Sportsmanship

My father really believed in the true spirit of sportsmanship.  He was president of our swim league for awhile and he really wanted everyone to work together as a team and have fun.  Winning something was great, but it was not everything.  I have tried to live in that philosophy but really it is hard.  I am slightly competitive, more so then when I was younger, so it is hard.

I spent most of my childhood involved in swimming, literally most of my life surrounded the sport.  By the time I was in middle school I was involved in swimming year round, I think I had about a 6 week break time in the Spring and that was it.  I can not say that I always enjoyed it but in order to keep up, really you had to do it all year.  I loved it 90% of the time, but I think that I sometimes wished that it was a sport that had a beginning and end to the season.  Most people do not know that about swimming, if you are serious about it, it is year round.  I spent my summer swimming for Wedgewood swim team, during the school year I swam for our local YMCA and sometimes took a longcourse clinic with them in the summer.  Of course during highschool I did both the YMCA and highschool swimming, fun times for my Mom when I did not have my license yet!!   I started swimming on the summer team when I was 4, no I was not this incredible swimmer at age 4, I could make it to the other end.  At that time, the team was very small (now not so much) and they needed bodies basically.   I stopped swimming for them when I was 18, a lot of years!  A lot of memories.

Yesterday I was asked to come back to help present an award that has been given in my Dad's name for the past 22 years.  It is a sportsmanship award, this year a sweet 10 year old girl won.  I was not sure what I would feel when I came back to the pool.  I am not sure when the last time was that I was at the pool honestly, it has likely been 15 years.   This was during their end of the season swim championships.  Funny thing, I always hated championships.  I do not know if my Mom knows that but, I really hated it!  It was just very stressful for me, I liked hanging out with my friends and the cheering but I honestly relaxed on some of the years that I did not qualify for finals.  But when I was there last night, I really wanted to get back into that water.  When you swim for that many years, you go through chlorine withdrawal when you stop.  Your body simply craves to be streaming through that water.  I miss it I guess.  I am contemplating whether I should introduce Celia to a summer of swim team and see what she thinks, but I am not sure if I am willing to give up my summer to the sport yet!

 Here is the little girl that won, I normally do not post pictures of other children, however really, I do not think there is any harm with the amount of traffic that this blog gets!

 I love this photo because it shows over her pigtails, she actually let me put her hair up!!  Miss. Celia was not feeling great yesterday as she had a bad case of swimmers ear.



Thank you to my new follower

So when I started this blog, I did it to keep track of memories and share things with friends and families. It was never my intention to make it popular but I thought that if I gathered a few readers then that would be cool. I noticed one day that I had followers and they were primarily not my friend's and family, they read the blog though! I was psyched, I had 11 followers, wow! Then one day for no apparent reason, I had 10 followers. I checked my recent posts and could not find anything offensive, I wondered what on earth I had done wrong to lose my follower. Then recently I noticed that I was up to 11 again. Seriously, thank you to my new follower for giving me that invisible fist pump.

For those of you unaware, you can follow a blog on blogger. I am ashamed to say that I do not know all the ins and outs of following blogs. I should though, perhaps that is a goal!

swimming in the deep end

This is Celia jumping in and swimming on her back in the deep end. When she turns around she told me that her instructor did not turn her around, she just told her to. I am not sure, but she has turned around by herself in the shallow end. Keep in mind that while videoing I am batting off Audrey who believes that the camera is hers.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

8 Months

I can not believe that you are 8 months old baby girl!  The end of this month has brought some promise.  You have really been fun this last week + and you are finally less fussy!!  You have your moments but your personality is coming through now.  I think that now that you can crawl and pull yourself up and just about cruise, that you are happier.  You know longer have to wait on us to second guess what you might want, you just get it.  You most certainly have a sense of humor and you are a sweety when you want to be.  Sometimes when you are playing, you come over just for a little cuddle.  When I am sitting near you and you are standing up, you have to check in with Mommy every once in awhile and give me a hug.  Of course when you do not get your way, watch out, really watch out. 

Food:  Wow, the past 2 weeks you have been doing awesome with your food.  Once I decided to not push puree, you have taken off with some new foods.  You like green and yellow squash, cantaloupe, mango, quinoa, watermelon, prunes (helped a little issue), yams, and now peaches.  I may be forgetting something.  Oh and you will eat carrot puree.  The fact that you have had no more vomiting with solids may mean that you are actually allergic to oatmeal and butternut squash, go figure.  You are drinking out of a straw cup and doing very well with it.

