Aedan: 51 Months, Week 1
Owen: 9 Months, Week 3 (Week 42)
It feels like our summer has been pretty busy so far, and we've had a lot going on from Samantha finishing school June 8th, friends visiting, Samantha's science camp, then going on vacation for a week and a half, then Samantha's acting camp and Aedan's VBS. So, this first week of July was really our first week with no scheduled activities, and I was looking forward to having some fun with my three kiddos, going and doing some fun things together.
Our Sunday was pretty typical with church in the morning. However, I actually taught the K-1 class, so Ben dropped me off at church and then went back home with the kids so that I could go to the service before serving second hour. Ben was able to get Owen to take a little nap before leaving for church, and it was nice not to have to miss being a part of the worship service. Sunday afternoon Owen took a little better nap than normal, actually sleeping a little over one hour which is much longer than we've been getting from him lately, giving Ben and I a break from having to go down to his room to get him back to sleep. I finished hanging up the 12 month clothes that I had taken out, washed, and organized after putting away all the 9 month clothes that he was most definitely too big for. Hopefully his growth will level off some now and he can stay in 12 month clothes for awhile. I also cleaned the floors and got laundry going while he napped. It was so nice to actually have time to be productive around the house. It's amazing what I can get done in a little over an hour of time where I don't have to chase a baby around.
Then, Sunday night was our Married People small group again. We felt bad that it was so warm in our house. We had the air conditioning on, but there's only so much that little unit can do, so we encouraged the kids to play in the basement that night with Ken and Linda. They always have such a fun time with them on Sunday nights. I think it's one of the highlights of their week. We also had plans to let Samantha and Aedan sleep downstairs on their mattresses to get out of the heat of their rooms. They were excited to be having a sleepover and to be able to sleep right next to each other. By the time I was done putting Owen to bed, all was quiet, so it didn't take them too long to fall asleep. Playing with Ken and Linda definitely tires them out.
One place we wanted to visit was Point Iroquois Lighthouse. We hadn't been there in a long time, and I was looking forward to spending some time there on this beautiful U.P. day. My plan was to put Owen down for a morning nap before leaving for the lighthouse, but I couldn't get him to to stay asleep. So instead of spending most of the morning trying to get him to sleep, I decided to just head out with the kids and forget his morning nap. Ben had a meeting at a local coffee shop with a student, so we dropped him off first before heading on our way. I hoped that maybe Owen would fall asleep in the car, but this boy just loves to be awake too much, and Samantha and Aedan are definitely very entertaining to watch in the backseat.
When arrived at the lighthouse, Samantha and Aedan both wanted to check out the 1950s house before climbing all the steps up to the top of the lighthouse. I even got Owen out of the stroller and carried him up the stairs. Then, we walked out along the boardwalk down to the beach. The kids couldn't wait to take their shoes off and play in the sand. Samantha and Aedan got right to playing some imaginary game and discovering crayfish that washed up on shore that they wanted me to help save by putting them back in the water. Owen loved sitting in the sand, feeling it run between his fingers, and bear crawling around. He didn't try to eat the sand at all, which surprised me. It was the rocks that he kept wanting to taste.
Then, I convinced the kids to all sit on this bent tree branch for some pictures of the three of them. I included some of the outtakes as well as the good ones where they are all looking at the camera. I love these three kids of my mine, the way they love each other, their silly personalities, and these precious moments we have together over the summer.
After being awake all day, there was no keeping Owen awake in the car on the way home. I would have rather him taken a nap at home, but even a nap in the car is better than nothing. We picked Daddy back up from the coffee shop, and I left Owen to sleep in the car while it was running in our driveway so he could at least get a little bit more of a nap in for the day.
Since it was the week of the 4th of July, Ben did not have softball that night, but Aedan still had tee-ball, so we made it a family affair. I was glad that Ben got to come and work with Aedan some, helping him with the proper technique of how to throw and hit the ball. Samantha wanted me to take a picture of her hanging on the bar like a monkey.
Here are the players practicing running the bases.
Here's Aedan getting some practice hitting the ball off the tee. He does much better when he has something to aim for out in the field.
