Cincinnati Zoo & Aedan Getting So Big and Strong!

Samantha: 38 Months, Week 5
Aedan: Week 16

This week continued on like normal.  Ben continued to go to campus every day to work while Samantha, Aedan, and I either hung out at home or went out to explore Oxford.

On Tuesday night after dinner, the weather was actually rather cool because of a cold front that came through, so we went to Oxford Community Park to let Samantha play on the playground for awhile.  It actually was so windy that it was a bit chilly.  I thought ahead and dressed Samantha and Aedan for the weather, but I did not bring any sweater for myself.  Samantha played on the playground for quite awhile, climbing on anything she could.  She LOVES to climb, and this playground has several great climbing features for her to practice on.  There is a volleyball sand court near the playground, so Samantha went over there to play in the sand for awhile.  We joined her, digging our toes into the cool sand as well, until a group of college students came over wanting to play volleyball.  Samantha was taking her shoes off to get the sand out of her socks and shoes when she accidentally scraped her scab off her ankle from a scrape she got climbing on the cannon at the Uptown park.  Now, Samantha has a tendency to be a bit dramatic, especially when she hurts herself.  She has never really hurt herself very badly and had very rarely bled, so when she saw the blood coming out from where her scab used to be, she started freaking out and crying uncontrollably.  We tried to explain to her that it was okay and nothing to freak out about, but that didn't seem to be doing much to help her settle down.  We didn't have any band-aids, so we told her just to leave her sock on that foot to soak up the blood, and that we would clean it out when we got home and she took a bath.  We finally got her to start breathing again, and she decided she felt good enough to go back and climb on the playground.  Oh my, that little girl.  I don't know how she'd react if she actually hurt herself badly.

On Wednesday we went to story time at the library again, which I'm glad we did because they are taking a break for the next two weeks to regroup before starting back up again for the fall.  Aedan fell asleep in his car seat on the way to the library but woke up pretty quickly after getting into the story time room.  It's difficult trying to go out with both Samantha and Aedan sometimes because he has to have a morning nap or gets really cranky, but he's not always the best at falling asleep and staying asleep while we are out.  Things are too exciting, and he'd rather be looking around and interacting with people.  Samantha really enjoyed the library again.  She especially likes the dollhouse and playing the Dora game on the computer.

After our bad experience with having Aedan sleep in his own room at bed time, I decided to try again at nap time, get that solidified for about a week, and then try it again at bed time.  It's been difficult to know what to do with him lately because he will bust out of his swaddle wraps, getting his left arm out almost every time he sleeps.  However, it seems difficult to settle him down to sleep if he's not swaddled, and sometimes it seems like he wakes himself up when his arms are free.  He normally falls asleep when I nurse him after lunch time, so I always get him swaddled up before I start nursing so that I can just lay him down for his afternoon nap afterwards.  But for some reason, he didn't fall asleep on Wednesday afternoon, so I just laid him down in his crib to see if he'd fall asleep on his own.  I got Samantha ready for her nap and he was quiet in his room, so I figured I could put Samantha down for her nap.  I didn't stay in her room for too long because she was fidgeting and not settling down for sleep, so I just left her room after five minutes.  When I left her room, I discovered Aedan was in his room crying.  He had gotten himself pretty worked up.  He was sweaty and his face was red, but it didn't take long to rock him with his pacifier before he fell asleep.  Here are some pictures of my sweet little man after I got him to fall asleep that afternoon.

As you can see, I tried leaving his arms out for his nap, which worked okay at the beginning, but he woke up a couple times throughout his nap, so I ended up swaddling him up again with his arms inside so that he could have a better sleep.  I think I will just keep trying this periodically to see if it works, and if not, I will just go back to swaddling him again.  

Samantha finally fell asleep after having to go in her room and tell her to be quiet so she doesn't wake up Aedan.  I really wanted her to nap that afternoon because we had a big night ahead of us.  It was Meet the Teacher night at Samantha's preschool.  She had been looking forward to this for a long time, but we didn't tell her it was happening that night or else she would never have taken a nap because she would have been too excited.  Both Samantha and Aedan took really good, long naps that afternoon.  In fact, we had to wake Aedan up from his nap so I could nurse him and get him ready before we went to Meet the Teacher night.  We could go any time between 5:00 and 6:00.  I think Samantha ended up sleeping until like 4:45 that day.  (Again, this isn't going to work to have her playing in her room for an hour and then finally falling asleep and sleeping this late in the afternoon.)  However, I can't complain really because at least she napped.  After Samantha woke up, we took a video telling her what we were going to go do that night because we wanted to catch the expression on her face.

