Another great pool day

This morning we were suppose to go to Sofia's football (soccer) practice but the weather was just too nice. We skipped practice and headed to the pool. The temperature had to be in the low 90's today (Low 30's celsius) so it was great to be at the pool. We arrived at the pool and it was very busy but we got a spot next to our friends and the kids jumped in the kiddie pool. After a little time in the kiddie pool they were ready for the "big kid pool". This is pretty exciting for us since it is a big change from last summer. The swimming lessons the girls just took have really given them the confidence to go into the big pool. They love going under water now and practicing their swimming. The other thing we did today is we went down the water slide with the girls. Last year Ali went down once with me but half way down the slide she wanted it to stop and was not happy by the end and Sofia never went on the slide last year. It was great today to see the change in them. They both loved the slide! They aren't old enough to go down by themselves so Jason and I go down with them so it is really a fun thing to do as a family. At the end of the day we moved away from the kiddie pool completely since someone pooped in the pool. It didn't really matter though since the girls were excited to go down the slide and go in the big kid pool.

New Stylist

We have a new stylist in our family and her name is Ali. Yes, Ali has apparently decided she is going to be the hair cutter for the family and today she started with herself. I was picking up the apartment at the end of the day while the kids were playing. They were coloring and cutting paper which was fine. They were happy and it let me have the time I needed to get the house picked up. Just as I finished picking up everything and walked into the living room to tell the girls to put their pajamas on I saw Ali with the scissors in her hand cutting her hair! I could believe it. I know kids cut their hair and it is no big deal but mine had never shown any sign of interest until today. Ali has definitely hindered the ability to put her hair in pigtails but lucky for her she has curly hair and any damage is hidden by her curls.

Birthday Party

Today we went to a birthday party for Louis, Sofia's friend. Louis's parents, Vanessa and Hanley, are very nice and Hanley often gives Jason a ride in the morning after drop off. They live in Roztoky, a village outside Prague. It is easy for us to reach their house though since there are buses that go to the village as well as trains. They have a beautiful house and a great backyard. Jason and I had fun talking to our friends and hanging out in a backyard. Being in the city is fun but there are times when it would be nice to have a backyard so we always enjoy when our friends invite us to theirs. There were a lot of kids there too so our girls had a blast. They enjoyed playing with the other kids on the trampoline as well as swimming in the pool. It was a little stressful for me to have them in the pool since it was the first time the girls have been in water without an adult in the water with them (and the pool was 5ft deep). They did great though and had no problem getting around with their arm floaties and rings. It is so strange to think that they are getting old enough to be able to do things without me!

Swimming - Day 4

The girls an I headed off to swimming lessons again today. We have figured out the routine which is nice. They are excited to go and they get a small snack on the way there, usually when we are waiting for our first bus. We change buses and head up to the pool. The girls quickly change and are ready to hop in the pool. They are both learning so much so quickly with the lessons that I am thrilled I am able to bring them. After swimming the girls are usually freezing and are ready to warm up in the locker room and get dressed. They also look forward to this time becuase once they are dressed they can have food. Swimming has made my girls ravenous. From the time we leave the pool until the time we get home they eat a PB&J sandwich, a banana, an apple, a few cucumber slices and then a dessert. It is amazing how hungry they are! Once we are home it is either play time or bath time. The girls have been playing really well together this week. Not that they don't usually but I think the swimming has given them another connection. I am looking forward to going to the pool this summer so that they can continue to learn how to swim. Here are a couple videos of the girls.

Swimming - Day 3

Today was the third day of swimming lessons. I can't believe how well the girls are doing. Ali is still a little hesitant but I think a lot of it is that she is getting really cold in the water. She says her favorite part is putting her entire head underwater. The problem is that she just holds her breath to go under and her teacher is trying to get her to blow bubbles while she is under water. Shanna told me today that she thinks Ali will be really swimming by the end of this summer. Sofia on the other hand is doing great and doesn't really seem hesitant at all. Today she actually swam by herself. Granted, it wasn't any great distance and it was under water but it is a start. I can't believe that she has learned so much in 3 classes - essentially 1.5 hours which is split between three kids. Here are a couple of pics with Ali underwater. I will post a video of Sofia swimming tomorrow.

