Aedan's 3rd Birthday & Ben's 33rd Birthday

Samantha: 71 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 35 Months, Week 5

This week was one that Ben and I had been looking forward to for a long time. It was the last week of the semester for Ben. It was a busy week, for he was giving and grading finals. He even had finals at 7:30 in the morning two days that week. However, this marked the end of the semester, and the end of his first year at LSSU. I know Ben was looking forward to being able to relax more, to spend his days with Aedan while I finish out the school year at Bahweting, but also to actually have time to do research and work on papers, something that he has very little time to do during the semester, especially when just starting a new position and having to prep new classes.

Ben has been really good about coming home for a little while to let Izzy out of her kennel and let her run around and play at lunch time. Here is a picture and video of Izzy playing that afternoon. She was really enjoying pulling the balloon around, but if it got too close and touched her, she was afraid of it.

Izzy has been doing really well for us, even when she's in her kennel all day while we are at work. The biggest problem we are having right now is that she is starting to bite harder, so we are trying to stop that habit. We don't want someone, especially one of the kids, to get bitten too hard. She particularly likes to go for the kids' toes while we are sitting at the dinner table. I don't know if it's just Aedan's height or what, but she particularly likes trying to pull his socks off and jump up on his chair, making him whine and fuss at her to stop. Sometimes we have to put Izzy outside while we eat dinner so she's not causing too many issues while we are trying to eat. We try to encourage Aedan to just say, "Down, Izzy," and then ignore her, so as not to encourage her to keep jumping up, but so far he doesn't do a good job of ignoring her.

That evening after we put the kids to bed, when Izzy gets Ben and me all to herself, we tried to get a good picture of how big she is, how much she has changed and grown since we got her, but she is so active and excited, that it is almost impossible to get a good picture of her sitting still. She's just too interested in what we are doing. Regardless, isn't she a cutie?

On Wednesday I was really struggling with my job. The kids at school are much more wild since it's the end of the school year, and the classroom is much louder than I would prefer. After a day in the loud, out of control classroom, I sometimes have a hard time with our own kids being loud and crazy at night because I've been dealing with it all day and can't handle it anymore. I lose my patience much easier than I would like to, and I don't get to enjoy them as much as I would like. It's going to feel like a long end of the year, but at least the end is in sight.

Then to top off an already crazy day, I got punched in the stomach by a student at the end of the day on Wednesday for no apparent reason. We were walking in from recess, and he was standing in the front of the line. I corrected some students that were talking in the back of the line, and he just punched me square in the stomach, pretty hard. He caught me off guard, it hurt me, and it was all I could do to not start crying as we walked down the hallway. When we got back to the classroom, I had him sit in his seat because I couldn't deal with him when I was so visibly upset. However, it was then the end of the day and the class was leaving so nothing could really be addressed right then. At that point Samantha came in the classroom and was wondering what was wrong with me. She was sweet and helped get tissues for me though. I finally calmed down enough to continue on with my day, but I was worried. He didn't punch me extremely hard, and it's not like I was in physical pain, but I don't know how hard you have to punch someone in order to hurt the baby inside. Ms. Cornwell must have touched base with several people because the boy was called into the Dean's office and was given a two day suspension. Then, the principal and the HR director came in the classroom as well to check on me and see how I was feeling. They encouraged me to see my doctor to make sure everything checked out okay, and touch base with them when I had any update. So after Ben picked me up, I told him about what happened, and he, of course, agreed that I should see the doctor as well. We dropped everyone else off at home, and then I called my doctor to see what they would have me do. They suggested that I go to the walk-in clinic, so that's what I did. However, the walk-in clinic didn't have the proper equipment so they took me over to the ER. I was taken right in to the ER without having to wait, and I was seen right away. Since the nurses in the ER aren't used to having to find fetal heartbeats, it took them awhile to find my baby's heartbeat with the fetal doppler, and it was so difficult not to be worried in the back of my mind, not to jump to the worst conclusion and feel panicked that something bad happened to my baby. The first nurse eventually had to call in a second nurse to help her out, and then they found the heartbeat. It was nice and strong, and I was so relieved. A doctor came in to talk to me and basically said since I wasn't in any physical pain and wasn't bleeding and they found a good heartbeat, that everything appeared to be fine. He was glad to hear that I was going to have my scheduled ultrasound on Tuesday for double confirmation that no harm was caused to my baby. It was definitely a scary experience, and one that I would like to never repeat again. Ben was relieved to hear the news as he was very worried and patiently waiting to hear from me about whether our baby was okay.

