A Few Firsts

Bradley hit a couple of major milestones recently that I wanted to quickly stop and mention, in the middle of working on case briefs for my Torts class on a Saturday night.  Don't feel too badly for me.  Last night I got to go downtown and join the masses of Blue and see Kentucky play Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament...  On second thought, yes, feel sorry for me!

Big news number one:  Little Man is FINALLY potty trained at night, as in almost 5 years of buying diapers and pull-ups is at last OVER.  I was getting concerned and yes, admittedly frustrated, at the hassle and expense of buying pull-ups, but like many other kid milestones, there was nothing to do to speed up the process but sit back and wait for his body to make the connection on his own, and it came in its own sweet precious time.  I am thrilled!

Second piece of exciting news:  Bradley had his first-ever T-ball practice today.  It was both well-organized and chaotic at the same time.  Many dads were on the field running drills with the kids (Alligator - Skate Board- Throw it to First; get B to show you that one in person if you have the opportunity- it's adorable), meanwhile the head coach did batting practice with each kid one at a time.  Opposite of soccer, I can proudly say that Bradley was one of the better players on the field and he really seemed to get it.  And boy, does that kid have an arm!  Long term, I'm still thinking pitcher or quarterback.  So maybe t-ball will end up being a sport better suited to his abilities and interests.  As a sports fan myself, I am excited to begin the ritual of spring baseball and support my little guy on the field.  And who knows?  Maybe I will make some mommy friends of my own during this venture.

Swing! Batter Batter Swing!

When they weren't fielding a ball, they were playing in the dirt

Alright, peeps, back to the grind I go.

Tribute to a Great Tennessean

As a woman, a Tennessean, and a lover of basketball, this video is a must-watch. It was shown at the ESPN ESPY awards last night. Even if you don't fall into any of those categories, I highly recommend you take a few minutes to watch, too.


Pat Head Summit is one of the most inspirational people of this generation, and she's prepared to tackle Alzheimer's with the same fire and passion that she's had in coaching. If her track record as a champion and one who overcomes is any indication of how she will fare, I'd say if anyone can fight this disease, she can. I love one of the ending quotes from a former player who comments, "the amount of people that this woman has impacted in women's basketball is nothing to the amount she will impact for the cause of Alzheimer's." Go get 'em, Pat.

Bradley's Bracket

I grew up in a household that was basketball crazy.  Every March, we would each fill out our NCAA tournament brackets and post them in the kitchen to compare our picks.  Laura & I used to fight over who got to highlight the winners after each round.

Now the bracket picks legacy has been passed on to Little B.  Mom sat him down and went round by round and asked him who he thought would win between each school mascot.  Check out this winning bracket:

Humorously, he has the Kentucky Wildcats playing the St. Bonaventure Bonnies playing in the national title game.  Let the traditions begin, and let's go Wildcats!

The end of the Honeybadger Era

At the start of soccer season, it seemed like a chore getting up and to the soccer field every Saturday morning.  I was a little bummed I'd have to miss going to Zumba for a few months, too.  But after this morning's last game, as I was saying bye to all the parents and kids I've gotten to know, it will seem weird not having this Saturday morning ritual to attend anymore.

Bradley definitely progressed as the season went on, and I know our playing "keep away" running down the hall with his plush indoor socer ball had something to do with that.  Don't misunderstand me, he never did score a goal, and his favorite part of the game is the snack at the end, but that's okay with this mama.

Team Honeybadgers

The self-imposed Goalie

warming up, kicking a goal



Stretching before the game



Coach Lindsey getting B ready for the kick-off

Throwing it in

Goalie!



Action shot

Check out my freckles



The tunnel at the end of each game



Snack time





Eat More Gator

I decided to delay Bradley's bed time on Saturday night and allow him to climb in bed with me and watch part of the Kentucky Florida game massacre.  Upon looking at the Gators' helmets, Bradley asked me why they had Chic-Fil-A on their heads!  It took me a split second to catch on to what he was seeing:

I have no idea how he knows what Chic-Fil-A's logo looks like by memory, but his comment cracked me up!

