A Trip to Chicago for Conference and Family

Samantha: 47 Months, Week 1

Aedan: Week 51

The beginning of this week was spent preparing for our long weekend away in Chicago.  Ben had a conference at which he was presenting a paper.  He gets money towards conferences from Miami, so we figured we'd make a long weekend out of it, go away for a weekend, and also see my family while in Chicago.

Tuesday was a busy day with Samantha going to preschool, doing laundry, and getting ready for our trip to Chicago.  It's amazing all the details you have to work out when going out of town for four nights with two kids.  Plus, I had plans to meet someone from my old Bible study on Tuesday afternoon for coffee.  I loaned her the book Abba's Child, and we planned to get together so that we could discuss the book a little before she gave it back to me.  This lady is much older than me.  She could probably be my mom.  However, it was great to get away from the house during nap time (although I don't think that really counts much as a break since I put both kids down and got back just as nap time was ending).  We talked about our past experiences and struggles and how sometimes we doubt that God could really love us or that other people really like us and want to be our friends.  It was one of those times where I realized certain spiritual struggles can span all ages.  If you struggle in a certain area, you may struggle in it for the rest of your life.  I think sometimes I feel like I will overcome something and never face it again, which is a possibility, of course, but so often I think that older ladies must not face the kinds of doubts and insecurities that I do.  However, so many women are experiencing the same feelings and emotions.  It's a shame that the Christian community of women isn't more open with their struggles.  So often people think that they are all alone in them, when really many others struggle as well, they just don't talk about it.  It was a good conversation, and we may meet again sometime to talk.

Tuesday night after dinner we attempted to get at much packed up as possible.  The last two times we've gone out of town, I have packed everything up by myself the morning we planned to leave, while also trying to wrangle both kids.  Needless to say, that is not much fun as it is difficult to get things done quickly with both kids around.  It was nice to have Ben's help this time; it made me feel like I had a good grasp on things going into Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning Ben took the Santa Fe in to get the oil changed before we left on our trip.  It was long overdue, so it needed to be done before we left.  While he was gone, I worked on getting everything else packed up and ready because we had a play date at Beth's house that morning.  At first I thought about turning down her invitation since we planned to leave as soon as Ben's class was over that afternoon, but then I thought it might be a good way to tire the kids out, hoping they would take good naps in the car.  We had fun on our play date.  Samantha didn't specifically play with Ezra the whole time, but had fun exploring all the new toys and the different house.  Aedan crawled around and played for awhile before I attempted to take him upstairs and put him down for a nap.  I tried rocking him for a bit, but he was too distracted.  I laid him down, but then he just cried for a long time.  I finally went back upstairs and rocked him again, and that time he was tired enough to fall asleep.  We actually had to wake him up when it was time to go.

We got back home, ate lunch, packed up the car, and hit the road.  We knew it would be a long day of traveling with the kids and hoped they would take good naps in the car.  Samantha was pretty tired from waking up too early that morning and playing hard all morning long, so she was pretty ready for her nap once we got back in the car.  Aedan, however, must have slept too late that morning; plus, he is not as good at falling asleep in the car.  We encouraged Samantha to look at books until Aedan started looking more ready for sleep so that they could sleep at the same time and not wake each other up.  However, he was fighting it, throwing his pacifier out of his car seat, while Samantha napped right through all his commotion.  She only napped about a half hour or so, and Aedan still hadn't fallen asleep, so we decided to make a quick potty stop at a rest area before continuing on.  We put Frozen on for Samantha to watch with headphones, and then eventually Aedan fell asleep.  Our trip went smoothly, and we didn't have much traffic until we got into the Chicago area.  We stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Crown Point for dinner so that Samantha and Aedan could play on the indoor playset and run around for awhile before getting back in the car and driving to to our hotel.

The good thing about Google Maps is that it will update your route for you based on current traffic conditions.  There really was no way to get to our hotel and completely avoid traffic, but it was actually faster to go through downtown.  We still were in stop and go traffic for awhile, but at least we got to look at all the big buildings while in traffic. :)  The kids (and parents) were getting pretty tired of being in the car.  We just wanted to get to our hotel, check in, get settled, and get everyone to bed.  It was something like 8:45 our time when we finally got there, and then it took quite awhile before we got everything unloaded and settled in our room.  We stayed at a Staybridge Suites because they have the separated bedroom for Ben and me, as well as free breakfast.  The added bonus of this hotel was that they had an indoor pool as well.  Both Samantha and Aedan love water, so we knew going swimming would be a fun morning activity some day.  I nursed Aedan and put him to bed in the pack and play that we tucked into the little kitchenette area.  Then, Ben brought Samantha out into the living room area and tucked her into bed on the pull-out couch.  They were both very tired and went to sleep quickly.  Mommy and Daddy weren't too far behind them.

