Samantha: 32 Months, Week 5 {Funny Stories, Napping Success, and Valentine's Day

Now that I am staying more up to date with my blog, I am trying to do a better job of making notes of little funny things that Samantha says or does, rather than just keeping a record of the things we do each day.  These are the little things that fill our hearts with joy, making Ben and I look at each other and beam from ear to ear.  We love and enjoy our little girl so much, her personality, her laugh, her smile; we just love her to pieces.

One thing we really enjoy about Samantha is that when we ask her what she wants to wear in the morning, she will say, "I prefer the ..."  What two and a half year old uses the word prefer in their every day vocabulary?  She says some of the funniest things and uses words that we didn't even know she knew.  I don't know if it's because we have always just talked to her in a normal way (we never really did baby talk) or maybe it's because she likes to have books read to her and increases her vocabulary that way.  Either way, I am always surprised when I hear Samantha talk in comparison to other kids her age because she is just so verbally expressive.  Another thing she'll say is, "I can see the moon in the instance, (instead of distance)."

Lately Samantha has been telling us more about her dreams at night.  Sometimes I'm not sure if she actually dreams about what she says or not, but it's still fun to hear.  Her dreams, as of late, have been all about princesses.  She'll wake up saying she dreamed of being a princess and wants to be a princess "right now," meaning she wants to wear a dress that day.

On Monday, we followed our normal routine of going to gymnastics, but first went to Target to pick up a few things.  She was very tired that day.  Normally when we ride in the car, she talks and sings the entire time, but on this day I don't think she said more than two words the whole way there.  We got the things we needed from the store and had a little trouble leaving with a good attitude.  Samantha loves to just look at the princess toys in the toy aisle, so much so that she didn't want to leave.  After a good morning of gymnastics, I felt so good because I actually got her to nap!  She fell asleep with me sitting in her room after only about ten minutes, sleeping until my lessons started at 3:15.  Yay!  She definitely needed one, too.
 
During the week, since I put Samantha down for naps during the day, Daddy gets to put her to bed at night.  After he put her to bed on Monday night, right around 8:00, I heard her calling, "Daddy!  Daddy!"  I went up to her room to check on her, asking her if there was something wrong.  She said, "No."  I then said, "Okay, then it's time to go to bed."  She said, "Wait, I need to tell you something. (Pause).  I turned off the elephant."  So now, let me explain what all that means.  We have an elephant shaped cool mist vaporizer in her room that we use during the winter when the heat runs a lot and the air is dry.  Her doctor recommended it back when she was a baby to help prevent colds and stuffy noses, so ever since then we've used it in her room in the winter time.  However, the last few weeks the elephant has become a bit of an issue.  Samantha keeps wanting to turn it off or will complain about it leaving shadows on the walls.  I even put tape over the green light that shines when it is on so that it doesn't leave any shadows on the wall.  However, she still kept trying to turn it off.  We have talked with her about how we want her to leave it on and how it will help her cold go away faster, so I guess she felt like she needed to confess that to us this night.  Oh our little girl, I hope she is always this honest and forthcoming and feels like she needs to confess things to us, even after she's in bed for the night.  It was almost like she had to clear her conscience and just had to tell us.

On Tuesdays I normally have Sadie, but Michelle was sick with the flu and kept her home this week.  It was a bit strange going to story time without two children in tow, but made it much easier for us to check out some books on CD and play freely.  In fact, since it was just Samantha and me, I decided to surprise Daddy and invite him to lunch with us.  We had a gift card to Panera Bread from Christmas, and I thought this would be the perfect day to use it.  Close to the end of our time at the library, I sent him a message, wondering if he would like to come to lunch with us, and of course, he couldn't turn down an offer to see his two girls.  Samantha enjoyed lunch with her Daddy, even though she was getting pretty tired at the end of lunch.

It's always a bit difficult to get Samantha to take a nap when we have just gotten home from somewhere, so even though she was really tired, it took some coercion to get her to nap on Tuesday.  I stayed in her room for almost forty-five minutes so that I could put her back in bed anytime she tried to get up.  I was almost ready to give up and leave her room, throwing in the towel for nap time that day, when she finally gave up and fell asleep, even though it was close to 3:00.  Hey, I'll take it.  A little nap is better than no nap at all, especially with how things have been going lately.

On Wednesday, we didn't have Sadie again, but we still had BSF with a before class fellowship.  It's always nice to be able to drop her off with ladies that love her and care for her, where she learns about Jesus every week.  Plus, I get a little break and some adult company, which is very much needed in the middle of the week.

Since staying in her room seems to be working lately, I tried it again on Wednesday at nap time.  She was being silly, and I wasn't too concerned about forcing her to nap since she had actually gotten enough sleep the last couple days.  However, she dropped her blankie out of bed on purpose, just as a way to test me and see how I would react.  I warned her that if she dropped her blankie out of bed again, that I would take it, because blankie is for sleeping not for playing.  After a few minutes of her being rather quiet, almost convincing me that she had fallen asleep, the blankie came flying out of her bed, so I got up, took it, and left the room.  This, of course, made her quite upset and she screamed/cried for about five minutes.  Once she finally calmed down, I went back into her room and gave her the blankie back.  Samantha said, "Thank you so much, Mommy."  I said, "Okay, now it's time to close your eyes and go to sleep."  She looked very tired, cuddled up to her blankie, and pulled the covers up to her chin.  I left her room, going into Aedan's room to get some things organized and put away, and I didn't hear another peep from her.  She was quiet and asleep right away, sleeping for about an hour and a half.  I was amazed that after all that, she ended up napping.  Napping three days in a row!  

This week made me convinced that maybe her non-napping really was just a phase.  As long as we stay in there with her so that she doesn't get out of bed, she will generally fall asleep within ten minutes or so.  Maybe after awhile of doing this, we can phase out us actually staying in there, and then maybe she will just be trained to stay in her bed and fall asleep.  We'll see.  Either way, I am glad that we didn't give up on nap time quite yet.  Samantha is a much more pleasant little girl to be around when she has a good nap in the afternoon and a solid sleep at night.  Plus, she gets to watch a show and have a fruit snack on days she takes naps, which is always a plus, as that is really the only TV she watches in a day.  She knows that she also can stay up later and play more with Mommy and Daddy, which makes for much more fun of an evening than getting her in bed at 7:00.  And, she gets to choose a stuffed animal or doll to sleep with on nights that she has taken a nap during the day.  However, it's kind of funny because she doesn't snuggle up with the animal/doll that she chooses.  When we are putting her to bed, she will very carefully place the animal on top of the covers at the foot of the bed, and there it will stay the rest of the night.  She will snuggle with blankie, but not with any other animals/dolls.  I guess she is just a creature of habit.  Blankie has been with her for a long time, and I don't see it going away anytime in the near future.

