Aedan: 52 Months, Week 1
Owen: 10 Months, Week 3 (Week 46)
As I mentioned in my last post, our Saturday night after returning from from our trip to Glen Arbor was not great. We had a hard time settling Owen down to sleep. Ben sat with him for almost two hours, trying to get him to sleep at least a little bit, but he kept stirring every few minutes. I was in with him another three times. Every time we tried to lay him down, he would just start screaming and crying, which obviously is not normal. The more the night went on, the more we thought he probably had another ear infection, and we planned on taking him in to the walk-in clinic Sunday afternoon after church. We were glad that he at least didn't have any nights like this at the cabin in Glen Arbor, because at least at home we are downstairs and separated from Samantha and Aedan, so they can't hear when he screams and cries like this.
Ben and I were both super tired on Sunday morning, but with three kids and a busy life, there is no just sitting around or sleeping in. We just planned on drinking a lot of coffee that day. After Owen's rough night, we tried to get him down for a nap on Sunday morning before going to church. However, he didn't stay asleep when we laid him down, so Ben sat down there with him while he napped on his shoulder. At church Owen did pretty well in the room while we were in church, but when I picked him up, he was being held and was crying pretty hard. He just didn't feel good, you could tell, so we went back home to eat lunch quick before I left to take him to the walk-in clinic. It was his nap time, but with how he was feeling, I knew he wouldn't sleep anyways, and we wanted to know if he had an ear infection and hopefully get some medicine to help him feel better fast.
We didn't have to wait too long to be seen that day, and the doctor didn't have to look in his ear for very long before she saw that it was an ear infection in both ears, the right being worse. I talked about what happened with his last ear infection where Amoxicillin didn't work and then Augmentin gave him a terrible diaper rash, so he go injections instead. So this time they prescribed Cefdinir which she said is a stronger antibiotic than Amoxicillin but is easier on the stomach, so he won't have as much diarrhea. His cold and stuffy nose from the beginning of the week turned into this ear infection. I asked about when doctors recommend getting tubes in the ears, and she said usually if they have more than six ear infections in a year, or if the infections are unresponsive to antibiotics. I felt so bad that our poor little guy had another ear infection, and I was just praying that maybe we caught it early enough that we wouldn't be dealing with it for three weeks like we were last time. I'm trying not to worry and get ahead of myself, but all this with Owen getting sick this summer has made me nervous for fall and winter when germs and sickness run rampant. I hope that we can try to keep him from getting colds that keep turning into ear infections. It will be interesting to see if he is more prone to ear infections than the other kids were.
Being that we were gone for most of the week, we didn't have any food in our house, so we had to get some grocery shopping done that Sunday, along with taking Owen to the doctor. Even though Samantha and Aedan really didn't want to go with Ben, we decided it would be better to get things done as quickly as we could, so Ben dropped Owen and I off at the clinic before going to Meijer to do our weekly grocery shopping with the big kids. I was done with Owen before Ben was done shopping, but I had Owen's stroller with me, so I decided to just start walking back home. The clinic is not far from our house. The hardest part is just going up the hill to our house, but I didn't mind taking a walk and getting some exercise, and I hoped that Owen would just enjoy a stroller ride with the cool breeze blowing on him, being able to sit more upright, and maybe would take a little nap. He fussed for a few minutes, but it didn't take very long before he fell asleep. Since he was sound asleep, I decided to walk around the sidewalks of campus until he woke up. It was a nice and quiet walk for me, and I was just glad I got him to fall sleep. He slept about fifty minutes as we walked around, so not a bad little nap for him. Here is my precious little boy fast asleep in the stroller.
Jenny
We were able to get Owen two doses of antibiotics that Sunday, we gave him ibuprofen before putting him down, we got the vaporizer going in his room, and we propped his bed up, trying to make the most beneficial environment for sleeping as possible. He did better than Saturday night, but he still woke up six times during the night.
