Samantha: 32 Months, Week 1 {Our Little Socialite, Her Big Girl Bed, and Playing in the Snow}

It seems like our life has been really busy lately, going from one thing to another.  First, we had our crazy Christmas travels.  Then, we were home for about a week, but were busy getting caught up on life and Ben working really hard on his conference papers.  After that, we had our trip to New Orleans and the same day we got back (Sunday), the Brashers arrived to stay at our house while Ryan defended his dissertation.  Even though it was a bit crazy, we wouldn't have wanted them to stay anywhere else.  They are some of our closest friends, and we will take any chance we can get to hang out with them before their adventure overseas begins.

Monday morning was pretty relaxed.  Ben and Ryan went off to campus, and Melanie, Samantha, and I played at home.  Samantha had her first gymnastics class of the next session and as usual, thoroughly enjoyed herself.  It's much nicer having class on Mondays at 10:45 rather than our old time, which was Thursdays at 9:30.  We do not have to get out of the house as quickly, plus it gives us the chance to go to REST Stop on Thursdays.  This class was much smaller than the last class she was in, which was also nice because they don't have to wait as long for their turn and get more one one one attention with the teacher, Miss Michelle.  Even though Samantha resists going to gymnastics sometimes, she really does love it, and it is especially good to get out of the house and get some exercise during these cold, winter months.

It was nice having a somewhat relaxing morning because the rest of the day seemed a little chaotic.  Samantha did not take an afternoon nap, which is not that unusual, and normally Daddy plays with her during the two hours that I have my piano lessons on Monday afternoons.  This Monday, however, Daddy had a phone interview with Grove City College right during that time, so Melanie lovingly agreed to watch Samantha for us.  She actually ended up taking her out on some errands, giving Daddy all the time he needed for his interview.

His phone interview went well, and the committee he talked to said they were going to be interviewing a few other people over the next few days, but that Ben was one of five or six that were to be interviewed out of fifty or so applicants, so that is a good sign.  We don't know too much about Grove City, and Ben's not totally sure it's a school he could see himself at long term, but either way, it's good practice to do a phone interview, and who knows what might come of it.  I am just so proud of Ben and all the hard work he has put into graduate school.  I know he will get a great job offer from somewhere, and we are excited about what our future will hold for us.

Monday night was also going to be very eventful because we were having friends over for dinner.  I had ham cooking in the crock pot and made homemade bread in my bread maker.  We were having kind of like a girls' night get together since Melanie was in town, so Andrea, Michelle, and Sadie all came over for dinner.  They also surprised me with a baby shower for Aedan, which I was very grateful for.  We skyped with Gennie that evening, too.  It was nice to just get everyone together one last time before everyone spreads in even more directions.  Samantha LOVES having people over to the house, and I think she considers all these ladies her friends as well.  It was a bit difficult to get her to calm down and go to sleep that night since she hadn't napped and stayed up much later to join in eating cake to celebrate Aedan.  She is such an extrovert, that even after this day she kept talking about having friends over for dinner.

Tuesday was a bit trying in the morning because Samantha was a tired, emotional girl all morning.  We did our normal Tuesday routine of watching Sadie and going to the library for story time.  I was just glad that when I put her down for her nap, she actually fell asleep while I was sitting in her room for five minutes.  We had plans to go out that night to celebrate Ryan defending his dissertation, so it was really important that Samantha got some good rest.  Tuesday night, we went to Sweet Grass for dinner to celebrate Ryan passing and becoming an official doctor.  There were several other people/couples there that I didn't quite know, and also Andrea and Dimitar.  Samantha was thrilled to be included at the table with all the adults.  She looked around once and said, "There are a lot of people at our table tonight!"  Plus, she wanted to know each of their names.  We like that she is comfortable around people and such a respectful girl when we go out.  We were prepared with a Magna Doodle, a princess sticker book, and a coloring thing to keep her occupied while we were waiting for our food and while the adults were talking.  We were so proud of her behavior because she could have very easily acted out and made it so that we couldn't stay for very long, but that wasn't the case.  When we were getting ready to leave, Samantha wanted to say good bye to everyone, so she went around the table giving fist bumps, or "goose bumps" as she calls them, to every single person.  She certainly is not shy. :)

We got back home late on Tuesday night, gave Samantha a little time to play, and then put our tired little socialite to bed.  Once Ryan and Melanie got back to our place, we watched Downton Abbey together and had a good time talking with our dear friends before they headed out the next day.

We had a slow start to our morning on Wednesday since we were up late the last couple of nights and hadn't really fully recovered from our New Orleans trip.  Also, Ben woke up and really wasn't feeling well.  He was having more pain in his stomach, like the beginnings of another diverticulitis attack.  I offered to take him to campus on our way to BSF, so that way he wouldn't have to walk across campus and make his stomach hurt even worse.  I was pretty worried about him throughout the day, hoping that he would not start to feel worse or that he would not have to go to the hospital.  I picked him up from campus that evening and just dropped Sadie off at Michelle's office.  Ben tried to rest, putting his feet up, but it was clear that his pain was worse and after dinner, he decided that he needed to go to the walk-in clinic to get checked out and hopefully to get some medicine to help him start feeling better right away.  I was going to drive him there and have Samantha just come along, but as soon as we mentioned taking Daddy to the doctor, even though it was only 6:45, she was begging for me to put her to bed.  She had not taken a nap that day and was extremely tired.  So Daddy ended up driving himself to the doctor, and I stayed home to give Samantha a bath and put her to bed.  However, when we were in the bathroom getting ready to take a bath, Samantha just kept crying, begging to be able to just go to bed, saying that she didn't want to take a bath.  How can you argue with a little girl begging to go to sleep?  So, I got her in her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and got her in bed.  She was asleep by 7:15 that night.

Daddy got checked out and got a blood draw.  Based on his past experience with diverticulitis and the pain that he was feeling, the doctor didn't question what was going on or make him go to the hospital for a CT scan, which was nice.  They prescribed a couple medicines for him to take, one being an antibiotic, and he picked them up before coming back home for the night.  I could tell he really didn't feel well, and we just hoped that he caught it before it was allowed to get too bad.  Usually nausea/vomiting accompanies his diverticulitis symptoms, but this time it hadn't gotten that bad yet.

The other interesting thing that happened on Wednesday has to do with Samantha's bowel movement, so pardon the poop talk.  Wednesday night, one time when I took her to the potty, she had a bowel movement, and I noticed that there was some bright green in it.  As soon as I saw that, my mind flashed back to when I picked Samantha up at BSF, and she was playing with green play-doh, like they normally do when waiting for their moms to pick them up.  Then, when I was putting Samantha in her car seat, she wanted me to smell her breath because she said it smelled like play-doh.  I thought that was a little odd, but she says a lot of odd things, so I didn't think anything of it at the time.  Well, now that we were in the bathroom that night, seeing the green in her bowel movement, I asked Samantha if she had eaten play-doh at BSF, and of course, she denied it, even though that must have been the cause.  Later, when she was going potty before bedtime, she finally admitted to eating play-doh, but when I asked her why she did that, she just said, "I don't know why, Mommy, I'm just silly."  Oh well, at least it's all natural, homemade play-doh!

On Thursday, Daddy spent the day at home sleeping, resting, and trying to let his medications take full effect.  So, we all just had a lazy day at home, playing, and taking care of Daddy.  As you can see from this picture, Samantha has plenty of toys to play with at home.  However, she particularly likes to play with this school bus, pretending the people are going to the museum or going to school.

