Aedan: Week 41
This past week was a fairly average week. Ben worked on campus. Samantha had preschool. Aedan and I went grocery shopping. We went to the library. I cleaned the house on Friday. Nothing really spectacular happened, whether good or bad, it was just a normal week of doing life together.
The one thing I've had to deal with a lot lately has been Aedan's diapers. For some reason, ever since a couple weeks before he turned 6 months old, he started getting a rash every time he wore cloth diapers, even though he had already been wearing them for awhile. We have had the rash on and off for the last several months. It doesn't seem to bother him it all when I touch it or wipe it during diaper changes, and he doesn't get upset or cry. But I am concerned about him always having a rash. It is below the band of the diaper, widespread across that area of his skin. Whenever the rash flares back up, we will stop using cloth diapers, put him back in disposables, and use some cream and ointment to clear up the rash. Back at his 6 month appointment, the doctor recommended we use hydro-cortisone cream covered with Vaseline three times a day. That usually clears it up pretty quick, but most companies say not to use any barrier creams with cloth diapers because it could create a residue and make the diapers less effective. So, this past week, Aedan was back in disposables again until I could figure out a solution to our problem. I joined a group on Facebook that has lots of cloth diaper enthusiasts and lots of published information regarding how to care for your diapers. I posted on that Facebook group, and they directed me to a website where it mentioned that Nellie's Laundry Soda (which is the soap I have been using), it not a recommended brand because it does not clean well enough. They suggested I do a mineral strip followed by a bleach soak, and then start over with a proper wash routine with a real detergent. I was unsure what to do because I didn't know if these people could be trusted because they said some things that are pretty contradictory to a lot of information I've heard in the past about cloth diapers.
So, in the meantime, Aedan wore disposables, and we worked on clearing up his rash. Aedan's second tooth on the top, the left one, finally broke through the gums as well. As soon as that happened on Wednesday, February 4th, Aedan started sleeping better at night. For awhile he was waking up around 11:30 each night, and Ben would go in there to rock him back to sleep, then he would wake up again around 2:30 or 3:00 and then again in the morning. Now that his teeth came through, he was sleeping all the way until around 5:00 a.m. again. That was nice and a welcome relief, but then since he was wearing disposables and had them on for so long without a diaper change (and because he's a boy and sleeps on his tummy), his diapers were leaking. He was wet three nights in a row, so much so that I had to change his pajamas and blanket wrap along with his diaper. I actually ended up going back to his cloth diapers at night because they were much more absorbent.
Here is a video of Aedan playing. You can see how much he can move his body around to get at different things, without even having to crawl. He loves all the buttons and knobs that make things spin and music play.
Samantha really enjoys playing with Aedan, more than I ever thought she would before Aedan came along. Here they are sitting on the floor playing together after getting home from the library on Wednesday.
Speaking of the library, this was the first time we'd been to the library in quite awhile, and both Samantha and Aedan had a good time. Mr. Chad was there for story time, and he always sings and plays guitar for the kids. Samantha loves to sing and dance, so that is always a big hit with her. Aedan also really loves the music. He gets a little antsy during the books, but sits totally still, staring at Mr. Chad while he sings and plays guitar. It's great to bring Aedan along to story time and have him more involved. Samantha loves sitting next to him on the rug, will help him do some of the hand motions to the songs, and is constantly doting on him and checking on him to make sure he is okay. She is such a sweet big sister.
Our doctor encouraged us to start giving Aedan lunch meat so that way he can get some iron in his diet, especially if he doesn't take to the baby food meat in a jar, which so far he isn't. When we first gave him lunch meat, he had a hard time picking it up and getting it to his mouth. He would drop it or play with it instead. We would try to guide his hand up to his mouth, to help him get the idea of what he was supposed to do, but that would make him frustrated. However, on Wednesday at lunchtime, I gave him some ham, torn up into small bite size pieces, and Aedan did such a good job eating it. He was definitely learning how to pick it up and get the meat up to his mouth. Samantha and I were so proud of him. We made a big deal out of it and clapped for him every time he successfully got the meat into his mouth. You could tell how much he liked it by how eager he was to try and eat it. He is not this eager with Cheerios. We actually ended up doing Facetime with Daddy so that he could see how well Aedan was eating meat that day.
Bath time is always a fun time in our house, a highlight of the night for both kids. We bathe Samantha and Aedan at the same time because it seems much simpler that way. Aedan stays in the baby bathtub while we wash his hair and body, and we let him play with toys in there for awhile. Then, we usually dump the water out and let him sit in the big tub, play with Samantha, and splash in the water. Here's a great video of Aedan splashing around in the bathtub.
Babies in hooded towels are always so cute, so I decided to snap a few pictures of Aedan after bath time that night.
There are certain times that I really like living in the country. Thursday morning was one of those times. It had snowed over night, dusting the ground in white. The moon was shining bright in the sky, and it was so beautiful that I just had to take a couple pictures.