On Monday morning our neighbors from around the corner came over to play at our house. We didn't have any plans, so I messaged her to see if they wanted to come over and play. I feel like our summer has been so busy, and we haven't had as much time to play with them as I anticipated going into the summer. Samantha and Aedan were excited to have friends over to play, and they get along really well with their girls. They played all kinds of imaginary games together in the back yard. Owen was doing okay that morning, but really he generally acts happy when he is awake and able to just crawl around and play; it's when we have to lay him down for sleeping that he gets upset. Valerie and I sat out in the back yard with our babies close by, watching our big kids run around and play together. I was even able to leave Izzy out, and she didn't bark for too long at them. She is getting better, and I am hoping that by exposing her to more visitors, that she will slowly get better at not barking so much at people that come into our house.
Anyways, Owen was having fun crawling around and playing, but once it reached about 10:30, he was just getting too tired. I didn't want to leave our guests outside while I went downstairs to put Owen down and then hope that he would actually stay asleep, so I decided to just hold him on my shoulder and bounce him around outside to see if he would fall asleep, and he actually did! I was then able to sit down on our new patio chairs under the umbrella from our patio table, and he stayed asleep on my shoulder as I continued to talk to Valerie and watch our kids play and have a blast together. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and it was so nice having adult conversation and friends for the kids. I'm not sure why we don't do this more often! We have really enjoyed getting to know this family over the last year.
Monday night was another softball game for Ben. Aedan's t-ball was over now, so we didn't have to go do that first. We just finished eating dinner and cleaning up before heading over to the field. Samantha and Aedan always have fun running around and playing with the other kids, and even though I got Owen down for a nap that afternoon before heading out to meet with Michele, Ben ended up having to sit down with him to get him to sleep, but he at least had a decent nap in Ben's arms, sleeping until almost 4:30. One of the dads offered to take the kids across the street to Project Playground during the game, and Samantha and Aedan were really excited to go play with their friends. Owen was in a pretty good mood that evening and was happy just crawling around, chewing on his toys, and exploring everyone's chairs. I was able to actually sit and talk with some of the other moms there, which was a lot of fun for me as well. These softball nights are late, but it's a great way to get to know other people, so I hate to miss out on these times just because of our kids' bed time.
Since I was able to take Samantha and Aedan to two movies at LSSU, Ben wanted to be able to take them to one as well. So on Tuesday morning, he took them to see the movie Peter Rabbit, while I stayed home with Owen. He actually took really great nap that morning, sleeping almost the entire time they were gone at the movie. I was so glad he was sleeping better, and that hopefully his ear infection was starting to go away. Just to be safe, I made an appointment for him with Dr. Newhouse that afternoon at 3:15 so she could check is ears.
Once the kids got home from the movie, we had a quick lunch of mac and cheese, and I decided to take them all to Brimley State Park to attend the MOPS beach play date. It was going to make for a busy day, but since Owen had such a good nap that morning, I knew he would be able to handle it, and I thought the kids would have fun swimming and playing with other kids. We haven't been to too many play dates this summer because of other things going on or being out of town. It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for going to the beach. We stayed for about an hour or so, and the kids had fun swimming in the water and playing in the sand. We even got to see our old foster child, and it was really great to see how well Samantha and Aedan were playing with him. It's amazing how much difference a year makes. Things were a little crazy trying to get everyone dried off and changed, and all our gear picked up all by myself, but my friend, Telisa, was kind enough to help me bring all our toys and floaties up to our car for me. I appreciated that so much. She always does such a good job of looking for ways to help out other moms.
Owen was pretty tired after spending time out on the beach, so it didn't take long for him to fall asleep in the car on the way back home. I dropped Samantha and Aedan off at home before continuing on to the doctor for Owen's appointment. The doctor looked in his ears and said there was no sign of ear infection, which kind of surprised me, because I didn't think his infection would clear up that much in just two days. However, I was glad to hear that. She said for Owen to continue with the antibiotic course and also to continue taking the generic Zyrtec because that could help dry up his nasal passages and possibly prevent him from getting more ear infections in the future.
Now that Owen has been pulling up and standing for awhile, he is working on taking a few steps without any support. We were trying to get some of his steps on video that Tuesday afternoon, but he didn't want to perform for the camera, so here are a few fun videos of Owen trying to walk, but then falling right down on his bottom. You can also see him clapping in the second video and then crawling away. This is how he always crawls now, like a bear, and he can go super fast when he crawls like this! We will get a video of him walking soon, I'm sure! This little boy is growing up so fast. He's not even 11 months old yet!
