Wednesday Randoms!

• I was going to participate in "What I'm Loving Wednesday" today but my stupid stupid camera will no longer upload photos to my computer in any way, shape, or form. It had previously been stubborn and would no longer recognize it's own USB cord so I would manually place the SD card into my scanner and upload that way. That plan only lasted one upload before that no longer worked. I then was reduced to putting the SD card into an OLD camera and using the USB cord for it to upload and now that no longer works. VERY long story short, I refuse to to a WILW post with out pictures. Who wants to read a post with out pictures?? Oh wait... please keep reading this post!! :)

• The above problem makes me want to go and buy a new camera before the baby gets here. I don't want to risk loosing any of those precious pictures if it decided that it just doesn't feel like working...

• Speaking of the baby, I washed all the 0-3 months clothes that I had saved back from the boys. Some of the stuff I know I got at a baby shower when I was pregnant with Graham and they still had TAGS on them!! Bobby also dragged down the pack-n-play from upstairs to our bedroom. It has a fresh sheet on it and the baby sleep positioner in it. Progress!!

• I have my 35 week checkup tomorrow at my regular OB. She should be giving me my date for the cerclage removal. It should be sometime next week! I know he needs to stay in there until 38 weeks but I still wouldn't mind the least little bit if he showed his sweet face tomorrow! (and just in case that does decide to happen, I proudly say that I HAVE PACKED MY BAG FOR THE HOSPITAL!

• Graham has decided on what he would like his present to the baby to be. He wants to make him a fleece blanket with knot ties around the edges. We went to Hobby Lobby this weekend and found the cutest material (robot pattern). If we can manage to get his 30 minutes of homework done in under 2 hours we may actually get to start on it tonight!

• Last night Graham had his first Cub Scout meeting of the year. He is now a Webelo I. We could not be more proud of him for making it this far! We hope soo much that he chooses to continue on and be a Boy Scout one day! During last nights meeting the older boys did a series of small skits and jokes for the younger boys. I was a more than a little nervous for Graham as he was literally handed a piece of paper and told to read it. Graham has a lot of problems with reading (especially out loud and in front of 75 people!) but he did soo great last night! He spoke loud and clear and only struggled with a couple of words. I was beyond proud!!

• I can't believe that tomorrow is September 1st. In only a month and a half Caroline will be having her first birthday and I can't figure out what I want to do yet for her. Large or small gathering? Should I try and make or put something together in memory of her for the hospital? Should I just save that money and put it all towards March of Dimes or Haven of Hope ? Soo much to think about here and I haven't been able to turn my mind towards it and the pain/joy it will bring.

• I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Happy Wednesday!

I Love My Big Third Grade Boy!

Ok, so this is going to be the shortest blog post ever but oh well. I just didn't want to ever forget this memory!!

When Graham got off the bus this afternoon he got held up in the line to get off at our stop. While he was waiting he waved to me from the aisle and I waved back. Without thinking I blew him a kiss. I quickly though "oh no" he's way too big for his friends to see his Momma do that but without hesitating he smiled soo big and blew me a kiss back!

I nearly melted from sheer love right in our driveway! I love my sweet boy soo much and it made my heart sing to see that he doesn't care who's watching he'll still show his Momma some love!

I love you Graham!!

Fill In The Blank Friday!

This week I'm joining up with Lauren from The Little Things We Do to participate in Fill In The Blank Friday! I love her questions because they are soo simple but really make me think about things!

1.) One of Life's Most Simple Pleasures Is : reading a book that is soo good you just can't put it down! Throw in a really great bar of chocolate at the same time and I'm in absolute HEAVEN!

2.) Thinking about what happened to my daughter an/or looking through her things makes me want to punch someone.

3.) I like Friday's because it means a whole weekend to spend with my hubby and boys!

4.) Aglet is a funny word.

Don't know what an aglet is? :) See below. It's one my boys favorite songs EVER!

