Fall Ball

Well, fall baseball games have begun. Kevin called a scrimmage this past Tuesday, and we had an exhibition game this past Thursday. The boys did really well! Riley's hitting is back to great, and he is currently playing 2nd base. He is really making some awesome progress at catching! He is soooo not afraid at all of the ball...it's a little shocking, how he just goes for it no matter what...and doesn't seem to care if you throw it hard. I'm so impressed! He still has room for improvement of course, but my goodness he's doing wonderfully! He is SUCH a little hustler! Hopefully by the end of this season he'll feel even more confident about his position!

Talan is doing so good, too! He's following directions, and on Thursday he made it all the way to 3rd before getting out off of one of his hits. (It wasn't a triple, but with other batters, he made it to 3rd.) I am so proud of him, too! He played in the dirt a lot on defense, but what do you expect--it's boring out there!

I'm telling you, they are both just adorable in their baseball gear. There is just nothing cuter than baseball uniforms altogether, though, is there? If so, I've never run across it...baseball uniforms are the absolute cutest! In fact, every year I find myself just gazing at my boys, loving how adorable they look in their little pants (the best is when their pinstriped) and sporty hats. We don't have uniforms yet this season, but we should by Monday. Oh, and I don't have any during the game pics because little Ansley kept me busy/confined what have you...when I would finish nursing, she wanted to be held. So I got pics afterwards.

Spencer is enjoying the free time he gets during the games. He runs around getting into stuff, plays his DS, and studies a little bit for upcoming tests. He helps Kevin when he needs it, but overall he loves not having anything to do! And I like it when he hangs out in the van with me too (Ansley keeps me hostage there a lot).








And here's Ansley during their exhibition game...after eating, of course :)

Proud Mommy

Well, Talan officially writes his name correctly! I am soooo proud of my little boy! He's doing wonderfully. He also recognizes the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and writes them in his own little way. Here are some pics of his work.




Here are some pics of Talan riding his bike--you can see him standing up on the pedals! He is very daring--loves to fly down hills without any fear at all!




And here is my Ansley again, this time in blue. Of course, on a stroller ride. It seems I'm going to have a lot of pictures of her stroller rides!

Ansley's 3 weeks today!

Where oh where does the time go??? I can't believe she is already 3 weeks old today! She has been starting to noticeably focus on our faces. She's so funny! She is a really loud breather when she sleeps, and if she does so happen to find your face and you are talking to her, she will wrinkle up her forehead, raise her eyebrows, and stare as though she is very surprised. Then she begins her heavy breathing LOL. She is so funny! And an absolute joy!

Is she sleeping through the night? Why NO! Of course not! She's too young anyway, but since I'm nursing her she conveniently wakes me up when she's hungry...every 3-5 hours--it just depends--and then I feed her a little, change her, and then feed her a little more...then it could be her or me who falls fast asleep first. I enjoy these nights with her. I just love the way she feels so safe in my arms. I love the way she likes to snuggle up to me...to smell me. I love her little cry to let me know when she's hungry and I'm taking too long, or when she's not happy about being changed. I love waking up to see her sweet face. I just love taking care of my baby girl! And I love saying "baby girl," too. It's so funny, but saying, "I just love my baby girl," is one of the main things I say all the time to her. The actual words "baby girl" roll of the tongue so well. It's fun to say! I know, it's silly. But it's really true.

She's also gotten to where she wants to hold me back by hugging me with her tiny arms or just laying her hand on my chest or even holding onto the back of my arm as she nurses or when I burp her. So precious to feel her small, perfect hand on me!

Mischief

Talan is so mischievous. He is rotten to the core! But I love it! Take tonight. Since we had ball practice, we got fast food. Long Johns, actually. Well, I initially ordered a sweet tea and then Kevin later changed it to a Dr. Pepper since we have sweet tea at home. Riley must have overheard, and when he got home wanted his sweet tea. He was very upset that he didn't get one after all. I explained that we didn't order drinks--only one for Daddy, but that we had sweet tea here anyway, so I would make him one. Then of course Talan wanted tea as well. Then I asked Spencer what he wanted, since I was already giving out nontraditional dinner time drinks. He wanted Mello Yello. Now the only reason we even have Mello Yello 2 Liters here is because some visitors brought it over with their food for us. Yes, I like Mello Yello, but I have pretty much cancelled caffeine out except for occasional use. (I have been brewing decaf sweet tea.) Anyway, I obliged and let him have Mello Yello, and told him it probably wouldn't happen again.