Wednesday night after dinner, we took a trip to Kroger to pick up a few things.  At first, I was just going to go out by myself, but once Samantha found out where I was going, she said, "I want to go to!  Let's all go on a family date!"  A family date to Kroger?  What could be better!  Anyways, on the way home, Samantha decided to sing, which isn't out of the ordinary, but on this day, she was just singing random things and turning them into a song.  I think she did this the entire way home from the store.  She definitely loves to sing!

On Wednesday night, when Daddy was putting Samantha to bed (continuing on with the drama about the elephant), Samantha sniffled and said, "My cold is gone, you can take the elephant out now."  Of course, we didn't, we told her we'd leave it up until winter is over and the heat is running less, but that was a very logical argument from her end. :)

Here's another funny story from when we were driving around in the car together sometime during the week.  We have a CD of kids' songs that we have been listening to over and over again lately, and one of the songs is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  She knows this is a song we sing when we go to baseball games, and since we've heard it so many times, she is getting pretty good at singing most of the words.  Well, after hearing the song one day, Samantha started talking to me, planning what it is going to be like when we go to a baseball game with Aedan and see fireworks.  She'll ask, "Will Aedan like fireworks?"  To which I will reply, "I don't know.  The fireworks never bothered you, even when you were a little baby, so we'll have to see what Aedan thinks."  So Samantha said, "Well, if Aedan doesn't like them, you can stay with him and watch him, and me and Daddy will watch the fireworks together."  Sounds like a plan, Samantha, sounds like a plan. :)

Another new thing as of this past week is Samantha putting on her shoes by herself.  It's great to see these new ways that she asserts her independence.  Now granted, all of her shoes either slide on easily or have velcro, but we were pretty proud that she can get her foot in successfully and more often than not, actually has the shoes on the right feet.  It's helpful in the morning when we are getting ready because as long as she already has her socks on, she can get her shoes on all by herself without my help.  Way to go, Samantha!

It seems like this winter has just gone on forever, so much so that we are looking forward to spring and talking about all the things we can do once it's spring, baseball games being one of them.  However, Samantha also knows that Aedan will be born in the spring and that her birthday is in the spring.  Being the planner that she is, (Sorry Samantha, you probably inherited that trait from both of your parents!), she likes to think and know about the future.  We have told her that Upland Grandma, and maybe Grandpa depending on his schedule, are going to come stay with us with Aedan is born.  Samantha knows that Grandma will take care of her and stay in our house with her while we are at the hospital, before and after we bring Aedan home.  She is very excited about Grandma coming, and one day out of the blue, just started planning what she was going to do with Grandma when she comes.  She said they are going to go to Kroger and get a cookie, then they are going to go to Walmart and look at all the princesses and dolls, and then they are going to come home and do preschool together.  Daddy told Grandma about Samantha's plans, and she thought those sounded like great ideas, as long as I leave my preschool plans for her!

On Thursday, we went to Mom's REST Stop at our church.  It has been cancelled many times in a row due to bad weather and school delays, so I was so glad to get back.  We brought a breakfast casserole with us to share, and it was so good to catch up with everyone and talk.  I have really been missing the company of other women, and being able to talk to them in a casual environment.  REST Stop is perfect for that.  We had a great morning, Samantha had a great time playing and dressing up like a princess, and we stayed until almost 11:30 enjoying some apples and dip while talking with friends.  Unfortunately, she did not take a nap that day, but I was just grateful she had taken one every day the rest of the week.

Friday was Valentine's Day, and Daddy made us heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  He even bought us cards and had them under our plates in the morning at breakfast.  He got Samantha a princess card that plays a song when you open it.  To say that Samantha loved her card would be an understatement.  She opened the card to play the song dozens of times that day.  She brought it with her wherever she went.  She opened it up and danced to it in a princess dress.  I think Daddy did a good job picking out a perfect valentine for his little princess.  And, I think I'm no longer the only one encouraging her infatuation with princesses now. :)

Friday I had another doctor's appointment to check baby Aedan's heartbeat.  Daddy and Samantha came with me, like usual.  It was another good, but quick appointment.  His heartbeat was strong and my measurements were good.  I even was a little bit under the weight I was last time.  I feel like with Samantha I gained a little too much weight, so I am trying to be a little more careful with what I eat this time, but am not exercising like I should, so am feeling a little paranoid about my weight.  

Anyways, the other thing I mentioned to my doctor was about labor with Samantha and how I had some trouble pushing because of a bone in my pelvis.  I wondered if he thought this would be an issue again this time.  In fact, with Samantha, I had to push for a little over two hours, and towards the end of that time my doctor said that if she didn't make some more progress that we may have to think about doing a c-section.  I wanted to avoid that if at all possible and was determined to do anything I could.  My determination seemed to pay off, and Samantha was born a short time later.  Well, when I mentioned this to my doctor, he looked back at his notes and said, "Yes, you had some trouble pushing her through your pelvis."  And he also said that if that happens again, or if I have a particularly big baby, I may have to have a c-section.  That statement really shocked and surprised me because I don't want to have a c-section.  In fact, it would be nice if my labor could be faster, if I wouldn't have to push for two hours.  With Samantha, my doctor made a comment while I was pushing that it was good that I got an epidural because I probably would not have been able to last that long pushing on my own.

All this got me thinking more and more, and wondering if getting the epidural could have caused my labor and pushing to take longer.  Would I have been better able to push her out if I could feel the contractions more and feel more free to move around in more natural birthing positions, instead of laying on my back in the hospital bed?  I wanted to go as far as I could naturally with Samantha, but I think I chickened out, worried about whether I could handle the pain or not.  But this time, with Aedan, I don't want to be hooked up to machines during and after labor.  I want to be able to sleep comfortably and take care of my baby freely, to get up and move around the room on my own.

After my appointment, Daddy took Samantha to the Banneker Center to play so that I could drive to the Edinburgh Outlet Mall and shop for new shoes with my gift certificate from Christmas.  As I was driving that afternoon, I thought a lot about my appointment that morning and about giving birth to Aedan.  I hadn't really given it much thought before because it's always been this far off time, but now that I am 30 weeks, I am thinking a lot more about labor and delivery.  Last year, before my miscarriage, I considered getting a doula to support me during the labor and delivery, but I hadn't really considered it again this time, until this day.  After hearing my doctor mention having a c-section if my labor went like it did with Samantha, I had thoughts that maybe a doula would be helpful for me.  Maybe I would be able to last longer in a natural birth setting if I had a doula.  Maybe it would be helpful to have someone there who can massage me and has a whole hat of tricks and knowledge of birthing positions to help me when I am in the midst of labor.  Maybe having a doula would decrease my chance of having a c-section, and maybe I could avoid having to push for so long by avoiding an epidural and doing it naturally, if at all possible.  I also got to thinking about wanting to take a childbirth preparation refresher class.  At first, I didn't think I would really need to, but now that the birth is getting closer, I feel like it would help my peace of mind to go over the breathing techniques and positions again with Ben.  So, I also decided in the car that I would register for a class at the hospital and try to see if Ben's parents could come down and watch Samantha for us so that we could attend class.

