Shark Bait Learns to Swim! (And other assorted tales)

Before summer started I was hunting for baby swim lessons. Tons of places offered them, but none of the spring class dates worked with our schedule. (Yeah yeah, I know I am a stay at home mom, but hese classes all fell during our NY trip, a family wedding, and our two weeks on the Rock). I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to introduce Michael to swimming until we tossed him in the ocean. Luckily, our little crab cake was happy as a clam floating away in the Caribbean Sea. He even fell asleep in his floaty!

Once we returned from our island getaway, I resumed my swim class search. Thanks to my mom, we got signed up for the parent-tot beginners class at our YMCA! My mom is a teacher but runs the Y summer camp so she was able to get us in the class last minute!

Learning how to climb out of the pool

Playing in our first lesson!

Michael and I go every Saturday morning at 9am for 30-40 minutes. Michael is the youngest in the class; the other students are Avery (girl) 10 months, Amari (girl) 17 months, and Griffin 2yrs. It's really cute and fun. We start by jumping in; we sing Humpty Dumpty and at "had a great fall" we hop in the water! Then we practice kicking on our backs and bellies, blowing bubbles (so they don't drink the water, M is too young for the bubbles at this point), floating on our backs (we sing about being sleepy aligators, it's adorable), and practice putting our ears in the water. Finally we swim back to the wall and help the babies pull themselves out- first hands on the wall, elbow, elbow, knees, knees! Michael needs some help, but he's actually pretty good about getting up on the wall. 

Michael's absolute favorite part about swim class is the rubber duck he gets to play with. Everyone gets a duck that the throw in the water, the babies jump in and swim to get the duck. I have to pry the duck out of Michael's hands and mouth and throw it. He definitely tries to get to the duck once he is in the water. He kicks and splashes with his hands trying to get the duck! Usually he grabs it when he is close enough, but he's come up sputtering the few times he tries to grab it with his mouth! The instructor was impressed with his swimming after the duck. She said he could be the next Michael Phelps. I can see it now, he's in the Olympic finals and he wins cause I threw a rubber duck in his lane!

Getting ready to jump in!

Kicking, kicking, kicking

Climbing out so we can do it all again!

Rob was able to come to one of the classes (he works some Saturdays), but hopefully he'll be able to come to more during the second session! Michael loved swimming with his daddy!

Rob is the tan guy, not the pale fat guy

Daddy helping Michael swim to Mommy. (It's hard to see, but there is a yellow smudge next to Michael's hand, that would be his beloved duck)

Besides swimming Michael has been rocking the developmental milestones! He's army crawling like a boss; he's all over the place investigating everything he can get his hands (and mouth) on. He also pulled himself up for the first time Saturday morning. I was still sleeping. What's that you ask? How do I know he pulled up if I was asleep? Because my son decided to pull himself up, over, and out of his crib... Crash. We were at my parents' house and the bassinet setting on his pack and play is pretty shallow. I heard the thump and my eyes flew open pretty much the same time the screaming started. Luckily he was just stunned and calmed down the second I picked him up. Oh Michael, you are your father's son.

Our food odyssey is going pretty well too. Michael is no longer vegetarian- he has added chicken and eggs to his tummy. Chicken he ate begrudgingly, but he seemed to like the eggs. Papaya, his first tropical fruit, seemed to confuse him; he'd take a bite, make a grossed out face, and then take another bite. This went on for about 10 minutes, then he tossed it all onto the floor. I think his favorite food this week was the flan, or perhaps the pancakes covered in maple syrup, that my dad gave him when I wasn't looking (or rather gave him while I was saying, don't give that to him). I suppose I shouldn't complain, my dad draws on my cat with marker when I'm not watching... At least Michael doesn't have a sharpie handle bar mustache.

Where's my side of bacon?

What's the best thing about my week? Easy, when Michael said Mama!!!!!!! Ok, ok, it was just indiscriminate babbling, it's not like he stood up, looked at me and said, "hello mother." But. still it was freakin' awesome!

Finally, in news unrelated to MY baby: my best friend, Mauri, had her baby, Ezra, premature in March. After a long road to getting big and strong he is finally coming home today!! I am so excited for her and her husband to bring their baby home! Good luck Mauri, Kevin, and Ezra!

