Sports Lessons

Yesterday was a lesson in life, and actually a hard lesson to learn. Mandy’s volleyball team played in their first gold tournament, and it was a hard day. It was a real lesson for the girls. They played mostly Omaha elite gold teams. As I said, it was a difficult day.

Before I go any farther, I should probably say that if you are one of those people to whom winning comes easy, if you are one of those people whose team defeated every opponent, who succeeded at every try out, who won every election they ever took part in during their teen years, then you should probably stop reading. This blog is not for you; you won’t understand.

This blog is for those people who have had to play on teams that struggled. For the people who were on teams that played in elite tournaments and didn’t win a game. For the people who found themselves finishing just short of coming out on top. It’s a hard place to be and it makes a person question themselves and if it is all worth the struggle. It’s probably what makes people what they are. It also shows people what you are made of.

Before I go any farther, I should mention that Mandy’s team is not crap. Last weekend they played in another tournament at the same location that didn’t include solely Omaha gold elite teams and they finished third. (This is under discrepancy because Mandy says they finished third and Rick says they finished second, but whatever.)

But today the team just wasn’t playing at its best. Unfortunately the other teams were. Mandy’s team wasn’t completely spanked. They had some decent plays and they always got 15-20 points. But the other teams always reached 25 first.

It wasn’t a day that you could blame solely on one person, although sometimes it’s nice to try. Our back row just could not make decent passes to our setter. Mandy missed a couple of hits, but only missed one serve the whole day. We had some strong hits, but not enough to win. None of the teams we played were so good that we couldn’t have pulled ourselves together and won. In the middle of each set we would seem to lose concentration just long enough for the other team to go on a streak and gain momentum, enough that we couldn’t battle back and get a win.

During the first couple of matches, Mandy would get mad. She plays middle hitter, and so she plays mainly the front row. A libero comes in for her and the other middle after they serve and reach the back row. It was extremely frustrating to stand on the side when the back row was struggling and not do anything but yell encouragement from the side when all you want to do is get in there and help your friends. So when Mandy would get back in, she would scream for the ball and make some hard hits. That was about until almost the end of the round robin play.

By the time they played their last team in the round robin, they were starting to question if they would ever win. They were starting to question what they were doing there. They were starting to question if they should be playing volleyball at all. If you’ve ever been at this point, you know how they felt, and it’s a terrible place to be. If you’ve never been at this point, well you’ve been truly blessed and you should probably have stopped reading at the top of this blog.

It was a real lesson in character. There is one girl on Mandy’s team who I am just going to love forever. Mandy has played spirit volleyball with her before, but this is the first time they have been on a club team together. She has traditionally struggled. She has a killer serve and her hits can be incredibly hard. But those are on her good days. On her off days her serves miss the court and her hits go into the net. And in the past she has had a few more off days than good days. (Today, btw, was a good day.) But I will love this girl forever because she never gave up. I suppose this is what comes from playing through adversity. At the end of the day some of the girls were playing in tears, but this girl was still fighting and encouraging the rest of them. This is what strength of character is all about. We all could take a lesson in that.

There are a couple of girls on Mandy’s team that came over from the other Magic gold team last year. (Magic, Mandy’s volleyball club, has more than 50 14-year-old girls playing for them this year. So they have about five 14-year-old teams, two of them are gold teams. The head of Magic split last year’s gold team so that he could have two gold teams this year. I should also mention that the other gold team was at this same tournament and made it to the championship bracket after the round robin portion. But they lost in the first bracket there.) A couple of these girls gave up trying after the first two games. When they were in the last game of the round robin, these girls were just going through the motions. They didn’t serve their hardest, and they didn’t hit the ball hard. They just kind of lobbed it back over the net so they could get this thing over with and go home. Mandy tried to be the team leader and motivate everyone and get something going on, but these girls’ attitudes just crushed her. She wanted to win and she just could not get her head around how some girls couldn’t care about the rest of the team and couldn’t help fight for them. The real blow was when one of these couple girls was overheard laughing to a girl on the other Magic gold team about the team’s losses. How can you make fun of your own team? Fourteen-year-old girls are strange creatures.

