"Take Me Out to the Ballgame..."

Abby in a new dress and chillin' in the stroller. Don't think I see cheerleading in her future!

Too cute for words...

Hey Papa...my eye is on the ball and I am swingin' level!

It's outta here!

Taking the long way to home plate. What a goofball!

As a teacher, the neatest moments I have had teaching 1st graders is when they "get it" or read their first sentence in a book. Those are awesome and it is why I spent 7 years teaching 1st grade. One of the neatest things about being a mom (besides the hugs, kisses, snuggles, and I love you's) is when you see your child excited about something and proud of themselves when they do it well. I have to say though that the cool "mom moments" far surpass any of the teacher moments.

Max LOVES t-ball! He gets so excited on Tuesdays and Thursdays because he knows he has a game that night. John and I were so worried before he started that he would be too nervous/afraid to go out there but he does it and doesn't want it to end. He came home from his second practice with his jersey and hat and thought he was tough stuff :) After his second game we went out and bought him some cleats and you would have thought he signed a multi-million dollar contract with the pros! He is really good at hitting the ball (it has even gone into the outfield a few times) and he is getting better at his fielding. He has played short stop, second base, third base, and first base (they get moved around a bit to alleviate boredom I think). Let me tell you though...this boy can RUN! One of his coaches made a comment about how fast he is and I said that's because he started running about a week after he learned how to walk and that's all he's done for four years!

I am SO proud of him! Not just that he plays well but that he enjoys doing it and is making a lot of new friends as well. I love seeing his excitement when he talks about playing. He is growing up so fast. I pray that his enthusiasm continues as he grows up and even if he doesn't want to continue into baseball that he finds his passion and lives his life to its fullest potential. I want that for all of my kids.

By the way...Abby is still talking about playing flag football in the fall so we'll see. We have to get through swimming lessons first.!

Finally...some pictures...thanks Jackie :)

Max following Lucy through the tunnel

Abby playing follow the leader

Lucy chasing the ball through the tunnel

First of all, thanks to my wonderful friends Jackie and Michele who watched Max, Abby, and Lucy yesterday so I could go to a doctor's appt BY MYSELF! We stayed for awhile after I got back so the kids could play and Jackie took these pictures of them for me.

9 Months

Lucy turned 9 months old this past Monday (the 16th). She has now been out of my belly as long as she was in it :) Now of course this makes me realize that the 9 months on 9 months off theory about baby weight does not apply to me :( UGH! I NEED TO GET BACK TO WEIGHT WATCHERS!

Anywho, I took Lucy to her 9 month checkup and she is doing great. The doctor even told me I'm doing a great job with her...self-esteem boost for mommy...yeah! She weighed in at a whopping 18 lbs 4 oz. Her height/length is 26 1/2 in. I was a little nervous because that is what she measured at 6 months. Hmmm hasn't grown at all...doesn't sound right. I mentioned this to the nurse and when she came back she told me that she thinks Lucy may not have been measured correctly at her 6 month checkup. I instantly realized that it had been nursing students who were doing all that the last time so it is understandable...plus I have a very wiggly child :) So Lucy is in the 48th percentile for height and only the 20th for weight. I guess she'll be short and skinny like her "Mimi".

She now has two teeth on the bottom and can pull herself up to her feet in her crib pretty quickly (hasn't tried it outside of the crib yet...thank goodness). She now thinks it's funny to let go and fall on her bottom in the crib.

Sorry I haven't posted any pics in a while. The piece of garbage camera that I have decided to stop sucking the life out of the batteries after 5 pictures...it just died. Could not be revived. Of course it is still sitting on my kitchen counter just in case it decides to come back to life...not gonna happen Staci...get over it. My dad took pics at Max's t-ball game last Tuesday so I'll get them soon and post.

Gotta go, Abby's fussing...nothing new there...