After finding my new shoes and driving back home, I made it back just as Daddy was putting Samantha down for a nap.  She, again, fell asleep with him in the room after only about ten minutes.  We were so glad that she took a good nap because we had Valentine's Day plans that night.  A friend told me about a local church that had a parent's night out for Valentine's Day so that parents could drop their kids off for free, go out for the evening, and then pick them up afterwards.  Even though Samantha had never been to this church before, never been around the adults before, and never seen any of the kids before, she was so excited to go and play and eat her dinner there.  We dropped her off, and she walked right in, without a care in the world, while other parents dropped of their kids while they were crying.  It's always impressive to us how easygoing Samantha is.  She went through a short phase where she was uneasy being dropped off at the church nursery, but ever since then, she's always been very willing to go with others.  As long as we trust them, she trusts them too.  While Samantha was busy playing, Ben and I went out to eat at Sweet Grass since we had a gift card, and it's one of our favorite date night restaurants.  We had a wonderful time eating a leisurely dinner, talking to each other, and eating slowly, rather than entertaining a little girl and having her dominate our conversation.  In fact, lately when she is trying to talk to us, she will say, "I need to tell you something."  She will say this in particular when Ben and I are trying to have an adult conversation, and she wants us to talk to her instead.  After enjoying some dessert, we had some more time before we wanted to go back and pick up Samantha, so we went to Barnes and Noble to walk around and look at books, a tradition from back when were first dating.  We picked Samantha up a little before 8:00, which is normally when she is getting in bed.  Apparently, they were just about to start watching a Veggie Tales show, so she was a little upset with us picking her up "early."  She had a great evening and didn't want to leave.  The only thing we could do to help her calm down and be okay with coming home with us was the promise of getting to watch Veggie Tales the next morning.  That seemed to suffice for the moment.  We were glad to have the night out, and we were pleased that she also had a good time playing with other kids.

We didn't get Samantha to sleep until around 9:00 that night, so we were hoping she'd sleep in a bit on Saturday.  Unfortunately, little kids don't often operate that way, and she was up at her normal time, between 7:00 and 7:30.  We had a fairly relaxed morning around the house, watched some Veggie Tales, had an early lunch, and then got ready to go to church to get our pictures taken for the pictorial directory.  Our appointment was scheduled for 12:00, but they were running behind schedule and we had to wait over forty-five minutes for our turn.  That is a long time to wait for a two and a half year old who is normally preparing for nap time at that time of day.  While we were waiting, we were talking with some other church members and watching Samantha try to keep herself entertained.  So, she busted out one of her favorite activities as of late, pretending to act out stories from the Bible, particularly Jonah and the big fish and David and Goliath.  Everyone thought it was just hilarious, particularly when she acted out Jonah and said, "I'm ready to go to Nineveh."  Only would a church kid enjoy acting out Bible stories, but we are pretty proud of her and her knowledge and understanding of these Bible stories.  We need to introduce her to some new stories to add to her acting repertoire. :)

Here is Samantha playing on Saturday morning, wearing her pajamas, a princess dress, and playing with cars, naturally.

Samantha did a really good job posing for pictures and being a good listener for the photographer.  However, afterwards when we went to see our pictures and decide if we wanted to order any more, she had reached the end of her patience, which is totally understandable considering what time of day it was, how we stayed out late the night before, and how long we had already waited.  She did not want to stay by us and was not sitting quietly, which made it hard for us to talk to the photographer.  I eventually broke out a snack and drink, and that seemed to help, at least getting us through the rest of the appointment.  Ben and I thought about ordering some pictures, but we would have had to pay around $150 for what we wanted, and we just couldn't justify spending that much money on just a few pictures.

Even though it was way past Samantha's normal nap time, Daddy was able to get her to fall asleep again today, which was good because she was very tired and needed some good sleep.  Saturday night, we decided to go out to Mother Bear's for pizza because we hadn't been there for a long time.  We had our favorite waitress who always brings Samantha a bowl of goldfish.  It's always a great place to go as a family, with great food that we all enjoy.

After eating out, it was bath night, and we had a really funny bath night.  I think all three of us were laughing pretty hard through most of it.  Samantha had Ariel in the bath, which is normal for most baths, but we also found a fish squeaky toy that Samantha decided was Flounder.  Whenever she squeezed him under the water, he would make a loud noise, which Samantha said sounded like he was "tooting."  In fact, he even got the nickname of "Tooty Flounder."  She also really enjoyed filling him up with water, squeezing him, and getting a face full of water which made her squeal with delight.  This great night spending time together as a family made us look back on how much more fun we've had with her in the evenings since we have gotten her to take naps again.  She has a much happier, much more pleasant disposition.  It makes it very clear to us that she is still a little girl that needs to nap on most days, and we are so glad that she is finally letting herself sleep.  Maybe we really have turned over a new leaf.

Sunday was a normal day of going to church and Sunday School.  Ben got Samantha down for a nap, allowing him and I to carry on our Sunday afternoon tradition of also taking a nap.  Everyone woke up well rested and happy.  It truly was a day of rest and rejuvenation, as Sundays should be. :)

Samantha: 32 Months, Week 4 {Some Older Pictures, Preschool, and Grove City}

As I was looking through our video camera, uploading pictures onto my computer, I noticed some older pictures that I had never put on my blog, so we will have a little throwback first before getting to this week's pictures and activities.

These first pictures are from back on December 6, of Samantha posing by the Christmas tree, while the ground outside is covered in snow.  It's kind of sad to think that the ground is just as much covered in snow right now as I write this on February 15, as it was back on December 6.  It was pretty and exciting then.  Now, we are just ready for winter to be over and for spring to come.

Here is Samantha later in that same day, "resting."  For some reason she was under the impression that when she rested she had to take her clothes off and lay under her blanket.

These next pictures are from December 16 and show Samantha and I sitting on a blanket playing with dominoes like they are a road.  We were on a pretty big dominoes kick for awhile after playing with large dominoes at the Children's Museum.  It's fun being creative with Samantha's toys, we even built a little hill by going up and over the book.  I'm pretty sure this was the day her friend, Vivian, came over to play for the morning, so we were playing and anxiously awaiting the arrival of her little friend.

And here are some pictures from the next day, December 17, just some cute pictures of Samantha playing with her little people family that she checked out from the library.  For some reason, she always wants to line her toys up.  She likes things to be in order and gets upset when they fall over and knock each other down.