They are also cruel creatures. We also got a lesson in how to be a poor winner. One of the moms was standing on the side of the court with her little kids, close to the bench of the other team we were playing at the time. The girls on the other bench were laughing at our team when we would make a mistake. Not quietly laughing. Very obviously laughing. I think I should point out that none of these girls played a perfect game. They also made mistakes. They really weren’t beating us by that many points so that anything was that funny. Also, I think these girls should remember that they were on the bench, not on the court playing the game.

The mother did what I don’t think I could have done. She spoke up. She told the girls on the other team, “Hey, not cool. What are you laughing about? They are trying just as hard as you are.” Clearly these girls haven’t lost enough games to know what good sportsmanship is. They either have never been taught how to be a good winner, or they have never known what it is like to end up the loser. It’s that tiny bit of spite in me that hopes that God has a sense of humor and that someday these girls will find themselves in the same situation, with someone laughing at them when they are down. Not cool.

But they day wasn’t a total loss. Oh, don’t misread that statement. We didn’t win the consolation round or anything like that. But after a dismal round robin, most of the team picked themselves back up, dusted themselves off, and played a competitive game in the consolation bracket. I don’t remember the score, but it wasn’t embarrassing, but we didn’t win either.

Before this game Mandy had had it. She said she was tired of always being on a team that loses. She didn’t think she could do this anymore. She had hit an all-time sports low. But out of the ashes, the phoenix rises. Of course, this wasn’t the movies so they didn’t win it all. After they ran some lines, they got together in a circle with their arms around each other and did some goofy cheers. They did some shuffle dances. They screamed and hollered and laughed and giggled. If only I had had my video camera. They decided not to beat themselves up and to make something out of the day. They had fun together off the court.

Then they went over and played one last game. After they lost, in true volleyball tournament fashion, they then had to ref the next game. There’s nothing like slapping you when you are down. At the volleyball tournaments the losing team always has to ref the next game for the team that just beat them. But nobody cried about it. They laughed and enjoyed being together.

Then we got in our cars and drove home. We hit Sam and Louie’s for some pizza when we got back to Lincoln. Joe regaled us with imitations of door-to-door fruit salesmen with strange carny accents. Don’t ask. He always knows how to make us laugh.

The girls have two weeks to practice until their next tournament. I hope their coach Taylor made lots of mental notes about what the girls need to work on so they can win a few matches in their next gold tournament. Because you don’t just quit trying after you have a bad day. Mandy said she wasn’t ready to quit playing volleyball yet. So that’s good.

This is her third year playing club volleyball, and the seasons generally start this way. At the beginning you lose more matches than you win, and you might only make it to the consolation round. But as the season goes on and you work on the things in which you struggle, and the girls have more practice playing together, and you get better. You start making it to the championship brackets, and maybe even the final championship game. Many of the teams we played Saturday have played together since they were little. This was only the second time Mandy’s team had ever played together. They will start to work together better and will work out the kinks.

And that’s what happens when you play hard competition. If you only wanted to win games, you could play at a lower level and wipe the floor with everyone. But would you get any better? Would you know what it takes to play with the elite teams? Would you know what it takes to try out for a Class A volleyball team? That’s why you pick yourself up and try again. To get better.

That’s what makes a person stronger. It’s easy to put yourself out there if all you ever do is win. But it takes a strong person to put yourself out there when it isn’t easy and when the chances are low. That’s when the wins are the sweetest and the accomplishments are the greatest.

So don’t feel sorry for our girls. True, they are starting out on the bottom. And I’m not going to pretend this is Hollywood and that they are going to climb all the way to the top.

But they are only going to get better and they are going to be better people for it. They will appreciate the wins when they come – because there will be some wins. The girls have the skills; they just need some fine tuning.

And I can truly say that they will appreciate how it feels to have the losses. No girl on our team will laugh or demean someone on a losing team. Winners have to learn to be gracious too. And I think that is also something to be just as proud of.

