Owen Turns 1 Month Old & Last Bout of Warm Weather

Samantha: 76 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 41 Months, Week 3
Owen: 1 Month, Week 1 (5 Weeks)

This week continued with Chicago Grandpa and Grandma still being at our house to visit. We went to church on Sunday morning, just like we always do, and we even made it to the first service, since it works better to do that with our kid's schedules and being able to be home to get lunch at a normal time. Church went well, and Owen still did great just hanging out, looking around, cuddling during the singing time, and then nursing for most of the sermon.

Grandpa and Grandma wanted to get pictures of the kids together, so they decided to try and get some pictures right when we got home from church. Aedan was tired and not very compliant. He didn't want to smile for any pictures, but they still got some pretty cute ones of the three kids together on the couch. I realized that I don't have many pictures of all three of them together. I have some of Owen and Aedan, and Owen and Samantha, but very rarely all three together. I need to make sure I do that more often. Samantha was so sweet holding Owen carefully in her lap, and Aedan cuddled right up to his head and gave him sweet little kisses.

That afternoon after getting Aedan down for his nap and Samantha in her room for some quiet time before letting her come out and play with Grandpa and Grandma, I worked on doing some laundry and other things around the house. Ben sat at the kitchen table working on his paper for most of the day because his deadline to submit it to the publisher was Monday night. However, before I washed Owen's stuff, I had to take a picture of his little bassinet sheet. Do you see all those little hairs on his sheet? He is definitely losing hair from the sides of his head, and every time I change his sheet I find hairs covering it like this. I don't remember Samantha or Aedan losing this much hair. I know it's just something that happens with babies because they only lay on their backs and rub their heads back and forth, but if he loses much more he's definitely going to have bald spots on the sides of head!

Here's Owen doing some tummy time that afternoon on his floor gym. His neck is pretty strong, but I definitely need to remember to do this more so he can gain even more strength in his neck and then be able to look around and see the world more.

Sunday evening Grandma was holding Owen, so I wanted to be sure to get some pictures of her and Owen just like I got of Grandpa and Owen from the day before. It was definitely nice for them to visit and see Owen. It's harder now that we live farther away, especially with winter coming up, but we will take advantage of the time we have together when we can get it, and we always enjoy when people take the time to drive up here to visit us. We are very glad that we have the space for people to stay now.

One thing we've realized already with Owen is that he's starting to show us that he wants a bed time. In the evening, after getting Samantha and Aedan to bed, he will nurse and have a clean diaper, but then start getting fussy. We try to rock him and walk around with him, attempting to get him to fall asleep until it's time for us to go to bed ourselves, but sometimes I think he just gets overstimulated. Now that he's noticing the world more, lights and shadows bother him and attract his attention, making it difficult for him to go to sleep. Since we've figured this out, I've started nursing him and putting him to bed downstairs in his bassinet. It's strange having him sleeping in a different room, but it's nice not having to deal with him being fussy because he's tired but won't fall asleep.

Monday morning was a normal day of school and work, so Grandpa and Grandma made sure they were up to say good-bye to Samantha before she left for school. She held it together at home, but Ben said she cried in the car on the way to school because she was going to miss Grandpa and Grandma. The kids love to have visitors and are always sad to see them leave.

Monday morning Aedan had more time to play with Grandpa and Grandma before they left to go home. However, he had another accident that morning while I was nursing Owen. He had an accident on Sunday night as well, which is really strange because he's never had accidents like that before. Both times he went into his room and closed the door. When someone would check on him and ask what he was doing, he yelled for them to leave him alone, probably because he knew he had done something he shouldn't have. So finally when we went in his room, we discovered that he just peed his pants soaking himself and the floor underneath where he sat or stood. It was very confusing to me because he had never had accidents like this before. Before this weekend, I would just find him going to the bathroom by himself without even telling me. I just hoped that it was a weird thing from having visitors and not getting enough attention, and not a new regression. Later that morning, I sat Aedan down and talked to him about it, reminding him that he knows how to go potty by himself and that he needs to just go, or he needs to tell me when he needs to go, and that peeing in his pants is not what big boys do. He had been talking about wanting to wear underwear at night, but I told him that can't happen if he doesn't keep his underwear dry. We have been having the potty fairy come in the morning when he keeps his pull up dry at night, because he kept his pull ups dry pretty much every day for a long time, but now he has more days where they are full of pee. I told him the potty fairy can't come if he doesn't keep his underwear dry during the day, too.

