Samantha's First Week of First Grade

Samantha: 75 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 40 Months, Week 2

After a fun weekend with Upland Ema and Papa visiting us, Tuesday, September 5th was a big day for Samantha. It was her first day of first grade, and she was filled with mixed feelings. I think she was excited because she loved going to school last year, but she was also nervous because of the unknown. We have discovered that she has a lot more anxiety and worry when approaching new things than she lets on. People kept asking her if she was excited for school, and she never really gave a resounding yes. She had everything set and ready for the first day, and even finished getting ready quick enough to play for awhile before leaving for school. Here is Samantha reading a book to Aedan before school that morning. I know Aedan will definitely miss having Sissy around to play with. I think Izzy will miss having Samantha to play with in the back yard. It will be an adjustment for everyone.

We made a family trip out of taking Samantha to school that first morning. We wanted to walk her to her classroom and make sure she got settled in okay. She found her locker, got herself unpacked, and then the kids were asked to stand by their lockers, and they would go into the classroom together.  Here is the picture I took of her before school that morning. You can tell she is excited but a bit nervous at the thought of a new school year starting. She made several remarks about wanting to stay home with Aedan and me rather than go to school, and I know she has a lot of anxiety regarding when Owen will arrive. Samantha hopes it's not a day when she has school so that she can see him. Nevertheless, here is our little first grader, ready for her first day!

Once Samantha was off to school, Aedan and I spent the morning running errands, still trying to tie up loose ends from losing my wallet the previous week. I had to get a replacement card for WIC, buy a new wallet, and go to the bank to open a new checking account and figure out how we were going to pay for things in the meantime since our debit cards don't work and our new credit cards haven't come in the mail yet. I also had my weekly check-up with Dr. Amo. I couldn't get an earlier appointment that day, so Aedan had to come with me to this one. The appointment went well, and I brought Aedan's Leap Pad to play with while he waited. She asked me if I was having any pain and reminded me what things I'm looking for when I would need to call in or go to the hospital when labor starts. Aedan was interested when he heard the noise of the heartbeat, and he did pretty well considering we spent our whole morning running around town.

In the busyness of the morning, I forgot to have Samantha take her obligatory sign picture, so I had it ready when she came home on the bus that afternoon. She came running down the driveway from the bus, excited to see Aedan and me, but especially excited to see Izzy who excitedly greeted her at the doorway.
Samantha came home all smiles, excited to tell us about her day, and then excited to go out in the back yard and play. I'm glad that she had a good first day, and hopefully after conquering one day and knowing what to expect a little more, she will be less apprehensive about it.

On Wednesday morning Aedan and I took a trip to the library to play. He was tired though from waking up way too early, so he had a few episodes at the library where he freaked out about something and needed me to help him calm down and think more clearly. He enjoys playing at the library. They have Lego blocks, a tool set, train table, and several building kits. Story time starts next week, so we will plan on doing that as a weekly event together.

I was a little worried how Samantha would do adjusting to going back to school and being busy and active all day long, but she had good days and actually seemed to be in a better mood in the evenings at home with us. She was definitely getting bored at home towards the end of the summer, and she was ready to get back into a predictable structure and routine.

One of my projects for the week, with Samantha back in school and Aedan taking his longer afternoon naps, was to make and hang Owen's curtains for his room. I started on Wednesday night and decided to take some time throughout the day on Thursday to finish them up. I let Aedan watch some shows while I worked in the living room with him, and then I finished them up that afternoon while he napped. However, that doesn't mean that we didn't have a fun morning playing together as well. Aedan got a lot of good time playing and wrestling with Izzy, to which she gave him lots of puppy kisses in return.

Aedan found the scraps of fabric from the curtain and some extra string lying around. He said, "I wish I could use this to make a kite." So that's exactly what we did. I had him go in the back yard to search for some sticks, and then we used some duct tape to secure the sticks to the fabric. It probably looks more like a flag, but he was very proud of his kite and wanted to show it off to everyone. :)

Samantha's first week of school went by quickly and successfully. Ben and I even met with the school principal, Samantha's teacher, and another second grade teacher on Friday morning to talk about our plan to challenge Samantha in the coming year. She totally completed the first grade Everyday Math Curriculum, and she was ready to move on to second grade math. We hoped that the schedules could align so that she could just go to second grade for math at the same time her class was doing math. However, we discovered that they were at opposite times of the day, which made scheduling everything pretty difficult. As all of sat and brainstormed around the table, we came up with a solution that could work with Samantha going to second grade math during the afternoon and then possibly being in a higher level reading group in the morning time slot that the rest of her class would be doing math, since Samantha is also at a second grade level in reading. They also said that she will do AR quizzes two mornings a week, so that is another way she will be challenged. In the coming week they were going to start doing the beginning of the year MAP testing to see where they score for math and reading, as well as a reading test that places them at a certain reading level according to a letter of the alphabet. At the end of last year, Samantha was placed at a level H, so it will be interesting what she comes out at this year. She has definitely been reading a lot this summer, so I wouldn't be surprised if she comes out quite a bit higher. It was a good meeting, and I was glad it happened so quickly at the beginning of the school year. Knowing that everyone is in the loop and that there is a plan trying to be set into place to help challenge Samantha makes me feel good about the academic growth we can expect to see throughout this next school year.

