Taking eight children swimming...

  

When the pool opened on Memorial Day we took the children swimming!

They were all soooo excited!

Especially these two who had never been swimming in a big pool before!

They both loved the water

BUT 

knew 

nothing

about

water!

Luke went walking into the water and fell. He was face down and had no idea how to get up. Hubby grabbed him right away. Luke was a bit surprised and we thought that would help him be more cautious BUT then he saw a toy that he wanted and he walked off the side of the pool into 4' of water.

This time the hubster jumped in to get his little boy!
The life guard actually apologized to hubby for not jumping in and saving him.
But it was okay cuz we were watching him closely and were wondering as it was happening- 
is he really going to jump in?

Yep... I guess he wanted that toy that bad!

Abby played in the kiddie end the whole time- she LOVED it!

I had planned to wait and start these two in swimming lessons after the wedding...

But after seeing them in the water decided waiting would not be a good idea!

I immediately got on my phone and enrolled them into swimming lesson!

Often when we are at the pool we have it to ourselves but not today.

It was crowded but still so fun!

We brought a bunch of toys of our own but our kiddos have no problem taking someone elses toys.

They are used to community things from the orphanage 

and probably from our house too since we pretty much share everything!

The other kids at the pool were not amused by this- we said a lot of opps, here's your toy back and we're sorry!

Sarah and  Ellie are pretty good swimmers and can go all over the pool!

Ava and Anna will soon be able to do so, too- except that are still kind of little (or should I say vertically challenged...).

He looks like he likes the monkey, right?

But he did not!

The idea of hanging on to a stupid blow up monkey and paddling around was not his idea of fun.

Pouring, filling and splashing are way more fun!

Sam was dangerous with the water gun!

He found targets everywhere!

It feels so nice to have summer finally here!

The hubby and I were quite busy watching the children.

I'm not so sure I will be taking all 8 of them to the pool alone, any time soon!

Maybe later in the summer after we all get used to the routine!

Three glorious hours of summer fun and lunch at the pool!

Works for me and everyone else in this family!

And here he is just days later at his first swim lesson!

He loves the water but is not much for practicing a skill over and over.

Each time they had him do something he said...

"okay, all done, no more"!

We just follow up with a "yes more, not all done"!

Then he says a cheery "okay" (kinda like he was just kidding in the first place)!

 Because of two open heart surgeries and having to self moderate his activity level due to his heart condition Luke has some catching up to do regarding muscle strength and coordination.

We have already seen amazing progress since his end of March surgery!

Absolutely amazing progress!
He's running, jumping and loving it!

This little girl loved the lessons, too!

In this pick her hgb was 6.3 and she still had the energy to swim and be happy!

Wow! I'd be in bed!

5 days later her Hgb had dropped to 4.9...

She still played and rode the scooter, bike, etc!
We would have never guessed it would have dropped so much so quickly.
We are changing her transfusion schedule to 3.5 weeks, then 4 weeks , the 4 weeks, then 3.5 weeks and so on.


We just need to get the iron out as fast as possible without putting more than we need to back in her.

So swimming is a definite favorite with this family!


As for me?


I love WATCHING them swim!


Okay, okay, I do get into he water sometimes to prove myself to the family... but not that much!