The Meet the Teacher night was fun.  Samantha walked right into the room and started walking around, looking at all the toys around the room and finding her name on her cubby.  We talked to her teachers Miss Becky and Miss Betsy for a little while while Samantha played, and then it was time for us to go before the next group of kids came in.  Samantha was having a lot of fun playing and didn't want to leave.  There are only 7 kids in her class and there could be up to 16, so I'm glad she's in a smaller group and can get more personalized attention from her teachers.  I'm so excited for her to get this opportunity to go to preschool.  It will be so good for her.

On Thursday we decided to try out the Cincinnati Zoo.  We loved our membership to the Indianapolis Zoo and definitely got our money's worth, so we decided the best deal would be to get a membership at the Cincinnati Zoo as well.  The zoo is only about 45 minutes away from our house, so it's a pretty quick trip.  While we drove, Aedan took a nice little nap in the car and Samantha looked at her library books, although she was anxious to get there and kept asking if we were almost there.  It was a beautiful day to spend outside with warm, sunny weather, but it wasn't too hot, especially for being the middle of August.  Here are some pictures of our time at the zoo.

Samantha was particularly interested in these giraffes because there was a baby giraffe, so she had to figure out who the Mommy and Daddy were.

It was pretty cool to see a lion up this close.  Laying by the glass was nice for all the kids wanting to see a lion up close and personal.

In the middle of the zoo they have a little pond with a train that runs around it.  I took this picture because the little turtle family was cute sitting on the log together.

 The gorilla in the picture below has a baby in her arm that was just born 10 days earlier.  I explained to her how the gorilla was nursing her baby just like I nurse Aedan, and she thought that was really interesting.

 We took a family trip on the train just before lunch.

Samantha and Daddy like to make silly faces together. :)

In addition to the train, they also have a carousel, just like at the Indianapolis Zoo.  With our membership, we can ride both as much as we want at no additional cost.  Samantha thought that was pretty awesome.

We had a really fun day together.  I was impressed with the zoo.  It had nice, shady paths to walk on and tons of animals to see.  We didn't even see about a third of the animals there.  They even had a special room for nursing mothers which was great for when I had to nurse Aedan after lunch.  I am very glad that we came on this day together and that we can come back and enjoy it many more times in the future.

We stayed at the zoo pretty late in the afternoon and hoped that both kids would take naps in the car on the way home even though it was only a 45 minute drive.  Aedan was awake all morning at the zoo and then fell asleep after I nursed him after lunch time, sleeping in his car seat in the stroller the rest of the time we walked around the zoo.  He even slept through a pretty loud bird show that Samantha wanted to see.  I read books to Samantha in the car as we were leaving and Aedan was being a little fussy, so I wasn't sure if any napping was going to happen.  However, once we got on the highway, Aedan settled down, eventually falling asleep, and Samantha cuddled up with her blankie and fell asleep instantly.  We had a long, good day together, and since she took a nap, we watched Peter Pan and relaxed on the couch together before dinner that night.

We must have really tired Aedan out at the zoo that day, because he slept really well that night, sleeping from when I laid him down at 9:00 until 5:00 am.  I felt like a new person after that.  Now granted we probably weren't in bed until around 11:00, but it's been awhile since I've had a solid six hours of sleep at night.  I felt like a new person when I woke up Friday morning.

Samantha woke up crying twice during the night on Thursday night, which is definitely unusual for her.  Ben usually goes in for Samantha at night since I take care of Aedan during the night.  (There's not too much he can do when Aedan is hungry.)  When Samantha woke up Friday morning, Ben asked her if she had a bad dream and that was why she woke up twice.  She said, "Yeah, I dreamed a bee came in and stole my blankie.  It didn't really happen though."  Then, she chose to wear her red ladybug shirt that has glitter on it and feels rough.  After she got her shirt on, she said, "I like to scratch it.  It makes me feel like a cat."  Then once Daddy and her got downstairs, the first book they read was about Ladybug girl because of the ladybug on her shirt.

