The Schaefer Update

Our 6 year anniversary!

2010-07-17T09:57:00.001-05:00

For our 6th year wedding anniversary, Jordan and I went to Benihana's Restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. I haven't been there before, and Jordan hadn't been there since he was around 12 years old. It was a neat experience. Eight people sit around a grill and a cook comes to cook just for us. The other people we had at our table included a couple celebrating their 44th anniversary and four of their kids, one of which was pregnant, too! It was fun chatting with them and watching our food being cooked right in front of us.

The cook created our chicken fried rice in the shape of a heart...awww....

Jordan and I ate the chicken/tenderloin filet special. The food was so yummy!

Here is my food-no need for forks or knives since everything was in bite-sized pieces.
Overall, we had a lot of fun and ate some yummy food. Maybe one of these years, we will be able to go away for the weekend just the two of us! I am hoping in 2012!

Will's first ER trip...

2010-06-07T15:37:00.001-05:00

While Jordan and I were preparing lunch today, Will was playing in the living room. We think he must have either been practicing a somersault or running without looking where he was going again. He must have hit his head on the edge of the wall. Jordan heard a bang and all I heard next was blood-curtling screaming. We ran in the living room and saw Will hunched over crying. We picked him up and saw a huge hole about the size of my thumb print in his forehead. It looked soooo deep, like it never ended. Jordan immediately rushed him into our new van while I turned off the stove and grabbed the diaper bag. I think we drove faster to the hospital than we did while test driving the van, and that is really saying something. Will was in agony and blood was dripping into his eye. We held a cold, wet cloth over it, but he hated every second. I rushed into the ER admissions area while Jordan parked the van, and they took us in right away. The hole was no longer bleeding by the time we got to a room, which is a good thing. The nurses kept saying they couldn't believe it stopped. Will was lucid by very upset. They eventually put a numbing gel on a gauze pad and tapped it to his head. We were in the room for about an hour before they did the stitches. Imagine keeping Will contained in a small room for an hour, and then imagine doing it while he is super cranky and has blood all over! Definitely not an easy afternoon! We did our best with opening and closing doors, flushing the toilet, and turning lights on and off.
When the time for stitches came, I had to leave the room. My stomach was already in knots and with the baby constantly kicking, I thought I was going to either go into meltdown or vomit. Jordan was a trooper and stayed with Will. They put his arms in a pillow case behind his back, and then wrapped him in a straight jacket. He had five stitches put in. He was hysterical when I went back in the room, and all he wanted was to go home. We brought him home, put in a Blue's Clues, gave him his most prized blue chuppie, and within a half and hour, he fell asleep. All he wanted was to be held and snuggled. It was so wonderful holding him, but felt horrible under these conditions. I really envy parents who have children who want physical comfort since Will normally never wants it.
As you can see, he has a black eye and cut under his right eye, as well as the stitches above.

My Poor Baby!

My boys!

2010-06-03T21:50:00.001-05:00

This last few weeks have been really fun for me. I get to see Will develop an attachment to a stuffed toy for the first time ever-Blue. And for the third time ever, he fell asleep on the floor! Unfortunately, this time it was around 4:30pm. He just couldn't hold out any longer after refusing to nap earlier in the afternoon.

SOOOO Sweet! Kisses for Blue!

In addition to Will forming an attachment to a character on a movie, my husband also found an obsession based on a character in a movie: Tony Sparks from Iron Man. For some reason, my Dear Husband is obsessed with shaping his facial hair in fun ways. The latest is the Iron Man look. Notice the thinner mustache that doesn't quite touch the goatee? The edges of each are angled slightly. Also, the soul patch is in the shape of an hour glass instead of like a rectangle. I think it looks very similar Jordan's regular goatee, but this new look makes me laugh a little inside. Only my Jordan would think to even attempt to do this. He is soooo sad no one has "noticed" and he has had it for a few weeks. I wonder if people really do notice and are too nice to say anything. At least it is not the Colonel Sanders look! I love you Jordan!

Mother's Day

2010-06-03T21:36:00.001-05:00

This is me and my baby girl in May, around 25 weeks. Getting bigger each week! I measured almost 28 cm at my 26 week mark when I went to the doctor. Maybe this means the baby will come either early or on time instead of having to evict her?!?

After a few mommy meltdows before church because Will would not cooperate to take a picture on Mother's Day with me using my subpar old camera, he surprised me after church with two (out of 50ish) cute ones! YEAH! Happy Mother's Day to me!

We spent the day at church, and then had Jordan's parents over for a super yummy dinner. We later visited my Grandma and Aunt Kathy for about an hour. That was the day! One of these days, I think it would be fun to be pampered myself. Maybe when I am a grandma? Jordan built my WONDERFUL storage shelves for an early Mother's Day present. More pictures on that to follow!
Here are my favorite reasons I am a mom, in no particular order:
*I get to have Will in my life!!
*Being someone's favorite person is a wonderful feeling
*Knowing I am responsible for someone else's well-being and survival is an awesome responsiblity and
*It helps me be more selfless
*Heavenly Father finally found a lasting way to teach me patience
*Hearing "mommy" makes my heart melt, especially since we don't take any spoken words for granted
*I met a great group of girlfriends from my MOMS club that I enjoy seeing all the time
*Having a child helps me better understand the awesome love Heavenly Father and Jesus have for each one of us-I could never sacrifice my son for anyone
*Having a child with special needs really helps me understand the enabling power of the Atonement. I could never do it on my own without the strength of the Lord
*I am learning to be more relaxed for the first time in a decade since I am not in control of Will and I really must choose my battles
*My relationship with my wonderful husband has exponentially increased as I watch him become the best father anyone could ask for

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother's Day, too!

April

2010-06-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

So, as always, I am a little behind on the blogging! ;)
Here is me and my baby girl in at the beginning of April, around 21 weeks. I am showing much earlier and larger this time around. I constantly get comments about "being ready to pop" when in reality, I have quite some time left. Makes a girl feel really pretty, ya know? I actually don't mind all that much because having a(nother) baby is a blessing that I'll never take for granted. I don't care what I have to go through to experience it! My pregnancy this time around is almost as nice as Will's was. I am a little more tired/exhausted mainly due to having to chase around Will this time around, and I am a little more achy, especially at night. Again, it's probably from the added weight and from being exhausted all day having an almost three year old!

Here is my sweet sweet boy! Isn't this such a nice picture? I just loved my new camera while it lasted. Will is looking and smiling, but like all wonderful things, they must come to an end.
At the end of April, Will decided to chuck my brand new, very expensive camera down the stairs. It was not in his reach, but it was also not in the bag since I used it so often. He is my little mission man: If he wants it, it will be his! Who could blame him! All the fun buttons and flash, seeing adorable pictures of himself with the review setting: It's enough to make me want it, too! Probably not being able to turn it on was enough reason to see if it was more fun tumbling downstairs.
After my mommy meltdown about how Will only destroys my things and never Jordan's, we tested it out and sure enough, it had to be repaired. It is currently being serviced, so let's hope it can be fixed for less than buying a new one! Deep breaths and constantly repeating, "I love Will, I wanted Will, I love Will, I don't want to throw Will down the stairs because I love Will" helped a lot through this process. One day he'll understand rules and directions, right?!?

One of my most treasured time of day is tucking Will in. He is such a trooper going to bed. We used to dread it and fight with him, but now he just hops right in after getting jammies on and brushing his teeth. We put on a nighttime diaper, tuck him under the blankets, he picks out a "pootie" from his stash, we say prayers and get kisses (complete with audiable "Mu-ahhhss). We shut the door mostly, and peak our heads through. He says, "bye." We say, "bye." He says, "I YOU." We say, "I love you, too," close the door, and he is out for the count! We are now getting him to fall asleep with his Blue's Clues dog in hopes of creating a new comfort toy so he can move past the pacifier. It has been the only thing his little guy has developed an attachment to, so it is extra hard just taking it away. Doesn't he look like an angel? One that would never ever chuck my camera down the stairs?

My Newest Nephew!

2010-05-30T19:35:00.004-05:00

My brother and his wife had their first baby on May 29, 2010 at 9:30am. This is the second Mazur grandbaby on my side...both boys. Kevin can breathe a sigh of relief since he is officially off the hook to carry on the Mazur name! Our daughter and their son will be about 3 months apart! It will be fun when we'll see each other!

Mary had to have a C Section. I had to post this picture since I think it is so funny! It is like he is a little gangsta, "Yo Yo Yo! West Siiiiiide!"

They named him Jackson Patrick Mazur. Jackson was also our #1 boy name, so it is a really good thing we are having a girl. Stats: 8lbs, 6 oz. 20 1/2 inches. Jackson is 9 oz heavier than Will was and the same height. He is healthy and doing well!

He looks like such a big boy but so tiny at the same time! Congrats, Kevin and Mary, on FINALLY expanding your family ;) We can't wait to meet him and shower him with love!

Mary's Baby Shower

2010-04-08T13:48:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law Mary came in from AZ for her baby showers at the end of March. It was soooo great to see her and my braja and her big ol' belly ;) Needless to say, I am THRILLED they are having a baby! It'll be so nice for Will and his little sister to have a cousin! They are due May 27th. I am due August 25th, so the babies will be pretty close in age! I love this picture of us being pregnant together! Both of my pregnancies have been shared by my sisters-law. My first with Jordan's two sisters and my this one with Miss Mary!

Here is a picture of the "Mazur" girls!

The shower was really nice. We had a nice turn out of family and family friends to see Kevin and Mary. My mom took a lot of care with making cute decorations: The clothes line, the three-tiered cake with bear on top that was filled with baby stuff, favors, etc. See the Web Albums on the side for more pictures. Blogger has only been letting me upload 4 pictures. Does anyone know a way around this?
We played a few games: baby word scramble, baby nursery rhyme challenge, name the baby using letters from the parent's name, and Double Prices from the Price is Right. All games were really fun and Kevin and Mary did a great job winning extra gifts!

Here is the future Mommy and Daddy-to-be! Congrats! We love you guys so much!

Milwaukee Zoo day!

2010-04-08T13:29:00.000-05:00

Last week we were having BEAUTIFUL weather, so two girlfriends from my MOMS club and I took the kids to the Zoo. It was a beautiful day, but almost got too hot by the end of the time we were there. Will did fairly well at the Zoo. I was nervous since the ratio of kids to adults was 5:3, but with the other two super Moms, I felt supported. Will is quite the handful! While the other kids were looking attentively at the animals, Will just wanted to run and open/close the doors leading in and out of buildings. I don't really blame him; animals at the zoo don't really do anything. They seem bored themselves!

Here is our group~Stephanie is pushing the double stoller with her nephew in the back and Will in the front. Connor, Mason and Ashley are walking as nice as can be while Kajja is pushing one of two double wagons.

The line was too long to wait to go on the train, so we put all the kids on the Carousel. It was Will's first time, and he LOVED it! He especially loved going up and down while looking at himself in the mirrors. When I tried to get him off, he ran in and out of the horses so I couldn't grab him to remove him. We were the last ones out of the gate :(

We had a great time with our friends! I can't image how hot it'll feel to me this summer being so pregnant when the beginning of April felt too hot. Will even had a bright red face and was sweating all day. I think it got to be 85 degrees. Today it is snowing, though...gotta love WI!
Check out the web album on the side for more zoo pics!

It's a....

2010-04-07T12:53:00.002-05:00

We just got back from the doctor, and the results are conclusive! We saw the labias, so we are having a baby girl!
We are excited for this news since now we'll both know what it is like to be a Mommy/Daddy to each gender and the experience the different feelings that come with it. We are excited also since girl clothes are SOOOO cute! We are secretly excited since the chance of a boy having Autism is four times higher than a girl. It doesn't mean she won't, but the risk is a little bit less! We are now in the mist of the name game since Jordan and I each have a huge list of girl names we really like. This may be our last child, so we need to be very picky about it!

Will's New Playground

2010-04-06T14:04:00.003-05:00

We just got this new playground for Will! Click on the picture for the full size. We bought this exact one with the same colors, only we don't have the frisbee swing and we substituted a regular sling swing for a baby swing. We are super excited for April 18th when it comes and is installed FREE! Jordan didn't really want to build one from a kit since I have a huge list of projects already for him to do. We desperately needed something for Will to do in the backyard, and decided a playground is the way to go since he LOVES going to the park. This will save me on days I have to do chores and once the baby comes. If Jordan has an important phone call for work, he can just let Will outside to play! Will can do almost everything pictured, plus it is fun enough for as he gets older. Anyone want to come over to play?

