Aedan: 64 Months, Week 5
Owen: 23 Months, Week 2
Sunday, August 25th was our last day with Ken and Linda before they flew back to Michigan later that afternoon. We decided to switch Owen's car seat around that morning so that he was forward facing. He had been acting more uncomfortable with his feet bent in the seat, and he is close enough to being two that I thought we were okay. Linda took a couple pictures of Owen as I buckled him in for the first time, but he didn't have too much of an excited look on his face right away. It was more as we started driving, and he realized he could look out the window better, see the trucks driving by, and see Mommy and Daddy in the front seat.
Well, after going to Restored on Sunday with Ken and Linda, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was a little difficult with Owen because he has trouble staying seated at restaurants and doesn't wait patiently for his food like Samantha and Aedan do. They can just sit there and color happily. Lunch time is always hard for Owen because he is just ready to take a nap and often isn't interested in eating much. I even had to get up and walk around with him for a little while at one point because he was getting a little cranky. The food was very good though, and this was definitely a place we would like to come back to again. It's so nice living near a city with a real Mexican restaurant now!
After getting back home, we put Owen down for a nap and had Samantha and Aedan do a little quiet play time so that we could spend some time with Ken and Linda. We sat outside in the sunshine and talked, and it was very nice. Owen woke up early from his nap, and I tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he was not interested. He cuddled with me for awhile and was very comfortable, but he did not fall back asleep.
Since Ken and Linda were flying out that evening, we decided to leave a little early and go to Hillside Farm for some ice cream before driving them to the airport. The kids have been adventurous in trying something new every time, but I have been sticking with cookies and cream for Owen because he seems to really like it. This time, however, I gave him a real treat because I let him eat his ice cream in a cone instead of a bowl, and he LOVED it! I think he always saw Samantha and Aedan eating ice cream from a cone and wanted to be like them, so he felt like a big boy. Also, he ate a lot more of it than he usually does, and really did a pretty good job of not spilling it all over the front of his shirt. Here are some pictures of Owen eating his first ice cream cone. :)
Dropping Ken and Linda off at the airport was sad for the kids. They really enjoyed having them stay at our house for several days, and they loved having this extended time with them. They always enjoy having visitors and are sad when they have to go home.
After getting home and having a quick dinner of leftovers that night, we let the kids open their first day of school letters from Ema and Papa. This is a tradition they carry out every year, and we love to hear what they say in the letters and what the kids' reactions are. We told Samantha to read hers out loud, and she was a little embarrassed that we were recording her reading it out loud.
Aedan can't read yet, of course, so I read his letter to him. I love these pictures Ben took of him and me, how he is snuggled up to me and how he buried his face in my chest when he starts to cry. He is such a sweet boy who fully feels his emotions, and this start of kindergarten is exciting but scary for him. There will definitely be an adjustment period for him as he gets used to going to school every day, working hard, and being around other kids. There will be many tears and tired nights; however, there will also be an adjustment period for me in not having him home with me anymore. I have enjoyed our time together these past five years, and it will be strange getting used to not being the main one taking care of him every day, not knowing what he's doing or who he's playing with, not knowing if he's being a good listener or being respectful, not being able to help him or give him a hug if he gets hurt or is sad. This middle son of my mine is so precious to me, and it's hard to let my babies go.
This video is so sweet and so heart-wrenching because Aedan just can't hold in his emotions at the end. He just starts crying and says, "Ema! while he buries his head into my chest, and then Ben decided to stop the video. He loves his Ema so much, and we are excited to have them come visit us in a few weeks.