Back before Christmas, we had talked with Samantha about switching her bed to a big girl bed after Christmas time.  We decided to wait until after our New Orleans trip and after Ryan and Melanie left, so that way our schedule would be more consistent, enabling us to better handle the transition with her.

Samantha was pretty tired on Thursday, and she actually took a nap that afternoon.  Since we were planning on switching her bed that evening, I just had to sneak back in her room and take a picture of our sweet little girl sleeping in her crib for the last time.  Nothing makes you think your child is more precious and innocent than watching them sleep.  Wow, do I love my little girl.

After Samantha's good afternoon nap, Daddy worked on transforming Samantha's bed into a big girl bed.  It really was a very easy process and just involved removing the front railing and adding the smaller side rails at the top and the bottom.  Samantha was very, VERY excited during this whole process.  She couldn't wait to get on her bed, even before we were actually finished with it.  Plus, she was super excited because we were going to allow her to sleep with dolly that night since she took a nap for us that day.  We have been using this as an incentive for her to take naps.  Normally in the past, we have only let her sleep with her blankie, but we let her pick a doll or stuffed animal to sleep with when she takes a good nap during the day.  She's pretty proud of her bed. :)

After a while, it was getting more difficult for Daddy to get the bed together with Samantha wanting to sit on it, so I took her in the other room to help me put her new sheets and blanket on that she got for Christmas from Chicago Grandpa and Grandma.  That seemed to distract her long enough, and here is the finished product.  She wanted to climb in and get cuddled up right away.

The other change we made to Samantha's room was removing the glider chair to put in Aedan's room, giving her plenty of space for her beanbags and pillows for a little reading corner.  She has TONS of books and was very excited to sit down and start looking at her books right away.

After she had plenty of time that evening to play in her new big girl room, she got her first chance to sleep in her big girl bed.  We weren't quite sure what to expect.  Samantha's cousin Alaina has been in a big girl bed for awhile now and does a really good job of staying in bed, not even trying to get out until someone comes to get her.  However, we were not that optimistic about how it would go with Samantha.  We assumed that once she got the freedom to get in and out by herself, that we would have a hard time keeping her in her bed when we wanted her there.  We braced ourselves for a potentially long night of reinforcing bedtime.  However, just like most new situations though, we were pleasantly surprised by how the night went.

As we were going to bed that night, here is a post I put on Facebook:
"Tonight is Samantha's first night in her big girl bed.  She did really well falling asleep without playing and without us having to tell her to stay in bed.  We didn't even have to go up there once.  However, just a few minutes ago, I hear a loud thud and then crying, went in her room, and found her on the floor.  After calming her down and wiping away her tears, she agreed that she had rolled out of bed.  I told her that it will take a little while to get used to not having a rail all the way across, and moved a soft beanbag chair to right next to her bed in case she rolls out again, giving her a softer landing.  She crawled right back in bed, and I tucked her back in again.  So far so good.  My little girl is growing up."

We were so proud of how well she did on her first night.  I think I was more nervous about it than she was.  With her new big girl bed, we also moved to her not wearing pull ups at all while she sleeps.  It has been over a month now that she has stayed dry for both nap time and night time, so we decided to officially make the switch once she transitioned to her big girl bed.  Every once in a while, when Samantha goes through a new developmental stage or a new transitional change, I feel like clinging on to the past.  I get sad and miss her baby days, miss her cuddles, but at the same time am so glad that she is becoming more confident and independent day by day.  I wouldn't change her or anything about the little person she is becoming, but it makes me realize how quickly time does go by and how much I cherish this time that I get to spend with her when she's young.

On Friday, Daddy was still recovering from being under the weather with diverticulitis, and Samantha and I didn't have any plans, so we had another nice day to play together at home.  She enjoyed playing in her new big girl room quite a bit, and even set up a zoo with all her stuffed animals.

Plus, we did some painting on her easel.  She was much more creative with her colors this time, and like usual, wanted Daddy to take a picture of her painting to send to Uncle Timmy.  She likes to show off her artwork to her Uncle Timmy.

Even though sleeping went really well on Thursday night, napping was not happening on Friday.  She just would not stay in her bed during the day when it was light out.  It was too tempting to get up and play with her toys.  Plus, she has been getting good, full nights of sleep, which makes it so that she also doesn't really need to nap during the day.  We tried to get her to stay in her bed by going back in her room a couple of times and reminding her to stay in bed, but after that, we decided it wasn't worth it to fight this battle with her.

Since Daddy was feeling a bit better today, I convinced him to also help set up the crib and changing table in Aedan's room.  I have been itching to start organizing that room and the mess that is his closet.  It has just been stuffed with junk, and my nesting instinct is certainly beginning to kick in, even if I do have a few months before Aedan will be born.  It was good for me to see the lay out of the room and how everything will fit, allowing me to begin ordering our bedding and storage bins for under the changing table.  I will post some pictures of the nursery in a later blog post once I have more of it completed.

That evening, we decided to go out to Olive Garden to use some of our Christmas gift cards.  Here is Samantha, all ready to go:

She did a wonderful job at the restaurant, sat still in her booster seat, ate her food well, and even told the waiter what she wanted when it was time to order.  It's so wonderful to have a respectful, polite little girl.  We don't even worry about taking her out to eat with us, and the great thing was that she didn't even take a nap that day and still wasn't cranky that evening.

Friday night, Samantha's second night in her big girl bed, she again fell out of bed.  It was about two hours after we had put her to bed for the night, and Daddy went up to her room this time.  She wasn't crying quite as hard as she had the first night, she just needed some reassurance that everything was okay, needed another hug, and then crawled right back into bed.  Daddy moved the beanbag back beside her bed again, just in case, but she has never fallen out of bed since then.  It seemed like she just needed a couple nights to figure out where her new boundaries were and how much she could safely move around in bed.  We're still not quite sure how she wiggled her way between the two safety rails, but we do know that she moves around quite a bit in bed at night.  It's all a learning process. :)

After a few busy weeks, it was SO wonderful to have a low key weekend at home.  I would have preferred for Daddy to be spending so much time at home, not working, for a positive reason, rather than for having diverticulitis, but I'll take his company in whatever form it comes in.  It's nice to just hang out as a family of three, enjoying time together, with nothing in particular on the agenda for the day.

Later Saturday evening, we had the TV on for a little while, and some figure skating came on.  Samantha was busy playing the piano, but as soon as she saw the man and woman skating on TV, she had to stop and watch them.  She was just mesmerized.  It was pretty funny to watch.

Sunday was our normal routine of going to church and attempting nap time for Samantha (which again did not happen).  I'm thinking that nap time is now over since she has a big girl bed and can get in and out whenever she wants to.  The good thing is that this is only a problem at nap time.  At night time, she never gets out of bed, and does not give us a hard time about falling asleep, which we are very grateful for.  We just start getting her ready for bed at 7:00 on days she doesn't nap, giving Mommy and Daddy much more of an evening together.

