my big little man

so, colton is in the middle of his first season of official little league. you may be thinking...is there really a difference between little league and the parks and rec leagues? let me answer you by saying........"ummm...yeah." i was not initially aware of these difference until shortly after we started. the uniforms are more official; they practice more; they have more games; they have longer games; they had an opening day with a parade; oh...one of my favorites...they have a concession stand; and it is waaaaayyyyy more competitive to name a few. colton is in the dixie league. this is, from what i can tell, when it gets serious. he had to go to try outs where the "scouts" watched him bat, run and field and then "drafted" him to a team.when we got to these tryouts, we saw the pitching machine set up on the pitcher's mound and i thought colt's eyes were gonna bug right out of his head. he said, "i can't hit a pitching machine!!!!" chad was out of town so i had to pretend i knew what i was talking about and walk him through it. well...there was no time for warm up and he got up there and swung at 5, missed 4 and fouled off 1. he's pretty fast...so he had that going for him. and he has a pretty good arm...so his tryout ended with him obsessing about being the worst batter in the world. in the beginning, i complained about how much they were having to practice...it being on a school night...etc. etc. etc. however...the other night made it all worth it. here is how the story goes.

colton has been steadily improving all season and is somewhere in the middle of the batting order. he rarely missed, but he always grounded it mid field somewhere. he had a late game a couple of weeks ago where during both his at bats, he struck out. he was visibly frustrated and developed a less than desirable attitude at home as a result of his "1 game slump". so...here we are at his next game. "get back on the horse." "shake it off." "quick bat." he was feeling in pretty good spirits when i dropped him at the field, annnnd i "accidentaly" left his "unlucky" bat at home. i told the team mom who stays in the dugout with the boys that we wanted him to use another kid's 17 oz bat. (his is 19 oz.) his first at bat, he struck out. uh oh. this is not going to be good. he came up again and tension was high. he was a bundle of nerves and i was yelling from the stands that it was his turn. "you have this, baby." 1 pitch...strike 1. 2nd pitch...strike 2. "come on colton...you can do this!" 3rd pitch...SMACK!! a beautiful line drive down the 3rd base line to the fence!! i could barely contain myself. i was not even embarrassed by my pregnant belly flopping around as i jumped up and down in the stands. everyone went nuts because he knocked in our leading run. as he stopped on second base, he gave the ole' fist pump to the sky and adjusted his batting helmet as if he was biggio, berkman, or bagwell. that won him the game ball that they give out after each game. what a complete thrill!! at his game on friday night, he hit a sailer into the outfield that landed perfectly between the outfielders and then went on to catch a pop fly at 2nd. i think his confidence is back and the "1 game slump" is behind him. i'm so proud of my little ball player. i can still see him, at 4 and 5 years old, practicing for hours in the backyard...glove in hand...pretending it was bottom of the 9th; tie game; he makes the winning play. i remember thinking...i bet that never comes to fruition. who would have known!!

take me out to the ball game. as long as it's colton's.

modesty at 3

the story is about aiden and her modesty at old navy the other day. lately, i have been finding cuter tops in the little girl's department than in the toddler's department. the problem here is that aiden is just turning 4...so she is technically wearing a 4T or a 5T. however...sometimes i get lucky and an xs from the girl's fits her. i wanted to try an extremely cute, 4th of julyish top on her to see if this would be one of the times where we got lucky. we were all the way in the back of the store; there was no one around; and the dressing rooms were all the way on the other side of the store. so, being that she is only 3, i said..."come here and let me slip this on you really fast to see if it fits." i took her top off of her, exposing her torso to no one but the clothes racks and she covered herself up and said, "moooooom...no one wants to see this."

today

today, colton stayed home from school. no...he's not sick. he had a field trip downtown to see a play and he begged and begged to not go. he said that he had never been on a field trip without me and i am not the room mom this year for his class, so i could not go. this was sort of disappointing to me, but then again i was relieved because i have been feeling so crumby. the last place i would want to be is on a hot bus with screaming 2nd graders when the nauseousness hits. and far from home, at that. so...we let him skip it. i know...i know...probably the wrong parental decision, but i really don't care. the boy makes all a's with his eyes shut and one hand behind his back; has all E's in conduct and never misses...so i figure that missing one field trip is not going to tarnish his record. annnnnd...that gives us a good excuse to take the kids to the theater in houston to see broadway's the wizard of oz. i don't know if we will actually get to...because tickets for a family of 5 (and 1/2) are probably ridiculous and not an option...but maybe!!

