Aedan Turns 6 Months Old!

Samantha: 41 Months, Week 3
Aedan: Week 27

Well, I have to start off this blog post with something very exciting.  Aedan slept through the night!  I know people have different definitions of what sleeping through the night means.  In fact, I think I read that one technical definition of sleeping through the night is when a baby sleeps for five hours in a row.  Well, that is not my definition of sleeping through the night.  My definition of sleeping through the night is me not having to wake up at all, from the moment I go to sleep until a normal wake-up time in the morning, with no middle of the night nursing session.  And that is what Aedan did on Monday into Tuesday!  He made a couple little noises between 6 and 7 a.m., but neither Ben nor I had to go into his room, and then he went back to sleep until a little after 7:00 a.m., from 8:00 p.m. the night before.  Yay!  Maybe this will continue!  There is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Maybe the sweet potato baby food is helping. Who knows, but whatever caused it, I was extremely excited.

Tuesday was picture day at Samantha's preschool, so she picked out a little dress, and I tried to do her hair so that her little flyaways weren't sticking up all over the place, but that is a hard job, particularly on a humid day like that day was.  We ordered a small package of pictures with some wallets that we can hand out to family members, so we'll see what her picture looks like.  She will be adorable, no matter what.

When Aedan wakes up around 7:00 a.m., it's good timing, but makes his morning nap a little difficult sometimes because he usually gets tired after about two hours, right in the middle of when I'm dropping Samantha off at preschool.  However, even though he fell asleep in the car on the way, despite my efforts of talking to him, playing with him, and even tapping him on the head, I was still able to get him down for a good nap at home.

Once we returned home after preschool, I put Aedan on the floor gym while I fixed lunch.  I could hear Samantha reading to Aedan, and it was so cute, I wish I could have gotten a picture it.  She propped up a book for Aedan to see the pictures while he was laying on the floor gym, and she was "reading" to him by telling him the story.  The good thing about keeping library books for so long (I just keep renewing them until I am no longer allowed to renew them anymore.) is that she practically has them memorized before we have to return them.  She was reading the book, The Hand-Me-Down Doll, and she was almost reciting it word for word on some pages, simply by looking at the pictures and remembering the story.

Here are some cute pictures of Aedan sitting up and playing that afternoon after nap time.

This toy is really helping him work on his balancing skills in sitting up.  Plus, the blinking lights, pop-up kids, and music are just mesmerizing to him.

After Samantha's ballet lesson that evening, we had family dinner together, and then just hung out.  I love nights like this. :)

We like to play music when we hang out around the house, and we have been liking Rend Collective a lot lately, particularly the song called "My Lighthouse."  It has a pretty catchy tune, as you can hear in the video clip below.  Samantha has heard the song many times and will often sing the chorus out loud.  We tried to capture it on video, but we couldn't be sneaky enough, and as soon as she realized we were recording her, she would stop singing.

It's funny, the conversations we get to have with Samantha as she is getting older and is starting to pick up on more and more things.  She was singing the words to that song, "My Lighthouse," and then just stopped and asked us what a lighthouse was.  We explained it to her and even showed her a picture of one on our phones.  Then, we made sure to draw the comparison between what a lighthouse is and how the song is describing God as our lighthouse, guiding us safe to shore.  Wow, just writing that right now gives me the goosebumps.  Raising children is such a HUGE responsibility that God gives us, and I am so glad that Ben and I can have these conversations with Samantha.  I am so thrilled that we can paint these pictures for her of all the many attributes of God.  And, I am so glad that these opportunities just come up in our every day lives, we don't have to force it.

Guess what happened again from Tuesday into Wednesday?  Aedan slept through the night again!  Yay!  Two nights in a row just made me feel like a new woman.  I'm going to start expecting this now. :)

Wednesday morning was Bible Study, and both kids did pretty well.  Aedan got a little fussy in the middle of the time, but they gave him his pacifier, which he used for a couple minutes and then was fine the rest of the time.  Samantha enjoys herself there, and before we left, she had to go around and give all the kids and adults hugs and kisses.  It was so cute.  Aedan was pretty hungry and tired when we got back home, but we were able to make it through lunch before I put him down for a nap.  Both kids fell asleep great for me that day, as they were both pretty tired.  I only have two more weeks of Bible study on Wednesday mornings, and then I'll have to decide if after Christmas I want to continue with the Wednesday morning Bible study or try out the Thursday night one instead.  There are certain benefits to both, so we'll have to see.

