Baby Brielle is Born

Samantha: 40 Months, Week 1
Aedan: Week 21

My sister, Christy, was due on September 14 with her first child.  She knew she could call and talk to me whenever she needed, if she wanted advice on what she was feeling, what part of labor she was in, or when to go to the hospital.  So several times throughout the night on September 14, I was communicating with either her, or her husband, Matt.  They went to the hospital in the middle of the night, so all day on Monday, September 15, I was waiting for the news of my new niece or nephew.  Samantha, Aedan, and I went to the Stories, Strollers, and Nature event at Oxford Community Park.  We all sat on the blanket and listened to stories and songs.  And then this time, instead of making Samantha walk and keep up with the group, I had her ride in the stroller, and I carried Aedan in the Ergo.  It worked out pretty well; however, the grass is always greener on the other side, for now that she could ride, she wanted to walk and run.  One of the boys from her preschool class, Matteo, whom she talks about a lot, came to the story time and walk as well.  And she was SO excited to see him.  She wanted to go up and run with him and another boy, Jacob.  She was lagging behind a bit and shouted, "Matteo, wait for me!" as she chased after him.  It was so cute.  I love to see her making friends.  It makes my heart happy.

Samantha was able to play on the playground with her friends while I talked with other moms.  It was another beautiful day, and even though it started out rather chilly, it was warming up, a wonderful morning to spend outside.  After getting our fill at the park, Aedan was starting to get hungry since he had nursed earlier than normal that morning.  So, we went back to our car and I got Samantha her snack to eat in her car seat while I nursed Aedan in the front seat.  She did an excellent job of sitting quietly while I nursed Aedan because she knows that he is really distracted by her when she talks since he finds her so extremely interesting.  I am so proud of her, she has done such a wonderful job adjusting to life with her new brother these past several months.

After changing his diaper, we stopped by Kroger so that Samantha could pick her snack and juice that she wanted to bring for preschool the next day.  It was her turn to be Star of the Day, which meant that she was in charge of bringing snack, and also a toy from home for the Share Bag.  She chose to bring yogurt tubes and fruit punch juice boxes for snack.  For the Share Bag, she chose to bring her Doc McStuffins doll.  She was SO excited for her turn to be Star of the Day.  She had been looking forward to this day for a couple weeks now.

Our morning was full and busy, so both kids took really good naps for me that afternoon, and when I came downstairs from putting Samantha to bed, I found out that my sister had her baby!  They weren't sure right away, but ended up naming her Brielle Anne, and she was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, 19 inches long, and born at 1:50 pm.  New life is so exciting!  Hearing about Christy's experience brings back memories of my birth stories.  It's amazing how quickly you forget about the pain of the labor and delivery, only really remembering how wonderful it is when you finally hold your baby in your arms.  Welcome to the world little Brielle!

Since Ben leaves early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Samantha is usually not awake yet, so our tradition is to FaceTime with Daddy before his class starts at 8:00.  She can't bear not giving him a hug and a kiss in the morning, and it's the sweetest thing ever.  She sure loves her Daddy.

Even though Samantha had been excited about being Star of the Day for weeks, when we talked about it on Tuesday morning, she said, "I don't want to be Star of the Day."  Daddy even sent me a message as we were on our way to preschool saying, "Tell her to enjoy dressing the frog and to have fun being the Star of the Day."  I love that our children have a Daddy who adores them so much.  Even in the midst of his busy day, he takes the time to show Samantha that he is thinking about her and that he loves her.  I am blessed with such a wonderful man to be my husband and the father of my children.

Aedan and I had planned to do our weekly shopping trip together, but he was being exceptionally crabby, and I didn't think it would be a good idea to drag him into Kroger to go shopping, so I decided to just take him home and let him take a good nap.

Samantha had a good time being Star of the Day, but apparently was too shy to give her clues to the class about what she brought for the Share Bag.  However, she told me that the class enjoyed passing Doc McStuffins around, especially Joel.  She didn't tell me too much else about it.  Lately, the only way I can find out anything regarding what she did at preschool is if I look at the lesson plans posted on the board outside her classroom ahead of time, and then ask her leading questions, jogging her memory of what she did that day.  Otherwise when I ask her what she did or what she learned at preschool, she will always respond with, "Nothing."  However, I know that she is learning something because she is practicing the sounds letters make.  She will say a word like banana, and then say, "Buh, Buh, B!"  She gets so excited when she gets the correct letters and sounds matched together.  She will also sing new songs she has learned or tell us a story about preschool unprovoked at other times during the day.

