Swimming Lessons A Good Thing?

Over the course of the last couple of months, Sam has been taking swimming lessons. If was a "birthday gift" to him from us but really we wanted to make sure we did some sort of lesson because last year he would scream when we brought him to the pool.

 It was a good investment. Ryan and I both learnt how to help Sam to learn to swim with fun activities and Sam is no longer scared of the water, which I'm not too sure is ALWAYS such a good thing. 

You see, last Sunday we hosted the Sunday School picnic at our house. We love to be able to host our church family for a service in the cooled garage and then fun in the pool for the Sunday School kids! In years passed, Sam wasn't always mobile so it was a breeze to keep him away from the pool. And last year, he hated water. This year, he now LOVES the water because of swimming lessons. 

After the service, the kids run out to the pool to get swimming in before lunch is ready and Ryan and I start the process of setting out some food and getting the hot dogs BBQing. Sam was good and kept asking us to go in the pool because we had engraved his in mind he only goes in with Mom and Dad! We kept telling him to wait because we were doing A,B or C. 

As he stood at the side lines watching all the other kids jump in and out of the pool, you could see him testing his boundaries. Eventually sitting on the pool steps with Ryan's permission. 

I was just walking back into the pool area when I saw the tail end of Sam jumping off of the steps and into the pool itself without any floaties on. 

THANKFULLY, there were many other bodies around ready to pounce in to get him but Mommy-mode had kicked in and I sprinted passed people and leaped into the pool to grab him. 

He wasn't submerged for very long! Literally seconds and thankfully with swimming lessons he knows now how to hold his breath. So when I lifted him up from to the surface he had a smile on his face and just thought Mommy was coming in to swim with him. 

Of course, my heart was racing like crazy from fear but I tried to keep the panic to the minimum and stay calm. I reminded him about only going swimming if Mommy or Daddy were with him. I put on his floaties and we went back in the water. 

I actually didn't want to give Sam too much trouble. He was being as patient as you can expect a 3 year old to be. It was Ryan and I who were putting him off of swimming (when EVERY other kid was in the pool) because of our hosting duties. Sam doesn't understand that he actually can't swim yet without floaties and so jumped in with the other kids. 

We are so glad there were so many watchful people around that day and we know he would have been fine but it was an eye opener for us as far as pool safety goes. We have a lock on the pool gate door but have been spoiled for the last 3 years by a child who never even showed interest. Now (especially after Sunday) we are so careful about keeping that gate locked at all times. Even when we are all outside together. Because you can turn your back for 2 minutes and something can happen so fast. 

We are glad Sam isn't scared of the water anymore and we hope we have some fun pool-filled days in the years to come. We attribute Sam holding is breath last Sunday to the lessons he has been taking and even for that we are thankful. While I am NOT happy with Sam falling in the pool, I am thankful for the realization (aka: wake up call) it gave Ryan and I about pool safety and for it happening when there were MANY watchful eyes there to help if needed. 

xo 

A little catch up

Truthfully, I had absolutely no intentions on taking a "blogging break". Not one bit. But almost a month has passed and there was radio silence here. It wasn't because of lack of material. No, I took pictures left, right and center! There is so much happening around the farm, our house and even with Sam. It's been a good month! But the problem was with me and sitting down to a blank screen and having no words. I wasn't able to talk about every other day life things when my heart was still healing. I didn't know what to write about my grief and yet I couldn't write about anything else either. 

There has been a lot of healing in the last month. A good appointment with a specialist who has asked to do further research into our case. I have agreed in hopes of maybe helping other women who may one day go through the same thing. It means more poking and probing but it really does give me comfort. I think I have seen or at least most people have heard about our loss now so it feels more safe to leave the comforts of the farm. I dreaded being approached by people but now enough time has passed that it doesn't seem to happen anymore. We laid our girls ashes to rest, the minister came over to do a blessing on her final resting place. We planted a new tree for her and this year planted pink flowers all around the bottom. It was nice to have that closure. 

Work has also been the normal "May Crazy" like it usually is with the added stress of excessive rainfall and flooding in the area! Our home was blessed with no damage unlike so many others! We have a little delay of actual work because of the rain but now that it is June and sunny, things are picking up! 

WE HAVE A GREENHOUSE! Last October Ryan gifted me a homemade greenhouse for my birthday. To be honest, it has been the topic of a lot of fights since then! Mostly over the size of it. My 6"4 husband waned this monster of a greenhouse and I envisioned a smaller/cute one! Thankfully, Ryan's Dad convinced him of the smaller size and even helped him build it! We had to hold off for a while finishing it because of all the rain but it is done! Next step is making a work station/shelves and then hopefully put it into use next year! 

Sam has been hilarious lately. He is such a witty kid! Just the other day I was crying after hanging up the phone with a customer that was very rude to me. Sam asked me what was wrong and I told him someone was mean to Momma on the phone. Without pause he said, "Want me to knuckle em', Momma?" Ha ha! 

We are just about finished with swimming lessons and he has really improved! But not only did it improve Sam's pool skills but helped us by giving us the tools to better help him to learn to swim! It was well worth the drive, time and money! 

Other then that, the summer is filling up and I am getting excited for all the fun things to come! Our summer holidays are BIG on my mind lately because I really want some time with my boys. We usually take a week later in the year but this year are doing something in July! Can't wait to enjoy some (hopefully) heat with our summer vaca! 

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of this blog writing thing! 

xo