Samantha Getting Sick, Festival of Lights, and Decorating for Christmas

Samantha: 54 Months, Week 1

Aedan: 18 Months, Week 4 (Week 82)

Samantha developed a cold on Monday and wasn't feeling the greatest, so we had a low key day on Tuesday as a result, which is fine by me. We played at home, but Samantha had very little energy to play. In fact, I even let them watch a show during the morning, which I don't usually do, simply because they both needed to rest (and stop fighting with each other over toys). Samantha sat in her favorite spot on the couch, the closest to the TV she can get, and Aedan even sat down beside her and watched Curious George for awhile as well. He doesn't usually care too much about watching TV, but he does like sitting right next to his sister and doing whatever she is doing.

After that we had snack time and then made a craft together. I found an example of a turkey craft online, made out of all materials that we had at home, and I knew Samantha would enjoy cutting things out of paper. Aedan wanted to get in on the craft time as well, so I let him use the paint markers to make dots on paper. He loves these markers because he can have complete control over them, and I can let him use them as much as he wants because they are washable and easy to use without making a mess.

Here is Samantha's finished product. Her turkey turned out really well, and she enjoyed being able to cut out the circles, glue on the eyes, and even learn how to do an accordion fold for the tail feathers. I'm glad we decided to spend the day at home together, and I'm glad that I took the initiative to find a fun craft to do. Oftentimes with Aedan being so young and such a monster, it's pretty impossible for Samantha and me to do anything like this together because he will want to participate somehow and will cry and whine if we ignore him to do something like this together. It reminded me of two years ago when I did some preschool activities at home with Samantha. It's a fun way for us to spend time together, especially as we enter the colder months and will be looking for more indoor activities. Anyways, I think her turkey turned out great, and it then became the centerpiece for our table.

I ended up having Samantha take a nap on that Tuesday afternoon because she just was not feeling well and I didn't want her to get more sick by not getting enough rest, especially with community group being that evening, meaning that we wouldn't be able to get her to bed early like we usually do when she skips her nap. I'm glad that I had her nap because she really needed one, was very tired throughout the morning, and ended up falling right asleep. I'm still so torn about what I think with Samantha's naps because it still seems like she needs that rest time in the afternoon, and I don't want her to catch more colds and sicknesses because of not getting enough sleep.

I feel like so much of our life is wrapped up in our future these days. With Ben on the job market, each day something new could come up, and we have no idea what is in store for us for next fall. For example, Ben heard from the chair of his department that the dean is not going to hire in Political Communication for the fall of 2017 like was originally assumed. That would mean that Ben would have one more year as a Visiting Assistant Professor, if he needed it, and then would have to find a job elsewhere. When Ben told me that on Monday, it was such disappointing news, and I know it was extremely discouraging to him. We were hoping that staying at Miami for another year with Ben as a VAP with hopes of them hiring in Ben's area next fall could be a good back-up plan if Ben didn't get any other job offers from his applications this year. I was glad that at least his chair is being upfront with Ben and letting him know how things are going and what to expect, that way we are not assuming anything or left in the dark about the future intentions of the department. That news on Monday was followed by a scheduled interview at the University of Cincinnati on Tuesday. I was praying for Ben so much that morning, not necessarily that this would be the place that would want to hire him, although that would be nice, but more just for peace for Ben, that he would be able to express himself clearly and confidently, and that God's will would be done in our future plans. None of this is in our control at all, and I have to continually remind myself that God knows and has planned our future exactly how He wants it. He knows where our family will be next year and how He will provide for us, we just have to rest in that knowledge and trust in God's promises, which is definitely easier said than done. Ben said that the interview went well, but it's always hard to tell what people think and read people in a scenario like that. Their goal is to make invitations quickly after Thanksgiving, so Ben should know by then if he will be invited for a campus interview or not. It is not exactly the type of place that he would particularly love because it is more research based with less emphasis on teaching, but it would be better than moving across the country or even staying at Miami for another year when we know it's a dead end, so we will see what happens and if he's pursued any further by them.

Wednesday was going to be a wet and dreary day, so after dropping Samantha off at preschool and getting Bennett, I let the boys play outside while the weather was still decent. They love taking turns going down the slide and playing in the sand box together. I enticed them back in the house by offering a snack, and then after diaper changes we were off to the library for some play time away from the house. Sometimes it's difficult having two wiggly boys to wrangle when neither of them wants to be held or made to do anything, but it's worth it to have the morning off on Mondays instead. At the library the boys had a good time playing. There were a lot of other moms and kids there that had come for story time, so I was able to talk to some friends while the boys played. Aedan has really enjoyed computers lately and is always trying to get our laptops out at home to play with. Well, he just recently discovered the kid computers at the library that you can play on. I was able to find a game that he could just hit keys and make things appear on the screen and make music play, so he enjoyed that for quite awhile. However, when it was time to let another kid have a turn on the computer and then when it was time to leave the library, Aedan threw a huge fit. He cried and threw himself backwards with all his strength. It took all my muscle to carry a screaming Aedan, as well as a not so happy Bennett, out of the library together and out to the car. For some reason Aedan was just super grumpy that day. He didn't want to do much, cried over every little offense, and even fought me every time I had to get him in his car seat. It made for an interesting morning that's for sure.