5.) If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be Nivea Lip Balm! I am addicted to this stuff, especially in winter!

6.) I'm happy that I'm about to have a new little boy to bring home!



7.) I would never jump out of an airplane. I have a hard enough time just getting on to one that I don't have to get off until it lands again (think MULTIPLE XANAX). It's just how much I hate large flying coffins. It doesn't make sense to my brain how they stay up there with out falling to the ground. Fear of heights + flying death trap = Hillary will never ever jump out of an airplane!

Hope that everyone has a great weekend!

First Day Of School ~ 3rd Grade!

Graham started 3rd grade this year! I was a little worried that by the time that school finally rolled around he would not be ready to leave all the summer time fun. When I asked him about it he was surprisingly excited! He said that he couldn't wait to see all of his friends again.



Graham in front of his elementary school. (not the best picture... Grady was making a run for it and I had to take a super quick picture! :)

Graham got one of the best 3rd grade teachers this year and we are soo thankful!! She was actually a 2nd grade teacher last year but was moved up this summer. He didn't have her last year but knew of her so he felt really comfortable from the get-go!



Graham at his new desk! Once again, not a great picture because it only took 4 seconds for Grady to find a bucket of scissors and help himself to them!

Graham will spend half of his time with his homeroom teacher and the other half of his time with her team teacher. One does reading, spelling etc while the other does math and science. I think that it's kind of neat that they get the experience to learn from two different teachers with different styles for a more rounded learning experience.



Do you love Graham's necklace? :) It's his shark tooth necklace that he got this summer. He has been wearing it everyday to school. Too cute!

Graham ended up having a great first, second, and third day of school! (I'm a little behind...) He wakes up excited to go every morning and I pray that this attitude continues all throughout the year!  




On Being Brave (Part 2)

Do you remember this post from back in May? Probably not :). I didn't hardly myself. I went back and re-read what I wrote that day. Sadly 4 months later I still don't feel all that much different. I had such high hopes for myself that my brain would come around or that God might intercede and make my heart hurt a little less.... (disclaimer: I'm not complaining. I'm pretty sure God is pretty busy himself right now just making sure that this little boy makes it here safe and sound).

I am marginally proud of myself though.... I finally went out yesterday and bought a couple of things for the baby!

I had originally planned on having Bobby run by the store once he was born (safely) to grab the couple of things that we would need. But, I caved yesterday  at the grocery store and bought the paci's, the paci-holders, a package of newborn diapers, and some wipes. I had a great coupon for Kohl's so I ran by and grabbed the two little newborn-sized outfits. I was pretty proud of myself! :) (I do have to admit though that I saved the receipts just in case...) All that is left on my list of things to get is some sheets for the pack-n-play that will be in our room for the first couple of months!

Grady got all excited and thought that the paci's were for him (even though we pulled the plug on those like 6 months ago). It was sad and funny all at the same time when I tried to explain about how they were for his baby brother. It's still a hard concept for him that there is a baby coming out of Momma's tummy soon.

I have also made great strides and started to kind-of pack my hospital bag. (I totally took a picture of that too but upon further review decided that no one would really want to look at one of my bras and a box of maxi-pads ;). I had a long talk with my head and it finally made sense that good or bad outcome I would still be having this baby and I would need to have a bag packed with clothes that was not packed by my husband. Because really, who wants to be stuck in the hospital in pajama pants 4 sizes too small and a bunch of silk shirts?? :) I am making him a list and taping it to the mirror in the bathroom of things that he will need to add to it though. Such things as "make-up bag" and "hair-dryer" will have to go in last minute. I'm worried that I'll be going straight from the doctors office to the hospital and he'll have to bring it later.

Ack. The axiety is killing me. Oh Lord, please let this baby come soon!

