Our First Week of Summer & Dealing with a Sick Baby

Samantha: 84 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 3
Owen: 8 Months, Week 4 (Week 39)

Sunday, June 10th our friends from Madison were still at our house visiting, and it was so lovely to have them staying with us. It was a little tricky having Samantha and Aedan in the same room together, especially because they just wake up so early and excited. I tried to go in the room and tell them to be quiet that Sunday morning so they wouldn't wake up our guests who were trying to sleep. With Wisconsin being in central time, it felt like an hour earlier to them, and I wanted to be respectful of their chance to sleep. Owen only woke up once on Friday night, but woke up twice on Saturday night, one time being around 5:00, so because of that he slept in more that morning, not waking up until about 8:15. We tried to get Owen down for a nap that morning, even though it hadn't quite been two hours since he woke up, but he wouldn't sleep easily. He ended up sleeping on Ben for about half an hour and didn't want to be put down, but at least he got a little nap in before we had to leave for church.

The rest of the day we spent going to church, eating lunch together, getting kids down for naps, and then enjoying the afternoon playing games together. Since Samantha doesn't nap, we let her stay up and out of her room, since Aedan was napping in her room, and she played games with us as well. We played an Oregon Trail card game that she thought was pretty interesting. Owen actually took a pretty good afternoon nap without me having to go in his room, and then we spent much of the evening outside where the kids could run around and play. It was such a wonderful, relaxing day with friends. After the kids were in bed, we sat up and talked for awhile, and I didn't want to go to bed because that would mean they were going to leave the next morning, and I would be sad to see them go. We definitely need to make this at least an annual tradition of getting our families together for a weekend.

On Monday morning Samantha had her 7 year well child visit, and we also scheduled Owen to go back in for an ear re-check. Ben offered to take them in that morning while I stayed back at the house with Aedan and said good-bye to our dear friends. Samantha was 64 pounds and 51 3/4 inches tall, and everything checked out well with her. She said that we could order some tests if we wanted to pursue finding out if there was a medical cause for her common feeling of tiredness. The doctor found that Owen still had an ear infection in his right ear, and she prescribed him a stronger course of antibiotics called augmentin. She wasn't surprised that the ear infection hadn't cleared up with the basic amoxicillin, saying that it is getting more common for ear infections to be resistant to antibiotics. Looking back, now it makes sense why Owen had been fussier, not napping well, waking up multiple times a night, and having trouble sleeping. We wondered if something was going on, thought maybe he was teething, but apparently it was because his ear was still bothering him. I was hopeful that these antibiotics would clear up his ear infection and that he would start feeling better soon, particularly before we were scheduled to leave on our vacation with Ben's family. We were also warned that these antibiotics could give him diarrhea as well, so we got a probiotic to give Owen along with the antibiotic to help him out.

Samantha was super excited about this week because she had science camp at LSSU every day from 9:00-4:00. This kind of camp was right up her alley. When I saw it advertised, I knew it would be something she loved. After her first day, she told us all about the things she did, the yummy lunch she had at the school cafeteria, and she couldn't wait to go back the next day. This little girl loves learning and exploring, and soaks this stuff in. I'm sure there would be some kids who would think this was boring, but she just loved it. Plus, if she really intends to pursue her interest in working for NASA, it's good for her to get experience on all the various area of science.
Here are some of the activities she did throughout the week:
Monday- Astronomy: Planetarium Show, Astronomy: Constellation Building, Biology: Grow Your Own Bacteria, Outside Games, Forensic Hour (Crime Scene), Chemistry: Growing Crystals, Pedology: Dirt Dessert
Tuesday- Biology: Grow Your Own Bacteria, Paleontology: Fossil Dig, Biochemistry: Strawberry DNA, Outside Games, Forensic Hour, Anatomy: Brain Caps
Wednesday- Ecology: Imprints, Botany: Nature Walk (Identify Native Plants), Dendrology: Laminated Leaves, Outside Games, Forensic Hour, Bunsen Burner Demonstration, Zoology: Owl Pellet Dissection and Food Chain
Thursday- Ornithology: Bird Beak Buffet, Chemistry: Chromatography Butterflies, Physics: Bottle Rockets, Outside Games, Forensic Hour, Scavenger Hunt, Liquid Nitrogen Demonstration

Even though Owen was tired and not feeling well, he only slept for 30 minutes for his morning nap before waking up and crying. I knew he wasn't feeling great, and his ear was still hurting him, so I at least felt better that there was a reason. I felt bad that he was still sick, because I had considered taking him back to the doctor the previous week since he had several rough nights in a row, but at this point I think I am just getting used to him not sleeping well. He was waking up two to three times a night, but it was easier to get him back to sleep, and we at least weren't up with him for an hour or more in the middle of the night. Since Owen was already awake, and we wanted to do something special with Aedan while Samantha was at science camp, we decided to go over to Clyde's for lunch and time for Aedan to play on the playground at Rotary Park. Before we left, we gave Owen his first dose of the new antibiotics, since it said to give it with food, and mixed the probiotic in with his food for lunch. However, as Ben was finishing feeding him his second jar of baby food, everything came back up again. It was very gross, and I felt so bad for the little guy. I was hoping it was just a reaction to the medicine in his stomach, because we were told it is harder on their tummies. I called the doctor about what happened, and the nurse said to try giving him food first and then the antibiotic, and see if that helps it stay down.

Even though we were having a rough day with Owen, Aedan had a great time at the playground. It was a beautiful day outside, and we hadn't gone to this park in a long time. It was fun to be able to play with Aedan, push him on the swing, and watch him climb and slide, while Ben finished up feeding Owen.

I was hoping after not napping long that morning, and then being outside for awhile around lunch time, that Owen might take a better nap that afternoon, but that was not the case. His afternoon nap was just as rough, and Ben offered to sit downstairs with him and let him sleep on his chest. I tried to sit with Owen that morning, but I must have a short enough chest that it doesn't work because he just kept pushing on my legs and getting upset, so I had to stand up and walk around again. Ben, however, is able to sit down with him once he finally gets him to fall asleep, and he will actually stay asleep on him for quite awhile.

Luckily, when we gave Owen food first and then his medicine after dinner, he did much better with it and didn't throw it all back up. I was very glad about that. The antibiotics smelled disgusting, so I'm sure Owen didn't enjoy consuming them very much, but I was hoping this would clear up his ear infection and get him feeling better fast.

Monday night was busy with Aedan having tee-ball and Ben playing in two softball games. I was able to drop Samantha and Owen off at the softball fields and some other moms watched Owen for me while I took Aedan to tee-ball practice. He was pretty excited about going again, but he seemed a little more distracted this time. He wasn't focused as much on what he was supposed to do, and he got bored a lot faster since it was the same activities/drills that he did last time. I tried to be encouraging and point out his good effort, instead of picking on him for not focusing or not standing correctly, but it made me wish that Ben could be there with him to show him how best to stand when batting, when throwing, and when catching. I don't know the correct form for stuff like this since I never played tee-ball/softball growing up. Maybe I can get Ben to go to the next practice with Aedan to help him out.

