Owen Turns Two Months Old!

Samantha: 77 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 42 Months, Week 3
Owen: 1 Month, Week 5 (9 Weeks)

Since our plans to go to Canada on Saturday night didn't work out since the pool was closed, we decided to go over after church on Sunday. We came home and had a quick lunch and were then going to head out. However, Owen needed to nurse, and he ended up nursing for a really long time, causing us to leave later than we wanted to. However, we were in desperate need of some winter items like new snow pants for Samantha, and new snow boots for Samantha and Aedan. Poor Samantha had been wearing her rain boots to school to play outside, and now that it is actually snowing, we really needed to get actual boots for her. By the time we got over to Canada, it was pretty much Aedan's nap time, and both kids were acting pretty tired and cranky that afternoon. We went to Once Upon a Child quickly, and of course, they didn't have what we were looking for for winter gear. We got some clothes for all three kids while we were there, but I would have to be a little more creative in finding the winter gear. We should have looked much earlier in the season. Everything is all sold out at this point, but we have just been too busy, and I needed Samantha to be with me to try things on, which makes it more difficult.

Once we got back home and got Aedan in bed for a nap, I sent a message out on the MOPS Facebook page to see if anyone had snow pants or boots that they didn't need anymore. I figured I'd start there, and if that didn't work, then I would just have to go to a store and buy them new.

The rest of Sunday we just relaxed at home, had Samantha work on some of her math that she needed to get caught up on, and got ready for a new week to start.

Owen shows signs of wanting to go to sleep pretty consistently around 7:00-7:30. However, he loves taking baths, and even if he's starting to get tired and fussy, he will calm right down in the warm water. As I gave him a bath that evening, he discovered how to splash! He was lifting his arms up and down, hitting the water with his fists, kicking his feet, and making quite the mess of the water. It was splashing up over both sides and all over the counter, so I guess from now on I will have to put the baby tub in the bath tub when I give him a bath, and then he can splash as much as he wants. It is so fun to watch more purpose in his movements and see him discover cause and effect, like hitting the toys on his floor gym or splashing the water in the tub. Here's my cute little guy, happy in the bath tub.

We got a few inches of snow overnight Sunday into Monday. Ben took this picture as he walked to campus, commenting that it looked like he would need to start wearing his snow boots to walk to campus now.

Our typical Monday morning routine is to go grocery shopping, which sometimes feels like a workout by the time I get everyone out the door, get the shopping done, get back home and put the groceries away, while hoping both Aedan and Owen cooperate for me. Owen did pretty well on this trip, although he woke up while we were checking out and started to get angry. He didn't nurse as much as I would have liked to before we left, so he was getting hungry. I don't mind shopping at Walmart most of the time, but we always have to wait so long in line to check out. I never have any complaints about Aedan shopping. He has been so good for me, even though getting groceries is not exactly the most fun way to spend your morning. He patiently waits as I get Owen strapped into the Ergo, gather all our bags, and get ready to go in the store. He likes to sit in the big carts with the special seats in the back so that he can face forward and have the chance to get up and down by himself. He usually eats his snack for awhile, and then will sometimes just ride or will get down and help me get things off the shelf to put in the cart. And our shopping trip always ends with a cookie from the bakery for a job well done.

I am trying to remember to include pictures of Samantha that her teacher posts on ClassDojo. On this particular day, her class was doing a science experiment where they took a plastic glove and filled it with different materials like cotton balls and feathers to provide insulation, then they stuck their hand in ice water to see if they could feel it through the glove, observing which materials kept their hand the warmest. Here is Samantha taking her turn. She is such a beautiful little girl. I love being able to see some of what she does at school so I can talk to her more about it when she comes home.

Monday afternoon Aedan took a really good nap for me, but unfortunately Owen's nap didn't overlap too much with Aedan's nap. However, that was okay. Owen and I got some one on one time that afternoon while his big brother napped. Here he is doing some tummy time that afternoon. From certain angles you can see the hair that is growing back in on his head. It is so light and fuzzy in comparison to the dark hair on the sides and back of his head.