Silver and Green

Last night was the open house at Lincoln Southwest High School. Yep, Mandy finally made a decision. She wants to go to Lincoln Southwest, home of the Silverhawks and block scheduling. I guess now we are going to be buying a lot of green.

Strangely I am not as petrified as I thought I would be. Sure, I’m anxious about my little girl going to high school, especially a class A high school. But I’m feeling pretty good overall about how she will do and how she will fit in.

The block scheduling will be a novelty for us. She will have eight classes a school year. But she will take four 90-minute classes the first half of the year, and another four the second half. The idea, they said, is to concentrate on just the four subjects, accomplish more in each area during that time, and better prepare the students for that kind of concentrated study in college. Whoa. College. Let’s not be getting ahead of ourselves here. I know high school goes fast, but baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Mandy currently gets straight As, and has done so for the past couple of years. So she is interested in the DIF classes, which are the more challenging/advanced classes. Her friend Megan takes mostly DIF classes at East and gets As. Megan says Mandy should be able to handle it too. So I guess this will be the plan. Hard classes for 90-minutes each. Yikes.

I am happy she is ecstatic about high school. Rick printed off the course offerings from the Internet so she could start picking the classes she wants to take next year. We can’t believe how many classes they offer. Thankfully we are going to make an appointment in the next month or so with a counselor. That way she can make a plan as to which classes she needs as requirements each year for college prep. Then she can pick all the fun ones after she has her core classes taken care of.

The open house was really well done. Southwest has these student ambassadors that cheerfully approached the students with green folders containing all sorts of fun info when we walked in the doors. We followed the crowd into the gym and found a ton of friends Mandy knew from volleyball, soccer, and basketball. I guess being Miss Congeniality is paying off. The girl will have plenty of friends from day one. All these girls kept running up to her in the hallways, squealing with excitement. There’s nothing like dozens of squealing 14-year-olds except, maybe, dozens of squealing 14-year-olds at 2am.

It was about at this point of the evening that I realized that my daughter might possibly be a little more developed than 95% of her classmates. Not only was she much taller, but most of the other future freshmen looked like little kids. I mean, there were a few boys that were as tall as Mandy, but I didn’t see any girls that were even close to her in height. I know those girls are out there. Every volleyball team she plays has one or two middle hitters that are as tall as she is, but they evidently weren’t there last night. And man, did we hear about her height.

After the performances from the cheerleaders and the band, the dance squad, student testimonials, and the show choir, we got to check out all the activity booths. We, of course, went to the athletics area first. We met the volleyball coach, who says, “Oooooh a tall one.”

Mandy is anxious about trying out for high school volleyball. But it sounds as if there are quite a few teams at Southwest, so there is room for quite a few girls. They have a freshman team, a reserve team, a junior varsity and a varsity team. (I think I might have missed one or two.) The varsity finished 3^rd in state for 2011. I’m sure the competition is pretty fierce considering how many girls play club volleyball in Lincoln. So we will see.

Mandy, of course, has a great attitude about the whole thing. She says if she doesn’t make the high school team she will just play club ball in the winter again for Magic. It sounds as if there isn’t a lot of required strength conditioning for volleyball ahead of time. Mandy’s friend Megan had to go to the weight room a couple of times a week during the summer to get ready for volleyball and had to run a mile at tryouts. While Southwest doesn’t require it, strength conditioning in the weight room during the summer is strongly encouraged, the coach said.

Unfortunately for Rick, I believe the weight room is shared by the volleyball prospects and the football prospects. We already had a taste of this last summer at volleyball camp. On the first day of camp, I walked in the side doors of the school to go to the gym and walked directly into a mob of sweaty football players who were there for conditioning. They were lining up the hallway to the gym so they could scout out the volleyball girls as they made their way to volleyball camp. And you could read exactly what they were thinking on their faces. Mandy walked in the door behind me and hesitated at the door. She said, “Mom I don’t think this is the right door.” One of the boys quickly jumps up and says, “Oh yeah, you have to walk right down the hallway to get to the gym.” So we have to walk through a pack of leering high school boys, many who were shirtless, to get to camp. I didn’t get to talk to Mandy until I picked her up after camp that day. The first thing she said when she got in the car was, “Mom, I am SO going to that school.” Rick is in so much trouble.

