Aedan: 30 Months, Week 1
This week was mostly consumed with me really not feeling very well. Tuesday morning started off okay. Aedan and I played around the house, I took him to get his hair cut, we brought coffee to Daddy on campus, but by noon it really hit me. I was definitely not feeling well. I was hoping that I was getting over it, but I started to have a fever and chills. I took some ibuprofen to help lower my fever and take away the chills, but my body still felt achy for most of the afternoon. I tried to rest as much as possible during nap time that afternoon, but of course that was one of the few days that Aedan struggled with napping. He fell asleep in my arms like he usually does when I rock him before nap time, but then he woke up as soon as I tried to lay him down. It took some effort by me to get him to nap. I eventually had to take his paci away for a few minutes and make him sad, before giving it back to him and telling him he could only have it if he went to sleep. He eventually fell asleep a little before 3:00, giving me about an hour to rest before Samantha came home from school.
I continued to feel worse and worse throughout the day and as soon as my ibuprofen wore off, my fever came back. Ben was scheduled to get home around 6:00 from teaching his class, so I tried as hard as I could to make it until that point. I was not feeling good, and Samantha was acting very disrespectful from the moment she walked in the door from school. I sent her to her room for five minutes just to decompress and get herself into a better attitude. However, that did not seem to help. She was fighting with Aedan, being mean and bratty towards both of us, and eventually I just lost it with her when she tried to hit and kick me after I put her in a time out. I told her how I had explained to her that I didn't feel good and that I needed her to be extra help for me, but she was doing the exact opposite. I explained how when she acts like that, it makes me feel like she doesn't enjoy being around me, especially since she's good at school all day and would never dream of treating her teacher like she treats me sometimes. I know she is tired from a long day, but that doesn't excuse her behavior, especially when we give her plenty of chances to change her attitude and make better choices. I told Samantha how I look forward to her coming home every day so that I can spend time with her and how much I miss her when she's gone at school all day. However, when she acts disrespectful and mean, I don't want to be around her, and that makes me really sad. We were both in tears over these negative interactions with each other, and I had her stay in her room until dinner was ready. I finished making dinner while tears streamed down my face, both because of these hard afternoons with Samantha being so tired out from school that it negatively impacts our time together at home and also because I was feeling totally crummy.
Samantha and I had a heart to heart talk where she laid her sweet little head on my lap and said I'm sorry. I expressed my heart to her, how sad I was when she treated Aedan and me meanly, and how much I love her and look forward to spending time with her every day. Both of us cried together, gave each other big hugs, and she cuddled in my lap for awhile. I was glad to be able to connect with her in this way and make things right again.
Then, as soon as Daddy got home from campus, I left for the walk-in clinic to get checked out. I was tired of feeling crummy and hoped that they could provide some insight into what was going on. I had to wait for quite awhile because they were pretty busy. In listening to my chest, the doctor suspected pneumonia, so he sent me for a chest x-ray to check it out. I was diagnosed with right lower lobe pneumonia and was given prescriptions for antibiotics and an inhaler, as well as encouraged to take Mucinex and medicine to help with any fever or pain I may have. I was glad in some ways that there was something wrong with me and that I could take medicine to help get better. I am always so hesitant to go to the doctor, especially for a cough, because I didn't want them to just tell me it was a virus and that I would just have to take cough medicine and wait it out. I couldn't believe I actually had pneumonia, though, but that explained a lot about why I had been feeling so crummy for a long time.
The worse part about having pneumonia was how much my back and ribs ached. It was pretty much a constant ache, and the only time it wouldn't hurt was when I was sitting with a heating pad on my back. On Tuesday night it was really hard for me to sleep because my back ached so bad, and I couldn't get comfortable.
Here's a really sweet card that Samantha made for me after dinner on Tuesday night, while I was at the doctor's office. Ben said that she felt really bad about being mean to me when I didn't feel well, and Samantha worked on this card from the time dinner was over until it was time for bath. Ben had to read it to me so that I could understand what it says. Here is the translation: "Samantha Toll is sad. I'm sorry Mommy. Samantha Toll and my Mommy in my picture. I love Mommy." Notice how we both have sad faces? I love the pictures and cards my little girl makes for me. I could probably wallpaper a whole room with them by now. :) I'm glad she has such a sincere and empathetic heart.
