Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! It's hard to believe it's over! We throughly enjoyed spending so much time with family and all the memories we made. We ate way too much food and were given such generous gifts. We are so very thankful for our family and for the real reason for the season, our savior's birth.

 

Scheffert gang

 

Essinks

We got some fun news this last week too. Ali is pregnant!! She is due the end of august/beginning of September. We are so excited; Lux will be a great big sister!

 

James and Grandpa Russ figuring out his racetrack

 

James was an excellent present passer outter :)

 

loves trucks and cars

 

Eli loved opening the presents..and eating the paper.

 

 

So blessed.

 

Not a great picture, but apparently the only one of just our family.

 

We look forward to 2013 and all that God has planned for us. We pray we will trust God through the good and the hard times. We are so thankful for our friends and family that we are surrounded with and that encourage us in our journey. We love you!

8 months

I say this everytime, but it amazes me how slow the day can go sometimes, but how quickly they turn into months and then years! It's unbelieveable to me I have a 2 year old and an 8 month old. Next month is when we are "scheduled" to start trying for baby #3..in order to keep them 18 months apart. It has come around much faster this time! I am slowly feeling ready to take that on again.  We'll see if we stay right on track or wait an extra month or two. It really depends on my body. I didn't get my period until I was nursing James 4 times a day, and I'll try to go down to that at 9 months, but Eli is a eating machine! I'm not sure he'll be ready for that in a month.

Eli is such a happy little boy. He is always smiling. And it's so cute, if someone is talking to him he will look over at me like, "mom is this okay?" love it.


Here is what else he's up to:

-He is 31 inches long and 20.6lbs. Grew an inch since last month and 2lbs. He is so big.

-Only waking up once a night, usually between 1-3am. I am not sure how/when to take this one out. I know we did it for James at this age, but Eli wakes up soaked through his diaper if I don't change him. So I can't just pat him and leave him like we did to James when he woke up. Besides the fact that *Mike can't bend, lift or twist right now and I need him to go in and do the patting! So we'll wait another month before we try and get him sleeping through the night.

-I nurse him 5-6 times a day and he eats a big bowl of baby food 3 times a day! I always question when I'm making it if I made too much, but every time he gets it all down! He even acts like he could eat more most of the time. I never know when he's done!

-Sitting unassisted/unsupervised. He loves to sit at the bucket of toys and pull them all out..works great when I need to get something done! He loves to stand though. It's so funny when you try to sit him down. He stays stiff as a board and it's so hard to get him to bend!

-Not crawling or scooting yet. He can turn in a circle on his tummy and is pushing with his feet when he wants something in front of him, but can't quite move forward yet. I'm wondering if he will be a late crawler because he's so long! It will take a lot of muscle to hold up his long core. Or maybe he'll just army crawl like James did.

-Loves playing peekaboo. He will put the blanket on his face and wait for you to say, "where's eli?" and then take it off so I say, "boo" and he laughs and laughs.

-He is such an observer. He will study and study a person and then look to me to make sure it's "safe". He loves to watch James and other kids play as if he's trying to figure out how he can do it too. You can just tell he wants to be up and chasing them around.

-Eli's hands are like little pom-poms. It is so cute. and a little funny. He gets so excited and his hands just go crazy. Around and around!

-He is such a screamer. I can't say I recognize any consonants, it's seriously just high pitched screams.

-He wasn't a huge fan of the swing. He was unsure of it the whole time. Kind of laughed and just looked at me like, "can you get me out of here yet?"

*Mike herniated a vertebra while helping a friend move some furniture. So he had surgery to remove the herniated pieces and now he can't bend, lift or twist for 6 weeks. And can't work or drive for these first 2 weeks. Although I am cleaning up after 3 boys now, it's been fun having him home! He's healing up really well.





We got to go to the park yesterday with daddy. It was 60 degrees outside in December. It was so beautiful we had to be outside so daddy decided he could use a walk and came with us. We had a great time.

It's funny to see them in the stroller together. James legs look so long. I remember when James looked like Eli in the stroller.

so much to be thankful for..

My rock. God couldn't have chosen anyone better for me.
 Mike is the best husband and dad I could have dreamed of.

My beautiful Family. Love them so much.

Eli was dedicated at church this month. We are so blessed and thankful we have the
opportunity to teach him how much Jesus loves him.
We are also so thankful for our friends and family who will be along side us helping us do this!! 

 

Couldn't do it without this group. My parents and Mike's parents are the only way I make it through some days.                
 I am so lucky to have so much help with the boys.

 

The boys are blessed with 4 grandparents and and 5 great grandparents! And one cousin..James loves Luxy Lu!
 