Baby Weight and Baby Wait

So I just got back from my specialist office with another great report! Whoo-Hoo and Praise the Lord! The baby is doing great and so am I. So great in fact that I have been officially released from her care! I never imagined a day that I would walk out of her office and know that I would never have to set foot in there again. She did say that of course if my regular OB had any other problems or questions as to my or the baby's well-being that she would see me right away. I'm praying that this is not necessary. The only bitter-sweet part of this is that today was the last time I would get to see my baby until he is born! I have gotten soo used to seeing him every other week for almost a year now that I don't know what I'll do with out that great reassurance until he's here in person... :( 

Before I start to shed some hormonal tears, here are some of the super cute pictures from today's scan!



Beautiful baby profile!




My sweet little squishy face!

We are both doing great so the WAIT continues for his arrival. I still very selfishly want him here NOW and not later even though later is better for him and not me. Just being honest.

Baby Mueller weighs almost 5 pounds now! He was estimated to be 4 pounds and 15 ounces at this mornings appointment. His growth was right not track at exactly 33 weeks and 4 days (which is precisely what I am right now). I have to interject here quickly and say that as a worry-wart Momma, I was a little upset at his growth this past two weeks. He has always measured ahead for his gestation and this time he wasn't. Until the doctor came in all I could think was "growth restriction". I asked her about it right away and she said that he was perfectly fine and healthy. He had grown 10 ounces in the past two weeks and that I pretty much needed to stop with all the worrying! :) I still have my doubts however... the ultrasound tech this morning seemed a little out of it to me. I had never had her before and she kept having to change back to a different screen to correct her measurement numbers for their system. At one point she mentioned that it was a "total Monday" for her. I obviously have zero medical training but I still had to wonder...

Baby Mueller was doing some pretty cute stuff in utero this morning! At one point the tech stopped and said, "Wait, he has something in his mouth but it's not his thumb." She kept looking and then started to laugh because she said that it was his PINKY finger a la Dr. Evil!!



 The other funny thing was that he was contorting himself during the ultrasound. She said that he had both hands in front of his face and one foot! He was still like that when the doctor came in to check the scan and she chuckled too. How can that even be comfortable?? :)

The other WEIGHTY issue was mine. Remember the post from Thursdays appointment about how much weight I had gained? I spent the entire weekend worrying again about my weight and how I needed to tone down the eating etc. Well, I went into today's appointment, got on the scale (remember different doctor's office) and I had not gained a pound in two weeks!! WHAT THE HECK??!! How do I gain soo much weight at one office that got me a mini-lecture on being a little bit more careful to not gaining anything at another! The scale has to be off at my regular OB's office. There is no way on earth that I lost almost 12 pounds since just this past Thursday. When I go back to her office next week I am totally going to be asking about this. I will also be asking to be weighed on another scale at the same office ( I know they have at least 2 there because of different entrances). My pregnancy hormones simply can not take worrying about calorie consumption at this point!! :)

Hope that everyone had a great weekend!

August 19th ~ Day of Hope

If you are a Baby Loss Mother and never been over to check out Carly Marie go and check out this amazing woman, mother, and photographer!

"August 19th is about honouring and remembering the lives of babies and children that could not stay with us. By doing this we are speaking out about the death of babies whether it is through pregnancy, infant, or even child loss."

I love love love that she calls this day  "Day of Hope". Hope is such a big part of my life and my family's life! This one emotion and sentiment is sometimes the singular thing that keeps me going while I continue to face the grief over the loss of our little daughter last October 15th. It is the one thing that keeps me going through a difficult pregnancy with Caroline's little brother. I have HOPE that I'll come out on the other side of grief a better wife, better mother, better daughter of Christ.

To honor and remember our sweet daughter today I invite you to read (or re-read) her story here, here, and here.

Much love to everyone who shares the Day of Hope with me!!

Week 33 ~ Dr's Appointment Update!

As of yesterday I was officially 33 glorious weeks pregnant! I went to my regular OB/GYN's office for an appointment. She was soo beyond sweet and walked in saying "Yay! It's my miracle patient!". I can not describe to you how wonderful her words made me feel!

