Moving Owen's Bedroom Upstairs, Snow Days, and Fun Times with the Big Kids

Samantha: 91 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 57 Months, Week 2
Owen: 15 Months, Week 4

After a busy few days of working on painting Owen's new bedroom upstairs, after church Ben and I moved his crib and stuff upstairs. We were able to get everything set up enough that he took a nap in his new room, and he did pretty well sleeping in a new space, but not as well as was usual lately. It was a bit hectic trying to get all that done, and then we had small group that evening. It wasn't all finished or put together yet, but I hoped to work more on getting everything organized and situated on Monday.

When I put him down for bedtime, he woke up crying once after putting him down to bed, but after that he did well. He has been sleeping through the night every night, really since Christmas time. Ben and I said we would move Owen up to the room upstairs once he started doing that, and I figured making the switch over break, when Ben had more free time, would make the most sense. Plus, since we are officially opening up our foster license again, Ben and I decided it would make more sense to have the foster child closer to us so that we could help him/her more at night. If they are younger, we may need to do stuff with them during the night, and if they are older, we may need to keep tabs on them more. For example, with our last placement, he was out of his room at night, going into the other kids' rooms and doing other things around the house, and we didn't know since we were downstairs in our room. We had a monitor in his room, but there's only so much you can hear on one of those things. Plus, it will help the child feel more secure to be close to us at night. It definitely was strange that first night when Owen was upstairs sleeping and not in the room connected right to ours. 

We knew of the impending snowstorm, and sure enough, school was cancelled for Monday. We were projected to get 8-12 inches, starting around 5:00 a.m. It was also supposed to be very windy, so it was probably wise that they cancelled school. Even though we didn't have to get up and get ready at a certain time, Owen woke up at 6:30 that morning, and I couldn't get him back to sleep. I wondered if it had anything to do with being in a new room, and I hoped that he would get used to his new room soon.

Since we had an unexpected day at home, we were supposed to have MOPS set up that morning, and I piled all the kids in the car to stop at Meijer for some things before going to church, but then while we were shopping the leadership team ended up deciding to cancel MOPS due to the snow and the roads not being safe to travel on. So I just very slowly headed back home. Then, once we got back home, Owen fell down the stairs and hit his head on the wood trim at the bottom. He must not have been sliding down the right way, and he was okay, but I was nervous because of how he hit his head. It was a little bit of a crazy start to our morning.

I took advantage of Samantha and Aedan being home to help me clear out the closet in Owen's new room. It was just piled with boxes and baby gear that I kept shoving in there when he outgrew it. I needed to organize it and box it all up. I also want to get rid of some baby things I don't need anymore, and that we don't anticipate using for any foster child we might get. We certainly can't keep everything, but regardless, things definitely needed to be organized. I certainly don't need these baby things for Owen anymore. Here is a picture of the state of Owen's old room with stuff I had brought down from upstairs: baby gear, clothes that don't fit him anymore, and a box full of stuff to get rid of or donate. My next job is to work on getting this room organized and cleaned up because we could technically get a call for a foster child any day, and we need to be ready.

And here is Owen's room after the work I got done that Monday. I knew the crib and glider were in the best spot, but I wasn't convinced that I liked it how it was. I wasn't sure about the dresser being out and the placement of the changing table right on the wall as you enter the room. I was thinking about putting the dresser in the closet so that it wouldn't take up as much space in the room. We still had a nine cube shelf to fit in his room, and I didn't want it to feel too cluttered.

All of the cleaning, organizing, and rearranging was definitely exhausting. I had spent all of Saturday putting all the Christmas stuff away and then doing the second coat of paint in his room. Then, I spent Sunday and Monday working on reorganizing the rooms. I had gotten a lot done in several days, but I was exhausted and still felt like I had so much to do. All the 18 month clothes were clean and ready to be hung up, but I had to take all the 12 month clothes off the hangers first. I don't enjoy switching out clothes for the next size, but I have to remind myself that it's so much better than having to buy everything new every time. Hand-me-downs are definitely welcome at our house. Things are becoming a little more challenging with Samantha and Aedan, though, because we don't have people giving us clothes anymore, so we have to go out and buy new things for them. Now granted, we always get used clothes at resale stores like Second Childhood or Once Upon a Child in Canada, but that is just fine. We find some good stuff, and it saves us tons of money. (I often wonder why people ever pay full price for kids' clothes that are just going to be stained, ripped, worn out, and grown out of in a short time.) In fact, Samantha definitely needs more 10-12 clothes, and Aedan is getting close to needing 5T. His 4T pants are definitely too short for him.

