I didn’t post any video from the first two weeks of Aurora’s swim lessons because she just looks like she is being tortured and traumatized. However, now that we have some footage of her in the swimming pool looking cool and confident (and using her floating skills), I thought I’d go ahead and post some footage from the first three weeks and our last trip to the pool just this past Saturday.
Hey, I just learned about and got hooked on PAF (Personal Ancestral File), a free program put out by the LDS church to help you keep track of your genealogy and I’m totally hooked. (It’s for PCs only, but I downloaded a trial version of crossover to make it work on my Mac, and it’s great). I also have a book of one of Sean’s ancestral lines that I started adding to our family tree and I was able to use PAF to create a webpage (or pages) that show Aurora’s ancestors going back many generations. Anyway, feel free to check it out. I have a link to it under our links bar on the right side as well.
I learned a very few very valuable lesson this past week. I learned that while I’m pregnant, I should never make any big, life changing decisions. Along with that, if I don’t have a desire to do something before I’m pregnant, chances are that I probably won’t end up wanting to finish it (whether during or after my pregnancy). So how does this relate to school? Well, before this pregnancy, I had little to no desire to go back to school for a Master’s. I also had never given a thought to Business as a subject that interested me. I probably should’ve learned from my last experience with taking an “optional” class (Physiology and Developmental Biology – Independent Study through BYU, with a lab – to fulfill my last requirement to get my AA in Arabic from DLI), which I started while I was highly motivated and pregnant with Aurora, but never finished, that starting an MBA while pregnant maybe wasn’t such a great idea. I was already very apprehensive (as opposed to very excited about the prospect of learning a subject that interested me) before my online class even started on Monday. I had an appointment Monday evening with my academic advisor who told me that along with the class I was already enrolled in, there were three other prerequisite classes I should take (one of which had a lab) – and all of them within my first two semesters. Sean suggested that maybe now would be the best time to knock out the Statistics class with the lab since it would only get harder to make time for later. So I went ahead and signed up for my second class (again, with lots of apprehension). Well, to try to shorten an already long story, I ended up going to the first Statistics class before coming to the conclusion that I’d made a BIG mistake. I kept saying to myself, “What in the world was I thinking?” I don’t like math, business or statistics. Heck, I don’t even enjoy school that much even when I love the subject I’m studying. It stresses me out! What possessed me to think an MBA would be something I would enjoy doing? Anyway, when I came home from class, I told Sean I needed to find out what the drop policy was. He tried to encourage me to just finish up the first two classes and see how I felt after that, but the very next day when he came home from lunch and saw me lying melancholy on the sofa, he supported my decision to get out, and get out now. I went back to the registrar’s office here on post, told her my situation and how after attending the first class I realized I’d made a big mistake with the whole program. I told her when I came in last week, I was really just looking to get some more information about the program and costs, etc. to see if it would be something I wanted to pursue sometime in the future, but when I was told I could just fill out a few pieces of paper and either would start Monday or had to wait another two months (which wouldn’t have been a good time to start classes with how far into the pregnancy I would be), I decided to jump in and try it. Unfortunately though, it was the wrong decision. I’ll admit I definitely used being pregnant as an excuse for my rash behavior. Luckily, she was a mother as well and was very understanding. When she called up the business office to help me drop my classes, the person must’ve asked whether I was really sure I wanted to completely be dropped or not, and the lady helping me just looked and me and said, “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious. She’s just really not feeling it.” So they let me out with a small penalty (I think I got all tuition back from the online class and 80% back from the statistics class since it’s a short term and I’d already attended the first class). It could’ve been much worse, and Sean was very supportive and glad to see me return to my normal self when I came back from dropping the classes. He said if he had known I was going to have such an “allergic reaction to school” he never would’ve encouraged me to go that direction. I think that if in the future I find something that just really excites me or that I’m really passionate about, (and I’m not pregnant) my reaction will hopefully be much different. There were just so many factors going into it right now though that made it a bad choice for me. I just wish I would’ve seen that earlier. Live and learn I guess. I just hope I remember next pregnancy to not make any big life decisions if I can avoid it. 