in other news...aiden has chosen her room. we have 4 bedrooms upstairs. 1...what has always been the nursery and where aiden still is now; 2...a guest room; 3...the boy's room, now that they share; and 4...another guest room that was chase's before they moved in together. so...she got to pick whether or not she wanted to be on the same side with "her boys" or next to the baby. she said that she needed to be with her baby, so indeed...that is where she will be. so...we are in the market for the cutest white day bed and trundle that a girl ever saw. i found one online at jcpenney.com that i l....o....v....e, so i am going there today to see if we can order it. oh...the most important part of this story is that we were not going to be able to get it for her, except for a very sweet, and generous granna and grandaddy offered to get her a bed for her birthday!! so they are getting the bed and we are getting the trundle and i could not be more excited about it.

and chase...he's chase!! i think he is the happiest kid on the planet (unless he is tired or hungry...and then you would think he was possessed). he is at school right now...charming his way out of doing his "cutting with scissors". he hates cutting...and his teacher loves him so that she just lets him skip it. that's chase. and he won that battle without even knowing he was fighting it. he has baseball practice tonight where he will work on his crowd pleasing skills. like running out of the dugout to bat and waving at everyone in the crowd and then after he hits it...waving to the crowd again before he starts running. i mean, getting to first on time is over rated. colton, however believes that every one of his games is a tryout for the majors. every time chase bats...everyone turns around and tells me the same thing..."he's gonna be an entertainer for sure!!" he's entertaining all right. let it be said that those dimples had me at first sight when he was about 15 minutes old. i was his first fan.

lately

lately i have been feeling so yucky that i have not even logged onto the computer...much less posted anything. i haven't checked e-mail in weeks. hopefully, in a couple of weeks i will be feeling lots better. hopefully.

chad has pretty much been having to pick up the slack around here. seeing as i can't enter the kitchen without feeling as though i will either throw up or pass out...meals have been a bit of a challenge. he has to get the kid's breakfast in the morning, and feed them dinner. i try to stay out of there. as chase would say..."it's not my favorite."

secondly, the house has pretty much taken on a mind of it's own. if i had the energy, i would take pictures. it is quite the sight. dishes everywhere (because i can't look at them without gagging); clothes covering the floors (they may or may not be clean. if they don't smell...they wear them); the playroom probably has things growing under the layers of toys (i don't even want to think about that); at least 1 bathroom seems to be clogged all the time; the main one seems to always smell like urine (i hold my breath). you get the drift. i would pay a large sum of money for someone to come clean my house for me right now.

colton and chase are in full baseball mode. they have 2 games a week and sometimes they don't start until 7:45...putting us getting home around 9:45 on a school night. that's fun. the plus...2 words........concession and stand. i survive on snow cones. grape please.

aiden has become used to our "special playtime" really being "come crawl in bed with mommy and watch playhouse disney until noon" time. i tell myself they are educational programs and she won't remember this later.

i just choked down milk of magnesia for dinner. that speaks for itself.

everyday chase asks, "are you still sick mommy?" poor guy. it's becoming his norm. aiden takes it all in stride. and last night, colton wanted to know how much longer til the first trimester is over. i knew what he meant though. how much longer til i won't bark orders from the couch and stop flying off the handle at the drop of a hat. that's when i said..."not much longer baby...and i'll feel a lot better. just a couple of weeks." then i realized he has the timing compared to how much school he has left until summer...which is what he was more concerned with...which made me feel a little better. i am watching my "angry voice" though. when aiden thinks she's in trouble, she just starts saying, "i'm cold." not sure what that's about. and if chase gets in trouble and i call for him...he says from the other room, "are you going to talk rude to me?" geeeeez. that makes one feel fantastic.

i know, i know...stop complaining. there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 11 weeks down. mommy will be back soon.