Samantha likes to take care of her baby dolls and will often mimic things I do with Aedan.  I just had to take a picture of her on Friday morning while I was nursing Aedan on the couch because she was also nursing her baby.  She lifts up her shirt and everything.  It's pretty cute.

Sometimes I find the most difficult thing with being a mom of two young kids is finding time to go to the bathroom, even more difficult than finding time to go to the bathroom when you're a teacher.  Well, we were planning on going out to Kroger to pick up a few things on Friday morning, and I had to go to the bathroom before we left.  I put Aedan in the blue elephant chair and told Samantha to go talk to him and play with him so he wouldn't get upset being by himself.  She does a great job of entertaining him like this when I need a few minutes or when he's starting to get fussy.  Well, after a little while I hear Aedan burst into tears and then Samantha follows suit.  I hurry out of the bathroom to see what happened and eventually figure out that Samantha hit one of the toys really hard off the toy bar, it detached from the velcro, and then hit Aedan on the head.  He had a little red bump there, so I'm sure it surprised him and also hurt him.  Anytime Aedan cries like this, his truly upset and/or hurt cry, Samantha cries too.  It's almost like she can't handle seeing her brother upset.  It's adorable, but difficult because then we have to calm down two crying children.

Aedan was fine after I got him calmed down, and we were finally ready to go on our way to Kroger.  When we were in the car Samantha said, "I love him even when I hit him in the head."  I knew she felt bad about it and that it was just an accident.  She would never do anything on purpose to hurt her little "bubba wubba," as she calls him.

I get weekly emails from babycenter.com regarding Aedan's and Samantha's development.  Aedan has always had pretty strong neck muscles and can support his head pretty well without any help.  However, I read about babies this age being able to push up on their forearms, getting their chest up off the floor.  Aedan gets tummy time every day, but I had never noticed him lift himself up that far before.  So, I decided to test it out.  That afternoon after his nap, I put him on his floor gym on his tummy and held the flashing star light just above his head so that he'd have to look higher to see it, and sure enough, he did it!  (I think this progression of pictures is kind of funny.  The expressions on his face are great!)

Friday night after dinner Ben's parents arrived to stay the night so they could watch the kids for us while we attended a wedding on Saturday.  The wedding was at 10:00 am and was about 2 hours and 15 minutes away, so we figured it wouldn't have been very fun to bring Samantha and Aedan with us.

We hung out with Grandpa and Grandma for awhile before putting the kids to sleep and for how great Aedan slept on Thursday night, Friday night was another story.  He woke up around 12:15, which is way earlier than normal, I tried to just calm him back down and get him back to sleep, but that didn't work.  I tried nursing him in case he was hungry, and he was still pretty squirmy and he didn't want to be held.  So I laid him down in the pack and play to see if he would just fall asleep on his own because I didn't know what else to do.  Before I knew it, I was asleep and he was asleep.  Ben and I had our alarm set for 5:45 so we could get ready for the wedding, so I knew my night of sleep was getting shorter.  Aedan woke up again at 5:00, and I tried to give him the pacifier to see if he would go back to sleep, but that wasn't working, so I nursed him again.  He ate pretty well and then conked back out again.  I laid him down in the pack and play, waited a few minutes to be sure he was asleep, and then snuck out of the room to take a shower.  Both Ben and I were pretty tired after the rough night with Aedan, but luckily, both kids were still sleeping when we left the house around 7:15.

Grandpa and Grandma had a good day with the kids.  They read a lot of books to Samantha and took a walk together.  Aedan drank his bottles really well, took a good nap in his swing in the morning and in his crib in the afternoon.  Samantha did not take a nap, but that is not too surprising with how things have been going lately at nap time.  Ben and I had a wonderful time at the wedding.  This was the first time I have been away from Samantha and Aedan this long, from 7:15 until 4:00.  It was nice to have a break, to be around adults, to ride in the car with my sweetie and have adult conversations.  It was nice going to the wedding and not having to chase around or quiet down two little kids.  It was a wonderful date day with my husband.

Grandpa and Grandma left right after we got back at 4:00 to get to a dinner that evening.  We hung out at home, and I got some more pictures of Aedan pushing himself up on his forearms.  He's getting so strong!  Pretty soon he will be rolling over and then our whole world will change for we will no longer be able to lay him down somewhere and know that he will be in the same place when we return.

I feel like Aedan has gotten so big lately, maybe he's gone through a growth spurt or something like that because his clothes are all tighter on him (I think we are going to have to move out of the 3 month clothes now), and he sure is filling up his swing.

