ISR "Float" Lessons

As most of you know we enrolled Nathan in the ISR (Infant Swim Resource) program.  They teach babies 6-14 months how to float on their back if they ever fall into a body of water.  You may have seen the clip of "Miles" falling into the pool in his pjs and then floating on his back until someone came to get him.  We saw this clip and thought that this was something that we needed to teach Nathan.  We looked on the website for instructors near us and we got the last slot for the winter session with Jessica.  She is a new instructor and was having these classes at her house in her heated pool. 

The classes were for 10 minutes a day for five days a week.  The session was to be five weeks, but longer if we needed it.  Part of this program is documenting EVERY time Nathan pooped, peed, slept, ate, drank, had medicine, went to the doctor.  I also had to document everything that he ate.  Nathan was also not allowed to have certain foods at all times, certain foods some of the time, and have limits to when he could eat before class.  It was a lot of work on my part :)

Jessica started Nathan off with getting him to float properly.  His biggest problem was that he wanted to keep his arms real close to his body and with time Jessica was able to get him to spread his arms out to his side.  The next step was making sure that Nathan had good breath control when he was being turned down into the water.  Jessica would make sure that he was closing his mouth when he was getting close to going under water.  Then when Nathan would turn back on his back she would make sure that he would spit out any water that he swallowed (he is really good at this).  She then would make sure that Nathan was taking good deep breaths when we was floating.  At the beginning he would only take short fast breaths.  Once they are able to take deep, relaxed breaths she starts working on flipping the babies face down in the water and helping them turn over onto their backs.  Jessica helps out the babies less and less until they can rollback on their own.

For three weeks Nathan needed Jessica's help to roll over onto his back.  He would always be searching for her to help him out.  We were going into week four and he was still unable to do it on his own and I thought for sure that we would have to go longer than five weeks.  Then one day Nathan just got it.  It was amazing to see.  She flipped him over and he rolled back like a cork screw.  It was so fast and so smooth.  She did it several more times and he kept doing it.  He didn't need her help at all anymore.  It really was funny how it just "clicked" for him one day.

Now that he could roll back every time Jessica rolled him into the water it was time to move onto the next step.  She would flip him backwards into the water from the pool.  She would put him on the edge of the pool and toss him into the water at different angles.  She would also drop him down into the water as if he was jumping in.  Every time she did this he managed to roll on his back and float.  It was incredible to watch.  Once he got down this part it was time for the clothes!  The first clothing lesson Nathan had to wear summer clothes.  We had him in a regular diaper, shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops.  He did all of the flips and rollovers in these clothes.  It was hilarious to see him in the pool in flip-flops.  I didn't bring a camera so I don't have pictures but trust me, it was hilarious.  The weight of the diaper when he got out was so heavy!  After summer clothes it was time for winter clothes.  He was wearing pants, socks, boots, a long sleeved shirt, and a jacket.  He was able to float on his back with all of the weight of the wet clothes.  He was so heavy from all of that water weight and it was great seeing that he could float on his back.

Christopher and I are confident that if Nathan fell into our pool he wouldn't drown because he would be able to turn over and float on his back.  I am still amazed that a 9 month old could figure this out.  The program is great!  Once Nathan is over 14 months and walking we will do the swimming portion of the lessons.

Below is a video we took on the last day of classes for Nathan.  I think that it is amazing to watch Nathan.  I also want to mention that out of the five babies Nathan was the 2nd one to graduate from the classes!

-Heather

I'm a bad blogger!

I hadn't realized how long it has been since I have last written in here and I am shocked that it has been over a month! Hopefully, I will be a little better at this in the coming weeks :)

Since I know that everyone is dying to know, Nathan is a crawling pro! He crawls all over the place and fast. It was amazing how quick he got in such a short time. He loves to go after Lucy, the cats, Lucy's toys, and the water bowl for the animals. I think that he must want to be one of the animals :) Shortly after he started crawling he started pulling himself up to a standing position and now he is a pro at that too. The one big problem is that he has trouble getting down from a standing position and this isn't very fun during the middle of the night when he wakes up! He is starting to cruise around on the furniture, but he still isn't too confident about it and will not go very fast or far.