Swimming Lessons

Today the girls started their swimming lessons. My friend, Shanna, use to teach swimming but hadn't done it since moving to Prague. Lucky for us she decided to start teaching again. Both of my girls LOVE Shanna so I knew they would be comfortable with her in the pool. I was a little worried that they would be too comfortable so I made sure I told them that Shanna was going to be their teacher so they had to listen to everything that she told them. They did great! Shanna really is an excellent teacher for this age. I couldn't believe it when she got both kids (but Sofia especially) to put their heads under water. I mean completely underwater! Sofia jumped off the side of the pool into Shanna's arms and under the water she went. It was amazing. There were no tears or cries for mommy. A couple of times Ali turned back to look at me just to say she was listening to Shanna and doing everything she was told. By the end they were both cold and ready to get out of the pool but it was a fantastic start to swim lessons. I will try to remember my camera for tomorrow so I can post pics of the girls learning to swim. We will have swim lessons every day for the next two weeks so I will have plenty of opportunity for picture taking.

The Pool is Open!

The girls and I had our first trip to the pool this season. I wasn't sure if we would go today since this morning Sofia had football (soccer) practice. Sofia's practice means that we don't get home from that until after lunch but since Ali decided (after screaming fits) that she wasn't going to nap I gave up and let her just have some quiet time. While the girls were being quiet and the afternoon stretched ahead of me (and Jason is at work today) I decided to make the most of Ali being awake. I decided rather than stay home and find ways to entertain that we would head to the pool. I brought my ID chip thingies so that I could purchuse my hours for the summer but I forgot to get money out and the pool doesn't take credit cards so I couldn't fill up my chips for the summer. Oh well, next time! Luckily I did have enough cash to get us in for the afternoon. The girls were very excited to be going back to the pool as was I. When we walked over to the kiddie pool there was noone there. The kids had the entire pool to themselves. Unfortunately, our afternoon was cut a little short since a large rain cloud came over head with some thunder but it was still worth the trip to the pool. By the time we were packed up and leaving the cloud had moved on but by then we were all ready to go. I'm looking forward to our pool trips this summer. Now that Ali is old enough it is nice not to have to bring the stroller with me too.

Good Friends

One of the things that we have found here are good friends. The vomiting spree that went through our house last week hit me on Monday night. I spent most of the night being sick. I was suppose to meet up with a friend on Tuesday morning so that we could hang out and our kids could play. I had to cancel with my friend b/c I could barely function. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the kids since Jason had to work but I figured I would let the TV babysit and do the best I could. Lucky for me I have great friends. My friend, Susanna, quickly called me back and asked me if I wanted her to take the girls for the day. I was so relieved. I had never expected that call. She picked the girls up in the morning and I was able to crawl back in bed. She watched my girls and fed them and took good care of them the whole day. She brought them back to me at the end of the day so that I didn't have to go anywhere to get them. It was a wonderful occurrence during my illness and one I won't forget. The next day I was a little better but still not great. Sofia had school so I was fine handling Ali by myself but I didn't know how I would be able to walk to Sofia's school to pick her up. Again, fortunately for me we have good friends. My friend Shanna said she would pick up Sofia for me and bring her home. It was such a relief. Our friends here have been amazing. When you need something someone is there for you. Another example of this was last week after Sofia's surgery. My friend, Shanna, sent over a lasagna for us so we didn't have to cook dinner and my friend Emily came by with banana muffins even though she is in the midst of moving from her small flat to a house just outside Prague. It is a great community we live in and once again I am so happy to live in Prague.