After having Christmas and being pretty busy for awhile, I decided to get back into doing preschool with Samantha.  She was really excited to start this up again, even though we are moving through it slowly, doing it whenever we are home and don't have other things planned.  We were on the letter D and numbers 1-10.  For the first day I chose the theme of dinosaurs.  As you can see in the pictures since Samantha is wearing different clothes, we did these activities on two different days, January 27 and 28, whenever we could fit them in and whenever Samantha had the patience for them.  Here are my plans mixed in with pictures from those activities.

Day 1: Dinosaurs

Books: Read dinosaur books from Samantha’s room: Dinky Dinosaur: Who’s My Friend? By Darrell Wiskur and Dinosaur Babies by Lucille Recht Penner.

Song:  Sing the song “The Dino Dance-O (sung to the tune of "The Hokey-Pokey").  You put your dino up, You put your dino down, You put your dino up, And you shake it all around.  You do the Dino Dance-o, and you turn yourself around.  (Stomp twice on the ground.)  Dino Dance-O.  You put your dino in front, You put your dino in back, You put your dino in front, and you give your knees a slap.  (repeat chorus).  You touch your dino to your head, You touch your dino to your toe, You touch your dino to your head, Then you shake it to and fro.  (repeat chorus).  You do the Dino Dance-O You do the Dino Dance-O You do the Dino Dance-O That's what it's all about. Dino Dance-O.

Craft: Make dinosaur fossils in play-dough.  Press small dinosaurs to make an impression, or to leave footprints.  We can leave it to dry, or reform it and make another dinosaur impression.

As with many of our preschool activities, they often morph into something else, and that is perfectly okay with me.  After forming many dinosaur footprints, Samantha smashed the yellow and blue play-dough together, making it look green, and then started breaking it up into these little pieces.

Letter Activity: Discuss how the letter D has 1 sound, practice that sound, and review the sounds that A, B, and C make as well.  Give her some play-dough and show her how to roll snakes and then turn them into the letter D.  Show her how to write a D on her easel.

Snack:  Make Dino Bones.  Use 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup dry milk, and 2 tbs honey graham crackers crushed.  Combine peanut butter and milk, add honey.  Mix well and divide into equal portions after shaping them into bones.  Sprinkle with crackers.

Gross Motor: Play “Dancing Animals.”  Say the name of an animal that starts with the letter D, such as: dog, ducks, donkeys, deer, dragons, or dinosaurs.  Put on some dance music.  Have her pretend she is the animal and try to dance like the animal might.

Number/Shape Activity: Discuss how dinosaurs hatch out of eggs.  Place colored plastic eggs out with small fuzzy craft balls inside.  Practice filling eggs with fuzzy balls with a one to one correspondence, or counting up with 1 in the first, 2 in the second, 3 in the third, etc.  You can also pretend that the eggs hatch.

Samantha really loved this activity.  She played with it for quite awhile this day, and wanted me to take the eggs out for her several days after that so she could play with them again.  She really enjoys filling containers, so this was the perfect activity for her.

Fine Motor:  Go on a dinosaur dig.  Fill the black dish tub with shaving cream and bury the plastic dinosaurs in it.  Have her dig the dinosaurs out and practice cleaning them off, she can use her hands or a brush and towel.

The funny and completely adorable thing about Samantha is that she is very conscientious of making messes.  Sometimes when we do activities like this, it's hard for her to really get into them right away because she doesn't want to make a mess.  In this picture below, you can see Samantha cleaning up the floor with a paper towel.  She really enjoyed playing with these dinosaurs in the shaving cream and spraying/dumping water on them until they were clean.  It's always interesting to see what activities she really gets into and which ones she doesn't like quite as much.

Here are more of my preschool lesson plans that I did later that week of January 27, but I didn't take any pictures of Samantha doing these activities.

Day 2: Donuts

Books: If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff.

Song: Sing “The Disappearing D-O-N-U-T” to the tune of BINGO.  Find the magnetic letters for DONUT, and use them to hold about a donut cut into five sections.  Then sing, “I know a treat that has a hole, as you can plainly see.  D-O-N-U-T, (Point to the letters as you sing.), D-O-N-U-T, D-O-N-U-T.  Save a bite for me!  CHOMP!  (Remove D.)  Continue song, clapping for each section of disappearing donut, pointing to blank spaces and remaining letters until the donut is all gone.  The last verse would be, “I know a treat that has a hole, but now where could it be?”

Craft: Cut out large donut shapes for her.  Give her a bowl of colored glue and a small paint brush.  (Mix food coloring in white glue.)  Have her frost her donuts with frosting (colored glue).  Then, let them sprinkle on sprinkles to decorate their cookies.

Letter Activity: (Review the sounds that make A, B, and C.)  Practice the sounds that D make.  Have her color the D pages from her alphabet book, and write any words we can think of on the back that begin with the letter D.

Snack: Have a donut for a snack.

Gross Motor: Play “Mmm Donuts!”  Cut 10 donut shapes from colored paper (all different colors).  Spread them on the floor.  Sing this rhyme song and have her run to pick up the right color donut and pretend to eat it.  “Down around the corner at the bakery shop, There were (#) little donuts with sugar on top!  Along came (Name) all alone, And she took the (Color) one home!”

Number/Shape Activity: Make play-dough donuts.  Roll out play-dough until it’s nice and flat.  Use a large circle and small circle cookie cutter to make donuts for play-dough donut shop.  Also, roll out the play-dough like a snake and show her how to curve it around to make it look like the letter O, like a donut!

Fine Motor:  Make letter puzzles for A, B, C, and D to practice letter recognition.  Take a small 3 x 5 index card.  Turn it onto the plain side and make it stand up tall.  With a large black or blue marker, print a large upper case D.   Now, with a pair of scissors, cut the letter across the middle with a puzzle cut.  Give the two pieces of the letter to her and have her put the letter back together.  Add the other letter puzzles to the pile for her to sort and make into whole letters.

Now that I've caught up from past weeks that I forgot about, we'll move onto this week, February 3-8:

Monday morning this week Ben was still in Grove City for his campus visit/interviews.  So, I got to spend the day as a single mom.  I got a chance to talk to Ben first thing in the morning before he headed out to his breakfast, so that was nice.  Then, Samantha and I just hung out at home for the morning until gymnastics.  After gymnastics we had kind of a crazy day because we had to pick up Roscoe from the vet where we kept him over the weekend while we were in Upland.  Then, we had to get back home, have a quick lunch, and at least try to get a nap in.  Samantha did not nap, which was okay since we had to leave the house at 2:30 so I could drop her off at a friend's house to play while I gave piano lessons.  Normally, Ben comes home in the afternoons on Mondays to be with Samantha while I give lessons, but since he was out of town, I had to find another solution.  I thought about just keeping her at the house with me, but I didn't think she would be patient enough to play quietly in her room while I gave lessons for two hours.