Playground Fun!

2010-04-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

After the Easter Bunny Egg Hunt, we let Will run to the playground that he soooo desperately longed for. These are a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon. I loved this picture of Will with GREAT eye contact and cracking a smile, but upon closer inspection, I realized he isn't the only one showing a crack ;) Feel free to click the picture to enlarge!

This picture makes me happy. Jordan is such a great dad!! He plays so nicely with Will at the park by going down the slides and chasing him everywhere. Will loves to go down a slide and look behind him to see Daddy coming for him! Will looks so happy watching an over-enthused Daddy coming for him!

Will is getting to be such a big boy. He can easily do most things at the playground, including a big boy swing.

I just ADORE this picture! This is exactly why I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera. I never would have gotten something this adorable with my other two cameras.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-06T13:41:00.001-05:00

We took Will to his second annual Easter Egg Hunt in Jackson at the end of March. Being a little older than last year, we thought he would enjoy it more this year and behave. But, still being the sweet Will we all know and love, he didn't. He didn't want to wait around to start the hunt, so Jordan put him on the shoulders. As you can see, it was still tough getting him to wait. He wanted to go play on the playground instead.

Will actually did do better putting the eggs in the basket. He wouldn't hold the basket, but we placed it down in the middle of a pile of eggs, and he went to town. We still bought along extra ones from home so he would have a chance to keep picking up eggs, but he did well enough with the ones provided. He got seven eggs.

After we picked up our prizes, we attempted the picture with the Easter Bunny. Same result as last year, but still fun to look at!

At least the Easter Bunny was smiling!
Of course, within this next year, we will still hold out hope for the 3rd annual Easter Egg Hunt! He has to do better, eventually, right?!?

New Camera!!

2010-04-06T11:57:00.002-05:00

So, I have been QUITE behind in blogging lately, mainly because 1. I have been lazy and 2. I got an awesome new camera for Christmas (thanks to my wonderful wonderful wonderful husband. Did I mention how wonderful he is?) that I am slowly learning how to use. I have taken almost 500 pictures with it since blogging last, so I feel a little overwhelmed now with what to update on. Today I am uploading them and, hopefully within the next two days, putting all of them in my web album so you can browse through our last few months.

Things I LOVE about my new rebel:

1. It INSTANTLY takes a picture. I can capture Will's sweet faces immediatly before he no longer decides he is interested in cooperating. This leads to happier holidays and events. Gone are the days I went into Mommy Meltdown because I couldn't capture a decent picture for the scrapbook!

2. I can take a ton of pictures at a time by holding down the button. This also supports reason #1.

3. The picture is beautiful. The lighting, blurred backgrounds, etc. is exactly what I always wanted!

4. It has a Complete Idiot's Guide book (thanks Kevin!) for easier learning.

5. It has all these special features and icons for how to take the best picture in any circumstance.

6. I have a GIGANTIC memory card.

7. It has a camera strap.

8. I have a great zoom lens and have options to get even more.

9. I feel like a professional!

10. Did I mention no more Mommy Meltdows? The hardest thing for a scrapbooker is to have a child who is anti the camera.

Bubbles in the Tubby!

2010-01-25T13:01:00.002-06:00

Warning: Major baby nudity!

Here is a video of Will FINALLY blowing bubbles in the tubby. It seems to have taken forever for him to understand the concept of blowing. Now he can sometimes blow real bubbles with our Gymboree bubble wand!

Here is a video of Will watching the video of him blowing bubbles in the tubby. We liked it since he smiles a lot and repeats the words said in the video.

New sleeping routines...

2010-01-25T09:31:00.003-06:00

Gone are the days we used to drive Will around until he fell asleep for a nap. Ever since the late summer, that is the way we have been getting him to fall asleep. It used to work like a charm, but eventually, we'd be driving around for almost 40 minutes sometimes! We decided we'd either let him skip his nap or crash on his own for now on.
And after two weeks of not taking a nap, a miracle occured!

Elmo in Grouchland saved the day! We popped in the movie, put a pillow on the couch, and VIOLA! We came back in the room 10 minutes later to a little napper! Now we play the movie every few days when he think he is tired enough to take a nap. It works about once a week! WOO HOO!
On more sleeping news, guess who goes to bed all by himself, too?
THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S WILL!!!
That started about a week ago. He woke up in the middle of the night, and instead of one of us laying with him, we did our nighttime routine and the both us of left the room, mostly shut the door, and then Will said, "Bye! I U!" We said back, "Bye! We love you, too" and then closed the door all the way. He went to bed without crying! We did this the whole week right away and it is working like a charm! The only problem is we are all supposed to go to IL with Jordan at the end of this week for a work conference. I am very hesitant to go now that he is establishing his own sleeping routine! What to do!?!?

Let it Snow!

2010-01-25T09:11:00.002-06:00

Getting all bundled up! We had to get 4T snowpants for Will this year just for length!

Daddy and Will getting ready to go outside to shovel and play in the falling snow! This was Will's first time out in the snow this year...it has been really really cold!

Will is too big for the sled Great Grandpa Mazur bought him! We ended up getting a much bigger sled from my parents when we took him sledding...more on that later!

Will had a hard time walking around in the snow. He kept having to bend over on all fours to balance himself, but then he couldn't stand back up! It was really cute to watch!

Daddy taking Will out in the snow. Will loved falling into the cushy piles of snow!

By the time the driveway was plowed, Will found his car that he likes to ride down the sidewalks in the summer. We let him ride down our driveway and crash into the snow. He had such a fun time outside playing. This boy is ready for park days and green grass to run around! The hardest part was getting him to go back in the house, but he was so cold!
Rosey cheeks=going inside for hot cocoa!

On our way to a minivan!

2010-01-25T09:08:00.001-06:00

We recently sold our dark Toyota Camry on Craiglist. It was our first time using Craiglists to sell, and it worked out really nice! There were no costs to sell the car!
Meanwhile, we still only have our light Toyota Camry. We are using only the one car for a while until we save up enough money to get the minivan. We are looking at either the Toyota Sienna (I LOVE TOYOTAS!) or the Honda Odyssey. Having one car is working out well mainly since Jordan is a total homebody. Another 6 months and we'll be toting two babies around town!

It's a Christmas Miracle!

2009-12-31T20:25:00.002-06:00

Due: August 25th, 2010!

The new tests only show a vertical line now if you are pregnant, and no line at all if you are not! We had to check the box several times!

Will is going to be a big brother! I am not sure he is ready to advocate his throne as "Mommy's Baby", but he'll always be my baby anyway. We hope that in eight months he'll learn to fall asleep alone at night and learn to stay near us since we won't have extra hands once the baby comes!

We are so thrilled to be blessed with another pregnancy this year. So far, so good. I am feeling pretty good, just tired! The doctors took my blood counts the first few days of this pregnancy to ensure it was growing appropriately, and today we had the ultrasound to see the heartbeat and to date the pregnancy. We both cried when we saw the heart beating. It is such a little thing...like half a peanut. We are 6 weeks and a day as of New Year's Eve! We'll probably find out the sex of the baby when it comes time, even though we really liked the surprise from not knowing with Will. We'd miss rummage sale deals if we have a girl. We are all stocked up for a boy since Will and this baby will be only a month apart from their due dates.
Will and #2.1 will be three years and a month apart, depending on when the baby is born! We could have two August birthdays!

Christmas sneak peak!

2009-12-20T20:47:00.000-06:00

Jordan and I starting to put our tree, of course to the traditional Clay Aiken Christmas CD. This year we also slipped Josh Groban in. He is too amazing not to! We arranged our living room differently for the first time since we moved here four years ago. We wanted our tree to be in a more prominent spot instead of in a corner where only 1/4 of the tree is visible. More pictures on that later!

Will loved to help put the branches in their places on the tree stand. He was sooo intrigued by the tree this year. He loved to walk up to it and touch it while we set it up. We found it very amusing! We were worried that meant he wouldn't be able to control himself when the whole tree is up and decorated, but so far, so good. He does target a few choice ornaments, though. More on that later, too!
Hey, it is only a sneak peak!

Falling for Will...

2009-12-20T20:27:00.003-06:00

Will enjoyed playing in the leaves so much better this year than he did last. He liked to look at most of the leaves individually, and he liked to just plop himself down on the pile.

He REALLY liked when we threw him in the pile, but we didn't really get that good of a picture of his laughter. It was really cute, though!

My big brother came into town (November), and announced with his wife that they are expecting their first baby! We are super excited for them and "Mini Maz." I think he'll be a great Daddy. He plays so wonderfully with Will everytime he sees him. Congrats Kevin and Mary! They are due May 27th, 2010.

It was so great to have Kevin home from Arizona and also Laura home from college. I miss you guys!

Will hanging out in the yard. He loves to play with his firetruck at Grandma Mazur's house!

Forgotten Fall pics!

2009-12-20T20:15:00.001-06:00

Last time Jordan cut the grass, Will was quite the little helper. He helped Daddy cut the whole back yard! Just another decade and his chore will be "green and clean"! We can't wait!

Doesn't he look like such a big boy?

Video of the boys in action!

Pampered Chef Open House & Grand Opening!

2009-12-07T22:45:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends and Family!
I am very excited to tell you that I started a part-time business with The Pampered Chef! I love their products so much and have fun going to home shows, so I thought this was a perfect job for me to earn extra money but still be at home taking care of Will. I am having a Grand Opening/Holiday Open House this Saturday and hope you all can make it! While I don't have the inventory to do a "cash and carry," I do own most of the catelog myself and will have the product out for display and use! Along with the wonderful product, I will also be making delicious recipes for sample as well as great gift ideas. Please look over the following information about Saturday!
**Why stand in lines at crazy busy stores? Shop in the comfort of my home!
**Cannot come? Why shop on your feet when you can shop from your seat! Check out my website listed below!
**Orders can be delivered right to your door directly or to your gift recipient for an extra fee!
**Please keep me in mind if you are ever interested in ordering product or having a cooking or catelog show after the holidays!

Holiday Open House

Saturday, Dec. 12
10am-4pm
312 Quail Circle
West Bend WI 53095
www.pamperedchef.biz/leannschaefer
chefleann@hotmail.com
262.338.0101 home or 414.213.7179 cell

Come for the Grand Opening of my new Pampered Chef business!

*Learn and taste easy delicious holiday recipes perfect for entertaining or just for your family!

*Cooking Demonstrations at 11am and 2pm.

*Free Gift for the first 25 customers!

*Free Gift Wrapping for purchases over $30!

*Free Decorator Bottle Set for purchases over $60!

*10% off all orders before noon!

*Guaranteed Delivery before Christmas! (no cash & carry)

*Chance to Win Raffle Prizes!
(Winners will be drawn 3:30pm. Do not need to be present to win!)
1 Ticket for attending the Open House
1 Ticket for RSVPing to 262-338-0101 or chefleann@hotmail.com
1 Ticket for every adult friend you bring along
1 Ticket for every $20 you spend!
5 Tickets for booking a catalog or cooking show!

**CANNOT MAKE IT?**
*Call or Email me your order (instead of ordering directly on my website) anytime before Dec. 13th. Any preorders or orders before noon on Dec. 12th will receive 10% off your product order!

*After Dec. 13th, you can also order directly online! Orders can also be shipped directly to you or gift recipient! Thanks!Leann Schaefer

A conversation with a little cutie!

2009-12-05T17:16:00.004-06:00

Tonight, Jordan was feeding Will pasta stuffed with Spinach and cheese. Half way through, Will shouted, "MEAT!"

Jordan responded, "It is wonderful you want meat tonight, but you have this to eat!"

Will declared, "NO! MEAT!"

What a memorable first conversation! I think he actually understood what we were saying and responded accordingly! We laughed for a few minutes afterward! He did get meat. And Daddy got a happy heart.

