Aedan: 43 Months, Week 1
Owen: 2 Months, Week 3 (12 Weeks)
Sunday, December 3 marked our little guy turning 11 weeks old, meaning he is now on his 12th week of life. He has gotten into a fairly good little rhythm, and we often wonder if he is just more easygoing or if we are just doing a better job of reading his signals. Anytime between 7:15 and 7:45, he will start to show signs of being tired and wanting to go to sleep, so I will take him downstairs to get him ready for bed. Here he is on his changing pad, next to his singing doggie, happily sucking on his fist.
Monday was a pretty normal day of grocery shopping in the morning. After waking up not long after we got in bed ourselves on Sunday night, nursing for a long time, and then waking up again at 4:30, Owen slept in until 9:15, giving us a later start for shopping, but he was well rested and happy. Going shopping is not my favorite thing in the world, but it's nice to get it out of the way on Mondays. It's a bit hectic, but it still works pretty well to carry Owen in the Ergo and let him nap. Aedan does a good job, and Owen was fairly happy until we got back home and I was trying to get all the groceries put away while he was getting grumpy and tired. The weather was also turning cold, snowy, and windy, blowing the gate open in the back yard which I had to close in order to let Izzy out. Things were a bit hectic, but I was then blessed with both boys taking good naps for me that afternoon. I was actually really surprised how long Owen slept for.
With it being the beginning of December, and especially since we don't do Santa, I like to do an Advent devotional with the kids to help us focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I found a good one from Focus on the Family that had little cards you could print out and read each day, that had a picture on the back to cut out and build your own nativity scene. Anyways, Ben was able to contact someone through the library at Lake State's library so we could print the pages there in color and not have to pay for a new ink cartridge that we would never use and let dry out.
Once Samantha got home from school, and before Daddy got home from campus, I had the kids help me make Christmas cupcakes that we were going to bring with us to small group the next night. Aedan was dressed up as Spider-Man, and Samantha wanted both of them to dress up as bakers as well. They helped me add the ingredients, and Samantha even helped me stir the mix inside the mixer. Then, after we got the first batch in the oven, and Daddy arrived home from campus, I went over to the library to print off the Advent cards. We had a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner, so I was greeted with the lovely smell of our dinner and our cupcakes when I came back in the house. It had been a good day.
One of my favorite parts of the day is when I get to nurse and rock my baby to sleep at night. He is so happy and content. Monday night, as I held Owen up on my chest with his head resting on my shoulder, he nuzzled his head closer to mine so that we were cheek to cheek. Then, I got to enjoy the sounds of his breathing and the smell of his clean hair and skin. I held him longer that night just because I could. These are the moments I want to hold on to forever.
Owen has been having a harder time at night lately. For example, on Monday night he woke up again right after Ben and I got in bed, around 11:15, nursing for almost 40 minutes, then he woke up a little after 1:30, nursing for almost 30 minutes, then woke up again at 6:45. I'm not sure why he has been waking up so frequently at night when he so consistently woke up once a night for so long. I'm hoping that he is just going through a growth spurt or something. However, I still can't complain too much because at least he goes right back to sleep, even if he is waking up more often.
Tuesday was a hard day for because I was already tired from being up so much during the night, and with Owen waking up at 6:45, rather than sleeping in past 8:00 like he usually does, I fed him before coming upstairs for the morning, and I didn't get a chance to take a shower. Ben had a meeting that morning, so I had to take everyone in the car to drop Samantha off at school, which makes mornings much more rushed and hectic. Since Owen had already been awake for awhile, he fell asleep in the car but then woke up right away once we got back home. However, I made the decision to feed him a little more and lay him back down in his bed for a nap. He was still acting tired, so I hoped he could nap and get back on his normal schedule. He does a pretty good job of taking a morning nap, a longer afternoon nap, and then a short evening nap. He ended up sleeping until close to lunchtime, giving me a chance to finish cleaning the house. I started on Sunday afternoon, getting quite a bit done that afternoon while the boys napped and Samantha had quiet time, but I still had a few things left to finish up. It felt so good to have a clean house, as I hadn't done a real cleaning for almost six weeks. It is very difficult to carve out the time while taking care of Aedan and Owen during the day.
For how good of a nap Owen took that morning, the afternoon wasn't as good. I got him down to sleep after putting Aedan to bed, but he woke up after sleeping for only forty-five minutes. Sometimes when he does that, I am able to get him back to sleep, but not that day. So instead, he came upstairs and hung out with me for awhile. He was happy and having a great time playing on his floor gym. I was just tired from the night before and could have used a little break that afternoon with no kids.