So we hit the volleyball table and met the volleyball coach. Then we hit the soccer table to meet the soccer coach, a guy several inches shorter than our daughter. As Mandy walks up, he says, “And we even welcome tall players.” Yep, another tall comment. Of course he wanted to know if she liked to play goalie. I’m not sure Mandy will go for this, or if I am too keen on the goalie idea. Rick says that a lot of goalies end up getting stitches. I am not all for that. Also, Mandy wouldn’t be able to push and shove anybody out on the field. She lives for that kind of stuff when she is going after the ball. She is somewhat of a brawler.

It’s too bad we weren’t on the ball, or we could have gotten Mandy into hockey when she was younger. Hockey would be her ideal sport. She could crash other players into the side of the rink, and push and shove her way through the game. When we go to the Lincoln Stars games, she screams for the players to fight. It’s somewhat funny to see this sweet pretty girl get worked up. (However, I think there are a couple of boys who might disagree with that statement. Hell hath no fury…)

She likes to play aggressive, which is a little trying during her girls’ basketball games. Her Rec basketball team played their first games this weekend and Mandy had to sit out a good part of one of the games because she nearly fouled out. She and another tall, stocky girl were getting into it during one of the games going after the rebounds. If you know Mandy, especially if she has babysit for your kids, you would be very surprised how she can push and shove. I’m not wild about this side of her, but, as long as she leaves it all out on the court I suppose it’s OK. I just don’t want anybody getting punched in the mouth. Hell also hath no fury like a woman getting out rebounded.

But it’s not something we are going to have to worry about in high school. Mandy made sure to steer her dad clear of the girls’ basketball table. She says “absolutely not.” And when she makes up her mind -- that is that.

And that’s not the only sports table she skipped. Southwest has all kinds of sports Rick and I never had in high school. They have swim team, baseball, softball, tennis and even Trap. We thought about this one. But we will have to wait and see how Mandy’s shooting is this spring and summer. I guess Southwest has a really strong Trap program and has won a lot of trophies. The coach really works with the kids in the area middle schools to get them shooting early and it seems to be paying off.

Next we went into the huge entry way and were overwhelmed by the number of activities and clubs at Southwest. There were soooooo many tables. There were the ones that I remembered from school. There was the Student Council, FBLA, DECA, yearbook, debate, band, cheerleading, dance team, and chorus. But there was also Asian Caucus, newspaper, science Olympiad, recycling club, bowling, student ambassadors, service learning club, FCA, French club, Japanese club, orchestra, math club, theater/drama, and all sorts of other specialized stuff. If a kid wants to get involved in something, there are all kinds of clubs where they can find kids just like them to make friends.

Mandy hit the drama club table. She loves the school plays. She and her brother love to play villains, go figure. It’s funny to me how she so hates drama in her life (why she has sworn off boys for the time being), but she loves drama on stage and can really ham it up. I never attempted this in high school. The kids must get this from their dad. Rick played Captain Von Trap in his high school’s production of the “Sound of Music.” He had a whistle and sung the solo “Edelweiss” all by himself. What a dreamboat. Sigh.

When we first walked into this area, we found ourselves at the math club table. We had been so distracted by all the tables and people, that when we finally got our bearings, there were two math boys looking up at Mandy with big smiles on their faces. Rick says, “Man, they really wanted to show you their math trophies.” Who knew you could get trophies for math? And Rick, he’s always trying to see the bright side. He says, “Well, if nobody asks you to homecoming, there’s always the math club.”

It seems inconceivable that Mandy will soon be old enough to go to high school. It seems inconceivable that there are about 2,000 students at Southwest. I saw one of my old classmates, Julie, last night at the open house. She was taking her twin boys to the football table. She remarked how she also felt overwhelmed by how many students go to the school and the amount of things available to the kids. We came from a class of 54. We can’t imagine our kids in a class of 500.

