Auggie's World

Peek-a-boo, zooberts, dirty diaper, milk breath, nap, gummy smiles, footie pajamas, toe touches, goo-goo gah-gah, another dirty diaper, another nap, slobber, fussiness, rocking, mindless chatter, nursing, rinse, REPEAT.  Some days this mommy business feels like a torturous cycle where even the cutest of moments are overshadowed by the repetition and exhaustion.

I uploaded most of these pictures months ago.  It's funny to see how much the little rascal has grown.  Even though sleep is documented numerous times don't let it deceive you.  Augustine had a habit of taking short little cat naps through out the day.  I couldn't really complain since he slept decently at night but the twenty minute rest stops didn't leave me much time to accomplish other tasks.  However, now that he is sitting up, trying to move around and engaging in play for longer periods of time he tends to get tuckered out and now will take extended naps.

Loving the time to air out a bit

The death grip.  Those eyes seem to be staying a sort of greenish gray.

Below is a rare treasure since usually when we are spending time with Grandma Schafer she is the one behind the lens.  I remembered to take the camera one day when I was visiting with the boys.It's a double BONUS since grandma also has a tendency to have her eyes shut in photographs ;-) In light of the recent celebration of Mothers' Day I wanted to add an extra thank you for being a great mother-in-law and always making me feel comfortable enough to spend time with you whether Pete is able to be there or not.  This was a great afternoon where I enjoyed hearing the tales of your horse you had growing up.

The picture below of Augustine in the Mickey sleeper is from January 13th.  He's sporting the outfit from our friends Megan and Mike that live in Florida.  Unfortunately it only got a half day worth of wear because of a blow-up diaper and the stress put on the snaps during the first fitting.

The four pictures that follow the Mickey outfit are all from the beginning of January.   We made an attempt at solid food which seemed to go okay in the very beginning but quickly lost it's novelty.  I don't think it helped that both the boys got a little bit of a bug in mid-January.  Augustine is accepting more solids now but Luke was definitely more receptive at this age.  Of course I have a number of theories as to why this is but primarily I think it's the fact that I'm around more with Augustine than I was with Luke at this age so why should Augustine work so hard to chew/swallow the solids when mommy's milk is so readily available?

 The one where Augustine is laying on the quilt in the striped sweater and Luke is watching makes Augustine seem like such a tiny, helpless baby. But the one that follows soon after indicates that this here boy is likely to instigate plenty of trouble with his older brother as an accomplice.

Big brother pep talk

Cold January night where daddy made a fire in the fireplace and Augustine made himself comfortable on mommy and daddy's cuddle spot.

Up to no good.

These two pictures (above and below) are from the end of February putting Augustine at 4.5 months old. He and his brother are becoming pretty good friends.  It's music to my ears when I hear Luke talking with Augustine and they both erupt with laughter playing "Peet-a-boo" or having stare downs.  Auggie gained strength and endurance when it came to tummy time and even managed a smile while down on the ground allowing the abundance of drool to escape.

Notable dates include Monday, February 11th, 2013 when Augustine rolled from back to belly on his own.  He still hasn't really mastered going from belly to back although I've witnessed it in a couple instances.  Also, Augustine's first tooth broke through on April 15th, 2013. It's his bottom, left, front tooth.  It's neighbor is due to break through any time now but I don't know that any of the pictures will give a good view.



You can see Augustine's admiration for his big brother in the next few photos.  This was taken about a week before Easter when Augustine was learning to sit up on his own.  I asked Luke to touch his cheek to Augustine's for a picture.  This is the reaction I got. Eventually I got him to close the gap for the brotherly love picture but never accomplished the cheek-to-cheek arrangement.

I'm pretty far behind in documenting the vital statistics but perhaps doing it this way allows for an easier comparison.  Here are the measurements for his 4 month appointment on Feb. 20th

• 15lbs. 13 oz.(50-75 percentile)
• 25.5 inches tall (50-75th percentile)
• 16.75 inch head circumference

And for his 6th month appointment, according to the doctor, he had "perfect" measurements.  This assessment came the same week that the deacon gave the homily explaining that three was/is the perfect number...not too much and not too little.  Just right.