Aedan slept really well until about 5:15 a.m.  As soon as I heard him making noise, I went to get him before he woke up Samantha as well.  I also moved his pack and play into our bedroom so that I could lay him down in there where he wouldn't bother Samantha so much.  Many times when he wakes up like this during the night, he doesn't go back to sleep right away and sometimes will babble or cry for awhile, so I figured it would be best to keep him in the room with us.  I changed his diaper and nursed him, but he would not go back to sleep.  I think the new environment was throwing him off.  I tried just laying him down in his pack and play, but that didn't work either.  Then, Ben tried rocking him and sitting with him, trying to get him to fall back asleep, as 5:15 is a much too early wake up time.  All of our efforts failed, and once Samantha woke up around her typical 6:45-7:00 a.m. time, we decided to just all get up, get ready, and go down for breakfast.

We were so proud of Samantha that first night in the hotel because she went through the whole night without having to get up to go potty.  We had nightlights on and practiced what she would do if she had to go potty in the middle of the night so that she wouldn't wake up Aedan, but we emphasized how we knew she could make it through the night without having to get up, and she did!  I think she felt a huge boost of confidence knowing that she could hold it all night again.  Really since the end of March when this whole frequent bladder elimination stuff started happening, she has been getting up once, sometimes twice a night to go potty, so this really was a great accomplishment for her.  She was so proud of herself, and we made a big deal out of how well she did. :)

Our plan for Thursday was a family day in Chicago.  We ate a quick breakfast at our hotel and drove to the train station to catch the 8:20 train.  It was a bit of a rush to get there on time, but luckily our family loves breakfast, so the breakfast buffet was a big hit.  Aedan and Samantha both love sausage.  I think they could eat it every day for breakfast if we let them.  Once we got to the train station, we found parking without much of a problem, but then we realized we would have to purchase tickets on the train and we didn't have any cash.  I waited in the train terminal with Samantha and Aedan while Ben ran across the street to buy a coffee at a restaurant so that we could get cash back.  It was a bit hectic and stressful, but it all worked out well.  We made it on the train.  Samantha was SO excited, and a nice man gave up his seat for us so that we had space for all four of us plus the stroller.

Samantha thought it was very interesting to look out the window and commented on how fast we were going.  Aedan was getting pretty tired since he had been up since 5:15, but there was too much going on around him to convince him to close his eyes and take a little nap.  We chatted with the man sitting next to us, and Samantha told him all about what we were going to do in Chicago, our trip to Disney World, and how she slept through night without needing to get up and go potty.  She's so funny how she will talk to any stranger about anything that is on her mind.  Towards the end of our 40 minute train ride, Aedan was tired and fidgety so Daddy took him out of the train car to let him stand for awhile.  Here we are on the train to Chicago.

Once we arrived at the train station we found a taxi and took a ride to Navy Pier to go to the Chicago Children's Museum.  We all squished into the back seat of the taxi, and Aedan ended up falling asleep in my lap as we rode through the busy streets of Chicago.  (If only we could do this more often and not have to strap him in his car seat.  I have a feeling he would nap a lot better being held in the car.)  He even stayed asleep as we got out of the taxi and walked around by the lake a bit before going into the museum.  We arrived just before 10:00 when the museum opened.  Our first stop was a special exhibit with lots of things to climb on.  Aedan was still asleep, so I attempted to sit down with him while Samantha climbed around, but as soon as I sat down, he woke up.  It was a good little nap to get him through the rest of the morning.  He was a little shocked and overwhelmed at first, taking in all the sights and sounds of the kids playing.

After finishing in that exhibit, Samantha climbed up the cargo rigging of a pretend schooner.  She did a great job using her arms and legs to lift herself up to the next rope platform and then down the rope hallway and over the bumpy bridge.  While I stayed with Samantha while she climbed, Daddy took Aedan to the play area just for crawlers and toddlers, and Aedan loved exploring every inch of the room and meeting a few friends his own size.  He particularly enjoyed these textured mitts.

After Samantha was done climbing, her and I built a wooden structure in the Skyline area, since I knew Aedan would not be interested in that exhibit at all. Samantha wasn't interested in building too much, but did want to place the bolts in each hole of the wooden struts.

Then, we moved on to the water area where Samantha enjoyed painting with water.

And Aedan got all wet splashing around in the area where he could stand and reach into the water all by himself.

After that we decided it was time to go get some lunch, so we left the museum and went down to the food court.  We all got giant slices of pizza, and Aedan even enjoyed eating some of the crust after he finished off his jars of baby food.

Then, it was back upstairs for more playing.  We first stopped at a fire rescue area called Play It Safe where you can connect hoses and pretend to put out a fire, dress up like a fireman, slide down a fire pole, and even practice crawling through a house under a smoke screen.  Samantha had a really good time in this area, and Aedan actually got a little bored and crawled over to the first area we were in that morning where you can crawl and climb on a giant soft mat.  He didn't get to play in that room much when we were there earlier because he had just woken up.