But I think it will be OK. The high school kids there seemed to be having a great time. Everyone was incredibly friendly. When we were walking around -- dazed and confused -- a nice student ambassador boy walked right up to Mandy. He asked her if he could show her anything or if she had any questions. He was a very nice boy who had his last name on the back of his shirt. (Rick commented later that if they would ever get married, they should hyphenate their last name. Pewalski-Krushenisky would really be great on the back of a jersey.)

The people at the high school genuinely are interested in the kids. We saw the assistant principal, who we know from sports and way back at Kindermusik. We said hello and he started asking questions, but instead of directing his questions to me and Rick, he spoke directly to Mandy. I guess we are going to have to get used to her turning into a young adult and being out there on her own.

She is so ready. It will be OK. I feel good about it. She will make friends in sports, or find people with similar interests in the activities. And she already knows a bunch of girls who are squealing to have her at their school. I know she won’t get lost in the crowd. And if she does, she can always look over the top of it. Height has its advantages.

Go Silverhawks!

P.S. I had to add this little snip it, which I also put on my facebook wall, because this is so Mandy. On the way to volleyball practice from the Southwest open house last night, Mandy had to change into her practice uniform in the car. As she is sitting in just her bra, we pull up to the stoplight next to a police car. Mandy looks over and shrieks, then puts on her seat belt. Why did she put on her seat belt rather than her shirt? She explains, “I just didn’t want you to get a ticket.” She’s so thoughtful.

I Need A Water Break

Our family is knee-deep in basketball season, and life seems a little like a permanent full-court press.

I recently heard the line “It’s not the human walk, it’s the human race.” That line seems so appropriate right now, as I find myself racing to one event or practice to another.

Life is hectic, but to tell you the truth, I think I prefer it that way. What am I going to do, sit around and get real work done? Make money? Or maybe watch a television program two consecutive weeks in a row? OK. So I can’t keep up with the water cooler talk about the latest episode of Castle. It’s alright because Tilly the dog is lacking in water cooler banter. I guess that’s the downside, or maybe the upside, of a home-based business. No banter, just slobbery dog kisses.

It keeps us healthier, the busier we are. Joe is almost in the middle of his Spirit basketball season for the YMCA. His team is now 3-4. He is a lot healthier than last year and has a lot more confidence on the court. He doesn’t get winded after a press down the court. And he doesn’t run until he nearly pukes. That is a big time relief for me. I’m not sure if the turnover is because he is getting older, or because he has started running for about 10-15 minutes every day to get his stamina up. Of course, he might be running because he is growing up. I am telling myself that it is not because he wants to look good for the ladies, he just wants to get in shape. Yep, that’s what I keep telling myself. Just let me live in my own little world. Don’t steal my happy. (He said yesterday that there was a girl he thought was pretty, but he will NEVER tell me who. I can’t imagine why.)

Anyway, his basketball team is just a hoot. (Yep, I said hoot. I am so not cool). There are some real personalities on that team and every game is a drama in and of itself. First, and foremost, the coach’s son is very passionate about the game. He could win a golden globe for injuries received from a foul, or his dramatic floor crashes when he wants another player called for a charge. And when things don’t exactly go his way, he has been known to spike the basketball. So far he has not received a technical. So far. I should mention that his dramatic scenes have improved greatly since Joe started playing on the team and he is started to get his emotions under control. But we appreciate the entertainment. Too bad Skittles are the only dinner we can buy at the concession stand to go with the show.

We also enjoy watching “hot Bobby” as a daughter of mine likes to call him. He is about a head taller than all the other boys on the team with about double the wingspan. So sweet. So cute. He also was on Joe’s baseball team. He dunked Rick with the team water jug when their baseball team won third in the league and almost cried when he made Rick’s nose bleed. We just love hot Bobby. He’s one of those genuine, kind-hearted kids that you want to see do well in life. And he always has a good game and we love to cheer for him. At the age of 12, he would be able to make Mandy’s picture wall of “People Who Are Taller Than Me.”

We also love little Trevor. He is one of those tiny point guards who dribble around the ankles of everybody else and then put up the big shots. He has the sweetest freckles and gets the hugest smile whenever his shots go in. Talk about playing for the joy of the game.

