A Weekend of Family Fun and the Chicago Cubs

Samantha: 47 Months, Week 2
Aedan: Week 52

When uploading pictures for this week's blog, I noticed a video that I should have put on last week but overlooked.  So, here it is.  It is too cute not to include.  Daddy it pulling Samantha and Aedan around on a "magic carpet ride."  Aedan got the hang of it pretty quickly, crawling towards it and plopping down on his tummy whenever he fell off.  We do some pretty funny things around here for entertainment. :)

On Tuesday, after we got home from picking up Samantha from preschool, a box was delivered.  It was the water table that Chicago Grandpa and Grandma, as well as Aunt Christy, pitched in to buy for Aedan's birthday.  It was much simpler to have it shipped to our house rather than having to haul it back with us.  Right after lunch Samantha wanted me to get it out of the box and put it together.  I got part of it together, but not all of it because Aedan was getting into everything too much and making it difficult.  However, they enjoyed looking at it and playing with it.  Aedan will really enjoy this present.  It is at the perfect height for him to pull up on and stand at, and he LOVES splashing around in water.  Samantha couldn't wait until a warm day so that we could take it outside, fill it up with water, and try it out.

Once Daddy got home, he helped me put the rest of the water table together, and the kids experimented with how it worked.  They were enjoying it even without any water in it!

On Wednesday morning we had a play date planned since there was rain in the forecast and we couldn't go to a park.  Samantha's friend, Matteo, from preschool, his brother Bennett, and his mom came over to our house to play.  Samantha has been waking up too early lately, sometimes as early as 6:30, will use the restroom and go back to her room and lay down quietly, but she will not go back to sleep.  Therefore, she has been exceptionally tired because it seems like she is not getting enough sleep at night.  Wednesday was one of those mornings.  If we hadn't already made plans for friends to come over that day, I probably would have just cancelled our plans and stayed home.  She was just too grumpy to play, even with Matteo.  They had fun playing, but often were playing in separate areas with separate toys.  I tried to get Samantha to include Matteo and play with him, but she just wasn't interested.  Nevertheless, I had a good time talking with Andrea, even though both of our babies had woken up at 5:00 a.m. and not gone back to sleep, making us feel very tired.

Aedan has now learned to climb up the stairs.  I had only ever seen him climb up a few stairs, but on Wednesday he started going higher so I sent Samantha to get my phone so that I could video our little stair climber.

Both sleepy kids took good naps on Wednesday afternoon, and Ben and I were craving some tex-mex food from Chuy's, so we decided to make a family trip for dinner.  The restaurant is about 40 minutes away from our house, but it's so good and so worth it.  Samantha loves her kids quesadilla meal, and Aedan loves the rice and beans and tortillas.  It's actually one of the few restaurants where both kids are distracted enough by the commotion of the restaurant that it allows Ben and I to carry on a conversation with each other.  (It's always an added bonus when you can actually talk to your spouse when you are out to dinner with your kids in tow.)

Thursday was a normal day of preschool and grocery shopping in the morning, and my Bible study at night.  I felt so bad that Thursday night, however, because Aedan was crying pretty hard when I left.  He was not drinking his bottle, fighting it pretty badly.  He just has never taken a bottle well, and I think from now on it would just be easier for me to nurse him and put him down to bed before I leave for Bible study.

The next morning when changing Aedan's diaper, I noticed Aedan's bottom molar on his left side was poking through!  This is now his 9th tooth!  Maybe that was why he wasn't drinking his bottle well the night before or why he hasn't been nursing well with me lately.  His molar is probably pretty uncomfortable and painful breaking through since it is so wide.  He very rarely lets us peek into his mouth lately, so I had no idea that he was teething!

Since I knew we would be having a busy weekend, Friday morning we stayed home and took it easy.  While Aedan napped I played with Samantha, and we did some preschool together.  We finished our activities for the letter S.  Here she is adding rays made out of play dough to the sun according to what number she chose from the stack.

Daddy's car started making funny noises earlier in the week so it had been in the shop every day until Friday.  We got to take Daddy to work and pick him up every day, which was nice to be able to see him a little longer.  On Friday, however, the car was done so instead of going to pick Daddy up, I decided it was a nice enough day to take the water table outside and try it out.  You can see in the pictures and video below that I tried putting a plastic smock on Aedan to help keep him dry, but it didn't do much good.  He got soaking wet, but he had a blast splashing around in the water, and so did Samantha.  This water table is going to be a lot of fun on those hot summer days when getting wet is going to feel so good.

I always look forward to weekends.  I enjoy having Ben around more, and I love spending time together as a whole family.  Like I've said before, I am a quality time person, plus I love experiencing things together as a family and this weekend was full of both those things.  On Friday night, after putting the kids to bed, Ben and I made Aedan's birthday cake together.  It needed to sit and cool for four hours after baking, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time for that.  While the cake was baking and cooling, we relaxed by watching a Netflix movie together.