On Friday evening we were all just feeling like relaxing after a busy week, so we decided to go out to eat together at Zorba's. We hadn't gone out to eat at a sit down restaurant in quite awhile, and who knows how much more time we have just as a family of four, before a newborn comes along and going out to eat will become much more difficult for awhile. The kids actually did a really good job eating their food that evening, and it was a really enjoyable night out together. We ate, we talked, we had a good time, and we got some good family pictures together. :)

For however good Samantha's week was at school, it seems like the weekend was really difficult with her. She has been having bathroom issues again. She has been getting up at least three times a night to go to the bathroom, and she also came into our bedroom once a night several times over the last week. She came into our room for different reasons. Once it was to tell us that she had a bad dream, once was to say her fan was making noise, and once was to say that she lost her blankie. She has also been getting up pretty much every night, fifteen to thirty minutes after we put her to bed to go to the bathroom again, even though she's not allowed to drink anything after dinner, and she always goes potty right before bed. She has had attitude, been talking back to us, refused to do things we ask her to do, and just generally has been mean to all of us. She is overtired, with school starting and then not sleeping enough, since her sleep is getting interrupted at least three times a night. So now she's also developing a pretty bad cold because her body isn't getting enough rest and she's been exposed to a lot more germs at school. Ben and I are so confused by it all, and we have talked about it so much and tried to think of why all this could be happening, but lately we have just gotten tired of thinking about it and talking about it every day. It seemed like she had largely gotten over this problem before school started, but we were also trying to keep her on more of a schedule, like encouraging her to at least wait for two hours between times of going to the bathroom. We have no idea what is causing it, whether it's the anticipation of school starting combined with waiting for her little brother to arrive, whether it's an emotional thing and a way that she responds to stress and change or a sign of her anxiety about things that are beyond her control. We just wish there was some way we could help her because it seems like everything we have tried is not working. This problem really hasn't gone away since the beginning of July. We don't want to brush her off or ignore an underlying issue or make her feel even more anxious or unloved, but Ben and I have both had enough of dealing with it day in and day out. We want it to be resolved. Both of us hope that once Samantha settles into a routine at school, and once Owen arrives and our family settles into a new normal, these issues with Samantha, whether physical, psychological, or emotional, will resolve themselves.

On Saturday morning, Ben decided to take the kids out on some errands while I stayed home and got some work done around the house. They went to the recycling center, bought pellets for our stove so we are all set once it starts getting colder out, and even took the car through a car wash. Ben took these pictures and videos of the kids as our minivan went through. As you can tell, they thought it was pretty cool. We had never gotten our car washed before, and they certainly have never experienced it from the inside. After seeing their reactions, Ben said, "It's times like these that I realize we don't take our kids to do enough things." The smallest thing can be so exciting to little kids.

That Saturday afternoon, Aedan ended up taking a really long nap, so I had to go in and wake him up around 5:00. That's already late enough for him to sleep. However, as I walked in and noticed how passed out he was, and how cute he was snuggling Happy Bear, I had to take a few pictures of my little man before waking him up. Pretty soon he won't be my "baby" anymore, and he will seem so big and so old in comparison to his little brother Owen. 

I think I must have been going through a little nesting urge on Saturday because I had some things that I just felt like I had to check off my list. After all, I was 39 weeks pregnant, so I could go into labor at any time and I wanted to make sure I had everything ready. So on Saturday I got the curtains hung up, and I spent time packing a hospital bag for Owen and myself. I felt much better after accomplishing those tasks. Here are pictures of Owen's completed room. I think the curtains turned out really well and it matches pretty well with the grey color we already had painted on the wall. His room looks cute, and it fit everything much better than I originally thought.

Sunday was a pretty typical day for us of going to church and then hanging out and relaxing. I have almost everything checked off my to-do list except for working on Aedan's baby book. I wanted to try to finish it before Owen arrives, but I'm not too optimistic that that's going to happen. I was farther along than I thought I was, but I still have quite a bit to go to catch up on three years of his life. (It's a good thing I already kind of keep track of things through this blog and the yearly birthday emails.) Then, I would still need to go through and print off pictures to fill the book, so it will take some time to get his completed. I was able to finish Samantha's book before Aedan came along, but life is busier with two kids. Maybe I can stay more on top of things with Owen and do it more along the way. We will see about that because I know life is not going to be less busy, that's for sure.

While Aedan was napping on Sunday afternoon, Daddy offered to take Samantha out for a bike ride. She goes so fast now without training wheels, that she's hard to keep up with, so this time Daddy decided he would ride his bike along with her. She thought that was an amazing idea, definitely making her feel more grown-up and like a big kid. Ben has done a great job of trying to spend quality one-on-one time with Samantha, especially if her bathroom issue is arising from any feelings of being left out or trying to get our attention in some way. Anyways, on their bike ride they discovered a new part of campus, the forest back behind the Arts Center. It actually has a path that goes through it, and Samantha thought it was pretty funny to go off exploring the forest together with her daddy. They ended up being out on their bike ride for over an hour, and Ben said she was going strong and loving it. Good exercise and so fun watching her master this new skill.

Monday, September 11th was my 39 week check-up with Dr. Amo. I still was not having any symptoms other than typical Braxton-Hicks contractions, so I knew it would just be another quick check-up. However, I did decide to take some baby bump pictures because I hadn't taken any for awhile, and it's always interesting to be able to look back and see how big my stomach was near the end of my pregnancy.

