Aedan: 47 Months, Week 2
Owen: 5 Months, Week 4 (Week 26)
Saturday into Sunday was time to spring forward, so we lost an hour of sleep that night. The kids slept in a little bit, but not much, so since we were all up anyways, we went to the 9:00 service. We had a guest speaker at church, and I thought the sermon was really good and challenging about repentance and how we are living our life. It's nice having Owen in the nursery during church so that I can focus more on on the sermon and am not as distracted by trying to keep a baby quiet. It's nice that he is old enough now to be happy for the whole service as long as I have recently fed him.
Since Owen had been up for awhile that morning, he fell asleep in his car seat on the way home from church. We let him sleep until he woke up and then just hung out at home until we were ready for a quick lunch. I nursed Owen and put him down for his afternoon nap. I found a babysitter to come to the house for the afternoon while Owen napped so that the rest of us could go see "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." We knew a few people from church that had kids in it, and one of Ben's colleagues was the director. It was nice that we were all going to be able to go, instead of Ben or I staying home with Owen. The kids were super excited to go on a big kid date, and Aedan was glad he was able to skip his nap. We got to the theater in the casino in plenty of time to find our seats, and the kids anxiously awaited the start of the show. Aedan knew that Ella, one of his helpers at church, was going to be in the play, and he couldn't wait to see her dressed up as a bunny. She was definitely the star of the show to him. Samantha was entranced because she knew the story since we recently read the book to her, and she knew what was coming next, even analyzing the music and whether it was scary sounding or not. Ben and I were pretty impressed by the play, even though it was just a local theater group. There were some really good actors and actresses, and it was very well rehearsed. I'm glad we took the time to go see it and enjoy our afternoon together. Here are some pictures from the play and a few of the kids watching the play.
I was happy to hear a good report from the babysitter about her time with Owen. We had never left him with a babysitter before, and I have hardly been away from him since he was born. He slept for about an hour and a half, and then he just had fun playing with toys with the babysitter. I am glad that we are finally getting to the point where we feel comfortable leaving Owen with someone else. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the big kids without having to keep Owen quiet and calm.
The rest of the night we just hung out and played. We had Samantha work on a lot of math because she had several packets sent home that weren't complete. Unfortunately, we discovered recently that she wasn't going to math every day like we thought she was. Her teacher was forgetting to send her, and her math teacher wasn't following up to see where she was, why she was missing so much, or trying to give her the work she was missing along the way. Ben and I were pretty frustrated with the whole situation, especially once we saw how much math she was behind on. She spent most of her free time over the weekend trying to get caught up on her math so that way we didn't have to worry about it once our busy week started back up again. Here are Owen and Aedan playing on the floor together that afternoon. Owen loves to be near Aedan so he can watch him run around and play with his Rescue Bots.
Monday morning was back to our normal routine, which meant grocery shopping for the boys and me. Here is a video I took as we were driving to the store. I was not excited to see it snowing again. I am SO ready for the snow and cold to go away, and for spring, warm weather, and grass to make an appearance again. It's going to take me awhile to get used to this new, colder climate that we live in. I like snow, but not nearly this much.
As we drove to the store, Owen fell asleep in his car seat, and I decided to go to Meijer to go shopping since our list wasn't too long, and that way I could leave Owen in his car seat to keep sleeping, instead of waking him up and putting him in the Ergo, hoping he'd fall back asleep again. Meijer has carts that have a special place to put the car seat, so that you don't have to clip it on the top seat where it's not very safe anyways. Owen continued his nap for about half of our shopping trip, and Aedan was perfectly content driving Heatwave around the store. (I have been letting him bring one toy with him to the store lately because it helps him be much more interested in going shopping with me, helps prevent too much whining, and keeps Aedan up and moving around the store, at least getting some energy out as we shop.) It took me a little longer to find things since I am used to shopping at Walmart, but it went well. Shopping at Meijer is so much more of a pleasant experience. The layout is better, the shelves are marked better, and the employees are helpful in knowing where things are that you may be looking for. Plus, the bakery still gives out free cookies to kids there, which definitely makes Aedan happy. Once Owen woke up and started getting fussy, I put him in the Ergo for the last few minutes of shopping and checking out. Then, another highlight of shopping at Meijer...riding on Sandy! I even let Owen take his first turn riding on the horse with his big brother holding on to him from behind. From the look on Owen's face, I'm not sure he was too impressed.
