Zoo, Jump and Jacks, and Our First Time Bowling

Samantha: 53 Months, Week 4

Aedan: 18 Months, Week 2 (Week 80)

The weather was supposed to be really nice on Tuesday, and even though I don't normally go on long day trips with the kids on Tuesdays because of having community group in the evening, I decided on a whim to take the kids to the zoo for the day. It was just going to be too nice of a day not to go do something outside and there won't be too many more days where we will be able to go to the zoo in nice weather this year.

We have more time to make breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Daddy is usually the breakfast maker, so he made eggs and toast for us on Tuesday morning. Samantha often likes to help put the toast in the toaster and anything else that could be useful, so she sits up on the counter to help out Daddy. However, Aedan also wanted to be included that morning; however, he is too little to sit on the counter without getting into things or falling off, so Daddy put him in his high chair and pulled him up close to the stove so that he could see as well. When I came downstairs from getting ready, I saw them gathered around the stove and just had to take a picture. Ben is so good with the kids and they love spending time with him in the morning before he goes off to work. They love their Daddy, and SO look forward to it when he gets home. He often says that nothing is better than when both of them come running up, shouting "Daddy!" when he comes home from a long day on campus.

After getting everyone ready and making a picnic lunch, we were off to the zoo. As we were pulling into the parking lot and I saw all the cars lined up to pull in from the opposite direction, I knew it was going to be a busy day at the zoo. It was beautiful weather, not to mention that it was Election Day, so a lot of kids were off of school, giving families and excuse to get out together. We decided to go to the train first since I figured the line would get too long as the day went on, and already Aedan isn't a fan of having to wait in line. One train was boarding when we got in line, so we just had to wait for one train cycle. Here is a cute picture of Samantha and Aedan together while waiting for the train. I tried to get Aedan to smile, but he's a hard one to make smile at this age. Samantha, on the other hand, gave me a great smile.

Here are the three of us on the train together. It's always a highlight.

From there we went on the Jungle Trail so that we could see the monkeys. The orangutans and bonobos are some of our favorites, especially the little bonobo babies that cling to their mothers and are very active and fun to watch. After spending a good deal of time in that section, it was time to stop for lunch. We went a different direction than our normal pattern, so we weren't near the cafe area we usually eat at. I attempted to find a couple other places to sit, but they were all full, so we just had to keep walking. Eventually we found a table near the carousel, so I got out our packed lunch. I made peanut butter and jelly, even though I know Samantha is not that big of a fan of it. (Sometimes you have to eat things you aren't that crazy about, right?) Well, I always forget that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches aren't good to bring to the zoo, especially in this eating area, because there are always TONS of bees, and it didn't take them long to find us. Samantha started freaking out and crying, and more and more kept on coming. I knew she wasn't going to eat fast enough to make it work to stay there, so I decided to have us get up and walk, having them just eat as we walked, until we found a better place to sit. I found some benches by the manatee exhibit, so we sat there to finish our lunch. There weren't nearly as many bees here, only one or two that came around occasionally, so we were able to finish the rest of our lunch before going into the manatee area.

It was kind of funny going through the zoo in a different order because usually when we are in the manatee area, it's around nap time and we have Aedan in the stroller because he is tired and is either asleep or will soon be asleep. This time; however, since we had just eaten lunch, he was wide awake and very interested in everything there was to see. Both Samantha and Aedan enjoyed climbing on the platform by the bubble and looking in at the fish. The glass was deceiving Aedan because he kept reaching forward, trying to touch the glass with his hand, but then discovering that he couldn't reach it.  The bubble stuck out further into the water than he thought.

The large fish tank full of blue and silver fish was especially fascinating. Both kids stood staring at these fish for quite some time.

We kept walking around the zoo, intending to go to the insect house, but Samantha mentioned the 4D theater that is across from the carousel. We have never tried the theater out before, and I know we get some passes for free, so I told Samantha I'd go in and check it out. We have 6 free passes, and Aedan doesn't count since he doesn't take up a seat. We got tickets to the movie about polar bears and had about half an hour before the show started. We ended up going to the insect house for a little while, and again, it was fun to see what Aedan thought of this place because he usually is asleep in the stroller and doesn't even get to go in the building. This is one of Samantha's favorite places. She loves looking in each box for the large amount of insects crawling around. She particularly enjoys the ants that travel back and forth in the tubes, some of them carrying leaves back to their home. Aedan thought the insects were pretty fascinating too, even though at home if he sees a bug he will point to it over and over, saying "Mmm..." in a very grumpy sounding voice, until we do something about it, either moving it or killing it. Back when we brought Upland Grandpa and Grandma to the zoo, after visiting the insect house with Samantha, Grandpa mentioned getting Samantha an ant farm for Christmas and for however weird it sounds, I think she would really like it.

We went back to the theater for the 4D show, got our fancy glasses, and found seats for the show. Aedan didn't want to leave the glasses on for very long, but I was able to snap this picture at least. The show lasted for about half an hour and was all about polar bears and their homes both in the Arctic and Antarctica. It was 4D because there was snow and bubbles that came down from the ceiling, water that sprayed in your face, and tickly things that came out from under the chairs. Samantha really liked it, but Aedan got wiggly after about ten minutes. Luckily, I thought ahead and brought his pacifier so at least he wasn't squawking loudly while others were trying to listen.

