Nutty Fun

Saturday night we hung out with our friends Rick, Shelly, and their two daughters Natalie (four years old) and Abby (2.5 years old). We had a great time cheering the Boilermakers into the Sweet 16 and watching the girls play. Shelly and I have been friends since we met at a bus stop on our way to a party our freshman year in college, and we're both happy to be back in Indiana
with our families! Melanie had a great time playing with her friends; unfortunately for the photo opp she had changed from her Purdue gear into her pajamas :)

Swimming - part two!

Melanie and I went to the Monon Center after work & school on Thursday. They have a zero-depth entry pool, where she can walk around, sit down, play with fountains, etc.... the deepest that the pool goes is just over 3 feet. After some initial hesitation, Melanie was walking all over the pool, playing with the fountains, and was calm when I would walk with her on my hip to the "deep" end. This outing went much smoother than swim lessons last week, and I'm hoping to continue her "conditioning" by having her play at this pool to get comfortable.

1-year appointment

Melanie had her one-year checkup yesterday - March 19. She weighed 17 lbs, 3.5oz (3%), and was 28 7/8 inches (about 25%). She received her MMR and chicken pox shots. She wasn't too thrilled to be at the doctor (or be anywhere, really; she was a bit grumpy yesterday morning...) but she did great. The doctor was pleased with her development, and noticed a few things she does that he wouldn't expect to see, like her squatting down and getting back up. We talked about the fact that, while she talks all the time, she doesn't have many words - and he wasn't too concerned about that, either. She does use consonants, so he thinks words will develop soon.

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It was a gorgeous day outside, and Melanie enjoyed playing on the playground at school as well as getting some good play time when she got home from daycare. She took green jello to school as a treat, and dressed in green so she wouldn't get pinched!

Outdoor time!

When we got home from Frankfort on Sunday, Melanie took her first real trip to the park! We just went down to our subdivision park area, and then walked to the grocery store - anything to be outdoors!

Hanging with Molly

I just had to include this photo because it is representative of Melanie pulling out a CHUNK of Molly's hair. Molly didn't even flinch, but I think we might need to work on some aggressiveness of Mel's :) We had a great time Saturday night hanging out with the family in Frankfort!

First Swim Lesson

Saturday was Melanie's first swim lesson, since she was sick last week. Suffice it to say, Mel was not a big fan of the swim lesson. I had two things working against me. First, she was very tired; we were interfering with nap time. When I signed up for the lesson, it seemed that 11:30 would work well because it would be after her morning nap. Well, as what happens with all babies, schedules change - and now she does a later-morning nap. So, there was that. Second, I think I dunked her too early. She was not a big fan of that. While she LOVES bathtime, it was definitely a "BIG bathtub" - and she was a little shaken. She was even sucking her thumb in the pool to help herself calm down. At one point I handed her to my mom on the sideline, thinking that if she weren't IN the pool, she would want to be. Well, that bit of psychology didn't work, nor did my playing with Molly to make her jealous :) She did get back in though, and we struggled through it. Luckily the acoustics in a pool area are such that her screams were muffled and didn't drive everyone else completely batty. The last photo above is how Molly & Melanie felt about the time the car was pulling out of the parking garage after the lesson :)