Tuesday morning was the first MOPS summer playground play date. I put Owen down for a nap, expecting him to not nap for too long, and then we could head to the playground. He took a longer nap than normal, but I was thankful he was actually sleeping after the bad napping day we had on Monday. We probably got the to playground about 11:00, and Aedan was excited to be able to run around and play with some of his friends like Ruger, Easton, and Kenny. It was a warm, sunny day, so I tried to keep Owen on a blanket out of the sun, but he wants to move so much now that that is difficult sometimes. Plus, he kept trying to pick up the wood chips and eat them. However, it was fun to be able to talk with some other moms, and Aedan was nice and sweaty from all the running around he did.

We left the playground around noon and came back to the house for lunch. When getting Owen out of his high chair, I noticed he had a huge mess on him (and on me) from a dirty diaper. They said he would get diarrhea from these antibiotics, and boy were they right. It was such a huge mess that I ended up just having to give him a bath to clean him up properly. Because of all these dirty diapers he had all day, he developed a very sore bottom and screamed and cried every time I had to change his diaper and wipe him. I was putting a lot of cream on him with every diaper change, but it didn't seem to be helping with the amount of times and consistency of his poop. (Sorry for the poop talk! It's just a reality when you have a baby.) We are giving him a probiotic, which is supposed to help, but that was the first full day, so I hoped that maybe his stomach would get used to it over time. I just felt so bad for the little guy and just wanted him to be back to normal and feeling like himself again. He definitely was not as happy or smiley as he normally is.

Owen again woke up after a half an hour nap on Tuesday afternoon, and he was having a lot of trouble with poopy diapers. I had an appointment to go to for my foot, so Ben took over with Owen when he got home from campus. He had to sit with him again to get him to sleep, and I felt bad that I made him deal with Owen again that afternoon. I was hoping he could just work from home while I went to my appointment. This ear infection has really been messing with his ability to sleep.

At tee-ball, Aedan got assigned to the Angels team and got this red Little League shirt. Well, Samantha was also on the Angels last year and had a similar red shirt, so on Wednesday morning they both decided to wear matching shirts. Aren't they so cute together?

On Wednesday, Samantha was off to her science camp and Ben was off to campus, so the boys and I decided to go to the library for the first day of the summer preschool story time. We hadn't been to the library in a long time, so Aedan was pretty excited to go back again. There were a lot of kids there for story time and to play with afterwards. I even had Owen sit on my lap to listen to the stories too, and he made eyes at the little baby girl sitting next to us. Aedan made a giraffe with torn paper and clothespins, and then got busy playing with toys, trains, and finding new books. I actually got Owen to take a little bit of a nap in the Ergo, which was good, and then he woke up ready to climb around and play. Aedan and I were playing a game together in the story time area, letting Owen climb around and explore in a semi-safe place, but once he found the stairs, there was no stopping him. He was so proud of himself for making it up the stairs, and I love Aedan saying, "You're easy at these stairs!" I love seeing him cheer his little brother on.

After getting poured on by the rain on our way out of the library, we made it back home for lunch and some play time before nap time. That morning Owen had climbed up onto the fireplace trying to get to Izzy's toys that were in a basket out of his reach. (He loves to chew on Izzy's dog toys when he finds them on the floor.) I was trying to capture this on video, but he got distracted with the light chord.

Owen also really likes Izzy and will try to go up to her and tackle her just like he does with the rest of us. We are trying to teach him to be gentle with her and not pull her hair too much. Again, I was trying to capture this on video, too, but once he saw me, he was more interested in crawling towards me than Izzy. This is what he does when he's tired, he crawls up to me, buries his head into me, and sometimes even tries to bite me.

Because of Owen's poopy diapers and their frequency, he developed a really bad diaper rash. In fact, that afternoon before nap time, as I was changing his diaper, it was super red and bleeding. Poor little Owen just screamed and cried during every diaper change, and he even acted like it hurt to sit down. I called the doctor and spoke with a nurse about it. They said to stop the antibiotic and gave him an appointment at 8:30 Thursday morning so they could do an antibiotic injection, check his ears again, and give him special cream to help heal his bottom. This poor little baby, what's worse, the ear infection or the diaper rash caused by the antibiotic?

Here's a funny picture of Owen sitting on Ben's face, wearing just a diaper. Luckily for him, it was a clean diaper. :)

And this a typical night in our house...Owen taking a happy picture with Daddy..

...Samantha sitting on the couch reading a book and relaxing.

...Aedan dressing up like a super hero and running around the house. Lately, he has enjoyed dressing up as Wonder Woman, but this time he had her lasso, which he uses the jump rope for, and a cape, of course, because he has to be able to fly.

And here's our Izzy-girl, resting on the couch after the kids were all in bed for the night. Isn't she a beautiful dog? She's such a good girl and does so well with our family of young kids.

Thursday morning we were off to the doctor to get Owen his antibiotic immunization, and we were scheduled to go back again the next day before leaving to go out of town. The shots were supposed to be more effective, and they said that since he already had a few days of the augmentin, that the combination should get rid of his ear infection. I was a little worried about going into vacation with his infection not being resolved, feeling worried that it wouldn't go away or that we would have a hard time dealing with a sick baby while being out of the country and far away from home.

We got home from the doctor and I was able to get him down for a morning nap just before 10:00. I had made tentative plans with a friend to go swimming at the pool over in Canada with her and her boys. Again, I was trying to find special activities for Aedan to do while Samantha was at camp, so he didn't feel too left out, and just to do things before Samantha was home full time; however, doing something that day was just not meant to be. The friend I had plans with had a rough night and then disrespectful kids the next morning, so it just wasn't going to happen. It worked out okay anyways because I really needed to start getting packed up for our trip to Niagara Falls. We planned to leave the next day and split our drive in half. We had most of the laundry done, but still needed to get everything packed up for our week away.

Aedan had a fun morning playing outside and around the at house, sharing some special time with Izzy. It's cute to see the special bond they have developed over that past year that she has been home with him during the day. He loves to play with her, run around outside with her, and get special puppy kisses from her as well. He didn't care that we didn't go anywhere that morning.

Jenny

Thursday was Samantha's last day at science camp, and we were invited to come at the end of the day for a liquid nitrogen demonstration. Ben volunteered to come home to be with Owen while I took Aedan over to campus to be with Samantha. It's nice having him not nap anymore because we can do things like this in the afternoon much more easily now. The professor demonstrated what happened to a balloon, water bottle, and dandelion when dipped in liquid nitrogen. He also poured some miniature marshmallows in a container of liquid nitrogen and then pulled them out, letting the kids come up and get a handful to try. Here are the kids with their frozen marshmallows.

As the day went on, Owen seemed to be more like himself. That evening he was more smiley and giggly like he usually is, but he didn't have a good nap that afternoon, and then woke up crying twice soon after I laid him down for bedtime. Something was definitely still bothering him when he laid down, and I was just praying that these antibiotic injections would start to work quickly.