Instead of telling Samantha to stay in bed and having her not listen and get out of bed anyways during nap time, we decided to institute quiet time rules.  I made a little poster of activities she is allowed to choose during her quiet time, like sleeping, reading books, playing with blocks, playing with ponies, doing puzzles, playing with Mr. Potato Head, and drawing on her Magna Doodle.  We brought some of these toys from downstairs to now keep in her room as special toys that she can only play with at quiet time.  We explained to Samantha that we would prefer for her to stay in her bed and nap, but that if she is not going to sleep, she has to have a quiet time in her room until we come and get her.  We explained that she is not allowed to pound on the door or call for us.  (We put a safety knob on the inside of her door so that she cannot get out.)  We still go through the same routine like it is nap time of going potty, getting her in her pajamas, reading her two books, and then singing to her in her bed, just in hopes that she may actually decide to go to sleep, but after that we just let her go about her own business.  Sometimes I think she stays in bed for awhile and plays or talks, but so far, she will always end up out of bed, playing.  I don't know how some people get their kids to stay in their big beds for nap time, too.  Maybe if we would have switched her out of her crib earlier when she was still taking consistent naps?  I don't know, but we're pretty sure afternoon naps are a thing of the past now for Samantha.  However, the good thing is that she is actually quieter in her room now than when she was still in her crib and wouldn't nap.  She doesn't carry on and kick like she did when she was confined to her crib, so that's a positive aspect of the big girl bed as well.

Anyways, after I got her from having quiet time in her bedroom, I decided it would be fun to go outside and play in the snow.  It was in the mid 30s and there was still a couple inches of snow on the ground, which was perfect for playing in without getting super cold.  I got Samantha bundled up in her snowsuit, boots, and mittens, and we trekked across the the open grass area at our apartment complex, heading for a good hill to sled down.  It took us a few attempts to find a place that wasn't too steep for us to climb up, but Samantha had a great time, as you can see in this video.  Her squeal is priceless.

After sledding down the hill four times, Samantha decided she wanted to go play on the swings.  I said, "Sure, why not?!"  No one ever said you couldn't swing in a snowsuit.

 In these next two pictures, we are playing Samantha's favorite game to play with the monkey bars, pretending we are animals in our cages at the zoo.  One of us is the animal, usually a lion, and one of us is the zookeeper who makes sure the animal does not escape.  Samantha is a roaring lion in these pictures.

Samantha and I had a wonderful time playing outside, enjoying the "warm" weather.  This winter has been brutal with cold, cold temperatures and more snow than normal.  I think we both have been getting a little stir crazy, feeling cooped up inside.  She has been asking a lot lately about when she will be able to play at the playground or go swimming in the pool.  Unfortunately, not for a lot longer than we both would like.  I am yearning for spring and warm weather to come.  Maybe the Midwest really is not the place for me.  Silly winter, I am tired of you!  We want to get out and play!

Samantha: 31 Months, Week 4 {Our Trip to New Orleans & Samantha's Sleepover}

This blog post will describe Ben and I's time in New Orleans and Samantha's time with Grandpa and Grandma Toll.  Ben was accepted to present two papers at the the Southern Political Science Association conference in New Orleans, and since he gets $500 from IU towards his travel expenses, we decided to make a trip out of it, kind of like a "babymoon" for Aedan, our last trip by ourselves as a couple before we are officially a family of four.

With the terrible winter storm we got over the weekend and the bitter cold temperatures that set in, our travel plans got delayed just a bit.  We were going to leave first thing in the morning on Tuesday, but the roads were still pretty bad and there were travel advisories in a few surrounding counties.  We finished getting packed up that morning, had lunch together, and then hit the road, hoping the roads would be better and hoping Samantha would take a nap in the car.  A normal trip from Bloomington to Upland takes about two hours and fifteen minutes, but today it took four hours!  Samantha was a real trooper, and Ben did a great job driving on the roads that sometimes seemed like they hadn't been touched during the whole snowstorm.  Some parts of the road were like sheets of ice, and we were lucky if we got up to thirty miles an hour.  There were a couple times I felt the back end of the car slide a little bit, but Ben drove very carefully, and we got there safe and sound.  However, as we were getting closer to Upland, even though we had already stopped to go to the bathroom, just as we were approaching a traffic backup, Samantha announced that she needed to go to the bathroom.  We didn't know what to do because the traffic was at a standstill and the rest area was still a mile or so up the road.  We decided we'd try to get off so that Samantha wouldn't have an accident in her car seat.  Ben drove on the shoulder, which we normally would never consider doing.  We spotted a police car, so Ben rolled down his window to tell him of our situation and asked if we could keep driving on the shoulder in order to get to the rest area and get our two and a half year old to the bathroom.  The officer gave us permission, and that made us feel much better about breaking the law and driving past all the other cars stuck in traffic.

We have never been so glad to finally get to Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We had dinner there, spent time with Grandpa and Grandma, and got Samantha all situated for her sleepover for the next few nights in Upland.  I was a little nervous about leaving Samantha, even though I had no worries about the care that she would receive.  I think it was mainly because now that I am home with Samantha this year, I am so used to being around her so much that the idea of being away from her for four nights just seemed strange.  We knew she would have a great time with Grandpa and Grandma, and were equally as excited to have our own adventure together.

Ben and I left around 8:15 on Wednesday morning and planned to drive all the way to New Orleans that day.  The roads were a bit better than on Tuesday, but we still had to drive considerably slower until we got past Columbus, Indiana, which probably added a good hour and a half onto our already long drive.  It was nice driving in the car together without a two and half year old little girl in the back seat to keep entertained.  We were able to carry on a conversation without getting interrupted, or even to sit in silence for awhile (gasp!).  There isn't much silence in the car when you are riding with Samantha.  Since we were by ourselves, we also decided to stop for a nice lunch at one of our favorite tex-mex places, Chuy's.  It became one of our favorites in Texas, and we couldn't resist the chance to stop there as we drove through Kentucky.  Our drive after that was pretty smooth and easy.  By the time it got dark, we were ready to get there and were pretty ready to get out of the car.  I don't think we're cut out for long drives like this anymore, at least not for me, anyways.  We arrived in New Orleans around 10:30 New Orleans time, Ben dropped me off at the hotel, and I brought our things up to our room while he went to go park the car in a parking garage that was much cheaper than paying to valet park our car at the hotel.  Once he got back to the hotel, we both crawled into bed because it had been a long day, and we were ready to get some sleep.

Thursday morning Ben accidentally forgot to turn off the alarm on his phone for 6:30, so we woke up much earlier than what we planned.  We were just going to sleep in and have a relaxing morning, but once he's up, he's up.  Ben decided to go check in at the conference so that he could double check what sessions were offered at what times and plan his time there.  He decided that Thursday didn't offer too much that was interesting to him, so we made that our day to go sightseeing around New Orleans together.  We had a leisurely breakfast at IHOP and then walked over the the French Quarter, which was only a couple blocks away from our hotel.  We walked down Bourbon Street, which isn't much to see at 9:30 in the morning, and went down to Jackson Square where we walked around for a bit and went inside St. Louis Cathedral to look around before the museums opened for the day.

The first place we visited was a Louisiana State Museum called The Presbytere.  It was only $6 per person to get in, and I read good reviews on a special Katrina exhibit that they had there.  Yes, Ben and I are dorks.  What do we do on vacation in New Orleans?  Go to museums together.  The exhibit was really interesting because I remembered watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina as it was happening and afterwards, but it really helped tie it all together and paint a picture or what it was really like for the people of New Orleans.  However, I think the exhibit was trying to show you why it is so important to rebuild New Orleans and how they have overcome and become stronger through it all.  I, on the other hand, think it's a bit crazy that people continue to live somewhere that is below sea level and can so easily flood from strong storms and hurricanes.  I know New Orleans is such a historical city with a very unique culture, but it seems a little foolish and silly to keep rebuilding when another hurricane will come along and destroy it all again.  