We then moved on to an area called Kids Town because it had a special room for nursing.  Aedan was acting sleepy, he woke up early, and he hadn't napped long that morning, so I figured I'd try to nurse him and then put him in the Ergo to see if he would nap.  However, he was NOT interested in nursing whatsoever.  He just screamed and cried and pushed me away repeatedly, so I decided it wasn't worth trying anymore.  It was a bit warm in the museum, so I decided to wait awhile to put him in the Ergo.  Samantha was starting to act aimless, not really playing with anything because she was getting pretty tired as well, so we moved on to the Treehouse Trails room where there was another water area with pretend fish, a wooden cabin with play food, a  pretend animal den, as well as a small slide.  Aedan really enjoyed crawling around and discovering this room.  Samantha was more interested in this room, probably because there were less kids so she had more freedom to do what she wanted.

Our last stop for the day was the Dinosaur Expedition room.  Samantha dug in the pretend dirt for dinosaur bones.  Her and another little girl were working together to uncover as many bones as they could.  At this point, Aedan was getting tired, and it was already about 2:00, so I decided to put him in the Ergo to see if he would fall asleep.  It didn't take too long for him to fall asleep, especially once we got back in the taxi to ride back to the train station.  He stayed asleep all through the taxi and train ride, despite all the noise and commotion around him, waking up just before we arrived back at the train station where we got in our car to head back to the hotel.  Here we are on the train headed out of Chicago.

We tried to encourage Samantha to lay down on Daddy and close her eyes as well, but she was too excited about the train and there was too much noise and commotion for her to rest.

Here's my little guy, totally passed out.  I enjoyed cuddling with him while he slept.  :)

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts so that Ben and I could get coffee.  We don't have any Dunkin Donuts where we live, so we take advantage of it when we're in Chicago.  (It's also not bad that they have donuts, too.)  The lady working at the store even gave Samantha her donut for free just because she thought she was such a cute little girl.  After that, we went back to our hotel room and played for awhile, letting Aedan crawl around before we went out to get some dinner at Noodles and Company, another place that we don't have around us anymore.  Then, it was bath time and an earlier bedtime for the kiddos.  We had a long, fun day, and we all needed rest.

Aedan did pretty well sleeping on Thursday night as well.  However, he woke up before 5:00 a.m. again.  I got him and moved his pack and play so that he wouldn't wake Samantha up, just like I did the night before.  I changed his diaper and nursed him, but he again didn't fall back asleep.  I ended up laying him down in his pack and play and after 20 minutes or so of running his fingernails up and down the sides, he finally fell back asleep.  Aedan being in our room made getting ready that morning rather tricky.  Ben presented his paper at the conference on Friday morning, and we had to get him to the train shortly after 8:00 a.m.  That meant that Ben and I needed to get up and get ready before the kids were awake.  Once Ben was gone, I was on my own, and I knew it would be hard enough getting them both down to breakfast and fed all by myself.  Luckily, Aedan was out of it enough that Ben and I were able to take showers and get ready quietly without waking him up.  Right around 7:00, Ben tried to sneak out of the hotel room so that he could go down and eat breakfast himself, but when we went into the living room area, Samantha was awake anyways.  She had gotten up about a half an hour earlier needing to go potty and hadn't gone back to sleep, she was just laying very quietly so we thought she was sleeping.  Anyways, since Samantha was awake, Daddy took her down to breakfast with him.  About 15 minutes later, Aedan woke up for the day, so we all got in the car and drove Daddy to the train station.

After that, we went back to the hotel and ate breakfast together.  It actually wasn't too bad doing it all by myself.  It's funny now because Aedan has such a big appetite that he is often the last one eating.  Samantha will get done before him and then get bored waiting for him to finish his food.  Again, he really enjoyed his eggs and sausage for breakfast after eating his baby cereal.  After eating breakfast, we went back upstairs so that I could get the kids dressed and ready to go.  We had plans that day to pick up my mom in Lombard and then meet Aunt Christy, Brielle, and the baby she watches, Ava, at the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton.  It took longer than I expected to get everyone ready and to get out the door, so we were a late to pick up my mom, but that's okay.  It's understandable with dealing with two kids on your own in an unfamiliar environment.

