Our First Christmas Traveling with Three Kids

Samantha: 79 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 44 Months, Week 4
Owen: 3 Months, Week 2 (Week 15)

This blog starts by continuing on with our time visiting family in Upland for Christmas. After a not so great Saturday and finally getting Owen down for the night, he woke up twice overnight, which is not so uncommon lately. I ended up having to wake him up so I could get him ready for church on Christmas Eve morning. There was a breakfast before church that morning, and I tried to get Owen to nurse before we left for church, but he wasn't very interested, really only eating for about five minutes. I hoped that I could nurse him at church once he showed more signs of being hungry, but he was just really pretty fussy that morning. Other people offered to hold him during breakfast so Ben and I could eat, and then when I took him back I noticed that he had pooped out of his diaper. I walked around the MFC for awhile looking for a changing table, which I couldn't find, so I ended up just changing him on the counter in the women's bathroom. Owen was crying hard the whole time because he didn't want me to be changing his clothes and cleaning him off. He was finally ready to nurse. I felt like everyone coming into the bathroom was looking at me, wondering what was wrong with Owen that he was crying so hard and I wasn't doing anything about it. 

When I finally got him redressed, I went out to find the rest of the family, and they had already gone over to the church building. Well, I didn't have Owen's coat or blanket to wrap him up in. I didn't want to take him outside in the cold without something covering him, so I improvised and used the nursing cover, which worked okay. He was still pretty upset, so I went to find a place to nurse him. There is a room attached to the women's restroom right across from the sanctuary that has some wicker furniture to sit in. I started nursing Owen and he finally calmed down to eat, but then the service was played on a speaker system in the nursing room very loudly, and Owen got very distracted and stopped eating so I had to get up and turn the volume down and try to get him settled back to eating. As he nursed he actually fell asleep. He had a long morning, I had a long morning trying to care for him, and I felt bad that I was missing out on being in church with my family on Christmas Eve morning. I put the Ergo on and got him positioned in it, hoping that he would fall back asleep all cuddled up with me, but he was wide awake and alert again. I decided to try and walk around with him to see if that would help him fall asleep, but he fought it for quite a long time, much too distracted by all there was to look at. Even with the cover pulled up over his head, he was trying to peek out the sides and look around. So I kind of heard bits and pieces of the sermon as I walked around outside the sanctuary. Owen ended up falling asleep about five minutes before the church service was over, and it had been a very long and frustrating morning for me.

Before we left church for the day, we took our annual Toll family picture. It turned out pretty well considering the kids were tired and antsy since there was no children's program that morning. And for how hard of a time Owen gave me falling asleep, he was then fast asleep in the Ergo. At least you can kind of see his little head sticking out. :)

Afternoons in Upland are often very quiet and relaxing. Most of the members of the family are introverts, so they go off and do their own things, oftentimes even napping. Alaina wasn't feeling very well, so Aunt Jeni and her went to lay down for awhile. Aedan took a nap downstairs, and Owen had just woken up while we ate lunch, so he was awake for awhile before needing another nap. Samantha and I spent some time coloring together, and Owen hung out on the floor next to us. He even held a marker in his little hand for quite awhile, while he stared at his big sister. She enjoyed having him laying on the floor next to her.

Once Aedan woke up from his nap that afternoon, he was super excited to make his birthday cake for Jesus. He got cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, and candles from his preschool teacher at church, and he wanted to make sure we brought it with us so we could make the cake in Upland. (He is super cute with his bed head, too!)

Here is a cute video that Aunt Jeni took of Owen when playing with him and talking to him one night: https://www.facebook.com/jeni.t.riley/videos/1759705257394257/. He certainly had a lot to say, and he loved to talk to and cuddle with Aunt Jeni. :)

The rest of Christmas Eve was just time hanging out with family. We ate dinner, gave the kids a bath, and got them all to bed, knowing they were all super excited for Christmas morning. Owen went to bed much better that night, woke up twice during the night, and then slept in past 9:00 in the morning. I kept waiting for him to wake up so that our morning could start. The kids were waiting patiently to be able to open their presents, but we didn't want to start without Owen.

After breakfast Aedan helped put sprinkles on Jesus' birthday cake. :)

Finally, once it got be 9:15, I decided to just wake Owen up. We waited long enough, and he had slept long enough. I fed him and then we were ready to start opening presents. Here are all the kids sitting in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. I love this picture. It is such a great picture of all four of them looking at the camera and smiling.

The kids got spoiled on Christmas Day this year. I'm not going to go into all the details of everything they got, but here are some pictures of our morning. Aedan got some Super Hero magnets, Batman pajamas, a Batman shirt, and a Spider-Man hat from Aunt Jeni and Alaina.

Aedan got a PJ Masks activity book, which he was really excited to look through.

Samantha got some doll clothes for her American Girl doll, Kit. It was a coat, hat, boots, and scarf. She got it out and put it on Kit right away.

Samantha bought Alaina a velvet coloring page for Alaina from her school's Santa Store, and she couldn't wait for her to open it.

Ben got a new zip-up Cubs sweatshirt from Aunt Jeni and Alaina.

Samantha got an art kit where she can paint and design her own place setting. She will love creating that.

Here is Samantha with Kit all dressed up in her new winter clothes.

Aedan got some transformer pajamas that he couldn't wait to wear to bed that night.

Uncle Timmy got Aedan these John Deere tractors.