There's no place like home :)

2009-11-19T15:49:00.000-06:00

We are so excited to announce that we are not going to move to Houston TX anytime soon! We got the offical okay from Jordan's boss today to remain in WI permanently. Of course that means some negatives, mainly lack of promotions for Jordan, but it also means TONS of positives!
Here is my top 11 positives for staying:
1. We'll be able to get Will ABA therapy for his PDD-NOS (if the paperwork clears!)
2. We have support from our family and friends
3. Will will be able to grow up knowing his extended family
4. We get to live in the town where we grew up and fell in love
5. I can still be in the West Bend Mom's Club ;)
6. We don't have to sell our house (which I LOVE)
7. We can get rid of all the boxes we have been saving for moving and finish our storage room :D
8. I can grow my Pampered Chef business (anyone want to host a show! There are a TON of host benefits :D )
9. Jordan can work from our home office full time...that's right: 24/7 Jordan is home! Unless, of course, he still has to go once a month...
10. We don't have the pressure to eventually sell the house for less than the low market value and lose money
11. I have a few part-time work leads in case we need extra money in the future

How exciting!
We think Jordan's boss would still like us to move down there when Will is "better" or school-aged, but we'll take it one year at a time. Well, at least the next four years are planned out!

We are so blessed Jordan works for such a wonderful company, especially during the economic hardships many people are having to go through. (Another business plug follows:) Please help keep the company in business by getting a Discover credit card! They have a ton of great perks and is more widely accepted now than in years past. The reason why a few vendors don't like to take Discover is because they charge a higher commission rate. That money is used towards things Jordan does to insure your card/personal info stays secure. They are industry leaders for security. Those other companies want to do the bare minimum without investing more of their profits! ;) Here's to Pulse/Discover! YEAH!!

Cuteness!!

2009-11-16T22:16:00.004-06:00

Will LOVES doing this. We can't fold sheets or table clothes while he is awake!

Our Birthdays!

2009-11-16T22:13:00.001-06:00

November 2 was my birthday and November 3 was Jordan's. I turned 29 this year, and Jordan hit the big 3-0. It was a little bit depressing for him, but he was in good spirits. I, on the other hand, know it is right around the corner. The number 30 doesn't bother me, but knowing there are a few things on my "list of things to do before I am 30" that haven't been accomplished is a little bit sad. And I HIGHLY doubt they'll get done in the next year. Some missed milestones goals include: having all my children (which is possible I have accomplished that, but we are still holding out hope for one more), getting my master's degree (not remotely interested at this time), traveling to Europe (we are lucky to go to the Dells!), doubling my amount of patience (I think Heavenly Father keeps trying to get me to learn this principle, but it is not really sinking in), and being down to my wedding-day weight (working on it...doubtful it'll happen within a year, though!).
Happy Birthday to us! Here's to new goals: By the time I am 40...

Our happy family

Jordan's new football cleats. Not only are they very cushy, but they saved his ankle from being broken this week. The higher top on the new shoes gave him better support when he landed between someone's legs as he came down from catching a pass. He suffered a sever sprain playing football with some buddies. As a result, he is on crutches for three weeks or until he feels less tender and swollen. He is hoping for a VERY quick recovery as the Turkey Bowl is in a week and two days! My poor baby!

My little Pumpkin...

2009-11-16T21:35:00.003-06:00

Halloween 2009

Struting his pumpkin stuff...

LOVE those long lashes!

Will's cute wringled-nose smirk

My FAVORITE one! He looks sooo angelic!

We are so happy we got some good ones this year!

Trick or Treating! I made Will's bucket.

Playing with Grandpa Schaefer while warming up! It was VERY cold outside this year! Brrrr...

Trick or Treating at Grandma Schaefer's house!

Trick or Treating at Uncle Goo's (Danny) house to see Auntie Laura!Trick or Treating at Grandma and Grandpa Mazur's house!

Green mouth from Daddy's M&M bribes for good behavior!

Will's Official Diagnosis...

2009-11-09T21:01:00.006-06:00

Will has been offically diagnosed with PDD-NOS, a very mild form of Autism. At the end of the post, we talked about what we are going to do. If you are familiar with PDD-NOS, skip down to the brown writing. Otherwise, here is some good information about his condition from http://www.autismspeaks.org/navigating/pdd_nos.php:

PDD-NOS
What it is:
Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, or PDD-NOS, for short, is a condition on the spectrum that has those with it exhibiting some, but not all, of the symptoms associated with classic autism. That can include difficulty socializing with others, repetitive behaviors, and heightened sensitivities to certain stimuli.

How it's similar to classic autism:

Those with PDD-NOS behave like those with classic autism in many ways. First, they are all different (meaning one person with PDD-NOS doesn't act exactly like another; the same holds true for classic autism). When interacting with others, they may appear unemotional or unable to speak, they could have trouble holding eye contact, or they may have trouble transitioning quickly from one activity to the next.

How diagnosis differs:

Those with PDD-NOS are different from others on the spectrum in one specific way: While they may exhibit some symptoms of those conditions, they don't fit the bill closely enough to fully satisfy all criteria set by the experts. Perhaps they started having difficulties at a much later age than others on the spectrum. (According to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, they are often diagnosed between the ages of 3 and 4 years old.) Or they may have the same challenges — for example, they may be oversensitive to their surroundings — but not to the extreme that others on the spectrum do. Consequently, those with PDD-NOS are sometimes thought to have a "milder" form of autism, though this may not be technically true. One symptom may be minor, while another may be worse.

What To Do About It
Treatments

According to the Yale Developmental Disabilities Clinic, treating children with PDD-NOS could prove tricky: Sometimes, they may not get the help they need as quickly as those whose behavioral patterns are more clearly definable as autistic. Healthcare providers may not provide a diagnosis of PDD-NOS until after they've considered all the other "types" of autism; in short, they may arrive at their conclusion after essentially a process of elimination.As with other conditions, it takes a village of doctors, psychologists, teachers, therapists, and family members to arrive at an action plan that would work best for someone with PDD-NOS. A "one-size-fits-all" approach usually doesn't work: A multi-pronged regimen may be the most advisable. These treatments could include:

Various behavioral regimens, including play therapy, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), sensory integration therapy, and more
Medications, including anti-depressants
Social skills training, which teaches children how to interact with their peers for specific situations
Alternative therapies such as martial arts therapy, wherein they flex their muscles literally and figuratively (they get stronger and learn how to function in a group setting); music therapy, which has kids learning how to communicate with the help of songs; or facilitated communication, in which children are taught to use computers or other equipment to make their thoughts known, especially if they have trouble expressing themselves verbally. (It supposedly is helpful to some children with PDD-NOS, says the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.)

How to Cope

Like other parents with children on the spectrum, you will face many challenges, starting with the incomprehension and insensitivity of others unfamiliar with your situation. They may think your child is "misbehaving" and, consequently, deem you a parent unable to "control" him. This may be especially true because PDD-NOS kids don't fit into the more easily identifiable forms of autism spectrum disorders. Ignorance can bring out the worst in others, and sometimes, when they're not privy to your child's issues (or simply don't understand them or won't accept the diagnosis, as happens in some families), they may be more judgmental. That's why it's important to surround yourselves with friends, family members, teachers and healthcare providers whom you trust. Be sure that the lines of communication with and among them are clear; you will be relying on them through the many ups and downs of life with a PDD-NOS child. If you're the primary caretaker (meaning you spend the most hours with your child), you'll need to make time for yourself, too. Caring for others can be draining, and you won't be able to give much if you don't replenish your own stores of energy and look after your physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Ask your child's healthcare providers for referrals to support groups so you can meet parents of other children on the spectrum; or go online — many parenting Web sites have bulletin boards for children with special needs, and Autism Speaks has online forums as well.Structure is helpful for children on the spectrum, so take this into consideration when deciding what events to attend or places to go. Preparation is key, so let your child know what to expect before the situation takes place or they reach their destinations. Consistency also helps, so check in with your healthcare team before starting or stopping a regimen. As children grow older and become more aware of the limitations that their condition has placed upon them, it may be helpful for them to receive counseling with a therapist trained in dealing with pervasive developmental disorders. As difficult as it is for parents to go through this journey, it's even harder for the children themselves who have to work through their own personal challenges and other people's ignorance as they make their way in the world.

How to Grow With It
Teens & Adults

Adolescence is hard enough for children who aren't on the spectrum, so you can imagine the challenges that teens (and even adults) with PDD-NOS face. They're equally hampered by hormonal fluctuations, but also have to take on the complicated (and sometimes cruel) social habits of their peers even though they don't have the full complement of skills to do so. Dating will be thorny — though some may ignore this rite of passage altogether — and friendships, so simple for young children, may prove to be more daunting. This is why your child may need more support at this stage than ever before, especially as they grow more aware of their own condition. A counselor trained with dealing with teens on the spectrum can help immensely, as will knowing that you're by their side every step of the way as they learn how to navigate a bigger and more complex world.

Long-Term Care

It's difficult to predict how easy — or hard — life will be in the long run for a person with PDD-NOS, as much depends on the severity of his or her symptoms and how he or she reacts to therapies. But if, like many others, the condition is on the "milder" side of the spectrum, your child will likely be able to care for himself or herself while growing older. Marriage and parenting may prove overwhelming for some, though not necessarily for all of those with PDD-NOS. The good news: It's possible to enjoy a full, if complicated, life.

What are we doing about it:

We are still going to continue with our Birth-3 program for speech therapy, OT, and educational therapy for Will until he is 3. He will then be covered in the school system for support. In addition to current therapy, he also qualifies for ABA therapy (mentioned above). WI is the only state that provides a waiver to cover the approx. $30,000/year fee. There is a 18 month waiting list, so the earliest Will will probably receive this intensive therapy (35-40 hours/week)is when he'll be 4 1/2 years old. Jordan is talking to his boss this week about staying in WI permanently to ensure we'll be able to help Will. Meanwhile, we can personally pay for the therapy for 15 hours or less a week until then (anything longer means we'll no longer be qualified for the waiver). The ABA therapy waiver covers 3 years of intensive therapy in our own home. After the 3 years, Will will hopefully be ready to attend regular ed classes.

Please continue to pray for our family and our sweet little boy. We appreciate and need all the love and support of our family and friends!

Meadowbrook Pumpkin Farm

2009-10-21T22:44:00.005-05:00

My little pumpkin!

We went to the Meadowbrook Pumpkin Farm with the Mom's Club. It was a warmer 50 degree day, which has been a nice change from the cold rainy 40 degrees we have been having lately.

Will with his special friend Ashley.

This is what Will did most of the time we were there. Last year, all he wanted to do was push around a wagon, but this year was all about running up and down the aisles.
I did get him to sit on the pumpkins a few times, but he lost his shoe pretty much everytime he did. It kept getting wedged in between the pumpkins!

We got to watch some chickens, roosters, ducks, sheep, donkies, bunnies, and llamas. Will especially liked rattling the fence.

Watching the man come with corn for the animals...It's a feeding frenzy!

The whole group of kids who came. Notice Will is facing forward and looking right at the camera? SO much better of a picture than the Halloween group!

Somewhat of a smile...

Will running to the tractor. It was too expensize to go on it this time :(

Raking helper!

2009-10-21T22:39:00.000-05:00

While we were busy doing fall yard work, Will was being a super big helper!

He not only stayed in our yard (!!!!), but he also raked the mulch and irises!

What a great helper!

Score!

2009-10-21T22:34:00.001-05:00

We have officially converted Will's nursery into a little boy room. We went with the sport themed decor vs cars and trucks. I went back and forth about it for a few months, but we really like some of the sport themed decor we found! Our favorite thing was Will's new bank. You put coins on either of the two uprights on the goal post and they jiggle down to the football. Will LOVES putting money in here. We emptied out our favorite scarecrow bank (from the Wizard of Oz...each of my siblings got one from my wonderful Aunt Diane) just so Will could have some coins! I almost need a few dollars of coins everyday for him with how often he brings me his bank to play. I can tell he'll take after Uncle Kevin already!

I just love that I got so many smiling ones with great eye contact!

Will's first sucker!

2009-10-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

We haven't really given Will a lot of candy. He has tried M&Ms Peanut Butter (both of our favorite), licorice and Kit Kats (dislikes both probably from the texture alone). That is the extent of the candy! Will got to try one of the free suckers I always get from the bank. Turned out he really liked it!

