Swim Lessons and a Visit from the Clemons Family

Samantha: 74 Months, Week 1

Aedan: 38 Months, Week 3

This week continued with swim lessons every morning. The kids decided to wear their Guatemala jerseys from Ema and Papa because of the mission's trip they were taking there again. It's cute when they like to match each other.

We left early enough from home to run a couple errands around town before heading over the bridge to play at the really cool playground just down the road from the community center pool. The kids had a fun time playing for awhile before we had to head out for swim lessons. We didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but we will definitely go back again before summertime is over.

From the playground, we went over to the pool to get ready for swim lessons. Aedan did a much better job listening to his teacher, and I enjoyed having some time to myself to read my book and keep my eye on the kids every few minutes. This swim program seemed to be really well run. The teachers knew what they were doing, came prepared, started on time, and kept the kids engaged for the full forty-five minutes. This is definitely something we would do again, if only we didn't have to cross over into Canada to do them.

It was kind of a busy week for us trying to squeeze in appointments and meetings with various people. One meeting we had was on Tuesday afternoon to renew our foster care license. Our first license was only good for six months, so we were up for renewal again. With our little boy being born sometime in September, we want to give ourselves time to get adjusted to life with a newborn and to life as a family of five, which means we aren't interested in taking a long-term placement right now. So, we decided to change our license to only providing respite care for other foster families that may need a night out or are going out of town for the weekend. Since we are only looking to provide short-term care, we also decided that it would be fine to expand our age range from 0-17 so that way we can help out anyone, regardless of age. We can accommodate babies and older kids, and anyone can handle anything for a short period of time. We hope that we can help out some families and provide some relief while we wait until we feel like our family is ready to accept another foster child placement.

Since it was a Tuesday, that meant Samantha had tee-ball that evening. This night it was only practice, so they did more with learning how to field, catch, throw, and hit the ball. Since it kept more kids involved at one time, the interest level was a little higher than it sometimes is during games. Towards the end they practiced running to the bases and making sure they touched the base on their way around.

As I write this, I am almost a month behind on my blog posts. With traveling and people visiting and just having a lot going on, I have gotten behind from keeping up with writing and posting weekly. When I keep up with it every week, this blog is manageable and not too time-consuming. Lately though, since I have gotten so far behind in time, it's taking a lot of my time to catch up. I have a long list of things to do before this little baby boy is born, getting caught up on my blog is one of them, so I am trying to just get pictures and brief descriptions in order to get caught up and hopefully stay that way before I go into labor.

On Thursday morning Samantha had a dentist appointment before swim lessons. This was the earliest I could get her in anywhere when I called back in the Spring. She hadn't seen a dentist in over a year, and I knew it was something we needed to make a priority. The dentist we went to was not a pediatric dentist like we've seen in the past, but they don't have pediatric dentists in Sault Ste. Marie, just general dentists. They checked her teeth and took a couple bite wing x-rays. They informed me that she has all of her six year adult molars in, which I didn't even realize was something for us to be looking for. Samantha never let on that she had any teeth coming in, so they must not have bothered her too much. Her six year molars looked good and didn't have any cavities, which I was pleased with. However, they said they found a pretty big cavity in a baby molar on the right bottom of her mouth. I found that to be disappointing, and I had a hard time not feeling responsible for it, for not taking care of her mouth good enough and for letting her brush her teeth on her own too much, rather than making sure she was doing a thorough job. Just as the appointment was ending, their computer system went down, so they had to call me back regarding what the doctor would recommend for fixing that cavity after taking a closer look at her x-rays to see how deep the decay is on that tooth. They said that we would probably be referred to a specialist, a pediatric dentist in Petoskey, who would basically have to do a baby tooth root canal or possibly pull the tooth and put a space maintainer in. Neither of those options seemed very appealing, and I felt bad that her tooth had gotten so bad. We had no idea that Samantha had a cavity, and she never let on that there was any pain or sensitivity associated with that tooth, so we will have to see what the next step is with Samantha's mouth.

Since Samantha's appointment went longer than I expected, we ended up being late for swim lessons, but we did our best. I wanted to stop at the store on our way home, so I decided to stop at Wendy's in Canada to get lunch before heading back over to the U.S. However, then we ended up being in a super long line getting through customs, probably the longest line we've ever been in. While the kids and I patiently waited on the International Bridge, I texted with Ben about our potential plans to take a family trip to Toronto in a few weeks. We want Samantha and Aedan to have experience in a big city and be around the diversity of other people and cultures, especially after having grown up in smaller towns. Plus, they have something called a City Pass that gets you into five attractions at a pretty reasonable rate. With me being due in a couple months, we knew this would be our last real opportunity to get away as a family of four. However, our only hesitation was with Samantha's issues with having to urinate frequently. We hoped that it would be over by now, but she was still going to the bathroom way more than normal and with more urgency than was necessary. I didn't want that to be a big issue if we traveled since she was often worse when we had to drive in the car or when we were in a location where there wasn't as much access to bathrooms.