I know I have mentioned about Aedan's incredibly thick thighs, and I couldn't remember if I had gotten a good picture of them yet, you know, for memory's sake.  So, I made sure to get a few good pictures of his legs that afternoon.  Aren't those legs just wonderful?!

And here's a little video of one of his favorite sounds, blowing raspberries.  (And you can hear that Samantha is watching Princess and the Frog in the background, her reward for taking a nap.)

And eating/licking his toes.  That's a favorite activity as well!

Wednesday was October 29th, marking Aedan turning 6 months old!  I can't believe we've been blessed with him for half a year already.  He's getting so big, so strong, and so chatty.  We just love him so much.  So, before bath time, we had to get the obligatory pictures with the sign.  Here are some of the best ones.

You can see in the above and below pictures a slight hair on the left side of the picture.  Who else could be making Aedan smile so big?  His big sister, of course.  :)

For the last several weeks we have been putting Aedan and Samantha in the bath tub at the same time.  Aedan will sit in the green baby bath tub at one end, and Samantha will sit in the water at the opposite end.  They enjoy watching each other, playing and splashing together in the water.  We usually take Aedan out sooner than Samantha so that way she can have the whole tub to play in for a little while longer.  Well, on Wednesday night, before getting Aedan out of the tub, I decided to let him experience the feeling of sitting in the water.  He isn't strong enough to sit up unsupported yet, especially in a slippery bath tub, but he really enjoyed sitting in the warm water and feeling like a big boy.  Samantha thought it was pretty cool to interact with Aedan in that way as well.

Thursday was a big day as it was the day before Halloween, and there were several Halloween events happening that day.  The first thing was that Samantha could wear a costume to preschool.  For awhile she said she would dress up as Tinkerbell, but she changed her mind and decided to be Belle instead.  I braided her hair that morning, and she even brought a red rose with her as a finishing touch for her costume.  (She also wore her Belle socks.)  I think she's a pretty adorable little girl, whether she's in a princess dress or not.

Normally Aedan and I go grocery shopping after dropping off Samantha at preschool on Thursdays, but he was acting so tired and cranky, so I figured it would work out better to let him get a good nap in at home and then go shopping before picking Samantha up at noon.  However, he only slept about thirty minutes, which was not quite long enough to help with his crankiness.  I tried feeding him again since he didn't eat well that morning when I tried to feed him.  He's hasn't been nursing very well lately, sometimes only eating for a few minutes and then acting like he's done.  So then when he's fussy later in the day, I'm never sure if it's because he is still hungry or if he's tired or if he's just fussy.

Luckily, Aedan enjoys going to Kroger, as long as he is in the Ergo and can look around, he's happy.  We got all our shopping done and picked up Samantha, arriving just a few minutes late.  Samantha had a big morning at preschool because they had a special Halloween party with games and snacks, and the class walked over to the senior center and paraded around in their costumes.  When I picked Samantha up, Miss Becky told me that Samantha commented, "That was a long day!"  I bet it did feel like a long day since she woke up around 6:30 a.m. because she was so excited about dressing up for preschool, making one tired little girl.

After the long morning, I was hoping for a good nap time, especially with our plans to go Uptown for trick or treating that evening.  However, I think Samantha was just too riled up.  She was disrespectful and cranky because she was so tired, but she wouldn't nap.  Ben and I already decided that we aren't going to tie anything to whether she naps or not because it's just not worth it.  We don't want our plans to rest solely on that, especially because we know that napping won't last forever and that Samantha will need to get used to behaving normally whether she naps or not.  When she doesn't nap, we just emphasize that she has to think about her actions more when she's tired.  We figured we'd make the decision regarding trick or treating once she got up, and we got a sense of what her attitude was like.

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to join in the City of Oxford tradition of trick or treating Uptown at the local businesses.  So even though Samantha didn't nap, we decided to take her anyways, with her knowing that if she was disrespectful we would just come back home.

Here is Aedan chilling out on the couch as we got ready that evening.  He had just woken up from a nap and nursed, and I had to take a picture of him because this is his zoned out look.  I also love how his arm his propped up on the armrest of the couch.

