It's Time to Swim

 Zoe has gone through so many phases with water.  When she was a new baby, she loved baths.  Then HATED them.  So much so that she would save her poops for bath time just to spite me.  Every time for about eight months she would poo in the tub!  Her first experience with swimming in a pool was great.  She LOVED it.  I couldn't catch her fast enough each time she would jump in.  And then the next year she hated it.  Would cling to me in the water, even with a life jacket, or even if she could touch the bottom.  This made swim time with a large family super fun.  This past Summer at the beach I never had to worry about her because I knew she would be close to the shore making sand castles or dragging beach toys around on the boogie board.  There was no way she was going to go in past her knees.  Only towards the end of the Summer did she start asking me to put her life jacket on so she could float around. That was a massive step for her.  And that was when I knew she was ready for swim lessons.  It's only been five classes and boy do I feel sorry for her teacher.  Zoe is constantly under the water or trying to swim/float away.  This totally reminds me of Noah at this age!  He was a fish and never listened to his teacher either.  Haha!  I was a swim instructor once upon a time so I know how it feels to have one of those.  Or many.  And I have produced two!  I'm so sorry to do that to the swim instructor world.  But on the plus side, she loves water again.  She loves her swimming lessons.  And another perk?  I get to swim lanes during her class!  I LOVE swimming and I miss it so this forces me to take the opportunity to throw on my saggy one piece swimsuit that I still have from my instructing days and get in as many lanes as I can in a half hour.  It's great.  I want to go every day.  An easy swim for me at my peak used to be 40 lengths.  At least.  One time I even swam a mile for fun, which I believe is around 72 or 76 lengths (somewhere around there).  It took me 45 minutes and it was super boring so I never did it again.  I haven't been swimming in years so I will pat myself right on the back for starting out swimming 20 lengths of the front crawl without stopping AND adding the breast stroke and side stroke (another 8-10 all together).  I will happily take the praise.  I was also really sore all week long the first couple times back.  Now that we are five weeks in, my muscles aren't on crazy fire anymore and I am feeling pretty great.  My body feels tight and strong.  It doesn't look it yet, but we'll get there.  I'm hoping with enough breast strokes my bum will defeat the pull of gravity.

I asked Zoe to pose for me.  She got real creative.

Olympics, Here We Come!

So this conversation started at the beach during the Summer when a friend of mine told me that she was going to be putting her daughter in gymnastics and did Ellie want to join her?  Let me back up even further.  I don't know that I've ever seen a Kindergarten report card that says that my child's motor skills are not really up to par when it comes to gym time.  Ellie has a gift for being able to fall down while standing still.  If someone is going to fall off their chair, it's going to be her.  The little girl wapping her hands lazily around on the playground?  That's my child. Well, Joe showed me this clip on the talk-show, "Ellen," where a Mom was having the same "struggles" (if you can call it that?) with her daughter, so she put her in gymnastics and now the girl is a pro.  She isn't clumsy anymore.  She has amazing balance and strength.  So when my beach friend (Alaina Johnson) suggested that Ellie join her daughter, I thought, "great idea!"  And you know what?  It was.  Ellie has been LOVING gymnastics.  Not only does she see her friends there, she is good at it.  She is stronger, more flexible, better balance, AND she gets to wear one of these.  We are all winning.

L-R:  Elle Wilson, Ellie, Zoey Taylor, Emery Gilchrist, Maryn Johnson

And this is only THREE months of progression.  Imagine where she will be in a year or two from now?  This is Ellie's first "thing."  I know she was in dance a couple years ago, but this is different because she loves it.  And isn't that exciting? Finding something that your child loves AND is good at?  Her teachers are amazing and it's even fun for me to watch.  Great job Ellie!

Christmas is UP!

Christmas is UP at the Burnhams.  We don't have many Christmas things so it doesn't take us too long, but it certainly feels amazing once it's all done.  I love pumping those Christmas tunes and everyone's happy and singing along.  Ahhhhh.  So great.  Also, we bought the world's skinniest tree.  Every time I look at it I laugh.  You can't see the star at the top of the tree, but it is almost just as wide!  Haha!  Joe and I decided to sell our leaning-tree from last year and buy a more appropriate-sized one for our tiny livingroom space.  It certainly fits better.  But yes.  It looks a tiny bit silly.  No pun intended.  Jane hasn't discovered how much fun pulling a tree down can be, so we haven't experienced that yet, but I have a feeling it wouldn't take much nor be too long!  We have only lost one ornament thus far, and about a zillion candy canes thanks to Zoe.  Actually, she keeps taking off ornaments and playing with them throughout the house, so I have a feeling we will continue to lose more ornaments.  They may not be literally broken, but their hearts will be because they will never live to see another day on our beautiful Christmas tree.

