The First Swim of the Season

This past weekend we took our FIRST EVER family trip to the pool! I know, can you believe it? It was so fun! Last summer Ella spent about 20 minutes total in a swimming pool on two different occasions and one involved a projectile vomiting episode so needless to say this was our first pleasant experience in a pool. We've never gone together as a whole family so this was a fun little outing for us and Ella loved the water. She did great and loved splashing around. It's a simple thing but it was fun for us and I'm so excited to finally be able to take her to the pool and let her play.

I've been a little nervous about taking Ella to a public pool with the whole G-Button thing. I don't know, it just kind of gives me the heeby-jeebies thinking that this is a hole into her body that's not supposed to be there and what if she gets some kind of weird infection or something because of dirty pool water. I did some research, called her surgeon and asked around and no one has seemed concerned or had any great ideas of how to cover it besides putting a waterproof bandage over it so I justs decided to not think too much about it and just go with it. However, if any of you feeding tube friends out there have any advice on that that I'm not aware of I'm open for ideas. I do want to clarify and say that she does get regular baths at home (someone just asked me about that which is why I bring it up) but that's different because we're in our own water and it's not being used by hundreds of people. Just so you all don't worry that I don't bathe my child...no worries, she is very clean. :)

So, instead of covering it we just did the little rubber band trick and rubber banded her button closed, which is the most GENIUS idea for leaky buttons or ones that won't stay closed very well. Thanks to Ella's surgeon for this great idea! We only discovered this need last year because the first button Ella had was SUPER leaky and if it came open (which it did all the time) everything she just ate or had in her stomach would come pouring out. Not cool on several levels. I'll spare you the stories about leaky G-buttons and stomach contents. :)

Anywho, there's your G-Button tip of the day, little rubber bands work wonders. So back to the pool, we just went on our merry way and I just tried not to think about gross germs. Here are some pictures of the girls as we are getting ready to go...they can hardly contain their excitement. Mrrrr....mrrrr.

The happy campers, all greased up with sunscreen and ready to go

The looks of excitement are just too much to handle aren't they?

Oh, ok, I think I'm starting to see a little smile and a gleam in the eyes

Aaahhh, there's the smile I've been waiting for.

Me and Els

Isn't she sweet?

We had a fun time and are looking forward to many more days spent at the pool this summer. I had to try and find a swimsuit this past weekend too which is a whole other story in itself. Let me just say that having the whole fam plus a huge stroller in a dressing room at Academy and trying to try on swimsuits is not the way to go. Yes, the whole fam was there and if you remember I do have some strict pool rules, one being that the third party opinion is crucial and a must when picking out a swimsuit but honestly, there's got to be a better way. Anyway, happy swimming everyone!