Here's a picture of Aedan in his swing back on the day we brought him home from the hospital.

It's crazy to compare these two pictures and see how much Aedan has changed in the last 3 1/2 months.  He is such a big, healthy, strong boy.  I love him so much and feel so blessed to be his Mommy.

Throughout this past week, Samantha has talked a lot about what she wants to do when she grows up.  It's always something different each time, like: astronaut, golfer, construction worker, police officer, librarian, or teacher.  It's interesting that she is starting to see gender around her because she will ask if girls can be construction workers or police officers since most of the people you see in those professions are men.  However, she never asks if girls can be librarians or teachers, probably because most of the people in those professions are women.  I try to tell her she can be anything she wants to be, that girls can do any profession.  I want her horizons to be wide, and I'm glad that when someone asks her what she wants to be when she grows up, princess is not even an answer that she gives.

I like to write down Samantha sayings whenever I can remember, and we had a really cute one on Saturday.  Samantha said, "I want to go visit Jesus on the moon.  He lives on the moon."  She's been really interested in asking where God and Jesus live, what Jesus looks like, and how you get to heaven.  I enjoy her curiosity, especially when it comes to topics like this.

On Sunday we went back to OBF for church, hoping to hear the senior pastor speak, but they still had a guest speaker.  However, I think Ben and I decided that this church fits better with our personalities.  We don't want to church hop for too long since we won't be in Oxford for very long anyways.  We just want to find a place where we can see ourselves getting plugged in, and a place where we can be challenged to grow in our walk with the Lord.  I can't wait for the school year to begin so that I can start attending a women's Bible study, start meeting some other moms, and hopefully establishing a group of friends.

Doubt Creeping In & Samantha's First Haircut

Samantha: 38 Months, Week 4
Aedan: Week 15

Three year olds can say some pretty funny things sometimes, and Samantha is definitely not an exception to that.  So, we'll start off this post with a couple funny Samantha comments.  One time randomly in the car, Samantha said, "I like asking Grandma questions.  She knows more answers."  (I'm pretty sure she was talking about Upland Grandma, thinking about the time she rode in the car with her back and forth from Bloomington to Upland.)  Then, on the way to our house we drive on a stretch of road that goes up a hill with steep embankments on both sides.  She started off saying, "I don't care if you fall off."  Then this week she changed it and said, "I hope you don't fall off the side of the road."  I have no idea where she came up with this because we have never talked about falling off the side of the road.

On Tuesday morning, I attempted to get one of my items checked off my to do list, which was going to the WIC office to get put into their system and get new checks.  We still fall under the income qualifications, so we figured it would be worth it, especially in a few months when Aedan starts eating baby food.  You get LOADS of baby food jars from the WIC program.  Anyways, I called and talked to the office to make sure we brought all the paperwork with us that we would need since we had to make the 20-25 minute drive into Hamilton.  I piled the kids in the car and when we got there everyone was evacuating the building and there were fire trucks parked out front.  I got out to ask an employee if we should come back later, and they said yes, that they didn't know how long they would have to be out of the building.  I was a bit frustrated because we had made the trip all the way out there for nothing, and we just turned around and drove back home.  We got back just in time for lunch and nap time.

Nap time has not been my favorite lately because we have been getting back into nap time struggles.  Aedan has been sleeping in our room in the pack and play next to my side of the bed since we moved to Oxford.  I figured it would be best to try to transition to the crib once we moved here and got more settled.  I wasn't sure what the best way to go about it was, so I decided to try it at nap time since I didn't really want to mess with his (and our) night time sleep.  He had been doing really well at night, sleeping from when I nursed him and laid him down between 8:00 and 8:30 until 3:00 or 4:00 am.  He took an occasional nap in his crib when we lived in Bloomington, but I mostly laid him in the bassinet instead.  I tried him in the crib for the first time on Monday, and it did not go very well.  He woke up several times very upset, almost like he didn't know where he was.  I would have to put the pacifier in his mouth and put my hand on him until he fell back asleep.  There were even a couple times he was staring with very tired eyes at the bumper pads with animal pictures, like they were much too interesting to look at to actually close his eyes and fall asleep.  His trouble at nap time on Monday and Tuesday was so surprising to me because he has been such a good afternoon napper for so long.  I usually lay him down with no worries about him waking up until he is well-rested.  Now, Samantha had been doing really well with naps for awhile, probably because she was just so tired from all the change in our lives.  She napped on Monday, but did not nap on Tuesday.  

