Fun in Canada & Owen Turns 5 Months Old

Samantha: 80 Months, Week 5
Aedan: 46 Months, Week 3
Owen: 4 Months, Week 5 (Week 22)

Since we had a fairly relaxed day at home on Saturday, and Samantha was fully recovered, on Sunday we decided to go swimming over in Canada after going to church and having a quick lunch at home. Owen took a little cat nap in the car on the way there, which helped him not be too grumpy. We got there in time for the 1:00 swim and ended up being in the pool for over an hour and a half. Samantha got to go down the slide, Samantha and I played catch together, Aedan slid down the smaller blue slide several times, they jumped in the pool off the side, and they roughhoused with Daddy. Ben and I took turns holding Owen and playing with the big kids. Owen enjoyed hanging out in the warm water, looking around at all the activity and the water splashing from the giant mushroom. He even did some splashing around himself! About halfway through our time in the water, Ben got out with Owen and gave him a bottle. He didn't do a great job drinking from it, but better than normal. He enjoyed being able to look around while he ate. We always have such a fun time in the pool. It's a great way to spend some fun family time together. By the end, Owen was starting to get tired, ready for another nap, so it was a bit difficult getting him to not be too upset as we all got rinsed off, dried off, and changed clothes. He actually fell asleep in Ben's arms as he was holding him while I was finishing getting dressed, so then we just transferred him to his car seat and he settled back to sleep pretty quickly.

Since it was about 3:00 when we finally left the pool, we didn't plan on having Aedan take a nap that afternoon. We figured it didn't matter too much since most days he fights his naps anyways. However, on our way back, we could tell Aedan was tired, so we told him it was more than okay to close his eyes in the car and take a nap on the way home. A few minutes later I looked back and saw this, my sweet big man, fast asleep in his car seat after tiring himself out swimming. He is such a cute kid.

Once we got back home and let the kids have their Tim Horton's donuts, we had them get their snow clothes on so they could play outside. It was a fairly nice day out, and we want to encourage them to go outside and play as much as we can when the weather is nice and we don't have anything else going on. Daddy even went outside and joined them while I stayed in the house with Owen. Izzy was having a great time running around in the snow with the kids. She is always glad when someone joins her in the backyard.

On Sunday night for dinner we decided to go out for pizza at Superior Pizza. Everyone loves their food and the kids were all in good moods. Ben and I actually get a chance to talk in the car on the way there and back without kids interrupting us. We let them take their Leap Pads to play in the car, rather than watching a show at home, and on the way back Aedan's ran out of battery. Samantha made a really big kid move, was a great big sister to Aedan, and let him play on her Leap Pad instead. We made sure to tell her how proud of her we were for being so kind to her little brother and thinking of him over herself.

Here is Owen playing on his floor gym that evening while Samantha and Aedan played their "wrestling" game with Daddy downstairs.

The day had been such a fun day with lots of quality time as a family. The day ended in a wonderful way as well, for little Owen fell asleep holding on to my finger as he nursed himself to sleep. Ever since we switched him to the Zipadee Zip sleep sack and his hands are now free, he will often fall asleep with his little fist wrapped around my finger, and I just love it.

Monday morning is shopping morning, and I had a tired Aedan on my hands. He woke up super early that morning, so he didn't have much energy at the store, and he actually laid down in the cart quite a bit. For some reason Walmart has decided to stop giving out cookies to kids at the bakery counter. That used to be our last stop before going to check out. I reminded Aedan that they weren't going to have cookies that day, but he forgot until we got near the produce section and then just got really sad. With him being as tired as he was, and me being a softy for his big crocodile tears, I told him that he could get a donut that day instead. He picked out a chocolate heart shaped donut and couldn't wait to eat it while we checked out.

The rest of the day went well with lunch time and nap time. Owen took a pretty good hour long nap, even though he woke up shortly after I put him down, and I had to get him back to sleep again. After Samantha got home from school, I was trying to finish up a few things around the house, so I laid Owen down on his floor gym to play. Well, when I walked out into the living room, I noticed that he had almost rolled over! I exclaimed, "Hey kids, your little brother is rolling over!" And I quickly got out my phone to start recording since he hasn't rolled completely over yet. As you can see in the video, I was pretty excited to see him trying so hard to get all the way over to reach his toys, and he was so close, just needed to figure out how to get his left arm out from under him. It was exciting, and Samantha made sure to tell me to let her know if he rolled over while she was at school.

Monday nights are always fun nights together as a family with nowhere to go, just time to eat dinner together, have bath time, and play. I had fun watching Samantha play with Owen and make him laugh and giggle so hard. He loves when she interacts with him. She is such a good, caring big sister to her two little brothers. Monday nights are also nice because we get the kids to bed at a decent time, which usually means I can help put one of the big kids to bed, rather than having Ben put both of them to bed while I put Owen to bed. On Monday night I got to put Samantha to bed, and I loved sitting on her bed, listening to her read her book from school with such expression in her voice and face. She is a very fluent reader and she can comprehend the emotions behind what is being said while she's reading it, often putting that inflection into the words. I am so impressed by her reading skills as just a first grader. I think she is on a level M or N at school, but really, I think she is well beyond that level with the number of words she knows and the level of comprehension she can maintain. This little girl loves to read and you can often find her curled up on the couch with a good book, happy as a clam. :)

