Aedan: 49 Months, Week 4
Owen: 8 Months, Week 1 (Week 36)
Sunday morning while we were hanging out at home before putting Owen down for a nap before church, I decided to get out this stand-up activity table for Owen. I figured since he was pulling up and standing all the time, he would love to pull up on this and play with all the different things on top. He was pretty happy playing with it, as you can tell by the big smile. :)
Monday was back to our normal routine of going to the store, but we didn't have to get too many things since we were planning on going out of town that week. The boys and I were having a really good morning together. Owen was doing better with sleeping and the last couple of nights only woke up a couple times a night and would nurse and go back to sleep, which sadly is an improvement from what it was previously. He also took a really good nap for me on Sunday afternoon and on Monday morning. In fact, we let him nap at home before going to the store.
It was a beautiful day outside that day, much too nice to stay indoors, so I decided to suggest that we have a picnic lunch outside. It was a little work getting everything together and brought outside, but Aedan loved it. We put a blanket out on the ground, and I brought Owen's high chair out so I could feed him his baby food easier. Then, even though it was 1:30, and I should have been getting the boys down for naps, I decided to be more spontaneous and stay outside for a little longer just to play with the boys and push them on the swings together. They were having a great time swinging side by side.
The first graders sang first at the concert, and Samantha was so excited to get up on the stage and sing. She had been singing her songs at home for the last week or so, and she also told us that she had a solo in one of the songs as well. I'm glad that the school puts on events like this, but sometimes I think it's kind of sad how so many kids do not come. This was supposed to be all three first grade classes, but there definitely were a lot of kids not there. Samantha wouldn't have missed this night for the world, and we were excited to watch her perform. Owen did pretty well sitting in the stroller just looking around, and Aedan enjoyed watching Sissy perform. Here are videos of the performance that night.
It was a bit crazy getting the kids back home and ready for bed by myself that night, but they did a pretty good job for me. I was glad that Ben was able to be a part of the board and get more involved in our church leadership. Then, when he got home we worked together to make a cherry cheesecake for me to take to MOPS the next day.
Owen's top front teeth were starting to come in, and I was attempting to take a picture or video of them, but he wasn't really wanting me to get my fingers in his mouth. However, I got some good smiles and laughs out of him.
Now that Owen has learned to pull up on things, nothing is safe, and he's having a lot of fun exploring the kitchen.
And here is Owen walking along the fireplace, so it's only a matter of time before that boy starts walking. However, in some ways, I have thought it would be easier for this summer if he were walking so that he can enjoy time outside without having to crawl around. It would just look so strange for someone so little to walk already. (I love how Aedan comes up and kisses Owen sweetly on the head. He has definitely enjoyed having Owen around a lot more lately, and he loves when Owen crawls on him and even when he gives him slobber kisses.)
I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon, so I got the boys down for naps before heading out. Aedan has been napping really well lately, but that's probably because he is up in his bed until 8:30-9:00 every night and then awake at 6:15. We usually have to go in his room one or two times to tell him to be quiet and go to sleep, but he never gets out of his bed or comes out of his room. He just lays in bed talking and wiggling around. Unfortunately, Owen did not stay asleep for Ben that afternoon. I was hoping he would nap well, especially since he hadn't napped all morning because of going to MOPS. However, I saw one of his little top teeth poking through at lunch that morning, so maybe his mouth was bothering him when he was trying to sleep.
Normally we have small group on Tuesday evenings, but we decided to cancel for that night because so many people were busy, and we needed to start getting ourselves packed up for our trip to Chicago. We just had leftovers for dinner so we could finish up food we had in our fridge, giving the kids some time to enjoy playing outside before it was time for dinner. Here's Owen sitting and crawling around in the grass that afternoon.
Owen loves to explore the fridge as well, if we leave the door open for too long. Here he is trying to eat the apples through the plastic drawer. He is a crazy monster who gets into everything now!
In preparation for our trip to Chicago for an extended Memorial Day weekend, we decided to leave after school on Wednesday, drive half the way, use points to stay in a hotel, and then drive the rest of the way the next day. We thought it would make the drive go smoother by splitting it up; plus, we would get to Chicago a little earlier on Thursday afternoon and be able to see my family for a little while. So we spent most of Wednesday packing and getting ready to leave so that way we were ready as soon as Samantha got home from school.
The boys still had plenty of time to play together that morning, and as you can see in this video, one of Owen's favorite things to do is to climb on top of and over Aedan when he lays down on the floor. Aedan has taken to saying, "Owen is attackling me!" We have created a new word, putting attacking and tackling together. I think it's an appropriate description of what Owen is doing. Owen loves it, as you can tell by his smile, and I don't think Aedan minds it either. Just some good old brotherly bonding time.
