Bye-Bye, Little Swing!

Moving out of stages in life is hard. Even if the new stage is fresh and exciting and full of wonder, it still can be hard to leave the old stage that you've grown so used to and loved so much. I'm such a wishy washy sentimental person. I'm all moody about getting rid of our infant swing. Yes, I'm sad over a silly swing.



I had really wanted a baby swing for Nicholas but I was trying to be practical and not go overboard on buying baby stuff so I didn't buy one. Dad came to visit when Nicholas was just a few days old and he got the swing for Nicholas. It was a wonderful gift but we were just too tired in those first few weeks to have the energy to put it together. So it sat in the box for a brief time. But then I was at one of the various follow up visits with my OB/GYN and I mentioned that Nicholas seemed to be colicky - crying hours at a time for reasons we just couldn't figure out. My doctor asked if we tried a baby swing. I embarrasedly said that we had one but just hadn't put it together. My doctor's prescription? Go home now and get the swing put together. The energy spent on putting it together will more than be made up for by the restful sleep of a colicky baby.

The swing was put together that night and it was an instant success! Nicholas loved that swing. For his first month or two, he spent a lot of time there. He napped in it, played in it, sat in it while I read to him. It was a life saver for all of us.



When Rachel was born, we knew we had to get the swing down from the attic. It was definitely a necessity. However, Rachel is so different from Nicholas. From the beginning, she has liked her sleep. At about 2 weeks old, she was sleeping peacefully through the night and then slept for most of the day as well. She was never colicky and although we let her sit in the swing for a change of scenery, it was never something we felt that she couldn't live without. But still it has been neat watching her grow up, sitting in Nicholas' swing, doing some of the same things he did in it.

But now Rachel is too big for the baby swing. I just put new batteries in it and it swings just fine. However, when I put Rachel in it this morning, it just barely, I mean ever so discreetly, wiggles a little from side to side. She still likes sitting in it but there's really no swinging going on. And she, like Nicholas when he got too big for it, would prefer to lean herself over the side as much as possible to try to grab at anything on the floor within reach. The swing is very stable so I don't think it would fall over with the weight shift but it certainly wasn't designed to manage that kind of weight being disproportionately hanging out of the seat.



We aren't planning on having anymore children and the swing takes up quite a bit of floor space so, sadly, I admit that it's time for the swing to go. I have found a sweet little grandmother to give it to. She will be watching her 8 week old granddaughter while the mom goes back to work. She is very excited about getting the swing. Bye-bye, little swing! May you bring peace and joy to another little baby (and rest for her parents and grandparents)!

A Really Hot Nature Walk

Our air conditioner died yesterday. It was very miserable especially with outside temperatures at 100 degrees. I took the children out and we ran errands just so we could enjoy other people's air conditioning. But that didn't go well when Rachel decided she wanted to be home napping in her crib. We all toughed it out and by 11:00 last night and a couple of thousands of dollars later, we finally had cool air again.

So did we stay home today and enjoy our nice cool house. No! We went out for a short nature walk and did a little bug hunting along the way too.



We saw lots of seed pods on what I believe are honey locust trees. Nicholas loves these when they dry out and drop to the ground because you can shake them and the seeds rattle around inside like little maracas!



Nicholas found lots of shriveled up leaves on the ground. We talked about why they might look like that. Pests? Lack of Water?



Nicholas quickly made it down to the creek bed to check it out. It's our favorite place to explore and play.



Nicholas asked me to come down with him. I had Rachel in her stroller and didn't feel comfortable trying to carry her down the rocks in case I might slip. I simply told him that I couldn't come down. He walked over, put out his hand, and said, "C'mon. I'll help you down." So sweet. I explained why I couldn't come but Rachel and I sat on the rocks along the side and let Nicholas play for a little while.



Nicholas got a new telescope. He pretended to be a pirate on a desert island looking for treasure.



This telescope is neat because it also converts into a periscope. It's pretty cool. I showed the mirrors to Nicholas and explained how the periscope worked. I don't think he believed me until he tried it. He was quite impressed. He said it will be good to use when he's a spy. Then we proceeded to play a game where we took turns catching a bad guy by spying on them with the periscope.



We wrapped up our walk with a little time at the playground.



With temperatures crossing the 100 degree mark, we just might have to limit our nature walks to the wee morning hours for the next few months. It's just really really hot out there there days.

Magic Rocks

What a perfect find for experiment-loving little boy! I remember Magic Rocks from when I was little. Put in some little colored rocks, add some water and chemicals and voila! You're growing crystals. It was a simple and easy.



Of course, Nicholas loved wearing his "safety" goggles and some of Daddy's disposable gloves from the garage. Now he's a REAL scientist!



Nicholas grew crystals and we were both amazed at how quickly the reaction started taking place. The shark stickers seemed cool at the time but they really block the view of the crystals.

Why Am I Not Moving?

Rachel got herself up into a full crawling position today all by herself. She didn't go anywhere though. Instead she just rocked her body back and forth some and fussed when she couldn't figure out why she wasn't moving. It was so cute.

Lunar Mini Golf

We had a blast today at a friend's birthday party. It was held at Lunar Mini Golf. In case you don't know what in the world that is, think of Putt-Putt golf, indoors, lit only with black lights, and lots of neon paint and golf balls in the room. It was fun although quite challenging, I dare say impossible, to get a good picture capturing the mood without destroying it by using a flash (although I'm sure Stuart could prove me wrong!)

Here's my lame attempt. Slow shutter speed to let in more light which wasn't fast enough to capture the moving 5 year old in the middle of the picture. What? You can't see him? He must have turned invisible. No, there he is. Look closely at the blacklight illuminating his white shoes and his glow in the dark bracelet.



Thank goodness we had lots of Spidermen show up to keep us all safe! I was really worried about all of those bad guys out there playing lunar mini golf!