Tuesday was a MOPS morning, and I try so hard to be on top of things so we can get there on time, but it often doesn't work out. Owen woke up early that morning and was crabby when we were getting ready because it was time for him to take a nap. So not only was Owen tired and crying, Aedan was refusing to get his shoes and coat on by himself, which was frustrating to me. Sometimes he acts like he can't do things on his own, even though he can. Aedan has had a hard time leaving me lately when I drop him off at church in the preschool room or on MOPS mornings. He has gotten really clingy to me and will hide behind me and not want to go into the room. He definitely is more nervous about new situations and more unsure of things than Samantha was. I eventually just had to be kind of firm and take him into the room and tell him I was going to leave. The teachers in his room said he did just fine after I left, it's just that moment when he has to leave me. I guess he's more attached to me than I realized.

Owen had fallen asleep in the car, and I attempted to keep his car seat moving so he would stay asleep, but he only ended up sleeping half an hour at MOPS. I took him to the nursery so I could have a little break, telling them to page me when he started to show signs of being hungry. I got about an hour break before I was paged to come get him. I took him to the nursing mother's room to feed him and he was so tired that he ended up falling asleep in my lap. I tried to just let him keep sleeping as I got up so I could pick Aedan up from his room, but the bright lights and noise woke him back up again. However, he fell asleep again once we got back in the car. Normally I would think about waking Owen up when we got home so that way he would be ready for more of an afternoon nap, but with how strange his morning had been and how tired he was, I decided to just let him sleep in his car seat until he woke up. He slept until about 1:00, giving Aedan and I a chance to eat lunch and start making the cupcakes for Samantha's Valentine's Day party. He loves to help in the kitchen, and he was excited to help me "misk" up the batter, as he calls it. Once I got the last batch of cupcakes out of the oven, I read books to Aedan for nap time, while Owen hung out with us, too, and then put him down for his nap. I went down to Owen's room to put his clean clothes away, went back to Aedan to tell him to be quiet and nap, and then Owen was getting ready for a nap himself. I started nursing him around 2:30 and he was asleep by 3:00, so his schedule worked out pretty well that day. Then, I had about an hour to myself before Samantha got home and we decorated cupcakes with pink frosting and little candy hearts. She was so excited to decorate them with me, and she was kind to Aedan and let him help her put the candy hearts on. She couldn't wait for her Valentine's Day party the next day.

Tuesday night is our small group night, and our new babysitter, Jenny, rode in the car to the house with us. Samantha was excited to have her as her babysitter, as she used to be her helper at AWANA before her school schedule changed. We started our new Bible Study on Acts, and everyone came prepared, having done the reading and gone through the questions ahead of time. Our discussion was really good, challenging, and thought-provoking, and it made me excited for deviating from just discussing the sermon notes and being able to dig deeper into a book of the Bible. Owen got a little cranky towards the end of small group, but overall, it went well. When I went downstairs to get Samantha and Aedan when group was over, they had just started watching a movie, so they were mad that I was there and they had to stop watching it. (Aedan was sitting on Jenny's lap, watching the movie, so that was really cute to see.) Samantha was tired and had a long day, and sometimes she doesn't make the best decisions when she's tired. This night was an example, for when I was telling her to get ready to go, and she said, "I know, Jesus..." in an exasperated tone of voice. I couldn't believe she said that, because she knows it's not okay to take the Lord's name in vain. In fact, we don't even like for them to say oh my gosh for that very reason. I know she hears language like that from kids at school, and I'm sure it's hard for her to not get sucked into behaving like others in her class, but Ben and I made sure to stress to her how important it is not to say things like that, and how that is unacceptable in our family. In fact, when we got home, I even showed her the verse in the Bible where it says not to take the Lord's name in vain.

Wednesday was Valentine's Day, and Samantha was so excited for her party and to give her valentines out, that she woke up super early because she was so excited. That is cute and everything, but after being out late for small group, she was extremely overtired that Wednesday morning, meaning she was not listening well or being respectful to us. Aedan was also up early, kicking in his bed before Ben's alarm even went off at 6:15, but that is not uncommon lately. So the day started off poorly all around.

I had a few things I wanted to buy for Ben for his Valentine's Day present, so I told Aedan we were going to go out and stop at Meijer before going to the library for story time. Aedan didn't want to go, but he often will do this lately, where he says he doesn't want to go, but then he has fun where we go and doesn't want to come back home. I was counting on Owen falling asleep in the car on the way to Meijer since it was close to his nap time, but he just cried the whole way there and even into our time in the store. I thought pushing him around in the cart would help him fall asleep, but that didn't make him fall asleep either. I actually had to get his car seat down and rock it back and forth in order to get him asleep. I got the coffee maker and coffee for Ben to take to his office, since the coffee maker he had wasn't working anymore. It wasn't a very romantic gift, but it was practical, and something I know he will love to have every day when he needs a little afternoon pick-me-up.

With how grumpy Aedan was at home that morning, I should have taken that as a sign and just stayed home because Aedan gave me a really hard time at the library that morning because he was so tired. I was trying to get him to write his name on his snail valentine, but he just had it in his head that he didn't want to, so then we just had a stubborn battle with each other. He ended up screaming, I gave him a time out, he cried, and I threatened that we would just leave and go home. Eventually he was able to snap out of it and start making right choices, but he was just not having a good day and was needing a nice good nap that afternoon.