That afternoon we got this in the mail. Owen is now an official fan of the Chicago Cubs. This is a fun tradition that Ema and Papa have done with each of their grandchildren.

Grandpa and Grandma left before lunch time that day, and again, Aedan didn't want to say good-bye. Sometimes he will refuse to hug people and say good-bye simply because he doesn't want them to leave. Aedan also cried after they pulled out of the driveway.

After getting Aedan down for his nap, it was Owen's turn to take a nap as well. I used my sleeping trick, wrapping him up, rocking him and cuddling him until he fell asleep, then putting him in the swing for a good nap. Here he is getting ready to go to sleep that afternoon.

Oftentimes when Aedan wakes up from his nap, Samantha is just getting home from school or Owen is needing to eat, so I don't always make him go to the bathroom right away. Well, Samantha and Aedan wanted to go outside and play, but I told Aedan he had to go potty before he went outside. Even though he was refusing, I took him to the bathroom anyways and realized he had already pooped in his pants. Once again, I was so confused that he had another accident. I had no idea what could be causing him to do this rather than tell me he had to go. I think he realized I was pretty disappointed, and I hoped that he wouldn't have any more problems in the future.

Here is Owen laying in Aedan's bed that night. The second picture makes it seem like he wasn't very happy. I think Aedan was trying to cheer him up by giving him his blankie.

After getting the kids to bed that night, Ben got right to work at the kitchen table on his paper that was due that night. He still had quite a bit of work to do and ended up staying up until almost 3:00 in the morning. I felt kind of lonely hanging out in the living room by myself and going to bed with Owen by myself. In fact, I was actually up changing Owen's diaper at the changing table in his room when Ben finally came downstairs because he had pooped all over while I was changing his diaper in our room, so I needed to change his clothes and get everything cleaned up. Ben was worried when he saw me up with Owen because he thought that maybe I was having a rough night with him and he didn't even know about it. Needless to say, Ben was pretty tired after only have a few hours of sleep that night, but I know that he was glad to finally have it submitted and off his shoulders.

Tuesday, October 17th was a big day because Owen was one month old. That afternoon once I got Aedan to sleep, I went downstairs to give Owen a bath. It's funny how how hard it is to find the time to give Owen a bath. I will often just do it during the day or sometimes at night after Samantha and Aedan are in bed. We don't really have time to make giving him a bath a whole family affair, like we used to when Samantha and Aedan were little. Here's my little frog baby.

After he was all nice and clean, I made a "1 Month Old" Sign and put tape on the back so it would stick to him for our photo session. He was very alert for me, and I even got him looking right at the camera a few times. I can't believe he is already one month old! It seems like it has been such a short time since he was born but also so long, making it more and more difficult to remember time as a family of four before he came along. He's a pretty handsome fella'!

I figured I would get some pictures of him on his tummy holding his head up. We are amazed at how strong he already seems to be. Plus, it gives you a good view of his cute face, his hair that is longer on the sides and shorter to non-existent on top, and his big eyes.

Depending on how the night goes, Owen wakes up at different times in the morning. I like to try to get up and showered before Samantha and Aedan wake up, but it doesn't always work out. Well, I discovered on Wednesday morning just how much better the day goes when I do get up and ready. I had to wake up earlier, but I had more time to play with Aedan and our morning didn't feel so rushed. I will definitely have to try to make getting up early a priority, when I can.

Every morning Aedan and Izzy ride along with Samantha when Daddy drops her off at school. Izzy loves being a part of the family, hopping in the car, and sitting right between the kids' car seats. It's been good practice for her getting used to being in the car, and it makes the ride to school that much more exciting for everyone involved. :)

Some times, if Aedan has had a good morning, I will let him watch a show while I am nursing Owen. Here he is sitting on the couch across from me, looking tired while he watches TV. I thought he was cute, so I decided to take a picture of him.