After waiting on the bridge for so long, it was almost like we passed the point of getting Aedan to nap. I decided against going to the store since it was already so late in the afternoon. I knew that Aedan was tired and needed to nap, but he fought me quite a bit. I had to go in his room a couple times and ended up taking away his blankie and Happy Teddy. I don't like to do this, but sometimes I'm not sure what to do to get him to nap when I know he needs to but is resisting. Samantha would do this same thing, but with her it happened most between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. With her we would take her blankie away as well, but sometimes I'm not so sure how effective that is. He did eventually fall asleep that afternoon, giving me some more time to clean the house, not just because we had guests coming on Friday, but mostly because it just needed to be done.

Samantha had a tee-ball game on Thursday night, her second to last tee-ball game. It was good for her to play, and I know Ben enjoyed watching her try and succeed at a group sport that was always one of his favorites growing up. She was pretty good at hitting the ball successfully, but I think she enjoyed it more when Ben would just throw the ball to her to hit in the back yard. We just want her to try a lot of different sports and activities and decide what she likes best.

On Friday morning I took more time finishing up cleaning the house. It takes me a lot longer to clean this house because it is larger than places we've lived in the past. I used to be able to get the whole house cleaned if I started in the morning and went into nap time, even including interruptions from kids and still doing my normal around the house jobs. Now, however, it seems like it takes a day and a half to really clean it like I like it. Nevertheless, it feels so good when it's all clean at the same time, everything smells good, and the floors are clean and shiny. It doesn't stay clean for too long with two kids and a puppy. :)

That afternoon Ben came to work from home so that I could take Samantha to play with some of her friends at the playground at the school across the street. I wanted Samantha to be able to get together with some friends and have a chance to play with other kids her age. Especially since Aedan naps in the afternoon, she normally just plays by herself for awhile, but it was really nice for her to be able to do something special as a big kid. The boys and her got along well, and it was a warm and sunny day to play outside. I even got a chance to sit and talk to their mom for awhile, so that was fun as well.

Then, later that afternoon, the Clemons family arrived at our house for a weekend visit. We were excited to have them, and they were kind enough to bring a play set all the way up from their house to ours. I found one on an online sale website for $100, and even including the cost of renting a trailer to transport it, it was much cheaper than buying one brand new, especially one that had all the fun features that this one had. We were grateful for Uncle Matthew being so handy and willing to take it apart and put it back together again. Samantha and Aedan knew a new play set was coming, but I told them it would take us awhile to put it together. Our plan was to start on it after the kids were in bed on Friday night. Matthew and Ben worked hard on putting as much of it together as possible while Christy and I took Izzy for a walk and mostly just stood around and watched. Once it got too dark and we started getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we decided to call it a night.

Saturday, July 22 was Ben and my 11th anniversary. We didn't have anything special or romantic planned, but we did decide to go to Mackinac Island for the day. We got to St. Ignace in time to take the 10:00 ferry under the bridge and then over the island. The day started off a little cloudy and cool, but turned into a beautiful, sunny, pleasant day. The kids were excited to ride on the boat.

The boat was pretty crowded, and we were the last group to be let on, so we just found seats where we could. I sat by Aedan, and Samantha sat by Brielle for awhile before moving over to sit on Ben's lap. Samantha sure does love her daddy. The two of them have a special bond. As Samantha grows and we discover more about her personality, how her brain works, and how she reacts to different situations, we realize that she is very similar to Ben. Ben often will apologize for that fact, but I definitely don't see anything to feel sorry about. After all, I did marry the man and am still, if not more, in love with him now as the day I first noticed him across the room in Ireland. I love the silly faces they make together, the kisses they give each other, and his doting love and affection for his little girl.

Once on the island, we made a potty stop and a coffee stop for the adults before walking over to this large grassy area overlooking the water and up to the fort.

We decided to go up to the fort first since we had never actually been up there before. We get in for free with our state park pass, and it wasn't too much more money for Clemons family to pay to get in. The ramp to get up the fort was pretty steep, and then there were stairs to get up, which made it more interesting with our strollers, but we made it. I didn't take any pictures up at the fort, but the kids found it to be pretty interesting going from building to building, seeing where the soldiers would have lived and worked and bathed. Then, we got to see a firearm demonstration of guns from different eras. It was pretty interesting, and it was a good way to spend the morning with the kids. After getting our fill of the fort, it was getting close to lunch time, so we decided to head back down to the town to find something to eat.

After finding a pizza buffet place to eat lunch at, we decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. The place we rented them from were almost out of bikes, so Samantha didn't get to ride in a tagalong bike like she hoped she would. Instead, we got two bikes each with a trailer for the kids to sit in, and Christy and I rode a tandem bike, which was quite the experience when we first started out. The kids did really well riding in the trailers pulled behind the bikes. I know Samantha and Aedan really enjoyed feeling the wind with the cover up on the trailer. Plus, we stopped a couple times to enjoy the beautiful scenery, watch the waves crash up around our feet, and play with the rocks. I love the video of the kids giggling as the water lapped up around their feet.