Talan saw the Mello Yello, which I accidentally put near Talan, and asked, "What's this?" in an excited manner. I said, "Oops, Spencer. That's your drink. Get that from Talan, please. Talan, that's Spencer's. Sorry."

Talan says, "But I want it!"

"No, it's Spencer's. I got you tea like you asked."

"But I want it!!!! Pleeeeeeaaaaase?"

"No. It's Spencer's."

"Well, I already took a drink of it!" (Knowing I'll let him have it then, so as not to spread germs.)

"No you did not."

"Yes, I did! I took a drink of it!!!"

"No you did not!"

"Yes I did!!!!" [Spencer has the drink by now, though.]

That little stinker! He did not take a drink of that Mello Yello!

Then a while later, after I had cleared the table and they were nearly ready for bed, Talan, Spencer, and I are in the kitchen...Talan saw Spencer's partially empty glass sitting on the counter and scooped it up and took a big gulp before I could react. Oh he's a mess!

A Conversation With Riley And Some Updates

We had baseball practice tonight, which means that we of course got a late start on eating dinner and all that good stuff. Well, the boys have school pictures tomorrow, so even though it was late and Riley had a bath yesterday, I went ahead and washed his hair so that it would work well with me in the morning. (We usually do baths for Riley and Talan every other night unless their actually dirty.) Spencer does showers, and sweats almost everyday...so he's in the shower almost every night.

As I was blow drying Riley's hair, Spencer asked,"So, Riley and Talan have to take a bath tomorrow, right?"

"Right."

Then Riley adds, "Yeah, it has to be tomorrow. Not the next day."

I ask, "Why not the next day?"

"Because I'm going to the Tennessee game on that day."

"Oh, that's right. So it can't be that day." (Actually, it can, if he gets dirty at the game...but I just wanted to make it easy and agree.)

"Are you going to the game, Mom?"

"No. I'm going to stay home with the baby."

"But you could take her with you."

"Yes, but it would be better to stay at home because if she cries, no one will have a good time. So I'm just going to stay at home and take good care of her here."

"Alright."

"You know, when you go to the game, and every time you go to school, Ansley and I miss you."

"Well, if it's in the game, and it's starting the second half, you can tell her I'll be home in a minute. And if the game is almost over, and it's at the end, tell her I'll be home in a second. But if we just got there, and the game's just starting, tell her I'll be home in one hour."

"Okay, Riley, I'll tell her." (I was impressed that he knew the differences in time values--well you know, from greatest to least is pretty good! When do they teach that?)

"And don't forget to give her her 2 dolls."

"Okay. Which one does she like better?"

"The one that makes noise."

"Okay."

"Just give her that one, and if she doesn't like that one, then you can try the other one."

"Okay. So is that the big one or the little one?"

"The big one. She likes the big one for me. But I don't know which one she'll like for you."

How sweet he is! I love how involved he feels! In reality, he doesn't play with her all that much. He has had a bad cough that just went away, so we've sort of been keeping them apart. Plus he has been all into the Wii lately...but he'll just smile the sweetest grin when I tell him to give her a kiss on the head and when I tell him how much she loves her Riley kisses. Riley has such a loving heart!

Oh...and both of my boys did so well at practice!!! I am super proud of Riley for hustling and getting those grounders and throwing hard throws. He's totally not afraid of the ball, and even caught a throw to him while he was on 2nd. I couldn't believe it!

Talan played a lot in the dirt, but he also did so good going after the balls! He's still working on getting his glove open wide enough and down correctly, but he hustled and did great!

It turns out that Spencer's age group will not be playing after all. He's not too disappointed. though. This is the first off season he has had since he was 4! He has been in baseball, basketball, and football...meaning year round and all the time. He will likely enjoy his time running around and just being a kid.

Spencer is so very sweet to Ansley too. He's so mature! At least sometimes :) When I picked them up from school today, Ansley was crying. He comforted her, saying, "Ansley, Ansley," over and over...and she stopped crying. He did this the entire way home, changing it to "Answey, Answey," and saying that she likes it when he calls her that. Spencer is an excellent big brother. She is going to totally love him.

