The Schaffers: March 2014

A lot happened in April of last year. The boys turned 1 on April 5th. We went to the beach, as I mentioned in my last post. While we were at the beach the boys transitioned from formula to whole milk. They weren't drinking their formula all that great so we thought why not try switching them them to whole milk to see if that would make a difference. They didn't take it any better than the formula but they didn't do any worse with it either. So we decided to completely transition to whole milk. We finally found out that we would have to put chocolate Ovaltine in their milk to get them to drink it. Over the next few months we transitioned them off of that as well. I just put less and less chocolate in it until they were drinking straight milk. We also got rid of bottles completely. The boys were used to sippy cups because I started giving them sippy cups with water at 5 months old when they started eating solid food. I thought it would make the transition easier if we had sippy cups of milk during the day and then a bottle at night. After a while I realized that it was only confusing them because some times they would drink from the sippy and others they wouldn't even when I KNEW they wanted milk. So when I just took the bottles away completely there were perfectly fine with just the sippy cup. We never looked back. They have always done so great with transitions. They transitioned very well to just eating solid food as well instead of just formula and pureed food. They are just such good little boys.

Jackson decided after watching Jacob for a few weeks that he was finally ready to pull up. I was starting to get worried about him. I was at praise team practice one night and I had been worried about Jackson. That day a woman had called and scheduled an appointment with me for an early intervention program for the next day to have Jackson evaluated. Justin was at home with the boys and we had just started singing "Rooftops". I was supposed to sing the solo. I was already extremely emotional because this is a very special song to me. This song was sang Easter Sunday of 2012 which was just a couple days after the boys were born. Justin and I decided that day that even though the boys were in the NICU we needed to go to church. That song just spoke so deeply me to that morning and then again this night at practice while dealing with the stress of worrying about Jackson. One of my favorite lines is "all that I am I place into your loving hands." Every time I would sing that line I would just place my children and everything pertaining to them in the Lord's hands. So as we are singing the song Justin sends me a picture of Jackson standing up in his bed and said, "he just pulled himself up." I literally doubled over crying, sobbing at the goodness of the Lord. I handed the situation over to the Lord and He just took care of it all. I struggled and prayed all night of whether or not to cancel the appointment the next morning for Jackson. By 8am the next morning I received a call and they cancelled on me...well they would have rescheduled but I told them it was no longer necessary. I am telling you God is so good and so concerned with every area of our lives but we truly have to trust in Him and place everything in His hands. Then we can step back and watch him take care of everything. I am just so overwhelmed even now, almost a year later, at how awesome my God was in this situation.

This is the picture Justin sent me when Jackson pulled up. Look at that happy boy!!!

The boys sporting their Cardinals gear that cousin Andrew got for them

The wreath that Mimi made for the boys birthday

Packing for vacation...it is a process

The beach bag and toys bag

The birthday boys!!!! We're 1!!!!!

Mommy and her first born on his birthday

Mr. Jackson was a happy boy on his birthday

Mommy and her second born...only by 2 minutes

Mr. Chubby Cheeks Jacob

Packed and ready for the beach but heading to Mimi's on the way out of town for the birthday dinner

Jackson in his jammies heading to the beach

The Cub is a silly fella when he gets really sleepy

Having their first meal at the beach. Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets

Jacob at the beach!!!

Jackson

Jacob taking a nap

View from our balcony

I don't know what it means to pack light...hahaha

Our home away from home for the week

I forgot to take a picture of our bedroom before the last day and I had already stripped everything

Heading home

Jacob tired out from all the sun and sand

Jackson was a happy boy

This is how Jacob sleeps in the van...with his blankie in his mouth

Jackson is OUT!

Watching a movie in the van for the first time. Mickey Mouse I'm sure. They loved it.

Sleepy Jackson. This is just too precious.

Trey and Jackson

Mommy and Jacob

Mommy and both her boys

Someone got into my clean sheets

Going to the car show with our boys....gotta love the traffic

Sleepy boys

I got this

Jacob fell into the basket...I am a terrible mom and had to take a picture before I helped him out. It was too funny. He didn't cry so don't worry. He was fine. LOL

Mommy, Jackson and Sofie

Jacob playing with the tool bench

You can barely see it but the purple-blue thing laying in front of Jackson was a balloon that popped right in front of Jackson when he was playing with it. At first he was fine.

And then all of a sudden.....WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! LOL It was all too funny because he was fine for several seconds. I don't know if he cried in delayed reaction to being scared or if he was crying because his toy was gone.

Playing the piano together

Just hangin out

Like I said in my last post we left for the beach on the boys birthday. We figured we would give the boys their bed time milk and put them in their jammies and hit the road. We drove about five hours and stopped for the night. Our friends Ana and Jason met us at our stopping point for the night so they could go spend the weekend with us at the beach.It was a Friday night. They were going to stay with us through Sunday and then we were staying through the week. The boys are the best travelers ever. They have always done so good in the van. Then the next morning we got up and headed the rest of the way to the beach. We chose Panama City Beach. We went there for the boys' first ever trip to the beach and loved it so we decided to go back to the same place. We had a great week. It was as I had envisioned but it was still great. The boys were a little more difficult at the beach this go around. Last time they weren't mobile and they just laid around. This time they were crawling everywhere so we couldn't just set them down. They were also still taking two naps a day and the whole sleeping down by the pool didn't work out like it did the first time. However, we were at the beach and we were together with friends and we had the whole week to spend with Justin instead of him being at work. The scenery I had during nap time, while washing dishes and doing laundry was much more relaxing and a nice change of pace from being at home so I really can't complain. We still enjoyed our time there. There is just nothing like being at the beach. We got to enjoy our favorite meals at the restaurants we go to every time we are there. Captain Anderson's is my favorite. They have a She Crab Pie dish that is probably my favorite dish of anything I have tasted anywhere in the whole world. It is puff pastry, cream cheese, fish and she crab soup sauce. It is fabulous!!! Justin's favorite is Angelo's. It is a steak restaurant. I have to admit it is one of my favorites too. Yummy steak, baked potato and Texas toast. YUM!!!!!! Ok now I want a steak!!! We spent the day at the pool or in the room. Then at night we would go out to dinner and walk around some of the shops enjoying the evening beach air. Then when we put the boys to bed Justin and I would relax and watch a movie. It was a wonderful, beautiful week. We took some evening pictures on the beach. We didn't get the greatest light behind us but we still got some beautiful pictures. The weather was so nice. It was actually a little on the cool side. It was warm enough to be out in the sun but a little cool to be in the water. I prefer it that way. I don't like being overly hot. It made it nice for the boys too. I can't wait to go back.