Samantha had a great time playing with her friend Abigail, and I got to hear all about the princess books they read, the fun princess toys they played with, and the yummy snack they got to eat together.  She did a really good job even though she had never really been with this mom and friend before.  No one stays a stranger for too long in Samantha's world.

After my lessons were over, I went to pick Samantha up and then took her to Chick-fil-a for dinner.  After having a long day of taking care of Samantha, I didn't feel like making a meal just for the two of us.  Plus, Chick-fil-a has the added bonus of the indoor playground, which is always a big hit.  We got to talk to Daddy in the car on the way home from eating, so that was really good for Samantha.  She really missed him a lot today.  She kept asking about him, and every time we prayed together at the dining room table, we would pretend to hold his hands as well.

I tried to get Samantha to sleep at a decent time that night, especially since she hadn't napped that day, but with doing everything by myself and having to deal with our dog needing to go out as well, she got to bed a little later than I would have liked.  Luckily, she was tired and went right to sleep.  I was feeling very exhausted and was starting to not feel well, so I just relaxed on the couch until I got to talk to Ben on the phone while he was driving back home.  We ended up talking for two hours, and it was great to hear how his campus visit/interview went at Grove City.  Going into it, he wasn't quite sure what he thought of the school.  It has a fairly conservative reputation, which isn't bad in and of itself, but Ben wants to make sure he is in a place where people have the chance to believe whatever viewpoint they want as long as they know why they believe what they believe.  He also didn't want to feel pressure from the administration to fit into a certain viewpoint, or to be at a place where everyone is expected to have the same beliefs.  Whatever happened during his visit, he was looking forward to the experience and the practice.  However, after visiting and getting a chance to speak to the other political science faculty, the provost, the president, and many others, his opinion of the college greatly changed.  He was very impressed by the faculty he would be working with, feeling like he would get along well with them.  He was impressed with the student body, recognizing that although most of them were fairly conservative, they seemed to have foundation for their beliefs, but most importantly, they were strong Christians who wanted to interact with politics.

Here is what I posted on Facebook that night after he got home:
"I have been a single mom since yesterday evening while Ben went to an on campus interview/visit at Grove City College in western Pennsylvania.  I have much admiration for the women that do this every day as I certainly would not make it.  Especially when Ben is gone, I have an even greater appreciation for all the ways he helps and supports our family.  Samantha asked about him and said that she missed him several times today.  Our life is just not the same without Daddy in it.  We even pretended to hold his hands when we prayed at our dining room table.  I am so proud of all he has accomplished in grad school, his work ethic, and his solid focus.  I am so proud that he has gotten so far in this hiring process, from 50 to 25 to 5, and how down to 2, no matter what the end result may be.  Please pray for our family as we wait to hear back sometime next week about this job, and for the clarity on where God is leading us in the net step of our journey, whether to Grove City or somewhere else."

We have no idea what will happen or what will come of this job interview, but we know that God will make it clear where He wants us to be.  In every place we've moved in the past, we have very clearly felt God leading us there, made the decision, and never looked back, never wondered "what if" we would have chosen another option.  We trust it will be the same thing this time.  God knows where He wants our family to be, where He wants us to put down our roots, and we will wait for Him to reveal that to us in His timing.  In the meantime, here are some pictures Ben took of Grove City while he was there:

Tuesday was an early morning for us after Ben getting in late from Grove City the night before.  I let him sleep in some, with him getting up and leaving the house at about the same time Samantha, Sadie, and I were leaving for our weekly trip to the library. Here is a cute picture of Samantha reading her Cinderella book to Hannah Penguin while I was working on lunch.

After having a long weekend in Upland and then a couple of late nights with no napping during the day, Samantha was very tired at nap time.  She was being a little silly about going to sleep, sitting up in her bed, dangling her feet over the side of the bed, and then all of a sudden she said, "I'm tired."  Right after that, she fell asleep and took a three hour nap that afternoon.  I was so grateful, and her little body clearly needed some good sleep.

That afternoon/evening it started snowing, really heavy snow, making traffic very hard to deal with.  Michelle hit a lot of traffic coming across town and didn't pick up Sadie until almost 6:00.  Ben had a fairly difficult time getting home as well, but was very excited to get some good hang out time with Samantha.  It's amazing how much you can miss your little girl when you don't see her for a couple of days.

Tuesday night I was feeling even worse and was developing a pretty bad cough and runny nose.  I was hoping with all the snow that there would be a snow day, or at least a delay of some kind, even for IU, but we were out of luck.  Pretty much everything in the whole state of Indiana was either on a delay or cancelled, but not IU, and I could have really used a snow day with the way I was feeling.  I tried to fight through it, staying home and taking care of Samantha and Sadie, but I just kept feeling worse and worse.  As the morning progressed, I realized that I couldn't do it anymore, so even though I knew Ben had meetings to go to that afternoon, I called him and asked him to come home and help me out watching the girls so I could go rest.  (There is something nice about having a husband in graduate school with a very flexible schedule!)  He arrived home around noon to watch Sadie and Samantha for me, putting him in charge of the worst time of day, lunchtime and nap time, when both girls are the most demanding and sleepy.  But he did a great job, and he allowed me to go right upstairs to bed, sleeping on and off for the next five hours.  My cold was just terrible.  I had chills and a fever, I couldn't breathe, my eyes were watering, and I felt really lousy.  I was so glad that Ben came home to help me out, but felt bad that I made him cancel meetings and miss out on some good time to get work done on campus.  However, I have a great husband who is willing to help me out when I need him, and I am so grateful.

Daddy was able to get Samantha to take a nap that afternoon, after going in her room and being rather stern with her when she was kicking around in her bed and woke Sadie up from her nap.  Luckily, Sadie went back to sleep, and Samantha ended up sleeping a little under two hours that afternoon.  Since I was feeling sick and because of the large amounts of snow we got that day, Michelle came to get Sadie a couple hours early that day, giving Ben a little bit of a break from watching both girls at the same time.

I got out of bed right before dinner that night, making myself sit up for awhile to see how I felt.  I still had a fever, so I cancelled my lessons for the next day, rescheduling them for Friday instead.  However, just being up for a couple hours was too much for me that day so as soon as Daddy put Samantha to bed for the night, I laid back down on the couch.  I just literally had no energy and still felt pretty lousy.  Ben had gotten me some medicine that the doctor said would be okay to take while I was pregnant.  It may have helped a little bit, but definitely not enough.  I was hoping that I would feel much better the next day after having an afternoon and full night of good rest.