They seems to only give the grape flavor. We have received about 5 suckers, all grape. Does anyone else get a different flavor? Will and I don't really like grape flavored things, like medicine, popsicles or juice. I was hesitant to even give it to him, but he wouldn't take it out of his mouth!

That meant grape drool....

and sticky grape-scented toys!

Mom's Club Halloween Party

2009-10-17T14:35:00.000-05:00

Will is my little pumpkin this year. This was my back-up Halloween costume. I actually bought it to resell it for more money since I bought it on clearence for $3, originally costed $25. I thought it was for an infant, but upon rechecking the size after realizing this year's cowboy costume was too big, I realized it was perfect. When I tried it on Will, it melted my heart! He even left the hat on!

A few attempts at a group shot. All but one kid made the picture. We have a lion, chicken, witch, elephant, pumpkin, princess, wizard, eyeore and an escaped fedex man.

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures ever. Totally Will. I am thinking about an 8x10 for the scrapbook!
The party was a lot of fun: balloon, toys, coloring books, yummy treats and candy, hidden ghosts, pass the pumpkin, and of course, Will's favorite activity of open/close the doors. We had no less than five timeouts when he wouldn't stop going outside or in the chapel and threw a tantrum. A personal record! Overall, I think he enjoyed it. We are having fun giving him the goodies from his treat bag to see what he'll eat!

Cookie Decorating

2009-10-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

Last week we decorated sugar cookies with the Mom's club. The kids had a great time and did very well! The moms also enjoyed some of the cookies ;)

Will had a little help decorating and only did one cookie. My little guy would rather play with toys than sit and play with cookies! I love the leisure outfit he has on! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mazur! He looks sooooo cute in blue!

Tasting a cookie. He didn't like it. Must be the texture of the crumbs. He also hated a bite of a Kit Kat bar we tried to give him. With both treats, Will shook his head,tried removing all the crumbs in his mouth with his fingers, and looked at me with disgust and horror as if to say, "Why Mom? Why would you do this to me?" At least he isn't going to grow up obese eating cookies and candy, right?

This week...

2009-10-17T13:48:00.002-05:00

This week was a nice recouperation week for me! After our fiasco with the acrylic paint last week and general sassiness every day that Jordan was out of town for, Will really wore me out! I don't think I ever missed Jordan so much!
Luckily, it is the little things Will does everyday that helps me fall back in love with him and overlook my complete exhaustion! This week, we ate Mac a few times since Will loves it so much! He is also getting better at using the fork. He is so proud of himself when he has success stabbing his food. Oh, and yes, he does eat this much Mac. At least 1/2 a box.

Isn't he just adorable here?
Blue paint? What blue paint? Only nine hours of sleep each night and defiance when it is naptime? Who cares!

We also had art class again. Will painted a little pumpkin and attempted to decorate a picture frame with fake leaves from a garland strand using only Elmer's glue. When the second project flopped since the glue didn't hold the leaves, we went to jump around on mats, walk on balance beams, and crawl through tunnels in the playroom. Will liked this much better than the art class. I am going to have to find more little movers classes for this boy! On the plus side of art class, Will actually really focused on painting his pumpkin.

Here is Will in action.

We also had our Mom's club Halloween Party. Stay tuned for a few pictures. We also hosted the playgroup at our house, which turned out pretty well. I was nervous we wouldn't have enough stuff to keep almost 10 kids entertained for a few hours and that Will wouldn't share his trains, but overall everyone did great!

This week, we also started Will's formal neuropsycological testing. Jordan and I talked to his doctor for a few hours without Will about typical behaviors and abilities Will does/doesn't portray. We go back the next two Mondays (except this coming Monday) with Will for observation and testing and the fourth Monday without Will again to discuss results. This is a little bit nerve-racking since we are anxious to see if he qualifies for any other special needs program other than the Sensory Processing Disorder. While Will is getting a little better, he is still mostly non-verbal. He has major frustration from not being able to communicate his needs and wants. We feel the SPD doesn't completely cover his lack of communication and other unusual behaviors. We'll keep updating as we learn more!

New Loves of Will

2009-10-08T22:45:00.002-05:00

Bubbles from Gymboree.

He has liked them since our music class in the spring, but brings them to me all the time now. He used to kind of run from them, but now he stands in the middle of a huge amount of bubbles without putting his arms over his head and he actually even tries to pop them! He tries to blow them too, but he hasn't figured out how to blow out yet.

"Pop"

Will has never liked really cold things in his mouth, especially popsicles or ice cream. Lately, though, he has really enjoyed our Motts Pops. He loves to suck out the icy juice and then hands it back to us so we can eat the flavorless leftover chuck of ice. Then we have to push up more so he can do it again until it is gone. However, Daddy gets the best part of the melted juice at the end. What Will doesn't know doesn't hurt, right, Jordan?

Being Chased
One of Will's new words is "Ga ga ga gaa ga ga ga ga" which translates to "Getcha Getcha Getcha." He loves having someone chase him, whether or not they even are. He places himself in front of someone, turns around to look at them and shrieks in laughter. It is as though he intices them to chase him! Hey, it works for us!

Swimming

Okay, it is not new, but the swim class is! Will LOVES water and especially the songs we sing towards the end of class.

Playdoh

Will used to hate it and would barely even touch it to throw it off his tray, but now he likes to stick stuff in it and rip it to shreds.

Swings

It used to be all about the slides, but now Will runs right for the swing and continues to want to swing every ten minutes or so! I wish he would run around a little more and expel some of the energy he now comes home with!

Ashley!

He seems to have his first little girlfriend. He likes to be around her more than any other kid in the Mom's group, and frequently tries to give her kisses. It is no coincidence that they both have runny noses and coughs right now! Can you blame him? She is adorable!

My little Picasso! Or should I say Van Gogh during the blue period?

2009-10-08T14:29:00.007-05:00

While looking at my calendar in the kitchen and chatting on the phone with my mother about certain days she would watch Will for us, I looked over to see my little guy covered in something dark with little blue "chalk" footprints behind him. I thought to myself, "What the heck?!? We don't have chalk...wait...it's paint...our paint is in the basement....we don't even have blue paint......................OH NO!! He found my newly purchased tube of blue craft paint!!!!" I immediately hung up on my mama, and swooped Will up, and followed the little bunny trail he so kindly left for me. It traced from our living where he came to get me, down the hallway, around the corner to the office and up to the window.

There were about 75 little marks like this on our carpet since he spilled the paint on his socks and walked through the house. Most were bigger, but I tried to get several in the same shot.

This is what I found in the office, plus the majority of the paint was dumped on the wood shelf above the radiator under the window. That is Will's favorite spot in the house. He sits there to watch the people and cars go by. He loves to open and close the windows while standing on it. He loves to take his favorite toys there to play. And now, he loves to unscrew sealed up paint caps there. He clearly opened it, and started to poor it out on the shelf. The paint was dripping down the wall. As soon as I had back up, I cleaned the shelf and didn't take this picture until after. I was too late anyway since there is still a fair amount of paint set in the wood shelf that won't come out :( The most saturated spot on the carpet was on the left. It had to be at least half the bottle right there. Oh, and did I mention Jordan is in Houston?!?

*Edited picture to keep the PG 13 rating! Gotta love Picasa's retouch feature!

Caught "blue" handed!
He had WAY more paint on his clothes, which didn't come out by the way. The underneath of his hands were completely blue. That meant everything he touched (me, the bathtub, toys, doorknobs from the office to the kitchen, soap dispenser, and sink) turned blue and required massive scrubbing. Keep in mind this is not a washable paint and mostly had to dry to be scraped away and then cleaned up.

Luckily for me, both Grandmas rushed right over to help! My mom tubbied Will while Pam and I started treating the carpet, and cleaning the wood and walls. Then my mom special treated the wood with some "restore" solution and it looked pretty nice after that, minus the remaining blue, of course! Three hours and a pruned little boy from a VERY long tubby later, we mostly removed the painted bunny trail, scheduled a professional to come finish the job and tackle the worst spot, and mostly cleaned the wood and walls.

This is the best it is going to get! Syl's carpet cleaning came and tried everything they had. Two hours later, this was the result.

There is still blue paint. We are going to remove the heating vent when Jordan comes home and see if we can do anything more, but doubtful! Some of my carpet fibers came out due to the forth chemical, which is the toughest on the carpet and they prefer to never really use it, and it even turned the carpet slightly white. They said if I tried Oxy Clean or Resolve, it'll just whiten more and probably pull out more fibers. :(

Thanks Grammy Pammy, Grandma and Grandpa Mazur for all your help!

Will In Action @ Art Class

2009-09-29T06:43:00.000-05:00

Enjoy the video of Will painting a masterpiece with apples. And yes, he did attempt to eat it multiple times, but so did the other kids! What was the teacher thinking?!?

Oodles of Art!

2009-09-28T18:57:00.003-05:00

Will is in a four-session art class through the rec dept. We debated signing him up for more structured activities after the fiasco that was the music class, but after many forgetful weeks of the hardships structured classes inflicted upon us, we signed him up for more, including music again later in the fall season!

As soon as we entered the room, we instantly regretted our decision. Again in a class of all girls, Will really stands out. Picture everyone else sitting in a little kid chair, listening to their families about the fun they will have, and now picture us chasing Will around the room trying to prevent him from escaping, opening and closing doors while other people are still trying to enter the room and opening and closing cabinets. Of course these actions are always followed by the defiant "EEEEE" at the top of his lungs! Ahhh...the joys of structure!

After the initial, "What are we doing here" wore off, Jordan instantly thought of a brillant plan! He went to my mom's and got Will's porta highchair so Will could be strapped in at all times! Not only did Will sit in place, but he actually participated in the activity for once! This chair will now accompany us whenever we go to classes! Yeah for the chair!!

Notice Will's "smock?" We didn't have an actual shirt that we wouldn't mind ruining with paint, etc, so we found the next best thing.

Will's masterpieces! This one is a tree painted from his hands and arm. The leaves are his fingerprints. He actually allowed us to rub cold paint up and down his hands and arm. Good thing he is getting Occupational Therapy since it paid off!

This one is made from apple halves and quarters. Stay tuned for a video of Will in action with this one!

Nieman's Apple Orchard

2009-09-25T14:26:00.002-05:00

I just love fall! We went to Nieman's Apple Orchard in Cedarburg this past week with the Mom's Club. I was a little bit nervous to go since I didn't know what Will would do. Would he actually be interested in the apples or would he run up and down the aisles and I would not get to pick any apples? We decided to take the risk.

To my surprise, he loved it! He stayed near me for the most part, walking around up and down the aisle and around a few trees, but he always came back!

The hardest part was making sure he wasn't eating the apples that were already on the ground! It was really cute to see the other kids all eating apples at the same time. Half the fun of picking your own is eating them while you pick! We went with four other moms and five other kids. They all did great staying close and participating!

Will really liked the ladder. He learned how to grab and pull apples off the tree. It then immediately went into his mouth!

Yum Yum! His jacket was all full of juice dripping from the apples.

Notice all the little bite marks? He doesn't actually like to eat the red part. He takes bites and spits out the red skin until he eats solid white apple.

My favorite picture of the day. And no, it did not come from the ground :)
Now to make some yummy apple crisp!

Pictures of Will's day...

2009-09-06T14:43:00.000-05:00

We are starting to have more scheduled activites with Will so he gets used to a routine, including taking pictures of the different things we do together and creating a picture schedule so he can learn more words and have a better understanding of what we are doing and when. It will also help us make more time for therapy lessons to help Will progress. We got this fabulous idea from Super Nanny Jo during an episode dealing with twin girls and a boy with Autism. We are pretty sure Will will have some level of Autism and are going to get him further evaluated since the Sensory Processing Disorder doesn't seem to cover all the little things we are noticing with Will.
Anyway, included in his new daily routine is working to learn the alphabet. It seems from our research, once kids learn the alphabet and the different sounds, they can progress leaps and bounds from when they didn't know it. This is the picture that will represent the alphabet lesson card. I love it since he is looking at the camera and had to share it! He is super at repeating A-G, with the exception of C and G. F he says like "Efck", but it counts. We are going to focus on one line at a time, and so far he is good at repeating all 26 letters on command, but has a harder time pronuncing some of them. He recognizes B and D! YEAH!

