What's UP?

We have been crazy busy around here lately. Baylor has been playing baseball since March, Callan has been playing since April and Silas started last week. I know those in my life are tired of hearing us say we cannot do something because of baseball, but that is just where we are right now. And with 2 parents and 3 kids playing in different locations (and the inability to clone myself), you do what you have gotta do. We seem to have had a lot of family time at ball games, but our meals have been horrible and things around the house have gone to the way-side.




I think I have said it before, but Baylor is playing on a 9U travel/tournament team. The team is really good, however they also face some really good teams and some really tough competitors. It has been a joy to watch him do something that he is so passionate about, the look on his face alone tells you how intense he is about his game and his playing time. Momma gets a little intense too. In fact, yesterday's game which ended in a loss but is going to be challenged by our team almost did me in. Baylor was up to bat and the pitch (that was TOTALLY a ball) was called a strike. If the catcher drops the ball on the 3rd strike then the batter has the opportunity to take off running to 1st. Longer story short... because Baylor heard the strike call he turned to look behind him (at the dugout) and at third for the runner on 3rd base to see what play was taking place (the run to first rule is hard to remember)... coaches screamed for him to run... so he took off... made it to first and then made it to 2nd on an over throw. Where the ump proceeded to call him out for "surrendering the play at home plate " because he turned toward the dugout before he ever took off running. Talk about the stands going wild... it was crazy, rule books were pulled and a $50 protest fee was pooled so we could protest the call. I do not know when we will find out about the protest call, but the score was 7 to 6 (we were 6) if it is deemed an unfair call we will have to start the game over at that place (with Bay on 2nd) and finish out the game. (Yesterday we ended up losing that game to them but won the second one 23 to 3... only, the first game was the only one that counted in the league we play in). Fun times I tell you, fun times. No wonder this kid in my belly does flips all day long with all the screaming and yelling, jumping and hoping going on at ball games, he is sure to think we are all mad.

Belly pictures to come, not that I really want to post them because I think he is taking residence in a forming double chin... but someday I am sure I will want to remember.

Jumping on the labor train...

Here we go...

To know me and my labors is to know that I tend to start having contractions around 34-35 weeks. They are considered Braxton Hicks as they do not really do anything to progress labor. They only bother me slightly and cause me stress in constantly wondering what is going on, on the insides. Well tomorrow, I will be 32 weeks and they have already started. In fact I have been having them since about 28-29 weeks. Nothing too crazy, nothing to share with the doctor, nothing more than the bother that they are.

Until this weekend.

Evidently Baby Cruz is glad that daddy is home and wanted to produce a little excitement. Saturday night after falling asleep, I woke both me and Brent up breathing and tossing through a pretty heavy contraction. That was it... nothing more. Then Sunday night around 7PM they started up again about every 10 minutes, only this time they weren't just the contractions, I was also cramping and getting nauseous. GREAT! I thought that I would hold off until my scheduled appointment on Tuesday since I was able to sleep through the night okay and they seemed to have calmed down. But then the cramping would not go away and I was really feeling nauseous. So I called... I do not know why really... I knew what they were going to do and say... "Come in lets check you out." So I went, because I had become an emotional mess worrying about what in the world was going on.

Basically, they checked things out. Everything is hanging tight and they did a little test to check to see if labor was beginning (or would begin in the next 14 days) and it came back negative. They put me on a monitor where I got to listen to his heart beat and feel him try to kick the monitors off for about an hour. I had a contraction or 2 while being monitored, but I could tell that they were very small compared to the other ones I had been having. The whole laying back and relaxing thing seems to work wonders.

Actually, what I am starting to think is... I have a sensitive womb (trying to stay away from technical terms for my male readers). If Cruz brushes against it and agitates it, I have a contraction... if my bladder is too full, I have a contraction... if I bend over to put shoes on my 2 and 4 year old, I have a contraction... if I get excited and jump up and down at a baseball game, I have a contraction. But if I lay real still, nothing much happens.

