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Sabbath morning, I came down the stairs to find Alexander and David busy at work in the kitchen making pancakes for breakfast. What a little sight to warm your heart! We had a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes, sausage patties, and cinnamon bread with juice- compliments of the men of the house. How delightful! =)

Lest you come under the impression that in our baby bliss we have escaped all of those loud overly dramatized calls for help, we've included the following pictures... When he gets really angry we call it the "supersonic" - then you know you're in trouble! When it comes to tears, there's no "squeak" for this little guy- it's often all or nothing, thus he's been appropriately donned our little PipSqualk.

Alexander has been quite excited to meet the rest of the Schaper aunts and uncles over the past couple of weekends. Aunt Nancy arrived from Chicago last Sabbath for some time to chat and make friends. This Sunday, Uncle Jim and Aunt Marlene came in from Big Rapids to visit with a slightly more sleepy host curled up on the couch for the entire afternoon. After his long mid-day nap he has, however, spent the late evening and bed-time hours with wide-eyed enthusiasm, vocalizing how much he enjoyed meeting and visiting with Bill and Carol and Jim and Marlene. He's wanted us to let you know how excited he is for all the many Schaper outings, adventures, and holidays he's looking forward to and how blessed he feels to have such a wonderful family who loves him so much.


p.s. Papa sends his thanks, too, for all the help putting up the gazebo. We three are looking forward to some quality summer time in a shady spot. Come visit again soon!

How time flies! On Sunday, Alexander celebrated 5 miraculous weeks of life. At his doctor's appointment last week he weighed in at 9 pounds- 2 ounces (35th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (75th percentile), and he's finally starting to have a bit more consistency in his schedule and days, which makes things much easier on mummy and papa. Here's what un jour typique looks like for us right now. Of course any day's events are subject to change without notice :) -

• 5:30am- wake up time (prep for Serena going back to work) breakfast I, diaper change,snuggle time and dozing with mom (mummy is not a morning person! :)

• 8:30am- breakfast II, diaper change, playtime: morning worship, play and toy time on the blanket, conversations with mummy, quiet time: swingtime or naptime
  

• 11:30am- lunch, diaper change, playtime: varied- sometimes errands with mom, visitors, etc... (sometimes just goes to sleep right away) quiet time on a blanket, or in the snugli, naptime

• 2:30pm- afternoon snack etc... playtime: in the aquarium, tummytime, chats with mom quiet time: with mom or in the swing, naptime

• 5:30pm- dinnertime! playtime with papa & family time sometimes naps - hopefully not
  

• 8:30 pm- bedtime snack, cuddling with quiet music; evening worship; quiet time, bedtime (hopefully not too much fussing!)
  

• 1-2 am- midnight snack; goodnights: goes back to sleep after snack; longnights: stays awake until 3:30ish...ugh!

This Sabbath was also Alexander's first venture out to church in South Lyon! He's already met most of the friends through our small group and various ventures, but he got to meet Payton who is just three weeks older, and the rest of our extended church family. He slept for part of the service, ate lunch for part of the service, and slept for the end of it. But he woke up just in time for potluck and was quite social for everyone. Bravo Alexander! We'll be back again next week!

Of course we had to do another photo shoot when we got home (tee hee)

Spring is finally here! It's been so gorgeous the past few days we've just had to get outside! We took our first walk around Nana's neighborhood on Friday and made the monumental first trek out to Gallup Park Sabbath afternoon. Gallup parks holds a special place in our history from jaunts throughout Serena's childhood, courtship walks, and rollerblading, biking, and strolls the past four years of marriage bliss. Now it's Alexander's turn to discover the Gallup loop, river, trails and playgrounds. Let the adventures begin!

Grandpa and Jan made the long trek from Minnesota on Easter weekend to spend some time with their newest little grandson. Alexander was mesmorized by Grandpa's bright yellow coat and bearded smile and snuggled right in for some quality naptime with Jan. We enjoyed some good meals, chats and an evening with Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill complete with Nana's homecooked meal and Grandpa's famous coleslaw. We really enjoyed the visit- we'll see you again soon! Of course, next time you're welcome to leave the snow behind :).

It's been a busy stretch for Alexander with lots of visitors and new faces. He finally got to meet his Uncle Brian and soon-to-be Aunt Renee. Aunt Carol and cousin Alison came over (with Uncle Bill too) for dinner, and Auntie Ellen stopped by to meet the newest little Winkler. Alexander has been an excellent host, showing of his favourite sleeping talents with a few bright eyed moments to awe the crowds, and only a couple demonstrations of his fabulous lung capacity/vocal talent combination. Welcome to the your world, Alexander- you are so very loved!

Yesterday David came home from work and we turned on the Tigers' opening game at Comerica Park. (Troy, you would be proud, we're working on that whole 'sports' thing) David was staring at Alexander and he said "I think he grew today." It really does seem like he's grown and changed almost overnight.

It seems that he's now down to one middle of the night feeding (9:30/10pm, 2:30am, 6:30am) which mama and papa think is super terrific. (though we're still working on that whole settling back down thing afterwards- he thinks it's awake time in mummy's arms)

He follows Papa's voice and face with his eyes and can hold his head up for quite some time to look at us, often followed by a bonk on the shoulder. He'll hold his pacifier in all by himself ...sometimes. His favorite toy seems to be Mr. Crinkle Frog. He'll stare and stare and swing his hand at it when you make it crinkle. You might think these things are just a fluke, but David is still convinced he's genius baby in disguise.