Clothes:  I am tired of writing 3 to 6 months.  Yes, 3 to 6 month clothes and they fit well.  I can put you in 6 to 9 months, some you are swimming in and some fit okay.  I seem to be putting you just in a t shirt and your cute little diapers often!

You are sleeping alright now, getting up at least 1 x a night but no more then 3 times.   I am trying to get you down to just 1 x  a night consistently but that might take awhile.  I have stressed to you that the dairy bar is closed until 2 am, and if you take advantage of those services, then you can not revisit for at least 3 hours!  You seem to be getting the message a bit.  You are taking 2 naps a day.  The morning nap happens usually when you start to get tired, we unfortunately are often out doing things then so you nap in the car or in the ergo.  In the afternoon, you nap at the same time as your sister.  That is awesome!!  Sometimes you do end up taking 3 naps, but one is very short.

Right now you really love water play.  The other day you found water on the openned dishwasher and went to town.  I stopped things when you climbed into the dishwasher!!  You love to play with Celia's dolls.  You also still love the handy manny tools, especially Philleppe.  You love my keys and cell phone.  I can not say that you find your toys very interesting, except for the leap frog table.  You really do love interacting with people too and you often search for a reaction.

So Audrey, keep it up baby.  We are having such a good time with happy Audrey.

Hot Audrey

Okay, I gave her plenty of water and even put some water on her but this is an example of how very hot the pool area is...

Swimming

Celia started a new swimming program on Monday and Audrey and I just about passed out.  I grew up as a competitive swimmer and I know how hot it typically is on the stands in an indoor swimming pool, it was never that hot.  It was literally over 100 degrees.  Audrey and I had sweat pouring down with in 5 minutes, no kidding.  Celia was in her swim suit and seemed to be doing okay.  The person in charge of the program decided to talk for almost 30 minutes.  Honestly.  100s of kids were sitting with their parents in the stands and he thinks that talking for 30 minutes in that heat is ok.  I barely survived it, honestly.  I was contemplating taking Celia outside and coming back the next day when he would likely have less to say.  There was a woman with a baby sitting near me and the baby's face was beat red and he was screaming.

Not to mention I was only half paying attention to the guy in charge who as a reminder decided to talk for 30 minutes in 100 or more degrees.  When the talk was over I had to ask all these questions to the lady sitting next to me who had no idea either because she was also pouring sweat and could not pay attention. 

In anycase, Celia was eventually taken by her swim instructor and had a blast the first day.  The first day evidently was just getting to know the kids and testing things out.  I thought everything was great, she had fun and wanted to go back the next day.  Well... the next day after practice Celia greeted me with "Why did you sign me up for this, I told my teacher that I wished that you had not signed me up".  Oh..  They evidently let her go when she was floating on her back.  So the next day, same story, came in to the pool, a bit more hot and we are pouring sweat in 2 min.  But today, my child cried throughout the whole lesson, so did every other kid in her group.  But....  Celia floated on her back, moved her arms (like little birdy wings according to her) by herself.  Her teacher let her go and she made it across the width of the pool.  In 3 days of lessons, Celia was cautiously water safe.  At least safe enough to wait for someone to get to her.  

On Day 4 she started off the lesson crying but stopped once she got to the pool.  This time she jumped into the pool, flipped on her back and floated with moving her arms.   I was glad that Celia jumped in by herself because these lessons are very hard core.  If the child will not jump in by themselves, they drop them in the water.  I am not kidding.  Oh and randomly while the instructors are having the kids float on their backs, or teaching them things they will pick them up and drop them in the water.  My guess is that this is to see if they can get themselves in a safe position.  I am so very glad that I did not actually see Celia's instructor do that to her until day 5.  I know it happened on day 2, but I personally did not see it.  It is hard to see Celia's group from the stands.

I will post pictures/videos soon.  Friday Pete has a half day so I will not have Audrey who pitches a fit because she wants, wants, wants the camera.  So I might be able to get some better pictures.

So Celia may need therapy after these swimming lessons, but after 5 days of lessons, if Celia falls in a pool, she is water safe.  There is a lot to be said of that.