Owen is still working on being able to hold his head up on his own, but that night at dinner I had the idea of getting the Bumbo seat out to see what he thought of it. He fit in it fine, but Daddy had to keep his hand behind his neck to help support his head so it wouldn't flop backwards. He looked like such a big kid sitting up, and even though he can't do it on his own yet, it won't be long before he can join us at the table like this and be included in family meals. I also love these pictures because you can see the look that is often on Owen's face. He has this furrowed brow quite a bit, and I often wonder what it is that he's thinking of. He certainly is taking in the world around him.

Ben tries to take Owen in the evenings when he doesn't need to nurse since I am with him all day and get plenty of chances to hold him and cuddle with him. As I started Samantha in the shower, Aedan asked Daddy to read him a Dr. Seuss book. Owen continued to sleep peacefully on Daddy's chest while he read to Aedan. These three guys mean the world to me.  It's these simple moments that makes me smile. I love evenings with my family.

Owen has been doing really well sleeping at night. For example, Sunday into Monday he was asleep by 8:30, then didn't wake up again until about 2:40, then going back to sleep until about 8:00. Monday night was a little different with nursing and going to sleep a little after 8:30, but then he woke up a little after 11:00, just as Ben and I were going to bed, to nurse again. However, he then slept all the way until 7:00 that morning, so I couldn't complain about getting that long of a chunk of uninterrupted sleep.

Since Owen hadn't nursed since 11:00 the night before, I was unsure about whether to get up and shower that morning. I thought for sure he was going to wake up soon, and since he was up at 7:00 and was very hungry, I didn't get a chance to shower until after breakfast and Samantha was off to school. We had MOPS that morning, so I wanted to try to get a shower in before leaving. When he got ready for a nap, I held him up against my shoulder, his favorite sleeping position, and just had to take a picture of my little guy before trying to put him down in the bouncy chair while I showered. He is so comfortable sleeping in my arms, his body totally relaxed. Sometimes he feels so big because he is growing so much, but looking at pictures like this reminds me of just how little he really is. What a precious little gift I get to take care of every day!

I was able to successfully lay him down in the bouncy chair in the bathroom with me, and he slept the whole time I was taking a shower and getting dressed. It worked out well, thankfully. He got a little angry when it was time to leave for MOPS because he was getting hungry again and I stuck him in his car seat instead, but I was trying my hardest to get to MOPS on time and didn't want to stay home to nurse him first. Anyways, here is my sleeping baby, wearing his adorable little jean pants. You can even see how his hands are changing. He no longer always sleeps with his hands balled up into fists. Now he has his hands open and his fingers stretched out, feeling the different textures of the straps, his pants, and his chair.

On Monday morning I bought a giant box of size 2 diapers because we were almost out of size 1s and decided it would be best to go up to the next size. However, on Tuesday morning Owen had two big poops leak out the back of his diaper, one was even when another mom was holding him at MOPS so that I could eat some food. I felt bad that she got a little bit of his poop on her shirt. After that happened twice, causing an entire outfit change, I wondered if maybe the size 2 diapers were too big for him and not tight enough in the back to contain the poop. However, I figured I'd give it a few more days to see how things went.

MOPS was so good that morning. We played a Would you Rather game first, and then they had a Mentor Moms Panel where they answered questions about parenting and anything else people wanted to ask about. It was such a good time of conversation. Many moms were very honest with what they were struggling with, sharing it with the group, and asking for advice and support from their fellow moms. I did not share or ask anything, but it helped me realize that I am not alone in the struggles I have, like not having enough time to spend with Samantha and Aedan when dealing with the demands of a little baby, organizing yourself and your home, making time to spend with your husband, and even prioritizing date night, even if your date is just the two of you in your house after your kids are in bed. All the advice given was practical and thoughtful, and I left feeling like the way I feel as a mom is not abnormal, that everyone feels this way from time to time, it's just that we don't share it very often.

Here is another picture that Samantha's teacher posted on ClassDojo. The caption said that they were partner reading to make sure their stories made sense. I hope that Samantha is a good example and a good helper to others in her class. I love seeing pictures like this of my little girl hard at work and on task.

This next picture is silly, I know, but here is our little guy wearing size 2 diapers. I didn't get a picture of his last time in size 1, but I think it's kind of fun to see how much bigger they get as they grow through a diaper size.

Owen has found his hands lately and he will often bring his fists up to his mouth so he can suck on his fist.

And here are just some cute pictures of my little guy playing on his floor gym, again with some very good shots of his very expressive eyebrows. I think he is such an adorable little baby. Sometimes I just like to sit and watch him as he looks around and learns about the world around him. He loves playing on his floor gym.

