Logan's first T-ball game

This past weekend Travis, Aiden and I piled into the car and drove to south Austin for the weekend. Logan celebrated his 4th birthday. Friday night, we ate dinner after work, then got on the road for the three and a half hour drive. We hit some traffic in west Houston. Thankfully it was in an area of town that Travis knows, so we were able to quickly maneuver around the mess.

We got to the Luck's new house a little after 10. I fell asleep at 9 and I was told that Aiden finally fell asleep at 9:30. I felt drugged when it was time to unload the car. Aiden was ready to climb into his travel crib as soon as we brought him in the house.

We sat up for an hour doing a little catch up before heading to bed. It was nice to see our old friends again! And I was impressed with how much weight JR has lost. He's been on a diet for a little over a month now (Sara?) and he's lost about 40 pounds. It's amazing what just a change of diet can do for somebody.

Saturday morning we got up for Logan's first T-ball game. Logan's team consists of three- and four-year-olds. I was so excited to see a bunch of little kids play an organized game like that. It was HILARIOUS. I laughed so much. Every time the ball went into the field, every single kid out there would run after the ball. There was an adult at every base and placed sporadically around the field to coach the kids on what to do. All in all, I was pretty impressed with these kids' abilities. They seemed to grasp the basic concept, although there was the occasional batter that ran towards third before an adult could redirect him or her.

Logan's team is called the Purple Lil' Wranglers. All the teams are called the Lil' Wranglers, but each one has a different colored shirt. It worked out well for the referee. Before he placed the ball on the tee for each kid, he would yell "Lil' Wranglers, are you ready?!" in his booming baritone voice. Of course, that would get the attention of all the kids since they all fell under that name.

Here's JR, getting Logan's team shirt on. (It was their first game, so he didn't have a t-shirt yet.)

The bats seemed to be half the length of a normal bat. They made me chuckle. Sara gave Logan some batting tips.

Aiden was pretty interested in the game. He was also really interested in the dugout, in general. I think he wanted to get in there and play with the other kids. He also found that it was fun to scale the chain-link fence. That was scary for me, but we just let him do it. We figured that if he hurt himself, he'd hopefully learn from it (he never got higher than two feet). But then he never fell down or hurt himself! That kid constantly amazes me.

Aiden and Landry spent much of the game playing the red dirt. Everyone looked like they had bad spray tan with orange hands and feet by the time we headed home.

The guy in the cowboy hat and red shirt is the referee. He would show each batter the ball and ask them which picture they wanted to aim for on the ball. Then he would set up the ball with that photo facing the batter. He was really good at luring them into what they should be doing. Some of the kids were reluctant to get up to the plate. The picture decision on the ball helped distract them. Logan's a lefty, so if he sticks with the game, he'll have one up on his opponents later in life.

After the ball was set up, the ref yelled at the "pitcher" to throw the ball. The pitcher then made the hand motions like he was throwing the ball for the batter. (Lol!) After Logan hit the ball, he knew which base to run to first.

I don't know how they decide what to do, but sometimes the kids run just to first, sometimes they had home runs. It didn't seem to matter how many times they got tagged with the ball. I guess there are no outs or strikes or balls in T-ball. It totally makes sense to me, but man was it humorous.

Super Bowl Sunday

After Aiden's fateful nap, we headed to Galveston for a Super Bowl party at Ariel and Robert's house. We were REALLY hoping the Bears would make it, to make the game a little more interesting. Since they lost to the Packers, we decided that if anyone should win, it would have to be the Packers. They were good enough to beat the Bears, so they should be good enough to win the Super Bowl. Plus, my dad's family is all from Wisconsin. That's how we chose which team to root for. Ha!

We just happened to have a green and yellow outfit for Aiden to wear. I think we got it from Logan? Either way, it was cute!

I brought cold spaghetti (a family recipe for pasta salad that involves Salad Supreme), grape jelly meatballs and buffalo wing dip. I think next time I'll try it with the mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing. That sounds pretty awesome.

Everyone that came brought food. There were chips with at least four different dips, buffalo wings and sausage. There were a good amount of people there who all took turns playing with Aiden. Aiden relished the attention.

Travis, Dana and Anthony:


Zhenya, Kostya and I:

Robert and his friend Caleb:

I didn't get my camera out until after Aiden had gone to bed, so I only took these three photos. Sometimes I'm good with the camera, sometimes I'm not! That means there is no picture of Ariel. =(

I didn't get some good conversation time with Ariel. We usually can't talk very much because Aiden is taking up my energy, or there are lots of people around which limits our conversation topics. It was nice to have just her and I for a few minutes!!