You might also be wondering about swimming lessons. We started those almost five weeks ago and this next week will be our last week. As soon as I hand Nathan over to the instructor he cries, but he stops once they start working. Nathan was working on floating and then rolling over onto his back. He had the float down really good, but wasn't doing so good on the rolling over to his back. I thought that we would probably be told that we need to go for an extra week or so of lessons until Nathan figured it out. When he would roll over he would need Jessica's (the instructor) help. Just last week it seemed to click for him and it was amazing to watch. When she would roll him face down in the water he would roll over onto his back so quick and without any help. She put him in the water in different positions and he was always able to roll over and get on his back and float. It was so great to see and I can't believe that a 9 month old has figured this out. Next week we will be working on "falling" into the pool from the sides of the pool and falling in the pool with clothes on. It should be interesting to watch. I think that it is awesome that Nathan will know what to do if he ever falls into a pool. A great part about these lessons is that they are happening in the LA winter. It has been ridiculous with the temperature and the weather has been perfect for the classes. The pool is outside and just this past week when we finally had rain the classes were canceled. Below is a little clip from one of the lessons that Nathan took. Next week I hope to get a new clip and it should be more interesting :)



Nathan now has TEETH! He got his first tooth a few weeks after he turned 8 months. When Nathan was crying during his swim lessons the instructor said that it looked like he had two teeth coming in. The Saturday after she said that one of the bottom front ones broke through. The second bottom one came in last weekend. I had thought that when the teeth came I would be able to see the whole tooth. I didn't realize that it takes forever for the whole tooth to come out. The first one that came out is now visible, but it still seems like it has a ways to go before it is out all of the way. Once I can get a good picture of his teeth I will post that! It is nice to know that Nathan has some teeth. Nathan has not bitten me yet while breastfeeding and I will keep my fingers crossed that he doesn't do that!

Nathan is now 9 months old! It is hard to believe that I have had him as long as I was pregnant with him. When I was pregnant the time went by so slowly and now it has gone by so quickly. At Nathan's appointment he weighed 19 lbs 3 oz and moved up to the 25th percentile for weight! I really think that having 3 solid meals a day with a couple of snacks has helped him gain some weight. He was 27 1/4" long and was in the 25th percentile for height. He is right on schedule with everything and our next appointment will be when he is a year old!

Nathan is eating like a champ! He eats everything we have given him and doesn't seem to be picky at all. Just recently I have started giving him more finger foods and he loves being able to feed himself...and Lucy. It is hilarious because he will hold out his hand with food in it and try and give it to Lucy. I now have to keep treats by Nathan when I am feeding him so that I can reward Lucy when she doesn't take food from Nathan. I am still making all of Nathan's food for him and it has been really easy to do and I think that we are saving more money by doing this. It has also given us the opportunity to pick out a whole bunch of weird combinations for foods. I never thought that broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, and pear would taste good all mixed up together. His favorite food is the Gerber Puffs. Another mom described them as being "crack" for babies. They are pretty tasty and I can understand why the babies love them so much.

What else for us? Our family is going to Australia at the end of March to visit the Stone family and we are so excited about it! Christopher went and got certified for diving and we are planning on going to the Great Barrier Reef so that Christopher can dive there. Christopher is obsessed with brewing all grain beer and he has a whole set-up and loves to talk about it! We now have four full kegs on tap and Christopher wants to brew more even though we don't we room for it! I have joined a couple of moms groups and I have met some cool moms. I haven't been able to go to a lot of the gatherings, but that should change once we finish with the swim lessons.

I think that I have written about all of the biggest and latest news for us. We are still adding photos to our gallery if you want to check them out. Thanks for reading my short book :)

-Heather

HAPPY 2009!

Wow, I have a lot to write in here because we have had a busy couple of weeks.

Nathan had his first Christmas up in Graeagle.  Nathan and I flew up and he was doing great until the landing.  He started crying and then just as we were close to landing the pilot had to abort the landing because it was too windy!  On the second try we landed, but Nathan was crying the whole time.  Luckily, I was seated around some really nice people and one lady was playing peek-a-boo with him.  I really hate flying into and out of Reno. 