Overall the appointment was once again very boring (which I'll take anytime!). The baby's heart rate was good, I was measuring right on track, and my blood pressure was great. What was not great was the swelling in my hands, feet, legs, and some CRAZY weight gain over the past 3 weeks. I wonder how much was from the water retention and how much was from too much good food... :). After a very gentle lecture on how its easier to watch myself now and not have to diet so much later she was pretty much done!

The best part of the entire visit was when we discussed the cerclage removal. She said that since I'm doing so good and the baby is at a great size I can have the cerclage taken out between 35-36 weeks! OMG that is only 2 weeks away!! I of course want this baby to spend all the time in me that he needs but secretly the thought of having him here a bit early makes me pretty darn happy too! There is no guarantee that taking the cerclage out means that I'll instantly start to dilate. She said that she's had ladies before in my same situation go PAST their due dates! This will not be me (thank God) as I'm still on track for a scheduled C-Section at 38 weeks. My OB said that for the cerclage removal, it would have to be done over in Labor and Delivery at the hospital for "just in case". I had assumed that it would be just a regular office visit to do this. I will have to stay for the day for monitoring but this makes me just a little bit excited! Bobby had said before that he'd like to be there when they do it and that means he gets to take the entire day off to spend with just me and I'll take a "date" with him anyway I can get it these days.  This as its supposed to be a tad bit painful and I'm going to need some serious hand holding from him!!

Another wonderful thing was that she was able to make notes to schedule for me to have the same anesthesiologist as I did when I had the cerclage placed! After the trauma with the spinal and then epidural when I delivered Caroline (let me just say that neither worked after about 10 tries and 2 hours later), I want  need the reassurance that this portion of the delivery will go smoothly. The doctor who did my spinal with the cerclage could not have done a better job and afterwards he promised me that he would be there for my delivery. Love him!!

My next appointment will be this coming Monday with the specialist so I'll have some more baby pictures then! I can't wait to see him again!

I think that I'll wait until Sunday again before I do my official 33 week pregnancy update. I'm just too hot and too much of a mess today to be taking any pictures of myself... :)

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

El Destructo

My little angel devil Grady has been on the craziest rampage lately! He has been just tearing up the house, being crazy loud at church, and terrorizing just about everyone that he comes in contact with. Ahhh... the life of a 3 year old! :)

This past Sunday after me taking him out of the adult church service to see if he would do better in children's church we had to go right back to the adult church service because he was even worse there! All the other kids were nice and quiet and listening to their christian movie playing and he was soo LOUD! I felt like he was taking away from the other children's experience so we headed back to the sanctuary.

After church ended we headed out to grab so lunch. We ended up eating at Goomba's Pizza (which is soo good). Grady's church fit followed us and before you know it I was suckered in to handing over my camera to keep him occupied while we waited for our food.



See how good we started out! Happy, content, and not in a high chair!





Exhibit A: Example of Grady's awesome picture skillz.




Exhibit B: Grady likes carpet. A lot.




Exhibit C: Grady really likes carpet. And also please pardon his very dirty little boy toes.

Our food finally came and we ate in relative peace and quiet for about 3 whole minutes. During this time Grady had been put into a highchair in hopes that he might settle down and eat. He proceeded to put his head on the table for a while and I commented to Bobby how cute and sleepy he looked. If we could have heard Grady's thoughts at this moment they would have been saying "SUCKERS!".

Grady popped his head up and had this mischievous little smile on his face and a tightly closed hand. I asked him what he had and this is what he showed me...



During Grady's "sleepy time" at the table he was really reaching down and taking apart his own highchair! He had unscrewed a giant screw all by himself! Can you tell how proud Grady is of his handy work! Can you also tell what Bobby though of the entire situation at lunch that day?? :)

Never a dull moment with my boys. I can't wait to add one more. We may never leave our house again.

