T-ball

I've written a bunch of times on the blog about how much I love baseball and how much a part of my life it has always been. It's so fun to see the way that baseball has continued to be a part of my life with my own kids.

The boys have now completed three seasons (two spring, one fall) of t-ball (and Blastball-- which is pre-t-ball, and I wrote about it here and here.) and are gearing up for the coming fall season. We've had such a fun time with t-ball. We've gotten to know some great families and have already made some wonderful memories. Brian is a great coach and he loves coaching. The kids adore him and have all learned so much about baseball. Both the Red Wings and Blue Wahoos improved a bunch each season. In fact, the other coaches voted Brian the t-ball coach of the year for Reston Little League this spring! I'm pretty proud.

I've met some great parents through it all-- and many are parents I'll most likely know for years because they live close and some of them have kids who go to the same elementary school the boys will start going to in (23 days) the fall.

We found a summer baseball camp that took place just down the street from our house, and we signed them up for one week-- Monday through Thursday, five hours a day. It seemed like a LOT of time for them to be away, but the first week went well and they loved it. We signed them up again a few weeks later, and though they were the youngest two kids, they did great, loved it, and the older kids were supportive and encouraging of them. I have a hunch that the snow cone truck that visited daily might have been their favorite part, but the home run derbies into the tennis courts were a close second.

On the professional baseball front, we of course still follow our beloved Nationals, who are in first place as I write this. We all went to a Nats game recently. Teddy wasn't even afraid of the wild, screaming fans, especially when the Nats put up 5 runs in the first inning. He looked around at everyone and started clapping his hands too!

Bottom line: baseball is the greatest sport ever. And here are some pictures.

First game ever! Blastball 2013

During fall ball last year the boy had
 ALL 4 GRANDPARENTS at a game!

First game this spring- The Blue Wahoos!

Cal and Clark's littlest fan- boldly sporting
his poopy onesie.

Cal the catcher

Teddy at the t-ball exhibition game when Brian won coach of the year.

Cal fields a ground ball at baseball camp,
while Clark holds back the competition.

Clark fields at camp.

Five hours of baseball makes them tired...for about an hour
and then they're ready to rock and roll again.

Walking home from camp

Teddy goes CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Little fan gets to go into the dugout and meet a player!

Teddy meets the infamous Teddy Roosevelt
of the Nationals' Racing Presidents

Almost There... 35 Weeks

Yes, I'm alive. Just haven't had a lot of blog inspiration or much time spent being comfortable enough to sit and write lately. I'm nearly in unfamiliar territory; I'm 35 weeks pregnant. With the boys I made it 36 weeks and 2 days.

This pregnancy has been much harder than my pregnancy with they boys. And it's because of the boys. I was on bed rest for two months last time. That means I laid around watching movies and snoozing and reading books and napping and sleeping for two months. Brian took care of dinner most nights and I never really left the house except to attend my baby showers. Little different this time. I have two four year-olds who need me and constantly want me involved in most things. Granted, I'm sure it would be harder to have only one four year-old at a time like this-- at least the boys have each other to play with. They want me to take them to the pool, they want me to play baseball with them, to color, to read with them, to play outside, to help build a Lego house, to play Candyland- totally normal little boy things that have gotten much more difficult. And it's not that I don't want to do them... it just hurts. Then there are the non-negotiables like how I need to feed them and clean them and wipe them and help them brush their teeth and wash their laundry and break up their fights. Some days I work in about half an hour of lying down into my afternoons. They're awesome for it. They just play together while I lie there semi-consciously on the couch. I also nearly always fall asleep while doing their reading lessons with them, so that's a nice little break too.

Good playmates...making loud noises

Last week I had severe back pain that I went into the doctor for. I didn't have anyone to watch the boys so they came with me and were super good; they colored and drew in the waiting room for about 40 minutes and then proceeded to talk the ears off several doctors. I had a mild infection and the antibiotics as well as a timely visit the next day to my massage therapist (and blog sponsor) have tremendously helped my back pain. It's still here, but much less intense. I also had other nice things happen during my bad back week- a friend came over and brought lunch, and then I had a much-anticipated night away with my dear friend Missy who I know all the way from the far-off land of College. These days that seems like so long ago.