Tuesday was kind of a late night after a busy day for the big kids. You could tell they were tired as we drove in the car over to small group. However, they enjoy playing outside at small group, so their energy picked up once they were able to get outside and run around with other kids. Since small group goes until 7:30, and we usually leave later than that, I didn't start putting Owen to bed until almost 8:30. However, he slept all the way from when I put him down until 6:00 in the morning! Then, he went back to sleep until 8:30. He had a great sleep, and Ben and I were so appreciative of having the night of uninterrupted sleep. This is only the third time that Owen has slept through the night, and I was hopeful that after a day of good napping, a clear check-up from the doctor, and a good night's sleep, that he really was getting better from his ear infection and that maybe we were turning a new leaf in his sleeping habits.
Once he got back from Meijer, I took Owen to the dentist because on Tuesday at his doctor appointment, I asked about the marks on his teeth, and she had mentioned it could be caries, which is basically decay. Normally that happens in babies that carry bottles around in their mouths all the time or drink a lot of juice, both of which don't apply to Owen, so I didn't understand how he could have decay on his teeth. I was a little worried about it, and I was trying to not freak out before I actually had him seen by a dentist. However, as soon as the hygienist got a look in his mouth, she said it was just staining, and that I had nothing to worry about, so I breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, she was able to scrape a little bit of it off before Owen was done having her mess around in his mouth. She said once he turns three and is old enough for cleanings, any staining that is left would easily come off during his cleaning. I was so glad there wasn't any serious problem, and they said it was good that I brought him in anyways, just to establish him as a patient, talk about good dental care practices, and get him used to coming to the dentist and having people look in his mouth.
Owen took good naps on Wednesday morning and afternoon as well. In fact, on Wednesday afternoon, we had plans to meet with Pastor Brooks at our house to talk about Owen's dedication, and Owen slept the whole time he was at our house, taking a good two hour and fifteen minute nap. He woke up happy and well rested, and Ben and I even had a chance to play a game with the big kids while Owen was sleeping. It was so nice, and I was so glad that he was back to napping well again. It gives me hope that he can do it, and that we won't be stuck with short or non-existent naps forever, and that all that we have gone through this summer really might just be a phase that he is finally starting to grow out of, without us having to do any harsh or drastic sleep training.
I ordered a bath mat for the bottom of the bath tub to help Owen not slip and slide all over the place during bath time, and so we could let him play in the tub more without having to contain him in the bath seat. I put the bath mat in the tub for bath time on Wednesday night, and Owen seemed to be a pretty big fan of the newfound freedom. I didn't put too much water in the bathtub because he still was crawling around quite a bit and pulling up on things, but it seemed to work pretty well. However, it's definitely not an easy job giving his active and wiggly boy a bath!
Our first set of guests were Ema and Papa, and they planned to stay from Wednesday through Sunday afternoon. Samantha and Aedan were so excited when they arrived at our house that evening. They are such involved and loving grandparents that they went right back to the kids' rooms to play with them and talk to them and spend time with them. Ben and I did what we always do, looked at each other and said, "Well, I guess we can both leave now. We are not needed here!" It was fun to peek in on Papa looking through Samantha's yearbook with her, asking her all kinds of questions about her school and people in her class. And Ema was doing a good job balancing both boys that wanted her attention. Aedan showed off his Legos and even got out some paper to give his autograph for Ema to take home.
Ema and Papa brought up their truck and a U-haul trailer full of furniture for us from Ben's grandma's house. We got a twin bed with a mattress and box spring included, a dresser, and a new dining room table with ten chairs. The four of us worked hard on Wednesday night after the kids were in bed to move all the furniture into the house and get our new dining room table set up. Ben and I were a little unsure about how it would fit in the space in our kitchen, but it worked out really well, and it will be so nice to have a bigger table that will accommodate more people. We even have a leaf we can put in the table to extend it out even more.
I was able to sell our old table for $75, and they came to pick it up on Thursday morning. Ben was kind enough to let Owen and I sleep in the morning, after he woke up a few times during the night, one time being a little before 6:00 when I was finally able to fee him to get him back to sleep. He and I then slept in until about 8:15. It felt good to get some extra sleep.