With all the snow we had gotten that day that was continuing on into the night, as well as the wind that would then blow the snow all over the place, school was cancelled again for Tuesday. It was amazing how much snow had piled outside. In fact, after getting the kids to bed, Ben and I went outside to walk around in it and see how deep it was. In this picture, I am standing in the middle of the street outside our house. The plow trucks hadn't even touched our road. There were several cars that got stuck on our road that day, one right in front of our house. In fact, LSSU even cancelled classes for the rest of the day as of the middle of the afternoon, and they also cancelled classes for all day on Tuesday so that everyone would stay safe and the school would have time to clean up parking lots and sidewalks. I was glad to have Ben unexpectedly around though, even though it was hard for him to already be missing class in the first week of the semester. It's so rare for a college campus to shut down like that.

I had scheduled a doctor's appointment for Owen on Tuesday morning at 8:45, thinking I could go quickly before getting to MOPS, but then MOPS ending up being cancelled for the week due to the snow. Ben lovingly went out early that morning to clear the driveway so I could get out and take Owen to the doctor. We were going mainly for his ears to be re-checked after the ear infection he developed at the end of Christmas break, and to also be referred to an ENT. When the doctor checked his ears, she said he was totally clear, that she couldn't see any fluid in them at all, which was good. That meant the antibiotics worked really well. We had two options with an ENT. There is one in Sault Ste. Marie or else we would have to drive all the way down to Petoskey. The doctor recommended that we start with the doctor in Sault Ste. Marie, but she also mentioned that most ENT's wouldn't do anything as far as suggesting the placement of tubes unless there was currently fluid in his ears. So, the doctor will call and make an appointment for the ENT, and we will see what happens between now and then as far as any more ear infections for Owen.

Aedan has some days that are rougher than others. He is definitely in that emotional 4 1/2 year old phase, and some days it seems like he cries over every little thing. For example, when he can't do something or gets frustrated, feels sad or left out, or just feels overwhelmed with a task, he will just start crying. I try to remember not to get mad or yell (which I obviously do sometimes), and instead, I try to remember to get down on his level and talk to him, or even give him a few minutes of my attention, sometimes just holding him on my lap and hugging him for awhile. Doing these things is much more effective that yelling or getting mad. Getting on his level, showing him that he is seen and heard, and supporting his emotions is much more effective. Samantha went through a phase exactly like this when she was around his age, so that makes this easier to deal with because I know it's just a phase, that this will pass, and that we just have to work through it together.

After having a relaxing Tuesday together just playing at home and letting the kids watch a movie together that afternoon, Wednesday was back to life as usual. However, it was a frustrating day for me personally. It was one of those days where I was just missing family and friends that know me. I felt tired and like I can't get things done that I want to do, feeling like I never have enough time. Doing big projects like I have been doing lately have been great, but it makes other things more difficult because I let other things go, like just daily picking up and things like that. Sometimes all of that can get really overwhelming, and it's not easy to get cleaning and organizing done with kids underfoot all the time. Not to mention that winter is hard for me up here. We just get buried in all this snow, and it's depressing to think that all this snow will still be here in April. It was just one of those days where everything felt wrong, and I felt lousy about myself and my ability to be an effective wife and mother.  I got frustrated with myself because I am always late. I can't seem to ever get anywhere on time with the kids, and I know that is something that really bothers Ben. I need to get myself into more of a routine so I can leave earlier and not rush around. I need to stop doing that "just one more thing" that is usually the cause of me being late. I need to start getting out of bed earlier so that I am showered and dressed before the kids are awake at 7:00. I need to start exercising regularly and eating healthier, as well as going to bed earlier so I can get enough rest and feel ready to wake up earlier in the morning. Because I'm not getting enough sleep and feel rushed most of the day, I also have been short and snappy with everyone, so I feel bad about that, too. I want so much to be better and I feel like I am just trying so hard to do things better, but then it's like I wake up and the day goes barreling on with one thing after the other, and I have no time left and haven't prioritized my own rest, my own health, and my relationships with other people and God.