Graeagle was a winter wonderland!  It was snowing while we were there and we were so happy that we got to have a white Christmas.  Nathan didn't seem to pay the snow much attention, but Lucy sure did love running and jumping in it.  Here is a picture with Nathan in his huge jacket outside of my parent's house.  

Nathan hit the jackpot with presents this year!  He got a lot of books, which he promptly put in his mouth, some toys and clothes :)  He tried opening up some presents, but he just didn't get it!  I don't know why he doesn't know how to open up presents yet :)  Later that day we went up to my Grandma O'Neill's house for our annual Christmas dinner.  Like usual, the food was delicious!  

It was so nice visiting with my family and friends.  We also enjoyed the cold weather.  When we got back to LA it was in the mid-70s and it felt like it was Autumn.  For New Years we ended up staying at home because Nathan has been sleeping so horrible and we didn't want to have his sleep disturbed by being somewhere other than at home.  We don't know what is going on, but he is only sleeping for an hour or two before waking up and crying non-stop.  It is really frustrating because nothing seems to calm him down except for me feeding him, which we don't want to keep doing.  We think that his sleeping problems are associated to teething because there doesn't seem to be any other reason for it, but we have yet to see any teeth come through.

On 12/26 Nathan turned 8 months old!  It is so hard to believe that in four months he will be a year old.  The time has just flown by and everyone that I talk to that has kids tells me that I need to enjoy this time because it goes by so fast and I really do believe it.  Now that Nathan can sit unsupported we put him on our scale to weigh him.  He is almost 18 pounds, which is small for a baby his age, but he looks healthy and he has some really big thunder thighs!

The biggest news is that Nathan is crawling!!!!  Over the Christmas holiday he was getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth and a couple of times he scooted forward.  Then on 1/1 he was able to move a couple paces forward and then fall down.  This was huge progress!  Now he gets up on all fours and starts crawling around.  He isn't fast and falls a lot, but I think that by next week he will be a pro at it.  He seems to be getting better at it each day.  Both Christopher and I are excited that he is finally crawling!

Lastly, we are starting Nathan on "swim" lessons in a couple of weeks.  The lessons really aren't on how to swim, but rather on how to survive if you fell in the pool.  With kids Nathan's age they teach them how to hold their breath underwater and then how to float on their back.  We are really excited about this because the group's (Infant Swim Resource) video was pretty remarkable and having Nathan know what to do if he fell in the pool will be so valuable.  

Like always, we have added more pictures to our gallery and if you click on the slide show in the upper right hand corner it will take you to those pictures.  There are a ton so you will have to scroll to the bottom to get the most recent ones.  You can also go to gallery.christopheraedo.com and it will take you to all of our pictures.

We hope that everyone has a great New Year!!!

-Heather

Santa Claus

Nathan went and sat on Santa's lap for the first time. We expected him to start crying because he has been having separation anxiety and will start to cry when other people hold him, but he did great. We even got him to smile a couple of times (Christopher had to make some silly faces and noises). I think that he was really curious as to what "Santa" was and that kept him from crying. We also lucked out and got to the mall at perfect timing and were the fourth or fifth family in line so we didn't have to wait long. The picture that we have is scanned in so Nathan's hair looks a little green :)

Nathan and I are now doing much better! It isn't fun being sick. I just hope that all of us can stay sick free for the rest of the year. Nathan and I are flying up to Graeagle on Sunday and then Christopher and Lucy will be joining us a couple of days later. We are really excited about it and my mom has said that it has been snowing there and we are looking forward to seeing the snow (just last week it was in the high 70s here!).

Nathan has been working hard on getting up on all fours. He can get up on his hands and knees and will rock back and forth, but then he collapses on the ground. I think that in a month he will be crawling. In case anyone was wondering, Nathan still has no teeth. He is 7 1/2 months old and still toothless. There doesn't seem to be any coming either.

That is it for us. If we don't post next week, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!

-Heather

New Pictures & Thanksgiving

We finally have uploaded some new pictures to our gallery. Click on the slide show and it will take you to all of our pictures. Scroll down to the bottom for the most recent pictures. Our computer still isn't fixed, but Christopher posted them another way. We still have more pictures to post and hopefully we will get to that soon.