Here is a video of him smiling, laughing, and talking to the blinking star on his floor gym. It's so fun to hear their first "voice." Samantha and Aedan love to hear him make these little coos and gurgles. (And you can hear Aedan playing in the background during the video.)

On Wednesday evening we try to eat an early dinner so that we can leave for AWANA and Bible Study on time. Izzy always gets very worried when we are getting ready to go because she knows what's happening and senses that she won't be able to come with us. Ben had to pick her up and carry her downstairs to put her in her kennel that night, and apparently he took a picture of her in his arms. This puppy loves her daddy and is most excited when he comes home from work every day, leaping so high off the ground. You can see her front legs up on his shoulders, almost like she is holding on to him. She loves her family and is sad when we have to leave her.

In preparation for our trip over Thanksgiving, we decided it might be a good idea to transition Owen out of the bassinet and give him a few nights of sleeping in the pack and play, just in case it throws off his sleeping a little bit. Plus, he was getting too big for the bassinet anyways. As you can see in this picture, his feet were all the way to the bottom of the bassinet. He's been scooting himself around more in bed, sliding down as he sleeps, so it was time to move on from the baby bassinet and give him more room to stretch and grow. Here are some last pictures of my almost two month old in his bassinet.

I love watching Owen become more and more active. Especially after I unwrap him from his swaddle wrap in the morning, he is very happy to kick his legs and swing his arms around.

Thursday morning we had no real plans, so we just hung around the house in the morning and I tried to get a few things done in between taking care of the kids, which sometimes is difficult. As a last minute thing, I decided to pack up lunch for Aedan and me, and we walked over to campus to have lunch with Ben. I bundled Owen up and pushed him in the stroller. It was a pretty sunny day out, but when the wind blew it felt pretty cold. It's so hard to get outside and do anything now that I have Owen because I don't want him to get too cold outside. However, I don't want to avoid spending time outside or this winter is going to seem even longer. It was fun having lunch in Daddy's office. Aedan really enjoyed seeing him in the middle of the day and talking to him face to face. Owen didn't stay asleep for too long, and I was able to nurse him quickly before we walked back home. It was a fun midday break, and a nice surprise for Daddy as well. We will definitely have to do that again sometime.

Now that Owen is getting bigger and stronger, I am trying to show him more toys. He will grab onto toys hanging on his floor gym and onto fingers, so I decided to give him this rattle as we played together on Thursday afternoon. He held on to it for quite awhile before he loosened his grip.

I'm not exactly sure why Owen has his sad, pouty face in this picture. It looks like he is about to start crying any second, but I still think it is pretty cute.

Here is Owen sitting in his swing. He is getting so big now that he almost takes up the whole space and his feet are getting close to the edge. I am anxious to see how much he ways when we finally get him in for his two month check-up. I scheduled it awhile back so it would be close to when he turned two months, but it keeps getting postponed.

On Friday, November 17, little Owen turned 2 months old, so after nursing and taking a little snooze, I decided to take some pictures of him with his 2 month sign.

Here is a video just to capture his little baby movements and noises at 2 months. I love watching his little arms and legs kick and swing around. I love to watch the expressions on his face and see his little dimples pop out on his cheeks.

Here are some pictures of Owen sucking on his fist. Maybe he will become a thumb sucker? Then we will have one of each. Samantha didn't take anything, Aedan took a pacifier, and maybe Owen will suck his thumb to soothe himself. The biggest problem we are having lately is that he will get his hand out from his swaddle wrap, usually his left arm, and he will kind of suck on his fist, but overall it just makes him upset and wakes him up.

Here's an almost smile from my little guy. :)

And more sucking on fingers.

I tried to take pictures earlier in the day of Owen on his tummy, but he was getting tired and the pictures I took didn't turn out well, so I took these later in the evening. 

I love this picture of Owen. It shows off just how handsome he is. I love his little hands, his big eyes, and his squishy cheeks. Happy 2 months my precious baby boy!