So Tuesday nap time was no fun.  Aedan woke up crying and I couldn't get him back to sleep.  I was feeling frustrated because I couldn't understand why he wasn't staying asleep in the afternoons.  He still looked really tired, so I knew it wasn't because he was done sleeping.  Then doubts started swirling around in my mind like: Does he not like his crib?  Are his bumper pads too stimulating for him to go back to sleep after he wakes up and looks around?  Does he not like being wrapped up?  Should I be working on weaning him off being swaddled with his arms wrapped up?  Also, I had to go into Samantha's room because she was being loud with singing and carrying on, and I didn't want her to disturb Aedan's sleep.  I was fairly stern with her, but not mean, and told her to lay down and go to sleep.  She just kept crying, "I can't!"  Then one time she put her hand out and yelled at me, saying, "Just get out!"  That kind of behavior was unacceptable, so I grabbed her and put her in a time out, which of course made her scream and cry even louder.  I definitely lost my patience with Samantha that afternoon.  I get frustrated in what to do with her sleeping.  She's cranky and crabby if she doesn't nap, but I don't feel like playing this game at nap time and bed time of trying to get her to be quiet and go to sleep.  I don't like being mean, and my sin nature flares up when I let my frustration get the best of me.  I morph into this angry mother, I get upset, and I don't want to treat my daughter like that, no matter what behavior she is displaying.  I know what it feels like to be yelled at and to feel the anger from someone else.  I know how small and unloved it makes you feel, and I don't want Samantha or Aedan to ever feel that way especially on account of me.  I want my children to know that I love them and care about them and think they are special.  I don't want the enemy to take over and let my emotions get the best of me.  After the events of this afternoon, I just felt terrible for the way I acted, so I prayed and asked my gracious, Heavenly Father to forgive me for the anger that consumed my heart at that time, asking instead that He would give me patience, mercy, and love in dealing with my children because that is how He deals with me.  God disciplines me when I am wrong, when I sin, but never out of anger, instead, always out of love and compassion on us.

I talked to Ben about my struggles that afternoon, and he suggested that it might be weird for Aedan to be in his crib for nap time, simply because it's brighter out and he's more aware of his surroundings.  He suggested maybe trying him in his crib at night first, so we decided to try it on Tuesday night.  I felt a bit strange about having him in the other room and not right next to my side of the bed.  I've gotten kind of used to hearing his grunting and breathing sounds during the night.  However, he didn't do so well in his crib.  He woke up a lot more, and I ended up just bringing him back into our room so that I wouldn't have to keep going into his room to settle him down during the night.  It was strange that he was waking up so much more during nap time and bed time because this has been so unlike him so far in his life.  I know He certainly was having a weird couple of days, making Ben and I much more tired during the day from not sleeping well at night.  We'll have to try him in his own room again another time.

On Wednesday we went to story time at the library again.  Aedan was awake, so I decided to get him out of his car seat and let him sit on my lap to watch the songs and stories.  Samantha LOVED having her little brother a part of story time and wanted him to be included in the songs.  There are a few songs that the librarian says each child's name, and she skipped Aedan since he wouldn't know the difference, but the next time the librarian went around saying the children's names, Samantha made sure the librarian didn't forget Aedan.  And she didn't skip him, she said Aedan's name, and Samantha was so excited that her little brother was included.

For all the craziness of nap time the last two days, Samantha went right down for a nap on Wednesday afternoon.  Aedan also had a good nap in his pack and play.  (I figured it wasn't worth it to try the crib again.  I just wanted him to have a good nap.)  I told Ben later that day that I think it was a gift from God.  He blessed me with a wonderful, peaceful, restorative afternoon of time to myself, just what I needed.

Since Samantha took a nice, good nap, we went out to the Oxford pool that night.  It is pretty small, with a round wading pool area as the kid's area, and then the bigger pool.  Luckily, they didn't mind if Samantha used her floatie, so Samantha had a wonderful time splashing around in the wading pool, even taking deep breaths and pushing herself off under water, swimming under water for a few seconds before popping back up again.  Most of the time she didn't even get any water in her mouth.  Her swimming skills have gotten really good this summer.  After having her fill of the wading pool, we went over to the deeper pool and let Samantha doggy paddle around in her floatie, as well as jump off the side into the water.  Aedan had a good time sitting on our laps watching his sister play.  We got his feet wet, but didn't get him totally wet because we didn't have a swim diaper and we didn't want him to get too cold.  We were at the pool for close to an hour, but it was clouding over and getting rather chilly, so we decided to call it a night.  We'll definitely have to come back again another time before it closes for the season.