Every once in awhile the stars align and I can get both boys napping at the same time. I tiptoed into Aedan's room to check on him, and he was just too cute sleeping with his hair fluffy and ruffled, cuddled up with his precious Happy Bear. He looks so peaceful.

And here's my other boy fast asleep, all wrapped up in his swing. They both took nice good naps for me that afternoon, giving me a little bit of time to myself, which is always nice for an introvert like me.

I know I've mentioned this before, but every once in awhile Owen will be fussy when I nurse him before bed. That happened again on Wednesday night, and it got to the point where I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if he wanted to eat or not because he was fussy and crying when he tried to eat, but then if I moved him away, he would start bobbing his head and acting like he wanted to eat again. Eventually I just had Ben come downstairs and take him. He tried to rock him and get him to fall asleep, but then Owen just kept trying to eat him as well. I had to come back down again after awhile because just rocking him wasn't doing the trick either, although I was sure appreciative of Ben trying to help me out in settling him down. It's been hard with him getting fussy like this at night because sometimes it takes almost an hour to get him settled down, fed, and sleeping, making it so that I (we) don't have much downtime in the evenings together either.

These next videos and pictures are from Thursday afternoon during lunch time. Aedan and I were trying to keep Owen happy so that we could eat our lunch together, and Aedan was being a wonderfully considerate big brother. He went over to Owen's chair and gently rocked him back and forth until he fell asleep. Even leaning over and giving him a sweet little kiss on the head. Aedan was pretty proud that he was able to get Owen to sleep all by himself. He likes to feel like a helpful big brother, and Owen loves getting attention from him.

Every once in awhile MOPS plans play dates outside of our normal Tuesday morning meetings. This Friday there was a play date at Jump U.P., and Aedan was pretty excited about being able to go. I was glad for him to get out of the house and play somewhere where he could run around, jump, and get some energy out. I had Owen of course, but there were tons of moms and kids there for him to play with, so he didn't need me to go into the bounce houses with him. On Fridays they have something called Tot Time which is geared toward kids five and under. Admission is discounted, and they also have a craft and story time. Aedan had a blast there, and I was able to talk to some of the other moms as we watched our kids play. They even have some comfy chairs in a corner that are perfect for nursing a baby. Here are some videos of Aedan playing that morning.

There were still quite a few moms and kids playing there past noon, and Aedan was having so much fun playing that I didn't want to stop him from having fun. Another mom from church, Telisa, was getting right in there with all the kids and does a great job of showing Aedan a lot of attention, especially when she sees that I am preoccupied with caring for Owen. (She even helped Aedan with his craft at the library this past Wednesday because I didn't have the hands to help him, and she held Owen for me when he was done nursing so that I then could play with Aedan and give him some attention.) She is an amazing friend and mother, truly looking for how she can help and support other moms. Telisa was racing through the obstacle course right along with the other kids, which is what this next video is showing. Aedan was loving it, and I was so appreciative of her showing him this attention when I so often feel like I can't show him the attention he wants and needs with Owen needing so much from me during these newborn weeks.

Lunch time and nap time is my least favorite time of day. Even though we ended up just going through the Wendy's drive through to pick up lunch since we were out later than normal playing at Jump U.P. Aedan was hungry and tired, and Owen was needing to nurse again when we got home. It's this time of day that I never have enough hands. Someone is always crying. If Ben weren't so busy with work, I would ask for him to come home for an hour every day for lunch to help me out. Poor Aedan has to deal with waiting for a long time to eat lunch or take a nap, or he has books read to him with a baby crying in his ear. It's such a juggling act at times.

Aedan said he napped that afternoon, and it was quiet on the monitor once I was finally able to turn it on, but he still looked sleepy when he woke up. Here is Owen from that afternoon. He nursed for almost an hour and then passed out. Milk coma :) Such a cute little guy.