On Friday night Samantha got to go to a friend's birthday party from school at the Big Bear. She was super excited to go, and Ben took Samantha and Aedan to Meijer that evening after school so she could pick out a birthday present for her while I stayed home, nursed Owen, and finished getting dinner ready. When Ben picked her up after the party was over, he got the run down of the evening, how she had one of everything to eat and had a blast playing with Luke and Liam. I'm glad that she got to go play with her friends outside of school. I wish she would have more opportunities to play with kids her age like this. That is my only complaint about our house. It seems like we are on a street where there aren't many families with kids. Most of the people are older with kids that are grown and out of the house. There's one family two doors down, but their kids are older elementary and they aren't around as much and there is enough of an age difference that it is difficult for our kids to play together.

On Saturday we had a busy day. I had Ben get all the Christmas boxes down from the garage so I could start getting Christmas decorations up. Since we were going to be gone for Thanksgiving weekend, I didn't want to wait two more weeks before getting our Christmas stuff up. However, trying to get something like this done with two kids plus a baby, proved to be challenging. It was difficult for me to find time to do it between nursing Owen, getting him to nap, and trying to help Samantha and Aedan get along with each other while playing. Also, when we put our tree up, we discovered that more sections of lights were out than we originally thought. I thought about trying to replace the bulbs, but I didn't even know where to start. There were more bulbs out than on. As Ben and I were talking, we decided we would just go looking for a new tree to purchase. The one we had I bought used from someone in Oxford, so it probably wasn't in the best condition to begin with. We only paid $75 for it, and got several years use out of it. So, I posted a picture and description of it on the Facebook sales site, getting many interested people pretty quickly, and selling it by that afternoon.

Once Aedan got up from his nap, we got in the car to look at Walmart for a new tree before heading over to Canada. We picked up sandwiches from Jimmy John's to eat for dinner, and then we crossed the bridge and went to Home Depot to check out their selection of trees. After seeing our choices, we were better able to make a decision. In fact, Ben went back to Walmart to buy one after getting the kids to bed. He could care less about having a tree, but he knows I love having one, and he supports this because he loves me.

Then, we went to the John Rhodes Community Center to eat our sandwiches before going swimming for the evening. I attempted to nurse Owen quickly before getting dressed in our bathing suits, but he was fast asleep in his car seat and I had to wake him up. He was not very interested in nursing, so I then took him to changing room so we could get in our bathing suits and join Daddy, Samantha, and Aedan in the water. I was a little nervous taking Owen in the pool because he hasn't had his immunizations yet, and I didn't know what he would think of the water. I wouldn't have even considered bringing him in the pool if it weren't for how warm the water is in the pool. It's like sitting in a warm bath, so I knew he wouldn't get too cold. He and I hung out in the water for awhile, and he seemed to enjoy it. However, having a baby at the pool brought a new dimension of difficulty. I couldn't interact with Samantha or Aedan as much, which made me sad. They were in the bigger, deeper pool next to the pool I was in with Owen, so I just watched them from a distance. They were having a great time splashing around and roughhousing with Daddy though. Owen didn't last in the water for as long as the big kids because he started to get cold. However, even though it was a little more stressful and involved a lot more tag teaming, it was a successful first trip over to Canada to go swimming as a family. It will only get easier as Owen gets older, and it's a great activity to do when it's cold and snowy outside.

(Blog about November 12-18, 2017)

Samantha Staying Home Sick, Our First Real Snow, and Baby Smiles

Samantha: 77 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 42 Months, Week 2
Owen: 1 Month, Week 4 (8 Weeks)

It's kind of strange starting off blog posts on Sundays now because Sundays are usually our relaxing, low-key days. We go to church in the morning and then just spend the day relaxing, giving Aedan a nap, doing some things around the house, and letting Samantha and Aedan have lots of play time together. The only thing different about this Sunday was the fact that the time changed over night, falling back an hour, which to people without kids means you get an extra hour of sleep. Our kids didn't do too bad and didn't wake up super early, especially since they know they can't get out of their beds until 7:00 or when they bunny clock changes, but you could tell their bodies were kind of out of whack the rest of the day, feeling hungry earlier than usual and feeling like it should be bedtime when it was only dinnertime.

It's harder to remember to give Owen tummy time, so on Sunday afternoon I laid him down on the boppy pillow near his floor gym for awhile so he could look around and use his strong neck muscles. You can't tell in this picture, but he has on his cute blue onesie with a tie on the front. He was all dressed up for church.

