Cooling Off!

Swim Lessons Are Over!

Well, after four fun weeks of swim lessons they have now come to an end. John has improved a ton since we began. Hopefully we will be able to do swim lessons again next summer. John learned how to blow bubbles, float on his back, kick and swim, swim and float, froggie dive, go under water, hold on the edge and crawl out.

17 Months Old!

Today John is 17 months old, it is amazing how fast time goes. Each day he amazes me with all the things he is understanding, learning, and doing.

Some of what John is saying and doing...

Words (Some words are more clear than others, but listening to him try his best and put his on spin on them is so cute) : Hi, Bye, Bless you, please, thank you, wow, o man, green, purple, 1-2-3, daddy, mama, see, airplane, good job, treat, sit, ball, dog, and a few others I cant think of right now.

Animal Sounds: Cat, Dog, Monkey, Lion, Fish, Elephant, and Horse.

He also loves to play follow the leader/Monkey see Monkey do (what I do, he will do).

Here are some photos from today. We had a few friends over and the kids were having a great time.

John, Mason, and Carter

Pool time in the back yard.

3rd Trimester is here!

This pregnancy has gone by so fast. Today I am 27 weeks along and beginning my last leg of this pregnancy. I can safely say that if we decide to have a third child down the road I will not plan for a summer pregnancy. The last week or so the summer heat has really gotten to me.

I have not gained as much weight this pregnancy as I did with John, however I feel like I have on the days I need to carry my 28 pound toddler some place. His weight plus my added pregnancy weight, plus the 100 plus temperature outside is no fun. As with all things the heat will soon go away and in just three months we will be holding our little girl. The memory of these hot and sweaty summer days will be just that, a distant memory.

Dallas Zoo Day!

Today Jason took the day off work and we all headed to the Dallas Zoo this morning. They just opened a new exhibit called, "Giants of the Savanna". It was a really neat area with many different types of animals all living together. It reminded Jason and I of the Shanghai Zoo we went to while Jason lived in China.

Recap of the week.

Monday

We met some friends at the mall and went to the mall play area. We will not be doing this again, there were way to many kids their since school is out for the summer. About half of the kids were to old to be in there and were knocking some of the younger kids down by accident.

Tuesday

John and I went to swim lessons in the morning and then went to Jason's office for lunch. After lunch we went to meet some animals from the Dallas Zoo. The Dallas Zoo brought over a hand full of small animals to TI.

Wednesday

We went out back to have fun with some paint and to play in the pool. Later in the day John helped me cook dinner.

Thursday

This morning we had swim lessons and then headed over to a splash park to meet some friends. I enjoyed this splash park much better than the one we went to a few weeks ago. It had a soft ground not concrete for the splash pad flooring. It also had a nice shaded area with tables for us to have lunch at.

Week Two of Swim Lessons and other news.

This week is going under water week. Yesterday was John's first day at going all the way under water. I really was not sure how it was going to go. However, John did really well. I think he was surprised, but there were no tears, no sucking in the water, and he wanted to do it again. We will practice again tomorrow morning, so hopefully it goes just as well.

A few days ago we enjoyed a family dinner of steak, potatoes and green beans. This was John's first attempt with steak and he ate every last bit of it along with all of his potato and green beans. I hope Taylor ends up being just as good of an eater. Poor Mr. Poindexter is seeing less and less table food from John hitting the floor, but John makes sure to give him plenty of doggie treats.

I completely forgot to post an update on my appointments with Taylor. My last appointment was almost two weeks ago at 24 weeks. Today we are 26 weeks along. I went in for a normal check up to check how my blood pressure was doing and to listen to Taylor's heart beat with the doppler. The Dr had a hard time finding her heart beat and thought she heard it going down. So we walked down the the ultrasound room to get a better look at her heart. Everything was great with Taylor and her heart. It was a little scary for me at the moment, but a relief to see her moving around, her hands, and her tiny feet.

My next appointment is at 29 weeks on August 4th! Getting closer to the finish line.

Playing with blocks!

On Friday it was raining all day so we found things to do inside. I pulled out a big bucket of my old blocks that I played with when I was young. John really enjoyed stacking them and knocking them over.

I love this picture because you can see his little mind working at how to fit the two blocks together, which he figured out.

Swim Lessons!

About a month ago I signed John up for swim lessons. This morning was our first day. We are taking our class through a private instructor at her home close by. John's class is small which I love and her pool is heated which is nice and relaxing. John did really well and had a great time. He is getting better each day with swimming and being in the water. We try to go to the pool at least once a day.

In class today he learned how to kick his feet, blow bubbles in the water, hold on to the wall, float on his back and tummy, kick to swim to the wall, and other things. The first day was really to get him use to being in the water and moving around. We sang songs and made the actions of the songs in the pool.

I do not have any photos of us at the swim lesson today, but here is a photo of us at a beach pool yesterday. There is a really neat private pool that some of my friends are members of close to us. The area around the pool is sand so it is like being at a beach. They also had a small splash pad area for the kids. John had a great time, but was not to sure about the sand.

Taking a break for strawberries and blueberries! Yummy!

4th of July Weekend!

Saturday we went to a friends 4th of July pool party.

John getting excited to go to the party.

John in the pool.

John loved floating in the turtle.

John and Katelyn exploring.

Katylen was born the day before John.

Sunday July 4th!

John hanging out in the car while we packed to go watch the McKinney down town parade.

John enjoying his own personal portable A/C water unit.

John waving as they went by.

Splash Park Fun!

We met up with some friends at a local splash pad park this week. This was the first time John and I have been to a splash pad park and it was really fun.

John playing in the water.

Standing on top of the water feels funny.

Lunch time! John was the first to hit his towel blanket for lunch, but soon the others followed.

Eating grapes!

Eating his jelly dinosaur sandwich (Johns sandwich was shaped like a dinosaur).