On Wednesday night I took Aedan to hockey before AWANA since there wasn't hockey on Monday due to the snow day on Monday. We talked a lot about using both feet, and he did really well at the beginning of practice. You can see in the first few videos how well he was doing and how much faster he was getting by using who feet. I was so proud of him for how much progress he has made. However, after about 30 minutes, it seemed like he had kind of given up trying. He just kept looking around and went back to only one foot. When I asked him what the problem was, he said he had to go to the bathroom, so I told him to skate five more minutes, then it would be time to get off the ice anyways. Here are some pictures and videos of their first game night.

After dropping Aedan off at AWANA, I went back home to hang out with Ben and Owen for awhile. I took a few pictures of Owen's room set up, and I think I like it better this way. It gives him more floor space to play and opens up the room more. Now we just have to hang his pictures up on his wall sometime on the weekend.

Owen really enjoyed playing with the trains at the Historical Society on New Year's Eve, so I decided to build a small track for him to play with while the big kids were at AWANA. He loves putting the trains on the bridge and pushing them down the hill. He was doing this over and over again, and was having a great time. We even sent the battery-operated trains around the track a few times. He seems to really enjoy trains. Now, if we could just figure out how to stop him from knocking the track over all the time. :)

Since we booked our vacation house over Christmas break, we looked into a rental car for our trip as well. Ben is really good at stuff like that, so he was able to compare prices from different places, and we settled on getting an SUV and just putting all three kids across one seat. It saved us about $100, and since we weren't going to be doing that much driving, we figured it would be fine for them all to be in one row. We will bring an older, smaller convertible seat for Owen, and then two booster seats for Samantha and Aedan. We also decided to buy a 4-day park hopper pass for the days we would spend at Disney. We were debating what to do for awhile, but we knew 3 days wouldn't be enough, and a 4 day one park a day pass would not give us enough options to see everything we would want to see at the parks, especially since you can't do Magic Kingdom in one day. It was very exciting for our plans to be coming together, and I was getting more and more excited every day. I think I like Disney World just as much as the kids.

Ever since we moved Owen upstairs, he has been taking shorter naps, like 1 1/2 hours at the most. On Thursday he only made it an hour and fifteen minutes. I was hoping that this wasn't going to be a new trend, because he used to sleep at least 2 hours if not longer for me. I have room darkening curtains in his room, so it is pretty dark. It may be a little lighter than his room was downstairs, because the window is bigger, but it shouldn't have been that different. He also has several teeth coming in right now, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it or not. He has been sleeping okay at night, not waking up at all, but then that day he woke up at 6:30 again and didn't go back to sleep, so I was hoping he would nap well, which wasn't the case. I knew he would go through a little adjustment phase, so we will see what might be going on.

Thursday was another strange day because Samantha ended up not having school again due to a fire alarm issue. We were also supposed to have a meeting regarding Samantha getting in the gifted and talented program, but we had to reschedule that meeting since the school was closed. I had an appointment first thing in the morning to go to with Aedan, so Ben stayed home with Samantha and Owen. When they measured Aedan, he was 42.6 pounds which put him in the 73rd percentile, and he was 42.75 inches, which put him in the 64th percentile. Then, once we got back home, even though it wasn't the most ideal activity, all the kids had to go to Meijer with me to get our grocery shopping done for the week. The kids did pretty well for me, even though Owen gets a little antsy by the time we are in the check-out line. He is fine sitting in the cart if we are moving around the store, but doesn't have much patience once we are sitting and waiting to get all our items checked out.

Here's what our front yard looked like on Friday morning. We are getting quite the piles of snow.