On Thursday it was back to school again, but luckily Thursday mornings are pretty easy with two specials, giving us more of a break. Plus, it was nice not having the boy that punched me at school to deal with. When I saw Samantha at lunch time, she had good news for me: she moved up to level H for her reading level. First grade encompasses levels E through J, so she will basically be starting first grade at close to a second grade reading level, counting the progress she will make between now and next fall. It will be interesting to see what happens with Samantha next year. I hope she will be placed with the teacher I want her to have, and that she will be challenged enough. I also hope that she will be spared having some of these kids with the super challenging behaviors in her class. Now that I know all the kids, it will be hard for me to be okay with her being in the same class as some of them because I know how distracting and violent they can be at times.

After school on Thursday Izzy had her first appointment at our local animal hospital for her next set of shots. Ben brought Izzy along to pick Samantha and me up from school, and then he dropped Aedan and me off at the vet's office while he and Samantha went to Walmart to pick out a birthday present for Aedan's birthday. I had Aedan with me, and he got a little impatient waiting in the lobby and then in the exam room. Izzy was pretty nervous and afraid being in a new place she had never been before and having the doctor touch her and look at her. It's interesting to see what things make Izzy nervous. She's super outgoing around us, but around new people she will try to hide behind my legs. There was a big dog in the lobby that she was interested in, but at first she didn't want to get too close because she was too scared. Eventually, she got up the nerve to sniff the dog a little, but she kept a safe distance. However, she did a great job in the exam room, and she measured at 8 pounds. She didn't yelp when she got her shot, and everything checked out well on her. We go back in another three weeks, and then another three weeks after that. It will be interesting to see how big she gets and how much she grows over these next few months.

The other fun thing that happened more this week was being able to feel my baby move a lot more. Especially when I sit still in the evenings or lay down in bed at night, I can feel the baby moving around. In fact, I could have sworn that I saw my stomach push out a little bit once too. It's so exciting to feel babies move around inside your womb. Especially since this is most likely the last baby that I will feel move around inside me, I want to cherish these times when I can feel the baby. Even though I'm busy, I want to cherish my time being pregnant and not take this miracle lightly. I prayed for this little one for so long, and I don't want to forget that this little baby is a precious gift from God, the only one who can give life.

It was nice for Ben that he got the shopping out of the way first thing in the morning so that way he could spend time with Aedan and have a little pre-birthday celebration. He had tried to think of something different to do, but nothing was really open yet, and there aren't too many options without having to drive out of Sault Ste. Marie. So, he decided to just take Aedan to Jump UP because he knew he would like that too. Ben does a good job of actually playing with Aedan when they go there, not just sitting and watching him or looking on his phone. I know Aedan really enjoys this one-on-one time he has with just Daddy. Then, after playing for awhile at Jump UP, Ben took Aedan out to lunch at Penny's Kitchen.

Izzy is definitely enjoying having people home with her more, and it will be even better in the weeks to come. However, usually at some point in the evening she has to crash for a little snooze, and here are a few pictures I was able to sneak of her when she was sleeping. I love how she is laying half on and half off the bed.

We were heading into another busy weekend with Ben having to leave for a special honors dinner on Friday night. However, the kids were having fun playing together so I actually made dinner a little later than usual, giving Ben a chance to get back home and have dinner with us as well.

Then, this was later in the evening after the kids were in bed. She is surrounded by toys and the deflated balloon (that she had played with so much that she popped it), but she had to take a little rest on her bed. I'm glad that we kept this bed from Roscoe. She seems to like laying in it when she's tired.

Saturday was a busy day as well because LSSU's graduation was on Saturday morning. Here is Ben all dressed up in his regalia, ready to participate in his first graduation as a professor. The kids posed for a picture with him before he left for graduation. Samantha liked how fancy he looked.

The kids played outside a lot that morning with Izzy. It was kind of windy, but they could bundle up and were just fine outside. It was sunny, and the kids didn't seem to mind one bit. It was nice for me to have a little bit of time around the house that morning to get things done, like picking things up that just got left out during the week and cleaning our dirty kitchen floors. Now that we have a puppy, our floors are getting much dirtier again, but that's okay. Ben was gone most of the morning, through lunch time, and into nap time, so I got the two boys down for their naps, and then Samantha helped me wrap Aedan's presents. While the kids were napping, I got everything else ready for Aedan's birthday party that started at 4:00. We didn't do anything too fancy, just had a banner, some balloons, and Aedan's Woody and Buzz birthday cake.

Aedan's party started at 4:00, and we tried to get him down earlier so he would be awake in time, but we still had to wake him up at 4:00 when friends started to arrive at our house. He got a little shy when everyone arrived and started talking to him, making a big deal about wishing him a happy birthday. All the kids went down to play in the play room in the basement, ten in all from three different families (the Sayers and the Pyles). The parents tried to have conversations with one another while also keeping our eye on our kids. Everyone was having fun, and I'm so glad these two families could come help us celebrate this exciting day of Aedan turning three years old.