Monday night and Tuesday afternoon I finished cutting out all the Advent cards, with plans to hang them up as a visual countdown to Christmas. I got some string out, and when Samantha got home from school, she helped me tape up the string and hang the cards in number order. She was so happy and proud to help me, and I loved having her help. She is such a big kid now and really capable of more than we give her credit for. It's fun to include her in special activities like this that she can easily help out with. So here is our Advent calendar for this year!
Owen has gotten so active lately, and it's fun to watch him play with his toys. He really enjoys this little bouncy seat that we keep next to the table in the kitchen. It was so fun to watch him flip and spin the little toys on the bouncy seat. His hands were just constantly moving, and he was able to grab on to them and hit them easily.
I don't get many pictures or videos of Samantha with her being at school all day, but here are a couple her teacher posted this week. In this first picture, she is reading through a story that she wrote with her writing partner.
And in this video they are singing and dancing along to a song that is talking about the value of coins. It's fun to see how much Samantha gets into the song. She certainly loves to sing! It's fun to see her with her class like this.
Wednesday was kind of a busy day. We decided to go to the library this week since we skipped out on going last week. There were a few other kids there for Aedan to play with, and Owen fell asleep in his car seat, staying asleep at the library for awhile as I kept rocking his seat back and forth. There was a Head Start preschool group there, and the librarian did a story time for them, so we decided to listen to the story as well. After story time, Aedan started doing puzzles with the librarian and was having a great time getting attention from someone other than me. Owen was awake at that point, but Aedan was having so much fun, that I decided to just let him play with her as long as he wanted. While he played, I had the opportunity to talk to a couple other moms, which was so good for me. I connect much better in a smaller group setting like that. Once Owen was starting to show signs of being hungry, I decided we should head home for lunch time.
Ben planned on coming home for lunch that day to help me get Aedan and fed and everyone ready so we could get to Owen's 2 month check-up at 1:00. Even though it was a couple weeks late, his appointment kept getting rescheduled, so this was the closest to two months we could get. We got in quickly, and Owen checked out well. Dr. Newhouse said he looked wonderful. His head circumference was 16.25 inches and in the 63rd percentile. His length was 24.25 inches and in the 74th percentile. His weight was 15 pounds, 6.5 ounces and in the 94th percentile. His weight for length puts him in the 86th percentile. Everything checked out well, and she said for the cradle cap on his head and eyebrows that we could apply baby oil and use a soft baby brush to help soften it up and removed it. Otherwise, it will just go away on its own. Of course since it was his 2 month appointment, Owen was due for his first round of shots. He got one orally and three shots in his legs. When she poked him he cried pretty hard and his face turned bright red, but as soon as I picked him up and held him, he started calming down quickly and he was done crying by the time we got to the receptionist desk. I was glad he wasn't upset for too long, and we were prepared for him to be a little fussier that evening because of his shots.
Ben planned on coming home for lunch that day to help me get Aedan and fed and everyone ready so we could get to Owen's 2 month check-up at 1:00. Even though it was a couple weeks late, his appointment kept getting rescheduled, so this was the closest to two months we could get. We got in quickly, and Owen checked out well. Dr. Newhouse said he looked wonderful. His head circumference was 16.25 inches and in the 63rd percentile. His length was 24.25 inches and in the 74th percentile. His weight was 15 pounds, 6.5 ounces and in the 94th percentile. His weight for length puts him in the 86th percentile. Everything checked out well, and she said for the cradle cap on his head and eyebrows that we could apply baby oil and use a soft baby brush to help soften it up and removed it. Otherwise, it will just go away on its own. Of course since it was his 2 month appointment, Owen was due for his first round of shots. He got one orally and three shots in his legs. When she poked him he cried pretty hard and his face turned bright red, but as soon as I picked him up and held him, he started calming down quickly and he was done crying by the time we got to the receptionist desk. I was glad he wasn't upset for too long, and we were prepared for him to be a little fussier that evening because of his shots.
Once we got back home from the doctor, I quickly got Aedan down for a nap, even though it was late, then I put Owen down as well. I was glad that even though we had his appointment at 1:00, both boys took naps that afternoon, especially since the neighbors were having a tree cut down right outside their bedroom windows. I kept thinking the noise of the chainsaw would wake them up. Then, that evening, Samantha and Aedan had AWANA, but Ben and I didn't have Bible study so we just spent the evening hanging out with our little guy. He was a little fussier and clingier than usual that evening, but nothing terrible. He nursed for awhile and then just enjoyed being held and sucking on his fingers.
Here's my little guy that evening. In a few of the pictures you can see the little band-aids on his legs where he got the shots.
Owen didn't seem to be bothered much by his shots. We gave him some medicine before bed just to be safe, and he went to sleep fine, waking up again a little after midnight and then again at 4:30. I was glad he seemed to be handling it well and that we weren't up all night with a fussy baby.