Ben and I really just felt like relaxing after a long day and not as much sleep as we would like lately, but we spent most of Thursday evening packing and getting stuff ready for our trip to Niagara Falls. We have learned from experience that it is much easier getting as much packed the night before as possible because it's much more difficult to pack when all the kids are up in the morning. They are always too excited to be helpful. We were in a pretty good position when we went to bed on Thursday night, and we weren't planning on leaving until mid-morning since we planned on driving about four and half hours and stopping in Port Huron for the night.

Ben took Owen back into the doctor for his second antibiotic injection on Friday morning while I continued to get ready and pack up toiletries and last minute things, and then we were on the road sometime between 10 and 10:30, planning to stop in Gaylord for lunch.

I was a little worried about how Owen would do napping in the car since we just transitioned to this convertible car seat. With his infant car seat, we would pull the cover up over his head to block out any distractions from his line of sight, but we didn't have that option anymore. Luckily, he took a pretty good nap that morning before it was time to stop for lunch. Here I am trying to amuse him by letting him try on Aedan's sunglasses. He thought it was pretty cool having these shades on his eyes, and he just looked around and smiled. Isn't he just adorable?

After stopping for lunch, we got back in the car to drive the rest of the way, making one stop for a bathroom break after getting in a back up of traffic after being diverted off the highway because of an accident. We made pretty good time, got to our hotel and got set up, and then went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant that had really good reviews. The food was very tasty, and we were glad that we stopped to eat there. We try to find Mexican food when we travel since there aren't any in Sault Ste. Marie. The hotel we stayed at had a pool, and we wanted to take the kids swimming that night, but everyone was just too tired from waking up too early and being too excited, and then a long day in the car. We gave them multiple chances to make good choices, but we decided we just needed to get back to the hotel and put everyone to bed so we could have a good sleep. We knew staying in a hotel, with Samantha and Aedan sharing a room, they would take longer to fall asleep anyways, and I think that was a wise decision on our part.

Here are the kids hanging out in the hotel lobby that evening while they waited for me to nurse Owen. They definitely love each other. :)

Owen didn't have too bad of a night in the hotel. We got adjoining rooms so that the big kids could each sleep in a bed in one room, and then Owen could sleep in the bathroom in his pack and play that was part of our room with the king bed. This room was even nicer because it was a handicap accessible room, meaning the bathroom had plenty of space to set up Owen's pack and play. He woke once before Ben and I went to sleep, but Ben was able to pick him up and rock him and get him back to sleep pretty quickly. Then, he woke up once in the middle of the night, nursed and went back to sleep until just before 7:00. You never know how it might go travelling with a baby, especially with how much trouble Owen can have at times, so I was glad that he at least seemed to be feeling better enough to be able to sleep well that night.

We had only a few hours to drive on Saturday to get to our vacation house, so we could take it easy that morning and not be in a huge rush. We got an hour added on to our check out time and were told we could go in the pool earlier than the 10:00 time it said it opened, so after eating breakfast, we got ready for the pool and went swimming for awhile. The pool was a little chilly, but the kids still had fun in the water. They definitely love to swim, and even Owen joined in the splashing around. We got out in enough time to get everyone bathed and put Owen down for a morning nap while we got the car packed back up again. In fact, I actually had to wake Owen up about 11:20 when he was fast asleep in his pack and play so that we could finish getting packed up and get on the road.
Getting through customs and into Canada didn't take much time at all, and then we were on our way through the Canadian farm land. We planned to stop in London at a Chipotle for lunch because we like to take advantage of eating at our favorite places as much as we can. After having lunch and cleaning up a poopy diaper explosion, we were back on the road again. It took me a little bit of work to get Owen to sleep that afternoon, but jiggling his car seat back and forth usually works pretty well for him. I had to take a picture of him sleeping in his car seat because it was so cute with his arm propped up on the side of his car seat.

We didn't tell Aedan that he had to take a nap, but he was very tired and just couldn't keep himself awake that afternoon.

Once the boys were fast asleep, we let Samantha get some library books out to read. In fact, I actually got to read for quite awhile as well, finally finishing a book on my Kindle that I started at Christmastime. (It's pretty sad that it takes me that long to finish a book. I just don't have that much free time to read like I would like to.) It ended up being a nice, quiet afternoon in the car.

We arrived at the house a little after 4:00 and started the process of bringing all our junk in, getting rooms picked out, and things unpacked. Samantha and Aedan were excited to get into the pool with Aunt Jeni and Alaina while Ben and I did the unpacking in the house. It definitely was nice that we had a pool in our back yard, and we were going to get a lot of use out of that. It was nice to finally be at our destination in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and we looked forward to a week together with family seeing some beautiful sights.

(Blog about June 10-16, 2018)

Samantha's Last Week of 1st Grade, Owen's Trouble Sleeping & A Visit from Friends

Samantha: 84 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 2
Owen: 8 Months, Week 3 (Week 38)

Sunday was a pretty typical day in our house with church and gearing up for Samantha's last week of school. Owen seemed to be starting to feel better, especially in comparison to last week. He was still up twice Saturday night, which is not too abnormal for him as of late, even though I feel like at 8 1/2 months old, he shouldn't have to be up that much. However, I was able to just nurse him and put him back to sleep, which is much better than having to be up with him for a couple hours in the middle of the night.

The week was going to be pretty busy with Samantha finishing up school. She had two full days and then three half days. School had essentially been over for awhile, as they really were no longer doing any real work anymore. They were doing fun activities like the Jingtamook, going on field trips, having field day, and lots of other end of the year events.

Here are some pictures I forgot to include in my previous post:
On Thursday, May 31, Samantha's class was going to go on a field trip to go bowling and then spend the afternoon at the park. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate enough for them to to play at the park, but they still got to have a fun time bowling that morning. I know she especially liked it when they turned the lights off and everything glowed.

The busy week started on Monday morning when Izzy had a vet appointment soon after Samantha was dropped off at school, and I started working on cleaning the house. It desperately needed to be done, and Ben graciously volunteered to stay home and help take care of the boys so that I could clean the house without as many interruptions. It definitely takes me longer to clean our house now than previous places we've lived. And except for brief breaks to nurse Owen, for lunch, when I picked up the boy we were watching for a friend after school, and that evening after dinner and during bath time and getting all three kids to bed by myself while Ben was at softball, I cleaned pretty much the entire day. By the time I sat down at the end of the day, I felt exhausted, but I was able to enjoy a clean house and know that I accomplished a large task that day.

Here are the kid enjoying some sibling wrestle time that evening. I love to watch these three interact.

On Tuesday morning we made a family trip to Samantha's school to meet with Samantha's 2nd grade teacher. She has been teaching Samantha math all year, and she will also be Samantha's full time teacher next year for 2nd grade. We also got to meet the teacher that Samantha will be going to for 3rd grade math. We just wanted to have one final meeting before the end of the school year to make sure we were all on the same page and all set for next year. We are so glad that Samantha will have these teachers next year. Mrs. Fewchuk has been amazing this past year at working with us and supporting Samantha. Samantha has learned and grown so much through her work and dedication, and we are looking forward to a really good year in 2nd grade with the structure and routine she will provide in the classroom. Samantha has also commented how she is excited about being in her class next year, and it's nice to know what to expect going into next year and knowing that the teachers will work together to be sure the math times align well so Samantha can continue going up a grade for math instruction.

