Samantha: 49 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 13 Months, Week 3 (Week 60)
This week was a busy one because Samantha continued in her summer camp about gardening. She went to the TRI building every morning from 9-12, and her old preschool teacher, Miss Becky, as well as a new teacher named Miss Martha, led the kids in various activities that had to do with gardening. They read books about gardening, did crafts about gardening, and even planted some seeds in pots to bring home and grow.
However, after the first day of camp, Samantha just seemed so tired out, almost like she wasn't used to getting up, getting out, and being active all morning long. She woke up on Tuesday morning already tired. She was being pretty disrespectful toward us as we were trying to get her ready on Tuesday morning, so when Ben dropped her off for camp, he made sure to talk to Miss Becky about Samantha's attitude, and that she could feel free to put her in time out if she was not behaving in a respectful way. Ben said it looked like she could have fallen asleep on the way over to camp that morning. We decided we would just have a low key evening after being out the night before at the library, hoping that Samantha could have a good rest that night and feel less tired the next morning.
That evening, our neighbors came over looking to play in the pool again. However, this time we started a new game called water fight. We brought cups outside, and it was an all out splashing battle. The kids were having so much fun getting wet, splashing and chasing each other, and Aedan (and Ben and I) even joined in too! Samantha loves playing with our neighbors, and we all had a great time getting wet and running around outside.
Wednesday was another day of Samantha at camp, and she was really lucky to be able to swim every day of the week so far. There were chances of rain, but it seemed to always stop just in time for the kids to be able to swim. Samantha was having a great time, and I'm glad that we signed her up for this. We also did something else fun on Wednesday. Instead of picking up Samantha and eating lunch back at home, I picked Daddy up from campus so that we could pick up lunch at Chipotle. Samantha was SO surprised and excited to see Daddy in the car after camp. She said she wanted him to be in the car every day after camp. We picked up some lunch and decided to go back and eat it in Daddy's new office. (I figured he wouldn't mind a small lunch time distraction too much.) It was great to see the inside of Daddy's new basement office, and to be able to spend some extra time with him in the middle of the day in the middle of the week.
Thursday was a bit of a long day. Even though Aedan usually takes a morning nap, I had plans to meet my friend Maggie at the park so that we could walk and chat together while I pushed Aedan in the stroller. He did pretty well, just looking around and eating a snack. Then, after a while, we stopped at the playground so that he could get out and move around a bit. He had fun splashing in the water that had gathered at the bottom of the slide, as well as crawling up the stairs and sliding down the bigger slide. He's starting to figure out that he needs to sit down on his bottom when going down a slide rather than attempting to crawl down face first. We then ran a couple of errands before picking up Samantha from camp, so it was a long morning for Aedan.
That evening after dinner, before I went to my Bible study, we decided to take Aedan to get his hair cut. The lady I made a connection with a month or so ago was back at the salon and was working that evening. Aedan's hair was getting SO long and his head was always sweaty and his hair was always wet, so I decided it was time to get him a real hair cut. We made a family trip out of it.
Here are some shots of his long hair before his hair cut.
Aedan did a great job getting his first real hair cut, and even got a certificate with a little piece of his hair to take home as a keepsake. Here are some pictures of his hair after his hair cut. I was afraid that I wouldn't really like it, but I think it turned out really well, and hopefully this will help him stay cooler this summer. He looks so handsome!
Aedan has been walking more and more lately, and Friday was no exception. As I was upstairs getting things done around the house that morning, he was just walking back and forth, taking much more than ten or eleven steps like he had been doing. He definitely prefers to walk to get places now rather than crawl. My little boy is not a baby anymore; he's officially a toddler. It's so weird to see him walking from room to room, but at the same time it is so great to see him exercising his independence. He has wanted to walk for so long, and now he finally can. What a big boy!
After lunch that day, Aedan was doing something that really made me laugh. He would walk towards me like he wanted me to hold his hand or give him a hug, and then at the last minute he would turn the other direction and walk quickly away with a satisfied smirk on his face. He did this several times and thought it was hilarious!