The rest of the day rushed by just as quickly and chaoticly. I had Samantha take a nap again that afternoon because she was still not feeling well after picking her up from preschool. She complained about her tummy hurting her, had a runny noise, and just looked really tired. When I mentioned that she should probably nap, she said, "That's okay because I wanted to take a nap anyways." She barely ate anything for lunch and then just wanted to lay in her bed rather than play. I knew she needed extra sleep. She didn't want any medicine, but she went right to sleep. We figured she must have been trying to fight something off, and I was so hoping she would feel better soon.

That evening I had plans to go out with Stephanie and Brenda to a Pinterest class at the pottery painting place in Oxford. However, Ben teaches until 5:20 on Wednesdays so I had to wait until he got home before I could leave. I made potato soup in the crock pot and got the kids started eating so that way I could head out as soon as Ben got home. He got caught talking with a student for awhile, getting home even later than normal, but I was able to head out and only arrived about 15 minutes late. I had a fun time making my snowman out of blocks of wood that we painted white for the body and black for the hat. We glued on decorations, painted on a face, and even tied a scarf around its neck. It was fun to go and do something crafty like this with other women, although I discovered that it's difficult for me to talk with other people when I am doing something where I have to concentrate on something. I was happy with how my snowman turned out and am looking forward to adding it to my Christmas decorations.

While I was out, Ben had a good time at home playing with the kids, playing the ball game, and playing in Samantha's room. Aedan loves to climb up on her bed with her, and Ben got some really great pictures of the two of them together. I think our kids are pretty cute. They look so similar. :)

Thursday morning I had plans to take Samantha and Aedan to the special story and craft time at the art museum. They do it once a month, generally, but we weren't able to go to the one in October. However, when we went in September Samantha really had a good time, so I wanted to be sure to take her again whenever I could. Samantha was super excited when we pulled in the parking lot and she saw Matteo, Bennett, and Miss Andrea. Matteo and Samantha are such good friends; it's great to see. She also loves Miss Connie who tells the stories in animated voices and sings fun songs with the kids. Aedan sat still for a little while during the stories, but his favorite part was dancing with Samantha during one of the songs. It was so adorable watching the two of them together. He loves it when she includes her and shows her attention. He watches her every move and looks up to her so much.

After story time we made a Thanksgiving craft. Samantha chose to color in the little vegetables and glue them on the cornucopia. She loved using the permanent markers and colored each one carefully before gluing it down. In fact, the art museum employee who was leading the craft commented on how well Samantha was coloring and how detail-oriented she was, stating that maybe she will grow up to be an artist some day. Samantha liked that idea. I let Aedan participate in the craft as well, and he colored with the washable markers some but particularly liked using the glue stick. He covered the top of his craft with lots of glue and got upset if I tried to take his glue away. I think this was the first time he's ever used glue, and he enjoyed how it felt on his fingers when they stuck together.

As we were on our way out, Samantha suggested that we walk around and look at the statues like we did last time. It was a little chilly, but it was a nice enough day. After climbing on some of the statues, the kids had the most fun just finding sticks and walking around in the grass. Samantha found mounds of dirt and decided to make a stick garden. She hoped that they would grow and still be there when we came back another time. I love watching them play and use their imaginations in creative ways.

Since I had Samantha nap the last few days due to her not feeling well, I decided to let her just have quiet time on Thursday afternoon. She was still saying her stomach hurt after lunch, but she was in a much better mood and seemed to be feeling better. She always does well playing quietly in her room, but even after giving her quiet time, she was acting so tired still. Her eyes looked extremely sleepy, and she did not handle herself well that evening. When she's tired she's always so much more emotional, she doesn't play as well with Aedan, and we have to spend a lot more energy on disciplining her rather than just playing and having fun with her. I still am so conflicted about her napping. It seems like she really needs it, and she has had such a hard time in the last week since we've tried to take it away. Sometimes I wonder if we're just being too uptight about what time she goes to sleep at night. She is not being loud when she is up in her room after we put her to bed, but she lays quietly in her bed talking quietly or playing with her blankie. We wouldn't even know she was still awake if we didn't have a monitor in her room, which most people probably don't have for kids that are 4 1/2 years old. Maybe we are just too controlling and have too high of expectations for how quickly we expect her to fall asleep at night. All I know is that I'm tired of dealing with a tired girl, and if naps can help her have better days and happier family time, than I am not too keen on giving them up yet.

Thursday night was a mom's night out with other Oxford moms, and Ben graciously offered to put the kids to bed so that I could go. I helped Ben give the kids baths and tried to sneak away while he was finishing up; however, Samantha made a big deal out of it, telling Aedan that Mommy was leaving, which then made him start crying. I felt so bad leaving Ben with Aedan who was crying pretty hard and Samantha who had an attitude from being overtired.