After spending some time at the rocky area, we made our way around the eight mile loop a little more to the beach area where there is a little more sand, and it's easier to wade down into the water more. We brought bathing suits for the kids, but we decided to just let them play in the sand and go in the water up to their knees. I think the best part of visiting Mackinac Island is riding bikes around the perimeter of the island, even though it can be kind of expensive to rent the bikes for just a few hours. We were all having a lot of fun together that afternoon.

After finishing our bike ride and returning our bikes, we decided to get on a ferry and head back home. We had a long, fun day, and it was nice to give the Clemons family a little day trip getaway to a place that's much different than many other places you could visit. Daddy and Samantha took some cute and silly pictures together on the ferry ride back. (I think I need to take more pictures like this with the kids, too; although I'm not quite as silly as Daddy.)

The rest of that evening was spent just hanging out and playing. The kids enjoyed being outside, playing in the sand box, and just spending time together. We don't get to see Brielle and Oliver as often as we would like, so it's fun to have them come to our house, giving the kids lots of time to play together and form more of a bond as cousins.

Ben and Matthew spent a lot of time on Saturday putting the play set together. With a couple trips to a hardware store, one where Ben had to go to Lowe's in Canada to get something (and some Tim Horton's donuts). Once it was almost all the way completed except for a couple minor details, I was finally able to convince the men to stop working in the dark, come in for some dessert, and relax for awhile.

The kids were ecstatic, over the moon excited, the next morning when they woke up and saw their new play set fully completed in the back yard. In fact, they were out playing on it as soon as they got up. They were even still in their pajamas. I was so glad that they liked it, and I'm glad it worked out for us to get it here and put together safely. I think there are a lot of fun features on it that they will enjoy for years to come, from the little "fort" on the top, the slide, the rope ladder and climbing wall, the tire swing, the different swings you can switch out, as well as the monkey bars across the top.

Ben and I both were signed up to help out at church on Sunday during first service, so we got the kids all ready for church and then left them with Uncle Matthew and Aunt Christy so they could play with Brielle more. Here are some pictures they took of the kids playing together that morning. They were building forts, getting beds out to sleep on, and just having a great time playing and laughing together. It's fun to see the creative and imaginative ways kids find to play together.

After nap time I was able to get some cute pictures of Oliver, as well as Samantha and Aedan with Oliver. They were very eager to hold him. Samantha, in particular, loves babies. She was good with Oliver, and he loved it when she would talk to him and give him attention.

Monday morning was a big day because Samantha started a week at the Summer Learning Program at her school. She wasn't sure at first if she wanted to go, but I thought it would be good for her to have some structure to her days as well as just be around some kids her age again. So she was up and out the door by 8:15 on Monday morning. She was sad to leave Brielle and Oliver, but she was excited about going back to school again.

The Clemons family finished getting packed up and left to go back home mid-morning. Aedan did what is typical lately when he is sad that people are leaving, he ran away, refusing to say good-bye or give hugs. I was finally able to convince him to walk them out to their car and say good-bye to them. He even shouted, "I love you, Brielle!" as they drove away down the street.

After they left, Aedan and I ran our errands for the morning, had lunch together, and were excited to welcome Sissy off the bus when she got dropped off outside our house. I let them play together for awhile before putting Aedan down for his nap. Samantha asked to play outside during her quiet time, which I was more than okay with. I don't really care what she does, just as long as she has time by herself away from us so that we can get some work done, and as long as she's not too loud and doesn't wake Aedan up. She was excited to come home and play outside since it rained all day on Sunday, and they weren't able to enjoy the play set as much as they would have liked. Samantha was having a great time playing on the play set with her doll and playing with Izzy in the back yard. This will be a wonderful addition to our back yard for years to come.

(Blog about July 18-24, 2017)

Visitors from Chicago, Tee-Ball, and Summertime Fun in the Soo

Samantha: 73 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 38 Months, Week 2

We welcomed our first set of visitors, my dad and my brother, on Monday evening, and they planned to stay through Thursday. We planned to do a few things with them while they were visiting us. It's fun for us to get out and explore, as there are still things we haven't done around us yet, and it's fun to show others a new area of the country they have not seen.

On Tuesday we decided to take a day trip down to Mackinac City. Ben had taken Aedan to the fort a couple of times on his own, but Samantha and I had never been there. Ben bought a pass that would get us into all these different state parks, Fort Michilimackinac included. We had beautiful weather for it. Just look at those blue skies! That's one thing I really enjoy about summers in the U.P. Unless there is rain coming, there are usually no clouds in the skies, and with temperatures in the 70s; it is just perfect weather. Here is the view of the Mackinac Bridge from just beyond the entrance to the fort.

We didn't take too many pictures while we were there, but we had a fun time talking to the people working there, dressed for the part and the period. Samantha is really getting to the point where she can enjoy things like this. She loves learning, and she's not afraid to ask questions. This fort has a lot of different buildings you can walk around to see what life was like back when people lived at the fort, from row houses to a church to a kitchen with a live cooking demonstration, to an artillery and canon fire demonstration. The kids found everything pretty engaging, and it really was a fun place to visit. We spent the whole morning there and ate our picnic lunch that we packed along with us. I think my dad and Matt enjoyed seeing the fort as well.