The rest of my day was spent doing a thorough cleaning of the house. I figured this might very well be the last time I clean before Owen arrives. Aedan wasn't a huge fan of me spending the day in this way, but it's just something that has to be done. Here's where I caught Izzy at one point during the day. She likes to sleep in Samantha's room when she's at school. :) I figured Samantha would get a kick out of seeing these pictures.

(Blog about September 5-11, 2017

Losing My Wallet in Canada & Upland Ema and Papa Coming to Visit

Samantha: 75 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 40 Months, Week 1

This was one of those weeks where we knew it was coming, and we were ready for it, but there's a certain sadness that comes as well. It was the last week of summer break before Samantha started back for a new year. It was also Ben's first week of classes for the semester. He obviously still works over the summer, but his schedule is much more flexible, and he takes time to spend with us since he works well over a forty hour work week during the school year. The kids were definitely missing Daddy a lot during that week, and I tried to make the most of our last week together before Samantha was gone from home all day. However, there were still things that needed to be done around the house and other preparations that need to be taken care of before baby Owen's arrival.

On Monday I had my 37 week check-up, and I don't think I talked at all about it in my last post. The check-ups are pretty quick, basically just measuring my tummy, listening to Owen's heartbeat, and asking if I have any questions or concerns. Since this is my third time being pregnant, I don't come in with a list of questions like I did when I was pregnant with Samantha. Dr. Amo said everything looked good, that I was measuring right on target, and that he felt like low 6s weight-wise, but that's obviously just a guess since they can only tell so much by feeling the outside of your stomach. I feel like I'm smaller this time around, and I have definitely gained less weight overall, so maybe he will be a smaller baby. Many people say that I am just sticking out in the front with baby and that it doesn't look like I've gained much elsewhere. Samantha and Aedan were both 8 pounds 14 ounces, so we will see what this little guy turns out to be!

However, at this appointment I did find out that my test for Group B Strep came back positive. I was surprised to hear this news as this hasn't been an issue for my other pregnancies. My doctor said that it's really no big deal, that about 25% of women test positive for this, and that it's just a bacteria that can be growing in your body and doesn't really impact you, but it can impact the baby if they are infected upon delivery. So, because of that, they recommend that moms get IV antibiotics prior to delivery, preferably two doses that are spread at least four hours apart, that way your baby is prevented from being harmed if they are exposed to the bacteria during birth. Even though this is a fairly common thing for women, I spent the rest of the day feeling kind of worried, and not because I'm worried about Owen becoming infected, but more just concerned because testing positive puts more of an impetus on getting to the hospital earlier so that I can get a dose four hours before I deliver. I know that I went to the hospital too early with Samantha and Aedan, which ended up stalling out my labor and progress, leading to getting Pitocin. Since we have someone local that is going to come watch Samantha and Aedan until Ben's parents can make the drive here, I was looking forward to not feeling as much pressure to go to the hospital before I'm ready. The hospital is only five minutes away from our house, so I wanted to make sure I was through the early labor stage and at least entering active labor before going to the hospital. However, I don't know if I can guarantee that that would give me four hours before delivery. It's hard to say how fast that next stage of labor would go, especially since I got Pitocin last time to get things going. I don't want to risk waiting too long to go to the hospital and not getting the IV antibiotics in time, but I also don't want to go to the hospital too early and then have to use interventions I don't want because my labor stalled out. It's such a difficult decision to know when to head to the hospital, and now testing positive for Group B Strep throws another wrench into the plan that I didn't expect.

There was a MOPS playground play date on Tuesday morning, and at first the kids weren't too excited about the idea of going. However, I felt like they needed to get out of the house, to play with other kids, and to run around for awhile. Even though they didn't want to go, they had fun at Project Playground. I got a chance to talk with a couple other moms, and even though they mainly played with each other, Samantha and Aedan had a fun morning together.

That evening was a big deal for Samantha because it was Back to School Night. It was an open house where the kids had a chance to see their classroom and meet their teacher. Samantha was actually more nervous about it then I expected her to be. Last year she was so super excited for kindergarten to start, but this year she is much more apprehensive. I don't know what it is, but if you ask her if she's excited about school starting, she doesn't really say that she is. I think it's mostly just fear of the unexpected. Samantha has a harder time dealing with change than she lets on, and it's hard to read the way she truly feels about things at times. We have been trying to talk about first grade and how much bigger she will feel in comparison to the little kindergartners. She was somewhat reluctant to sit in her seat and have me take her picture, especially since she was busy sitting in the back of the room reading a book to Aedan, but here she is in her seat in her new first grade classroom.

We didn't stay at school for too long, even though both kids could have just sat there and looked at books together for quite awhile. Ben and I briefly talked with Mrs. Gillett and Mrs. Folkersma, and we told them about our work with math over the summer, just as a way to give them a heads up about what Samantha would need before the school year began. Even though Samantha is a little reluctant about school, I think she will warm up to the idea soon, and she will enjoy it once she is there next week.

On Wednesday Samantha and I had an appointment to get our hair cut, but we also decided to take a trip to the library first. Samantha wanted to go one more time so she could check books out, play, and check out a movie to watch at home. We only stayed for about an hour, but it was a good way to spend some time before our appointment. Samantha and I both had appointments at the same time, which worked out well. They have a basket of toys in the waiting area, so Aedan just helped himself to playing with the toys while Samantha and I got our hair cut. She thought it was fun sitting next to each other and getting our hair cut at the same time. She decided to get her hair cut about shoulder length, and now she says that she looks just like her American Girl doll, Kit.