We made plans with the Schroer family earlier in the week to go to the Member's Preview of the Festival of the Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo on Friday evening. Since we knew our evening would be busier and we would be out late, we had a more relaxed day. Samantha went to preschool, and Aedan and I went grocery shopping and played at home together. Ben picked Samantha up from preschool, and I had lunch ready for everyone when they arrived home so that we could eat quickly and get Aedan, in particular, down for a nap. We wanted to allow him to get most of a good nap in before 4:00 when we wanted to head for the zoo. Samantha was very tired after skipping her nap the day before, so we also had her take a nap. She really didn't fight us about it much at all because she knew that she needed to take one so she could have more fun that night at the zoo with Matteo.

We arrived at the zoo around 5:00, and the Schroers were still on their way, so we made our way into the zoo to see the rhino nutcracker, the tree, and the beautiful lights while we waited for our friends to arrive

We saw a sign for a Frozen area, so we went there first. We didn't expect Anna and Elsa to be there, and Samantha was excited to go up and see them, hug them, and get her picture taken with them, even though she knew that they were just dressing up as Anna and Elsa. Aedan was actually interested in meeting the sisters as well, going right up to them and giving them a hug. I love these little pictures of him, and he was so cute toddling around in his winter coat.

From there we walked through a tunnel of lights and then watched the light show on the lake in the middle of the zoo. They played music to popular themes from movie scores. Both kids stood and watched these lights for quite some time. We didn't want to make them move on quickly and wanted them to stand and enjoy the lights for as long as they wanted, so while I stayed with the kids, Ben went off to the cafe where we were going to eat dinner so that he could order the pizzas for our families.

While Ben waited for the pizza and claimed a table that would be big enough for all of us, I took the kids walking around the zoo. We found a path that led through the bamboo and had these beautiful glowing balls hanging all the way down the path. Samantha and Aedan loved touching all these lights as we walked down the path together.

After finally meeting up with our friends and eating pizza for dinner, we walked around the zoo more, looking at all the beautiful lights on our way back to the gingerbread houses and reindeer. Samantha and Matteo were so excited to be together at the zoo that sometimes it was hard to keep them with us rather than running way up ahead of us. Here are some cute pictures of the two of them together.

We don't want to leave out Aedan and Bennett, so here's a picture of the two of them riding in their strollers next to each other. Bennett was much happier staying in the stroller than Aedan was. He kept wanting to get out and walk around by himself, but there were way too many people to try to keep track of him running around in the dark.

The Schroers bought all of us gingerbread cookies and then we decided to watch the Madcap Puppet Show because it's a really fun show where they use black lights, making it look like the puppets are floating around in the air. The cookies were a good distraction while we waited for the show to start. Samantha and Matteo loved the show and laughed hysterically at the silly antics of the snow people and dancing marshmallows. Ben and Joe had Aedan and Bennett off to the side since they were getting antsy while waiting for the show to start, but once it started Aedan thought it was really interesting to watch and Bennett got a little upset when the marshmallows were knocking each other around.

The kids wanted to ride the train, but we figured it would be a pretty long line since the zoo was packed that night, so we stopped at the playground for some play time before our friends had to go home. We decided to stay for awhile longer and ride the train so that way we wouldn't have to worry about going another time during the season. I put Aedan in the Ergo so that way he could stay warm and happy without trying to throw himself out of our arms and try to get down while we waited in line. We even gave him his pacifier, thinking he might even fall asleep. We ended up waiting in line for about 40 minutes, but the kids did really well. We got some hot chocolate that helped pass the time for Samantha, and Aedan was happy being close to me. (I enjoyed snuggling close with him as well.) The train ride was beautiful, and it gives you a different perspective of the lights on the lake when you are riding around it on the train.

When we got off our train ride, it was already after 9:00, so we decided it was time to get home. We don't normally keep our kids out this late and didn't want to push our luck. Plus, we still had our forty-five minute drive home. On our way out, while Daddy took Samantha to the restroom, I took a picture of Aedan and me in front of the lit Christmas tree.

We had a fun night out together with friends, and I'm glad we decided to do this even though the zoo was crowded and we were all tired after a long day.

The rest of the weekend was really pretty relaxing for us. Our kids actually slept past 7:30 on Saturday morning which to us is sleeping in, especially because of our late night the night before. We had a relaxed Saturday morning making pancakes and playing at home. Samantha declared it a pajama day, so her and Aedan stayed in their pajamas most of the day.

