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.

What's Been Cooking?

After my embarrassing absence from the blogger sphere at the beginning of the new year, I've made a considerable effort to work on my documentation.  It's not that I haven't thought about blogging and I have done a decent job of catching some moments in digital memory to illustrate what in the world the Schafers have been doing.  I must confess that I do feel quite horrible for not broadcasting the exciting news earlier...

On February 26th Pete's CUA adviser brought his dissertation proposal to the Ph.D. committee for approval.  With only a few minor corrections, IT PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is one giant step in the right direction since the proposal phase to the department's Ph.D. committee is often the most difficult to complete.  Now that it is done for Pete, the proposal needs to be okayed by the Academic Dean and then two (I think?!) other faculty readers in other departments.  By no means is the process complete but we are very grateful for the hard work and prayers that have brought us this far and humbly ask for your continued prayers for the next few stamps of approval.

Please also pray our family as we go through some other changes.  I have decided to accept a job offer from Walsh University (my alma mater ('07) and place of employment from 2008-2010 in Campus Ministry before my husband whisked me away).  On April 15th I'll begin training as a Professional Adviser for freshman students.  It'll only be up to 20 hours a week.  I'll be cutting back my hours at Little Flower once the new job starts to get right around 25 hours per week between the two jobs.  With this opportunity though I've had to consider other options for childcare since I can't have Augustine with me during the day at Walsh like I could at Little Flower.  Even though it will really only be for one full day since I can offset my hours with Pete's on the other it has still been a wee bit unsettling.  There are a few other unknown factors that are playing into the whole situation.  As usual, I'm stressing out about things that God will reveal in due time and so I ought to trust and pray for patience.  Again, any prayers you have to offer wouldn't hurt.

Since cooking is another one of my favorite, stress-relieving pastimes I decided to follow up with an activity in the kitchen update.  Not a bad feast for the eyes.  Or the tummy:-)

Layered Chef salad and French Onion Soup

White Bean, Spinach, Sausage, and Fennel Soup. A conglomerate creation: a little from this recipe, a little from that one, and the other one too, dictated by the contents of the cupboards.  YAY! for Chemistry in the kitchen though I doubt Mr. Vagedes would have approved of my measuring procedures.

Our little helper for our Holy Family Feast day pasta making tradition.  We decided to forego the traditional cuts of spaghetti and fettuccine and focus on specialty stuffed ravioli.

Long pasta sheets prepped for stuffing

Ravioli fillings. 1. Cinnamon, Pear, Ricotta 2. Cranberry, Pistachio, Cream Chees 3. Spinach, Mushroom, Garlic, Parmesan 4. Four cheese (not pictured)

Banana cake torted, leveled and filled with vanilla pudding

Base coat of Icing on the cake

Writing and Outline. Black, chocolate icing.  It's yummy but tough to make even with the Wilton gel.

George finished product for Luke's party.

Week 2 Cake Decorating Course.  Dimensional Icing.  Apparently in all the years the instructor has been working, NO ONE has ever chosen the hamburger ( the other options are a fish or a cupcake).  I was the first.  I figured it would work best with the icing colors I had left over from George.  Plus, Pete does enjoy Whoppers ;-)  This was a carrot cake with Vanilla Pudding filling.

Uncle Adam getting some Daddy Practice.  He came over for dinner to enjoy some Garlicky Beef Enchiladas and followed the entre with a serving of the book Duck Soup.  Pete and I sat back and enjoyed the story as well.  The book is quite humorous actually...I've read it to Luke numerous times but for some reason when Uncle Adam read us all the story I couldn't contain my laughter over the characters' shenanigans.

Extruding noodles for Passate a soup recipe that my Great Grandma Gambaccini used to make.  A simple soup of broth and noodles made with flour, egg, parmesan cheese, a little lemon zest, and (my favorite) cinnamon.

Putting the passate noodles in the broth to boil.  For the first time making the soup myself it turned out very well.  However, even with 14-16 cups of broth I felt it needed more for the amount of noodles the recipe made.  Pete also approved of the family dish and it gives us a chance to use some of our fun Kitchenaid gizmo gadgets so I will likely make it again.

Terribly TERRIFIC Twos

On Saturday, March 9th we celebrated Luke's 2nd birthday.  We summoned all Luke's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and even gr-aunts and gr-uncles for the gathering.  It was no black tie affair...in fact, per the wishes of the birthday boy it was a pajama party.  The menu included a fresh fruit salad, apples and caramel, waffles, homefries, 4 different quiches (1. southwestern crustless 2. sausage and cheese 3. spinach, mushroom red pepper, onion and parmesan and 4. italian squash and zucchini) and, of course, BACON!

It was a marvelous afternoon and evening and I know my joy carried me through the whole next week with smiles.  I must admit that I feel a little overwhelmed though with the pressure of all the birthdays yet to come. YIKES!  Pete and I are going to have to sit down and work out some sort of strategy otherwise life is likely to  just turn into One. Big.  Party.  ;-)

Men by the grill monitoring the bacon.  Where else would you find strapping young lads?

Aunt Kate and Uncle Andrew even made the trip from Philadelphia and rocked out the theme with leopard print and some Grinch pj pants.

Glesses past and present

Great Grandma and Grandpa Francis with the birthday boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riding in the wagon as the twins took turns taking laps

The G-pas and other guests with some silly grins

Singing the song two times of course as is the Francis tradition.  Sadly, I did not do any practice run throughs with blowing out the candles thinking that Luke's experience of extinguishing the advent wreath candles was enough training.  Needless to say, a little spittle was added to the icing on the cake :-)  But to "take the cake" in the bad parenting category...being all wrapped up in the food prep and cake decorating I failed to make sure our imaging devices had sufficient power.  Digital camera battery- DEAD!.....Video camera battery- DEAD! wah-wah.  Thank God for Grandma Schafer and her camera!

Up close of the cake before the party.  It was a fun project.  I was ecstatic when I found that Pat Catan's was offering a cake decorating class the Monday before Luke's birthday...phew...just in time.  When I showed up for class I soon learned that the course spanned over 4 weeks.  Luckily I learned enough basics and had enough time to accomplish this sweetie.  Banana Cake with Vanilla Pudding filling.  Not a single slice left which I considered a major plus since I've been making other goodies to practice and do homework for the decorating class.

Even Sr. John-Mark from Arizona made an appearance!

Aunt Lisa and Aunt Debbie sure know how to make a Lukester happy...books....

and Thomas the Tank Engine!!!!! Luke was literally shuttering with excitement.  Unfortunately, Luke didn't understand the phrase "Thank you" until Monday, March 11th.  You better believe we've got one polite two year old on our hands with Pwease, Tankt You, quse me-pardn me, and even No tankt you (i.e. Mommy: Come here Luke. Let's put your pants on.  Luke: No tankt you [with a nod of his head and puppy dog eyes])

Grandma Ans-jsi hanging out with the boys after the party

Uncles Andy and Stevie, Aunt Tess and Grandma enjoying some cake

Mommy and her little "munties".  Curious George is Luke's other favorite character.  Adorned with a mischievous grin, Luke even told a woman at Walsh that his name was George after Mass yesterday.

Uncle Matt, Uncle Joe and Uncle Denny and some of the Neadings even stopped by amidst their busy activity schedule on a Saturday afternoon.  Thanks Uncle Joe and Aunt Denise for providing the Donut appetizers!

As you can see, Luke was not the only one whooped after the party...Dozing with Uncle Andy.