Here were my two boys before nap time that day. It's kind of funny to see them next to each other like that. Aedan is so cute with Happy Bear, and Owen looks so big sometimes (especially his head). The boys are cute together, and this is just the beginning of their relationship. It will be fun to watch them grow up together, and to have a built-in play mate in each other.

Aedan took a good nap for me that day, thankfully; whereas Owen had trouble napping. He woke up two times in less than an hour, and when I finally got him up around 3:00, he was still tired and crabby. However, I had to go pick Samantha up at school to take her to the dentist, so I guess it worked out anyways that he was awake. 

When I got to Samantha's school, she was already sitting in the front lobby area, ready and waiting. We went back in the school quickly so I could brush her teeth, since I knew she just had her Valentine's Day party and had lots of sugary treats. I was a little nervous taking her to the dentist that day because when we took her over the summer, she had so many problems with her teeth, and we had to take her down to Petoskey to see the Pediatric Dentist. We have been trying to encourage her to take better care of her teeth, and we brush her teeth for her at least once a day, so I hoped that her mouth would be in good shape. However, now that her adult teeth are coming in, it was going to be good to get everything checked out. Before going in to the building, she was pretty nervous about it, and I reassured her that they were just going to be checking and cleaning her teeth. They did some bite wing x-rays, painted her teeth purple to check for how she brushes, and everything was looking good. There were a few areas of build-up behind her lower front teeth, so they showed her how to get her brush back there and encouraged her to brush in circular motions, rather than back and forth. They also gave her a little two minute sand timer so she can make sure she was brushing her teeth for a long enough time. I was glad that there seemed to be no further problems, and she is just due back for another maintenance visit in six months.

From there we went back home to have dinner and get ready for AWANA that evening. Since it was Valentine's Day, neither of our Bible studies were going to meet, so Ben and I had plans to spend the evening together (with Owen along for the ride of course). We opened up the gifts that we got for each other, and this is what Ben got for me. It was so sweet, so special, and so unexpected. Usually I am the one to get the sentimental gifts for him, so I really appreciated this gift from him. Now we need to find a special place to hang it up in our home. :)

Owen had a very rough day napping, and that included his evening nap. We hoped he would fall asleep in the car on the way to AWANA, but he just cried, like he did earlier that morning for me. I took the kids in to the church to check them in and get them situated. Ben tried getting Owen's car seat out of the car and swinging it back and forth to see if he could get him to sleep, but it was not working. Finally, we just put him back in the car and started driving, and he finally fell asleep. We stopped at a furniture store to begin looking for a new twin mattress for Aedan. We want to give him a new bed for his 4th birthday, and we will buy a new mattress and box spring for him, just like we did for Samantha for her 4th birthday. He is definitely getting too big for his little toddler bed and mattress. From there, we went to Applebee's for dessert, since we had already eaten dinner at home with the kids. We both ordered a dessert and split it, and even though we had Owen with us, and he was still a bit on the crabby side, at least Ben and I got to go out for a little while on Valentine's Day.

Most nights this week Owen has woken up twice during the night. However, on Wednesday into Thursday, he only woke up once during the night but then was up for the day at 6:45.  Samantha had a half day that afternoon and no school on Friday for a Winter Break, so Aedan and I just stayed home and playing that morning. However, he was being whiny, and I put Owen down for his morning nap, hoping that he would have a good nap so I could have time to play with Aedan, but he only napped for forty minutes, cutting our play time short. We had a little bit of time to play Legos together, but not as much as I would have liked. Once Owen was awake, I put him in the Bumbo seat in front of this light up toy so he could reach the buttons all on his own, and I then had free hands to keep playing with Aedan.

When Samantha got home from school, she had some candy hearts she had gotten, and once again, the sweet sister that she is came out because she shared them with Aedan, and he was so happy that she shared with him. The two of them were playing very nicely, building with Legos, and they were good listeners, even getting everything cleaned up and being ready when I was done putting Owen down.

On days that Samantha comes home early from school, Aedan always has a hard time napping because he is too excited. Then Owen gave me a hard time napping again as well. I spent all afternoon trying to get him to sleep, finally giving in and having him fall asleep nursing again. I just didn't understand why it seemed like he wouldn't sleep longer than 30-40 minutes at a time. Then, I would get him back to sleep just to have him wake up crying again. Everything I have read say that he should be napping 1-2 hours for each nap, but I very rarely get him to nap for that long. He was fine at night and slept like normal. It was just during the day, but it was exhausting. I felt like I couldn't get anything done or have any time with just Aedan or by myself. I felt like I was doing something wrong because I felt like he should be doing more than these mini-naps all day, and I didn't know if I should be pushing him and trying to get him back to sleep, or allowing him to just take short naps. I let Samantha just relax and watch a movie that afternoon, and every time I had to get up and go down with Owen she would say, "I'm so sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry you have to keep going down there." It was cute that she was being empathetic towards how I was feeling.

Even though Aedan didn't nap that afternoon, I still sent the kids outside to play once nap time was over. With the warmer weather outside, I knew I wanted them to take advantage of the chance to get some energy out.

The kids got some valentines cards in the mail that day from Upland Ema and Papa. The cards were handmade and really cute with pictures made out of shape stickers and a cute little message to each of them about why they love them and what makes them special. The kids were really excited to open them up and read them. It was very creative of Ema and Papa. Aren't they cute?