Before nap time we put our tree up, and yes, I broke down this year and got a fake tree. Every year we've been married we have gotten a live tree because I like them so much better, the way they look and smell. However, with Aedan being such a monster and getting into everything lately, I was a bit afraid of how he would handle a live tree. I feel like Ben and I always have trouble getting the tree trunk secured in it's stand without leaning one direction, and I didn't want to deal with Aedan possibly knocking the tree over somehow or messing with the water in the bowl underneath. Plus, it was much easier getting this tree set up and decorated with very little hassle which I know Ben appreciated. Anyways, we got the kids down for earlier naps because they were both so tired from our late night at the zoo, and while they were sleeping I fluffed out the branches of the tree, and Ben helped me wrap the garland around it. We told Samantha that she could help us decorate it when she woke up from her nap, so I made sure to get all the ornaments out and ready for when she woke up. I was even able to hang up the icicle lights outside as well as put out most of the inside decorations while they napped. I wasn't feeling the greatest myself because Samantha had passed her cold/cough germs on to me, but I felt like it was a productive afternoon.

Samantha was so excited to help us decorate the tree, and she did a really good job placing special ornaments in places where Aedan wouldn't be able to reach them and spreading the ornaments around to fill empty places rather than putting them all in a clump together like she did last year. She also enjoyed looking at the ornaments that we have bought for her each year and hearing the story behind them. Our tradition is to buy an ornament for each kid each Christmas of something that symbolizes their year, and when they move out of the house someday they get to take these ornaments with them to decorate their future Christmas trees. Then, we also buy a family ornament, usually with a picture of the kids or of our family that we can then keep for ourselves. I think it's a fun tradition, and I enjoy picking out our ornaments each year.

And here is our finished product. I think it looks beautiful. I like the white lights that make the whole thing look bright and sparkly. And really, I don't miss having a real tree. Things are already busy and chaotic enough, and this tree made our decorating so much more simple. Plus, we paid a similar price for this tree on the Oxford Online Yard Sale website as we paid for a live tree last year. So even if we feel like getting a live tree some year down the row, we won't be out that much money from buying this one.

After Samantha helped me decorate, she wanted to watch her show, and she decided to watch it on the iPad. Even though she was feeling somewhat better on Friday afternoon, being out late in the cold on Friday night made her stuffy nose return and she had also developed a cough. Ben and I were sitting next to each other and looked over at Samantha, thinking she was so cute all wrapped up in her show, still wearing her footie pajamas. Sometimes she looks so grown up, but other times like this, she looks so young.

Aedan took a really long nap, sleeping until after 5:00, even though we put him down earlier than usual. He was SO fascinated by the ornaments on the tree when he came down from his nap. I am not a stickler on him not touching them at all, because that would be impossible anyways, but I am trying to get him to be gentle and only touch them with one finger rather than trying to pull them off the tree. He really has done a good job despite his great interest in the tree. As he noticed different ornaments that caught his eye, he would point to them and look at me, babbling all the time, like he was trying to tell me something very important. Sorry Ben, I think we have two Christmas tree lovers on our hands. The first thing they both want to do in the morning when they come down is to turn the Christmas tree lights on.

Sunday was church day, and it was our week to volunteer, so we planned on being there for both services. Both Ben and I woke up tired that morning for some reason. I know that I have not been sleeping well, tossing and turning much more than usual, and then waking up with terrible pain across the top of my back, shoulders, and neck. I don't know if it's just how I am laying when I sleep or what because this has never happened before. Nevertheless, I was yawning through church and didn't know what our volunteering hour would look like with Aedan. We figured we would try having him stay for both services again, but when we came downstairs from the service, Mr. Brian was carrying Aedan around in the hall so there was no escaping for us. Aedan immediately wanted to come to me. I talked to Angie about what I could do with volunteering, and she agreed to allow me to volunteer in the toddler room instead of the elementary room so that way I could be there with Aedan to help him cope better, as well as help out as a volunteer to the teacher in that room. It worked out pretty well, much better than trying to keep him there by himself. He just gets pretty tired and hungry around 11:30, which makes him whinier and harder to deal with. However, I think we will continue this for awhile with Ben and me volunteering in different rooms until Aedan can better handle being on his own for two services.

The rest of Sunday was full of good rest and naps for the whole family, followed by fun times playing in the house while trying to watch a little football here and there. Here are a few videos of Aedan dancing and playing that afternoon/evening. I put new batteries in this stand-up toy in the kitchen that plays music, so he was really excited to make the banjo play music and then dance around. We think that he likes dancing and music even more than Samantha did at this age. I love to watch him smile when he hears music and automatically start dancing.

Here's a picture I took of the outside of our house while taking Roscoe out for a walk. Our decorations are simple, but I like them and they make everything look so warm and welcoming. I don't usually put up Christmas decorations and our tree before Thanksgiving, as a general rule, but we are going to Upland for most of the week for Thanksgiving, and I didn't want to mess with doing all of this when we return and are tired from being away from home.

Leading into Thanksgiving week, the kids and I had fun plans for Monday morning. Samantha had her Thanksgiving party at preschool for which she brought goodie bags for her class. We went to the dollar store on Saturday night to purchase things and couldn't find anything Thanksgiving related, so we went with the superhero theme instead since that was a recent theme in their class. Samantha helped me fill all the bags with candy, a mechanical pencil, and a magic towel. She was excited about her party and about wearing her turkey shirt. Aedan and I also had plans to go to a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving party put on my a local mom. It was fun to take him there and to let him play with the new toys while I got a chance to socialize with other moms. We had snacks and stayed until it was time to pick Samantha up from preschool.