After we had our fill of looking around the buildings at the fort, we went under the bridge to the other side where there is a small beach area. It always looked nice as we passed over it on the bridge, so we wanted to check it out. I brought a few sand toys for the kids to use to play, so we let them dig around and play in the sand some, stand with their feet in the water, and throw rocks into the water for awhile.

Nothing makes Aedan happier than being able to dig in the sand. :)

It's great to just stand back and watch Samantha and Aedan bond with family. Uncle Matt joined in on throwing rocks in the water and digging for shells.

After a little while of playing, we decided it was time to head back so that we could have dinner before heading to Samantha's tee-ball game at 6:00. She was excited to have Grandpa and Uncle Matt there for her game. We brought lawn chairs over for people to sit on, and I tried to amuse Aedan by taking him over to the playground to play so that Grandpa and Uncle Matt could enjoy watching her play. She is pretty proud of herself, and she does a great job trying hard every time she's out on the field. Here are some pictures and videos of her game that evening.

On Tuesday night I had a rough night sleeping. It took me longer than usual to fall asleep, then I woke up a little before 12:30 feeling really dizzy and not right. I just couldn't shake the feeling and go back to sleep, so I decided to just get up so I wouldn't bother Ben too much by tossing and turning. I went upstairs and got some water and went to the bathroom to see if that would help, but it didn't, so I just sat upstairs on the couch for awhile, ate a banana, and tried to sit upright and stretch out some. It was so strange, something that had never happened before, and I ended up being up for an hour and a half before finally feeling like I could get back in bed and try to go to sleep.

It rained all day on Wednesday so we decided to take a trip to the library for story time and some indoor play time. The public library is pretty small, so we hadn't ever brought anyone to the library before. However, the kids kind of enjoy story time even though it is just a couple simple stories read aloud before a simple craft. Samantha and I found some good books about space, and she enjoyed just sitting at the table reading her books while Aedan played with the train table. We had a good, relaxing time at the library that morning, which was perfect for me because I was pretty tired after not sleeping well the night before.

Toward the end of our time there, Aedan was trying to get down from a chair and slipped off the edge, knocking his chin on the edge of the table, and biting his lip pretty good. He started screaming and crying, and when I looked at his mouth, all I could see was blood and didn't know where it was coming from, so I just whisked him off to the bathroom to help him get cleaned up and figure out what had happened. Aedan bit the inside of his lip pretty good, but he was relatively easy to calm down. Then, as we were leaving the library, he tripped right over the leg of a chair, falling down and skinning his knee. It was not the best morning for that little guy. He was getting tired, and he tends to hurt himself a lot more when he's tired.

On Wednesday night there was the weekly concert in the park. However, it rained too much for the concert to be outside that evening, so they moved it inside a room at the Ramada across the street. An Irish band was scheduled to perform, so Ben and I wanted to go, and we thought Grandpa and Uncle Matt would enjoy it as well. It was a little more difficult having the concert inside the small room because there were definitely not enough seats for everyone that usually comes when it's outside. They invited the kids up to the front to sit to free up some of the seats, and that gave the kids more space to dance around some, which is what Samantha and Aedan like to do at these concerts. It's difficult to see the kids in this video because of the angle I am taking at it and the other kids dancing in front of them, but you can hear the music playing and see Samantha and Aedan dancing together. We drove separately in case we needed to leave early with the kids and put them to bed, but they were doing pretty well, so we decided to stay for the whole concert. It was a fun night with good music and reminiscent thoughts of Ireland. The concerts are another fun thing that Sault Ste. Marie has to offer in the summertime.

Thursday morning Grandpa and Uncle Matt got packed up to go back home. They hung out at the house until mid-morning, and I got a few pictures of everyone together before they left. Some are not so good with the bright light of the window shining in behind them, but at least I tried. And of course Izzy had to get in on the action as well.

On Saturday, July 15, I was 31 weeks pregnant. I almost think I need to start keeping a countdown because sometimes it seems so unreal that I am getting so close. My due date is September 17, so a little more than two months away. Sometimes that thought it frightening to me because that seems like such little time. I am a person who always has a running to-do list going in her head, and right now that list is pretty significant. With having two other kids to take care of and lots of other things to keep me busy, it's hard to feel like I have time to get everything done that I feel like I want to do before this baby boy is born. Plus, I know I need to just take the time to relax and enjoy my family and kids before everything changes and I have even less time (and sleep) on my hands. I have definitely started to get more uncomfortable. I have frequent Braxton Hicks contractions and sometimes my stomach feels kind of hard and uncomfortable. My back and feet are more sore, and I can definitely tell that my stomach has expanded lately, throwing off my balance and my ability to reach things and bend over. Of course, I am thrilled about this baby boy growing in my womb, especially after I cried and prayed for him for so many months, but it almost seems surreal sometimes. This pregnancy has gone by so fast that sometimes I feel like I haven't quite had the time or space to process what is really occurring inside my body, how that will impact our family, and how this little guy will grow my capacity for love in ways I don't even realize yet.