Anyways, after we had our fill of walking around this museum for a couple hours, we went to the 1850 house, which was also right on Jackson Square.  We joined in a noon tour of the house, which was also very interesting to see what life would have been like back during that time period.  I always enjoy touring historical houses.

After our tour was over, we ate some lunch at a local restaurant and walked back to our hotel to rest for the afternoon.  Taking a nap was just what we needed after having a long couple days of driving and waking up too early that morning.  We got to Skype with Samantha that evening before we went out for dinner, which was really nice.  It was great to see her little face and hear about her first day with Grandpa and Grandma.  Of course she was doing just fine, like we knew she would be.  :)  

After talking with Samantha, Ben and I headed out to eat dinner at a local restaurant where we ordered gumbo and red beans and rice.  We figured we had to get this traditional fare while we were here.  On our way out of the restaurant, we heard some loud music playing, so we followed the sounds and happened upon a high school marching band playing very lively music as they marched around Jackson Square.  They had drawn quite a crowd to watch their performance, even three guys dressed up and walking around on stilts.  I even got some Mardi Gras beads (and no, I didn't do anything to earn them).  It was a very unexpected spectacle, but one not too surprising for the city of New Orleans.  After they were done with their performance, Ben and I made our way over to Cafe du Monde to have more traditional New Orleans food, beignets and coffee.  Even though we were pretty full from dinner, we couldn't turn down a warm donut type dessert covered in powdered sugar.  We then decided to make our way back to the hotel for the night to relax and so that Ben could get some work done.

Friday was a conference day for Ben, and I had made plans with an old Bloomington friend, Gennie, who now lives in Pensacola, Florida.  Ben and I had a quick breakfast of pastries and coffee from the Starbucks downstairs in our hotel before heading off in our own separate directions.  I drove two hours to Mobile, Alabama, to meet Gennie.  We had planned to go to a local science hands-on museum so that her kids would be able to play and her and I would be able to talk, but when we arrived, we discovered that the museum was closed even though they said nothing on the the phone message or website.  We were very disappointed and afraid that there would be nothing else to do after spending our time driving to Mobile.  However, we discovered that there was a small historical fort across the street that you could walk around for free.  It wasn't too exciting, but the kids had a good time running around, exploring the pathways and doorways, and climbing the stairs and ramps on the top of the fort.  After we got our fill of the fort, we found a bus stop where you could ride on a bus around downtown Mobile for free.  The bus driver dropped us off by a pizza restaurant, and we had lunch together.  It was good to just sit and catch up for awhile.  It's always nice to take advantage of any time you are close to friends; it's a good excuse to meet up. We took the bus back to where our cars were parked after finishing our lunch, said our good byes, and headed back our opposite directions.  It was a quick trip, but it was much more fun than spending the day by myself in New Orleans.

After Ben was finished with his conference sessions for the day, he and a couple other friends from IU, Jacob and Mitch, came back to get me at the hotel so we could all go out and have dinner together.  We went to a restaurant called Mother's, which apparently came highly recommended.  Ben and I both go Po Boys, and they were pretty good.  After dinner, we went back to Cafe du Monde for more beignets, since the other guys hadn't been there yet.  However, Ben and I had long days and were getting pretty tired.  Plus, Ben still had to put together his Power Point for his panels the next day, so we called it a night after that.

Ben had his first panel at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, so we actually ordered some room service for breakfast before he had to take off.  I spent the morning relaxing and getting our things packed up before heading over to City Park.  The weather was just beautiful: blue, sunny skies, a nice breeze, and seventy-two degrees.  It definitely made me wonder why we left the south for Indiana and the negative windchill temperatures.  I strolled around a sculpture garden, sat and read my Kindle on a bench in the garden overlooking the pond, and just had a wonderful time outside by myself.  I don't get alone time like this very often, so it was very enjoyable.  After a couple of hours, I went back to pick Ben up from the conference, and we began our long trek back home.  Since we we left later in the afternoon due to Ben presenting his last paper at a later panel, we drove only to the outside of Nashville, where we stayed for the night.  We pretty much went right to sleep, woke up, ate breakfast, and hit the road again.  

We arrived home in Bloomington around 2:00 p.m., and Grandpa and Grandma arrived with Samantha about an hour or so later.  We were so very glad to see her, to play with her, and to hear her voice and give her a great big hug.  It was funny because she wandered around the house, looked at her toys, and then exclaimed, "My legos!  My easel is still here!"  To which we replied, "Yes, honey, all your toys are exactly where you left them, we didn't get rid of anything."  She was also very excited to see what we bought for her in New Orleans.  I think that may have been the first thing she asked us about.  We got her a book about alligators and a bright purple, stuffed animal alligator.  She was pretty excited about her presents, too.  That day, and periodically over the next few days, Samantha would say, "I looked for you when you were in New Orleans, but I couldn't find you!"  I think she was happy to see us, even though she loved staying with Grandpa and Grandma.

And now, I will transition over to the more interesting stories of the week, of Samantha's time with Grandpa and Grandma, told in their own words.  (Thank you for contributing to my blog!)

Grandma: "On Wednesday, my classes started at Ball State so Bill stayed with Samantha all day and I went to classes.  Samantha had brought her doctor kit she received at Christmas along with her and she spent many minutes giving Papa a check-up.  Her toy thermometer can show either a happy face and a normal temperature or a sad face with a high temperature.  She always made sure Papa had a temperature.  Also Papa was able to play doctor for Samantha and her dolls when they were “not feeling well”.  There were other fun playing moments that Papa and Samantha had on Wednesday such as playing Skee Ball and reading books.  After I came home on Wednesday, I told Samantha that I had a dog in one of my classes.  One of my students has a sweet service dog whose name is Aladdin.  When I told Samantha about the dog and told her the dog’s name, a very serious and concerned look came across her face.  She promptly told me that the dog could not be called Aladdin since Aladdin is a prince.  Therefore, we would have to call the dog Sally."

Grandma: "On Thursday, Papa was able to go to work and it was Grandma’s day with Samantha.  One of the books I read to her was about a chicken who wanted to become a dancer.  There was a fox who invited the chicken to dinner under the pretense that he would help the chicken to become a famous dancer.  Because there was a page in the book illustrating the fox trying to eat the chicken, Samantha found it a “very scary page”.  Therefore, we had to play fox and chicken many times that day to begin to make the story more fun.  We would play music on the radio, dance to the music and one of us would be the chicken and the other the fox.  Every time the fox would get tied up by the chicken and would need to promise to never eat chickens before he could get loose again.  In the evening Bill and I took  Samantha to the Euler Science Center.   On this evening the Atrium was empty so we found one of the ramps and spent quite a few minutes running up and down the ramp.  Samantha is able to find fun in about everything she tries so it is fun to take her places.  Friday was a school day for me so Papa stayed home again."

Grandpa: "On Friday I took a vacation day.  Samantha and I decided to make some cookies so we went to the store to buy sugar – and bananas for Samantha to eat.  On the way home we stopped at my office to check on some things.  Samantha really likes to visit the Euler Science Complex.  The finches had been moved from their cage since the building had been set to a lower temperature during Christmas break and they had not been returned.  She was disappointed because she loves to see the birds.  To make up for the lack of live birds we went to the old part of the building where the Biology department has display cases of stuffed birds - and other animals.  Samantha really knows her animals - owls, ducks, squirrels, groundhogs, and others."