On Friday morning, I went in to Samantha's school to volunteer for reading groups, then went back home for a little while before dropping Aedan and Owen off at Valerie's house while Ben and I went back to her school for the G/T meeting. Ben and I were both a little nervous about how it would go because we weren't exactly sure what they were going to say. Ben had done a lot of research prior to the meeting about rules and regulations with administering the CogAT abilities' test. We didn't see anywhere where there was a testing retest requirement like they were saying, so we were going to push for them to accept her test score since she clearly scored in the 8th stanine, which is what she needed for automatic qualification. She also got the scores she needed according to the MAP test, if you took into account the fact that she took the 2-5 MAP Test last Spring. It seemed like they understood our point of view, and they made it clear that they wanted what was best for Samantha, but kept emphasizing the point that it isn't best practice to administer the test more than once in a year, even though it is not a written policy anywhere, and it doesn't change the fact that they were the ones who administered the test. The meeting ended with the school saying they would talk more about the validity of her test score, and that we would also wait and see what Samantha's MAP scores were the following week to make their case even more cohesive. So we will see what comes from this meeting.

Once it gets to Friday, it's always so nice to know we have a weekend ahead of us to spend more time together and relax. On Saturday morning I busted out an exercise DVD to do, and the kids decided to join in with me. Ben took this picture and video of the kids doing jumping jacks with me. My DVD kept skipping, so I switched to a Pilates video on YouTube, and Samantha even stuck with me through all of that. We were both pretty sore afterwards.

Saturday morning Ben and I hung up the pictures in Owen's new room, and it was finally complete. It was nice to have all his toys out of the living room, and I like him being upstairs because I don't feel like I have to be as quiet downstairs when we go to bed or when we get up to shower. It's also nice not having to go all the way downstairs every time we need something for him, too. Owen is really enjoying being able to go in his room and play and look at books, while still feeling close to Samantha and Aedan, and the action upstairs.

Since the weather was milder that afternoon, Ben decided to take Samantha and Aedan to the tubing hill for the first time. He even got a family season pass so we can go whenever we want. They had a blast tubing together, and I can't wait to go with them myself on another Saturday. Here are some videos of them tubing that day.

Having a toddler is challenging at times because he has to nap in the afternoon and he doesn't like to sit still for long, so there are things we just can't do with Owen, meaning we tend to split up and have just one of us take the older kids. Since Ben took the kids tubing, I got the chance to take them to a magic show that night. It started at 7:00, with the doors opening before that, so after eating dinner together at home, I went with Samantha and Aedan to the show. We knew Owen would just be walking around the whole time, and one of us would have to be following him around, so it wouldn't be worth taking him along as well. We were able to get second row seats and could see the magic show really well. Before it started, all the kids ran around in the gym off to the side of the seats. During the show, Aedan was just spellbound, staring at the magician, and Samantha would exclaim out loud when he would do a trick that she really liked. She kept asking how he was doing all the tricks, and every time he asked for a volunteer, she eagerly raised her hand (even though she never got picked). It was cute how into it she was. Ben and I have remarked several times lately about how she has reached this new level of how she interacts with people. She is growing up and can carry on much more intelligent conversations. She likes to eavesdrop on Ben and my conversations, partly because she wants to know what we're talking about, but also because she is picking up on things more and more. The magic show was free, so it was a little cheesy, but the kids really loved it, and it was a fun way for me to spend time with just Samantha and Aedan.

(Blog about January 6-12, 2019)

New Year's Eve & Family Time Before School Started Back Up

Samantha: 91 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 57 Months, Week 1
Owen: 15 Months, Week 3

After being awake with Owen until about 1:00 a.m., Sunday morning came much too early for our liking. However, I was so very glad that he was finally able to get some rest after that. I was amazed that he didn't wake up again, with how rough the beginning of the night had been. Ben and I got busy packing everything up and collecting all our stuff, while the kids got a little more time to play with all the family. Finally, it had reached 10:00 and Owen was still sleeping, so I went in to wake him up so that we could get on the road back to Sault Ste. Marie.

Here are Samantha and Aedan doing some Sudoku with Ema that morning.

Driving back home is never fun. This is when I wish we had the power of teleportation. The kids are always super sad to leave Upland and cry when it's time to leave, especially Aedan. He would love it if we could just live in Upland all the time. In fact, he has even asked about that a few times. Luckily, we didn't have any chance to running into bad weather, so it was just crossing over into Michigan and driving until we almost hit Canada. :)

We debated where to stop for lunch since we got a later start that morning, but we made it all the way to Lansing where we stopped at our usual Chipotle. So that Owen could take a nap, I put a movie on for Samantha and Aedan to watch that afternoon. Owen didn't take as long of a nap as he should have, only sleeping about forty-five minutes, which made the rest of the trip home feel very long, but I could understand that he probably didn't feel very good with a double ear infection and having to be stuck in the car all day.