Opi's Lawnmower...

is almost as good as Opi's tractor! Opi is Bobby's Dad and has waaaay too much fun stuff that my boys are obsessed with. Number one obsession would be his tractor but a close runner up is his lawnmower!

Bobby really needed to mow the lawn the other day so he ran and picked up his Dad's lawnmower. He got most of it done before 2 little boys even noticed. This was a good thing as it would have taken him 19 times longer with 2 "helpers".

Graham noticed this little buck across the street at our neighbors house when we went outside and he just HAD to take it's picture :).

Once we scared the buck off with all our noise this little one wandered out from it's hiding place. Soo cute!

I managed to get the guys to stop the lawn mower for a second so I could grab a quick picture. Grady was in hog heaven riding around in Bobby's lap. He's beyond content when he gets to ride around. One time when Bobby's Dad was mowing for us Grady caught a ride with him and fell asleep on his lap!

Graham is just now getting old enough to kinda help. By "help" I mean he know how to drive the mower all by himself (with supervision) and do donuts in the grass as fast as he can. He got in trouble for this very thing this day...

I have to provide a brief disclaimer here... don't let this green grass fool you. It's only green because it has an awesome tree to shade it from the HOT Texas sun. If you could see the rest of our poor yard behind me in this picture it would make you cry! It's totally brown and yuck! (like our neighbors in the deer pictures above :( .

32 Weeks (and 3 days) !

Once again can I just say that I can't believe that we've made it this far! The weeks seem to be just flying by now. At the beginning of the summer I was hovering around the 21st week of pregnancy and everything seemed just so far away. I kept telling myself "just get through the summer", "just get through the summer".

Thank goodness the end of summer is just around the corner. Graham starts 3rd grade next week so that marks the end of summer for us even though it really isn't technically Fall until September 23rd. I wondered all Summer long if Graham would be starting the new school year with a new little brother. I'm guessing not. :) I can't wait to see what changes our little family of four will look like this school year as it turns into a family of five!



My sweet Graham took this picture of me this morning before church. He kept scooting back and I asked him what he was doing and he said that he wanted to make sure to get his brother in the picture too! :) (notice the little blue frame on the mantle? That's one of our sonogram pictures of him). Graham melts my heart!!


Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 32 weeks and 3 days!

Size of Baby: I hate to even guess right now. A week ago on Monday he was already 4 pounds 5 ounces. I have nooo idea how much more he will have grown in a week. I go back to the specialist for another growth scan on Monday August 22nd so I'll find out then! (I hate to go by what the Internet says because it never seems right for him...)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I decided to be a crazy person and weigh myself this morning in the Church bathroom (weird that they have a scale in the ladies room, I know). It said the same thing that the specialist office said a week ago so I'm guessing that's good!

Maternity Clothes: Remember last week when I was all excited about the new maternity tops that I had found at Kohls? I had tried on 1 of the 3 tops I bought as they were all the same size, same style, brand etc. just different colors. The one I tried on in the dressing room was great so I bought all 3 and when I tried to wear the other two this past week they were both way too small!! What the heck!! Now I have to go and exchange them. So frustrating!!

Gender: Still our little boy in there!

Movement: He's moving around pretty good this week. One night as I was falling asleep he decided to have some sort of crazy dance party in there and was moving soo much that I actually started to get worried. I had read before in my "What To Expect When You're Expecting" book that frantic movement can be a sign of fetal distress. Of course my crazy brain jumped immediately to that conclusion. I turned myself over to my left side, chugged a giant glass of water and he seemed to settle down a lot. How is it possible for children to already scare the heck out of their parents when they are not even born yet??

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty good with the exception of the nightly potty trips! :)

What I Miss: Absolutely nothing!

Cravings: Nothing really this week. (maybe that's why the scale managed to stay the same number. haha.)

Symptoms: Just some irritating Braxton-Hicks contractions and heartburn.

Best Moment This Week: Just making it one more week!