Friday afternoon we got to see a preview of our family pictures from Misty Sibbald. She was working on editing the rest of them, but these three preview pictures got me so excited to see what the rest of them would look like. They are so wonderful and capture everyone's personality so well.

The weather forecast for the weekend looked nice, so I had plans to enjoy some family time outside. Aedan requested ice cream when we passed by Dairy Queen earlier that Friday, so we ate dinner early that evening so we could ride our bikes for one last trip to Dairy Queen for the year. This time Samantha got to ride her bike without training wheels all the way there. She had never really ridden around on sidewalks and having to stop, cross streets, and start back up again. She did a fantastic job riding all by herself, needing no help from us. I am so proud of how well she has learned to ride a bike without training wheels. She was very proud of herself as well, and she was even helping me out on the way there by pointing out holes and cracks in the ground so that I could ride safely. Even Aedan, with his little legs, was able to ride all the way there with no problem. Ben and I rode our bikes as well. I carried Owen in the Ergo baby carrier strapped to my chest. It probably wasn't the safest way of carrying him, but he seemed to enjoy the ride, and it was just a one time thing. Here are some pictures of our family outing.

Samantha finished her ice cream cone first and then decided to climb around on the fire hydrant. I always look forward to weekends when I have my little girl back at home with me. I feel like I don't get much time with her during the week with school and busy school nights. She is silly, fun, and never afraid to act like herself. It's so fun to have a school-aged kid. She is a smart cookie and is doing so well in reading and math. It's harder for me to write things about her with school taking up so much of her time, but I definitely need to do a better job of remembering things she tells me about her days at school and just little moments with her that I don't want to forget about either, even though she's not at home with me every day.

Ben stuck with Samantha on the way back home since she can pedal much faster than Aedan. I stayed back with Aedan, and he was doing such a good job even though he said his legs were getting sleepy. However, it was starting to get dark, and there is a part of our trip where we have to ride on the street because there aren't any sidewalks on one of the side streets that we take. Aedan was looking around at the houses decorated for Halloween instead of keeping his eyes on where he was steering his bike. He steered his bike right into my back tire. I tried to get out of the way, but it was too late and he just fell right off his bike and onto the ground in the middle of the road. He immediately started crying, and I put my bike on the side of the road so I could help him. As soon as I looked at him I was scared because he had blood all over his mouth. I couldn't tell if it was coming from the outside or the inside, if he busted his lip or if he knocked his tooth out or something. I had Owen in the Ergo, but Ben had the diaper bag, so I had nothing to wipe his mouth off with. I didn't even have my phone with me to call Ben and let him know what had happened. I did my best to assess the situation, Aedan wiped his bloody hands off on the grass, and we just had to ride the rest of the way back home before I could do anything to clean it up. As we got closer to home, Owen woke up and started to get pretty grumpy. I tried to be as positive as I could be with Aedan because I was surprised he was even willing to get back on his bike again after falling and getting hurt. I was relieved when we finally pulled into our driveway, but Owen was crying and ready to eat, and we needed to get Aedan to the bathroom and cleaned up. It looked like he scraped up his lip pretty good. The bleeding stopped, but it was very puffy and looked like it hurt quite a bit. We had Aedan hold some ice on it for awhile to help with the swelling but he didn't like the cold feeling for very long. It was definitely an eventful end to our evening.

On Saturday we had plans to go over to Canada for the day and to enjoy some time outside in what would be the last warm fall day we would have. Here is Owen asleep in the little blue chair in the kitchen. We put him there while we were eating breakfast, and he ended up falling asleep. I just loved how his little hand is resting on his cheek, supporting his head while he slept, and his right hand is resting on his tummy with his fingers spread out. He is starting to straighten out his fingers more and more now, rather than having them always balled up in a fist.