I am so thankful for Eli, the one that taught me how big your heart can grow. I didn't know how I could love another baby...but of course I could, and he made it so easy! Eli is so sweet, loving, full of laughter and lights up when he sees me. It melts my heart every time.



I am so thankful for James, my first born. He is so sweet, funny, fun, loving, caring, helpful and smart! He has taught me what it means to be a mom. We learn something new everyday! I have never been more thankful for the sacrifices my mom made as she raised me!

 

 

Thankful for my sister, Ali who can share the ups and downs of being a mom with me

Thankful for sweet moments you never want to forget

 

Thankful for how much they get a long. I pray they
will grow to be best friends some day!

 

Thankful for Mike being so handy around the house and that he can teach the boys!
 My dad, Mike's dad and my brother are so well rounded and have so many interests.
 I am thankful my boys have so many awesome examples of Godly men in their lives.

 

Thankful for my sister, Lyndi who is so thoughtful and sweet. She bought James a shirt and wrote him a note.He loved it and had to bring it with him to nap. The boys love "yow". I am also thankful for her willingness to paint my nails, go shopping with me, play with the boys and I love our daily fb chats! Sorry, no picture of you from this month!

 

Great Grandma Scheffert in North Dakota

Grandma is such a hard worker and puts on an amazing Thanksgiving every year!
We had great food and great time this year, once again!

 

                        

                  Jenna is so fun. We were lucky enough to have her come back from NY for thanksgiving this year!
                                  The boys loved playing with her.



Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
Love, The Schefferts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 months old

 

Growing up so fast! It seems like it took him awhile to get to this stage, but now he's getting so big! Literally..he's a big boy.  Do you see how he comes to James' shoulder?!

 

  He is so much fun. He's so sweet. Smiley. Chatty. Happy. Love him so much.

 

Here's what he's up to this month:

 

*Sleeping from 7:30/8-6:30am. Waking up one or two times in the night. Last week it was only once..it was so nice!! It seems like if I can stuff him with enough food (about as much as an adult) then he'll sleep. He slept from 10-7 the other day!

 

*Speaking of food..I always knew our grocery budget would be through the roof with 3 huge men in my house. But I think Eli is going to cause that budget to go up a lot sooner than I thought!! He seriously eats a half a bowl full of food. It's amazing. He's the best eater too. Just opens right up and swallows it without spitting any out or fighting me to put it in. It's so quick!

 

I'm feeding him in the morning around 9:30, after his first nap. And around 7, before he goes to bed. He's tried banana, sweet potato, yogurt, pears, prunes, green beans, carrots. Likes them all! I just mash up a banana every morning, but at night I have been giving him baby food that I have acquired randomly. So I have used that all up and now it's time to jump on the homemade train! I have pureed some sweet potatoes for him already, but that's it. So I have some carrots and squash in the oven. I figure we'll eat what we want and then I'll puree the rest for him! Seems easy enough right now. We'll see what happens when he's eating more often..hopefully I can keep up with him! But the baby food jars are $1 each (not organic) and he would go through 2 of those. Today I bought a squash for $2 and organic carrots for $1.20. and those will last him longer than one feeding. So I think with his appetite I am going to have to keep making it. Plus it just tastes better!

 

*Napping three times a day. Usually a little over an hour each time. He goes down around 9, 12, and 3. The boys usually overlap at 1:00 so its nice to have that time to myself!



*Sitting up by himself! If he reaches really far for a toy he will fall over, but for the most part he's sitting up alone!

so handsome. and his long fingers.

*Getting his arms fully extended while on his tummy. Today he was trying to lift his butt in the air at the same time..crawling soon?! I think he's soo long it might take a little while, but maybe he'll army crawl like James did.

 

*Still has a lot of stranger anxiety. Even if I'm holding him and he's not sure who it talking to him he will start crying sometimes. Usually he will look at me for reassurance and he won't cry, but there are times he still does. And if someone else tries to take him he's for sure crying. Unless you have blonde hair! We've kind of narrowed it down and dark hair and glasses are not his favorite!

 

*He loves toys that light up. Loves to put his hands/toys in his mouth. Loves his exersaucer. Loves to watch James play. Hates hats. He pulls it off in a second.

one of his favorite toys



*Started him on the toilet! He pushes so hard it's easy to know when he's going poop so I've started running him to the toilet. Gotta get them used to having a bare butt. He's gone a few times. A couple times I haven't gotten him on there fast enough. It's hard to run him in there and get his clothes and diaper off before he goes sometimes! It took a little bit of encouraging for me to decide to do it again with Eli (I started this young with James also) because it's a lot of work! It's so much easier to let him to just poop in his diaper! But then I was reminded how nice it is that James was potty trained so young and it's so much nicer to not have to change a stinky diaper!