White Shoes and a Pink Dress

Potty training seems like it goes on forever in my house. Maybe that's because the kids are so close in age that by the time I get one done it's time to start rolling with the next one (that was not a reference to toilet paper!) Anyway, for some reason going #1 is not a problem once they get the hang of it. Abby was ready to do it before I was ready to start training her! The problem lies with the poop. Why some kids are terrified of pooping in the potty is beyond me. Yeah I know the psychological bit about it being a "part" of them and they are afraid of losing it. Give me a break. Both of them did it just fine on the potty the first three days of training then all of a sudden decided they would fight it. Personally I think it is purely a control issue:) The kids like to see us beg and plead and bribe. We even promised Max the biggest fire truck we could find if he would poop on the potty. Nope, nothing. He would say, amidst all the screaming and crying, "I don't need one".
Anyway, the purpose of this post... Abby was following the same path as Max. She would refuse to go on the potty or even sit there as I went to get a pull-up. I finally told her that when she turned three she would have to start going on the potty because I wasn't going to buy any more pull ups. Everytime I would change her dirty pull-up I would ask her when she was going to go on the potty and she would say, "When I 3". My mom decided to encourage her to maybe start a little early by telling her that when she starts going poop on the potty like a big girl she would take her shopping and buy her some new shoes and maybe even a new dress. Abby decided that they would be white shoes and the dress would be pink.
Well guess what? Abby must have had an early birthday because yesterday she pooped on the potty! We were at Max's Vacation Bible School and she told me she had to go. I told her I didn't have a pull-up and asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty (of course preparing myself for the fit about to happen) and she said, "okay!" After I picked my jaw up off the floor I took her thinking that any moment she would turn around and say she didn't really have to go. That little turkey sat on the potty and after a couple of minutes of talking and pushing she WENT! She was so proud of herself and I cried...over poop! She has decided she is a big girl now. We had to call daddy of course. When I told my mom she said when Abby keeps doing it she'll take her to buy her dress and shoes. She went one more time yesterday and then again this morning. After she went this morning the first words out of her mouth were..."I get white shoes and a pink dress!" Get out the debit card Nana...this girl is ready to shop! :)

Happy Father's Day

I hope all you dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day. Our day started with a trip to the beach. John has been itching to go since the weather got warm so we went. It was Lucy's first trip and I have to say that she absolutely loved it! As soon as her feet hit the water she was bouncing and when I sat her down she immediately started splashing. I told John he finally got his "beach baby". We stayed for about two hours then got home just in time for a big thunderstorm to roll through. So we basically hung out at home and cooked dinner. Unfortunately my dad had to work yesterday so they weren't able to come over for dinner. Wow! I just realized yesterday was my dad's 37th Father's Day. I feel old! Now I depressed myself so I'll go for now. My parents are coming for Max's ball game tomorrow night so I'll hopefully be able to get some pics of Max in his uniform. I'll also post about the t-ball jamboree. What a HOT day!

A New Milestone

I went to get Lucy up from her morning nap this morning and found something shocking when I walked in her room. She was sitting up! Don't get me wrong, she has been able to sit without support for awhile now but she has yet to go from laying down to sitting up on her own (not that I have seen anyway). So walking into her room and seeing her sitting up kinda brought tears to my eyes. However...even more shocking...after I put Lucy to bed tonight I was reading Abby a book in her bed and I heard Lucy crying like she had been hurt. I thought maybe she had tried to sit up again and had fallen over. Since John and Max were still at t-ball practice I went in to check on her. She had bypassed sitting up and was now STANDING IN HER CRIB! The screaming was due to the fact that she had realized once she got up she had no clue how to get down! She solved that by letting go and falling onto her bottom then her head (which made her even more mad). After picking her up and making a big deal out of her standing up I put her back to bed and left the room. Well, let's just say she repeated her new trick a couple of times and screamed for help each time! We may have seen the last of our easy bedtimes for Lucy!

Blog Makeover

Yes, it's the same blog but I was never really sure I liked the other template so I thought I'd try a new one for awhile.