We go to a wonderful church, and I am part of a MOPS groups of very supportive moms. After I posted on Facebook about having pneumonia, I was contacted by another mom seeing if she could help with childcare or making a meal. She came over that morning to drop off a crock pot of food for dinner, sides, and even dessert. I was so grateful that I wouldn't have to cook dinner, especially since Wednesdays are Ben's late night on campus. It took such a load off me, and I was so appreciative of the thoughtfulness. That afternoon Aedan took a better nap, back to normal with falling asleep in my arms and staying asleep, so I was able to rest on the couch, watch some Call the Midwife, and even took a nap for a little while before Samantha got home.
Wednesday night once Ben got home from campus and got some dinner himself, we watched the final game of the World Series together. I still was not feeling the greatest, but I could tell the antibiotics were beginning to make a little bit of a difference. I didn't want to miss out on the chance to watch the Cubs win the World Series, but I also knew it wouldn't be smart for me to stay up really late to watch the whole game, so I laid down on the couch and fell asleep about 10:00, woke up in the 9th inning, and then stayed awake for the rest of the game. My excitement was more subdued than Ben's when they got that final out and won the World Series, but it was an exciting moment in history, something so many people have been waiting for for so many years. I started this video a little late, so I didn't capture Ben's full reaction to the win, for there were many times that he jumped off the couch, pumping his fist, and doing his best not to yell out loud and wake up the kids. It was an amazing series and an amazing game, and now our Chicago Cubs are World Series champions!
On Thursday morning, I slept in to help myself begin to recover more. I felt guilty sleeping in and leaving Ben to take care of everything, particularly on a school morning when things are busier. However, the kids were excited to hear that the Cubs had won the World Series the night before, and Daddy made this cute video of them in their Cubs shirts singing "Go, Cubs, Go!"
And here are a few more cute pictures/videos that Daddy took of Aedan that morning. This little boy has the cutest little facial expressions. I also love how he acts shy sometimes and will bury his head into your side because, like his sister, he really isn't shy at all. :)
On Thursday morning, my friend Jill offered to take Aedan for me so that he could get out of the house for awhile and so I could rest some without having to entertain him. He was getting pretty bored just sitting around the house with me every day, so I was glad for him to have the opportunity to play with another kid and to be at someone else's house. Before she came to get him that morning, this is what Aedan was doing to pass the time. He turned the black chair and lined up the black footstools so that he could jump from one to the other and then fall onto the couch. This little boy is so full of energy and life. He is definitely a different kid than Samantha was at his age, but I am enjoying my time at home with him so much.
Aedan was really excited to go with Miss Jill and play with her daughter, Jorja. I was glad to have a quiet house, and I took advantage of the time to do some minimal cleaning in preparation for my parents arriving on Friday night. I took it slow, listened to Christmas music on Pandora, and tried to do as much cleaning as I could while sitting down. It was a very peaceful morning, and I was so grateful to have the morning off from trying to take care of Aedan while also trying to get work done around the house and feeling guilty that I wasn't playing with him as much as I should. Here's a picture Jill sent me of the kids that morning. She said he was pretty interested in the chickens, but liked that they were all inside the coop and not wandering around the yard. He was not a fan of their dog, however, because he's so used to our dog who just sleeps on the couch all day and never tries to go up to him, sniff him, and lick him.
Jill brought Aedan back home a little after 1:00, and to my delight and surprise, they stopped at the store so that Aedan could pick out flowers for me. He was so excited to give the flowers to me. He just ran up to me with the bouquet in his hand saying, "Flowers for you, Mommy!" When we said thank you and good-bye to Jill and Jorja, Aedan didn't want to let go of the flowers. It took some explaining on my part to tell him we had to put the flowers in a vase so that they wouldn't die. Aedan helped me put flower food in the vase, I filled it up with water and cut the bottoms of the stems, and then Aedan plopped the flowers in the vase for me. It was so sweet of them to buy me flowers. I love the look of fresh flowers in a vase in the kitchen. It made me smile that my little man picked them out for me as well. :)
I was so grateful that the antibiotics were working, and I wasn't feeling totally back to normal, but much more like myself. I decided I was feeling like doing normal things again, so we went to get our kids' pictures taken for our MOPS Antiquities fundraiser, followed by a quick dinner out before going to small group together. It was nice to have Ben with me for all of these things, as he didn't have his 5:00 class that evening. Doing things together is so much easier and much more enjoyable.