Then, we had plans for the evening as well, to get together for dinner with our community group. I tried to get Samantha to nap as she was tired and still not feeling well with many sniffles and coughs, but she would not sleep, so once it got too late for her to still fall asleep, I just let her get up and have quiet time. Dinner went well that evening even though we had a smaller group than usual. All the kids were in strange moods that evening, so once we ate and got cleaned up, most families decided it was time to leave and get all the kids to bed. Again, it is rough for Samantha at night on days when she doesn't nap, but the one positive is that she does fall asleep much quicker since she is so totally exhausted. We are now looking forward to a break from our normal routine and a trip to Upland for Thanksgiving and family time.

(Blog about November 17-23, 2015)

Holiday Junction & Phasing Out Samantha's Naps

Samantha: 53 Months, Week 5

Aedan: 18 Months, Week 3 (Week 81)

Both kids woke up super early on Tuesday morning, so they were pretty tired just starting out the day. It was the first day of Tot Gym at the TRI, so after getting ourselves ready, we went over there to play. It was a lot more for Aedan's benefit than Samantha's because I figured he would really enjoy running around, crawling in the tunnels, playing with the balls, and going down the slide. Most of it is a little too young for Samantha, but I figured she would find some friends that she could play with there. However, I think because it was the first one of the season, there were tons of kids there, and as a result, it was a bit overwhelming. Aedan had a hard time playing like he wanted to because other kids would take the ball he was playing with or push him out of the way when he was trying to go down the slide. Samantha really was too tired to even play and decided she would rather just sit down and eat her snack. After a while of both kids just sitting down and only being at the gym for about half an hour, I figured we should just leave since they weren't playing anyways. There was preschool story time at the library at 10:30, and we had enough time to make it there for it. Samantha liked that idea much better than staying in the gym, so we headed for the library. There were not too many kids there for story time, so it was a nice small group with Mr. Chad. Samantha really does love story time: singing songs and listening to books read aloud. Aedan did what he usually does, loving to listen and dance along to the songs but loses interest quickly when it comes to the books. I was able to amuse him in the back of the room with snacks so that he wouldn't interrupt the other kids too much. After story time I let the kids play for a little while, but they were just so tired and Samantha was getting upset and freaking out over every little thing, even while playing at the library, and she didn't want to share toys with Aedan or the other kids. So around 11:30 I decided it was time to go home so we could have lunch and get the kids down for naps.

Ben and I have been going back and forth about what to do with Samantha's naps. As I said in my last blog post, we wanted to try going a week without her napping as a trial to see if that would help her go to sleep faster at night and then ultimately get more sleep. We understood that it would be a process and that it would take some time for her body to adjust. However, since starting the experiment on Saturday, we had her nap on Sunday because she was just too tired after being woken up early, and then on Tuesday, after another day of skipping her nap on Monday, she was just too tired not to take a nap on Tuesday as well. She was overly emotional, having many outbursts of anger, and had huge bags under her eyes. I knew, especially with having community group that evening, that she wasn't going to make it without a nap, so I decided to have her take one. I didn't even stay in her room at all, and she fell right asleep. It was just so hard to know what to do because I felt like we just needed to make a decision and stick to it rather than going back and forth between napping one day and then not napping the next day. However, so far it seems like her body is just not capable of getting through the day without a rest in the middle of the afternoon.

Samantha was in much better spirits after a nap that afternoon, and we knew she would have more fun playing that evening after some good sleep. Our community group usually meets downstairs in the elementary room so that the kids can go across the hall to play once we're done eating, but those rooms were being used that evening, so we had to meet upstairs in the youth room with no extra room for the kids. So after eating dinner together, we put on a show for the kids to watch to allow for the adults to have some discussion. It worked out okay, but we were glad this was only temporary. We have all been working on finding a babysitter for the kids and have had no luck so far, even though we are willing to pay some money, no one has been willing to commit to helping every week.

Wednesday was another typical day with taking Samantha to preschool and bringing Bennett back home to play. The boys had a great time playing with blocks and puzzles, and they even discovered Roscoe's cage and had fun crawling in and out of that as well. Again though, Aedan was pretty tired and was rather clingy that morning, making it difficult to get anything done and take care of both boys. We went back to preschool early so that we could pick up Samantha and Matteo before going to the Veteran's Day in the park in Uptown Oxford. Samantha was unsure whether she wanted to even participate in this. Every time I asked her about it, she would say she didn't want to but never really had a reason. I didn't want to force her to go if she really didn't want to, but I also figured she would want to be a part of it if most other kids in her class were going to be there. I talked to Miss Betsy about it on Monday when I picked Samantha up, and she reassured Samantha that her friends would be all together and that Samantha could even stand next to Miss Betsy, if that would make her feel better.