Saturday afternoon, we took Aurora to her first movie at the post theater for the Disneynature Earth matinee. I told Sean we should probably buy some popcorn because that might be a good way to keep Aurora quiet and in her seat. I was right about that, but what I didn’t guess right was how much we would need to last the whole movie. As soon as the popcorn was gone (about half and hour or so into the movie), Aurora was out of our laps and running up and down the aisles. That wasn’t too big a deal, because the theater was mostly empty, and the few people that were there were also little kids. Where we ran into problems was when another little girl about Aurora’s age decided that she needed to help take care of Aurora by dragging her by the arm back to us any time Aurora wandered off. We probably left about 2/3 or 3/4 through the movie when this other girl pulled Aurora and the two fell down (the other girl might have hit her head on one of the chairs in the process) and the two of them were crying. I don’t think Aurora was hurt really, but it just got old trying to keep the other girl from bothering our daughter. Overall though, it was fun seeing her reaction to her first movie theater experience, and from what we were able to see of the movie, it was beautiful cinematography and quite impressive.
This blog is a bit delayed, because Sean and I came up to the temple about a week and a half ago (6 June), but since I didn’t blog about it then, and I had some cute photos to share, I thought I’d go ahead after all. Sean and I went up to Fort Worth and stayed Friday night (5 June) with Becky and Tom. Tom volunteered to watch all the kids so Becky could come with us to the temple, which was really nice since it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to go with any of my siblings to the temple. (I might get the chance again soon though, when we come up for the 4th of July weekend. Heidi mentioned wanting to go with me, but anyone who wanted to would be welcome to join. We’d just have to make it the 3rd instead of the 4th since the Temple is closed on the 4th.) Anyway, I think Sean and I have been able to go pretty much every month since we set the goal to attend the temple monthly. It’s been a big blessing to us.
Along with temple work, Sean and I just had a family home evening last week where we went to the Family History center in our ward building to get some help starting our own geneaology. Sean has a whole book with one of his family lines back a few centuries, so we have lots to do. I started entering the information in to the new.familysearch.org website and I really found it quite addicting. I love seeing the information being put into charts like that, and then seeing the little temple icon next to people’s names saying that they’re ready to have their work done. I also went in and filled in my own lines (using a family tree dad gave me while I was on my mission) and after putting in some of the names (which were already in the database, just not in my tree yet), it said that there was even some temple work ready to be done on our Thaden line. That was really exciting as well. So, hopefully next time Sean and I go to the temple, we’ll have some family work we can do. It’s always exciting when you have a connection with the person you’re doing the work for.
(Click on the photo above to see more photos of Aurora from ISR swim lessons).
I have lots to blog about, but I’m just going to blog one subject at a time to go along with the photos. It’ll make it a little easier on me. So, last week Aurora had her first week of swim lessons. They went Monday through Friday starting at 4pm and they lasted about 10 minutes a session. She screamed a LOT the first few days, and a little less the next few days, but I could already see by Friday that she was getting more comfortable and relaxing a bit more when attempting to float on her back. I was debating posting some video of Aurora from her Friday lesson, but I think it’ll still look a bit too much like child abuse at this point, so I’d rather wait to just make a longer video with some footage throughout her ISR experience, so you can see how much she’s learned. On Thursday Sean got off work early and was able to come watch Aurora swim, and that was actually probably the day she seemed most comfortable in the water (based on the volume of her crying compared to other days before and after). After each session, she’s supposed to lay on her left side on top of a few folded up towels, and with each lesson she rests less and less before getting up and playing around again. Sean and I are both really excited to see how much she progresses in the coming few weeks. The instructor said that Aurora’s lessons are coming along very well (and when I see the 18 month old boy who has lessons right after Aurora – I have to agree that she does seem to be doing rather well – at least in comparison). Anyway, I’ll try to keep updating throughout the lessons.