We had another beautiful morning on Saturday, so we decided to take a trip out to the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. We packed a lunch, and again Ben and Aedan had been out here together, but this was the first of the season for Samantha and me. The kids waded in the water, threw rocks, and had fun digging in the sand with the toys I remembered to bring. We played in the sand until the flies started landing on us and biting us, at which point we decided it was a good time to stop and eat lunch. It was a fun, free, simple morning out together, the perfect way to spend a Saturday.

On Saturday night we invited a new couple from church over to our house for dinner. We actually saw them at the pool last Saturday and then again at church the next day, which is when we made the connection of why they looked so familiar. They have a three year old boy and almost seven month old boy and moved here for the Coast Guard. I made lasagna that morning while Ben mowed the lawn because we like any excuse to make our yummy lasagna recipe. We made bread in our bread maker, brownies for dessert, and they brought a salad to share. It was a lot of fun having people over and to get to know them better. They just moved to town this summer, so they are looking to meet people, just as we are. Aedan and their little boy got along well and played together well. I'm sure Samantha felt a little left out since there was no one her age, but she enjoyed playing with the baby, and there are plenty of times we are around families that have kids her age and no one Aedan's age.

Other than that, we relaxed more that weekend, Izzy is doing really well with us and has not had many accidents in the house at all so we can trust her a lot more now. She is still a puppy and likes to play, but she will actually calm down and relax more in the evenings with us now, especially if we do a good job of wearing her out during the day.  Sometimes she gets in people's faces (especially Aedan's) too much, but we are training her not to, and the kids love her a lot. They love to play with her, run around with her, and pet her.

Since starting our potty training with Aedan last weekend, he has continued to do a great job. He has had no accidents since the one last Saturday morning, and he continues to stay dry all night and at nap time as well, even though we still put a pull up on him. We were amazed at how well he did, and we even told him that the potty fairy would stop coming pretty soon since she is only for kids when they are getting potty trained. (He was just getting too many suckers and Skittles, so we had to cut him off at some point.)

Samantha seemed to be having a little bit harder of a time this past week. We didn't know if it was because she was just kind of bored or tired or what. But she had a bit of an attitude at times. Also, she started doing that frequent urination thing called pollakiuria, like she did last summer before school started. It started on the day we drove back from the baseball game in Cincinnati, and it hadn't really gone away yet. She was going to the bathroom much more than normal, and she got very worried if we were going somewhere that has limited access to a bathroom, like a car trip or a place outside. We kept hoping that she would get over it soon, as this is really just a "wait it out" type thing. We were trying hard not to make a big deal about it, and we were wracking our brains as to what could be causing this, if it's just the transition to summertime or if she is anxious about starting first grade or her baby brother being born. It could be any or all of those things, so we were trying to be as sensitive to her as we could.

Most of the time Samantha chooses to shower rather than take a bath, but she wanted to play with Aedan on Sunday night. Izzy heard the commotion and noise in the bathroom and couldn't stay away, she had to come join in the fun. She put her feet up on the edge of the bathtub and looked in at the kids in the tub. Some day she is going to just jump right in with them. :)

Jen

Monday, July 17 was my birthday, and Ben felt weird going to campus on my birthday, even though I told him he could and it wouldn't be a big deal. However, he stayed home and tried to give me some time to myself by taking the kids grocery shopping that morning before their swim lessons. They even had time to come back home and watch a show for a little while. You can see how much Izzy loves to be with the kids, especially Samantha. Samantha is her special companion, and Samantha loves to play with her and just have her around.

I signed Samantha and Aedan up for swim lessons at the community center in Canada from 10:30-11:15 each day that week, so Monday was their first day. There really aren't many good options in our town, and I knew they would both enjoy swimming in warmer water there. Since it was their first day of swim lessons, we left early so that we would have plenty of time to get over the bridge and through customs. We got there, got the kids changed, and they were ready to go. Aedan was in the zero depth area pool and Samantha was in the pool right next to it where she could still touch, but could learn how to swim more independently. This was the first class Aedan ever did on his own, and it was a small group of kids, but I don't think Aedan quite understood that he was supposed to stay with his teacher, that it wasn't just time to play in the water like when we just go for free swimming time. After several times of him hopping away somewhere else in the water, Ben actually went down to the pool deck to talk to him, reminding him that he needed to be a good listener and be respectful of his teacher. After that little reminder from Daddy, he did much better. Samantha did great in her class as well. She practiced going under water and talked with the other girls in her class while she waited for her turn, and it made us realize how much she is probably missing social interactions with other kids her age. Playing with Aedan is fun, but it's not quite the same as playing with another six year old. I decided I would try to set up a time in the near future for her to get together and play with some friends. The kids had a fun morning at their first swim lesson, and Samantha got over the nervousness of not knowing what to expect. Again, it was so nice that the classes were smaller, giving each kid a lot of one one one attention from the teachers. Ben and I just sat in the bleachers, enjoyed watching the kids swim, but also got some downtime to sit and read our books.

After swim lessons we stopped at Home Depot to get blinds for the downstairs bedroom that we are going to have our little baby boy sleep in. Then, we were on our way back over the border. My birthday present came in the mail that day, which was an area rug we bought on sale from Wayfair.com. After giving the kitchen floors a good cleaning, Ben helped me put the rug down under the table. I thought it looked really nice, bringing in some of the green and tan colors of the walls and cabinets, but also using that nice blue color for something different and an added pop of color. Here is how the rug looks under our table. (I love how Izzy is in this picture as well.)

