Category Archives: Personal

Can your child swim?

Atlanta Moms Edition, Personal, ,

Summer vacation is over for most of us, but it’s still hot outside and the kids need to get that energy out somehow and swimming is a great way to do it.   My kids spend a lot of time in pools and lakes in the summer months and before about 6 months ago, I was a wreck whenever my daughter (just turned 4) got near the water.   I know she’s perfectly safe while my husband and I are in the pool or lake with her, but there’s always this fear that as soon as one of us turn our heads she’s going to go under and we won’t get to her in time.  Awful, I know.  I have nightmares about this stuff!

To help me get over my fear of something happening to Madelyn in the water, I enrolled her in swim lessons at Aqua-Tots.  I thought that she would take a few months of swim lessons during which she would learn how to swim, but she’s done so much more than just learn to swim.     I had no idea that toddlers should roll over on their back to breathe or that she needed to learn how to pull herself up and out of the pool in case she can’t get to the stairs. Those just aren’t things I would have thought about but make perfect sense.  Madelyn had a hard time pulling herself out of the pool at first but Ms. Katherine kept pushing her to do it and now I know that that’s a life saving skill.   About a year later she’s still taking swim lessons at Aqua-Tots and I’m not planning on pulling her out of swim lessons any time soon.  She loves swim lessons.  Who knows maybe she’ll join a swim team in a few years.

Here’s a short video (featuring one of Madelyn’s favorite songs) of Madelyn at Aqua Tots.

Madelyn can swim a good distance, float on her back by herself, do a couple of different strokes and most importantly, she knows how to swim to safety if needed.  We go to the lake and pool often in the summer and if she hadn’t have been taking swim lessons I would be a mess every time she got in the water.   I’m so impressed with how much Madelyn has learned and am very appreciative that Ms. Katherine at Aqua-Tots is such a great swim teacher.  She’s amazing with kids as I’m sure all of Aqua-Tots instructors are.  Madelyn loves Ms. Katherine so much that she talks about her at home and even makes drawings and little gifts for her!
That’s not how I felt about my swim teacher when I was little!

Aqua-Tots has several Atlanta area locations including the one we go to in Kennesaw.

More about Aqua-Tots Swim Schools

How well can your child swim?  Did you teach your kids to swim or did you take them to swim lessons?  Tell us in the comments below.

I’m obsessing over the Silverlake Bucket bag from The Sak but what’s up with the color? Your help please?

Handbags & Accessories, New posts, Personal, , ,

So for the last couple of days I’ve been totally (beyond totally) obsessed with finding a medium size handbag.
Here are my requirements.  It must be about 11-12″ wide, soft leather, black (or tan…), the handbag has to have an outside pocket that will hold my iPhone, not a fold over flap type closure (zipper or magnet preferably), a wide opening, and can be carried on my shoulder or crossbody.
After close to 96 hours of searching (more like 4 or so) I finally found a handbag that I like the style, design, color, and quality of but wouldn’t you know that I can’t figure out what darn color it is?  If I can’t figure this out by Monday, I’m going to move on to another bag.  I need to order something ASAP so it will arrive before my next trip in a couple of weeks.. and I don’t want to give up on the Silverlake Bucket bag.  🙁

Here is my delima

I LOVE the The SAK Silverlake Bucket Bag pictured below and I want the dark amber bag pictured below.. BUT the dark amber on The Sak website and the dark amber on Amazon.com look totally different and I don’t like the dark amber I see on The Sak website here but I love the dark amber shown here on Amazon.com.  So which product photograph most closely portrays the true color and which one should I order?

Help please!?
What do you think I should do?

Should I order the cheaper ($118) dark amber Silverlake Bucket bag from TheSak.com website in hopes that it turns out to be the dark amber I see on Amazon.com or should I order the dark amber Silverlake Bucket from Amazon.com which is more expensive ($155) but I like the color shown in the product photograph?  Please tell me in the comments below.

Madelyn really should tell me when she’s going to entertain herself for this long

Age 3-5, Personal, , , ,
Madelyn's fort in the kitchen

I am so impressed with Madelyn, my 4 year old, right now.
She’s inside a kick @** fort she made in the kitchen, about 5 feet from the table where I’m working today.  Not only did she bring 7 or 8 baby dolls into the fort with her, she brought her favorite pillow pet, a blanket to lay on, a blanket to put on her, and a flashlight.  Right now she’s humming to her baby dolls and whispering to them.  Maybe she’ll fall asleep in there? Wishful thinking.. we have too much to do today anyway.  Madelyn’s been inside the fort for almost 10 minutes now which as you know if you’re a mom of a preschooler, is a long time!

If only Madelyn would tell me ahead of time when she’s going to occupy herself for any period of time, I could maybe get a few more things done around here!  You wouldn’t believe how fast I’m typing right now trying to knock a few important things out while I know I can! 🙂

Madelyn insider her fort with her baby dolls

How long does your preschooler entertain her/himself ?  What does he/she entertain herself by doing most?   Reading, televisions, toys, building forts?

Tiny “bling bling” on Old Navy jeans left me empty handed

New posts, Personal, ,
Old Navy $15 Adult Jean Sale

I left Old Navy a little bummed and empty handed today.

Last week I bought a pair of The Flirt Skinny Cropped Jeans (photo below) at Old Navy and when I got home and tried them on again I felt that they were a size too big – yay!   I went back to Old Navy in hopes of exchanging them and they were out of the size that I needed.  An employee called a nearby store and had a pair set aside for me to pick up.  Very nice.

So, I went to Old Navy this morning to get the jeans.  I tried the jeans on, liked the way they fit, and after picking up a couple of things for my 10 year old so I could get my total up to $50 and use my $15 off $50 coupon, I went to check out.

Here’s where the drama began:

I assumed that because Old Navy is running a $15 jeans promotion that these jeans were marked down from $29 to $15. But, I was wrong.

Old Navy Flirt jeans with "bling bling"

The jeans I picked out (The Flirt Skinny Cropped Jeans) weren’t $15, they were $29.

You know why?

Because they have what the employee called ‘bling bling’ on the back pockets.

I said “huh? bling bling?”.

She (Old Navy employee) said “yeah.. right there.. you see, on the pocket there”.

I said “Ohhh.. OK!  I see the 3 tiny dots (AKA bling bling).. silly me“.

So because the jeans have “bling bling” they weren’t on sale, and because they weren’t on sale and my total was $52.75 (with Sebastian’s two items), I decided I would use my $15 off $50 coupon and that would make up for the lack of discount on the jeans.

There I go being silly again.
The total was $52.75 AFTER TAX.  The employee told me I needed to add another item in order to get the total to $50 BEFORE TAX and be able to use the coupon.  So I picked up a little boo boo frog thingy and then my Old Navy temporary card number decided not to work.  Ugh!! After that I just opted out of the purchase entirely.  I asked for the $15 off $50 coupon back so I could use it another day but the employee had already locked the coupon in the safe.  Manager to checkout 1 please! The manager took my coupon out of the safe and I left empty-handed except for my coupon.

I know.. $29 isn’t bad for a pair of jeans but since I had just bought the kids a million and a half dollars worth of school clothes…(mostly from Old Navy), I didn’t want to spend $29 on a pair of jeans for myself.

Just so you know.. I really liked Old Navy’s Flirt Skinny Cropped Jeans because they are mid-rise which is a great fit/rise for most moms and the cropped length looked OK on me because I am short.. I don’t typically wear cropped pants as I don’t think they look great on ‘height challenged’ people like myself.  The cropped length makes the jeans look like an almost normal length, on me.