Gabriel and Julian's carseats

We had quite the fun day today!

First, a rare peaceful morning with the boys playing quietly in the family room.


While Gabriel built one of his towers, Julian sat and read a book. So sweet.


Then, swim class.

Julian swam across the pool completely by himself for the first time! He slides off the side of the pool, so he doesn't even get a head start by jumping in, so he really has to swim the whole way.


Then he tells teacher Gina, "I want to swim to Mommy, ONE more time," holding up his ONE finger.

In playtime, I was clawed constantly as he swam to me again and again, no matter how I tried to escape his underwater antics. I'm very much looking forward to going somewhere with a beach so that he can play and splash and enter the water gradually, so I can turn my head and not worry that he's about to drown!

After swim class, we drove to Babies'R'Us to check out carseats. On the way there, the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody" was on the radio, and for some reason, the boys found this song absolutely hilarious! There's a section in the middle of the song that has a lot of odd lyrics, octave changes, and funny sounds ("Let me go!!!"), and the boys listened, looking at each other, and then cracking up with each new lyric. Who knew that song was so funny.

My mission at Babies'R'Us was to experiment with various carseats on the store's sample car bench. This was useful, and gives me renewed hope that we don't have to go the minivan or full-size SUV route, at least not right away. Here I tried a booster, harnessed carseat, and infant seat together. This could work!

But, I was told that the store has a no-photo policy, apparently to ward off competitors copying their displays. Very silly in this day and age of camera phones. We won't be buying six carseats there.

After lunch, the boys played outside, and "accidentally" dumped a huge load of dirt onto the lawn, a big Dad no-no. I was working inside, and my mom-alarm went off when it was too quiet, and I found the boys busily scooping the dirt back, apparently hoping to complete the task before they were discovered. I pretended to be stern, but really, they were so cute and so earnest in their work that I was delighted, especially to see them cooperating so well together.

Later, Julian was fascinated by a bug he found stranded on the walkway ("Look mommy, a WORM!"), though he poked it well beyond a tortured death. I can just imagine him and his cousin Aidan at work uncovering critters together! Meanwhile, Gabriel was building an elaborate 3-tiered track inside.

I made a hasty dinner for everyone, then took off for my second ice skating class. I had so much fun! Today we learned about T-stops, and practiced forward crossovers. I'm getting a much better feel for the best position and the value of slightly bent knees. I'm having so much fun with this, I don't even mind that I won't be able to skate easily when Miss October comes.

Speaking of whom, Miss October is jabbing me all the time, coming up with new creative motions. It almost feels like the baby is painting the walls inside sometimes. I'm still pretty sick most of the time though, I really hate the way I feel. Fun distractions like ice-skating and swim class are essential. I really look forward to having the energy and wherewithall to chase the boys around for more than a few minutes again. Maybe in about ten years.