Will's First Steps!!

We just taped this video of Will's first steps!

Our Family

Here is our little family: Leann, Will and Jordan

Here is the whole Schaefer family
Top Row: Mira, Ben, Leann, Will, Jordan, Steve, Josh
Middle Row: Amy, Isaac, Pam, Wayne, Jamie, Emma
Bottom Row: Ben, Cianna, Jake
The family on the left is Jordan's sister's family (4 kids).
The family on the right is Jordan's brother's family (3 kids).

The three babies born with 5 weeks of each other:
Will (8-1-07), Emma (9-3-07), Isaac (8-20-07)

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

This year was my first Mother's Day. We did slightly celebrate it last year since I was doing a wonderful job mothering my womb, but this year, it had a whole new meaning for me. Will picked out the perfect card. Jordan and I always find adorable rhyming cards for each other, normally with bears on them, that tell a little story. Will followed in suit.
My card read: "Mom, You're the Greatest...Boo-Boo Kisser, Burp Dismisser, Cookie Baker, Memory Maker, Trouble Spyer, Hug Supplier, Health Inspector, Lie Detector, Wish Fulfiller, Pride Instiller, Effort Praiser, Spirits Raiser, Awesome Mother....like No Other!" Of course, there were little pictures of each attribute. It was so cute that Will found the card all by himself!
I love being a mom. It is really the greatest blessing that I have ever received. I have the cutest and sweetest baby boy, and a wonderful husband who is very supportive and patient. I am so lucky.
I also have two wonderful examples of motherhood a mile away. My mother and mother-in-law are two of the sweetest women I have ever met. Both adore their children and are great selfless moms. Will is so lucky to have them in his life, too.
I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day, too. Whether you have your own children, or are a mothering, nuturing woman in someone's life, we are so blessed to be women!!

Playing outside

Will loves to play outside. He loves the fresh air. He likes to crawl all around, and rarely stays on the blanket. These are pictures from his second time playing outside at the beginning of the month.

Tooth #8!

This morning tooth #8 cut through. It is on his bottom left. He now has four teeth on top and four on bottom. Here is Will in discontent with rosie cheeks from teething. Hopefully now Will can have a break from cutting more teeth!

Look who's trying to walk!

This video is from this morning. Will is cruising along the coffee table. We recently bought a walker for him to practice walking. Two days ago, he finally started to walk forward in it a little bit, and today, he is trying it out on real furniture. Yesterday, he tried to go from object to object to cruise. He went from the coffee table, to an end table, to the couch, etc. He is getting the hang of it!

This morning also, he has been risking letting go of a table so he is standing alone for a few seconds, and then grabbing the next nearest piece of furniture with a little step. Such a thrill seeker!

Will Sleeping in the High Chair

We were at Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer's house with all of Jordan's family. It was an exhausting day with all of Will's cousins. He fell asleep in the high chair!

Will in his crib

Here is a video of Will in the crib. He pulls himself up and falls on his bottom. Check out the teeth marks! Sassy boy. He also has a few things to say!

Will Crawls!

Here is video of Will crawling. This is about three weeks after he started crawling. He is a very good crawler since his first day of crawling. Now, he totally roams all over the house.

The only problematic part of Will crawling was that he instantly wanted to pull himself up to a standing position on things, but he did not know how to fall back down. He would let go of whatever he was holding onto, normally our coffee table, and fall straight back like a stiff board. For about two weeks, I could not let him out of my sight for a second. Once I left the room to run to the bathroom, and I had him practically in our kitchen. Within 15 seconds, he crawled across the room, pulled himself up on our TV stand, and fell straight on his head. He wailed. I did not even get to start to go to the bathroom in that time! Now he knows how to fall, so he has less bumps and bruises!

Playing Ball part 2

In this video, Will has started to roll around and stick his tushie in the air. He pivots his body around by sticking his tush in the air, and rolling it to the other side. He is so close to crawling!! This was the same night as the other video.

Playing Ball

Here is Jordan, Will, and Grammy Pammy playing ball. Will loves playing ball. Grandma Mazur taught him this a little while ago, and ever since, he has gotten so good! He loves to throw the ball now, not just roll it. This video was taken about a month ago when we got home from TX. Will could not crawl yet, but you can see that he was lunging forward.

Will Swimming part 2

Here is Will and Jordan in the pool again, only this time, Will is in his inner tube. Enjoy!

Going swimming!

This is a video of Jordan and Will in Houston, TX, at our hotel pool. It is Will's first time in a pool. He liked it pretty much, but I think it was a little cold for him to love it! I did not have a voice for the duration of our trip, but you might be able to hear me squeak out a few sentences. I tried, anyway!
The pool was on the 24nd floor (not 25th like mentioned on the video), and it overlooked downtown Houston's skyline. It was really neat. Jordan will actually live out of this hotel while he works in Houston until we sell our home and move down there officially.

Finally an update!

