Nathan Swim Pictures 2013

Nathan made the swim team this year. I wasn't sure he was going to make it because to be able to make the team, you have to be able to swim 25 yards unassisted. Well, the lane rope doesn't' count. And he used the lane rope to get his breathes. We were fortunate that the coach was willing to give him a shot and work with him. He made the team and has done exceptionally well. He can now swim the full 25 yards without touching the lane rope. He can get in the pool for recreation and swim everywhere. And I don't worry. He is such a good swimmer now. He can even swim 25 yards backstroke. That means when he gets tired, he can roll to his back and rest.  Huge accomplishment, especially when you are 4.

I was amazed he didn't have a problem jumping off the block. Danielle wouldn't even do that at first!

I took this pictures at one of the first meets, before he was doing the backstroke. He has improved so much and I couldn't be happier!

He finished the 25 yards in 1:20 and backstroke in 1:10

Danielle Swim Team 2013

Danielle because quite the swimmer this year. She finally was able to do butterfly and breaststroke this year without getting disqualified. That is huge at this level. And, she was pretty fast, once we convinced her to dive off the block. She dove off the block last year, but wouldn't this year. I finally got her to tell me the problem. She was worried her goggles would come off and then she wouldn't be able to win the race.

She really improved her time. She was the 2nd fastest girl in her age group on our team in most strokes. That is after she started diving off the block.

Danielle has started making this face lately along with some noises. Not sure why, she claims she can't stop. It is so funny that she would do this because she doesn't look so attractive doing it. 

Camie Swim Pictures 2013

We joined the swim team again this year. I love swim team. I love how my kids are such good swimmers, how their confidence grows as they improve, how the other families on the team become such great friends, and the fun we have doing this activity together as a family. 

I love these next two pictures. I love watching my kids dive. Camie has such a beautiful dive. 

I thought this was a pretty cool picture of Camie beginning her backstroke. 

She has gotten really good at the butterfly.

Camie moved up to the next group and now swims 50 yards instead of the 25. She learned to do flip turns. She is such a fast swimmer. She could beat me on any race, and could probably beat most of us. I love watching her do well and enjoying the race. 

Postponed Chummie

So I said we were going to try Chummie on Nathan. After a week and me not being able to motivate myself to get out of bed, wake Nathan up, turn the alarm off, change him, etc., I quit.

We will wait until Nathan is motivated.

Sometimes I wish I could be that good mom that I want to be.

Private?

Had a friend tell me a story of why she went private on her blog. Somebody put some pretty disturbing comments on each of her children. The police got involved. They never found the person. Kind of scarry.

So, I decided to check who is viewing my blog. Russia. China. Brazil. Mostly United States. But a lot of Russia. I don't know anyone in Russia.

Not good. Am I putting my family in harms way by having a blog? Not sure. Please leave your comments and let me know what you think.

Nathan's Turn

Nathan has decided it is his turn to use Chummie, the night time bed-wetting alarm. Two nights so far. Two nights of the alarm going off and waking Nathan up. Nathan coming into my room crying because he is so stinking tired and we now have to change him into dry clothes. Simple things can be so hard in the middle of the night.

And then we wake the next morning and Nathan declares he is dry because, well, he is. He didn't remember changing in the middle of the night.

No wonder we have bed-wetting problems. My kids sleep so stinkin sound!

Seriously, I should be getting major points for this.  I am so pleased with the results Chummie had with Spencer and excited to get the same results with Nathan. But man, oh, man. The next 6 weeks, or 42 days, will be sleepless nights. But it's worth it. It really is. I have to keep reminding myself.

Chummie

My girls were night-time potty trained around the same time they were potty-trained in the day. They kind of went together.

I can't say that much for my boys. Spencer has never had a dry night in his life. Nathan a few, but mostly wet. Gavin, although he isn't day trained, he already wakes up dry. I think it all has to do with how heavy they sleep or those little hormones in their body that make their bladder hold, or not hold, all night long.

I was one of those night time bed wetters until I was in the 4th grade. Studies have shown if one of the parents had a problem, 75% change one of their children will have a problem.

I guess that means I passed on that bad jean to two of my children.

Sorry.

We have never made a big deal out of wearing pull-ups at night. It's just what the boys did. So when Spencer came to me and asked what we could do so that he could stop wetting at night, I was a little surprised because that wasn't anything I had put into his head. He showers every morning so nobody would know at school.

He noticed. And that was enough. 

So I scheduled a doctor appointment because everything I researched suggested doing that first. I have the best pediatrician ever, so I really trust her. 

Her suggestion was a night-time bed-wetting monitor. I was skeptical. How could one of those possibly work? But hey, she wasn't suggesting medicine like I had taken that never worked. I thought I would give it a try and if it didn't work, we were no worse off. She said they work 80% of the time. And on those who they don't work, it is usually  because there is a problem.

Then I priced them. $100 for a decent one. But if it really worked, it was worth it.

After a week, Spencer started sleeping through the alarm. Not sure how he could sleep through the loud alarm with flashing lights and vibration, all attached to the collar of his pajamas, but he did. Nobody else slept though it.

So I would get up with him, change him into a clean pull-up and send him right back to bed. I'm pretty sure he never woke up for any of it.

I kept up him wearing the alarm for about 4 weeks. I was discouraged and basically gave up. He was having dry nights, but I figured that was because I was waking him up to pee if I woke up in the night, which was frequent. Spencer insisted on wearing the alarm. Thankfully he hadn't given up.

I kept using the monitor, knowing we had just wasted $100. Then my sister-in-law visited and said she had the same problem but it was working with her son. She said to start keeping track of how many dry night he had. It took her son 2 months.

So I did that. And within 2 weeks, he was dry every night. In the last month, he has only had 1 accident and we haven't used the alarm in the last month.

The alarm didn't teach him to wake up and use the bathroom in the night. He still sleeps and heavy as ever. It somehow trained his sub-conscience to hold the pee and not release it.

Spencer's pull-ups used to be lead weights in the morning because he had peed so much.

I tried limiting drink intake. He still wet at night, just not as much.

I tried getting him up to pee. He still wet at night, just not as many times.

All the research I did supports all of the above. Limiting drinks and getting them up in the night really don't work. The child needs to be trained to hold it or get up in the night. Spencer sleeps too sound to wake up. And Chummie, our night-time alarm, did the trick. It took 6 weeks, but worked.

It woke me up every night for 6 weeks, but worked.

Now to let Chummie do its magic on Nathan. 

I'm not ready. It was a long 6 weeks. But so worth it!