Grandpa: "When we were ready to leave the man who manages the greenhouse stopped to talk to us - well, maybe he stopped to talk with the cute little girl and I happened to be there.  There is an old orange tree in the greenhouse that has grown over 100 oranges this year.  Paul asked if we wanted some oranges to bring home.  We went to the greenhouse and Samantha really enjoyed see the orange tree, seeing the oranges belong picked, and touching an orange while it was still on the tree."

Grandpa: "The highlight of the week for me occurred two times - she called me "precious Papa" - what can be better than that?"

Grandma: "In the evening she went out to eat with us to a Mexican restaurant and grocery shopping at Meijer.  The Meijer has a horse ride for a penny and she was so happy to ride the horse after we were done shopping.  On Saturday we played all day with the doctor kit, dolls, and the building blocks.  The doctor kit didn’t help when she had a boo boo on her finger that needed attention. About as soon as Samantha woke up Wednesday she talked about the boo boo on her finger.  If there was enough light and she told you where to look and if you have good eyesight you could see a small spot on her finger.  She needed a band aid.  She had to have a band aid - it couldn't be too tight or about to come off.  One night when she went to bed she couldn't sleep until we replaced the band aid.  Later in the week she decided it was better, so we could remind her it was better when she complained and all was well."

Grandma: "On Saturday Samantha held her finger up to Papa’s face with a "fix this" look on her face, so he kissed her finger.  Her response was one word "booger".  She was correct but the booger was no longer on her finger.  But is was OK with Papa."

Grandma: "One of the things we did Saturday was play in the snow for a while.  It was melting so it packed very well.  Sledding didn’t work very well but I was able to pull her around in the yard for a while. One of the greatest achievements was making a small snowman.  Since it was close to nap time we didn’t want to spend a long time building a snowman but we got one made with crab apples for eyes and an apple for a mouth."

Grandma: "Samantha always does so well going to Papa and Grandma’s church.  When we were entering the front door she did not find someone to give her a high five as she remembered from the last visit so she was disappointed.  Soon she saw someone that it seemed she recognized and went up to Pastor Tony, our lead pastor, and said “high five”.  He enjoyed interacting with her."

Grandma: "She loves playing with a particular doll that is in the toddler nursery and always looks forward to finding the doll among the toys when she goes.  Sunday was not different.  She attended the toddler Sunday School class and then played in the nursery.  After church was over, we left directly to head to Bloomington to deliver Samantha back to her parents.  We ate at Wendy’s, made an agreement that we would read books until we saw the big Nestle bunny sign south of Anderson and then take a nap in the car.  Samantha did just that.  It was so good to see her so compliant.   When she arrived back to her home, she was well rested and ready to play at her house again with her Mommy and Daddy.  Our time with her was precious.  We feel blessed to have two wonderful grandchildren who do so well staying with us with or without their parents.  They certainly are a blessing."

Samantha: 31 Months, Week 3 {New Easel, Baby Aedan, and Snowstorm}

Now that we were back from out long week of travels, we were so ready to be back in our own house and our own beds, with no desire to drive and go anywhere.

We had a pretty low key New Year's Eve.  I watched Sadie that day, but we didn't go anywhere since it was a holiday.  And in fact, Samantha actually slept in until almost 9:00 that day.  She was really tired from the past week and from the Children's Museum the day before.  We just enjoyed playing with new toys from Christmas.  The only errand we had to run was grocery shopping, and I decided to be brave and go with both Samantha and Sadie.  My plan was to stick them both in the seat together, but when I got there I realized that there was not enough space for both their legs, and they didn't have any "special" carts where Samantha could ride in a little car.  So, I had to improvise.  We went back out to the car and got the baby carrier for Sadie, and I sat Samantha in the top of the shopping cart.  It was a little crazy to try to get the shopping done this way, but it worked.  Although, I did get a few looks from people like they were thinking, "Wow, you have your hands full."  The most annoying part was that after getting all our groceries, I, of course, went into the line with the boy that was in training, meaning it took SO LONG for us to get checked out, trying the patience of Samantha, Sadie, and me.  I did it though and thought it was good practice for when Aedan comes along and I have to go shopping with two kids.  Later that night, I made the comment to Ben that I will probably be more likely to just go grocery shopping with only Aedan or late at night once both children are asleep.  Maybe it will become my one time of alone time during the week.

Ben and I have a yearly tradition of making our own fondue at home.  We do three courses: cheese, meat, and chocolate.  We planned on having fondue for New Year's Eve, since we would probably be up a little later than normal to "celebrate."  We make a really good cheese fondue with fancy cheese like gruyere and emmantaler.  We got french bread, green apples, carrots, and broccoli to dip into the cheese and had this first course at our normal dinner time.  Last year, Samantha had cheese fondue with us, so we let her try it again, but this year she got upset and threw something at dinner, making us give her a time out, just to find out that she was upset because she didn't want the cheese, just the bread, fruit, and vegetables by themselves.  So we tried to explain to her that it would have been better if she would have just told us that she didn't want the cheese instead of getting upset about it and getting angry.  The rest of our dinner continued on fine, and the cheese fondue was just delicious.

After Samantha was in bed for the night, we got our meat fondue ready.  We always marinade steak to cook in oil, plus we have onions, peppers, and cube cheese.  This part of our fondue meal always reminds me of when Ben proposed because we had this exact meal that night, which I suppose is why we carry on this tradition every year.  It's nice to have a slow, relaxing meal together with different, nicer ingredients than we have the rest of the year.  Plus, it's much cheaper than going to a fondue restaurant.  While we ate our fondue, we watched a movie together, just relaxing and hanging out together.  It was a wonderful date night in our own living room. :)  We were going to do the chocolate fondue on New Year's Eve as well, but we were just too full and decided we would enjoy it much better if we waited until the next night.

You can tell you are getting old and have a child when you no longer feel the need to stay up until midnight.  We have never been very big in celebrating this holiday anyways and are usually at home having a low key evening together, so I think we threw in the towel around 11:00 because we were still so tired from our week of traveling and being busy.  Even so, we had a great night together, celebrating in our traditional way.

Here is a fun picture that Grandpa posted on Facebook for us on New Year's Day.  This was the best picture we could get together over Chrismastime.  There's not too much you can do to get two little girls to look at the camera at the same time.

New Year's Day was another day at home, with Samantha and I enjoying some quiet play time together, and Daddy trying to get a lot of work done on his two papers that he will be presenting in New Orleans at the Southern Political Science Association conference next week.  Then, that night, after putting Samantha to bed, Ben and I finished our movie from the night before and indulged ourselves in chocolate fondue with cake, marshmallows, strawberries, and bananas to dip.  Mmm, so good.

The next couple days of the week were spent going to appointments and getting the car fixed before our trip to New Orleans next week.  As soon as we got back home after traveling for Christmas, Samantha went right back into her old nap time behavior.  We would consistently put her down for a nap every day, but she would just talk and play the whole time rather than sleeping.  However, the benefit of her not napping is that we get to put her to bed earlier, have less playing in bed at night, and have more Daddy-Mommy time in the evenings, which is really nice.  For example, on Thursday morning we had to take the Santa Fe into the car repair shop to get the brakes checked, so Ben left that morning to drop it off, and I was planning to go pick him up when Samantha woke up.  She slept in until about 8:45 that morning, which is much later than normal.  When she doesn't nap, she sleeps a lot longer at night, more like 12 to 12 1/2 hours, so at least she is getting enough sleep in, whether it comes all in one chunk or as a nap and night time sleep, that is the question right now.