This will be his Bath picture! He actually gave me a smile :D Can you tell I am super excited?

This is not a particular picture for the schdule, but I love the M&Ms melted all over his face! Blue, green and brown are very tasty! I personally like to chew them right away, but Will LOVES to suck them. We both prefer the M&M Peanut Butter variety. I just had to throw this one in there!

This is my FAVORITE picture of probably the last several months! A genuine smile for the camera without us having to make fools out of ourselves to capture his attention! This melts my heart! It will also be his Breakfast picture. He looks so handsome in an Uncle Kevin shirt!

WI State Fair 2009

2009-09-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally found my older camera which we prefer to use when photographing Will. It has a faster shutter so we get a little bit better pictures of Will since he never poses for the camera! I found our State Fair pictures, although there wasn't many. It was a rough day! We went opening day. It took us 40 minutes to drive to the right area and the line to exit the freeway took 45 minutes. Then we drove around for another hour looking for parking. When we finally found a spot, we had to walk for 10 minutes and then wait in line for another 10 minutes to get tickets. Will hit his quota for patience and good behavior before we even started to walk around. He also missed his nap. On top of all the general crankiness from the three of us, it was PACKED to the brim with people and it was a hot 85 degrees. I think we may skip it next year if this year was any indication to how it'll be next year! We have gone every year since we were married, but missed Will's first year since he was only a few days old. Here are the four pictures I took!

The Clydesdale Horse(s). They are so beautiful! They are my dad's favorite part of the fair!

The massive amount of people. There was hardly any walking room!

Will's first amusement park ride! The bumblebees moved up and down while going in a circle. Will liked it, but he was very tired and hot, so I think he could've liked it more under different circumstances!
Overall, I think we will try to go next year if we are still in WI, but maybe skip opening day! We did get some yummy cream puffs!

One Big Happy Family!

2009-09-01T20:57:00.006-05:00

My brother Kevin and his wife came to visit for the weekend. It was a very nice short visit that felt like a long visit, but not in a negative way! We are sooo happy Kevin and Mary could come and be with the whole family during my dad's BMT. Will especially likes his Uncle Kevin. Uncle Kevin taught Will new games, including "toning the core" by balancing by sitting on a one of Will's gigantic balls, and "skim the ceiling" by throwing Will high in the air (since Uncle Kevin is very tall, Will almost hits it! When Kevin came for Will's first birthday, Will DID hit it!)

My sweet little guy!

Another cute picture Kevin took. Will was hamming it up a little while not looking directly at the camera at all.

This one is my favorite!

My sisters! Mary, me, Katie, Laura. I love having Mary around! The more we hang out, the more I love her! Move to TX instead of AZ!!

We had a nice time visiting my dad in the hospital and playing games. There were late nights talking and early mornings that weren't as fun! Looking forward to seeing you both in November!

The whole family! Jordan and me, Mom and Dad, Katie and Laura in front, Kevin and Mary in back. We never get a picture of all of us! This was right after my dad got his BMT. He is still feeling great. He is going to live above my Grandpa where we lived our first year of marriage. We had a LOT of cleaning to do, but we are almost done!

Today is the day!

2009-08-28T08:40:00.000-05:00

Today is my dad's bone marrow transplant! His brother, Uncle Dean, is the donor. My dad was supposed to get this done in June, but was postponed until today. Let's hope that he'll actually get it today and that nothing goes wrong! My dad is 51 years old and has been battling with Non-hodgkins lymphona since 2002. This is his chance to be cancer free or at least keep it at bay for a few years since he has chemo about every other year. My dad has a Hickman's Port placed over his heart. His chemo and the transplant goes directly into his port and his heart pumps it to his different body parts. He will have radiation for the first time today before surgery so the radiation and chemo will kill his old stem cells and bone marrow, and hopefully be in a better position to accept my uncle's stem cells and bone marrow. He could be in the hospital as short as three days and as long as a few months. As soon as he doesn't reject the transplant within the first few days, and he feels good and doesn't have infections, he can move home or to a hospice. He'll probably live at the hospice near Froedert so he can still go to the hospital everyday for check ups since it is so close. Dad will still have to take it easy for about a year to gain strength and avoid infections. He will wipe out his immune system with the transplant and will even have to get immunization shots all over again just like a baby!

We are soooo grateful for my Unlce's willingness to donate his marrow. Uncle Dean's part was pretty painful. He had to take shots to increase his white blood cells so they will have enough to harvest. He also had to give blood that they split into four different machines to get different things from it. Then he had to gave it filtered back into his body. That took about six hours of having thick metal tubes in his arms, like a super IV. If he moved his arms, the tubes could have easily poked a hole in the veins. From the shots and the blood drawn, he is quite sore. We are indescribably thankful Unlce Dean was a match and he conceded!

Good luck today, Dad! Please keep him and our family in your prayers and thoughts. It will be a long recovery road, but a great opportunity Dad could have the surgery.

Summer Pool Fun!

2009-08-24T13:39:00.001-05:00

We bought Will this pool at the beginning of summer. He loves it mainly due to two things: one, it has a slide and two, it contains water! He is a total water baby. If there is water, he is in it! Lakes, pools, tubs, sprinklers, etc. We like the pool, too, since it is big enough for all of us to sit in it on a hot day.

Will loves to go down the slide and splash us. He also loves to push his ball down the slide.

What a little stud!

Belated Father's Day pics!

2009-08-24T13:21:00.000-05:00

Looking back, I realized I hardly posted for a few months! Here were some pics of my boys for Father's Day!

Jordan is such a fun daddy. Will adores playing and rough housing with Jordan. They like to play Wii bowling together and jump on the bed. Will also loves when Jordan chases him around the house. Happy belated Father's Day, Jordan! You are a great Daddy! We love you!

Washington Co Fair

2009-08-24T13:09:00.000-05:00

In July, we went to the Washinton Co Fair with the Mom's Club. Will didn't really seem to like it as much as the other kids, but here were a few things we did! Will liked to hang out on the tractors, compliments of Auntie Laura's boyfriend Danny's family business.

I thought Will looked really cute in this one!

Will didn't like the petting zoo. He didn't even try to touch the goats after his goat feeding experience at the zoo the previous week! He is not afraid of the animals, but doesn't like the feel of them.

Okay, I guess I didn't do that good of a job taking interesting pictures! Lesson learned! Here is Will looking at animals from his stroller. That is close enough for my baby! They did have some neat things there. In addition to the different animal tents, they had a few children areas with equipment to play on as well as a fun hands-on area to learn about farming and crops. The food as good as was the company of the Mom's Club :)

Yum...Lasagna!

2009-08-24T13:01:00.000-05:00

Jordan make super yummy lasagna! Will really likes pastas, so lasagna was no exception! If only he would get better at using a fork! Pasta night=tubby night!

Someone loves lasagna!

Biking with the Burley!

2009-08-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

We bought a bike trailer in the spring so we could bike with Will. We love our new Burley Encore trailer. It has tinted window, a sun shade, a rain cover, room for two inside, padded seats, a sippy cup and "roadie" holder for snack to go on the road on each side, room in the mesh for the helmet to stick back into without pushing Will's head forward, and room in the bag for 3 brown grocery bags! It easily converts to a stoller if we remove it from the bike.

Will eating his "roadie" and drinking his juice. Notice we are not even out of the driveway yet!

I think he looks ADORABLE in his helmet! He doesn't mind wearing it since he knows we are going for a ride. And a ride always means going to the park! We have a fabulous trail that used to be a railroad track we can pick up close to our house. It is paved and runs through all of West Bend. It even goes into a different county, but we stay in West Bend.

Wheee!! We love biking! Will even crawls in the Burley when he wants to go for a ride, even if we are going to go in the car! I am so glad we picked one he likes :)

Music Class

2009-08-17T15:54:00.000-05:00

I just realized I hardly posted anything we have done all summer! In June/July, we signed Will up for his first class. It was a music, rhythm and dance class, with emphasis on lap sitting ;). Okay, so it really wasn't supposed to be lap sitting, and someone should have told the instructor! It was a very difficult 6 classes, but luckily Grammy Pammy came to all of them but one, which Grandma Mazur filled in for. Two adults to one squirmy little boy is still a tough ratio! By the end of the course, Will improved, but we still waited a few more sessions to resign him up for this class. He is not taking it again until late fall when it is too cold to play outside.

Here is my little guy. He looks big enough for preschool here :(
In the class, the theme was classical music. We listened to lullabies and old fashioned rhymes while doing movements on our laps (think bouncing him like a horse) as well as played with fun musical instrument toys from Gymboree.

Will's favorite part was the bubbles at the end of the class. Gymboree has a really neat bubble maker and awesome bubble solution. The bubble maker has five holes and blows out tons of tiny bubbles. The bubbles have to be about 80% cornstarch because they do not pop unless by fingers! We bought a set of these bubbles and still found some three days later unpopped!!

While Will made us sweat and got us a little worked up chasing him around and trying to get him to participate in the class like the rest of the kids, it was fun to see him improve and participate when he wanted to! He liked the instruments a lot and we got him some for his birthday, as did the Cottage Grove Schaefers. Hopefully by October, he'll be more excited to go to Music again!
We also signed him up for swim lessons at the Y and at the Rec dept, Oodles of Art, and a Little Movers class at the Y. Here's to "fun" structured classes! Wish us luck!

Slip and Slide in Action!

2009-08-17T08:28:00.003-05:00

Enjoy the video of Will, Tate and Tea in action on the slip and slide!

Slippin' and Slidin'

2009-08-04T23:31:00.005-05:00

We got a slip and slide for Will's birthday party! It was a big hit! Jordan and Will went down two different ways. Jordan either picked up Will and flung him down the slip and slide or Jordan ran with Will and held his hands down the slide. Will loved it! Here are some fun pictures and a video!

Flinging Will down!

Will running away on his "twinkle toes!" That means he REALLY liked it!

Jordan also helped Marie Matthies on the slip and slide!

Tate running down!

Tea going on the Slip and Slide. She did the graceful knee slide.

Will's 2nd Birthday

2009-08-03T09:30:00.006-05:00

Saturday, August 1 was Will's second birthday. We invited mostly family to celebrate with us and Will. Here are some of the people who came:

Grandpa Mazur and Stella. I love this picture of them!

Gpa Monk and Nancy looking through Will's scrapbooks!

"Auntie Lu and Uncle Goo"
Thanks for all of your help Auntie Laura and Danny! We really appreciate all you do for us and all the time you spend with your nephew. It really shows by how much he loves you and loves playing with you!

My Grandma Sommerfelt. She just turned 84 a few days after Will's birthday!

My bf Kristie! I am soooo glad she just happened to be in WI for Will's special day! I miss you so much, Auntie Kristie! ;)

My cousin Amanda and her family. They just moved to West Bend a few months ago!

Lunch buffet: We had build your own subs, hashbrown pots, veggies and dill dip, spinach poppyseed salad, pickles, the best salsa, fruit and jello.

Will eating lunch.

Elmo cupcakes! I love our new cupcake pyramid!

Marie Matthies: so adorable!

We remembered to get a family shot AFTER he already went into the Slip and Slide! He was soaking wet. I made his tee shirt. On the back has his name and a big number two.
After eating lunch, the kids went outside to swim and go on the slip and slide (more on that later!). After being completely soaked, we came in the house to open presents and then have cake. And yes, we did have to strap Will down to open presents. Those who really know Will are smiling right now! :)

Opening gifts with his juice! Gotta have the fluid!

I can't believe my baby is already 2!!! What a big boy!

This was the Elmo cake I made. The cake part was a strawberry jello cake and the frosting was cool whip. I am not a sugary frosting fan, so cool whip is an easy frosting. However, this year, it was awful! The frosting stained everything...my hands, the counters, etc. It also tasted bad from the food coloring. It did not taste bad last year, but I will try to find something better for next year! Any good "tried and true" recipes out there?