And like I said, Joe is improving in leaps and bounds. He is a big-time rebounder for the team. He has strong hands and loves to rip the ball out of someone’s grasp. And that football lineman body generally helps under the basket. During one of the team’s scrimmages last week, the coach’s son charged into Joe to try to take the ball from him. The coach’s son ended up sprawled on the ground and Joe held his ground -- and the ball. Whatever. He had seven points at the tournament last weekend and made two points Sunday night against their nemesis. He no longer has that deer-in-the-headlights look when he gets the ball. He just calmly lays it up into the basket.

He won’t, of course, be racing the ball down the court to break away and score. Joe is still a football player on the basketball court. I mean, l may be a proud mom, but I’m not delusional.

So Joe has two practices a week, and then games on Sundays. Piano lessons on Wednesday, and school basketball practice on Thursdays. He is the easy one. I don’t even need a day planner to handle that load.

But Mandy, on the other hand, I need access to all sorts of digital devices and social media to get her to all the places she needs to be. And she isn’t even in high school yet.

Mandy is playing club volleyball for Magic again this year. But -- prepare for the brag -- she made the Gold team this year. We are excited. That’s four practices a week, plus tournaments every other weekend on Saturday or Sunday. The first two tournaments will include older Elite teams, so we might go home with very few wins at the beginning of the season. But everybody tells us that the Gold team is the place to be. If she intends to try out for the SouthWest high school volleyball program and the freshman team, she needs to have tough competition this year. I just discovered there are about 500 kids per class at SouthWest. Incredible. I cannot even fathom that many classmates after attending a Class C high school. If she makes the team, fantastic. If she doesn’t, she is totally content to play club ball again next year.

Then the girl is also playing basketball for the YMCA this year. She is not pleased. Her dad suggested this would be a good idea in case she decides she might want to try basketball when she gets to high school. (I am highly, highly, highly doubting this will ever happen. However I’m not going to steal Rick’s happy.)

But she discovered the choice may not be all bad. She is playing on a 7^th and 8^th grade league and the girl who lives across the street is in on her team. Finally she will get to know our neighbor a little more. Finally she will have somebody to carpool with to practices. Finally she will have somebody to hang out with and maybe shoot baskets with in the driveway. (Yes, this is the little sister of “Hot Grant from across the street.” Yes, the one who comes out to mow shirtless when she sits outside reading her books. Yes, this is all we need.) So add another two practices a week and games Saturday to the tally.

Then Mandy also has her library volunteer time on Mondays, her TAB library meetings every couple of weeks, plus Thursday school basketball practices. Somehow she gets it all done and keeps straight A’s at school. Somehow I manage to get her where she needs to be and keep all her practice and game uniforms washed and ready to go. There is no time to realize we have no time. We might be late for practice.

Busy is good. I like busy. There is little time to eat leftover Christmas candy as I lounge on the couch. Plus Rick likes to keep the kids active and healthy. He thinks if Mandy is too busy to have time for boys, he has more time to get his concealed carry permit. It’s a win-win situation in his book.

I agree that busy keeps us organized. And when we have a free night we use it. We go to a hockey game or out with friends. We have to plan things about a month in advance, but that’s OK. If you are too busy to worry about the little stuff, you make sure and really enjoy the big stuff.

There will be time enough to sit around when the kids move out. Yep, then it will be just me and Rick. Yep, me and my husband. . . Oh well. I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

P.S. If you know Hot Grant from across the street, Mandy will deny all knowledge of this nickname, even though she came up with it. She also may start editing my blogs for content and to fit the time allotted.

More Fun For 2012

So I guess the new year is going to be full of more fun things than I thought. Sometimes when you give up on somebody, they go and surprise the heck out of you. Or lie to you in order to keep you in the dark. You know who you are.

But that’s OK. Because we all know that people, especially family members, cannot keep secrets from me. Actually, my family is terrible at keeping secrets, period. I think we all have problems with talking too much. For instance, my Grandma Kimbrough once called my mom and told her she had something really important to tell her, but she couldn’t tell her. So she shouldn’t ask. Yeah, that’s pretty much how we operate around here. Absolutely no poker face.

