Samantha: 94 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 59 Months, Week 3
Owen: 18 Months, Week 1
After the craziness of last week, the job offer, and our whirlwind trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon Ben officially accepted the position at Wilkes University. We talked through many things and the decision made sense and was very clear to us. This past year hasn't been the easiest for Ben in his career, so there are many ways that a change was definitely needed. I won't go into all the details here, but we are excited to be in a growing university where Ben has a more defined job description and expectations. Also, we will be living in a bigger city than Sault Ste. Marie, which is appealing to us because we will have more opportunities for the kids, more family activities to participate in, and more of the things we like to do together for fun. Plus, we will be 2 hours from Philadelphia, 2 hours from New York, and 4 hours from Washington D.C., which will be so fun to explore with our kids. As Sunday went on, I was still trying to process the decision. I in no way was second guessing our decision, but then my mind started to go to the logistics of everything from selling our house, to packing, to finding a place there, to moving and getting settled into a new place all over again. Anyways, here are some pictures of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (that I found on the internet), the place that will be our new home come summertime.
By the end of Tuesday, Samantha and Aedan were largely back to normal. However, Ben came home from work on Tuesday not feeling well and laid on the couch the rest of the night. He ended up getting sick later that night into Wednesday, so he had to cancel classes on Wednesday so he could stay home and rest. This stomach flu is harsh and wicked, so not only are you getting sick to your stomach, but it wipes you clean of any energy. All you feel like doing is laying around and sleeping.
While Ben rested, I made dinner, fed the kids, gave them baths, and put them to bed. Owen really loves taking baths and loves splashing in the water. He gets super excited every time we tell him it's bath time. I haven't taken nearly as many pictures or videos of the kids just doing average daily life type stuff, so I decided to take a video of Owen playing in the bath tub that night. He loves sitting right up by the faucet so that he can feel the water pouring out and splash around in it. This little boy definitely loves water.
Aedan: 59 Months, Week 3
Owen: 18 Months, Week 1
After the craziness of last week, the job offer, and our whirlwind trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon Ben officially accepted the position at Wilkes University. We talked through many things and the decision made sense and was very clear to us. This past year hasn't been the easiest for Ben in his career, so there are many ways that a change was definitely needed. I won't go into all the details here, but we are excited to be in a growing university where Ben has a more defined job description and expectations. Also, we will be living in a bigger city than Sault Ste. Marie, which is appealing to us because we will have more opportunities for the kids, more family activities to participate in, and more of the things we like to do together for fun. Plus, we will be 2 hours from Philadelphia, 2 hours from New York, and 4 hours from Washington D.C., which will be so fun to explore with our kids. As Sunday went on, I was still trying to process the decision. I in no way was second guessing our decision, but then my mind started to go to the logistics of everything from selling our house, to packing, to finding a place there, to moving and getting settled into a new place all over again. Anyways, here are some pictures of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (that I found on the internet), the place that will be our new home come summertime.
And here are some pictures of Wilkes University, which lies right along the river that you see in these pictures.
In the middle of the night on Sunday, Samantha came into our room saying she had gotten sick in the bathroom. She wasn't showing any signs of feeling sick when she went to bed, but I figured it was probably only a matter of time before others caught the germs I had the week before. I was just glad that none of the kids got sick while we were out of town and that Ema and Papa didn't have to deal with that as well. I came upstairs to help Samantha, and I was so glad that she was old enough to tell that she wasn't feeling well and needed to get to the bathroom. She got a small amount on the floor, but she made it to the toilet. I sat in the bathroom with her as she got sick a few more times. Then, once she finally felt like her stomach was calming down, we went back into her room. I brought the trash can to put next to her bed, and I tried to look for an extra monitor that we could put in her room, but none of them worked. She said she would feel more comfortable if I stayed in the room with her, so I went downstairs to wake Ben up so he could help me move a twin mattress into her room to sleep on. I felt so bad for the little girl because she was sick quite a few more times before she finally settled down and fell asleep about 2:00 a.m. I was able to sleep some, but I was concerned about Samantha, and there's only so well you can sleep while in someone else's room when they are sick.
With Samantha getting sick and not going to school, I just slept until she woke up around 7:30. I tried to keep her quarantined to her room for most of the morning so as to hopefully prevent the spread of any germs to the boys, encouraging her to take sips of water, and to rest. She felt a lot like I did, feeling very tired and cold, so she spent most of the morning cuddled up in her bed, reading if she felt like it, and even taking a couple short naps. I was glad that she was letting herself rest and that she hadn't gotten sick since the middle of the night. I hoped that hers would be a quick 24 hour bug like mine was.