Samantha was pretty excited about this doll wardrobe for her clothes for Kit. It was all folded up in this box, and we told her we couldn't open it up until we got back home since we had to try and fit all our stuff in the car for the trip back home.

One of Aedan's favorite presents was this tranformer that was Optimus Prime as a car carrier. He couldn't wait for me to get it out of the box so he could play with it, along with his other Rescue Bots.

Samantha got a couple special sewing kits from Ema. One was a beginner kit where she could learn the basics of sewing and make little animals from patterns. The other kit was where she could learn to use a sewing machine and make clothes for Kit. This will be something really fun for me to help Samantha with in the afternoons on the weekends when her brothers are sleeping. She has shown a lot of interest in learning how to sew, so I figured this would be a good way to get her started. (Who knows, maybe I will learn something from it as well!)

Then, last but not least, the best presents of the day, the homemade presents from Papa. He made something special for each kid. Here is Aedan opening up his Griffin Rock Firehouse for his Rescue Bots. It even has a real, working bell in the tower.

Then Samantha opened up her doll bed for Kit, with bedding made by Ema. You can tell she loved it by the look on her face.

Alaina got a special jewelry box and this wall hanging with a butterfly in the middle to hang her necklaces on.

Here are all three kids with their homemade presents from Ema and Papa. They are all so thoughtful. The kids loved them, and the other special thing about them was that each one used some old barn wood from the farm that Ema grew up on. The red looking wood on each project is the barn wood. Papa is definitely talented in his ability to make things, and these will be cherished presents for years to come.

Here is Owen hanging out with Papa after opening presents that morning. Owen had fallen asleep on my shoulder for awhile, taking a nap during the end of present time, so we he was awake and alert after that.

I forget what the kids were watching on TV, but Samantha chose to sit on the couch while Alaina and Aedan cuddled up under a blanket on the floor together. I love seeing the two of them develop a special relationship together, too.

All the kids wanted to wear their new pajamas on Christmas night. Samantha had requested matching pajamas with Alaina, so Ema got them these cute, matching Rapunzel nightgowns. They were proud to pose for a picture before bed that night.

After a fun time celebrating Christmas in Upland, Tuesday came too quickly, especially for Samantha and Aedan. They were sad to spend the morning packing up and saying good-bye, but we had to get on the road to Chicago. Here are some of our last moments in Upland. Samantha reading to Papa, and Ema reading to Aedan.

And of course Alaina wanted to hold Owen one last time. He will be much bigger and probably starting to move around or sit up the next time she sees him.

When it was time to say our final good-byes, we had two sad kids getting ready to leave. Aedan was crying on the potty. He had huge crocodile tears rolling down his cheeks because he will miss Ema and Papa. Then, Samantha was crying because she will fiercely miss Alaina. Do you see the sweet hugs between these girls? Do you see the sadness and love on Samantha's face? I know I say this a lot, but God definitely knew what he was doing when he planned for these girls to be born so close together. They love each other, love playing together, and even got to sleep in the same room during our time in Upland. I wish these girls could see each other more often. (But we are glad that Aunt Jeni has an iPhone now so the girls can FaceTime with each other whenever they want to talk.)

We drove as far as Lafayette before stopping for lunch. Owen took a decent nap in the car while Samantha and Aedan played on their LeapPads, giving Ben and I a chance to actually talk while we drove. We were going to stop at Chick-fil-A so the kids could play in the play area for awhile, but the parking lot was so packed we couldn't even find a space to park. We didn't want to crowd in the restaurant, so we decided to go back down the street to Chipotle instead. We just beat the lunch rush, and the kids enjoyed their meal. I was able to nurse Owen in the car before going in to eat lunch myself.

From there we had about 2 and a half hours of driving left. We wanted to try not to stop again. Owen had been awake for awhile, so it didn't take long before he fell asleep. However, even though I tried to tuck the blanket in around him like I did on the way down to Upland, he was able to wiggle his arms out and make himself mad, only sleeping about an hour, which was not long enough to keep him happy. Aedan was pretty tired that day, so he had fallen asleep in the car as well. Once Owen woke up I tried to keep him quiet as long as I could so that Aedan could sleep as long as he needed. I tried to get Owen to go back to sleep or take a pacifier, which worked for a little while before he just got angry. At about 3:15 he was just screaming and crying, and I couldn't do anything to calm him down, so we decided to stop at the first oasis we came upon. I nursed him again and changed his diaper while the big kids went in the oasis to walk around for awhile. Ben got us some coffee and then we were back on the road again. Traveling with three kids is a lot of work.

After getting checked into the hotel in Aurora, we worked on getting ourselves unpacked and settled, and getting everything set up for bedtime so that we didn't have to do any of that when we got back to the hotel that evening. Then, after I fed Owen again, we went over to Christy's house for dinner and time to hang out.

At our hotel Samantha and Aedan shared the bunk bed room, and we had Owen out in the big room with us. We decided to start off the night with his pack and play in the bathroom and then move it out when we were ready to go to bed, that way Ben and I had a little bit of time to ourselves to relax and watch TV. It worked pretty well, and he slept fairly well, even though he woke up twice during the night.