Owen took a decent nap for me that afternoon, sleeping about two hours. Then, he and I had some time to play before Aedan got up and Samantha got home. (Now granted, Aedan wasn't napping which is about normal lately. He is definitely starting to phase out of napping. However, I still put him in his room and let him have some quiet time in his bed for awhile, regardless of whether or not he's sleeping.) We have been putting Owen down on a blanket with toys more often lately because he just kicks over the floor gym when he lays on it to play, sometimes getting stuck on the inside. He just rolls back and forth so much now, a blanket with toys is much better for him. Apparently he wasn't quite ready to be up yet, as you can see in these pictures. He looks pretty comfortable laying on his blanket. I wonder if he will ever start rolling over on his tummy to sleep. As far as I can tell, I think he sleeps on his back every night, even though he can roll tummy to back and back to tummy with ease.
The whole month of March Samantha's school has been celebrating Reading Month, and the theme is Dr. Seuss, so they've been doing lots of different fun activities revolving around reading and Dr. Seuss. On Monday they made mustaches to look like the Lorax. Here is Samantha with a few other kids in her class, posing with their mustaches.
That afternoon once Samantha got home from school, Aedan and Samantha worked on putting this puzzle together. They were very proud of their work and wanted to take a picture of it with my phone. You can see Aedan's little foot at the bottom of the picture.
That evening there was a special event called EUP Reads. It was on campus, so it was easy for us to get to. We went to this event last year and remembered that it was very crowded, so I planned to carry Owen around in the Ergo. The kids got a paper that they were to collect stickers on as they walked around the event. There were many people dressed up as various characters from Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss was the theme this year, and they had lots of fun finding the characters and guessing which book they were from. The rooms were very crowded, so we stopped at a few tables around to do different activities like making bookmarks, a special treat bag, and collecting words from around the room. They had cookies and lemonade for a snack, and the kids even got to pick out a free book to take home. Samantha found a chapter book on JFK, and Aedan got "Fox in Socks." We stayed at the event until after 7:00, and the kids were starting to lose their ability to function, so we knew it was time to get them home and ready for bed. It's fun to be able to take part in these free community events though, and it's awesome to see how involved JKL Bahweting is with stuff like that.
Tuesday was another MOPS morning, the only one for the month of March because of Spring Break. I always look forward to MOPS mornings, and I was in charge of bringing some food to that meeting. However, I had forgotten that I signed up to bring food, so I had to run out to the store after getting Owen to bed on Monday night so that I could buy ingredients to make Monkey Bread. Owen fell asleep in the car on the way to MOPS, so I kept him with me while he slept and then took him to the nursery for the rest of the time. Aedan has been doing a better job of going into his room without being too nervous and not hiding behind my legs, but it may be because I bribe him with having some of a snack from the MOPS meeting if he goes into his room without any trouble. On this morning he simply asked me for a hug before walking right into his room, which I gladly gave him.
Our MOPS meeting was good that morning because we talked about what our options are with preschools in the area. It was very helpful to hear what people have to say about the various preschools in town, as well as kind of disappointing because there were several that were already full for the fall. Also, especially for 4 year old preschool, most of the programs are five days a week, some even all day for five days a week. That is just not something I am interested in for Aedan. In my ideal world, I would like something similar to what Samantha had a the Oxford Parks and Recreation Department where she went three mornings a week from 9-12. I felt like that was the perfect amount of time to learn what she needed to know before going into kindergarten and give her time to socialize with her peers and get used to functioning in a classroom environment with kids at multiple levels. However, it doesn't seem like they really have that as an option here. Most people seem to be looking for more of a full time preschool/day care. As of right now, I think my top choice would be three mornings a week at Little Lambs. First of all, it is right around the corner from our house, and it is reasonably priced and is part of the Great Start to Quality program in Michigan. The hours would be 8-12 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but according to the handbook, we would be the lowest priority for admittance into the preschool because they give preference to kids that would go there full time every day or at least five mornings a week. My next choice would be the Co-op Preschool, and I'm still undecided on whether we would do mornings or afternoons. With Aedan already not napping on most days, I imagine by next fall he really won't be napping, so I have thought more about signing him up for afternoons at the co-op. That way we would still have mornings together to do things, but then he could go to preschool from 1-4 every afternoon, which is when Owen will be napping anyways. This whole preschool decision has been kind of overwhelming to me. I know it's important for Aedan to go to preschool next year, but I don't want him to go every day, and I feel like there aren't many good options. He will have enough years where he will be in school every day, or even all day every day, and I don't want him to be away from me that much. I still want to have time together with him during the day, and I want him and Owen to have time to play together before he goes to all day kindergarten the next year. So, we will see what we can arrange for preschool for next year.
