Swimming Lessons

Monday evening at dinner we broke the news to Nece that we were going to take swimming lessons. I fully anticipated her to be excited, and for that reason we chose to keep it under wraps until the last minute.

As expected, she was VERY excited. It's the last thing she talked about before bed, the first thing she talked about Tuesday morning, and proudly announced to Sue that we were taking swimming lessons. I wasn't worried about doing this with her AT ALL.

Tuesday, I pulled into the driveway about 5PM. Nece was obviously very excited to see me, as I wasn't out of the van and she was at the side...
"Mommy, I have my bathing suit on. I ready to go."
"Okay, Nece. Mommy needs to change and we'll go pretty soon."

That had to be the LONGEST 35 minutes of this kids life. Asking every 2 minutes "is it time to go?"

Finally, all packed up and ready to go. We drive over... talking about how we aren't here to 'just swim', we have to listen to the teacher, and no crying when it's time to leave. OK mom... we're in total agreement.

I pulled into the parking lot and went to Nece's side. Oh my gosh, if I could have captured the grin on this kids face and the pure joy as she clapped her hands.

Into the community center we go. Into the locker room. Put our stuff away and out to the pool area. We're about 5 minutes early, so we play in the water.

Then... I started to notice, we were the only ones without bright pink wristbands and I looked at the clock. It was about 6PM (start time) and I didn't really see any instructor like person.

6:05- nothing.
6:10- seriously, I'm starting to get mad. How can the instructor be late. Granted, it's probably a high school or college kid, but how rude.

Finally, I go over to the lifeguard and ask... are we in the right place for swimming lessons tonight?

I'm sorry, there are no lessons tonight. They start next week.

Oh, no. How am I going to explain this to a 3 year old that cannot contain her excitement?

Simply put, "Nece, mommy screwed up. There are no swimming lessons tonight. We have to wait one more week."

Definitely only partially registering. But no meltdown. My next thing, how in the heck am I going to get this kid out of the pool?

After about 10 minutes of playing in the water together, I get the words I was hoping to hear, "mommy, I have to go potty."

SWEET! Easy exit on this one. No tears and fully satisfied with her 25 minutes of playing in the water.

We arrived home, and daddy excitedly asked, "Nece, how were swimming lessons?"
"We didn't get to have swimming lessons. Mommy screwed up."
Daddy looked at me all confused and I had to admit, next week. I was wrong on my dates.

Shoot! We'll try again next week. I've already double checked start date and start time. Let's hope next Tuesday is as simple as this past Tuesday was for 'fake swimming lessons'.

A Summerlike Weekend

Well... summer is officially over, but this past weekend was anything but. It was in the mid-80's and sunny ALL weekend. A perfect weekend to spend some time outdoors.

On Saturday, we knew Auntie Molly was coming back to spend her final night with us in MN. What we weren't anticipating was Grandma and Jon bringing Molly back and spending Saturday with us. What a great surprise!

While Molly was off with a friend of hers, grandma and Jon spent the day with us. I was on a cleaning spree and grandmas extra hands helped me get some extra stuff done... like all of Nece's fall clothes out and washed! Daddy was getting caught up on outdoor work! Thanks grandma.

Saturday night we did one of Nece's favorite things... went to the Mall and went on rides for a couple hours! As expected, she had a blast. Franny did okay, but was a tad crabby... those darn teeth! It's amazing how long it takes for those suckers to actually pop through the gums... one of these days!

On Sunday, Molly and I took the girls to a park that I'd been wanting to visit for quite some time... I'd heard that it was geared towards kids 6 and under! What a great surprise when we showed up and it was more than I could have ever expected! Heres a view of the park from the top of a play structure for the 'older kids'.

Every day as Franny gets better at walking (or should I say running and trying to keep up with her sister), she becomes more adventurous. This kid has NO fear and wants to do everything the big kids are doing. So, it was no surprise as she hopped right in and got onto the play structures. We did keep her to the more 1 year old friendly structures and she had a ball.

And Nece... she absolutely loves all parks. This one was no exception. The unique thing about this place is that it's completely fenced in and built into the bluffs. There are places for kids to climb the rocks, play in the sand, hang out at the pavilion area or play on the structures. Definitely a place for one adult per child.

And before heading to lunch at our (ummm, Nece's favorite) McDonalds... we walked down to the river!

A great weekend, once again. Let's hope we continue to have beautiful weekends that allow us to spend lots of time outdoors, before the winter weather takes hold!

Doctors Appointments

Yesterday we had Nece's three year and Franny's one year doctor appointment. It sure was convenient getting both of them taken care of at one time.