After the show was over, I told Samantha it was time to go home, so we made our way back to the front of the zoo, used the restroom, and went on our way. Aedan hadn't napped at all at the zoo, so he was super tired and fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. I told Samantha that if she napped in the car, she wouldn't have to nap at home, so she also fell asleep pretty quickly once we got on the highway. In fact, both kids were still sleeping when I pulled into the driveway that afternoon, so instead of pulling into the garage and waking them both up, I just stopped in the driveway, leaving the car idling for awhile to help them both continue their naps as long as possible, especially Samantha. They got another ten minutes in just sitting in the driveway, and I think Samantha would have slept longer if the non-moving car hadn't woken Aedan up and caused him to start fussing and crying. She ended up getting a good forty-five minute nap in, which was good since we had community group that evening. I was able to get Aedan back to sleep in his crib as well, which doesn't always happen when he's been asleep for so long in the car. So, it was a successful day out with the kids. The weather was great, and we had a fun time together.

Wednesday morning is when Bennett gets to come over to play. The boys play really well together and look forward to seeing each other. When I brought Bennett into the house from the garage, Aedan giggled and smiled at his friend being there to play. While the boys play with toys around the house, I try to take advantage of a few minutes here and there to throw some laundry in, stuff the diapers, and change sheets on the beds. I figure when I'm home it's good to get some productive stuff like this done. After awhile we had snack before going outside to play. It was going to be another nice, warm day, so the boys had a great time playing in the sandbox, playing in the house, making baskets in the toddler-sized basketball hoop, and going down the slide. As we were playing outside and Aedan was going down the slide, I noticed that he could finally slide down on his bottom all by himself! In the past he has wanted to just slide down on his tummy face first, or he will want me to help him get one of his feet out from being stuck under his body when he is attempting to sit on his bottom. However, this time, he did it all by himself! I was so excited for him, and my hand was there as a spotter just in case he fell back so that I could stop him from falling and hitting his head on the concrete, but he didn't need me at all. You can see Aedan going down the slide in the video below.

As I said earlier, Wednesday was a beautiful day. In fact, Ben even took one of his classes outside for their lecture and discussion. Ben has late class on Wednesdays, so I usually try to have dinner ready when he gets home. However, I wanted Samantha and Aedan to have a chance to play outside since who knows when we will get weather like this again, so I decided to wait until Ben got home to make dinner since it was just ravioli, which is quick to make. Once Aedan woke up from his nap, we played outside, and it was so nice. The rest of Wednesday nights go quickly because we eat dinner with Ben and then he leaves for his Bible study that begins at 7:00. I usually give the kids baths, put them to bed, and then work on cleaning up the house some or whatever other random tasks need to be taken care of, usually not getting done and finally sitting down until Ben is close to getting home for the evening.

Thursday morning we had fun plans that I knew Samantha would love. My friend Stephanie had a buy one get one free coupon for Jump and Jacks and invited us along. Samantha LOVES Jump and Jacks and always asks to go. She loves climbing and sliding, and this place is great for that. The last time we came was on Aedan's 1st birthday, so he wasn't even really walking. I was looking forward to seeing what Aedan would think of it now that he can get around really well and enjoys climbing pretty well himself. We met Stephanie and Isaac there a little after 9:30 and it was pretty empty. The kids played with the video games projected on the floor for a little while, before the big kids went off on the giant playground. Aedan really found the interactive video games interesting since he was able to easily figure out what he was supposed to do with his feet. He especially liked the games where you pretended to kick the football or soccer ball.

I wasn't exactly sure how adventurous Aedan would be on the playground area since his legs aren't quite long enough to climb up onto some of the platforms, but he did some of it by himself, and I also took him up and around so that he could experience the big balls and the fun, twisty slides. Aedan enjoyed the toddler room for awhile as well, but was much more interested in being out where the big kids were playing. Unfortunately, Samantha didn't seem too interested in trying to play with Isaac for some reason. After a while she found a different boy, Austin, who she started playing with instead. They had a good time climbing around together, even though there were a couple times Samantha was sitting down with a forlorn expression because Austin had told her that he didn't want to play with her, but then would come right back over to her, grab her by the hand, and say, "I want to play with you again." Then, they would run off and play together again. It was a great morning with lots of play, and we got ready to leave about 11:30 so that we could stop at Chick-fil-a before heading back home for nap time. Jump and Jacks is a fun place, and I imagine we will go there a few more times over the winter when it's too cold to be outside and we need to get some energy out.

Thursday was an exciting day for Ben as well because he had a phone interview scheduled for 1:30 with St. Martin's University in Lacey, WA which is Southwest of Tacoma. It isn't at the top of our list; however, it was just exciting that Ben was finally being contacted after applying at so many different places across the country and the world. I hoped that this would encourage him to see that schools are interested in him and that schools are still working on hiring. It's not a done deal that he won't have a tenure track position for next school year. It's also good practice to do phone interviews, even if it doesn't go anywhere from there. After Ben was done with the interview, he said it seemed to go well, but it's always hard to tell in situations like that when you can't see the people face to face. However, the day or so after the interview, Ben's personal website got a lot of hits from people at St. Martin's, so you could tell they were interested in learning more about him as a candidate. So now there's just more waiting. They said that he should hear something within ten days of the interview, so we'll see what happens.

Then, Ben got a chance to meet some college friends, Tim and Cole, in Indy for time to hang out that evening. They hadn't seen each other for awhile, since Cole's wedding, and Tim had flown up from Florida, so it was great that they got to take advantage of this chance. I'm always glad for Ben to have a chance to hang out with good friends. Since we have moved several times in the years since college, it's been hard to really establish good, close friendships, especially for Ben. I'm so glad that he's kept up with these guys and just had an evening to relax and talk, with no work or family obligations taking him away.

