Silver Lining

Lucas's first swim meet was a disaster. First of all, he wasn't in the lineup (probably because we joined late), so I had to ask the coach if we should plan on him swimming, which made me feel like a whiny parent. Then the pre-meet activities were total chaos. Wendy said the meet last week that we missed was much more so, so I guess this is not uncommon. There were what seemed like thousands of kids in blue and red bathing suits swarming everywhere. I was trying to pay attention to what Lucas needed to be doing, while holding a sweaty toddler in the near 100 degree heat. First he had to sign in, then lineup for a practice lap, then go to the clubhouse for the pep talk (which then was cancelled and rescheduled for 5 min later after we walked there and back), then there was just waiting while the races began.. Like I said - chaos. Most of this was probably due to it was my first time ever at a swim meet. I had to smile as I looked at the mom's who seemed totally comfortable with their surroundings knowing that I'll be that mom in about 10 years (assuming Lucas is still on this swim team when he's 14).

Lucas was signed up for freestyle and backstroke. It was my understanding that there would be an adult in the lane with them, like at practice, with the Under 6 swimmers. Wendy and I panicked as Charles and Lucas were finally lined up getting ready to race and there was no adult to be found in the water. Someone assured us that she would be the one to jump in after the first heat began their race. So I'm standing there, so proud of Lucas and that he is about to swim in his first race. Jeff is across the pool, equally as proud, in a prime location that he secured for taking pictures. All of a sudden, seconds before he's supposed to jump in, they grab him and tell him he needs to swim in the first lane instead of the fifth. So I follow him over there to make sure he knows I'm near. And wouldn't you know it, when it's his turn to go there is NO ADULT in his lane. Of course he got scared and said he didn't want to do it alone. And of course I scooped him up and told him that he didn't have to and that someone made a mistake by not having an assistant in the water. My heart was breaking because I thought he'd be traumatized by this experience, or at least embarrassed. I'm happy to say that his response to all of this was, "Can I have that blue sno cone now?"

We left before the backstroke race and I think I'm going to put swim team on hold until next year. Lucas just doesn't care one way or the other, and he really didn't seem to get the whole thing about cheering and racing last night. That on top of the extreme heat and the fact that Ellen was miserable, it's not worth it.

I felt like a failure and was really hard on myself last night. I had a feeling that this was a little above his head, and even said it out loud, but didn't go with my gut. Jeff said that Lucas didn't care or even know that there was anything out of the ordinary that happened. So that is the silver lining. Maybe Lucas has inherited Jeff's laid back temperament and will not let things affect him like his mommy does!

Things you can do when you're small...

Old Friends and New Friends

Some of our oldest friends in Raleigh are Adam and Holly. They both went to Georgia Tech, but I didn't meet Adam until we worked together about 10 years ago. Adam introduced me to Holly, I introduced Jeff and Adam, and here we are 10 years later... with 4 little munchkins between us. We don't get together often enough, but always have a great time when we do. Lucas and Katie especially hit it off. Katie is about 6 months older than Lucas, but as most girls her age do, she seems a lot older than him. At one point Katie grabbed his hand and he didn't object... just like it was something they do all the time... it was so cute : )

Swim Team!

Lucas is on the swim team! I'm so proud of him. Here is how it happened and the feelings that went along with it...

I knew long before we joined this community pool that they had a swim team and that 4yr olds could participate. I thought that there would be a meeting to say when it started, but the pool is run by high school kids, so it just started and it was hard for me to get info until they were already 2wks into it. Anyway, I asked the coach if Lucas could still participate and she said he could, but that she recommended that he take swim lessons since they had already reviewed the strokes. Lucas didn't seem that interested, and so we dropped it. Then... the next Monday Wendy told me that Charles had joined on Friday and loved it. Lucas and Charles are about the same level of swimming, so I asked Wendy if she thought Lucas could do it. That afternoon we were at the pool with Charles and when it was time for practice I told Lucas that it was time for swim practice and that Charles would show him the way. He eagerly got up and pranced over there... until we got near the line of kids. Then he dug his heels in said he didn't want to do it. I KNEW he would like it if he tried it, so I told him to just give it a try. He said no, and instead of dropping it I kept talking and told him that I'd get him a transformer if he just TRIED it. As soon as I said it I regretted it, but it was done. So he said okay, and then changed his mind. I said that was just fine and that we'd just go play some more in the shallow end. Then he whined that he still wanted the transformer. We went back and forth about how he could only have that if he gave it a try. He asked if he'd have to jump off the block and I said no. So he walked up and got in line behind Charles. Seconds later they were playing fake gun shooting... silly boys. Kids kept breaking in front of him in line and I didn't know if he wanted them to or if he wasn't paying attention, so I told him that if he wanted to jump in he needed to stand in line. Ellen ran away as it was almost his turn to jump in, so I watched him from a distance. The first thing he had to do was get into the water, hold onto the diving block and blast off into a back stroke. There was a coach in the water to help him and walk him through it. He had never done that before, but he did it exactly as they said to. My heart was bursting with pride! A few minutes later they had to jump off of that darn block. Again my heart bursted with pride as he got right up there and jumped out into the water.

Since then he's had a handful of practices and has continued to do well. He doesn't talk about how proud he is to be on the swim team, but he seems excited to participate each time... especially when Charles is there. Tomorrow is his first meet, which I'm not taking too seriously. I don't want it to be intimidating, with the start gun and the cheering, so if he doesn't want to do it then we'll just watch. Stay tuned

Waiting his turn to jump...

Fancy Dress

Ellen picked this dress out. She saw it in her closet and said, "wowwwww".

Dudes and Chicks

We were in Charlotte last week for Jeff's first tri of the season. He did better than last year and was happy with his times. The weekend included a two night stay at the Conklin home, complete with a basement suite for us... very cozy and felt kind of like a vacation. At breakfast after the race, Johnny told the boys that if they were good he'd tell them a cool word to call a boy... and then a girl... so we were all dudes and chicks for the rest of the weekend : ) The boys got along great all weekend. The girls had a few cat fights over the baby doll stroller and the play shopping cart, but it was more funny than anything. On Sunday we went to the pool and had a nice lunch before driving home. We're looking forward to doing it again!

Ellen's True Colors

If you haven't met Ellen, I wish that you could. Especially at the age she is now. Although she is starting to test her boundaries with a little bit of an attitude, I have to appreciate her spirit and determination. And her energy. She never stops! We think she has more energy than Lucas had at her age, which is saying a lot. She is a climber. She will climb on anything and will do it quickly. I love how she can figure out how to get something she wants by moving things around so that she can climb up them. Needless to say, we have to watch her every second. Our most recent nickname for her is Skinny, White, Curly... see below.

Cuties Patooties

Lucas loved swimming with Charles today. He finally put on his goggles long enough to see what they can do... he and Charles spent a lot of time looking at each other under the water : ) Ellen had a tude today... she didn't want to be in the water with me, on the side, or anything else I tried. She finally pointed to the playground and said, "wowwww", so I figured out she wanted to play. That's the hard part this year... she gets bored with the water before Lucas does.

Side note: All of a sudden Ellen's hair is red and curly.

Ellen, Lucas, Charles and Caroline

This week in bullets...

• pool every afternoon except for wed and fri
• on wed it was looking like rain, so we started cleaning up the playroom. and then finn and ele came over for about an hour... was nice to hang out with ele while the kids played. ellen and lucas were intrigued by ele's iphone apps.
• wed night met jeff at north hills to look at a new mattress (had our's for 15years + and it was probably crappy to start with). had dinner... was nice and relaxing.
• thurs plans - lucas playing with best bud ian this morning... at ian's house. meeting hughes and his mom at the pool this afternoon. hoping wendy and charles are there too. i have my last yoga class of the session tonight. I'm not going to renew since it's too hard to make it during the summer... i hate the time of thurs night 6:30-8:00
• friday plans - take tyson to marie and olivier's house in the pm. when jeff gets home, we'll drive to charlotte for his first tri of the season on sat morning.
• staying with erin, johnny, hunter and caroline this wknd... should be fun!

Grandpa Schroeder - We miss you!

We had a great visit with Jeff's dad last week. He drove in on Thursday and drove out on Monday morning. While he was here we had a mini bday party for Lucas (since he missed the real one), built lego airplanes (over and over), went for a long walk to the coffee shop, got pastries and chocolate milk at the coffee ship, went to Ben's party, took Grandpa to the pool, and treated ourselves to ice cream. It was a super fun time!

Side note - these are NOT our glasses. I found them in a random bag. Could they be Katrin's our Lily's??? We will gladly return them : )

Mi*s K*ren

We love Miss Karen! She makes Jeff and me happy. We don't have any family in town, aside from our cousins in Cary that are as busy as we are, so we consider Miss Karen an extension of our family. Jeff and I have a new strategy for spending alone time together, and Miss Karen plays a big part in it. Instead of going out for a long date every couple of weeks or once a month, we are working on spending a little bit of time alone each week. So we aim to go out once a week for 2 hours. It's quick, but nice to be alone and is something to look forward to. We just pay for this date night when we pay Karen for her nanny time, so it's easier to hold the date and there is no money exchange to deal with on the night of the date. We usually go to dinner, but sometimes spend it running errands. My favorite date was when we took food to the art museum and had a picnic. Afterwards we got dessert, so the date only cost us $6. Tonight we are eating before we go, running an errand that we can't do with the kids, and then getting dessert. Anyway, the point is that we are thankful for Karen and how comfortable our kids are with her. She comes over and we leave without any crying. Ellen used to cry, but now she waves and tells us bye-bye. Lucas hardly looks up as we tell him bye : )

Ellen also enjoys her time with Karen M-F from 8:30-12:30. See? Karen took this yesterday during snack time...

Pool Time!!

I love the pool this year!! Last year Ellen couldn't walk and Lucas couldn't touch the bottom, so I had to hold Ellen in a sling and make sure Lucas didn't drown. This year it is so much easier, which translates to more fun. Lucas can touch, and can pretty much swim. Each day he gains more confidence and works on new skills. He can now swim under the water for about 20 seconds and navigate as he swims... so if he's swimming from wall to wall he can swim around a kid if they get in his way. He's working on treading water and taking a breath as he swims. I think we're going to sign him up for a formal group lesson next week. Ellen is easy, until she gets bored with the pool and runs away from me while I'm still in the water. For the most part, however, she wants to be jumping in and "swimming", just like Lucas. Since we're having so much fun, I'm planning on making it a part of our week day routine. Ellen sleeps until about 3pm, so we've been there from about 4-6pm each day this week, and Dada will join us on the weekends.

Happy 5th Birthday Ben!

Ben turned 5 last week, so we celebrated with a family party this past weekend when Grandpa Schroeder was in town. Pretty standard pictures, but check out Max holding Ellen. I have never met a more compassionate, caring kid than Max - he's 6 and a 1/2. He wants so bad for Ellen to let him carry her around, but she's a little hesitant still. He asks lots of questions about what she can do and each time asks if she can say his name yet. She made him so happy by calling, "MAH! MAH!" this weekend : ) It's a good thing he's so good with babies... they are expecting their 3rd in October.

"Where's my cake?"

A few more....

Lucas at 4yrs and 2 months

Jumping to Grandpa

Ty, Lucas, Hunter Conklin (they were visiting in Flagler)

A view of the pool...

Caroline Conklin having a snack

Ellen and Grandpa

Ellen and Mommy

Yum!

Date night for Jenn and Shan

Splashing Cousins!

Beach - Black and White Fun