On Sunday night we decided to go out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. They have discounted kids' meals, and Ben was craving some wings. I hoped that Owen would fall asleep and stay asleep in his car seat while we were there, but he was wide awake, just looking around. As we ate dinner, Samantha started mentioning that she felt cold. It was not cold in the restaurant, but we didn't think anything of it until we got back home, took her temperature, and discovered that she had a fever. We told her she wasn't going to be able to go to school the next day and encouraged her to sleep in the next morning. She was feeling really worried that she was going to get sick like Aedan did the weekend before. It was very possible that she could have caught something from him, so we told her to let us know if she started feeling sick or if anything else started hurting during the night. She did come down to our room once during the night because she felt hot again, and when she got out of bed to go to the bathroom, she started shivering. Ben got up and got her some more medicine before tucking her back into bed.

Monday morning Samantha woke up a little after 8:30, and we were so glad she slept in. I took her temperature, and it was 101.4. She had red cheeks, still felt cold, but she was talking and acting fairly normal. She didn't feel sick to her stomach, and neither her ears nor her throat were hurting, so it seemed like she just had a fever with really no other symptoms. Aedan was glad that Samantha was home from school, but he didn't quite understand that she wasn't feeling well and wasn't in the mood to play with her like she normally does. I wanted Samantha to rest as much as possible so her fever could go down, so I decided to let them watch "Moana" together. They were pretty excited to be able to watch an entire movie. We don't do that very often. Izzy decided to join them on the couch, very cutely cuddling up with them, and sleeping on their laps. (Do you notice that Aedan is wearing his Spider-Man costume? He loves it and wants to wear it almost every day.)

That afternoon after nap time, once Samantha's medicine had completely worn off, I took her temperature, and it was still 102. I felt bad for her because I was so hoping her fever would go away so she could get back to school. I told her that she wasn't going to be able to go to school again since she had to be twenty-four hour fever free. She was disappointed, but she understood.

I put Owen downstairs for his afternoon nap, but he woke up crying. I went down to get him, figuring his nap was probably over, but he fell right back asleep on my shoulder. Samantha and Aedan were playing nicely in Aedan's room, so I decided to sit back in the black chair in the living room and let him continue his nap on my chest. He was so comfortable, and I didn't mind cuddling with him for awhile until Ben got home from campus.

Later that evening, while I was nursing Owen, Izzy curled up on the top of these pillows that the kids left on the couch. She's a cute puppy. We love her.

Normally Owen does pretty well sleeping at night, but on Monday night it took me awhile to get him down. He was just kind of unsettled, not sleeping for long when I put him down during the day. He sleeps longer stretches at night, but he was up every couple of hours that night, nursing a lot more often during the day and a night. We wondered if he was going through some kind of a growth spurt or if he was learning something new or developing in some way that required more frequent feedings.

Samantha stayed home from school again on Tuesday, but really was acting pretty much back to normal. Aedan and I had to do our weekly grocery shopping, and I didn't want to make Samantha come with us, so we dropped her off on campus so she could just sit in the back of Daddy's class while he taught that morning, coloring and playing on her LeapPad. Once again, Aedan was super excited to have Samantha back home again. He loved having someone to play with. He misses her a lot when she's at school. In fact, when I was putting him down for his nap that afternoon, he said that he didn't really want Samantha's fever to go away because he didn't want her to go back to school. It was cute. I told Samantha that he said that, and later heard her talking to him, saying to him that she heard that he said that, and that she knew he said it because he loved her and wanted her to be around to play with him. She reassured him that she loved him too.

As Tuesday went on, Samantha made a few comments about her throat hurting. I looked in her throat a few times, and it looked like there were some white spots in her throat, so I wondered if we should take her in to have her checked for strep, just to be sure. Ben lovingly agreed to come home that afternoon so he could take her to the walk-in clinic. The strep test came back negative, and I felt bad that I made Ben miss out on time to work to take her to the doctor for no reason. But, I was glad that she didn't have strep throat and that her fever hadn't gone back up all day, meaning she could go back to school on Wednesday.

The days were a bit more chaotic having all three kids at home all day, but I still had plenty of time to play with this little guy in the afternoon. I loved watching him bat at the toys on his floor gym, looking around at the toys hanging and up at me, having a great time playing and exploring his world.

