Who Woulda Thunk It?!?!

I am sssooo excited, I can hardly contain myself, I seriously couldn't go to bed without typing this post!!! Tonight I had my fourth swim lesson and guess what - at the end of the lesson, I swam all by myself; no assistance and no floatation device. I left that lesson walking on air! I would have never thought that I would be swimming after only four lessons. Now it wasn't the perfect swim with the beautiful strokes that experience swimmers do, but it was me, refusing to allow my feet to rely on the safety that could be found at the bottom of the pool.

With that said, I'll give you more details of the entire lesson. We started the lesson off using the noodles and the paddle board. The noodles were under my arms (in my armpits) and my arms were fully extended with my hand holding the paddle board. We did this so that I could focus on the kicking without having to worry about my hands or arm movements. We did 6 laps using this method, I found that doing this I had to stop frequently because I would reach a point and even though I was kicking, I didn't feel like I was moving forward. So I would stop and use my feet to push off the bottom of the pool which gave me more momentum to push myself forward. After six laps of that he took away the paddle board and wanted me to use my arms (imagine the doggy paddle stroke). I actually was relieved to get rid of the board and use my arms because then I actually felt like I was moving. We did this for 3 laps of the pool and I actually surprised my instructor! He kept telling me that I could stop whenever I felt like it and take a break, but for the first 2 laps I made it over half the length of the pool without stopping and on the third lap I made it the ENTIRE length of the pool. He also told me that he knew I could do it without the noodles but he still wanted me to work with the noodles in order to help with my endurance training. So with 5-6 minutes left in our session he asked if I wanted to continue using the noodle or try it without, and of course I choose to try it without the noodles. At first I struggled to just let go and not use the pool floor as my safety net but after trying it a few times I DID IT!!! I swam all by myself with absolutely no help of any kind and I was so happy that I could have cried.

I am totally and completely amazed at the progress I have made. Some of you may not really know or understand just how terrified I was (and kinda still am) of water and the idea of swimming. But imagine your worst fear, the one thing you've spent your entire life being afraid of and then one day deciding that you have to overcome that fear. Maybe that's easy for some people, but for me, I can honestly say that this is the scariest and hardest thing I've ever attempted. I have gone from nearly drowning myself in my first lesson (and that's not being overly dramatic) to allowing myself to trust water enough to swim for a short period of time without panicking or fearing the worst. And I cannot take full credit for my accomplishments either. Heavenly Father has been such a HUGE help for me in this, each time I have gotten in that water He has sent his Spirit to help me, to comfort me, and let me know that everything is okay. To let me know that I can do this and that He did, indeed, listen to every prayer (and there have been a lot of them) that I sent up to Him before starting my lesson on any given day. And I am so grateful that I have the ability to not only ask for His help but also to have my prayers answered because I can tell you my progress would not be possible without Him and His Spirit.

Forgive me for taking ya'll to church in that last paragraph but I would feel very ungrateful if I didn't say that because, trust me, I have taken up a lot of His time in the last few weeks (haha). And I have a stronger testimony of prayer and faith because of it.

Also, thanks to all of you for your kind words of encouragement and support! I appreciate it more than you know.

Here are some photos of the township recreation center where I have my swim lessons and where Y and B play while I learn:

This is a shot of the Lazy River, Lap pool (where I swim) and some log balancing thing.

Here's the Lap Pool, where magic is made (and no, not that kinda magic).

The splash pad area without all the sprayers on, of course.

The water slide.

Just Pictures

Here I just wanted to share some pictures with you guys that we've taken over the past few days, enjoy!

Say Cheese!

Adorable!

She loves her mommy!

I think she totally looks like me in this picture.

Too precious!

I love her laugh and her smile, in this picture I got 2 for 1.

LOVE it!!!

B's favorite outfit and she's trying to see her reflection in the glass.

Trying so hard to touch it without mommy noticing.

I Ain't Too Proud to Beg!

I need a favor from all of you that read my blog. I have entered Y into a Cutest Baby Contest over at Baby Making Machine, there is a small prize involved but I really just want bragging rights. So just click HERE to go over to the contest. She is picture #25 and in order to vote for her, you have to scroll down until you reach the poll which is on the left hand side (if you scroll to picture 10 and look left you should find it) and just click the check box for photo 25 and that will enter a vote for my beautiful baby! Hurry and do it because voting ends on Friday. You can only vote once (per computer, per profile on that computer hahaha) but you can vote for multiple babies (but don't do that because the focus is on Y winning)!

While you're there you can also make a donation in the March of Dimes Fundraiser she is having. Everyone who donates will receive some sort of prize, but donating is not mandatory to vote...so get voting and remember...#25!

3 Down, 6 To Go!

I must apologize for my blogging absence, I really intended to write a post before now but just never did it. I've been wanting to update you all on my swim lessons which have had me experiencing a whole array of emotions. As the title indicates I have completed 3 lessons and I have 6 more to go.