My one mistake was staying there until 11 o'clock. I was so tired the next day. I hate being tired. It was worth it though!

Aeros on Ice

A group of friends from my work got together and bought tickets to a Houston Aeros amateur hockey game this weekend. Houston doesn't have a NHL team, which is interesting. We got excellent tickets through Groupon.com for $11 per person that covered a ticket into the game, a parking pass and an on-ice photo. We weren't sure what that meant, but in the end, we didn't get the photo. Groupon.com is pretty cool. You just enter your zip code and it will pull up great coupons available in your area.

There were three sets of parents in our group (we were one of them). We all arranged for a sitter and caravan'd up together in the Yeager's SUV. We met with the rest of the group to collect our tickets. Travis went to some college hockey games when we lived in Illinois, but I'm pretty sure it was a first for the rest of us.

Zach and Linsey

I tried to take a photo of the Aeros goalie and these got in the way...

Nadya and Alexey


Fight, fight, fight, fight!!!

There weren't as many fights as I thought there would be. That guy leaning over on the right got the brunt of the hits in this particular fight. He only spit a little blood, but that was all the blood I saw the entire game.

There is an intermission game they play with the crowd where everyone gets to attempt to throw pucks into a helmet in the center of the ice. Each puck has a number on it so they know who made the shot. I think they said you can win $500 if you make it. We didn't play, but it was pretty interesting to have hundreds of pucks flying over your head. Speaking of, only one puck ever left the ice during the game and it was on the opposite side of the stadium. Phew!

We were back in Galveston to pick Aiden up from Sue's by 8pm. We had to drop him off at 11 in the morning because we had to leave for Houston during his nap time. That way, he slept at Sue's and woke up to spend the afternoon and evening with her. They always have so much fun together. We are lucky to have Sue!

Dropping Aiden off in the morning meant we had a few hours to kill before the game. We went for lunch, just the two of us. Then we stopped by Target for milk and a shelf for the kitchen. When we got back, I walked in the door and felt confused. I am so used to having to utilize every minute with a toddler, that I didn't know what to do with myself! All this free time! What to do?! We found a couple things to do around the house before Nadya and Alexey showed up. I m insanely used to constantly caring for Aiden that it felt strange. There was no toddler to pull out of the car at each stop and then chase around the house. Huh.

Go Illini!

About a month ago, Travis' grandparents (Bill and Joyce) called and said that the Fighting Illini would be playing in the Texas Bowl the Wednesday after Christmas. They are avid fans and since we already lived in the area, they decided to come down for the game. We bought enough tickets so that my family could go along as well.

Bill and Joyce came down the day before the game and they brought Travis' little brother Sean along. We exchanged gifts on Tuesday night and then went to bed so we could get some rest before the game.

The game was at 5 pm on Wednesday, but we wanted to go up beforehand to tailgate. Unfortunately for us, there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms, but we were determined to go up and take advantage of the Illini being in our neck of the woods. We made it to the gate 15 minutes before it was supposed to open, so we got in line and waiting. The marching band and the cheerleaders were supposed to have a tent set up in the parking lot at Reliant Stadium, but the weather was too crappy.

We set up our tent as soon as we got there and Travis started grilling burgers. It. Was. POURING.

Travis had our tent up in a jiffy, but we spent a good 20 minutes trying to help our Baylor neighbors set up their tent. My dad got a puncture wound while trying to help and the dang tent fell over anyway from all the water pooling on top. Ariel was standing with her back to the tent when it happened, so she got jacked in the head pretty hard. She was okay, but she had quite a goose egg from it.

My dad made chili that he reheated on the side stove.



Bill and Joyce, trying to stay dry...

My dad bought disposable ponchos to help keep us dry. They need to make longer arms on those things. I wore my rain boots, so my feet stayed dry. But since there was about two inches of standing water at all times, everyone else was saturated.

We were lucky and had seats on the same side of the stadium as the TV cameras, so everything was facing us. The Illini marching band is pretty intense. There are SO MANY people in that band. At one point they made the shape of the US and then they surrounded Illinois...

Brothers...

Orange and blue!

Overall we had a great time. I tried to get Aiden to nap before we went in to the game, but he just would not fall asleep. The main problem was that he could still see us from the car. Travis and I took turns sitting in the car with him until it was time to head in for the game. He was ridiculously clingy to me once we got in the stadium, but he was quiet and observant the entire time.

I think spending two weeks at home with me turned Aiden into a serious Momma's Boy. I'm hoping that tones down after a few days back to daycare.