After lunch as I was getting Aedan ready for preschool, he was just laying on the floor in the mudroom, saying his tummy hurt (although he says this fairly frequently). After Samantha got sick, I didn't want to push him at all, so I told him he could stay home from school and take a nap. I took him to his room and started getting him ready for bed. I got a pot from the kitchen to keep in his room, just in case he was coming down with the stomach flu, and as I was closing his curtains, I turned around and he had a terrible expression on his face, so I rushed over to help him as he got sick. I was so glad that he was able to make it into the pot, but it was not fun having the stomach flu make its rounds through our house. I tried to keep Owen out of Aedan's room while I waited to see if he was going to get sick again. Samantha had already fallen asleep in her room. I didn't think Aedan had enough wherewithal to make sure he grabbed the pot in time, but I also had to get Owen down for his nap. Luckily, Ben was able to come work from home that afternoon so that he could help listen for Aedan while I took care of Owen. Aedan only ended up getting sick that one time, and all three kids took good naps that afternoon. At that point I was just praying that Owen would be spared because I don't know what we would do if he got sick. He hadn't been eating very well the last couple days, not having much of an appetite at all, so I was hoping that was his body's way of reacting, by limiting his food intake so that his stomach could recover.
Samantha's stomach was feeling better by Monday evening, but she was still extremely tired and lethargic, so we decided to keep her home from school again on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning was Samantha's eye appointment with the ophthalmologist. Ken and Linda came over to be with the boys so that Ben and I could both go with Samantha. She was a little confused as to why both of us were going with her, but we both wanted to hear whatever the results were going to be that day. Ben was definitely more worried about it than I was, and we tried our best to not be anxious leading up to this day. We had a lot of people praying, and I did my best to pray about it anytime I felt those feelings welling up. We had to wait for quite awhile to be seen, but after doing a couple of tests and looking in Samantha's eyes, the doctor told us there was nothing to worry about. Basically, Samantha's cornea is thicker than normal, which skewed the results from the instruments at the eye doctor that are pre-set at a "normal" level of thickness, and made it look like the pressure was higher in her eye than really was. He saw no problems or concerns, and Ben and I looked at each other with a smile and a huge sigh of relief. It is something that could always be like that, or it could be something that she will grow out of as she gets older. All we know is that our little girl was okay and there was nothing to be concerned about. Praise the Lord!
With Samantha getting sick and not going to school, I just slept until she woke up around 7:30. I tried to keep her quarantined to her room for most of the morning so as to hopefully prevent the spread of any germs to the boys, encouraging her to take sips of water, and to rest. She felt a lot like I did, feeling very tired and cold, so she spent most of the morning cuddled up in her bed, reading if she felt like it, and even taking a couple short naps. I was glad that she was letting herself rest and that she hadn't gotten sick since the middle of the night. I hoped that hers would be a quick 24 hour bug like mine was.
After lunch as I was getting Aedan ready for preschool, he was just laying on the floor in the mudroom, saying his tummy hurt (although he says this fairly frequently). After Samantha got sick, I didn't want to push him at all, so I told him he could stay home from school and take a nap. I took him to his room and started getting him ready for bed. I got a pot from the kitchen to keep in his room, just in case he was coming down with the stomach flu, and as I was closing his curtains, I turned around and he had a terrible expression on his face, so I rushed over to help him as he got sick. I was so glad that he was able to make it into the pot, but it was not fun having the stomach flu make its rounds through our house. I tried to keep Owen out of Aedan's room while I waited to see if he was going to get sick again. Samantha had already fallen asleep in her room. I didn't think Aedan had enough wherewithal to make sure he grabbed the pot in time, but I also had to get Owen down for his nap. Luckily, Ben was able to come work from home that afternoon so that he could help listen for Aedan while I took care of Owen. Aedan only ended up getting sick that one time, and all three kids took good naps that afternoon. At that point I was just praying that Owen would be spared because I don't know what we would do if he got sick. He hadn't been eating very well the last couple days, not having much of an appetite at all, so I was hoping that was his body's way of reacting, by limiting his food intake so that his stomach could recover.
Samantha's stomach was feeling better by Monday evening, but she was still extremely tired and lethargic, so we decided to keep her home from school again on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning was Samantha's eye appointment with the ophthalmologist. Ken and Linda came over to be with the boys so that Ben and I could both go with Samantha. She was a little confused as to why both of us were going with her, but we both wanted to hear whatever the results were going to be that day. Ben was definitely more worried about it than I was, and we tried our best to not be anxious leading up to this day. We had a lot of people praying, and I did my best to pray about it anytime I felt those feelings welling up. We had to wait for quite awhile to be seen, but after doing a couple of tests and looking in Samantha's eyes, the doctor told us there was nothing to worry about. Basically, Samantha's cornea is thicker than normal, which skewed the results from the instruments at the eye doctor that are pre-set at a "normal" level of thickness, and made it look like the pressure was higher in her eye than really was. He saw no problems or concerns, and Ben and I looked at each other with a smile and a huge sigh of relief. It is something that could always be like that, or it could be something that she will grow out of as she gets older. All we know is that our little girl was okay and there was nothing to be concerned about. Praise the Lord!