Samantha was a bit too riled up that afternoon to nap.  She actually fell asleep with me in the room, but looked at me when I got up to leave and apparently never went back to sleep.  The good thing though is that she was just playing quietly in her room after that, allowing Aedan to get a good, uninterrupted nap in.  It's weird how with two young kids, you get so wrapped up into how they are sleeping, if they are sleeping, how long they are sleeping.  Your whole world is better when you have well-rested children, but I will admit that sometimes I get too wrapped up in getting them to sleep at the same time for a certain amount of time (in an attempt to get my own personal time in a peaceful, quiet house), not taking into account outside circumstances and the fact that they are just kids and can't be expected to sleep or behave perfectly at all times.

Here is a video and some cute pictures from that afternoon while Daddy took Samantha to her ballet lesson.

On Wednesday I had my first meeting of the women's Bible study at my church.  Last year I did BSF every Wednesday and loved it.  I especially loved the preschool program and all the great truth Samantha was learning in her class.  However, there is no BSF in Oxford.  I would have to drive to Cincinnati or to Richmond, and I don't see much point in driving forty-five minutes one direction just to be in BSF when I could just get involved in a Bible study at my church.  So anyways, we are studying Children of the Day by Beth Moore, which is a study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  I have never done a Beth Moore study before, so it is a new experience to me.  The church provides childcare for moms so they can go to the study, which is a really nice ministry.  I was a little worried about how Aedan would do since the Bible study goes from 9:30-11:30, and he usually takes a nap during that time.  I knew Samantha would be just fine because she loves to be around other kids and play.  I was really grateful that morning because one of the childcare workers actually took the time to take Aedan into the nursery and rock him in the rocking chair until he fell asleep, then laying him in a pack and play to nap.  He took a nice, good nap, and I was able to stay in the Bible study with the other women without having to leave to deal with a fussy baby.  I am going to enjoy having this mid-week break to study God's Word.  The study also comes with five days of homework as well which I'm excited about because it will get me back into reading my Bible on a more regular basis.  I haven't had any really consistent quiet times since before Aedan was born, and that is something I desperately want to make as a priority in my day.  I am excited to learn from Beth, other women from OBF, and most importantly, from what God wants to teach me through 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

We had a big weekend coming up, as we planned to visit Christy, Matt, and Brielle in Chicago.  Ben had to teach class on Thursday, so our plan was to leave right after he got home from campus.

Here is Samantha all dressed and ready for preschool on Thursday morning.  She LOVES to wear dresses, and especially wants to wear dresses to preschool.  However, she is outgrowing a lot of her clothes, so there are many dresses that don't fit her anymore or are too short.  Isn't she just adorable with her brown corduroy dress and school bag hung over her shoulder?

While Samantha was at preschool, Aedan napped, and I worked on getting everything packed and ready to go so that we could leave as soon as Ben got home.  It was a little bit busy and hectic, but I got almost everything set and ready to go.  Our plan was to drive to Upland to borrow Grandpa and Grandma's car so that way I could stay longer in Chicago to help out my sister, and Ben and Samantha could come back and stay in Upland.  We knew Samantha would want to see Brielle, but we also knew that she would get pretty bored staying there for the whole weekend.

It was a LONG trip up to Chicago, especially because we stopped in Upland to get the car and a bin of baby girl clothes from Samantha for Brielle to use.  After leaving Upland, Ben graciously offered to drive both kids in the Santa Fe, while I drove the Avalon by myself.  It was a really nice couple hours to myself, just listening to the radio and having some quiet time.  Ben did okay for himself as well because Samantha was watching a DVD and Aedan ended up falling asleep and then waking up happy after that.  We stopped for dinner together, and then parted ways since Aedan and I were heading to Christy's apartment, and Ben and Samantha were staying with some friends, the Munns.  However, the rest of the trip to Chicago was not the most pleasant.  Aedan got pretty grumpy because it was getting close to his normal bedtime, and he no longer wanted to be stuck in his car seat.  However, we had no choice but to just drive so we could get there, so I had to listen to him cry for a good 10-15 minutes, before he finally gave up and let himself fall asleep.  Luckily, he stayed asleep for the rest of the trip to Naperville, allowing for a much more peaceful ride for me.  Ben and Samantha had a fairly good trip as well, she just talked continuously during the whole ride.  In fact, the last forty-five minutes they played a singing game where Samantha would make up words and a tune, and then Daddy would have to repeat it back to her.  We both made it safely to our separate locations, quickly getting our children tucked into bed.

I was a little worried how Aedan would do in a new place, even though he was sleeping in a crib.  I slept on an air mattress on the floor next to the crib, and he did well, just like he does at home, waking up once during the night and going right back to sleep.  He woke up a little earlier than normal in the morning, and I couldn't get him back to sleep, so I just brought him in bed with me and talked to him and played with him until it was closer to 7:00 and a better time to get up.  Samantha also woke up a little early.  It's funny how our kids are just used to the Eastern time zone, so when we are in the Central time zone, their bodies automatically wake them up at the same time.

