Samantha: 43 Months, Week 1
Aedan: Week 34
Since Ben's semester was finished, he had the opportunity to take Samantha to preschool this week. He always had class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 a.m., so it was never an option before. Samantha was SO excited for her Daddy to take her. Instead of having to rush out the door, we had a more leisurely morning, and Aedan and I were able to stay home and play that morning.
As we were sitting on the floor playing together, I wanted to take a couple pictures of his hair. As it's getting longer, it's getting fluffier (kind of like Daddy's hair), except for this small patch in the back where he has lost hair from always laying on that part of his head when sleeping.
And here's my little smiley guy. He gives the greatest smiles and has such a happy disposition. We certainly love him to pieces. :)
Aedan has been growing like a weed, so I have been slowly going through the clothes in his closet that don't fit him anymore, having him wear things for the last time before putting them away. This shirt in the pictures below is one of the shirts. It shows a little too much chest because it is too small for him. They are cute pictures of Aedan pushing up on his forearms, though. He actually can scoot himself around a little bit when like this. He will scoot backwards and even can rotate himself around in a circle. He isn't making any motions like crawling and isn't pushing up on his knees yet, but I'm sure crawling is just around the corner. And he will certainly love being able to follow his sister wherever she goes. (Sorry for all the pictures. They were too cute not to include them all.)
Ben continued to go to campus and work this week, finishing up his grades, and then getting some more good work done on his dissertation now that the semester is over.
Samantha loves to help feed Aedan and usually does such a good job spooning just enough into his mouth. It's cute to watch her take care of her little brother.
We had a long day, both Samantha and Aedan were struggling with colds, stuffy noses, and coughs, so we just took it easy that evening. Our Christmas activity for the night involved an early bath time and getting ready for bed so that we could sit together and watch Charlie Brown Christmas. I think Samantha enjoyed it. Aedan didn't think too much of the show, but really enjoyed sitting next to his sister.
Wednesday morning, we all were very tired, so we slept in pretty late that morning. Late enough, that by the time we were showered, dressed, and had eaten breakfast, Ben decided it would make more sense to just stay home and work. While Aedan napped that morning, Samantha and I made sugar cookies, our Christmas activity for the day. Ben and I had made the dough the night before so that it could chill overnight. Samantha had fun cutting out Christmas shapes, placing the cookies on the baking sheets, and watching them puff up in the oven as they baked. She loves to help in the kitchen.
After letting the cookies cool, I iced the cookies while Samantha decorated them with sprinkles and red hots. They looked great and tasted even better. I love this cookie recipe. The cookies are always soft and chewy, and the icing and sprinkles make them festive for Christmas. Plus, it was even better having a little helper this time.
Thursday was another big day at preschool for Samantha. It was her last day before Christmas break, and they were having their class Christmas party. They even got to wear their pajamas to school, and Samantha was SO excited. She had been looking forward to this all week long. Samantha decided to wear her penguin pajamas, and I did her hair in pigtail braids like Anna. Again, Daddy took her to preschool that morning, along with some cookies we baked as presents for her teachers, Miss Betsy and Miss Becky. I asked Daddy to take some pictures of her at preschool that morning, but Samantha wouldn't look at the camera at first because she was concerned about one of her friends that was crying in another part of the room.
Even though Samantha did take a nap on Wednesday afternoon, which was good for helping her feel a little better, she was still feeling under the weather. Her nose kept running and going to preschool wiped all the energy out of her. Aedan was still struggling with a pretty bad cough, so after his morning nap, he and I went grocery shopping, and I just left him in his pajamas to keep him warmer and more comfortable. Even though he had just had a good morning nap, he still looked super tired as I carried him around the store in the Ergo, yawning and almost looking as if he could fall asleep again. I hate it when my kids are sick. Even though they are just a cold and a cough and could be much worse, it seems like a cold just knocks Samantha out, taking away all her energy, and Aedan's stuffy nose and cough has made it difficult for him to nurse and sleep soundly. He wakes up many times during the night coughing. Poor little guy.
Aedan has definitely been learning cause and effect. After he finishes his food, we put toys on his high chair tray to play with while we finish our meal. Lately, he has enjoyed dropping things off the side and watching them hit the floor. Then, on Thursday as we were eating lunch, he discovered he could bang his rattle against the side of the high chair and that it would make a really fun noise. He repeated this over and over again, every time he got the rattle in his hand.
Besides Samantha's Christmas party at preschool, that evening at dinner I busted out our hymnal and played some Christmas hymns on the piano, and Samantha, Daddy, and I sung along. Samantha and I took turns playing songs on the piano. Our digital piano has the really neat feature called "Concert Magic" where you press a key to play a song and as you play the keys yourself, the song plays automatically to whatever tempo and rhythm you play the keys, making it so that Samantha can play songs all by herself. Aedan was also very interested in making noise by hitting the keys on the piano.
Christmas break has been treating us well so far. I kind of like how things wind down more at this time of year, giving us more time to spend together as a family. I always become more of a homebody at Christmastime, too, when the weather is cold and gloomy outside, I just prefer to stay home more. Ben went to campus again on Friday; however, it was going to be his last day in the office for awhile as he planned to work from home the following week before we leave for Christmas with Ben's family. Our Christmas activity for the day was making cards for the rest of the Toll family to attach to their Christmas presents. Samantha enjoyed covering her cards with stickers. Here are some pictures from our Friday together.