By the time we got back home, the kids were ready to just relax for a little while. My body has become more and more uncomfortable lately, so I was glad for the chance to relax some as well. I let the kids pick something to watch, and they picked Aedan's movie, Finding Nemo. They both got blankets from their room and curled up on the couch together to watch part of the movie. Izzy even joined them for part of the time, and Aedan thought it was wonderful that she chose to snuggle up next to him/on top of him.

On Wednesday afternoon/evening we got an awesome chance to babysit for another family's foster child. This little girl is about 9 months old, and the kids love her. We babysat her back in the wintertime over night, and Samantha got so attached to her that she cried when it was time for her to leave. On Wednesday afternoon I woke Aedan up early from his nap so that we could go pick her up from her mom's house, then we came back home and played. Samantha was very excited to bring toys to her to play with, and she loved seeing her crawl around and pull herself up on things. We even spent some time down in Owen's room so that we would have more access to baby toys. As it started getting closer to dinnertime, we brought the baby upstairs and got the high chair set up so I could feed her some baby food for dinner before it was time for dinner for the rest of us. Samantha tried to feed her some baby food, but it's hard to get the spoon in the baby's mouth sometimes because she likes to try to knock it away or grab it herself, so you have to be quick. Ben got home from work while I was feeding the baby and helped get dinner ready. We had a simple meal that evening, and then decided to go over to campus to let the kids ride bikes and push the baby around in the stroller. She was getting tired and we figured a nice stroller ride would give her a chance to take a little nap, but not too long of a nap where she wouldn't be ready for bed that night. When we got back home, we got our kids ready for bed while the baby hung out with us until her foster mom came back to pick her up. It was fun watching her for a few hours. We were glad to help out and glad that we kept up our foster home license so that we can provide respite care in situations like this. It also gave us a little glimpse into what life would be like with three kids. Things will certainly be chaotic for awhile, but Samantha and Aedan will have each other, which will be so nice. Plus, they are both fairly independent now, and Samantha is good with helping her little brother when he needs help. She can even take him to the bathroom if I ever needed her to, so things will be much different than going from one to two kids.

Thursday was a day where we just had to get some grocery shopping done, as well as some laundry and things around the house. Neither kid is thrilled when we have to go grocery shopping, but it will be the last time that I will have to take both kids together. They do okay overall, and after a warning to behave close to the start of our trip, they did much better after that, even helping me find things and the shelves and cross things off our shopping list. However, I was feeling very tired that day. My body was exhausted, my back was sore, and my feet hurt. Sometimes I wondered how I worked up all the way to the end with Samantha. I tried to sit down and relax when I could, but it is definitely more difficult to do that with two kids to take care of, things to get done around the house, and Ben having his first week of class. Things were just busier, and we were all trying to adjust.

Friday was one of those days I wish I could go back and redo. I planned to take the kids to Canada so we could get new blinds for Owen's room at Home Depot, then to stop at Once Upon a Child to get some fall jackets, rain boots, shoes, and pants for Samantha. After those errands, I planned on taking them to the fun playground over there since it was going to be a warm, sunny day. However, our plans drastically changed after purchasing the blinds at Home Depot, finishing our shopping at Once Upon a Child, and then realizing that I did not have my wallet in my purse. At first I thought it had just fallen out in the shopping cart or something, but I looked around in the cart and on the floor, double checked my purse, and realized it was nowhere to be found. And that's when I started freaking out. The kids were probably very concerned as they saw me wandering around the store, searching for my wallet, and getting visually upset. I went out to the car to see if it had fallen out of my purse there, but it was not there either. I didn't know if I lost it somewhere or if somehow someone took it out of my purse. Not only did my wallet have all our means of paying for things, but it also had my driver's license and the kids' new ID cards. We were in Canada, and I had no idea how we were going to get back over the bridge and through customs to go back home. I had no idea how they would let us cross the border with absolutely no identification. The kids and I, as well as several employees and shoppers in Once Upon a Child frantically searched the floor of the store to see if it fell underneath the racks of clothes, but we had no luck. I was very clearly distraught, and I then decided to go back to Home Depot to make sure I didn't leave it in the cart or drop it on my way out of the store. No one had turned anything in, so I left my name and number in case it turned up at any point. There was also a kind lady that saw me at Once Upon a Child and actually followed us to Home Depot because she was concerned about me and wanted to help. She gave me thirty Canadian dollars to use to by lunch and get back over the bridge, and I was ever to grateful for her generosity.

I then took the time to call Ben and fill him in on what had happened. I couldn't stop myself from crying, and I knew that he wouldn't be mad, but I was frustrated and angry with myself for not keeping track of my wallet, for making everything complicated, and for all the work and money I cost us afterwards in having to replace and cancel all the items I had in my wallet. You don't realize how much you keep in your wallet until you lose it. After stopping by Once Upon a Child one more time to check and leave my information with them, we then went to the police station to file a report before stopping at Wendy's for lunch. At this point it was already 1:30, and we were all very hungry. Our plans to go play at the playground were of course ruined by me losing my wallet, so we ate our lunch and went on our way to attempt to cross back over into the U.S.