We called our time away a frienassiance. She just recently finished her year of nursing her son, and to celebrate, her husband got her a night away at a bed and breakfast with spa. Lucky me got to tag along! I think it's only the second time I've spent the night away from both the boys- the other being when my sister turned 21 and we went up to New York. It was refreshing and beautiful and my back barely hurt the whole time. The woman who served us breakfast looked at my belly and asked, "When are you due, like three days ago?" Thanks for that.

Love the swing

Frienassaince!

When I came home we packed the boys up and went to a Potomac Nationals game (Single A Minor League team) as a season-ending party with our Blastball team. We sat on bleachers for one and a half games (I didn't get the doubleheader memo due to a postponed game the day before.), watched fireworks, the boys ran the bases and ate a lot of peanuts, popcorn, and funnel cake with their Red Wings teammates, and we got home super late. They loved it and it was a great night out for baseball. The P-Nats even won both games. (More than the Washington Nationals have done lately) My back barely bothered until the end and I was happy to have slept in late at the bed and breakfast that morning.

Baseball food!

Watching the catcher and pitcher warm up for game 2

The Red Wings with their certificates! 

We've decided on Peapod's name and bought the letters to put on the wall with the boys' names. We have a stroller frame now to go with our car seat. We got a little gift basket of fuzzy blue and white baby things today. I put bedding in the little crib in our bedroom. We found a diaper and wipes sale at Costco and so we've got diapers for quite awhile. It's really happening! And I'm so excited to get this child out of me and in my arms instead of strapped about my middle.

Twenty-five days until the scheduled C-section! I'm thinking things down there are going to be ready sooner than that though...

Yikes!

My Pregnant Mother's Day

I had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday. It started off with the best gift a pregnant mother could get. Seriously. Brian told me I would be puzzled when I first opened it and then it would slowly dawn on me and I'd love it. He was precisely right. At first when I uncovered everything on the kitchen table I thought, whaaat? Are we going on a giant picnic? Then I got it. Brilliant.

Perfect gift for a pregnant mom!

We won't have to do hardly any dishes until the baby comes...maybe even for awhile after. Especially with our little kitchen it seems like all I do all day is dishes, which involves being on my feet, obviously, and makes me super tired. Or else I don't do them at all and our kitchen is just gross or Brian does them all when he gets home, which chews up the afternoon. Brian told me to save the pots and pans and he'll do them when he gets home. We'll recycle everything else. Nice.

Ready for action

Yesss

Next we went to my good friend Missy's son's dedication at their church. By the way, the weather was awesome- high in the high 60s- maybe it reached 70, I'm not sure. There wasn't a cloud in the sky most of the day. After the dedication we went and got lunch and then headed downtown for the Nationals game against the Cubs. The whole way to the stadium the boys were bouncing along, with Clark saying repeatedly, "I'm so excited for the Nats game! I love going to Nats games!" Our seats in left field were in the sun, but it wasn't too hot. Though the Nats lost in the end on a dumb error, we saw five complete innings of their starter no-hitting the Cubs and the Nats had quite a few hits, though they stranded most runners. Teddy the Racing President had his first win of the season, which made the boys' day. Screech the bald eagle mascot found his mom in the crowd and brought her flowers. Some players used pink bats and batting gloves and to honor their mothers. Cute.

After the game the boys got to run the bases-something they've been looking forward to and talking about for weeks. They got nervous when we found out that Brian couldn't run around with them, but one of the girls helping out held their hands and ran around with them. The racing presidents were all on the field too. As much as they love the presidents dearly, they're still intimidated and scared by the sheer size of them, but they made it with only a little initial crying.

On the way back to our parking lot, which is about five or six blocks from the stadium, we splurged and took one of the bike taxis to the lot. The bike driver was super nice and funny and my giant body was thankful not to do that walk. The boys loved it too.