Brielle had her doctor's appointment Friday morning at 10:00, so after making Christy and Matt waffles for breakfast, Ben and Samantha came over to their apartment so Samantha could see her new baby cousin.  Then, we all parted ways, them to their appointment, and us to Meijer to buy them some groceries for the week.  Samantha had not gotten much sleep Thursday night and was extremely tired.  Luckily, I was able to get Aedan to take a nap in the Ergo while we went shopping. Once we got back to Christy and Matt's apartment and were playing, we felt Samantha's back and she was burning up.  She definitely had a fever and needed to take a good nap that afternoon.  I got Aedan down for a nap after lunch, and Ben took Samantha into Matt and Christy's room for her to take her nap.  Since she wasn't feeling well, she had no trouble falling asleep, and Ben actually fell asleep on the bed right next to her.  I felt so bad for her that day because she was feeling so lousy.  She had not gotten enough sleep in the last couple days, and our weekend was a little crazy with all our travelling.  I just hoped that she wasn't coming down with something bad and that she would feel better soon.

After a good afternoon nap for most, we hung out for a little longer, and then decided to meet my parents and brother for dinner and time to play at a park.  However, I didn't realize that it would take 50 minutes to get from Naperville to Lombard that evening!  It was crazy!  Aedan was tired and cranky, but not able to fall asleep in the stop and go traffic, and Samantha was complaining about needing to use the restroom.  Once we finally reached Jimmy John's to get our sandwiches, I got out of the car with Aedan, telling my parents, "You could not pay me enough to live back in this area again!"  Since it took us so long to get there, we picked up our sandwiches and then ate at a picnic table at the park.  However, the sun was starting to set and it was getting a bit chilly outside.  Samantha was still not feeling well and still had a fever, so we did not stay too long with my family.

From the park we went back to the Munn's house, where Ben and Samantha were staying because our friends Melissa and Brad were coming in that night, and we planned to hang out and talk with them awhile.  I don't get to see her very often, so I was very glad to have this opportunity to see one of my dearest friends.  Aedan had fallen asleep in the car on the way to their house, but once he woke up and started to get fussy again, I took him upstairs nursed him, and put him down in the pack and play in one of their extra bedrooms.  Ben put Samantha down to bed, and our friends arrived shortly after that.  It was such a wonderful couple of hours together.  The Munns are so welcoming, and we feel so comfortable in their home.  It was wonderful of them to offer a place for Ben and Samantha to stay so we could save some money and not have Ben and Samantha stay in a hotel.  I probably stayed way too late talking that night, not getting back to Christy and Matt's until almost midnight, but I just couldn't pass up time with dear friends.

Ben and Samantha left to travel back to Upland on Saturday morning, while Aedan and me stayed behind to help Christy and Matt a little more.  It was difficult staying behind, especially knowing that Samantha was not feeling well.  She was not acting like herself and actually took a nap that morning in the car, sleeping for close to two and a half hours.  I can't even remember the last time she has fallen asleep like that in the morning, so you could tell that she was really not feeling well.

Aedan took a pretty long nap Saturday morning as well, as I'm sure we tired him out the night before being out so late and waking him up several times before he was finally down for the night.  We just had a relaxing morning.  Christy, Matt, and Brielle spent most of the morning in their bedroom sleeping and resting, which I was glad for.  I tried to take care of dishes and other things like sorting out the baby clothes that we brought for them.

Christy and Matt suggested going to downtown Naperville so they could return something and to walk around for a little while.  However, there was some kind of art festival going on, so it was packed.  We decided that was not going to happen.  Then, Brielle had a poopy diaper so we stopped at a Starbucks so they could change it.  Aedan took another little catnap while we were driving around, so that helped take the edge off until we could get him down for a nap that afternoon.  After the craziness of the crowds and the traffic, and with Brielle being pretty upset, we decided to just go back the apartment.  Outings with a newborn baby are not the easiest!  I made sandwiches for lunch, I got Aedan down for his afternoon nap, and then we just spent the rest of the afternoon talking and hanging out with each other.  They gave Brielle a bath, and we looked through some wedding pictures where I found some totally adorable pictures of Samantha at the wedding that I had never seen before.

Here's the proud and beautiful new mommy with her adorable little girl.

And here are the cute pictures I found of Samantha when she was a flower girl for Christy and Matt's wedding two years ago.

Alaina was also in Upland on Saturday and into Sunday, so the girls had a great time playing together.  Samantha was acting a little bit more like herself after the long nap in the car that morning, but her fever kept coming back every time the medicine would wear off.

Here are some cute pictures of Samantha and Alaina from that day when they were on their way to watch a Taylor soccer game.