As we approached Uptown Oxford, we realized that this was the place to be that night.  We had a really hard time finding a parking spot, so Ben offered to let the kids and me get out so we could begin trick or treating, while he continued to drive around looking for a parking spot.  We used our sit and stand stroller with Aedan buckled into the front, and he was fascinated looking at the crowds of dressed up children walking down the streets of Oxford.  Samantha went to the various businesses passing out candy, collecting quite the assortment in her pumpkin bucket.  Then, we still had to get dinner and had plans to eat at Chipotle, but the line was super long.  So again, Ben graciously offered to stand in line and order our food while I continued to take Samantha trick or treating.  He just texted me when he was about to order, and we met him back at the restaurant.  We had a good meal together.  Aedan got some more baby food, and Samantha did a wonderful job eating her meal like a big girl, knowing that the faster she ate, the faster we could get to the parade.

The parade was scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m., and we didn't know what to expect.  There was a marching band and a fire truck, and then the kids were allowed to parade in their costumes.  We joined in the parade with Samantha, and she thought it was the coolest thing ever to be marching in a parade.  She squealed with excitement and waved at the people along the sides of the street.  It was a very short parade as we just marched around Uptown park and then through the little stage area, but we had a good time together as a family.

Here are my two silly children in Uptown Park that night.

And here's the best family picture we could get that night before the parade.  It was 7:00, which is the time of night that Aedan wants to go to bed, and Samantha was also getting very tired since she didn't nap at all that afternoon.

Friday morning at 9:30, we had Aedan's six month appointment.  We made it a family affair and all went together.  When I took Aedan to his four month appointment, we saw a nurse practitioner who was very nice, but this time we got in with Dr. Habel, who I heard many good things about from other moms in Oxford.  We got in fairly quickly but had to do a lot of waiting in the waiting room for both the doctor and then for his vaccinations afterwards.  Samantha was extremely tired from her busy day the day before, but Daddy was doing a good job keeping her occupied by looking at books, talking to her, and cuddling her.  It was difficult for Aedan as well as the appointment was right when he normally takes a morning nap, so the longer we waited, the fussier he got.  The nurse did his measurements first, and his height was 27.75 inches.  His weight was 22.5 pounds, and his head circumference was 18.25.  I think they said he was in the 99th percentile.  What can I say, he's a big guy!  The doctor was very friendly, did all the usual measurements, listened to his heart and lungs, looked in his eyes and ears, and everything checked out great and healthy.  Samantha was fascinated with watching the doctor give Aedan his check-up.

Then I was able to ask my questions regarding giving him baby food.  We had been giving him rice cereal for the past week and had just started giving him some vegetables, starting with sweet potato and squash.  However, I was able to ask about how much we should be giving him each day, if I should start giving him baby food more than just at dinner, and also how much eating baby food will affect his interest in nursing.  We had been having some trouble with nursing over the last few days, where it would be a normal time he would eat but he wouldn't act interested, or he would nurse for a little while and then be done.  Also, Aedan has been doing this weird thing, particularly when he nurses on the right side, where he will move his right arm around violently, whacking himself in the head repeatedly.  Sometimes I'm afraid the he will hurt himself, so I have to restrain him by holding his arm down.  The doctor said it was common for him to nurse less when baby food is introduced, which I knew, but I don't remember Samantha refusing to eat like Aedan seems to at times.  She also encouraged me to work towards offering food at each meal of the day and gave me a paper showing the proper amounts to be offering each day of cereal, fruits, and vegetables.  The only thing she said that I didn't agree with was when she told me to offer the baby food first and then nurse him.  I have always heard the exact opposite of that.  I feel like, especially with how finicky he was with nursing over the last few days anyways, if I offered food first, he would nurse even less.  I don't want my milk supply to diminish, and I'm pretty sure with Samantha I always nursed her first before giving her baby food.  I know I've read several things that would support my point of view as well.  Fellow moms out there, what do you think?  When you start offering baby food, do you continue to nurse first?

My other question for the doctor was regarding the bumps and rash that he had in his diaper area.  We had tried a couple of different diaper rash creams and nothing seemed to really be making any difference.  So Dr. Habel recommended that we put hydro-cortisone cream on the rash looking area, followed by Vaseline to keep the diaper from rubbing on it, and an antibiotic ointment on the small red bumps because she thought they looked bacterial.  If the antibiotic ointment didn't work, she was going to write a prescription for a rather pricey cream that would make the bumps go away quickly, so we wanted to try the antibiotic ointment first.  Since we will be using these special creams and ointments, we will have to continue using disposable diapers for another week or so until his bottom area clears up.