As we are getting closer to Christmas and making plans to see family, I'm starting to feel really anxious about the drive. It was hard enough making the trip with just Samantha and Aedan, and now we are adding a 3 1/2 month old into the mix. It's a difficult transition getting used to time being an hour earlier. Plus, we will be staying in a hotel. We have a room that had a small attached room with bunkbeds in it for Samantha and Aedan, and it worked pretty well last year, but it is never the same when you are sleeping other places. Aedan has been really bad about talking in his bed for an hour at night and then waking up at 6:15 talking, which means he will be keeping Samantha up at night. Then, Samantha gets up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom, which I'm sure would wake Aedan up, and hopefully wouldn't wake Owen up when she comes out into the main room to go all the way to the bathroom. We are trying to work on the kids sleeping better, not talking in their beds, and not getting up so much at night, but it could make for an interesting and tiring few nights in the hotel room all together.
Owen's longest stretch of sleep tends to be in the morning. In fact, on Thursday morning he slept in until almost 10:00. There was a MOPS play date at McDonald's that morning, but nothing I needed to wake him up for. It just gave me play time with Aedan interspersed with a little housework and laundry. Then, once he finally woke up, I fed him and we went to McDonald's so Aedan could play for a little while and get some energy out. He had fun running around and playing with Gavin, and of course ordered a Happy Meal for lunch. However, even though we were out playing for most of the morning, Aedan still fought me at nap time, doing what Samantha used to always do. He just laid in his bed talking and kicking. I went in several times to tell him to go to sleep and even took Happy Bear and blankie away once I was done putting Owen down for his nap and heard that Aedan was still awake. He did eventually fall asleep, but it took quite awhile and made me frustrated in the meantime.
In the afternoons while the boys are sleeping, Izzy is my little companion. If I am up doing things around the house, she will usually follow me around. If I'm sitting on the couch working on my computer, she will usually curl up next to me. On this particular afternoon, Izzy was just so cute all curled up with her head resting on the pillow. She's such a sweet little puppy.
When Aedan woke up from his nap and Samantha got home from school, I encouraged them to go outside and play. It had snowed a few inches, and it finally wasn't really windy, so even though it was cold, it was a perfect time to go play in the snow together. I helped Aedan get dressed, and they went right outside and had a great time playing until it was time to come in for dinner. Here are some videos I took of the kids playing in the snow with Izzy jumping and running around right along with them. It's fun to have a dog that doesn't mind the snow. They were having so much fun out there, laughing and squealing with delight. In fact, as Ben walked home from campus, he could hear them playing before he even crossed the street.
That evening as we were getting ready to eat dinner, I put Owen in the swing, just as a way to entertain him and keep him happy for awhile. We don't use the swing as much anymore, and certainly not as much as we did when Aedan was a baby. However, as we were eating dinner I remarked how quiet it was in the living room...
...and sure enough, Owen had fallen asleep in the swing. I don't even remember the last time he just fell asleep in the swing like that. I don't know if there is just too much commotion going on in our house, or if he just prefers to lay down in his bed when he sleeps, but this was such a rare occurrence that I had to stop and take a video of our little guy fast asleep.
Since Owen is starting to be able to hold on to things and grab things, I decided to give him these links to play with in the bath tub on Thursday night. He didn't consistently hold on to them, but he did for a little while, and it's just the beginning of the fun he will have playing with toys in the bath tub.
On Friday morning I invited a couple moms over for a play date. They both have boys that are 3-3 1/2 like Aedan, so I hoped Aedan would have fun having some play mates. Especially since I actually cleaned the house at the beginning of the week, I was glad to have people over when the place was still relatively clean. I don't know if Aedan was just overtired that day, or if he has a hard time having people over at the house, but he was not the greatest friend that morning. He had a hard time sharing his toys and got mad at another little boy when he knocked things down he was building or wasn't playing in the way he wanted him to. I tried talking to Aedan several times, in an attempt to get him to act better and be friendlier, but it was not successful. I apologized to the moms, explaining that he wasn't normally like this, but was acting very tired that morning. They didn't mind. In fact, I think it made them feel better because they see the same behavior in their kids, so they know they are not alone.
Then, our snowblower wasn't working, so Ben had to take it somewhere to get a part replaced so we could clear our driveway. By the time he got back, I was so tired of dealing with the boys not sleeping, that I just had to get out of the house for awhile. I bundled myself up and took Izzy on a walk over to campus in the snow. The cold, fresh air did me good, and the walk helped me to clear my mind. Izzy loved her walk, of course. We haven't been able to take her on as many since Owen was born, and especially now that it is darker in the evenings and cold and snowy. Here was my view on campus.
(Blog about December 3-9, 2017)
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