Foss Swim School = Da Bomb!

In the midst of all the hearing and ear problems Eva is having, I am happy to report some good news: she is kicking butt at swimming!  We took lessons at our gym for a short time last year but then the teacher we liked left and our day and time slot was dropped and swimming just went to the wayside. I finally bit the bullet and paid for a twice a week intensive swim camp at Foss Swim School and I am blown away by the results. Three weeks into classes and Eva is now swimming independently for 10 feet, flipping over onto her back and floating unassisted, and then flipping back over and swimming the rest of the way to the platform. This all coming from a kid who has always loved the water but has pretty much been a spaz up until this point.  

Also, because every mom likes to be able to brag, I have to share that she already tested out of her current level. Every child learns at their own pace (e.g. Eva is not the greatest gymnast lol) but to put it in comparison, there is a 7 year old boy in her class that has taken this same level 3 times and he didn't test out while Eva, who started the 5-7 year old class when she was still 4, did. I think she may have her Daddy's fishy genes in her!

Excuse the photos, they are not pretty but you get the idea :-)

back float

Cheeeeese!

17,000 Views

Well well well, another thousand views have rolled on in here at Day in the Parks. Thank you all so much for checking in to see how life is treating us in good ol' Anoka County Minn-e-sooota.

Eva's surgery is in 2 days and I'll be sure to blog about it so that everyone can watch her progress!

Serious Easter Egg Painting

Eva is either a complete goofball or totally stone faced. She has no in between.  Here she is, very seriously painting her Easter eggs last weekend.

p.s. these photos scream "too close" to me... I think it's high time I get a wide angle lens so I'm not all up in her business in every shot :o)

There's a smile at the end!

Unfun Birthday

My little Eva Alexandra is now a whole hand old! I wish I could say we had a nice, family night on her birthday but, unfortunately, that did not end up being the case. At the suggestion of her Montessori teacher, who said she's been struggling with letter sounds and has not been progressing in some areas at her normal pace, we went in for a visit with an audiologist and an ENT doctor.  I was prepared for them to maybe say she needed tubes in her ears because she's had some ear infections in her life; what I was not expecting was for her to completely fail the hearing tests in both ears and for the doctors to tell us that she's experiencing significant hearing loss.  On top of her middle ear canals not functioning properly (which the tubes should correct) she had a foreign body logged in her right ear canal.  She must have stuck something in there in the past month or two and we never even noticed. The doctor tried to dislodged it with this God awful ice pick looking tool and I'm certain it was the most physical pain Eva has ever experienced. Jason and another nurse held her down while the doctor worked but it was useless, the object didn't come out and Eva's ear had blood pouring out of it.

We're going in this Wednesday to have tubes put in, to have the object removed and to take out her adenoids as well.  I am so incredibly nervous for her to be put under for over an hour but modern medicine is a blessing and I know everything will be fine. And the she can get back to the silly, fully hearing self that she used to be and we can look forward to Kindergarten in the Fall!

In the midst of all this turmoil I've almost forgotten to step back and simply be amazed at the fact that my baby is FIVE.  Wow... time sure does fly.

Getting ready for her hearing tests

In the soundproof box, talking to the audiologist

Being a goof and playing Dr. Eva Parks before the ENT doc showed up and ruined her day

Daddy explaining what was going to happen, since he had it done himself when he was little

Moody Eva

 I've been really into low light black and white photos lately. Here are a few I took this past weekend in our hotel room in Wisconsin.

Gymnastics

I have been horrible about blogging lately! Truth is, we've had a ton going on and every spare minute I get on the computer I'm spending on photography stuff.

 

So, it isn't very exciting but here are some shots of missy miss in her current gymnastics class. The lighting in the room isn't that great so these aren't award winning shots but I know you all love seeing her in action nonetheless :-)

 



 

stick and finish!

 

Leg down

leg out in front of her, that's why you can't see it ;)

She's actually on the balance beam on this one, not the trampoline, which makes it even cooler in my book

 

Eva's Activity Review- March

We have a ceramics studio that's open to the public right down the road from our house. I've been meaning to try it out for years and we finally did with my friend LaRae and her two kids. It's probably better that we didn't go when Eva was any younger because my own OCD tendencies kicked in a little bit towards the end and I wanted to finish her jewelry box for her so that it was "perfect." I'll learn to let go someday.... right?? ha

For $7 you get access to the studio and all the paints and then you select the item you want design. We picked a vintage style heart with wings jewelry box and it actually turned out much cuter that I was expecting. Once you're done painting you leave the item with the studio and they fire and glaze it and all that jazz and a week later it's ready for pick up.

Overall I would highly recommend this place. I think we may even go back with my mom for Mother's Day and let her go to town on a big platter since all of the items are food and dishwasher safe once finished. 

Awesome concentration (in the beginning)



She is such a goof



Before



After

We added the date inside the box, hard to see from here but should be cute to look back on in 20 years
(assuming the thing isn't broken by then!)