Samantha doesn't like to hear or see Aedan cry when he gets his shots, so Daddy took her out into the waiting area while Aedan and I waited for the nurse to come in with the vaccinations.  However, this took forever!  I tried my best to amuse Aedan while we waited, but he was getting rather impatient with me.  He got one oral and three shots in his thighs.  This nurse was not the quickest either, and I felt so bad for the little guy.  I hate this part of taking babies to the doctor.  I know these vaccinations are necessary to protect them from getting potentially deadly and contagious diseases, but it sure isn't fun to make your child so upset.  As I was getting Aedan's pants back on and trying to console him, I noticed that he was doing the same hyperventilating cry that Samantha does when she's really upset, they both breathe in very rapidly as they cry and jerk their head to the left with every sniffle.  It's incredibly adorable, even if it's really sad, and I thought it was amazing that Samantha and Aedan share this trait in common.

After a very long morning at the doctor's office, Aedan fell right asleep in the car, and I left him asleep in his car seat, bringing it upstairs into his bedroom once we got home so he could continue his nap uninterrupted.  He had a nice long several hour nap, which I was glad for.  Samantha on the other hand, even though she was really tired, played around a lot instead of going right to sleep.  We were thinking about possibly taking her trick or treating, but definitely not if she didn't nap.  Luckily, she did end up falling asleep after awhile, after having to go into her room a couple times to get her to settle down, but then she slept for over two hours, clearly revealing that her body needed the rest.

I am pretty lucky in that on most days I get Samantha and Aedan down for their afternoon naps at the same time, giving me time to get work done or relax, and have a quiet house for awhile.  Well on Friday since Aedan fell asleep right after the doctor, they tag-teamed naps that day, Aedan woke up right when Samantha finally fell asleep, and then he got tired again right around the time Samantha was waking up from her nap, giving me no break that afternoon.  But really, I can't complain because this very rarely happens.

Here are some pictures of Aedan's little band-aid legs that afternoon.

I think his face in the picture below perfectly expresses how he feels about having to get shots in his legs.

A cold front moved through our area on Friday, making it very cold, windy, and rainy for Halloween.  With Aedan not feeling great because of his shots, being fussier than normal and wanting to be held a lot more, and plus with the weather as it was, we decided not to go trick or treating on Halloween night.  We figured it was just fine because Samantha got to go the night before and got plenty of candy walking around the businesses in Oxford.  So, instead of trick or treating, we had a fun movie night and watched most of Monsters University together before it was time to put both kids down to bed.

Saturday morning came much too early, with Aedan waking up around 6:00 a.m. and neither Ben nor I could get him back to sleep.  Ben was gracious enough to get up with him, taking him downstairs and playing with him in the play room so that Samantha and I could keep sleeping.  I woke up around 7:45, which is later than I have slept for a long time, and Samantha woke up shortly after that.  We went in her room to get her, announcing to her that it was snowing outside!  What?!  Snow on November 1st!

We had nowhere to be and nowhere to go on Saturday.  Aedan was still not in the greatest of moods due to his shots the day before.  Plus, we had multiple loads of laundry to do and three loaves of bread to make in the bread maker for our small group lunch the next day.  All that to say, we had a wonderful, relaxing day at home together, all of us together as a family.  The kids had good naps.  Ben and I got a lot done around the house.  And we had a lot of fun playing with and spending quality time with our kids.

Samantha always does a wonderful job of making her little brother laugh, as you can see in the video below. :)

It was nice having a relaxing Saturday together because Sunday was super busy.  Daylight Savings Time ended in the middle of the night Saturday, which for people without kids means you get an extra hour of sleep.  Samantha and Aedan didn't do too badly.  We were afraid they would both be awake at 6:00 a.m., which luckily did not happen, but it was still too early for our liking. Here's a picture of our two kiddos on Sunday morning.  