The kids and I did fine that evening together, even though it made for a long day of pretty much being by myself with them. We played outside after nap time (even though Samantha ended up not taking one because of the excitement of having Daddy home and then knowing he was leaving). I made pancakes for dinner, just for the fun of it, and then we played inside and read books. I got the kids to bed at a decent time, and then was able to sit and relax, playing Singing in the Rain in the background while I worked on my blog. (Ben got home late that night after I was already in bed asleep.)

On Friday mornings Samantha goes off to preschool, and I have started taking Aedan grocery shopping, rather than spending my morning off on Mondays always going grocery shopping. Aedan likes to ride in the car cart attached to the front of the shopping cart. He will turn the wheels and honk the horn, enjoying the perspective of seeing out by himself. He sometimes gets a little fussy about halfway through, but that is about the time when we stop at the bakery for a free cookie, so that occupies him for the rest of the trip and into the check-out line. After shopping it was back home to unload groceries and play before going back to meet Daddy on campus so that he can have lunch with the kids while I go to Zumba class. Aedan was particularly tired that day, and actually fell asleep in the car with Daddy, but they still had a good time together, and I enjoy the chance to go to my exercise class and see some friends.

With our week speeding by rapidly and with Ben and I being apart so much, we were looking forward to the weekend. Friday night we just hung out around the house, spending time together. I even busted out my guitar for the kids to play with since Andrea has told me how much Aedan likes the guitar at her house. They had fun strumming it together. Here are some pictures and videos that Ben took that night. I don't have too many pictures of the kids and me, so I decided to include a lot of them.

We did not have too many plans at the start of our Saturday. Oxford Pediatrics had a free flu shot clinic offered that morning, and we wanted Samantha to get her flu shot considering how many times she has already gotten sick this fall. Daddy took her for her flu shot while Aedan and I stayed home and played. Aedan really likes this little music player that Samantha has with one of her princess books and will often confiscate it for his own use. He has figured out how to press play and will often hold it up like a boombox next to his ear or he will dance around to the music. I tried to get a video of him dancing, but he stopped when I got my phone out. However, you can see him playing with it. Anyways, it was nice just spending the morning playing at home with just Aedan.

Once Samantha and Daddy got back home, we decided it would be fun to go play outside for awhile. It was a bit chilly, but at least the sun was shining and it was good to get out of the house for awhile. In fact, our neighbor girls from a few houses down came over to play with us for awhile as well.

Ben and I have gone back and forth lately on what to do with Samantha napping. She didn't nap on Thursday, but then took a good nap on Friday. However, then it took her over an hour to calm down and fall asleep that night. We are tired of her being up late at night and are thinking that it's probably because of her nap in the afternoon, even though she only naps for an hour and fifteen minutes. We don't want to be dealing with getting her to sleep at night for over an hour just for an hour and fifteen minute nap in the afternoon. So on Saturday we made the decision to try to go for the next week without her napping and see what difference that makes, if it helps her go to sleep quicker at night and really, in the long run, get better, longer, more solid nighttime sleep. We talked to Samantha about having quiet time in her room instead and what we expected of her up there, for her to play quietly until the alarm went off, but that she couldn't be calling for us or making a lot of noise where she would wake Aedan up. I put Samantha's old clock back in her room and set the alarm for an hour and fifteen minutes later. I was unsure how it would go, but I knew it was something we needed to try, especially since her nighttime sleep has been so impacted lately. Plus, she's almost 4 1/2 now, so it's probably about time for her body to start getting adjusted to not napping in the afternoon.

Unexpectedly, we found out that some friends could give us two tickets to the Miami hockey game that night. Ben and I went back and forth about whether or not we could make it work, whether he and I wanted to go or if he wanted to take Samantha on a date. I had never actually gone to a regular season game, and after having such a busy week, I thought it would be fun to have a date together if we could get a last minute babysitter. I texted a couple girls from OBF who have babysat for us in the past, and Charis responded quickly, saying that she could come over at 7:30 so that Ben and I could head to the game.

For awhile now I have wanted to take Samantha bowling. We pass the bowling alley every day on our way to and from preschool, and Samantha always mentions wanting to go sometime. On Saturday night we decided to eat dinner at Chipotle Uptown before going bowling together. They had a special dinosaur shaped plastic ramp to help kids bowl, and we got bumpers put up as well. Aedan was so excited to see all the bowling balls but was disappointed once he discovered they were all too heavy for him to pick up. He also got frustrated when he had to take turns and couldn't push the ball down the dragon ramp every time himself. We really had a good time though, and Samantha thought it was really fun. She enjoyed pushing the bowling ball as hard as he could and watching it roll all the way down to the pins. Here are some videos and pictures of the kids' first bowling experience.

Bowling held Aedan's interest through about six frames, and then he got tired and wanted to move on to something else, so we let him play with the arcade games back in the corner. Samantha enjoyed being able to bowl more as she took over for Aedan. We only bowled one game, as that was more than enough for the kids, but it was a fun first experience, and a fun family night together. I think if Samantha wants to go again sometime, it would be best to just let her go on her own instead of having to wrangle Aedan again. He is still just a little too young for that kind of thing.

After bowling we went back home and started getting the kids ready for bed so that way they would be all ready for when Charis arrived. Aedan was extremely tired that night, so I actually decided to just put him to bed just before she arrived so that way she wouldn't have to deal with him possibly not going to sleep well for her. Samantha was excited to have someone over at the house, and took Charis right up to her room to play for a little while before going to bed herself since she didn't have a nap that day.