Oh, one more thing! Here are a couple pictures of Michael and Rob on Father's Day.

Shall I read you this card Dad?

Hmm, what's inside here?

I'll just give it a bit of a taste test...

Meh, coffee. You can have it Daddy.

8 Months!

Baby Michael is 8 whole months old today! This past month has been a big one! He traveled abroad, swam in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, mastered sitting up unassisted, and in the last 2 weeks Michael started crawling!

Well, not up on all fours yet; first he would push his face across the floor by "standing" and pushing with his feet (it wasn't pretty but it got the job done), and just last week he started army crawling! Michael can get up on all fours, but I don't think he realizes he can move from there!

Eating big boy food is going well, he's getting three meals a day, some puréed and some whole pieces. Michael loves chomping on slices of peaches and nectarines! Now that he is 8 months he can have almost everything (still no citrus, strawberries, tomatoes, corn, milk, or egg whites). This month I plan to ramp up his food repertoire. So far he is a great eater, I hope he stays that way.  :)

He is still waking up once at night about 60% of the time, but he is getting better at self soothing during nap time and at night. I'm not super good at letting him cry it out, but I think we're working out what's best for us!

I'm excited for the rest of the summer; swimming, walks, and maybe the zoo or aquarium... My grandparents are visiting at the end of the month, so hopefully we can have some adventures with them!

Smiles! I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so you get three!

Why so serious?

Silly face!

Have Baby, Will Travel

Disclaimer: I wrote this Monday, but was waiting to steal pictures from Rob's phone before I published it. He took

Most of our vacation pictures. He's been working 18hr days at the farm, vet school, and vet office, so I wasn't able to use his phone. I'll do a vacation picture post as soon as I can!

We got back from St. Kitts a week ago; I think it's time to write about it! I threw a baby shower for my best friend Mauri yesterday, so things are just settling down to normal!

Being back on the Rock was great! Seeing all of our friends and introducing them to Michael was the best part. I did miss our friends that had moved back to the states for their clinical year, but hopefully we'll see them again too!

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon. That evening was the Mr. Ross competition. It was too late for Michael to go, but Rob was able to go and see a bunch of his old classmates. He even got on stage during a dance contest and again during a tic tac challenge and won a tshirt, a bag, a work out towel, and a bottle of wine!

Our first full day there was Mother's Day. We spent the day at Reggae beach, Rob's favorite beach, with Kate, Trevor, Amanda, and Venessa. We had sunshiny weather and warm clear water! Michael loved floating in the water, he was just laughing and splashing or relaxing in his float.  Rob played volleyball and went snorkeling and Michael and I relaxed and napped on the beach.

The next day we had another beach day, with our friends Candice and Jessica, at my favorite beach- Shipwreck!  Michael was so comfortable in his floaty that he actually fell asleep in the water! I guess being rocked by the gentle Caribbean Sea was just too soothing for M to keep his eyes open!

Tuesday Rob played volleyball with the VIPs and I went and played trivia after M went to bed. Wednesday we just hung around the house. Thursday was more beachy goodness! On Friday Rob was able to play volleyball with his old team. They won! 

Friday night I had a girls night out! Jess, Candice, Kate, and I had dinner at PJs. We had the nasty waitress EVER!  Even by SK standards. I'm talking rude tone of voice, cutting us off while we ordered, telling us 100 times we came in too close to closing, and saying, "finally, I've been waiting all night," when we asked for our check! Guess who got zero tip. Oh well. Luckily she didn't ruin out night, cause we were off to Vibes, a bar on the strip.

Vibes opened after we moved back home, so I'd never been. My bar of choice on the strip was Elvis' Love Shack, but sadly Elvis died, so no more love shack. Anywho, I threw off my mommy attitude, had a tasty rum punch and danced a bit. It was weird not showing up with the rest of my ladies of leisure (nearly all my VIP lady friends are back on the Spanish Main) and barely knowing anyone there! However, I had an awesome time with Kate, Candice, and Jess! It was nice to be one of the girls again- I even got hit on! Ok, the dude was a total creepshow, and when I politely declined his invitation to dance and said I was married, he responded with, "so am I!" Yeah, that is not working in your favor. So, while Creeper McGee was, well, creepy, being hit on kind of made me feel like I still got it, even if I'm a mommy!

