Swim Lessons

This week we had our first swimming lessons for Jane Ritchie. It is on Mondays and Wednesdays for just 30 minutes. But, what an ordeal it was to get there the first day!


I started packing our bag the night before. What did I need? A swim diaper for Jane Ritchie in case the one she wore in the car needed changing when we got there. A towel for Jane Ritchie and a towel for me. In her case, an adorable white bunny towel that fits over her head like a cape, complete with bunny ears. (Thanks Brooke W.M.!!) A bottle in case she throws a fit and needs soothing. A regular diaper to wear on the way home. Wipes. Toys. Oh, and I also had to figure out what she would wear on the way. It's cold outside. So, she'll wear her bathing suit, some pants and her cute pink Baby Gap cover up with hood. (Thanks Cheryl and Reza!) But, on the way home, she'll need a onesie, too, so gotta throw that in.


The whole time I am packing, I'm wondering how this will work. Ok, so we get to the pool. Then what? She can sit up pretty well, but I'm sure the pool area is not carpeted and I can just picture us headed to the ER in our bathing suits because she has fallen over and hit her head on the tile! How will I get my clothes off? Should I take the stroller or will the Bjorn work? Do people stroll up to the pool and locker room with those big ol' strollers?? These are the things that keep me up at night.

I decided just to take the Bjorn until I surveyed the lay of the land. We were riding with my friend Laura and her 10 month old. Surely we could help each other out. But, little Liam is walking and I envisioned her helping me with Jane Ritchie while Liam toddled off to the deep end.

We got there and by some miracle were able to get ready to get in the pool. Jane Ritchie wasn't too into it. She wasn't scared, but they gave each kid a ring to play with and all she cared about was chewing on it. That darn tooth! I dunked her under once, per the teacher's instructions. She came up and coughed a little bit but did not cry. All too soon, our 30 minutes were up and it was time to figure out how 15 mommies and their babies were supposed to get dry, warm and changed. Oh, by the way, the locker room only had one changing table and there were about 8 babies who could not walk yet.

I made the strategic decision to get out quickly. I was the second person to use the changing table. All the while I'm still dripping because how could I dry off when I'm holding my baby?? Once I got her on the changing table I was able to dry myself a little. My fatal error was that after I got her ready, I removed her from the table so that someone else could use it. Now how was I going to get dressed??? I had to sit down and think about that one. Finally, Laura had Liam settled and she held Jane Ritchie while I got my clothes on.

I was blessed that Jane Ritchie only got fussy once and it was not in the pool. It was in the locker room at the sight of all the naked OLD ladies from water aerobics class. Yikes!

Wednesday was much better. I brought the stroller in with me and I knew "the secret"! There is a "family changing room" in the pool area that not everyone knows about. After lessons we headed there and were in and out in no time! Jane Ritchie had a much better time, too. I did not give her the ring this time so she was able to pay more attention to the fact that she was actually in a pool! We dunked her under a couple of times. No coughing and no crying!

Maybe by the end of the month I'll be agile enough to get some pictures.

Oh, P.S. - Worse than the naked old ladies in the locker room are the two size 4 mommies in itsy bitsy teenie weenie bikinis. Not cool skinny mommies. Not cool.

Daddy's Girl

To see a cute video, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Y_RY5guEE

Look Mom, No Hands!!

Jane Ritchie is sitting up for short amounts of time by herself!

Another video

Here is another video of a new trick Jane Ritchie learned during Christmas. She "talks" and shakes her head back and forth. She's funny!
If you can't see the video below, click on this link to see if it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6szBCQr4ATc

Flip Video

Paul got a Flip Video camera for Christmas. It is very tiny and soooooo easy to download your videos to the computer or internet. Here is one of the many videos we took over Christmas. This is Jane Ritchie enjoying her Johnny Jump Up and dancing to the bizarre silver Christmas ornament with eyes that sings "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Yes, Alex was very excited, too, as you can see from his tail wagging in the video.

UPDATE: Some people are having trouble viewing the video from here. Try clicking on this link to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVsjFTeNMaE

Back in the crib

Jane Ritchie is very happy to be back in her big girl crib. The Graco Travel Lite Pack N Play was great while it lasted, but we found a house at just the right time because she was definitely growing out of the pack n play!

New House

Finally received my camera cord (Thanks May May!), so here are some pictures of the new house!

Back of house

Living Room


Dining Room

We Made It!

We arrived in Monterey, CA just in time for Hurricane 2008. The weather was terrible the first couple of days. They had really high winds and trees were down everywhere. Lots of people even lost power.

Kudos to Paul for carrying 6 pieces of luggage, four carry on bags, the stroller, the pack n play, and Alex's crate about 15 times during our trip. It was an adventure to say the least. Alex was perfectly fine after his flights!

We have rented a house in Pacific Grove. It is much bigger than any military housing we would have been able to get. It is not a far drive for Paul to get to school. He has started classes, but they aren't learning Spanish yet. Apparently they have a refresher course in English grammar before they start learning Spanish.

The house is cute. It was built in 1926 and the upstairs is still old, but the downstairs has been redone. The people who used to live here had 10 kids so the downstairs was their area. The bathroom has three sinks and two showers!

Will post some pictures as soon as my camera cord arrives in the mail. It was one of many things I left in Mobile!

Jane Ritchie is 6 months old as of January 11. She loves having her crib back. Thanks goodness the movers put that thing back together for us!