It all comes out eventually. I guess I’ve got to go buy some new jeans at the Buckle for somebody now. Work clothes are one thing, but date clothes are something entirely different. OK, so you don’t want creepers looking at your butt at work, but you might want them looking at you on a date. Well, I mean, they aren’t creepers if you are on a date with them. At least I hope not. You know what I mean, not what I say.

My sister Sarah and I had major issues with the whole talking thing today. We kept saying the wrong words. But, sadly, we knew exactly what the other meant to say, and just answered appropriately, probably with other wrong words. She asked what bedroom I was buying towels for. I knew she meant bathroom. I said I was glad she was not pregnant in winter, but meant to say summer. It’s kind of a sister thing, I suppose. That or we both are similarly impaired. Probably a little of both.

And that leads to the other thing I am really looking forward to this year. My sister Sarah is expecting her third child the beginning of February. She went past her due date with her son and daughter, so she’s pretty much guessing she might go long again this time. I hope not for her sake.

Mandy and Joe babysat her little kids while we went to pick up all the new stuff she is going to need for the new baby. She has been so busy buying stuff for Christmas, she hasn’t gotten the stuff she needed for the baby yet.

You forget all the stuff you have to have for a baby nowadays. Yikes. There are the bottles, pacifiers, onesies, crib sheets, changing pads, diaper bags, diaper genies, nail clippers, booties, baby wash, and diapers. Oh my goodness, diapers are soooooo expensive. You could go broke just keeping one baby in diapers. I think she paid about $10 for 15 newborn diapers. That’s about $.75 per poop. I could make a lot of inappropriate comments here, but I am going to pass. Go ahead and pause for a moment to comment amongst yourselves here.

We had to get a new car seat for the new baby. Evidently car seats now have expiration dates on them. Really. Expiration dates. Supposedly the sunlight and other elements deteriorate the seatbelts and plastic so that they are not as safe as when they are first assembled. Sarah had Joe turn their old car seat over to check the expiration, and yep, you guessed it. It expired December 2011. How fortunate for them. Anyways, Sarah was paranoid that the nurse at the hospital that escorts them out will check their car seat for its expiration date and not let them leave with the baby. So she bought a new car seat, just in case. That is totally what I would have done, as well. Feel free to pause and talk amongst yourselves here about our paranoia. Go ahead, judge me. I don’t care.

Anyways, so I’m pretty excited for Sarah to have another kid. I only had the two, mainly for fear of the puking for nine months again. I just couldn’t walk into another term of puking on a daily basis with my eyes wide open. I also remember that about half way into labor with Joe, I said, oh, I remember this now. I think I don’t want to play this game anymore. I want to go home. But I guess it was too late at that point. The nurses were not amused.

I hope Sarah makes it through OK and it goes quickly for her. I’m sure she will be glad to be done with all the morning sickness too. Waking up on the bathroom floor does not make for a good start for the day. At least not in my experience.

So it’s gonna be a good year. My family is doing well. Joe has been running and doing his pushups and sit ups so he is in shape for basketball and can make it through his upcoming tournament this weekend. I’m still hoping, however, they don’t play any teams that like to press. He’s an ace on the half court, but on the full court, well, he really likes football. Have I mentioned how good he is on the line?

Mandy is way active and having fun. Too many sports (club volleyball and YMCA basketball), too many activities (library volunteering and TAB), plus all her hang-out time with her friends keep her really busy. I know that it’s just the beginning. When she hits high school we will never see her. And no, there is no serious boyfriend -- for now, anyway. There just seem to be a lot of extremely talkative teenage boys. (It’s not a date, mom.) Her dad is doing a little happy dance, but he is keeping his guns close at hand.

Speaking of boyfriends . . . other people may have boyfriends. I’m not saying who. And if you see them in new jeans that someone bought for them, you might be able to guess. But I’m not saying who. I’m so good at keeping a secret.

                                                                              Poker face

                                                             Our Lips Are Sealed