swim lessons

after taking a long break from swim lessons over the fall and winter, we started up again this spring. the sessions last 10 weeks and this week was our last session. it wasn't quite as easy as when he was a four months and had no fear! the first several lessons he literally clung to us and would cry every time he went for an underwater swim. the only thing that kept him going was the fact that there were toys to play with, so he would gather up as many toys as he could hold in his little arms and that made him a little happy! slowly he started to get a little more confident, but it was still a struggle to pry the toys out of his hands and his body off of mine every time we'd want to do a swim to the instructor.

a few weeks ago we had a turning point! it actually was lucky on my part in that i had gotten off work a little early, so we had some extra time (instead of racing in from work at the last minute like we usually do!). we sat and watched several of the older kids having a great time in the pool, splashing, playing, swimming and laughing. as we sat there and watched, he decided that he wanted to join in the fun and asked to get in the pool. we went over and sat on the stairs and he just took off and walked into the water (the pool ranges from 1.5-2 ft deep!). now, we had tried walking in the pool several other times, but he was too fearful to really allow himself to do it. once he realized that he had full control of his body and could walk the whole length of the pool, he thought swimming was the greatest thing ever! the next several lessons we had no tears and instead of working to get him to let go of me, i was working to chase him all over the pool!

it was so great to watch his fear of the water and his confidence in the pool literally change overnight. he now enjoys kick, kick, kicking on his tummy and his back, jumping into the water from the side of the pool (assisted, of course) and even going underwater for a short "swim". in our last class this week, one of the parents brought an underwater camera and took a couple shots of each of the kids. i'm happy to have these pictures, since aaron wasn't able to attend many of the classes and these are our only shots of us swimming this time around! you can be sure that we will be keeping up our lessons to make sure his confidence stays up and his skills continue to develop!

i think he might even be smiling a bit in that underwater shot!

June???

wow...i can hardly believe that the year is almost half way over! is it just me or does time seem to fly faster and faster the older we get? so...i haven't taken a look at my 2009 list in awhile. might be good to see how things are going!

1. take a photography class - nope and i fear this may not happen. i've done a lot of looking and most of the classes that i find are offered during the weekdays or the evening during the week, which is just too hard for a working mom like me. i'm crossing my fingers something might work out - like maybe a private lesson or something. we'll see!


2. get an external hard drive for our computer and back up all our photos and videos...ahh...this one has been hanging over my head for awhile now! - DONE!


3. be better at meal planning - uh...not so good at this yet!


4. try at least one new recipe each month - i haven't been very good at tracking, but i'd venture to say i've come close. last week i tried a great semi-healthy lemon yogurt muffin recipe that we all enjoyed! it was on someone's blog - i'll see if i can find the link again, because it was really good!


5. waste less food - we've done pretty good with this, but could always do better. the meal planning would certainly help in this area!


6. compost - DONE!


7. get more pedicures this year...i think last year i got a whopping 2! need to improve upon that this year. who wants to help me with that one?? - i'm on track for two again this year! ha. again, can't believe this is so difficult. to all of my no-kid friends, cherish your pedis! i never realized how difficult it would be to find time to get away for this little self luxury! i miss them!


8. consume less/simplify - hmmm...i think we are doing fairly well with this, but again could always do better.


9. eat as a family more - making major progress in this area. for awhile it was a struggle to get home and get food ready for all of us. now that kellen is becoming a better eater and i'm not so worried about his weight, we seem to all be able to sit down and enjoy one meal (with some minor modifications for the boy!)


10. figure out our family holiday traditions - working on this!


11. reduce my hours at work - not happening so far...now is not the right time to be pursuing this - will wait until after rolo is born to see what we can do about this!


12. wean the boy - DONE! wednesday, april 29 was our last nursing session before bed. aa and i flew to san francisco the next morning and that was that. he never asked for it once we got home, although wanted/needed A LOT of extra mama time for 3 weeks after that. i feel so good that i was able to nourish and comfort him for so long...but it was time for us to be done and i feel SO good about that!


13. travel - aa and i went to sf for our anniversary. we're pondering another vacation, although we just can't decide. would certainly like to have a family getaway before our family of three becomes four. any ideas of good spots for a family of three, including one very busy 1.5 year old?


