Isaac & Meg

Daphne Graduates from Swim School

This summer Daphne started swim lessons. I was so excited to get her started because I grew up swimming my whole life and have always loved it. Daphne loves the water so I thought swimming for her would come easily. She never seemed scared of the water so I was expecting this to be a piece of cake. Silly me, to completely forget her strong willed way of life. The phrase "strong willed" doesn't even do it justice. Daphne is capable of doing most anything, as long as it's her idea and under her conditions.

About 10 years ago exactly, my mom heard of a swim program in Fresno, CA, the Jan Thomas Swim Academy. It is one of the largest swim academies in California. They teach from ages 1 and on and they have the most amazing program. The founder's daughter (Becky Thomas) lives part time in Utah and would come out for the winter to teach in Draper. My mom started my 2 youngest sisters in lessons, Emily who was 4 at the time and Gracie who was not quite 2 yet. After taking a session of lessons with Becky and one of her other swim instructors, Em and Gracie were swimming great! We were all so impressed with their progress and how fast and effective their teaching techniques were. Gracie was swimming by the time she turned 2 and it was so fun to watch.

Fast forward 10 years, earlier this summer I was looking for a good place to put Daphne in swim lessons. I was having a hard time knowing where to enroll her when to our excitement, we found out Becky was teaching a 3 week session in August! I was so thrilled and beyond excited to get Daphne started in the same swim lessons Grace and Emily took, especially after seeing their great progress in the program.

I got Daphne enrolled and we were all set to go. She was signed up for 11 lessons. I wasn't sure how Daphne would react to the swim lessons but was expecting some brief hesitancy. Well the first 6 lessons Daphne sure put up a fight. I watched as Daphne was doing her lesson the other kids in the pool, they were all happy and swimming great. At first I was a little discouraged, why wasn't Daphne catching on? Why wasn't she happy in the pool? Daphne's swim instructor (who came out from Fresno to teach for 3 weeks in Utah with the other instructors) was always so reassuring after each lesson and would let me know that it was normal for some kids to take longer to be happy in the pool and that although Daphne was crying the whole lesson, she was still making progress. A couple lessons in, my mom came with me and was also surprised with how much Daphne was crying and afterwards we talked to Becky. She asked if Daphne was clingy to me at all and I explained that she isn't but is VERY strong willed. Becky then perked up and explained to me that her behavior was completely normal and that in fact, the strong willed ones can become the most determined swimmers once they set their mind to it. This was so reassuring and gave me some hope. We went along with the next several lessons and Daphne was still crying.

We got to her 7th lesson and it was like a light turned on inside her and all the sudden she stopped crying and I began to see incredible progress in her swimming and her attitude. I probably looked like such a fool sitting there watching her because I had the biggest smile on my face the entire 30 minutes of her lesson. It is such an incredible thing to see your child do hard things and conquer hurdles that come their way. Don't get me wrong, Daphne was still strong willed in the pool but she was happy. Her instructor, Nicki, was so great with Daphne and she loved swimming with her. Nicki was always so sweet and worked so hard with Daphne.

I can't help but be the typical proud parent, I am thrilled with the progress she made and am so excited to continue working with her. It is such an amazing thing seeing your kids accomplish things, whether big or small. I can already see Daphne's confidence has grown so much in the last 3 weeks. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to enroll Daphne in Becky's swim classes, and I was so sad to have it come to an end today. In fact, maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but on the way home I may or may not have cried. Thank you to the Jan Thomas Swim Academy and all the dedicated swim instructors, they truly are amazing in all that they do!

despite her confused look, she was very excited about the medal ceremony

and VERY excited about her medal

Zoo Trips

Taking Daphne to the zoo is such a blast. She loves seeing the animals and get's very excited! But as much as she loves the animals she loves the train ride a thousand and one times more. It is pretty adorable, but be careful not to get between her and a train ride, it's not a pretty site.

taking her snacks VERY seriously

excited about the bird show

see what I mean? The train left as we were getting in line and she just about lost it. "Wait!!! Wait!!!"

won't go far with out her "pack-pack"

A quick trip to Bear Lake

After Daphne's birthday her and I headed up to Bear Lake with my family for a couple days. We played at the park, hung out at the beach, spent time on the boat and tried out her new bike. It was a successful and fun quick little weekend getaway!

she is in her element on the boat

her concerned face whenever someone falls when water skiing. She then proceeds to yell to them over the side of the boat, "you okay?! you okay?!" until she gets a response

my mom shreddin' it on the ski

the art of falling asleep on the boat, perfected

just a casual show before church

we didn't last long so we ventured outside for awhile

enjoying Olympics, ice cream and fresh peaches

Daphne Turns 2

Well people, we have a 2 year old, and boy did she come in strong at 2. We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes because in my opinion, everyone deserves chocolate chip pancakes on their birthday.

At 2, Daphne is totally and completely a free spirit. She's not one to be told what to do and she'll let you know it. I have to remind myself constantly that will be a great personality trait when she's older. Daphne is super spunky and a total spit fire. She can have you completely frustrated with her and then in less than a minute she's making us all laugh hysterically (a vexing little trick if you ask me).

She runs with a purpose, and swings her arms with a sort of Grandpa Fred styled motion, it's pretty hilarious. She LOVES to sing a long with anything from Disney to Beyonce to Maroon 5 and is very animated when she does. She has recently taken a great liking to her baby doll and gives her gentle "pat-pats" on the back as she tenderly holds her, I am really hoping this sticks around for when the real baby comes.

If there is ever a bike, horsey, ducky, doggie, tree or car in sight, she'll let you know ("a tree! a doggie! a car! a bike! etc."). She also LOVES dogs and is very gentle with them, most likely because she is still VERY hesitant around most dogs. The girl LOVES her shows and can relax on cue. She snuggles her bear at night and occasionally a doggie or 2.

Daphne adores her books and it is not rare to find her in her room looking through her stories. She has developed quite the imagination and I love to watch her play in her room and talk to herself.

Daphne is quite the chatter box and we are slowly figuring out her unique vocabulary. She LOVES talking on the phone whether there is someone on the line or she is just pretending.

Daphne has been the greatest blessing in our lives. Life before her seems pretty bland and although I am sad to see her grow up, each stage brings something new. She never ceases to impress us and we have definitely become "those parents" who are constantly fascinated with their child and not much more.

It was so fun to celebrate her 2nd birthday, she has such an infectious spirit about her and we are totally and completely smitten with her.

Daphne was thrilled to wake up to a room full of balloons!

finger lickin' good

Netflix and chill, because what more could you ask for on your birthday?

I think this may be my all time favorite picture of Daphne. It portrays her very nicely if I do say so myself.

hanging out with Axel in the garden

Winnie the Pooh cake for the birthday girl. My mom made this ice cream cake and it was out of this world AMAZING! If you know anything about us Osterlohs, it is that we believe ice cream is far more superior than cake, thus we make ice cream cakes instead of your traditional birthday cake. The one my mom made was a Heath bar, salted caramel situation and mine was a mint chocolate chip cake with home-made hot fudge in the center, complete with a delicious Oreo crust.

she was VERY eager to blow her candles out and then proceeded to sing Happy Birthday one more time (or at least her version of it, she just couldn't get enough)