Sometimes it's a bit difficult to keep Aedan focused and trying until the end of practice, but it's been a good experience for him to be a part of his first sport's team. He sees big boys playing in the fields and says he wants to play that when he gets big, so this is the first step towards that, just learning the basics of the game. This is definitely something we will have to keep up with both our kids, just doing more with them in catching, throwing, kicking, and hitting as we play in the back yard together. Maybe we should buy a baseball bat for the kids to use instead of the little plastic tee and bat that we have.
Aedan hasn't been quite as interested in helping with Owen as Samantha was when Aedan was a baby, but on Tuesday morning, Aedan wanted to help feed Owen breakfast, so we gladly let him feed him a few bites of his fruit mixed with cereal. :)
Tuesday continued with more hot weather. However, there was a MOPS play date at Project Playground that we decided to go to as our fun activity for the day. I figured it would be good to get outside and play before it got super hot that afternoon. When we got there it was Owen's nap time, and I tried to rock him in the stroller to see if he would fall asleep that way without me having to hold him, but that wasn't working. So even though it was hot, I put Owen in the Ergo and walked around and bounced him for awhile. He finally fell fast asleep as I walked Aedan back from taking him to the bathroom. I tried to stand in the shade as much as possible, but it was fun to just be with other moms, talking and catching up, while our kids ran around and played on the playground together. I waited for Owen to wake up from his nap, then we headed back home a little after noon.
That afternoon, since it was going to be so hot in the house, even with the air conditioner on in the living room, I came up with the idea for the kids to go to campus with Ben and watch a movie on a big screen in one of the classrooms. That way they could relax in air conditioning while Ben continued to get work done, and then I was able to put Owen down for a nap. I even made some popcorn on the stove for them to take with them as a snack while they watched the movie. They had a great time sitting on the floor on their blanket watching the movie. We will definitely have to do this again this summer. It's the little things that are so fun to kids.
Now of course with how Owen has been lately, I got him to sleep by 2:30 and then he was awake 20 minutes later. Every time I got him to sleep and laid him down, he would just scream. I didn't understand what his problem was or what we were supposed to do to help him. I felt like we were already doing as many things as we could think of. I even tried to sit down with him to let him sleep on me like Ben does, but he didn't like that either. He was just crying in my arms and wasn't settling down. Finally, Ben and the kids came back home and he took over with Owen, giving me a break. I felt bad that I couldn't get him to settle down and go back to sleep. In fact, I just sat down on the couch downstairs by myself for awhile and cried because I was so upset about it and just needed a break. That day I got Christy's package in the mail with our Halo sleep sacks that were mine but she wasn't using anymore for Oliver, so that way I could try using them for Owen. Sometimes I felt like he was too constricted in the Zipadee-zip, and I felt like he was getting too warm in them with his hands and arms contained. I tried the Halo Sleepsack on him for the first time on Tuesday night, figuring he was already sleeping so poorly, it surely wouldn't hurt anything.
Wednesday was July 4th, and Ben took the day off to spend time together as a family. The kids both woke up in a grumpy mood that morning, probably because they were sleeping in the basement together and it was just something different. Ben and I had the idea to go swimming in Canada from 11-1, but with the kids acting grumpy, we didn't know if it would be worth it to go over there or not. Plus, we tried to put Owen down for his nap that morning, but he just woke up crying, so Ben had to stay with him in order for him to sleep.
As we just hung out around the house that morning, I got out the walking toy for Owen, turned it around, and let him stand holding on to it and encouraged him to push it and walk. Watch the video to see him go! He was so excited and so proud of himself. When he would start walking and look back at me, he just gave me a huge grin. Samantha and Aedan thought it was so cool to watch him walk back and forth. In fact, they joined me on the other side so that Owen could walk back and forth between us.
Even though the kids were grumpy, we decided to go over to Canada to swim anyways. It was just too hot in the house to spend the whole day cooped up inside with each other. Samantha and Aedan always love playing in the water, and we knew they would do great as soon as we got there. This was the first time going there with Owen since he was so mobile, and it was definitely challenging. He wanted to crawl everywhere in the pool, not realizing that he was crawling into deeper water or that the fountain would spray him right in the face. I think Owen is going to be a little fish just like his big sister. Ben and I took turns wrangling him in the pool. It was a pretty quiet day at the pool, but we all had a good time.