On Tuesday night we kept Samantha home from small group just to be safe. Her fever was gone, and we planned on her going to school on Wednesday, but 

she needed to get to bed at a decent time that night. Ben offered to stay home with Samantha so I could have some time around adults. so I took Aedan and Owen to small group by myself. It was a little difficult being there by myself though because I couldn't help Aedan eat very much while also holding Owen. Owen hasn't been staying asleep for very long. Even that day I tried the swing and that didn't work, leaving me feeling confused about where was best to put him down where he would actually stay asleep for longer than twenty or thirty minutes. I was super tired by the end of small group, and I remember feeling like it was all I could do to concentrate on driving on the dark country roads on our way home that night.

Wednesday was more of a normal day with Samantha back at school, and Aedan, Owen, and I fell back into our normal routine. We went to the library that morning, but Aedan was having a rough morning. He was tired and wasn't listening very well. He was trying to build a rocket with the TinkerToys, but it kept falling apart and he was getting frustrated. I was feeding Owen, so I couldn't help him right away, but as soon as he was done I got up to help him and he started freaking out and running away from me. In fact, he ran all the way out of the children's department and across the entire library, screaming part of the way, and not stopping until he reached the far corner of the library and couldn't go any further. I tried not to lose my cool with him, but very calmly walked him back to the children's department, talking to him about how I was disappointed that he did that and how we might need to stop coming to the library if he wasn't going to listen. Since he ran away from me, he lost his chance to play any longer and he also lost his chance to watch a show once we got back home, which he was very upset about. (He's been watching Rescue Bots whenever he gets the chance lately.) But I hoped that providing a consequence for his actions would help him think in the future and not run away from me and scream in the library.

Most of the reason Aedan was having a hard time that morning at the library was because he was tired, so I was glad the Aedan took a nice, long nap for me and didn't give me a hard time falling asleep. Owen also actually let me put him down in the swing after falling asleep on my shoulder, and he kept napping, so it was a much quieter afternoon than the two previous days.

Every once in awhile, Samantha's school has a drum dance social. Samantha enjoys dancing around as the drum plays, and her teacher captured a picture of it and posted it on ClassDojo.

Samantha went back to school on Wednesday since her fever was gone, but she came home with math in her folder to do. I told her to sit down and work on it, to get it done before AWANA that night. However, she was not wanting to work on her math, and she ran away from me and refused to do it, told me I was wrong, and talked back to me. She made something that should take her only twenty minutes drag out to almost an hour. Ben and I both tried to work with her and get her to concentrate and get it done, but she just wouldn't listen. We knew she was tired after a full day of school after being home sick for a couple days, but it still was frustrating. We threatened to keep her home from AWANA and finally decided to follow through, so she had to go with Ben to Bible Study at church and do work rather than go to AWANA and have fun with her friends. We hoped that following through and giving her a consequence for her actions and for not listening would encourage her to think in the future and realize we are serious when we tell her to do something.

Thursday was a busy day. Aedan had a follow-up appointment with the doctor for his bumps/rash on his leg and foot. The rash was starting to go away with the two prescription creams, even though the tests came back negative for it being fungal or a staph infection. While we were at the doctor, I had Aedan get a flu shot as well. However, he got really, really nervous about getting the shot. He refused to let us pull down his pants so that the nurse could get to his thigh. He started crying and reaching for me, clinging to my arm, and saying he didn't want to get the shot. However, the nurse already had the shot ready and had to give it to him. This whole time I was holding Owen because he got upset when we arrived at the doctor's office. It was difficult trying to get Aedan to cooperate with my hands full. As soon as the nurse got the alcohol swab out and rubbed his leg, he started crying. I was doing my best to hold his arms away from his legs, and the nurse quickly poked the needle into his thigh, and then it was over. I asked him, "See? It wasn't that bad, was it?" I think it had just been so long since he'd gotten a shot of any kind that he couldn't remember what it was like. But this certainly was a very nerve-wracking experience for him.

It's nice having ClassDojo so we can see a little glimpse into what Samantha does at school every day. On Thursday morning, Samantha got to go up in front of the class and show the pictures she drew to go along with her writing about green snakes. She split her picture box into three sections, inside the egg, partly coming out of the egg, and being all the way out of the egg. She even showed how she added labels to her pictures. Mrs. Gillett was very proud of how detailed her pictures were. I'm sure Samantha loved being able to show her writing to her class. She has been telling us all about green snakes lately and is learning a lot about them by doing this writing at school.