Crappy Weekend

Early last week, Aiden's daycare warned us that there was a bug going around the school that involved fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Honestly, out of the three, vomiting is my least favorite. We have not had to deal with straight up vomiting from Aiden so far and for that, I am thankful. Other people's vomit always makes me gag. Generally I just get out of the way quick enough that I don't ever actually throw up at all. Once, I cleaned up after Travis and that was only because it was either that, or sit with the smell. UGH.

Needless to say, we spent the week awaiting the bug. Sure enough, Aiden came down with a fever and a LOT of diarrhea on Friday morning. I had to leave work early to pick him up. Then I spent the remainder of the day, changing his diaper every two hours.

Travis had plans already to work on Saturday and possibly Sunday, so I was absolutely dreading the advancement of whatever was ailing the baby. I got SUPER lucky and the vomiting never happened. Just lots and lots and LOTS of crap. Seriously. My weekend was FULL of crap.

By Saturday morning, Aiden's butt couldn't take it any longer and developed a full on diaper rash. He has never had one so bad. It wasn't to the point of bleeding, but it was enough to take his breath away every time I changed his diaper. I resorted to wiping with a warm, wet washcloth to cut back on irritation and switched over to Extra Strength Desitin.

I tried looking up a home remedy and the main one I came across was wiping on Maalox. I don't think that really helped any to be honest. Not to mention, it took forever because you have to wait for it to dry before applying the Desitin top coat. Otherwise, you're just locking in the moisture that is the cause of the diaper rash in the first place.

The rash waned off and on, but it was still present this morning, so I made sure to send Desitin to school with Aiden. The diarrhea was gone yesterday, but he is still having regular, soft poo, which does nothing to help the rash.

Anyhoo, Saturday we hung out at the house by ourselves all day. Travis got another set of tickets to go see the Houston Astros play, so he came home for a shower and went straight out the door. He asked if I wanted to go. By this point, the fever had been gone all day, but I wasn't up for diarrhea + public restrooms. Plus, I'd constantly be in the bathroom because I have been changing Aiden's diaper every hour to help get rid of the diaper rash.

Oh! AND I already had plans to have Jenna over for dinner! It was a nice night just the two of us. I made pork loin and then we went out to the gazebo to imbibe a few beers. We kept it an early evening, which was nice because I'm so not used to staying up late!

Travis ended up working Sunday morning but was home at lunch time. I had to teach him how to change diaper rash diapers and then we got on with our weekend. Since I had spent most of my weekend indoors with poop, I convinced Travis to take me shopping. Yay!

First we hit up Starbucks so we could walk with fraps in hand. Second, we went up to Old Navy to look for jeans, which was a mistake. I never fit their jeans. We did a quick run through at World Market before running over to the mall. I hit up the 5 for $25 sale at Victoria's Secret, then found a couple pairs of jeans at Charlotte Russe. I LOVE their jeans. They have such a huge inventory so it was easy to find the styles I like.

I bought my first pair of skinny jeans! They're amazing. I haven't been able to find a pair that I didn't feel absolutely ridiculous in. These have rolled bottoms so it feels like maybe they balance out my wide hips a little. Maybe it's all in my head. I dunno, but I like them!

After that, we rushed home to eat dinner. After putting Aiden down for the night, we went out to sit in the gazebo for a couple hours.

Despite the title of this post, it was actually a delightful weekend. ;) This poop-filled, single-mother weekend is the reason there was no post Friday and Monday's is late. I know, I know. My followers are upset by my lack of posting. They will survive, I know it!!

An Evening with the Astros

Occasionally, Travis is offered free tickets to Astros games through his work. It's a great opportunity considering how much money you can drop just on food and parking at a ball park, even without purchasing tickets. The only downfall is it requires some last minute planning. In the past, this was never an issue. But now that we have Aiden, things get a little bit tricky.

This past Friday, Travis calls me in the afternoon to see if I would want to go. I weighed the issues we might have with taking Aiden out so late past his bedtime (7:30) and decided I was willing to risk it. Another perk is that we had two extra tickets, so we could invite a couple friends to go along. The Astros-Tickets-Giveaway winners were...

The Yeager's!

Linsey had the same qualms I did about bringing Luke out so late. To help deal with any issues that might arise, we opted to ride separately. It was probably easier that way anyway since we would have had to juggle a car seat if we carpooled. Instead, we stopped at their house and they followed us into Houston.

We walked into the park just as they were singing the National Anthem. Just as we found our section (which actually turned out to be the wrong section), Rod Ryan threw the opening pitch. Our seats were in the 15th row, about halfway between home plate and third base. I was a little worried about sitting in the hot zone for rogue balls, but none ended up coming our way. The Yeager's had nachos (including Luke!) and we enjoyed the game.



Luke decided he was too embarrassed to sit with his parents and decided to sit with another kid for a while.