Ben was extremely helpful, as usual, and ended up coming home from working on campus to help me out. He called and cancelled our credit card and debit card, and even called border patrol to figure out what we could do to get back into the U.S. without any ID. He left copies of the kids' birth certificates and an expired passport for proof of our identity. When we pulled up to the booth, I just had to explain to them that I lost my wallet, but that my husband had left documents for me to use. We went inside the border patrol building, and it didn't take too long for them to verify our identify and let us get on our way. With it being the middle of the afternoon, and having a long day, the kids were tired and starting to lose their patience with waiting, but I was just glad that we were able to get back home with relative ease. It had been a long, emotional day for this pregnant lady, and I was ready to be back home.

Late Friday evening we had some visitors arrive at our house for the weekend: Upland Ema and Papa. They decided to make a special trip up just to see us and the kids one more time before baby Owen arrives. They wanted to give Samantha and Aedan lots of special attention, especially because the kids have really missed them lately. We saw them a lot around our vacation time in June and early July, but we hadn't seen them at all since then.

The kids were super excited to see them on Saturday morning when they woke up. Ben will often comment that we are no longer needed when Ema and Papa are around. The kids only want their attention and only want them to play with. We had pancakes for breakfast and then the kids played outside in the back yard with Ema and Papa, showing off their new play set and all the places they look to collect bugs.

After a little while we decided to go over on a walk to campus, with the kids riding their bikes. Samantha wanted to show off how well she can ride a bike without training wheels. It was fun to just have a relaxing morning outside. The air is starting to turn rather crisp in the U.P. Fall is settling in, which means winter is not far behind it, so we will enjoy our chances to be outside while we can.

Later that afternoon, while Aedan was napping, Ema and Papa decided to take Samantha to Walmart to pick out a new bike as a way of "buying" her old bike from her to keep at their house when kids come to visit. Now that she can ride her bike without training wheels all by herself, she was definitely way to big for her other bike. Her legs couldn't even stretch out all the way when she pedaled. We were going to just wait until her birthday to get her a new bike, since our time of riding bikes is coming to an end soon anyways, but we didn't want to pass up on the offer from Ema and Papa. Samantha was excited to pick out her bike, and she was apparently pretty sold on this one from the very beginning. :) It is a very pretty bike, and she was proud to show it off.

Jenny\

Later that evening, once Aedan was up from his nap, the kids had more fun playing outside with Ema and Papa. They are always up for playing games and being silly, and Samantha and Aedan love playing with them. It was great to hear their squeals of joy and laughter outside as they ran back and forth in the driveway. It was so nice of them to take the time to drive all the way up here to spend time with us. It was a great way to spend our last weekend of summer.

Jenny

On Sunday we all got to go to church together, and Ema and Papa stuck around through mid-afternoon so they could have more time with us, but still get back home at a decent time. The Mackinac Bridge was going to be closed from 6:30-noon on Labor Day, so they couldn't wait until the next day to head out. Samantha got some extra play time outside with them, as well as special one-on-one time with them in her room. In fact, that morning after church Aedan was playing in his room with Ema and Samantha was playing in her room with Papa. Like Ben said, when Ema and Papa are around, we are no longer needed. Before they left, Ben's mom even helped me get my new sewing machine set up so that it's ready for me to use this coming week to make the curtains for Owen's room. It is always good to have them visit, and the kids will have a great time with them when they come back to help us out after Owen is born.

Here are some funny pictures Ben took that night as we were getting ready for bed. Samantha will never turn down making a funny face for the camera.

Monday, September 4 was Labor Day, and it was nice to have a long weekend to spend together. Ben stayed home with us, which was great for we all love having Daddy around, and we decided to go have some last day of summer fun together. We got special documentation ready for me and called ahead to be sure I would be able to cross over and back with no problem. I went to get a new license on Friday, the same day I lost my wallet, but it won't come in the mail for a few weeks. They made it seem like it wouldn't be a big deal for me to cross over, so we decided to take a family trip to Canada to go swimming at the community center. We had a good time swimming for almost two hours, the kids always have a blast, and the warm water felt good on my sore (very pregnant) body.

We got some McDonald's for the kids and Jimmy John's for the adults for a quick, late lunch, and then tucked Aedan in to bed for at least a little bit of an afternoon nap. I then showered and got ready for my Mommy/Daughter with Samantha. I made us an appointment to get our nails done, and she was super excited. I had never taken her to an actual nail salon before. She picked out too different sparkly colors for her fingernails and toenails. They were pretty busy, so we had to wait for a little while, which wasn't Samantha's favorite, but I remembered to get a picture of my little girl and me while we waited.

Here is Samantha sitting in her fancy chair, while she gets her toenails painted. She did a pretty good job of sitting still and letting the nail polish dry. It was fun just to sit next to her and enjoy her company, talking about whatever it was that came to her mind. I should have taken a close up of her fingers and toes, but she chose a pink sparkly polish for her toes, and originally had a purple sparkly polish picked out for her fingers. However, the nail technician said there wasn't enough in that bottle to use, so she suggested a red sparkly polish instead. Samantha was very happy with her color choices, and she was excited that the nail polish would stay on longer than when we just paint her nails at home. The biggest surprise was when we went to pay and discovered that another lady in the salon (the lady in green sitting in the background) had already paid for our nails, so we didn't owe anything. I didn't even know this lady, and it completely took me by surprise. It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture from a stranger. Samantha and I had a great afternoon out together and even stopped for some ice cream before heading back home to join back up with the boys.