Owen is working really hard on trying to walk, and we tried to show off his new skills to Ema and Papa as we hung out around the house that morning. He gets too excited though, and especially when he claps, it's too hard for him to keep his balance. Samantha is very enthusiastic about helping her little brother practice walking!
Here is Ben trying to get Owen to walk to him. I tried to come behind him to take a video so that I wouldn't distract him. I still didn't get a video of any steps, but you can see how good he is getting at getting himself up and down from the floor to a standing position. His biggest problem is just keeping his legs in too wide of stance, making it difficult for him to move his foot forward for a step. I love this video because of how enthusiastically he claps, and then how hard he falls on his bottom that he rolls over backwards and falls down. Toddlers are so funny and cute when they are learning how to walk.
Here are a few cute pictures I took of my little boy after his short morning nap. He loves this trampoline. It is the perfect size for him to pull up on, and he can climb up and down on it with no problem. I love how he was peeking around the pole at me. Doesn't he have a great smile?! Plus, I love his baby Batman pajamas.
We didn't have much planned for Thursday, which was just fine for us. The kids really enjoyed just having Ema and Papa there to play with. We definitely don't see them as much as we would like to now that we live farther away. We didn't realize how spoiled we were living two hours away from grandparents for the last six years before moving to Sault Ste. Marie. Samantha was also super excited to show them her DVD of Willy Wonka that afternoon so they could see her performance. We had a few issues with it skipping and freezing, but once Ben went and got a different DVD, it worked much better. Here is Samantha cuddling with Papa and Aedan sitting in his favorite spot and next to Ema, while they watched Willy Wonka Jr. She knows all the words to the songs and even some of the speaking lines, so Ema and Papa were getting a kick out of listening to her recite lines right along with the people on the stage. We definitely need to get this girl into some more theater productions!
Owen didn't have as great of a night on Thursday for some reason, leaving Ben and I a little more tired that normal that morning, but we were ready for a fun day going to Mackinac Island with Ema and Papa. We had been there with my parents and with my sister and her family, but never with Ben's parents. Back before we had kids, we visited there on a family vacation and took our own bikes, but other than that, Ben and I never took our own bikes over to the island. Most of the bikes fit in the back of Papa's truck, so that worked out really well. We were able to get on a Star Line ferry to cross over to the island, and Samantha and Aedan decided they wanted to try out the top deck with Ben on the way over. Here are some pictures of the crazy kids with Daddy that morning. They had to put on their sweaters because it was pretty chilly up there with the wind blowing.
I sat downstairs with Ema, Papa, and Owen. It was getting close to his nap time, so he was a little bit difficult to entertain and wrangle on the trip over there, but I was able to distract him enough with snacks and allowing him to crawl from one lap to another.
After getting to the island, getting our bikes, and making a bathroom stop, we decided to go to a Butterfly House first. We had never been there before and figured it would be something else fun to try with the kids. I put Owen in the Ergo, hoping he would fall asleep as we walked around the island. It took a little while for him to fall asleep because there was just too much for him to look at. The horses were especially interesting to him. However, he finally fell asleep just before we went into the Butterfly House. We got to see a display case of caterpillars in different stages of building and emerging from their cocoons, and then we entered the greenhouse room with hundreds of butterflies. It was amazing to watch them all fly around, fluttering from flower to flower, and sometimes even landing on the ground right in front of you. Samantha thought this place was amazing, and I think she could have stayed in there much longer observing all the beautiful butterflies than Aedan had the attention span for. Here are some pictures and videos of the butterflies we saw.
After keeping Owen contained for awhile, we decided to go over to the grass and playground area to let him crawl around before sticking him in the bike trailer. He got nice and dirty crawling around in the dirt that was slightly wet from the rain the day before, but he was having a great time. Here is Samantha climbing the branches of this cool tree. She asked me to take her picture. She loves finding trees to climb.
And here are a couple great pictures of my three kiddos all together. Aedan didn't want to be in the picture, of course, but he looked at the camera and smiled, and it turned out great! I love these three kids more than words can describe.