After swimming we stopped at Smashburger for lunch before heading back home for nap time. We had all the kids nap that afternoon since we had plans to go see the fireworks, and they needed to nap if we were going to stay out that late. Samantha and Aedan didn't put up too much of a fight going to sleep for us that afternoon, even though we had them nap in the basement together, since they started out the day tired and swimming always tires them out. I asked if Ben would give me a break in the afternoon so I could go to his office and work on my blog. With all the trouble we've had getting Owen to sleep and stay asleep, I have had very little free time, which means I have had very little time to keep up with my blog. I like to try to stay up to date, doing one each week, but lately I have been running about two weeks behind, which I don't like to do because then I forget what happened and the stories I want to share. Anyways, I put Owen down before I left, but of course he only slept for about 20 minutes before waking up. Ben got him back to sleep for another 30 minutes, but then couldn't get him to lay down after that. Samantha said they got up about 4:25, and Ben let Owen sleep on him until almost 5:00. He was a tired boy and still wanted to sleep, but he just didn't want to be put down.
After eating dinner together that evening, we drove down the hill, parked our car, and found a spot for the 4th of July parade. We decided to sit closer up the route so that it would start and end earlier. We found a spot in the shade of a building, and we were there in plenty of time to relax for a little while before the parade started. The kids had plastic bags to fill up with candy that was thrown from the floats, and they had a great time running around and waving to the people passing by. (They got quite a haul of candy as well.) Owen really liked the fire trucks and was mesmerized by watching all the action all around him. The hardest part was just trying to keep him with us because he just wanted to get down and crawl around.
Once the parade was over, we went back home so that I could put Owen to bed before taking Samantha and Aedan to watch the fireworks. Ben took Samantha last year while I stayed home with Aedan, so it was his turn to stay home this year. With Sault Ste. Marie being a smaller city, it's never difficult to find parking, so we parked on a side street a couple blocks away from the park by the river where you sit to watch the fireworks. It was fun being able to just take Samantha and Aedan, and not to have to worry about Owen being grumpy and trying to wrangle him past his bed time. As we were walking to find a good spot to sit, we saw the Sayer family. They called us over and invited us to sit next to them. It was fun to be able to talk with Jill for awhile. Samantha and Aedan quickly got to playing with the Sayer girls and the Roe boys, and it brought back a memory from our first summer here when we all went to the fireworks together. We knew no one, and we sat by ourselves at the fireworks. I remember looking around and seeing all the kids playing together and families talking together, and I remember feeling lonely and not knowing anyone, but I said to Ben, "Some day maybe our kids will know other kids and will run off to play like these kids." And now that is reality! I feel very blessed by the people we have gotten to know and the friendships we are developing. Once it got dark enough, which is past 10:00 this far north, the fireworks started, and it was fun to sit outside and watch them light up the night sky over the river. I took a few videos to show Ben since he missed out on seeing them in person. Fireworks also remind me of Ben because he came to visit me in Chicago one summer when we were dating, and we saw fireworks with my family in Park Ridge. Ben and I both remember that trip as being the time we decided we wanted to marry each other and spend the rest of our lives with each other. And Ben used fireworks when proposing to me, so now fireworks give me a romantic feeling in my heart.
Owen was finally starting to do better at night this week. In fact, on Wednesday night into Thursday, Owen slept all the way from when I put him to bed until 6:00 and then went back to sleep until 8:20. Even Samantha and Aedan slept in until about 8:30 on Thursday morning, after staying up so late at the fireworks the night before, which is just amazing for them. It was nice for everyone to be able to get some extra sleep.
To continue with our week of doing fun things together in the morning, on Thursday, after having a slow morning, we went to the library for some time to play and check out books. Rain was coming in the forecast and a cold front was finally going to start coming through to bring us some relief from the heat, so we decided to hang out in the air-conditioned library for awhile. We had a bunch of books that needed to be returned, and Samantha was excited to look for and check out books herself. I was able to get Owen to take a short nap in the Ergo, which was good, especially considering that's about as long as he would have napped if we were at home anyways. Here are all three kids playing in the children's area at the library that morning.
I have been so glad that Owen has been doing better at night. He still wakes up once or twice between when I put him down and when Ben and I go to sleep, but it usually only take a few minutes of holding him to resettle him and he goes back to sleep easily. Then, he has been making it most of the night with only eating once and then going right back to sleep, which is great, and a definite improvement from when he was waking up 5-10 times a night. I have felt much more rested because of the better nighttime sleep, and I'm always so surprised when I open my eyes and so many hours have passed.
