Water babies...

 Ian is swimming in the far back 

and Cohen is floating on his back with swim instructor Alliesha.

It had been a L.O.N.G. winter and a very WET spring... it would be an understatement to say that we were looking forward to summer and just leave it at that... truth is, we were getting desperate in these neck of the woods to see the sun and feel it's warmth!  Since we live near a pool now, that we like to frequent often, I decided that it wouldn't be a half bad idea to put all the boys in swim lessons again this year before both the new baby AND summer arrived.  The boys have taken swim lessons before in years past, but they still hadn't grasped how to swim yet completely on their own... it gets frustrating trying to teach them, and truth is, I neither have the time to do it myself or enough arms to hold each and every one of them safely in the pool.

Last summer, my sister Tricia told me about a lady who lives in Pleasant Grove who teaches little kids to swim in her own backyard pool through out the year and she is phenomenal at what she does! Her name is JoD. She's been teaching swim lessons for YEARS (30 something) and she actually knows what she's doing!  She's an experienced swim coach people!  Those are hard to find here in Utah County.

JoD's business is called O'Neal Aquatics (click here for more info).  She, along with some of her grown daughters (all trained swim instructors) and a few additional hired helpers, teach children, ages 6 months+ and older, how to swim.  They teach swimming as a life skill-- safety first, then strokes. If needs be, they'll even use the "tough love" approach on a kid who refuses to get into the water by tossing them in...  there's no sitting outside of the pool during lessons. I LOVE it!  Not that I like to see my kids cry and scream or cling to their instructor like a wet cat trying to get out of water, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd prefer to see them suffer through their first couple of lessons, learn how to properly save themselves should they ever fall into the water, learn to swim on their own as opposed to traveling the hard road and discovering that my kid has drowned because he never learned how to swim.


Going back to what I began to say near the beginning of this post, my sister Trish told me about JoD last summer, but with our move and all, I just never found the time to put the boys in lessons... I know, I know, lame excuse... I decided to give JoD a call this past March and told her I wanted to enlist all 4 boys, Noah (5), Ian (3 at the time), Cohen (2 at the time) and Bentley (1) in swimming lessons that month so that they could learn and be prepared before the neighborhood pool was scheduled to open early in May and before the new baby's arrival. JoD said sure thing and a week later, I was taking all of the boys daily, Monday through Friday, to swim lessons.  Each lesson only lasted 20 minutes, but all 20 minutes of instruction are pretty intense--- not a minute is wasted.  Since it was still snowing in March and April and lessons are taught in their backyard pool, they had a bubble over the pool... The boys thought it was incredible!  I was pretty fascinated with it myself. It's this HUGE dome thing that inflates and surrounds their pool, filtering warm air into the bubble and cold/bad air out... it stayed pretty toasty inside that bubble--- by the end of lessons I swear I had lost weight; I couldn't keep from sweating like a gross pig in there!   They also kept the water in the pool heated to 90 degrees so that the kids would be comfortable in the water and not too cold.

Ian's showing off his moves while learning to breath the proper way...

... head to the side.

I took the boys to lessons for about a month before I decided to take a break--- that was the week before I delivered baby Atticus.  Then, about a week AFTER I'd had baby Atticus, Noah and Ian resumed lessons... both the babes, Cohen and Bentley, had learned how to save themselves in the water should they ever find themselves in it unaccompanied--- if they fell in the water, they could bob back up to the waters surface, turn onto their backs and float over to the side of the pool and get out on their own...  I thought it was pretty impressive that both boys learned that so quickly!  (I still make Ian, Cohen and Bentley wear arm floaties at our pool or the water park--- only because Ian isn't yet the strongest swimmer and I'd worry about him being all alone in the deep end with out them, especially if he were tired and although Cohen and Bentley know how to save themselves all on their own, they've still got to learn to swim on their own.)

 Above and below: Cohen.

Below, Cohen is diving for rings at the end of his lesson.

Below: Bentley.