Aedan was very excited about opening his presents, so after letting everyone play for awhile, we brought everyone back upstairs to watch him open his presents. We got him a construction worker dress-up set with a head lamp with a real working flashlight. He opened up this present first. (We got him this knowing that it would go along with the present he would get from Ema and Papa. Plus, he likes to pretend he is Alpha Pig from Super Why.)

Samantha then found the present that she picked out for Aedan, and she was really excited for him to open it. She kept saying how she thought Aedan would really like the present from her.

Just look at her expression in this picture. I think she's saying something like, "What's this, buddy?" I'm glad that our kids enjoy picking out and giving presents to one another.

We also got Aedan a Super Why puzzle. It is a little beyond him at this point, but something he can definitely grow into. Plus, it came with a magnifying glass to use to find the hidden words in the picture. In addition, Aedan got a set of four Super Hero capes that came with slap bracelets and masks. Aedan couldn't wait to put on his Batman cape. Plus, he had enough to share with lots of the other kids there as well. And his last present from us was a Playmobil plane. Aedan is always wanting to play with Samantha's space shuttle, usually putting his Super Why characters inside, with Alpha Pig always being the pilot. So I thought it might be a good idea to get him his own plane to fly around. This one was much bigger and had seats for the people to sit in on the inside. He was very excited to get this box open and have Daddy put the plane together so he could play with it as soon as he could. This is my attempt at getting the birthday boy to smile for a picture. He is saying, "cheese," but it looks like he's giving me a grumpy face. :)

The next few presents were a bit of a blur, as paper and toys were just pulled out of the bag, sometimes not by Aedan himself. He got some fun toys like a Batmobile, a squishy football, a lego set with a Batmobile and other super hero scenes, a monster truck that looks like a Dalmatian and zooms forward when you push it, and other things that I know I'm forgetting. Again, it was such a whirlwind that I feel like I didn't get a good look at things.

After he opened all his presents, I went to pick up the pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner. We got all the kids a seat somewhere at the table or the counter, and it took us quite awhile to get the kids served. The adults just stood around in the kitchen and ate their pizza, since we didn't have enough chairs for everyone. I don't think anyone minded though. Once everyone had their fill of dinner, and we cleaned up everything a little, we got Aedan's birthday cake ready. All the kids resumed their positions, I placed three candles in Aedan's cake, lit them, and we all sung "Happy Birthday" to him. I think he was a little embarrassed about having all the attention on him because after Ben put the cake down, Aedan just kept staring at Ben with his fingers in his mouth. He did a great job blowing out the candles, of course, and everyone was very excited to eat Buzz and Woody. The cake turned out really nice and was pretty good, too. The kids definitely enjoyed their cake, and then went off to play.

At first I hadn't planned on having dinner because I didn't know how long the families would want to stay, but I'm glad we did because not only was it a fun party for Aedan, it was also fun for the parents to have an evening talking and relaxing with other parents. Aedan really enjoyed having Miss Lisa's kids at his house instead of being at their house, and he showed a lot of cute attention to Miss Lisa. I'm glad that staying at her house during the day for the last several months has been such a positive experience for him. Then, Samantha had the Sayer girls to play with, so everyone was happy. It was a really fun evening, with everyone staying until about 7:00 when everyone knew bedtime would be coming soon.

In all the craziness of the party, Ben and I forgot about Aedan's present from Ema and Papa. We put it together during nap time on Saturday so that way it would be ready to play with right away, but then we forgot to get it out and show it to him. So instead we gave it to him on Sunday morning and already had it set up in the basement to see when he walked down the stairs. He really liked the drill and couldn't wait to use it to turn the screws on the work table. He played with his work bench quite a bit that morning before church. Here is a video of Aedan going downstairs so that way we could show Ema and Papa what he thought of the present they sent for him.

We had some extra time before church that day, so we also took the time to help Aedan put his Super Why puzzle together. He was pretty good at finding the pieces when we looked at one section at a time.

It's hard to plan birthday celebrations when you still have normal every day life, plus arranging a babysitter on a school night is not exactly an easy situation. I ordered Ben the book "The Cubs Way," but that was the only gift he opened on his birthday. We have plans to go on a date to a Cubs game in Cincinnati over the summer when staying down in Upland, so that is also part of his birthday celebration, but I felt bad that we didn't have much special planned and that I didn't have the kids get anything for him. However, we did have yummy ice cream cake with blue icing, and the kids contributed by helping me some with the icing, and I had plans for us to go out to eat together on another evening when I could arrange a babysitter. Here is a picture of everyone helping Daddy blow out the candles. Happy 33rd birthday, my dear husband. You are such a wonderful husband and father. You provide for us in so many ways, and your children adore you. I love you more now than when we first met and fell in love. Our life is crazy and sometimes it feels like it never slows down, but there is no one else I would rather be doing life with. We make a good team, and I am blessed to be able to be called your wife. I love you with all my heart.

(Blog about April 25-May 1, 2017)