Wednesday was a big day, as we celebrated Christmas with my family. Owen slept in quite a bit on Wednesday morning, and we wanted to be at Christy's house by 10:00, so we decided to just leave and have me feed him there. Owen was pretty angry in the car, and I went upstairs to feed him right when I got there, but there was just too much going on for him to nurse, even though he was hungry. I felt bad again because the same thing was happening as it did in Upland. I felt tired and frustrated that I couldn't get him to nurse. However, there were plenty of people around the house to hold and entertain him throughout the morning, so that was good.

The kids and us were again spoiled by all the wonderful presents we got from people in Chicago. Here are some pictures highlighting some of them. Samantha got a doll armoire for her Kit clothes from Grandpa and Grandma.

Here is Grandpa opening up the picture frames we got for them.

Aedan got three different Super Heroes from Aunt Christy and Uncle Matthew, Batman, Iron-Man, and Spider-Man. He loved them and couldn't wait to get them out of the box so he could play with them.

Here is Oliver opening up his bowls and plates that we got for him.

Samantha got TONS of clothes for Kit. This particular outfit is a Cubs outfit, which she was really excited about. (Ben, too. He even started singing "Go, Cubs, Go" and both kids joined in singing with him.) Samantha couldn't wait to get out her doll armoire to start putting away all these new clothes.

That afternoon when it was time for Owen to take a nap, I took him up to Matthew and Christy's room to feed him and put him down. I finally got him to sleep and laid him down fast asleep in the pack and play, but one of their cats starting meowing very loudly, walking back and forth in the room, and Owen woke up, looking around the room, being very distracted by being in a new place. Ben offered to go up to the room to help him go to sleep for me. He got Owen to fall asleep but every time he went to lay him down, he would wake back up, so he decided to just sit and hold him, letting him take a nice long nap all cuddled up on his lap.

While Ben was upstairs with Owen, Christy and I tried to get Brielle and Aedan to take a nap in the same room together, but they would just not settle down. They kept talking, getting out of bed, playing, and not even trying to sleep. Both of us went in there to talk to them and threaten them, we even talked to them through the monitor, but nothing we did worked. They were just not going to nap that day, which was going to make that evening not so fun in dealing with their behavior.

Samantha got some nice time to play by herself that afternoon, and she was perfectly content organizing and arranging all her new clothes for Kit in the doll armoire. Here is a picture of her with her finished product. 

I tried to help Christy as much as I could with preparing food for dinner that night. We had a bigger Christmas dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, corn, and pie for dessert. It was good food, even though it was a bit crazy trying to get everyone taken care of, making sure the older kids ate and Owen wasn't getting too grumpy. Aunt Christy offered to hold Owen for awhile, and he fell asleep in her arms, so she got some nice baby cuddles in that evening before it was time for us to head back to the hotel for the night.

We got back to the hotel later than we would have liked to that night, and then we worked on getting the kids to bed as quickly as we could. It was after 9:00 when I laid Owen down for the night, and we tried to put him in the bathroom again, but it did not work this time. It was a rough beginning of the night trying to get him to stay asleep. He seemed really sensitive to any noise or lights from us, so much so that we decided to just go to sleep when it wasn't even 10:00 yet. I was tired enough that it didn't take me long to fall asleep. However, he was up again at 11:30, and I was up with him for over an hour then nursing him and trying to get him back to sleep. Owen woke up again around 3:45, then sleeping until about 8:45. It's funny how oftentimes his best stretch of sleep is in the morning, and he consistently sleeps in past 8:30 most days.

Thursday morning we had plans to go swimming in the hotel pool before going back to Aunt Christy's house for Oliver's 1st birthday party. We ate breakfast and then went back to the room to get changed into our bathing suits. The Clemons family met us at the pool as well, and we all swam almost forty-five minutes before we had to get out so we could get showered and ready for the party. The water was a little chilly that morning, so I didn't take Owen into the water. I didn't want him to get too cold, especially since he already seemed to have some sniffles and congestion. Samantha and Aedan loved the water, and especially liked jumping in together off the side of the pool. Here is a video of them jumping in, having a blast together. I'm so glad that they have each other.

Everything takes longer with three kids, especially when you are staying in a hotel and are not in your own environment. We did our best to get everyone showered and ready as quickly as we could that morning. Owen was ready for his morning nap and actually ended up falling asleep on my shoulder as we went up to the hotel room. I sat in the office chair and rocked him back and forth, trying to help him continue his nap while the rest of the family got ready and the kids played in their room with their toys.

We got to Christy's house a little after 11:00, and there were a few other people there to help celebrate Oliver's first birthday. Matthew grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. After we had a chance to eat, Owen was hungry and ready for a nap himself, so I took him up to Matthew and Christy's room to put him down, this time making sure there were no cats in the room to make noise and wake him up. He nursed well, I was able to lay him down, and he stayed asleep, for which I was so grateful.

While I was upstairs, I missed Oliver opening his birthday presents and eating his birthday cake, but I got to see the video and the tail end of Oliver enjoying his cake. You can tell he enjoyed it with how much blue frosting he has all over himself. :)

Owen took a pretty good nap for about two hours that afternoon. Christy was nice enough to move Brielle into the room with Oliver for nap time so that Aedan could sleep in Brielle's room, and they could be separated for nap time today. It took a couple reminders for Brielle and Aedan to settle down for a nap, but they finally gave in. Both of them were very tired and needed this time for a nice, restful nap. While the little ones were napping that afternoon, Samantha had more time to play with Kit and her new clothes, as well as play some games like Pop the Pig and Don't Break the Ice. It was nice for her to have this special time on her own with the grown-ups, and I enjoyed being able to spend time just playing and having fun with her. She was laughing so hard while we played Pop the Pig. Samantha has a great laugh and loves to have a good time. It's fun having her growing up and being able to handle things like this more. It's nice having afternoons where she can get some attention herself without the younger kids around.