That morning it started snowing pretty hard and kept up for most of the afternoon. It was very pretty watching the snow fall, and even though it's a little too early for it to already be snowing for my taste, I figure if it's going to be cold, it might as well be snowing.

Samantha had a half-day that day so that teachers could have parent-teacher conferences. We had ours scheduled for 2:00 that afternoon because that was the best time we could get. I kept Aedan up from his nap so that Ben could go with me as well, so it was a whole family affair. Owen fell asleep in his car seat and stayed asleep during the whole conference. We had Samantha sit in the hallway so that we could talk honestly to Mrs. Gillett, and Aedan just sat in the back of the classroom and looked at books while we talked. Samantha's school uses a standards based report card, and she was doing really well, with almost all 2s, a 1 for her advanced reading level, and a 3 for using ending punctuation in her writing and in culture, for some reason. Her teacher said she is doing great academically and that she didn't really have any concerns for her in that regard. We asked how her behavior was at school, since we have had some issues with her being disrespectful with us at home, and her teachers were surprised to hear us say that we had trouble like that with her at home. Ben and I were glad that they weren't seeing any of this behavior at school, but we also wished that she didn't save it all for us at home. When I was a teacher I remember having these same conversations with parents about kids who tried to be perfect and held it all together all day long, just to let it all out once they got home and back in a comfortable environment. I have to remember that Samantha's days are long, leaving the house at 8:00 and not getting home until 4:15. That's a long time for a kid to concentrate and behave, especially for someone with Samantha's personality who wants to please everyone and always do her best, and I know she is tired at the end of the day. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is just a kid, only 6 1/2 years old, and that I have to give her more grace. The conference went really well, and it was good to meet with her teachers and hear how well she is doing. I'm very proud of how Samantha is doing in school.

After dinner that night, we had a good evening just hanging out together. Aedan asked Samantha to read Peter Pan to her, and while I was sitting on the couch nursing Owen, I took this little video of Samantha reading. She loves to sit and read, it's good practice for her to read out loud, and Aedan loves to listen to her.

Once Ben was finished with the dinner dishes, the kids requested some wrestling time. They love to rough house with Daddy, and he usually happily obliges. Izzy also loves to get in on the action, wrestling right along with the kids.

Then, it was bath time, and Aedan wanted to take a bath with Owen, so I just set the baby bathtub inside the tub, and he had fun sharing his space with his little brother. He even shared some of his bath toys with him, and Owen loved laying there in the warm water, watching his brother play.

Here is Owen all clean, in his pajamas, snuggled up against me for a little pre-bedtime nap. I was attempting to help Samantha and Aedan get ready for bed while also holding Owen. Luckily, when he is asleep like this, nothing much bothers him. I asked Ben to take a picture of me holding him because he is so cute when he snuggles up into your shoulder like this.

On Friday the boys and I didn't have too many plans, so we spent time in Aedan's room building and playing with Lego's. He loves Lego's right now and spends most of his day building and being creative with them. I'm trying to remember to take more pictures of just normal daily life, especially of Aedan and Samantha, so I don't just have pictures of baby Owen.

Izzy wanted to get in on the picture as well. She got her face right in front of my phone, and I got these really cute, close up shots of her pretty face. Izzy loves being a part of the family.

And here are some close ups of my little Owen. You can see some of the cradle cap that has formed on the top of his head and around his eyebrows, as well as the little red bumps on his cheek.

I was trying my best to get him to smile. It seems like he doesn't smile as much as Samantha and Aedan did at this age, and I have gotten him to smile quite a few times, but usually when I get my phone out to take a picture, he gets distracted by my phone and won't smile for me anymore. He was super happy after this morning nursing session, and I was able to get some pretty adorable little smiles out of him. :) Little baby gummy smiles are my favorite.

Samantha had a half day that day, again so teachers could meet with parents. It was a bright, sunny day outside, and the kids really wanted to go out and enjoy the freshly fallen snow. It was so windy on Thursday as the snow was falling, that I didn't want them to go out and play in it, especially with both kids being sick recently. But on Friday it was perfect weather to play outside, and they had a blast running around in the back yard, making snow angels, climbing up on their play set, and zooming down the slippery slide. Here are some videos of Samantha and Aedan playing that afternoon.