In preparing for everyone's first day of school, I was full of mixed emotions. The kids were ready, as they had been getting on each other's nerves a lot more in the last few weeks of summer. Ben was ready for the semester to start, even though he was a little nervous about starting a new semester at a new university. We were eager to have the year start, to get settled into a church, and to hopefully start meeting people in our community. However, oftentimes when new school years start, I feel kind of left behind. Everyone else is starting something new and different, but for the most part my life continues on the same as it always does, which is fine, I'm not complaining about being a stay at home mom, but it's just different. I knew things were going to be different just being home with Owen, but I was looking forward to having this time to spend with just him, for less chaos and noise around the house, and for quiet afternoon nap times when I could get stuff done, work on my blog, or simply relax. I also knew that my feelings of loneliness and isolation would start creeping in as my days wouldn't be full with the busyness of summertime. We still have not met many people in our new neighborhood/city, and I know it takes time, but I still feel that longing rising up in me to just be known by someone outside of my family.
When the school year starts, time passes by even faster. I can't believe Samantha is in 3rd grade, as I feel these early elementary years are just flying by, and I know I will feel the same way for Aedan. I had a couple friends post this video by Michael Buble called "Forever Now," and it brought tears to my eyes to think about all the time with my children, starting off as babies and bringing them home for the first time to heading off to school for the first time, and all the precious memories in between. Of course I'm excited about them growing up and learning, and I understand that they can't stay young forever, but it doesn't change the way I feel as they grow up, as I wish that I could just bottle up these moments with them (after all, that's kind of why I do this blog, as a way to remember and relive these memories with my kids for years to come). However, I am comforted by the fact that they will always need me, just the way they need me will change, so I promise to find those ways that they need me as they grow in their independence, always being here to support, encourage, and love them. Here's the link to watch the video, if you haven't seen it:
Monday, August 26th was a big day as it was the first day of school for Ben, Samantha, and Aedan. The kids were excited, but nervous. They did a good job getting up and getting ready, and we decided to pack lunches for the first day of school since the lunchroom would be unfamiliar to them. Here are the kids' first day of school pictures.
Ben sent an introduction email to Aedan's teacher, Mrs. Weaver, and Samantha's teacher, Mr. Feinauer, just to tell them a little bit about the kids since they are new to the school. We got positive, encouraging responses from both of them, and it was nice to hear they were doing well on their first day. I'm excited about what this year has in store for the kids. I believe they have two good teachers, and we are interested to see what the differences are between JKL Bahweting and Lehman-Jackson.
My days on Monday and Tuesday consisted of switching out Owen's clothes, which meant taking out all the 18 month clothes from this closet, washing all the 18-24 month and 24 month clothes, and then hanging everything up or putting it away in his dresser, as well as then folding and putting all the 18 month clothes into the plastic bins we keep in the attic. It is one of my least favorite jobs because it takes quite a bit of time to do, but it always feels good when it's finally done and the new size of clothes are ready to wear. Owen was definitely outgrowing the 18 month clothes, and since he's almost 2, he's ready for the next size.
I took a few more pictures of Owen's face because his black eye was looking a little worse that day. However, it didn't seem to bother him at all. In fact, when we were outside playing at one point, he was riding on his giraffe bike again, and he said, "fall..rock" and then laughed. He's so silly and understands so much about what is going on around him.
That afternoon toward the end of Owen's nap time, the garage door people came to look at the door since it has not been opening and closing with our remote. They said the operator was no good anymore, that it's probably 15-16 years old and places don't even carry parts for it anymore, and that it would be just as expensive to fix it as it would be to replace it. They could do it for $400 with install, or we could get the parts at Home Depot and do it ourselves. We were a little frustrated that this was yet another thing that we had to fix that should have already been working properly when we bought the house (like the missing shelf in the refrigerator, the burner that doesn't light, the missing screens or screens with holes in them, and now the garage door). We decided we would ask Bill to help Ben replace the operator when they came out for a visit in a couple weeks so that we could save some money, but also have some help from someone who knows how to do stuff like this better than we do.
