Aedan: 59 Months, Week 4
Owen: 18 Months, Week 2
We decided to take it a little easy on Sunday morning. Ben covered for someone who couldn't make it to teach 4th and 5th grade at 9:00, so the rest of us stayed home and went to the 10:45 service instead. While we were waiting to go to church, I had the kids go through some of the toys and stuff on the shelves in the basement. We added more to the giveaway box, more to the try to sell box, and more to the trash. Especially if we have to move into a smaller house where two of the kids will share a room, we just have way too many toys that it's ridiculous sometimes. I want to pare down what we have to what the kids will really play with or things they really enjoy, not just junk that takes up space, so that will be our mission in the next month or so, to go through one area of the house at a time, getting rid of anything we don't want to actually pack and move with us. It's amazing how much can build up after living somewhere for a few years.
Here is one of Aedan's preschool projects. It's cute to see him writing and drawing more, even if he did forget to write Mommy above my picture. I like his portrait of our family.
Monday was the start of Spring Break for the kids, and they were excited to not have to get up and get dressed right away. I let them play in their pajamas for awhile because, why not?
I thought about taking the kids over to Canada to swim at the John Rhodes pool, but I discovered that we didn't meet their swim ratio of parent to child unless Samantha passed the swim test. I wasn't confident that she could pass, and I didn't want to make the trip over there and find out we had to go back home because of that. Instead, the kids just played at home and then we ran a couple of errands and ate lunch at McDonald's with a little bit of time to play afterwards. (That's about as exciting as it gets in Sault Ste. Marie in the winter sometimes.)
Throughout the day on Monday, Ben was talking to me about breaking the news of taking the job at Wilkes to some people at Lake State. Some people were taking it harder than he expected, and it was making him feel bad. However, even with all that, he had no second thoughts that we are making the right decision, both for him and for our family. It's sad to leave the house we love, the church that has meant so much to us, and the friends we have started to get to know, but we have to trust that this is where the Lord is leading us. Even though it is unknown and scary, even though the thought of starting all over again in a place where we know no one feels very overwhelming to me at times, even in all the transitions that will have to take place; we have to trust and have faith that this decision has been surrounded by prayer by us and others, that the Lord has something there for us, and that he will take care of us and provide for us, just as he has done in every step of our journey so far. I have been reminded of this verse from Mark 9:24 because it accurately sums up how I feel in my heart these days: "I believe; help my unbelief!"
That night I heard of a free community event at Big Bear with free open skating, free pizza, and a chance to win prizes. Ben decided that sounded like a fun idea, so when he got home from campus, we went over there for some fun with the kids. When we first got there we took our raffle tickets and had the kids drop them in the bags for prizes that looked interesting to them, and then we went over to eat some pizza before going to skate. We brought Samantha's and Aedan's skates with us, but we didn't bring any of Aedan's hockey gear because that would have been silly. However, as soon as he went out on the ice, he slipped and fell, getting his bottom wet and hurting his elbow. (Both of these areas are usually pretty protected by his hockey gear.) He didn't want to skate anymore, and it took some convincing by Ben to get him back on the ice. Once he caught up with Samantha and they started skating around and having fun together, he forgot about what happened at the beginning. I would like to have them keep skating every once in awhile so they don't forget how to skate. Owen had fun walking back and forth in the bleachers and watching for Samantha and Aedan skating back and forth. After skating for awhile, we went back into the room with prizes, and our number actually got picked for a Big Wheel type tricycle. We were pretty excited that we actually won something.
On Tuesday morning we had to stay home because someone from Sears was supposed to be coming to look at our dishwasher to try and figure out why it was leaking. They gave us the range of 8-12 as when they would arrive, so we invited our neighbor girls and their grandma over to play. It was fun for the kids to just run around and play together, and I enjoyed talking to Patty. However, throughout the morning, Owen started to get more and more clingy with me. He was crying every time I put him down, and he just constantly wanted me to hold him. I was a little suspicious of his behavior, but I didn't think anything of it until I took his temperature before lunchtime and it was 102.5. I gave him some Tylenol and hoped that he would take a good nap that afternoon because he was yawning all morning. He fell asleep in my arms and woke up screaming as soon as I laid him down. However, he ended up falling back to sleep on his own, so I was glad for that.
The dishwasher guy finally came about 12:30 that afternoon, and luckily he wasn't here for too long so I could get Owen down for a nap. He said we needed to replace the gasket, which he said is an easy fix. He actually gave me the part number so I could just order it myself and install it, saving us a ton of money by not having him come up again.