Here is Will looking slightly mortified as we sang "Happy Birthday."
Will decided to attack the cake as the candles were still on it. He ended up very red and black, but didn't even eat a bite of cake. That doesn't surprise me; he hasn't eaten cake in a measureable quanity since his first birthday! My mom let him out of the high chair looking like this, too. tsk tsk tsk.Kristie started to laugh at my teeth being discolored, but low and behold, hers were also black. She went above and beyond rubbing it in, though!
We actually had to brush our teeth for several minutes to get it off. It was still on the tongues, though! Lesson learned!
We finished off the party with "pin the nose on Elmo."
Happy 2nd Birthday Will! We love you!
Thanks to all those who came/called to help Will have a special day :)

Will's new tricycle

2009-06-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

We found this neat tricycle at a rummage sale. Will doesn't really understand he should be the one riding it, yet, though. Here he is demonstrating what WE should be doing!

I really like this picture! He is getting to be such a little boy.

Look at my BEAUTIFUL (but dead) irises behind Will. They are GIGANTIC! The flowers are done blooming but the leaves are still so huge. I have yet to cut down the dead flowers, but you get the idea. Picture a ton of purple and that was my flowers!

The new usual look I get when I break out the camera. If I am quick, this is what I capture. If I am slower, he is already looking away, like the picutre above. A scrapbooker's dread: an adorable, yet camera-phobic, little guy. tsk tsk tsk.

Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg

2009-06-29T11:50:00.003-05:00

My beautiful blue-eyed boy! He doesn't smile for the camera anymore. It is a plus if he looks at it!

We wanted to go to the festival to mainly try a strawberry brat, but they ran out before we got there. We had nice weather-cooler because it was going to storm soon. We looked at crafts, listened to music, ate a bunch of good food, and even had a super quick trip to one of my fav scrapbook stores. Will's album from 1-2 years is getting too fat and I needed bigger posts! Too short of a trip for me :(

Jordan loves Gyros (pronounced year-os) and Will likes munching on Fruit Loops. Will is not much of an adventurous eater! Will looks like a little gansta in this picture.

I ate a "chocolate kiss" which was a strawberry crepe with creme and chocolate. It was fabulous. Jordan called it a creep.

Here is a little picture of the road. They shutdown all of downtown Cedarburg for the festival. It was quite busy. People love their strawberries!

Celebrating in style!

2009-06-29T11:19:00.007-05:00

June 18, 2009

Our five year wedding anniversary!

We celebrated by going to Eddie Martini's, a FABULOUS restaurant near Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee. We also went here for our 2 year anniversary, and have been drooling to come back ever since, but it really is only for special occasions! It is sooooo good!

We forgot to take pictures of our fabulous SEARED TENDERLOIN--sesame-crusted beef napoleon with sweet soyand napa slaw appetizer. It melted in our mouths and looked so fancy.
This was Jordan's BAKED BURGUNDY ONION SOUP. Similar to French Onion soup, but with chicken broth instead of beef and it also had tomato sauce in there. I am not a fan of French onion but LOVED this soup. The melted cheese was too much for me, but Jordan ate it all up!

Next, was FILET MIGNON topped with a homemade onion ring and choice of GARLIC MASHED POTATOES and house specialty CREAMED CORN. They really should rename the corn dish to something much more gourmet, like corn de la creme, because its name does not do the dish justice! It was the best corn I have ever had! The steak and potatoes were awesome! I was so full, I couldn't even eat Jordan's one onion ring and I love onion rings, too!

After dinner, the waiter surprised us with a free cake. He took our picture and printed out a copy for us in a sepia tone and put it in a fun paper frame from the restaurant. All just for celebrating our anniversary with them! Here is a picture he took with our camera so I could have a digital copy! :)

Here is the delicious cake! It was part white cake, part raspberry cheesecake. Not being a fan of cheesecake, I have to say it was soooo good! On the side were whipping cream and strawberries. Drizzled on the bottom was chocolate and vanilla cream. We loved the signature Eddie Martini martini glass in chocolate on the top! Did I mention it was mouth-watering good?!? I don't know how we found the room, but there were no leftovers!
We may conveniently plan coming to WI for future anniversaries after we move just to eat at this restaurant!

Our 5th Anniversary!

2009-06-18T13:24:00.000-05:00

June 18, 2004
Today is our five-year wedding anniversary. We have been together for 12 years total, so five seems so small to us. However, in these five years we have lived in two cities, held 5 different jobs, had 1 dog and 1 baby, and had 1821 days of bliss.
This year for our anniversary, we are going to dinner tonight at Eddie Martinis for the "best steak of Jordan's life." We are also hoping to head down to the lakefront this weekend where Jordan proposed. We'll look through our wedding scrapbook and watch our wedding video and think about how our wedding day was perfect.

Long awaited short update :)

2009-06-05T10:06:00.002-05:00

We have had a crazy busy month with tons of little things! Here is a short version update of some of the more interesting things with more pics to come soon (*hopefully if I can get my act together*).
April: We had a good Easter! We took Will to an egg hunt and he did okay. Didn't quite get the hang of it, yet, but he enjoyed putting the eggs in and out of the basket when we got home!

We also went to Jordan's brother's house for General Conference, where we get to watch our prophet speak to us on TV instead of going to church! We had a lot of fun seeing the family and spending time together playing games and chatting.
We spent any warm weather day at the park so Will could run around and climb. He is so full of energy!

The end of April and beginning of May, I grew more in love with our little family and in awe of Jordan's patience and compassion. I really think there is no other person more perfect for me in the whole wide world. I also had a minor surgery and the rest of the month was more difficult for me. The more fun things in May included:
Getting a new bike trailer and going on the Eisenbahn Trail. We are looking forward to biking to the farmer's market this summer.

Mother's Day

The Jackson Rummage!! Jordan flew home a day early from TX to go with me. We STOCKED UP! We have clothes for Will probably until he is 5 unless he keeps growing like a weed. We also got a few fun toys for him, including a smaller Big Wheel bike to learn how to pedal, a baseball tee toy, a step stool with "Will" on it!, a train set and table, a little car, and puzzles galore.

Going to California to see my brother Kevin, his wife Mary, my doggie niece Lucy, and my Aunt Diane and Uncle Al. We had a really fun time and Will surprising did well on the airplane thanks to the portable DVD player (thanks Dan Dan!). We spent our time in South Lake Tahoe and a night in Sacramento. It is so beautiful in Tahoe! Also beautiful is my brother's house! He and his wife worked hard to upgrade flooring, counters, etc. It looks like a model home with their beautiful decor too! Thanks for having us Aunt Diane and Kevin!

Now it is June! Things this month will include:

Treating Will's ear ache :(
Will's music and rhythm class every Thursday.
Play dates in the park.
Speech therapy, Occupational therapy and a general teaching therapy a few times a month to help Will communicate and cope with his newly discovered Sensory Processing Disorder.

Our 5 year wedding anniversary and 12 year "being in love" anniversary. It is still hard for me to not count those 7 years premarriage!

Father's Day

My Dad's bone marrow transplant next Friday, June 12. Please keep him in your prayers!

Happy 51st (belated) Birthday Dad!

2009-04-21T13:47:00.003-05:00

My Dad's typical face when asked to smile nicely...

Happy Birthday Dad! His birthday was April 2nd. I made him a Snicker's Chocolate Cheesecake Pie.

My Mom and Dad

Grandma, Will and Grandpa. Will is wearing his Uncle Kevin sweater (I know Uncle Kevin likes to be mentioned...).

Grandpa opening Will's card...it folded out really big to show how much Will loves Grandpa!

My Dad and I! Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

Get Ready...Get Set...GO!

2009-04-21T12:34:00.001-05:00

Will playing with Grammy Pammy

Going down the slide. Will is slowly learning more words. This time, it was "GO." He used to say "go" all of the time, but forgot it over time. He now can say "go" after we say, "get ready, get set..."

Will loves to be pulled around!

Kissin Cousins!

2009-04-21T12:32:00.000-05:00

Will and Emma!

Madison Zoo trip...

2009-04-21T11:59:00.003-05:00

A while ago, Jamie and I took the kiddos to the Madison Vilas Zoo. I never got around to posting the pictures! It was Will's first time at the zoo. It was really fun for me to drive back to Madison and go down the same streets I used to drive to go to my various apartments, etc, since I lived there for five years! Ahhhh, I miss it!
Here is Will in the car. He fell asleep on the way to the zoo for a ten minute nap the whole day. Too much excitement for him!

Here is my nephew Jake.

Here is my nephew Josh.

Here are Will and Emma checking each other out in the stollers.

Since it was March and still rather cold outside, there were not a whole lot of animals outside. These were a few of my favorites!
Here are the penguins. You can also see them swim inside the water from below.

Here are two adorable penquins!

Josh, me and Will.

A lion

Four Wild Things!

It is official!

2009-04-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

We just received confirmation that we are able to officially take our house OFF the market! Jordan's bosses supported this decision due to my dad's upcoming bone marrow transplant on June 12! We will now be able to be here to help and support without having the constant threat of showings and offers! They are allowing Jordan to commute to Houston only one week a month instead of two like he has been for the last eight months. They are also allowing us to keep the house off the market until the timing is right for us with my dad's recovery. We will eventually have to move to Houston, especially if Jordan ever wants a promotion, but we will be enjoying our borrowed time with our families until then! I love our house, especially our newly finished lower level so I am THRILLED we are able to stay for possibly a year longer!

Perkins Breakfast

2009-03-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

We had to leave the house for a showing. We went to Perkins for a $3.99 breakfast. Here is Will eating snacks before breakfast.

Here is Will sharing with Grandma...what a sweet boy.

My mom and dad. Notice my dad's nice hair?!?

Jordan and I before the main event.

Do you know any children who will go to extremes to remove food from his/her mouth? WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAIL!
Will was eating snacks before breakfast when he came across a dry animal cookie. Desperate to remove it from his mouth, he instantly started dry heaving. That removed most of the cookie. He waited a minute until we thought that it was safe to move on without holding up his bib and napkins, and then proceeded to projectile vomit across the table. It landed all over the table, high chair, Will, my left arm, and our coats on the floor. GROSS! Needless to say, we had to take our breakfast home. I am slighly irriated with Will about this event. Either he has a VERY sensitive belly OR he learned the quickest way to remove unwanted food from his belly.

So handsome!

2009-03-31T14:05:00.000-05:00

I just love Will's big blue eyes and dark long eyelashes. What a sweet smirk!

Mr. Mohawk

2009-03-31T14:03:00.000-05:00

Side view

Front View
Will's hair is getting quite long...time for a haircut soon! Will still loves tubby time. He especially likes to try to escape the tubby these days, and play "quack quack quack...wheeeee" with his duck as it bounces and then slides down the back of the tub.

Crazy Sleeper

2009-03-31T13:55:00.001-05:00

I found Will sleeping in this weird position...pillow in the middle of the bed, feet over the bumper, head slightly off the pillow, multiple pacifiers. What a life!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

2009-03-31T13:43:00.001-05:00

Where is all of our silverware??

There it is!

We found Will in the middle of the kitchen amongst clinging and clanging...

Sassy boy!

Schaefer Family Movie Night!

2009-03-31T13:39:00.001-05:00

Will loves to have a Schaefer Family Movie Night! We break out popcorn, smoothies, and car blanket. Will LOVES popcorn! He munches and munches, dumps some out, and munches some more. It was one of the first things we did to get him to sit and snuggle with us. He also loves Daddy's smoothies. Daddy makes the World's Best Smoothies! Will loves to play car blankie fort. We all hide under the blanket and laugh and giggle. We are hoping Will starts to adore car blanket so it is a good transition from his crib to a big boy bed when it is time to transfer!

YEAH! He Matched!

2009-03-17T15:44:00.001-05:00

As most of you probably know, my dad has been battling cancer since 2002. He has Non-Hodgkins Disease cancer of his lymph nodes and as a result, his blood, too. This last round of treatment was pretty tough on my dad. The most noticeable effects to us were his loss of his hair, his "port" sticking out of his chest where they put the chemo so it wouldn't ruin his veins, and his frequent icy-hot sweats/chills.
My dad has been getting Chemo pretty much every other year since being diagonsed, so this year the doctors recommended a bone marrow transplant. After testing his brother and sister (siblings are the best hope for a match), his brother Dean turned out to be a perfect match! Luckily one of the siblings were, otherwise, he would have had to be in a database search to find a random person who matched! We are so grateful my uncle is agreeing to the procedure. Hopefully this will "cure" my dad's type of cancer!
He is set to have the surgery at the beginning of June. He will be in the hospital for 2-4 weeks pending on the results. From there, he'll have to see the doctor 2-5 times a week until they say otherwise. He will also probably have to take a year off of work for recovery/infection prevention.
I am so thankful for modern medicine! 20 years ago, this would not have been an option for my dad! Today, best case scenario, he could be cancer free!
Please continue to keep my dad in your prayers!