My first lesson was an ordeal to say the least and had it not been for the $90 I paid to take the lessons, I probably would have given up. I also had to keep reminding myself what my true motivation is - Y! So when I first got in the water he wanted to see what I knew, which I told him was nothing, but I really don't think he believed I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! Boy did he get a rude awakening, it's kind of funny now that I look back on it. So he gave me a little swim/float board and told me to hold it, lean forward and then let myself go. At this point I'm just staring at this guy like he's crazy but I kinda did what he said...I held it, leaned forward, but could not for the life of me convince myself to let go. Then he gave me noodles and after about 10 minutes with the noodles I began to trust them (somewhat). I was pretty happy with that because for me it was HUGE so after I made that progress he decided to take the noodles away and have me try it which turned into a disaster! I felt like there were several times when I could have drowned, fortunately for me my time was up for that day. I left feeling completely hopeless and downtrodden. I hated feeling that way, I hated swimming, and I hated the fact that I had spent that much money for nothing. I beat myself up about it over and over again even though, in all actuality, I had made a lot of progress just by trusting those stupid noodles. I am completely not used to not learning something rather quickly, most things come natural to me. On the way home B attempted to comfort me by comparing it to riding a bike, but I learned to ride a bike in about 2-3 hours with no training wheels, so the analogy was lost on me. Plus, I was never afraid of riding a bike!

Before lesson #2 I spent A LOT of time praying, for courage, for strength, and most importantly for patience with myself. In the first lesson I kept getting so upset with myself for not catching onto things on first attempt and this really inhibited me. I went into the water really nervous and shaking but still praying and I assure you were it not for those prayers I would never have gotten in that swimming pool again. Because had my performance in lesson #2 been even remotely similar to lesson #1 I don't think I would have had the ability to get in that pool again. But fortunately lesson #2 was AWESOME!!! I felt like I made so much progress that it was truly amazing to me, my prayers were definitely answered. I was able to let myself go enough to float both on my back and on my stomach with my head under water, which is no small feat considering I still have a hard time washing my face while in the shower because of the idea of water rushing over my face. At the beginning of the lesson, just to re-familiarize myself, I used the noodles again. But later in the lesson, when he asked if I wanted the noodle again for another exercise we were working on, I actually told him no. I was so surprised and proud of myself at that moment and I completed the remainder of the lesson with no noodle at all. I still struggled with the idea of letting go and allowing my feet to rise off the bottom of the pool, but I managed to do it for short intervals...again this was HUGE for me. Needless to say, I left the lesson floating on air! Even my instructor was completely surprised at my progress.

Yesterday was lesson #3 and it was neither as discouraging as lesson #1 nor as encouraging as lesson #2, I'd have to say it was just average. Don't misinterpret that, I yet again made huge progress, but it just didn't evoke the emotions that the first two lessons did. We started the lessons in the Lazy River, which is just a portion of the pool with fast flowing water so you really don't even need to swim because the water just pushes your body along. The point of this was to help me keep my feet up and off the bottom of the pool. Honestly, I felt as if this was more of a hindrance than a help because the Lazy River is also on the shallow end - I could get on my knees and still have my head above the water. So I found it really hard to not have my feet touch bottom. A weird thing I discovered while in the pool yesterday is that I find that I do better with deeper water, I found that I struggled more in the shallow end (by deeper I mean 5' as opposed to 3'). By the end of the lesson I can say that I am comfortable "letting go" but I don't yet have the confidence or ability to do it for long periods of time.

All-in-all I am very excited with my progress and what I have learned thus far. I keep praying really hard for Heavenly Father's guidance and thus far He has not let me down (but we know He never will)! I also keep reminding myself of what the purpose of this whole journey is and that is a huge motivator to me. I'm not looking to be Michael Phelps but rather to be a mom that can be there for my child(ren) if they should ever need me in that capacity. My hope and prayer is that they never will...but better safe than sorry!

Swimming

Later today, I officially begin swim lessons. I am nervous, scared, apprehensive, and pretty much any other word you choose to use that could be synonymous with terrified! My goal is rather simple, I only seek to be able to swim well enough to assist Y if the need should ever arise. That should be easy, right?!?! I'm afraid not because that would require me trusting a perfect stranger and I'm not very good at that. One thing I have going for me is that the water I'll be learning in is only 5' deep so at least I can still stand and my head be above water. Make sure you say plenty of prayers for me, if not today then definitely on Thursday when I will get in the water for the first time. Today I will meet with my instructor and set goals for myself.


Speaking of swimming...Nana B. went out and bought Y a swimming pool last week, since all swimming gear is now on clearance. She bought her a whale of a pool (that's a joke...see the pictures below) for C$5 (that's 5 Canadian dollars, if you didn't guess). Well on Sunday the weather was so beautiful that we had every intention of blowing the pool up and taking it outside for Y to play in. Well we (I say 'we' but really, I had nothing to do with it) got the bright idea to blow the pool up inside first and then take it outside. Well, we really had no clue just how big this pool was going to end up being. And after we got it blown up (not even fully blown up to maximum capacity, but just enough to see how big it is) we realized that there was no way we were going to get that thing out of the house without first deflating it, which was not an option. And it turns out that it didn't matter anyway! Because as soon as we got the air in it, Y manages to crawl over the side of the pool and start playing in it just the way it was. It was quite entertaining to watch and she actually played there the rest of the day. Needless to say I am considering putting a huge pool in the middle of my living room now! She was very content to climb in and out all day.