Measurements for Augustine John Schafer at 6th months (4/17/13)

• 17 lbs. (33rd percentile)
• 26.5 inches tall (33rd percentile)
• 17 inch head circumference

 Augustine is slated to return to the doctor for a 9th month appointment on July 31st.  We'll see where he is at then but in the meantime we'll enjoy watching the ways he continues to grow in all regards.

 

I have a feeling that Augustine is going to be quite the stinker.  He certainly likes to be right in the mix of things.  He wants to be right in the middle of the action.  Although he hasn't officially started crawling yet he manages to make his way around by stretching and scootching and bouncing.  He can go from his stomach back into sitting position.  He reaches and pulls himself up on whatever he can as you can see by the final photo where he pulled himself up from sitting position in the crib in a matter of seconds.  And boy is he proud of it!  His new trick is clapping his hands together and he continues to practice buzzing his lips.  I suspect he'll be more mobile soon which I both look forward to and dread.  He'll be less frustrated once he can move around on his own, I believe, but it will also mean I can expect him to get into more trouble.  Especially since he's got a ready made assistant.

Augustine John -7 months

Hookin' it up!

I've clocked in more than 30 hours each of  the past two weeks between training at Walsh and closing up the year of religious education at Little Flower.  So, I'm taking a break and catching up.  Here's another post and there are likely more to come for the night.

In mid-April, Ohio was graced with the appearance of one Stephany Quinn Medicine Woman.  I played soccer with Steph in college and though she is a native of Mississauga, Ontario (the land of the maple leaf) we've managed to stay in touch.  To be totally honest I would like to communicate with her more regularly but given I don't get much vacation time from being mom and she is in her residency for medical school I'm grateful that we make the contact we do between a couple letters by post and intermittent messaging via the world wide web.

I remember getting particularly excited when we moved back to Ohio thinking It will be reasonable to take the boys up to visit Steph now.  Shortly thereafter she moved out to B.C. for residency which isn't quite as reasonable a roadtrip.

Lucky for us, Steph and her boyfriend Dan ventured down to "the heart of it all" and we were able to connect in Canton.

 That's me on the far left, then Nicole who started at Walsh the same year and played soccer with us, then Steph, next is Jess (one of Steph's roommates in college), Kristen (a year ahead of us on the soccer team) and Becky the hostess and another one of Steph's roommates at Walsh).

During her brief stay she updated us on the ways of her world in medical school and introduced us to this film where her dad, who is big into extreme sports, got a major role as "Mr. Spreckles".  (WARNING: video contains some language that is not appropriate for all ages) Ski Ballet.  Apparently, the video was an entry in a film festival contest where they had a limited time to create a short film.  Interestingly, ski ballet was in fact a sport at one time as I learned watching a few videos of actual competitors.  Having never really skied before I find the skill admirable although the video takes a slightly more humorous and colorful approach.

It was fun to hang out with some of my college friends and remember those good ol' days.  However, the phrase "When did we get so old!?!?!" was blurted out on more than one occasion.  It's nice being around those friends that even though you don't get together often you manage to "connect" and pick up right where you left off.

In sticking with the theme of making connections, I thought I would refer you to my sister's blog so you can compare photos of our pretzel rolls.  She made hers first and when I saw them on her blog I decided that they would be a integral part of the birthday dinner for my mother-in-law who loves pretzels.  I made a chicken salad, as well as, sausage and peppers and onions  (more for my father-in-law) both of which tasted great on the rolls.  I think Kate's look nicer than mine but they still tasted great!

Also, feel free to enter Kate's haiku contest. She had a limerick contest around Thanksgiving 2012 but that's on her old blog site I believe.  My other sister Tess was one of the winners for that one.  It was pretty hard to beat seeing as she wrote a limerick to announce her pregnancy.  We are getting excited to meet baby boy Maione due on July 13th.