Nursey Drama!

2009-03-04T15:15:00.001-06:00

Will is now old enough to go to nursey at church during the second and third hour of church. This is great for Jordan and I because now we can enjoy our meetings without having to walk the halls with Will. The second hour, Will gets to play toys with the other kids. Third hour, they have snack, a little lesson, and normally sing songs or color or something. Will has gone pretty much every other week for the last month since every time he goes, he ends up getting sick. :( Notice Will's adorable "Uncle Kevin" clothes?!? Thanks braja and Auntie Mary for the adorable clothes!

The first time Will went, he did very well up until Jordan and I peeked in on him to see how he was doing. When I looked, they were trying to get Will to actually sit on a little chair. He was standing on it and wouldn't bend his knees! It was so funny to watch his leader's patience running thin as she kept calmly telling him to sit down while she pushed his shoulders down! Will does not like to sit! When Jordan peaked 10 minutes later, Will saw him and cried for a while because he wanted to leave. He was sitting in his chair, though! When Jordan picked him up, the nursey leader said she would eventually corale him into submission! That'll be the day!

The second time he went, we did not peak in because she asked us not to. I did hear him cry a little from the next room, but when Jordan picked him up, she said he was fine until a different parent peaked in and he wanted to get out since he saw the door open. She said Will would rather sit on the table instead of coloring. She handed Jordan a blank sheet of paper that Will "colored." Jordan saw other kids' papers and they had two-three different colored markings on them. She also said she might bring her little playground jungle gym for Will. In all her years doing this calling, she never had to bring it in!

The third time he went, I walked by after second hour and heard a kid screaming his lungs bloody-murder. A different parent was peaking in, so I looked over them and asked if that was Will since I didn't see him. The leader said it was and to take him for the rest of the day. He was in hysterics...all blochy, tears streaming down, boogers dripping down, and eyes as wide as a ghost. He only looked like this a few times: When he was first born, and when he was running such a high fever I had to rush him to the doctor. He was obviously very tramatized. I asked what happened, and it was the usual, "he wanted to leave." He got so worked up over it. We'll see what happens this Sunday...let's hope he doesn't get sick this week first! This might end up being a weekly column on our blog!

New couch!

2009-03-04T14:53:00.001-06:00

Well, since we still have no prospect of moving anytime soon, we decided to utilize our newly finished lower level. We just got our new couch a few days ago! This couch is awesome because it reclines on the ends and breaks into five different sections for moving it downstairs! Just what we wanted! It is black leather; we didn't necessarily want black, but it is the only color it came in. We are so happy with leather. We never have to worry about stains or anything spilling. If it does, we just wipe it up and it is gone! We got a new tv for downstairs delivered today, too, but Jordan is in TX this week and I am not allowed to open the box. Now, we just need more kids to fill our house! No news on future baby #2 for those wondering...we are still waiting to be blessed again! I think my brother needs to have a baby before God gives us another so Will can have human cousins on my side of the family! ;)

Visting the Schaefers in Madison

2009-03-04T14:20:00.004-06:00

This past Saturday we went to Madison to visit Jordan's brother and his family. We haven't seen them since Christmas despite several attempts to get together! Josh just had his tonsils and adenoids removed, so he was a little bit down with pain still, but we still wanted to go see everyone! We had a great time and plan to go again in April! Will and Emma had a lot of fun together. They are five weeks apart in age. Emma is soooo adorable...words can't describe what a little sweetheart she is! Here are Will and Emma playing kitchen. Notice Will tuning me out and Emma saying cheese for the camera!

I told you she was cute! Jamie does her hair in little pigtails and I love her little curls in the back. Everything about my little niece is adorable and little! She is so wonderfully snuggly. Will needs to hang around with her more so she rubs off on him!

Will playing kitchen.

Emma skipped her nap since we came when it started. She couldn't make it any longer, so she fell asleep while we played games. It was so cute! Here she is with her mommy, my "big sister" Jamie!

We are playing Taboo. Jordan and I got whooped. We need to work on our communication better, obviously ;)
We also played Settlers of Catan. It is our favorite game. If any of you know how to play it, let us know and we will have you over! I can't remember if Jamie or Steve won, but it was close between them! Jordan and I need more practice! :(

Will and Daddy kinda matched. It was cute. Also cute, when we first got there, Will was actually shy. He normally doesn't care where I take him and he acts like he owns the place. I have seen him getting a little bit more and more shy when we go to other people's houses, but this day, he actually kind of pouted when he got there. Bottom lip sticking out and all. His cousin Jake was very helpful and got him a few trucks to play with. Will is lucky to have such wonderful cousins.

Emma and Will clearly love playing together. After we were there for a little while, the four of us adults and cousins Jake and Josh were on the main floor. Will and Emma were upstairs. We heard Will and Emma laughing pretty hard. Jordan and I ran up there to see what they were doing. It was like they were being tickled or something. We saw them in the boys' room standing on chairs and throwing puzzle pieces onto the floor. They were having such a good time together. Luckily Emma kind of followed Will around so they were always playing together. Will normally doesn't have playmates so he doesn't really know to stay together. They played so nicely sharing toys and stuff.
Here they are saying good bye. We told Emma to give Will a kiss, and she kept trying. Will was tired and wanted to go home, so he kept pushing her away or walking away from her. This was as close as they got. It was so precious to think it almost happened!

Update on Will

2009-03-04T13:56:00.002-06:00

Will is 19 months old and will be going in for his 18 month check-up on Friday. I know he is a month over due, but he was sick pretty much this whole month! We will update his height/weight shortly after for those interested. We think he is growing like a weed! He still LOVES his chuppie (pacifier). We ALMOST broke him of it when he was sick, but as soon as he was feeling a little better, he clinged to it. They are definitely his comfort item.

Will still loves to "help" us vacuum. And by helping, I mean get in the way! No matter what he is doing, if he hears the vacuum turn on, he comes running. Nothing trumps it, not even Super Why! By the way, I absolutely LOVE my Dyson. I don't know how I lived in such filth before it!

He also really likes his rocking horse! I swear one of these days he is going to be bucked off of it head first! He rocks so high and fast that I have to constantly remind him to go slow.

Will's newest favorite thing to do is to be pulled around the house on a blanket. It is adorable to watch! Grandma Schaefer started this new activity and we have her to thank everytime he sees a blanket, he shrieks and jumps on top laughing. If you don't IMMEDIATELY run to him to pull him around the house he flips out. The boy wants to play and he wants to play NOW! He can play this forever.

Another picture of him being pulled around. Look at his smirk!

Will is getting a little bit more snuggly (finally). This mostly happens around bedtime. He'll crawl up on our laps and let us hold him for a little while before squirming away. Last night, I actually was able to hold him without him moving at all for 22 minutes and 19 seconds while we watched a movie on the computer! I was in heaven! In this picture, Will is NOT snuggly...notice him pushing Jordan away?!?

Will has been eating a little better now, too. At least he was before getting so sick. He still favors milk and yogurt above all other foods, but he also likes meat and fruit. Veggies are still thrown far from his high chair. He will eat small pieces of broccoli and spinach when I put them directly in his mouth. But he will not feed himself those things. I recently bought interesting foods for him to try based on what I have seen other kids eat, so I will update later on those things if he likes them!

Will also has discovered "nose." His favorite way to point to nose is by putting his finger as far in it as possible. The other day, he drew blood from my nose!

Tower Attacker!

2009-02-19T14:33:00.006-06:00

Look at the lovely tower...just look...no touching!!

Uh ohhhhh!!! The tower is under attack!

He leaves no survivers!!

Will's favorite thing to do lately is knock down towers. He used to like building them, but now he is a little destroyer. He especially likes to be told to wait. It is not as much fun if we just out right allow him to do it! The other night, Will was in a different room and I built a tower for him. Jordan brought him in the room right before bedtime, and when he saw the tower, a gigantic smile moved across his face. He started to laugh and to skirm to get away from Daddy. He immediately knocked down the tower and went to bed. It was the cutest thing I saw in a long time!

Messy Eater!

2009-02-19T14:22:00.001-06:00

Will really likes to eat stuffed ravioli shells from Costco. We eat them a few times a week when Jordan is gone because it is so easy to make! He actually eats the spinach in them! YEAH for veggies!

Shoveling the food in!

Yummy Yummy Yummy!

Time for a tubby!

Tubby Time

2009-02-19T14:02:00.005-06:00

Will still LOVES tubby time! His favorite things to do include: crawling in and out of the tub, making bubbles from one of our cups that has a crack in the bottom, stacking cups (which he puts in order of size!), pouring water out of the different cups, and spending an hour in the warm water! He won't stand up when he is done being washed because he knows we pull him out!

Stacking cups

Singing "la la la la la"

Blowing air & spit through his lips.

Warning: baby nudity
Will is in the tub. We are trying to get him to sing "la la la la la" but he is not as responsive as we would like! You can witness him singing, going up and down, spinning and falling out of the tub.

New haircut...

2009-02-05T23:20:00.002-06:00

Before

After

After going almost 10 months since my last one, I had to go get a haircut. I debated for awhile with what to do since I wanted a new style. I *ALMOST* even got highlights, but didn't plan ahead with my stylist. I am actually grateful it fell through since I think I would have regretted it! It took too many years and $$$$ before deciding to go back to my natural color in 2004 and I vowed never to waste that much money on my hair again until I gray!! I decided with a strait across short cut since I wanted a change from all the layers. Jordan, who I think is the only one, really likes my hair short and strait, so that is what I went with! My stylist said I can come back in a week to fix it if I still have reservations about the strait cut. We'll see! I would love a shorter hairdue or a sleek-cut one that I see some people getting lately, but my hair is so thick and poofy that it would never work out!

Before

After

Baby in the Basket!

2009-02-03T21:53:00.001-06:00

Lately Will loves to sit in the laundry basket! It started off being used as a method of playing Where's Will, progressed to be a stepping stool to reach higher things, and now is his favorite place to sit and go for a ride. He gets so excited to be pushed around in the basket and go "vroom vroom" around the house. He even started making a noise that sounds like vroom when he wants to be pushed around. Often times I walk in the living room to see him sitting in the basket when I know I left it in the laundry room. If the laundry basket has clothes in it, Will either chooses one of two options; either climbs in with the clothes if it is half-full or less, or dumps the clothes out to make more room for himself. I think this latest quirk is so cute!

Will is always with the finger in his mouth!

My Cutie Pie!

Missing Daddy

2009-02-03T15:44:00.002-06:00

Once again, Jordan is currently in Houston working. We are still trying to sell our house-almost 6 months on the market. His company has been great about Jordan commuting and will even extend the time we have to move to Houston if we need it due to the poor economy/housing market. While I am (obviously) thrilled not to move for at least another month, the time away from Jordan every other week is getting old. By Thursday of Jordan being gone, Will starts getting cranky. His favorite time is around 4:30 Friday when he gets up from his nap and Daddy is magically home! Here is a picture from last month's trip/reunion. Will is NEVER very snuggly, either, so this was really special to get on camera! Oh, and don't get too excited...Jordan did shave his goatee, but it is now back. Maybe on a day when he is in the dog house, I will post the hilarious pics of all the different styles he shaved before officially shaving it all off! ;)
We miss you like crazy, my love!

Kalahari Videos

2009-02-02T22:13:00.006-06:00

Here is a video of Will going down the yellow slide from the pictures below. You can also see him play "down...up" with Daddy!

Here is a fun video of my mom playing "pretty pretty pretty" with Will. She normally wears a hat or something on her head. Will loves the way she does this. I especially like this video and deem it worth posting due to my sister Laura's wonderful presence. Love you La-u!