I was hoping Aedan would take a good nap for me that afternoon since he hadn't napped in several days, and we had small group that night. However, he just laid in his bed, talked to himself, and kicked in his bed the whole time. It worked out okay though because we had a meeting with Samantha's teachers after school that day to talk about what we could do to help her be at math on a more consistent basis. The report card her math teacher printed off for her showed that she had a 96% in Operations and Algebraic Thinking, 93% in Number and Operations in Base Ten, 98% in Measurement and Data, and 100% in Geometry. She also had just taken two tests over the chapters that she missed and she scored 100% on one of them and a 96% on the other one, so even though she missed being in class for those chapters, she learned enough going through it with us over the weekend that she still did really well. We were very proud of how well she was doing in class. In fact, her math teacher mentioned that she called her out in class that day, saying "There's someone in this class who is acting almost like a 3rd grader and she isn't even in 2nd grade yet." Samantha was working really hard, and she does great going up to second grade math. She participates, she gets along well with the kids, and she is among the top students in the class, even though she is the youngest one. The teacher even mentioned how it's interesting (in a good way) the way she comes up with to solve problems in her head. We were glad that everything seemed to be going well, and we came up with some solutions to make sure she is getting to math on a more regular basis. We also talked about getting Samantha set up to take the 2-5 MAP test with the second grade class rather than the K-2 test with her first grade class, that way we can see a more clear picture of what Samantha can do, what her range of understanding really is, rather than just plateauing at the the 99th percentile in every category. Plus, the 2-5 test doesn't read the questions out loud, so Samantha will have to read it herself, which she is perfectly capable of doing. I'm really glad that we were able to go in and meet with her teachers together, and that both Ben and I were able to go. I'm proud of our girl. She's a smart one, and she loves school.
After meeting with Samantha's teachers, we went home for a few minutes before heading back out to small group. Owen fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep for awhile in his car seat after we got there. We usually allow the kids to bring a toy or two with them to small group. For Aedan it's almost always Rescue Bots, and for Samantha it is usually a book or two. She reads any chance she can get, especially in the car, finishing whole books as we drive around. I love that she loves reading so much. She has picked up on reading so quickly, sometimes it's hard to remember that she is only in first grade and just learned how to read last year. She just devours books and loves reading chapter books. She doesn't need books with pictures anymore. The hardest part is just getting her to slow down or to realize that she still needs to practice reading and read out loud to us so we can help her with words she may not be familiar with or help her with comprehension. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was little. I always had a book with me, and I loved to read as much as I could (probably too much sometimes).
On Wednesday there was no story time at the library, so rather than just go to the library to play, I invited Julie and her daughter Bradley over to play. When I told Aedan about them coming over that morning, he pumped his fist and said, "Yes!" He promised to be a good friend and to play with Bradley, and he lived up to his promise. He did really well playing with her and staying with us, rather than going off on his own to play. Julie was kind enough to hang out with the kids while I put Owen down for his morning nap. He slept for about 50 minutes, which is pretty good for him. They brought muffins along with them, so we had those for a snack at one point during the morning, and even though I told Aedan to put his feet down and sit right, he kept putting his feet up on the edge of the counter and at one point pushed back hard enough that he tipped the whole chair over. Neither Julie nor I could get to him fast enough to stop him from falling all the way down to the floor. He started crying pretty hard, and I scooped him up in my arms to hug him and make sure he was okay. He said the back of his head hurt, but I didn't see any cut or bump. The corner of the chair was broken from where it hit the floor, but it seemed like something we could glue back together. I just gently reminded him that we need to be careful when we sit up on the stools and not to push back, or else things like that can happen. Poor guy, he felt bad enough about it already. In fact, he didn't want to sit up at the other stool for quite awhile after that day because he was afraid he would tip back again.