Big Girl Bike

Yesterday we decided it was time to buy Sofia a big girl bike. There is a bike shop just around the corner from our apartment so we headed there. Sofia has been looking at a bike in the window for a while. We had stopped into the shop a few weeks ago so that Sofia could look around at the bikes and we could get a sense of price. I thought she would like a different bike than the bike in the window since there were other more girly bikes with baskets and tassels but she stayed firm about the bike in the window. Sofia was very excited to get her new bike and she picked out her helmet as well. She quickly took off her hat to wear her helmet. We rode around the neighborhood a little bit and then had lunch in the square and came home. Today we headed to Letna park so Sofia could ride her bike. She did a great job riding it there and back and seemed to really enjoy riding around the park. Ali, unfortunately, went over the front of her little "bike" and got a fat lip. That ended her riding for most of the time we were out. By the time we were coming back home Ali was once again ready to get back on her bike though which was good.

At the river

We joined some friends down by the river the other day since it was such a beautiful day. Sofia was doing fine after the surgery and Ali seemed to be doing better from her stomach bug so we walked to the end of the road and hopped on the bus to Sofia's school. There is a potraviny just after her school where we got sandwiches and fruit and joined our friends by the river (which runs in front of Sofia's school). We sat on the bench and enjoyed the day and then we walked along the bike path. The kids had fun picking up rocks and singing and playing. Here is a video of Sofia with her friends singing one of their songs from school.

Sofia's surgery

This morning I got up after a long night of child illness to bring Sofia to the hospital to have her adenoids out. We had to be across town for 7:30am so that meant being up and out the door by 7am. Sofia was definitely hesitant and she was very tired so I carried her the whole way to the hospital. I figured it was the least I could do for her. We got to the hospital and got checked into our room. They had a couple DVD's for Sofia to watch which was nice. The nurses and doctors were great with Sofia. They were very patient and helpful. They took things slow with her and didn't rush her into anything. The nurse gave Sofia a sweet drink to make her sleepy. Sofia was excited about this since she was VERY thirsty. I was excited about it since it would make it so Sofia wasn't as nervous. I should have known better though...my daughter doesn't get sleepy! The nurse came back in a little while later to see if Sofia was asleep but of course she was wide awake. Oh well, Sofia had started to calm down a little bit watching the video so it was fine. The time came to go into surgery and Sofia started to get worked up but the staff was great. They gave me scrubs and let me come in the surgery with them. While I was changing they were talking to Sofia and playing with her. They put a cap on her head to cover her hair and they also put a cap on Sofia's stuffed animal, puppy. Sofia really liked that puppy had a cap on too. Once we were in the surgery room the doctor showed her the instrument that clamps onto your finger. (I'm not sure what that is called but if you have ever been in admitted to a hospital then you have seen it.) Anyway, the doctor put it on his finger to show Sofia and then he put it on mine too. Sofia finally agreed to have it put on her finger and she liked seeing the monitor show what the clamp was measuring. It was interesting for me to see the heart rate of each of us. The doctor was by far the most relaxed which made me feel good. Sofia didn't like it though when they had to put the gas on her face. They talked her through it but she still cried. In true Sofia style she fought sleep as hard as she could. She cried until the moment she was asleep. Once she was asleep I went back to our room and waited. I read my book and talked to a friend but was surprised when they came back into the room so quickly. The whole thing only took about 25 minutes. The doctor came back in carrying Sofia in his arms all wrapped up in a sheet. She looked like a little baby. The next 30 minutes was not fun since Sofia was coming out of the anesthesia. I remember the feeling well so was very sympathetic. I held her and sang her songs which seemed to calm her down a little. I was waiting for the vomit to hit since that is what happened to me and sure enough it came. Once she got that out though she calmed down a lot. The doctor had told me that Sofia should sleep for two hours but I found that hard to believe. I worked to get Sofia to sleep and she did finally fall asleep but only slept for 30 minutes. Though the nap was short it did wonders for Sofia. She woke up looking better and seemed to be feeling much better. By the time my mom called, Sofia was standing up naked in the window laughing! The doctor came to check on Sofia and gave the OK to start liquids. The nurse brought water and, in true Czech style, she also brought tea and piskoty. Sofia thoroughly enjoyed having her snack. We left the hospital and I carried her back home again. She is definitely tired but is in good spirits.