He wasn't really into watching the game (me neither, Bradley) so he kept asking me to turn back to "the hurricane."  There was a show on the weather channel about Hurricane Katrina.  A preschooler who's fascinated by hurricanes?  Yep, he's my kid, alright.

The crazy Honeybadgers

Two Saturdays ago marked the first soccer game of the season.  Bradley's team is the delightfully inapproriately-named Honeybadgers!  I re-watched the notorious viral video on YouTube again, and came up with a few G-rated Honeybadger quotes-turned-captions to go with a few pictures:

"The Honeybadgers just run all over the place"

"Oh the honeybadgers are just Ca-Razy!"

"Honeybadgers don't care- they just takes what they wants"

"Oooh look they're chasing things!"

According to Randall, the Honeybadger is the most fearless animal in all the animal kingdom according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and the most fearless team in all of 3 and 4 year old YMCA soccer, I posture.

First soccer practice

So here we are finally... day one of what I anticipate the rest of my life looking like- embracing the role of soccer mom, taking B to practices and games for his various sporting activities!  While it's true, I love sports, I of course will let him explore as many different activities as possible and allow him to choose things that interest him. 

 About a month ago, I was clueless as to what a 3 year old playing soccer would entail.  I thought Bradley could wear tennis shoes.  Now I am educated and a few dollars poorer, as I have sought the advice from the other trailblazing soccer moms who've come before me, and we are now the proud owners of: 

• a size 3 soccer ball (does the size of the ball purposely coordinate with the age of the players?  I have no idea.)
• shin guards (to be worn UNDER the socks- don't laugh- I had to ask!)
• long soccer socks.  B now has a favorite color- orange, so he chose bright orange socks.  I decided his desire to have his favorite color socks far outweighed my hesitance that orange wouldn't really "go" with much.
• Soccer cleats, size 8.  Most kids soccer cleats I found start at size 10.  After a long search we found these, and now I'll be taking them back and hopefully getting a size 9.  After complaining about them during practice today, B played the last few minutes sans cleats.

But how adorable is he, all ready to go to his first soccer practice today? 

Practice wasn't a total fail, but it certainly wasn't what I'd envisioned either.  My cautious child is going to take a while to warm up to these new people, and this new routine.  While Coach Lindsay introduced herself to the boys, and did some basic drills and instruction, B stood hesitantly by my side.  Here, the team is doing jumping jacks while Bradley watched from afar.

• 

Not interested...

We're getting closer...

He was hot.  He was tired.  He wanted to go.  All these excuses I dismissed.  No way were we giving up after 5 minutes!  I finally had to put the camera down and walk B over to where everyone was and do my best to encourage him to participate, which he finally did (in his socks there at the end)!  So it ended on a high note.  I really do think he'll like playing soccer, but after seeing how this first practice went today, I can only imagine what chaos the first game next Saturday will ensue!

Our after-practice thoughts (and no, he's not sunburned, his face just gets that pink from being hot.)

All up in the Mustard

That's right.  I'm all up in the mustard, and I can't catch up!  So here is my catch-all summer blog with some pictures to document the events that will never get talked about otherwise:

During our trip to Lawrenceburg at the end of May, I sprang for a Coke in a glass bottle at Argo's family's fruit market.  It's amazing to me how much better the beverage tastes in a bottle!

A Coke & a smile

Buzz Lightyear and "Woody" watching tv together one morning... and yep, Bradley has the same, sleepy wonky eyes as I do before he fully wakes up :)

This kid could have run around and played at the play place, but all he wanted to do was sit on Ronald McDonald's lap.  I've had to rescue Bradley from the tops of indoor play spaces on more than one occasion, so if all he wants to do is chat up RM, I'm fine with that.

