Swim Lessons (and more pics of Ellie's dress)

Ben is doing great with swim lessons! He can float on his back without help for quite a while. He's learning to hold his breath under water (he keeps forgetting) He doesn't cry during the lesson anymore. He doesn't even cry before the lesson. I'm not sure if he's getting used to it or if it's because I get in the pool with him for a little while after the lessons are over. That way he gets a chance to play in the water. Here's a couple of pictures of swim lessons

Getting in the water

Floating on his back

Holding his breath while swimming

We tried Ellie's dress on today.She loved it. She smiled the whole time she was wearing it and cried when we took it off. What a little princess :) (I just love her smile. Her whole face lights up. It's so cute)

Mommy Fix it! (and swim lessons)

Ben was given this toy a while ago but he's just started to really play with it. Let me explain the toy a little - the letters and numbers are buttons above those are pictures of items that start with that letter (or music notes above the numbers) on the side of the toy are 6 different "activities" the toy can do. If you choose option 1. it will just say the letter or number you push. Option 2. asks where an object is (example - "where is the star?" the child will push s) Option 3. makes a noise and tells what the picture is. If it is an animal it will make the animal noise. Option 4. Will say a letter and asks what letter comes next. Option 5. Asks where an item is and then when you push the letter it will spell it. Option 6. Asks what letter an item starts with.
Ben really enjoyed this toy until yesterday when he discovered this

I heard him arguing with the toy. Then he very angrily brought it to me. He said "She (the toy's voice is female) said insect Momma, and it's a bee" "It's not an insect it's a bee" He was so angry with it that he turned it off. Today he brought it to me and said "Momma will you fix it. She said insect. It's not an insect it's a BEE" I tried to explain to him that a bee is an insect but he wasn't having any of it. It was a bee and she was saying the wrong thing.

I get to cross one thing off my list from yesterday!! I went swimming with Ben today after swim lessons. I realized that everytime he has swim lessons he doesn't get any time to just play in the water unstructured so I decided to bring my suit and let him play for a little while after the lessons were done.

He did awesome today. He is learning to float on his back and can do it by himself for quite some time. (the picture quality is horrible because it's on my camera phone and I couldn't get it to completely focus in this picture - even though the above picture was also on my camera phone.) The girl in the picture is my sister Amanda (she isn't the one giving the lessons but she was showing me what he could do) He didn't even cry today. YEA!!

Swim Lessons and Colic (and advice wanted)

Ben is taking swim lessons now. He is doing great! He is learning how to float on his back and hold his breath under water. If you ask him about them he will tell you he hates them. He never wants to go and protests all the way to the pool unless you are talking about what he does during the lessons. He will tell you about all the games he plays and what he does. He loves the "Froggy" game and the "Humpty Dumpty" game. I think that one involves falling into the water. He cries when I leave but has a blast the whole time.

On a less happy note - both Will and Ellie have colic. Oh the Joy! 5 pm to 10pm is quite noisy in our house. Most nights we go through our whole bag of tricks, which include - bouncy chair, swing, bath, walks, nursing, bottles, mylicon, laying on the floor, outside, and swaddling. Each thing only lasts for a few minutes which makes for a very tired Mommy. The hardest part is one is usually calm while the other one is fussy so there isn't a break. Or at least there isn't much of a break. Ellie loves to lay on the floor but Will doesn't. Will likes the swing and if he's wrapped in his fuzzy blanket with his pacifier he will usually sleep for a little while (until the pacifier falls out) Hopefully it won't last too much longer. I think colic only lasts for about 4 months give or take and they are just about 3 which means only a month left unless you go by adjusted age which means 2 months left.

Here is where the advice is needed - Quite often they want to nurse every two hours but a lot of the time they won't nurse longer than 10 minutes (sometimes they will go longer but a lot time it's 7-9 minutes) I would love to lengthen how long they go between feedings and how much they eat but I don't know how. They tend to FREAK out at the 2 hour mark and not much calms them down except nursing. Sometimes they won't even go two hours they want to nurse every hour. It's hard to get anything done. They also don't nap for very long. They will take one long nap in the am (roughly 1 - 2 hours) and from then on they sleep in 1/2 hour to 45 minute increments. Then they barely sleep at all from 4 - 10. Will sometimes falls asleep at 9 and will sleep through until 1am but Ellie won't go to bed before 10:30. HELP! Any advice would be great.