Answers to your Questions!

Thank you to all of you who make the world feel a little smaller for me by commenting on my thoughts and happenings here in Texas. Your words of encouragement and interest in our family mean so much to me!! I appreciate your emails ... hopefully I can answer some of your questions here:

How did you teach Liam to swim like that and how long did it take?

Well Elena, I didn't really set out to teach him to swim.... I feel a little like it has taken some time for me to allow him the opportunity to show me he can do it. Since we have a pool and it is over 90 degrees here most of the Summer... Liam has had much opportunity to be in the water. Kurt and I started "dipping" him under the water at probably 7 months... we would just let him sink down a little and then lift him out - he seemed to enjoy it despite the odd time that he would swallow water. Then we started pushing him through the water to each other. I did try to do it on his terms ... when he leaned forward, I would just give him a shove in Kurt's direction. (I have heard that you can blow in their faces before putting them under to make them close their mouths, I guess). But I just tried to follow his cues. Liam refused to spend any time in a floater that I bought him to have my hands free, so he was usually in my arms and he seemed to be continuously trying to push away from me to swim by himself. I then started kicking with him on the stairs and telling him to "kick, kick, kick" when he was in my arms. Suddenly he started kicking , and with a couple of days he was doing what you saw in that video!" It was much easier that teaching Mila to swim ... and actually he probably learned more from standing on the stairs and watching the girls swim than anything Kurt and I did! He is 10 months in that video. Actually a friend of mine told me her mom taught her to swim when she was 11 months ... and maybe just knowing that it was possible encouraged me to be a little adventurous with him.

I am still very nervous with Liam around the pool - he likes to just climb in. I still need to work with him on lifting his head to breathe. He just puts his head down and kicks until he reaches the side/stairs or you lift him up!" We are having a wonderful reprieve from the hot weather here - rainy and in the 80's this whole week. When it gets warmer (I know I am a softy but I love the warm water) I will have him practice more!

How do you do the blog thing? and where do you find the time?

Hmmm, well the first question I will have to leave to my "technical support" - yes, that's Kurt. He is the one who set up the blog ... and loads music and videos for me! Google does make it quite simple to post and add photos etc. though. If you are interested, Wendy, I will get Kurt to walk you through it.

Time...Truth is my kitchen floor is unswept and there are at least 3 loads of laundry to be done!! One thing I do NOT do is loose sleep over it though ... sleep is high priority to me .... comes right up there with eating, breathing deeply and taking a shower! So I seldom blog late at night. Blogging fits somewhere with preparing lunch -all my children are quite capable of fending for themselves: Liam will grab a box of cereal out of the cupboard, pour some on the floor and eat it happily, Julia will grab a banana out of the fruit bowl and Mila will make herself a butter sandwich- and cleaning the kitchen (this is one place in my home that I really prefer to be CLEAN). Usually I will have to sacrifice accomplishing at least one of these daily!

Blogging is my way of multitasking -

-it serves as a journal to help me remember what happened a week ago and gives me an outlet to vent,
-a way to keep in contact with friends and family all over the world and hopefully help them get to know my children as if they were a lot closer
-in a small way I hope I can make a positive influence on other's - sometimes by drawing attention to issues... but mostly just sharing personal stories that will make someone smile or laugh.
-I often get timely emails / comments that really uplift and encourage me (Like yours, Wendy;)) in response to my posts

Is Mila's hearing sorted out?

I cancelled the appointment we had for Mila to have surgery to place tubes and remove her adenoids. The ENT explained that she had fluid in her ears that was decreasing the transmission of sound. She said that her Eustachian tube was not functioning to drain that fluid, probably because it was blocked by enlarged adenoids. Her hearing had already improved dramatically by the time we had the appointment with the ENT and at that time the results of a hearing test were mild hearing loss on the right and moderate hearing loss in the left ear. Her hearing continued to improve with the cell food - I presume that it was effective at decreasing the size of her adenoids by decreasing the viral/bacterial complexes causing their enlargement. I also tried my hand at a chiropractic move that our friend, Devin, showed us to encourage the Eustachian tube to drain. I am not sure what exactly worked but we are relieved and thrilled -at a well child visit a couple of weeks ago, she had a hearing test and she passed. I expect this may be an issue that will take regular attention - I noticed her hearing decreased after forgetting the cell food for a while ... but understanding what is going on, I feel better equipped to deal with it! We haven't ruled out that we may need to do the surgery in the future.