Potty Training Gone Bad

So for a while now we have been passively potty training Grady. To be honest, I'm feeling very guilty that things have not gone better considering how many months we have been trying to work with him.

While I have been on partial bed rest I have held off super duper potty training. I know that in my condition there is no way that I can pull on and off 50 wet/poopy underpants a day, clean out the little potty that he likes to sit on, wash all said dirty underpants etc. I had hoped that with extra time he would naturally just "get it". Let me tell you, there has been NO "just getting it".

I would love it if I could share how we have been doing it so far with you ladies and get some feedback from you as to what you would do differently or what you would try next!

Grady has proved to be very bull headed about potty training. He seems to have this attitude of "I don't care if I ever use the potty". I have been curious since his birth how potty training would go because he was one of those babies who never cared or even cried when he had a dirty diaper. He still acts this way.

I've tried to see if he wanted to be "just like Graham" or "just like Daddy" and use the potty but he seems fairly unimpressed that they use the potty and not a pull-up like him. He just doesn't seem to care at all! Most of the time I am ignored completely when I ask him if he needs to go potty. No "yes" or "no" answers from him ever.

The only success that I have had at all is if we are able to spend all day long at home and I let him run around in just a t-shirt only. When we do that then he uses his little potty all day with no accidents! On these days though, he will still never tell me that he has to go potty or that he has just gone potty. So weird. It's as if he has very little awareness of the act itself I guess??

As far as rewards go we started out letting him have lollipops whenever he would sit on his potty. Now he is getting immune to the candy treat to sit there : \ . He for the most part will turn it down. I am in some serious trouble now! When he does accidentally make it into the potty we give him M&M's or some other special treat along with lots of praise, some clapping and he gets to flush the pee pee down the toilet himself.

What the heck do I do with a kid that just doesn't care one way or the other?? I never had these problems with Graham. He went to daycare everyday and got the chance to mimic the other 20 kids in his class when they all went potty together. Grady doesn't have this opportunity with me here at home.

 I checked out a potty training video from our library that I'm going to watch tonight and maybe make a run to the bookstore tomorrow for some books. Other than that do ya'll have any ideas that I could try? I'm really starting to feel like a Mommy failure! I'm starting to hear more and more comments from random people (and family) about how old Grady is (a little over 3) to not be potty trained yet and how they know of kids just over the age of two who already have it down pat.

Help!!

Update on 31 Week Doctors Appointment

This morning I went to see the specialist to check my cervix (for like the gazillionth time) and the baby's growth. I'm super excited to say that everything went just awesome today!

Here is a brief rundown on all the newest developments :

• Baby Boy now weighs 4 pounds 5 ounces!! (can I hear everyone say Praise God!)
• My cervical length was measuring in at 3.17 which is also awesome
• He is still measuring big and averaging 32 weeks and 6 days gestation (when I am only 31 weeks and 4 days)
• My AFI (amniotic fluid index) was only a 8.73 (which seemed low to me but the doctor assured me that it was more than fine)

And now for the best part... PICTURES! I'm pretty sure that even my hubby who reads my blog (bless his heart) during his lunch hour skips past all of the previous ramblings and skips right to the pictures! :)

I love seeing his face getting a little bit more chubby! And oh how I am going to kiss those sweet little lips of his every hour on the hour when he makes his big arrival! 

31 Weeks (and 3 days)!

Today I am 31 Weeks and 3 days! I suppose that I could have waited until tomorrow to do this post. I have an appointment with the specialist tomorrow morning and I'll have new pictures to share of our little guy! I'm so excited to see how much he weighs now. 3 weeks ago he was 2 pounds 15 ounces. Surely he's at least 3 and a half pounds by now right?



This is me from this morning. I convinced Bobby that we had 2 extra minutes before leaving for church to take my belly picture. Any later in the day and I would have been MUCH more worse for wear! :)



Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 31 glorious weeks!

Size of Baby: I will find out tomorrow and post the exact measurements as soon as I get home. (I promise to become a much better blogger and update much more frequently than I have been doing.)