Another thing I should mention is that a couple weeks ago I noticed that Y now poses for pictures. If she sees me pull the camera out and hears the beep it makes when it turns on, she immediately drops what she is doing and smiles for the camera. She is such a cheese ball! And is it any wonder that she knows what to do when a camera is turned on?!?! I guess that's completely my fault, maybe I should invest in one of those fancy SLR cameras and catch some REALLY good shots. But until then...you'll have to just enjoy the ones I have!

Livin La Vida Loca...

I meant to post this video last week but totally forgot about it. While in Canada celebrating Y's birthday, she discovered the old Ricky Martin song "Livin' La Vida Loca." She instantly loved it and now, she starts dancing whenever she hears its opening beat. What you cannot see in this clip is her Nana B. who is dancing with Y, but you can see Y keep looking in her direction for encouragement. Here is a sample of some of Y's moves! I apologize that it seems dark, grainy and sometimes blurry - we should have had more lights on in the room. Enjoy!

12 Month Well Baby

Today we took Y to her 12 month check up! She weighed in at 20lbs 8oz and 30¾" which places her at the 50th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. Her weight gain has slowed dramatically, she only put on 1lb 3oz in the last 3 months but she grown 2 inches taller which leads me to believe she will be a lot like B - tall and lanky. After speaking with her pediatrician I think that I have started to rethink my stance on sugar. Sugar is not so bad at this point as long as she has it in moderation. I introduced her to apple juice today but made sure it was 100% juice with no ADDED sugar and she only gets about 2-3 oz a day. I will also allow her to have some small amounts of pudding and maybe a tiny piece of cake or brownie every now and again but no candy for at least another year or 2. As for everything else, all seems to be going great and she is perfectly healthy!

CAKE!!!

On Sunday, upon arriving at Nana B's & Grandpa P's, we celebrating Y's birthday again with her real birthday cake. We were joined by her Great Uncle Bruce as her Great Grandma Gladys. We just sang Happy Birthday and ate lots of cake and ice cream; not a big celebration by any means but more than appropriate for a first birthday. Here are some pictures of her cake as well as some from the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, because she refuses to touch food of any kind, there are no pictures of her digging into her cake. I tried to get her to do it by sticking her hand in her small cake, thinking that after doing it once she would want to continue but alas, no cigar - she was no interested in touching it at all. In the end B ended up feeding her cake to her. Anyway, here are the pictures...Enjoy!

I blurred out her name so you'll have to use your imagination for that part.

Y's little personal cake. For those of you who don't know, if you go to Walmart and order a regular cake for your child's first birthday, they will give you a small cake similar to this one for $0.01. They may do it for other ages too, but I'm not sure about that!

Trying to play with the cat...he wouldn't cooperate! Oh and he's not trying to bite her, he had just eaten some chicken and was licking his lips or was he yawning...I forget which!

The smile I get after I catch her doing something she shouldn't be doing.

Such a cute picture with my favorite kind or cat...a stuffed one!

Not the greatest picture of Nana B. but Y looks adorable!

Y taking her first drink of big girl milk from a big girl glass!

The Birthday!!

We didn't have a huge party for Y for her first birthday, we figured we'd wait until she was at least 2 and had "friends" that she plays with regularly before having a party. We will be having a small get together in Canada with some family members where we will have ice cream and cake, but that's about all. First birthday's are all about the parents anyway, to me I was celebrating having made it through the first year of parenthood with my sanity still in tact!

But, we weren't about to let the day go by without at least doing something for our princess. So once B came home from work, we quickly at dinner, let her open her present, and then we took her to the pool. We figured that it is by far her favorite thing to do, so we did it! After that we came home and went to Toys 'R' Us where they give kids a paper crown and a balloon on their birthday. We did a little browsing but since we had already bought her present, we didn't buy anything. After that we went to the mall where they have a little store called The Cupcake Kitchen and we got her her own little cupcake. This was a big deal because it's pretty much her first time consuming processed sugar...and she loved every bite of it.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

This photo really doesn't have much to do with her birthday, but it's her first time eating apples whole and not pureed.

This is the mess I found when I took a break from cooking in the kitchen.

Trying to figure out what to do with this because Mommy never gives me paper, much less encourages me to tear into it...there must be a catch!

Don't let the picture fool you, she did not do this calmly!

This is more like it!

Once she had a big piece torn off, she was totally content to just play with it...had I known that, we could have saved some money!

First ride in the car facing forward!

Waaayyyyy too cute!

Trying to figure out the balloon.

I have no clue how to explain the face, but I thought it was hilarious.

The first bite...

...contemplating...

...need a second bite...

...that was goooood!

More please?!?!