Once we finally got everyone ready and out the door, we thought about stopping at Bellevue Park to let the kids play at the playgrounds first, but the sun wasn't shining strong enough yet and all the equipment was still wet with dew, so we decided to go over to walk around the paths by the locks and on Whitefish Island. At first we were just going to push Owen in the stroller since he was asleep, but the path was too bumpy to push him along, so I took him back to the car to put him in the Ergo instead. Aedan was a little tired that morning, but he did a pretty good job walking around anyways. It was beautiful there with the leaves covering the ground and the trees with many different colored leaves. We wanted to go all the way out to the water, where the kids have thrown in rocks in the past, but when we got to that area we found that the bridge was overrun with water. There was no getting around on the path. The kids thought that was really interesting to see how high and how fast the water was moving. So then we turned back around, went back to the car, and went down the street to check out the Mill Market Farmer's Market that is always busy on Saturday mornings. The kids used the bathroom and then we checked out what was being sold at the market. There were many things that looked very good, and we ended up buying some homemade strawberry rhubarb doughnuts to take home. It would be nice to have such a vibrant farmer's market on our side of the river.

From there we decided to stop for lunch at Stackburger, which felt funny to me because the last time we were there Owen was in my tummy and I was starting to have pretty consistent contractions. After we all got our tummies full and the kids perked up a bit, we went back to Bellevue Park for some play time. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day. It was my favorite type of weather, and I didn't want it to go away and turn cold. I am not ready for winter, so I was grasping at these last few moments of mild fall weather. I nursed Owen in the car while Ben took Samantha and Aedan to play at the newest playground with the little "rides" you can take back and forth. Then, I put Owen in the car seat on the stroller, and he fell asleep pretty quickly being pushed around. It was fun to watch Samantha and Aedan play and have a great time enjoying this wonderful park.

Samantha even got to push Owen around the park for awhile. :) She is a wonderful big sister and loves to help us out with him whenever she can.

Here's a picture Ben took that afternoon while walking around the park. Aren't the colors of the trees beautiful?

After dinner and bath time that evening, we let the kids watch a show. They got out the bean bag chairs from their rooms, and Izzy decided to join them on the bean bags as well. We had a great family day together with lots of good quality time, the best way to spend a Saturday.

(Blog about October 15-21, 2017)

A Busy Week & A Visit from Chicago Grandpa and Grandma

Samantha: 76 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 41 Months, Week 2
Owen: 0 Months, Week 4

Our weekend continued on in a fairly normal fashion with church on Sunday morning and then family time and nap time. It was a beautiful day outside, so Ben took Samantha on another bike ride around campus that afternoon. Who knows how many more days like this we will have, for we have had an unseasonably warm fall so far.

Owen is funny how he will sleep in so many different positions. He must have fallen asleep in my arms and then when we went downstairs to bed, I just laid him propped up against my pillow to continue sleeping while Ben and I put our laundry away. He was pretty comfortable laying like this for awhile.

After waiting the whole weekend with no word, but continuing on with the cream for Owen's diaper rash, I called the doctor back again on Monday morning, leaving a pretty straightforward message that I expected a response soon. They finally called back around lunchtime and told me that he should probably be seen, but Dr. Newhouse wasn't in the office that day, so I should come to the walk-in clinic instead. I figured I'd wait until later that afternoon when Ben could come home during Aedan's nap, and I could just take Owen, instead of dragging both Aedan and Owen to the doctor again in the  middle of the afternoon.

Here is a video and picture of Owen after nursing him that morning. It's fun to see close up shots of his cute little face sometimes. I think he's such a cute little guy.

Owen has gotten into a fairly good routine of eating, being awake and alert for awhile, and then needing to take a nap. But he has also reached the point where he doesn't fall asleep quite as easily if you just lay him down on the baby chair or in the swing. However, what I've found works really well is if I wrap him up in these large muslin blankets, like he's swaddled, keeping his hands wrapped up so he doesn't startle and flail and wake himself up. After I swaddle him up, it doesn't take much time of holding him and rocking him or simply walking around the house with him as he quietly dozes off. Then, it is is easy to put him down in the swing for him to continue his nap. Here is my little guy sleeping peacefully.