After I got Owen down for his nap, the two oldest neighbor girls from around the corner came over to play outside with Samantha and Aedan in our back yard. They spent all afternoon playing in the snow together. I have no idea what all they were play, and I checked on them a few times through the window, but they were having a blast together and played until almost 5:00 when it was time for them to go back home. It's so fun having neighbors nearby that get along so well with the kids, and it's fun to have this time off of school and activities for the kids to play together.
Tuesday night was another rough night with Owen. He woke up crying many times, with Ben and I both going up there to hold him and get him back to sleep. In fact, Ben even had to stay in the room with him for about an hour and a half when it was almost time for a normal wake-up because he was just crying every time we put him down. Between the fussy day he had that day, the fever that he eventually developed midday, and then the bad night he had, Ben and I decided that he was showing all his signs for a typical ear infection. Because of that, on Wednesday morning, I decided to take Owen to the walk-in clinic, with the other kids in tow as well. They weren't too thrilled about having to wait in the waiting room for a long time, but I was glad I took him because he had an ear infection in his right ear, and a little in his left ear, so was put on antibiotics again. I felt so bad for the guy. He hadn't had an ear infection since the end of December, so we were thinking that maybe he was leaving his ear infection phase, but now with him getting one again, we knew we were going to continue having the conversation with the ENT about possibly getting tubes put in his ears. Ben and I just hoped he would have a better night so we could all sleep better because we sure were tired that day.
With Owen being sick and me being tired, we didn't do anything special that day, even though it was Spring Break. However, Samantha and Aedan are happy just having extra time to play together at home with nothing on the agenda. I had to get laundry done in preparation for our trip to see our friends in Madison for the weekend.
Our kids have some sets of matching pajamas, and they love to wear them on the same night so they can all be the same. Here they all are after bath time wearing their matching Batman pajamas. Aren't they just the cutest?!
As we put the kids to bed that night, there was actually a little bit of a thunderstorm, which is so unusual up here, and a certain sign of spring coming! However, it threw Samantha off and she was nervous going to sleep that night. Because of that, she had a rough night and wasn't able to fall asleep. She was up until 9:30, coming in and out of her room to go to the bathroom, crying in her room, and needing Ben and I to talk to her over and over again. It was frustrating to us, but the only thing that keeps us calm is the fact that we most likely know what is causing it. She has gone through periods like this before like after Owen was born, when she started kindergarten, and before we moved to Sault Ste. Marie. It's basically frequent urination that seems to be caused by huge life changes and transitions, so we were wondering if something like that was starting again with Samantha. She just gets it in her mind that she has to go to the bathroom, and she gets herself more and more anxious about it. I finally went in to her room to pray with her and asked the Lord to help calm her mind and body and rid her of her anxiety. Finally, after that, at 9:30, almost two hours since she got in bed, she was able to fall asleep.
After Samantha's rough start to the night, and with Owen getting an ear infection, Ben and I were unsure if we should even go to Madison that weekend. Our plan was to have Samantha, Aedan, and their daughter Madeline share a room, but that wouldn't work if Samantha is constantly getting up to go to the bathroom and waking everyone up in the meantime. However, I really wanted to make the trip there, and Ben and I were hoping that maybe it was just a fluke and that she was acting weird because of the thunderstorm. We decided to see how the night would go.
Surprisingly, with how it started out, the rest of the night went pretty well. Owen cried a couple times at the beginning of the night but was able to put himself back to sleep, and then he slept through the night. Aedan woke up crying in the middle of the night saying he was hot, which was annoying but an easy fix, but overall, it wasn't a bad night, not nearly as bad as it could have been. So Ben and I decided we were going to try and ignore what happened with Samantha on Wednesday night and continue with our plans to go to Madison.
I was glad Owen got some antibiotics and his ears would start feeling better, but he was still super congested. He was having trouble eating because he couldn't chew and breathe at the same time. The same was true with nursing because he would try to nurse, but then he couldn't breathe, so he would stop, and he would do this over and over again. It was more frustrating to him and me than it was worth, so I was thinking this might be the end of our nursing time together. It made me a little sad to think about that, but I have also found it a little more annoying lately. He hasn't been as interested, it's more difficult to find a comfortable position to hold him now that he is getting so big, and he doesn't fall asleep nursing like he used to, so it really was only a matter of time, I suppose. We have already made it farther than I made it with Samantha or Aedan, and we have had a successful nursing journey, so even if this is the end, I count it as a success.