With Owen's rough day of sleeping, I was pretty tired by bedtime that night. Here is the little stinker as we were getting ready for bed after bath time that night. We always say, it's a good thing he's cute!

On Friday morning Owen had his 4 month check-up even though he was almost 5 months old. His 2 month appointment was postponed and rescheduled, which caused his 4 month appointment to be pushed back as well. Since his appointment was on a Friday morning, Ben was able to stay home with the big kids. (Samantha was home as well because she had the day off for Winter Break.) It was nice only having to take Owen and not drag all the kids along with me. That's the one benefit of Ben's schedule being more flexible, especially on Fridays.

His appointment was at 9:30, which was a hard time because he was ready for a nap, making him somewhat cranky while we were waiting to be seen. The doctor checked him all over, remarking about how healthy he is. He was reaching for their stethoscopes, trying to eat their fingers, and just being a happy guy. They gave me his percentile charts when we left, and I was able to see what his measurements were when we came in right around when he actually was 4 months old on January 18th. So at 4 months old, his head circumference was 17 inches and in the 75th percentile, his length was 26 inches and in the 85th percentile, and his weight was 18.13 pounds and in the 95th percentile. So he was in the 87th percentile for his weight to height. On February 16th, when he was one day shy of 5 months old, his head circumference was 17.25 inches and in the 72nd percentile, his length was 26 inches and in the 63rd percentile, and his weight was 19 pounds 3 ounces and in the 93rd percentile. She looked at the small bumps on his skin and said it was some dermatitis, almost like a beginning form of eczema. She encouraged us to use CeraVe lotion on his skin every day to help him out. I also tried to ask her questions about how he hasn't been napping long and how he still doesn't take bottles very well, but she didn't have much to say about any of that. That is my one complaint about her. She's very kind and knowledgeable, but she's not very personable, as in she doesn't sit down and take the time to talk to you and hear your concerns or offer any concrete advice. Sometimes I feel like I can't ask her for very much advice because I know she won't spend the time in the room with me. The most response I got was that is just how Owen is. She did talk to me some about starting him on baby food, saying that he is definitely at the point where he can start on baby food, and she gave me a hand out to follow on how to introduce things to him. At the end of his appointment, Owen got three immunizations, one liquid and two shots, one in each leg. He cried pretty hard when they poked his legs, turning red in the face, but he calmed down fairly quickly once I picked him up. In fact, as we waited for our paperwork to be printed, he actually fell asleep with his little head rested on my shoulder. It was so sweet. He hasn't done that in a long time, especially in a public place like that. He was one tired little boy. He woke up when I put him in his car seat, but then he fell asleep pretty quickly on the way home so I just put his car seat downstairs and let him keep sleeping. He ended up napping for an hour and a half, which is definitely a good nap for him.

Samantha and Aedan were enjoying their extra day to play together. Aedan LOVES it when Sissy is home to play with him. They were doing a pretty good job playing with each other that morning. Here they are sitting on the couch reading books together. He loves having people read to him, especially Samantha, and I loved how he just curled up next to her on the couch, even leaning his head against her shoulder. I also love that Samantha allows him to do that, and I will cherish these days when they love to be near each other.

I know these are silly pictures, too, but I like showing the little band-aids covering the little marks where they got their shots. Also, do you see his chunky thighs? A lot of people comment on how big Owen is, and sometimes I am tempted to feel slightly offended, like it's a bad thing, but my response to them always is, "This is how all my kids have been. They are breastfed and get really chunky in the beginning, but once they start crawling and moving, they thin out pretty quickly."

Since it was Samantha's Winter Break, and we decided it wasn't really worth our time or money to go anywhere, I wanted to give Samantha some special opportunities to play with friends on her days off. So, I contacted our neighbors from around the corner, since they had a half-day at school that day, and we arranged for Samantha to go over to their house to play in the afternoon while her brothers napped. She had a great time playing with the girls there. They dressed up and had a real tea party with little cups and real tea. They found rocks and acted like geologists, and just played and had a wonderful time being creative and using their imaginations. I was so glad she was able to go and play.

Samantha got home shortly after Daddy got home on Friday afternoon. Here are some cute pictures of Samantha and Daddy with Owen. It almost looks like he's smiling for the picture, too.

And here they are pretending to eat his head. Silly guys.

Here is Owen as I was getting him ready for bed that night. It was just too cute, so I let him explore his feet and his voice before finishing putting his pajamas on. He didn't seem phased by the shots he had that morning. Just in the last couple days Owen had discovered his feet and loves reaching down and grabbing his toes. He has most definitely found his voice. He loves sticking his tongue out and spitting, and his squawks are very loud. I can't help but smile when I watch this little guy. :)

On Saturday we decided to take a trip over to Canada to try out a new indoor play place called Fun Farm. (We stopped At Lowe's first to do some preliminary shopping for a new vanity for our upstairs bathroom.) The play place was very hard to find, but the kids were pretty excited to go in and play. They had several inflatables, two being obstacles courses. There was a climbing wall and a small playground type thing, basketballs and hoops, as well as the little toddler roller coaster cars. It was definitely geared more toward younger kids, but there were still plenty of things for Samantha to have fun on. Samantha and Aedan had a blast running around, jumping, and playing together. They played for about an hour and a half before they started getting hungry and tired and we decided to cross back over and get some lunch at Wendy's before going back home for nap time. It was definitely a fun place to try out.