Since Samantha had gotten her new bike on Saturday, Ben and I hadn't had a chance to watch her ride it yet. Ema and Papa took her out to ride it on Saturday afternoon, but we didn't go with her that time. She was eager to show us how well she could ride her big bike, so we took another trip over to campus after dinner that evening to let the kids do some more bike riding around the sidewalks of campus. What a terrific place to learn how to ride! We are so blessed to live right across the street from campus.

Here's our silly boy posing on a rock on campus.

That evening we did our best to get the kids bathed and ready for bed at a decent time so that Samantha could have a good night's sleep before her first day of first grade. As with tradition, here is Samantha reading the letter from Ema and Papa before her first day of school, only this year she could read the whole letter all by herself. We are so proud of our little first grader.

(Blog about August 29-September 4, 2017)

"Lasts" of Summer

Samantha: 75 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 39 Months, Week 4

With it being the week before the semester started for Ben, he had a week full of meetings and events he had to make appearances at. We are working on getting into a more consistent morning routine with getting up and getting ready, both in preparation for Ben's semester starting in a week and Samantha starting school in two weeks. Often, I will be finishing getting ready downstairs while Ben goes upstairs to let Izzy out and get Aedan up to take him to the bathroom. However, he likes to come down and say hi to me after he's up and dressed. As I was brushing my teeth that morning, I had the cutest little construction worker join me. I helped him get his safety goggles, head phones, and orange vest on, then he got busy working with his saw and drill.

 

Tuesday was kind of a dreary day, and instead of having a MOPS play date at the playground, we decided to move it to McDonald's instead. We met there at 11:00, and there were quite a few moms and kids that showed up. Samantha and Aedan were excited to get out and play in the play place. After a few minutes of letting kids play, moms started going up to order food. I made sure I knew what the kids wanted for lunch and told them I was going to go order food for us. There was a little bit of a line to order food, so it took me longer than usual. As I was walking back into the play place area with our food, I noticed another mom was carrying Aedan, and he was crying. Apparently he got very worried when he was looking for me and didn't see me anywhere. He had forgotten that I was going to order our lunch and thought I had left him there. It was sad, but definitely cute to see how worried he got and to see the big tears that streamed down his face, as well as the huge smile on his face when I walked in the door carrying our food. The rest of our time at McDonald's was good. The kids ate well and had a great time running around and playing with the other kids. I even got a chance to sit and talk with other moms for awhile, which was nice. It was a good way to spend our morning, see some people, and get some energy out.

On Wednesday morning Samantha had her last dentist appointment down in Petoskey. The best appointment time we could get was 8:15, which was actually forty-five minutes later than they originally scheduled her for. Again, Ben lovingly offered to take her to her appointment, since I should not be that far from home anyways. He had to wake Samantha up that morning to get on the road much earlier than anyone would have liked, but Samantha thought it was pretty cool that she got to turn on the light in the car so she could see to read books since it was still somewhat dark outside.

Aedan and I didn't have any grand plans for the day because my main goal was to clean the hose, which is a little more difficult and tiring when you're 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. However, I hadn't cleaned in several weeks, and who knows if this will be the last time I do a full house cleaning before little Owen arrives. I chose to do it on Wednesday since Samantha was going to be gone, and it's a little easier to clean with just Aedan around. He tends to be better about just hanging out with you wherever you are and finding something to play with, not complaining too much about being bored. And then I don't have any fights to break up either. :) However, my body was very tired that day. Some days I just feel much more exhausted than others and I'm not quite sure what the difference is between one day and another, but I'm definitely getting to the uncomfortable part of pregnancy where my feet and back are hurting.

At least I got to hang out with a really cute green dinosaur that morning. :)

Wednesday evening Ben had a small group training at church, and even though it was a bit chilly in the lower 60s, I decided to take the kids to the concert in the park. It was the last week we'd be able to go before school started, and it was supposed to be a good group of high school students playing fiddles. The kids and I got everything we needed and went by ourselves. It was a smaller crowd than usual which was kind of nice because we got to sit up close to the front. We even brought a couple blankets to spread out on which the kids enjoyed sitting on while they ate their popcorn. Here are some videos of the kids dancing during the concert.

I've been trying to spend some time doing some "lasts" of summer with the kids, especially specific things that Samantha wants to do before school starts again. Our plan for Thursday morning involved going to pick blueberries before going to Jump U.P. that opened at 11:00. However, the kids were having fun just playing together at home that morning so we left a little later and spent longer picking blueberries than I planned. We ran into another family we knew at the blueberry patch, which was fun for the kids. We had never picked blueberries before, and they were amazed at how many blueberries could grow on one bush. Samantha and Aedan did a great job of only picking the blueberries that were blue and not squishy. We had pretty big buckets from Easter, so it didn't feel like we were making much progress, but we had quite a few blueberries by the end of our time there. Our goal was to have enough blueberries to make a blueberry pie. The kids were fairly interested for awhile, but toward the end started being silly. They were fighting over their buckets and then Aedan got mad and knocked over his bucket, spilling out half of his (our) blueberries. It was getting close to lunch time, and I didn't think the kids really had enough energy to still go play at Jump U.P., so I decided to not do that, but instead plan on going another day and just go home instead. Here are some pictures from our time blueberry picking.

