The Schaffers: September Overview

September was an exciting and busy month. We took a trip to St. Louis for Labor Day. The boys were absolutely perfect. I think they just love to travel as much as their mom and dad. They seem to love being in the van. They never make a peep and will either sleep or just look out the window and coo. The boys are still sleeping through the night at least 10 hours but sometimes longer. I am not swaddling anymore because they are getting out of the blankets during the night and moving so much so we just lay the blanket on them. Jacob like to hold on to the blanket anyway. By the end of the month I took their blankets away completely because they were moving too much in the night. We got to celebrate Uncle Roger's birthday while we were in St. Louis and then the day after we got home the boys turned 5 months old. That day was a little weird for me. I just kept thinking that next month they would be halfway to being one year old. I don't mind them getting older because I love every stage that we go through but it just seemed so weird to me how much time is flying.

A very exciting milestone this month was that we introduced cereal for the first time. They both did pretty good but made some pretty funny faces. They also used a sippy cup for the first time. After a couple days of watching them gag on the straight cereal I started adding a little spoon of unsweetened applesauce. They seemed to like it a little better.

On the 14th, my childhood friend and her husband came to visit us from Mississippi. We took the boys to Aunt Tia on the 15th and we all went to the UT football game. We had fun but I sure did miss my boys. That was the longest I had been away from them. We were gone from them for about 12 hours. We had a great time and I was very thankful for Aunt Tia and Uncle Wes' willingness to watch the boys for us so we could enjoy the day with Ana and Jason. It is always so good when they come to town. We love them so much and the boys were so excited to meet them and spend time with them.

On the 21st, I left for a ladies retreat with the church. This was my first time to be away from the boys overnight. I took them to Aunt Amy's to hang out for a few hours until Grammy got off work and then she picked them up. They stayed with her Friday night because Justin was out of town working. Then Saturday Justin went and picked up the boys. They got to spend the evening with Daddy celebrating his 31st birthday watching football and eating pizza. I was gone Friday and Saturday night. It was hard to be away from them and I missed them terribly but I knew that I was supposed to go and God surely met me there and I was so thankful for the opportunity to go.

On the 25th we switched the boys to 6 month jammies and clothes. They are getting so big!!!!

The 28th Justin and I went to Atlanta for the night to go to a Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Marvin Sapp and Isreal Houghton concert. It was so hard to leave that day because I had been away from them the two weekends before that too. It was just how everything fell. We had an absolutely wonderful time though. Aunt Tia kept them Friday until Grammy got off work and then they spent the night with Grammy and Poppy.

Jackson:
Was taking 6 ounces of formula and on the 3rd he took 7 ounces for the first time. After that he was pretty much set on having 7 ounces all the time. Also, on the 3rd, he passed a ball from one hand to the other. We started out with 1 teaspoon of cereal/oatmeal and within a couple days increased it to 1 tablespoon. He does really well getting water out of the sippy cup. He doesn't get a whole lot but does get some. He always opens his mouth when the spoons comes and did from the very first day. He has started growing really attached to sucking on his fingers (the first two of his left hand) and will suck on them between bites while I am giving some to Jacob. When I bring the spoon to him he will pull the fingers out and open his mouth and as soon as he is done the fingers go right back in. It is really funny. By the end of the month he started getting excited and smiling when he saw me coming with the cereal. He is really starting to chew on toys, especially Sofie...he loves Sofie. He has started trying to roll over but hasn't completely made it over yet. He has decided he is not a fan of being held when he is really tired although sometimes he likes to have his head rubbed when tired. He loves to play peek-a-boo and listen to me read to him. He is getting to be such a big boy.

Jacob:
Jacob still has no rhyme or reason to his eating. He was really crabby the first day when we were in St. Louis and Aunt Beth said she thought he was hungry. I ended up feeding them one hour early and he took 8 ounces. By the 3rd he was taking 7 ounces all day at each feeding. Jacob will take anywhere from 6-9 ounces. It just depends. By the end of the month he was pretty consistently taking 7 ounces but still every now and then would act like he wasn't full when the bottle was empty and would take up to 9 ounces. Jacob did not take to the cereal as well as Jackson did. He wasn't too excited about it and decided I shouldn't force him so for about a week or so I just offered him a bite when feeding Jackson and he didn't take it too much. Then on the 27th he opened his mouth on his own for 6 straight bites. After that I started making him his own bowl again. By the end of the month he was starting to open his mouth for a few bites and making some progress. He does, however, love the sippy cup and does pretty well with that. He doesn't get too much out of it but he does get some. Big milestone this month for Jacob was rolling over on the 2nd. He rolled from back to belly. By the 24th he had started rolling over in his bed. At first he wasn't too sure about it because he still wasn't a big fan of tummy time but after a couple days he decided he was ok with it and started sleeping on his tummy. On the 25th and 26th he took his naps on his tummy but wasn't happy when he woke up that way. On the 27th he slept all night on his tummy and then rolled back over in the morning when he woke up. By the end of the month he was ok with being on his tummy. He is cooing and laughing a lot more and started very high pitched squealing. It is so cute. I think he just loves to hear himself. He still loves Sofie the giraffe and is chewing on her a lot and also still loves his blankie on his face. Since he is rolling in his bed I took his big blanket away and gave a small breathable blankie that is about a square foot in size. It is perfect. He loves to be read to and to play with all sorts of toys. He started passing toys from one hand to the other on the 3rd and loves to lay and just play.

They are getting to be big boys and are so much fun to be with. I just can't believe how blessed I am to have these two little boys that God has blessed me with and given me the opportunity to spend each and every day with them.

Jackson and Donald Duck

Jacob and Mickey Mouse

Sweet Sleeping babies at Aunt Beth's house

Uncle Roger's amazing feast! I would give anything for one of those ribs right there...ok three or four!!!

Mommy and her babies

Happy boys!

Jacob after bath time

Jacob excited to see his Daddy! This was the most precious thing ever. Justin came home from work and I was feeding the boys and Jacob looked up and saw his daddy and got so stinkin excited.

Jacob kind of got his feet out of his jammies. Not sure how that happened.

Jackson enjoying some tummy time

Jacob sleeping. I just thought this was a sweet picture.

Jackson sleeping. They are so adorable when they are asleep. Well they are adorable all the time but there is just something about seeing them asleep.

Their first time having cereal!!!!! They weren't too sure about it. They both gagged on every bite. Jackson kept opening his mouth for more but Jacob was pretty much on lock down.

Cute little jeans. I think this was the first time they wore them.

Tummy time!!! For a while they didn't like tummy time but they started doing a lot better in September.

Story time.

Enjoying their sippy cups.

This is a premie outfit laying on top of Jacob. He is actually wearing a 3 month outfit. I was putting all their premie,newborn, 0-3M and some 3M clothes away. I can't believe that this premie outfit was actually big on Jacob when we brought him home and now look at him. :)