Ben and I then went out on our date to the Miami hockey game. It was nice that the Kidds gave us their tickets for free so it was essentially a free date except for paying for Charis to babysit. We had a good time watching the game together, relaxing, talking, enjoying some coffee and a giant cookie, and watching the Miami Redhawks win 2 to 1. We were home before 11:00, had a refreshing night out together, and were thankful for this chance to reconnect and enjoy time together without kids.

Sunday ended up being another busy day with church and volunteering with the elementary kids during second service. Since Aedan is now 18 months, we moved him up to the toddler room the previous Sunday. He did just fine in the room as he is pretty easygoing and is used to playing in there during community group. However, this Sunday we had to stay for both services, and Aedan did really well during first service, but during in the transition time between services, he started getting upset. He had woken up very early that morning, around 6:00 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep, so he was very tired that morning as a result. Also, I think he saw Ben and me across the hall through the window in the door as we were helping with the elementary kids. We could hear him crying from across the hall, so I had someone from the nursery sneak into the toddler room and tell the helpers to bring him to me if they couldn't get him to calm back down.

Well, a few minutes later, Aedan was brought over to me and calmed down pretty quickly once I got to hold him. (However sad it is that he couldn't stay in the toddler room, I have to admit that it does my Mommy heart well when I can console my child like this, when by just being held in my arms can instantly make him feel better.) I kept him in the elementary room with me as long as I could, until he started becoming a distraction, and then I decided to just take him across the hall to the nursery and hang out with him for the rest of our time at church. However, even though I wasn't planning on leaving him in the nursery, he thought I was going to, so he started crying as soon as I put him down. Once I got him to start playing with me, he stopped crying and realized that I wasn't going to be leaving him. I stayed in the nursery, watched him play, and got to to chat with some of the other workers. They had an extra volunteer in the elementary room, so luckily, I didn't leave them too short-handed. We'll have to see what we need to do in the future on Sundays when we're scheduled to work in the elementary room. Aedan could have had a hard time simply because he was extra tired. We will try it again, and if he has a hard time staying for both services next time, we will have to think about what to do, whether to just go to one service for volunteering and listen to that week's sermon online or maybe have me step out of volunteering for awhile until Aedan is a little older and can handle staying for both services again. Who knows, but I hated to see him so upset that morning. It is so unlike him and many of the teachers and volunteers were surprised to see so many tears coming from a usually happy and easygoing little guy.

After church we had a quick lunch and got the kids down for naps. Aedan had woken Samantha up early that morning when he was crying in his room, so everyone was pretty tired. We wanted to try a week with no naps, but Samantha was just so tired at lunchtime that we didn't think she could handle the rest of the day without her napping. Especially since she was woken up so early that morning, we didn't want her to end up getting sick from being overtired, and decided to have her nap. That afternoon I had plans to meet my friend Beth for coffee, so that was a nice break for me before getting ready for having guests over to our house. That evening we had plans for the Kidds and the McDonalds over for dinner, so Ben and I got busy cleaning up last minute things around the house and getting some food prepared. (Ben lovingly baked an apple pie while I was gone so that we could all enjoy that for dessert. We canned this lovely apple pie filling and hadn't enjoyed any of it yet.) The kids all did really well playing together while the adults tried to talk. It was a good evening with friends, but I have to admit that I was wiped out that night once everyone left. It's times like these that I realize how much of an introvert I really am and how much I need some down time to myself every day or else I feel exhausted and overwhelmed when surrounded by people all day long.

After a busy day Sunday, Monday came with a big disappointment for me. Ben and I have been trying to get pregnant for the last four months, and I had myself convinced that I might be pregnant this month because I was feeling nauseous occasionally and had other signs I thought might mean I had a baby growing inside me. Plus, I was already a few days late according to my normal cycle and I am usually pretty regular, but on Monday morning I discovered that I wasn't pregnant like I had hoped for. The part that made it even more disappointing was that Ben and I had decided this was the last month we were going to try before stopping for a month or two. Our future is so up in the air right now with Ben's future job situation. We may be moving next summer if he gets a job at a different school, possibly even across the country, who knows, so we don't really want me to be expecting a baby to be born around the same time as a possible move. It doesn't mean we are going to stop trying permanently, but just until we know more about what next fall will look like. However, that is disappointing to me because I was so hoping that this would be the month. With Samantha I got pregnant the first month we tried; with Jeremiah, our miscarriage, I got pregnant the first month we tried; and with Aedan I got pregnant our third month of trying. So, I figured something similar would happen this time around and that I would get pregnant fairly quickly. Anyways, I was having a rough day on Monday and through it all was reminded how much I think I am in control of my life when really I am not at all. It's a miracle that conception even happens at all when you think about what has to happen to form a little life. Pregnancy makes me so anxious ever since losing Jeremiah, and I know I desire another baby, if God chooses to bless us with one. However, we will have to put those plans on hold for at least another month or so and then see what God has in store for us.

With the difficult time I was having on Monday, I was so grateful for my scheduled morning off from the kids. I was able to take the car in for an oil change before meeting my friend Maggie for breakfast. Then I got to talk to my sister Christy on the phone before picking Samantha up from preschool. I got the kids fed, put Aedan to bed, and started Samantha on her quiet time, before I was able to get some introverted time again. I decided to sit on the couch and read a book on my Kindle, finishing The Diamond of Darkhold, the last book in the City of Ember book series, recommended to me by my friend Janell. It was a good day of relaxing and resting, making me feel much better by the evening.