We picked up Izzy around 6:00 and then drove the 25 minutes home. Then, came the job of unpacking all our stuff. Ben did an excellent job fitting all our stuff, as well as all the presents we got, in the car. The kids were happy to be back home with all their toys and open space to run around. I started our skillet meal on the stove while unpacking the bags and organizing the stuff Ben brought in from the car. Our neighbors came by our house earlier in the day to turn up our heat, so it was nice and warm in our house, and we were glad to be back home again.

Ben's semester didn't start for another week, and Samantha didn't start back until Wednesday, so we had a couple days at home together, which was really nice. It gave us a chance to catch back up with our errands and mounds of laundry. I also started doing some purging and tidying up with the kids, having them go through their rooms with me to clean up and make room for new toys they got for Christmas. We filled two garbage bags, a box for recycling, and a box to give away. We found some things that were broken or they didn't want anymore, and Samantha had tons of paper and junk just shoved in her desk and shelves. I know I need to get rid of more because there are more things that very rarely get played with, but it's hard to know what to get rid of. I just have to not be attached to things and realize that they have served their purpose and can't be kept forever. This time of year I always feel a desire to clean and get rid of things, and I actually decided to sign up for a decluttering challenge. I just don't want our things to take over our space so much that we don't enjoy it, or we spend so much time just picking things up, and I know it's so easy to just keep letting the toys accumulate or just shoving things in closets rather than dealing with whether we should keep it and where we should store it. I felt pretty good about all we accomplished that morning and afternoon, and I think it was good that I involved them in this whole process.

Since we had to go grocery shopping that day anyways, I suggested we bring back our tradition of fondue for New Year's Eve. We tried it a couple years ago with the kids, and they weren't too big of fans of it. Last year was too crazy with having a baby. However, we decided to try it out again this year. We bought stuff to make a cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue, and I was really excited about our meal plans. Fondue is special to Ben and me because that's what he made when he proposed, and we had it at the Melting Pot on our first anniversary, our fifth anniversary, and our tenth anniversary.

As I was going through some stuff in Samantha's room, I took some pictures of some of her artwork before throwing it away. This first picture is something she drew on her white board. We couldn't believe how well she did at drawing it, and the quote made us smile. When we asked her where she found the quote, she said she remembered it from the movie. She's such a little artist, and she is so clever with what she comes up with and what she remembers.

Here are some other pictures of Samantha's artwork that I found buried in her room. I think these next two pictures were from before Owen was born. It's amazing to see the progression of her art as she gets older.

This is something she made after being in the production of Willy Wonka Jr. over the summer. They are riding in the boat through the water, and you can see Willy Wonka in the front, Charlie in the middle, and Grandpa Joe in the back.

These next pictures are actually from the art camp she went to back in Oxford at Miami. The folder was hidden up in her closet, and it was fun to look back through this again.

The kids were very interested in the progression of how we made the dinner that night, as well as the fondue pot on the table with the flame underneath it. We had bread, steamed broccoli and carrots, green apples to dip into our cheese fondue, and Samantha and Aedan really enjoyed being able to dip their food themselves. Owen wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but he ate bits and piece of everything else. After filling ourselves up with the cheese fondue, we let the kids get down from the table while we cleaned up a little bit before moving on to the chocolate fondue. To dip in the chocolate we had strawberries, bananas, angel food cake, marshmallows, and pretzel rods. As we were eating, Samantha just kept saying, "This is the best day ever!" She has been a tremendous eater lately, and she was loving it all. I was impressed with both of them for trying something new and different. It was so fun to share in a meal like this together, and it was a great way to spend our New Year's Eve together.

After eating dinner, we went downtown to watch the kids' ball drop at 7:00. We made it there just in time, and I don't think the kids were too impressed. Aedan was expecting the ball to drop all the way and smash on the ground, and afterwards, Samantha said, "Is that it?" Hey, it was something to do, right?