We got to the zoo a little after 10:00, and even though we had been in the car for probably close to an hour total, Aedan had not napped at all.  He was getting pretty tired and cranky once we got there.  Since we have a membership to the Cincinnati Zoo, we were able to get into the Cosley Zoo for free.  It was a beautiful day outside, bright and sunny and warm.  I put Aedan in the stroller, and we started walking around the little zoo, looking at the train car, the chickens, rabbits, goats, deer, wolves, foxes, along with many other animals.  Aunt Christy, Brielle, and Ava arrived sometime after 11:00, after we had already been there for about an hour walking around.  Samantha was getting tired and hungry and wasn't in the best of moods.  It was hard for her to go along with the rest of us and look at animals she had already seen.  Aedan was also getting tired and wasn't very happy in the stroller so I ended up putting him in the Ergo in hopes that he would fall asleep.  He did fall asleep and ended up having a pretty good nap in the Ergo, cuddled up close with the hood over his head to protect his eyes and head from the sun.  Around noon, we decided to take a break for some ice cream and to get Samantha some water in her sippy cup.  There was an area with benches and a wide open area of grass, so after Samantha finished her Sponge Bob ice cream she went to run around in the grass and even found another little girl to play with.  They were feeding grass and other small things to ants in a tree.  It was great to see Samantha outside playing, exploring, and having fun all on her own.  (I wish we had more of a backyard so that Samantha could experience this type of play more often.)

I wish that I would have taken pictures of our time at the zoo, but I left my phone in Oxford so I had no way to take any pictures unless I was with Ben.  After letting Samantha play for awhile, we decided it was time to go get lunch at Wendy's before dropping my mom off and heading back to the hotel.  It was nice for all of us to get together that morning.  It's not very often that my mom gets to spend the day with both her daughters and grandchildren, and I know it meant a lot to her.

Here are some pictures that Aunt Christy sent us from our trip to Cosley Zoo when Samantha got a chance to feed the chickens.

Once back at the hotel, I nursed Aedan and put him down for his nap before taking Samantha out to the living area so she could take a nap as well.  She was very tired but fought going to sleep for awhile.  I had to go out to her and tell her to be quiet and go to sleep so that she wouldn't wake up Aedan and so that we could have a good night together with my family.  Both Samantha and Aedan ended up sleeping until dinnertime.  In fact, I ended up having to wake Aedan up.  We had plans to get deep dish pizza together, and even though I thought it would be better to just get carry-out, my family decided to go to the restaurant instead.  Being a Friday night, the restaurant was very busy so we had to wait over 45 minutes to be seated.  While we were waiting, Ben had Aedan in the stroller doing laps around the block and around the parking lot.  Samantha had a coloring book and her dolls with clip-on dresses to play with, so she kept herself fairly well entertained.  We actually ended up eating outside on the patio, and it was really nice.  We ordered our pizza right when we got to the restaurant so it was ready shortly after we sat down.  The dinner went much better than I expected, and I was so proud of Samantha and Aedan for being so patient at the restaurant for so long.

Even though it was after 8:00 Chicago time, we decided to go back to Great Grandma Donna's house for a little while so everyone could hang out a bit longer.  Aedan had a good time reading books with Aunt Christy, playing with Brielle, and there was even a time when both babies were getting really tired and tried to steal each other's pacifiers.  It was pretty funny to watch. :)

That night the kids didn't get into bed until after 10:00, and we weren't far behind them.  It had been a long day, and we were all tired.  We had nowhere we needed to be at a certain time on Saturday morning so we just took our time getting up, eating breakfast, and getting ready.  The kids slept in later than usual, so that was a nice change as well.  We decided to go swimming together, and my mom, Aunt Christy, Uncle Matthew, and Brielle planned to meet us there.  The pool at our hotel was closed due to renovations, but they made arrangements with another hotel nearby that hotel guests could use.  We arrived a little after 10:00, got Samantha in her Puddle Jumper and Aedan in his floating raft.  Both kids had a great time playing and splashing in the water.  It took my family awhile to arrive, and by the time they got there, we were pretty much done swimming.  However, they had a whirlpool off to the side that really wasn't hot at all, so we spent quite a bit of time toward the end of our swimming time sitting in the warm water and letting the cousins play with each other.

I love this video below.  Daddy was holding Aedan in the pool, and they were tossing a little toy fish up into the air together.  Daddy would throw it and let it fall, and then Aedan would try to throw it and watch it fall as well.  They did this over and over again, and Aedan loved every minute of it.  Daddy often tells Aedan, "Anything can be a ball."  I think Aedan's buying into it, as he loves to throw things up into the air and watch them fall back down. :)

Again, we were swimming and playing well past our typical lunchtime.  Aedan hadn't napped all morning, and it was time for us to get some lunch and get our kids down for naps.  I couldn't decide whether or not to have them nap at the hotel or at my grandma's place.  It was already so late in the day that by the time we got them down for their naps, I knew they would end up sleeping until dinnertime like they did the night before, especially since Aedan hadn't napped at all that day.  Aedan fell asleep in the car as soon as we started driving.  We stopped and got Chipotle and took it back to our hotel so that we could all eat together.  I finally decided we should just go to my grandma's so that we could hang out with people more and so that we could make cupcakes to celebrate Aedan's birthday.