I wanted to do some special things with just Aedan (and Owen) before Samantha is home for the summer, but I didn't have too many great ideas, so I asked him what he thought. The only suggestion he had was playing with his friend, Marion, again. Since we can't exactly invite ourselves over to someone's house, I extended the invitation for them to come over to our house for a play date. I got Owen down for his morning nap before they came over, but he didn't even make it half an hour before waking up again. I went downstairs to try and get him back to sleep, but he wasn't acting too interested in going back to sleep, and I didn't want to spend too long down there with him when we had friends over at our house, so I just decided to nurse him and bring him back upstairs to play. For some reason, Aedan was very tired that morning and was not acting like the greatest friend. I had to remind him a couple times that he shouldn't just be going off by himself to play, but should be trying to include Marion and find things that she wanted to do. He seems to have a hard time having friends over and sharing his toys with others. I was able to leave Izzy out, too, which was nice. They didn't mind her barking for a few minutes, the mom is a vet, so she is used to being around animals anyways. I like to not always lock her up when people come over because I want her to start getting used to being around people that are not part of our family. Although, it's kind of funny because she doesn't bark at kids, just adults.

Tuesday was a rather frustrating day with Owen again, not napping much in the morning, and even though I hoped that would mean a better afternoon nap, that was not the case. He only made it 25 minutes before waking up crying. I was making a cake for small group and knew that I couldn't go downstairs with him with the cake still in the oven, so I let him cry for awhile until the cake was done, and then went downstairs to try and get him to sleep. I wished that he would just stop crying and fall asleep on his own, but he never does that, he just keeps crying and crying. Cry it out definitely would not work for him, but I do really wish he would be better at falling back asleep on his own and not always needing one of us to help him. After walking around his room with him for 20-25 minutes, he was dead asleep on my shoulder, but woke up as soon as I laid him down. I didn't understand why we had a few good days, but now were right back to where we were with short naps and being difficult to get to sleep. It was hard for me not to think that there was something I was doing wrong to make him such a lousy sleeper. He just sits up in his bed and cries. Sometimes I wish we would have gotten him used to taking a pacifier as an infant, or that maybe we would have weaned him off of needing us to get him to sleep before now when he is much heavier and has formed a habit. He has been this way ever since he was a newborn when we would hold him on our shoulder and walk around to get him to sleep, and now that is the only way he will fall asleep, other than me nursing him, but he doesn't like to just nurse just for sleeping, only when he actually wants to eat. We had stopped giving him medicine because it seemed like he was doing so much better over the weekend, and both of his top teeth are all the way through now, so you wouldn't think teething would be the cause of all this sleep disturbance. I just felt exhausted and didn't understand what his problem was. Once he's asleep, I'm afraid to even lay him down, or I feel like I have to do it in just a certain way so as to keep him asleep or leave my hands on him after laying him down in case he startles back awake again. And sometimes we do all this work just to have him wake right back up again. I just felt like a failure that afternoon, and then I felt sad because Owen is our last baby, and sometimes I don't enjoy him as much as I would like to because he is so frustrating with sleeping.

Then, we had a pretty busy Tuesday evening with small group at our house as well as Aedan's first tee-ball practice. He was supposed to have practice on Monday night, but they moved it to Tuesday since Monday was so cold and rainy. We ate a quick dinner at home as our small group arrived at our house, and then I took Aedan to tee-ball since Ben is the leader of our group and probably should be there to lead discussion. I wasn't sure what Aedan would think of tee-ball since he's never really done anything like that before. In fact, he's never really taken lessons or been a part of a team at all because they don't have much like that for younger kids in Sault Ste. Marie, so now that he's four, he can start trying out different sports and activities. We have a plastic tee, bat, and balls that he will occasionally play with in the back yard, but we didn't really even practice with him much before having his first practice. It seems like he is much more coordinated than Samantha, and he did such an awesome job at trying his best at each station and not giving up, even when something was more difficult or he got bored of doing the same things over and over again.

In this first video, Aedan got his glove on his left hand and practiced throwing a tennis ball through a hoop. He probably was standing a little too close to the hoops, but he was doing an excellent job throwing them in. He was very excited about going and getting the balls and throwing them again.

Jenny

Here are the kids practicing running the bases. Aedan came up to me and whispered, "Do you know how I'm running so fast? I'm using my super cat speed!"

Here he is practicing throwing balls into the buckets in the middle of the triangle. He got better and better as he practiced, and he proved that he had pretty good aim.

And here he is practicing hitting the ball off the tee. This was probably the most challenging thing for him. It took him awhile to get the hang of swinging the bat the right direction and with enough force to hit the ball and not just the tee. This is one area where I feel like Ben would be much better at helping him. I am not very athletic myself, and I'm not sure how to help him with his stance or his swing. Hopefully he will be able to come with him to some of his future practices.

I was really proud of how Aedan did at practice that night. He really enjoyed it, and he was really excited that he got his very own piece of bubble gum after practice. We don't normally let him have bubble gum because he doesn't really know how to chew it without swallowing it, but he decided he could handle it and then quietly chewed it on our walk back home.

We missed most of small group that night, but Owen did a good job while I was gone. Even though I got him to sleep okay that night for bed, he was awake an hour later screaming. After a long afternoon, I was not ready to have a rough night as well. All of this made me wonder if I needed to take him back to the doctor and get his ear re-checked. I knew all this was just a phase, but all this trouble has made the days feel so long and made me dread the night because of how much we might be up throughout the night.

Wednesday morning Ben offered to stay home with the boys while I went grocery shopping. I don't even remember the last time I went grocery shopping by myself. In fact, I even stopped and got myself some Starbucks to drink while I walked around. With our friends coming over the weekend, we had quite a long list, and there were a few things that I didn't know where they were, so it took me quite awhile.

Samantha had field day that day, and she had a great time playing games outside with her friends. She said she even won a couple of them.

After letting the boys play for awhile that morning, Ben tried to get Owen down for a nap, but he only slept thirty minutes. Here is Owen exploring and pulling up on chairs and the table in the kitchen. He's really enjoying standing and reaching for things. Sometimes I feel like he would be happier if we just let him stay awake all day so he could crawl around and explore his world.

JennWednesday, June 6

We had more trouble getting Owen to stay down for a nap again that afternoon. I didn't understand what what going on, and I went downstairs with him for quite awhile, walking around the room with him, trying to get him to stay asleep, but he would just wake up as soon as I laid him down. Eventually Ben came back home from campus so that I could go pick up the boy that we are watching after school. Ben ended up getting Owen to fall back asleep in his arms and slept for another forty-five minutes or so.