Despite playing with Alaina that day, Samantha was still not feeling well.  In fact, she had a pretty rough night.  Ben let her sleep in the bed by herself, hoping she could get a good night's sleep, and she did go right to sleep, but then woke up crying three times during the night.  Finally, Ben just went in and laid in bed with her so he wouldn't have to keep getting up and going into her room.  He sent me a message at almost 6:00 a.m. saying that her temperature was still 100.7 so he gave her some more medicine to help her fever come down.  He said, "Let's hope whatever this is dies soon.  It is hard seeing her not feel well."

Aedan and I went to church with Christy, Matt, and Brielle on Saturday night, so  on Sunday morning as soon as Aedan woke up, we got all our stuff packed up and headed out.  He was already pretty tired and getting ready for a nap, so he fell asleep in the car pretty quickly once we got going.  I had to stop by my parents' house to get Roscoe, which woke Aedan up, but luckily he fell right back asleep, staying asleep until just before Kokomo, making an almost three hour nap.  I was SO glad that he took such a good nap in the car.  Before we started, I was bracing myself for a long ride with a lot of crying.  I had never traveled that far with Aedan by myself, and he isn't always the happiest car rider, especially when his sister isn't riding in the back seat with him.

Samantha slept in really late on Sunday morning, which was good, considering the rough night she had with awakening so many times.  (She slept better once Ben got in bed with her.  He told me she cuddled right up to him, sticking her feet right on him, laying on top of him, and any time he would try to move she would move right back so that she was touching him.  He even told me about how one time she put her hand over his mouth and said, "Daddy, you're snoring."  To which he responded, "Honey, I can't be snoring, I'm awake.")

She felt fine when she woke up, so Ben decided it was fine for her to try going to church.  He thought that maybe she was breaking the fever during the night, which is why she kept waking up so much.  Here are some pictures of Samantha and Alaina from church that morning.  They even got to ride in Grandpa and Grandma's car together on the way to church!

These girls are just too cute together.  It has been wonderful having them close together as they've grown up.  I've heard it said that cousins are your first friends, and I think that's definitely true for the two of them.

(Poor girl.  You can tell by looking at her face and eyes in the picture below that she is still not feeling well.  She will never be able to fake being sick when she gets older.  It is just too obvious when she actually is sick.)

Here's a little flashback picture for you of Samantha and Alaina when we visited Alaina right after she got home from the hospital.  Alaina was probably three or four days old, and Samantha was only two and a half weeks old.

I arrived in Upland right around nap time, feeling so glad to be out of the car and in the same place as Ben and Samantha.  We stayed there on Sunday night as well, since we didn't think it would be a good idea to make Aedan ride in the car again that day.  It was nice to be able to relax in Upland for a night before leaving for Oxford the next morning.

Monday morning was a bit chaotic getting everyone ready and all our stuff packed and trying to get out at a decent time, but we finally made it home.  We had lunch together before Ben headed to campus to get some work done that afternoon.  I put the kids down for naps.  They were both very tired and went right to sleep, giving me some time to get things put away and organized around the house.

It was wonderful to be back home in our own environment after being gone for a very long weekend.  We got some calzones at a local restaurant for dinner, since we had no food in our house, and then we hung out together as a family.  Here are some cute pictures from the evening.  Samantha loves to make her little brother laugh.

 Look at his face in the picture below.  That is just pure joy!  Priceless!

What a perfect way to end this post, with the smiling face of my baby and my three year old being silly, finding joy in making her brother laugh!

First Ballet Lesson, Daddy/Daughter Date, and a Day Out with Thomas the Train

Samantha: 39 Months, Week 4
Aedan: Week 20

As I was uploading all of the pictures for this past week onto my computer, I remarked to Ben, "Wow, this all happened in the last week?"  It's been a busy one, full of fun, but also full of sickness and challenges.

Tuesday morning was difficult because Ben is now in a men's Bible study in the morning that meets at 6:15 am.  I am so glad that he's doing it, but it leaves me to get up and get ready myself, Samantha, and Aedan, as well as take our dog out, all by myself.  It was challenging to get all those things taken care of and still get Samantha to preschool by 9:00 am.  It's amazing how long things can take with two little ones to wrangle.  Samantha was having a difficult morning because she didn't like waking up and not having Daddy there.  Then, she knocked her cereal bowl over and spilled milk all over.  She then had an emotional outburst of screaming and crying over that, which gave her a time out because screaming is an automatic time out in our house.  Needless to say, the morning didn't start out the greatest.

Then, to make the morning even more interesting, I got everyone piled into the car, turned the key in the ignition, and the car wouldn't start.  I have a number of another mom of a boy in Samantha's preschool class, so I called her to see if she could come pick up Samantha and take her to preschool for me, even though she lives on the complete opposite side of town.  She willingly accepted, so Samantha, Aedan, and I went back in the house to wait.  Meanwhile, Ben called me back after seeing my message about the car not starting and said he was on his way home from campus so he could take Samantha to preschool.  That would be a faster option than waiting for the other mom, so I called her back and told her we had things taken care of for now.