That afternoon I got a great video of Aedan running around in the house. I wanted to get this captured because he is just so cute when he runs with his arms flailing around out to his sides. He loves it when you chase him saying, "I'm gonna' get you!" It's a fun game, and I love to see him smile and giggle. After a disappointing morning, I soaked up these precious times to laugh and then precious time to cuddle Aedan to sleep before nap time. In thinking about wanting another baby in the future, I don't want to forget about the two children God has already blessed me with, and they are both pretty great. :)

(Blog about November 3-9, 2015)

Samantha Sick Again & Halloween Festivities

Samantha: 53 Months, Week 3

Aedan: 18 Months, Week 1 (Week 79)

Tuesday is preschool story time at the library, so we decided to go back again since Aedan did so well the week before. They had special Halloween songs and stories, so that made it fun as well. Then, the kids just had a good time playing with the toys in the children's department. Samantha even got to do a monster scavenger hunt around the library to decipher a secret code in order to get a prize. She picked a sucker, and the kind librarians even let Aedan pick one as well so that he wouldn't feel left out. The kids wanted to eat them right away, of course, so I let them sit at the table and enjoy their treat.

We had a good morning together, but once home, Samantha faded fast. She had no appetite for lunch and said she didn't feel good. After lunch she just went and laid in her bed rather than playing, which is totally unlike her. She felt hot as I put her down for her nap, so I checked her temperature. It was 101.9 so I gave her Tylenol and put her to bed, hoping that she would take a nice long nap and feel better when she woke up. Ben and I felt sorry for her getting sick again because this was now the third time she'd gotten sick in the last month or so. It seems like she just keeps coming down with things, and we are afraid that her lack of sleep is lowering her defense to fight things off. She has been having more trouble going to sleep at night lately, staying up for at least an hour past when we put her to bed, on average. We are afraid that she is just not getting enough sleep, but there's nothing we can do to make her sleep. It's hard to know what to do with Samantha's naps sometimes because she really has been doing well napping for quite some time. She is tired by nap time and rarely fights going to sleep. She will nap for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, on average. I'm afraid that if she didn't nap she would be super crabby by dinnertime. Also, there would be no guarantee that by not napping she would go to sleep better at night and then end up getting more sleep overall. It's hard to say, but Ben and I are more and more tempted to try cutting out her nap for a few days to see if that makes any difference in her nighttime sleep. We know it's rare that someone her age is even still napping consistently, so I am grateful for that, but we are getting tired of having to go up to her room almost every night to tell her to be quiet and go to sleep.

That evening was supposed to be Trunk or Treat at OBF; however, it just rained and rained all that afternoon and evening because of the hurricane, so the event ended up being cancelled. I was actually grateful for the night to just rest and be at home together. It's hard with Mondays and Wednesdays being late days with Ben teaching until 5:20 and not getting home until about 5:45, cutting our evenings short. Then on Tuesdays we usually have to rush off to community group shortly after Ben gets home from campus. Plus, Samantha was still not feeling very well, so it was a good night to stay in anyways.

After dinner we decided to carve pumpkins since Halloween was in a few days. We spread out towels on the kitchen floor to help contain the mess. Ben cut off the tops, and we began cleaning out the insides. Aedan was very interested in the pumpkin goop and enjoyed scooping it up with his spoon and playing with it. Samantha is still very sensitive about textures and getting her hands messy, so it was hard for her to really clean out the pumpkins. She kept trying to wipe off her hands every time they got pumpkin goop on them, even though it would just happen again right away. Regardless, we had a fun time cleaning out our pumpkins, getting them ready to carve.

After they were clean, we got out markers so that Samantha could draw the face on the pumpkin and then have Daddy cut out the face using her lines as outlines, making it look how she wanted it. We gave Aedan markers to color with as well because he loves being able to use markers. However, I think he actually enjoys taking the caps on and off more than the act of coloring. Plus, he likes to imitate Samantha in any way possible. If she likes markers, then they must be fun and cool. After awhile Aedan started coloring on the floor, so we had to take the markers away from him. Then, I took his pumpkin and cut out another face so that we'd have two jack o'lanterns.

Here are our finished products. Samantha's pumpkin is on the left and mine is on the right. She had a lot of fun making her face this year, and maybe next year we can let her use the knife by herself to cut the pumpkin.

Samantha continued to not feel well overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. She was still running a fever, and it would shoot right back up as soon as the medicine began to wear off. She showed no other symptoms, just a stuffy nose, so we weren't quite sure what was going on, but we knew it wouldn't be good for her to go to preschool the next day, which also meant that I couldn't take Bennett like I usually do on Wednesdays. Also, Samantha had picture day at preschool on Wednesday, and I hated for her to miss her pictures and miss out on being in the class picture. I called the parks and rec office that morning to talk to Miss Betsy and see if I could still bring Samantha just for pictures and then take her back home. She said that would be fine, so we had breakfast and headed to preschool for pictures at 9:45. It was Samantha's turn as soon as we got there, and then she joined in for the class picture and we were out of there by 10:00. It worked out perfectly, and I'm so glad that Samantha could be a part of it still, especially since all of her other friends were there that day. I was sad that Samantha had to miss another day of preschool, though. Last year Samantha did not get as sick as she has so far this year. In fact, the only days of preschool she missed last year was the week we were gone on vacation in Disney World. This is now Samantha's second day of missing preschool due to sickness. I hope that this just means that she is getting all her sickness out of the way rather than a sign for things to come once winter and all the germs really arrive.