Samantha was super excited about Wednesday because she had a field trip to LSSU for a teddy bear clinic where they got to hear from nursing students about various health related issues, check up their stuffed animals, and even get some nursing gear to bring home with them. I was excited to talk to her about it when she got home from school. When she got off the bus, she had a nurse hat on and ran down the driveway with her bag of goodies, so excited to tell me all about it and to give me a check-up after putting on her gloves. It was fun to see her so excited about something, and she told me all about what happens to your liver if you drink too much alcohol. I'm glad they get to have experiences like this by being part of a college town.
Wednesday was a very good napping day for Owen, for after napping for fifty minutes that morning, he slept for almost three hours that afternoon, even though I had to go down twice in the middle of his nap to get him back to sleep. Aedan took a good nap that afternoon as well. I couldn't believe that Owen slept so long, and it was so nice to have a solid chunk of time that afternoon to get things done and to just have some time to myself. It would be so nice if I could start relying on a more consistent afternoon nap from Owen. He has been much more hit or miss with napping than Aedan was.
That evening was the AWANA Grand Prix, another thing that Samantha had been looking forward to for a long time. Since they were due for baths and we were going out of town the next day, we gave them quick showers/baths before going to AWANA that night. We even gave Aedan a bleach bath because his doctor recommended doing that twice a week to help get rid of the bumps/rash that keeps popping up on his legs in various places. It seemed weird putting Aedan in a bath with bleach, especially with his sensitive skin, but I'm hoping that something will help get rid of this skin infection that keeps coming back for the last year. Even though we rinsed him off really well, he still smelled like bleach after getting out and dressed.
We had never participated in AWANA before this year, let alone the Grand Prix, so we didn't really know what we were in for. Samantha decorated a pre-made car, but we didn't put a lot of effort into it. She just painted it to look like creation, which was beautiful, but we didn't sand it or wax it or grease the wheels. Apparently this race is a big deal to some people, and they go through a lot of effort in making their cars and trying to win. We made it a whole family event to watch Samantha, and she could hardly wait. She honestly thought that her car had a chance to win the race against the others. In the first race down the track, Samantha's car didn't even make it across the finish line, and I could see the disappointment on her face. I went over to her right away, sat her down next to me, and talked to her to encourage her to not feel sad. I complimented her on how beautifully she painted her car, how much thought she put into it, and reminded her that there were lots of cars that weren't crossing the finish line, so she should try not to worry about it, but just focus on having fun with her friends. My pep talk seemed to help her and she snapped out of being sad pretty quickly. However, part of me really related to her, and I felt bad that her car never once crossed the finish line and that she was always last. I felt bad that we didn't help her make her car better, that we didn't grease the wheels, or that we just didn't help her more. I know a lot of kids do this type of thing with their dads, but we just didn't know how much of a big deal it was. Plus, you could tell some of the dads really just did all the work themselves. However, if we let her do this again next year, I would like us to help her with her car a little more so maybe she at least has a chance to beat a few other cars. Regardless of how I felt, she still had a great time watching all the cars race down the track. Here are some videos from the Grand Prix that evening.
Owen took a really good nap that afternoon, so he didn't have an evening nap like he usually does before AWANA nights. So when he started getting tired during the Grand Prix, I put him in the Ergo and stood up in the back with him to make him happy and he actually fell asleep amidst all the noise, commotion, and yelling. It was a crazy event, and was done a little earlier than 8:00 for the Sparks. The evening ended with cookies and drinks downstairs, then we headed back home for bedtime. We had a big day the next day with leaving for Upland for the weekend, and I still had a lot of packing up to do that night.
Thursday morning was kind of a flurry of activity because I had a list of things I still needed to pack up, and I tried to get things as ready as I could before Ben got home around 1:00. We wanted to get on the road as soon as we could once he was done with class, and our plan was to pick Samantha up early from school, once she was done with math class around 1:30. Anyways, I made quick progress of my to-do list that morning, and I decided to take Aedan and Owen over to the Arts Center on campus to see the play, "Shh! We Have a Plan." I had debated whether or not to go, especially with going out of town, but it was only 45 minutes long, and I knew Aedan would enjoy it, so we decided to head over. The play started at 10:00, and we got there in plenty of time to pay for our tickets and find our seats. Owen fell asleep in the car seat on the way into the theater, which is what I was hoping for. The play was open to school groups, and they sat in the higher seats, with the first two rows being open to the general public, so we got a seat in the second row. Aedan was really excited for it to start and kept asking me when it was going to start. He was a little concerned about the smoke that he saw coming out of the fog machine, but I reassured him that they were just trying to make it look like water on the stage, and that it wasn't smoke. Here is Aedan eagerly awaiting the start of the show. Isn't he just an adorable boy? I love spending time with him.