I was waiting to blog about our second baby’s gender until I had been able to spread the word a bit by phone, because it’s usually more fun to tell people directly, but since I can’t share the news with everyone by phone and can’t share photos that way either, here they are finally. Just click on the photo to see the rest of the photos, including the “gender photo”. I don’t think the picture makes it too obvious whether it’s a boy or a girl, but, despite my and Sean’s firm belief that this would be a boy, it looks like Aurora is going to have a little sister to play with (which I’m very happy and excited about). It definitely simplifies things, not having to go buy a boy clothes, etc. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I enjoy shopping (or don’t at all).
I have been trying to figure out how in the world to make Aurora happy in nursery and to stay the whole two hours for over two months now. I started taking her when she was 17 months old to help her get used to it (and I would stay in there with her), and I followed all the advice I got from Mom about helping her adjust: I invited the nursery leader (Sis. Bringhurst) over for lunch one day to help Aurora get used to her; I took a picture of Sis. Bringhurst and put it on our fridge at Aurora’s level; I took pictures of the other kids in nursery and showed those to Aurora. I was starting to lose hope that she would adjust and be happy in nursery since she has continued to scream the majority of the time she’s in there after I drop her off, she has tried climbing over the gate to get out, and she acts like she’s going to hit herself (she swats at her own face). All these things got her sent back to me at some point or other during the two hours following sacrament. The shortest she lasted was 3 minutes, the longest was about 45 I think. Well, this Sunday, after asking for my sister Becky’s advice about what she thinks we should do, she suggested sending a favorite stuffed toy or blanket with Aurora to class. I wasn’t sure this would work, because I’ve never thought Aurora had a favorite stuffed toy or blanket that she was really attached to. But I sent her with the blanket I always put her to bed with (because I think it’s the most comfortable one), and miracle of miracles – she stayed the entire 2 hours of nursery and only cried for a minute or so at the beginning and maybe once when she was scratching at a bug bite she had before she came to class. Sis. Bringhurst just told her to go get her blanket when she was sad, and she calmed down. What a relief! The entire 2 hours of church I was sure that every screaming baby I heard from a distance was Aurora and that she was going to be brought back to me any minute, but she never was. How wonderful! Thanks for all the suggestions Mom and Becky. I’m sure it was a combination of all the things we tried that really made it finally work.
This coming Monday I’ll start my first class towards an MBA from Texas A&M Central Texas and Aurora will begin her ISR swim lessons. I’m definitely a bit nervous about starting classes (because I always stress out so much over school), but hopefully it’ll be great and I’ll just love it too much. Either way though, my blog updates will probably continue to decrease just because of the time I’ll be working on class. I’ll try to at least post some photos and videos of Aurora learning to swim over the next few weeks. Well, wish us luck.
A couple weeks ago Sean mentioned he would like Aurora to take swim lessons so she will be comfortable in the water when we are in a pool or lake, etc. Today I just saw an add in our local newspaper for ISR (Infant Swimming Resource) so I checked out their website and I was really impressed. I talked to Sean and we decided to enroll Aurora in the program. In our area, there is an instructor who holds one-on-one lessons Monday through Friday for 10 minutes a day per child (they get exhausted quickly during lessons apparently) for 4-6 weeks. I thought it was a little pricey at first, but when I saw what those little babies and toddlers were doing, I thought it would be well worth the price. I’ll let you know as lessons start (June 8th) if we still feel we’re getting our money’s worth.
The course is designed to teach children the skills they need to survive if they fall into a pool so they will stay afloat and swim to the edge of the pool by themselves. It really does look like a great resource – and I guess I thought with all the little kids in our family, and with summer time and pool parties going on, it would be a very good safety measure.
There are a couple videos on the website that impressed me, but I also found these two on Youtube that I thought gave a good overview of the program’s goals.
This first video shows what they teach infants 6 to 12 months old, while the second video shows what they teach children 1 to 6 years old.
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