Then I decided to put our place mats and my flowers from Samantha back  on the table to give it a fancier look. I think it looks really nice, and it will help our floors not get so scratched up by our chairs scooting back and forth all the time.

That evening, Ben had a special night planned because he actually had a babysitter lined up to come to the house so that Ben and I could go out to dinner. We ended up going back over to Canada to a good Italian restaurant we had tried awhile back. It has been taking longer to get across the border lately, so we weren't able to do anything else besides dinner, but that was okay. It's nice being able to go out to a nice restaurant, enjoy our meal, talk without being interrupted, and know that our kids are being taken care of at home. Ben and I were able to talk more about the future and even discuss the names we like for our little boy. You can tell this is our third born because we still haven't decided on a name for him, whereas we knew Samantha's and Aedan's names way ahead of time. We are going back and forth between Owen Patrick and Liam James. I think as of right now we are leaning towards Owen Patrick. We like the sound of Owen Toll, and we like that it's not as popular of a name as Liam is right now, especially since Aedan has such a popular name but a different spelling.

Ben and I got back home right about bedtime, but we decided the kids wouldn't like it we didn't have birthday cake together. Ben made me an ice cream cake with Funfetti cake, chocolate ice cream, and chocolate buttercream icing. They lit the candles and you just have to watch the video to get the full picture of how it went. Aedan was very excited to "help" blow out the candles that he just couldn't stop himself from getting ahead of the game. I just love this video. It is the perfect depiction of our family's interaction and the personality of our kids. They make me smile, and it was a great way to wrap up my birthday.

(Blog about July 11-17, 2017)

The Fourth of July, Tee-ball, and Aedan Potty Training

Samantha: 73 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 38 Months, Week 1

Getting back home from a two and a half week vacation was definitely a transition for everyone in the family. I think we were all more tired out than we thought we were, not realizing our fatigue until we were home and not running around all day. Since we had just gotten back on Monday night, we spent Tuesday, which also happened to be the 4th of July, getting more settled, putting clothes away (which were clean, thankfully, after doing our laundry in Upland), and going grocery shopping since we had no food to eat in the house. However, I was not feeling great. My stomach was really bothering me, causing me to use the bathroom much more than I would have liked. It didn't seem to be something anyone else was dealing with, so I assumed to picked up a stomach bug somehow, or that it could just be another one of those bothersome pregnancy symptoms. Also, it was becoming harder for me to sleep comfortably and as a result, my back was hurting more during the day.

Aedan was definitely tired and needing to catch up on sleep. We had Samantha nap that afternoon so that we would have the option of taking her to see the fireworks that night. However, we decided that it wouldn't be good to keep Aedan out that late, especially since the fireworks don't start until about 10:15 up here since it stays light out so late. Plus, it seemed like Aedan was starting to develop the same stomach bug I had, so we thought it was best that he and I just went home to get to bed and rest. Our little town puts on a 4th of July parade down the main street downtown. We went last year, and even though it was much different from 4th of July parades we've been to in the past, the kids liked it because they could catch candy that was thrown from the floats. Here we are at the parade, waiting for it to start, singing songs to pass the time, and eagerly awaiting candy to be thrown.

Since Aedan was going to miss out on the fireworks, and Daddy and Samantha had plenty of time before the fireworks started, we decided to go back home to do sparklers in our back yard. I got a pack of three boxes at Walmart, and the kids were excited to see them spark. It's funny how each year is different with the kids. Last year Aedan was very apprehensive about holding the sparklers. In fact, we poked the metal sticks through plastic cups to protect their hands from sparks hitting them. This year, however, they were both more comfortable. We gave them warnings about how to hold them down at the bottom of each stick and to not ever reach out and grab the top part of the stick, but just drop it on the ground after it burns out. Aedan got a little too adventurous, and I had to tell him to stop getting so close to Samantha, like he was using a magic wand or having a sword fight. They both did really well at remembering not to touch the hot part until the very end when Aedan grabbed the end of his after it burned out. He quickly dropped it and started crying, as it left a small burn mark on his finger. However, once we got him to calm down and made sure he was okay, he wanted to do his last few sparklers.

After doing sparklers, we went back in the house so I could start getting Aedan ready for bed, and then Daddy and Samantha left to go to the fireworks. We figured she was old enough to be able to handle it. They shoot the fireworks off over the river separating the United States and Canada. This is a small enough town that it is never too difficult to find a good seat. The fireworks didn't start until about 10:15, and I could hear them and see the tops of them from our back porch. Our puppy, Izzy, didn't seem to be upset by the noise too much, which was good. We didn't know how she would react. Our old dog, Roscoe, always had a hard time on the 4th of July, mostly because of the flashing lights of the fireworks. Aedan took quite a while falling asleep that night, but it still was much earlier than what would have happened if he had stayed out for the fireworks as well. We were all still recovering and adjusting to a new normal after vacation, and catching up on sleep was a priority.