When we got home, there was a package delivered on our front porch which was gifts for the kids from my grandma, their Great Grandma Donna. They were excited to open it up, so I made sure to take this picture and video to share with her. Samantha got a Bible story coloring/activity book, and Aedan got a set of Noah's Ark bath toys. Samantha started coloring right away, and Aedan couldn't wait to take a bath so he could play with the toys.

On Thursday I received a text from a mom that also has twins going in to first grade at Bahweting. Both of us specifically requested a certain teacher at the end of last school year, and she asked me if I'd gone on to the Parent Portal to see what class Samantha was placed in. I didn't even know I could do that and assumed that we would have to wait to find out who her teacher was until Back to School Night the following Tuesday. However, I anxiously logged in right away to see who Samantha had. This mom also told me that the teacher we had both requested actually took a job downstate to be closer to her husband, so they hired a new first grade teacher to replace her. Samantha was put in a class that I wasn't thrilled about, and it was difficult for me to not feel disappointed. I was really looking forward to a strong, positive year with a veteran teacher who established good rapport with her students and had strong classroom management. I also enjoyed speaking with her several times during the year about enrichment materials for Samantha, and she seemed very supportive of challenging Samantha in anyway we could. I don't know exactly how the year will go with this other teacher. It's difficult for me as a trained teacher because I know too much sometimes, especially after working at the school during the last half of last school year. I know many of the teacher's personalities, and I know all the previous students that attended there for kindergarten, the good and the bad. The teacher that Samantha has was new to the school last year, although not new to the teaching profession, but she definitely struggled with classroom management. I want Samantha to have a strong start to the year, a strong teacher that has high expectations of her students, and a year of growth and challenges for her, even though she is above average in math and reading. I know in my experience as a teacher, I would want to be given a fair chance, especially because anyone's first year in a new school is an adjustment. So, I am trying to approach this school year with an open mind and a positive outlook. I am not expressing any of my concerns to Samantha, and I hope that this year will go much better for the teacher and her classroom with one year under belt and the summer to plan ahead and prepare for the coming year.

Every once in a while, Izzy will calm down enough to just lay next to the kids on the couch. It's hard for her not to be super excited every time they are around. She loves to run around and play with them too much. However, on Thursday afternoon, I was able to sneak this picture of her laying next to Samantha and Aedan. At first she was asleep, but she was too interested in what I was doing to stay asleep for too long. Ben was also wanting a picture of Izzy to include in his beginning of the semester PowerPoint introduction, so I got a couple cute pictures for him to choose from. She's definitely a cute puppy. She fits in well with our family, and we love her.

On Friday our first job was going to Payless to get new school shoes. I knew I wouldn't be able to get away with just buying shoes for Samantha, so Aedan got some new tennis shoes as well. Samantha picked out some pretty pink ones with velcro because she likes that they are easy to get on and off, even though she knows how to tie her shoes. Aedan picked Cars shoes that light up on the side.

After that we decided to try going to Jump U.P. to play. It was one of the places Samantha requested going before going back to school. The only problem is that they don't open until 11:00 which is a hard time with lunch time and nap time for Aedan. However, the kids were very excited to play even though it was just the two of them and another kid that was there because her mom was working there. They went from one inflatable to another, jumping, climbing, and having a blast. At about 11:45 we got the kids' hands stamped so that we could come back to play again later and then went to campus to pick up Daddy so we could have lunch with him. Again, this is the last time we will be able to just go out and do something like this in the middle of the afternoon, so I figured I'd take advantage of our chance.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with getting Aedan down for a nap, doing math with Samantha, doing work around the house, and then talking to my friend Melissa on the phone. We hadn't touched base since we went to visit them back in April, and it was so good to talk to a good friend who knows me, knows my past, and remembers what is going on my life. I love that we are still close friends after all these years, even if months pass by before we talk to each other again. It was such a refreshing, encouraging conversation, and I would love to be able to talk to her and see her and her family more often.

That evening after dinner we tried to go back to Jump U.P. again so the kids could play longer since we were only there for about forty-five minutes earlier in the day. However, even though we got there at 6:30 and they were supposed to be open until 8:00, they must have closed early that evening, leaving two very disappointed kids in the back seat. Instead, we decided go back home and get the kids' bikes so we could go ride bikes on campus instead. Samantha and Aedan love zipping all around campus on the side walks, and it's fun to see them out riding around, getting exercise, and having fun going off more independently, but still in the safety of campus.

Saturday was another last of summer type day. We decided to drive down to Mackinac City to play mini-golf, another request of Samantha's. She had gone to play mini-golf with Daddy once on a date over the summer, but we decided to go all together that Saturday. Aedan enjoyed being a part of the fun this time, even though he hit the ball more like a puck in hockey. (I think we need to be sure to sign this boy up for beginner's hockey since he mastered ice skating last winter.) The kids just hit the balls over and over again until they got them into the hole. Ben and I tried to compete against each other some, even though we were distracted by the kids at times. I did pretty well at the beginning and we were close for most of the holes; however, towards the end I was starting to use more and more strokes, and Ben ended up being the ultimate winner. Anyways here are some cute pictures and videos from our time play mini-golf together.

I tried to get Aedan to look for a picture, but he wasn't interested. He's in an anti-picture phase again, so he turned his head as I tried to take his picture, the little stinker.

I was able to get him to look at the camera as long as he could push the button to take the picture. He still didn't agree to smile, however.