Oh man, I love my family.  And I love Christmas.

Janey at Nine Months

This little lump is nine months.  NINE!  I remember booking her "nine-month doctor's appointment" over the Summer and thinking, MAN, that is so far away.  But no.  I blinked and it already came and went!  She is a whopping 17 lbs people.  So.  So.  Tiny.  But healthy and thriving.  She is now in the 50th percentile.  Well done Jane.  She also started crawling a few weeks ago and is now decidedly a pro.  She has no time for jolly jumpers any more.  Or anything that will contain her.  Unless it's her high chair and there is an endless supply of food.  Even then....  I kind of dreaded this stage because I have four older kids that forget to close the door that leads downstairs, or they leave their Lego pieces EVERYWHERE (and you can bet I finger-sweep at least ten times a day), but this stage has been surprisingly fun.  I mean.  I don't like having to worry about those things, but as long as I'm keeping a solid eye on her or do a scan before putting her down, it's not so bad.  Okay, even with the scan she still manages to find something to put in her mouth.  Speaking of which, she is obsessed with the broom.  And yes.  Yes, she eats the dust bunnies off the end of it.  Gross.  Sometimes I don't need a broom because she is a professional sweeper.  I often find her under the table like a puppy, picking up whatever made it to the floor and putting it straight in her mouth.  I just have to make sure it's not days old.  Sometimes it is.  Well.  She hasn't gotten sick yet!

After my trip to Arizona last month I have had to start bottle-feeding Jane.  It was bitter-sweet and I really stewed over it, but after feeding her a bottle in my arms and watching her slowly fade away while clutching a blanket to her face has made this transition more sweet than bitter.  Let's not forget that it's super convenient.  No more pumping bottles to go on dates.  Or out at all.  No more nursing in public or having to find a place to quietly nurse.  And sometimes I even leave her in her crib holding her own bottle so I can rush to the bathroom on the occasion that I might need to urgently go.  Or more often than not because I have four other kids.  But also the bathroom thing.  (How many times have I nursed whilest sitting on the toilet!  Haha!  Sorry kids).

Sometimes I am lucky enough to just hold her and have her just lay there calmly and look up at me and touch my face.   Or fall asleep in my arms.  Or even better, shoulder.  Oh my!  There is not much better in life than this.

This lady started out HATING her baths.  The faster the better!  Now she lives for them.  It is especially nice now that she has some semblance of balance and can crawl around in the tub.  No more killing my knees while trying to hold her slippery body up and making sure she doesn't swallow water.  Bless the stress-free no-tears super-fun bath time.

I took this picture today.  Look at those eyes.  I get comments on them just about every day.  And her hair has sure grown over the past couple weeks.  Joe and I even noticed a little curl at the end of one side the other day.  This is what Zoe's hair looked like at this age, so I wonder if we will not only have a blondie-blue but also a curly-haired blondie blue??  If she's my last, might as well go out with a bang!  She still has a Noah-look to her, but more and more she is turning out to look a lot like a female Jackson.  Either way, she is sure a cutie.  The kids and I often talk about how lucky we all are to have Jane in our lives.  It is particularly sweet to hear Jackson talk about how blessed we are to have Jane.  Those boys sure love her and dote on her.  I had Jackson babysit her while I dropped Ellie off at gymnastics today.  I have strict rules about making sure to play with her in her room (he is not skilled in the finger-sweeping department!), and I came upstairs to him playing with her and talking to her.  Oh my.  It is so sweet.  And then he proceeded to make her a bottle even after I was home.  The older kids really like to help out when it has to do with Jane.  They jump at the chance to hold her bottle, or her, or carry her around, or make her a bottle all by themselves.  I only wish that were the case with changing her diaper!  Ha!  Baby steps I guess.  We sure love you Janey.  Slow down!