Anyways, we got the car taken in and came back for a quick breakfast.  Samantha said something while eating cereal for breakfast that we thought was so hilarious, showing how amazing it is that she's trying to figure out the crazy English language.  She chose to eat Kix for her cereal and accidentally dropped one on the floor and said, "Roscoe, come eat the Kick on the ground."  So in some sense, she knows that when you're talking about more than one thing you add an S, and if you're only talking about one Kix, it must be a kick."  Kids say the most random things sometimes!

Then Samantha and I had to go to our WIC appointment.  We got weighed, and Samantha had to get her finger pricked for an iron test.  I had her sit on my lap in case she got scared or started to cry, but she acted like it didn't even phase her.  Normally she doesn't like to keep band-aids on her fingers for very long, but she was okay with the solution that we had to keep the band-aid on until it was time to go.  She didn't cry even one little bit.  I was pretty proud of her being so brave.

I then took Samantha back home so that I could go to my yearly eye appointment, as well as run some other errands around town.  Daddy and Samantha got to play with her new easel that we had just gotten set up the night before.  She had played with the one we had set up at Grandpa and Grandma's house, but this was new to our place.  We had to rearrange a few things in our living room to make space for the easel, but it was well worth it because Samantha LOVES her easel.  She plays with it several times a day, and her most favorite thing to do is draw with the dry erase markers.

Friday morning I had my next appointment with Dr. Crooke at which I was scheduled for another ultrasound.  At my appointment a month ago, they couldn't see part of Aedan's brain to measure during the ultrasound because he wouldn't cooperate, so they decided to do another ultrasound, which we were excited for because it meant seeing more pictures of our little boy, probably the last we'll see until we meet him face to face at the end of April.  It was a fairly quick ultrasound and appointment, but they got the measurements they needed, his heartbeat was still strong, and he was definitely still a boy.  

We are so excited to meet Aedan.  Samantha especially liked this next video because it looked like he was waving at us.

There was much talk about the impending snowstorm heading to our area, and it was a little unclear exactly how much we were going to get or how long we would be holed up inside, so on Saturday morning, we decided to go over to the mall to walk around a bit and get out Samantha out of the house before the snow came.

The snow started over night and into Sunday morning, but it was delayed a bit and we didn't have as much snow on the ground as we thought we would when we woke up in the morning.  Many churches had cancelled, but our church did not, and we were ready to go to church, let Samantha play, and again, get out before it got bad outside.  There were not very many people there, partly because it was still Christmas break for many people, but mostly because many people were afraid to go out in the weather, in case the roads were bad.

After lunch and attempting to get Samantha to take an afternoon nap, I wrote this post on Facebook: "Well, I think nap time as we know it is over at our house.  This is now day number five that Samantha has not napped.  We put her to bed early when she doesn't nap, and she's been sleeping a solid 12-12 1/2 hours each night.  She has not been grouchy in the evenings either, which is good.  After we get back from our trip to New Orleans, we will switch Samantha to her big girl bed and start implementing a quiet, rest time in her bed/room during her normal nap time.  I am sad about this transition for a couple reasons, one being that I am lamenting the loss of the nice, quiet afternoon break that I got while she napped, but also because it's another step of our little girl growing up.  Now she is potty trained, will sleep in a big girl bed, and no longer needs an afternoon nap.  She is just growing up too fast."  We have tried so hard to keep her nap time routine consistent, expecting her to take a nap, but it is just not working anymore.  I think she is just showing us that she is transitioning to a new phase in napping, and even though we would prefer to have her take an afternoon nap still, we (more like I) need to be okay with it changing, adapting with her rather than being upset and holding on to something of the past that is no longer working and is just making everyone involved frustrated.

Normally in my blog posts I write from a Monday to a Sunday, but in this week, I am extending it to Monday to finish up our time at home before our trip to New Orleans.  It continued to snow all throughout the day on Sunday, and when it finally stopped we had a total of about nine inches.  Now, that's a lot of snow, but the part that made it worse was the temperatures.  The high on Monday was 8 degrees with a low of -12 degrees, and a much lower windchill.  Since it was that cold, salt and deicers would not do any good on the snowy roads, so it really was very dangerous to drive.  The roads that were actually driven on just turned to ice and many counties in Indiana limited driving to only emergency vehicles.

Luckily, we had nowhere to be on Monday.  All of Bloomington was shut down, including IU, Daddy was very, very busy trying to finish up his papers for the conference in New Orleans, and Samantha and I spent the morning drawing, painting, and playing together.  This first picture Samantha drew she called "grumpy whale."  Daddy thought that Samantha was trying to be the next Jackson Pollack.  Whatever it is that she draws, she certainly has become more interested in drawing and coloring since receiving this easel as a Christmas present.  It holds her attention for a lot longer than just coloring in a coloring book, and she is a lot more creative with what she draws.  She particularly likes for us to draw with her.  She will pick and color and then say, "Come on up and choose a col-or!" (in a very sing songy voice), then draw a line and ask us to draw one like her.  When we draw one to copy hers, she will jump up and down and exclaim, "That's PERFECT!  Great Job!"  Just like most activities in her life, drawing is a communal, interactive experience for Samantha, but we love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Samantha: 31 Months, Week 2 {Our Week of Christmas Travels}

This week we were making our rounds of both families to celebrate Christmas.  We went to Chicago to see my family first.  In order to leave as quickly as possible on Monday morning, we got most of the car packed up on Sunday night.  We just had to get up, get ready, get a few last minute things packed, drop Roscoe off at the vet for boarding, and hit the road.  We didn't leave quite as early as we would have hoped for, but you can't expect too much when traveling with a pregnant lady and a two and a half year old.  I sat in the back with Samantha while Ben drove because it was easier to entertain her and keep her happy on the longer drive up to Chicago.  We listened to books on tape, read books together, played with stickers, drew pictures, sang songs, and played with dolls.  She really did a great job in the car with very little whining and complaining.  After a couple hours, once we got to the Lafayette area, we decided to stop at Chick-fil-a for a potty break, play break for Samantha, and a place to grab some lunch to eat in the car.  Samantha enjoyed playing in the play place for about ten minutes or so, getting some energy out before it was time to get back in the car and drive.  Eating in the car at least takes up more time, too, making the time pass a little faster.  Once we got closer to the Chicago area, and it was approaching Samantha's nap time, she was much more difficult to please and wasn't interested in playing with toys much anymore.  So, I took this as an opportunity to put on a DVD for her to watch.  We watched some Veggie Tales as we finished the last part of our drive into Chicago.

We had plans to see our good college friends, Brad and Melissa, and we met them at her parents' house in Wheaton.  We didn't get there until around 1:30 Chicago time, meaning 2:30 Indiana time, well past when Samantha is usually in bed for her nap.  We let her talk with us and play for a little while before at least attempting to get her to sleep in her pack and play that we set up in an upstairs bedroom.  She was up there talking for quite awhile since she was in a new place, but she did eventually fall asleep and got about an hour of a nap in, which was good.  It would be enough sleep to get her through the rest of the evening with my family.  We had a great time visiting with Brad and Melissa, even though it was only a couple hours.  We like to see them whenever we can, especially when our paths happen to cross at Christmastime.

