A Week of Birthday Celebrations

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 49 Months, Week 1
Owen: 7 Months, Week 3 (Week 33)

On Sunday, April 29th, our little man turned 4 years old! We had his party with his friends on Saturday evening, but we had more plans to celebrate his birthday that day. One of our plans was to give him his present of a new "big boy" bed. For the last month or so, he had been complaining about being too long for this little toddler bed, which was definitely true. He had gotten taller and could touch the bottom of the bed when he lays down. When Samantha turned 4 we gave her a twin size bed, so we figured we would follow suit with Aedan. We bought his mattress a couple weeks ago, had an old bed frame from Ben's parents, and we bought him a new bed set for his new bed. Here is Aedan that morning when he woke up, sitting in his little bed for the last time. :)

Since we typically go to the second service at church so Owen can get a morning nap in at home, we took advantage of our time at home and while Owen was napping to take down his little bed and put up his big boy bed. Luckily, because of the changing table attached to the bed, the two beds took up pretty much the same space in his room, meaning we didn't have to do any major rearranging. Here is his completed bed, just waiting for the new bedding set that we got for him that we would let him open once we got home from church.

Even though we got back from church after noon and had to have lunch and needed to get kids down for naps, Aedan was just too excited to wait to open his presents from us. We decided we didn't want to give him our presents at his party with his friends because he was going to get enough then. The first present he opened was a game called "I Can Do That!" where you can do actions like a super hero. I figured this was his kind of game where he could get up and move. He was excited to get it out and play it sometime.

The next present he opened was from the Clemons family. They got him an extra sheet set for his new bed that has pictures of super heroes all over it. I'm not sure he quite understood what it was then, but later he kept asking when I was going to put his super hero sheets on his bed.

This next present was also from Mommy and Daddy and had his PJ Masks sheet set in it, as well as a small package of the super hero Lego people. He didn't care much about the sheets in comparison to the super hero Legos. He has really enjoyed the super hero Lego show on Netflix, and he liked playing with the Super-Man and Batman that he got last year for his birthday, so I figured he would like a set of a whole bunch of figures to play with.

Then, he opened up his box with the comforter for his PJ Masks bed set. I had everything all washed and ready to go on his bed for nap time that day. He asked for PJ Masks bedding, and we delivered, but he was definitely much more excited about his toys, which makes sense for a 4 year old.

Shortly after that I got his bed all made and then had Aedan come down to the room to see what it looked like. He was really excited to look at the vehicles on his sheets and to try laying under the covers.

For how small he looked in his toddler bed, he now looks so big in this big bed. It will take awhile to get used to seeing him in this bed, but he is definitely ready for it. Isn't he a cute kid?

Even though Aedan was pretty excited about being able to play with his new toys, we finally convinced him to take a nap that day. He was a little wound up from all the birthday fun, and he definitely needed a rest. However, he must have slept too soundly or something because when he woke up and I went into his room to get him, he had peed in his bed, getting all his new sheets and blanket wet. I was pretty frustrated by this because he always wears underwear at nap time and never wets the bed. Luckily, I had purchased a waterproof mattress pad that I put on his bed right away. We got to it fast enough that none of it soaked through to his new mattress.

However, after that I made sure to show Aedan how his monitor worked. I always have his monitor on when he is sleeping at nap time or bed time, in case he needs something or needs to go to the bathroom, but I think sometimes he forgets that he can actually use it to talk to us. I had Aedan sit out in the living room by his monitor, and I went in his room and talked, saying, "I need to go potty!" Aedan thought it was pretty interesting to hear me talking through the monitor, and I think he finally understood what he can do if he needs to go potty while he is in his bed. We put a pull-up on him at nighttime still, and for a long time he kept it dry every night. However, probably for the last couple months now, he has been peeing in his pull-up pretty much every night. We remind him that he can always tell us if he needs to go, but he never does; so that afternoon I decided to put a chart up on the refrigerator for Aedan to earn stickers for keeping his pull-up dry. Then, after four times of staying dry, he can earn a reward like going to Dairy Queen for ice cream. I know it's not too big of a deal for him to still be wearing pull-ups at night, but I just find it strange that he stayed dry for so long, but not anymore. I would like for him to be able to sleep in underwear, but we have to help him get better at staying dry or telling us when he has to go. Maybe doing an incentive chart like that will help give him some motivation to do that. In fact, I also made a chart for Samantha, because we have been trying to encourage her to only get up once to go to the bathroom at night. Sometimes she will get up two or three times a night, which is definitely not necessary and probably is a big factor as to why she is often tired, because her sleep is so disrupted. So we will see if a reward chart will work for her as well.

Ben had a dinner on campus that evening, so the kids and I were on our own for the evening. We had tons of pizza leftover from Aedan's party that I was just going to heat up for dinner, so since I didn't have to make dinner, we had some time before dinner to play. It was finally getting nice outside, so we decided to go out for a bike ride. Aedan wasn't in the mood to ride all the way to campus and back, so we decided to just go around the corner to the parking lot by the Lutheran church. It was a nice, open, safe area for them to ride, and they have a pretty big hill that was a lot of fun to ride down. It was fun to see the kids active and having fun, getting used to riding bikes again, and enjoying the warm sunshine.

Owen enjoyed sitting in the stroller watching his siblings ride up and down the hill, while chewing on his ring toy, of course. I love these pictures. He's so cute, and I even got him to look right at the camera for me. Do you see his blue eyes? It looks like we have one kid that has the same eye color as Ben. :)

After giving Owen his baby food, we usually give him toys to play with while the rest of us finish eating. Well, this evening he discovered that it's a lot of fun to throw his toys off the side of his tray on to the floor.  He was loving the attention he was getting from Samantha and Aedan, as you can tell by how much he is looking at them and smiling. Owen definitely thought this was a fun game and loved the laughs he was getting. I love my three kiddos, and I love how much fun they have together.