After lunch that afternoon, I decided to give Owen one of these mum-mum snacks that are basically thin, flavored rice snacks that melt in their mouth easily. He was definitely interested in it and did a good job sticking it in his mouth to take bites out of it. Aedan was very interested in him eating and was wanting to help feed him pieces of his snack.
Even though it was May 23rd and almost a week after Owen actually turned 8 months old, I just never got around to taking pictures with his 8 Months Old sign. He didn't notice me stick it on his shirt, so I was able to get some good pictures of him without him trying to eat the paper. Here's my cute little 8 month old with two teeth on bottom and working on two more on the top. He definitely enjoys his baby food and eats a few tablespoons of cereal for breakfast, half a jar of veggies and fruit for lunch, and half a jar of veggies and fruit for dinner. He still isn't the greatest sleeper at times, but there are some days where I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. He still wakes up one or two times a night on a good night, much more if there is something bothering him. He is just now starting to get better at napping during the day, sleeping longer than the forty-five minute naps he was taking for such a long time. He still nurses pretty well too. I nurse him when he wakes up, after his morning nap, before his afternoon nap, after his afternoon nap/before dinner (which sometimes he isn't interested in), before bed, and then anytime he shows interest in nursing overnight. I feel like that is more than he really needs to be nursing, but I kind of forget which time of day you phase out first. He is a happy baby and is friendly with other people. In fact, he's even learning to wave, holding his hand up in the air and opening and closing his fingers. As I've mentioned before, he is a baby on the move and is curious about everything. He loves following Samantha and Aedan around the house, watching what they do, and wanting to get in on the action. He puts everything in his mouth, and his favorite thing to do is to pull up on things and stand. Here are some cute pictures from our 8 month (plus a week) photo shoot that afternoon.
Before nap time that afternoon, I was attempting to take a picture of Owen's little top teeth coming in. You can see them underneath his gums, and the one on his top left has just started poking through this skin. He wasn't too keen on me sticking my fingers in his mouth, so this is the best picture I could get.
I had an appointment that afternoon, getting home shortly before Samantha got home from school. We had the car packed up, I had already dropped Izzy off with my friend who was watching her, and we were ready to hit the road. We decided to stay the night in Cadillac at a Holiday Inn Express with a pool. Our drive went pretty well, we stopped about halfway at Culver's in Gaylord for dinner, and then drove the rest of the way, getting to the hotel about 8:00. The kids did really well in the car that evening, and Owen was happy as long as he had someone sitting next to him, playing with him, and interacting with him. We ended up using our points to get adjoining rooms, putting Samantha and Aedan in separate beds in one room, and our room was actually a handicap room which meant the bathroom was really big and would easily fit Owen's pack and play. It worked out really well and everyone slept pretty well that night. In fact, Owen only woke up once around 4:30 to nurse and then went back to sleep pretty easily.
We bribed Samantha and Aedan to sleep in at least until 7:00 that morning by saying they would have more time to swim in the pool. These kids love swimming in hotel pools. It's always one of the highlights of taking trips. They did a pretty good job sleeping that night, and Samantha did much better about not getting up a bunch of times to go to the bathroom. So, after eating breakfast downstairs (another one of the kids' favorite things about staying at Holiday Inn Express hotels), Ben and the kids got ready to go swimming.
Owen had woken up on the early side that morning, and we weren't able to get him back to sleep, so he was ready for his morning nap by 8:15. I volunteered to stay with Owen, put him down for his nap, shower, and then start getting all of our stuff packed up.
Here are the kids playing in the pool that morning. We brought Samantha's cupcake raft that she got for her birthday, and they had a great time playing around in the water. Aedan even got to wear his new Batman swim shorts. They always enjoy having Daddy in the water with them because he's great at roughhousing, splashing them, and letting them climb all over him.
We had a little over a four hour drive left to get to our hotel in Oakbrook, a suburb of Chicago, so we drove for a couple hours, stopped at a Chick-fil-a for lunch, and then drove the last couple hours. Owen fell asleep almost right as we started driving after lunch, since he had been awake since his nap at the hotel. We put a movie on for the big kids, but after awhile Aedan asked for his Happy Bear and blankie, and then soon after that was fast asleep in his car seat, even with the movie playing. It was a pretty nice, quiet ride in the car that afternoon, and I was glad that the boys both had good naps.
We got to our hotel just before 4:00 central time, and then we had the job of bringing everything upstairs and getting ourselves situated. We were going to be staying there for four nights, so I like to get all our clothes unpacked into drawers and get the bedrooms set up for the night so that we don't have to rush around and do that right before bed time. Owen thought it was pretty fun to pull himself up on the empty luggage cart.