We left their house around 3:30, once their family members began arriving for their extended family Christmas celebration.  We then made our way to my Grandma's apartment where we would be staying for the next few nights.  Ben and Grandpa Don go all of our stuff upstairs.  (Man, it's amazing how much junk we have to bring with us, especially when we go somewhere without any toys.  We wanted to make sure we were prepared to keep Samantha entertained over the next few days.)  After getting ourselves situated and showing Samantha around the apartment, particularly pointing out what decorations she was and was not allowed to touch, we spent some time just relaxing and playing before dinner.

We met my parents and brother at around 6:00 at a local Giordano's for dinner, along with Grandpa Don and Grandma Donna.  Samantha did a wonderful job sitting in her chair, eating well, and being patient.  It's always hard for her when we change time zones and when we visit Chicago, because it is already an hour later to us, and my family tends to eat and visit later at night due to work conflicts, making it a hard schedule adjustment for Samantha who is usually eating dinner between 5:30 and 6:00 and in bed by 8:00.  Especially with only sleeping for an hour today, she was getting pretty tired by the end of dinner.  Everyone came back to Grandma's apartment after dinner, and we let Samantha stay up for a little while, but didn't want to push her too much.  We had no idea how well she would sleep in the same room with us here, nor how early she would end up getting up in the morning.

Samantha is a pretty good sleeper, even in new places with many noises coming from people talking in the next room, so luckily she had no trouble falling asleep or staying asleep with us in the same room as her.  I slept in a twin bed, and Ben slept on an air mattress on the floor.  The arrangement worked out well, and Samantha actually slept in later than we thought she would, probably because of a short nap and staying up late the night before.

Christmas Eve morning, Grandpa Don and Grandma Donna took Ben, Samantha, and me out to breakfast at a local pancake restaurant where they have good food and a Christmas tree with a train around it.  We did this with them last year and thought that it was a fun tradition, one that Samantha would like.  After breakfast we took Samantha to a local mall to walk around and play for a little while since we would be cooped up in my Grandma's apartment the next day and a half.  Samantha also shared chocolate chip pancakes with me for breakfast, so it was good for her to burn off some of that sugar energy.  There was a small play area that you can see in the background of this picture with a small slide and other things you could climb on and through.  Plus, there was this area of small kiddie rides.  Samantha loves to go on these in malls, but it's kind of funny because we never put money into them, so they never move or make noise, and she is just fine with that.  She just likes to sit in them and pretend.  She particularly liked the ice cream truck where she gave out lots of pretend ice cream to Mommy and Daddy.

Christmas Eve afternoon, Samantha took a nice, couple hour nap while Daddy met his college roommate for coffee and Mommy got a chance to work on her blog.  We were so glad that she was sleeping and napping so well here so far.  A rested child is a much more pleasant child in the evenings, especially because that's when all my family comes over to spend time with us.

I made Swiss Chicken Casserole for dinner on Christmas Eve, but we did not eat until around 6:30 because my mom worked that day.  After eating and getting all the dishes cleaned up, we decided that it was time to open presents, even though it was already 8:30 their time.  Everyone had decided it would be easier to open presents on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas Day, and that way Samantha would have more time to play with her new toys on Christmas Day.  It was difficult with it being so late and so far past Samantha's normal bedtime, but I figured every once in awhile it's okay, and she was pretty excited about opening her presents.

Samantha got a new bedding set for when we convert her crib into a big girl bed, from Chicago Grandpa and Grandma.  They also got her a Llama Llama stuffed animal, which Daddy hid outside the apartment door, and then we told Samantha that someone was at the door to visit so she should go see who it is.  She went to the door, opened it with Daddy's help, and saw Llama Llama sitting outside.  It was so funny because she looked up and down the hallway, almost like she was looking for who accidentally left their stuffed animal outside the door.  I think she was expecting a real person, but she was pretty excited that Llama Llama had come to visit.

Great Grandma Donna and Great Grandpa Don got Samantha a new doll, who Samantha named Cessa, along with a doll swing/high chair/car seat combination.  Samantha was REALLY excited about these toys and couldn't wait for us to take them out of the box and assemble the swing so that she could put her doll in it.

Uncle Matt got her some new ponies, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Christy got her magnetic alphabet letters.  Daddy and Mommy got some new gifts as well, like books, gift cards, a cover for my Kindle, and some clothes for Baby Aedan.  And even though it was already WAY past Samantha's bedtime, we let her stay up and enjoy playing with her new toys some more.

 As you can tell, she was a pretty big fan of her new "children."  In this picture she is holding her new doll, Cessa, an old favorite, Dolly, and her new Llama Llama animal.  She wanted to bring them all to bed with her, but we told her she could play with them again the next day.

I think it was probably after 10:00 that she got to bed that Christmas Eve night, but we are so proud of our little girl.  She is so flexible and easygoing, even when we drag her around, change her schedule, surround her with people, and make her stay up very late for a girl her age.  It's hard to believe that this is our third Christmas together, but our last Christmas as a family of three.  I love our little family, I love this extended time we have to spend together, and I love our sweet little girl.  :)

Christmas morning was rather uneventful, which was fine by me.  Samantha slept in until about 8:30, which we thought was good for how late she was up the night before.  However, she still was rather sleepy, and we just spent the morning taking showers, eating breakfast, relaxing and watching a Super Why Christmas episode on the computer, playing with her new toys, and getting her down for an early nap.  My family has a tradition of making a big Christmas dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, all the fixings.  Ben and I offered to make the meal again this year so that Grandma Donna wouldn't have to bear the responsibility.  We were trying to get her to relax and sit down as much as possible, letting us take over the work of preparing the meal.  Ben and I have made this meal several times over the last few years, and with the invention of digital meat thermometers, it makes it pretty easy to know when the turkey is done.  We got the turkey in and had most of the afternoon to get other odds and ends done with the meal in between relaxing and waiting for my family to arrive.  Samantha took a really nice, long nap, which we were grateful for.  My family began arriving between 3:30 and 4:00, and we had dinner around 5:00.  Samantha has always been a little hesitant of casserole/creamy dishes, so she hardly touched any of her Christmas dinner.  I think she was just too overwhelmed with all the people and all the commotion, and it was just too hard for her to eat.  We weren't too worried about it though, she would let us know if she was hungry.  Thankfully, my dad noticed that she was finished eating and wanted to get down from the table, so he offered to take her into the bedroom and read books with her.  Here is an adorable picture of Grandpa reading to his granddaughter.

My Aunt Diane and Uncle Bob came over for dinner as well, staying afterwards to visit and have dessert.  It's always nice to see them and to catch up.  They even brought a present for Samantha, a little bag with three different Sofia the First puzzles, which was sweet of them to do.  Plus, they brought a bag of baby boy clothes for Aedan from my cousin.  We tried to get Samantha to bed closer to her bedtime on Christmas because she was so worn out from the last several days, and we had a big day planned for the day after Christmas.

Part of my parents' Christmas present was an outing with Ben, Samantha, and me to Chicago.  We decided to take the train downtown and go to the Children's Museum on Navy Pier for the day.  Samantha had never been on a real train before, so we figured that experience in and of itself would make her day.  She was so excited about what we were doing and was so excited that Grandpa and Grandma were going to go with her too.  However, when we walked out to get in the car to drive to the train station, Samantha was confused and didn't want to get in the car.  She thought she was going to be getting right on a train, not realizing that we would have to drive to the train station first.  We found free parking with no problem in downtown Park Ridge and only had to wait about ten minutes until the train arrived.  Here is Samantha standing on the platform as the train is approaching.  It was difficult for us to get a good picture of her looking at us because she was just too excited about watching the train coming down the tracks.