It seemed like Aedan changed to a walker overnight. He was literally just walking all over the house on Friday. As soon as he fell down, he would just stand right back up again rather than start crawling like he used to do. A few months ago, we never would have guessed that he would be walking by 13 1/2 months. However, with walking more, also comes the chance to injure yourself more. As we were getting ready for nap time on Friday, Aedan fell when walking and hit his head right on the door frame to the upstairs bathroom. He got a pretty good bruise and bump on his head from that and cried quite a bit. Here's a picture of his injury.
Friday evening before bed time, we got everything packed up so that we could head out for Bloomington on Saturday morning. Ben was scheduled to defend his dissertation on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., and we decided to make a weekend out of it, go to our old church on Sunday morning, and visit some of our favorite Bloomington places and restaurants. We ate lunch in Columbus, Indiana on our way to Bloomington and arrived at our hotel right when our kids needed to go down for naps. We stayed in a place called Century Suites on the east side of town because it had the most reasonable prices for a one bedroom suite. It's amazing how expensive hotels can be in a college town like Bloomington. We got checked in, unpacked all our stuff, and got our kids situated for nap time. The living area was a big, open room, and we planned for Samantha and Aedan to sleep in there together. They've done it in the past, and it has worked out pretty well. However, Samantha did not nap that afternoon even though she was tired and really needed to. It's hard for her to get to a new place and then go right to sleep. Aedan took a good nap, and we just had Samantha color and play quietly in the bedroom with us after she was done laying down since we didn't want her to wake up Aedan.
That evening, after stopping by Kroger to buy some food for the kids for dinner, we dropped Samantha and Aedan off at our old church, ECC, for a Parents' Night Out they were having as a fundraiser. I contacted the lady operating it, and she said it would be fine for us to bring our kids even though we've been gone for almost a year. Ben and I were excited to have a little time away, and we were looking forward to having a quiet, relaxing dinner at one of our favorite Bloomington restaurants, Sweet Grass. It is always nice to have a meal where Ben and I can talk freely without having to feed kids and pick up food off the floor. Samantha and Aedan did great at church, but were both tired from a long day and we were all ready to get back to the hotel for bed time.
It's difficult to get kids to bed at normal bed times when on the road, and that Saturday was no different. I put Aedan to bed first so that way he'd be asleep before Samantha came out into the living room area to go to sleep on the pull-out couch. They both went to sleep easily, but it seemed like Aedan started to come down with something as he felt slightly warm. We always travel with medicine, just in case, so we gave him some medicine to help make him more comfortable while he slept. However, around 4:00 in the morning, Aedan woke up crying, which is very unusual for him. Ben quickly went out in the living room to get him from his pack and play in an attempt to get him settled back down before he had a chance to wake up Samantha. As soon as Ben picked him up, he could tell that he had a fever, so he brought him into the bedroom and I helped Ben give him some more medicine. Ben was then able to sit on the edge of the bed and rock him until he fell asleep, which took a little while, since Aedan was so upset. However, shortly after Ben laid him down, Aedan woke up crying again. We decided it would be better to put some more distance between where Aedan slept and where Samantha slept, so we moved his pack and play into the bedroom with us for the rest of the night. Samantha did wake up during this whole ordeal and went to the bathroom, but seemed pretty out of it still and, thankfully, went right back to sleep. I tried to see if Aedan wanted to nurse, but he was not too interested, which is normal as of late. I took my turn with rocking him as well, but he didn't want to be held, so I just laid him in his pack and play and hoped he would fall asleep. He didn't cry when I laid him down, just rustled around for awhile before finally falling asleep. Then, once both kids were back asleep, Ben and I were able to go back to sleep ourselves, only to be awoken twenty minutes later by a strong thunderstorm with loud thunder and bright flashes of lightning. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired when Sunday morning arrived, but that's one of the things you have to deal with when you are parents of two kids with schedules that are all out of whack and a sick toddler.
Sunday was Father's Day, and Samantha was SO excited to give Daddy the present she made for him at preschool several weeks ago. She had it hidden in her closet, and we made sure to hide it in the bottom of her suitcase when we were getting ready to leave for Bloomington. Here is Daddy opening up his present from his little girl.
The present was a key chain that was made out of that shrinky dink paper. She drew an outline of her hand and colored it before it was shrunk into a key chain that Daddy can put with the rest of his keys. She also made him this little card with her foot print and hand print that said, "You Are My Supero!" It was so cute, and Samantha was so proud to give it to her Daddy.