I love his cheesy smiles, too. :)
The play was based off the book, "Shh! We Have a Plan," but I had never heard of the book or read it, so I didn't know what the plot was. What surprised me is that the actor and actresses didn't have any speaking lines during the play other than saying "Shh!" to one another. The rest of it was just acted out through the music playing in the background and the facial expressions of the people, as well as through the props they used on stage. It was very creatively done and very interesting to watch. The premise of the story was that these three people found a beautiful bird that they wanted to capture. They came up with and attempted various plans to catch the bird, but none of them worked. Finally, they decided that the youngest one who was kind to the bird with an outstretched hand, had the best idea. Then, they were able to be friends with the bird. It landed on their arms, and many other birds came around them because they knew they were safe and could trust them. It was a really cute play, and even though Owen woke up shortly after the play started, he did really well sitting on my lap and watching all the action happening around him. I'm glad that I took Aedan to see the play. He was very interested in the whole thing, and I tried to help him understand what was going on and what the people were trying to do. The other interesting thing was the actor/actresses were from Ireland. After the show, as they were saying good-bye to the kids, I asked them where they were from, and they said Belfast, asking me if I was familiar with Ireland. I told them about how Ben and I met studying abroad there and how each of our children has an Irish part of their name. They said, "You need to come back and visit us sometime!" Oh how I would love to go back to Ireland. Ben and I are just itching to go back. Some day we will get back to the Emerald Isle. Here are some pictures of the show and my boys watching the show.
Since Owen didn't really nap much that morning, when we got back home and I nursed him, he ended up falling asleep and I put him down for a nap which actually worked out well with our timing to leave and gave me a chance to get more packing done. We left a little later than we intended, but were on the road to drop off Izzy around 2:00, planning to get all the way to Upland that night, if we could. As we drove, Owen was getting pretty sleepy, but we tried to keep him awake until after we dropped off Izzy so that stopping wouldn't wake him up. However, I think we kept him awake for too long and missed our window of opportunity because then it was almost like he caught a second wind. He did eventually fall asleep, which was good, but then Samantha started being weird about having to go to the bathroom, even though she had just gone before we left her school. Aedan had fallen asleep as well, but with Samantha whimpering and crying in the back seat, and us having to tell her to be quiet, she ended up waking Owen up after only sleeping for half an hour. We were not pleased with her behavior, and we don't know why she does that when we are driving. It's almost inevitable that when one of both of the boys are napping, she starts giving us trouble or is loud and wakes them up. His short nap made Owen a lot grumpier that night in the car, but Ben and I took turns sitting in the back and playing with him to keep him occupied and happy.
We stopped at a Chipotle for dinner and coffee before getting back on the road, hoping that Owen would sleep in the car again. He was pretty grumpy for awhile, and Ben and I decided if it reached 7:30 and he still hadn't fallen asleep, that we would stop at a hotel for the night because we couldn't have Owen crying and screaming for the last three hours of the trip. Luckily, he did fall asleep before the 7:30 mark, and we decided we would just keep driving for as long as he was asleep. I let Samantha and Aedan watch a movie that was going to last until about 8:30 and then we planned on having them close their eyes and hopefully sleep for the last hour and a half or so of our drive. Owen did end up waking up again towards the end of the movie, so we decided to make one more potty stop at McDonald's for the kids and so Ben could get some coffee for the rest of the drive to Upland.
