Like a rather fat duck to water

In my efforts to find something interesting to do in the afternoons when Isabel's not in school, we decided to go and check out one of the local swimming pools. I also wanted to arrange some swimming lessons for her, but I have to call in a couple of weeks when they'll be able to tell me how many places are available - I hope I can get her into something since I'd like her to start regular weekly swimming lessons. This is partly because I think having a couple of after school activities will be good for her (pushy parent, moi?) , and partly because it gives a nice structure to the week. And if there's one thing I love, it's a structured routine!

The pool turned out to be very nice and, even better, practically empty. One other mother was there with a 2 or 3 year old, and a dad with a 4 year old. There was a little slide which Isabel thought was just great (it was all of 2' long, but she did make a fairly satisfying splash). The changing rooms were nice as well, clean stone floors and very posh showers. It was more like a private club in some ways than just a local pool! Best of all, they offer aqua aerobics classes, so I may give that a go next week. I used to do aqua twice a week before I had Isabel but then found it hard to get back into afterwards - now I'm worried about struggling through Pumpkin's birth because of my lack of fitness, and that's a pretty good incentive to get back to doing something!

There was one downside about today's excursion however - my swimsuit felt quite snug as it struggled to accommodate me and the bump! But this was outweighed by the fact that I could actually breathe - the last time I took Isabel swimming I was still struggling to get rid of my chest infections and bring my asthma under control, and when I lowered my chest under the water it felt like my lungs were being crushed. Not good. But this time, having scored well on the peakflow test at yesterday's asthma clinic appointment, I felt brave enough to brave the pool again, and lo and behold, I could breathe! The inhaler I have to use morning and night is clearly now working well - marvellous stuff, steroids!