After that we picked up some food for a picnic dinner and drove to my sister and brother-in-law's softball game with the rest of Brian's family. After the game of course the boys ran the bases several times with their cousins. They came home and crashed in a happy heap of Nats gear and softball field dirt.

Lovely day. I am blessed.

The boys with little Henry- their future bases-running pal

On the way to the park- both boys insisted on bringing
gloves to catch home runs.

Good seats!

Clark poised to catch a homer. This happened often, but to no avail.

Happy Mother's Day

Cal being a baseball player with my sunglasses

Me and my boys

Hot dog munchin' 

After running the bases

The Presidents!

On the way back to the car in our bike taxi

4 Year-Olds' Sports Party

Since the boys are obsessed with sports, as I've written about here, we decided to have a sports birthday party for them. Last year it was astronauts and space robots they were obsessed with, but that phase is over and now every day is a sports day.

We borrowed sports equipment from several different friends, and set up Gammy and Poppy's yard and driveway with a baseball field, soccer field, basketball court, golf course, football field, and hockey rink. I asked everyone to wear jerseys for the occasion. We set up a popcorn machine and smoothie station on the deck, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and also had the sand table out which is always a big hit with the kids.

The past few years we've also had their birthday parties at Gammy and Poppy's house in their nice backyard and we had two beautiful days for the parties. Not so this year. About 45 minutes to an hour into the party it started raining. So we had somewhere around 60 people (half of them little people) all over in the house, with some brave ones still playing outside for awhile. It was disappointing, but obviously we knew the risk of planning such a party and we had to get over it.

I made baseball and football cupcakes for dessert. The boys and I had partially made two pinatas but I ran out of steam and never got them painted. That turned out fine actually, because doing a pinata in the house would have been a disaster, as would have been a soggy pinata outside. I got foam pennants and stickers for the kids to each decorate a pennant to take home. The favor bags were wrapped up like peanuts at a ball game.

Here are some pictures.

The boys helping put all the names on the pennants a few days before

My baseball and football cupcakes

Goodie bags wrapped like hot peanuts

Pennants to decorate

Just a ball player hydratin' 

Gammy the smoothie queen/popcorn machine runner

Brian decorated by hanging jerseys on the fences

Backyard

Four year-old birthday ball players

Pennants!

Fierce!

More athlete brothers

Henry's first pennant

So THAT's where all the lady bug stickers went...

Alex was so excited to give the boys their gift...

It's more twin brother athletes! (upside-down)

My Baby Alex is growing up!

Santiago preferred to decorate the back of his, so...

Upside down and hidden Oliver

Clark photo-bombs Sonja's delightful pennant picture.

Pretty Rebecca

Some sports snuggling with Aunt Julie

That's an intense hockey player with Uncle A

Another set of helmets to add to the collection...

Capitals bobbleheads and other Caps gear from Gammy and Poppy
They'll even get to ice skate at the Caps practice facility!

From what I've heard, even though much of the party ended up being inside,
the kids still had enough fun to be completely wiped out.

We've spent the last week enjoying all kinds of new toys from our kind friends and family. Here is some documentation of the fun the boys have had with their new things.

Thanks to Grandma, Papa, Great Grandma, and Cowboy Grandpa,
these boys have scooters, helmets, pads, and ferocity. 

They LOVE their umbrellas from Alex! We had three rainy days to try them out.

Radio-controlled cars from cousins have been motoring
all over the house. Soon we'll try them out in water, too!

Golf gear and an inside putting hole have been a big hit.

A soccer ball to decorate, awesome place-mat doodle pads, art supplies...

Today they got to try out the golf shirts and hats.

Yep, they work

They tried out the scooters and new caped superhero shirts.

Alex tended to Clark's boo-boo. Shouldn't have taken the helmet off...

The radio control also works as a tool for knee surgery on RG3.

We are so blessed by our family and friends who helped make the party fun and the birthday special for the boys. Thank you. They are constantly telling everyone that they are now four years old. Brian and I cannot believe it! These years are going so quickly.