Swim lessons

In February, once we got the "back to work with two kids" routine down, we decided to enroll Bryce in swim lessons. He hadn't had lessons since he was in the Diaper Dolphins class when he was about 9 months old, so he started out in the Level 1 class. In the Level 1 class they just cover the basics to get kids comfortable in the water. There are 4 ribbons to be earned at this level before they can advance to the next level. Achievements to be met include: 

Blows Bubbles

Participates in games & songs

Fully submerge face for 10 counts

Sit jump (submerge)

Fully submerged head

Jump off board (edge of pool) to Teacher

Propel forward using arms & legs

Retrieve object in waist deep water

Climbs out of pool alone

10 second supported back float, as he's doing below

During ribbon week (April 7th - 11th) , Bryce was awarded all 4 available ribbons for Level 1 and he was moved to the next class, Level 1 Advanced. 

 At some point during each semester, they have a Canoe and Rescue Skills week, where they learn a little about water safety and rescue.

The kids are put in life jackets and taught a few safety things, and then they get to sit in canoe.

The instructors sink and tip the canoe to help teach the kids what they should do in that situation.

After this class is completed the kids are rewarded with a ribbon!

We still have a few weeks left in the semester and at this point Bryce is able to swim on his own, though it's not the prettiest swimming but it's still swimming! I'm excited to see how he progresses in this next class level.

Five months?!?

At five months, little Miss Blaire is weighing in at 16 lbs 13 oz! So, she's not so little after all! She's still able to wear 6 month tops, onesies and sleep n' plays, however in the pants I've had to move her to the 9 months or 6-12 months size (depending on the brand) because her legs are so fat! She's still in size 2 diapers but I think I've purchased all of those size of diapers as I need since they appear to be getting small on her quickly.

And this sums up her current obsession, grabbing anything she can to get in her mouth!

Funny story about her size...yesterday I took her and Bryce to get some Easter pictures taken. The photographer, who's been photographing newborns and children for probably 20 years, so I would say she probably has a pretty good eye for determining babies ages. So she asked me if she was 8 or 9 months old?!? She was quite surprised when I told her that she was only 5 months...which probably explained why she wasn't able to sit up on her own in the pictures!

Since all the sickness has passed we started spending more time playing, including tummy time. On March 7^th, Blaire quickly showed me she was more than capable of rolling from her tummy to her back…she just hadn’t been able to show us before since she was sick ;). 
 
We've been working on sitting up on her own. She'll do it for a few seconds, but she would much prefer working on standing up. She loves to stand up!
She’s spent some more time in her bumbo and she likes being able to see the happenings of the household. 

She also is getting familiar with the walker and jumperoo...and tolerating brother decorating her with stickers.

 She also gets to go outside when the weather is nice and soak up some sunshine from the stroller.

She spent her first night at the lake on March 29th.

 
She had her first visit to the bowling alley! Somehow she slept through most of it!

We also went shopping at the mall, which is probably a once or twice a year visit for me...I much prefer online shopping!

Getting ready for bedtime!

Speaking of bedtime...she started sleeping in her crib on March 12^th. A normal night of sleep for her is transitioning to be from 7:30pm to 3:30am or 4:00am…which we’ve worked hard to get back after a bit of regression occurring during February and early March. So she’s sleeping a solid 8 hours! Which is pretty fantastic for this Momma! Now if only I could get to bed earlier than 9:30 or 10…hopefully that is in my near future with the imminent retirement of my Medela PISA. ; )

She’s slobbering and drooling like crazy, and is chapping her cheeks and hands from chewing on them so much. I know we all want to assume it’s teething but I’m not sure that’s the case. I guess we’ll know if it was if we start seeing those pearly whites poke through.

She’s also become OBSESSED with blowing raspberries. Bryce, of course, thinks it’s the funniest thing! I don’t remember Bryce doing this, but apparently this is a big milestone in speech development.  

We haven't started solids yet, and I really don't feel she's interested or quite ready. I could be wrong, but I'm going to try to wait it out a few more week until she's 6 months.  We'll see!

Until next time...

 

St. Patty's Day

 Just a quick post to share some pictures of the kids' St. Patty's Day outfits. 

Bryce's shirt says: Lucky to be this Awesome!

Blaire's says: Who needs luck when you're this cute!

Silly face picture with my silly boy!