Wednesday was such a good sleep day with good naps and good nights for both kids.  We continued to keep Aedan in our room, and he went back to sleeping like normal, waking up at 3:30 for the first time to nurse, then going back to sleep until 6:30.  Maybe he was just going through a weird phase for a couple days?  Maybe he's not ready for his own crib/room yet?  Who knows, if only kids came with an instruction manual.

Here is a cute video of Samantha playing with Aedan on Thursday morning.  She thought he needed a lot of toys to play with in his swing.

On Thursday, I decided to try again to get to the WIC office.  I tried calling, but their phones were down so we just tried going in to the office.  They were open this time, but the appointment took forever.  We were there for over two hours.  I had to fill out some paperwork, they had to put me in the system, they had to check my height, weight, and iron as well as Aedan's height and weight.  (His weight was 16 pounds, 11 ounces and his height was a little under 25 inches.)  I then had to talk to a lactation consultant and a nutritionist before they printed out my coupons.  Luckily, Samantha and Aedan did an excellent job for me while we were there even though it was extremely boring sitting around in the waiting room and in the office.  Samantha amused herself my dancing and singing for Aedan.  She even adorned him with a crown at one point, calling him, "Princess Baby."  Poor kid.  He doesn't have a chance with his big sister around.

Since the appointment took so long, we didn't even leave Hamilton until around 12:15 and still had a 25 minute drive back home, making us have a late lunch and late nap.  Luckily, despite Roscoe barking downstairs from some strange reason, Aedan got a good three hour nap in, which he needed after our full morning out.  Samantha played around for awhile in her room, then finally falling asleep around 3:00 and sleeping until 5:30.  It's hard to have these sleeping struggles flare up again because she really can't be taking that long to fall asleep for her nap and then sleep until dinnertime because it's too close to her bedtime which is normally at 8:00.  We know our little girl is extroverted and loves to be around people, but there has to be something we could do to help her settle down to sleep.  Is this a sign that she is truly ready to give up nap time?  Or is this just a way she's asserting her independence?  Once again, it would be nice if kids came with an instruction manual, and I have a feeling I'm going to say and think that a lot as we raise our children.

I, personally, had a rough, challenging week.  Along with letting my anger get the best of me with Samantha, I also let doubt and insecurity take over my mind.  I already had a tendency to do that before being a mother, so now that I have the great responsibility of raising my children, I feel even more "pressure" to do things the "right" way.  I doubt the decisions that I make and feel like I need to be doing this or that, just like everyone else is doing.  Or, I expect my kids to develop and act the same way as I think others are.  Or, now that I have two kids, I compare Aedan to Samantha, wondering why he isn't doing things at the same rate she was.  I second guess what I'm doing, afraid that I'm doing something wrong or not good enough.  Especially with Aedan, I have been letting myself believe the lie that I don't know what I'm doing.  This is right around the time I went back to work after having Samantha, so I wasn't really with her most of the day to deal with some of the scheduling issues, or when to nurse during the day, or when to establish a routine of where/when/how long to sleep.  So then I wonder if I'm doing the "right" thing with Aedan.  I love my Bloomington friends, and they are wonderful at giving advice.  I sent out an email updating them on our life and asking for them to pray for me regarding my doubt and insecurity in myself.  Their responses showed me just how lucky I am to have friends that love Jesus.  They challenged me, encouraged me, and loved me all at the same time.  I realized that I was looking in all the wrong places for help.  When I need help, I scour the internet for other moms experiencing similar problems, or I endlessly discuss these "negative" situations with Ben, or I email friends or post on Facebook asking for advice.  Instead, I should be taking my cares, concerns, worries, and doubts to the feet of Jesus, humbly laying them down, placing them in his capable hands, and leaning on Him to help me.  I am looking to the world instead of to my Savior, and that is something I desperately want to change.  Thank you, dear friends, for showing this major flaw in myself, helping to convict me in how I have been living my life lately.