Once back in the car, I did something I don't normally do, I wrapped Owen up in his Zipadee-Zip sleep sack and nursed him while drove. We were just tired, it had been a long day, and we wanted to get to Upland. Samantha and Aedan closed their eyes and were told to try and sleep for the rest of the way back because we wouldn't get there until close to 10:30. They did a pretty good job of sitting quietly and at least trying to go to sleep. I think Samantha may have fallen asleep before Aedan did. Owen nursed pretty well in the car, for close to half an hour, and then I debated what to do with him. I didn't want to wake him up by trying to buckle him in his car seat and then wake the big kids up with his crying, and there were so few cars on the road at that time of night, that we decided it would be better and easier for me to just hold him, so he just slept on my lap for the rest of the drive. I don't normally get to hold him while he sleeps like that, so it was actually kind of enjoyable for me to get some good baby snuggles in. He was so happy and comfortable in my arms, his little mouth slightly open, his arms and legs limp and relaxed. It was a nice, quiet car ride all the way to Ema and Papa's house.
When we pulled into the driveway, the kids were so excited to go in and see Ema and Papa. They had the rooms and beds all set up for us, and Owen even stayed asleep in my arms the whole time walking into the house and getting things set up. Ben got his pack and play set up in our room, and I was able to just lay him down to keep sleeping. I was amazed that he didn't wake up during this transition. I don't think Samantha or Aedan would have done that as babies, but Owen was just out for the night. I figured he would probably wake up sooner, but he actually slept until 3:30, which is a pretty normal wake up time for him.
Friday morning Owen woke up around 6:00 and nursed for a long time, but I was unable to get him back to sleep, which was too early of a wake up call for us after not getting to bed until late the night before. Because Ben is the great husband that he is, he actually took Owen out of the room for me so I could get a little extra sleep. He knows that it is hard for me to function on little sleep, and I really appreciated that he let me do that.
Time in Upland is always restful and relaxing because we don't have any plans other than hanging out and spending time playing together. Ema had to work on Friday, but Papa took the day off to spend time with the kids. Here's Papa playing with the boys that morning before they went outside to ride bikes for a little while. There was no snow on the ground here, so the kids were thinking it was like summer weather outside. However, it still was a little chilly and they needed to wear coats. Samantha had a great time riding the new bike they got for the girls to ride at the house. She just took off down the driveway, going up and down the hills with ease. Aedan rode around on the Big Wheel bike and tried to ride on Samantha's old bike with training wheels, but it wobbled back and forth too much and made him nervous.
We had all the kids take naps that afternoon because they were all tired from our big day of traveling and being up late. Owen didn't take as long of a nap as we would have liked, but he was perfectly content hanging out on the floor watching basketball when he woke up. It was fun having him in Upland, as this was only his second time visiting there. Samantha and Aedan love our trips to Upland. It is such a special time for them, and they look forward to it so much.
Samantha was playing with cars with Owen and wanted to take some pictures with her little brother. I love the range of expressions on her face. She has quite the personality, and Owen loves watching her and getting attention from her. It was fun having her around more over this weekend away together.
And here are a couple close-ups of Owen where you can see his nice drool string hanging from his mouth.
Everyone had special plans that Friday evening. Jeni and Alaina had invited Samantha over to their house for a sleepover, and so that Aedan wouldn't feel too left out, Ema and Papa offered to take Aedan out on a special date of dinner and ice cream so that he could have something special to look forward to. Ben, Owen, and I drove Samantha up to Wabash to meet Jeni and Alaina at Bob Evans for dinner and then we would part ways. It was good to be able to see Jeni and Alaina, and the girls were SO excited for their sleepover. Samantha had never really been to a sleepover like this before, other than just staying at Ema and Papa's house when we've been out of town for something. After a good dinner we got a couple pictures and they were on their way. Samantha was a little nervous about leaving us, but we knew she would have a wonderful time. She hadn't been to Alaina's house since she was a little baby, so she was excited to see where she lives and what her room looks like.
On the way back to Upland it was kind of strange (and wonderful) riding in the car with just Owen, especially because he fell asleep while we were driving so Ben and I were able to just sit and talk to each other without being interrupted or having to entertain a kid.
When we got back to the house, Aedan was just finishing up his clown ice cream sundae from Ivanhoe's. He had a great time with Ema and Papa. They said he ate his food really well, and I'm sure he really enjoyed having their complete and undivided attention. Being the middle child now, there is almost always someone else around.
After getting the boys to bed that night, Ben and I were able to get some Ivanhoe's ice cream ourself. And we decided to sleep in the room Samantha was sleeping in the night before so that we could have one night apart from Owen, hoping that we would all sleep a little better. He still woke up twice during the night, but at least he was easier to get back to sleep and didn't wake up as early in the morning.