Last Thursday Samantha was Star of the Day, which is always a big deal, understandably so. She was so excited to get to preschool that it was not difficult at all to get her ready in the morning. She picked out raisins and juice boxes to bring for snack, and she wanted to bring her Anna and Elsa Barbies for the share bag. Being Star of the Day meant that Samantha wore a special sticker, would be first in line, would be able to sit next to Miss Betsy during circle time, and she got to pass out her snack at snack time. It is always a special day for Samantha, and she woke up early that morning because she was so excited about being Star of the Day. I'm so glad that Samantha has had this opportunity to go to preschool at the Tri this year. It has been a great experience for her.
Samantha is such a big helper to me during the day at home. While I am getting lunch ready or whatever other things I need to do around the house, she will help keep an eye on Aedan and play with him for me. Usually, I don't even have to ask her to play with her brother because she loves to do it anyway. Here is a picture from Thursday afternoon when Samantha was playing in Aedan's room with him before nap time. She made this giant block tower and then stood Elsa on top of the mountain. A few seconds later, Aedan knocked the tower over by hitting the bottom of it with his hand. It's fun to watch these interactions start happening because he is a little monster sometimes, like most little kids are, so he'll knock down her towers, tear apart her train tracks, and take her toys from her. Samantha doesn't always react in the best way, sometimes getting upset at Aedan, but it's a work in progress, and she's getting better every day in knowing the proper way to react and not letting it bother her as much, but instead, expecting it to happen.
On Friday, we just just hung out at home so that I could clean the house. Samantha was pretty tired from waking up too early several days in a row and not napping. So after lunch, we got ready for nap time, and I had to be a little stern to get her to stop being silly, lay still, and try going to sleep. However, it worked, and she took a nice long nap, over two hours, so clearly her body needed the sleep.
Everyone is excited when Daddy gets home from work, especially on a Friday. We look forward to our time together on the weekend. In fact, Aedan has started flapping his arms and squealing when he sees Daddy walk in the door. It's pretty cute that he's showing his excitement in that way. Pretty soon, Aedan will start crawling towards him when he sees him coming in the door. Samantha already runs at him and gives him a great big hug every day. What a wonderful way to be greeted by your family!
Aedan thought it was pretty interesting that Daddy was wearing a hat, so Daddy decided to let Aedan give it a try.
And then he started getting slap-happy. Daddy was bouncing the ball off the wall, and it would roll lightly across the ground in front of Aedan, making him laugh hysterically. I just LOVE his laugh in this video. It is so precious.
Saturday morning, before lunchtime, Grandpa and Grandma came to Oxford to watch Samantha and Aedan for us so that Ben and I could go on a date, as a way to celebrate Valentine's Day. We definitely wanted time to get away and were really looking forward to this day. We didn't tell Samantha about it ahead of time because we didn't want her to wake up really early in the morning, but when we told her, she said, "I can't believe it!" Just look at her face in these pictures. This is a girl who loves her grandparents! She was SO excited. She kept asking every ten minutes or so if they were here yet.
We all had lunch together and then I put Aedan down for his nap before we left for the day. Ben and I went to the outlet mall in Cincinnati to do some shopping. (It's just too hard to go shopping with two young kids in tow, and we were both in need of some new shirts and pants.) We were pretty successful in our shopping endeavors, then we stopped at a Tim Horton's for a coffee break before driving to eat dinner at Chuy's, our favorite Mexican restaurant. We had to wait quite awhile to be seated, since it was a weekend, but it was wonderful being there with Ben, just the two of us. We were in no hurry and had no bored children clambering for our attention. We were able to talk and relax and eat our own dinner without having to take care of our kids. It was a wonderful date, and I didn't want it to end. We got back home a little later than we had planned since we had to wait for awhile at the restaurant, but I was still able to put Aedan to bed. It was funny because I walked in the door, said hi to Aedan, who was starting to get cranky and tired, and then walked straight to the coat closet to hang out my coat and put my shoes away. However, as I walked past Aedan, he started crying his very upset cry. As soon as he saw me and I didn't pick him up, that made him really upset. Grandpa and Grandma were surprised to hear him cry like that because he so rarely cries. Anyways, as soon as I picked him up, he started to calm down and was very grateful when we got him ready for bed, which is really what he wanted.
Anyways, thank you Grandpa and Grandma for babysitting for us! Ben and I had a wonderful day away, and the kids loved time with their grandparents. It was nice, also, because they stayed over night into Sunday so that they could go to OBF with us, see what our church is like, and then stayed through lunch. We enjoyed having them visit us in Oxford for a longer period of time.
On Sunday night we went to a children's ministry meeting at church so that Ben and I can begin volunteering. On our way there, Samantha said, "I can't see that I'm growing. I can't always hear God in my heart. But heaven is gonna be great! It's going to be a big wedding feast." "I love Jesus, so I get to stay forever." They just learned about the wedding feast at church that morning, and Samantha really took it all to heart. I love it. I love how these truths are so meaningful to her at such a young age.
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