That afternoon I took Owen to the walk-in clinic to see what we were supposed to do about his ever-worsening diaper rash, as well as the bleeding that he experienced over the weekend. They told me to keep using the Nystatin cream, but to use a prescription butt paste rather than the Boudreaux's Buttpaste I was using. I felt very tired and rather emotional that afternoon and found myself almost crying while talking to the doctor and then on the way back home. I felt so bad for Owen, that he was still so tiny and had this horrible diaper rash that probably hurt pretty bad. I was frustrated that I took time to go to the walk-in clinic when they pretty much just told me to keep doing what I was doing. Then, that evening when Ben went to fill the prescription, we discovered that Owen still wasn't listed on our insurance and the butt paste was $60, which we weren't willing to spend. My suspicion was that the Boudreaux's stuff was making it worse, so I decided to continue using the Nystatin cream in conjunction with the A&D ointment we were using, and then go from there.

Tuesday was Ben's early morning meeting, so I got in the shower by 6:30 so I could be ready before the kids got up and could help Samantha get ready for school. I tried to make cinnamon rolls because I thought it would be relatively easy, and I knew the kids would like them and eat them well, but Owen woke up right while I was making them and wanted to eat, so I left them in the oven too long and burned the cinnamon rolls. I was able to just cut off the burnt bottoms and the kids still liked them, but I made Owen very upset for awhile as I was desperately trying to get breakfast on the table so Samantha and Aedan could start eating while I continued to nurse Owen. However, he was not happy that I wasn't picking him up to feed him right away. It was a bit of a hectic, stressful morning, and Samantha had to be told multiple times to do things she knows she is supposed to do, but we got everything done and she was on time for school. It was one of those times when everyone needed something at the same time, and I was so very glad I didn't have to do this morning routine by myself every day.

After getting back home, Aedan and I finished getting ready and I fed Owen again before we left for MOPS. I was really looking forward to MOPS that morning. I needed some time away with other moms. Monday was a long, stressful, emotional day where I felt like I never had enough time, was failing as a mom, didn't spend enough time with any of my kids, and felt overwhelmed by raising a newborn along with two other kids. Adding a third kid is definitely challenging, and it's hard to compare whether going from one to two or two to three is harder. Part of what makes things harder for us right now is having a school aged kid that has to be up and to school at a certain time, meaning there's no such thing as lazy mornings anymore if you've had a rough night. Also, this is the first baby we had born in the middle of a semester, so life it just much busier for everyone, Ben included, meaning he can't be around as much to help me. This transition is definitely hard. I know it will get easier. I know this is just a phase were Owen is very needy and not following much of a set schedule. I know all these things in my mind, but it doesn't make the day-to-day grind any easier. Each day just comes barreling along and sometimes I feel like I hardly have time to eat, go to the bathroom, and take a breath.

Tuesday night we decided to move small group to our house because the other family that usually hosts was having a rough day with kids' schedules and being busy. Luckily, on Tuesday afternoon Owen fell asleep after I fed him and I was able to wrap him up and put him in the swing to sleep. Aedan talked for awhile in bed, but quieted down after I went in there once. The boys both sleeping at the same time gave me the chance to get everything picked up and cleaned up for small group that evening. However, after awhile the batteries died on the swing while Owen was still sleeping in it, so I moved a chair next to it and gave it a tap every once in awhile to keep the momentum going while I got some work done on my computer. After a stressful day on Monday, it was nice to have a quiet, relaxing Tuesday afternoon.

Having small group at our house was a little more cramped than at the Hill's house, but it worked out okay. We got the food set out and filled plates for the kids to eat first. Then, we sent the kids down to the basement to play while the adults ate dinner and started discussing the sermon. We had good conversation, and Owen did a pretty good job hanging out with Ben for awhile while I ate, then I nursed him, and stood up and rocked him back and forth when he got fussy and tired. The best part about having small group at our house was the fact that we didn't have to drive home afterwards, we could just start getting our kids ready for bed, meaning they got into bed earlier.