Since we ordered our new couches on Saturday morning, I decided to take pictures of our old couches to post on the Facebook sales group in our area, listing them for $40. We would have had to pay $25 for the furniture place to take them and dispose of them, so we figured if someone else could use them, that would save something being thrown in the landfill. It was amazing how many people were interested in the couches. I was getting messages for days of people that were interested. However, I was definitely glad to finally say good-bye to these forty year old couches.

Monday morning Aedan had his 4 year check-up at 9:30, so we didn't do our normal routine of grocery shopping. Aedan always does a good job at the doctor. We weren't sure if he was going to get any shots or not, but the doctor suggested that if he got his shots now, he wouldn't have to get any more until he was 11. We decided that sounded like a good plan. Last year Aedan was very afraid to get his shots and wouldn't even let me pull his pants down so the nurse could reach his thighs for the shots. This time, he was much more compliant though. The doctor checked the spots where Aedan had his rash on his legs and was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty much all gone. She did comment that he had some dry skin patches that were mild eczema and encouraged us to use Aveeno body wash and lotion for eczema to help with his dry skin. After getting all checked out and getting a clean bill of health, other than a crusty nose from his cold, we waited for the nurses to come in for the shots. We talked about being brave and how Owen didn't cry when he got his flu booster shot the last time we came to the doctor. He got one shot in each leg, and he did cry a little bit afterwards, but he calmed down pretty quickly after I hugged him for a little while.

Aedan fell asleep quickly that afternoon, maybe because of the immunizations he got that morning, I don't know. I went back into his room to check on him, and this is what I saw. He fell asleep all curled up at the top of his bed with feet up on the wall, and Happy Bear tucked up against his face. I couldn't help but smile when I saw him. He has this whole big bed to stretch out in now, but he still slept all scrunched up at the top. It will probably take awhile for him to get used to sleeping in such a big bed and having so much more space. I love this sweet little boy so much.

We are enjoying much more outside time now that the snow is finally almost all gone. Our back yard is pretty muddy still, but wearing rain boots solves that problem. On Monday after Samantha got home from school, we went outside in the back yard for awhile, and we even brought Owen out with us to let him try out the baby swing. He wasn't exactly sure what to think about it, but I think it was mostly because of the sun shining in his eyes. Samantha always does such a good job playing and interacting with Owen. He loves her silly voice and faces.

Tuesday, May 1 was Ben's birthday, so the boys and I had to run a few errands around town to get ready. Luckily, Owen took a pretty good nap in his car seat while we were out. One thing we had to do was get Daddy presents for his birthday. Aedan wanted to buy him a coffee mug and coffee, and Samantha wanted me to pick out some new socks for him. Both boys did a great job for me that morning, as we were out and about quite a bit together. Here they are riding on Sandy together after we picked out presents. Aedan has been enjoying having Owen around a lot more lately. He doesn't mind sharing his seat with him and holding on to him from behind. He's coming into his responsibility of being a big brother.

That afternoon after getting the boys down for their naps, I finished icing and decorating Ben's birthday cake. He always wants ice cream cake, so I made him a chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream in the middle as well as homemade buttercream icing that I dyed blue and decorated.

Normally we have small group on Tuesday nights, but I lined up a babysitter for our kids so that I could take Ben out to eat for his birthday. We don't get out very often, and our neighbor girl is learning how to babysit and wanted to practice on our kids sometime, so she offered to come over with her mom while we went out to dinner. Since we had plans to eat out, we decided to have Daddy open his presents before dinner. Birthdays aren't quite as exciting as you get older, but he enjoyed seeing the things that Aedan picked out. My present to him is coming in a month we we go see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field when we visit Chicago.

Even though no one had eaten dinner yet, we sang Happy Birthday to Daddy and each had a small piece of cake to celebrate. I love how enthusiastic the kids are to sing to their daddy. 

For dinner that night we went over to Canada to the Mill restaurant. I had heard good things about it, and I know Ben enjoys a good steak. Getting over there was a breeze, and the restaurant was really nice. We got a lot of food, and it was served slowly, giving Ben and I lots of time to talk together, thinking back on the past year and looking forward to the year to come. We left so that we wouldn't get back too much after 7:30, but for some reason the U.S. side only had one lane open through customs, and then we were stuck not moving for more than fifteen minutes. I think it took us 45 minutes to cross back over that evening, and we felt really bad because it was well past bedtime for the kids, and I knew that Owen would really start to get grumpy if he wasn't fed and put to bed. We were glad to get out for a couple hours though, and to have the opportunity to have good conversation and a nice meal.

This was finals week for Ben, and we were so glad to see the semester coming to an end. It has been a busy one for him with teaching three new classes and all the prep work that entails. On Wednesday morning he had a final at 7:30 in the morning, so I was on my own for getting the kids up, dressed, fed, and Samantha off to school. Samantha had a rough morning that day. Her hair was super tangly and she freaked out and hyperventilated as I was brushing it. I tried to get her to calm down and breathe, but nothing seemed to work. Then, she started talking about how she was stupid and hated her hair. She has been doing this a lot lately, where she gets upset and knows she is doing something wrong, so she starts calling herself stupid, saying she's bad, and sometimes even saying she doesn't like herself. This kind of talk just breaks my heart. I have never had the greatest self-esteem either, but I don't want that for Samantha. I never want her to think she is stupid or bad. I want her to feel loved and special, even if she is making wrong decisions, and know that that doesn't change what we think about her. However, she must have just been really tired that morning after being up late the night before while we were out to dinner, because no matter what I did to try to cheer her off, she just could not stop crying. I felt so bad sending her off to school having her be upset, and I thought about trying to go to school to eat lunch with her that day, but it just didn't work with Ben's schedule for me to get away.