Daddy took this picture and put it on Facebook, saying, "That moment when your not quite 8 month old fits snugly into a 12 month onesie."
I am so thankful for getting to stay home with these two precious little kids. I am so thankful to Ben for having a good job, and making the sacrifices, for me to be able to stay home rather than work outside of the home full time. Even though it's challenging and frustrating at times, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I know these years are short, and I will take all the snuggles, smiles, hugs, kisses, and play time I can get while they are still little. They love each other so much, and my heart explodes with love for them. :)
Samantha is such a proud and loving big sister. Aedan will always be taken care of by her. He admires her so much. Just hearing her voice down the hall makes him light up and smile.
We have fun at lunch time around here, usually with lots of laughs. Samantha likes to make people laugh, and Aedan has the greatest giggle, that I just had to capture it on video.
Samantha actually took a nap on Friday afternoon which is hit or miss lately. I was very glad that she did because Upland Grandpa and Grandma arrived at our house around 4:30 p.m. They came mainly to drop off Samantha's Christmas dress that Grandma had fixed for us so that she could wear it at the Christmas program at OBF on Sunday. However, they got the added bonus of hanging out with us for a few hours. We had chicken parmesan from the crock pot for dinner and then went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt dessert. Grandpa and Grand had never been to a self-serve frozen yogurt place like that before, so I think they enjoyed themselves. However, Samantha really loves her grandparents and didn't want them to leave. In the car on the way home she had a really sad look on her face and then said, "I like my Grandpa and Grandma. I miss my Grandpa and Grandma. I'm sad that they left." A few hours is just not long enough for Samantha. They will definitely have to come back to Oxford again sometime soon to hang out with us.
On Saturday, we had several Christmas activities to accomplish. Ben took Samantha to get a few more Christmas presents for family members, and she even helped us wrap presents and put bows on them as well. Later that afternoon, a package came in the mail from Great Grandma Donna, and we allowed Samantha to open it, even though it wasn't Christmas yet. She was so excited to rip the paper open to see what was inside. I think she's going to really enjoy Christmas morning this year. :)
This year, instead of getting a lot of toys that Samantha and Aedan don't need, we asked our family members to give us money towards our family trip to Disney World in January, and then just something small for the kids to open, possibly Disney related as a reminder that they are helping us pay for our trip. So Samantha got a pink, frilly princess dress, and Aedan got two outfits, one of which has Mickey Mouse on it. Samantha was very excited to put the princess dress on right away, and then had to go out the kitchen so she could spin around in it.
Sunday morning was Samantha's chance to get up in front of the adults at church and sing. She wore her Christmas dress and looked so cute in front jingling her bells while singing "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and holding her candle while singing "Silent Night." She knew the words to "Go Tell It on the Mountain" really well, even singing them for Grandpa and Grandma when they came over on Friday night. As Samantha walked up the aisle, she noticed us sitting up front and smiled, then as she got up on stage, she waved to us. It was adorable, and we were so proud of her. Here are some pictures and videos from that morning.
Then, after church we had a friend take a family picture of us, with Aedan in his Christmas suit and Samantha in her Christmas dress.
Since we didn't have small group on Sunday afternoon, we actually went to first service, giving us more time at home before lunch. Aedan slept in that morning until almost 8:30, so he was able to take a nap when we got back home from church. While Aedan was napping, Daddy took these precious videos of Samantha playing with our Nativity set and acting out the Christmas story. I love that this is what Christmas is about to her, not about Santa bringing her toys.
Our week wrapped up with Daddy working from home on Monday, Aedan taking a good morning nap, then giving us the opportunity to run a few errands around town together as a family. (I'm really enjoying having Ben around this week.) We got Samantha to take a nap that afternoon, which was great because we had our small group Christmas party that evening. For some reason we had the idea to have a kind of Fourth of July theme in December, so we all brought our own meat to grill. We met at 5:00 and had dinner first, and then one family brought some fireworks and sparklers to set off in the backyard. After that we had a white elephant gift exchange, each drawing a number to see what order we would pick presents. Samantha was really lucky and picked a present that was exactly what she would have wanted. One bag had foam beads and plastic string to make jewelry. The other bag had a small doll along with a hand-made doll pillow. She burst into a huge smile when she opened her present, and everyone saw how much she loved it and didn't dare steal it from her. I was with Samantha during our present exchange, and I had a good time just cuddling with my little girl, having her sit on my lap for an extended period of time. I don't get this much time with her in this way, uninterrupted by a little baby, so I was loving it. Ben was holding Aedan, and he actually was falling asleep sitting up his lap. We stayed at the party until well after 8:00. We were all still recovering from colds and coughs, even me, so I decided that it was time to go home and get the kids to bed. Samantha did a really good job that night. She didn't fight when we took her to the bathroom before we left, and she was polite and respectful. We had a good evening together with friends but were all pretty worn out from the long evening.
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