Swimming Lessons!

After noticing that Kate seemed to enjoy her time in the bathtub (and even, most days, in the shower), we decided to sign her up for itty bitty baby swimming lessons.  The classes run for 45 minutes for four weeks on Saturday morning, and require mom or dad to be in the water along with the little swimmer.  Kate had her first lesson this past weekend and we're proud to announce that she was a superstar!  The class is kiddos six months and up who are looking for their first pool experience.  We got up and moving Saturday morning and dressed Kate in her swimmy diaper and bathing suite, packed up and headed to the YMCA.  Yet again, Kate was the smallest and youngest baby in her class, but she was one of the most interested too!  A few of the older kids didn't even want to get into the water and screamed and cried the whole time (I realize that by typing this with the smug little undertone, I am probably setting us up for a screaming baby next week), but Kate was a little trooper.  She and Brandon stayed in the pool for the whole 45 minutes, and she was pretty tuckered out for the rest of the day once we left.  I didn't get into the water with them--next weekend it will be my turn--so I played paparazzi mommy and took tons of pictures.  Here are some of the best ones I got from the lesson...

-- This is the biggest bath tub I've ever seen! --

-- The wheels on the bus go up (like me!) and down --

-- Getting together as a class --

-- Doing a little kick-kicking --

-- No baby bikinis here --

-- Listening to the teacher --

-- Taking a break --

-- Practicing "scooping" --

-- Surfing on a kick board --

-- Mommy wanted a picture of Daddy and I, but this boat floating by is too interesting! --

Michelle and Natalie Come to Play

We always love when we have out of town visitors.  It's especially fun when these visitors bring little one with them.  Not only do we like to catch up, but it's always interesting to see how the kiddos have grown and we think it's so much fun to have more little people running around.  We were excited when Michelle asked if she and a little Dickerson could come out to visit and to meet Kate.  I'm not sure how exactly she chose (I think it might have been a dance-off), but she and Natalie came to visit us for the weekend in the middle of May.

The ladies were supposed to fly in late Friday evening, but Mother Nature had other plans.  St. Louis got slammed with bad weather that day.  We knew it was coming and watched a line of storms march its way through Oklahoma (dropping more tornadoes on Oklahoma City), Missouri, and finally into Illinois.  Since we moved here, I've been a little bit of a freak about the weather.  I'm pretty much a big, giant chicken when it comes to tornadoes.  If there's even a HINT that there might be a tornado watch issued, I have a bag packed and ready for the basement, even though I've got everything you could possibly think of all staged and ready down there in the case of severe weather.  So, long story short, we had bad weather.  All of the Snyders--Copper included--spent a big chunk of the night in the basement.  And poor Michelle and Natalie got stuck in Chicago.  Their arrival ended up being delayed until the next day, but they did make it in one piece.  When they finally arrived, they checked into the hotel, took a nap, then came over to spend the day with us.  We relaxed and played with the kids, catching up and enjoying our time together.  Natalie chased Copper around the house.  In fact, she wasn't even that excited about meeting Kate, she just wanted to play with Copper.  (She also requested spaghetti for dinner--we had it last time the visited--so we had pasta for dinner.).  Sunday morning we had a pancake breakfast, then played some more until the ladies had to leave to catch their flight. It was a short visit, but it was really enjoyable.  We're looking forward to our Pittsburgh trip in July so we can visit with the Dickerson's again!

-- Playing My Little Ponies --

-- I love hanging out with Michelle --

-- It took poor Copper three days to recover from playing with Natalie --

-- The best group picture we took (and we took a bunch!) --

Outdoor Fun

Finally!  The weather is nice!  We've had an awful lot of rain this spring (and even a few tornadoes in the area...thank goodness for our finished basement!) and while it didn't allow for much outdoor time, it sure did make everything nice and green.  Luckily, the temperature has been pretty pleasant too, which helps with keeping everything green (although, as I type this, it's 96 outside with a heat index of 105).  We've been trying to take advantage of the nice weather, and like to get outside for a little bit before dinner and on the weekends.  We try to take a walk a few times a week, and have been making use of the swing we hung up for Kate in the backyard.  We were able to get our garden in--albeit, a little late--and filled it with foods that Kate likes, such as sweet potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, zucchini and tomatoes.  She's too little to have fun with it now, but I hope that some day in the future she likes to participate in the garden.  I think it'll be fun for her to watch things grow and, of course, to eat them once we pick them.  We're trying to grow herbs for the fourth summer, which means we're on to location #4 in the yard.  I just can't seem to find a spot where they won't get fried.  When we lived in Newport News, I was the herb-whisperer.  I could grow basil and rosemary like no body's business.  But not here.  Every summer I try, and every summer my herbs only survive about a week.  I even kill rosemary, which is pretty impressive since it's really pretty hardy.  This summer we're going to try putting them on the patio, under the pergola, and if they start to look even a little damaged, we'll try moving them to the front porch, where the sun is pretty direct in the morning, but is in shadow during the heat of the day.