Once Owen woke up that afternoon, he was in a good mood and happy to just hang out with people. My Grandma asked to hold him, so she got some baby cuddles in for awhile as he happily sat on her lap and looked around.

Oliver showed quite a bit of interest in Owen, especially when he laid down to play on the floor gym. In this picture he was trying to take the flashing star off of the floor gym, and Grandma was trying to prevent Oliver from tipping on top of Owen. Owen will love chasing all these kids around when he is old enough to crawl or walk.

By Thursday evening we were all very tired. The kids were kind of stir crazy and were fighting and causing trouble. Just before 6:00 Owen was wanting to nurse again, so I went upstairs to feed him, and he was falling asleep, almost like he was wanting to put himself to sleep for the night. I actually ended up laying him down and letting him sleep for a little while, until we were ready to head back to the hotel. I  had to wake him up when it was time to go. He was so sleepy when I brought him downstairs, but it was time for us to say our good-byes.

When we got back to the hotel and got the big kids in bed, Owen was wide awake after having a later evening nap. He was all smiles and was just talking up a storm, so we just let him hang out with Ben and me until he was showing more signs of being tired. (When we first put Aedan to bed we could hear him singing the Moana song. It was cute, and it didn't last for too long, so we decided to not say anything.) I was able to put Owen down in the bathroom again, and it worked much better than the night before, giving Ben and I some time to ourselves before we went to bed.

Even though Owen went to bed later than usual, he still woke up twice that night, around 1:45 and 5:45, then waking up for the day around 7:00. I felt pretty tired when I was up for the day, and we had a full day ahead of us. Originally, we had plans to go downtown Chicago to meet some of our friends from Oxford, but they texted us the day before saying they were sick and didn't want to pass their germs along to us. Since we didn't have plans anymore, we decided to meet up with Aunt Christy, Brielle, and Oliver at the DuPage Children's Museum since she had a membership there and could get everyone in except for one adult.

Once at the museum, the kids had a fun time playing and exploring. It's the perfect museum to spend a few hours at. I had nursed Owen at the hotel right after he woke up that morning around 8:00, so I expected him to get hungry once we got to the museum. I tried taking him into the nursing room they had, but being in a new place was just far too distracting. He was too distracted to nurse then, so I just stopped trying and decided to carry him around in the Ergo so I could play with Samantha and Aedan better.

Once we got back to this area with balls and ramps and building materials, Owen fell asleep in the Ergo and took a nice little nap for awhile. I was glad he fell asleep and was hopeful that he would nurse better once he woke up. Samantha and Aedan had a great time building things and watching how the balls rolled through various ramps and tunnels. It was fun to watch them use their creativity to build and change things to make the balls go a certain direction.

As we were playing in this area, Aedan was starting to lose his ability to think and make good decisions, so we decided to stop and go downstairs for lunch. Aunt Christy was nice enough to make sandwiches and bring lunch for us. Owen stayed asleep for a little while longer in the Ergo, getting a pretty good nap in, and waking up pretty happy. After we got the kids to eat enough food, we went to the top floor to let the kids play while I found another nursing room to try and feed Owen. It had now been over four hours since he'd eaten, but for some reason he just couldn't block out the distractions that day. There was nothing to look at in the room, but it was not an enclosed room so we could hear all the noise from the kids playing on the musical instruments right outside. I felt so frustrated and bad that he wasn't eating. I knew he must be hungry, but there was only so much I could do to try and feed him. There was just way too much to look at in the museum. However, I was feeling really emotional about it, and it was hard for me not to get upset. Sometimes it's difficult enough when he only nurses for five minutes each time, but he's never completely refused to nurse like he had that day.

It was getting close to mid-afternoon and the kids were starting to get tired, so we decided to make one more stop before heading back for nap time. We went to the water section and all the kids were playing so well and were having such a good time that I almost hated to stop them. Samantha made a friend with another girl that was there playing. Aedan was having fun driving a wheel toy back and forth through the water, and it was fun to just watch them play. It was a great morning at the museum. I really wish we had something like this near our home that we could visit, but I'm glad we could at least go to this museum while we were visiting family.

That afternoon we decided to just go back to our hotel for nap time so that we didn't have to mess with everyone sleeping in different spaces at Christy's house again.  Plus, we wanted Samantha to nap too because she was tired, and we wanted her to have enough energy to be able to go out for dinner that night and then go swimming at the hotel. We got back to the hotel, Ben put Samantha and Aedan down for their naps, and I finally got Owen to nurse for about 20 minutes on one side before he finally fell asleep. He had gone from 7:00 that morning until 2:25 that afternoon without nursing more than two minutes. I was so glad he finally ate and still had no clue why he wasn't interested the entire time we were out at the museum. By 2:50 all kids were asleep, and it was nice for Ben and I to have an afternoon of downtime for ourselves as well.