Owen did not take that long of a nap that afternoon, so after I got him up, I just had him sit next to me on the couch while I finished up some things on my computer. The next thing I knew, I looked over, and he was asleep leaning against my arm. I could hear him breathing loudly, and I couldn't believe it. He slept on me like this for a good five minutes. I don't think he's ever fallen asleep on me like this before. He must not have been ready to wake up from his nap yet! Man, is he a cutie. I'm so lucky that I get to spend my days taking care of and playing with him.
After I posted the picture of the kids first day of school picture, Ben posted a picture of himself on his first day of school as well. He doesn't look quite a happy as them, though! Nevertheless, he said his classes went well and that he will enjoy smaller class sizes. He's always glad when the first day is over, and he can just get into the content of the class.
Owen and I went down to pick Samantha and Aedan up from the van, and they all had a great first day! Samantha said she already has friends and loves her teacher. Aedan liked playing outside twice and was tired, but he had a good day. They were then excited to have a snack and start playing outside.
Ben and I decided that this week we would work pretty hard on getting some paperwork filled out for fostering, including our application, some other random forms, and answering the pages and pages of questions that make up our autobiography. We sat in the kitchen that Monday night to spend time together while also getting things done that needed to be done. Ben offered to type out all the questions for the autobiography and look through our previous autobiography questions for Michigan to see if any of them overlapped. We had another home visit that coming Thursday, and we wanted to get as much of our stuff done before then to hand in to her. It's amazing how much you have to fill out and turn in in order to become a foster parent. I understand why, because they don't want just anyone in charge of these children, but I was hoping that we could carry over more from Michigan and not have to basically redo everything again.
Now that school has started, my days won't be quite as different or exciting, which should lead to shorter blog posts. The kids were ready for another day of school on Tuesday, and this time we were able to meet up with the van, which made them happy. It's nice to have the kids picked up and dropped off so close to our house and at a time that doesn't require them to be on the van a long time, for they are last ones picked up and the first ones dropped off. I then spent more of my morning working on organizing Owen's new size of clothes in his closet. I figured I'd make myself productive, and Owen was happy playing alongside of me in the living room as I put everything on hangers, and then in his room while I hung everything up.
Here is Owen saying "I love you" at lunch on Tuesday. He doesn't usually come right out and say all three words together, but if you say, "I," he will usually say, "love," and then a very high-pitched, excited, "you!" I love getting these videos of his sweet little voice learning new words and communicating ideas with us.
The first day of school the kids didn't have homework, but Samantha had homework starting the second day of school. She just had some math and spelling, and none of it was hard, but it will be something she will have to get used to in being at a new school. I'm kind of glad that she will be getting some homework because I think it's good for kids to reinforce what they are learning at school, and I like seeing a small glimpse into what they are learning. I always felt like I had no idea what they did at Bahweting because very rarely were papers sent home, and they didn't do traditional grades, so I never had a sense of Samantha's understanding of what she was learning. Aedan didn't have any homework yet, but here are some papers he brought home that he worked on at school.
After spending two mornings at home, my job on Wednesday was to go grocery shopping. I went to Walmart in Tunkhannock, which is about 27 minutes from our house. However, it was actually a pretty pleasant experience. The store was clean and there were actually employees around to ask questions to when I couldn't find something. It wasn't too busy, and we were able to find everything we were looking for. In fact, two older ladies were very nice to me during my shopping experience. They opened a new lane and one lady let me go first, even though I had a giant cart full of groceries. Then, she interacted with Owen a lot while I was checking out, too, which definitely helped entertain him during the whole process. Then, in the parking lot, the extra bags fell out of the cart and another lady stopped to help me pick them up and asked if there was another way she could help me. It was pretty easy shopping with only one kid, and Owen enjoyed it. I was even able to listen to a podcast on the way there and back. Then, while I was bringing the groceries in and putting everything away, Owen was able to play outside in the driveway. Even though it's a pretty good drive to get out there, I think Walmart will end up being my go-to shopping place. The only thing I might add is doing grocery pick-up for all the boxed, canned, or bagged items, then going to pick up the groceries and picking out my own produce from there. That would save me a lot of time at the store, so I will definitely have to try that sometime.