To end this post, I will leave you with the pictures I took of Owen for his 5 month photo shoot. I waited until after bath time that night, so he was starting to get a little tired and grumpy, but Samantha offered to help me out, and she was able to get some great smiles out of him. Here's our adorable, smiley 5 month old! There were too many cute pictures for me to narrow them down too much.

Doesn't he have the cutest smile and dimples? Man, he's a cute little boy.

And then at the end he got a hold of the sign and started eating it. Samantha thought that was the funniest part of the whole experience.

(Blog about February 11-17, 2018)

A Hard Week of Sleeping Troubles and a Sick Samantha

Samantha: 80 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 46 Months, Week 2
Owen: 4 Months, Week 4 (Week 21)

Sunday, February 4 was the Super Bowl, and even though I am not the biggest fan of football, it's fun to eat finger foods and get together with people. We invited our neighbors from the street over to come have food with us and watch the game while our kids played. They have four girls, and we had been looking for a time when Samantha and their girls could get together and play. The girls and Aedan were fast friends and went right down to the basement to play after eating dinner. It was a fun evening getting to know some new friends, and we will definitely have to get our families and our kids together again.

I don't often leave Owen in his pajamas, but with grocery shopping being the only thing on our agenda for Monday morning, I figured it was just as well to keep him comfy and warm. Plus, I think these pajamas are really cute on him with the little bear feet. When I put him on his play gym, I always set him on the middle of the mat so he can bat at the toys, but he kicks around and wiggles so much that sometimes he scoots himself down and right off the mat. He has even kicked it over on top of himself a few times. In the video below, you can see how much he is rolling over on to his side. He's definitely working on trying to roll over, and I feel like it won't be long now. I just love the way he looks and me and smiles. He knows that I'm his mommy.

Sometimes I feel like it's a miracle when I can get both boys successfully to sleep for nap time. Both boys have been challenging lately in the napping department. Sometimes it takes me so long to get Owen down just to have him wake up not long after, when he is clearly still tired. Or, Aedan is kicking around and playing in his bed (taking his socks off, taking his pillowcase off, untucking his blanket), and generally just making lots of noise. Monday afternoon both boys were tired though, and they fell asleep rather easily for me. I couldn't believe they were both sleeping so soundly, and they were so calm and peaceful, so I went back into their rooms to take pictures of them while they were sleeping.

That evening I had an appointment to go to, so Ben was at home with the kiddos by himself. I felt bad leaving him to do bath time and getting them ready for bed by himself, but he handled it well. Here are some cute pictures he took of Aedan reading books to Owen while Samantha took a shower. Owen loves watching Aedan and already looks up to him so much. It's cute to see the way they interact with each other and to see Aedan growing into his roll as a big brother, not just a little brother. Bath nights can be quite the production in our house with one after the other getting clean, usually Samantha first in the shower, then Aedan in the bath tub so he can play with his toys for awhile, and then Owen last.

Ben and I have been throwing around the idea of signing up Aedan for preschool. Sometimes we feel like he needs more structure and routine in his days, as he often walks around the house complaining about being bored, or attacking Samantha when she gets home from school because he's so desperate for someone to play with. (There's only so much I can do during the day when I have Owen to take care of and tasks around the house to accomplish or errands to run. Plus, playing with kids is more fun anyways.) We've been wondering if the social interaction would be good for him, and if preschool would give him something to call his own, something special that he gets to look forward to a few days a week. So, in thinking about that, I set up a time to go to the Sault Cooperative Preschool on Tuesday morning so that Aedan could try it out, and I could check out how things are run and whether or not that would be a good fit for him and for our family. He was pretty excited about trying it out, and Samantha was excited for him as we talked about it at breakfast that morning.

When we first got there, Aedan was acting pretty shy. He hid behind my legs and didn't want to go into the room, even though all the kids were crowding around him, very interested in the new boy and his baby that came to preschool. I eventually convinced Aedan to go in and take his coat off, and the teacher explained the schedule of their day to me, handing me an application packet I could fill out. I got Owen situated in the Ergo because he needed to take a nap pretty soon, and I encouraged Aedan to go play, even though he kept asking me to play with him. Eventually he got comfortable enough to go off and play, and it was fun to watch him explore and play. He found the dress-up area where he found a Spider-Man costume just like he has at home, so he was very excited to put that on. I would say his favorite part of the room was the sensory table that was filled with rice and pasta and hidden letters. He drove some cars around in it and was having a great time. They have free, independent play for the first hour of their time there. Here are some pictures I took of Aedan playing and the classroom in general.

After all the kids helped clean up the toys, it was time for circle time. All the kids gathered on the carpet and they talked about the weather, the calendar, practiced the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, and then read a book about "R," the letter of the week. Aedan did a fairly good job listening, but after awhile he didn't want to sit still anymore. He wanted to lay down on the carpet instead of sitting up with his legs crossed. He tried to get up and leave the carpet, but I told him he had to sit back down. He wanted me to sit by him, but Owen was asleep in the Ergo, so I couldn't sit down, but had to keep swaying to try and keep him asleep. I did stand near him, and that seemed to help. Even though Aedan knows all his letters, he wasn't really participating, he was just sitting there and watching, taking everything in, observing, just like his mama.