Saturday was beach fest at Reggae. I wanted to go initially, but then I remembered beach fest is crowded and booze fueled. Since I was going to have Michael and not be fueled by booze, I reconsidered. So, Trevor and Rob went while Kate and I took Michael to port for ice cream. Well, the ice cream was for me and Kate... Michael just came for the scenery! I got a big giant scoop of Cookie Monster ice cream, my favorite flavor at Scoops! I'm going to have to figure out how to make it in my handy dandy ice cream maker this summer!

Sunday Kate and Trev hosted a little soirée for anyone who wanted to see us and meet the baby. Everyone brought over tasty treats, and Michael flirted with all the ladies! I'm really glad we were able to see all of our friends and introduce them to baby M. I think he loved everyone! 

Our second week on the Rock was more of the same: beach, volleyball, pool, friends. Monday we had a doggie beach day at Gong Beach. I never got to go to while living in SK, but always wanted to. It's shallow really far out, and it's pretty secluded. Michael really enjoyed watching all the pups play in the water, especially since the waves made it to rough for him. I wish I had the opportunity to boogie board there, but I guess that means we'll have to go back again!

Tuesday night Kate and Trevor watched Michael so Rob and I could have a date. We went to the French restaurant, La Belle Vie. Hands down the best overall place to eat on island. The waiters are ALWAYS nice and polite, the bread is the best on the entire island, the food is consistently delicious (which is tricky on SK), and my favorite part? Michele, the owner. He always comes out and greets all his customers, he's charming, and his French accent is so strong it's almost stereotypical. He sounds like the French chef in the little mermaid, and it never fails that after speaking with him the song le poisson gets stuck in my head.  Michael woke up right as we were pulling up to the house. Kate said Michael's facial ecpression

was hilarious when she picked him up and it wasn't me! A mixture of relief to be picked up, but confusion as to where his mommy was. 

Our last night there our friend Katie watched Michael so Rob and I could take Kate and Trevor out to thank them for hosting us for 2 whole weeks! We went to Carambolas; it's the prettiest place to eat on island, but the service and food can be inconsistent. We were lucky though, cause we had great food and service! While I did, and still do, miss our island family, I really miss Kate and Trevor. They were our housemates at the Dolphin House, and it was nice to relive the good old days of living with them. Michael also woke up while Katie was watching him, but we didn't have perfect timing again! She was stuck with crabby pants who wanted to be held and cuddled. He's lucky he's cute and Katie likes him!

Saturday was departure day, but we squeezed in one last get together. Kate, Trevor, Katie, Zach, Rob, Michael, and I all had breakfast at shipwreck. It was very tasty! I wish they had served breakfast when we were living on island!

After eating we headed back to finish packing. Leaving the island and all of our friends was just as hard the second time around. Soon all of our friends will be heading back to the states (either in December or April.) and our island family will be scattered across the US. I'm glad we got to spend some time with them altogether before that happens!

7 months old!

Baby Michael is 7 months old today! We are less than halfway to his birthday! Holy cow! To celebrate Michael's birthday, we will be traveling to St. Kitts tomorrow for two weeks! We are super excited! We can't wait to introduce Michael to all of our SK family, and to enjoy some relaxing beach time. Ahhhh, I am counting the seconds at this point!

I've been meaning to blog for two weeks now, we've had a couple of exciting weeks since our trip to New York! First, Rob's cousin Christy, got married!  This was Michael's second wedding, but he was much more social at this one! He danced a whole lot, and he pretty much had a dance solo during "Brick House," on the wedding video (well, Rob was helping him to stand). He was also quite a flirt, wanting to hang out with all the ladies! The best part was that Michael got to see his great grandparents and his Aunt Shelly! The last time Shelly saw Michael was at her wedding in November, and M was only 6 weeks old. Unfortunately, Shelly was only here during the wedding, and had to head back to Arizona the next day. Sad face. However, Michael did get to spend a whole lot of time with his great grandparents, Bob and Norma, over the following week! 

Styling his Papa's hair!