14. have an internet free weekend each month...or at least a day/month! this one will be hard!!! :) - we haven't been super diligent about formally doing this, but i think our computer time has diminished in the last several months. our computer being down seemed to help that...plus we are just too tired!


15. go to the beach more often this year - we definitely have more beach trips in us!


16. take a trip for our 5th anniversary...possibly without the boy - DONE! it was wonderful!


17. more date nights with aa - doing good in this category! last weekend we enjoyed dinner at Davis Street Tavern with Adam and Sarah, while grandma and papa had the boys. was a great night!


18. move more - already working on this one - i'm getting certified to take the pilates reformer classes at the gym - it's so great! any nike peeps want to join me for the tue/thurs 4:30 class? - ugh. was doing SO good with this prior to me getting prego - it's been downhill from there.


19. 1 month in 2009 = no consumption - haven't done this yet, but will!


20. use zero disposable plastic water bottles - so far, so good! i even had to decline a bottle of water at a friend's party...thanks for letting me dirty a glass, erin!

not too bad, if i do say so myself!

Tally: Green (meaning done or tracking) = 9, Yellow (meaning working on it, but not quite tracking) = 6, Red (meaning danger!) = 5

spatula

mmmm...the boy got his first taste of licking the spatula clean after we made ice cream this weekend and by the looks on his face, i think he enjoyed it!

zoo buddies!

last friday we met up with some of our friends for an impromptu gathering at the zoo! as new zoo members, i can see us spending lots of time here! the great thing about having a membership is that you don't have to stress about getting your money worth by trying to get around to see all of the animals/exhibits...we can pick and choose and if we have a meltdown and need to leave - no worries, we'll just come again another day! we hope to get to some of the zoo concerts that are free with the membership, but the wednesday 7pm shows may be hard for us.

here are a few pics of the afternoon:

kellen and tom checking out the big stuffed bears at the entrance

tom, sydney and kellen in front of the giant fish tank

kellen didn't want to get off his little farm stool!

zoo buddies!

(t-man had just come close to falling off his stool, so wasn't loving it at that moment!)

5 years | mama's day

things have been really crazy and i haven't really had time to even think about updating the blog...but here's a little recap of the two big highlights of the last month!

5 years {san francisco}
in honor of our 5 wedding anniversary, aa and i, took a trip to san francisco. it was our first overnighter with both of us away from the boy. we spent three nights in downtown sf and basically ate and walked our way around the city. here's a list of deliciousness that we ate:

• fish taco in the ferry street building
• a late night french dinner in union square
• hot fudge mint chocolate chip sundae at ghiradelli square
• 4 pound carnitas burrito in the mission (that was me alone!)
• salt and pepper shrimp with mushrooms and sesame chicken in chinatown
• scrambled eggs w/ spinach and salmon at the ferry street building farmers market
• crab and shrimp cocktail and clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at fisherman's wharf
• falafel wrap and chicken/veggie shawarma just outside of golden gate park
• pints of anchor steam beer in the haight while watching the kentucky derby (ok, water for me!)
• cheddar sourdough roll from the ferry street building
  

mmmmm....makes my mouth water just remembering the goodness! thank god we walked our butts all over the city, up and down the hills, because if not i would have for sure been up 10 pounds! :) unfortunately i didn't get a lot of pictures...only two in fact and they are pretty much the same photo! i often have this dilemma of wanting lots of pictures of our adventures, but wanting to fully live in the moment and not being behind the camera the whole time. how do you balance that for yourselves...capturing the adventure, but also being in the moment?

it was a wonderful trip, despite the rain! it was so nice to be a couple again and just enjoy each other's company...oh and to SLEEP! unfortunately my internal clock seems to be permanently set on kellen time, so i woke up at all of our normal times, but i didn't allow myself out of bed until 7am each morning! it was wonderful. we sure did miss our boy, but he was in the excellent care of his grandma jan and papa rick. unfortunately for them he wasn't feeling so well, so he was a bit of a cranky pants for most of the time. we are so thankful to them for having him so that we could get away for those few days!