Samantha gave me a good smile, though. But do you know what the most amazing thing about this picture is? How big she is! I can't believe I have a child this big already, a child with this long of legs, a child that will be starting 1st grade soon. I still remember when she was a baby and all the years we spent at home together. She will always be my little girl, especially since she will soon have two little brothers, the girls will have to stick together. :)

After finishing our game, we decided to get some lunch at this hot dog place that we always see as we drive by Mackinac City to cross the bridge. You don't get to eat at a restaurant with a giant hot dog on top very often. 

From there we crossed back over the bridge to go to a splash pad that I heard about in St. Ignace. It was most likely our last warm day with temperatures in the mid-70s, but with the wind coming off the water, it definitely felt cooler than that. The splash pad looked like it could be fun, but we decided it would be too cold to change into swim suits and run through the cold water with the wind blowing so hard. Instead, we went over to a nearby playground where there was also a beach with lots of rocks. Samantha and Aedan had fun just digging in the rocks, hiding things, and building rock towers. We spent most of the afternoon out, deciding it wasn't important enough to push nap time with Aedan that day. It's nice that we can do that occasionally and he will be fine.

On Sunday when I was officially 37 weeks along, I again got overwhelmed with feelings of nervousness. I feel like I am more nervous than I should be, especially with this being my third time around. I know what a birth with an epidural feels like and a birth without any pain medicine feels like. I know that being nervous won't help anything, but for some reason I just feel very apprehensive about going into labor, how and when it's going to happen, and when to decide to go to the hospital. I am trying to calm my nerves and remember that I can do it, that my body can handle it, and that all the details will fall into place when it's time to go to the hospital. I am trying to focus more on being excited for Owen's arrival than nervous, but I feel like I am not ready yet both physically and emotionally. I don't remember exactly how I felt for my previous pregnancies, but it seems like it's been different this time around. Here are some updated bump pictures of me at 37 weeks.

As a way to help me prepare and feel more ready physically, I spent part of the weekend putting away toys and things in Owen's room and rearranging the furniture in a way that I like. My list of things to get done is getting shorter, which is good. Now I just need to pack a hospital bag with stuff for him and for me, as well as a list of last minute things to grab. I have a little more laundry to get done for him, and then we just need to get the new blinds hung up and I need to make and hang up the curtains, which I hope to do when Samantha goes back to school and I have a little more time in the afternoon. Here's what Owen's room looks like so far. Things are coming together nicely, and there is more room with all the furniture in there than I expected. It will be a great room since it is right next to ours, and I won't have to go up and down the stairs to get to him. We are working on getting a door installed between his room and our room so that way we can have more privacy and keep the light and sound out when he starts sleeping in there during the night or at nap time.

I also bought some picture frames for the paintings that Samantha and Aedan drew for Owen. They look great all framed up, and I can't wait to hang them up on the wall in his room. I'm glad I thought of this as an idea to decorate his room in an inexpensive, meaningful way.

Since the kids and I picked a lot of blueberries, making blueberry pie was Ben's next dessert challenge. We found a pretty easy recipe online and had plenty of blueberries to make the pie. Ben made homemade pie crust from his mom's recipe, and we even made our own whipped cream with some heavy whipping cream we had in the refrigerator. It was fun having a dessert that really was homemade, made from scratch. We all couldn't wait to taste it on Sunday afternoon. Ben is an amazing baker and cook, and the rest of the family definitely enjoys the fruits of his labor.

Monday, August 28 was a big day for Ben because it was his first day of the semester. He will even tell Samantha that he still gets nervous before the first day of school. However, he was ready for a new semester to begin, and it was nice to have a week to get used to the semester schedule for him before Samantha started school herself, giving us time to ease into the routine of a new school year. On Monday we just hung out and played at home. It was a nice day out, so the kids played outside a lot. They LOVE their new play set and could spend all day outside in the back yard together. To celebrate Ben's first day of the semester, we went out for pizza and ice cream in Brimley together. It was nice to just hang out and relax as a family together that evening.

I can't remember remember exactly when these stories happened, I think this one happened last Sunday, but I have to share them because they are just too good. At one point we were sitting at the table eating dinner and Aedan mentioned that he was a bad person. We normally just say no, you're not, or say that we don't need to say things like that. However, I decided to push further and ask why he said that in the first place. His answer was because God doesn't like him when he does things he's not supposed to. This prompted a conversation about how God will never stop loving him even if he does bad things, but that we can and should ask for forgiveness, and He is always faithful to forgive us from all our sins. Now that Aedan has moved up to the preschool room at church, he is absorbing much more and you can tell his little mind is trying to process things that he's learning.

On Monday when I put Aedan to bed, he wanted to pray, and he prayed a really cute prayer saying thank you to Jesus because "he knows me" and then said thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I remember this stage with Samantha as well, when things start to make more sense and they begin the first stages of faith and trust in Jesus.

And last but not least, now that Aedan wears big boy underwear, he likes to pick out his underwear in the morning. Lately he looks through his drawer until he finds underwear of that day, for example, he has to find "Tuesday undies" on Tuesday. All of his underwear has characters on it, but none of them have the days of the week printed on them. His declaration of what day of the week his underwear is is also arbitrary, there's no rhyme or reason to it, but it's pretty funny, and we get a kick out of watching him choose his underwear.

(Blog about August 22-28, 2017)