The Schaffers

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. :)

Jackson loves his fingers.

Jacob loves his blankie

Sleepy heads out having lunch with Memaw

Trey and Taryn came to spend the afternoon with us and Trey wanted a tent to play in.

Baby Girl Taryn

Jacob

Tummy time

Wearing a 6 month outfit for the first time!

Jacob the tummy sleeper

Jackson doesn't hardly move at all when he is asleep now

They love to sit and play with their toys

This has nothing to do with the boys. This is what I had for dinner when Justin and I went to Atlanta. Cosmo Tidbits from Trader Vic's...YUM!!!!

Again, has nothing to do with the boys but we saw this cloud on our way home from Atlanta and Justin said it looked like a poodle. :) LOL

August was really fun because, as I have already posted, we went on our very first family vacation. The boys are such amazing awesome travelers.

We switched the boys to size 2 diapers on the 11th. The boys went to see Dr. Shults on the 14th, for their 4 month check up...complete with shots. The boys got to celebrate with me on my 26th birthday for the first time on the 20th. We took the boys to their first concert on the 25th to see William McDowell. At the end of the month we left for another trip to St. Louis. We left on Thursday to go to Nashville for the night so Daddy could work in Nashville on Friday and then went to St.Louis on Saturday, September 1st.

Both boys were still sleeping through the night. I was still swaddling them at night but not during the day for nap time. They always at least slept from 10pm-8am but sometimes went to bed earlier and slept later. I am so incredibly blessed with wonderful sleeping babies. I prayed the entire time I was pregnant for babies that would be good sleepers and that they are. God has truly blessed me.

Jacob:
Jacob weighed 12 pounds 3 ounces (27%) and was 23 1/2 inches long (34%). He did NOT do well with the 4 month round of shots. It was a terrible 24 hours. He got a fever, wouldn't eat, threw up when he did eat and was terribly lethargic. I was so scared. I just held him and cried. We made our first call to the doctor after hours. She said we could give him pedialyte if he didn't pick up his eating the next day. Thankfully he started eating the next day but was still out of it and ran a fever. He never really fully recovered from that and went straight into a terrible cold. We made our first sick visit to the doctor on the 21st. He had a terrible terrible cough. I was worried he had something bag going on in his lungs but when they checked at the doctor everything was clear. There was just a virus going around and she said it would just have to run its course but it could take a while. It sure did. He coughed for weeks. On the 24th Jacob woke up that morning and just laid there cooing. He had never really done that before. It was so sweet. Jacob was taking anywhere from 4-6 ounces of formula. Dr. Shults told us to wait another month before we started introducing cereal. Jacob was still a little slower than Jackson most of the time eating but sometimes he would beat him while Jackson still had half of his bottle left. There is no rhyme or reason to his eating habits. He isn't burping as much now. Instead of burping half way through and at the end of feedings we just burped at the end. He has decided that he would rather chew on his fingers than his paci. He was really cooing a lot by the end of the month. The funniest thing he does is slam his feet. We call him the "foot slammer". He will be laying in his bed, pick up his feet and slam them down as hard as he can. It is so funny!!! He has decided that he likes something soft, especially his blanket, next to his face when he goes to sleep rather than being swaddled. He would get out of his swaddle and pull the blanket up to his face. He had decided at this point that he was no longer a fan of tummy time. His favorite toy if Sofie the giraffe and he still likes to lay in the jungle and play. He will jump in the jumperoo a little bit but is still a little too small for it. He discovered his toes on the 30th and is trying to roll over. He will get all the way over on his side and then roll back. He is also trying to hold his own bottle now. He will bring his hands to the bottle but can't exactly hold it up but does try.

Jackson:
Jackson weighed 14 pounds 3 ounces (72%) and was 24.8 inches long (81%). He was exactly 2 pounds heavier than Jacob. You can definitely feel that when you pick them up. Jackson did absolutely fine with the shots. On the 24th he caught Jacob's virus. He never got quite as sick as Jacob but did get a pretty bad cough. Jackson was taking 6 ounces consistently four times a day. I have to limit him because he would eat until there was no more formula but makes himself sick. He is a big boy. He is saying "a-goo" alot. He talks so much when he gets sleepy. It is very funny because it is almost he does like me when he gets very sleepy he almost get delirious. He starts talking and laughing. It is so funny. He kicks a lot and turns circles in his bed and will kick off of blankets when put on the floor. He is not a fan of tummy time either. I make him do tummy time for a little while for exercise sake. He love Sofie the giraffe and jumping in the Jumperoo and does so well. He is laughing and talking a lot more and interacting. It is so fun. He has started sucking on his fingers instead of sucking on a paci.

My favorite thing from this month was walking in to the boys' room in the morning or after nap time and seeing them smile at me every time. They always wake up so happy. They both just lay there and will coo and play for a while when they wake up.They are such awesome babies. I love them so much. August was such a great month!!!!

The boys hanging out while I packed for the beach

Everything set out and ready for the suitcases

Mommy and Jacob

Sleepy boy chewing on his fingers

On our way to the beach

Jackson was excited about being on the road to the beach

Jacob was so funny. He would just watch out the window for hours at a time.

THE BEACH!!!

The boys hanging out by the pool in their tent.

The view from our bedroom. It was so beautiful!

Ok this has absolutely nothing to do with the boys but I just had to share. Justin and I went out on a date while we were at the beach ( Aunt Tia kept the boys for us). We went to my favorite restaurant in Panama City...Captain Andersons and I had my favorite meal...She Crab Pie. I have never put such amazing goodness in my mouth. It is a puff pastry with fish and cream cheese inside and set on a bed of she crab soup. OH MY !!!!!!!!

Jacob relaxin by the pool

Jackson

The boys were worn out. They fell asleep on one another.

Jacob. Not sure what he was doing but fell asleep like this.

They were watching football like they were so in to it

This is when my baby boy Jacob was so sick the day of his shots. I took all of his clothes off to try and keep him cool but he still wanted his blankie. My poor baby. It still makes me hurt thinking of how bad he felt that night.