We had a pretty busy rest of the day with two tired kids. (In fact, before church we had to fight with Samantha for 45 minutes just to get her to put shoes on, which ended in two frustrated parents and a crying and upset little girl.) Aedan still wasn't feeling the greatest, but we decided it would be okay to go to church. It was so strange dropping Aedan off at the toddler nursery and Samantha at the 4 year old room. It seemed so familiar since this was our church home for 4 years and the place where both our children were dedicated, but at the same time it seemed so different. Ben and I enjoyed the service and even got to hear Pastor Bob preach. We were hoping we would be able to hear him preach again, as we both really enjoy his style and his passion. After church we went out to lunch with Mary Beth at McAlister's, since she was on her own and we hadn't caught up with her in awhile. Our kids did pretty well at lunch while the grown-ups talked, and then it was time to get back to the hotel for nap time.
Samantha was tired enough that afternoon and Aedan seemed to have a temperature again, so they both took good naps, which was good because we had plans with friends that evening. (It's hard to know what to do with a sick kid when travelling and having plans already made.) When we lived in Bloomington we were part of a small group through ECC, mostly of people affiliated with IU in the political science department. Most of those people have moved on now due to finishing and starting teaching positions. However, one friend, Andrea, was still left along with her husband Dimitar and their new little boy Reijo. We had never met Reijo before and were excited to get our families together, so we planned a picnic dinner at Bryan Park so the adults could talk while the kids had a chance to play. There was rain around the area but it missed us, allowing us the chance to take our time with our picnic get together. It was fun catching up with old friends and visiting one of our favorite parks. Samantha didn't remember much about ECC or other landmarks around town, but she did say that she remembered Bryan Park.
After another later night on Sunday night, we wanted to make sure everyone had as good of sleep as possible. The bathroom in our hotel was rather large, in an L-shape, and I came up with the idea to detach the shower curtain hooks from the rod, extend them across a door frame, and then attach them to a closet door. Doing that sectioned off the toilet and sink in one area from the carpeted area with the closet and an extra sink. That separate area was the perfect size for Aedan's pack and play, so we decided to try having him sleep in there instead of in the same room with Samantha. We didn't want him fidgeting and/or crying from having a temperature to make it difficult for Samantha to sleep. We travel with a fan and a sound machine to help block out external noise, so both children were comfortable and separate. Plus, Ben and I still had the bedroom to ourselves so that we could stay up a bit later to talk and relax before going to bed. The arrangements worked out well.
The hotel we stayed at only had a continental breakfast which wasn't too great, so on Monday morning we decided to go out for breakfast at Scholar's Inn Bakehouse instead. After that, we drove by our old apartment complex and didn't say anything to see if Samantha would recognize it, but she had no recollection of it. In fact she asked something like, "What is this place? Are these houses?" We figured out of all the places we went over our Bloomington weekend that she would for sure remember where she lived for three years, but that was not the case. From there we went to a local splash pad and playground that we frequented often when we lived in Bloomington. It was a warm and sunny morning, but Aedan wasn't so sure what he thought about the fountains and kids running around everywhere. He had been sleeping in more in the morning since being in Bloomington, staying up later, and not feeling the greatest, giving us the opportunity to be out through most of the morning without worrying about putting him down for a morning nap.
I took the kids back to our hotel for nap time, and both went down easily and took good naps. I continued to put Aedan down in his partitioned corner of the bathroom, and that seemed to work really well. When Samantha woke up from her nap, she felt warm to me as well. We guessed that she probably picked up some of whatever Aedan had the last couple of days from too much close contact with him. I gave her some Tylenol to help her feel better, and we played Barbies and colored quietly on the bed in the bedroom until Aedan woke up from his nap. Aedan slept until almost 5:45 that evening, probably sleeping off his fever.
When he finally woke up we got into the car to meet Daddy for pizza at Mother Bear's. Ben and I were SO excited to eat at our favorite pizza place again. We have tried several places around and in Oxford and have found no places that are as good as Mother Bear's. This was Aedan's first time eating pizza at Mother Bear's, as the last time we came was right before we moved when Aedan was only three months old. It was just as good as we remembered it, and we had a great dinner together.