From there we took another bathroom break before getting on our bikes to ride the trail around the island. It's an 8 mile loop, and at first Samantha was really nervous about whether or not she could get started on her own. However, once she got going and realized she could steer well enough to go around people that were going slower than her, there was no stopping her. Her and I even raced down the path together, ahead of everyone else. She loved pedaling as fast as she could. Aedan and Owen sat in the bike trailer that Ben pulled, and the rest of us rode on our own bikes. Here's a cool picture of everyone biking down the trail.
Once they were both awake, we got all the kids changed into their bathing suits so they could splash around in the water for awhile. This beach area is a little difficult to play on because it is all rocks and no sand, but Samantha didn't mind at all. She got right out into the water, getting herself fully submerged. That girl definitely loves water, always has! Aedan didn't want to get in the water because we didn't bring his floatie, and he was too worried about going out too far and being in too deep of water, so he just stayed up on the beach and played with rocks. Once I was done nursing Owen in a corner of the Nature Center, I brought him out to the beach as well. He played with the rocks for awhile before noticing Samantha in the water, and then he crawled carefully out to the water, too. I sat him down right at the edge of the water so the waves could wash up and splash him, not getting any higher than his waist. I think Owen is going to follow more in the footsteps of his big sister.
On the way back to St. Ignace, Samantha wanted to sit on the top, so I went up with her, while the rest of the family sat inside downstairs. Here are Ema and Papa with their grandsons. I love how Aedan is watching the water spray out the window and how Papa and Ema are lovingly taking turns holding a wiggly and tired little baby that just wanted to climb around.
Here are some pictures I took of the island and the bridge from the top of the ferry boat. We had a beautiful, clear, and sunny day for a visit to Mackinac Island. I love that we try to take this trip when family comes to visit, at least once over the summer.
Here is a video of the water spraying off the back of the boat. This was the first time we rode on a boat like this that has the hydro-jet off the back of the boat.
After getting back to St. Ignace, we got our bikes back to the truck, helped take the front wheels off, and then our family took off so we could stop at Meijer for a few things for dinner on the way home. Owen fell asleep again in the car on the way home, which was good for him to take another mini-nap after the long day we had away from home. We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner that night, but since we got home late, we didn't eat until about 6:30, much later than we usually eat. The kids were hungry though and devoured their food. After dinner it was pretty much dinner and bed time for our tired kiddos. We had a super fun day sharing the experience of Mackinac Island with Ema and Papa.
After a busy day on Friday, Saturday was more of a low-key day. The kids played around the house, and Ben and I were even able to sneak away for a little date out for lunch at Karl's, a place we have wanted to go for awhile, but is not incredibly kid-friendly. Ben, the big kids, and his parents went to a car show in town for a little while on Saturday afternoon while I stayed home with Owen to put him down for a nap. He went down fine for his nap, but woke up crying from his nap after 20 minutes. I went down and got him back to sleep after holding him and bouncing him for awhile, getting him to sleep for another half an hour or so before waking up and crying again. By that point, Ben was back home, so he took a turn trying to get Owen back to sleep. While he was sitting downstairs, the rest of the adults got some work done around the house, saving Ben from having to do it at a later time. Ben's mom mowed the lawn for us. His dad put on our baby cabinet latches so that Owen doesn't keep getting into stuff he's not supposed to. I weeded the entire front of the house, which is something I have wanted to get around to for quite some time now. It felt like a very productive afternoon. After that, Ema even let Samantha and Aedan help make zucchini bread with her. They are always eager to help people make things in the kitchen and love being included. Food tastes all that much better when you know how much work goes into making it.
Saturday night, our second second set of guests, my parents, arrived. We had a full house, but I was so glad that both sets of grandparents were able to make the long trip up here for Owen's dedication. It meant a lot to us to have their support and presence. We cooked out for dinner and were able to use our new dining room table to fit everyone around it for dinner. Then, we worked on getting everyone's beds set up for that night, which took a little rearranging. Samantha decided it would be fun to have a sleepover in Aedan's room, so she slept on an air mattress on the floor in his room. Ema and Papa slept in Samantha's room, with our extra twin mattress on the floor for one of them, and my parents slept in the guest room. It worked, and I think everyone was able to sleep comfortably, even if our house was full. We love to have guests and were so glad to be able to accommodate everyone.
(Blog about July 29-August 4, 2018)
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