After finishing packing up that morning, once Ben got home from teaching his last class, we hit the road on our 7 hour drive to Madison, Wisconsin. We dropped Izzy off at the boarders and then hoped Owen would take a good nap in the car as he was tired and still recovering from his ear infection. However, he only slept half an hour, and we couldn't get him back to sleep, so that wasn't ideal. (The drive seems much longer when going west through the U.P. and then down into Wisconsin than when we just go south on 75, maybe because we can drive faster. I don't know.) We stopped for dinner at a Culver's on the way there, and even though the kids weren't the most patient in being in the car most of the day, we made good time and got there about 8:00.
Owen is wearing his orange basketball shirt, and I was trying to get him to make his hand movement for basketball, that looks like him bouncing his hand up and down, but instead you can see him squealing because he wants to see himself in the camera. Silly boy. :)
Sleeping arrangements worked out really well at their house. Madeline had a trundle bed and generously gave up her bed for Samantha, the trundle bed for Aedan, and she slept on the floor in her sleeping bag. Matthew slept in the pack and play in the closet in Brad and Melissa's room, while Owen slept in Matthew's crib, and Ben and I slept on an air mattress in his room. After letting the kids play for awhile that Thursday night, we got all the bedrooms situated, and tucked all the kids into bed. Everyone went to sleep so well. We had no issues with Samantha coming out of the room or crying, and even though I still could not nurse Owen again due to his congestion, he went to sleep like a champ. It didn't seem to bother him at all when we came in the room, and he slept all through the night. I felt bad for him though because he was breathing so loudly that I wondered sometimes if he was getting enough air. He did make a few whimpering cries during the night, but nothing that we needed to do anything about.
Friday morning we just relaxed around the house together, letting the kids play and have fun, while Ben and I got a chance to talk and catch up with Melissa. After awhile when it seemed like the kids were getting stir crazy, we decided to go across the street for some time to play outdoors. Since we came down from the U.P., our kids hadn't had a chance to play on a playground yet. Ours are still covered in snow, so the kids loved seeing the grass and sunshine. Here is a video of everyone on the swings.
After going back to the house for lunch and nap time, we decided to go over to Brad's work because it is a huge campus with all these really cool themed buildings. There are fairy tale themes buildings, themes from different movies, and lots of interactive things on the inside. I didn't take too many pictures, but their favorite areas were definitely the castle with the dungeon, the slide like the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland that actually took you down from one floor to another, and the real carousel. It was really fun to explore the campus, and we still only saw less than half of all there was to see.
We then went back to the house for dinner, bed time for the kids, and then Melissa and I actually went out for ice cream together to give us time to talk and catch up more. It was so wonderful. She is one of those friends who will always understand me, one who you can always pick up in exactly the same place even if months have passed, and one who will remain a forever friend. It's so easy to talk to her, and it was so good for my soul to reconnect again.
On Saturday we decided to get the kids out of the house and go to a local children's museum. It was about half an hour away, and Owen took a little nap in the car on the way there. The museum was small, but just the right size for the kids where we could keep an eye on everyone at the same time, even if they were in different areas. There was a treehouse they could climb, a fishing area, and this stage with instruments and dress-up clothes. Here are the kids performing for us.
We spent a couple hours at the museum before deciding it was time to head back so we could eat lunch before getting back to the house for nap time. We ate at Culver's again (because why not, right?), and all the kids did a great job eating and being respectful at the restaurant.
During nap time you could tell the adults were tired, while Owen and Matthew napped, Samantha, Madeline, and Aedan played quietly in the basement (where a few adults were sleeping on the couches) and Madeline's room. It was very relaxing, the perfect break for us away from home. All the kids played well together and enjoyed each other's company. It really was a wonderful weekend, and I'm so glad we decided to visit them. They were hospitable hosts, and we had a wonderful visit.
Here are the kids on Sunday morning before we left to head back home. Aedan was not wanting to participate in the picture, and I had to force him, which is why he is giving such a grumpy look in this picture, but hey, at least I got him in it, right?
We were all very sad to leave that Sunday morning and say good-bye to our friends. However, Spring Break was now over for Samantha and Aedan, so we needed to get back home get ready for a new week. It was a wonderful couple days with our dear friends, and we will definitely be sure to visit them again, even though we will be living farther away in Pennsylvania.
(Blog about March 24-30, 2019)
No comments:
Post a Comment