Vomit Central

The last two nights brought vomit to our apartment. Ali started on Sunday night (or really Monday morning) with vomiting. We thought it was just a one night thing since she didn't vomit at all during the day on Monday. We were wrong. At bedtime on Monday night Ali went straight to sleep which we were happy about but Sofia started to vomit. After an hour of sleep Ali woke up and vomited. Now we had two kids covered in vomit! We got them cleaned up and Ali back in bed. She slept the rest of the night. Unfortunately Sofia proceeded to vomit every ten minutes until about 11pm and then slowed to a leisurely pace of every 40 minutes. She finished up around 1:30am and then fell asleep. We were a little concerned since she was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning but we figured we would just get through the night before we started to worry about the surgery. Sofia woke up early and I ended up sleeping in her bed which even for me being short it was still a tight fit. Jason woke me up at 6:30am to get ready to bring Sofia to the hospital.

Jason is home

Jason came home on Saturday. The girls and I were happy to greet him at the airport. We went home and unpacked the duffle bag of food that he brought back with him. I had to find a place to put the nine bags of cheerios that he brought back! I know, cheerios seems boring but when you can't get them they are like gold. Anyway, we unpacked and we did some house cleaning before settling in and relaxing yesterday. It was nice to have the house ready for the week. Unfortunately Ali got sick in the middle of the night so the week is not starting off that great. We have been very vigilant about washing our hands and making sure Sofia doesn't go near Ali since we don't want her getting sick since her surgery is tomorrow. I'm hoping that Ali's illness is just an overnight thing since I need to be able to bring her to a friend tomorrow while we bring Sofia to her surgery. If she is still throwing up today then I won't be able to bring her to a friend and Jason and I will have to figure out how we watch Ali and take Sofia to her surgery as well.

Dresden

Since Sofia had the day off of school b/c it is a Czech holiday the girls and I decided to make use of the car and we headed off to Dresden this morning. Why not drive to Germany? It is only a two hour drive. It is like driving from RI to NH...easy! I printed off a few things that I thought would be of interested, set up the TOMTOM and off we went. It was a beautiful ride through the mountains to get to Dresden which was nice. There was NO traffic which was really nice. I think the TOMTOM might need to be updated since I kept seeing signs for highway driving to get to Dresden but I'm glad we went the way we did. It was very relaxing and peaceful. Going across the border was a little strange since the passport control buildings are all still there but there was noone to be seen anywhere near the border. It made me think of a ghost town. Anyway, we got to Dresden and found a place to park and headed off to find the tourist information office. Apparently it was a holiday in Germany too though b/c all the stores, including the tourist information, were closed. This turned out to be fine since there were all different markets going on so the girls and I enjoyed walking around the markets. We had sausage/hotdog things for lunch and then random snacks along the way...chocolate covered banana, little donut hole type things, gummy worms etc. The kids got to ride on a couple of small kiddie rides as well which they loved. After spending some time at the markets we headed off to the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum . By the name itself it does not sound interesting (at least, not to me) but it is actually a great place for kids. It is a children's musueum that is designed around the five senses. The kids had a blast checking out everything there and since Sofia s currently learning about the five senses in school it fell into a school related activity. There was a huge floor piano that the kids could walk on and make music. There was a mirror maze that the kids and I loved. I have never been in a mirror maze that was done so well. I actually had to walk with my hands out to make sure I didn't run into a wall. Ali had to learn that lesson the hard way. She saw me in a reflection and came running fall steam and before I could say stop she slammed into the wall. She was fine, although a little startled. It was hard not to laugh since it was like a scene in some cartoon. After playing in the children's museum it was time to leave Dresden. We didn't get to see any of the old town or any historical building but that is fine. Next time we go we can venture into that part of the city. Today was a day for leisure, snacking and playing. It was great fun for all of us. I will post some pictures soon.