Big Weekend

Lily has had a very big weekend so far. Yesterday (Friday) I left work early so I could take her down to the pool at the JCC for her first swim in a real pool. (And by "real" I mean the Papa Albert children's pool, which is the special baby pool there.) I got Lil from daycare and headed into the main building where we got suited up. My friend Nancy met up with us just as we finished changing and came with us for our swim to take pictures. (I took them with a special waterproof disposable camera, and while I do have the prints, I haven't scanned them in yet, so no photos of her swim until at least tomorrow.)

This swim was her test run in the pool. Her pediatrician said that he usually recommends that babies not go swimming until they're six months old because of sensitivity to the chemicals, but that I could take Lily for a test run to see how she did. She seemed to really like the water, but I do think it was a little too early for her to go, because the chemicals did give her a little rash, even though I gave her a shower in the locker room immediately afterwards. I think for the rest of this summer she'll have to stick to the chlorine-free baby pool in my backyard and we'll save the JCC for next year. After the swim, Nancy got Lily back into her regular clothes while I got dressed, then we went into the lounge area and Nancy gave Lily a bottle while we chatted. We left when Lily was ready for her nap, which ended up being a pretty long one -- she was beat.

This morning Lily slept in later than usual. When she got up we got ready for another big day: Lily's first zoo trip. I decided that I'd have her wear a special "zoo" outfit (an animal print onesie with a giraffe on the front) even though it's a 6-9 month outfit. I thought it would be a little big on her, but when I got her dressed it really wasn't all that big. Man, she's a big baby.

We were scheduled to meet up with a friend of mine and his daughter at the zoo at 10 a.m., hoping to beat the heat. We failed. It was soooo hot today. Lily stayed comfortable riding in style in her stroller with her sun shade on her, but the rest of us weren't so lucky. It was still a really fun day. We saw all the animals, rode the train, went to the bird show, etc. Lil slept for much of the time and was too young too appreciate the animals, but I think by next summer she'll have a good time there.

After the zoo we came home and Lily took a long nap, then we went over to Emily and Thomas's house to check out their super adorable new crib bedding and have some dinner. Lily got to spend some quality time gazing at Thomas and chatting with Emily, then we came home when she started getting tired. Despite the long afternoon nap, the zoo took a lot out of her, so she slept on the short drive home, then had a bottle and was in bed passed out by 8:30. She usually sleeps from 9:00 to 6:30, so I'm curious how late she'll sleep tomorrow morning.