Aedan's Second Tooth and Our First Snow

Samantha: 41 Months, Week 5

Aedan: Week 29

We have been slowly introducing Aedan to baby food.  Our doctor said to spend three to four days on each new vegetable or fruit we introduce.  We have already introduced all the vegetables, at least all the ones the Beech Nut baby food makes.  So now we are on to fruit.  I'm pretty sure that this video below is Aedan's first time tasting apples.  Samantha is helping us choose which fruit he should try next.  He wasn't so sure about his first taste of apples, or maybe it was just the switch from vegetables to fruit that surprised him.

He also has been doing much better with sitting up on his own.  He can go unsupported for several minutes, as long as someone is there to catch him when he starts to tip sideways or backwards.

Here we are together that Tuesday night, while Daddy and Samantha were at ballet.  Tuesdays are long days with Ben leaving early in the morning, and you can tell by this picture of me that it was a long day.  I look pretty tired.

These pictures below are of Samantha riding the horse at Meijer.  They were actually from Monday night when her and Daddy went out to get an extra can of cherry pie filling for our pie.  Riding the horse is always a plus of shopping at Meijer.

And here is a picture and video of Samantha at ballet.  You can tell that she is doing everything she is supposed to do, copying Miss Ashley, but just off on her own.  It's interesting because it seems like Samantha is doing better at ballet now that we have been going to small group with Miss Ashley and her family.  It's like having that connection outside of ballet class is helpful to Samantha and makes her more interested in following Miss Ashley's directions.

Tuesday evening, I was able to get Aedan down for an evening nap so that we could go out so a puppet show at the Oxford Community Arts Center.  It was from a group called Madcap Puppets, and all we had to bring were canned goods for admission.  We didn't really know what to expect, and there were a few things that caught us off guard.  The kids sat down on the floor in the front while the parents sat behind in chairs.  We sat in the second row with Aedan so that way we could still see Samantha, but when everyone clapped to welcome the performers, Aedan got scared and started crying really hard.  I desperately searched diaper bag for the pacifier, and we eventually had to leave the room and walk around the hallway until he calmed back down.  Also, these puppets were not your average hand puppets, they were rather large, some of them full body size puppets.  Some of them looked a little scary as well, and I think sitting up in the front with the puppets so close scared Samantha a little bit.  At one point she stood up, looked around for us and couldn't find us, so she walked along the wall to the back of the room, and Ben went over to see what she needed.  Once we reassured her that the puppets were not real, Ben took Aedan and I went up in the front to sit with Samantha, but this time we sat off to the side so she wasn't as close to the puppets.  Ben was able to calm Aedan down and then sat farther back with him.  Samantha really enjoyed the show.  She was mesmerized after her initial scare and was a very attentive audience member.  At the end of the show, the kids were able to go up front and look in the chest where the puppets would come out and also got to see how the dragon costume worked.  It was definitely a show worth seeing, and I'm glad we went.

Both kids woke up fairly early on Wednesday morning for some reason.  We tried to get Samantha back to sleep, and she said that she did, but I'm not so sure she did because she looked and acted very sleepy.  Since Aedan woke up early, we were able to get him down for a morning nap, sleeping for about fifty minutes, until we had to wake him up at 9:15 so we could leave for Bible study.  It was our last Bible study day, and I'm kind of glad for it.  I really enjoyed the Beth Moore study.  She does a good job of engaging you and revealing parts of the text that you may not have noticed before.  I feel like I really learned and grew from the homework, questions, and Bible reading we did each week.  However, like I have mentioned before, I think the time of day was just too hard.  It will also be nice to just have more time at home, and not have to rush out of the house another morning of the week.  Then, Samantha fell in the parking lot on the way into the church, making her cry and get upset.  Once she got some hugs, got her hands and legs checked out, and got her tears dried, she was okay and ready to go into the church.  Samantha and Aedan both did well that morning, even though they were super tired.

You know what else happened on Wednesday?  While I was changing Aedan's diaper, I noticed that he had a second tooth on the bottom.  So here's an updated picture of my little guy with two little pearly whites on the bottom, along with those gorgeous eyes of his.

They both took really good naps that afternoon, meaning Samantha could watch her show, and then Samantha helped me feed Aedan his baby food that evening while we were waiting for Daddy to come home.  She actually does a really good job feeding him.  She'll get just the right amount on the spoon and gently put it in his mouth.  You can hear her on the video saying kind, encouraging words to him as well.  What a great big sister! (And don't you like her purple hair clips?) :)

Thursday was another typical day of taking Samantha to preschool followed by grocery shopping with Aedan.  It was an exciting day for Samantha at preschool because they went to Kroger on a field trip, to learn how food is delivered and stored at Kroger before going out on the shelves where we purchase it.  I saw Samantha a few times throughout the store as I was shopping.  The first time was when they were first walking into the store, and each child was paired up with another.  Samantha and Josie were walking together, holding hands, and it was so cute.  Then, I saw them walking in the produce department, at which point I went up to her to say good-bye so that way she knew Aedan and I were going to check out and leave.  I tried putting Aedan in the shopping cart seat with the Floppy Seat covering it, protecting him from germs and giving me loops to hook his toys onto, but he was not a fan.  He was not sitting up straight, kept tipping over to the side, and then would get grumpy when I would try to straighten him back up again.  However, it was SO cold outside that morning, I decided it wasn't worth it to leave the shopping cart to go to the car and get the Ergo.  Maybe he's not quite ready to sit up in the shopping cart yet since he can't totally sit unsupported yet.