So, we got to the park and all the preschool kids were just running around and playing on the statues while they waited for the ceremony to start. Miss Betsy lined them all up, and they waited patiently until it was their turn. They went up in front of the people gathered and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I was too far away to really see Samantha and how she did, but I know that she knows every word of the pledge because once we got back in the car afterwards, she was trying to get Aedan to put his hand over his heart and recite the words as well. I think she was glad that she decided to do it with all of her friends. She even remarked afterwards, "I was so brave that I didn't even have to stand next to Miss Betsy!"

After getting home later than usual, we had a quick lunch and then got ready for nap time. Here are some pictures of Aedan playing before I put him down for his nap that afternoon. I was entering a contest for some cloth diapers if I posted a picture of Aedan in one, so I decided to snap a few pictures of Aedan.

I was finally able to get a smile out of him once I turned the camera around the other direction so that he could see himself.

I decided to let Samantha just have quiet time again because Ben and I decided we just needed to stick to it and try to let her body adjust to getting all her sleep at night. However, around dinnertime it gets hard for Samantha to handle herself. Also, when she is tired she tends to want to play by herself more often and is a lot less willing to let Aedan join her. However, Aedan doesn't understand this and loves to play with her, which then causes strife in our home, particularly in the evening when I'm trying to get dinner ready. Samantha doesn't want to play with Aedan, and Aedan is very needy at this time of day, but I can't play with him or hold him very easily when I am trying to make dinner myself and have it ready for when Daddy gets home. Anyways, that evening, since Samantha ate a good dinner, she wanted to have a Popsicle for dessert before Daddy had to leave for Bible study. Samantha sat down on the rug by the sink, so of course Aedan had to copy her. Aedan was so excited when we got the Popsicle box out of the freezer that he was practically jumping up and down. Ahh, it's the little things that make life good. :)

On Thursday I decided to take the kids to the Cincinnati Museum Center because we hadn't been there in a long time. They have a holiday train exhibit, and I thought it would be fun to see. We arrived a little after 10:30 and decided to go straight to Holiday Junction since it's something we've never seen before. It was a whole new area of the museum that they only open up at Christmas time, and it was so fun to look around. The Christmas train displays were very elaborate with lots of little details to spot. It reminded me a lot of the train displays at EnterTRAINment Junction.

They even had a small train for kids to ride. Since we were members, we got tokens for them to ride. Both kids were SO excited to ride on the train together, especially just the two of them, without me. At first Samantha was sitting across from Aedan, but then she decided to sit next to him so that she could hold on to him and make sure he stayed seated. It was difficult to get a good picture as they were much too interested in ringing the bell and looking at all the fun Christmas decorations, but I think that Samantha probably sat and held his waist for the entire ride. She is such a great, attentive, loving big sister, the best a little boy could ask for.

After riding on the train, they played with some train sets that were set up, and then we discovered these talking reindeer named Patter and Pogie. They were mechanical, and I'm guessing the people operating them were sitting behind the black screens of the little barn because the reindeer would talk as if they could the kids sitting out in the audience. Aedan was a little unsure of them, staying back a little distance. Samantha thought they were pretty interesting and even tried to talk to them. However, she was too quiet for them to hear and then when they asked her to repeat herself, she was too shy to say it again. They had a 30 minute long show that we could have come back for, but I think the five minutes we caught at the end of this show was enough for my kids. Samantha wanted me to take her picture with the talking reindeer at the end, and Aedan was too interested in them to turn around.

After getting our fill of the Christmas area, we went to the Children's Museum section. Samantha wanted to climb in The Woods area first, so that's where we went. She just loves to climb, and there are lots of fun climbing features in this area. The only problem is that Aedan wants to join in as well, but he is too little to climb in a lot of the places without my help. There is a small toddler/preschooler area with a tunnel and a large rope net that looks like a spiderweb. He enjoyed climbing on that a couple times but then wanted to wander elsewhere. I didn't want to make Samantha move on early, so I told her I was just going to go right into the next room to let Aedan play in the water. The museum was not very busy that day, so it didn't worry me. She's good about getting my attention every once in awhile so that I always know where she is. I got Aedan a smock to put on, and he played in the water, splashing around for awhile. However, he then began scooping out the water with his hands to drink it, and that's when I gave him a warning about stopping. He just continued to try to drink the water, probably because I told him no and that made him want to do it even more since that's the kind of child he is right now. He just wouldn't stop, so I eventually just had to take him away from the water area and back to The Woods with Samantha.

I let Samantha play for awhile longer in The Woods before I decided it was time for lunch since it was close to noon. I planned on buying a couple slices of pizza to have along with the bananas I brought from home. The kids always love pizza, and we didn't have much food at home for me to make a picnic lunch since I go shopping on Fridays and that leaves us pretty wiped out come Thursdays. Lunch was going fine, and we were having a good time together. I wanted Aedan to take a nap at home, so I wasn't planning on staying at the museum all afternoon, but I was going to give them at least another hour or so after lunch to play. However, our plans changed.