After circle time, we crossed over to the other room for music and movement time where they did the "Bear Hunt" song and a counting/stretching song. They had snack time after that, which Aedan was really excited about. That boy loves to eat and would snack all morning if I let him. One of the cutest things was watching all the little kids pour water from the small pitchers on the table into their little plastic cups. Aedan thought that was pretty neat being able to pour his own drink for himself. We definitely need to encourage more independence in our kids in serving themselves food and drinks. The little pitchers are a great idea.

Once they were done with their snack, it was free play time again. Many kids were trying to play with the boats in the water table at the same time, and Aedan didn't get a turn before it was closed up because the kids couldn't share. That made him upset, and he ended up throwing some toys on the floor and kicking them. I pulled him to the side and talked to him about his behavior, and I knew that he wouldn't act like that if I wasn't there anyways. At this point Owen was awake, but he was happy just hanging out in my lap as I observed Aedan playing. If the temperature is 20 and above they go outside to play, and as the weather warms up, they have outdoor toys, a water area, and a sand table for the kids to play with.

I know Aedan would really enjoy being there, and he would learn some too with practicing writing his name and learning letter sounds, as well as practicing the letter names. However, most of the preschool is play based, which is not a bad thing. My main hesitation is that it is my understanding that he would be in a 3 morning a week class for the rest of this year, and then next year he would be in a 5 morning a week class, which I don't really want for him, nor do I think is necessary. Also, part of me feels sad about him going to preschool three mornings a week and not having him around the house. He will be in school for so many years of his life, why am I rushing to get him off to school again? Also, selfishly, he is my excuse to get out of the house sometimes with various play dates and going to the library. However, the social interaction would probably be good for him, and it would be better than dealing with him being whiny and bored at home sometimes. Plus, I would be able to have those mornings while he is at preschool to do our grocery shopping and do things around the house, so that the mornings I have him at home, on Mondays and Fridays, I could focus more just on him and playing with him. I don't know. I still feel so indecisive and don't know what the best decision is. I was glad that we were able to check it out though, and now I will just have to consider my options and go from there.

After having a busy morning, I thought maybe nap time would go better on Tuesday afternoon; however, I still had trouble getting Owen to nap. I fed him at 12:15 after getting home from the preschool visit, and it looked like he could have fallen asleep, but I didn't want him to be waking up right when Aedan was going down. Plus, he slept in the Ergo while we were at the preschool until about 11:00, so I figured he could stay up longer. But then we had to eat lunch, and I had to put dinner together, so I got him down later than I should have. He just woke up and was wiggling around in bed, so I wondered if I just waited too long to put him down. He wasn't even acting interested in sleeping. I tried to go down and rock him and he was just looking around wide-eyed. It's hard for me to know what to do when all I want him to do is sleep. I felt bad because I was texting Ben about all of this, and he offered to come home, but I know I was just being ridiculous and I was tired from having a rough night the night before. I know every mom has to deal with kids like this, but I wasn't handling it well that day. I just didn't know what to do. He seemed tired, he was grumpy, but I could not get him to sleep. He just kept screaming but didn't want to fall asleep when I held him. Finally, after giving him some time in his bed while I took a mental break for a few minutes, I checked his diaper and he had pooped. So I changed him but I still could not get him to sleep. I didn't know if I should give up and just let him get up. He was crying, and I didn't know if that was because he didn't want/need to nap or because I still needed to try and get him to sleep. We were having small group at our house that evening, and I didn't know what we would do if he didn't nap because then he would have to take an evening nap, but it's hard to do that when all the kids are downstairs making noise. All that to say, Ben ended up getting home a little early from campus, and he went down with Owen to help me out, finally getting him to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Owen having trouble napping is a common theme lately. I hate to feel so consumed by his sleep schedule, but so much of my day revolves around that. I usually nurse him to sleep in the afternoon so that way he doesn't wake up sooner because he's hungry, but almost every day he wakes up after about 45 minutes, crying. Usually when he wakes up crying it means he is not done napping yet, so I always try to rock or bounce him back to sleep, which sometimes works. But then there are other times it's almost like he's sleeping while he's nursing, like I waited too long to put him down and then he can't keep himself awake. So then his eyes just pop open like he is done napping, even though he is still in my arms. That was what happened on Tuesday afternoon, and then I spent all afternoon trying to get him to sleep, but nothing was working. I felt so tired of spending so long trying to get him to sleep, sometimes that taking longer than he actually naps for. It makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong sometimes and makes me second guess how I take care of him. I think I need to stop letting him sleep nurse as much because then he wakes up and he's in his bed and not nursing anymore, which probably makes him upset. All this makes me wish that he would take a pacifier as a way to soothe himself back to sleep, but he still shows no interest in using one. Then I also think that maybe I'm not keeping him on enough of a schedule, or maybe I am trying to make him conform to our schedule too much rather than just following his lead and putting him down when he shows signs of being tired, whether that is convenient for me or not.

His day of having trouble sleeping continued that night when he woke up a little before 10:00 crying, which is definitely unlike him. He developed a bit of a stuffy nose that day and was gnawing on things like crazy, which made me think that he could possibly be teething. I always forget that teething is always something that could be going on that could be bothering him and his ability to get good sleep. I decided that if he woke up again soon after laying him down, that I would give him some medicine to see if that would help at all. All told, Owen was up three times overnight, making for a very tired Mom the next day.

