One third of my First Year is done!

Jonathan has been growing up so fast we can hardly believe it. Here are a few pictures of our adventures over the last month!

First is Young's Farm. We went with our old college roommates and had a blast checking out the crafts and delicious food! It was the last year for the annual event, since the farm has been sold, so we jumped at the chance to experience some beautiful fall colors and cooler weather.

We forgot a hat to shield his eyes so "Uncle" Mike gladly loaned out his!





The rest of the pictures just show how much he has grown up in the last month. He is 14.5 pounds and 25.25 inches long. We are pretty sure he was measured longer than he really was at his 2 month appointment since he is back to the 50th percentile in all areas.

Here he is finally enjoying, not just tolerating, tummy time. He officially rolled over on his own today from tummy to back.


Chris was playing piano for him and looked over to find he had covered himself in the blanket and was peeking out, playing peek-a-boo with himself!



We caught him napping with his best friend after a long car trip home.

For those of you who keep insisting he doesn't make noise- here is the proof!


He used to be able to sleep this way in his crib, but now he is too long!

This is my improvisational mini bathtub to help him get used to a bath in the BIG BOY tub.


He has been pulling himself up into a seated position more and more and he doesn't topple over to the side as much either!


As for the rest of the family, there have been some lingering complications for me from his delivery and it looks like some corrective surgery will be needed in the near future. Please keep us in your prayers as we consider the timing of the surgery in light of the approaching holiday season.

The Promised Pictures

Here are the results of our somewhat frustrating day of picture taking! It started out great! He was all smiles, giggles and coos in the morning, but then he fell asleep on the way to the photography studio and was NOT happy to be woken up. Not only did he not get to finish his wonderful nap, he was forced to change out of a perfectly clean outfit (twice!) and have bright lights flashed at him for over half an hour! I have to admit, though, the pictures turned out much cuter than we thought they were going to be. I have wallet sizes of these first 5 if any one would like to have one and the others are just for fun!

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This is our first family portrait! (And a couple of individual portraits)

These are some silly and fun pictures!

"Monkeys!"



















"Not a fan of this, Mom!"

He has all three outfits on at one time! It was just too much to take the clothes off, then put more on :)
















"Are we done yet? Please?"














"Ok, one last smile for the camera!"

Jonathan is 3 months old!

He has been a blast to play with these past few weeks. He has started "talking" to us, making funny and sometimes loud noises. He has also become fascinated with anything that can reach his mouth. I am pretty sure he is in the early stages of teething since he loves the feel of a frozen teether toy on his gums.















He has also been getting so much stronger. He holds his head up all the time now and can sit very well on our laps facing any direction. His vision has been getting better, too. He has started noticing the cat, who was just a big, blackish blur up until now. Check out Tiger stalking him.















He follows us with his eyes, then his head, then his entire body as we walk around the room. Also for some reason, he is fascinated with something in the kitchen. Below is a picture of what he sees as he cranes his neck over my shoulder for a better look. From the angle I am guessing he either wants to be a florist (flowers on cabinets) or a chef (the refrigerator). Personally, I am hoping it is a chef so he can cook for us since neither Chris or I love cooking! As a side note, we keep asking "What are you looking at?" and his response is "At!" which we are taking to mean "That! Duh, Mom!" so he really isn't any help at all!















He has been enjoying his tummy time more, as some of you may have noticed in the pictures on schaefers0630.shutterfly.com. Thank you for all of your suggestions! We will have some professional pictures taken next weekend so check back then to see the whole family!















We started putting him on his side to sleep in a sleep positioner because we noticed that his preference for turning his head to the right was making his head lopsided. Now, even without the positioner, he wiggles and kicks until he gets on his side, then falls peacefully asleep!















These are just pictures of how cute he is!















On November 4th, we are participating in Arizona's JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. A friend of ours has a 14 month-old daughter who was diagnosed 6 months ago with Juvenile or Type 1 diabetes. This is the second time this devastating disease has struck someone close to us. My cousin's daughter was also diagnosed about a year ago. Chris and I are walking as members of "Grace's Gang" and would love to have your financial support! Please visit http://walk.jdrf.org/ to find out more on how you can help!

Some new pics!

Jonathan went in for his two month appointment last Friday and gave us a shock. He shot from the 50th percentile in height to the 90th (from 22 inches to 24.5 inches)! He also gained 37 ounces in 31 days (from 9 lbs 13 oz to 12 lbs 2 oz)! He only needed to gain an ounce a day to be on track. The doc said he looked great and then thye loaded him up with immunizations. Since he had to get 4 different shots, 2 nurses came in and did them two at a time which meant he only had to cry for about 30 seconds! He did really well with them, only running a small fever for the rest of the afternoon. Chris stayed home from work that day and it was great having all of us together for a long weekend.

Last week we were also battling a little cold. Both of my boys were not feeling the greatest, but luckily I stayed healthy and could take care of Jonathan while Chris had to fend for himself.

This is Jonathan's newest and most favorite toy. We call it his jungle gym which I’m sure will mess him up for life when he learns what a real jungle gym is :). It plays all kinds of jungle sounds (he loves the elephant’s trumpet) or calypso style music while it lights up. I searched for it at 4 or 5 Target stores before finding it at a one I stopped at on the spur of the moment. Go figure! At least he loves it so it was worth all the effort!

He is getting so coordinated now when he reaches for his toys! I was trying to capture a smile and got this pose instead. We call it “What up, Homey”.
If we needed proof that he is indeed my son, look no further than this picture. He isn’t even three months old and he has the thumb sucking technique mastered!
This is his reaction to Tummy Time after about 3 minutes! Any suggestions from you more experienced moms on how to make it more fun and less traumatic?
These are some pictures of Jonathan hanging with Daddy. Chris can coax a smile out of this kid like no one else. However, I am a half second too slow in my picture taking so we have yet to capture his absolutely dazzling smile on camera. You really have to see it in person—it is impossible not to smile back. This first one is after Daddy's magic touch calmed him down late at night. At Grandpa and Grandma Schaefers' house!Check out the two of them seriously pondering whatever it is in front of them!
He likes to reach out and touch your face as you talk to him.
We think his tummy is his most ticklish spot!

I am 2 months old today!

Here is what I look like a mere 61 days after I was born. First there is one of me at just a few days old to compare!
This is me leaving the hospital.
Here is how I spent my 2 month birthday. First Mom and I ran some errands. Then I was just hanging with my ducky friend.
Later, yawn, I swung along while Mom cooked dinner.
Finally, I just crashed for the night!













This definitely doesn't go down in the history books as an exciting day, but as you can see I sure am growing up quickly!

Fun Pictures

These show just a snapshot of what our days are like. I hope you enjoy them!
Chris and Jonathan watching sports. (Check out Sage's depressed look.)
Just chillin'
I don't think he meant to look this silly!
Someone wants a hug!

He is getting so big!

My first smiles!

This is me and my mom just hanging out.
My first smile that my parents caught on camera,
followed my this one minutes later! (This was on Saturday, Sept. 2.)
Then I really showed off a couple days later with these two huge smiles!
There is just something so funny about Daddy's face! I always smile when I look at him!