Updates:
Nece is 31 pounds and 38 inches tall. She falls into the 50th percentile for everything. She also had her first hearing test- perfect and eye exam- perfect for a three year old. Her vision is 10/20 which is equivilant to an adults 20/40... Perfect. Not shots this time around. We did talk a little bit about the typical three year old behavior with regards to sharing, fighting and bossiness. One little trick we're going to try is 'putting toys in a timeout' when they are causing an issue. We'll see how well this goes over.

Franny is 17 lbs 13oz and 28 inches tall (I think). She falls into the 5th percentile for everything. Her exam went perfectly, and she was the lucky recipient of 3 shots yesterday. There are new guidelines that strongly recommend children stay rear-facing until they are 2. This is something we talked in length about... we'll continue to leave her rear-facing for awhile, but it's highly unlikely we'll make it all the way til 2 years old. Doctor said this was fine, but try as long as we can because she is so little. As expected, I got a mini-lecture about giving her the bottle at bedtime. BUT this is THE only way I can get her down. My goal is to start weaning her down from the 8 ounces slowly and have her off the bottle by the time her 15 month check-up rolls around. That's the plan... we'll see.

Flu Shots and H1N1- yes both girls are in the high risk group and are recommended to get the shots. I have no problem having them get the flu shot, as its something I have been doing for years and Nece's gotten it every year also (Franny was too young last year). So, we'll be heading in for the annual flu shot next week. The H1N1 vaccine... this one I'm a tad more concerned about, need to do a bit of research on, but I will ultimately probably do what the CDC and doctor recommend.

Long, Lazy Weekend

Typically every long weekend our family gets, we go out of town and up north. Not this one... and it was fabulous! We had no commitments and were able to lay around, enjoy the weather and enjoy eachother. That's not to say we missed our friends in Webster... it was just nice to be home and low-key.

And that decision early on proved to be a great one... for a couple reasons. Namely... Molars. Yes, you read correctly, molars. You see... Franny's molars decided to work full force this weekend and it made for a long one! Nece's one year molars were nasty as well... though we spent sleepless nights in Colorado when those reared their ugly heads.

Unfortunately, my girls get TERRIBLE diaper rashes as teething goes into full force, and this weekend was no exception. Franny had lots of Dreft baths, lots of bare bottom time (with a couple poops on the floor, no fun), and lots of different concoctions to get the redness, rawness and blistering under control. Poor thing! So you ask... what has helped us get ahead of it a bit. Good old faithful WATKINS. (if anyone reading this still works at Watkins... I need more) Yes, I worked there in college, and I got my handy dandy book out... the Petro Carbo, with Vaseline rubbed over that and cornstarch powder has helped us get ahead!

So... now that the not-so-fun stuff is out of the way... what did we do?

Friday- watched the Vikings and played with the neighbors

Saturday- daddy worked in the morning and we did a whole bunch of nothing and continued to enjoy the perfect weekend of 80 degrees and sunny every single day

Sunday- we had the pleasure of spending the day up in Elk River on the lake and taking a pontoon ride! Thanks Bob!!!

Monday- daddy took the girls to the park, mommy ran errands, and after naps we enjoyed some final fun in the sun!

Enjoy these pictures that were snapped this weekend as the girls played in the water with Mya.

Mom... I want makeup

Makeup is a favorite here, and it's a treat when Nece gets the makeup bag. Thanks Auntie Molly for being such a good sport on Saturday night. I'll let the pictures do the talking... no explanation needed.

And the finished product!

Scavenger Hunts and Talent Shows

This last week we had a couple firsts at our house. We were introduced to 'talent shows'. They must be having talent shows at daycare with some rules, because mom, dad and Franny are told the following:

• sit on the couch and watch me



• no mom, don't dance- I dancing



• TV off, we don't need the TV on while having a talent show



• mom, keep Franny on the couch, I don't want her getting my stuff



• clap. stop clapping.

The good parents and little sister we are... we begrudgingly oblige. We listen to this horrible... I'm sorry fantastic pre-recorded music on the Mickey piano over and over and over again and watch Nece jump around in the living room. That is until I couldn't handle it ANY more on Saturday morning, and I had the brilliant idea to give the talent show to all the dolls. And here is what happened:

It worked for awhile, and we were given a reprieve. Until the talent show on Thursday night (we get a break tomorrow as we're headed to the Fair).

And the Scavenger Hunt

So, I pulled into the driveway last night and Nece was standing on the couch hollering something to me. I thought I heard the word 'paci', but couldn't figure out what she was saying. By the time I got to the back door, Nece was standing (or should I say jumping up and down) in the kitchen saying, Look Mom. See for yourself what was found:

And I think this kid was MORE than excited for bedtime (as this is the ONLY time she is allowed paci's) See for yourself: