When Elsa was about 2 weeks old, Rowan and Nadia got to go to swim lessons at a friend's pool for 5 straight days. It was a lifesaver, despite having a newborn and experiencing 100 degree weather. My kids needed to get out of the house and I needed a reason to get them out. They loved going to the pool and we ended up spending our entire afternoons there. It was also perfect timing on the way home as we passed Sonic right before their happy hour drink special ended. I got to chat with other members of our ward who also signed up their kids to take lessons from Angelyn Aiken (my visiting teacher and the bishop's wife) while the kids played and did their lessons. She is fantastic at teaching kids how to swim. I was amazed at the progress Rowan and Nadia made in just one week. There were 3 kids per class and they spent one hour a day with Angelyn. I think I prefer that over the larger groups that we've done in the past. Nadia now does great at putting her face underwater and jumping in and Rowan can swim across the pool unassisted with his head under, which is a big improvement for him.
Our friend's pool happens to have a waterslide that a lot of the kids were hestitant to go down. Nadia, of course, was the only one in her group to try it on the very first day. I don't even think Rowan did it until the third day of lessons.
This is Rowan in the middle of the week. He was doing even better by Friday.
I didn't think I would have another baby shower after I had one for Rowan. Our old ward had an unspoken "first child" only baby shower rule since we had so many student families who were having babies left and right. But my new ward doesn't have many pregnant women in it (I don't know of anyone who is pregnant in our ward right now and I think there's only been 2 babies born this year) and my visiting teachers insisted on throwing me one. I managed to hit an awesome garage sale in May where I got enough clothes to last Elsa through her first year and so we did a Diaper and Dinner shower. I didn't get everyone who came in these pictures since a few people left early, but I'm glad I got at least most of the people who came. It was a casual evening with no games and lots of good food. Honestly it was just what I needed before Elsa joined our family. Having children while being so far away from our family is not easy and we've found ourselves very dependent on our ward family in their absence. I'm so grateful for these ladies' support and friendship. They are the best! I know that Heavenly Father is watching out for our family by helping us to move to wards that are so good to us while we live away from our loved ones out West. I'm pretty sure I have enough diapers to last us for at least 6 months and the dinners came in handy when I was too exhausted to get in the kitchen. It's been a great blessing for our family.
