Last Big Trip before Baby

We took one last big family trip last weekend before the baby comes. Let me just say my family is wonderful at traveling and we are so grateful that Leila is easy to take along. She chilled in the car with her movies while we were driving and was excited to sleep in her special beds "just her size." Patrick is great at navigating and packing the car and mom packs lots of snacks and plans the trip so it is fun and not stressful. We hope the new baby will travel as well as Leila!!


First we went to Austin for 2 days to see my sister Lisa and hang out with my Aunt Carla & Uncle Roy & adorable cousin Madison (age 9.) They are the best hosts ever and put up with all of our demands (baby gate, air mattress, etc.) and fed us delicious food! We wish we could see them more. We got to see Patrick's friend from college & his girlfriend and the guys played golf.

We drove straight from Austin to Sea World and spent one entire day there, in the heat, 7 1/2 months pregnant!!! But it was great. Not too crowded, and we got to do everything we wanted. Sea World is a really fun place. The Sesame Street Bay of Play is awesome. The highlight of the trip for all of us was when Leila met the REAL Abby Cadaby. She was on Cloud 9. We fed the dolphins and saw the Shamu show and the waterski show. They have rides for little kids that Leila & Patrick rode and it was just a great day.

Next, we went to a resort in San Antonio and hung out that evening. The next morning Patrick played golf with another college friend and I hung out at the resort pool with our friend's wife & daughter and my college roommate Lisa & her adorable daughter Campbell. It was really fun and did not last long enough. We had to leave that afternoon to come home, but we all missed Shrek so we picked him up first thing and boy was he glad to see us.

Our next family vacation we will be a family of 4, I can't believe it! I did not get any pictures of the 3 of us from the whole trip, oops. Chasing after a 2 1/2 yr-old kept me busy. Now I think I need a vacation from my vacation!!

Hanging out with Aunt Lili at Chuy's... why is the Austin restaurant so much better than the Houston ones??

Singing with her 2nd cousin Madison... So cute! Leila definitely looked up to Maddie and told me, "she's so pretty." Madison was so patient with her, and even told me she would watch Leila while I talked to her mom.

The highlight of our trip... Abby Cadaby herself!!!


And she got her picture taken with Zoe, which was so cool. Cookie Monster was not so cool and actually scared her, and she is not scared of much.

Feeding the Dolphins

Leila and Baby Campbell, who is about to have her 1st Birthday!!

Swimming!

We started Leila in swim lessons at 9 months in a group class to get her familiar with the water and teach lifesaving techniques. She has been attending a swim academy since last fall (with a few months off when I deemed it too cold for swimming, even in a heated pool) and has made awesome progress. She was recently promoted into a class with a 3, 4, & 6 year-old, and she definitely holds her own at just 2 1/2!

She can dive in, swim underwater using her arms and legs, dive to the bottom for rings, turn around, cover over half the width of a pool independently, and climb out on her own. We still have more work to do, such as strokes, coming up for air and going back down, and perfecting diving technique. I still have to watch her to make sure she does not get too deep. This is not the type of program where they throw you in to see if you can swim, so I am still not 100% confident in her survival skills in the water. BUT we have made huge progress and I am thrilled with the results. I am hoping by the end of this session in September she will be swimming independently. We spend a lot of time in the water so it is really amazing to watch our little fish go. This is an old video so she has improved a lot since only 3 weeks ago.