Thanksgiving for us ended up being a real bummer. We were going to go to Sacramento and see my mom's side of the family, but the day before we were going to leave (11/26) both Nathan and I were getting sick. That night Nathan was waking up every couple of hours and I was getting no sleep because of a horrible sore throat. The next morning I was out of commission, Nathan seemed to feeling really bad, and Christopher felt like he was getting sick. We decided that it would be best not to travel five hours away when we were all sick. Since our plans were scrapped we decided to have a small turkey dinner at home. Christopher did all of the cooking (I did a lot of sleeping) and the dinner turned out great! I did miss all of my family though!

Nathan had his very first cold and it was my first cold of the year. It really has not been fun. Nathan has been so stuffed up and congested and there isn't much that we can do. We try to get out the snot with one of those nose suction bulb things, but he hates it and will do all that he can to make sure we cannot get it in his nose. I am sure that he had a sore throat at one point and if it was anything like mine it was bad. He was not sleeping well for a few nights and we got a humidifier and that along with the cold getting weaker has gotten him down to only waking up twice a night, which is WONDERFUL! Both of us are getting better and I am looking forward to when Nathan is 100% again. I do have to say that colds come at a horrible time for me. The last time that I was really sick was last year when we were on a trip to Hawaii! The good part about being sick during a holiday is that Christopher was home the whole time to help me out which I really appreciated!

Here is Nathan for Halloween:


Nathan also turned 7 months old on 11/26. The time is really flying by!

-Heather

Still not able to upload pictures

I was waiting to do a new post in here once we were able to upload new pictures because I assume that most people want to see the pictures more than read the blog. We are still having issues with our "Drobo" (an external hard drive) so we cannot upload any pictures. Christopher is working with the company on trying to get it fixed and if it looks like it is going to take a lot more time he is going to work on an alternative way to get the pictures uploaded so that everyone can see them.

For Halloween Nathan was Tigger. He was swimming in the costume, but he looked really cute. We only went to our friend Rhonda's house to Trick-or-Treat. It was a pain in the butt to get the costume on and off so we only wanted to go to one place. He didn't cry when he had the costume on which was a first for him (the night before he cried a lot when we put it on him).

Nathan's new thing that he is doing is sticking out his tongue. It is really cute. I guess that everything, except for the crying, is cute to me :) He doesn't really care to be on his stomach, but we are putting him on it so that he can get some practice at making the movements that are a precursor to crawling. He will lift his butt up off the ground and lift his chest up and then he will push back with his hands which makes him scoot backwards. It is funny to watch, but he gets frustrated. Nathan is also great at moving around in his crib. We will put him facing in a certain direction and then when we aren't looking he manuvears around and ends up in a completely different position from what we had placed him in.

We think that Nathan is teething, but there doesn't look like there is any sign of a tooth coming. I think that we have been saying that he is teething for a couple months now :)

Everyone else in the household is doing well and we are looking forward to all of the holidays coming up!

-Heather

Nathan is 1/2 a year old!

It is very hard to believe that Nathan is already six months old. The time really flew by. We celebrated Nathan's 1/2 birthday by doing a 5K. It was Nathan's first one. We walked it and practically came in last place. I do have to say that there weren't that many people in the race and most of them were running :) Nathan seemed to enjoy the walk and like usual he fell asleep in the stroller half way through the walk.

We took Nathan in for his check-up and here are his stats:
Weight: 15 lbs 10 oz -- 10th-25th percentile
Height: 26" -- 25th-50th percentile
His head measurement is in the 10th percentile

Nathan is keeping on the same track for weight, height, and head gain and everything looks great. I did think that he would weigh more because of the extra food that he is getting, but I guess that he doesn't pack on the pounds very fast! Speaking of solid foods, he is now getting two meals a day and I have increased the amount. I am still making all of his food and soon I will be buying finger foods for him to try out. I am a little afraid of him choking on them, so I will see how that goes.

For this post it is an older picture of Nathan because all of the newer ones have not been downloaded to our computer. Christopher did something to our computer and it isn't working properly so we can't download any pictures :( I am hoping that this weekend the computer will be fixed and we will be able to have new pictures up. There should be some of Nathan in his Halloween outfit!

-Heather