Ben told me that on the way to preschool Samantha was talking about a boy named Ben from church.  She said, "That is my favorite boy because he has the same name as Daddy."  Aww, that's so sweet.  Samantha certainly does love her Daddy. :)

Aedan and I were going to do our weekly grocery shopping, but since the car wouldn't start, we just had a morning at home, and I was able to put him down in his crib for a nice, morning nap.  After dropping Samantha off at preschool, Ben came back home, and we tried jumping the car to see if we could get it to start.  Luckily, that worked, so Ben took it to get the battery replaced, brought the Santa Fe back home, and then headed back to campus just in time for his second class.  Not exactly how he wanted to spend his morning either.

Here is my smiley little man that morning after a good morning nap, before we left to pick Samantha up from preschool.

 Man, his little face is just too cute.  How can you get more adorable than this?

We had a lot of plans crammed into one day because besides Samantha going to preschool in the morning, Ben had plans to take her on a Daddy/Daughter date to see a Reds game in Cincinnati.  Ever since moving to Oxford, she has asked if we could go to a baseball game.  We thought about going as a family, but we weren't too sure how Aedan would do being out that late.  He likes to stick to his bed time and gets pretty grouchy when he is out late.  Plus, Ben has wanted to take Samantha on a date for quite some time, so this was a perfect opportunity.  

Also, Samantha had her first ballet lesson on Tuesday afternoon from 4:15 to 4:45, so I knew that she would need to take a good nap that afternoon to get her through the rest of her busy day.  She was super tired, but acting silly in her room, playing around, instead of sleeping.  I used her date as bribery, telling her she wouldn't be able to go on the date with Daddy unless she took a nap.  However, that just made her scream and cry because she wanted to go on the date so badly.  So I went back in her room and told her that Daddy would give her one more chance if she could just settle down and take a good nap.  I was trying so hard to get her to take a nap so that she could have a good night with Ben that I was getting way too wrapped up in it all again.  I was letting my anger flare up too much.  I don't like yelling at Samantha.  I don't like making her cry.  I know I have written about this before, but it is something I am really struggling with right now.  How do you deal with defiant behavior without getting overly worked up yourself?  I don't like myself when I let myself get like that.  I pray that God would work on this part of my heart, that he would trim away the roots of anger and replace them with patience, compassion, and mercy for my children.  Nap time is not a big enough issue to get so upset over, and Samantha is only three years old.  This is probably just a way that she is asserting her independence, and I need to keep that in mind.

She did end up falling asleep around 2:45, and not long after that, Aedan woke up crying, after only sleeping an hour.  I tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he would just keep waking up.  Aedan has been doing that a lot the last few days.  We will get him to sleep, but he won't stay asleep long, waking up crying instead.

Ben came home from campus early that afternoon so that I could take Samantha to her first ballet lesson.  I had to wake her up from her nap, and she woke up very slowly.  She is never the happiest when you have to wake her up, but I had no choice because we had to get her up and dressed so we could get to ballet on time.  She was very cute in her tights, leotard, skirt, and ballet slippers.  They did some stretches to warm up, learned first position, practiced pointing their toes, and did some other work with movement around the dance floor.  Here are some pictures and videos of Samantha's first ballet lesson.

In the video below, you can see Samantha decided to spin like a ballerina instead of standing in line with the other girls.  She enjoyed watching herself dance in the big, floor-length mirrors.

In this video, Samantha is on the far left of the screen.  She is doing a pretty good job of copying what the teacher is doing.

And in this picture Samantha is on the far right.

Then, at the end of class, they got to use scarves and had time to dance freely to music however they chose.  Samantha, again, liked watching herself dance in the mirror and enjoyed dancing to the music from the movie Rapunzel.  She also copied her teacher towards the end by laying the scarf on the floor and jumping over it.  She made a pretty adorable ballerina.  I hope that she will enjoy her ballet lessons.  I know I have fond memories of being in ballet when I was a little girl.  She loves dressing up and dancing so much at home, that this is right up her alley.

Since Aedan had a rough afternoon with not napping enough, Ben was able to get him to fall asleep for an evening nap in his swing.  Originally, we were planning on meeting at Skyline Chili for dinner before Ben and Samantha left for their date night, but instead, I just bought some for myself and brought it home to eat.  As soon as I got home with Samantha, we got her changed out of her ballet outfit, and her and Daddy left for their date night.  Here are some pictures from Samantha's night out with her Daddy.