The following picture just makes me chuckle!

Cohen had to wait while his brothers finished their lessons

so he decided to become creative and use JoD's swim equipment

and pretend they were real dumbbells!

Above and below: Noah.

The two older boys, Noah and Ian, were catching on pretty quickly as well and both were in the process of learning the front crawl and back crawl... again, I was SO impressed that my boys were learning these strokes--- most kids who are 3, 4 and 5 years old, IF they know how to swim, it's usually ONLY the doggy paddle.  I wanted Ian and Noah to learn enough so that they could move onto JoD's swim team... Swim team was held twice a week, early, early in the mornings for 40 minutes, with a group of kids, ranging from all ages, some as young as 2!  In order to make it onto the swim team the child has to know how to swim 2 lengths of the pool completely on their own doing the front crawl AND the back crawl.  Both the boys were ready for swim team by mid May, however Ian decided he didn't want to do swim team... that was fine by me--- I didn't want to push him... but Noah.... Noah LOVES the water (always has, he's a bit like me in that sense) and swimming has been such great exercise for him, particularly because it helps him use his core body muscles and those are the muscles he's ALWAYS needed help most with conditioning since he has HYPOTONIA... anyhow, 'nough said, swimming has done G.O.O.D. for Noah and his lessons carried over into swim team.

Noah swam on swim team for the month of May and all of June... it's been a great experience for him and just the workout alone has really leaned him up quite a bit---- now he's nothing but muscle and bones... he was never the kid with the fastest times at any particular stroke during practice or a competition, but he sure has stamina!  He can swim on forever and forever!  When all the other kids were complaining that they were too tired to swim another lap... Noah was right there, a couple feet in front of them already swimming his next lap!  I always had to laugh because every so often his swim instructors would have to tie a small bungee cord around the waist of his board shorts just to keep them on him!  His board shorts were the same shorts that he wore last summer and they seemed to fit him just fine then, they're 4T, but this summer they just will NOT stay up on him!!!  They fall to his ankles every time he gets out the pool!!! LOL.  I started making him wear Cohen's 2T swim shorts for swim team--- even the 2T shorts were kinda loose around his hips and waist... I joked with the swim coaches and told them I'd probably have to buy him a pair of Speedo's- they're probably the only thing that will stay on him!

Swim team competitions were held twice a month...

Noah's a LOT shorter than other boys his age---

practically a whole head shorter...

The little boy in the blue is a whole year and half YOUNGER than him!

Noah's just waiting to hear that sound of the whistle...

...before he takes off! 

He swam the backstroke against 2 other kids his age and size.

If I had to tell you what his best stroke is between the front stroke and the back stroke, I'd say it's the back stroke!  He took first twice! Does it matter that it was against two girls though??? NAW! First is first!

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell showed up one morning to cheer Noah on during one of his swim meets.

Sorry about the quality of this picture--- 

my SD card got ruined 

and the print shop tried to recover as best they could whatever pictures from the card I hadn't downloaded--- this picture was one of them.

A.n.y.h.o.w....  we've had such a great experience using O'Neal Aquatics to teach the boys to swim... they're FABULOUS instructors and I highly recommend them; don't wast your time or money sending your kid to the local rec center for lessons where they'll be taught by some junior life gaurd...  Noah's decided to take a break from swim team for the rest of the summer--- we (we meaning Noah and myself) both needed a break from the travel to and from swim team (it was about a 20-30 minute drive each way from where we live).  I'm still undecided as to whether or not he'll take up swim team again during the fall- I'll have to wait and see what his new school schedule looks like --- but as for now, he's swimming like a champ!  I'll certainly be enlisting all 5 boys in lessons again next spring, if not earlier! I can't even begin to explain how incredibly HAPPY it makes me feel as his mother to watch him freely swim around in the pool- fearless of the deep end!!! 

Disclaimer: I apologize if it sounded like I was bragging a lot, but really, all I need to say is GET OVER IT! It's my right as a proud mother!!!