn't pay near as well as it should...but that's a subject for another day), but alas, it just hasn't happened, so since it wasn't that expensive of a piece and it's not a family heirloom, we'll consider it an additional tax write-off for this year and feel even better that it'll be going to help women in need.

Anyway, with getting rid of that and all the other many things we are purging, we're hoping to actually get started on making our carpeted converted garage/den/"junk room" into a dining room finally. We're trying not to spend tons of money so I doubt we'll put the hardwood floors down yet as we later plan to do, but we will probably have someone come out and professionally clean the carpet and maybe even paint (paint first) and get a dining table to accomodate future gatherings in our home. The hope now is that we'll actually keep up with this purging and reorganizing process so much so that when baby gets here I'll be able to fully enjoy the 6-8 weeks leave from work (yes, I will be going back to work). Wish us luck!

It sounds like there is a small hold-up with the baby bedding my mom is making, but hopefully we'll ge that worked out soon. One of the sets of fabric we bought is apparently a different blend than the other 2 fabrics so my mom is not sure we'll want to continue with it so we're trying to figure out another option, but hopefully it shouldn't be too much of an issue, but so far, this is what the pillow for the set looks like.

The striped fabric is what I found first and got stuck on really wanting (in a good way), but we needed some additional pieces to complement it so we found the yellow and were having a hard time finding something else that fit with the pattern so settled for a simple cream and of course, the cream fabric is the one that appears to be thinner and causing some stitching issues. I did find another bedding set I like (that is of course overpriced so I'm glad mom is making ours), but has me confident we can find another fabric that will work...This is the example I'm giving mom to hopefully find a simple polka dotted fabric to use instead of the cream fabric.

It's very subtle polka dots so hopefully mom can find something and it'll all work out. I'm confident that it will.

In the meantime, we're on the hunt for plenty of new things - from a new vehicle for me to drive (Joey will start driving my car since he's still racking up the miles driving to and from North Fort Worth every day), to a mattress for the crib and all sorts of other fun things.

Hope you're all having a great day and enjoy a beautiful week!

Suzy

Don't forget to vote!

2009-01-07T08:09:00.002-06:00

In case you haven't already, don't forget to place your vote on Baby Shoup's stats!
http://www.expectnet.com/games/babyshoup

The beginning of Baby Shoup's room

2009-01-07T07:52:00.006-06:00

So far the only things we've really accomplished, with my dad's help are taking down my old iron bed (now that dad helped us get attic space ready for storing it and other things that were previously taking up the future baby's room), and getting the crib set up in the baby's room. Now that the crib has had about a week to "rest" from all the cleaning/painting, I'll be looking to buy a mattress pretty soon and I'm on a furious hunt on craigslist and wherever else I can think of for a dresser that can also serve as a changing table and we'll continue from there.

My mom has all the material we picked up (gender neutral, but colorful stripes withs some cream and yellow accents) while Joey & I were in Kansas for Christmas and has already been pre-washing and learning her new serger to start on the bedding!

Here's a picture of the (30 year old and yes, it meets all safety standards, not just dad's "You and your brother turned out OK") crib in the room (with Buddy's bed now in front of it - although he doesn't really sleep on his bed near as much as he sleeps on ours...or the couch!!)

I'm still not really feeling like I'm showing and as yet have only purchased 3 pairs of maternity pants, but hopefully the weight will start to show up in the right places soon and maybe I'll LOOK pregnant, but the low-grade nausea and decreased appetite have actually resulted in weight loss which my dr said is OK because of my "reserves", but that he doesn't want to see any more losing right now! Last week's sonogram showed Baby is right on schedule weighing in about a 1/2 lb. He or She is already practicing the "Shoup Shuffle" or "Fists of Fury" and was very active. I'm starting to feel flutters on the inside, but Joey & Buddy have yet to feel Baby move so hopefully that will happen soon.

Love you all!
Suzy & Joey

A new year, A new blog

2009-01-02T07:40:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Shuffling Shoup's blog! I've decided to start blogging somewhere that family and friends can access since not everyone has myspace or facebook and e-mails can often get lost in spam.

I figured since 2009 will be an eventful year for Joey, Buddy, and I with Baby Shoup on the way (expected arrival date sometime around June 1st), I would follow the lead of several friends who have blogs and update rather often (hopefully once a week) to let everyone know what's going on in our lives.

I hope you'll all subscribe and follow along as we find time to update, and add pictures to document 2009 and the years to come!
-Suzy & Joey (& Buddy & Baby Shoup too)!