We made plans to meet my parents, sister, and her kids at Noodles and Company for a quick dinner before heading to the playground to let the kids run around and burn off some energy. It had already been a long day with swimming and driving in the car, but they enjoyed exploring a new playground, climbing, sliding, and having family push them on the swings.
You never know how it might go sleeping in a new place, but this suite that we got was perfect for the needs of our family right now. It was a two bedroom suite, each with it's own bathroom en-suite, connected by a living room area with a kitchenette in the middle. Samantha and Aedan each had their own bed in their room, which works out better than them sharing a bed, for they bother each other a lot less. We put Owen's pack and play up in the living room area, and there was a couch in that room that I could sit on to feed Owen as well. Then, Ben and I still had our own bedroom to hang out in after the kids were in bed, and also a bathroom to use to get ready in the morning. Getting a room like this is pretty expensive, but in order for all of us to sleep well and actually enjoy our trip together, we figure it's worth it for now. In the future, when our kids are older and can stay up later or sleep all together better, we can start getting a more standard hotel room that will definitely be more cost effective.
Since we made the trip all the way to the Chicago area, we wanted to see my family, but we also wanted it to be like a mini-vacation for us as well. Living in the U.P., we are so far away from a major city, and we still want our kids to have experiences in cities and with different people and cultures, so we made plans to go to the Museum of Science and Industry on Friday. My mom didn't work that day, so she met us at the hotel so we could leave a little after 8:30 to drive downtown. Ben sat in the back with Owen to help rock his car seat and help him fall asleep and take a little nap on our way there. We encountered some traffic, since we were driving into Chicago, but it really wasn't too bad. The kids were really excited to start exploring the museum.
We started out going through the circus area on our way back to the submarine and the space area. Samantha and Aedan were really enjoying themselves, and it made me so glad we decided to come spend our day doing this. It was going to be in the 90s that day, so a day inside was definitely a welcome relief for those of us from the north that don't see any days in the 90s.
The U-boat submarine was really interesting, and although we didn't pay extra money to go inside it, the kids thought it was amazing how big it was. Samantha is at a perfect age for doing stuff like this, and she was just soaking it all in. She really enjoys learning about history, and she definitely finds WWII fascinating. She was asking all kinds of questions about the submarine, the battle, and how they got it all the way from the ocean to the museum. She was a little disappointed about not being able to go inside and get a tour of the submarine. I wish we lived closer to something like this because she would love to come without her little brothers so she could spend as much time as she wants learning and exploring about different areas that are interesting to her.
From there, we went across to the space area, where she saw this Lunar Module that astronauts used for practice before actually going into space. With Samantha wanting to work for NASA when she grows up, she really enjoyed exploring this area. Plus, she can actually read some of the signs and information herself now, which was really fun for her. I loved watching her get excited about discovering new information.
While I nursed Owen, the big kids enjoyed the farming section and sitting in this giant John Deere tractor.
Then, it was our turn to go into the Idea Factory, and the kids had a blast in this area. It was all hands-on, exploratory activities, with something for every age range. Aedan's favorite thing was spraying these water guns that made things spin or to push balls along in the water.
They even had a baby area where Owen could crawl around and pull up on things in a safe environment where he wasn't going to get run over or stepped on.
Once again, I just loved watching Samantha explore and learn all on her own. I was just amazed at how independent she was, how diligent she was at figuring things out, and how interested she was in challenging herself with different activities. This girl really does love science, and she is so intelligent. I look at her and see such a big kid. She was truly in her element at this museum. Here she is balancing weights on a scale.
I think they all could have stayed and played in that area for much longer, but it was getting close to lunchtime, and we knew it would be best to stop and get all the kids fed. The lunch area was packed, but Ben and I were able to scope out a table that would fit all of us. Christy and Grandma packed lunches and brought food along for all of us to eat so that we didn't have to pay for lunch at the museum. It was fun to sit and eat together, and it was fun to see Samantha, Aedan, Owen, Brielle, and Oliver interact with each other. We don't get to see each other very often, so time together is precious and special.
They have so many fun exhibits at this museum, one of which is this huge model train area. The kids had a blast walking around the outside, following the train around, and pushing the interactive buttons along the side. I love watching these two together. They are such good friends.
The other exhibit that was really fun for the kids was the baby chicks. They had one area with the eggs and a few that had just recently hatched, and then they had another area with the fluffy, yellow baby chicks. The kids were just mesmerized. You can see them looking through the glass from the other side.