It was a beautiful evening outside that night, and we decided to go out for a bike ride around campus. We hadn't done that yet as a family since the weather turned nice, and it's something Aedan and Samantha always enjoy doing. After riding bikes for awhile, the kids started searching for tent caterpillars. You can find these caterpillars ALL over the place right now, and Samantha loves to collect them and keep them in containers. Here are all the ones she collected in the bag attached to her bike as we rode around campus. I think they are pretty gross, especially when I see them in large numbers like this, or when I see them crawling all over Samantha's arms. She certainly loves to play with them though. In fact, one day she came home from school with three or four caterpillars in her backpack that she had collected at school. That girl certainly is not afraid of bugs anymore.

Our mornings have gone by a little faster this week with Samantha coming back from school just after lunch time since she has three half days to end her last week of school. I was trying to get a few things done in the basement and do laundry, so I was letting Owen crawl around while Aedan played down there. Here he is exploring Izzy's kennel and feeling very proud of himself when he pulled himself up.

I was going to go out and run a few errands with the boys that morning, but Owen ended up taking a really long morning nap, which was good with me. While Owen napped, I got to spend some fun time playing with Aedan with his super hero Legos, reading books, doing puzzles, and enjoying some white cheddar Cheez-its for a snack. It was fun having that time together where I didn't have to chase Owen around and could play with Aedan however he wanted.

Here is Samantha at her end of the year ice cream party. She was really excited about all the toppings she got to put on.

Since Owen woke up a little after 11:30 that morning, I decided to just have lunch with Aedan and Owen before Samantha got home, so that way we could got out together for a little while once Samantha got home from school. We picked up an air mattress from some friends and then went to Meijer so that Samantha could pick out presents for her teachers to say thank you. I also bought some stuff so that we could make our chocolate chip cookies to take for them as well. I brought the little floppy seat in the store with me so Owen could sit up in the cart. This is the first time he's sat in the cart like a big boy. He was so happy and excited to be able to go for a ride and look around (while he chewed on his fingers).

On Thursday afternoon, I put Owen down for his nap a little later since he slept until 11:30 that morning. He went down fine for me and stayed asleep for longer than usual as of late. I had to go pick up the boy we were watching from school, leaving Samantha in charge of the boys while I was gone. (I was only walking across the street. I was hoping Ben would be home, but he was still in a meeting and couldn't get home in time.) By the time I got back home, Samantha was already down in Owen's room, playing with him and keeping him happy until I got home. She said he started crying pretty quickly after I left, but he got about an hour nap in, which is pretty good after sleeping almost an hour and a half that morning.

Thursday night, however, was a terrible night of sleep for Owen. He was up several times, and around 4:00 in the morning he woke up, and I changed him and fed him but could not get him back to sleep, no matter how much I walked around and bounced him. Ben went in his room, trying to get him to stay asleep as well, but he was just moaning and making noise, so much so that I felt like I was going crazy. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I was so tired of hearing him crying and making noise. I figured Ben and I would be up for most of the rest of the morning, taking turns holding Owen and trying to get him to sleep. However, I couldn't get any sleep in our room while hearing Owen making noise in the next room, so I made the impulsive decision to go upstairs and sleep in the guest bedroom for awhile so I could actually get some rest. I sent Ben a text message to let him know what I was doing and to let me know when I needed to take over with Owen. I was just so tired and felt like I would pay someone big bucks just to get a full night's sleep. I am so ready for this boy to get over whatever is going on and start sleeping better.

Friday, June 8th was Samantha's last day of 1st grade. I ended up taking her to school, and Aedan came along as well, so we could help her carry her containers of cookies, flowering plants, and thank you cards. We stopped at Mrs. Fewchuk and Mrs. Clement's room first, then went to her classroom to give presents to Mrs. Gillett and Mrs. Folkersma. All her teachers were very thankful, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Samantha with her teachers. She has grown so much this year, physically and academically, and she really enjoyed her time with her teachers and friends in first grade. I can't believe we have a second grader now!

On Friday we spent the morning getting some stuff done around outside the house. Ben mowed the lawn, did weed whacking, replaced sand in the sandbox, and while Aedan waited for Sissy to come, he was busy playing with his water gun in the back yard, filling it up with water from the pool, and then going around and watering the trees.

Once Samantha got home from school, we decided to go out and celebrate her last day of school with some ice cream from Dairy Queen. She got a cherry dipped swirl cone and Aedan got a strawberry sundae. It was fun to celebrate Samantha being done with school. Time for summer and all the fun that entails!

We had been trying to let Aedan try not napping and just having quiet time in the afternoons since it helps him to go to sleep better at night, so on Friday afternoon, while I was getting things ready for guests to arrive that evening, Ben took Samantha and Aedan to get the car washed and then had them help clean the inside of the car from Izzy's hair, wiping down dust, and cleaning off the floor mats from all the dirt and grossness from winter. The car looked really nice after they were done, and then I even had the kids help me plant flower seeds that Samantha got for her birthday. They were getting pretty tired, but they did a good job of helping me mix up the soil, make a finger hole, plop a seed in, and then cover it up. When we've planted flowers in the past, we have always bought flowers that are already growing, so this is our first attempt at growing flowers from seeds. I am not the best gardener or the best at keeping plants alive, so we will see what happens.

The kids were really excited for our friends to arrive that evening. We planned to cook out for dinner, and then it was time to get everyone settled in and get our tired kids to bed. It was so good to have Brad, Melissa, Madeline, and Matthew at our house for a visit. The first night with kids in a new place is always difficult, but it was fun sitting and talking with them until we all decided to tuck ourselves in for the night as well.

After a pretty rough night Thursday night, Friday night was considerably better. Owen only woke up twice and was fairly easy to get back to sleep. He woke up a little earlier than usual Saturday morning, but that actually ended up working out better because he was able to take a nap before our morning excursion. The local mini-golf place was allowing residents to play one round for free, so we decided that would be a fun activity for the kids to take part in. They didn't exactly play like they were supposed to, and we didn't keep score, but the kids had fun just running around and hitting the balls with their clubs. When we got to the top of the course, I decided to get all the kids together for some pictures. Matthew was tired, hence his look in this picture, but I really got some cute pictures of all our kiddos together. Even Owen is giving me a cute smile! It's so fun to catch up with good friends you can just be yourself around. And it's so fun for our kids to get together and enjoy each other's company as well.

By the time we were done golfing, it was about lunchtime, and we didn't really feel like going back to the house and making lunch, especially since we wanted to show them the locks. So we decided to order carry out from Zorba's and take it into the park with us to have a picnic lunch and then walk around the locks some. However, the park was overtaken by caterpillars! There was no safe place to sit or stand, and it was actually kind of insane. You had to keep moving your feet so that they wouldn't crawl up your feet and shoes. The kids coped well though and ate their food pretty good. Then, we walked around the locks a little bit, watching a small boat come in, before we decided to go home before all the kids lost it from being overtired. We decided to have Aedan nap that afternoon because he was just so tired, and Melissa and I went out to get coffee and talk for awhile that afternoon. It was so good to just sit and talk without kids needing our attention. We have a lot in common and have similar personalities in how we cope with things, so it was great to talk about life, motherhood, and all the craziness that entails. I love that we have stayed close over all these years, and even when several months go by without talking, we can just pick up right where we left off. I hope that we can make these visits to see each other more regular and that we can always stay close friends.