I took Bradley to my work picnic, a Sounds game, at the beginning of June.  We watched none of the game.  He talked to a few of the baseball players, had me chasing him all over the stadium, and picked out this foam finger from the gift shop.

Proof that we were actually there, even though we saw no baseball game!

Did I mention it's been blazing hot this summer?  To cool off, Bradley plays in his slip-and-slide.

My porcelain-skinned smiling boy

Ah yes, the classic "Roar!!!!!"

The Touch-A-Truck event at Pinkerton Park in Franklin.  Bradley enjoyed seeing the semi truck, and climbing into the fire truck.  He did not enjoy the garbage truck that honked its horn and made loud noises.  Actually, to be honest, he cried.  I thought boys were supposed to like trucks- what the heck??

Eating the Fruit By the Foot that Aunt Missy sent home with him.  B was asleep on the way home, and the second we woke up when pulling in the driveway, Bradley asked if he could have his FBTF that he knew she had sent back for him!  Bradley, of course, had never had FBTF, and so he tried to put the entire thing in his mouth, wrapper and all, when we were in Evansville.  He also consumed massive quantities of cheese balls.  Thanks, M&M for remembering how much he enjoyed the cheese balls last summer, and for personally making it your quest to introduce him to every junk food known to man :)

Throwing his new football, a belated birthday present from M&M.  He's also wearing the adorable T-shirt I got for Bradley on Etsy for his birthday party.

Getting braver with the water on the slip-and-slide.  Seriously- when we began our S&S adventures this summer, I could only have the water spraying up about 2 inches.  For the most part, Bradley is an extremely cautious child.  It takes him a while to warm up to new things, and while it can be a little off-putting at times, I'm praying that cautious nature continues through the teenage years.

Finally, I was able to convince him that getting wet is fun!  Yay, we finally like the slip & slide!

More to come... and one of these days, I'll get back to blogging on a regular basis.

Final Fourtune

So I'm a little behind on my blogging, but as we head into April, I must exclaim that March has truly been Madness when it comes to Kentucky Basketball.  We are playing in the Final Four this weekend in Houston for the first time since 1998.  I was 17 the last time the Cats went to the Final Four, and man does that put things into perspective!  I had no idea what it truly meant to be a Cats fan then- I just took it for granted that we were awesome and would just always be a top tier program.  I now look at these kids burning couches on UK's campus to celebrate, and I think smugly to myself, those dumb kids with their $5 student tickets, they just don't understand!  They just have no idea what it means to be a loyal UK fan year after year- to watch Dwayne Wade's Marquette team beat us, to falter to UAB in the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney when we were a favorite to win the whole thing, to watch grimly as UNC gets another banner, or, yes, I'll mention it, the agony of losing to Duke in the infamous Laettner shot that these young whippersnappers weren't even a glimmer in their mother's eye when it happened!

But now I'm older and wiser, and am able to appreciate the journey the Cats have gone on this season.  And how does it feel?  Exactly like this:

Not music to my ears

Anybody in America knows what today was- the 7th anual Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, of course.  But it was also Superbowl 45 (who knew?!)  And as if watching the greatest football game in the land isn't enough entertainment bang for your $900-a-ticket buck, then they throw in some pre-game and half-time entertainment as well.  I admittedly missed the pre-game show (hey, the Puppy Bowl was still on!) but I did tune in in time for Lea Michelle to sing God Bless America, and Christina Augilera to sing a remix of the National Anthem.