Saturday morning, after waking up, getting showered and dressed, we went over to Talawanda High School for a pancake breakfast fundraiser they were having in conjunction with the Fresh Air Fair.  The breakfast came with pancakes, sausage, and a drink, and it was actually very good.  We got four plates of pancakes, so plenty for all.  Then, we went to the Fresh Air Fair.  It was supposed to be held outside, hence the name "Fresh Air Fair," but it was raining so they had to move all the booths inside.  Our main purpose for visiting this fair was to attend the booth where they fitted and gave away helmets for free.  They measured both Samantha and Aedan for a helmet, but they didn't have the right size helmet for Aedan.  His head was too big for a toddler helmet, and they didn't have any more of the smallest size left.  Samantha got a red helmet and was really excited about wearing it when she rode her bike.  She also got a hummingbird made out of balloons, got to ride in a bike safety course, say hi to policemen and firemen, as well as sit in a fire truck, ambulance, and helicopter.  It was a fun morning.

After seeing the helicopter, it was starting to be close to Aedan's nap time, so we left the fair and saw a few friends on our way out.  It's amazing how many people you can get to know and see on a fairly regular basis when living in a small town like Oxford.  It's kind of nice.  I like the familiarity.

Around 11:00 or so, Upland Grandpa and Grandma arrived at our house.  We didn't tell Samantha they were coming until that morning, but she was so excited she could hardly wait for them to pull into our driveway.  From that moment on, she could have cared less what Mommy and Daddy were doing.

I iced and decorated Aedan's cake.  We decided to make a duck cake again, just like we did for Samantha's 1st birthday, except this time I didn't try and make healthy cake batter.  I just used pre-packaged stuff from the store.  I did make my own buttercream frosting though.  It wasn't perfect, but it definitely turned out much better than our last attempt for Samantha's first birthday.

After getting everything set for Grandpa and Grandma, Ben and I left for our date to the Cubs vs. Reds baseball game.  There was a forecast for pretty strong storms that afternoon, so we weren't sure what would happen with the game, but we figured either way that we would make a date out of it.  On our way to Cincinnati we listened to the radio and they gave a start time of 2:30, so we figured we would stop somewhere to eat lunch before going into the ballpark.  However, most of the restaurants around the streets near the ballpark were closed on Saturdays which seemed really bizarre to us.  We finally found a Skyline Chili, and even though it's not our favorite, decided to settle on that.  We enjoyed sitting in the warm and dry restaurant, watching the footage from the ballpark so we could keep updated on the status of the game.  The game kept getting postponed due to the rain delay so we then walked over to a nearby Starbucks as a way to kill more time.  Finally, we went to the ballpark and decided to just sit in seats under the overhang and wait until the game started.  So Ben and I just sat in the stands watching the rain pour down on the field.  We talked and relaxed together.  It would have been more fun to be watching a baseball game together; however, it was still a date and we were still together without kids which is a rare thing for us.

After sitting for awhile, we then walked around the park some and got a little snack, kettle corn for me and a bratwurst for Ben.  The rain was lightening up and we had hopes the game would start because they sent pitchers out to the bull pen to start warming up.  They also removed the tarp from the field and began preparing the field for the game.  However, awhile later the grounds crew came back out and covered everything up and the pitchers went back into the dug out.  The TV monitors in the stadium were no longer updating us on the status of the game, nor did they have the radar on anymore.  We waited and talked for awhile longer.  Ben was pretty sad about the game.  We were really looking forward to watching the game together.  It's fun to do something with Ben that he really enjoys, like watching baseball, especially the Cubs.  So, it was kind of a let down.  It was getting late, and Ben decided that it was time to go back home.  At this point, it was getting late enough that even if the game started, we wouldn't be able to watch it.  Grandpa and Grandma were at home babysitting Samantha and Aedan for us.  Aunt Jeni and Alaina had come down for the night, and we had plans to celebrate Aedan's birthday with cake and presents that night.  Luckily for us, on the way home we heard on the radio that the game was finally cancelled which means there will be a make-up game at some point.  Whenever that game is, we will get a babysitter for Samantha and Aedan again, and this time hopefully our date will not get rained out.  I still had fun even though we didn't get to see a game because I got to spend the afternoon with my love. :)

Once we got back home and checked in on everybody, we wolfed down some dinner before having cake to celebrate Aedan's birthday.  We preemptively took off his shirt so he could get as messy as he wanted.   When we started singing "Happy Birthday" to Aedan, and he got really excited.  In the video you can sort of see how he shakes when he's excited, especially when he's excited for food.

It was kind of tricky to figure out how to cut the duck cake into slices for people.  Daddy decided to chop off the face and give that part to Aedan to eat.  Here is Aedan in eating his birthday cake.  He got right into, got really messy, and enjoyed his cake.