The rest of the evening we spent just hanging out and playing at home. The kids played in the back yard a lot, climbing, swinging, and spraying water out of the pool with water guns. Everyone went to bed much easier that night, and then the adults were able to sit and play games together, just like old times. It was so fun having our friends in our home, and I'm so glad we live somewhere that is big enough to welcome guests comfortably.

(Blog about June 3-9, 2018)

Cubs Game, Owen's First Ear Infection, and Phasing Out Naps

Samantha: 84 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 1
Owen: 8 Months, Week 2 (Week 37)

Sunday, May 27th was our last full day in Chicago, and we had plans to go to church with my family that morning after eating breakfast at the hotel and giving Owen a quick nap before heading out. Here are Daddy, Samantha, and Aedan hanging out in the lobby and making silly faces that morning while waiting for me to feed Owen.

When we got to church and started checking our kids in, Owen felt a little warm to me, but it was also going to be in the 90s again that day, so everyone was a little warmer than usual. However, in the middle of the sermon, we got a message from the nursery saying that Owen was very upset and we needed to pick him up. Ben offered to go get him since we were visiting my family, and soon after, he texted me saying he thought Owen had a fever. Sure enough, when I felt his temples and back, he was definitely hot to the touch. I felt so bad that he wasn't feeling well, especially with all the traveling we were doing, it's hard to have a sick baby.

We went back to Christy's house that afternoon for lunch and time to hang out and play. Owen was pretty tired and not feeling well, so we gave him some medicine to help his fever, fed him some lunch, and I nursed him and put him to bed. He took a fairly decent nap, especially for being in a new place and not feeling well, so I was encouraged that maybe it was just a strange thing, or a side effect from being out all day at the zoo the previous day, and not a sign that he was getting sick with something.

It was good to spend time with my family that afternoon. My Grandma and her husband, Don, even came to spend the afternoon with us. Even though I got to see them for a little while on Friday night when they came to visit me at our hotel and take me out for ice cream, it was good to be able to see them again and for them to see our kids. They had only seen Owen once in person, at Christmastime. We let the big kids stay up and play together with Brielle and all the fun toys in the Clemons' house. It's always fun to get the kids together and watch them play.

Once it reached about 4:00, we said our good-byes and headed back to the hotel. My parents had agreed to babysit our kids for us at the hotel so that I could take Ben to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field as part of his birthday present. We hadn't been to Wrigley in years, so Ben was super excited about this game. We were glad that we were going to a night game because it would have been pretty warm going to a day game and sitting in the hot sun. After getting everything set up in the hotel room for bed time and giving last minute instructions to my parents, Ben and I went of on our date to the Cubs game. 

We drove downtown and parked in the remote parking lot where a bus then took us to the game, so it was a really convenient way to get there with relatively little stress. We got there a little before 6:30, with plenty of time to walk around for awhile, get some pictures, get some food, and find our seats. We splurged a little on some good seats down the third base line, and we had a really good view of the field.

Here are some pictures of my happy hubby in his happy place. :)

The game was really good, and the Cubs won 8 to 3. It was cool to be at a baseball game at night, I loved that Ben was so happy to be watching the Cubs at Wrigley, and it was a really fun date night where we got to spend quality time with just the two of us. Here are some pictures Ben took during the game.

Here is a video of the 7th inning stretch.

Here are a couple videos of the end of the game, the last out, and the crowd singing "Go, Cubs, Go" after a Cubs win.

And here we are leaving the ballpark at 10:45. We took a few more pictures as we walked around the stadium, and then we found the line to take the buses back to the parking lot. We had to wait for quite a long time, but they had plenty of buses lined up to take people. It was a fun night out with my hubby.

We ended up getting back to the hotel around midnight, and then we talked with my parents for just a few minutes to get the report on the evening.  Owen didn't want to eat any of his baby food and got pretty fussy for them, and he didn't drink very much of his bottle either. However, my mom was still able to get him to sleep, which was good. They said Samantha and Aedan were a little wild early on, Samantha ate well, Aedan not so much, but that sounds pretty typical. They were a little goofy getting ready for bed, which again, is pretty typical, but they went to sleep well, and they didn't hear any noise from them. We had a long day and Aedan didn't nap, so I'm sure they were both tired and ready for sleep that night. We were very thankful for my parents being willing to watch the kids for us in our hotel so that Ben and I could enjoy this great night out at a baseball game. We don't get to do stuff like this very often, and we had a great time.

Owen was in his pack and play in our bedroom so that my parents could hang out in the living room, so we had to move his monitor, the sound machine, and his pack and play back over to the living room before we could go to bed. I figured we would probably wake him up when we moved his bed, so I decided to just pick him up and try to nurse him before going to bed myself, especially since he didn't eat very much for dinner, I figured he would be waking up hungry soon anyways. He was totally passed out in his bed, and he even stayed asleep in my arms after I picked him up, cuddling into my shoulder for awhile. He nursed pretty well and went back to sleep, but it definitely wasn't the greatest night. He woke up burning hot after a couple of hours, so I gave him some medicine, tried to nurse him again, and ended up spending an hour trying to get him back to sleep. Then, Aedan was up talking at 5:45, waking Samantha up, and then the rest of the family after that. Ben and I were both exhausted that morning and still had a long day of driving all the way back to Sault Ste. Marie.

Once we were all up for the day, I could tell that Owen was just not feeling well. He was tired and fussy, and we hoped that he would take a good nap once we started driving. At this point, I knew it was more than just a random fever, and I felt so bad that he got sick. Who knows where he picked up germs from. It could be anywhere from the museum to the zoo to Christy's kids that had colds. It was a long day of driving, but really the kids did pretty well. Here they are playing in the car that morning, enjoying some quiet downtime.

I can't remember why they were in the car without me. They must have been waiting for me or something, and they were trying to keep Owen entertained in the meantime, so here they are singing to their little brother one of their favorite songs from AWANA, "How Great Is Our God." Even though Owen wasn't feeling too well, he actually did pretty well in the car that day, not being too fussy at all.

After eating lunch, it was time for nap time for the boys, and they both took nice, good naps, which made the afternoon go by so much faster. We just let Samantha read, so here she is pretending to sleep.

Samantha loves to read and is perfectly happy spending her afternoon lost in a book.

And here's Aedan fast asleep with Happy Bear tucked up under his chin. I feel like he's looking so big these days. He's gotten so much taller and is looking so much more grown up.

And here's little Owen, fast asleep as well. At one point he started to stir, but I was able to rock his car seat back and forth and get him back to sleep.

We got back home after 6:00 that evening, and then came the work of unpacking and getting everything set back up, picking up Izzy, eating dinner, and getting ready for Samantha to go back to school the next morning.