After watching the ball drop, we went across the street to the historical society to see the train display they had set up. The kids enjoyed seeing this last year, so we figured it would be another fun activity for the night. Samantha decided to do the search and find activity, while Aedan and Owen played with the wooden train table set and had fun pushing the buttons around the large train track they had set up. Owen's favorite part was watching the trolley car go by (controlled by the lady in the background of this picture). He would clap, smile, and reach for it every time it came by.

Ben and Samantha worked together to build the stable for Kit's horse, and Samantha was really excited to put her horse to sleep by covering it with a blanket.

Ben and I usually take turns putting Samantha and Aedan to bed, and during that time Owen just wanders back and forth between the bedrooms. On this night, Owen decided it would be fun to climb on top of Aedan and do some wrestling. I think Aedan is enjoying that Owen is getting more physical, and he doesn't have to be as careful with him anymore. It's fun to watch them together, learning new ways to play together, and enjoying just being brothers.

That night, after getting all the kids to bed, Ben and I didn't stay up until midnight because we don't care that much, but we were able to just hang out, which was fun. You could tell Izzy was still tired from being at the kennel for so long, so she had a really good sleep on this comfortable place on the couch.

Tuesday was another day we just spent at home. Ben planned to go back to campus like usual on Wednesday, since Samantha would go back to school as well, so we did a little more projects around the house. My goal for the week was to move Owen to the upstairs bedroom since he is now sleeping through the night pretty much every night. However, before we moved him, I had to get all the baby toys and gear out of the closet that I just been shoving in there once Owen outgrew it. I also wanted to paint the room the same gray color as his bedroom downstairs so it would match all the other bedding and bins in his room. Plus, I didn't like the tan color that the room was painted in before.

Also, going along with the decluttering challenge, the first week was bathrooms and closets, so while the kids were taking baths that night, I went through the bathroom closet and medicine cabinet, throwing away expired things and old travel bottles, as well as organizing things into categories so it's easier to find stuff in the closet. It felt good to get rid of stuff and declutter, and I am going to try to do this challenge as much as I can. I feel like it will help me feel more on top of things, and then hopefully I can do better about where we put stuff that comes into the house from now on so it doesn't become like this again. (That was the one advantage to moving as often as we did, it would force me to go through things and throw things away, because there was no way I was going to pack and move junk that we didn't need or use.)

As I put Owen down for a nap that afternoon, I took a few pictures of him fast asleep in my lap after he fell asleep nursing before nap time. I held him for just a little bit longer that afternoon, for this is when I get the best snuggles from my little boy who is constantly on the move when he is awake. Isn't he just the sweetest? I'll take as many snuggles as he will give me, for as long as he wants to give them. :) It does my heart so much good.

Wednesday was a little bit of a hard day because it marked the end of Christmas break. Ben went back to work, and Samantha went back to school. Aedan didn't go back to school until Thursday, so we had one more day together. Story time started at the library, and we decided to go to give us something to do out of the house. Owen had been fussy and crying most of the morning, throwing fits and throwing himself on the ground, crying every time I put him down. His bottom left canine tooth was trying to poke through, so I hoped that he was just teething. It was one of those days where it was hard to get much of anything done because Owen just wanted to be held most of the morning. 

Luckily, I was able to get him to take a good nap that afternoon, and while Owen was napping, Aedan busted out his Super Hero cape building kit. He was really excited to get the stickers out and make his design exactly how he wanted. He actually surprised me with how particular he was about designing it and making things symmetrical. He's gotten much more detail oriented lately, and he was so proud of his finished product. He loved working on it, and it was a great afternoon activity for him.

Here is his finished cape. Doesn't it look great?!

And here he is with his cape, bracelets, and masks on, all decorated by his imagination. He was so proud and couldn't wait to show Daddy and Samantha when they got home.

We learned that our friend, Mr. Ken was in the hospital with pretty bad pneumonia, so we had the kids record a video for him so we could send it to him to cheer him up. Samantha and Aedan have such kind, empathetic hearts. They were very concerned about him, and we prayed for him several times a day.