A lot of things haven't quite started up yet, like Bible study or story time or things like that to do with Owen, and the weather has been so nice that and Owen is just as happy playing outside with me as he is with going out and doing something, so that's what we did on Thursday, just spent a lot of time playing outside together, which is his favorite place to play.
Samantha and Aedan don't have to leave for school until 8:35, so since they are both up by 7:00 every day, they have plenty of time to play together before school starts. When I walked into their room Thursday morning, this is what I saw. The super heroes and Barbies were all together, and I think there might have been a wedding going on at some point. It's pretty cute to see the way that they play together.
Ben and I had another home visit that afternoon with our licensing worker. We worked really hard every evening on all our paperwork, even the long autobiographies, and we gave her all our completed paperwork that afternoon. We then made a list of the other things we needed to do on our checklist, which were mostly a few more clearances and a couple training sessions, two in person, and one online. We are making progress, slowly but surely.
Our evening was busy that night because Ben and I had our first foster parent training to attend. It was originally scheduled for the week before, and we were planning on having Ken and Linda watch the kids for us, but they rescheduled it, so we had to find a babysitter for that night. I got a recommendation from our neighbor across the street, since we don't know anyone and have no connections. She arrived about 5:15 so we could go over things with her, as our training went from 6-9, and she was going to have to put the kids to bed. The foster parent training went well. We went over policies, law, and the handbook. It was a lot of information packed into three hours. We got a good report from Megan when we got home, and she did an excellent job cleaning everything up from dinner, and even cleaning up all the toys in the basement, which were a mess before she even came over that night. It's always nice to come home to a clean house with all the kids in bed. We will definitely be using her again as a babysitter in the future.
That evening I was trying to get pictures off my phone and on to my computer, but it was giving me trouble. It hasn't been working properly, which is frustrating because something simple becomes so much more complicated. I put iTunes on my computer, and it was trying to update and back up my phone. Well, since I was tired and not thinking, because all I was trying to do was upload my pictures quickly, I accidentally unplugged and plugged back in my phone during this whole process. Then, it just had this error message on the phone, and I basically couldn't do anything but to wipe it clean and then restore it, which I didn't want to do since I didn't know if the back-up was ever complete. I was extremely frustrated with myself as I went to sleep Thursday night, thinking I had done something to mess up my phone and that I was probably going to lose things off my phone that hadn't saved or been backed-up.
Because of everything with my phone, I decided to make an appointment at Best Buy to have the Geek Squad look at it on Friday morning, and they came to the same conclusion, that I would have to reset my phone to it's original state and then restore it to it's latest back-up. I felt so nervous when they cleared everything off my phone, hoping that it had backed up enough before getting unplugged, but there was really nothing else I could do in order to have a working phone again.
Owen actually really enjoyed wandering around Best Buy while we were waiting, but I decided to do something else fun with him in Wilkes-Barre before going back home. We went over to Barnes and Noble so he could play with the train table, look at books, and wander around the toy section. We even got a little brownie to share, and I got my first pumpkin spice latte of the season. Doing these things with my little boy made my not so good morning feel a little bit better.
That Friday afternoon, Samantha and Aedan had an early release from school, meaning they got out at 1:00. Owen was excited to pick them up from the van and have them home early. They had a really good first week of school. Aedan was really tired and emotional every night, but that was so be expected. Going to kindergarten all day, listening and being obedient to your teacher, and getting know a knew set or rules and people is a big adjustment. He said he already had like seven friends, he loved chasing girls around the playground at recess. Samantha came home with excitement every day. She loves her new school and says she likes it better than her old one. I'm glad that she has had a good first week when she was so nervous about our move to a new school all summer long. It seems like it will be a really good place for her because they have high expectations, and she is rising to the challenge. She comes right home and works on her homework without a fight. The kids at this school learn cursive in 2nd grade, and Samantha hasn't learned any, so that's something that we have to practice at home with her. They have spelling tests and quizzes, and the teachers are very responsive and communicative, so I am excited about the change in educational experience so far. Ben's first week also went well, and he was already done preparing for the next week, which never happened this far in advance at Lake State. He has so much more time to work now, since he is only teaching 12 hours (which is what a normal teaching load is), and it's amazing how good it feels to see him not as stressed out and not working all the time.