Most Wednesday mornings Aedan and I go to the library for story time. He enjoys going, and it's an easy place to take Owen and still have a nice place to nurse him while Aedan plays with toys and other kids. Sometimes there are even other moms that I know there that I can talk to. The hardest part is when we get back home and it's lunchtime and Owen usually starts to get hungry and fussy as well. I was attempting to get Aedan's lunch together quickly while Owen was hanging out in the blue chair. He wasn't very happy just sitting there, so I asked Aedan to come over and rock his chair for me, as a way to make his brother happy. Aedan gladly came over and helped me out by rocking his brother. It's cute because sometimes Aedan will say, "Sometimes I just feel like such a grown-up, being a big brother, and helping you when you ask me for things."

Once I get Aedan lunch and tuck him into bed for nap time, I usually spend quite awhile on the couch with my other little boy. He often nurses for a long time in the afternoons when he has as much time as he needs and can nurse uninterrupted in a quiet living room. Here are some pictures of my little guy after he got a full tummy. We were just hanging out together, and I was taking notice of his cute faces, the way he stuck his tongue out, and the way his arms and legs move back and forth like he is riding a bicycle.

And here are some cute pictures of little Owen taking a nap on my lap. There's nothing better than baby snuggles. :)

On Thursday I had plans to go over to my friend Kristen's house for a play date. Her son, Owen, is the same age as Aedan, and they get along well and play together at church. We thought it would be nice to get them together to let them play while Kristen and I got the chance to talk and get to know each other more. Well, that morning Aedan woke up with a little bit of a cough/cold. My Owen was also sneezing and coughing some, especially after nursing or upon waking up. I messaged Kristen to see if she still wanted us to come over, and she said it was fine. I wasn't able to take a shower that morning, but I knew she wouldn't care. It was so nice to be able to talk to another mom in a personal, one-on-one setting like this. MOPS is fun and there are so many moms there, but sometimes it is a bit overwhelming to me and it's hard for me to make small talk with people or get to know people in a large group. Anyways, the boys had a fun time playing together. I was able to nurse Owen and hold him while he napped, and it was just a good, relaxing, rejuvenating morning for me. We will have to return the invitation and have them over to our house soon.

Owen had to nurse again before leaving Kristen's house, so we got home later than I would have liked, meaning we had a rushed lunch and getting ready for nap time. A lot of times when we have time like that, Aedan just gets too wound up to sleep so he didn't nap that afternoon.

I feel like I don't talk much about Samantha on this blog now because she is at school every day and honestly, we don't get much feedback on how she's doing at school and she often doesn't have much to say about her day. We are happy that she is going to second grade math and doing an advanced level reading group. She gets an occasional point taken off on Class Dojo, but she gets many positive points every day. Samantha doesn't get homework, other than reading, which she does every day without even being asked. The hard part is that we never remember to write it down on her reading log. I look forward to seeing her every day when she gets home, and I miss my days with having her around the house. It seems like so long ago that it was just her and I together at home, and it's strange that she won't really remember those times with me before either of her brothers came along. I find myself feeling very sentimental lately, thinking fondly of the past, and sometimes feeling sad that these moments are passed and I will never experience them again. However, at the same time, I look forward to all the times we have in the future and the awesome privilege I have of watching her grow up, learn, and discover who she is.

Samantha is a good kid and definitely makes good choices most of the time, but we heard some news on Thursday that made us a little disappointed. I messaged Mrs. Gillett about how Samantha was doing with her bathroom issue. She responded back saying that things were going better, but that Samantha was caught goofing around in the bathroom that day. I told Ben, and we decided that we would talk with her that night. She had to write apology letters to Mrs. Gillett and to the girl she was goofing around with in the bathroom. We know that she sees a lot of misbehavior at school and that it sometimes goes uncorrected, but we want to make sure Samantha knows that that kind of behavior is unacceptable to us and that we expect better from her.

Thursday nights are always a welcome reprieve after a busy Tuesday and Wednesday out of the house. Here are Daddy and Owen hanging out together. He's a cute little boy, even though sometimes he looks like a grumpy old man.

We usually do bath time on Thursday nights. Samantha had already taken a shower that morning because she had Picture Day at school, and I wanted her hair to look nice for pictures. (You can see in the picture that her hair is done in pig tail braids.) Aedan is fresh and clean as well with his hair combed "nice" and not "spiky." I decided to give Owen a bath, too, and Samantha and Aedan came into the bathroom to help me out for a few minutes before going back to wrestle with Daddy.

