Swimming lessons have become a regular Saturday event and, usually, Kei takes Thomas while I look after Samuel (which means I put him down for his nap and enjoy a little Nicole time :)).

Last Saturday Kei took on the painful task of gathering tax papers for the accountant so I was on swimming lesson duty. I definitely got the better end of the deal.

It was the first time I’ve witnessed Thomas in a swimming lesson. He definitely needs to work on his kicking, but he enjoys “running” through the water and does a good job listening to the teacher. He’s also learned to blow bubbles in the bath in preparation but is yet to transfer that to the pool. Frankly I don’t blame him. Blowing bubbles in pool water is a little gross.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my poor baby had a double ear infection and was in a lot of pain.

No, at the time I was thinking only about how whiny and needy he was being and how I just wanted to be able to put him down for a minute. Little did I know that it was about to get much worse before it got better. That night Kei and I took turns sitting up with Samuel – the only way he was comfortable.

Thankfully we had his nine month appointment the following day and were able to get some antibiotics. It took another couple of days before we got our baby back and, now that he’s back to normal, I realize just how miserable he was.

Every now and then I manage to get a photo of the three men in my life. And with the dark days of Portland winter, more often than not I take these photos in the bathroom. It’s the best lighting in the house.

I really need to paint that bathroom.

our family activity for the weekend was a little indoor rock climbing at Thomas’ request. Seriously – he had been asking for two days. So we packed everyone in the car and headed to the local indoor rock climbing gym.

I would love to say that Thomas ran over to the wall and climbed to the top and that the $10 we paid for him to get in was entirely worth it. Apparently the anticipation of rock climbing is much greater than the event itself. It took at least an hour and much coaxing by Mummy and Daddy before Thomas finally made it to the top of the kid’s wall. It was an exciting moment when he finally made it but I doubt we’ll have another rock climbing session in the near future.

And is it just me, or is Thomas looking older and older these days – even from behind when climbing a rock wall?

One thing I want to know… Why does Kei have my Dad as a friend when I didn’t know he was even on Facebook?

In other news, Samuel came down with his first ear infection this week – a double ear infection. I’ve been home with him since Monday and have spent the past few nights sitting up with him at various times trying to ease the pain. We started him on antibiotics yesterday and they seem to have kicked in tonight. My poor baby is finally sleeping soundly.

It’s been a tough week in the Ishida house.

Thomas is all about privacy lately. “I’ll go up to nap by myself” he says. It actually means he’s going up to read and just pretend to sleep. “Don’t check on me” is another favourite.

I can’t get this kid to sit down – even in the bath. It’s a little concerning because he has slipped a couple of times (and swallowed quite a bit of bath water) but he just won’t sit down and relax.

And it’s not just in the bath. If I sit on the floor for any period of time, Samuel is soon next to me, pulling himself up on my arm – or using my hair as leverage. Even when I’m standing up, he’ll pull himself up on my leg.

Yet he doesn’t seem very interested in walking, aside from a few instances when he has moved carefully from one piece of furniture to another. Still, I think he’ll be an early walker. He turns 9 months old next week.

Thomas patiently waiting for his friend Candence to come and ride bikes. He refused to wait inside, preferring instead to sit outside in the freezing cold wearing his helmet and with The Wiggles to keep him company.

Sadly, it started raining 5 minutes into the ride and Thomas decided to come back inside where it was dry and warm. I suppose sometimes the anticipation is more satisfying than the actual event.

We were invited to a Superbowl party at our neighbour’s house. Kei went right when the game started but I had to wait for the kids to wake up from nap and made it there around half time. To be honest though, I don’t even know who was playing except that Thomas supported the yellow team (of course) and there was some exciting come-from-behind win. Instead I was able to catch up with friends and the kids had a chance to play (and make a huge mess) at someone else’s house.

This is really along the lines of how I used to spend Aussie Rules Grand Final day although, thanks to numerous reminders from my brother on Facebook, I am well aware of how that turned out last year.