Luke got ants in his pants around his bedtime, so the Yeager's ended up leaving at 9pm. Aiden got past the ants in his pants stage by taking a power nap, so we were able to stay until the end of the game. Travis' boss and his family were also at the game. They had seats behind home plate, so we went over to sit with them for the last hour.

Wense, Andrew, Guy, Travis and Aiden

We left as soon as the game was over and caught the fireworks on our walk out to the car. By this point, I was hungry again, so we stopped at Taco Cabana on our ride home. We didn't get to bed until midnight, which was a little rough since Travis had to work the next morning. Aiden let me sleep until 7:15, so I fared a little better than Travis.


I'm always pleasantly surprised at how well Aiden does in these situations. It takes a lot of foresight, but it is possible!

Fri/Sat in Illinois

Friday afternoon, Aiden and I went over to Chrissie and Jordan's so Aiden could take a nap. Chrissie got home soon after and the boys were there shortly after her. Here's Audrey making her funny face with Mom.

I can't get this photo to turn sideways, but I really wanted to show it. Chrissie and Jordan have this ridiculously huge bean bag in their living room that's called a LoveSac. For some reason, it's not large enough for someone (not sure who, because that thing is large and in charge) to lay in, so they bought a matching ottoman to go with it. Audrey was keeping Aiden company while he drank his bottle after his nap.



That night, the boys grilled out while Chrissie and I did our best to catch up. After dinner, we played a card game called Golf.


Our time together was too short! In the morning, we left for Travis' grandparents' house so we could visit with his dad's side of the family. Aiden quickly took to Sean, Travis' brother (9 years his junior). Travis' grandma Joyce kept fake punching Sean with Aiden's hand and he thought it was The Funniest Thing in the World.

I am doubtful that you will be able to tell, but I noticed on this trip that all the Ward boys have bright blue eyes. I truely had not realized this. Beautiful blues!

Curt, Sean, Travis and Aiden Ward

We ate lunch in the tiki bar that the grandparents made. They made it entirely on their own and it is amazing! It is reminiscent of a Margaritaville cafe, if you know what those are like. After the BBQ we ran across town to see my brother's track meet. This was the first time (and probably last time) that I ever saw Alex run competitively. His running skills are insane. I do not comprehend why anyone would ever run by choice. Alex does it at least five days a week.

The race we saw was the 1-mile. My brother was disappointed to hear he ran it in 4 minutes and 43 seconds. ... ... ... WHAT?! I don't understand what is disappointing about that. That is INSANE. I'm lucky if I can get through a mile in 11 minutes. And Alex can do it in less than half that time. !!! It looked horribly painful though. All the guys had these twisted faces, every muscle in their body tensed. My dad pointed out that Alex had his head slightly lilted to the right. I guess that means he was tired. He had already run 400 meters that morning in a relay. Alex' personal record is 4:37, which doesn't sound that far from the 4:43 he got that afternoon. Apparently in running time, seconds can mean the world.

Alex is the one in the center of the photo wearing the maroon uniform. This was just the practice start.


Papa G kept Aiden busy with this book so I could take the opportunity to see Alex' race.

Here are the runners as they came around the track the first time. You can sort of see Alex' head tilted to the right. Funny how my dad picks up on those things.

He ended up 8th out of something like 17 runners. I was impressed, even if Alex wasn't!

Go Stros!

Last week on Thursday, we went to an Astros game against the Braves. A guy that Travis does work for offered up his season tickets for this game and he has flippin awesome seats. I'm not a huge sports fan, but I could definitely appreciate these seats. We were right behind home plate, in Row 13. Our seats were right on the aisle, so I didn't have to squeeze across people every time I had to go change Aiden's diaper. I was a little bummed to find out President Bush and his weife Barbara weren't at this game because I would have been 20 feet from them!



Travis' co-worker Jeremy, his wife Marlene and their daughter Addison went to the game also.



Daddy was so excited about the game that he ran out and bought shirts for Aiden and I. He had to go to four different stores to find baby Astros gear. He was adamant that his son represent the team!

Aiden did really great the entire game. I tried to get him to sleep since it was way after his bedtime. He only slept for 30 minutes, but I felt good that he at least got in a nap.

Travis and I had hot dogs and a few beers. The lady behind us was super nice, but her voice was super annoying. It was really high pitched and screechy. Hence the reason for Aiden's miniscule 30-minute nap. She thought Aiden was the cutest thing though. I just weeded through the 50 pictures she took of us during the game to pull out these five.

It was a late night. I didn't get to bed until midnight!! Oh well, it was worth it. I got to be there for Aiden's very first major league baseball game!