It's all in a name

Our little Malay-Mexi-German at 27 weeks

Eric and I have been holding on tightly to our baby girl's name for the last three months.  Countless friends and family members have asked us for her name and we have finally decided to let y'all know her name before she makes her worldly debut in 2 months.  Like most parents, we have spent hours and hours trying to come up with a name that is appropriate for our little angel.  We didn't want her to have a standard, run of the mill name, like Jennifer or Eric, where growing up we always had other classmates with the same name.  Instead, we thought it was appropriate to name baby girl something that represented her heritage and the fact that she will be born in Malaysia.  Thus, her first name is Malay, middle name is Mexican and last name is German. 

It's with great pride that we introduce our daughter:

Awas Consuela Hartner

She should make her worldly debut, May 2013

Why I Coach, Part II

For the last 7 months, I have been doing more then gestating our baby.  I have been busy being the head swim coach at Dalat.  This was my second year in charge of the team and what a fantastic year we had!  Swimming ended in the end of February and I though I would share some photos and highlights of the season.

We had 48 swimmers, ages 7-18 on the team this year.  Yes, 48.  That's a lot of heads to keep track of in a very large 50m pool.  Lucky for me, not all of the swimmers trained with the Dalat team, which brought practice down to 35 kiddos. I also had a great team of assistant coaches and parents that made the season and practices go very smoothly.  We increased practices from two to three days per week, which helped all of the swimmers gain valuable time in the pool. 

Everyone's hard work was shown off during our swim meets. With each meet, the swimmers were consistently faster and able to win more races and beat their personal best times.  As a coach, this is all I ever want out of my kids, for them to swim the very best that they can.  I've never cared much about winning, as I believe that those who are committed to trying their best learn more about themselves then winning a medal.  

We had some great successes this year in the pool.  Our relay teams won 6 medals at the MSSPP, state swimming meet, for a total of 30 overall medals at the meet.  Many of my swimmers learned how to swim the butterfly and are now able to do a proper flip turn and dive.  We spent a lot of time focusing on the details and it was fun to watch the kids learn how to push themselves and each other at practice.  Overall, a great season, and I'm so glad that I've had the opportunity to be called, "Coach".

The Dalat Under 10 Swimmers

A few last minute instructions

I'm proudly displaying my team's medals at the MSSPP meet!

A special thank you to Heather Johnson and Elizabeth Graves for sharing their photos with me!