Samantha likes to sit in photo booths for some reason, so I let her do this as we were cleaning up our lunch trash. When I went to get her so that we could go play somewhere else in the museum (not something you'd think would make a kid upset), she gently swatted at me, like she was trying to hit me. Well, I decided to give her a small time out for trying to hit me. (We are really trying to nip this in the bud because she is doing it more and more, and now Aedan is copying her and has started doing it as well. For all the wonderful things he mimics, this is one we'd like to avoid if possible.) Then she really got upset when I was trying to give her a time out, she almost just sat right down, but then decided to come at me and hit me really right in the side. At that point, she was in big trouble with me, taking something that wasn't even a problem and escalating it to be a big deal. She was acting very tired and irrational, and after hitting me like that, I wasn't sure what to do, if I should put my foot down and let her suffer the consequences of her actions by going home, or if just getting a time out and a stern talking to would be enough punishment. We hadn't played that much at the museum yet, and they were having a good time. We made the trip all the way there and had just bought lunch, so I felt like it would be just a waste of a trip if we left right then. I also thought it was unfair to Aedan to have to leave because of his sister acting up, but then at the same time, he doesn't really know or care at this point. After talking to Ben, I decided it would be best just to leave, to prove a point that she can't act disrespectful like that and still get what she wants, and also just because she was so tired.

Since we have tried to get her adjusted to not napping, it seems like she's had a difficult time handling her emotions. She will fly off the handle much more easily, and it seems like the whole day after she doesn't nap is terrible. She had huge bags under her eyes. I was really disappointed with how the morning went and always feel bad when stuff like this happens, like I'm a failure as a mom, that I make Samantha do things she doesn't want to do, or that she doesn't like to spend time with me as much as with Ben or others, or that I just don't know how to handle her and help her deescalate her emotions. I don't like how tired she's been lately, and it seems like no matter what we do, whether we let her nap or not nap, she is just operating with a lack of sleep. I just hope that this all gets easier once her body adjusts to not napping and getting all of her sleep at night. I want to have fun with Samantha and not have every interaction with her be a negative one. Sometimes I just really miss my little girl. She's becoming more independent, not needing me as much, enjoying playing on her own more, and sometimes Aedan seems to dominate so much of my time because he's little and needs more from me. But I have to admit, I miss my Samantha.

Friday was a pretty normal day with dropping Samantha off at preschool, taking Aedan grocery shopping, unloading and putting away the groceries, and then playing with Aedan at home. I have found that I am really enjoying our Fridays together. On Wednesdays I have both Aedan and Bennett, but Friday is my only day of the week with just Aedan by himself. It's fun to show him one-on-one attention without feeling like I am neglecting Samantha by just playing with him. Aedan is a fun kid and has a great personality. As I was sorting laundry, he started playing a game where he would push a toy with one hand, knock it into something, and then tip it over. When it tipped over, he would come running back to me with a sad face, crawl into my lap, sit for a few seconds, and then get up and go back to his toy, pushing it again. He did this over and over many times. This reminded me of another game he started this past week where he would gently hit me with hands, and I would laugh and say, "Ow, ow, ow ow, etc." Then he would stop and make a whiny "Mmm.." sound with a sad face, and that would be my cue to pretend to cry, after which he would lean in and give me a hug. Then the whole game would start over again. He thought it was hilarious and wanted to keep pretending like this over and over again. It's the simple things that entertain him, and I love it.

Fridays are Daddy's lunch dates with the kids while I go to Zumba. He picks Samantha up from preschool and then brings them back to his office for lunch. They don't always eat the best, but they really enjoy being in Daddy's office and then going up to talk to the office ladies as well as play around in one of the classrooms. Plus, Samantha gets a root beer candy from one of the office ladies, so that's a plus as well.

The rest of the weekend went by fairly uneventfully, which is not a bad thing. To me, weekends are all about good family time, and we tend to be a little more low-key after the busyness of the week. Since Samantha has not been napping, we have been putting her to bed earlier at night, meaning she's in bed before 8:00 so that way she can fall asleep at a decent time. That's a benefit for Ben and me as well because then both kids are asleep earlier than usual, giving Ben and me more time together at night. We like to watch shows together like Amazing Race on Friday nights, and I also checked out the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, so we have been watching that a little at a time over the last week or so. I have a great husband to be willing to watch over five hours of British shows with me, simply because he loves me and knows I enjoy sitting next to him on the couch with his arm wrapped around me. There's no better way to end a day. :)

On Saturday morning Samantha had an exciting event planned. Matteo invited Samantha over to his house for a play date, and she was super excited. It was going to be just her, neither of us would stay, and most importantly, Aedan wouldn't be there either. She made sure to rub it in Aedan's face that she was going somewhere without him, and that she was looking forward to it. I dropped her off at 10:00, and they had a great time playing together. They helped Andrea make brownies, played outside on the play set, saw their chickens, and Samantha even convinced Matteo to play dolls with her. It was nice of them to have Samantha over, and I was glad that she could have something special like that, just for her. They were saying Matteo was feeling a little left out lately and needed something special just for him as well.