Especially since Aedan was doing such a good job going potty while we were on vacation, we definitely wanted to transition to underwear pretty soon and call him officially potty trained. However, it seemed that Aedan caught the stomach bug from me, and I didn't think that would be fair to take his diapers away when he couldn't control himself when he needed to go. We decided there was no reason to push it, so we were going to wait until his stomach issue was resolved. However, with how well he had been doing, I thought he would be fairly easy to potty train, especially since he already recognized the feeling before he needed to go and was able to hold it until he got to a potty. He was really excited about wearing big boy underwear, and we even took him to the store to let him pick some new underwear. He choose Spiderman and Super Hero designs, and he couldn't wait to get them all out and look at them when we got home.

While we were gone our neighbor offered to water our flowers and hydrangea bush for us. We didn't want it to die while we were gone, and I was excited to see what it looked like when we returned. It had gotten so much bigger and had these beautiful blooms on it. I love hydrangeas, and it's so fun having our own house that we can gradually make our own. The front is really taking shape as far as planting and weeding goes. Now, we need to work more on the back yard, clean up some of the weeds and maybe even use the little garden area sectioned off by wood to plant a vegetable garden next summer. I don't know much about gardening, but it's fun to learn, and it's fun to watch the fruit of your labor grow.

Jen

Since we really had been gone most of the summer, we decided to take advantage of the summer concert in the park on Wednesday night. We brought our lawn chairs and sat in the back, near the sidewalk, so the kids could get up and dance whenever they wanted to without bothering or knocking into the people around them. It was a classic rock band, so not exactly the most exciting music to them, but we hadn't been to the concerts in the park yet this year, and they love just going to hang out, play, and dance.

Samantha did not have tee-ball on Tuesday night because it was the 4th of July, so she was really looking forward to Thursday night. They were having pictures taken, and it was also a game. Samantha and I got to the field a little early so we could get her a team shirt and hat, and also figure out what picture package we wanted to order. She ended up on the Angels with a red t-shirt and hat. Samantha did a great job playing that evening. Ben helped out coaching some and trying to organize the chaos of little kids running around the field and batting. For each inning, they let each player have a turn at bat until they hit the ball, then they just moved around one base at a time, running all the way home once it was the last batter. There were some kids that didn't seem very into it that would just sit down in the field and ask when the game was going to be over, and then others that were very into it and wanted to be in the pitcher's position every time because they got the ball hit to them most often. Samantha put her best effort into it, had a great attitude, did a really great job, and she was enjoying herself, which is all we could ask for in her first experience playing tee-ball. Here are some pictures and videos from her first game that evening.

We hadn't done too much since arriving back home. We were getting things done around the house, Ben went back to work on campus, and the kids were just enjoying playing together at home. However, I wanted to do some things with the kids, take them someplace fun to get out of the house, like either a playground or the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. However, they just didn't seem to want to go anywhere on Friday morning. They were being a little whiny and cranky, so we just stayed home. I got some things done around the house, like taking clothes that no longer fit Aedan out of his closet and packing them in a bin, but I felt sad and took it way too personally that the kids didn't want to go anywhere with me. It was a bit difficult getting back into life here, the kids getting used to just having each other, and having them learn how to feel bored and entertain themselves again. While on vacation there was always someone to talk to or play with, but now that we are back home and have things to do around the house, we can't always sit and play with them. However, it was also difficult for me to not just fall back into feeling lonely again. Sometimes I enjoy vacation just so I can be surrounded by people as well; it's not just the kids and me all the time. Being with the kids great, don't get me wrong, I love that I can stay home with them, but I was just reminded again that we are still in a new town where we don't quite know anyone, don't have many connections, and are still trying to get acquainted with in some ways.

One thing we wanted to do over the summer was get the kids more comfortable riding their bikes: Aedan riding faster and more confidently on his bike with training wheels that he got for his birthday, and Samantha working on riding without training wheels. So on Friday night we went to the parking lot near our house with the kids to give them a wide open space to practice. After fixing a few kinks with Samantha's handle bars being crooked and raising her seat some, the kids were doing a pretty good job. Aedan was going pretty fast up and down the parking lot, finally realizing how much fast he can go than on his tricycle. Ben was walking with Samantha to help her balance on her bike, since it's a bit difficult for me to do that with my growing tummy. She has some problem with not leaning to one side or the other, and as she is with any new thing, she feels very nervous which then makes it difficult for her to just try it and go for it. I know there are a lot of kids her age who can ride a bike without training wheels, so I want to encourage her to try it without being too pushy and turning her off from it. She has never been as confident when trying new physical skills, so we worked on it for just a little while that evening. There were a few seconds where Ben was able to let go and Samantha would pedal off on her own for awhile. It's definitely something we will keep working on as the summer progresses.