After dropping Samantha off at school, I got a few more things done around the house, finished getting ready, and the boys and I went off to the library. Even though there was no story time (which I didn't realize until we got there), Aedan still had fun playing, doing puzzles, and picking out a movie to check out. I got Owen to take a little nap in the Ergo, so that made our morning better as well.

And here's a little clip of Owen crawling around after lunch that day. This is how Owen gets around now. No more army crawling, for he can full out craw``l now. He loves to crawl toward you making this "monster" noise, like he is coming to get you. It's so fun to watch him grow, change, and learn. This boy is on the move!

That afternoon both boys took really good naps for me, which I am always grateful for. And you know something else amazing? As of that Wednesday, Owen had gone four days in a row with taking at least a two hour nap in the afternoon and not requiring me to go down and get him back to sleep. Sometimes he will make a little noise in the middle of his nap, but he will go back to sleep on his own. It has been SO nice to have my afternoon time back again to get stuff done around the house, to work on my blog, or even to just put my feet up and relax with a cup of coffee. I was so hopeful that we were finally turning a page with his sleeping, and that maybe he will start to be more consistent for me.

Ever since Aedan got his new Lego Batman boat for his birthday, he could not wait for us to help him put it together. However, we didn't really have time to put it together until Wednesday night. Since we don't have AWANA anymore, our Wednesday evenings are more free now. Ben hurt his foot somehow a couple days ago, and it was pretty painful for him to walk around on it. In fact, he actually went to the doctor on Tuesday morning to get an x-ray done of it. They didn't see anything in the x-ray, saying that it must just be a bad sprain and told him to ice it and keep it elevated. So since he had to keep his foot up, it was a good a time as any to help Aedan build his Batman boat.

Izzy has always enjoyed playing outside, even in the snow, but she was very excited about the snow being gone and the weather warming up so she could get even more play time in. That evening I saw her running around the yard like a maniac, throwing a ball around that she found. She loves to play, and I'm so glad we have this back yard for her to play in.

Thursday was a big day in our house because we were selling our old couches and having our new couches delivered. Here is Aedan posing with our old couches as the new couches were delivered.

And here is our new sectional. It looked so different in our living room, and I know it will take some getting used to, but we are really excited about having new couches that are more comfortable. No more slipcovers to mess around with! No more cushions that constantly fall off, and no more sagging seats!

Now that Owen is crawling, nothing is safe anymore, and he's exploring everywhere he can get to. Do you see how he's pushing up on this arms and legs, almost like he's trying to stand? This kid needs to slow down! He has moved so quickly from rolling, to army crawling, to full crawling, to now going up on all fours. This boy is much more advanced in his large motor, physical skills than either of his brother and sister were at 7 1/2 months.

Friday morning Izzy had a grooming appointment at 9:00, and it was kind of a rainy day, so we just spent most of the day playing at home and getting things done around the house. I had some cleaning I wanted to do before my parents arrived that evening. Aedan was enjoying his new big bed, and here is sitting in it looking at a book. I think we have a similar picture of Samantha sitting in her bed reading after she got her new bed.

We also took some time to rearrange Aedan's room on Friday morning so we could fit the table in there for him to play Legos on. He is always bringing his Legos in the living room and then dropping them on the floor or losing pieces; so I thought maybe if he had a table in his room to play on, he would be more likely to play in his room with them. Especially with Owen starting to move around, we are now trying to establish a "no toys with little pieces in the living room" rule. So here's what his room looked like after we rearranged it. We got rid of the glider chair and lamp, pushed the cube shelf back against the wall, and put the little table by the window, still giving him plenty of room to play on the floor as well. Now if we can only get him to use the cubes and shelves to store his toys and actually remember where he keeps them.

After having so many good days in a row of napping for Owen, Thursday and Friday were back to his old ways of waking up screaming after 45 minutes. I was just feeling done with his unpredictable nature and how hard it is to get him to sleep sometimes. I was trying to get things done around the house before my parents arrived, but instead I was spending the majority of the afternoon trying to get Owen to sleep and then back to sleep. I tried to put Owen down for his nap in a sleep sack where his hands were out, just to see if it would work, but it did not work. He just wiggled and pulled on my clothes and hair while I tried to nurse him, just like he does other times during the day, like he didn't think it was time to go to sleep yet. I ended up putting him back in the Zipadee-zip and he calmed right back down, ate a little more, and then fell right asleep; so apparently he isn't ready to give them up yet. I was hoping to transition him to the sleep sacks, but it seems to still be hard for him to calm down when his hands are out.

Ben had another event on campus that evening that he had to be dressed in his regalia for, and my parents arrived just before dinner time. It was a bit of a hectic evening with getting ready myself and getting the kids fed before Ben got back home. We had plans to go out to dinner with some friends before the Married Person event at our church, but Ben ended up getting back too late for us to meet up with them. We still grabbed something quick to eat before heading to the church. The event had a Star Wars theme to it since it was May 4th, and we talked about technology in marriage. It was a fun event, and it was nice to be able to go out with Ben while our kids were watched and put to bed by my parents. I was pretty tired and felt kind of old not being able to be out later like that without feeling sleepy. I was also a little worried about how it would go with my mom putting Owen to bed, simply because he is so finicky about sleeping sometimes. However, she texted me after getting him to bed so that I knew not to worry about her having a hard time with him. He did end up waking up wanting to eat shortly after we went to go to bed, but then he stayed asleep until close to 5:00, nursed and then went back to sleep until 7:00, so I was glad to have some good sleep that night.