I usually stop my blog posts on Mondays, but this week I am going to continue on into Tuesday since we were still in Bloomington and Ben defended his dissertation that afternoon which was the whole reason we were in Bloomington in the first place. Ben was pretty nervous going into Tuesday morning, understandably so. It was a hectic and busy morning trying to get everyone ready, eat breakfast, and get all our things packed up so that we could check out of our hotel. We dropped Daddy off at campus with his suit and everything he needed to defend in his briefcase. He planned to prepare on campus and get his thoughts together that morning before his defense started at 2:00 p.m.
Samantha, Aedan, and I went to the Monroe County Public Library for story time at 10:00. This used to be our weekly tradition. Before we moved to Oxford, we rarely missed a Tuesday. However, Samantha did not seem to recognize the library at all, which sort of surprised me. Samantha's favorite librarian was doing story time, and she recognized Samantha and said, "Hello! It's good to see you again!" But I don't think Samantha recognized her at all. Aedan was pretty tired since he woke up a little earlier that morning and really was ready for a morning nap rather than story time. He sat on my lap for about five minutes and listened to the stories and songs before he started to get wiggly and wanted to get up and move around. Samantha loved story time, just like usual.
After story time was over, we went out into the play area where Samantha played with the dollhouse and Aedan played with the trains. It's interesting to see how Samantha's interests have changed even in the last year or so. She used to really love playing at the library and now she seems like she is too old for most of the toys. However, Aedan really enjoyed playing there with lots of things geared towards his age.
After playing at the library for awhile, we drove over to our friend Mindy's house to have lunch and hang out for the afternoon. Samantha was really excited about being able to play with Cora and Millie, especially because we were allowing her to skip her nap that afternoon. Mindy gave us a good lunch of sandwiches, watermelon, and carrots, and then I put Aedan down for his afternoon nap. Samantha had a blast playing with Polly Pocket, Little Pet Shop, and Playmobil toys. All these sets had lots of little pieces that they couldn't have out when Aedan was awake and could put them in his mouth. While the girls played, Mindy and I were able to talk and catch up. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. After about an hour or so, Cora kept asking when Aedan was going to wake up. They were both really excited to play with him again and to hold him.
Once it hit 2:00 p.m., I had a hard time not thinking about Ben constantly. I wish I could have been there to hear him defend, but I had to be with the kids and probably would have made him nervous anyways. I couldn't wait to hear from him and hear how it went. At 4:22 p.m., Ben finally texted me and said, "Dr. Daddy is done." I was so excited and so proud of him! I knew he would do great and that there was no way he wouldn't pass, but it was such a relief to have official confirmation. It was one of those surreal times, just thinking how Ben has put 7 years of hard work, commitment, and diligence into getting his Ph.D and now it was finally finished. This has been most of what we have known in our married life so far, Ben in graduate school, working towards his degree, and now that is no more. Many people that hear he accomplished this high goal of earning his Ph.D while also being married, having two small kids, and then moving and starting a visiting professor position, are just amazed that he was able to finish so quickly. Ben is one of the smartest, hard-working men I know, and I was SO incredibly proud of him and proud to say that I now have a Dr. Hubby.
Unfortunately, we had to leave town quickly so that we could get back home to Oxford that night, so we were unable to celebrate that day. We got Starbucks coffee (and Ben picked up this red IU sugar cookie), and we hit the road, only stopping for dinner at Fazoli's (and sharing the IU cookie). Don't worry, I have plans to take Ben out for a nice dinner to celebrate. We just can't do that too easily with two kids in tow.
After dinner we piled back into the car for the rest of our drive to Oxford. Aedan was tired and ready for bed, but was distracted by Samantha rustling books and making noise, so we encouraged her to close her eyes and go to sleep, too. It was already after 8:00, and we still had a while to drive. She was pretty resistant to it at first, especially since it was still so light out, but we finally convinced her to try. I knew she was tired since she hadn't napped that day, so once she closed her eyes she fell asleep pretty quickly. Both kids slept the rest of the way home. :)
It was a successful end to a monumental weekend. I can't say enough about how proud I am of you, Dr. Benjamin Thomas Toll.
(Blog about June 16-23, 2015)
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