Cages and Fish

In the last few days I've been to Houston and back for my sister's bridal shower, caged a baby, and watched my middle baby swim like a little fish in our backyard pool.  More on the shower in the next post because my sister just sent me the pictures and it's already almost past my bedtime.  Cora says, that's fine, I'll wait.

While I was gone for my whole 13 hours (I flew down and back in the same day), JP and the kids had big adventures all over Fort Worth.  He is fearless when it comes to heading about town with the three kids- they went out to lunch, went on a long bike ride to the park, went to Trader Joe's AND Kroger, and went out to his pool to check the chemicals.  If he wasn't already mine, I would absolutely want to steal him.

Also while I was out, our baby corral was delivered!  For $65 you too can give your baby 35.5 square feet of prime choke-free real estate!

It's even better if you add a few toys and siblings. The kids actually added themselves.  Their need to be near Cora is not hampered by the baby toy only environment.

Not really part of the story, but I love this picture.  Claire wanted to hold Cora, but it was quickly clear that Cora is getting to big and squirmy to stay in Claire's little arms, so I suggested they sit next to each other.  Claire thought this was a fine idea until Cora grabbed her skirt and started chewing (we must chew ALL THE THINGS!).  After a few failed attempts to remove her skirt from her baby sister's mouth Claire sighed and said, "Mom, maybe Cora should go back in her pen."

Luckily for Cora, Claire went with her. The kids love it in there- I snapped this tonight before bed.  I love that Landon's chair has been added to the in-pen decor.  Cora's going to run out of room in there, but I don't really think she minds.

Yesterday I went in to work at 6:30 a.m. because insomnia is terrible and trying to kill me.  And since I can't sleep anymore I figured I might as well be able to leave work really early and play with the kids.  My 6:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. work schedule was pretty awesome, and I celebrated my extra afternoon hours by making an overly involved dinner (chicken lasagna rolls with homemade tomato cream sauce; not fancy, but involving of many steps I usually do on the weekend) and letting the kids swim for hours.

Cora and I sat in the shade and Claire came out in her new swim suit and announced, "I'm just going to JUMP IN Mommy!"  Okay, I replied, surreptitiously removing my leather sandals underneath my maxi dress, certain I was about to have to jump in and rescue her, but determined to let her try to remember all her swim lessons with JP last summer.

And though she almost backed down, jump in she did!

And then she swam all the way to the stairs. And then she did it about 35 more times, jumping from increasingly far away from the stairs. I was so proud of her. Landon has been a fish for a couple summers now, but I think yesterday was the first day I can really call Claire one.

This went on for about 90 minutes. I fed Cora her green beans and sweet potatoes in her little lifeguard portable high chair until she was full and Claire was turning blue from the chilly water. I had the kids take their shower and put on their pj's, greatly amusing them with my disregard for normal dinner attire, and then we sat down to eat just as JP was getting home. Claire was SO excited to tell her daddy all about her swimming and pretty much passed out the moment she hit her bed 45 minutes later. We did the exact same thing tonight- dinner prep/baby cage time, swimming and more swimming, Cora eating outside, showers, dinner in jammies, and immediate comatose bedtimes.

I think this will be our new routine until October when the pool gets too cold. And someday, perhaps in mid-July when the water gets warmer, Cora and I might even get in too.