Saturday, May 5th was LSSU's graduation. Ben had to go to it, of course, but Samantha and Aedan were glad to have Grandpa and Grandma there to visit. Here is Ben all ready for graduation, year two. He wasn't too excited about going, but it is just part of his job.

Our plan was to go to a Super Hero Activity Day at the local high school that morning once Owen woke up from his morning nap. I figured it would be a fun, free activity for the kids to participate in. However, Owen ended up taking a really long morning nap. He had already been asleep for an hour and a half when I decided to wake him up about 10:40 so that we would still have time to go do the activities.

There were people dressed up as various super heroes that Aedan wanted to get his picture taken with, like Batman and Super Woman.

They had an obstacle course, photo booth, games, bounce house, snacks, and face painting. Aedan got his face painted like Gecko from PJ Masks, and Samantha got hers painted like a spider web. They were proud to show off their faces.

Since we got there later, we stayed until 1:00 when it was over. We stopped at Wendy's for a quick lunch before heading back home to get the boys down for naps. However, before we washed off Aedan's face paint, he wanted to dress up and pretend to be Gecko, so I let him do that for a few minutes. Isn't he cute?!

After nap time that day, we decided to let the kids open their birthday presents that Grandpa and Grandma brought along from themselves, Uncle Matt, and even Aunt Christy and family. The first present Aedan opened was from Uncle Matt, and it was Bumblebee the Transformer. He had been asking for this for a long time and was excited to get it out and play with it and his other Transformers.

Then from Grandpa and Grandma, Aedan got Catboy and the Catcar.

Then Samantha opened up her new bed set from Aunt Christy and family. She was really excited about this for her bed because she has said that she doesn't really like princesses anymore, so she didn't need a Frozen bed set anymore. Samantha said she wanted purple and butterflies, so Aunt Christy picked out something that matched just that.

Aedan also got the Owlette and with Owl Glider.

Samantha then opened a do-it-yourself Solar System building kit from Grandpa and Grandma that she was really excited about hanging in her room. 

To round out the trio, Aedan also got the Gecko-mobile and Gecko.

Don't you love how he sticks his tongue out as he opens the present?

The next present Samantha got from Grandpa and Grandma was a Smart Circuit board where she could learn how to program and make things using circuits. She didn't quite understand what it was, but she was interested, and this present is another thing to help her with her dream of becoming an engineer for NASA some day. It will be fun to get this stuff out and explore and create with her this summer when she's not in school anymore. I love that we can give her presents that are also learning and teaching tools.

Aedan's final present was all the little figurines from PJ Masks. He is friends with a little boy who had these at McDonald's one day, and Aedan talked about wanting them for quite some time after that. So when people asked for present ideas for Aedan, this came to my mind right away. He couldn't wait to get them out and play with them. There were plenty of figurines for Aedan and Samantha to play with them together, too.

It has been really nice for Christy and I to be having kids close to the same time because we are able to swap clothes and baby items back and forth. One thing she sent for me to use is this little baby bath seat. Owen was getting much too big for his baby bath, but he isn't a strong enough sitter to just be in the bath tub unsupported. We never used a seat like this for Samantha or Aedan, but since Christy had one and was willing to let me borrow it, I figured it would be really nice for bath time. And now, since Owen's bath tub doesn't take up so much room, Aedan and Owen can take baths together and play together, just like Samantha and Aedan did when he was a baby. Here is a picture of the boys in the bath tub together, followed by a video of Owen enjoying his new bath seat for the first time. He loved sitting in deeper water, getting his hands in the water, and splashing around. He didn't seem to mind getting water and bubbles splashed up into his face. These boys are cute together. :)

(Blog about April 29-May 5, 2018)

AWANA Awards Night, Fun Activities with the Kids, and Aedan's 4th Birthday Party

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 48 Months, Week 4
Owen: 7 Months, Week 2 (Week 32)

It is slowly starting to warm up in the U.P., and Sunday was going to be a beautiful sunny day.  This is what our front yard looked like that morning, and we were super excited to see the snow finally starting to go away. Our back yard has a little more built up right behind the house because it doesn't get as much sunlight; however, slowly but surely it is starting to go away, and I am SO ready to be able to get outside and play more, and to enjoy the warm sunshine.

We decided to try going to the first service that morning to see how it would go, hoping that Owen could make in through church and just fall asleep in the car on the way home and then continue his nap once we got back home. However, he was super tired after waking up at 7:00 that morning, and he actually ended up falling asleep for about twenty minutes in the nursery that morning, which is very unlike him. Usually there is way too much going on around him at church for him to be able to fall asleep. However, it worked out okay that he took a little bit of a nap because I had plans to take Samantha and Aedan to see a local production of Lion King Jr. at the Soo Theatre. So, we were able to eat an earlier lunch and I put Owen down for his nap in plenty of time to get to the theatre with the kids, buy tickets and popcorn and find our seats.

I debated whether or not to take Aedan to the show, especially since we were out late swimming on Saturday night and then he would be skipping his nap that afternoon. However, I figured he was old enough to start handling things like that, and I knew he would enjoy the show with all the fun music, songs, and animal costumes. They are working on restoring this old theatre, and I had never been in it before. It was pretty cool looking, and we were able to find pretty good seats right in the middle with a good view of the stage.