It was strange being home with just Ben and Aedan. We had forgotten how much more you can talk to each other when just with a toddler who doesn't talk much yet. Ben and I were actually able to carry on a conversation while we were playing with Aedan. Also, I was able to start cleaning the house some, since Ben was there to entertain Aedan. I have gotten to the point now where I pretty much have to leave cleaning as a weekend endeavor. It is impossible to clean the house when I am home alone with Samantha and Aedan, and if I only cleaned during nap time it would take me all week and every nap time, which is not my idea of a good time. So, I must take advantage of having Ben around to help out more with the kids while I clean the bathrooms, dust, vacuum, and mop. I don't enjoy cleaning, but like it a lot more when I get it all done in one fell swoop.

Even though Samantha was really tired on Saturday afternoon, we stuck with our plan and decided to continue with Samantha doing quiet time rather than napping. We wanted to try it consistently for a week, to really give it a fair shot and see if her body starts to adjust better the longer we do it. However, it's still really hard because she gets so tried around 1:00 every afternoon. She really enjoys playing in her room, though, and does a really good job having quiet time for an hour and fifteen minutes every day. She never tries to come out early, and she usually stays fairly quiet so as not to disturb Aedan while he naps. It's always fun to see what things she decides to play with once her quiet time is over. I'm really enjoying how her imagination has taken off lately in how she's finding creative ways to play with her toys. She has really enjoyed her Legos and has built some great castles and fences for ponies. Her Lego people interact with her fairies and her ponies. Her Barbies get ready and go all sorts of places together. She really enjoys this quiet time to play on her own without having her pesky little brother around, and I think it helps her introverted personality to have this built in alone time every day. Sometimes it takes some work to get her to clean up all the toys she played with during quiet time, but so far it's been good for her.

Aedan did not nap on Saturday afternoon for some reason. He fell asleep in the car with Daddy on the way to pick up Samantha from Matteo's house, and I can't imagine that would have messed up his ability to nap, but he just was not having it that day. Ben put him down for his nap, and he was quiet for awhile, but then started talking and making noise. Ben went up to his room and discovered he had a dirty diaper, so he changed him and then tried rocking him again to get him to sleep. He clearly was tired since he fell asleep so easily in the car. However, Aedan fell asleep in his arms and stayed asleep for quite some time but then woke up as soon as Ben laid him down. We gave him some time to try to calm down, but we knew that us going in his room again would not help in getting him to sleep. We had plans to go shopping at Once Upon a Child that evening, so once Samantha's quiet time was over, we decided to just get Aedan up and leave earlier than we had planned so that way we could get both kids in bed earlier that night.

There were several things we needed to go shopping for, especially in preparing for winter and colder weather arriving soon. We needed a winter coat and snow pants for Samantha, as well as snow boots, hats, and gloves for both Samantha and Aedan. I also wanted to get a few more long sleeve shirts for Samantha and a bigger size shoe for Aedan. It seems like he has grown quite a bit lately, and his 4.5 size shoes no longer fit him. I found some nice 5.5 Stride Rite shoes for a good price. We got all those things for around $65, and it made me wonder why anyone would shop for kids' clothes at a regular department store. We find so many good things at Once Upon a Child, and kids go through clothes and shoes so quickly, it's hardly worth paying full price. Anyways, after making our purchases, we ate dinner at Noodles and Company before stopping at Walmart for a few other things like new socks for Samantha, before heading back home for bedtime. Both kids were extremely tired, especially Aedan since he didn't nap at all that afternoon and he usually naps anywhere from 2 1/2 to 3 hours every day. Both kids were in bed and asleep before 8:00 that night. They did pretty well running errands with us, even though they were tired. I had thought about going by myself with the kids earlier in the week, but it would have been really difficult to corral them both while also trying to find specific items and have them try things on. I was grateful for Ben's assistance.

Sunday morning we were off to church for the 9:00 service. We hoped that Aedan would do better this week in the toddler room since we were only staying for one service. However, he cried when we dropped him again, even though I tried walking in with him to get him involved with toys before making a break for it. As we walked away, we saw the Burdettes in the nursery room, and they asked, "Is that Aedan crying?" I explained how he had a hard time last week since he was there for both services, and I think he remembers, so those feelings carried over to this week. He's been going through more separation anxiety lately, crying when people leave him, especially when I leave him. Sarah agreed to check on him for us and make sure he didn't stay upset for too long. I was worried about Aedan for most of the service, hoping that he wasn't having too hard of a time downstairs. When we went back down to pick up the kids, Aedan was being held and was crying again. They said that he didn't cry for too long at the beginning, and he just started getting upset again a few minutes ago when seeing other kids getting picked up. The rest of the time he did great, so I think he is just going through a little separation anxiety right now. I remember Samantha went through a similar phase as this when she was Aedan's age where she would cry every time we dropped her off on Sunday mornings. However, it didn't last too long, and she grew out of it, so I'm sure the same will be true for Aedan. It's funny all the different phases kids go through and how you have to adapt in different ways according to the different stages.

Blog about November 10-16, 2015