Total Weight Gain: I'm sure that it's a lot. I'll also find this out tomorrow. This bit of info I will be sure to NOT post. (unless I haven't gained a pound...yeah right...then you all will be the first to know about it!)

Maternity Clothes: You will all be  happy to know that I finally went and found myself some new tank-tops and 1 new pair of shorts. I was out doing a little school clothes shopping for Graham and found that Kohls had GREAT deals on summer maternity clothes!

Gender: Still a little boy!

Movement: This little guy is still making me CRAZY with his inconsistent movement. I'm trying to find the common element on his "bad days". Like, "Did I forget to take my pre-natal vitamins today?" or "How much water have I had to drink?" When I feel like he's not moving enough to satisfy me I drink as much water as I can stand and it usually helps a little.

Sleep: I sleep really good most nights! Every once in a while I still get a random night where I'm awake half the night. This pregnancy has been pretty good on sleep. I attribute that to the awesome new mattress Bobby and I purchased a year and a half ago. (random note: I will forever cheap out on everything else but NEVER on my mattress ever again. Sleep is just way too important!)

What I Miss: Nothing at the moment!

Cravings: Coke Icees! I love them in this heat!

Symptoms: My feet and calves are starting to swell almost everyday now in this heat. Ick. Also just a little bit of heartburn.

Best Moment This Week: The best thing this week was just making it through this week (that and getting to spend time with my awesome little guys - SEE BELOW :)

These are my sweet sweet boys after church today. They are the joys of my life and I can't wait until this time next year to have a 3rd little boy in these pictures!



Swim Lesson Drama

Grady had his first day of swim lessons (this summer) today. We tried when he was a little over a year old just to get him introduced to it and he HATED IT. Guess what... he still HATES IT. Sometimes I can't help but laugh at him when he's in the middle of swim lesson hysterics. I can obviously tell that he is a little scared but the rest of his fit is just pure outrage on his part. You can totally tell that he is soo MAD that he is being made to do something that he just doesn't want to do.

** Let me stop here for a moment and head off any hater comments that I'm bound to receive about poor parenting for stressing out my child. Do not leave me any. The hubby and I firmly believe that no matter how scared Grady (or any of our other kids are) is to swim he must know what to do in case he ever fell in on accident. And as my oldest son Graham put today "He just has to work past his fear Momma". **

Graham, Grady and Mrs. Nancy

So pretty much Grady shrieked and cried and had a 30 minute hissy fit until he was able to get out of the pool and get his cookie for getting through his lesson.

I just love it that Mrs. Nancy does private 30 minute lessons for the little kids. Graham gets the bigger class and 1 hour lessons. Mrs. Nancy was also a sweet heart and let Graham get in to swim as well. She told him that he was going to be her special helper with Grady today so that he wouldn't get soo scared. Ha!

Grady usually loves to "swim" in other peoples pools. He was just soo mad this time that he couldn't just play in the smaller pool that she has (which can kinda be viewed in the background of the above photo). Towards the end of the lesson she let Grady get back into the small pool to work on blowing bubbles and kicking. He was still one ticked off little boy.

Grady got to practice his kicking while getting a piggy back ride on Mrs. Nancy.

Some fun things Grady managed to say in between fits were :

"You get out of the pool NOW! " - said none too politely to Mrs. Nancy...

"I want to get out and get my towel and dry my hair." - he has never once given a darn about dry hair...

I can not wait to take him back next Tuesday for his next lesson. Should be fun!!



I've Been Outed By My Own Kid...

Last night I was sweetly reading this book to Grady before he went to sleep...

We were rocking in his rocking chair in such contentment, learning our numbers up to 20...

We got to the number 10 and opened the flap on this page to reveal....

Grady promptly and proudly told my husband who was loitering in his bedroom "10! 10 snacks! Momma eat LOTS of snacks!!"

Lots of giggling (and some snickering) was done but not by me.