However, our problem is still napping because he won't sleep longer than 20-25 minutes, then he wakes up crying, and often won't go back to sleep unless you continue holding him. The napping issues continue to boggle my mind, and it's especially frustrating because he has been doing it the whole time since we've been back from vacation, so almost two weeks now. The hard part with Owen is that you can get him back to sleep, but then he will wake up when you lay him down. I can't ever rock him to sleep either, I have to walk him around, and if I sit down in the rocking chair, most of the time, he will wake up. Ben can actually sit down with him once he is asleep on his shoulder, and he will stay asleep for awhile, but that never seems to work with me. I mistakenly looked back at my blog for when Samantha and Aedan were Owen's age, and I read that they were already sleeping through the night fairly consistently by now, and Aedan was taking pretty regular naps of about two hours, so that made me sad that Owen wasn't doing those things, too. I think Owen might always be one of those kids that is finicky with sleeping.
Ben once again got Owen to go to sleep on him on Thursday afternoon when I had trouble with him that afternoon. He slept for a little while before waking up, but I couldn't get him back to sleep. Sometimes I feel like Ben is the baby whisperer, always getting Owen to fall right asleep on his shoulder. He just likes to cuddle when he sleeps. Here are a couple pictures he sent of Owen fast asleep on his lap that afternoon.
Samantha likes to wear matching shirts with people, so when she picked out her Guatemala t-shirt, she asked Daddy if he would wear his shirt as well. He gladly obliged, so at dinner that evening, I had to get some pictures of the twins together. I love how silly these two are together. They both have quite the personality and love to make silly faces together. I got so many good ones of the two of them that it was hard to pick just a couple, so here are some of my favorites. :)
And here's a little video that I snuck in. We have fun in our house, that's for sure.
Friday was another pretty normal day with the kids while Ben went to work. I took all the kids with me grocery shopping that morning, which was quite the event. I had never gone with all three kids before. It went fairly well, but it definitely took longer than it typically does. Plus, I tried to get Owen to nap in the Ergo while we shopped, but he had no interest in being contained or falling asleep. That afternoon, I had thought about taking the kids to play over at our neighbor's house if Owen napped, but with Owen not napping, that ended up not working out. However, I did have a brief success with Owen that afternoon. I tried to change my attitude about him waking up and just expected him to wake up after 20-25 minutes, so I guess it wasn't as bad because of that. He hadn't napped at all that morning either, so I hoped that he would go longer than 20-25 minutes, but this is just his norm lately. I tried laying him down after he woke up and I got him back to sleep on my shoulder, and I almost thought I succeeded in laying him down without having him wake up, but as soon as I tried to walk out of the room, he woke up, so I decided to just sit and hold him. I let him sleep on my shoulder, and I finally got him to stay asleep on me like Ben does! I felt bad leaving the big kids upstairs by themselves and hoped they weren't causing too much trouble, but I knew Owen needed at least some sort of a nap that day, even if it meant his nap would be in my arms.
On Saturday morning Samantha and Aedan had their first soccer Bible camp at the Lutheran church around the corner. They were excited to be able to go to the camp together and to see some of their friends. It was definitely different only having Owen at home that morning. Then, after I picked up Samantha and Aedan from camp, we had lunch and decided to go over to campus for a family bike ride. I even put Owen in the Wee Ride bike seat that we haven't used in years. He really enjoyed being a part of the bike ride, to feel the wind blowing on his face, and to get a new perspective on riding bikes around campus. Having all of us on bikes made it much easier to go faster and ride all around together. We had fun and will definitely have to do more family bike rides with Owen in the bike seat.
After the activity of our bike ride, Owen actually took a good nap that afternoon, sleeping for an hour and ten minutes all by himself, without us having to go down and hold him, which hasn't happened in two weeks. We had such a nice family day, playing outside, eating dinner together, giving the kids baths, and getting them to bed at a decent time. The kids fell asleep quickly because they were so tired from being outside playing pretty much all day. I love days like this where the kids are in good moods and we can just have fun being outside and playing together. (It was an added benefit that Owen actually slept by himself, too.) Summertime is just the best.
(Blog about July 1-7, 2018)
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