We went into several other exhibits like Extreme Ice where they talked about the effects of the melting glaciers due to climate change, the Science of Storms, and the large plane on the top floor that you could walk into and pretend to sit in seats. The kids had fun pretending like they were flying on a real airplane. Mid-afternoon, once Owen woke up from his nap, I found another place to nurse him, in the back row of the old time silent theater in the area of the museum called Yesterday's Main Street. It was the perfect place to nurse him because it was dark and quiet, with only the noise of the piano music in the background. I was glad that I thought of this spot, and Owen ate pretty well there.
After visiting quite a bit of the museum, it was already getting pretty late in the afternoon, the kids were losing interest in the museum, and we decided to part ways. We got back out to our car and started driving toward Water Tower Place where we planned on visiting the Lego Store and American Girl store. We were going to get some deep dish pizza at Giordano's and then possibly visit Millennium Park, depending on time and how hot it was outside. We wanted to take advantage of our chance to be in downtown Chicago. Aedan was a tired boy from all the busyness of the day. As we drove, Samantha started reading her book, I worked on getting Owen to take a nap in his car seat, and Aedan was struggling to keep his eyes open. We told him that it was okay if he closed his eyes and slept for a little while as we drove across town. He probably got a half an hour or so nap in, and here he is asleep in the car as we quietly woke him up once in the parking garage.
After that we walked a couple blocks away to Giordano's for dinner. The kids had had a long day, but they did a great job listening and being respectful. Deep dish pizza is always yummy, too. However, after dinner it was already getting late, and we still had to drive back to our hotel, so we decided to not push ourselves by going to Millennium Park. We had a fun day in Chicago experiencing some big city things, and the kids had a great time.
Saturday, May 26th we had plans to go to the zoo with my whole family. My parents, as well as the Clemons family, has a membership pass, so we could all basically get in for free. Unfortunately, it was going to be another hot day up in the lower 90s, so we were not looking forward to spending the whole day outside in that heat. Owen fell asleep in the car on the way to the zoo, so I suggested that Ben just stay in the car with him while he slept because he doesn't stay asleep in his car seat like he used to if you take him out of the car. He took a pretty good nap that morning, and Ben didn't miss too much of the zoo.
We tried to do more of the outside animals that morning so that we weren't walking around in the heat of the afternoon as much. We reached this shady spot, and while everyone was in a good mood, I decided it was the perfect time to get our kids together for a cousin picture. Didn't they turn out so well? I love all these kiddos so much, and it was so fun to be able to visit and have these experiences together.
We saw all kinds of animals that morning like camels, giraffes, zebras, painted dogs, a room with bats flying around, and then a whole bear wilderness area with polar bears and grizzly bears. They had the right idea in getting cooled off in the water!
As we ate our picnic lunch we were visited by a goose family with a trail of babies following behind. Samantha wanted to take a picture of them, so here they are.
It was getting pretty hot outside, and everyone was needing a break from being outside in the sun, so we went inside the Play Zoo for quite awhile, letting the kids play and explore, pretend, pet a hedgehog, and enjoy all they had to offer. Aedan really enjoyed spraying plants with a water bottle to water them, and he had the cutest conversation with the lady holding the hedgehog, telling her all about what was on his mind and answering her questions about him and his family. Samantha enjoyed making several different crafts, like a water scene and a turtle shell. Aedan joined in on the craft of making a turtle shell. Here he is posing with his finished product. I took advantage of our time inside to put Owen in the Ergo while we were indoors so he could take a little nap and not get too hot in the baby carrier. I had to walk around for awhile to get him to fall asleep, but he eventually gave up and took a good little nap.
It was getting hot and everyone was tired of walking, so we decided to call it a day and end it on a high note for the kids by letting them run around in the splash pad area in the zoo. We got the kids changed into their bathing suits and let them run around and cool off as our last thing of the day.
Aedan enjoyed running back and forth in the sprinklers, Samantha was running all over the place and standing on the water sprayers, and Owen even got in on the action. We put him down right next to a sprinkler, and he happily sat there batting at it, splashing himself in the face and not caring at all. He loves playing in the water, and he was so happy being able to sit there and splash around. Ben had to keep his eye on him to make sure he didn't get too much water in his mouth. I think this little guy might like water more than either of the other kids at this age. Just as Samantha says in the video, "Isn't he adorable?!"
After playing at the splash pad, we got the kids dried off and changed and then made our way out to our car to drive back to near our hotel for dinner. We ended up eating at Portillo's, another Chicago tradition. Everyone was super hungry from a lot of walking out in the heat that day. According to Ben's phone, we had walked five miles that day, Samantha walking all those miles herself, whereas the younger kids got to ride in strollers for some of the time. Samantha did an excellent job. She never complained once, and she was a great leader and helper with the younger kids. After dinner we went back to the hotel for a little bit of down time, play time, bath time, and then bed time for everyone.
(Blog about May 20-26, 2018)
