Lots to catch up on...

I only have 3 more days before I will officially take my September break and I have so much to update on. Long ago, I promised I would post about swim lessons so I'll start there.

Gage took swim lessons for 4 weeks this summer. We were going to start earlier but when he was 6 months old we went to observe a class and I knew he was a little too young. However, I definitely wanted to get him in the water this summer and I'm glad I did. He had a blast. We went to the beach this past week and he wasn't scared of the water, I think this is in part due to going to swim lessons and being in the pool a few times a week. He isn't scared of water getting in his eyes or in his face. He still cries when he's dunked but I am planning to keep up w/ taking him to the pool this winter so that he will stay used to it. Luke got a few pictures the last class. He didn't feel well but was, as usual, a good sport. Overall, happy w/ the results. We will probably do swim lessons again, maybe next Winter.

Mommy giving Gage a pep talk.

Gage thought he was pretty cute in his life jacket. They only introduced these to the kids the last class just so they and we would know how to put them on properly.

Playing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to get the babies to float on their backs.

Gage constantly had his fingers in his mouth during every swim lesson. We finally figured out it is a nervous mannerism. He does it when he his uneasy about other things as well.

Fingers in the mouth again.

Gage loved it that Daddy came to every swim class.

Also, as promised, I would post a video of Gage 'dancing'. He has had this silly stuffed donkey since before he was born. A nice lady at my work bought it for him and it sings "Sugar Pie". It has always caught his attention, but lately, he has decided that he needs to get in on the donkey's dancing and this is his interpretation. I took a video w/ my cell phone and haven't been able to figure out how to download it to my computer (it's a Blackberry if anyone knows).  So I'll post this video instead.  It's not as good as the one on my phone and he starts to wave bye bye in the middle but you'll get the point anyway.

Finally, I promised I would post Gage's 9 month stats. Gage is a petite little thing weighing in at 18.5 lbs. He's in the 18th percentile for weight. He is 27.5 inches which is the 25th percentile for height. The doctor said he looked perfect and that by the next visit he should be bottle free and be able to cruise and that we should start to feed him more table food. He definitely got a taste of some new foods while we were at the beach. He is getting pretty damn accurate at feeding himself now, but sometimes still can't grasp slippy food, like watermelon or other fruits. That was about the gist of it. Beach vacation pictures to come....

My husband, the pedophile...

Got your attention, huh? NO, MY HUSBAND IS NOT A PEDOPHILE. However, apparently some teenage lifeguard at our local gym/pool seemed to think so. Last week, I posted that I was disappointed that we weren't allowed to take pictures at swim class. Luke had come and was sitting beside the pool and took a few pictures before a lifeguard came by and told him that he wasn't allowed to. I was bummed, but he said 'eh, I can see why, I mean there are little kids in bathing suits...'. I still thought, 'well we are paying for it...AND it's part of our kid growing up'.

Anyway, I got over it until tonight at the beginning of class when there was a very excited Grandma w/ her camera. She began clicking pictures left and right and I waited for someone to tell her to stop. After a few minutes, and no requests from a dutiful lifeguard, I asked the instructor if we were allowed to take pictures. She said she had no idea why we couldn't. I told her about my husband being asked not to and wondered allowed if it was b/c he was a man. She thought it was odd and then asked her male boss and he said that for sure pictures were allowed...after all it was a swim lesson and people LOVE to take pictures of their kids. (I mean, don't get me wrong, I know why you can't go to the gym and just take pictures of random kids in the pool.) So my conclusion is that a little bit of sexism was practiced and because my husband is a MAN, he was asked NOT to take pictures during swim class. Maybe they thought he looked sketchy too, what do you think?

Um...NO!

So look forward to some pictures from swim....

A weekend in Chesapeake...and swim lessons

Friday night we headed down to Chesapeake to visit the grandparents and to see some friends I went to high school with. We did dinner with friends and their almost 2 year old girl. Unfortunately, I am bad and didn't get any pictures (give me a break, we were at a restaurant), but Gage again, is soo interested in touching other kids now. He was very interested in Caleigh, as she was in him. Sunday we also went to visit my friend Bonnie and her new baby boy, Bennett. He was soo cute and sweet. Unfortunately, her oldest son, Carson was napping and we didn't get to see him. Gage wasn't very interested in Bennett, probably b/c Bennett showed no interest in him, but he did practice his squealing skills and puked on Bonnie's carpet!

Other than that we just spent the weekend with family and Gage got lots of Grandma and Grandiddy time! Gage is super excited to see them in 5 weeks at their beachhouse!

Gage also had his 1st swim lesson last night. He did all in all pretty well but was very overstimulated. He was SOO excited to be there and couldn't wait to get in the water. He just kept squealing and squealing, seems to be his new thing. Although we were pretty disappointed that Daddy couldn't take pictures, Gage still had fun. The instructor used him a couple of times for an 'example' and he loved it. He did get his face in the water once and swallowed a little bit of water, but he's no worse for it! We'll see how he enjoys tomorrow night's class.

Swim class, our very own wind tunnel and graduation!

Gage's swim class was supposed to start on Monday, so I took him up this past week to get a feel for the pool and to see if I could take a peek at a class to see what it was all about. Silly me, I thought the indoor pool at the Freedom center would be super warm as their website promised, but no no, it was freaking cold! At any rate, Gage didn't mind too much and to say the least it was a new experience for him. He was WAY over stimulated though with all of the new touches, smells, sounds, etc. It wasn't a total hit but wasn't a total disaster either. Something I learned was that it is quite hard to change yourself and a baby after swimming. Anyway after all of this, Gage and I decided that right now 530pm is a little late for a swim class when we still have to come home, get a bath, eat dinner and be up by 530AM, so we've postponed our class 'til later in the summer where if we stay up a bit later it won't matter as much. I am still going to try to take Gage up once a week or so until our neighborhood pool opens. He loves the water and I'm sure he'll get used to the coolness of it.

So last night, Gage got to see his 1st demonstration of the crazy wind that seems to come through our end of the townhouses. He was eating dinner and facing the window, so he stared in amazement of the chairs blowing around on the porch and the ping pong size hail bouncing off. I joked we would lose another shutter. See, we have this problem w/ wind and our house. We've only lived here for 2 years now and the 1st year, we had a shutter blow off, our door mat fly away and our trashcan end up on the other end of the street. The 2nd year we lived here our umbrella smashed into our glass patio table and broke it into 1000's of pieces and our flagpole was ripped out of the brick. So needless to say, I should've known we would lose something. However, I wasn't quite prepared....

Our neighbor (a girl I have never met, because she lives so far down the street) came to our door to tell us that our shutter had done damage to her car. 1st, I thought what are the chances that ANOTHER shutter could have really come off our house? AND what kind of damage can a plastic shutter REALLY do to a car? Well when a shutter flies off of your house, flies 2 doors down and curves around a tree, apparently it CAN smash into the side of a car and break into 48 pieces and make it look like someone has beaten the car w/ a baseball bat. Are you kidding me?!?! AND homeowner's insurance does not cover ACTS OF GOD....sweet. Exactly what I wanted to spend my graduation money on!

Finally, today I graduated w/ my Masters!! woohoo! It's been a long 2 years and a long 6 months of being a mommy, teacher and student, but it's done now. Feel like I wasted my Saturday afternoon, but I guess it's something I should've done. Gage looked handsome in his sweater vest and OF COURSE was the BEST baby ever and even took his nap during the ceremony! I'm telling you, the way he acts as a baby, we are in for it when he is a toddler! Pictures to come....