We went back home and just rested at home. I let Samantha watch the rest of Shrek the Third, and we even saw Uncle Timmy's name at the end of the credits. She thought that was pretty interesting to see his name on the screen. 

It's always hard dealing with Aedan when Samantha isn't feeling well because he wants to play with her and wrestle with her just like normal, and he doesn't understand that she doesn't feel like playing with him like that. Samantha could still play, but after about half an hour she would get tired and worn out and have to lay back down again. Again, this is very unlike her, and I was starting to get worried that she might having something more than a cold and a fever. She took a short nap, but she woke up singing, "I don't know if I can wake up yet," to the tune of Happy Days. However, she still was acting very lethargic and mopey, complaining of her throat hurting. I looked in her throat and it looked pretty red with some white spots. Plus, her fever was still super high, so I decided at the last minute to try to get her into the Miami Employee Health Center. I called and they said I could still bring her in, even though we would get there just about when they'd be closing. Even though we rushed out the door as fast as we could, once we got there, we discovered that the nurse practitioner had already left, so it was just a wasted trip.

Ben met us at the health center to take Aedan home, which ended up not being necessary. We debated whether or not to take Samantha to an urgent care clinic down in Ross, just in case there really was something going on for which she could receive antibiotics. We didn't want Samantha to have a rough night of little sleep if she wasn't feeling well. In fact, we were on our way to the clinic when Samantha started singing and acting more like herself in the back seat, so I called Ben and we decided to just wait to take her back the the Miami Health Center first thing the next morning rather than pay to go to an urgent care clinic. Giving her medicine made her more comfortable and brought her fever down, so we figured if we could manage her symptoms for the night, she would be okay. She slept okay that night, waking up a couple times coughing and needing a drink, and one time because she needed to go to the bathroom. When Daddy took her to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he said she felt normal but just a little sweaty, so her fever must have broken during the night.

Even though Samantha's fever was pretty much gone on Thursday morning, she was still pretty congested and didn't look like she felt very well with white skin and glassy eyes, so I decided to keep our 9:30 appointment at the Miami Employee Health Center. The nurse did a rapid strep test that came back negative, but the nurse practitioner checked her mouth, nose, and ears and decided that Samantha had sinusitis and an ear infection in her right ear. They prescribed amoxicillin for her and gave her approval to go to her preschool Halloween party the next day as long as she started her antibiotic that day and her fever didn't come back. So we then went off to Kroger to pick up her medicine and get a few other odds and ends before going back home.

Samantha was a lot more chipper on Thursday, acting more like herself, and was more willing to play with Aedan rather than just lay around all the time. She just was still very congested, and you could tell that she had a hard time breathing well. Again, at nap time, she took a short nap, waking up after only half an hour saying that she took a nap and was awake. I hoped that she would sleep longer considering her sleep the night before was so interrupted. However, she did sleep in until almost 8:00 that morning too, so we can't expect her to sleep too long. We thought about possibly going out to Chipotle for dinner on Thursday night since we missed out on the Uptown trick or treating on Wednesday night due to Samantha feeling sick and having a fever. However, Samantha was still not feeling great on Thursday night, so we decided it would be best just to stay home and let her continue to recover so that way she had a greater chance of feeling well enough to go to preschool on Friday morning. In some ways, Samantha getting sick was a blessing to me because it forced us to stay home and relax for most of the week. Our evenings together at home were much more fun, just spending quality time together, rather than rushing out to do this or that. I need to keep this in mind more, that we don't always have to be going out and doing things, but sometimes just need to rest and rejuvenate at home together. Samantha decided she wanted to play the fishing game, so here is a picture and video of the kids playing together. :)

We were so glad that Samantha was on antibiotics, that her fever was gone, and that she was starting to act more like herself. Unless her fever came back overnight or the next morning, we were going to let her go to her preschool Halloween party. She slept better that night but was still really congested. Ben and I enjoyed listening to her breathe and snore loudly that evening as we graded his tests together. I just had to make a recording of her monitor because the breathing was so cute and endearing.

Friday was a busy, busy day. Samantha had her Halloween party at preschool, so she was super excited to dress up as Wonder Woman. She was starting to feel better, but she was still a little bit lethargic and pretty congested. Here she is at preschool that morning. She was too busy looking around at all her friends dressed up to look at the camera for a picture.

Since I couldn't watch Bennett on Wednesday due to Samantha being sick, I offered to take him on Friday instead. I was invited to a Halloween party by a local mom, so I planned on taking both Aedan and Bennett, but didn't know at the time that I was being a little ambitious in taking both boys to this party. The party didn't start until 10:00, so we had about 45 minutes to kill before heading over there, which was not enough time to go all the way back home, so I decided to take the boys to the library to play for a little while first. Then we headed off to the party and went down to the basement where all the toys and snacks were. There weren't too many people there at first, but as time went on, more and more people came. It got pretty crowded in the basement with all the kids playing and running around. It was hard for me to even keep track of where each boy was at all times. Then, once the snacks were gotten into, there were plates with snacks all over the room and snacks all over the floor. Both boys were just eating food off the floor and off of other plates. I tried to stop them, but it was just impossible to do all the time. I was able to talk to some moms while we were there, but it was hard while I was trying to wrangle each boy. My plan was to stay until about 11:40 and then head over to the preschool. However, by about 11:15, both boys were just losing it. They were crying very easily about any little thing, and I think they were getting overwhelmed by all the toys and people everywhere. So I decided the best thing would be to just leave early. We got to the TRI about 20 minutes early, but the preschoolers were actually not playing on the playground, so I just let the boys play until it was time to go in and get Samantha and Matteo. It was a good experience to accept the invitation, but it was a little overwhelming taking care of two boys so close in age that needed so much of my undivided attention.