We have been trying to join a small group ever since we moved to Oxford, but it just has been slow in working out.  We finally found a group and this Sunday was our first official meeting.  It is a group of four families, and the other families have LOTS of kids (6, 6, and 5 for each of the three families.)  We met at one of the family's homes after church on Sunday and our plan was to share lunch together, and then have the kids go downstairs to do a little Bible study work of their own, led by the older kids of the group, while the parents met and discussed the sermon questions, sang songs, shared prayer requests, and prayed for one another.  I really want to be in a small group, but I was a little wary about joining this group at first, simply because the time of day that it meets.  Sundays are usually difficult enough as they are with church and lunch and getting kids down for naps.  Samantha can handle missing her nap for the day, but Aedan cannot, particularly when his morning nap is questionable on Sunday mornings.  We went to the second service so that way we could leave right from church for our small group.  We brought our three loaves of bread and the pack and play to set up for Aedan.  Shortly after arriving, I took Aedan upstairs to a bedroom to nurse him and attempt to lay him down for his afternoon nap.  However, he began to be squirmy with nursing again.  He will arch his back, push away from me with his hands, and try everything he can to look a different direction.  I knew he was hungry, as he didn't nurse very well before church either, and I knew he was just interested in looking around at the new room we were in, so I decided to use my nursing cover to block out any visual distractions.  We don't use the nursing cover very often because he always tries to pull it off.  However, I was able to hold his free hand down, keeping him covered up, and allowing him to calm down enough to realize he was indeed hungry.  Aedan nursed well, and I was able to to lay him down to nap in the pack and play.  He ended up sleeping the whole time we were there, close to two hours, and I had to wake him up so we could leave to go back home.  I was really glad that he did so well sleeping in a totally different place, for it made it possible for us to continue coming to this small group.

It had already been a long day, so we relaxed at home on Sunday evening.  Samantha thought it was strange not having to go into her room at all for nap time, but she did pretty well even though she was getting pretty tired by the end of that evening.  After finishing a few days of sweet potatoes and squash, Samantha decided Aedan needed to try carrots next.  He was a big fan of this as well.  He's already doing so well with opening his mouth for the spoon and getting most of it down his throat.  There is not much of his food that goes to waste.  

In some ways it's nice when Samantha doesn't nap because then we can get both kids in bed early, giving Ben and I more of an evening to relax together.  It's amazing how long the night feels when both kids are in bed and asleep by 8:00!

On Monday, Ben was back to campus, and we were back to another week.  I feel like time just zooms by.  Our weeks are fairly scheduled and busy at times, making the time go by quickly.  I always enjoy weekends together because Ben does a wonderful job of spending quality time with the kids and me, even though he has many tasks on his list that he could be working on at any given time.  It's funny because I miss him so much more on Mondays after getting to spend so much time with him over the weekend.  I think Samantha misses him a lot more on Mondays, too.  She loves her Daddy, is sad to see him leave for work in the morning, but is elated when he comes home and greets her with a great big hug and kiss!

We hung out at home on Monday, playing with toys at the house, allowing Aedan to have a good nap in his crib, and most importantly, giving Samantha and me one-on-one time to play together.  It's not very often that Aedan is not around, allowing me to focus solely on her.  And she (and I) love this time.  I love to follow her lead, play with whatever toys seem fun to her at that moment, and hopefully, make sure she knows that she is special and can have her own individual Samantha time without Mommy having to go rush off and take care of Aedan in some way.  We colored, we painted, we played restaurant, we did puzzles and stickers, and of course, we talked. :)  Here are some pictures from our day together.

 Isn't he handsome in his corduroys and collared shirt?

 Samantha was kind enough to let Aedan gnaw on her plate.   

What a great face! :)

 It's fun to see Samantha playing with toys in different ways as she gets older.  We got this little farm for her when she was around 18 months old, but now when she plays with the animals there is much more of a story behind the farmer caring for the animals.  Also, there is much more order.  (Do you notice the animals all lined up?  It looks like they are tallest to shortest.  She is definitely our daughter.  This reminds me of another story.  One afternoon over the weekend, Samantha was eating M&Ms from her Halloween bucket, and she lined them up on the table by color, eating one color at a time.  This is very similar to what Ben and I (particularly Ben) do.  We have never showed her that we do this, so either she has just noticed or she does it innately.)

 Ahh, you gotta enjoy the brother and sister love!  What a special relationship they have with each other.  :)

Monday night after dinner we had pumpkin pie for dessert.  Earlier, Samantha helped me mix up the filling while Daddy made the crust.  She was a huge fan of the pie, and there was still some whipped cream on her plate, so what is the best solution?  To lick it off of course!