Aedan's tummy issues seemed to have resolved as well, so we decided to start doing our "official" potty training on Saturday morning. He was very excited, and he even wanted to pick out his underwear for the next morning. We planned on loosely following the three day method that we used with Samantha as well, but we would not try to go without the pull-ups at nap time or bed time, although really most times he is dry anyways, so we probably could have have gotten rid of those as well. We figured we would wait for success during the day, and then follow a similar routine as we did with Samantha where once he stays dry for two weeks in a row, we will get rid of the pull-ups for nap time and same thing for bed time. With Samantha, she was only two and she was not as far along as Aedan is with training already. Aedan was already so good at telling us when he had to go potty, so we expected that part of the training to be easier than with Samantha because her training was more about recognizing that feeling and getting to the potty on time. Here is Aedan on Saturday morning wearing big boy underwear for the first time. He was so excited and proud!

We spent the morning hanging out at home, letting Aedan get used to wearing underwear, and just spending time together. At one point Samantha and Aedan were downstairs playing, and Samantha was working hard on this picture. The only thing I helped her with was spelling the word Liberty. She is pretty obsessed with Gus Grissom and the Liberty Bell 7. She knows the story well, as you can tell in this picture, and she loves learning about space. In fact, we got a whole bunch of books at the library this past week about space and astronauts. While Aedan was busy playing with the trains and toys, Samantha was just sitting at a table reading her space books. Not just flipping the pages and looking at the pictures, but actually reading the books "in her head" as she would say. She talks excitedly about working for NASA some day, not as an astronaut because that would be too dangerous, but as an engineer in some capacity to help people travel to different planets in space.

Aedan did really well with potty training that day. He only had one random accident all morning, and I think that was just because he got too busy playing with Samantha in her room and forgot that he was wearing underwear. He was standing at the foot of her bed and peed his pants, so we had to change his clothes, clean him off, and clean the carpet. However, compared to the multitude of accidents Samantha had on her first day of potty training, he was doing extremely well. We were proud of him and every time he went potty, the potty fairy would come to leave him a few Skittles for going pee and a Dum-Dum sucker for going poop. Like I said before, we put him in pull-ups when he sleeps, but he has stayed dry pretty much every morning lately. It was just like he decided to figure it out and start going in the potty, without much pressure from us.

That afternoon we decided to go over to Canada to go swimming in the community center pool. We thought that it was open in the evenings like it was during the school year, but it actually only had open swim from 1-3, which is not the best timing for us with Aedan napping. However, we decided to get lunch at Stackburger and go swimming anyways. The water at the pool is so nice and warm, and the kids were so excited to swim and play. They actually did better that afternoon than they did when we went in the evening and it was closer to bed time. Samantha and Daddy went down the slide over and over again. Aedan loved playing in the zero depth pool with all the toys, floating around on the rafts, and getting more and more comfortable in the water. He is taking after his sister and has very little fear of the water. We ended up swimming for over two hours, and the kids probably could have stayed even longer. However, we decided to head back home and ended up getting caught in some back-up on the bridge getting back into the United States.

Aedan ended up falling asleep in the car fifteen minutes before we got back home so we decided to just let him keep napping in the car until he woke up. It was in the lower 70s, I left the car door open, and I went back to check on him every five minutes or so. Samantha helped me out in the back yard to sweep up the patio area so that I could work on getting rid of the weeds that grew while we were gone. She was a huge help to me, and Aedan got a good nap in that afternoon.

Here are the kids sitting on the couch together watching a show together that afternoon. Izzy had to join them as well. Most of the time they love having her around, even though she likes to try and steal their snacks and Aedan's Happy Bear.

Samantha, in particular, has enjoyed Izzy a lot lately. She plays with her all the time, and Izzy loves the attention. It has been so fun to see the kids with Izzy, so different than our experience with Roscoe. They love her, and she loves them. In fact, they ask quite often if they will be able to keep her forever. Samantha will hug Izzy and say she is the best puppy ever.

Some of the best times are the simple moments. For example, after bath time Sunday night, the kids were sitting in Aedan's room in his glider chair, and Samantha was reading a space book to Aedan. He loves it when Sissy reads to him. We have two precious little kids.

Monday morning the kids and I did our weekly shopping trip together before my 30 week appointment. Ben stayed home to work so that he could stay with the kids while I went to my appointment. It was another short one where she told me my blood work for the glucose test came out good, and I was still right on track. In fact, the nurse told me that I had only gained nine pounds since my first appointment which made me feel happy. From here on out, most people say it is normal to gain about a pound a week, which would mean I'd only gain a total of 19 or 20 pounds during my whole pregnancy. With Samantha I gained about 40 pounds, and I can't remember exactly how much I gained with Aedan. I know it was less than Samantha, but definitely more than twenty pounds. I am not necessarily intending to keep my weight gain down, although I'm sure that will be better for me in the long run, especially when getting back to my pre-baby weight after this little guy is born. Having two kids already definitely keeps me busier this time around during pregnancy, which I'm sure makes a difference. Plus, I started off at a lower, healthier weight to begin with. Anyways, my appointment went well, everything is on track, and I go back again in two weeks. Time just keeps moving along, and this baby boy will be here before I know it. Ten weeks left!

Ben is a very sweet and thoughtful husband, and later that Monday afternoon he took Samantha to Meijer to grab a couple things and decided to let her pick out some flowers for me as well. She picked out beautiful flowers and was proud to show them to me when she got back home.

(Blog about July 4-10, 2017)