My little graduate

Isla had her first graduation today: swimming lessons! She (and Sean) passed with flying colours. She can go fully under water for 5 seconds, dive under water, jump into the water, kick her legs, float on her back and roll over. Pretty impressive for an almost eight month old!


We decided not to sign up for summer classes as we likely won't be around much, and will probably just do lessons in Bolton come September. Brampton lessons were fab, and highly recommended, but it is a bit of a trek for the little one. Wednesday night bedtimes have been routinely horrendous. Isla's normal bedtime is 7pm... that means ASLEEP at 7pm. By the time we get home from lessons and have a bath (must clean off the chlorine/salt water), it is closer to 7:30 or so. Either she is so tired from a) swimming and b) it being way past her bedtime, or she ended up sleeping on the car ride home (like tonight as I was on my own and unable to continuously poke her while driving), that she is a mix of over-tired and wired. Going to lessons that are literally 30 seconds from our house will be much less chaotic!


Here is a pic of Isla and Daddy... she came such a long way during the lessons and I just LOVE how much she enjoys it. I smile the entire 30 minutes :)

Month 7

Isla turned seven months old yesterday! That means that we are now closer to her being one, than we are to when she was born. Time sure does fly!

Isla seems to have mastered the army crawl. She is surprisingly quick if there is something across the room that she is interested in. I used to have my mom "skype sit" her for a minute or two so I could run to the washroom or get her a bottle ready. This involved Isla lying on the carpet and my mom singing to her. Worked out very well :) Now, Isla realizes that this is her time to escape and she shuffles away from my mom as soon as I'm gone. hehe. Silly little girl. 


She is also getting really good at eating on her own. She loves to pick up fruit and puffs- and is quite good at actually getting them into her mouth. We are working on peas, and she is pretty cute when she is that focused in her high chair. 


Over the last little bit, Sean and I have definitely remarked about how "energetic" Isla is. There is no doubt that she is an active little baby. We will definitely need to channel that energy into sports and activities when she is a bit older! 


As for activities, Isla is still swimming once a week in Brampton. She is such a little fish now, and has the greatest time. I am looking forward to the summer when she can enjoy the lake and little baby pools. We will definitely make it a habit of going to a public pool at least once a week so that she continues to be comfortable and enjoy the water. 


It is getting towards the end of June, and I am super excited for our first summer as a family. Sean got onto the volunteer fire department in Bolton, so many of his weekends until mid-July will be taken up by training. The beauty of being teachers, is that we are off- so it doesn't really matter. We will likely be spending lots of time between here, North Bay and Wyevale. Sean's parents live just up the road from Georgian Bay and the beach is beautiful. Hello sandy diaper! 


Last week we finally got some air conditioning installed. As our second floor is essentially a converted attic, it gets incredibly warm up there. I felt pretty bad expecting Isla to sleep in that heat, and it was only going to get worse as the summer began. They still need to finish up some of the duct work- so at the moment we just have holes in the ceilings and floors, but the air itself is going and is pretty decent. It is supposed to feel like 41 today (flashback to days in Qatar), so I am thankful that this is in!


Here is a cute pic that I just had to share. It may be one of my absolute favourites. I am a lucky girl :)

Daily Activities

One of the most important things I have learned as a new mom, is the importance of getting out and about. I try to do something with Isla every single day- as I think we would both go insane if we stayed in the house for the entire time. 


We are pretty lucky, in that we have an Ontario Early Years Centre just up the street. Isla and I have been going to "You and Your Baby" for over a month now and have met a lot of other babies and moms. We just started going to "Infant Mother Goose", which is stories and songs, and it seems like it will be a great program. Isla wouldn't know as she slept through the majority of the first class. I just had to clap and sing along to a sleeping baby. I clapped very quietly. 


Starting after March break, I have enrolled Isla in her first set of swimming lessons. I am super excited for this, as the centre looks fantastic and if Isla has as much fun as she does in her little bathtub, it should be a great experience. The classes are in Brampton (not too far from Sean's school), so that means Sean has to leave work, drive home, pick us up, and drive right back. Not the best, but since it is for Isla, I am sure he is happy to do it! Plus, he will get to be part of the swim classes as well, and I know that he will absolutely love the chance to spend time with her in the water. 


Isla and I have also frequented many of the malls in the area. It is so handy that they all seem to have big family washrooms with good change tables and nursing rooms with comfy couches. When you look around at the people shopping on a weekday, it is 90% moms and their babies, so I guess this makes sense! Isla is a fantastic shopper in that she sleeps the entire time and allows me to make all of my purchases without worrying that she will begin screaming any minute. She even allows me to eat lunch while she snoozes, and often requires me jostling the stroller a little bit to wake her up and feed her before we leave. Can't get much better than that. 


When Isla was a few weeks old, I remember how scary it was to take her out in public on my own during the day. Of course, I managed to get her car seat stuck in the stroller that day while in the Shopper's Drug Mart parking lot, and began having a minor meltdown thinking I was going to have to walk around the drugstore for another hour until Sean was off work and could come and help us out. Luckily, I freed the car seat and got home without a baby meltdown, so the trip was a success. I guess we have come pretty far from that day, and now I can look back and laugh at myself and how much of a "newbie" I must have looked to passerbys. 


I have come to the point where I am completely relaxed taking her out, and actually enjoy the opportunity to show her new things out in her community. I am looking forward to when she is a bit older and can really benefit from playgroups and even going to the community library to read some stories. 


:)