Even though we were in a new place, and it was already the time our kids would be waking up from their naps, they both took good naps for us.  Daddy laid with Samantha until she fell asleep, and she napped for over an hour.  Aedan napped for a long time, so long that we had to wake him up when it was time for dinner.  We had sandwiches, chips, and potato salad for dinner.  Then, the kids got down and played for awhile while the dinner dishes were cleaned up.  After that, it was time for cupcakes and singing "Happy Birthday" to the almost birthday boy.  Aedan had a few presents to open after that, but most of it was clothes, plus he was getting super tired, so he wasn't too interested in the presents.  Aedan did really enjoy his cupcake though, his first real taste of anything this full of sugar! 

When eating your first cake, you gotta get icing all over yourself, and Aedan did an excellent job!

Saturday night was again a late night getting the kids to bed.  It had been a long few days of running around doing things all day, staying out late, and sleeping in a new place.  We were all exhausted.  We plopped into bed, and this was the only night that Aedan didn't wake up at night needing to nurse.  I think it was 8:00 before any of us woke up on Sunday morning.  Ahh, some much needed rest.

On Sunday morning we got up, dressed, ate breakfast, and packed up all our stuff so that we could check out of our hotel.  We had plans to meet our friends Brad and Melissa and their new baby Madeline at Melissa's parents' house in Wheaton.  We hadn't met their new baby and hadn't seen them in a while, so we like to take advantage of any time we can get to hang out.  We brought toys for Samantha to play with and even let her watch a show for a little while so the adults could have more of a chance to talk.  Aedan played for awhile and once he started laying down on everything, we decided it was time to put him down for nap.  We had some really yummy chicken fingers for lunch outside on the deck, and Samantha had a great time playing in the backyard.  We were having such a good time talking and catching up with each other that we didn't want to leave.  I think it was after 3:00 when we finally headed out, knowing we still had a 5+ hour drive ahead of us.

Our trip home was pretty uneventful.  The kids took naps, Samantha watched another movie on the DVD player, we stopped at Fazoli's for dinner, and we finally got back home about an hour after the kids' typical bedtime.  Once it got dark we tried to encourage Samantha and Aedan to just go to sleep in the car.  However, Samantha didn't want to and was being whiny.  Aedan would not fall asleep and just kept spitting out his pacifier and crying really hard.  So I finally just crawled into the back seat to hang out with them and make them happy during the last 45 minutes of our trip home.

We had a good trip to Chicago, did a lot of fun stuff, and got to see all my family.  It was nice to be able to make a long trip out of Ben's conference, especially since most of our expenses would be reimbursed.  However, it's amazing how tired you can get after being out of town with two kids in tow.  We were glad to be back home in our own rooms and our own beds.

Monday morning we were right back to it.  Ben going to campus, and the rest of us being busy at home.  We had a pretty relaxing morning playing at home, giving the kids baths, and getting caught up on laundry.  We only went out for our music class at the community arts center and to pick Roscoe up from the kennel.

Aedan has recently discovered that it's fun to crawl under the table and stand up by holding onto the chairs.  Of course his tongue is sticking out the whole time!  He's not too tall yet, but it won't be long before bonks his head on the table when he tries to do this.  He is such a big boy, growing so fast!  I can't believe that he will be one year old in just over a week.

(Blog about April 14-20, 2015)

Spring Break in Oxford

Samantha: 46 Months, Week 4

Aedan: Week 50

This week was a bit different than usual because it was spring break for the Talawanda school district, meaning Samantha didn't have preschool or ballet that week.  Even though we had extra time, it was hard to do much because it literally rained every day that week, limiting our activities to things that were indoors.  Also, Aedan was still recovering from his cough that he caught from Samantha over the weekend, so I wanted to give him plenty of time to rest as well.

Since we were gone for Easter weekend, I did not go grocery shopping the previous Thursday like I usually do.  We were out of everything, so I really needed to make a trip to Kroger.  I usually just go with Aedan and some days that is hard enough as it is.  I decided to be brave and take both Samantha and Aedan grocery shopping.  I waited until after Aedan's morning nap, and we headed out, prepared with snacks and toys.  However, after our hour and a half shopping trip, I decided that I will never do a large grocery shopping trip with both kids ever again.  Aedan was pretty fussy for some reason, even though I tried giving him snacks and toys.  Samantha kept getting in and out of the cart, as well asking many questions and talking to me when I was trying to concentrate on my shopping list and price checking.  The trip took much longer than it should have, and checking out was not much better.  We got back home close to 12:30, and I still had to put away all the groceries, make lunch, and get the kids down for their naps.  It was an exhausting morning.  I think now I understand why some moms go out shopping at night, all by themselves.