Saturday morning was a little odd without Samantha in the house. It was definitely quieter. I think Aedan might have missed Samantha a little, but he enjoyed having more time to play with Ema and Papa all by himself. Here they are playing with the colored blocks from Blokus. Aedan doesn't follow the rules of the game, but instead likes to fit all the pieces covering the whole board, leaving as little space as possible. Aedan loves his Ema. He has always had a special place in his heart for her, and he gives her very little time to herself when we come to visit, but I think she likes the special attention from the little boy that shares her birthday and has her father's name for his middle name.
Owen also enjoyed rolling around on the floor and playing with the new toys in Upland. He particularly liked his light-up ladybug because he loves things that have lights and play music.
Even though it was getting close to lunch and Owen was getting a little tired, I decided to attempt taking his 6 month pictures since it was March 17th. However, pretty much as soon as we started taking pictures, he got a hold of the sign, crinkled it up, and tried to stick it in his mouth and eat it. Here is my busy little 6 month old who loves to roll back and forth from front to back and back to front. Here are the best pictures I could get of him that day.
Eventually we took him upstairs and laid him on the bed to get some better pictures where he was less distracted by being downstairs.
Here's a little smile I got out of him.
I like these next couple of pictures because you can see how much stronger he's gotten in pushing himself up on his arms.
I can't believe this little guy has already been a part of our family for half a year. It seems like it has been so long some times, but then so short at other times. He is definitely growing fast and the saying is true that "The days are long, but the years are short." I love this video of Owen rolling back and forth on the bed, squawking, talking, and trying to put everything in his mouth. This is what this little guy is all about when he's awake. He loves to move and has definitely found his voice. He is a happy boy most of the time, and he loves when people smile at him and talk to him and make silly faces for him.
After getting the boys down for naps that afternoon, Ben and I hung out at the house for awhile until Owen woke up again so I could feed him before we left for our special date to see Les Miserables in Indianapolis. I was a little nervous about leaving him, hoping that he would do okay for them, eat well, and go to sleep well.
Samantha, Alaina, and Jeni got to Upland just before Ben and I were getting ready to leave. Samantha didn't tell us too much about her time at Alaina's house, but they definitely had a great time. They had ice cream together on Friday night and got to sit in this special fort area under her bed and watch videos on Alaina's tablet. On Saturday morning they just had fun playing and being silly together. Here are some pictures and a video that Jeni posted from their time together.
https://www.facebook.com/jeni.t.riley/videos/1855323067832475/
And here they are on their way back to Upland.
While Ben and I went on our date that Saturday night, Jeni stayed home with Owen while Ema and Papa took Samantha, Alaina, and Aedan to a special dinner for their upcoming mission's trip. Everyone did really well, and Jeni had fun playing with and taking care of Owen. He didn't take an evening nap, so he was ready for bed earlier. She held him off until a little after 7:00, he drank two ounces of a bottle very quickly and almost acted like he wanted more, but when she picked him up and held him on her shoulder he fell asleep in just a few seconds and stayed asleep happily after that. At intermission of our show, we texted to see how things went, and I was so glad that she was able to put him to bed with relative ease. It made me feel so much better to know he was happily asleep.
I had been looking forward to this date night out for along time. Les Miserables is one of my favorite musicals, if not my all time favorite one. We went to Chuy's for dinner beforehand simply because it is our favorite restaurant, and we couldn't resist the chance to get some good tex-mex food, even though it wasn't a fancy restaurant. We enjoyed sitting and talking with no distractions of feeding kids, and the food was excellent, like usual. The show started at 8:00, and we got to Indy in plenty of time to park and even go to Starbucks and get some coffee before the show started. Our seats were great. We were up in the balcony, but we could see the whole stage very well. Les Mis was wonderful. The music and singers were great, and I found myself not wanting to look away from the stage, trying to soak it all in, and not wanting the show to be over. I loved being able to experience this with Ben, and it was so thoughtful of him to buy these tickets and plan this whole weekend so we could do this together. Thank you for a wonderful night out, my dear. Even though life with three kids is crazy and busy, I love these times that we can get away together. It made me feel like we were dating again and was a welcome reprieve from the busyness of motherhood. We will definitely have to do this again sometime.
(Blog about March 11-17, 2018)