We sat on the top deck of the train, and Samantha loved looking out the big windows.  She was also very interested in our tickets and was anxious to see the conductor come by to punch our tickets (like in The Polar Express).

The train ride lasted a little more than half an hour, which was perfect for Samantha's attention span.  Once we got off the train, we planned to take a bus to Navy Pier, but it ended up being cheaper, faster, and easier to just take a taxi.  Samantha was pretty thrilled about riding in a taxi as well, but maybe it was just because she was sitting on Daddy's lap rather than strapped into her car seat.

Samantha LOVES children's museums.  She would probably go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis every week if we let her, so she was pretty thrilled to be able to try out a new museum.  At first, we were a little unsure if it would offer enough things to keep her engaged for the day (and to give us our money's worth), but that was an unnecessary worry.  I had never been to the Chicago Children's Museum before, but it was wonderful, and Samantha had a fantastic time.

The first area we visited was their Christmas area where you could go ice skating, decorate a snowman, play with snowballs, and ride around in a sled.

Samantha particularly enjoyed filling the cooler with snowballs.  She was very intent on picking up every stray snowball and putting it back where it belonged so that they wouldn't melt.

The next area we spent quite a bit of time in was an area for building.  I think this area was meant mainly for older children, but Samantha found her own way to play here, too.  She found a toolbox and began filling it with nuts and bolts, one at a time.  We don't understand why she finds filling containers with items so fascinating, but she was enjoying herself, and that's all that mattered.  This day was all about her having a good time, playing and being herself, after several days of having to curb her enthusiasm and ways of playing at my grandma's house.  This day was her reward for being such a good listener, being so respectful, and being such a wonderfully behaved little girl.  She makes us so proud, every day.  We can't believe what a fantastic little girl we have.

Here was the view from outside the windows of the museum on Navy Pier, kind of a cool picture of the Chicago skyline and the snow covering the ground.

After having our fill of filling the toolbox, we decided to break for lunch before going on to the next section of the museum.  We ate in the food court on Navy Pier, and then Daddy took Samantha into the live snow globe.

If you asked Samantha what her favorite part of the Children's Museum was, she would probably say it was the water area.  She actually kept the raincoat on, which was surprising, and had a good old time playing in the water, connecting pipes, playing with boats, and filling up and dumping out buckets.  I was continually impressed with this museum, and with the staff there, for they not only observed the children and manned their area, they interacted with the kids, talked with them, played with them, and taught them new things.  That is way above anything that we ever experience at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

However, Samantha's favorite part of the water area was painting with water.  We got everyone in on this, and Samantha loved it.  It was great because the designs showed up really well on the tile but then dried off quickly, allowing you to draw or write something else.

The museum had so many other fun areas for kids to play in, interact with, and use their creativity.  I feel like I could go on and on about how wonderful this museum was and how kids were truly learning and interacting through play, which I am all about.

She got to play with pretend food in an area with a treehouse, a tent for camping, and a fish pond.

She got to pretend to drive a bus, go grocery shopping, and climb up in a resting area in the community play area.

And, she got to use her climbing skills to maneuver through these rope stairs and down this ramp made of ropes, kind of like a rope slide.  We were pretty proud of her doing this all by herself.  She didn't seem to have any problems climbing up and then back down all by herself.

After a full day of playing, we decided it was time to leave so we could catch the 3:30 train back to Park Ridge.  Samantha had a very full, very fun day at the Children's Museum, and was sad to be leaving, but was very glad about being able to ride in a taxi and on a train again.  Here is our final farewell picture from the museum, before we went potty and left.  What a happy little girl!

Samantha was pretty tired from her long day of play, but she was still in a pretty good mood in the train on the way back to Grandma Donna's house.  Ben and I had decided that we would leave Thursday night for Upland instead of Friday morning to maximize the amount of time Samantha and Alaina would be together to play.  So, once we got back to Grandma Donna's house, we packed up all our stuff, said thank you and good bye, and headed to Aunt Christy and Uncle Matt's house for dinner and to see their new apartment and four cats.  Samantha wasn't too excited about being back in the car.  We tried to give her toys to play with, but she was wanting to just sit in her car seat with no toys.  Then, a few minutes later we look back and discover that she has fallen asleep.  She was so tired from the long week and the long day in Chicago, that she couldn't keep her eyes open.  She slept for about twenty to twenty-five minutes, not too long, but a little cat nap that seemed to give her the extra energy she needed to get through the rest of the night.

Aunt Christy and Uncle Matt's apartment was pretty fun for Samantha, especially with all the cats everywhere.  She enjoyed playing with them, trying to get them to chase toys, and reprimanding them when they would do something wrong like jumping on the table or counter.  She would say, "That's not safe!"  Yes, her oldest child personality is already coming out.  She likes to be a rule follower, which isn't an entirely bad thing.

After dinner and more time to play and hang out with my family, it reached eight o'clock, Chicago time, and we decided it was time for us to head out.  We got Samantha all ready for bed, said good bye to everyone, and hit the road.  Daddy agreed to drive because he is much better at driving at night, and we got to Upland a little after 1:00 a.m.  It was a late night, but we were glad to be getting to Upland sooner instead of spending the whole morning driving on Friday.

Our time in Upland was very nice and relaxing.  Samantha was excited to play with her Uncle Timmy, Alaina, Grandpa, and Grandma on Friday.  Aunt Jeni came after work on Friday night, and Uncle Andrew came after work on Saturday morning.  There was lots of playing, dancing, laughing, and cuddling all around.

We did our Toll family Christmas present opening on Saturday afternoon, once the girls were up from their naps.  Both girls were really excited and got some great presents.  Samantha got a doctor's kit, a diaper changing kit for her dolly, a Baby Alive doll that walks, a puppy dog, and and art easel with all the accessories, just to name a few.  Ben and I got quite a few wonderful things as well, which I won't name here, but we always feel so blessed at Christmas time, especially from Grandpa and Grandma.  They are always very generous in their giving, and we appreciate it so much.  We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas, but most of all, just spending time together as a family, playing, talking, and watching the girls play together.

We were planning on going back home on Monday, but we decided to all take a trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis for the day.  Our membership has really come in handy.  (Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Toll for that wonderful gift!)  Alaina and Samantha had a good time playing together at the museum, but it was SO crowded.  There were more people there than I had ever seen before, so it was a little difficult to find space to play and move around.  The people didn't seem to bother the girls as they enjoyed themselves on the Yule Slide and the carousel in particular.

It had been a super busy, jam packed week of traveling, visiting friends and family, and it was really great to build those wonderful family memories, but Ben, Samantha, and I were definitely ready to get back to Bloomington, to our own house, our own space, and our normal routine.  Samantha was really excited about picking up Roscoe from the vet, saying, "I'm glad my puppy is back!"  That night we just ordered Mother Bear's for dinner since we had no food in our refrigerator, and it was nice sitting around our small dining room table again.  Samantha even said, "It's good to be back in Bloomington again."  Traveling is fun, especially around Christmas, but being away always makes us grateful for what we have in our apartment just the right size for us and for our family that will soon expand to four members at the end of April.  There is much to be grateful for.  We are truly blessed.