Aye Aye Captain! - 61/366

We went swimming today for the first time in a good few months. The house move, colds and illnesses over the Christmas period made swimming impossible. It was great to get JC back in the water again. He had a brilliant time and hasn't lost his leg kick or arm crawl! When I was getting changed I put him in this little boat which acted as a fun baby pen while I made myself look presentable.

11/365 Keeping My Head Above Water

Phew . . . I have managed to back blog my last 2 365 post which totally defeats the purpose! I have just been so incredibly busy.

Image from waterbabies

It has been an exciting day for me today as I achieved something really important to me today. I am not a very confident swimmer and to say I am scared of my head going near the water is an understatement! I have been taking JC to WaterBabies swimming lessons for 8 weeks now and his underwater swimming is really good. They teach babies and toddlers to swim underwater without the use of floatation devices. I love their structured approach and I have seen such a dramatic improvement in JC's tolerance of water on his face, even in the bath. All the babies in his class have gotten so good that when the swimming teacher brought out the goggles for the parents so that we could go underwater to watch them, the other parents were so excited whilst I was terrified.

I didn't want to say anything about being scared of the water, as I didn't want to seem pathetic. So I donned the goggles and mustered up the inner strength to go underwater to see my wee babe swimming. It was absolutely amazing! I was so proud of him. He had his eyes wide open and was kicking towards me. I was so glad that I did it and I can't wait to do it again. I have an underwater photography session with him to look forward to in 2 weeks time so hopefully I will get a decent shot of him. It is simply amazing!

He also went for his first hair cut today. My hubby's cousin is a hairdresser so she cut it for him. I asked her to keep his wee curls at the back because I couldn't bear to cut them off!

Swimming - Not Enough Arms! (Kindness)

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

Aesop

It's the 3rd post of my Random Acts of Kindness and I would like to tell you about something that happened to me yesterday. 

I love to take JC swimming as he has adored the pool since he was 12 weeks old. It can be quite difficult to be organised enough to sort myself while holding him, the bag, the car seat and the locker money! I went to a different pool for the first time as we were going to our first baby swimming lesson with WaterBabies. I was extremely excited about it but felt a little nervous because he has been suffering with a cold for the past few days.

I decided to take him and he actually really enjoyed the lesson. He was smiling and giggling the whole way through it. This happiness all came to an end as we stepped out of the pool. I don't know if it was the cold air or what but he started crying. I wrapped him in the towel and took him to the changing room. As I fumbled with the locker to try and get my bag out, I slipped and fell on my backside. I couldn't put my arms out as I was holding JC. I must have looked a right state and if I'd have seen me I would have laughed but I felt like crying. It was just one of those days!

However, a rather kind lady who had witnessed my pride crushing fall came to the rescue. She took JC from me (now all calm, happy and warm in his towel, giggling away like he had personally caused the fall and was rather pleased with himself). I was able to regain my dignity and get my stuff from the locker. He seemed quite happy with her so I just popped behind the door and quickly slung my clothes on. It was a small and random act of kindness from a stranger but it was a huge help to me and allowed me to regain my composure before I got him changed and ready. There are some days where you just don't have enough arms! Had she not been there I would have managed but I would have become hot, bothered and flustered. I need to remember to take help from people more often when it is offered to me. I like to think I can do everything myself but sometimes it helps to have an extra pair of hands.

Feel free to join in and post up your Random Acts of Kindness for this week . . .





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5 Ingredients for my perfect day

Listography time again (late again as per usual!). The list as set over at Kate Takes 5 this week is 5 ingredients to my perfect day. I did actually think about this all day yesterday and found it quite difficult to narrow it down but here goes:

1. I would wake up alarm free. No baby crying, no dogs barking, no postman ringing the bell and certainly no alarm clocks! There is nothing nicer than just letting your body wake up when it has had enough sleep.

2. I would meet one of my good friends for lunch, champers and laughter.

3. Take JC swimming. It is one of my biggest pleasures in life and I look forward to it every week.

4. Take the dogs for a walk on the beach. It has to be their favourite place and I love throwing stones for Ruby and watching Kaiya leg it round in circles.

5. I would finish the day with a meal in a nice Italian restaurant followed by a trip to the cinema to see a good film (with a pic n mix too of course!)