I had written a post the other day, I went into preview and tried to edit incorrectly, and lost the whole damn thing... It was really boring anyway... It was about competetive parents and how I'm becoming one.

Anyway, we are in swim season here. Steven, Isabel, and Kate have been doing the afternoon practice while Luke, Josie and I hit the pool. I'm *really* proud of Izzy. Her swimming skills are improving a lot- she was terrified to get her face in the water 2 years ago. Now she's not that speedy, but she can swim the entire 25 meters to complete a race! She is the reason I had the 3 kids in swim lessons over the winter- I wanted Izzy to get to the point where she could do a race this year after watching Steven swim in every single meet last year. It sucked for her... It killed me when she said, "Mommy, when do I get to race?" Now she's hanging in there at practice- the whole hour of swimming! They use kickboards for some of it, but a lot of the time she's just out there swimming unaided... She tries so hard. She's also uber-competetive, so once the races start and she doesn't get 1st (she's still not that fast) I'm curious as to how she'll react... Steven won't be getting 1st either, so it should be OK!!

Anyway, swimming is very intense. They practice every day, there are meets every Saturday and every Wednesday, plus other meets here and there on Sundays, Tuesdays, etc., etc. It really takes over our lives for 6 weeks, and then it's done. Over. And by that point the kids have very little desire to go swimming- even just *for fun*... Oh well!

We are in the last push for school. The twins have pretty much nothing but parties. There's an ice cream party, a pizza party, an after-their-end-of-year-music-performance *cast* party... Party party party. Why don't they just give them 2 weeks of winter break and cut out all these PARTIES!!!?

Kate still has a few major assignments. The final test she has for Algebra, the one I've been making her study for for the last 2 weeks, turns out to not even count, really. She has a 74% in the class now. I'm boiling mad. She has something like a 40% in her *homework* portion of her grade. She has blown completely 1 major exam, plus a RETAKE. Shoot me now. Seriously. How can you possibly get a 47% on a retake?? Never fear, though. Where we live, kids aren't ALLOWED a grade as low as a 47%. The lowest grade you can get is a 50%. So she gets 3 extra percentage points for... showing up, and writing her name down... Policies like this make me so afraid for the future.

Anyway, for the final exam, she says, "It can't hurt your grade. So if you fail it, you just keep the grade you already had." What?? So I ask what happens if you do BETTER than the grade you already have. She said from how she understands it, if she gets a "B" (or an "A" but let's be real here) on the final exam, THAT will be the grade she gets out of Algebra. Which, by the way, goes on her High School Transcript, even though she's in 7th grade...

I'm really hoping the studying I've been making her do will result in her getting a *B* on the exam and therefore a *B* in the class, but I don't think so... I think she's checked out. I KNOW she doesn't care about her grades. Mac and I have struggled with her since 2nd grade on homework completion and we have yet to see even a glimmer of her giving a rip as to what her grades are, on anything... I just don't want her living in our house forever. I just don't... But I can't see her developing a work ethic, either... So. Frustrating...

And the baby-- she is so wonderul! I just LOVE her to pieces. Seriously. I love this age, it's my favorite. She's 9 months, she laughs, she waves hi, her first words were *MaMa...Maaaaamaaaamaaammaaa" Seiously!! And she says Mama when I pick her up... I *know* she's calling me... Josie is just starting to reach out and try to crawl and scoot around. For the past 2 months we have been in the incredibly wonderful phase of her sitting on a blanket playing for 30 minutes with rattles, just as happy as can be... Now she wants to get out and explore a bit, but she's still very happy. I look at her every day while I'm putting her to sleep and think about how incredibly lucky I am!!!

I am able to relax and bask in her wonderfulness because I know she's my last. It gives a special sentimental meaning to every little thing.