Dad, Mom, and baby Meghan

Dad, Mom, and baby Meghan

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Trying swim lessons again

Meghan began swim lessons last year, but an unfortunate lesson made her fearful of the instructor and the water, so we decided to take time off, and her
instructor decided she needed a new person to teach her. Her first lesson was yesterday, she mostly sat on the steps of the therapy pool and played with the instructor and I got in the water and swam around a little.
I am in pretty bad shape, was huffing and puffing and my muscles fatigued much more quickly than I can ever remember them doing. I miss the water, though my skin hates the chemicals in it, and I itch for days afterwards. The water in swimming pools is full of carcinogens, mostly from chlorine killing off organic substances (leaves, flowers, etc) and creating trihalomethanes (THMs)
and haloacetic acids (HAAs). Makes me want to swim in a fishy smelling fresh water lake instead. I wish there was one close by.
Despite the chemicals (and I am very concerned about them) I think that it was a good retry for Meghan and hope our Saturday mornings will be spent at the pool, just she and I. I will find something to offset the risk of the exposure to the THM's. Maybe we can go out for a cookie or ice cream afterwards. She needs some special mom and Meghan time, I know she misses it.
I just thought this was a sweet picture of she and Kara, Kara has been having a rough time of it behaviorally, and it is good to see her sitting calmly. Once again Amanda was sitting on the ground, she is learning to climb up on things, though Kara and sometimes Meghan push her back down, not ready to share their "territory" with her too.
We are all adjusting to our new life with three young girls, the hard part for mommy is the isolation and often loneliness for adult conversation and company. This too shall pass, I know it, I don;t want to wish for this stage to rush by, because it will never return, hard as it can be, we are making memories and building bonds.

We have been having awesome weather, in the high 70's to low 80's. Today it is raining and colder and they say it may snow, now how is that for insane? Though we did get some hail, snow seems a remote possibility, The girls were upset they could not play outside today, but Amanda and Kara sit on the ground, and it was wet and cold. We will get some cold weather for a week or so, and then warm up to early spring, it is nearly time to sow the seeds for the vegetable gardens and to plant tomatoes and peppers. If we wait too long, the ground gets to hot and the plants do not develop good root systems.
Our weather forecast says:
Currently: 46°F
Light Rain
56°F 41°F
Tomorrow
Partly Cloudy/Wind
64°F 42°F

Tuesday
Showers
55°F 30°F
Our television died, now some will say good, who needs them, but we do enjoy our programs and DVD's and it is a must here. Happily our oldest son Fred got a new TV and we inherited his old one. A large flat screen; not a plasma or LED TV, but very nice regardless. We are so grateful to him for his gift.
We had a relatively lazy day today, and that is OK, our days (weeks) are full of therapy appointments, doctors appointments, homeschooling, and just regular family chores, so a down day is very welcome here.

3 comments:

GoldenAngelsWorks said...

I hope the swimming goes well for Meghan. I agree that she needs some mom time alone.

Meredith said...

I hope the swimming goes better this time! I'm sure she'll appreciate the one on one time with just MOM :) It's a struggle to get that in for everyone!

I have a question too- you said that the chlorinated water has carcinogens in it from the break down of biological stuff like leaves and flowers and such- so then if there are no leaves/flowers/etc. (such as an indoor or enclosed pool) are there still concerns about carcinogens? I ask because I'd never heard that before but we go in the pool probably 5 days/week during the spring/summer/fall. The pool has a screen enclosure so no leaves/flowers but you've got me curious... Thanks :)

carol said...

Hi,
Kris for once we are warmer than you. We are having a very nice day for Feb in Missouri. I think we are in the 60's but it is very windy with a storms coming in tonight.
I hope you and Amanda enjoy your mommy and me time. I bet she will love it. I know how much you have missed the water I hope you can find something to help your skin.
Fred how nice of you to help your parent out. Way to go Fred.It is so nice to hear of adult children helping out their parents. You have talked about Fred in the past. He sounds like a wonderful young man.
carol

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