Carrie

Capturing her

 She has less then 2 months of being three left.

I have had fun with that age, but I am ready to move on.

Three has been filled with silliness that goes into out of control hyper at times.

Three is also stubbornness, pouting, crying, and back talk on occassion.

But three is also excitement and curiosity.

She is easily motivated and loves Clifford, Arthur, and Curious George.

It is the 4 year old coming out that I fear likes Word Girl and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

But have no fear, she only gets 15 to 20 min. of tv time so we never have to suffer that long.

It is also the 4 year old I think that is coming out that tears up during sad parts in stories, tv shows or movies.  It is adorable but hard on her.

So less then 2 months left to be 3 my dear.  We have vacation bible school, a visit with Mom Mom at the beach, two weeks at the beach, and the start of another school year.  Time will fly.  I sure hope 4 is not as trying but I really hope it is just as fun.  Every age has been more fun, so I know it will!

The Day

It is the day that always comes around every year, a day that puts a little gray in my family's lives. 

I have written about it here and here and here

In the first posting, check out the picture of my Dad because even though Audrey basically has my husband's face in miniature, I have seen that same expression or something in her. 

For some reason I can not think of very much to say this year.  I still think a great deal about what life would be if Dad was still around.  I know he would very much enjoy his grandchildren and they would have a blast in him.

Recently I am seeing some promise of an artistic talent in Celia and most certainly my niece Katie has some talent.  That is from my Dad.  My sister and I both inherited that talent, my sister uses it more then me right now!  Audrey I think is going to have a sense of humor, which Dad was all about.  I know Audrey is fussy almost 24/7 but in between that she really wants to smile and laugh, Celia really makes her laugh. 

I have thought of my Dad a lot lately because Celia has been interested in death, since her school talked about Jesus's death at Easter.  She has had questions and they have lead to my Dad.  I answer the questions as honestly as I can but it is hard because I do not want to put unneeded fear in her little mind but at the same point I want to be honest with her.  The other day she wanted to know why he died and I told her that his heart stopped and I explained that at a certain time in his life he did not eat very well and that clogged up his heart.  That is the best I could explain it to a 3 year old.  My Dad's cardiac arrest could also have been due to genetic factors but the truth is that his diet was full of fat for many years.  I wanted to tell her something that was tangible really so that I could then tell her that Mommy and Daddy were doing their best to stay healthy so that this would not happen to them.  She knows about her Pop Pop now though, not just his death, but how he was as a father.  She will know more as she grows older.

And so Daddy, I leave you with your Grandkids

This last photo is one of those expressions that reminds me of that baby picture of my Dad, but really, my husband can never, ever deny that he is related to Audrey (not that he would want to, no matter how much she cries)

Timing

Yesterday I told my Mother in law that my Mom thought that Audrey might be as smart or smarter then Celia

Audrey picked this moment to crawl into the closed cabinet door underneath our kitchen sink, she banged her head

That would not be entirely bad if she had not repeated this several times until we stopped her.


Timing is everything...

What is she thinking?

We were so close

A few weeks ago I was at our friend's beach house.  We were hanging out at the pool and talking about various things.  Suddenly her 9 year old daughter and Celia's best buddy came up to us and said "Do you know Celia wants to be a pirate when she grows up?"  I just shrugged and sadly admitted that I did indeed.

We talked about various things awhile later, after finding out that at one point that daughter wanted to be a vet by day and a part time balloon animal clown at night.  She still wants to be a vet.  We started talking about school and the fact that my friend has told her daughter that if she wants to be a vet and get into a good college then she really needs to study and learn as much as she can.  At 9, she is more then willing to do that. 

I was quick to respond that Celia is hit or miss with doing "school work" but that I really have nothing to be worried about, since she is going to be a pirate.  In fact it is a big relief because there is no cost to educating a pirate really.

We were so close to that financial freedom until today.... Celia and I were talking about the last space shuttle launch and I had to get into great detail about some things and we talked about scientists.  Well my pirate now wants to be a Scientist.  With her math genetics, she needs to get going on studying now!

Released from the Army, on to Civilian Crawling

I will have to say that the army crawling seemed faster but I am sure that once she practices more then she will be faster.  The motivation has to be very high, as you can see by the ipad as the goal.  She has really been able to do this for awhile, just really has not been into it! 

