When your life is too busy...

...just go ahead and add another activity!

No one will notice.

I guess that's what I thought three months ago when I booked s w i m lessons for Lukas and Natalie.  I knew--obviously--that I would be still getting up to feed a newborn at night, but somehow doing s w i m lessons five times a week for two weeks straight didn't seem as daunting as it now seems, four days in.

Monday was the hardest: I got Natalie's PT moved to 8 a.m. (load the car at 7:15 a.m.) so we could leave PT at 9 a.m. (feed Dominik before 9 a.m.) and make her 9:45 s w i m lesson.  Lukas' lesson followed, then we had to drive back to Natalie's school to drop her off by 11:30, then go home for lunch.  That's the kind of morning that is ok, one time in a week...but I'm doing variations of that morning 10 times in a row!

But the lessons are going well and the kids are having fun.  And most importantly, I'm hopeful that Natalie will learn to swim this summer.  After two weeks of intensive lessons, the kids are supposed to spend 10 minutes per day in the pool practicing what they learned, for another two weeks.  Then we'll probably be in the pool almost every day of our two-week road trip to Ohio.

And what else is scheduled during this two weeks of crazy lessons?  Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment, followed by Natalie's audiology and hearing test (she's hearing normally, without tubes in her ears...although one ear still has a hole in it, so we have to use ear plugs during water activities).  Tomorrow she sees her ophthalmologist.  Next Tuesday is Natalie's IEP to discuss moving her to a blended preschool classroom next year (50/50 of kids with an IEP and typical kids).  And Lukas has a doctor's appointment next week.

Today Lukas asked why we couldn't have a playdate with friends today.  I re-explained that since I'm getting up to feed Dominik at night (that was news to him when I told him last week), I can't handle any more activity in one day than the s w i m lessons, on top of our regularly insane schedule.  But I don't think I could handle any more activity even if I was getting uninterrupted sleep!

I AM NOT DOING ANYTHING NEW FOR ANOTHER THREE WEEKS.

Famous last words.

Here's Natalie swimming with her hands behind her body, just like she runs.

After being told repeatedly to sit on the step during the other girls' turns, and still trying to swim, the instructor put her on the pool deck.

"If I just put a toe in the water, that's ok, right?"  Nope!  A toe leads to the whole body.  So now she gets one-on-one time with the instructor since it's more than she can take to stay out of the water while she's waiting for her turn...and the other girls can get their fair share of time too.

Natalie showing she knows what he means when he says "swim like Superman!"  Whoever Superman is!

Lukas is doing great, responding to the new teaching methodology (even though he sometimes reverts back to things he learned last year during lessons...I think he'll be doing great by the end of the two weeks).

Kicking all the way across the pool.