Kahari Dec. 2008

2009-02-02T16:08:00.007-06:00

We had such a wonderful time at the Kalahari after Christmas. We went with my parents and two sisters and shared a two-room suite. Will was slightly sick, but we decided to go and try it out to see how he would do. If he was tense, we could go home, but since we already paid for it, we wanted to go. The first day at the water park, Will fell asleep on the lazy river. It was so cute...his little face kept bobbing in the water and it took everything to keep it out and block his little innertube from wild teenagers horse playing. I guess that is what you get if you go over winter break! We went once while school was in session and there was really no one there. This time the place was packed! We still had a super fun time especially since Jordan and I got to go on some rides!

These pics are kind of out of order. Here is my mom and Laura at dinner the last night. These are all right before Will vomited all over the hallway! SOOOOO embarrassing!

Our happy family enjoying a wonderful time visiting with my family before the big event. We have no idea what is in store for us-well, mainly me and my mom!

Will LOVES drinking water from the straw! He looks like a little birdie! He couldn't get enough!

Laura, Mom and Dad. Katie was sleeping in the room and missed the fun. And by fun, I mean vomit! Right after these pics, Will was fussing so my mom and I took him out in the hallway. He ran up and down it several times, had a coughing attack and then projectile-vomited all over the wall and fall three times. Since it was 8 at night, we rushed him up to the room, threw him in the tub to clean up, and went to bed. We didn't even get to eat dinner with my family! We left the next morning.

Bathing beauties: Laura and Katie

Will walking up the stairs to go down slides. He had more fun this time at the Kalahari! He took more risks walking around in the water and going down the slides!

Click the picture for enlargement! Look at his face!!! I also close my eyes and hold my breath when I am scared!

These little water spouts are Will's favorites. He loves to put his hands near them!

Will walking up the stairs to go on this little slide. Watch the video from it above this post!

I LOVE THIS FACE!!! Click it to enlarge it!

Will going down his first slide!

YEAH!

My Sweet Boy with Daddy in the water!

We loved spending time with my family here. We all had so much fun together, especially with Will. One of my favorite things that happened was when my sisters and I talked my mom into going on a water slide with us. They doubled up and my mom and I doubled up. They went down first, and then we went down second. The covered slide was a nice winedy one with hardly any drops but the end had a little waterfall before you shot out. My mom doesn't like to get her ears wet, so towards the end, I told her about the waterfall and covered her ears for her. She was freaking out about it and didn't pay much attention to hanging on to the raft. When we hit the pool at the bottom, she went torpedo-ing off of the raft and went underwater any way!! We all laughed so hard, I think we all peed! She must have loved the thrill, because we went again after!

Christmas Videos

2009-02-02T15:35:00.014-06:00

Here is my Grandpa Mazur opening another "crappy" present! Everything he opens, regardless how nice it really is, is "crap." This year he did get crap!

Here is Will ripping apart a present!

Here is Will playing with his Elmo Live.

More Christmas!

2009-02-02T15:12:00.003-06:00

Will getting his Elmo Live. He was a little weary of the other stuff it did other than the store demo. He now loves it and carries it around the house by its eye balls!
My beautiful sisters! Katie Baby and Princess Laura

They got a new family computer! Now they can check the blog regularly and leave comments...hint hint!

Katie and her high school sweetie of two years Andrew...aka Pookie! haa haa!

My mom with her favorite gift of all time!

Moving on up...

2009-02-02T14:48:00.006-06:00

Here is a video of Will walking up stairs. It was one of the first times he did it about a month ago.
Now he is working on walking downstairs! MUCH SCARIER! Luckily, he only tries when there are three or less stairs! He seriously has zero hesitation when it comes to falling flat on his face!

Crazy Sleeper!

2009-02-02T14:43:00.001-06:00

Lately Will has been sleep better interestingly!! He loves to put his foot up on the bumper. He also has to have a minimum of three pacifiers to sleep. One for his mouth and one for each hand. Unfortately, these are his comfort items! He also loves to have the glow worm and soft bunny above his head to play music while he falls asleep. He can do the glow worm by himself :)

Computer Nerd in training....

2009-02-02T14:38:00.001-06:00

Will absolutely LOVES the computer. Some days it is all he wants to do. He loves to watch his own videos on the blog and see all of his pictures, too. We are now trying to record SUPER long videos of him so we don't have to restart a video every 20-30 seconds. If you are bored by newer videos, sorry, but they are not really for YOU!! :) We also have uploaded his favorite cartoon, Super Why and the Super Readers, to the computer. We now have 30 minutes where he'll just lean back on the chair and put his feet up on the tray to watch TV on the computer! I'll get more recent pics of that soon. These are pics from last month.

Two Cute Videos of Will from December

2009-02-02T14:16:00.010-06:00

Here is Will spinning! He gets quite dizzy and there are some funny falls!

Here is Will rocking super fast on his rocking horse from his Great Grandpa Mazur. He is no longer allowed to rock in the kitchen since he now can easily be thrown from the horse on tile!

St. NIck 2008

2009-02-02T14:13:00.001-06:00

I KNOW that I am super behind in blogging! While I have many excuses, I will not waste time updating with that information, but rather information I am sure you have been on the edge of your seats waiting for!
Ya right!

St. Nick was really fun this year, mainly because he came for everyone in the house, not just Will and Daddy ;)

Will enjoyed getting snacks, pacifiers, sippy cups, books about Jesus, and of course, diaper cream! I had some wonderful chocolates from Dena's in Jackson. She makes the BEST peanut lindies and deluxe nut brittle!! I could eat $30 worth of her chocolate a day!

Jordan received some classic movies (aka Walmart's $2 specials the day of Thanksgiving) as well as some chocolates from Dena's as well. He also loves the peanut lindies and turtles.

Great News!

2009-01-08T13:15:00.001-06:00

Dad at Christmas 2008

We just found out today that my dad is officially in remission! He was dignosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma since 2003 and has had chemo three times since then. This last round of chemo had eight treatments and was different and stronger than the last two times. He lost his hair and a ton of weight, but not his good spirits! Congrats Dad! We love you!

Dad at Christmas 2007

Christmas Day at the Mazurs

2009-01-06T15:35:00.002-06:00

Jordan and I with the tree...Will was napping!

My Daddy

Auntie Laurja

Jordan with his new grill set...Thanks Kevin and Mary!

Jordan being adorable!

My Christmas Cutie!
(More pics to follow off of my other camera!)

Christmas morning...What a surprise!

2009-01-06T14:14:00.009-06:00

Merry Christmas from our family! We had to play Patty Cake with Will while the self-timer was going off to ensure a smile! Ahhh...tricks of the trade!

My favorite gifts of all time! Jordan and Will REALLY out did themselves! Diamond earrings...

AND an hour message at a Day spa!!! I am spoiled!

Jordan and Will opening Jordan's present from me!

OOOO! A photo organizer! Could a guy get luckier?!?
I decided to get Jordan a Wii last minute and all stores were sold out! Instead of doing his hobby with him, now he can do mine with me! (watch the Christmas surprise video for Jordan's real present!)

Dark Knight from Will

Will opening one of his many presents!

A book from Daddy!

This was one of Will's gifts...his first year milestones in a snapfish album! He loves looking at himself!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun for our little family. We had so much fun opening presents and playing with all of our new stuff! Will did really awesome trying to help open presents and was a little trooper! All of our presents were surprises to each other this year, and it made opening them a little more fun than usual! I was extremely happy that we were able to spend Christmas 2008 in WI since we haven't sold our house yet.

Jordan's Chrismas Present surprise!

First Will opened all of his presents but two since he was getting squirmy. Then I opened mine, and then Jordan opened his. We then went back to Will's last two presents from Santa. This is Jordan and Will opening them! I had to be sneaky this year since Jordan would snoop for his presents!

Christmas Eve day

2009-01-06T13:56:00.002-06:00

We spent Christmas Eve day with the Schaefer side of our family. We went to Jordan's parents' house for the celebration! We were there for the duration of Will's nap and he fell asleep on the way there. He missed dinner and the Christmas program, but woke up in time for Santa and presents! He was slightly weary of Santa at first, but then decided that he wasn't so scary and proceded to rip off his glasses, and almost his beard! Santa was a very good sport and commented on how much "Grandpa" loved the color red on all of the kids! You know, because Grandpas and Santa love red!
(Nice try, Dad! Thanks for dressing up)
Will loved his Elmo slippers, riding train, and other presents! He also got a tunnel/tent that he doesn't really like so much right now, but we are hoping he warms up to it soon!
We got to visit with Jordan's neighbors, the Steinhafels, and congrats to Nate and Emily on expecting your first child! :)

Will with "Grandpa Mazur" Santa

Grammy Pammy sitting on Santa's lap!

Will playing with his new train

All of the kiddos: Will, Tea, Jake, Emma and Josh. This was my best picture. Pretty tense! Jamie, I would LOVE to see some of yours in a web album so I can snatch them!

For Jordan...

2008-12-09T13:47:00.001-06:00

We miss you Jordan!

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-09T13:44:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! For the second year in a row, our #1 blessing for whom we are grateful is Will! He is truely the center of our lives.
Our day was filled: Turkey Bowl in the morning, my mom's house for lunch and Jordan's Grandpa's house for dinner. We got home around 9 pm, and put Will right to bed. He fell asleep on the way home! This year, I actually had to learn how to prepare a turkey. Under normal circumstances, I would not have to learn this for decades to come. Snce we are moving across the country, there will not be family to make this traditional feast for us :(
I had a hard time. While I am definitely not a vegetarian, I do not like to eat meat that resembles the actual animal it is made from. Obviously, turkey is as close to the real thing as it gets. My mom taught me how to clean out (read: disgusting!!) a whole turkey as well as just a turkey breast. The breast is what I will only be able to stomach in the future. We had the traditional foods: turkey, stuffing, pots, mulitple veggies, pies, and a whole ton of extras. My mom goes all out. It was all very delicious.
After, my sisters and Laura's new man, Danny, played dominos with my mom. It was very fun. I think dominos is one of my all time favorite games!
We also had a great time at the Monk's house. We did not eat much dinner since we were more stuffed than our turkey, but enjoyed visiting everyone. Will loves to see other kids, especially his cousin Emma. It was a nice relaxing night.
We love to reflect on all of our blessings on Thanksgiving. We truely have so much to be thankful for. We hope you all enjoyed the holiday with your families, too!

Christmas Quick Step

2008-12-06T18:54:00.003-06:00

Tonight Jordan and Will broke into dance while listening to Christmas music. Most kids bounce up and down to dance, but my boy likes the quick step! Enjoy!

Will and Daddy's Fun Game!

2008-12-02T10:46:00.003-06:00

Will and Jordan playing on the slide.

Will just went down the slide...he loves it! Check out the molars!

Jordan chasing Will. Jordan hides behind the work bench until Will comes down the slide and then chases him until the stairs. They do this over and over and over again!

Turkey Bowl 2008

2008-12-01T22:09:00.001-06:00

Every year, Jordan and a bunch of guys from church and their friends participate in the Turkey Bowl. They play football for few hours in the morning while the wives try to prepare the meal and get the kids ready all by ourselves! Okay, so it really isn't that bad...
I always go to take pictures. This year, Will wanted to come and see Daddy. He was hoping to be the secret weapon since Auntie Laura didn't play this year.

When we finally arrived, the boys were on the last play. Will missed his chance. I am sure Will was disappointed. He just sat in the snow with Daddy's football, waiting to play.

Here are my boys. Jordan had a lot of fun! It will probably (sadly) be his last WI Turkey Bowl unless we visit on Thanksgiving :(

Lil Buckaroo!

2008-12-01T21:26:00.003-06:00

Will loves the rocking horse that Great Grandpa Mazur made for Grandpa Mazur when he was a child. Great Grandpa gave it to Will for his first birthday, but Will is finally tall enough to get on and off.

Here is video of Will riding the horse. He actually can get on and off, but he is obsessed with the camera where he won't smile or do anything super cute when he sees it. Notice the serious face in the above pictures?

PS. You also get a peek at Will's cool dance moves. The boy has quick feet!

All bundled up!

2008-12-01T21:21:00.001-06:00

Here is Will all bundled up! I found the cutest jacket, hat and mittens for him at Lots for Tots, my favorite children's clothes consignment shop! This is Will's winter coat this year. He also has a cute blue hat.