Having all the snow was kind of a blessing in disguise because many things were cancelled, like BSF on Wednesday, and we didn't have anywhere to go, so we just spent a lot of time hanging out and playing at home while I recovered from my cold.  On Thursday morning Ben let me sleep in, which I greatly appreciated, and I think the rest did me a lot of good.  I was feeling a bit better that day and decided that I could handle Samantha by myself, allowing Ben to go to campus and get some work done.  Samantha and I just played at home, read a lot of books, and did puzzles together while I tried to rest on the couch as much as possible.  She did not take a nap that day either.

On Friday I was feeling a little better, but still wanted to take it easy at home and not go anywhere.  So, Samantha and I did another day of preschool, finishing our week on the letter D.

Day 3: Dr. Seuss Day

Books: Read these books by Doctor Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham, The Foot Book, The Cat in the Hat

Song: Sing “The Cat in the Hat Song” sung to “Addam’s Family.”  “The cat in the hat (snap, snap).  The cat in the hat (snap, snap).  The cat in the hat, the cat in the hat, the cat in the hat (snap, snap).  He causes so much fun, But when the fun is done, You will be the one, To send that cat away.” (Repeat).

Craft: Since most of the creatures in Dr. Seuss stories are imaginative and unusual, give her toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, yarn, puff balls, googly eyes, and other miscellaneous items to have her create her own creature.  After they’re dry, help her create a story about it.

(I didn't take a picture of just her creature, but you can see it drying in the top right hand corner of this picture.  She was pretty proud of it.  It was made with a toilet paper roll, brightly colored pipe cleaners, a pink and purple puff ball, and two googly eyes.)

Letter Activity: (Review the sounds that A, B, C, and D make.)  Make Oobleck by mixing equal parts of cornstarch and water.  Have her practice writing letters in the oobleck.

This was another of those activities that I wasn't sure she would like.  Sometimes she is very particular about getting her hands messy, but this, she loved!  She could have played around in this oobleck for a long time that day.  I think she just enjoyed the way it felt and that she was allowed to get her hands as messy as she wanted.  It's so fun to do things like this with her.

Snack: Have green eggs and ham by using food coloring to dye scrambled eggs with lunch meat ham for breakfast.

Gross Motor: Practice balancing: on one foot, on heels, on toes, walk on a line of tape, place a line of wooden unit blocks in a row to use as a balance beam, use bean bags and balance one: on your head, on your elbow, on your back, on your foot.

Number/Shape Activity: Domino Counting Match.  Trace around the dominoes on a piece of paper.  Write the numbers 1-10, one number for each rectangle, and write the number word as well.  The goal is for her to count the dots on the domino and match it to the correct rectangle

Fine Motor: Have a “Foot Spa Day.”  Let her soak her feet in a warm, sudsy foot bath, put some great smelling lotion on her feet, and paint her toe nails.

Friday afternoon Daddy came home to to be with Samantha while I gave my make up piano lessons.  Even though I wasn't totally back to normal, I felt good enough to give lessons.  I've really enjoyed giving piano lessons out of my home.  It's been a great source of income for our family, gives me satisfaction of teaching and of music, but requires little to no outside planning on my part.  It will be nice to continue on with this in the future after Aedan is born, whether we are still in Bloomington or moving to a different city.

On Saturday we had plans to meet Upland Grandpa and Grandma in Indianapolis for lunch so that we could switch our cars back.  With the delay in getting it fixed and then the snowstorm that came through in the middle of the week, this is the earliest chance we had to meet up.  We had lunch at Jason's Deli, our traditional place to meet because of the casual, kid-friendly environment and the free ice cream.  Samantha did a pretty good job, but was a little distracted and getting sleepy towards the end of our time together.  Grandma offered to go to Once Upon a Child with us to look around for things we needed for Aedan, so even though it was already 1:00, we decided to go do some shopping.  We got some really cute newborn and three month outfits for Aedan, plus some swaddle wraps and a changing table cover.  All of that was a much better price than if we were to have bought it all at a full price store.  I love Once Upon a Child.  Samantha knows we shop there a lot and will often look at her clothes and say, "Is this from Rachel or Once Upon a Child?"  Our child knows how our family rolls.  :)  However, since we were at the store during Samantha's nap time, and since she loves spending time with Grandpa and Grandma, she was not excited about leaving the store.  She started throwing a bit of a fit, even going and hiding under one of the clothes racks in an attempt to avoid leaving the store.  After trying to coax her out in various ways, I finally just went and pulled her out from the clothes rack, even though she was crying and refusing to say good-bye to Grandpa and Grandma.  She just always hopes that if she doesn't say good-bye, that maybe they won't actually leave.  We eventually convinced her to give good-bye hugs and kisses after Grandpa made her mood cheer up with a silly, funny face that made her laugh.

After getting back into our own car and heading out, we were hoping that our sleepy, somewhat crabby little girl would take a nap on the way home.  It took awhile for her to calm down, and she tried so hard to keep herself awake, but after awhile of sitting in a warm, quiet car, she was no longer able to keep her eyes open.  She only slept for about fifty minutes, but it was better than nothing and made our evening together much better.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday we just spent time doing our normal family things, playing at home, going to church and Sunday School on Sunday, and having a nice, restful afternoon at home as a family.

The other cute thing I wanted to mention about Samantha for this week is her love of dresses.  We have been aware for awhile of her love of all things girly, but she is particularly on a princess kick lately.  I'm sure it's partly my fault that she loves princesses so much, but I also know that she is just naturally drawn to it.  Lately, in the morning when she wakes up and we go in her room to get her up for the day, she'll tell us that she dreamed about being a princess and that she wants to wear a princess dress that day.  We don't let her wear her fancy church dresses during the week, but we have let her wear her other dresses with pants underneath them.  In fact, when we went to Once Upon a Child, we bought a few more pairs of solid color pants to wear underneath her dresses, since this is becoming an every day request.  If you go back and look at many of the pictures in this post, you will notice our little girl wearing a dress in most of them.  We don't mind.  She is wanting to pick out her own clothes a lot more lately, and we like her new found independence in this area.

Samantha: 32 Months, Week 3 {Napping, Nail Painting, and Cousin Time}

I don't know if it is because I am pregnant, but it seems like life tires me out a lot more lately.  Maybe I've reached that point in my third trimester where my energy has left me, but after my parents being here this weekend, even though it was relaxing and we just hung out and played at home, I felt exhausted at the start of the week.  Now that I am 28 weeks pregnant, I am feeling everything more.  Chasing Samantha around tires me out more.  Bending over to help her put her shoes on and sitting down on the floor to play, are no longer easy tasks with my ever growing stomach.  However, on the flip side of that is the fact that I feel Aedan move around a lot.  Not as much during the day when I am up moving around, but whenever I sit down and relax, particularly at night and at bedtime, he makes his appearance known, and I love it.  I love to feel that connection to him even now.  I am getting more and more excited each day as April 23 approaches, and I can't wait to meet out little boy and become a family of four.