Tuesday was a rough day for Daddy, so after taking Samantha to ballet, we stopped to pick up Jimmy John's for dinner and strong coffee from Starbucks.  Daddy was only going to be home for a couple hours before he had to go back to campus for a lecture that his students were asked to attend.  After dinner we went outside to play together since it was so nice out.  Then, it was my job to get the kids ready and into bed by myself.  We stayed outside a little too long so they got to bed a little later than I would have liked, but it went fairly well.

Here's a picture from Wednesday morning after breakfast: both kids in their pajamas, Aedan very interested in Samantha's computer.  He will pull up on anything to get to his sister.

Wednesday morning I offered to take Samantha to story time at the library after Aedan woke up from his nap, but she wanted to just stay home, play, and do preschool together.  Most days, when we are home together in the mornings, after I put Aedan down for his morning nap, Samantha will immediately ask to do preschool with me.  It was better that we decided to stay home that morning anyways because a HUGE storm came through Oxford.  It rained really hard and was so dark that we had to turn the lights on in our house.  There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning, too.  Samantha and I just sat on the floor in our living room, doing our preschool activities for the letter S.  I love having this special time with just her, and I love that I get to use some of my teacher training as well.

Aedan's way of playing and interacting with us these days is by pulling up on things and standing as much as he can.  The following videos show how good he is.  He is getting much more stable on his feet and can even stand while only holding on with one hand.  Also, he's getting much better at lowering himself back to the ground gently instead of falling and crying.  It's funny because Samantha used to be safe if she would just sit on the couch because then Aedan couldn't reach her.  However, now that he is pulling up, nowhere is safe.  If she is playing with something or doing something that she doesn't want him to get, she has to sit at the kitchen table or go up to her room.

Here are the two cuties that I get to hang out with every day. :)

That evening Ben had plans to take Samantha to a Miami baseball game on a Daddy/Daughter date.  There was supposed to be a clearing of the rain, and he hoped it would hold off long enough for them to enjoy most of the game.  We all went out to dinner at Chipotle together and then parted ways.  I was going to take Aedan to a local park and take a walk with him in the newly fixed Jeep stroller; however, as soon as I started driving toward the park, it began to rain and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.  Aedan and I just played at home instead, but he was just so tired.  When he gets tired in the evenings, there's not much you can do to make him happy.  He doesn't really want to play, he will just keep coming up to me and laying his head on my lap or trying to climb up on to me and be clingy.  

Daddy ended up taking Samantha to the baseball game for a little while before it began to rain.  They sat in the front row, right behind home plate, and Samantha asked a TON of questions about what the players and umpires were doing, as well as how the game was played.  When it started raining, Daddy offered to take Samantha to get frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf as a way to lengthen their shortened date.  Samantha even commented, "That was a short date night, Daddy."  They will definitely have to try again some night when the weather is better because I know Daddy likes to share these special experiences with his little girl.

A little before 7:00, I decided to start giving Aedan a bath, and Samantha got to join in once they arrived home.  They are SO cute in the bath together.  They love to play with each other.  Aedan loves to climb on Samantha, and Samantha loves to make Aedan smile and laugh.  We took many great pictures of them in the bath tub that night, but this one was the best smiling picture that I could crop in an appropriate way.  They are just adorable. :)

On Thursday we had a big day planned with some friends.  We were going to meet up at the Cincinnati Museum Center to play at the Duke Energy Children's Museum.  The other family we met up with has a boy that is about Samantha's age and a girl about two.  I thought it would be great to go do something fun since Samantha had the week off from preschool.  It was also going to be another rainy day, perfect for playing inside.  We planned to meet at 10:00, and it was a bit hectic getting both kids ready and a lunch packed by myself.  Aedan has just been in weird woods in the morning lately.  It seems like he's not getting enough sleep because after only being awake for an hour, he is tired and ready for his morning nap already.  However, he then gets very clingy or gets into everything, making it very difficult to get anything done.  We left in good time, but then got stuck in some traffic behind an accident.  Samantha did a great job sitting quietly and looking at her library books because I hoped that Aedan would take a nap on the way to the museum, that way he would be less crabby and be able to play more.  Unfortunately, he didn't fall asleep until about five minutes before we got to the museum.

This was the first time I have ever attempted to do a day trip like this with both kids, this far away and for this long of a time commitment, all by myself.  We had a really fun time together, but there were definitely some challenges.  Samantha woke up too early and was acting a little bit tired and disrespectful not long after we arrived at the museum.  Also, the family we were with enjoyed spending more time playing in certain areas that Samantha didn't find as interesting.  It was hard for her to understand that we needed to wait for them so that we could stick together.  We let Samantha and Daniel switch off choosing what area of the museum we would go to next, and that seemed to help some.  Samantha just isn't always the most patient person, especially when she is tired.