Here are the kids and me before the show started that afternoon. It's not the greatest lighting for pictures, but I think they turned out pretty well. I love my two big kids, and I'm glad I can start doing special things like this with them again. I knew that Owen was happily napping at home, and that Ben could hang out and play with him, keeping him happy until I got back home. Samantha has such a pretty smile, and Aedan's faces just crack me up. :)

Of course we had to do a silly picture, too!

The Lion King Jr. show was a lot better than I expected it to be. Everyone was miked, so it was easier to hear the actors and actresses. The singers really were pretty good, and the costumes were colorful and creative. Aedan enjoyed it too, but he did get a little antsy about halfway through. Anytime the audience clapped after a song, Aedan would ask, "Is is over now?" Samantha was totally in her element, singing along to the songs, not moving a muscle, and loving every minute of the performance. Watching her watch and enjoy the show made me so excited for the Elementary Musical Theater Camp we signed her up for this summer. I think Samantha would really like acting, singing, and dancing on stage like this. I'm excited for her to have the opportunity to start getting involved in theater and trying it out. Maybe she can start trying out for productions like this in the future as well. Samantha is so expressive and has no shyness about being up in front of people, so I could see her really enjoying being a part of something like this.

While we were gone at the show, Ben was attempting to get some work done, but Owen woke up from his nap after about an hour crying. Ben tried to get him back to sleep, but he kept waking up every time he tried to lay him down, just like what happens with me during the week. Eventually, he decided to just sit with him and let him sleep on his lap, getting another forty-five minutes of sleeping in.

For some reason Owen continues to have trouble sleeping, both during the day and at night. Sunday night was a really rough night with Owen. He was up a lot and very hard to get back to sleep. He was up five times between 11:00 and 6:00. He had a stuffy nose, which I'm sure didn't help. I gave him medicine and cleaned out his nose really good before bed, but that didn't seem to help. The first time he woke up he was tooting quite a bit, so I gave him some gripe water stuff, too, to see if that would help. After being woken up so many times that night, Ben and I were definitely tried come Monday morning. He seems to be especially finicky with sleep lately, and I commented to Ben that I am tired of being tired. I would love Owen to get into more of a routine and stop waking up so much at night. I feel like at 7 months old he should be doing better than he is sometimes. Then, Owen was up for the day talking in his crib at 6:15, not exactly what I wanted after a long night of being woken up many times.

This was Ben's last week of classes so he had a lot of meetings for wrapping things up at the end of the year. Most of his meetings happen at 7:30 or 8:00, so that way they can meet before classes start at 9:00, so I was in charge of getting Samantha off to school the first three days of this week. I am always up and showered, but it takes a little more work taking all the kids and Izzy in the car to go drop off Samantha. Since Owen was up so early that morning, he fell asleep in the car on the way to school. Even though I told Samantha to be quiet, she went right up to Owen and talked to him, waking him up, which I wasn't too happy about. However, he ended up falling back asleep on our drive back home, so I just took his car seat downstairs to his room so he could keep on napping. He slept for about an hour, which was a pretty good morning nap for him.

Once he woke up, I went downstairs to feed him before heading out to go grocery shopping. This is what I found when I came out of the bedroom after feeding Owen. Aedan was upstairs playing, but apparently Izzy decided to come wait for me up on our bed. We don't usually let her up on our bed, but she was too cute there to make her get down. She is my faithful little shadow when I am at home, following me around the house wherever I go. Our little Izzy-girl is such a good puppy. I am so glad we made the crazy decision to get her a year ago.

Since Owen napped at home that morning, he was awake during our whole shopping trip; however, he was pretty happy just hanging out in the car seat looking around while we shopped. Since we left a little later, we got home a little later than usual, making lunch time a little rushed, and I was hoping both boys would take good naps that afternoon. I was pretty tired from our rough night the night before. Aedan was pretty tired that day because he didn't nap on Sunday and was out late on Saturday night. However, by 3:00, after only 45 minutes, Owen was awake crying. I really should just come to expect it by now. However, I was optimistic that he might sleep better since he woke up from his morning nap around 9:15 and hadn't been back to sleep since. Instead of picking Owen up every time he cries like this, I have been trying something new. I flip him onto his tummy and pat his bottom until he falls back to sleep. This afternoon I tried that, and it didn't take long for him to fall back asleep. I hoped that it would last and he would get a good nap in that afternoon. I don't mind picking him up and holding him until he falls back asleep, but it's getting harder for me to hold him as he gets heavier. His favorite way of being held is still up on your shoulder and being bounced up and down and back and forth. However, it's getting harder for me to hold him like this for very long, but he doesn't like to be held laying down and doesn't like you to sit in the rocking chair because he thinks he's going to be fed, I think. Anyways, I've tried the patting trick a few times lately, and it seems to work pretty well if he's ready to go back to sleep. Owen was really congested that day, so I'm sure that didn't help his ability to sleep either. The whole family has had colds for the last week or so.

With Aedan's birthday coming up that weekend, I was busy making plans and getting things prepared. After school on Monday I took Samantha to Meijer so she could pick out a present for him, and so I could get the rest of the supplies for Aedan's party and cake. Aedan's blanket set came in the mail that day, as well as the set of Lego Super Heroes that I ordered. They all came in little pieces, so I had to put all the arms and heads and extra things on each little guy. We are very excited to give Aedan his big boy bed, and we are excited to celebrate him turning 4 years old.