By the end of Tuesday, Samantha and Aedan were largely back to normal. However, Ben came home from work on Tuesday not feeling well and laid on the couch the rest of the night. He ended up getting sick later that night into Wednesday, so he had to cancel classes on Wednesday so he could stay home and rest. This stomach flu is harsh and wicked, so not only are you getting sick to your stomach, but it wipes you clean of any energy. All you feel like doing is laying around and sleeping.
While Ben rested, I made dinner, fed the kids, gave them baths, and put them to bed. Owen really loves taking baths and loves splashing in the water. He gets super excited every time we tell him it's bath time. I haven't taken nearly as many pictures or videos of the kids just doing average daily life type stuff, so I decided to take a video of Owen playing in the bath tub that night. He loves sitting right up by the faucet so that he can feel the water pouring out and splash around in it. This little boy definitely loves water.
With it begin March Madness time, Ben has had basketball games on every once in awhile. Owen really seems to enjoy watching them. He will stand there, just entranced, and after watching them play he would bop his arm up and down like he was dribbling a basketball. I tried to get it on this video, but he didn't want to do it for me. I will have to try and capture it sometime because it's really cute. Maybe Owen will be our child that is the most interested in sports. :)
Monday and Tuesday were strange days since I was largely just home with two sick kids. However, other than Ben staying home from work on Wednesday, the kids were back to their normal routine on Wednesday. Our week of doctor's appointments continued with Owen's 18 month check-up on Wednesday morning. Since Ben was home, I left Aedan at home so that he didn't have to come along to the doctor with me. He was able to just sit on the couch and watch a show next to Ben.
Owen's 18 month check-up went well. He has been doing really well with sleeping and eating, and he hasn't had any ear infections since the one he had after Christmas. We moved his room upstairs at the beginning of January, and he has been sleeping through the night just fine. It's been such a nice break from all those months of dealing with him waking up multiple times a night crying, and taking up so much of our time getting him to fall asleep and stay asleep. I really didn't have any concerns about him, and he was up to date on his immunizations, so it was an easy appointment. His weight was 27.34 pounds which put him in just under the 70th percentile, and his length was 33 inches, which put him in almost the 72nd percentile.
Besides for all the doctor's appointments that happened this week, I was also working on getting things moving with trying to sell our house, the first step in moving from Sault Ste. Marie to our new home in Pennsylvania, wherever that will end up being. In fact, I asked for advice on a good realtor to use and contacted the one that had the most positive recommendations from other moms in my MOPS group. She planned on coming over to our house for a walk through at 5:15 on Wednesday night so that we could see what things she would recommend us do to the house to get it ready for selling, as well as get her opinion on what a good list price would be for it. It was good to get her opinion and to know that there wasn't much she would do to it other than remove some of the kids' artwork, declutter the refrigerator, and clear out some toys from the basement. She said a good list price for our house would be $155,000, and she was pretty confident that we would be able to get it sold quickly after putting it on the market. However, on Tuesday at Bible study when I was talking to the other ladies about moving, another MOPS mom expressed great interest in our house. In fact, I sent her pictures to share with her husband and they planned to come over on Thursday after school to see the house and decide if it looked like something that would work for their family. Ben and I got really excited that we had someone already interested in our house, and if they were indeed serious, we could do "For Sale by Owner" so that way we could save ourselves a significant chunk of money in realtor fees and hassle from having to list it and do showings any day of the week. Things were moving along quickly considering we just decided we were officially moving on Sunday.
On Thursday morning, Owen had another appointment at the ENT. Aedan had to come with me to this one, which he wasn't too excited about, but it was a pretty quick appointment. The doctor looked in Owen's ears and said he saw fluid, but none of it was infected yet. He said the fluid could have been there still from his last ear infection three months ago, or it could be recent. It's hard to tell, so he wanted me to make another follow-up appointment in 6 weeks to check if the fluid would still be there then. He also wanted me to make an appointment for a hearing test a few days before that 6 week follow-up to see if his hearing has been impacted at all by all the ear infections he has had in his short little life. Based on how the hearing test goes and whether or not he finds fluid in Owen's ears again at the next appointment, will determine whether or not we will move forward with getting tubes placed in his ears.
After having a pretty busy week of running around to the appointments, Friday was spent just hanging out at home. Aedan and Owen were playing very nicely in the basement together. Owen really prefers to play downstairs because there are more toys that are for him, whereas Aedan likes to play with his Legos upstairs. However, they were actually playing and interacting well with each other, so I got a picture and video of them playing together. It was kind of fun to watch them because you can see Aedan knocking the animals off the top of the farm, but then Owen watches where they fall and has to go pick them up right away. He is very particular about things and where they belong sometimes. It's kind of funny. I enjoy watching their personalities unfold and seeing the boys interact and play together more and more.