After playing in the ball area for awhile, we moved on to the water area.  Usually Samantha really likes to play with water, but for some reason she finds this area to be boring and doesn't like to spend much time there.  Daniel, however, finds this area to be his favorite, so I was trying to encourage Samantha to find other ways to play while we let Daniel get his fill of the water.  I even put a smock on Aedan and let him play in the water.  He LOVED it!  He just splashed his little hands up and down in the water, getting his face, hair, and clothes all wet.  Seeing him play like this in the water made me think that a water table would be a great birthday gift for him!

From there, we went to the younger kid area so that I could let Aedan crawl around more easily.  Samantha and Olivia came with me as well to play in the house, with the sand, and riding around small push toys.

Samantha pretended she was a princess in a castle...

...and Aedan loved discovering all the new things to play with.  I didn't have to say no or redirect him much here!

After that we went to the forest area, which is Samantha's favorite area, so she was so excited to climb and run and play on the indoor play structure.  Samantha and Daniel played together quite a bit inside the playground, giving Corrine and I more or a chance to talk while we hung out with the younger kids.  However, eventually Aedan wanted to get down and explore, making his way over to the giant fish tank.  He thought it was very interesting to watch the turtles and fish swim by right in front of his face.  We stayed here and watched the animals swim for quite a long time.

Then, Daniel and Samantha crawled into the tunnel that goes inside the fish tank.  I have no idea what they were pointing to or what they were talking about, but it was cute to watch them interact with each other.  I like being able to do things like this where Samantha can get social interaction with kids her age.  It's good for her to have someone else to talk to besides Aedan and me.

After playing in the forest for awhile, we decided it was time for lunch.  However, this is when Samantha started to lose it.  She was probably acting cranky because she was hungry, but she didn't recognize the fact that she needed to stop so she could eat.  She loves playing in the forest since it's her favorite, and she didn't want to leave.  Even though I gave her a warning about us leaving in five minutes, when it was time to go, she melted into the floor and refused to get up.  It was hard dealing with her throwing a little fit while also dealing with Aedan who was getting hungry, too, and tired since he had only napped for five minutes that morning.  I had to give her a time out so that she knew she would have to get her attitude in check if she wanted to continue playing at the museum.  Getting her to eat at lunch time is always a battle with her, even when we are at home, so lunch at the museum wasn't much different.  Aedan was getting very cranky, hungry, and tired, so I was trying to feed him and appease him as much as possible, while also trying to get Samantha to eat her lunch instead of looking around so that we would have more time to play.

After lunch we played for a little longer in the sand area together, which is another of Samantha's favorite places.  There were quite a few kids in the sand, and the last time we brought Aedan here to play he wasn't crawling yet, so this was a new experience for him.  He wanted to crawl all around and discover all the toys and trucks.  However, some of the other kids weren't very careful with the sand.  One little boy started tossing handfuls of sand into Aedan's face, so I had to quickly jump into the sand in order to pull Aedan out.  It didn't really seem to phase him, but I decided that we would just play in a different area after that.

They had a small area for younger kids with books, and the wooden cubes with balls on rails at the top.  There was another little girl and her mom there playing as well.  Aedan was having fun, but I could tell he was getting pretty tired.  He actually kept crawling over to the other mom and laid his head on her lap.  He's been doing this a lot lately when he is tired and ready to go to sleep.  I think it's adorable, and I love the extra snuggles that it brings.  However, I took that as a cue that it was time to make our way to the nursing mother's area so that I could nurse Aedan and then possibly put him in the Ergo so that he could nap.

Our friends decided to stay in the sand area and leave from there, so we said good-bye and parted ways.  Since we were on our own again, Samantha had to come into the nursing room with me, which actually worked out better than I thought it would.  They had shelves full of books that she could look at while I sat and nursed Aedan.  He was definitely ready.  Samantha did a great job of sitting and reading quietly, and I think it was a good decompression break for her.  Aedan fell asleep nursing; however, I didn't bring the Ergo in with me so that I could put him in while still trying to keep him asleep.  I tried carrying him out while he was sleeping and then transferring him to the Ergo, but it didn't work.  He woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep.  I was going to give Samantha more time to play, but she was acting rather aimless and getting tired herself, so we decided to call it a day and head back home.

It was a bit hectic at times taking the kids to the museum by myself, but it also gave me great confidence that I could start doing things like this by myself more often.  Especially when Aedan no longer nurses in the middle of the day or even when he goes down to one nap a day, this kind of outing will become much easier.  I'm glad we did it.  I had two tired kiddos on the way home, and they both fell asleep in the car fairly quickly, sleeping until we got back home to Oxford.  Once home, I actually took Aedan up to his crib to see if he go back to sleep again, and he ended up sleeping until dinnertime.