Tuesday was a MOPS morning, plus I had to take Samantha to school again, making it for a little crazy of a morning getting ready and out of the house. Owen fell asleep in the car on the way to MOPS, but he woke up shortly after going into the church, unfortunately. I decided to just take him to the nursery, telling the workers that he may need to take a nap sometime that morning or he will be super tired and possibly cranky. When I went to pick him up, I was told he was too busy looking around and talking to nap that morning, which really surprised me. I couldn't believe he went all morning without napping.

Here is a little video I took of Owen practicing his crawling skills that afternoon. He's getting so good at getting around now, and he is almost doing a mixture of  scooting, crawling, and rolling.

After being up and out at MOPS all morning, Owen was definitely ready for his nap that afternoon. I got Aedan put down first, since he takes longer to fall asleep, and then I nursed Owen and put him down. Aedan did not nap, unfortunately, since we have small group on Tuesday nights, but there's not much I can do to make him nap.  However, Owen took an AMAZING nap! He slept for over three hours! I couldn't believe it when I went down to check on him at almost 5:00, and this is what I saw. He was totally passed out on his tummy, laying sideways in his bed, breathing softly. I wished that I didn't have to wake up this cute, little sleepy boy, but we needed to leave for small group soon, and I wanted to be able to feed him first. I took these cute pictures of him sleeping before waking him up though. He has never taken this long of a nap before. I was amazed and so excited that he got some good rest. That was going to make for a happy baby that night at small group.

Wednesday morning, especially since Aedan didn't nap on Tuesday and was up late, he was pretty tired. He still expressed interest in going to the library, and even though we tried as hard as we could, we still were late and missed the reading of the stories. Sometimes I'm not sure why it is that we are late places. I try to be organized and keep things moving, but it's hard to get out the door. Owen needs a last minute diaper change, or Aedan isn't listening about getting his shoes and coat on. I guess I need to start factoring in more time to allow for these things that always take longer than I think they should. Nevertheless, we made it to the library for craft time, and Aedan really enjoyed coloring all the little articles of clothing and Knuffle Bunny before gluing them on the paper as if they were inside the washing machine at the laundromat. After he was done with his craft and wrote his name, we went down to the reading area so I could read the books to him that the librarian read to the other kids. Aedan enjoyed this just as much, especially since he was getting one-on-one attention from me. After that, we stopped and had our snack at the table before playing in the library. I put Owen in the Ergo so he could take a nap while Aedan played. It took a little bit of time to get him to fall asleep, but then he slept for about 40 minutes or so, which is about as good as any nap he would take at home. Aedan was having a lot of fun playing with another little girl, making food in the pretend kitchen and serving it to the mommies. It's fun watching Aedan play, and even though he's often the oldest kid at the library playing, he still has fun interacting with the other kids, looking at books, having me read books to him, and playing with toys that are a little different than what we have at home.

With Aedan's birthday coming up this weekend, and our plan to get put his new big boy bed together, I took advantage of my chance to take a picture of him sleeping in his little toddler bed. This may very well be the last picture I have of my little Aedan looking so big sleeping in this little bed. He looks so peaceful and calm, and I was so glad he was getting the rest he needed, especially with the AWANA Awards Ceremony coming up that evening.

For how good of a nap Owen took on Tuesday, Wednesday was not so good. He fell asleep fine, nursing, like he always does, but then he woke up crying after about half an hour. He was crying on and off, and I waited a little bit to see if he would settle himself back to sleep, which he did. He was snuggled up on his tummy near the side of his crib when I went in to check on him.

However, a little while later he was up crying again. It was close to 4:00, so I figured he was going to be done napping for the day. I was just going to nurse him and let him get up, but he ended up falling asleep while he was eating. I thought about trying to lay him down again, but I figured he would just wake up if I tried to lay him down again. He was clearly still tired and needing to sleep, so I decided just to hold him. He was so content and comfortable, and I enjoyed my time of cuddling with my little baby. I'm trying hard to not let these moments frustrate me because I am not "getting anything done," but instead to embrace and enjoy the moments when my baby needs me and just wants some extra snuggle time with his mommy. He ended up sleeping on my lap for almost an hour and a half that afternoon. Isn't he cute?! Little pink cheeks, open mouth, and hand grabbing on to my shirt. :) This little boy has stolen my heart, that's for sure.

Samantha and Aedan had been looking forward to AWANA Awards Night for a long time. They couldn't wait to get up on stage and sing their songs for us. We were a little worried that Aedan might be too nervous to be up on stage and sing with everyone looking at him. There was one night where he was singing his Cubbies song for us in the kitchen after dinner, and we were all smiling at him because he was so cute, but when he saw us smiling, he got all embarrassed and ran away down the hallway, thinking we were laughing at him. Of course we were not laughing at him at all, we simply thought he was adorable, but he just gets embarrassed easily when he senses everyone is looking at him.

When we got to the church, I took the kids downstairs to get checked in, dropping Aedan off at his Cubbies room. The room was set up differently and had no tables like it usually does because of Awards Night. Well, things being different like that really throws Aedan off, and he immediately came over to me and clung to my legs, not wanting to sit down and do puzzles and blocks with the other kids.  It took a little prodding from me to get him comfortable to sit down so that I could leave.

Both kids did a fantastic job up on stage singing the songs that they sing each week. I loved watching them sing the words and do the motions, showing so much exuberance for singing about Jesus. AWANA has been such a great program for the kids to be involved in this year. They have learned so many Bible verses and so many truths about God. I love that the leaders are consistently there every week, and the kids are excited about going every week. They love singing, they love game time, and Aedan always comes home with a meaningful craft about the story they are learning. They already made sure we knew they wanted to do AWANA again next year. Here are some pictures and videos from the Awards night, starting with singing the songs, and moving on to when they got their awards. Our kids are so cute, and we were so proud of them.