I would have loved to go out and join them, but I was inside with Owen. He had fallen asleep in my arms again, and I laid him down in his blue chair to continue his nap while I cleaned up lunch dishes and watched the older kids play outside in the snow.

When Samantha and Aedan came back in from playing outside, they requested some hot chocolate to warm them up. I was happy to make it for them, put it in these sparkly mugs, add some frothy whipped cream, and let them drink it out of their Mickey Mouse straws. They were pretty happy with their special treat.

On Friday Izzy had an appointment to be groomed. She needed her nails trimmed and some of her hair shortened up and cut between the pads on her paws. She also had some mats behind her ears from scratching too much. The boys and I dropped her off in the morning, and Ben offered to go pick her up after she was done. Izzy did pretty well for the groomer, but she was a little afraid of the clipper sound so the groomer wasn't able to get the mats out from behind her ears. However, she said the more we bring her to be groomed, the more she will get used to it. Going to the groomer really tired her out, so she curled up on the back seat while Ben drove home.

Friday afternoon I attempted to go through and wash all the 3 month baby clothes. Owen was definitely getting too big for 0-3 month clothes, but I just hadn't had time to go through the bin of clothes from my sister, as well as my baby clothes from Aedan. It had seemed like a long week with Samantha being sick the first two days and then having two half days. My to-do list was too long for the amount of time I am actually able to accomplish anything, and it was making me so short with everyone lately. I felt like I hadn't been able to just sit and relax and have fun with Ben or the kids. Going from two to three kids is hard. Ben could sense my stress that night and offered to take Owen out to Meijer with him so I could have a break at home. Even though he was only gone for like forty-five minutes, it was a nice break to sit in a quiet house with no kids to worry about. Here is Owen sleeping in his car seat that night at the store with Daddy.

Aedan has enjoyed singing lately and is learning a lot of new songs from being in AWANA. In fact, on Friday night after putting him to bed, I could hear him laying in his bed singing "How Great Is Our God." It was too cute to go in there and tell him to be quiet. I was enjoying hearing his little voice sing a song of praise to God. He also woke up from his nap the other day singing the AWANA Cubbies song. He is really enjoying AWANA, and I am so glad he is learning so much while he is there. I will have to try to get a video of him singing some time.

Owen slept in a little bit on Saturday morning, and Samantha and Aedan were really excited to be able to go downstairs and say good morning to their little brother. I love this progression of pictures. He's wrapped up in his bassinet...

...he's starting to get a little upset and crying...

...then Samantha unwraps him so he can stretch out his arms and legs...

...and then he is happy, looking up at his big sister.

I think he's getting a little too big for his bassinet! He almost reaches the top and bottom when he is all stretched out.

We had no big plans on Saturday. The kids played outside in the snow again for awhile. Then Ben got some good cuddle time with Owen as he napped for quite awhile during lunch and for awhile afterwards. (Ben looked like he could have taken a nap with him as well.)

Then that afternoon, I got to cuddle with Owen for awhile, too. We don't always let him nap on us, but it has been a little tricky in getting him to stay asleep when we lay him down, especially with Samantha and Aedan running around and playing. So when I have the chance, I like to hold him and cuddle him. I know he won't always be this little, and I know he won't always want to sleep happily on my chest. And since this is most likely my last baby, I'm going to enjoy these moments when I can.

We tired Izzy out as well. :)

 

We originally planned to go over to Canada to buy some things at Once Upon a Child and to go swimming at the community center pool. However, after I went back and checked the website, I realized that it was actually closed for some reason. The kids were really disappointed because they love going there to swim, but we told them that we would try to go again the following weekend. We still wanted to go do something to get out of the house and play, so we decided to go to McDonald's for dinner and let them play on the play place. Here is Owen sitting and hanging out while Samantha and Aedan played. I hoped he would take a little nap in his car seat, but there was too much noise and commotion, and he is too interested in the world around him at this point.

After playing for awhile, we went back home for bath time before letting the kids play for awhile before bed. Aedan dressed up as Spider-Man and Samantha dressed up as Spider-Girl, and they ran around the house going on missions together. It was pretty cute to see them playing together in this way, and it was the best of both worlds for how they like to play, Samantha pretending and using her imagination, and Aedan acting like Spider-Man and saving the day. It made me smile to watch them play together.

(Blog about November 5-11, 2017)