I think Samantha, Alaina, Aunt Jeni, Grandma, and Grandpa enjoyed the cake as well. :)

 After cake, it was time for present opening.  Aedan really could have cared less.  I remember Samantha being interested in pulling the paper and presents out of the bags or boxes when she turned a year old.  Aedan, on the other hand, just wanted to crawl around and play with his ball.  He didn't get anything too exciting, at least to a kid's standard, because we needed spring/summer clothes for him, so that's mainly what we asked for and what we got.  

It was so fun having everyone over that day and night.  Aunt Jeni and Alaina stayed in Aedan's room on an air mattress, while we kept Aedan in our room for the night.  Alaina had never stayed over night at our house before, so that was really exciting for both Samantha and Alaina.  Some day when they get a little older, it will be fun to have the girls have sleepovers together and sleep in the same room.  I didn't realize they lived only 3 1/2 hours away from us; we will definitely have to do this more often.

Before the kids went to bed, Grandpa and Grandma left for their hotel in Cincinnati.  Then, once the kids were asleep, the adults had time to talk.  It was nice because we don't usually get this time together one on one.

The next day was a very busy day.  We woke up for the 9:00 service at church so that way we could make it to Cincinnati in time for the Cubs vs. Reds game.  This time everyone was going and the weather was going to be warm and sunny, the perfect weather for a baseball game.  We arrived and parked a little after 11:45, walked over toward the ballpark, picked up lunch at Jimmy John's to carry into the park with us, and then made our way through security.  There were lots of people walking around, which was very interesting to the girls.

Even though we hoped Aedan would nap in the car on the way to Cincinnati, he did not, so we had a very tired and hungry little boy on our hands.  He was upset and crying most of our way into the park.  As soon as we got into the park, I sat down at some tables to feed him his baby food for lunch before checking our stroller and going down to our seats.

Here is Daddy and Aedan walking together in the ballpark.

We sat down in the seats together for the first few innings, eating our sandwiches and enjoying the game.  Aedan probably ate a quarter of a sandwich, with me breaking off pieces and feeding it to him like a little birdie.  Then, the kids were getting antsy, so Daddy took Samantha to walk around for awhile, and I took Aedan up to the nursing suite.  I hoped to nurse him and then put him in the Ergo so that he could nap.  However, the nursing suite was packed.  There was a line of like 7 other moms in front of me.  Plus, the nursing room was rather small and crowded with no sense of privacy.  Many of the women were just sitting around chatting while they nursed, which wouldn't have worked well for Aedan.  He would have gotten too distracted.  So, I figured that it wasn't worth it stand and wait in that long line just to have him refuse and fight to nurse anyways.  So, I just changed him and put him in the Ergo.

We went back downstairs and found Ben and Samantha at the playground.  We decided we'd been up enough of the game, so we made a potty stop, got some ice cream, and went back down to our seats.  Even though the forecast said it was only going to be 62 degrees, it felt much warmer than that sitting in the sun.  I decided it would work best if I stood up at the top of our section in the shade with Aedan so that I could sway back and forth to get him to sleep, so that we were out of the noise of the crowd, and so that he wouldn't get all hot and sweaty or sunburned.  It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, and he stayed asleep for the rest of the game, even through all the shouts, cheers, clapping, and loud music.  Plus, I got to cuddle with my little man while he napped, I had a perfect view of the game from where I stood, and I was cool in the shade; so I don't think I had the bad end of the deal.

Here we are together at the end of the game.  You can't see Aedan very well since he is still in the Ergo, but he has a cute little Cubs romper on that my parents got him for his birthday.

It was past 4:00 by the time we got out to our cars to say good-bye, as everyone was going to be heading home in different directions that evening.  Aedan had just woken up from his nap, but Samantha had obviously not taken one that afternoon.  She was tired, but it is just so hard for our children to fall asleep in the car.  I don't know why, because Alaina fell asleep very quickly.  It seems like our children just don't fall asleep as easily for some reason.  Anyways, we had the shortest trip home, and picked up pizza on the way home so that we wouldn't have to make food.  Samantha ate more pizza than she ever has before: 2 pieces of garlic cheese bread and 3 pieces of pizza squares.  Aedan even ate a whole piece of pizza that we cut up for him.  Apparently our kids were hungry.  We had a long day, so it was an early bed time that night.  I think they were both in bed by 7:30.  Ben and I were pretty tired as well.  We had a full, busy weekend, but it was great with lots of family time, watching baseball, and even going on a date together.  :)

For some reason, no matter how tired our kids are, if they skips naps or stay up late, they always wake up at the same time in the morning, especially Samantha.  Because of not getting enough sleep, she wakes up tired and cranky.  Monday was one of those mornings.  She had a time out pretty early on, which made her act a little better, but you could tell that she needed more sleep.  We had music class that morning, and then came right back for lunch and nap time.   Here are my sleeping kids that afternoon after tiring them out from a busy, fun-filled weekend.

(Blog about April 21-27, 2015)