After several nights of Owen waking up two or three times a night, on Wednesday night, he only woke up once and then slept in until 8:00. He was such a happy boy when I went to get him out of his crib that morning. I love his crazy, noisy personality. I love his smile. He really is such a happy, delightful baby. I love being greeted by this face every morning. (It was amazing how awake I felt that Thursday after having only been woken up once overnight.)

Thursday was turning into a beautiful day. It was bright, sunny, and warming up nicely, melting even more of the leftover snow piles. Even Izzy was enjoying the yard with no snow. In fact, one time I checked on her, she was just laying out on the patio enjoying the warm sun. She noticed that I was looking at her, so she sat up right away. It's so nice to have the snow almost all gone and to finally start seeing some glimpses of spring.

It was too nice of a day to not go outside and enjoy it, and Owen had taken a longer morning nap that day, so after eating a quick lunch, we decided to go over to campus for a walk/bike ride and to visit Daddy in his office. This was the first time Owen got to ride in this big stroller, and he thought it was very interesting. He was super quiet as we walked down the street, enjoying his view, the sun, and the new perspective on the world. Aedan really enjoyed riding his bike over to campus. This was the first time we were really able to do that since the weather has turned nice. He did a great job riding the whole way there and back, although afterwards he did say that his legs felt like they were falling asleep. He has to get used to riding his bike again, and there will be many more days where we get to do things like this together! Yay, warmer weather!

On Thursday night both Ben and I had things going on, he had presentations to listen to and then went out with people afterwards. I had a Lemongrass Party I wanted to go to, so we just tag-teamed it. I had dinner with the kids and got the big kids showered/bathed, leaving only Owen for Ben to do himself. We wanted Ben to do more practice runs in putting Owen to bed so that he doesn't forget how to take a bottle and I can have someone else put him to bed, giving me the opportunity to go out and not always have to be home with him. I want to take Ben to a Cubs game for his birthday when we are in Chicago over Memorial Day, and we want to go to a married people date night event at our church when my parents come up to visit in a week, but we haven't given Owen a bottle for quite awhile. I was a little worried how it would go, but he texted me saying he didn't eat a whole lot, but that he was asleep, which was good to hear. (However, he then woke up around 10:30, and I had to go in and feed him before going to bed myself.)

Friday morning I took Aedan and Owen to the MOPS play date at McDonald's. Originally, I wasn't planning on going, but the family that has the foster child we had last spring contacted me about getting together because he was asking about us. We figured this play date would be a good chance for the boys to get together, see each other, and play together in a neutral environment. I was able to give Owen a nap at home before we left, so he was in a pretty good mood while we were out. Aedan had a lot of fun playing that morning. There were quite a few little boys his age that he got to run around and play with. In fact, when it was time to leave, his head was all sweaty. I was glad he had this opportunity to play, and I will be even more glad when we can have play dates at parks instead of McDonald's.

Since Aedan's birthday is coming up, he has started to get cards in the mail. He got this card from Ema and Papa, and you can tell they know him well. The card has a picture of Optimus Prime, and he talks when you open it up. The expression on Aedan's face when he heard it was priceless. He thought it was so cool, and this is definitely going to be a card he will keep until the sound no longer works. I took this video of Aedan listening to the card so that Ema and Papa could see how much he liked it.

The rest of Friday and into Saturday was spent getting ready for Aedan's birthday party. Ben stayed home on Friday to help me with the boys so that I could get the house cleaned. We got a few last minute things for Aedan's party, I wrapped his presents, and we made one of his cakes to be ready for the next day. Saturday morning I finished cleaning a couple rooms of the house, and then we actually went to the Art Van furniture store to look at couches. They were having a sale, and Ben and I have been tired of our old couches for quite some time now, so we figured we'd take the whole family and go look. I was really interested in a sectional so that we have lots of space for people, and still have the capabilities of putting our feet up without having to get reclining couches. We found one that we really liked, and it was a pretty good deal with the discount. Plus, we could pay it off in six months with no interest, so we decided to go ahead and buy them. It felt weird finally committing to this purchase. This really is the first large item we have bought new for ourselves, other than our kids' mattresses. We were excited, and it kind of felt like a monumental occasion, an end of an era. They were due to be delivered the following Thursday, and I had plans to try and sell our old couches on our local Facebook sale group.

Since we were at the furniture store longer than we anticipated, we picked up Wendy's on the way home, tucked Aedan and Owen into bed, and then got busy getting ready for Aedan's party. Samantha was a big help to us that afternoon with getting supplies set up for the activities that we were going to do, covering the table with a tablecloth and setting the table, and any other task we gave her to do. While Ben and Samantha worked hard getting other things set up and cutting out stars in the green jello and arranging the fruit on the tray, I spent about an hour decorating Aedan's cakes. I decided to make him super hero cakes, and combined a couple ideas from Pinterest. We decided to make two round cakes because one wouldn't be enough. I am no expert cake decorator, and it was a little tricky trying to figure out how to split the icing so I had enough of each color that I needed, but it all worked out in the end. I was a little nervous about pulling it off, but they actually turned out much better than I expected. I finished the cakes with about 15 minutes to spare before people started showing up for the party around 4:00.

I had a few activities set up downstairs for the kids to do. One was decorating paper and gluing it on frisbees to make Captain America shields. The kids had a fun time coloring and putting stickers on their craft. They all looked so unique, and they made a good party favor that the kids could take home.

