First Family Pool Dip

Our weather this year has been SO strange! We barely had a winter but then it seems like it took forever for the Georgia heat to really set in. I know that someday we’ll need to have a baby’s birthday in the summer time in order to spread out the birthdays throughout the year (who wants a ton of parties to plan all close together?!?! No thanks!) and I’m actually ENVIOUS of all the moms who were pregnant during this summer. I’ve actually been wanting 90 degree weather to come!!! The main reason for this is that our pool would not get warm because our nights were still so chilly. 

June started to get warmer out and stay warmer through the night, but the pool still wasn’t warm enough for Brittlynn to try it out. I wanted her first pool experience (in our pool, she’s already been swimming before remember?) to be a positive one and that relied heavily on a comfortable water temperature. Along with the cooler temps we also had a lot of rain and one afternoon after a rain storm the pool felt pretty good! We decided to hurry and put suits on and enjoy it while we could 🙂

Since it was a rainy day it was also cloudy which was kinda perfect. Of course the kids were still loaded up with sunscreen (I don’t know about you but my kids both wear it all over their bodies when they just go out to play for even a short while!) but it was nice not to have to use Britt’s sunshade or have her wear a hat or worry about it bothering her eyes.

I wouldn’t say she was too pumped about it all…

With two kids I’m faced with a pool dilemma. I’m hardcore about Kye practicing his swim before he’s allowed to play but, when I’m in the pool solo, how can I hold her and be there to help him practice? I’m actually too scared to even get in the pool when I’m home alone with them both. I just get nervous. I know he can swim and can save himself but the idea of keeping my eyes on BOTH of them every second just causes me anxiety. I know I need to get over it. Maybe I could hold her at my hip in the water so I wouldn’t be as nervous? I’m not really sure. This day Zach was working in the yard (I think this was a Sunday) so it wasn’t a big deal but I have yet to try this again while he’s at work. How do you other mom’s with two kids handle the pool?!?!?!

My solution on this particular day was to not have him actually practice his swim and just let him play in a float we have. Then once Zach got in we had him practice.

Watching brother

Am I a mean mom for posting this? haha

To me she looks so lady like in this picture, very dainty

Checking out her float

The girls!

Ignore this awful shot of me, I was enjoying the moment and not worrying about the camera!

When Zach took this he said “I just got an awesome one for the blog” haha. So true. THIS shows exactly her feelings about the pool.

She appreciated her float a lot more after we made her get into the water

Overall I’d say Brittlynn tolerated the water pretty well. She never once smiled or laughed or seem to have a good time but she didn’t bawl her head off or scream or even shed a tear the whole time either. She whined some and fussed a little but nothing major. She mostly just was there. Taking it all in and being very serious about it. I know with time and more exposure that she’ll begin to enjoy it more!

Another awesome face

I felt kinda guilty…the three of us having fun while Daddy spread mulch for the playground

But he took a break and got in…and Kye got to practice swimming!

Shark Arms

Daddy’s turn to try to get her to enjoy the pool.

Splashing

Kye kept an eye on his sister the entire time

Kicking those toes

He was nervous about the toe kicking I think 😉

She preferred to eat them over kicking them

We didn’t last long and THAT is the major reason I have yet to swim when I’m home alone with them. SHE doesn’t like it for long. I mean she’s a little baby. When Kye was little we didn’t have a pool and when we did visit them we didn’t put him in very long. I don’t think it’s fair to Kye though, who could swim ALL DAY, to make him get out after only 20-30 min. Or less if she’s miserable. Maybe I could bring a change of clothes out for her and she and I could just sit by the pool while he swims?

I’m glad the water finally warmed up enough for her to get in and that we were able to enjoy our pool together as a family. I KNOW we’ll be getting a lot more use out of it next summer. By then Brittlynn will have been through survival swim and Kye will, hopefully, be swimming stroke 🙂 Then life will get easy…and before you know it we’ll have another baby to be worrying about right?

She was happier in the towel than in the pool 😉

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Emily Parker

Hey Y'all, I'm Emily! I'm a stay at home mom and consider parenting to be my passion. Disney is my happiest place and I love making memories as a family together. I'm a big believer in transparency and share all of my real-life moments as a mother of four.

My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.

You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

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