Wednesday morning Aedan, Owen, and I made our usual trip to the library for story time. Owen usually falls asleep in the car on the way there, but on this particular day he was taking longer to fall asleep, and we actually left early so we had a few minutes for me to drive around and get him asleep before stopping at the library. For some reason there weren't very many people there, just Aedan and another boy and his mom. Aedan enjoyed listening to the stories about the lion and cat, and then made a lion puppet out of a paper bag. Even though story time is not quite what it used to be in other towns we've lived in, it's more personal there. They know Aedan, and he gets a lot of one-on-one attention from the librarian. She will interact with the kids while they do their craft and usually pulls out puzzles afterwards to do with the kids. Aedan, the other little boy, Theo, and the librarian put together an ocean puzzle on the floor together. While they were working on that, I was able to talk to the other mom for awhile, not realizing we had a connection through our husbands at Lake State. It was a good morning, and Aedan was very respectful at the library.

Here is a video of the boys playing once we got back home that day before lunch, Owen with his floor gym and Aedan with his Rescue Bots. It's fun to see the stories he comes up with and the rescue missions they go on together.

On Wednesday we got the Zipadee-Zip sack in the mail. After thinking Owen was growing out of being swaddled in his sleep sack with his arms held down, I talked with Christy and thought about trying the Zipadee-Zip because it is supposedly a good swaddle transition, keeping their hands inside and giving a little resistance in the fabric when they move their arms around. I decided to try it for nap time on Wednesday because really, how could it hurt? He did startle some when I laid him down because his startle reflex is still pretty strong. His arms woke him up when I laid him down. I just left him there so I could go put Aedan to bed and then went back down to check on him because he was quiet. He was not asleep, but just wiggling and kicking around in his bed. After about 15 minutes, there still was no crying. I was amazed because normally when he is in his bed awake, he just starts screaming. I didn't want to jump to conclusions too soon, but I thought that maybe he just was not liking having his arms swaddled anymore. Also, Aedan ended up falling asleep too, without me even having to go in there, I felt like it was a day of miracles. I was so excited to see if the Zipadee-Zip would help Owen sleep better. However, just like most days, after about 45 minutes he was crying again, so I went to see if I could get him back to sleep. I was able to get him back to sleep, but his arms still startled him a lot when I laid him down. I tried resting my hands on his arms to calm them as he settled in his bed, but his arms kept jerking up. It will take him some time to get used to the freedom of being able to move his arms more now. He woke up another time after that as well, so it didn't seem like the Zipadee-Zip made much of a difference, at least not yet. Here he is zipped up, enjoying the access to his fists to suck on.

And here he is once I finally got him to sleep that afternoon.

After having homemade pizza for dinner that night, we got everyone ready for AWANA and Bible Study. I had Ben take Owen with him that week so that we could see how that would go and we could try giving him another bottle. I don't get much time away from Owen, and I didn't realize how nice it would be to not have a wiggly, squawky baby to take care of while also trying to participate in the conversation during the Bible study. I was able to just relax and focus and enjoy my time kid-free. I was slightly concerned about how Owen was doing with Ben, especially since he is technically the leader of his Bible study, but I was mostly just glad to have a break from having to take care of a baby.

I was a little worried how the night would go with Owen in the Zipadee-Zip and having that freedom overnight, but I figured we would never know unless we tried it. It went fairly well, with Owen waking up at midnight and then again at 5:00. It didn't seem to make much of a difference either way, he didn't wake up any more or any less, and he went back to sleep just like he always does.

On Thursday the boys and I just stayed home to play, get some laundry done, and just have a more relaxed day. I was really hoping Owen would take a good nap in the morning so that I could have more one-on-one time to play with Aedan, but he only slept for about 20 minutes before waking up, and he was pretty fussy the rest of the morning because of not sleeping enough. I know at this age Aedan was taking pretty good morning naps, giving me time to be with just Samantha, but Owen just seems to be having so much trouble napping lately, and it makes me feel bad for Aedan sometimes because I can't give him as much attention as he wants and I want to give.

As I was changing Samantha's sheets that day, I noticed Samantha's little sticker decoration that she put on her headboard. It's so cute how she does things so symmetrically.

It seems like the boys stay in their pajamas a lot on Thursdays since we have nothing to do and nowhere to go. Here are my little smiley boys at lunch time on Thursday. 

Owen is really starting to enjoy the exersaucer. Isn't his smile just so adorable?

And here's my other cute little boy who isn't looking so little anymore. Sometimes I can't believe that he will be turning 4 soon. He is so much like a big kid, but still so little still (and silly, too!).

Aedan was playing with his PJ Masks sticker and activity book, and he decided to line up the stickers for each character of them as a normal kid, in their costume, and then their vehicle.