Since we were having a super hero themed party, I said that the kids were welcome to come dressed up as their favorite super hero. Aedan shared some of his capes and masks, too, and Samantha shared some of her princess dresses for the girls.

The other activity I had planned was a super hero wall smash. I borrowed these cardboard blocks from another mom at church, and Telisa and Cory were good sports in setting up the wall over and over again so that the kids could pretend they were super heroes and knock it down. I was trying to take videos of Aedan and his friends during the party, but there was so much going on that it was hard to sometimes. Right before this video below, Aedan had his turn to knock the wall over. The kids really loved doing this, and it was such a simple activity.

Another activity I had planned was to throw newspaper balls at a tape spider web. However, I had trouble keeping the tape up, so that was kind of a failure of a game. The last activity involved shooting silly string out of cans on to a pretend web that I had taped up on the door. I put a sheet down on the floor to catch the silly string and contain the mess, and the kids had a blast doing this. I should have bought more cans of silly string because they ran out a lot quicker than I expected them to. Aedan was having fun, but when he sprayed at the beginning, there were too many kids spraying at the same time, and one the kids sprayed him in the back of the head on accident. Well, the feeling of the wet, slimy, silly string made him kind of freak out, and he didn't want to try it again for awhile. Plus, he had a hard time pushing the button down hard enough to make it spray out. Anyways, here are some videos of the kids have a great time spraying the web with the silly string. That was definitely a fun activity for everyone. :)

 

We ordered a variety of pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner that night, so as we were getting ready for the food to arrive and the kids were just running around the house playing, I took advantage of my chance to take pictures of the cakes and our decorations. Aedan requested one cake to be funfetti and one to be strawberry, so that's what we made. The icing is all buttercream frosting that Ben made, and then I dyed it different colors to make the various colors for the super heroes. I was pretty proud of my decorations, and Aedan loved them, which is the most important part.

Here is our fruit (and marshmallow) tray in the shape of Captain America's shield. I found the idea on Pinterest, and Ben did a great job putting it together. He also made the lime jello and cut it into stars that was supposed to be like the kryptonite from Super-Man; just some other cute, but simple snack ideas to go along with our super hero theme.

Once all the kids were sitting down to eat, I made sure to take pictures of everyone so we could remember who all came to his party. At this table Aedan has his back to you, and there was Bridget, Parker, Ruger, Grendel, and Daisy.

Samantha, being the big kid that she is, agreed to sit on the floor to eat since we didn't have enough chairs for all the kids, and we knew she could handle sitting on the floor.

And here's Marion and Owen sitting up at the counter. All the kids were pretty quiet while they were eating, so I think they enjoyed their food.

After everyone had their fill of food, we went out to the living room for present time. Samantha got Aedan this Batman Boat Lego set, which he was pretty excited about.

Aedan got a Spider-Man watch from Marion, his friend from Cubbies. (I think Samantha was just as excited as he was about his presents.)

He also got Spider-Man bubbles from Marion. I love how he has his little tongue sticking out as he opens his presents.

The next present Aedan opened was from Bridget, and she gave him two Paw Patrol puppies, a set of dominoes, and a Paw Patrol bracelet.

The next present Aedan opened was from Owen. It is a Stomp Rocket, and it can shoot these foam rockets up really high into the air. Aedan couldn't wait to get it out and try it, and Owen couldn't wait to show him how it worked.

And the last present he opened was another one from Samantha, a Batman car that can hold two people (a new Batman since his old one got chewed on by Izzy) and a motorcycle for Robin. Samantha was so excited to show Aedan and tell him all about it.

Even though it was super hard for Aedan to wait to open his presents, he was distracted by the fact that it was time for cake. All the kids came back out into the kitchen, we got the candles on his cake and lit them, and we were ready to sing to the birthday boy. 

Aedan is a little more shy than Samantha, so he doesn't usually like being the center of attention and having a lot of people looking at him. He was a little tired and overwhelmed, so he has kind of a blank expression on his face, but I'm sure he enjoyed having everyone sing to him, with the singing led by Sissy of course.

After everyone ate their strawberry or funfetti cake decorated like their favorite super hero, we decided to get the stomp rocket out and take it outside to play with it. They each took turns doing it, and they were having a blast playing in the front yard. I feel like this party was perfect for Aedan's age. We had a few activities that were fun and not too involved. We had food, cake, presents, and plenty of time to run around and play. It is so fun having a house big enough to welcome this many people in at the same time. I'm so glad that Aedan enjoyed his party and that so many of his little friends could come celebrate with him. He had been looking forward to his party for a long time. I can't believe my boy is a 4 year old. He's looking older and taller now, less like a little kid, and he can communicate so clearly with his words (even if sometimes he chooses not to use them). He has so much energy and exuberance for life, often running everywhere he goes. I see a lot of Ben in him with his looks, but I also see a lot of myself in him with his more reserved nature, and his tendency to be quiet around new people or new things, observing first, before jumping right in. I feel like he has grown and changed so much in the last year, developing his own personality and interests, his own way of playing and expressing himself, instead of just doing whatever Sissy does. It has been so fun spending this year at home with Aedan, even if it has been busier and more hectic because of adding little Owen to the mix. I sure do love being his mommy, and I'm so glad God blessed us with this sweet little boy, especially after experiencing the sorrow of a miscarriage. Happy birthday my dear little man!

After a long and busy evening with lots of commotion, everyone was ready to sleep that night. I know I have a lot of pictures of Owen sleeping lately, but he is just so cute all cuddled up in his bed. As soon as I laid him down that night, he rolled over on his side and got comfortable. My children are so sweet. I certainly love being their "mama."

(Blog about April 22-28, 2018)