 

Always busy around here. Enjoying the fall weather and looking forward to the holidays quickly approaching!!

 

 

 



Oh how they change!

I had written a post about how similiar James and Eli looked at birth. I put a picture up and you could really barely tell them apart! So I thought it would be fun to do it at 6 months because it's been so fun to see how much Eli has changed. He has really become his own and has his own sweet look. So here is James at 6 months

                                                            and here is Eli at 6 months

So different! James had 4 teeth by 6 months and Eli has none! James was a chub man and Eli is so slender. Both have beutiful blue eyes! Love my boys.

Have a happy Friday!!

James is two

James is two!

 I can't believe it's been two years since I walked into the hospital to have him. I still remember how excited and anxious I was. I remember how I was so excited to meet him and get to be a mom. I never could have imagined the blessing he would be or the love I would have for him. It's been an amazing two years and I couldn't have been given a smarter, handsome, or fun little boy.

James is seriously so funny. He cracks me up and is such a joy to spend everyday with. I am so thankful I get to stay home and get to know him and teach him day in and day out.

Here's what he's up to:

-Weighs: 29lbs (50-75%), Height: 35 3/4inches (90%)

-Down to one nap! It's finally come! It's been so nice to have a little more flexibility in the day since he only goes down in the afternoon now. He sleeps from 8pm-6:30 and naps from 1-3. He's nap time still varies a little. Depending on what we are doing that day he goes down a little later sometimes, but it seems like he sleeps longer if he gets down closer to one.

-Still a great eater. He has really enjoyed pickles, apples, cottage cheese, and avocado lately! He eats 3 good meals and has one or two snacks.

-Doing a great job on the toilet. We have moved to him being able to go to the bathroom by himself every once in awhile. He can pull his pants and underwear off and climb up on the toilet. He'll go and get down by himself. (this only happens if I am busy with Eli and he can't wait to go. He prefers to have me come with him of course, so I can hold the phone for him.)

-Sings the ABC's! He starts singing, a,b,c,d,e,f,g  then I say h,i,j,k,l,m,n and he sings, o,p, I say q,r, he says, s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z. It's so cute. He also likes to sing the Itsy, Bitsy Spider. He sings the phrase, I repeat him and he sings the next one. He can do that song all by himself! He loves songs. I am singing all the time..and I am not good!

-He's got his colors down. He confuses purple with pink sometimes, but he's got the rest down.

-He will count his cars, "1,2,3,5,7,8,9,10. I usually say the number where he gets stuck and he will say the correct following number.

-He loves to read, loves playing with his trucks, bubbles, bike, lawn mower, tools, and shopping cart.

-He is a great helper for me and Eli and has such a sweet heart. He is becoming more independent and it is so useful in getting him to do what I need. I ask him to come in the bathroom and he doesn't come or says no. I say, "do you want to march over here or do you need help getting here?" 9/10 he says, "James do it." and starts marching over!

-If Eli is getting fussy and I'm working on something James will say, "help I (eli)" and he'll go over and say, "I its okay.It's okay." and will give him his binky and try to make him laugh. Or say, "talking.talking" because I've told him to go "talk to eli to make him happy." It's adorable.

James is turning into a little man. I am excited to see what God has in store for him and for his gifts and talents to be revealed! I'm sure we have a lot in store for the year to come!

6 months!

Doesn't he look so big?! He's getting to be such a big boy! Literally...he's so long! But I feel like he's finally growing out of the baby stage!! It's been long! He's made a lot of progress this past month though and it's been so much fun.


We had Eli's 6 month pictures, James' 2 year and some family shots taken by our friend, Abby, on Sunday. They turned out beautiful!! I was so pleased with them. These are a couple of the shots. When I get the CD I will share some more. You can check my Facebook page for the family and James' shots though!

Here's what Eli's been up to this past month!:




-Weighs: 16lbs 3oz (25%), 29.5 inches (>98%), head circ: 17 1/4 inches (75%) Long and skinny!!

-I felt like he was going longer between feedings at the beginning of the month, but he must be in a growth spurt again because now it's been 2-2.5 hours again! This kid is always eating. It's so cute though because when I sit him on my lap and am messing with my shirt to pull it up. He knows he's so close to getting a drink he gets so impatient and like starts whining/coughing every time. I can't even describe it..but you can see the excitement on his face! It's time to start baby food so he can get a fuller belly!

-No teeth yet!

