Swim Lessons (another year)

It has been a year since our last swim lessons. If you recall, Nathan did NOT start out well. He did not want to have any part of the lessons at first, but after a few sessions, he did well and we enjoyed the class.
Unfortunately, we don't have access to a pool very often and Nathan doesn't get a lot of exposure to the water (except of course the bath water). This was evident when we started the lessons this time around. It was like we were back at square one. Nathan was again uncooperative, clingy and didn't want anything to do with the lesson. Jeff got the pleasure of Nathan's dislike this time around. One year later, he is much stronger and more outspoken. Most of the time he either cried or tried to leave the pool all together. He kept telling Jeff, "I'm all done."
The instructor actually asked Jeff if he knew that this was an advanced class. Yes, we know. He graduated from the Polliwogs class, we have the certificate to prove it.
As I said last year, it can only get better. Hopefully Nathan will get more used to the classes and be better in the next few weeks.

Nathan's not having it.
"Get me out of here!!!"

A little better with the instructor

The lesson is finally over
(Is that a look of relief on Jeff's face?)

Under Construction

Our house in undergoing some minor construction and renovations as we prepare it for sale in the near future. Our plan is to use the down housing market to our advantage and upgrade to a bigger home while the housing prices are low.
All of the little projects we are doing are things we always said we wanted to do to the house, but never got around to until now. Unfortunately we are now doing them for someone else. I guess that is always the way it goes with selling a house. Some of these renovations include painting, new fixtures, flooring and counters in the kitchen and a new range unit (yes we are finally replacing the old 1950's range).
Wish us luck as we complete these projects and get out house ready for sale.

Nathan "helping" with the removal of the baseboards in the kitchen.

Look at my tools

Visits with grandparents

For 2 weekends in a row, we got together with family. Nathan got to see both sets of grandparents, who don't get to see him very often.
First, Jeff's parents flew in for a long weekend at the end of February. It was a relatively quick visit, but they were desperate to see little Nathan, so it worked out great. Nathan bonded with his Memaw and PawPaw Wisener. He usually only sees them on the computer when we web-cam with them so this was a real treat. I don't have any pictures from this visit. Jeff and Nathan got to spend a lot of time with them and do a lot of fun things together (I was unfortunately working a lot).
The following weekend we went to Fort Wayne to visit my family where Nathan got to spend some time with his other set of grandparents (Mamaw and Papaw Elser).

Nathan playing cups with his Uncle Andy.
very time we are in Fort Wayne, Nathan makes a beeline for the drawer with cups and plays with them throughout the visit. Sometimes it is the simplest things that can be the most entertaining.

Fonduing

Is fonduing a word???
Anyway, thanks to Aimee Rhea and the Dove Chocolate Discoveries, our new favorite past-time is fonduing. Everything tastes better dipped in melted chocolate.

Food Issues

In the past we have had issues with Nathan's eating habits (see past posts). Nathan still doesn't eat everything we put on his plate or what we are eating every night, but he is getting so much better. We decided not to fight with him or make every meal miserable for both him and us. We give him either a deconstructed version of our dinner or something else all together, but I still try to make sure there are some vegetables, fruit and meat on the plate somewhere (even though he usually doesn't eat much of it). He is getting so much better as he gets older.

Nathan so proud of himself eating chicken nuggets and cereal

It's a Girl!!!

I was finally able to upload a picture of the ultrasound from last week so I could put it up on the blog and share it with everyone. Yes, the Wisener's are having another baby. We are due July 12th. Everything looks great. She is beautiful:

Goodbye Big Fish

Our biggest (no pun intended) casualty of the power outage was the loss of all of our fish, including the very large talapia that had taken over our basement tank. If any of you had been to our house in the last year or more, you have seen this monstrous fish. This fish started a few years ago no bigger than a quarter and grew to full size at over a foot long. We have recently been unable to keep any other fish in the tank because he terrorizes and kills anything we put in there. We have been trying to get rid of him (humanely) for a while. Many pet stores we contacted were unable to take a fish that size. I had just left a message with a store who told me they had a place that could take the fish when the power went out. The tanks got too cold and all of the fish perished.
Goodbye big fish, we did not intend for you to go this way.
Just for perspective, the tank is 55 gallons and he is the only fish in the tank. The heater (to the left) and bubble wand (below the fish) in the back ground are each at least 12-14 inches long.