-- Enjoying the swing --

-- Enjoying the strap on the swing --

-- Brandon put these torches in last summer....the first one he hung up used a wine bottle from Kate and Cassie...Kate wasn't here yet when he did it, but we knew she was on her way...he chose this bottle in honor of her --

-- So far, so good on the basil --

-- Strawberries, lavender and rosemary are hanging on too --

-- Our little garden --

-- Somewhere out there, Copper is exploring --

-- Checking out what's going on over on the patio --

-- Playing with dad --

-- Swinging through bubbles...one of my favorite games --

-- Someone is so very excited to be in charge of the bubble gun --

-- In need of a summer haircut --

-- Chillaxin at my water table --

-- Splash, splashing (this sticking the tongue out thing is new, but she does it ALL THE TIME!) --

-- Making waves --

-- Enjoying being nice and cool --

-- Taking a little break, but keeping my eyes on the water --

-- Watching the wheel --

-- Swinging makes me sleepy --

More Messy Meals

We've continued to keep up our baby led weaning--or only eating table food--with Kate, and it's been going really well.  Although it makes Grandma Petey very, very nervous--I'm pretty sure she was a nervous wreck during mealtimes while she was visiting--she is really starting to get the hang of chewing and swallowing.  During the week, Kate is still relying mostly on milk feedings, but she eats dinner at home most nights.  At school they aren't allowed to give the kids table food until they're eight months old.  We're almost there.  Kate has taken a keen interest in watching the other babies eat.  We're so very close to the eight month mark, and she's doing so well with solids, that we've decided to wait it out and not give her any purees.  We keep a master listing of all the stuff she's eaten, and I think it's right around 40 items long.  Her favorites continue to be yogurt, green beans, sweet potatoes, cheese, and steak.  The other day she had falafel for lunch and she scarfed it down.  She's also had couscous, penne and meatballs, barbecued pork loin, and chicken legs.

She still makes a pretty big mess, but she's getting better at actually eating.  We still take lots of pictures-mostly because she looks so darn cute when she's covered in yogurt and has a Cheerio stuck to the end of her nose--so I thought I'd share some of the better ones :-)

-- Looking happy --

-- Finally someone will eat all of the tomatoes that grow in our garden! --

-- Working on some steak --

-- Steak and lots of green things --

-- Where did that Cheerio go? --

-- Lots to pick from --

-- I'm smiling because I'm eating cheese --

-- This is my play-off (yogurt) beard --

-- Applesauce, sweet potatoes, and steak --

-- If you look very closely, you'll see that my eyelashes are coated in blueberry yogurt --

-- I have a feeling there's a bath in my future --

-- Chicken leg! --

-- Yum, yum! --

-- One happy (and hungry) baby! --

-- I just want to kiss this little face...even though it's all yogurty --

-- Working on a big ol' piece of watermelon --

-- Falafel!  And she LOVED it! --

-- Sometimes eating makes me sleepy --

A Big Weekend

We had lots of visitors during the first few days of May.  After my family left on Tuesday, Grandma Brenda made her way down to visit on Friday.  It was a pretty big weekend for our family--Friday, May 10th was Brandon's birthday (his first as a dad!), and Sunday, May 12th was Mother's Day (my first as a mom!).  In between those two big days was our biggest first of the weekend--our first night away from Kate.  Grandma Brenda volunteered to watch her for the night so Brandon and I could go out and have some time to ourselves.

Kate and I talked Brandon into playing sick on his birthday to spend the day with us (it was my SDO), and we had a lovely time sleeping in and lounging around together.  Brandon requested knock-off      In-n- Out burgers for dinner, and once we were through we opened presents and had cake.

-- Mommy and I decorated for Daddy's birthday --

-- Daddy was king for a day...and I'm always the princess --

-- We like our birthday crowns --

-- Dad's favorite: butter pecan custard pie.  yum! --

Saturday was our big day.  We packed up and headed downtown around 2:30.  We made a stop at Tiffany to get my wedding rings cleaned and to find out about getting a pair of sunglasses fixed.  Not only did I leave with clean and sparkly rings, but I also got to pick out a Mother's Day gift, AND I got a new pair of sunglasses.  Score!  We left Tiffany and I introduced Brandon to Auntie Annies.  As in the pretzel.  Yes, that's right, he'd never had an Auntie Anne's pretzel.  You know, you think you know someone...

Next, we checked into our hotel and headed to dinner.  We had a wonderful meal and followed it up with a trip to a new taphouse.  We were back at the hotel and crashed out by 11:00, but it was a successful trip.  We had a great time, and it was so nice to spend a little time together without having to juggle Kate or Copper or 100 other things that come up at home.  We packed up and headed back home around 10:00 Sunday morning, then spent the day relaxing and hanging out with Grandma.  It was a great weekend, and we were so thankful that we were able to twist Grandma Brenda's arm so she would babysit :-)