Samantha (and Aedan) had a long, busy morning, and again took good afternoon naps.  Lately, with Samantha I have been sitting in her room a little longer than our "five minutes" that we tell her.  I just bring my phone or Kindle in with me and sit by her door, reading while I wait for her to fall asleep.  It works out well because I get something done while I'm waiting for her to fall asleep, and she always falls asleep better when I sit in the room with her.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her sleeping that afternoon.  Doesn't she look cozy and warm?  I love how she tucks the blanket all the way up to her chin and around her head like that.

Then on Friday, after letting Aedan take his morning nap, we took a trip to our library for Family Story Time.  Samantha enjoyed singing songs and listening to stories told by the librarian.  She was being a very good listener, so she then had time to play in the children's section of the library.  We accumulated another stack of books, some more easy reader type books that Samantha can eventually learn all the words of after having them read to her a few times.  After getting the kids down for their afternoon naps, I took this picture of the living room.  You can tell we went to library that day.  While I was putting Aedan down, Samantha was busy downstairs, perusing all her new books.

Friday afternoon, right about the end of nap time, my parents arrived for their weekend visit.  We spent the afternoon and evening hanging out and eating pizza before giving the kids baths and putting them to bed.

We didn't have any grand plans for the weekend, just to hang out and let Samantha and Aedan spend time with their grandparents.  We got them down for an earlier nap on Saturday afternoon so that we could take Samantha to see a synchronized skating event at the Goggin ice arena.  My mom offered to stay back at the house with Aedan since he was still napping when it was time to leave.  Grandpa, Daddy, Samantha, and I went together, and it was pretty fun to watch.  There were several exhibition teams that performed.  Samantha thought they looked like princesses in their costumes.  She wanted to go sit up in the front row to see them better and especially liked watching them spin around.  After awhile though, she lost interest in watching the skaters, preferring to run up and down the row instead.

The show only lasted about forty-five minutes, and once we returned home, Aedan was already awake, and Samantha was SO excited to see him again, greeting him with hugs and kisses.

It doesn't look like it much in this picture, but Aedan really does love the attention from his sister.  You can tell he thinks she's pretty awesome just by the way he looks at her, how his face lights up whenever he sees her.

There are few interesting things that have happened this week in regards to sleeping.  First of all, Samantha has taken a nap EVERY day.  She has been acting really tired lately, and it hasn't taken much work at all to get her to fall asleep each day.  It's always interesting to hear Samantha waking up from her nap each day because she usually wakes up singing a song.  Over the weekend, Grandpa and Grandma got to hear Samantha singing "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jesus Loves Me."  It's great to hear her little voice singing over the monitor.  You can't help but smile.

Aedan also has had a major accomplishment with sleeping this week, as he has been sleeping through the night a lot more lately.  He did it about every other night this week: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Sometimes he will wake up around 6:00 or 6:30 a.m., which at times is too early for our liking, but I can't complain when I don't have to get up to nurse him in the middle of the night.  It makes such a difference to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

Grandpa and Grandma came with us to church on Sunday, and then we all just came back home instead of going to small group so that we could spend more time together before my parents left on Sunday evening.  We always enjoy the time they spend here and the effort they make to come and see us every month or so.

After the grandparents left on Sunday night, we spent some good time together as a family.  Samantha and I had a princess tea party. :)

We had a pretty big snowstorm coming our way overnight, and we weren't sure how much accumulation we were going to get.  Samantha was SO excited for the first snow of the year, so even though it had just started snowing and there wasn't even a dusting on the ground yet, Samantha donned her hat, coat, mittens, and snow boots so that she could walk around outside with Daddy.

After bath time that night, we got this really silly picture of Aedan's hair combed up into a mo-hawk.  Daddy did it this way, and it was too cute not to capture in a picture.  However, Samantha didn't like it this way, quickly fixing it for us after we took the picture.

And here are our two sweet (clean) children.  It's great being able to give them baths together and get them ready for bed together.

The next morning we woke up to winter wonderland.  It had snowed most of the night, and it continued to snow most of the morning.  It was a beautiful sight to see the ground blanketed in snow.

Samantha couldn't wait for Aedan to go down for his morning nap so that her and I could go outside and play in the snow.  We got all our winter gear on so that we could stay dry and warm.

Last year it seemed like Samantha didn't really like playing in the snow.  She didn't really know what to do, and we didn't have mittens that kept her hands warm or dry enough.  However, this year she was very interested in the snow.  We even went a few houses down and played with a few neighbor girls, helping them build a snow fort.

Then we went back over by our house to play some more.  We made snow angels and attempted to build a snowman.  The snow wasn't the best packing snow, so we had to settle for a baby snowman.  We used lids from baby food jars for eyes and a baby carrot for a nose.  Even though it was tiny, Samantha was still very proud of her snowman, getting down on the ground to hug it when I asked to take a picture of her and the snowman.  In fact, throughout the rest of the day, Samantha kept peeking out the window to make sure her snowman hadn't melted yet.

Once Aedan woke up from his nap, I decided it was a perfect time for us to go back inside and warm up with some hot chocolate.  Samantha had never had hot chocolate before and was literally jumping up and down as I warmed up the milk in the microwave.  I knew that if I made it too hot, she wouldn't want to drink it, so ours was more like lukewarm chocolate.  But she thought it was delicious!

Later that afternoon, once the snow stopped and the sun came out, I just had to take a picture from our back patio.  Isn't this just beautiful?  This is a definite perk of living out in the country where we back up to a golf course.  We got a gorgeous snow scene without it being marred with buildings, people, or dirt and grime from traffic.  I just couldn't stop looking out the windows at the sparkling snow upon the ground.  It made me feel like Christmas was just around the corner and even put me in the mood for some Christmas music.