On Friday I finished a few last minute things in getting ready for my parents' arrival that evening, like getting things picked up, vacuuming, and mopping the floors. Ben worked from home for the morning because I accepted a substitute job at Bahweting for a half-day afternoon job in 2nd grade. I want to sub as much as I can, but since I was still recovering, I didn't want to push myself too much by teaching for a full day. Plus, I can make almost as much in half a day at Bahweting than I can for a full day as a paraprofessional in other schools. I was excited to actually find a classroom teacher job, and I was excited for 2nd grade because that is an age I am familiar and comfortable with. I was able to talk with the classroom teacher for a few minutes before she left for the day, and then I had about fifteen minutes to look over the plans before the kids came back from recess. I read aloud to the students. Then, I had a math lesson to do with the class which covered counting with money following various rules, either adding or subtracting a certain number and switching back and forth. Some kids really had a hard time with this, so the paraprofessional substitute and I spent quite awhile going over the worksheet with each kid to ensure they understood how to do it on their own. We did a Social Studies lesson, passed out Friday Folders, cleaned and organized their tables and lockers, they had snack and afternoon recess, and then at the end of the day, the kids were allowed to play games on the computers in their room. I felt like the day was successful. We got the work done that the teacher left for us to do, I'm sure there was more talking than normal since I was not their normal teacher, but I was able to manage the class and handle their behavior with ease. I felt really good about the afternoon, I enjoyed my experience subbing as a classroom teacher, and I hope that I get another opportunity to sub here in the future.
Samantha just rode home with me that afternoon, and then we spent the next couple of hours playing as a family and getting dinner ready for when my parents would arrive. We actually gave the kids a bath before dinner so that way we wouldn't have to take them away from Grandpa and Grandma that evening just to bathe them. The kids are always so excited to have visitors, and they were thrilled when they pulled into the driveway. We had a fun evening playing and talking, enjoying our time together.
Grandpa and Grandma were excited about watching the kids ice skate. My mom hadn't seen them yet, and my dad only saw them on the day of their first lesson when Aedan basically just sat on the ice and cried the whole time and Samantha was still trying to remember what she learned during her lessons in Oxford. As you can tell by the videos, they've improved a lot, and it's always fun to watch them improve more and more every week.
For some reason, it seems like ice skating really tires the kids out, and by the time we get home they are hungry and ready to go to sleep. Ben and Grandpa even came back to the house early to start working on lunch so we didn't have to wait for as long. After eating tacos, rice, and beans for lunch, we attempted to get the kids down for their naps. Aedan took a good nap, like normal, and we tried our best to get Samantha to nap, but she just wouldn't calm down enough to sleep.
Ben and I had plans to go out on a date on Saturday night. We had tickets to the LSSU hockey game, and we decided to go out to eat at a nicer Italian restaurant in Canada before coming back over for the game. We went to Solo Trattoria, which was a restaurant we tried to go to a while back, but it was closed for a catering event. There are no Italian restaurants in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but there are several in Ontario that have pretty good reviews, so we figured we'd use our chance to go to out eat without kids on a nicer restaurant. When we arrived, they asked us if we had reservations, which we didn't know we had to have, but luckily they had room for us to sit at the bar. It was kind of nice sitting at the bar because we could sit next to each, and it felt more intimate. Our food and drinks were delicious, and the atmosphere of the restaurant was very nice. We were so glad we picked this place, and it was so wonderful to have a meal out with my love. I love just sitting and talking to him with no interruptions and no kids to take care of. Date nights are so important for the life of our marriage. From dinner we went back across the border, left our car back at our house, and walked over to the hockey game. It was fun to go to the game together, again, without our kids with us because it meant we were actually able to watch the game and not just entertain/corral our kids like we did the week before. Ben and I had a wonderful evening out, and we are so grateful for my parents always offering to watch the kids for us so that we can go out together like this.
While we were gone, Grandpa and Grandma took Samantha and Aedan to McDonald's for dinner and for some play time afterwards. They both ate well and had a good time playing together on the Play Place. They said that bedtime went well, too, but my dad had a message to pass on to us from Samantha. She now has her first loose tooth! He said that it was pretty wiggly, and Samantha wanted to be sure that we knew about it. She was so jealous of Alaina when she lost her first teeth, and we tried to encourage her by saying it would happen sometime, but we had no idea it would be so soon.