With how much trouble I've had at nap time lately, I've come to dread nap time because I know it's likely to be a battle. Owen woke up again after laying him down asleep. I checked his diaper, just to be sure, and he had pooped, so I changed him and put him back swaddled since he had been so fussy that day and only wanted to be held. I thought maybe the swaddle would make him feel more secure and give him the feeling of still being held. However, even though I got him back to sleep, he was up crying again 15 minutes later. Then I spent 15 minutes getting him back to sleep, just to have him wake up again 5 minutes later. I actually ended up just feeding Owen again because I wondered if he was hungry and that's why he was waking up. I was basically letting him use me as a pacifier, and I was even willing to let him just nap on my lap for awhile, if that meant he would actually stay asleep. But at that point Aedan had already been in his room for almost two hours, even though he wasn't napping, and I didn't want to just leave him in there while I let Owen sleep on my lap, so I laid him down, holding my breath to see if he would actually stay asleep. It was a good thing I came upstairs when I did because Aedan needed to go to the restroom and was calling for me, but I couldn't hear him when I was all the way downstairs.

Friday was another busy, interesting day. Aedan, Owen, and I went over for a play date with Aedan's friend Owen. Our Owen fell asleep in the car on the way there, and I was able to put him in an upstairs bedroom to continue his nap. (Sometimes it seems like he naps better in his car seat than in his bed.) Aedan said he didn't want to go before we left, but I knew he would enjoy it once we went there, especially since we had just stayed home all day the day before. Owen was in a little bit of a grumpy mood, but it was so good to see that it's not just Aedan that acts in that way, but just a typical 3 1/2 year old boy thing. Kristen and I enjoyed talking with each other about life, kids, family, and education. It's fun for us to be able to get together and for our boys to have a playmate for the morning.

Friday afternoon was busier than normal because we watched a foster child for another family. She had taken a little bit of a nap that morning, so we were unsure when she would want to take another nap that afternoon. Ben agreed to come home and help me in case I had to do a lot to get Owen to sleep again. There was no way I'd be able to handle nap time with all three kids if Owen was fussy again. Ben helped put Aedan down while I finished putting Owen down. This little girl loved our dog and followed her all around the house saying "da da." When we let Izzy outside, the little girl just banged on the patio door, calling for the dog, until we let her back in. After giving her a little time to play, I got a bottle of milk ready and took her downstairs to feed her and put her down for a nap. Last time we watched her she cried quite a bit on and off before falling asleep. With how much trouble Owen has been having sleeping lately, we didn't want to put her in Samantha's room, which is right above Owen's room, in case her crying would wake Owen up. So instead, I set the pack and play up in the play room where it is separated enough from Owen's room, but it was still a nice, dark, quiet place for her to sleep. She drank almost all her bottle and was very clearly ready to nap. In fact, she was almost falling asleep in my arms. I put her in the pack and play awake, and she cried for maybe three minutes before falling asleep and sleeping all the way until her foster mom came to pick her up. I wish Owen could give me good naps like that, and hopefully some day he will. However, it was easy to watch her when she pretty much slept the whole time.

Here is my drooly boy hanging out on his tummy that afternoon after getting up from his nap. We are working on getting his arms strong and pushing up, but he doesn't seem too interested in hanging out on his tummy for very long.

On Friday Samantha came home from school saying her tummy started hurting at school. She had some diarrhea and spent quite a lot of time going to the bathroom and just sitting because she kept feeling like she had to go. Then at one point she got up and rushed to the bathroom, and we heard her throwing up. My response was "uh-oh" because there had been a lot of sickness going around lately, so it probably was only a matter of time before it hit our family. She got sick quite a bit that evening between about 5:00 and 10:00. She wasn't able to keep anything down, even the small sips of water I had her take came right back up. We felt so bad for her because not only was she getting sick to her stomach, but she also continued to have diarrhea. At one point she was sitting on the toilet with a trash can in her hands, poor girl. By the end of the night she was tired, light-headed, weak, and shaky. At 7:00 she just wanted to go to sleep, so we covered her mattress with puppy pads to protect it if she got sick or had diarrhea during the night, put a trash can next to her bed, and hoped for the best. She got sick a couple more times that night before Ben and I went to bed, and Ben was preparing to possibly sleep up in the guest room so that he could be closer to her throughout the night, if she kept getting sick and needed help. We felt so bad for our little girl, and we hoped that she would feel better soon and that no one else in our family would catch it from her, particularly Owen.

Ben decided to start the night out sleeping downstairs and then moving upstairs if need be. However, Samantha did not get sick at all the rest of the night. I heard her get up and go to the bathroom a couple of times while I was up with Owen, but she didn't need us at all during the night. (We moved a monitor into her room so that we could hear if she got sick, and she could call for us if she needed us.) Saturday morning she woke up acting largely back to normal. Ben had her get in the bath and get all cleaned up, and then we worked on washing all of her sheets and blankets and disinfecting the bathroom and doorknobs and things to hopefully prevent anyone else in the family from catching her germs. She started off slowly drinking water, then eating a banana for breakfast, and then trying some toast after it seemed like things were going to stay down. We were so glad it seemed to be a fast and furious stomach bug, and we were glad she was already starting to feel so much better.

The rest of Saturday we just kind of took it easy and let Samantha work on recovering. We did laundry and the kids played. Everyone was tired, so we all took a nap that afternoon. Samantha ended up sleeping for just over two hours and Aedan for close to three hours. I guess that's what happens she she is up sick a lot and he skips naps and wakes up super early every day. We were glad for the rest, and even though it's hard for me to have a day where we just stay home and not do anything, sometimes it's necessary and useful to force myself to stop and rest.

(Blog about February 4-10, 2018)