mama's day #2 {beach.brunch.friends}
my mother's day weekend actually started on saturday. we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day and decided to head to cannon beach. after opening my card, filled with pictures of the boy and me - and the cute photo to the right, we got ready to hit the road. an hour and a half later and one trip back to the house, we were finally on our way! it was timed perfectly for k to take a nap and we arrived just in time for lunch! we had a delicious seafood lunch at ecola seafood market and then ventured out to the sand. it was a warm, but very windy day. at first the boy wasn't too sure about the sand. he has a thing against textures and right away he hopped onto the beach chair that we had brought along. he then decided to sit on the edge of the blanket and play in the sand with his new beach toys. after aa went down to the water and filled his bucket up with water, he decided to get brave and venture down for more water. next thing we knew he was sitting at the edge of the water with the waves lapping up over him! he was soaked and getting covered in sand. he thought it was great! we played on the beach for an almost a couple of hours before putting the boy in the bob and heading our for a walk on the beach and hopefully a nap! kellen had other plans, he relaxed, but refused to take a nap. we ended up getting an ice cream cone and for the first time he enjoyed a bit of ice cream. after a quick play session in the grass to burn a bit of energy we hit the road back home and all had a good night sleep! kellen even gifted me with a mother's day sleep in until 8:20am!! what a treat!

on sunday, aaron and kellen went to the farmer's market and came home with tomato plants and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. we had a delicious brunch, all made by the gassner men. that evening we had a playdate and dinner with some friends who all have babies right around kellen's age. it was wonderful to spend time with this group of people, as we all met through the hospital mom's group when our babes were just weeks old and we essentially became mother's together. i guess our babies really aren't babies anymore, as they are talking, running, climbing and playing together now...but really, won't they always be our babies? especially on mother's day!

Issues!

Between not having the time or energy and our computer going down (yes...its been down and out again!!) my blogging has clearly suffered. I miss it and promise to be back soon!

In the meantime, check out my friend Meghan's blog - Sit Still - the link is over there to the right. She's a super talented seamstress and has been designing her own aprons, whipping up amazing handbags, diaper bags and quilits and has even been known to give some of them away to her lucky readers! I just so happened to be the lucky winner of her most recent giveaway! I probably shouldn't clue you in, because it decreases my chances for next time, but I know you'll all be so amazed by her work!

Be back very soon with more on our sf trip and my amazing mothers day!

making it official!

i'm back and WAY behind, but let me just get right to it... This is hardly a surprise for most of my readers (if i still have any, that is~!), but we are excited to announce that baby gassner #2 is on the way! this ultrasound sound is at 9 weeks 6 days and i'm now 14 weeks 1 day, so the little rolo (will tell the story another day!) is now looking more like a baby than a bean and is approximately 3-4 inches long already. we are over the moon and can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or a girl - but have decided to wait until the day of his/her birth - which is scheduled to be sometime around october 31! probably won't be a halloween baby, but will for sure be an october baby, so that will make 3 out of 4 of us october birthdays! i'm finally feeling good. i can't complain too much, because i haven't actually been sick...but i had 3-4 weeks where i felt really nauseous and NOTHING sounded good to eat - except crap, of course! i've been extra tired, but honestly i don't know i can blame the pregnancy or if it's just a build up of 17 months of pure exhaustion! i'd be lying if i didn't admit that there are times where i feel a bit anxious, wondering how we will manage 2 little ones. they will be ~23 months apart, which my doctor says is a perfect age difference...but i'm bracing myself for it to be a challenging first year or two! i'm hopeful that this time around i'll feel a little more confident, a little more calm and a little more relaxed. i hear that it is easier the second time around and i hope that it's true for us! either way...i know that we couldn't be more thrilled to add another little one to our family and we're up for the challenge and the joy!

ok - it's so good to have our computer back...we had a major virus and had to re-install the whole Operating System (ok...we didn't do it, but a paid professional did!). let me tell you...our files were recovered, but i sure felt SO much better knowing that even if they weren't, they were safely backed up on our external hard drive (thank you, bry!). i have so much more to share (like our BIG trip away from the boy to SF!!), but it will have to wait for another day!