On days when we have extra time at home, Aedan will often ask for me to make mac and cheese for him. So on Friday we were enjoying our mac and cheese together, and I was trying to take a video of Owen talking, but he just gets too enamored with watching himself on the video that he won't perform for me. The thing I love about this video is how Owen pushes Aedan out of the way when he tries to get in the video as well. Owen wanted all the attention on him, and he has gotten pretty good at letting what he wants be known. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or bad things sometimes. :)
Friday was another one of those days where I could not keep Owen awake in the car on the way home from dropping Aedan off at preschool, so here he is fast asleep on my shoulder as I carried him in the car. Oh my sweet little baby boy, let me not forget these days I had with you, where laying your head on my shoulder was your favorite place to be.
On Friday night we decided to go out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings because we had a gift card we could use. The kids did a pretty good job eating, and we decided that we all needed some time to just relax that evening, so we stopped at the video store on the way home to rent some movies to watch, like Mary Poppins Returns and Star Wars. We let them start watching Mary Poppins on Friday night down in the basement, and they thought that was pretty special.
Saturday was a big day for Samantha, but she didn't know it. We told her she had an appointment that day at 11:30, but I'm sure she just assumed it was a doctor's appointment or something. However, Ben and I decided to surprise Samantha by taking her to get her ears pierced early. It was still going to be part of her birthday present, but she wanted to be able to change her earrings and wear different ones before school was over, so this way she would be beyond the 8 week waiting period. She has been wanting her ears pierced for a long time, but we were waiting for a good time to make it special, when she would appreciate it and be able to take care of them correctly. Here is the video when I told her about what her appointment was that morning.
At first I was just going to take Samantha myself, but especially since Samantha is our only girl, Ben wanted to be there to see her get her ears pierced as well, so we made a family trip out of it. I made an appointment for Samantha at a hair salon downtown that other moms have used to get their daughter's ears pierced. They have two people do the piercings at the same time so that way they are done and out of the way, and kids don't have a chance to chicken out after the first ear is done. Samantha was excited but very nervous as they were getting everything ready. She even started freaking out a little bit, but we told her that if she really wanted to do it, that this was it, and she needed to be brave. She picked out multi-colored sparkly earrings, and they were a good choice for her.
Here is the video of her getting her ears pierced. You can tell that she was really nervous as she closed her eyes at the beginning, but I think it was mostly nerves about the anticipation and what to expect more than anything else. You can tell at the end of the video that she is almost going to cry and she's trying to be brave and hold it all in. Her face even turned a little white, as she was probably holding her breath the whole time.
However, a few seconds later, this is what she looked like. All smiles, and so happy that she finally had her ears pierced.
That afternoon Samantha worked at a cookie booth at the bowling alley for Girl Scouts and had a fun time going around the tables asking to see if anyone wanted to buy the last of their cookies for their troop. Then, once Owen woke up from his nap, the weather was actually pretty warm, finally in the mid to upper 30s, so we had the kids get their snow clothes on to play outside for awhile. I tried taking Owen into the back yard, but there is still a good two feet or more of snow built up around the yard, and it's hard to walk in. Owen did not like it and just kept wanting me to pick him up, so eventually we moved to the driveway. Ben and I worked on chipping away at some of the ice that still remained in the driveway so it could start melting away. Owen really had fun playing in the driveway and started dragging out every outside toy we have from the garage. Samantha and Aedan even wanted to get their bikes out, but there wasn't enough space for bike riding with all the huge ice chunks still left in the driveway. I was even able to take down all the Christmas lights, finally! I was actually breaking a sweat outside and had to take my coat off. Oh Spring, please come to the U.P.! We are ready for all this snow to go away and to enjoy more time outdoors.
Owen enjoys mealtime, and he often is the last one eating because we will think he is done and he will keep taking more bites. I took this video of him as I was cleaning up dinner on Saturday night because there are a few things to notice about the video. One, do you see how messy his hair is? That's because he is constantly touching his hair while he eats, meaning he gets food in his hair all the time. Also, he loves to make noise, and loves to use "big person" silverware, none of that plastic baby stuff. He wants to be just like the rest of us. I love how he is intently watching Aedan as well, studying his every move, almost like he's cataloging it to be used at a later date. One of my favorite parts is the totally adorable smile he gives me when I call him and he finally looks over at me. That smile, those dimples! This boy melts my heart, and he is such a happy boy. It's the simple things of daily life like this that make my heart feel full to overflowing. I am blessed with a wonderful family. :)
(Blog about March 17-23, 2019)
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