-Sleeping has also been affected because of him wanting to eat more. We were doing one feeding in the night and now it's been 2 the past couple nights. I am hoping that once we start some rice cereal he will stay fuller and sleep better. He has been sleeping on his belly now for almost a month and he is doing pretty well with not being swaddled. He tries to get his hands up at his face and knock out his binky so I just try to hold that hand while I'm patting his butt and singing (it's quite the task!)

-Naps about 3 times a day. 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00 are about the times he goes down. He tried to take one around 5:30 some days, but he goes to bed around 7:30-8 so I try to keep him up if I can so he doesn't push his bedtime later.

-Rolling over both ways! He had been only rolling to his right while on his belly. But in the last couple days he's been rolling to his left too. And today he rolled from his back to his belly!! He has been so close for a week now so it was fun this morning when he finally did it!!

-Sitting up in a chair pretty well and on his own for a couple seconds. The bumbo is finally a place he can stay for a little while without pancaking and eating his toes!

-He's so much more content just sitting and watching everything around him. He sits in the highchair while James' and I eat lunch or I'm cooking. He will sit on my lap while James' is running around outside. He loves to watch James' play and will laugh and laugh at him. It's so cute.

-Eli is a big talker. He flares his nose and goes high to low in his cooing. He loves to have a conversation with you.

-Grabs everything! It's hard to eat with him on your lap now because he wants to grab your food, plate, silverware..anything in reach! He's getting pretty good with his hands too so he'll take it right out of your hand!

We made it through our Colorado trip really well! The boys did great on the trip! I did have to give James my phone on the way home to stay content, but it was worth it. We make our way down to Austin on Saturday and we borrowed a friend's DVD player. So we'll see how that goes. He's never watched an actual movie before! I will post pictures of both trips once I get back! And it will be James' 2nd birthday so I will have pictures from that! Busy, busy..but so fun! :)

iphone crack

So I got James potty trained..but now he's addicted to my iphone and the ipad at papa's house. We walk into their house and he says, "ipad?" before he even says hi. If I set my phone down he's picked it up and run off to his "hiding" spot to play a game. It's just amazing how it draws him in and keeps his attention! He is suppose to only use it when he's going potty and we set a timer so he knows when he has to be done. There are times, like Saturday mornings, when he sneaks in my room at 6:15am and I want to sleep longer so I let him climb in bed with me and I hand him the phone (just 5 more minutes, please!!) And at papa's house he gets on it for 10 minutes after we get there and then he's done for the night. So I have set limits on it..it's not like he's on it all day long (although he would be if I let him. And there are some days I'm tempted to!), but I just worry he's going to grow up glued to the screen!

It actually all started because he was looking through the pictures on my sister's phone. He loves pictures so it started out so innocent! Then she took a video of him and he wanted to watch it. So he really loves to look through the pictures and videos, but I got a little bored looking through those 100 times (because I hold the phone for him while he's on the toilet.) so I found some apps for him. And he enjoys these too, of course.

So..I thought I'd share with you his favorite apps! In case, you know, you want to potty train your kid! Or sleep 5 more minutes on Saturday morning! I haven't paid for any apps..I've only gotten the free version. You can pay $0.99 to get the full version and you get a lot more variety on them, but that's up to you!

1. Baby First puzzle Farm lite: James can drag that piece to the correct spot every time.

 

2. Baby Touch to Hear Lite: You click on an instrument and it says the name of the instrument and then plays music from that instrument. His favorite is the Balalaika! At least he's building his vocabulary! :)

 

3. Baby Touch to Hear Lite:  This one is like the instrument app. You click on an animal and it gives you the name of the animal and the sound it makes.

 



4. The Wheels on the Bus: All in one Educational Activity Center and Sing Along- There are 9 games on here. Memory cards, puzzles, spelling, coloring pages, math, racing game, piano,and recognition vocabulary,

 









 

5. E Flash Spanish: These one has 11 categories of flash cards..including colors, body parts, foods, animals, abcs, transportation, numbers, clothing, and furniture. It shows a picture of the item, plays the corresponding sound, and then says the word in Spanish. 

-I've been trying to find a Spanish app that I like better. I wished it gave the English word first and then the Spanish word. It also lets you scroll to the next flashcard before it says the Spanish word so he doesn't always wait to hear it before he scrolls to the next one. But this one is free!

 

6. Phone 4 kids: This one also has a couple different games you can play on it. There is a painting button, seasons, abcs, compass, texting keyboard, and number keypad.

 



  

 

Good Luck!! And I'm warning you..they'll be hooked!! Let me know if you know of any fun apps!