Monday night was another rough night with Owen. He was up most of the night, feeling hot and uncomfortable. We never took his temperature because we were already bothering him so much that night, but I could tell he still had a fever. His temples were burning hot, even awhile after taking medicine. In fact, Ben and I alternated Tylenol and Motrin every three hours to try and keep his fever down, but even that didn't seem to do much sometimes. Who knows how much we actually slept that night.

We didn't have any plans to do anything that Tuesday morning, except try to recover from the long weekend away and take care of our sick little Owen. He was just not acting like himself all that morning. I couldn't get him to sleep that morning for a nap, and it was hard for me to just keep walking around with him. I got him to sleep on my shoulder, but then as soon as I laid him down, he would start crying. Eventually, I resorted to nursing him to see if that would help him fall asleep and stay asleep. I felt bad for Aedan because he was upstairs by himself for a long time while I was dealing with Owen. 

Since Owen started crying every time we put him down or tried to get him to sleep, we eventually decided to take him to the walk-in clinic to have him checked out. It was pretty clear that he had an ear infection in his right ear, and he was prescribed amoxicillin to clear up the infection. I was glad that we had an answer to what was going on with him, and I was glad we could start giving him medicine that would hopefully help him feel better and allow us all to get a little more sleep at night. I put Owen down for his nap, and Ben stayed home for the afternoon so I could go to my foot appointment and then go grocery shopping and pick up his medicine.

Much of the day, Aedan had to play by himself as I was dealing with Owen being fussy, but that evening, we got out his new Super Hero Lego set that he was so excited about building and worked on it for a little while after dinner but before bed time. He actually did a pretty good job finding the pieces and putting them on with a little direction on where they went. He couldn't wait to have his finished product of this helicopter. Isn't he a cutie?!

With Samantha getting older and being able to do more stuff on her own, she now has the job of hanging up and putting away her own clothes after we do laundry. She says she can work faster if she plays music while she works, so here she is listening to the Multiplication Rocks CD that my dad copied from when I was a kid. She loves to listen to the music and dance while she puts her clothes away, so I wanted to capture a little of that on video, but she stopped once she saw me recording her. :)

After our crazy day with having just gotten back from a trip, and dealing with a sick baby with an ear infection who didn't want to be put down, and not sleeping much the two nights prior, Ben and I were definitely exhausted by Tuesday night. Even when I put Owen to bed that night, he woke up every time I laid him down. However, one time I just laid him down and left him for a bit, to give myself a break and switch out some laundry, and he actually calmed himself back down and fell asleep.

Wednesday morning I had an appointment that I had rescheduled several times to turn in our voucher for a new convertible car seat for Owen. I had to meet with someone to talk about how to install it, and even have it installed in my car. He was definitely getting too big for his infant car seat, and I wasn't really carrying him around in it anymore anyways because he was too heavy. Plus, he very rarely falls asleep in his car seat on short trips anymore, which is what I used the infant car seat for the most in the past, so I figured it would be fine to switch him out. He looked so small in the big convertible car seat, but I'm sure it will be more comfortable for him, and he will be able to use it for a long time.

After the appointment, we went over to a MOPS mom's house for an outside play date. I figured with how poorly Owen was sleeping when we tried to lay him down, he was just as likely to take a nap in the Ergo as he was at home. Aedan had fun playing in a new space, swinging, and driving around a little car, but I forgot to bring a snack or water, so after a little while, he just got hungry and wanted to go home for lunch. Most of the kids were younger than him, so he didn't have too many kids to play with, but it was still fun to get out and do something for a little while that morning.

When we got home I tried to nurse Owen, but he was not really interested. I felt very full, so I decided I would try to pump, but that was very difficult to do with a fussy baby that just wanted me to pick him up. I was so looking forward to our little guy feeling better soon, and I felt bad that his ear was hurting him this much. It's so hard when you have a sick baby. It impacts everyone in the family, and I just wanted my happy little guy back again.

Owen actually took a pretty good nap that afternoon and seemed to be in better spirits when he woke up, so after having an earlier dinner, we decided to take the kids over to Project Playground for some play time before bed time. This was our first visit of the season, and the kids had a blast running around and playing together. We also put Owen in a baby swing for the first time that evening. He was enjoying going back and forth, feeling the wind blowing his hair.

After a few days of Owen being so fussy and discontented, and not really falling asleep while nursing like he usually does, Wednesday night was finally back to normal. He nursed well and fell right to sleep. He was so cute and comfortable in my lap, that I just let him lay there and rest for awhile before laying him down in his crib. He was so sweet and peaceful, and I love that he can still fit in my lap, even if his feet do hang off the side and on to the arm rest a little bit now. I couldn't resist taking these pictures of my precious baby, fast asleep.

Wednesday night was still a little rough. I was up with Owen a lot, walking around and trying to get him to stay asleep. However, he ended up sleeping in until 8:45, which is not typical for him. Then, when I put him down for his morning nap, he slept a good hour and a half. In fact, it was already 12:15, since I had put him down for a later nap, and I was trying to figure out what I should do, if I should let him keep sleeping or wake him up so that I could at least attempt to get him down for another nap later that afternoon. I ended up waking him up around 12:30 because I figured that was a good enough nap, and I could give him lunch still.

With Owen napping all morning, I had the chance to continue to get caught up on laundry from being out of town, and also to just play with Aedan. We played Clue Junior, Super Heroes, and Legos. Aedan has been a lot happier just hanging out at home more, and he's gotten much better at playing by himself and being creative with his toys. However, it's definitely a treat on these rare mornings where Owen takes a long nap for me to be able to devote more of my attention to just Aedan.

That afternoon, as I was changing Owen's diaper, I discovered he was developing a terrible diaper rash from the diarrhea caused by the antibiotics. His little tush was so red, and he cried when I changed his diaper and wiped him. Sometimes I feel like stuff like this is never ending. For the last few weeks, there has always been something that's making him fussy and uncomfortable and affecting his ability to get a good night's sleep, from teething pain, to an ear infection, and now to a diaper rash.

Aedan has been napping for me every day again now. It's so strange because he was fighting it for so long just a few weeks ago. Even while in Chicago, he fell asleep every day for awhile in the car. He doesn't fight me at all and just falls right asleep. However, he was also up at 6:15 in the morning talking and making noise, so who knows what that boy needs sometimes.

This was Samantha's second to last week of school, and Aedan was definitely looking forward to having Sissy back home again. I was also feeling ready for her to be done because sometimes I feel like I don't see her much when she's at school all day. But it will also take some time to get used our new summer schedule and routine. Things will be louder and crazier, and I will have another kid at home to take care of, but Samantha's pretty independent. However, Aedan will also have a built-in play mate again, and I will have Samantha around to help me more with Owen as well, when I'm trying to get things done. I would like to sit down with Ben and kind of make a plan for the summer, maybe set up a "chore" chart of tasks the kids need to complete each day, as well as setting up some time for Samantha to do some daily math, reading, and writing so she doesn't lose too much over the summer. I would also like to do something like that with Aedan, but with how high maintenance Owen has been lately, it has been hard for me to even plan that far ahead. I just know it will be good to have a little bit of structure and routine to our days for the remainder of the summer.