They stopped and ate at Skyline Chili together.  On the way to Skyline, Daddy showed Samantha his baseball glove and asked, "What would I need this for?"  And she squealed, "I'm going to a baseball game!"  (She didn't know what Daddy had planned for her for the night.)

Samantha enjoyed walking to the ballpark, standing on the bridge that crossed over the highway and watching the cars drive underneath her, and of course, had to look at the statues of the baseball players outside of the ballpark.  She thought it was really cool to be downtown in a bigger city.

Ben found really good seats in the eighth row behind the dug out, so that way Samantha could see the game up close.

She even got to meet the mascots.  At first she was a little hesitant, but after she realized they weren't going to hurt her, she loved them, giving them hugs, hi-fives, and she even let Daddy take her picture with them.  Then, for the rest of the game she kept her eyes out for them, wondering why they weren't always walking around the field.

 She especially liked Mrs. Red.

Daddy let Samantha get a snack, and she of course chose cotton candy.  And apparently she drank a lot of water as well.  Later in the game, they walked around some and sat in the outfield seats for part of the game to give Samantha a different view and more space to move around.  It was already past her bedtime and she had had a long day, so she was getting pretty tired...

 ...and pretty silly...

 ...and pretty punchy.

Since it was already late and Samantha was losing it a bit, Daddy decided to have them stay through the seventh inning stretch and then head out.

Samantha and Daddy had a wonderful time on their date together. :)

While they were on their date, Aedan and I went grocery shopping since I wasn't able to go that morning.  Since Daddy sent me a picture of Samantha and him, I sent them a picture of Aedan and me.

After having a super busy day on Tuesday, we had a relaxing morning together on Wednesday and then just hung out and played at home.  I don't know if it had anything to do with the stress and busyness of Tuesday, but as Wednesday progressed I started feeling worse and worse throughout the day.  My head was hurting, my nose was stuffy, and my throat was sore.  I definitely felt like I was coming down with something.  It's hard to feel under the weather when staying home with young kids because you can't just go lay down in bed and rest.  Plus, I didn't want to have something contagious and end up getting Samantha or Aedan sick.

Both kids went to sleep pretty easily on Wednesday afternoon, but Aedan had a rough afternoon again.  Just like the day before, he woke up screaming and crying after only an hour of sleeping.  I got him back to sleep several times, but he just kept waking up.  He had a bit of a cough, so maybe that was bothering him, and I decided that it might be a good idea to give him some medicine before bed that night, just in case him waking up a lot had anything to do with teething pain, or even a sore throat like mine.

I know I take a lot of pictures of Aedan on his floor gym, but he's just too cute, I can't resist.  I have a picture of Samantha that is similar to the one below where it looks like she is reading a book.  I love to see how strong he is getting, and how alert and attentive he is to the world around him.

Wednesday night was a rough night all around.  I was definitely coming down with something and felt really crummy.  Even though Ben was busy all day on campus, he lovingly came home and took over taking care of the kids and giving them baths so I could rest on the couch.  I was so hoping for a good night's sleep, hoping that Aedan would sleep well so that I could sleep well.  Well, Aedan wasn't the problem that night.  We had a cold front coming through, bringing some storms.  The wind and rain wasn't even that bad, but for some reason it knocked out our power.  It flickered a few times and then turned off.  We had our air conditioning on due to the humidity outside, and we really couldn't open the windows because the rain would then blow inside.  However, we are so used to sleeping with the noise and air from our fans in each bedroom, that it was so strange to have complete silence.  You could hear every little noise.  Roscoe was acting weird because of the power being off, pacing around the room, sniffing the carpet, and making all kinds of noise.  I had intentions of getting to bed early and getting some good rest in hopes I would feel better the next day, but I could not sleep with all the noise he was making.  I felt so crummy and so tired that I almost started crying over the whole situation.  Ben told me to just go sleep downstairs on the couch so that way Roscoe wouldn't bother me and I could get some sleep.  I did that, and I just kept hoping that the power would turn back on at any moment.  I was afraid that the lack of noise from the fans and the stuffiness of the house would start bothering our kids and wake them up.  Aedan had an okay night, much better than nap time was that day.  Neither of them seemed to notice that anything was different.  The power eventually turned back on around 4:30 in the morning, after being out for a good five hours.  