Aedan's favorite toys to play with at the party were this little vacuum that he pushed around for quite awhile as well as a light saber that lit up with many different colors. I seriously think we will have to get him some pretend cleaning instruments for Christmas, like a pretend vacuum, broom, and things like that. He just loves things like this that he can push around.

After picking up Samantha from preschool, our busy day wasn't even over yet because Aedan had his 18 month check-up at 1:15 with Dr. Buerk. We went back to campus to eat lunch with Daddy so that he could come to the appointment with us and help me handle both kids while also being able to actually talk to the doctor, ask her questions, and hear what she had to say. Samantha did a pretty good job sitting quietly while we talked to the doctor. She was tired from a full morning at preschool and still being under the weather, so that helped with her behavior.

The first thing they do is check weight and height. Aedan was 26 pounds, 11 ounces and int he 82nd percentile. He was 33.5 inches long and in the 85th percentile. His head circumference was 19.25 inches and in the 89th percentile. It's funny because I noticed that a year ago, when he was 6 months old, he weighed 22.5 pounds. It's so funny how babies, especially breastfed babies, plump up really quickly, and then they level off, grow longer and leaner, and lose a lot of their baby rolls. We had a few questions about how Aedan chews his food and then spits it back out, sometimes even eating the regurgitated food again. However, she said that was not anything to be concerned about, but just that he's exploring his food and its texture. She said some kids will eat things like dirt and then not eat food, and that's when it becomes an issue. We also asked about pacifier usage, which she recommended that it's easiest to get rid of pacifiers before a child turns two. However, she said that it really isn't a problem that he just uses it when he sleeps, and that it's teaching him how to self-soothe. She liked our idea of putting it away in the helmet after his pacifier time is over, knowing that that is where it is kept during the day. She discussed some about dealing with temper tantrums and about the best way to read books to him at this age. We asked about his verbal development and she said that they should know 10 words by 18 months and 50 by 2 years. These words can just be even consonant sounds that he strings together when he is talking about something in particular, and he uses the same sounds whenever he talks about it. Ben and I were trying to count how many words he says, so here is our list we can think of so far: mama, dada, uh oh, yes, no, Mantha (Samantha), nigh nigh (night night), da duh (all done), yah yah (meow), dug dug (dog), dah (ball), suks (socks), shh (shoes), tsh (teeth), puh-puh  (poo-poo), lella (Ella, our neighbor), ck, ck (yuck), tash (trash), is dis (What is this?), ai yai yai, dat (that), and ah, Ah! (for when he wants to go outside). I'm sure there are more that I can't think of right now, but most of the time he can communicate with us pretty well and we can tell what he wants. He also knows the signs for more, please, I'm sorry, and thank you.

Now, back to the appointment. Aedan was a little monster in the room, walking back and forth, getting into everything, tearing the paper off that they use to cover the exam table, crinkling it up, and then throwing it in the trash can. Aedan got two shots, one being a flu shot, and he cried but it didn't take him long to get over it. On our way out of the office, Dr. Buerk commented on how lovely our family was and how much she enjoyed watching our interactions with one another, each of us doing a job to help the family out, taking care of Aedan, and interacting with the doctor. She was also very impressed with how well Samantha did with Aedan, how she talked to him, and how she watched out for him. I think it's pretty special when others see traits in our family that are the very traits we are trying to instill.

After dropping Daddy off and getting the kids in bed for nap time, I was finally able to relax and take a break. We decided to go out to dinner that night since we hadn't been able to all week due to Samantha's sickness. Our plan was to go to Chipotle, but when we got there, the line was the longest we've ever seen it before. There was no way we were going to wait in that line, so we walked down to Fiesta Charra instead. Really, the kids like that restaurant just as much, if not more, because they get more food: a large portion of rice and refried beans as well as two quesadillas each. Our kids LOVE Mexican food, and they devoured it that night. They could probably eat rice and beans every night, for it's one of their favorites. We got Aedan his own kid's meal, and it's a good thing because he ate almost the whole thing except for a little bit of the edge of a quesadilla. We had a fun dinner out together as a family, and Ben even commented afterwards that it really felt relaxing because we used going out as a special treat, rather than just an excuse when we are feeling lazy and don't want to cook. We were looking forward to it for awhile, and that made it really special. Our attempts to save money and cut back on the number of times we eat out has really been working, and we enjoy the time we do eat out all the more. Here are some pictures of the kids looking in a store window Uptown after dinner that evening.

Saturday was Halloween and we had plans to go trick-or-treating that night, so our morning was spent just relaxing at home. We woke up with the kids, took our time getting ready, and just enjoyed our time together. The kids got to play their favorite game with Daddy which is affectionately known as "the ball game." We have just recently started putting the gate across the top of the stairs when we play so that way we don't have to worry about Aedan accidentally toppling over and tumbling down the stairs. They love sending the balls down on the railing as well. I love the joy and the giggles they get out of a simple family game like this. :)

This next video may be one of my all time favorites. You can see that Daddy accidentally hits Aedan in the head with a ball when he is throwing it back up. Aedan realizes that it kind of hurt, so he drops his ball and rubs his head a bit. Samantha sees that he has an owie so she runs up to give him a kiss where he is rubbing. After that simple kiss from his big sister, all is well in the world, and he goes right back on to playing. She is so sweet and sensitive with him (most of the time), and it just melts my heart to see their affection for one another.