Overnight from Saturday into Sunday was when we fell back an hour due to Daylight Savings Time ending. Time change is always the worst for parents of young kids because they don't understand that by falling back you can actually get an extra hour of sleep. Kids don't care about getting extra sleep. Their bodies naturally wake up at the same time, regardless of the time change, so we prepared ourselves for the worst, thinking that our kids be up at 6:00 a.m. With Samantha's bunny clock, it's easier to control when she gets up. She may be awake, but she's at least laying in her bed until her bunny clock changes. Aedan, on the other hand, Ben had to wake up at 7:50, which really would be like 8:50 according to our old time. He very rarely sleeps in like that, so he must have been very tired that morning. We knew our kids would be up early, so we planned on going to the 9:00 service and then out to eat afterwards.
Going out to eat with our kids is always an experience. Aedan doesn't like to sit still for very long, so waiting for food is always a challenge for him. Samantha normally does okay, but she was really tired due to the time change messing with her sleep. Plus, her tooth was bothering her, and it hurt her when she would bite and chew, so she wasn't really in the mood to eat much lunch. It wasn't the most relaxing experience for Ben and me, but we figured my parents would enjoy the good food and large portions at the family restaurant, Pure Country.
When we got home, it was still too early for a nap, even though it felt like nap time to the kids, so Grandma and Grandpa had a chance to sit on the couch and read to the kids. They were so cute all sitting on the couch together.
Samantha was tired and went right to sleep, sleeping for close to two hours that afternoon. Aedan, on the other hand, did not fall asleep with Ben, and he actually stayed awake all afternoon, regardless of us going in his room and talking to him or even taking his paci away for awhile. This was the first time ever that Aedan was in his bed for a couple hours and never ended up falling asleep. I figured it was just another way that the time change was messing with him, plus he probably was not as tired due to sleeping so long that morning. I was a little worried about how the rest of the day would go if he didn't nap, but there was nothing we could do to make him sleep.
The weather on Sunday afternoon was beautiful, warm, and sunny. I know this is unusual for this time of the year in the U.P., so I wanted to take advantage of a chance to get outside. We decided to go over to Project Playground to let the kids play for awhile before dinner. Especially with the time change now, it gets dark at dinnertime, meaning if we want to play outside, we have to play outside before dinner. We all had a pretty big lunch out that day and weren't incredibly hungry anyways. There were a lot of other people that had the same idea so there were quite a few people at the park that afternoon. Samantha and Aedan had a great time running around, climbing, swinging, and pretending with us. It's amazing how happy Aedan is when he has Samantha around to play with and to follow around.
Then, it was time to come back home so that we could have a quick dinner of some leftovers before bath time and getting Samantha to bed at a decent time in preparation for another week of school to start the next day. In order to pass some time before bed, Ben put GoNoodle on his phone and connected it to the TV for the kids to sing to and dance to for awhile. GoNoodle is a website that Samantha uses in her class at school as a way to have a brain break and get the wiggles out before getting back to work, so she was pretty excited that we could do it at home as well. Aedan liked it too, but he was so tired from not napping that he was practically begging to go to sleep at 6:30, so we were doing as much as we could to delay bedtime to a more normal time. Since he was so tired, he mostly just zoned out and stared at the television screen.
On Monday morning Samantha said good bye to Grandpa and Grandma before Ben dropped her off at school, and the rest of us got ready to head to Tahquamenon Falls for a fun morning in nature. It was going to get up to the mid-60s on Monday afternoon, and there was no way I was going to spend the day sitting in the house on a gorgeous day like that. I suggested going to falls to my parents since they had never been there before, and they thought that sounded like a good idea. I packed a lunch to eat there, and my parents had all their stuff with them so they could head back to Chicago when we were done at the falls. My mom rode in the car with me on the way there, and Aedan didn't quite understand what we were doing in the car for so long as we drove there, but he was super excited to get out once we pulled up in the parking lot. It was amazing to me how deserted the place was in comparison to how busy it was when we visited over the summer. However, the quiet tranquility was quite refreshing. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining bright, and the leaves covered the ground like a yellow blanket.
We started at the upper falls, and Aedan was so excited to get out of the car and run down the sidewalk. He would run for awhile, stop and let us catch up, and then start running again. Man, was he cute, too. He kept saying, "My fast runner!"
