4th of July fun at the lake

Our family visited my mother-in-law at Smith Mountain Lake.  It was a gorgeous weekend, not too hot or humid.  My parents visited the lake house from Richmond for some extra family time.

My dad took Julia to the dock to try and catch some fish.  They had a lot of success catching bluegills with some worms.  I managed to catch a cute moment on my phone.

A look back - 18 months old

Unfortunately I don't have any great footage of my little Julia in the pool in 2013.  I must have been too busy chasing her around (and monitoring her safety, of course).  The best one I can find is her playing in the baby pool on our back porch. She's about 19 months old. 

A look back - 6 months old

Even though I've been teaching lessons for years, I had a brand new experience teaching my own child to swim.  She is now two and a half, but here's a little glimpse of my little Julia when she was 6 months old.

We were living in a cool apartment complex in Austin, Texas at the time and the water was already unbelievably warm in May.  My focus for her that first summer was comfort in the water.  We had a lot of access to splash pads in the area, so she got to explore nice and slowly.

Aww, I miss those chubby cheeks. 

Moms of the under-1 crowd.  Expose your kids to the water.  Get in there with them.  Let them get splashed.  The more they are in the water, the less scary it will seem to them as they grow.