On Monday, even though schools had a two hour delay due to snow and cold temperatures, Samantha's gymnastics class still met.  They had just recently changed the rule regarding delays because so many classes were being cancelled, so I'm glad I checked the website.  There was only one other little girl there besides Samantha, so we went through the obstacle course, bar, and balance beam very quickly, giving them lots of free time at the end.

Sometimes I feel like I write too much about napping, but I guess when you are a stay at home mom with a two and half year old who is transitioning out of naps, but still needs them on most days, napping is a pretty big deal.  On Monday, she did not take a nap again, even though she begged to go upstairs to take a nap after lunch.  She can be laying her head on the table practically falling asleep at lunch, but that doesn't mean she will have enough sense to stay in her bed and actually let herself fall asleep.  The biggest problem we've been having lately is that she has been tired and cranky in the evenings on days that she doesn't nap.  She will hurt herself more and will wander around like a little lost child most of the evening, intermixed with episodes of crying outbursts for no apparent reason.  Several times lately, Ben and I have discussed putting the railing back on her bed to turn it back into a crib, just to see if that has any impact on her napping.  However, we don't think she would like that very much; plus, at some point we have to go through this transition, and it is better doing it now before Aedan comes along.

On Wednesday, after several days, of not napping and having a hard time at night, I decided to try and fight the battle of getting her to stay in her bed at nap time, rather than letting her get out the minute we leave the room.  After following our normal routine, I stood outside Samantha's bedroom door, and anytime I heard her get out of bed, I would go back in her room and put her back in bed.  I had to keep this up for quite awhile, but eventually I won the battle and got her to stay in bed.  Apparently, she decided to let herself fall asleep, and she took a nice, long nap.  I love watching her sleep.  I also love that when she falls asleep (at least at nap time), she'll fall asleep on her back, with her blankie (that she now calls Blank) somewhere close by her head, and the covers pulled all the way up.  She looks so comfortable in her bed.  She also looks both so small and so big at the same time.

I was very glad that I got Samantha to stay in her bed, and even more excited that she actually took a nap and was well rested that night.  So, we decided to celebrate by dropping Sadie off with Michelle, going out to eat at Five Guys, and then walking around Target and getting a special snack of peanut butter M&Ms.

Now if we could only repeat those results again, right?  I thought to myself, well maybe I just need to win the battle a few days in a row of keeping her in her bed, and then maybe she will stay in bed during nap time and sleep more often instead of getting out and playing.  However, Thursday nap was a different story.  On Wednesday, I finally got her to stay in her bed before she talked to herself until she fell asleep.  On Thursday, I couldn't keep her in her bed.  The second I would close the door, she would be up trying to play or get a book.  I followed the same approach and would put her back in her bed, over and over and over again.  But after an hour and a half of doing this, making her very upset and crying several times, and causing much frustration and rising anger on my part, I decided fighting her on this is just not worth it.  I didn't like being the bad guy.  She wasn't napping and certainly wasn't getting any rest with how upset the whole situation was making her.  I wasn't getting anything done and wasn't taking time to rest myself that afternoon since I was going in her room every minute, it felt like.  I was hoping that battle wouldn't be as hard since Wednesday went relatively easy, but that was not the case.  It's so hard to know what the right solution is, and it's so easy, as a mother, to doubt the decisions I make.  I always let "What ifs" take over my mind instead of making a decision that I think is best for my daughter and not second guessing myself.  Needless to say, Thursday night I was not feeling like I won any "mother of the day" award, and I was determined to not have our time in the afternoon become a battle of the wills.  I want to enjoy this time I have with just my little Samantha, when I get her all to myself and she gets me all to herself before Aedan is born.

We had been communicating with Aunt Jeni about a good weekend to get the girls together in Upland before Aedan is born, and she mentioned this weekend as a possibility.  At first we said we wouldn't be able to go because Ben was scheduled for a campus visit/interview at Grove City College on Sunday/Monday and would have to make the drive out there.  However, we didn't want to miss this opportunity and were able to make arrangements for Samantha and I to get back down to Bloomington, so we decided to travel to Upland for the weekend.

Before Samantha was born, I made curtains for her room, and after looking around online again for curtains for Aedan's room, I again decided that it would more cost effective to make them again, rather than buying them.  Plus, we had a lot more freedom in color and pattern.  We went to Jo-Ann Fabrics on Thursday night to pick out fabric so that I could use Ben's mom's sewing machine while we were in Upland for the weekend.  We found almost the same exact type of fabric as what I used for Samantha's curtains except the tones are blues and browns rather than pinks and greens.

I will have to post another picture later of what the curtains look like completed, hanging in our little boy's room.

Friday morning I had another doctor's appointment.  Ben and Samantha came with me, but it was just a short check of the baby's heartbeat and how my measurements are.  The doctor asked if I was feeling movement every day, which I do, and now I am on the every two week schedule for my doctor's visits.  It's kind of strange to think about really how fast that time will go.  It's such a different feeling this time around.  Last time everything was new and scary.  I would spend my evenings getting things ready and reading books and articles on the internet about what to expect in childbirth and the first few days you bring the baby home.  Now, since I have done it before, I'm not totally scared about labor and delivery, and I'm not quite so petrified about breastfeeding since I successfully breastfed Samantha until almost 18 months.  But there are still so many unknowns.  What will labor and delivery be like with Aedan?  What will his personality be like?  Will breastfeeding be as easy with him?  How will it be as a family of four?  How will Samantha adjust to having a little baby around, hearing him cry, having more attention taken away from her?  These are all questions that swarm around in my mind on a regular basis.

Anyways, after my doctor's appointment, we went back to our apartment complex to pay our rent and sign some papers, then went back to our apartment to pick up Roscoe and have Samantha go to the bathroom before we hit the road for Upland.  Samantha had woken up a little too early that morning, knew we were going to Grandpa and Grandma's house after my appointment, and was really upset when we made her go back in our apartment to go to the bathroom.  She didn't understand what we were doing and didn't want to be going back home.  Once we finally calmed her down and explained to her what we needed her to do, we were ready to hit the road.  Our trip went smoothly, much better than the last time we drove to Grandpa and Grandma's house and our two hour trip took over four hours.

When we got there Friday afternoon, Grandpa and Grandma were still at work, and we had eaten lunch in the car, so we let Samantha play for a little while and then attempted to get her to take a nap.  We brought both her pack and play and her sleeping bag, deciding that if she took a nap in the pack and play, then we would try the sleeping bag at night.  Like we expected, she did not nap, it was just too exciting being at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  That evening, Grandma brought home a pizza from Papa Murphy's, and Aunt Jeni and Alaina arrived for dinner as well.  The girls even got to sit together at the little plastic table that we gave them once we rearranged our downstairs play area to make room for the easel.  I think Samantha felt a little too disconnected from the conversation at the adult's table, though, because she kept getting up and down from her seat to come and talk to us.  Alaina is all business when she eats.  For Samantha, however, it is a social occasion for sure.  We always comment that Samantha would fit in well in Europe where eating is more of a social event, one to be enjoyed around the table for a couple hours at a time.