Hello everyone! We have been super busy lately, so we have not had time to post all of the wonderful things happening with our family!
Jordan is enjoying a five-week break in between jobs. He is working hard on completing our basement so we can put our house on the market soon! He is also enjoying being a stay-at-home Dad! Now he knows how hard it is to do my job! Jordan is going to be going to Canada for a week with his dad on Sunday. He will be home for two weeks after that, and then he is off to TX for two weeks for training.
I am embracing my new role as working Mom and breadwinner of the family now that Jordan is not working. Okay, so I only work an hour a day, and my bi-weekly checks are less than a day's pay of Jordan's time off. I still like to pretend. I am trying to adjust to having Jordan home with me. It is awesome to see him all day.
Will is awesome. He is everywhere, into everything. He still does not sleep very much. We are going to post a plethera of videos today from the last month and a half. He is so much fun!!

Tooth #6!

Will has 6 teeth now! Three on top, and three on bottom. The third teeth on top and bottom are opposite each other, so on top he has the two front teeth and the left top, and on bottom he has the two front teeth and the right bottom. It is very cute. He loves to grind his teeth...a sound that sends chills up my spine. I think it is worse than finger nails on a chalkboard!
Also, welcome to the wonderful world of teeth, Isaac and Emma! Emma cut her first one this past week, and from pictures, it looks like Isaac cut his a few weeks ago!

The boy is mobile!

Will is crawling! He started about two weeks ago. We'll post video soon!! He actually does the traditional crawl on his hands and knees, not like an army crawl. It took him a few days to realize he has to move his arms with his knees to actually get somewhere, but once he did, he was off and going! He is very quick when he wants to get something. A few days ago, I went to pick him up from Grandma Mazur's house, and he practically raced to me! He fell flat on his face, of course, because he just can't move as fast as he thinks he can!
Since he mastered this milestone, he is very quickly onto the next: pulling up. He LOVES to be in a standing position. He pulls up on his crib, coffee tables, walls, chairs, the TV, legs, basically anything he can get a hold off. This is very problematic. We have 6 different teeth marks on his crib, about 20 on our coffee table, 3 on our rocking chair, a few finger marks on our TV screen, and several bumps on Will's head. He does not yet know how to fall from standing up. He stiffens like a board and drops straight down on his back. He does not learn, and immediately goes back to standing position regardless if someone is there for him or not. We cannot get a single thing done in the house unless we put him in the exersaucer or his crib. He needs to be completely contained.
With this exciting new world to explore, Will has decided to alter his once cherished sleep schedule. Gone are the days of catching up on my sleep!! He will not fall asleep before 10 pm (although we like to go to sleep around 9!) and wakes up about two times a night, standing up in his crib, crying "Mama Maaaa Maaaaa!" It takes us a few minutes to lay him back down and get him to stay laying down to fall back asleep. Then he decides it is time to start the new day at 5:45 am. I feed him, and have to stick in him the swing so we can get another hour of sleep. Will does not nap until about noon now. He'll sleep for about 2 hours. Then he is up until bed at 10ish unless he gives us a break and sleeps for an hour around 6pm. I am desperate for any baby sleeping pills anyone has!!! I hope that he soon tires himself out enough to sleep the night again. It is sooooo hard to go back to a few hours of sleep a night once I got used to sleeping again.

Trip to Houston, TX

A few weekends ago, our family took a little trip to Houston, TX. It was Will's first trip on an airplane, and our first "vacation" since our honeymoon! Will did awesome on the flight. He LOVED looking out the window. He also loved the air vent blowing on him. He constantly had his tongue sticking out like a little puppy. Ever since the plane, in fact, whenever Will feels a breeze, he instantly sticks out his tongue!
Jordan and I have never been to TX before, so it was an interesting experience for us, too. Jordan had an interview with PULSE, an affliate with Discover. He had to interview with his whole line of command, all the way up to the CEO! He did very well, and actually accepted the job. He starts June 16th. We have up to a year to sell our house. I told Jordan I would be supportive of moving...on June 16th, 2009!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE living in WI. Houston is a total scorcher. I would much rather have a blizzard than deal with constant humidity. Everyone says it'll be fun and an adventure, so I might as well suck it up because I am forced to go. Jordan is really looking forward to his new job, though.
We had a fun time downtown Houston. They have a cool restaurant/entertainment area called The Aquarium that we'll take anyone who wants to visit us there. The city is very rich...complete opposite of Milwaukee. Everyone wants to live in the city or as close to it as possible. There is not an urban spraul. Will and I went walking all around downtown while Jordan interviewed. The people there are super nice. They are so friendly and talkative.
The suburbs are so different then here. Every house is fenced in, and a friend of mine said really it is to fence out the bugs that could get in your house. The yards are tiny and the houses are SMACK on top of each other. However, the houses are a ton cheaper there. We'll actually be able to save for Will's mission/college fund! I just hope I can find a house I love half as much as I love our current house!
On the sad side (yep...the violins are playing for me), I had a sore thoat the day for two days before we left, but tested negative for strep, so we decided to continue with our trip. While there, I had NO voice, and developed a severe sinus infection, double ear infection, double pink eye, endless coughing and occasional vomitting. I barely could sleep with all of my coughing, and of course I had no medication with me nor did I really know what I could take since I am still nursing Will. I had a blast. It took about 3.5 weeks to shake it off...hence the lack of posting. Will also developed all of the same symptons the day we got home. Poor Jordan: the lone man left standing. He had to take care of us the whole time.