Samantha napped for about an hour and a half that afternoon, and then she came out to hang out with us for awhile and play her new games that we put on their LeapPads. We got the boys up around 5:00 so that we could get ready, I could feed Owen, and we could get on the road to Chuy's for dinner. As we drove to the museum that morning we drove by a Chuy's and thought that would be a great place to eat, since it's one of our favorite places to eat, and the kids love to eat Mexican food. It started to snow throughout the afternoon and evening though, making the roads not the greatest to drive on. Although it was funny to us, experiencing our second winter in the U.P. now because snow on the road doesn't phase us as much. We just know to drive slower and leave more space when stopping and turning. I made several comments of feeling surprised at how bad some people were at driving in the snow.

Grandpa and Grandma and the Clemons family met us at the restaurant, so we had quite the large group. It was a bit difficult for Ben and I to enjoy our food or really be able to talk to many people because we had to deal with our three kids. Aedan was being disrespectful with his food, and Owen was starting to get fussy while we were there because he had been awake for awhile and was ready for a nap. He was also acting a little hungry, so I took him out to the car to try and feed him since he hadn't nursed much that day, but he was again too distracted to nurse, even in the quiet car. Nevertheless, our food was delicious, and the creamy jalapeno dip is to die for!

After we were done with dinner, we drove back to the hotel and got our bathing suits on to go swimming one last time before we had to check out the next morning. Even though it was almost 8:00, and we should have just been getting the kids ready for bed, we decided to have a fun evening and let them go swimming anyways. The water was much warmer than it was the other day we went, so everyone had a great time in the water. I even felt comfortable enough getting Owen all the way in and letting him have the sensation of the water flowing around him. He even splashed his arms around a little bit. It was a late night, but it was so fun. After we got our fill of time in the pool, we gave everyone a quick shower/bath and tucked the kids in bed. It was 9:45 before I started nursing Owen to put him to bed.

We had another night of interrupted sleep in the hotel that night. I hoped that since he was going to bed so late, that might help him sleep longer, but with how little he ate during the day on Friday, he woke up more during that night, really waking up like every three hours, at 12:30, 3:30, and again at just before 7:00. After having so many nights of Owen waking up so frequently, combined with sleeping in a hotel and having busy days, I was exhausted by the time Saturday came. I have to admit that I was looking forward to being back home, and I hoped this behavior was just because of all of our traveling and that he would soon be back to normal.

Back a couple weeks ago, we decided to stay an extra night in Chicago so that we could see our friends (which ended up falling through) and see my cousin, Melissa, and her kids. Our original plan was to go see the zoo lights, but it was way too cold to spend any time outside, so Ben and I found an indoor play place we could meet up at on Saturday. Ben and I were both tired that morning, and we had to get all of our stuff packed up and loaded in the car so we could check out of our hotel. This hotel was already booked when we decided to add an extra day, so we had to go to a different hotel for our last night in the Chicago area. By the time we had everything taken care of and I fed Owen, it was almost 11:00.

Owen took a nap in the car on the way to Monkey Island, which was nice, and we arrived at about 11:45. As we were thinking about traveling back home, we kept our eyes on the weather forecast and there looked to be some pretty bad lake effect snow throughout the night on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday. We really did not want to drive through bad weather where the road conditions were dangerous or make us have to drive 20 miles an hour when our trip was already going to be long enough, so we decided to leave early to head back home. We were able to cancel our hotel in Chicago and get a different one booked near Lansing. We planned to hang out with my cousin and her kids until about 3:00, so we figured we could leave after that and get a good four hour head start on our trip, getting around the lake before all the snow started. We had plans to see Grandpa and Grandma one last time that evening for dinner and to hang out at our hotel, so it was sad to not be able to do that and say good-bye, but we knew they would understand that driving safely was our top priority.

This Monkey Island place we went to was huge. I had no idea it would be so large and spread out. It was basically a big warehouse converted into a play area for kids. It really was the perfect place to go because it had stuff for our younger kids, plus it wasn't too small or babyish for Melissa's almost high schooler to be able to enjoy some, too. Here is a video of Samantha, Aedan, and Brielle going down the slide together: 

https://www.facebook.com/christy.kappel/videos/10212697983943621/. They were having such a fun time. This place had so many bounce houses and slides in addition to a huge climbing structure, lots of fun to keep the kids busy and active that afternoon.

I feel like it was a bit difficult for me to talk much with Melissa and Christy between feeling totally exhausted, trying to keep an eye on Samantha and Aedan, and trying to keep Owen happy. However, I was glad that it worked out for us to get together and for our kids to play with each other. It was a great way to end our time visiting family, and we had some sad kids as we got in the car to drive back home. When I asked Samantha why she was so sad, she said it was because she really loves to spend time with family. It made my heart sad to hear her say that out loud. I so wish we could live closer so that seeing family wasn't something we had to drive seven hours to do. However, I am so very grateful that we can have these extended days with family over holidays or during the summer.

Owen gave me a hard time nursing again on that Saturday. He ate at the hotel before we left, but then refused to eat again the entire time we were out that day. I tried sitting in a chair off by myself with a nursing cover, I tried taking him to the car, and nothing worked, he would just not eat, even though it had been almost five hours since he last ate. I was just so frustrated and confused as to why he started doing that the last couple days. In fact, I was so desperate and so tired and just wanted him to eat for his sake and mine, that I actually ended up just feeding him in the car as we drove that afternoon. He nursed for almost half an hour and was very satisfied afterwards. I don't like taking him out of his car seat while we are driving because it's so unsafe. If we were to get in an accident and something bad happened to Owen because I had him out of his car seat, I could never live with myself. However, with him not eating all day, I just had to try, I didn't know what else to do. I was so glad we were heading home, and I hoped that he would go back to normal once we got back to our normal routine. I felt like I was failing at my one job, which is to take care of Owen, to feed him.