So, all is well in Cruz's little Casa. It is holding strong for the big boy. Momma however is becoming more and more scared about the fact that this one is going to put me in the loony bin someday because your last one should not be the most high maintenance, and the wildest to date...right????

Mixed Emotions

You know those sweet little questionaires that you get from the kids on Mother's Day. You know the ones that say you are 3 inches tall and 21 pounds, and that you love salad. I got two of those this week, one from Silas and one from Callan. They have me a little concerned, and a little self conscious.

When Silas was asked When is Mommy funny, he replied... "She is not funny". When Callan was asked what makes Mommy look funny he replied... "When she "lafs"". So, evidentally I am so scary when I "laf" Silas would like to block out all of my funny moments, or maybe I don't have any funny moments, so when I do laugh...my laugh is awkward and scary??? What to do? What to do?

(I decided to tickle monster them both until they nearly peed and we were all a laughing pile in the floor)

Wordless Wednesday

Callan and Baseball

Since we were supposed to have a game tonight that got rained out, I thought I would post some pictures of Callan's game last week. He definately does not have the baseball intensity that his older brother has, but he is getting the SWING of it.

At bat:


Made it to first


On to second


Baseball ready to go to 3rd.

Silly Saturday

Right now, I am probably off to one of the many baseball games that will make up this week. Unless it is raining as bad as it did yesterday. Brent is probably in the air somewhere over Central America.

Anyway, Silas did something yesterday that totally cracked me up and I had to share/ remember. Silas is a serious creature of habit. He does not like change- AT ALL. He is a momma's boy and so sensitive that even just fussing at him sends him into a meltdown. EVERY DAY for lunch the boy eats (turkey) Bologna, and "stick" cheese... EVERY DAY. We might change it up with chips, fruit, yogurt, pretzel crackers or something else, but EVERY DAY he eats Bologna and "stick" cheese. Most of the time when it is time for lunch, I ask... "Silas, what do you want for lunch?" Just at the off chance that someday he might say, "I think I will have a PBJ today, mom." Today, I guess I did not ask... I just made his lunch and set it on the table. He came into the room looked at the table and in his high pitched most excited voice, my little angel says:

"HOW DID YOU KNOW I WANTED BOLOGNA AND STICK CHEESE? THANK YOU MOMMA!"

I cracked up. The boy has no idea that he eats it every day, he has no idea that it is a constant worry of mine that not only does he seem so OCD, but he also eats more bologna in a month than I have in my lifetime. He is in his own little bologna bubble, never getting tired of it. Oh, to be 4 and just be happy with bologna and stick cheese... not even realizing that you ate it yesterday... and the day before... and the day before... and...

Favorite Foto Friday

This is "Cruz". No, obviously not our soon to be born and named Cruz. But, a little boy in Nicaragua who has captured Brent's heart so much so that he wanted to use his name. Sadly, it is our understanding that "Cruz" has been taken out of the orphanage by the government for a child deemed more needy.
Brent leaves tomorrow for another week long mission in Nicaragua. The plan is for them to construct a classroom along side the building they built last year and spend the rest of the time in the barrios and with the men who have stepped up in those barrios to pastor churches. They hope to help provide them with some training. This is always a long hard week. Both physically with getting up early and staying up late working fingers and backs to the bone, and mentally with just all their exposed to and seeing the work God has planned for them. There are 23 able bodied men going on this trip, and they will all come back changed. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do.

I would appreciate your prayers while he is away. Both for the team going (safety from injury, sickness, open mind, open hearts) and for us at home. It is going to be a very busy week for us with the school year starting to wind down and with baseball most every night. Right before he goes, I always get a little stressed, and at some point I am sure I will be overwhelmed. BUT, it is always worth it when I see the change that has occurred in my husband and hear his stories that sometimes take weeks to unfold.

P.S. If going and getting this "Cruz" and bringing him here were an option... it would be done.