After lunch that day, we had to empty the dishwasher before I could put the dishes away, so I had Aedan come help me out. He enjoys helping me empty the dishwasher, and he is a good helper. Owen was also very interested in the dishwasher, especially now that his favorite activity is to pull up on things and stand. Here's the crew I get to hang out with every day. It's crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't change it for the world. :)

Look how tall Owen can stand and how far he can stretch his arms! This boy is curious about everything. He isn't interested in toys, he wants to play with everything else he can get his hands on. There was even one point I had to pull him out of the dishwasher because he had crawled all the way up onto the door.

With how late Owen slept that morning, we played more after lunch than normal, and I got Aedan down for a nap later than usual. So after I got Owen to sleep, I went back to Aedan's room to take a peek at him, and this is what I saw. Sometimes I wonder how often he actually sleeps with his head on his pillow. He sometimes sleeps in the strangest positions, but you can tell he's definitely comfortable and enjoying the new space in his big bed. Like I've mentioned before, he looks so big to me lately. I think he has gone through a growth spurt and gotten taller. It's hard for me to believe that just a year and a half ago or so, I was still rocking him to sleep at nap time, and he would fall asleep in my arms. Now he is big enough to take up all this space in his twin bed. I love watching my children sleep. They are so peaceful.

That afternoon Samantha kind of came home in a funk. I don't know if she had a bad day or was just tired, but she was in a quiet, sad kind of mood. She didn't talk to me much about anything that bothered her, but I decided that evening would be a good time to let her open up her KiwiCrate box, which was part of her birthday present from us. She was really excited to open it up and see what was inside. This box was all about the human body, so there were three activities in the box related to that topic. One was building an actual, working stethoscope, another was sewing and stuffing three different organs (a heart, a brain, and a stomach) that could then be stuck on a large poster of the human body, and the last was something where you could build your own x-ray using the outlines of bones and special paper that would glow when held under a lamp. Samantha was definitely interested in the box and enjoyed looking through everything. She wanted to get started right away and decided to build the stethoscope first. This box was great because it was definitely geared towards children her age, and the booklet came with step-by-step instructions on how to do each activity so that she could largely do them all by herself.

One of Owen's favorite things to do is to climb on anyone that is sitting or laying on the floor. Aedan likes to be "attackled" by Owen, so sometimes he lays on the floor with the intention of letting Owen climb all over him. I feel like Owen is already more physical than Samantha and Aedan were at this age. He definitely likes to roughhouse, and he's not even 9 months old yet. :)

Owen still woke up several times overnight Thursday into Friday, but he seemed to be doing slightly better day by day and was acting more like himself. There was a McDonald's play date on Friday morning, the last one before school was out for the summer. Ben ended up working from home that day, so I was able to put Owen down for a nap at home and just take Aedan to the play date. In fact, I also watched our neighbor's daughter for the day because her mom was not feeling well, so I gave her a break and time to rest. Aedan was glad to have his friend along for our time at McDonald's, and then they had a good afternoon playing together and having a little downtime by watching a movie together during when Aedan would normally be napping. 

Owen took a nice afternoon nap for me that day as well, sleeping for over two hours without us having to go in his room. When I went down to his room to get him up, he was such a happy, well-rested little boy. I was so thankful he had a good afternoon nap. I took these cute pictures with my little guy, so he could see himself in the camera as well. (I don't get in on the pictures very often, but I'm glad that I force myself to do it sometimes. I definitely want to part of the record of my kids' childhood, not just the one behind the camera. I want them to see pictures of me with them as well.) Man, this little baby is so cute. Regardless of the lack of sleep and craziness that comes with having three kids, the little boy has stolen my heart, and nothing makes me happier than seeing him smile.

On Friday night Ben had his first set of softball games. Our church started up a team in the local league, and we decided to make a family event of it and all go to the games together. There were other families with kids there, so everyone had a good time just hanging out and spending time together. I was able to watch Ben some, even though I was distracted by keeping tabs on the kids. I'm so glad that Ben gets to be part of a softball team again, and I will look forward to seeing more games in the season to come.

Saturday morning I let Ben sleep in and I got up with the big kids. (Usually he is the one letting me sleep in.) After so many nights of interrupted sleep, we both desperately needed some sleep. In fact, the kids even let us sleep in that morning as Aedan didn't wake up until 7:50. Then, we just had a relaxing morning playing at home together. Ben and I thought back and realized that we hadn't just had a relaxing Saturday at home for over a month because of birthdays and traveling. 

Owen's favorite activity is pulling up and standing on whatever he can. Lately, it has been the refrigerator. As soon as we open the door, he goes up to it, tries to pull bags of produce out, and tries to pull bottles out of the door. This boy is a little stinker, and there's no stopping him.

Samantha and Aedan couldn't do anything but just stand there and stare at their little brother with smiles on their faces.

Lately, Ben and I have been talking a lot about how we should probably let Aedan stop napping because he stays up so late and wakes up so early after napping during the day, taking away any advantage his nap may have given him. Since he had already skipped his nap on Friday afternoon, we decided to continue allowing him to not nap and see how it would go with him. We still think it's important for the kids to have some quiet, down time where they play on their own in their rooms, so it's not only quiet for Owen to nap, but also so Ben and I can have some time to ourselves or to get work done in the afternoon. We set Aedan's bunny clock to go off after about an hour and fifteen minutes, and he really did a pretty good job playing by himself. I wasn't convinced he was going to be able to stay in his room for that long and find things to amuse himself without getting bored and wanting to come out or calling for us, but he surprised me by handling it really well. I peeked in at him at one point, and he was just sitting on his bed reading books.

On Saturday evening, we decided to go swim in Canada. We hadn't been swimming at the community centre pool in a while, and the kids always enjoy our time there. This was the first time we've gone to the pool when Owen could crawl, so there was no just sitting and hanging out with him in the water anymore. He wanted to get down and crawl around and was very interested in the water fountains that sprayed up in the shallow end. His biggest problem was wanting to be too adventurous and wanting to get his face in the large sprayers. He was definitely enjoying himself in the water, and so were Samantha and Aedan.

Swimming tired out my little guy, and I put him to bed later than usual since we stayed at the pool until close to 8:00. He nursed well and as soon as I laid him in his crib, he rolled over and got comfortable. (I know he's wearing mermaids on his sleep sack, but it was given to us by my sister, and he doesn't care if he's wearing something with mermaids.) I love how babies sleep with their knees pulled up underneath themselves when they lay on their tummies. Owen was so cute all cuddled up. Oftentimes, I find myself holding him longer at night when he falls asleep after nursing because I just enjoy the extra cuddle time. During the day he is too busy to sit on my lap and let me hold him for very long. I love looking at him sleep peacefully, and I love listening to his quiet breathing sounds. With Owen most likely being our last baby, I will soak up all the sweet baby snuggles I can get while I can. I love this little baby boy so much.

(Blog about May 27-June 2, 2018)