Samantha and Aedan were both really tired from our long trip and the several hours of running and jumping they did at Monkey Island. Samantha didn't nap for too long, but long enough to help her feel better, so she just sat and read quietly while Aedan and Owen napped longer. Owen was not the happiest in the car that evening. He was just done with everything, with traveling, with being stuck in his car seat, with sleeping in a hotel, everything. Traveling with a baby is not very enjoyable sometimes. Ben drove that afternoon/evening because we knew we would drive through some snow getting out of Illinois, and he is better at driving and staying calm. We decided to go the long way, going straight on 80/90 and then up 69 to avoid some lake effect snow that had already started. We went through about 40 miles of snow, low visibility, and slippery roads, but that was much better than traveling the whole way in weather like that. We stopped at an oasis once for a bathroom break and then again at a Culver's for dinner, before reaching our hotel near Lansing. We ended up using a free night we had saved up, plus paying for a room, so that we could get adjoining rooms. Samantha and Aedan were excited to sleep in their own big beds, and Ben and I were able to leave Owen's pack and play in the bathroom for the night, making for a restful night for all involved. Even though we got everyone to bed late, Owen ended up sleeping from 10:20 when I put him down all the way until 4:50. I was so glad for that much needed sleep when I was up so many times each night the few nights before that. We had another four hours to drive the next morning and were in the clear for snow, so we were very glad we chose to leave early. We were finally on our way home after a week and a half of travels.

(Blog about December 24-30, 2017)

Christmas Events, Owen Turns 3 Months Old & Traveling to See Family for Christmas

Samantha: 79 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 44 Months, Week 3
Owen: 3 Months, Week 1 (Week 14)

Sunday, December 17 was a busy day, starting with Ben teaching a membership class during the first service at church and then teaching the 4th-5th graders during the second service. We told the kids they could stay for both services if they wanted to. Samantha chose to stay, but Aedan chose to come back home so that he could play with his new Rescue Bots. Owen hadn't taken much of a nap that morning, so when we got back home, I went downstairs to lay him down before hanging out with Aedan for awhile and getting him a snack. I took this cute little video of Aedan talking that morning because I don't get nearly enough videos of him talking in his cute little preschooler voice. I need to start writing down the cute expressions and things that he says like I used to do more with Samantha. Like he used to say norange instead of orange, but now that is gone. Here is Aedan calling his granola bar, a "ga-no-no-no bar."

After going back to church to pick up Daddy and Samantha, we came back home for a quick lunch before Samantha and I went to her school for something called an Elf Extravaganza. It was an afternoon of crafts and snacks, and Samantha had a blast. She got to decorate an ornament, make a few candy snacks, decorate a plate, and have a cupcake and cider for a snack. They even gave each child a clue that led them to their very own elf hidden around the school. Samantha's elf was up on top the climbing wall. It was pink, and she even got to take it home with her, which she was super excited about. Ben stayed home while the boys napped, and I was so glad to be able to have this time with Samantha one on one. I don't get much time with just Samantha anymore, and sometimes I don't feel as connected to her because of it, so I need to be more intentional about spending time like this with my little girl. It was such a fun and special time.

After going back home, hanging out for awhile, and having an early dinner, we left for another event at our church called, Sock the Soo. We arrived at church around 5:00 to fill a stocking with little presents and the gift cards that we brought. Inside the stocking was another little stocking with another little gift card and a note encouraging the people to pay it forward, giving that little stocking to someone else. My first thought of who to give the stocking to was the little boy that we had as a foster child last spring. I knew he was living with his dad now, but I had no way to contact him. I talked to a couple people from DHHS to see if we could somehow get his address so we could take the stocking to him, but his dad said no thank you, so my idea didn't work out after all. We asked Samantha if she had any ideas, and she thought of a boy that she rides the bus with who lives pretty close to our house. We decided that was a great idea, so after filling our stocking we drove over to his house and all went up on his porch to knock on the door and deliver the stocking. I think they were pleasantly surprised, and Samantha loved giving the stocking to her new friend.

From there we went back to the church for cookies, hot chocolate, and Christmas carols. Samantha even got to go up on the stage and sing a song with some of the other elementary age kids. I was proud of how well she knew the song, and how seriously she took her job of singing, even though they didn't practice much other than on Sunday mornings.

It was a fun and busy day, rounding out our full weekend of celebrating Christmas in various ways as a family. It was such a great weekend full of special memories.

Sunday, December 17th was when Owen turned 3 months old, but it was too busy of a day for me to take his 3 month pictures. However, I got to take his picture on Monday, and here are some pictures from our photo session together. It usually is really easy to get him to smile, but for some reason I was having a hard time getting him to smile that day. It was too interesting to stare at my phone than to smile for me.