SAHMs

It's official. I requested to extend my unpaid leave at school to the end of the year. Today I got the letter. I was granted the extension. Here is my list of pros and cons that I have been wrestling with in my brain for some time now. Although I wrote this earlier this week, I am actually just posting it now, 9/5...because I just got the approval notice.

Some wonderful things about staying at home (right now):

1. I get to have these precious memories with my baby...not someone else.
2. This is my last year with Talan before he starts Kindergarten. And when that happens, time really begins to fly :(
3. Babies are only babies once :(
4. This is my last one, and I want to soak it all in.
5. My personal opinion is that babies belong with their mommies when possible. Feel free to disagree. That's just how I feel.
6. I can focus on only my children for now, and I'm not as stressed out at the end of the school day.
7. Now when I pick up my boys, I have a genuine smile on my face and am eager to hear about their day and all they have to say...rather than getting onto them about getting their things together so we can leave [my classroom at the end of the school day] to go get Talan and I guess now it would be Ansley too--both at different places.
8. I won't have to argue with Kevin about whose turn it is to take off when the boys get sick.
9. I get to focus on prepping Talan for K, and I will hopefully get him reading some 3-letter words at least before school begins for him.
10. I will never get this time back. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Some cons of being a SAHM this year:

1. Lack of adult conversation. (Kevin just doesn't have a whole lot to talk about. And college football starting tonight did not help matters!)
2. No concrete deadlines, objectives, or goals...I set my own, which mean sometimes I'm the only who notices I even did anything. (I know--waaaah waaaah LOL)
3. I feel "out of the loop."
4. I'm missing out on the one chance I'll ever get to teach Spencer 1 subject.
5. Ummmm....money!!!!!!!!!!

Learn a Little Each Day

I once had a teacher--the one that focused on Kindergarten instruction--who said that his motto was to "learn a little each day." Well, that's what I've been doing with Talan, and it's going really well!

Talan has been able to write his name on his own since around the time he had his 3rd birthday. Not because I sat down and "taught" him, but because I would always write his name for him as something to do, and show him what it looked like, and such...and then he would do his version next to it. For never having been really instructed on how to form the letters and such, he did awesome. His "T" was always a lowercase T, and both of his a's were always backwards (the sticks were on the wrong sides), and sometimes he would leave out the l. I joked that he would always write "tlolon" as his name. But still, pretty impressive I thought. Especially the first time that I saw him do it.

Well, now that we are buckling down and getting ready for Kindergarten, I have been working with him on making his name correct. So the biggest thing has been writing his name correctly. I have been focusing on getting those a's right on paper. He's getting it--but it has taken some practice because he has written his a's the other way for so long. I really should have taken care of that a long time ago! So all in all, these are most of the things we have been doing....

1. Practice writing name correctly. (With a focus on the a's. Will work on capital T's once the a's have been mastered)
2. Working on the sounds /t/ and short /a/. He is doing fantastic!
3. Practicing writing the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and putting the correct amount of items on each number.
4. Meanings of "same size," "same," "bigger," "smaller," and "different." Doing great on these, but "same size" for some reason is tricky...I think it's because all the rest in the row are about the same size too.
5. Things that "belong together" like a racquet with a ball.
6. Coloring neatly.
7. Holding a pencil correctly (Hard right now!).
8. I've introduced AB patterns, but just once.

On the worksheets out of the book, we do them together for a few days to practice the skill before I let him actually write in the book and circle the answer.

Talan really loves it so far. After I'm done, he likes to do it to me...so he can boss me around, I think! He'll be like, "Okay, now write your name right here." "Trace this." And even, "Draw 2 circles right there. Good job, Mommy!" So, as you can see, we are definitely "learning a little each day." I think Talan's fave part is just having my undivided attention. I like it, too :)

We have a neighborhood friend that is Spencer's age. He is such a sweet boy, and since school has not started back for him yet, he has come over to play with Talan outside almost each day. He has went on bike rides with us, and also came over to jump on the trampoline. Talan is over the moon when this boy comes over. He is so kind to Talan, and really is quite innocent compared to other 4th graders I know. He is a little different in several ways. It makes Talan so happy to have another child to play with! It's too bad he'll be back in school soon! Too bad there isn't another preschooler that could come over a few hours a few days a week. Talan would enjoy that. If you know anyone who needs a part-time babysitter for a while for a 4 or 5-year-old, let me know!


Talan with the neighborhood friend


Ansley on another stroller ride. Isn't she lovely?


I love her expression in this one!