Bob and Norma had a lot of friends and family they wanted to visit with while they were here, but luckily we were able to see them a bunch. They came over to our house and played with Michael, we went to Rob's dad's house (where they stayed) and Michael played with them there a few times, we played at the farm, and we went out to eat a couple times. We had a family lunch on Tuesday and Michael was a big time Chatty Cathy! He was talking and yelling, and making ALL kinds of noises at the restaurant; he didn't cry at all, but he was pretty loud! Luckily it wasn't very crowded, so we couldn't have disturbed to many people. I think Michael really enjoyed being with his great grandparents, he was almost never fussy with them! They headed back to Arizona on Tuesday, and sadly won't be back until late September. The next time they see Baby Michael, he'll be just about a year old!

Last Sunday we celebrated Greek Easter with my parents and brother! It was Michael's second first Easter! He got two more baskets of goodies with books, clothes, blocks and other assorted toys, monster sippy cup, an interactive puppy, and an Easter Bunny that sings (thankfully, he comes with an off button!).

How I found him the other morning, scooting around the bed and laughing (and his foot was not stuck, he was kicking the wall and pulling it back in).

In non-baby news. Rob finished his first year at UGA, and is now halfway to being Dr. Rob! I am sooooooooooo glad he does not have summer classes. No more late study nights! Well, not until August anyway, but I'll take what I can get! 

Little Baby in the Big Apple!

This past weekend, Michael made his first trek to New York! My Aunt Calli was throwing my Uncle Gus a surprise birthday party. Since M hadn't met much of his NY/NJ family, missing the party was not an option.

Michael, my mother, and I flew up on Friday and stayed with my Aunt Diane, Uncle Dave, and cousin Nicole. Michael had loads of play and cuddle time with Diane, he totally loved her! Uncle Dave's deep voice freaked Michael out at first (seriously, he started screaming), but got over it pretty quickly. Nicole had to work while we were there, but she got some cuddles in too!

Saturday night was the party, and my uncle was genuinely surprised! The only person more surprised? Michael when everyone yelled, "Surprise!" Definitely scared the crap out of him! Everyone loooooooooved Baby Michael! I think 654 people he's never met before held him, and he didn't cry or fuss once. He was quite the party animal, and stayed awake most of the party, and the ride home to Jersey. He didn't fall asleep til 2am. Needless to say, he was so worn out that he slept through the night no problem! My cousins, Steve and Brigitte are pregnant with twins, and they did the gender reveal at the party- two girls!! Michael and I were hoping for boys, but he's still super excited for cousins his age!

Sunday morning my aunt, Thalia, threw a brunch for even more people to meet Michael. If I learned anything this weekend is that 1. Michael is the most popular person I know, and 2. If you are preg, enjoy all the attention, cause the minute the baby is born, no one cares about you anymore (seriously, my own grandmother didn't even say hi to me because Michael crossed her path before I did!). That night we went into the city to eat at Sal's, a tiny pizzeria that my family has been going to since my dad was a kid. I was a big fatty and had a deep fried calzone (freaking delicious, despite filling my arteries), and 3 slices of margharita pizza. Plus, I got to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins one last time!

Monday we lazed around in the morning and the headed back to Atl. Traveling was a nightmare. Delta wouldn't let me on the place because I got to the check in at 3:07 and my flight was at 3:45. They claimed I missed my flight because it was impossible for them to check my bag. As a courtesy, they put me on the next flight at no charge because I had a baby- and I should be thankful because usually they charge $100 for that. I asked when the next flight was, it was at 5pm, but delayed 45 min (and really it didn't take off til 6:20). So I get punished for being 7 min late, but they they get to put me on a flight delayed an hour and a half! The best part was that when I got to the gate, the flight I was originally on? Still at the gate, I watched the people get on it and push back and take off. All because the stupid mean lady at the ticket counter insisted I "missed" the flight because of my need to check a bag. Oh, and she said she could check my car seat and stroller, but not my luggage. So stupid.

Today we had our 6 month appointment with the doctor.Michael is 15lb 3oz, and is 25.5 inches long! His combined weight and height puts him in the 55 percentile, right in the middle of the pack! He looks great developmentally, and doesn't have any weird issues. We got the ok to start meat and trying out a sippy cup with water. Baby boy needs iron and fluoride! We don't need to go back until 9 months, and the best part- no shots at that appointment!

6 months old!

Six months ago Michael came into our lives, and now I can't imagine my life without him! I really can't believe how quickly the last six months have gone by, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how much Michael will grow and change over the next six months. I just hope it doesn't go too fast! I'm not quite ready for my baby to grow up yet!