In continuation of our week of rain, we had a really strong storm come through as we were eating dinner on Thursday night.  The dark clouds rolled in pretty quickly, and it started pouring and then hailing!  It was so loud hitting the back of our house that Samantha actually started crying.  However, once we explained to her what was going on, she calmed back down again.  Daddy actually went outside after the storm to pick up some of the hail to show Samantha what it looked and felt like.  She thought it was interesting to feel how cold and wet it was.

After having a rather busy day on Thursday, on Friday we just stayed home to play and so I could clean the house.  I took this great picture of Aedan that morning while I was cleaning up breakfast.  We call him our little stinker.  He especially likes to stick his tongue out when he's getting into something like this. :)

Samantha and I had some good play time that morning while Aedan napped.  She wanted to build a new train track for her trains so we picked out a plan, I told her what piece came next, and she built it from there, with very little help from me.  It's great to see how much she is enjoying building things now.  She is able to follow picture directions pretty well, especially when putting together Legos.

It was a fun, yet productive day with lots of time to play; plus I got the house cleaning done.  That evening, once Daddy got home from work, we decided to eat a quick dinner and go to a Miami baseball game.  The weather was beautiful, the game was free, and we thought it would be fun.  We got there after it started, but that didn't matter.  Aedan enjoyed looking around at all the new sights for awhile, and Samantha walked up and down the bleacher rows before going to sit up in the front row by herself to watch the game.  After awhile we moved over to a grassy area on the side to allow Aedan to crawl and Samantha to run around more freely without bothering other people.  I think we lasted about 40 minutes at the game before we decided to just go walk around campus by the bell tower instead.  We often talk about how we need to enjoy Miami's campus more, so we took advantage of that.  Samantha ran around in the grass with Daddy while I pushed Aedan in the stroller.

Saturday morning we went out to breakfast together at Frisch's Big Boy.  We hadn't been there in a while, and they have pretty good breakfast bar.  Samantha and Aedan both really enjoy breakfast food, plus they are both still free.  The rest of the day was spent giving Aedan a morning nap, playing, and going shopping for new bathing suits for Samantha and Aedan.  It's nice to spend a weekend at home, just being together as a family.  I love having Ben around, and Samantha and Aedan love having the extra time with their Daddy.

Here is Aedan showing off his style in Daddy's Cubs hat.

It was up in the air for awhile whether or not we would meet for small group on Sunday, but we decided we would, even though it was just the Marcums and us.  Ben and I also were scheduled for working with the kindergartners, so we stayed for both services that morning.  Aedan was doing well and made it through the service okay, but was very tired when we picked him up.  He was definitely ready for a nap, and it was a struggle to keep him awake in the car as we stopped at Kroger and drove to the Marcum's house.  We had a pretty relaxed group meeting, which was nice.  I put Aedan down for a nap upstairs, we had tacos for lunch, and then we all went outside.  The kids played on the trampoline and the swing set, Samantha got to see some chickens up close and even found an egg that she could take home, and the weather was warm and sunny.  The adults met under the gazebo to talk about our parenting book.  It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  Aedan was really tired and just kept on sleeping, so we had to wake him up from his nap.  Then, we spent the rest of the evening just hanging out together as a family before putting both kids in bed early that night.

On Monday, we didn't have too many plans.  Samantha, Aedan, and I made a quick trip to Meijer to look for a bathing suit for Aedan since we didn't find one for him when we went to TJMaxx on Saturday.  After getting our shopping done, we went to the music class I signed Samantha and Aedan up for called Music Roots, which is lead by a local mom.  Both kids love music so much that I thought they would really enjoy this class.  Aedan loved the parts where they could shake the egg shakers along to the music and bang the rhythm instruments together to the beat of the song.  Samantha sat and listened attentively, participating well, and singing along to the songs when many other kids did not.  I think both kids will enjoy going to this class for the next few weeks, especially if we can work in a morning nap for Aedan before we come.  On this day Aedan ended up sleeping in late in the morning, making it so that we didn't have time to give him a nap.

Both kids were tired out and took great naps that afternoon.  Samantha still continues to do an excellent job napping every day.  She never fights me about it anymore, never gets out of her bed and plays.  She sometimes will fall asleep with me in the room and other times just falls asleep after I leave.  I am so glad that we pushed through and didn't give up nap time.  There have been so many times throughout the last year that I have been ready to give up trying to to get Samantha to nap because it turns into a battle for a couple weeks, but every time it has worked itself out and now she takes a nap for about an hour to an hour and a half every day with no fuss.  She is much more pleasant in the evenings because of this daily rest, and I am glad to have a small break of time each afternoon to be by myself, to get work done around the house, or even to occasionally rest and do something fun for myself.

Here are my little sleeping angels. :)

(Blog about April 7-13, 2015)