Anyways, enough about me.  Since Samantha and Aedan both took really good naps on Thursday, we decided it would be a great night to go the the free concert in the Uptown park.  We got down there early and ate dinner at Skyline Chili, which is right across the street from the park.  Samantha really loves going to this restaurant even though I'm not sure why.  We always get her the kids' meal with two hot dogs that they pile high with cheese.  However, she picks all the cheese off, takes the hot dog out of the bun, and just eats the hot dogs.  Oh yeah, and the crackers they give you while you're waiting for your food.  Crazy girl, we can give you plain hot dogs at home if you want!

After dinner we got Samantha in her bathing suit so that she could play in the fountains in the park.  We sat and listened to the blues band play for awhile.  Samantha got a free balloon and sucker.  She danced with the balloon and hugged all the animal statues in the park.  It was a beautiful evening to spend time outside, and the free concert was a very nice family friendly event.  We had a great time. :)  We'll definitely have to go again another Thursday evening.

Here is a nice Toll family selfie. :)

I wanted to share a few quick stories about my little Samantha, to show how much she picks up on and understands about the world without us even having to say anything directly.  Thursday night at the concert in the park, she picked a cigarette butt up off the ground, held it up to her mouth (luckily not actually in her mouth), and then pretended to blow smoke.  How does she even know about this?  She is never around people that smoke, so she must have picked this up just from seeing people in public.  It blows my mind, the things she notices.  This is one I would rather she hadn't noticed.  A more positive story is that Samantha has been using her step stools, that we keep in the bathroom so she can reach the sink to wash her hands, in order to reach things that are up high.  For example, she was trying to reach Aedan's pacifier on the top shelf of the bookshelf in the living room, so she brought her Minnie Mouse step stool over to it, and even stacked books on top of it to make it taller.  It still wasn't tall enough, but I had to laugh at her ingenuity in coming up with the idea.

But in all seriousness, Samantha is so good at helping me out, especially by talking to and playing with Aedan when he's fussy and I am trying to get something else done.  Even though she can be kind of whiny when she's tired, she is a great helper, has a sweet spirit, and is a wonderful little girl.

After spending most of the evening Uptown, it was time to get the kids home for bed.  Daddy took this adorable video of Samantha making Aedan laugh.  I am so excited to see how the bond between the two of them will develop as they grow up together.

Friday was a big day in Samantha's world (and mine to be completely honest), as I had scheduled an appointment for Samantha's FIRST EVER haircut.  We have never taken scissors to her hair, so she has gone three years with her hair growing and growing.  I was hesitant to get her hair cut for so long because I was in love with her curls and most people said they would go away when we cut her hair.  I wasn't ready to part with those baby curls.  However, Samantha's hair was getting very long and scraggly, it was easily tangled, hard to comb, and difficult to manage.  Combing and putting up her hair every day became a daily battle, so I decided it was time to get it cut.  Samantha was SO excited to be going to the hair salon and promised to "sit really still."  Here are some pictures of her experience.

Samantha thought the whole experience was just so cool, as you can see by the expression on her face in these two pictures.  She couldn't help but smile.

 Whoa!  Her hair is SO long!

The lady cutting her hair did a fantastic job, and she encouraged me that the curls wouldn't go away, but may actually be more defined because there wouldn't be as much weight pulling her hair down.  The stylist also mentioned how thick Samantha's hair is, saying she has a lot of hair per square inch.  She basically cut Samantha's hair so that all the split ends were gone, and then made sure it was even all the way around.  Samantha kept her end of the bargain and sat very still for the whole hair cut.

After her hair was cut, the stylist used a round brush and hair dryer to style it for her, which Samantha also thought was pretty interesting.  Now she's going to want me to do this to her hair every day!

The finished look was just so cute, as I figured it would be.  Samantha loved her hair cut and couldn't wait to show it off.  When we got home, she kept looking in the mirror that day to see what her hair looked like.  I'm glad we made the decision to get her hair cut.  Samantha looks adorable.

After paying, Samantha got to pick out a sucker, and then we decided to celebrate by going to get a doughnut at a local doughnut shop.

After spending the morning with us, Daddy went to campus to get some work done and the rest of the day progressed like normal.  Here's a cute video of Samantha making Aedan laugh on Friday night after dinner.