However, after the craziness of the night and with the lack of sleep, I really didn't feel very good Thursday morning.  Ben left for his class, and I went through the motions of getting Samantha and Aedan ready for the day, the whole time having the chills, my head felt swollen and puffy, the outside of my neck was sore and stiff, and my throat was really red.  I even noticed a few white spots in the back of my throat when I looked in the mirror.  I thought that I may be coming down with strep throat.  I decided that I wanted to go to the Miami health center that day to get it checked out.  I didn't want to have strep and be contagious, unknowingly passing it on to Samantha or Aedan.  Tylenol helped me to feel better temporarily, and I took advantage of Samantha being at preschool and Aedan taking his morning nap, to lay on the couch and take a nap myself.  Luckily, since I am the spouse of an employee, I can go to the health center for free, so I decided it would be a good idea to get checked out.  I scheduled an appointment for 1:45, and Ben lovingly came home early from campus so that I could go to the doctor while the kids were napping.  They did a strep test and it came back negative.  The doctor said I had a sinus infection and that all I really could do was continue taking Tylenol and throat drops to help the soreness of my throat.  I was glad it wasn't strep, but I also felt discouraged because at least if it was strep I could have gotten an antibiotic and started feeling better a lot faster.  Now, I would just have to wait for the sinus infection to clear up and there was little I could do to make myself feel better.

I continued to lay low and rest that evening.  Lately, Samantha has enjoyed pulling dresses out of her closet and wearing them around the house.  Sometimes she will change dresses multiple times in one day.  She will get her step stool from the bathroom so she can reach the hangers and will put the dress on all by herself.  Here is Samantha putting on a "fashion show" for us that night.  She is such a silly, fun-loving little girl.

I am part of an Oxford Moms Facebook group, and someone posted about an event called "A Day Out with Thomas."  It is held at a local train station, and you can buy tickets to take a twenty-five minute train ride on a train pulled by a life-size Thomas engine.  They also have other Thomas the Train activities that children can participate in.  I thought Samantha would really enjoy this, so we decided to go on Friday to potentially beat more of a crowd on Saturday.  Plus, the weather was going to be beautiful.

When we first got there, we picked up our tickets, used the restroom, and then took Samantha's picture with Thomas while waiting for our turn to board the train.  We had tickets for the 11:00 train ride.

Samantha was unsure about getting her picture taken at first because she was paranoid that the train would leave without her, and she didn't want to miss the ride.  Here we all are on the train.

I don't think Aedan was too impressed by the ride, and about five minutes into the trip, Samantha asked when we were going to be going back, but once we started pointing things out to her out the window and talking and interacting with her, she got more engaged in what we were doing.

After the train ride, we went back to the car to change Aedan's diaper, deposit the stroller, and put him in the Ergo in hopes he would take a little nap as he was tired and getting a bit fussy.  They had several stations for kids to do different activities.  They had a bounce house, a place where you could watch Thomas the Train shows, men on stilts making balloon animals, bubbles, and even a hay maze.

Samantha's favorite activity was probably the hay maze.  It was very small and simple, but she loved going back and forth in it.  She climbed on top the haystacks and even offered out her hand to help a little boy down when he was stuck on the top of a hay stack.  She has such a caring, considerate heart.  I love how she notices others and wants to help.

You can see in these pictures that she is carrying around her blue butterfly balloon animal.  Well, sometime in the midst of walking around in the maze, a little boy accidentally stepped on it and popped it, making Samantha burst into tears.  Once we got her to calm down and breathe, we told her that we could get another butterfly made on our way back to the car.  That made her much happier, but she continued to talk about the little boy that stepped on her balloon.

We had a great day out with Thomas.  It was a bit of a racket, but it was really fun.  Samantha definitely enjoyed herself.  Aedan took a nap in the Ergo and otherwise just hung out and watched everything going on around him.  It was a great family day.  I love doing things like this together.  It was definitely a unique experience.

Throughout this week, we have been struggling with Aedan waking up more after we get him to sleep, both during his afternoon nap and at night.  He will fall asleep when nursing or being rocked, be totally zonked out, and stay asleep when we lay him down.  But then sometimes within fifteen minutes or even an hour or so later, he will wake up crying.  We always give him some time to see if he'll settle himself down, but we usually have to go back into his room, give him his pacifier and lay our hand on his chest, or even pick him up and rock him back to sleep.  It's hard to know what to do.  It could be teething pain, it could be the cold that he is struggling with, or it could be us enabling him to not be able to fall back asleep without us near him.  Who knows.  It's so hard to know what to do with babies sometimes.  I nursed Samantha to sleep every night until she stopped nursing just before eighteen months, and she goes to sleep fine on her own.  I don't think my nursing her to sleep damaged her sleep habits in any way.  Plus, we have tried just laying Aedan down when he is drowsy but not totally asleep, and he will just wake right back up and start crying, starting the whole process over again.  It's a fine balance between just doing whatever needs to be done to maximize sleep for everyone, and trying to establish boundaries and routines, or even letting him cry for awhile until he learns how to self-soothe and fall back asleep on his own.  Is a four and a half month old ready for that anyways?  Plus, there is such a narrow window of time that one gets to snuggle with, rock, and hold a sleeping baby, before they grow bigger and don't like that anymore.  I think for now I will embrace the fact that my son needs me and wants to be held and rocked.  Any thoughts from other moms out there?