Ever since we moved Samantha to her big girl bed, we also transitioned out of using pull-ups since she was staying dry all night, every night.  We haven't had any problems with this so far.  However, we also have a rule that Samantha's last drink of the night is at dinnertime, that way her bladder can be empty by the time she goes to bed at night, and we have to worry less about her waking up during the night needing to go to the bathroom.  When your with grandparents though, things are just not the same as at home, and we're pretty sure she had a drink late in the evening before bed.  Well, a little after 6:00 a.m., Samantha started stirring in her pack and play.  (We knew this because we were sharing a room with her.)  We told her it was WAY too early to be getting up, especially since she hadn't napped yesterday and went to bed a little later than we usually would put her to bed on days she didn't nap.  She continued to wiggle around and talk to herself for awhile.  Then, out of the blue, she started crying, saying she had wet the bed.  She hadn't given us any indication that she needed to go to the bathroom.  This was not the most pleasant way to start off our Saturday morning.  Luckily, it seemed like she must have been sitting on her pillow when she had her accident, because most of the wetness was contained to her blanket and pillow.  I didn't feel anything on the mattress that was a part of the pack and play, which I was grateful for, because I wasn't sure how we would get that clean.  Daddy took her to the bathroom to see if she needed to go anymore and changed her into new underwear and pajamas, while I worked on removing the wet blankets and pillow and replacing them with others in the linen closet and bedroom.  We put Samantha back to bed, telling her she needed to try and go back to sleep; however, at that point she had already woken up enough that sleeping was out of the question.  We tried for about a half an hour, and then Daddy graciously offered to take her out of the room around 7:00, allowing me to stay in bed and get some extra shut eye.  What a wonderful husband I have!

Here are some pictures from our playtime in the morning with Aunt Jeni, Alaina, Grandpa, and Grandma:

The girls also did a lot of dancing.  They like to play the little player piano ornament that Grandma keeps out on her piano downstairs, even though it plays Christmas songs.  Samantha and Alaina will take turns pushing the button to play a new song and then dance around the living room.

After having quite a long morning of playing, and both girls waking up far too early, they were fading pretty quickly by 11:00.  It was the perfect opportunity to snuggle with Grandma and watch a show.  I don't think Samantha moved a muscle the whole time.

After lunch, it certainly was time for a good nap for both girls.  Since Samantha had woken up so early that morning, she actually took a nap in her pack and play that afternoon, which we were very grateful for.  She certainly needed it.  

While Samantha napped, I worked on finishing the curtains for Aedan's room.  It is through projects like this that I realize how much I enjoy being creative, and I especially enjoy sewing.  Some day when we have a house and hopefully some more space, I'd like to get a sewing machine and experiment more with making things by hand.

That evening, before dinner, Samantha got a real treat.  Aunt Jeni brought nail polish with her to paint the girls' nails, and Samantha had never gotten her nails painted before.  It has been on my list of things to do with her, but we just haven't done it yet.  I didn't know how it would go, whether Samantha would sit still enough or resist the urge to touch her nails while it was still wet, but she was so excited and entertained by the whole process that she really did a good job.  Aunt Jeni went back and forth, doing one nail for Samantha and then one nail for Alaina.

 Samantha was pretty excited about having gold, sparkly fingernails.

 Here are both girls posing with their newly painted nails.

 And next up were the toes.  They decided to go with purple nail polish for the toes instead of doing gold sparkles for both.

Since Samantha took a nap on Saturday, we let her try out her first night in her princess sleeping bag that she got for Christmas.  We got her all set up next to the bed in our room, and she was very excited about it.  She sat in her sleeping bag as I read her her bedtime stories, and we just waited to see how it would go with falling asleep in a new place.  After a few minutes, she started crying, so I went up there to see what was wrong.  Her sleeping bag had gotten a little crooked and unzipped, so I helped her get re-situated and tucked her back into her sleeping bag.  Then, a little while after that, she started crying again, a lot harder this time.  I thought maybe she had rolled over and knocked her arm on something underneath the bed.  However, when Ben came back downstairs, he told me that she said, "I don't want to be in the sleeping bag.  I want to sleep in the pack and play."  He said, "Are you sure?  Because once we switch you there, we're not going to switch you back to the sleeping bag."  She was sure.  The sleeping bag was just too much for her that night.  I think she just wiggles around too much and at the same time is too particular about how things are.  She doesn't like when the sleeping bag gets twisted or bunched up.  Once she was tucked into the pack and play, she fell right asleep.  We'll have to try it again sometime because eventually we will need the pack and play for Aedan to sleep in, but for now we are just fine with her sleeping in the pack and play, if that makes her more comfortable.

We had a much better, more peaceful sleep on Saturday night, which is good because Sunday ended up being a very hectic, crazy day.  Daddy left for his interview/campus visit at Grove City on Sunday morning.  Then, just as we were on our way out the door to church, he called saying the check engine light turned on in our Santa Fe and that the car was shaking a bit when he drove faster than forty miles an hour.  He wasn't sure what to do, but didn't want to drive too far without knowing what the problem was.  So, he turned back around and met us at church so he could use Grandpa and Grandma's car instead.  Luckily, he left early enough that day that he still had a good buffer zone and would likely get to Grove City on time.

After church, Samantha and I went out to lunch with Aunt Jeni and Alaina before they headed back home.  Samantha and I then went back to church to get Grandpa and Grandma so they could drive with us back to their house, in case we had any car trouble along the way.  We had to decide what to do pretty quickly because it was already Samantha's nap time, and she was very tired and already very confused about what was going on.  Grandma decided to drive Samantha and I back down to Bloomington in their truck.  Samantha's car seat barely fit in the back seat with all of our stuff, but it worked.  I hoped that she would nap in the car, but also could see her not calming down enough since she is in the truck with Grandma driving.  Luckily, she did fall asleep for about fifty minutes, at least giving her enough energy to get through the night.  Grandma helped us carry all our stuff in the house and then headed back home herself.

It was definitely a bit weird being at home without Daddy.  The house was much quieter, and it just felt like something was missing.  He is so involved with us on the weekend and in the evening, that it was strange not having him here.  Samantha was glad to be home and to play.  I was anxious to hear from Daddy and hear how his dinner with the department went.  It is exciting for him to have this opportunity to interview and to get to know this school, whether it turns into a job or not.  But I'll have more on that in the next post.