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Daddy and Cole

Happy 55 th 35th Birthday Daddy

Happy FIRST Birthday Baby Cole!!

Pete turned 35 today and tomorrow our nephew, Pete's Sister's little boy turns one.  He is a sweety and hopefully Audrey and Cole will be best buds soon as they are only 4 1/2 months apart.  It is hard to see here but Audrey is grinning ear to ear at Cole.  He is not quite sure what to make of her.

So both of you enjoy your days, even though Pete does not want to share his birthday.  I suppose he is entitled to it though, you only have a birthday once a year and you shouldn't have to share it!  We will be spending the weekend apart as he is going to the party 5 hours away and the girls and I are trying to entertain ourselves here.

Susie- celebrate and eat some pizza, icecream, hunk of cheese, butter, etc.

Lesson gone bad

My niece was trying to play school with my 3 year old

Katie: so do you know what forgive means?
Celia: yes
Katie: oh, you do not, forgiveness is like if you kill your mother, you ask god for forgiveness and he says ok you are forgiven

Me thinking WTF? Me saying: no, no, he would not!

Katie: well my teacher last year said that
Celia: okay Katie

Vickie, where on earth are your kids going to Sunday school and when you are asleep lock your bedroom door.

Flower Power

Can you handle the cuteness...

The Good Neighbor Day Fair

The older one wanted to go on the boats, not too fast, not too high, perfect for her.  She has a bit of fear in her, somewhat like her mother (my sister).

The younger one really wanted to go on things that were fast and high, the ones that she

is too short for, but this satisified her.  It was too fast and too high for the older one.

Ahh... but they both wanted the bikes

If you zoom in, you can see the expression on the younger one, it says you have passed that time.  It says I am beyond tired and if you look at me the wrong way I most certainly am going to explode.  She napped well.

 Yes, Vickie, Katie has one too

Ahh.. and the itty bitty one loved the swings.  She did not appreciate the humidity so much, but she loved the swing.

Fourth of July evening

 What he was doing

What they were doing

What she was doing

What was going on

Productivity

PreAudrey, summers were always filled with various projects.  I always had productive summers, something major was accomplished.  Last summer I organized the whole house, literally sorted through all the closets and drawers.  Funny, you would never know that now!  I painted Celias room and my neighbor helped me (okay, I basically watched) put a chair rail up. 

I thought that this summer, or prior to it that I would have been able to get other projects done.  I atleast wanted to finish Celia's room- put some shelves up,pictures, etc.  That has not happened.  I am lucky to get time to wipe a counter top down or dust for 5 seconds some days.  Audrey is 24/7 and when she isn't, I am so tired that I need to rest.  Don't get me wrong, the things that need to get done get done, but beyond that it does not happen.  I have actually begun to love my cloth diaper laundry, for the simple fact that I feel like I accomplished something!  With regular laundry, sometimes I do not get to the folding part until the last moment it seems, it gets done in the same day, but it just becomes such a chore.  Sometimes that laundry is put away with a screaming baby hanging out beside me.  But my diapers, well, they require less time and they go in one drawer, much less complicated... I am crazy.

But I have been finding that I am changing a bit.  Audrey likes to go out, she has made that very clear.  So if I plan trips to places each day, I save my sanity, Audrey is happy, and Celia has fun.  The main thing that I enjoy is spending time with my girls and not having to worry about what needs to be done around the house.   For now, my house is just going to have to be.  Soon I will be able to focus on it more, but it isn't worth the stress.  Of course, when it does get clean I feel this wave of relief wash over me.  My husband does not understand.  Honestly.  Is it a guy thing??  He seems to be blind to messes or dirt.  But yesterday he did clean the bathrooms for me and oh my goodness, that was awesome.  If he could do that on a regular basis, that would eliminate so much stress. 

So as far as productivity goes, right now it is making the two girls happy and surviving.  Audrey is throwing in longer naps here and there so things might be looking up.  The poor girl now has some more GI issues (a constipation related issue) related to solids and her reflux meds, so we are off them for a few days and then will start back with lots of water to go with the solids.  She has it rough.

Oh a bright note my niece is here for the week and Celia is very much enjoying the company and I am enjoying someone else to entertain her!  We have some fun places to take Katie while she is here.

Carrie