Since Ben skipped out on going to campus on Friday to enable us to go to the Day Out with Thomas as a family, he took Saturday as a day to work.  Our week was so busy with many activities, so the rest of us just took it easy on Saturday, playing at home.  I enjoyed some time playing with just Samantha while Aedan was napping.  I feel like I don't get as much time with just her by myself, so I like to take this opportunity when it presents itself.  We played with her toys, painted, and drew on her easel.

If you can't tell, in the above picture Samantha is painting in just her underwear and her smock.  She did have on the pink dress you can see in the picture below, but she didn't want to get paint on it, so she decided to take it off while she painted.  Daddy was working at the kitchen table and didn't know Samantha was dressed like this.  When she was done painting, she ran across the kitchen to the bathroom to wash her hands, and Daddy saw her little body dressed just in her underwear and smock, and he just burst into laughter.  It was just a hilarious sight to see!

I wanted to include the pictures of her drawing with her chalk because her ability to draw people is really coming along.  She knows to draw a circle for the head, a long line for the body, and two little lines for the legs.  The rough squiggles you can see around the person is supposed to be hair and clothes.  This is a picture of Daddy, and she was so proud to show it to him when she was finished.

Since I've shown you what Samantha was up to that morning, here is what Aedan was up to.  He was very tired and ended up taking a nap for a couple hours in his swing while Samantha and I played in the play room.  He's so peaceful and content, and almost too big for his swing!

And of course, he had some time to play on the floor gym.  He still doesn't show too much interest in rolling over, but he certainly can scoot himself around and is very active.  I always lay him straight underneath it, like with his head at three o'clock in the picture below, but he wiggles around so much that he scoots himself around in different directions.  He loves to reach for and bat at the toys.  And he loves to make lots of noise.  He is a very vocal little baby.  (Taking after his sister?)

I forget if I've written about this or not, but as you can see in the picture above, we are using cloth diapers on Aedan full time now.  We decided to purchase a set ourselves, and we went with bumGenius.  I got some second hand through another mom in Oxford and some I ordered brand new from a local Diaper Parties rep.  We are using Kawaii at nighttime for extra wetness protection.  It is going really well, and I'm so glad that we jumped all in on the cloth diaper wagon.  They are really easy to use, not that difficult to get clean, and are going to save us a ton of money in the long run.  Plus, so far, they seem to be living up to their reputation and Aedan has hardly had any diaper rashes, which is a wonderful thing not to have to deal with!

Saturday evening, we went over to a friend's house, a colleague of Ben's from Miami that he met through InterVarsity meetings.  They invited a few families over for root beer floats, and time to just hang out and get to know one another better.  It was a rough time of night, not starting until 7:00, when around 7:30 is when Aedan starts getting fussy and ready for bed.  Plus, both kids' bedtimes are around 8:00 anyways.  However, there were other kids there for Samantha to play with and she had a blast running around with the boys in the basement.  Ben and I had a good time talking with the other parents.  Getting some adult social time was good for me considering I am mostly around Samantha and Aedan all day, every day.  As the evening went on, Samantha kept getting hurt which is usually a sign that she is getting too tired and can no longer control her own body or actions.  It was close to 9:00, so we decided it was time to get home and get our kids (and ourselves) to bed.

However, on the way home, Ben and I were talking about how great it is that he has been feeling good the last few months since his surgery.  In fact, it was two months ago that he was in the hospital with the post surgical infection.  Samantha talked to us from the back seat about how "when she was a little sister and daddy got sick."  She said now we are lucky because "we have a real daddy" after his surgery was over.  Ben remarked, "Apparently I was a fake until I had eighteen inches of my colon taken out."  Kids (especially Samantha) say the funniest things!

Sunday morning we decided to go to the second service so that Aedan could get a morning nap in before church, maximizing our chance of having a happy baby in the nursery and allowing both Ben and me to stay in the service together.  Since Aedan enjoys standing up and using his legs so much, Ben put together the exersaucer for him, and this was his first time ever in it.  He loved it!  He moved around, bounced up and down, and explored all the toys on the exersaucer.  This will definitely be a fun toy for him as he gets stronger every day.

Sometimes I look at Samantha and think that she just looks so grown up.  She looks so beautiful in this picture below.  She loves to wear dresses, and loves her brother so much.  She is such a precious little girl to me, and I hope I always make her feel that way.

Sunday was such a beautiful day that after nap time and dinner time, we just had to go play outside for awhile.  We loaded everyone up and went to Hanover Park, which is just a few minutes away from our house.  On the way there, we were practicing Samantha's memory verse from church.  Here she is reciting it for us.  I love that she is learning so much from her preschool class at church.  I love that memorizing Scripture is a priority there, even with the little children.  What a great verse to have hidden in her heart at such a young age!