Later on in the afternoon, once Samantha got home from school, she was able to help me tickle him and make him smile. Little Owen is such a happy boy. He loves to play and kick around on his floor gym. He has become very active and loves to suck on his fingers. He doesn't show any signs of rolling over yet, but he definitely kicks around a lot, and he loves to grab onto the toys on his floor gym, making them shake and rattle. He loves to smile and laugh and is very ticklish under his chin, at the top of his chest. Owen still enjoys being held up on your shoulder and will fall asleep like that, drooling all over your shirt. He loves his big brother and loves nothing more than watching Aedan play. He has settled fairly nicely into a routine of sleeping, nursing, playing for awhile, and then starting the cycle all over again. As he has become more aware of the world around him, he has become much more distracted, and sometimes will only nurse 5-7 minutes on one side and then seem satisfied. He is growing well and has plenty of wet and dirty diapers. I have talked to a lactation consultant, and she said what he is doing is normal, and that as long as I am following his cues and feeding him on demand, that I don't have anything to worry about. Even though it's frustrating at times for me, and sometimes painful when he doesn't nurse as much as I would like him to, I have to remember that every baby is different, and I can't expect him to do things just like Aedan or Samantha. He generally wakes up once a night, it used to be more like 2:00-3:00 a.m., but now he wakes up earlier, like closer to midnight, but will still generally sleep through to the morning. Every once in awhile he will wake up again around 4:00-5:00 to nurse. However, any time he wakes up during the night, he just eats and goes right back to sleep, which I'm thankful for. He is a happy, growing boy, and he really is such a good baby. He is a joy, and I am so blessed to be his Mommy.

Here are some more pictures of Owen once I recruited Samantha and Aedan to help me make him smile.

I decided to put him in the Bumbo chair, too, to show off his strong neck...

...his ability to hold on to things and move them to his mouth...

...and how much he loves to suck on his fingers and fists. I can't believe this little guy has been a part of our lives for three months already. :)

Since Ben's semester is over, his schedule is more flexible now. He still has work to do, but on Tuesday morning he was able to stay home with Aedan while I took Owen out to an appointment and on a couple errands, since he fell asleep in the car seat. Then, Ben went to campus for a little while, coming back in time for us to go over to school for Samantha's Holiday Concert. Even though the concert started at 2:30 and was right in the middle of nap time, I was able to get Owen to sleep for a little while before we left, making it a better afternoon for everyone. We put Aedan in his room for nap time as well, but we didn't think he'd nap anyways. (He didn't nap on Monday afternoon either and has been fighting his naps pretty consistently lately. Even though he acts tired, he won't sleep.)

Samantha was so excited when she saw all of us sitting in the gym to watch her sing and perform. She didn't tell us anything about what she would sing because she said it was supposed to be a surprise. Here are the videos of the songs they sang. These are all the first grade students. They decided to split the concerts up into grade levels, and it was kind of nice not being packed into rows of chairs where we could hardly see the kids perform. I loved watching Samantha sing and perform. She is so animated, and she knows all the words and motions to the songs. You can tell she pays attention when learning things like that. When I see her singing little songs like this and having such a good time, it makes me happy that she goes to school for experiences like this. I also am reminded how little she still is. After all, she's only 6 1/2, and sometimes I think I expect her to be older because of how smart and independent she is. I couldn't help but smile as I watched my little girl that afternoon. :)

When we saw some of the kids, including Samantha, being pulled out of the rows to come up to the front, Aedan thought that maybe Sissy was in trouble. We reassured him that it was because she had a special part in the song. My suspicion is that this is why she didn't tell us what the program would be like, because she wanted to surprise us with her special little part in this song. I was proud that she was one of the kids picked to say a line of the poem and that she spoke loudly and clearly into the microphone. You can tell that she was so excited for it to be her turn.

Wednesday was kind of a whirlwind of a day because I took Aedan to play in the morning at a friend's house that lives just around the corner from us, Ben ran errands all morning, and we tried to decide whether or not we would leave early for our Christmas travels. There was snow in the forecast, and we wanted to avoid driving through bad weather, especially since we didn't know how the drive would go with Owen in the first place. Samantha had a half day on Friday and we already planned on her missing school that day, but we were considering taking her out of school on Thursday as well. We worked as if we were going to leave on Thursday that way we would be ready if we did decide, so I worked hard to get everything packed up as much as I could throughout the day and evening on Wednesday.

Ben and I checked the weather periodically and decided late on Wednesday night that we were indeed going to leave the following morning. While the kids were at AWANA and Ben was at Bible study, I tried my best to pack things up while also hanging out with Owen. Once we got the kids to bed, Ben and I worked on packing up as much as we could so that we could get on the road as soon as possible the next day.

On Thursday morning we got ready, had breakfast, and got last minute things packed up before I fed Owen and we hit the road around 9:15. We dropped Izzy off and tried to get as far as we could before the snow started. We ended up just leaving the seat next to Owen open so either Ben or I could sit next to him, play with him, and help him calm down when he cried. Overall, the drive down went really well. Owen took a little nap in the morning, the big kids watched a movie in the back seat, we stopped for lunch at Panera in Gaylord, and we were able to beat the snow. In the afternoon I got Owen to take a nap for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Once he showed signs of being tired, I took a blanket and tucked it around his arms and legs, trying to mimic him being swaddled like he usually is when he sleeps. I covered him up with the car seat cover so it was dark and free from distraction, and he slept for a long time. Samantha and Aedan both napped for a little while too and did a really good job being quiet so their little brother could sleep. I even got a chance to read a book on my Kindle while all the kids were sleeping. I was so glad the trip was going so well so far.