It was definitely an adjustment getting back into the swing of things that Wednesday, and with AWANA starting right back up again, it made for a long day and tired kids come Thursday morning. Since Ben's schedule was still flexible, I decided to take my chance to get the first coat of paint down in what would be Owen's bedroom. I finished the taping the night before and had all my materials to get the job done. Ben hung out with the boys so I could paint without getting interrupted, and it took me a good three hours to do the cutting in and first coat in the room. I always feel nervous painting because I'm worried that I'm going to mess something up and have it look bad when it comes to the finished product. I know Ben didn't really want to stay home while I painted, but it's just one of those things where I don't know when else I'm supposed to get stuff like that done. It's hard enough just getting normal daily and weekly stuff done around the house like cleaning, tidying, laundry, and dishes, and when we try to add in any extra projects, sometimes it feels overwhelming to me. Sometimes I feel like I could use a whole uninterrupted week without kids to get all the things done that I need to and want to do. Besides for painting, the other things we've been working on is taking down the 12 months clothes and washing the 18 months so I could hang them up once we had his bedroom painted and cleaned out.

On Thursday, even though Aedan was tired out, he had fun going to preschool again. He was able to bring his favorite toy, and he decided to bring Bumblebee for his toy. Owen had a rough few days that week with lots of screaming and crying, and he had a pretty bad stuffy nose and cough. Plus, he had a terrible diaper rash as well.I felt bad for him, and was doing everything I could to help him breathe better and sleep better. I was just praying that he wouldn't get more sick or develop an ear infection or something else. The days felt so challenging with Owen, that I never felt so happy for Owen to go to sleep at night. Nothing I did made him happy, and it was definitely tiring.

Instead of the typical New Year's resolutions that I make and fail at, this year I made a different one. I decided to read the Bible in one year plan on the YouVersion Bible app. I resolved to read the entire Bible this year. The app comes with a devotional and the passages for each day, tying them all together with a common theme. I was really enjoying the first few days, and I found the devotions to be very relevant and thorough in explaining the chapters for the day. On Friday I read this quote that meant a lot to me, "God does not want you to be downcast--constantly looking at the regrets behind you, the problems around you, and the sin within you. Rather, lift up your head and see the help above you--walk with your head held high, and your eyes fixed on him." That's what I want to do, to walk with my eyes fixed on him, and to take one day at a time, not bogging myself with all the ways I don't measure up, but instead seeing the help above me, providing me with exactly what I need for that day.

Ben decided to go to Samantha's school that day with Aedan to eat lunch with her since he still had the flexibility to do that. Aedan was super excited to play in the snow with Samantha at recess before lunch, and Samantha loved seeing the two of them in the middle of her day. That's something I wish I could do more, but with Owen, it would be hard for me to take the two boys there very often.

When I picked Aedan up from school that day, he had this adorable picture posted on the door to his classroom. It's like Aedan is in a snow globe! Such a cute picture and a cute project.

Friday night as I was putting Owen to bed, I was just struck with how precious it is that I get to care for these three children of mine. Especially with sweet little Owen, it made me think about how there are a lot of people who say to lay your baby down when they are awake so they can learn to fall asleep on their own. However, these people are missing out on the wonderful joy you get to experience when you nurse or rock your baby (or toddler) to sleep. That night I experienced the pleasure of having my 15 month old fall asleep on my shoulder, our cheeks nuzzled up together, and the sound of his breathing in my ear. In my opinion, there is nothing better than that, and I will keep on holding him until he falls asleep for as long as he will let me.

On Saturday, after a kind of laid-back morning, Ben had to go to Aedan's preschool for several hours to volunteer so we can ear our hours. While he was gone, the kids and I decided to take the Christmas tree and decorations down in our house. (This is always a sad day to me because I love having our house decorated for Christmas and it always feels so empty afterwards.) Samantha and Aedan did a great job helping me find and put away all the ornaments and decorations. They were sad to see the tree get put away, so we took a few last pictures of the kids under the tree. Even Owen had to get in on it!

Saturday afternoon and evening, after getting Owen down for his nap after it took longer to go to sleep, I finally got the last coat of paint done in Owen's room, so we could then let it dry overnight and work in disassembling and reassembling the cribs on Sunday.

Since I figured Saturday night could be Owen's last night in his crib in the room attached to ours in the basement, I took a few pictures and a video of him playing in his bed that night before putting him down to bed. I love his sweet smile, and there were just too many good ones for me to just pick a few.

Blog about December 30, 2018-January 5, 2019)