The week felt kind of hard for me because I felt frustrated with myself that I couldn't make myself do the things that I wanted to do and know I should do. I know that I am way too hard on myself, but I want to start going to bed earlier (both so that I can wake up earlier in the morning and still get enough rest and also because Ben has wanted to go to bed earlier for a long time and I'm always too much of a night owl). I want to wake up earlier in the morning so I can have quiet time and get showered and ready before the kids get up at 7:00, but I have a hard time getting myself out of bed. I have not been happy with the way I look lately and how my clothes are fitting, so I would like to eat healthier, stop eating as many snacks at night, start exercising every day, and take care of myself better. All these things would be good for me and would help my days and attitude and health, but I can't seem to make myself follow through with them for more than a day or so, which leads me to be even more frustrated and discouraged with myself, so it was definitely a hard week mentally for myself.
The kids definitely got tired out from the week, and we tried our best to get them in bed by 7:30 every night so that they could have as much chance as they could to get the sleep they needed. Even on Friday night we tucked them into bed pretty close to 7:30 because they don't sleep in any later by staying up later. In some ways it's been kind of nice getting back into this routine because it gives Ben and I more of an evening together, giving us the quiet, alone time that we desire as introverts.
We debated about what to do on Saturday because we thought about going somewhere, but we knew the kids would just need some downtime to relax and play at home, and we had some things we needed to take care of. For example, Samantha needed some new clothes, so I took her out to a local consignment shop to look at clothes with me. She has reached the age where she is more picky about what she wears, so it's better if I take her along with me to help look through what she likes and doesn't like. The lady at the store even let us take the clothes without paying for them so that Samantha could try them on at home, then bring back what we didn't want and pay for the rest, which was extremely generous and trusting of her.
Saturday morning I got extremely sad news that my grandpa had passed away. He was going to be 100 years old in November and has suffered some health problems with cancer over the last year, as well as general weakness over the past month or so. But no matter what age a person is or what their health is like, it's still a shock when they pass away. I was in communication with my dad throughout the day, trying to support him in his grief while also not overwhelming him with questions. I definitely felt a veil of sadness fall over my heart that day.
While I was out with Samantha that morning, Aedan and Owen had some sweet time to play together, and Ben got these great pictures of them playing in the sand box together. Aedan always chooses Samantha to play with when she is around, so it's fun to see him find ways to play with Owen when it's just the two of them.
That morning Aedan kept complaining about being cold, and I took his temperature after lunch, discovering that it was 101.5. I felt bad for the little guy and was hoping that he wasn't coming down with something from being in a classroom full of other kids and being exposed to more germs. We had him take a nap that afternoon so he could get the rest he needed to feel better. In fact, I think we all laid down that afternoon because Owen kept Ben and I up a lot the night before. He was most likely going through some kind of 2 year old sleep regression, so he was awake crying, and Ben and I both had to go up to his room twice throughout the night, keeping us up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night, so we were both tired that Saturday.
Aedan seemed to perk up some after his nap, and Ben and I needed a break from having to make, serve, and clean up dinner, so we decided to go out to a local Italian restaurant in Dallas for dinner that night. We ordered a pizza and split a large pasta dish among all of us. We also got an order of garlic knots, and the kids loved and devoured the food. They did a great job sitting and eating respectfully, and we had a good family dinner out, talking, eating, and relaxing together. It was a good way to end a busy, full first week of school.
(Blog about August 25-31, 2019)
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