Saturday morning we decided to try out our local farmer's market in Uptown Oxford.  We knew it wouldn't be as large as Bloomington's, but they still had quite the selection of farmers, as well as people selling bread and sweet rolls, plus a small band playing some folksy bluegrass type music.  Samantha enjoyed standing there, listening to them, and shaking her instrument.

After enjoying our time at the farmer's market, and sharing a special chocolate pastry for a snack, we went grocery shopping together as a family.  We had her ride in a normal cart instead of a special cart because she didn't listen well when she went shopping with me last time.  After we were done shopping, Samantha asked if she could ride in a special cart again next time and said, "I got over your lesson."  (I think she meant that she learned her lesson, but I think I like her expression better.)

The rest of Saturday we just hung out as a family, playing together, and taking baths before bed.  Samantha helped us give Aedan a bath, and she thought it was fun to get him all soapy and liked it when he splashed her.

After bath time, Samantha decided she needed to play doctor and give Aedan a check up because he "wasn't feeling well."

She checked his blood pressure and got huge smiles from her.  He adores his big sister.

 Then, she had to check his ears.  What a good, very thorough doctor we have!

On Sunday we visited a different church called Cobblestone Community Church.  We weren't really sure what to think because the music wasn't quite our style, but the pastor was pretty interesting to listen to, even though sometimes he spoke a little more like he was addressing college students and not adults.  We really don't want to go to a church outside of Oxford and don't want to drive 20-25 minutes to get there, so there are really only two churches that we think would fit well for us.  Hopefully in the next couple weeks Ben and I can come to a decision of what church we think would be the best for our family to plug into and grow through while we reside in Oxford.

The whole Toll family was exhausted on Sunday morning because we had a rough night with Samantha waking up crying a couple times and Aedan having a rough night of being fussy and waking up frequently.  I know Ben and I felt like zombies that morning, so the whole Toll family had a good nap on Sunday afternoon.

While I was working on dinner on Sunday night, Samantha asked if I would take a picture of her.  So I took a picture of what she was doing and of what Aedan was doing on a typical evening in the Toll house.

Once we finished dinner and Aedan woke up from his nap, he wasn't left alone for too long.  Samantha decided he needed a lot of toys, so she took them out of the basket and just began piling them on Aedan in his swing.  He loved the attention from his sister, and don't worry, we were close by to make sure this activity didn't get out of hand.

We decided to take a little family trip out that evening since everyone took good naps that afternoon.  We had Samantha go upstairs and go potty before we left, and she was gone for quite a while, so I went up to check on her and this is what I found.

For some reason she has decided to start reading on the toilet and will often get a book and take it in there with her.  I guess a lot of adults read while they go to the restroom, too, right?

We took a trip to Daddy's building on campus where Samantha got to see Daddy's office and classrooms that he will be teaching in.  She wanted to have her picture taken with Aedan in Daddy's office chair.

Another interesting thing this week was starting to use cloth diapers.  I tried using them back a week or so ago, and they just weren't working.  They were leaking through every time, causing a complete outfit change, too.  So I emailed Heiny Helpers, the program I got the cloth diapers from, to see if they had any advice for me.  They suggested that I strip them to see if that would help them become more absorbent.  I did strip them and started using them over the weekend.  They worked wonderfully, and I was so glad!  I got pretty discouraged at first because I really wanted the cloth diapers to work, but wasn't willing to continue it if they would always leak out.  As of right now, we are still using disposable diapers at nap time and dinner time just so that we don't have to worry about anything interfering with his sleep, but we could very easily use cloth diapers at those times as well since he only has wet diapers when sleeping.  The only problem is that back when I got the diapers from Heiny Helpers, I didn't really know what I was doing or what I needed, and I didn't know that we would end up moving, so I have some that are too small for Aedan and some that the elastic has stretched out too much on the leg openings, leaving us with really not enough to use cloth diapers full time.  I hope to switch out the diapers that don't work and get useful ones, or else buy more cloth diapers from somewhere.  Cloth diapers were a bit intimidating at first, but I am so happy they are working out now.  Using them will save us a lot of money on buying diapers throughout the time Aedan is in diapers.

Daddy went back to work on Monday morning, so Samantha, Aedan, and I got to hang out for the day.  Again, Samantha wanted me to take her picture with Aedan as they laid on the floor together in their play room.

These pictures of the two of them together are so precious to me.  Some day they will be able to look back on them and see the bond they had even from the very beginning.