After getting the kids dressed, I decided it would be fun for them to paint for a little while. I carried the easel out into the kitchen so that any spills would be easy to clean up. I put paper on both sides so that both Samantha and Aedan could paint at the same time. Aedan mostly did down strokes all in the same place on the paper. However, he had a great time being a part of the painting, and I love how he continues to use his left hand for everything except throwing a ball!

Samantha is much more particular about her art, and she loves to draw people these days. This is a portrait of our family: Aedan, Samantha, Mommy, and Daddy, from left to right. Roscoe is the thing with lots of legs at the bottom, and the blue at the top is the sky. It was a fun little activity for them to do together. I definitely need to let Aedan participate in things like this more often now that he is getting older and is more cooperative.

After lunch, Daddy was trying to tighten up a chair leg on Samantha's chair and both kids had to get involved as well. They love to pile up on Daddy. :)

We got the kids down for naps a little earlier that afternoon so that they could get a good nap in before going to some Halloween festivities. There was some trick-or-treating at the Armstrong Center on campus with various student organizations and tables with activities and candy to pass out. It was hard to get good pictures of Samantha and Aedan together because they were too busy walking around and trying to eat some of their candy. However, their Wonder Woman and Superman costumes went over well, and I think it was a good choice that we got them matching themed costumes this year. They are quite a pair.

One of Aedan's favorite activities was the corn hole game. It was hard for him to want to take turns as he just wanted to throw the bean bags in over and over again.

We even met up with our friends, the Kidd Family, and Samantha enjoyed playing with Daniel for awhile.

Samantha even got a chance to dance with her Daddy before it was time to head out.

We then went over to the Chagdes' house for dinner before trick-or-treating. As we were getting the kids dressed and ready, they even got the chance to hand out some candy to kids that came by the house. Last year on Halloween no one came by our own house since we are too far out in the country with not many kids around us, so we decided it would be a lot more fun for Samantha to go to a neighborhood with a friend and go door-to-door. We planned on just going to the trick-or-treating Uptown on Wednesday, but since that didn't work out, we wanted to make sure we got another time to go. Samantha had a lot of fun walking around the neighborhood with Isaac, holding his hands, jumping in the leaves, and collecting lots of good candy. Aedan wasn't so sure about the whole trick-or-treating thing because he didn't understand that he couldn't eat every piece of candy that he was given right away. We gave him some to eat, but we didn't want him to eat too much and feel sick. Towards the end of our time out, it was getting dark and Aedan was getting extremely fussy. Nothing was making him happy, whether he was walking on his own, riding in the stroller, or eating candy. We think he must have been feeling this way due to his shots on Friday afternoon because it was just so unlike him to cry so much. However, despite that, we had a fun night with friends and have enough candy to last us for quite a while now.

On Saturday night Daylight Savings Time ended, which to non-parents means an extra hour of sleep. Ben and I weren't counting on it, we just expected our kids to wake up at 6:30 rather than 7:30. However, we must have tired them out on Saturday night, as they slept in that morning, actually giving Ben and me and extra hour of sleep. Yay! Then, it was off to church. We were up and ready, so we went to first service, giving us more time to play at home before lunch. Here is a video and some cute pictures that Ben took of Aedan that afternoon. The video is of Aedan reading a book, babbling and turning the pages like he is actually trying to read. He loves to look at books and have books read to him. Before we put him to bed at night, he will always pick out a book for us to read to him, and he has a few favorites like Mr. Paint Pig's ABCs, Five Tumbling Tigers, and now the Baby Animals book. 

After church on Sunday we were invited to dinner at the Kidd's house that night, so we went over at 5:00 so that the kids could play outside in their backyard before it got dark. Then, we enjoyed some yummy chili, good conversation, and our kids got to play together inside. It was so nice of them to invite us over, and we will definitely have to have them over to our house next time. Samantha and Daniel really enjoy playing together, and Olivia is warming up to us as we are around her more and more.

We had such a nice weekend together with lots of family time, which is great for my soul. Ben has been doing a wonderful job of giving us his time on the weekends, even though he always has work to be doing, and I really appreciate it. I look forward to every weekend.

Monday was a pretty normal day of Samantha going off to preschool and Aedan going with Andrea to play with Bennett. It seems like everybody was finally well again, and I looked forward to having a normal week with our usual routine. I was able to go grocery shopping and finish cleaning the house that morning, which is not the most exciting thing to do with my free morning, but it is a lot easier to do when I am by myself. Then that evening, once Daddy got home from campus and we had our homemade pizza for dinner, we started seeing the real results of daylight savings time ending. It was dark by the time dinner was over, meaning that we couldn't go out and play like we usually do. :( We may have to start eating dinner a little later in the evening so that the kids can have a chance to get out and play before dinner, while the weather is still decent. Even though we couldn't get out, we still had fun playing the ball game inside. This will probably become a nightly ritual once the weather gets colder.

As we were getting the kids ready for bed that night, Daddy was tickling Aedan while he was changing his diaper, and I just had to take a video of it. He has the most infectious laugh, one that you can't help but smile and laugh along with.

(Blog about October 27-November 2, 2015)