The falls were beautiful, and I really enjoyed seeing them in the fall in comparison to how we saw them over the summer. I think Grandpa and Grandma really enjoyed seeing the falls as well. It is amazing how much water comes rushing over the edge and the power and noise this rushing water creates.
After seeing the upper falls, we drove back to the lower falls, had our picnic lunch, and then started walking on a path that led to a look-out for the lower falls. Aedan found two sticks which made him very happy, and he did a great job walking along with us.
I know I may be partial, but isn't he just the cutest little guy? I love these pictures of him. He is so happy and his smile is so indicative of his personality.
The lower falls were even more amazing to me than the upper falls because the water was rushing so much faster than when we visited the two times over the summer. This whole area you can see in the pictures and video below was much calmer in the summertime, so much so that this was the area where we waded around in the water with the kids with ease. We climbed up the rocks of falls to the left, and it was not dangerous. The only thing you had to be aware of was the slippery rocks. I love how nature is ever-changing, and I love how God works through nature, keeping everything in a delicate balance, and allowing us to enjoy the beauty of His Creation as well.
It was such a lovely afternoon that I almost hated to get back in the car and go home. I brought the Ergo carrier and thought about putting Aedan in it and going on a longer hike, but it was a little unclear whether the path went anywhere except for the four miles back to the upper falls, and I didn't want to hike four miles there and then back again. It was getting close to nap time, and Aedan was getting sleepy, so I figured it was best for us to just hit the road. We said good-bye to Grandpa and Grandma and parted ways. I gave Aedan his paci so that he could nap in the car, but he dropped it on the floor almost immediately where I couldn't reach it since I was driving, so I decided to teach him a lesson and let him fall asleep without it. I was slightly worried that he wouldn't actually fall asleep without it, but he gave into his tiredness pretty quickly, and slept for a little over an hour on our way back home.
I tried laying Aedan down again when we got back home, but he was not interested in sleeping any longer. That was okay though because we had to go pick Sissy up from school so that I could take the kids to the doctor. I scheduled appointments for both of them back to back so that they could have their physicals done for our foster parent application. They did a fairly good job at the doctor's office, even though they were bored while I was filling out all the paperwork. They both got a clean bill of health, and I enjoyed our new pediatrician, Dr. Newhouse. Then, it was time to come home for dinner and time to play together before bed. Ben had his late class, but they were just taking a test, so he planned to be home earlier to help put the kids to bed.
One of the most exciting events of the day was that Samantha lost her tooth while at school that day. She was so proud to tell me all about it when I picked her up after school, and she told every person she encountered from then on. She even kept asking me, "Did you know I lost my tooth today?" I think she couldn't believe that it actually happened. She came home from school with her little baby tooth in a tooth shaped box and a little sticker. I couldn't believe that Samantha lost her first tooth, just another step on her way to growing up, and now I have to get used to seeing a little hole in my little girl's smile.
We don't usually give into much of the pretending that comes with kids, like we don't do the Easter Bunny of Santa Clause, mostly because of the fact that we want to focus on Jesus at those times of the year. However, when it came to the tooth fairy, we decided to do it with Samantha. We had her hang her little tooth box on the bedpost right next to her pillow so that way the tooth fairy could reach it better. That night, after the kids were in bed, I spent quite awhile using stamps to write a little letter for Samantha from the tooth fairy. I made a little envelope to seal the letter in, along with $1 and peanut M&Ms. We never go in Samantha's room to check on her during the night, so she is not used to us ever coming into her room. Sometimes she is a really heavy sleeper and doesn't even hear Aedan crying, but other times she seems to rustle with the slightest noise or movement. So, I was a bit nervous about going into her room that night and having her catch me, already breaking the idea of the tooth fairy actually existing. I waited until Ben and I were going down to bed so that way the house was dark and quiet. I opened her door quietly and waited to see if I heard any noise. I heard her rustle and her blankie jingle, so I left the door cracked open and just waited for a few minutes until I heard her breathing deeply again. I tiptoed across her room, slid the little tooth necklace off her bedpost, and exchanged it for the envelope that was hanging on a string. It was a success! She didn't notice me, and I couldn't wait to hear what she thought about it the next morning.
(Blog about November 1-7, 2016)
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