Stella Goes to Kinnick

I am going to start this post by mentioning that I do indeed love my husband.  He is an excellent father, great husband and overall wonderful man.  HOWEVER, when the man steps foot on Iowa soil, I don't know what happens to him.

In saying this, we went back to Iowa this weekend for the Iowa vs Iowa State Football game.  We were so excited to see the game and visit my parents, as they drove over from Illinois.  We left Friday evening and flew from Phoenix to Denver and Denver to Cedar Rapids.  Stella was an excellent flyer.

In Denver, we tried to get Stella to fall asleep and we thought we had succeeded until Brian happened to look at the side of the stoller.

 Yeah not so much, but she did fall asleep on the plane.  We arrived late Friday night and went straight to the hotel to catch some zzzz's.

Saturday morning we woke up, went to The Hawk Shop to get our game day apperal, and headed out for the pregame festivities.  But before we left Stella needed to make sure she had plenty of energy.

 We had a great time at our friend's tailgate visiting while the boys played beer-pong.

It was such a wonderful morning, we were having a great time... and then we headed to the game.  As with any college stadium, Iowa does not serve alcohol during the game so Brian thought it would be a good idea to make a drink to go... one for him and one for my father.  Anyone who has ever had a drink poured by Brian really only makes that mistake once.  And my guess is, that it was the last time my dad will ever have Brian pour him a drink also.  Once thier drinks were poured, we headed to the game.  This was just the beginning...

Brian and I head into the stadium, as my parents take Stella back for a nap.  This is where I begin reminding myself how much I love my husband.  You know when you go to a game and there is that jack*** is your section who is so into the game, way more than they should be?  That's Brian.  He was fist pumping, jumping up and down and overall being a obnoxious fan.

We made it to half-time.  At this point, Brian and I went up to the concession stand where I proceeded to get sodas while Brian went to the restroom.  The plan was to meet back at our seats.  After waiting in line for fifteen minutes I headed back to our seats where I thought my husband would be waiting for me.  To my surprise he was not there, okay he was still in the restroom.  I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the third quarter until the I started to begin to get concerend that Brian had not returned from the restroom.  To make a very long, but extremely funny story short, Brian had not returned to our seats, he had gone to the same seats in a different section.  He spent the entire sencond-half of the game looking for me and calling my parents to see if they had heard from me, as if I had disappeared.  When I finally realized that he was in the next section over, I went over to Brian and was told over and over how he had walked up and down the stairs for the entire quarter looking for me.  As if it was my fault that he went to the wrong section.  I have never laughed so hard in my life.  I love my husband, I love my husband.  On a side note, I am extremely impressed that he was so concerned about me that he would look for me instead of watching the game... I guess he loves me to.

That was the end of the game and one would think that the drama would be over.  We headed back to the hotel to find my father laying on the bed watching the ceiling spin.  Again, he hadn't experienced Brian's bartending skills.  Thank goodness we had two babysitters to take care of Stella... poor dad.  Needless to say dad did not go to dinner with us that night.

Sunday presented its own set of drama... we spent the morning looking for the car keys and attached wallet that we later discoverd was left at the hotel restraunt the prior afternoon by my parents.

Wow... what a weekend.  This post totally does it no justice.  But as Brian just informed me, "It's just a typical Iowa weekend."

Family Pictures

A couple of weeks ago Brian's mom came to visit.  One of her first requests, when she arrived, was that we go get some pictures taken.  I, of course, love any reason to take Stella's picture, so I was all for it.  I also thought this would be a great opportunity for us to get family pictures done, as well.

So here is our final product...  Stella's 8 month pictures.

Stella Passed Her Swim Test

Living in Arizona most people have a pool and unfortunately each year there are reports of child drownings.  Because we are one of those who have a pool, I knew for  sure that we were going to put Stella into swim lessons as soon as we could  I ntalking to people, there was particular type of swim lessons that people talked so highly about, ISR.  This particular type of lessons teaches children to float and swim at a very young age.  As our friends described it, I thought this was awesome until the described the last part.  At the end of the lessons, they take the child, fully clothed, and toss them in the pool to see if they can float.  Crazy, right?  I agreed to do the swim lessons under the condition that I wouldn't have to watch the test at the end.  Well, we've come to the end.

For the last five weeks, everyday, the swim instructor has come to our house to teach Stella how to float.  At the first lesson, Stella's teacher warned me that for the most part the kids usually cried through the lessons, so I prepared myself.  But not Stella, she enjoyed every minute... of the first week.

 But then the second week came and Stella hated swim lessons.  She screamed a fought it.  But thankfully that only lasted about a week.  For the next two weeks, she learned to float and then to roll. This week was testing week, the week I originally couldn't bear to watch.  However, as we got to this week, I was no longer scared to watch her test, rather I was excited to see what she could do.   We started on Monday with light summer clothes, yesterday was pajamas, and today was full winter clothes.

 I can not believe how well she did.  I can honestly say, that the money and time that we have spent doing swim lesson have hands down been best that we have ever spent.  Obviously, I would never leave Stella alone by the pool but I now have a better peace of mind with her around water.  For now, my nine month old can roll into a float all on her own.  In April, we will begin the process all over again as she learns to swim.