William's first "swim"

Yesterday William had his first swimming experience at the Y in St Catharines. We adopted a one-baby-per-changeroom policy, the Moms (Becca and I) took William and the Dads (Drew and Adam) took Aedan. The swimming diapers that Aedan lent William had Little Mermaid on them, so we preserved his manhood by covering them with gigantic Sesame Street Bermuda shorts (courtesy his Omi and Opa).

Adam got in the pool first and I passed him William (Drew passed Aedan to Becca). William imediately got this look that said something like "GAH! What the heck is this, Mommy?" but he didn't cry. Everyone, lifeguards, random strangers, were raving about how cute the babies were and how great they were in the water. I was so proud. I mean, it was Aedan's second swim, so he was an old hand at it, but William had never been in a pool. He is a super star! While he didn't cry, he kept that incredulous look on for the entire 10-15 minutes we were in the water.

We rapped William in a Ducky towel and Becca and I took him back into the change room, where I stripped him naked to wash the clorine off his body. This is when the crying came. It was a cry that says "Mom! I'm naked! In the girl's changeroom! How embarrassing!" He calmed down when I put him in a cuddly sleeper.

A random woman told me that in the olden days people used to just throw their babies into the water and see how they did. Um, Okay.

Post-pregnancy bathing suit shopping

Tonight we're going swimming at the Y with Becca and Drew and baby Aedan. This will be William's first time in a pool and will be a super exciting baby-book-worthy experience. But, problem, my body is completely different than the last time I donned a bathing suit. My gargantuan boobs were hard to fit even before they turned into udders. Plus, now I have these unsightly stretchmarks that make bikinis problematic.

Becca had offered to lend me a suit, but what if that one didn't fit? And when has anyone ever felt comfy in someone else's swimwear? The thought of trying on a hundred ill-fitting bathing suits at the mall across the street just about put me in tears, so I called my Mom. My Mom's the best. She came over right away and took me to La Feminique, the specialty shop on Plains Rd that sells bathing suits, bras and chocolate vaginas. The service there is fabulous. The lady there helped me find a suit that fit and covered my stretch marks for only 30 bucks. They were very sympthetic to my gargantuan boob situation. So I got a navy tankini that supports the girls and covers all my icky bits, well except my thighs but they'll be under water.

All this and everyone will be looking at baby anyway.