6 Month Birthday Boy!

You may also have noticed that I have been a very lazy blogger lately. Well, lazy is kind of harsh. Busy, busy, busy, busy might be more descriptive. Michael is very active now, he wants to be entertained every second he is awake! He is interested in everything he can see and touch... And put in his mouth! I have to be honest, I really love the face he makes when he is concentrating on something. He is so freaking cute! Michael is also getting real close to moving- he rolls on to him tummy ALL the time and he tries so hard to move forward. So far all he can do is reach and grab nearby toys, but I know I'll be running after him before I know it! Back to the beginning of this paragraph, I've been lazy about blogging because once Michael falls asleep all I want to do is sit on the couch and veg out!

Since I last blogged some exciting things have happened. Michael had his first (non Greek Orthodox) Easter. He was a lucky bunny- his J'mamma (Julie) gave him some really cute books and tiny surgery scrubs to match his daddy; Faith got him a big fuzzy fluffy stuffed Easter bunny, my parents have him an Easter basket with a crab bathing suit set, bubbles, a book that came with a little bunny, and some assorted tasty treats; Rob and I gave him an Easter basket with a whole lot of books! What was my Easter gift from Michael? A bout of sleep regression.

Michael with his Easter Swag.

The Sunday night of Easter through that Thursday, Michael was up and screaming EVERY HOUR OF THE NIGHT! Nightmarish is not a strong enough word. I legit thought I was going to go insane or die of sleep deprivation. Once Michael was awake, he was calm, quiet and would fall asleep... IF I was holding him. Wednesday night I was so desperate for sleep, I let him sleep in bed with us all night. I am not really comfortable with co-sleeping, but it was the only reason Michael and I got a few hours of sleep that night. He woke up four times instead of 569,753,973 times that night. It was the strangest thing, before Sunday and after Thursday he was and is sleeping through the night. After doing some research and getting advice from one of my mommy friends (thanks Michelle!), we figured out it was likely sleep regression. Basically, when babies are going through a period of big developmental changes (physical or psychological) they can have difficulty sleeping. Rob and I read one article that explained it pretty well- it compared baby's trouble sleeping to when an adult can't sleep cause his mind is racing, problem is a baby doesn't know how to deal with that. Michael has been working on some stuff that I guess could have had his mind racing.

Rocking the shades with Daddy.

Baby Michael is rolling over onto his tum like crazy, although it seems that he has forgotten how to roll back to his back. He is also sitting up mostly on his own, we're just trying to conquer balance! When we are playing with toys now, it's not just me playing with the toys while Michael watches, he is really interacting with his toys. Solid foods are moving right along too.

M likes pears best so far. He enjoyed bananas, wasn't into sweet potatoes until I added a bit of cinnamon, was ambivalent about butternut squash and avocado, and really didn't like apples. I've started to mix and match fruits and veg, so hopefully we will keep expanding his repertoire. Feeding Michael is challenging. He likes to help by grabbing the spoon out of your hand, or sticking his hands in his mouth the second the spoon goes in, or grabbing the food off the spoon. Needless today, mommy (or daddy) and baby end up covered in food. No matter how thoroughly I clean Michael after he eats, I end up finding dried food on his earlobe, or in his eyebrows, or up his nose several hours later.

Last week my mom came and stayed with us for a few days. We went to the Georgia Art Museum. It was small, but had some interesting pieces. Michael actually enjoyed it. He wanted to be held so he could look at the pictures. My mom really wanted to take Michael to the park, but it was cold and rainy while she was here. Michael and I still loved having her stay- Michael got loads of extra attention, and I got to talk to a grown up and relax a bit. I say a bit cause she was here during the sleep regression nightmare!

This picture cracks me up.

We are still doing baby yoga, but I think we might be close to the end of that- Michael is getting a bit to wiggly for mommy to handle during yoga. I'd like to sign him up for swim lessons next, but with the swim schedule we won't be able to take the class til June. There is a session going on now, and the next one starts at the end of the month, but we would end up missing most of the classes because we are going to St. Kitts for two weeks in May when Rob is finished with the semester. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how freakin' excited I am to be headed back to the Rock!

Well, I think that about catches us up. Happy 6 month birthday Michael! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Not much to share, just a picture of a baby in a green top hat!