And finally, a couple random pictures.  Here we have Luke who likes to exhibit his new found climbing skills by scaling to the top bunk.

 And here is Augustine in a photo courtesy of Grandma Angie where he meets the dashing young man in the mirror.

Any tash batt?!?!?

The last weekend in April was priceless.  Whooda thunk that the cashier at Aldi would be such an influential individual in our son's life?

Three quarters of the way through our adventures this past Saturday Luke, once again, rocked our world with his random awesomeness.  Engaging in playful conversation while exploring the playground behind our church, Pete and I exchanged puzzled glances as Luke implored repeatedly, "Any tash batt?"  [Activate toddler talk translator sequence].

BBuZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Beep. Beep-beep. Beeeeeeeppp.  Beep-beep.

bbbrrrrriiing. brrrring.

Chirp. Chir-chir chirp. glub. glub.

ZAMBONI!

Sincere apologies for the delay for those proficient in kiddy code, but for those that are still wondering Luke was asking "Any cash back?!?"  As in, we are checking out at the register and using our debit card and the cashier wants to know if we want to get our hands on some paper money.

After figuring out what Luke was saying I, of course, got all philosophical.  After the day's activities I was quite confident in responding to Luke, "No thank you Luke, but thanks for asking."  You see,  I was the happiest mom/woman in the world.  Feeling truly blessed and abundantly joyful I could think of nothing else that I needed nor wanted.  Kind of like the day a couple months ago when Luke got his blanket and curled up on the sack for a nap without any prompting from me and Augustine miraculously settled down for his nap at the same time.

The glorious day I was reflecting on began with a relatively unplanned excursion to the Akron Zoo.  The Maione family that had us in the Christmas gift exchange got our family a membership to the zoo.  We were waiting for warmer weather to activate it.  Without too much premeditation we seized the sunny last Saturday of April to activate the membership.  Needless to say there were plenty of other folks that thought the zoo was a great idea that day too.  Despite the crowd we had a wonderful time.  We packed a lunch of pizza rolls I had made the night before and perused the penguins, lion, and tiger, and bears.  OH MY!

 We continued through other mini adventures like this rope bridge and an explorer truck and hideout.  We laughed a little at the excitement of onlookers in the farm animal exhibit since we find those creatures commonplace but realize we would probably ignite the same laughter over our excitement to traverse the city world's public transportation system.  Luke was uninterested in feeding the goats crackers or paper cups for that matter especially since the train ride caught his attention and led to a formidable two-year old fit.  Luckily we found a stationery train where he could sit and hang out a while on our exit route that helped the tears subside.

Mommy and daddy indulged in a treat a Swenson's on the way home since the boys drifted off to sleep [muuuah-ha-ha-ha-ha] just as planned. We arrived at the homestead in time to reload the picnic thermal tote and freshen up a bit before heading to the vigil Mass at our parish.  There is a school at our parish that dons an enticing play area.  We had been promising Luke we would stop after church once the weather was nice.  That day had come.  Prayer and worship was excellent and made particularly wonderful by well-behaved offspring from which the sun had sapped just enough energy to reduce the wiggles and inspire attentiveness.  Prayers of thankfulness continued after the closing hymn as we led a skipping Luke by hand to the playground.  He was a little annoyed by us interrupting his play time to snap a photo.

The second picnic of the day included roast beef and tabouli wraps, pretzels, grapes, apples, and a leftover pizza roll from lunch.  Below is the aftermath.

Earlier in the week, Luke had become more brave in tackling ladders and other obstacles on the other playground that we frequent which set him up marvelously to enjoy the variety of slides, the shaking bridge, swings, and seesaws behind the school.  I stood nearby the daring young lad, as the sun disappeared behind the hill, the air got a bit of a chill, and I heard for the fortieth time "Any tash batt?!?!?" with his small hand outstretched and thought. No. No thank you Luke. I've got all that I need and no amount of money or possessions could possibly bring as much joy as this day or the time spent with my husband and amazing little persons. 



 And then, there's that smile.