Proud Mama

Well, I haven't had the time to get the pictures from Mother's Day off the camera and on the computer but there's a good reason for that. This afternoon I was having a pregnant moment and feeling REALLY hot. Jason walked in the door and asked what was wrong with me because I was all red and sweaty (such a cute way to say hi when you're husband gets home from work LOL). So, I told Jason we needed to go to the pool, you had to know I was hot if I was willing to be in a baithing suit at a public pool feeling quite pregnant and large.

We got to the pool and Ashley was excited to get in but had no clue Jason and I wanted to do a refresher course on her swim lessons from last year. We brought out the kickboard and Jason started her off on her kicking which went from flaling legs in and out of the water to a nice steady beat under the surface. He took her under water a few times and she seemed to like it. Then we brought her over to the wall to have her practice jumping in the water. She seriously hesitated for the first three jumps. I think we counted to 3 about 50 times during those first three attempts until she finally jumped in and then she was hooked. After lots of jumping I took her down to the deep end and my belly really came in handy. I was on my back and had her roll on her back and rest on my belly while I kicked us to the deep end. We practiced floating on her back and she reminded me of Jason because she said it was boring and wanted to jump in the pool instead.

I brought her to the side of the pool and that's when my little fishy blossomed. She asked me to step back away from the wall even more and I convinced her it was time to try to jump in, kick herself to the surface and then kick all the way to the wall. She had no problem doing it and was so proud of herself after she pulled herself out of the pool all by herself. I think she repeated this for 30 minutes and the only reason she stopped was because she had a side ache. We swam back to the shallow end and I barely held my hand under her belly and she was paddling and kicking away. I was so proud that she was able to get back to where she was at the end of her swimming lessons last year and I can't wait to see where she ends up after this summer's lessons. I have to say my heart smiled when we got out of the pool and Ashley started to wimper because she wanted to keep swimming "all night long".

We've heard the local swim team practicing when we've gone on walks and I miss the noises you hear at the pool, the coach cheering on the swimmers, the splashing from each flip turn and the panting after a hard set. I'm hoping, REALLY hoping that Ashley will want to swim so I can be surrounded by the smell of chlorine all over again- this time as a proud parent cheering for her girl.