The last hour of our drive was not too much fun. Owen started to get grumpy and didn't want to be in the car anymore, but we just wanted to get to Upland, so we pushed through. I had pumped so we could have a bottle just in case, so Ben fed him the bottle in the car and it pacified him enough until we got to Upland. Samantha and Aedan were super excited to finally be there. We hadn't been to Upland since the beginning of July, so it had been a long time for everyone. Plus, it was Owen's first time there. We had dinner and play time before tucking all the kids into bed for the night.

Traveling with kids can be exhausting sometimes, especially when you don't know how they will sleep. Samantha and Aedan have been to Ema and Papa's house enough that they are fairly comfortable sleeping, but we didn't know how Owen would do. Even though he had been waking up once a night fairly consistently, that wasn't so much the case in Upland. Thursday night he went to sleep fine, but then woke up at 12:30 and again at 4:30, nursing for awhile each time. However, he still went back to sleep okay in the pack and play in the room with us.

Since we arrived in Upland a day early, we had Ema and Papa all to ourselves for the day before Aunt Jeni and Alaina arrived that evening. We decided to head over to the Taylor gym for some time to play and run around. I put Owen in the Ergo hoping that he would take more of a nap. He had fallen asleep on Ben's shoulder for awhile at the house, but there was too much to look at in the gym and too much noise for him to fall back asleep. However, Samantha and Aedan had a great time running around and playing. Samantha played soccer, Aedan played a strange version of catch, and we ended our time by jumping around on the large mat. It was a good way to get out of the house and burn off some energy for awhile, and they loved having this attention from Ema and Papa.

Ben and I took advantage of our time in Upland to sneak out on a quick date. I nursed Owen and put him down for his afternoon nap. Ben decided that Samantha should lay down for awhile, too, and I put Aedan down for his nap. Then, Ben and I took of for Indianapolis to eat a late lunch at Chuy's. It was strange leaving all our kids, especially leaving Owen, because I hadn't left him really at all since he was born. Ben's parents did a great job taking care of him, trying to give him a bottle, and keeping him happy for a few hours until we returned. It was good for Ben and I to get out for awhile and enjoy each other's company without having a kid to take care of. We definitely needed a date.

Aunt Jeni and Alaina arrived around dinnertime that night, and the kids were so excited to play with each other the rest of the night. This was just the beginning of a fun weekend celebrating Christmas together. Here are Samantha and Alaina taking turns holding Owen that night before bed.

Early Friday morning Ben and Jeni left to go pick Tim up from the airport. Ben had to get up at 3:00 in the morning to leave. Even though he didn't get much sleep that night, I was blessed with Owen only waking up one time. He slept from when I put him to bed a little after 8:00 all the way until 5:45. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the clock and so much time had passed. He had never slept for that long at one time before, and I felt like a new woman. I felt like I had gotten enough sleep that I could have gotten up for the day. It's amazing what uninterrupted sleep can do for you, and I had forgotten what a night of uninterrupted sleep would feel like.

Here are the kids enjoying some reading time with Uncle Timmy that morning.

For how good the night was with Owen, the day wasn't so great. Owen's schedule was all out of whack. He wasn't doing his normal routine of eating, being awake for awhile, and then napping, so when he was fussy, I didn't know if he was hungry or tired. Also, Ben's dad's side of the family came over at noon for lunch and stayed all afternoon, making it difficult for kids to nap. I was in the bedroom trying to get Owen to fall asleep for awhile that afternoon. He has entered a new phase where he is too distracted and wants to look around at everything, especially in a new place with so many people. Traveling with babies is hard. I got him to sleep twice but then he was woken up by kids screaming and being loud. It was a frustrating afternoon, to say the least, because all I wanted was for him to fall asleep so I could go enjoy visiting with people as well.

Aedan could have stood to take a nap, but there was no way that was going to happen with all the people there, so we were dealing with some pretty tired, worn out kids. Samantha and Alaina had fun playing with Ben's cousin's boy, and Ben's mom made some wonderful food for lunch that day. The kids enjoyed their time playing together, even if they were a little wild at times. Here was a moment from that evening where all three of them were playing Barbies together.

And of course an evening is not over until they get some roughhousing in with Daddy/Uncle Ben.

Alaina loves to hold Owen whenever she gets the chance. She loves her newest little cousin. :)

Samantha had to get her turn with Owen as well.

Saturday was just a bad day all around with getting Owen to sleep. It was a struggle at nap time and it was a struggle at bed time. I had a terrible time getting him to sleep that Saturday night. He was tired and hadn't eaten for four hours, but he was just fussing and crying when I tried to feed him. I didn't know what to do, so I had Ben come in to help me. He tried holding Owen for awhile to calm him down, and he fell asleep, but as soon as Ben laid him down, he woke up crying since he hadn't eaten yet. While Ben was holding Owen, I just sat on the bed and cried because I didn't know what to do or what he wanted. I was trying so hard to take care of him, and to do what I thought I needed to do, trying to feed him and put him down to sleep because I knew he was hungry and tired, but nothing I was doing was working, and I was feeling so discouraged and frustrated. Ben handed Owen back to me again, and luckily after that he decided he would be okay nursing, he stopped fussing, and he nursed like normal and fell asleep. It was an exhausting day, and it was hard for me to enjoy myself and have conversations with family when I dealing with Owen was so difficult. I was hoping that it was just a bad day and not a sign of more days like that to come. It's amazing how much traveling can throws a little baby off sometimes.

(Blog about December 17-23, 2017)