The last couple nights Owen has been doing this strange thing when I try to put him to bed. He will act like he's hungry and wants to nurse, but then he will fuss and cry and turn away, but then act like he is still hungry and wants to eat. I try burping him and switching sides, but sometimes he just continues to fuss and cry. When he does this, I don't know what I should do. I don't know whether he is just tired and not hungry, but then I don't want to put him down to bed without feeding him again because I don't want him to wake up sooner with an empty stomach. I was able to finally get him to calm down even though I was about ready to get Ben's help to get him to sleep if he really wasn't hungry. It's a strange and confusing thing when he does this, and I will have to keep thinking about why this behavior keeps happening, especially during this last nursing session of the day before bedtime.

Friday morning was another time I felt overwhelmed because I didn't get up in enough time to get ready and showered before the kids woke up. I don't like not helping upstairs with the kids, and I wasn't fully appreciating everything Ben was doing for the kids and me. Ben was up late Thursday night and was feeling stressed out with all the work he had to do, as well as having a paper deadline on Monday. I was eventually able to get showered and ready to go so I could get the grocery shopping done. However, we arrived back home late, just after noon, so I was still in the middle of unpacking the groceries, trying to get Aedan lunch, and knowing that Owen needed to eat soon. Samantha had a half day at school, so she arrived home right around that same time. Everything was crazy, both Samantha and Aedan were tired so they were making bad decisions. After a couple time outs and talking with both kids about their behavior, all the kids were asleep by 2:00, and then I could finally take a deep breath.

Before dinner on Friday night my parents arrived to stay with us for the weekend. They hadn't met Owen yet, so they were definitely looking forward to that, and Samantha and Aedan were very excited to see them pull into the driveway. After dinner we headed over to the Laker hockey game that we all had tickets for. My mom offered to stay back with Owen, but I didn't know how that would work with how fussy he can sometimes get at night lately, so we decided to all go together.

There were some ladies making balloon creations outside the arena, so at the beginning of the game, I took the kids out to let them get a balloon. Samantha got a butterfly balloon headband, and Aedan got an orange sword. They were pretty excited about their balloons, and they definitely know how to make silly faces! I love them and all their silliness. :)

Isn't she beautiful?

Here's a cute smile from my little man!

I tried to let my parents hold Owen as much as they wanted to during their visit. I get to hold him all the time, so I didn't want to hog him, especially when he was content and happy and awake. Here's a cute picture of them together at the hockey game. He was pretty happy just hanging out and looking around.

Since we got back late from the game on Friday night, we got our kids in bed, played with Izzy for a little while, and then got ourselves to bed as well. Saturday morning we spent time just relaxing together. Samantha enjoys having time to be with Owen, since she misses out on a lot of time with him during the week while she's at school. Here is the proud big sister holding her little brother.

Samantha decided a good activity for the morning would be acting out the story of Jesus' birth. She was Mary, Aedan was Joseph, I was an angel, and Grandpa was a shepherd. They all got dressed up and everything. It was pretty well planned out by Samantha, and it was great to watch. I love to see the creative things she comes up with when she has downtime at home.

There was a Touch-a-Truck event at a local elementary school that we decided to visit. We left around 11:30, once I was finished nursing Owen, with plans to enjoy ourselves and see how things were going, staying as long as the kids were doing well. They got to see fire trucks, ambulances, dump trucks, and police cars.

We had hot dogs and a baked good from the bake sale for lunch, and then the kids got their faces painted. Aedan was a green Spider Man, and Samantha got a butterfly painted on her cheek.

That afternoon, after getting Aedan down for a nap and Samantha in her room for some quiet play time, I was able to swaddle Owen up in a blanket, bounce/rock him until he fell asleep in my arms, and then hand him off to my dad to hold while he slept. Owen took a nice, long afternoon nap on Grandpa's lap, and I'm sure he enjoyed snuggling his newest grandson.

(Blog about October 8-14, 2017)