Of course I love music, and of course I am very critical.  But I think both of these ladies have phenomenal voices, and I also think that both of these ladies phenomenaly sucked it up tonight.  Lea Michelle, aka Rachel on GLEE, butchered "God Bless America" with her belting Broadway vocal antics, basically screaming each line of the song.  And, well, by now we all know that the Genie is probably wishing she could shrink back into her bottle after botching the words of the Star Spangled Banner.  "What so proudly we watched..." yeah, we bet Francis Scott Key is rolling over in his grave right about now.  Perhaps Christina was battling a case of nerves tonight, but I have a different theory.  She's a seasoned veteran performer, and has amazing pipes to prove it.  I think a more likely explanation for her flub is that every superbowl national anthem singer is keenely aware that they are trying to one-up their predesessors, and let's face it, no one's come close to Whitney.  So here the Burlesque star was tonight, trying to impress with her vocal acobatics, and I think she sang the song so slowly, that she got lost.  It's easy to do, and the national anthem is honestly one of the hardest songs to sing when it's done straightforward.  Forget all the twists and turns, and just sing it, Christina!  As she went on, she got worse.  Okay, fine, you flubbed a line, but then she overcompensated and wiggled and wobbled all over the music staff, (and the pitch), and what resulted was a performance that people will be talking about for years to come for sure, but not in the way Ms. Augilera likely wishes they would.

Fast forward to halftime (oh yeah, a half of football was just played here).  The Black Eyed Peas' halftime show was a train wreck and a half(time).  I believe they have proved that no matter how much auto tune you use in the studio, and what a cool effect it can have on a track, it doesn't translate live, and the audience isn't dumb.  They know bad music when they hear it, and no amount of glowing dancers, fireworks, and flashing lights are going to fool the audience into thinking they're being entertained.  While I beebop along to the Black Eyed Peas in my car as much as the next person, I've realized now that they can't hold it together live, and so they had to pull stunts like bringing in Slash (Can we say, most random appearance ever) and Usher coming down from the sky (my favorite part about this was that producers felt we needed to see Usher's name in lights so we'd know who he was) in order to boost their own chart topping numbers.  I think my favorite halftime debacle of all though were the stage lights malfunctioning.  During the song, "Where is the Love?" the stage lights intended to spell LOVE actually read LOE.  Where is the LOE, indeed? 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the last musical number of the superbowl, the new episode of GLEE!

Montage Monday

Welcome to Montage Monday!  Tonight's montage is all about the latest sports updates, since there seem to have been a flurry of them today.

If Tennessee's Bruce Pearl can violate pretty much every NCAA  recruiting violation there is, and only get suspended 8 games, then why can't Enes Kanter, Kentucky's star recruit, get suspended 8 games and play instead of being suspended from playing indefinitely?

Titans QB Vince Young is said to be out for a "season ending thumb surgery," so says the ESPN crawler across the bottom of my screen repetitively.  My opinion?  Vince might be having surgery, and he might be out for the rest of the season, but the two are not mutually exclusive.  I'd say it has more to do with VY throwing a hissy fit at the end of the game yesterday, and then walking out on his coach as to why he won't be playing any more this season.

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto didn't win the triple crown, but he did just win the coveted National League MVP!  Dad called George tonight to ask him how much he'd sell his rookie Votto jersey for, which you may remember , George used as a fishing rag before he knew who Votto was.

The Vikings fired their coach Brad Childress today.  Last year the Vikings got one game away from the Superbowl, and this year they're sucking it up big time.  I just can't see how one mostly bad season can make a team forget where they were a year ago.  Can we really demand instant success from players and coaches?  Can we also all agree that Brett Favre needs to go back to Mississippi and be done with the NFL finally?

I am currently blogging and watching tonight's UK game versus Oklahoma on dvr.  Nobody tell me the outcome of this game before I can finish it!  It had better be a good one.  Currently UK is ranked #9, and all anyone wants to talk about is the 5 recruits we lost in the first round of the NBA draft last year.  Surely you don't get a top ten ranking based on last year's NBA recruits.  Surely some of this year's players warrant a little more publicity, and I'm not talking about Enes Kanter, who can't play because he's too busy hanging out with NCAA violating pal, Bruce Pearl.

Having a ball

I do not exaggerate when I say that Bradley loves sports.  He has little use for toys that don't involve throwing and catching balls, and in fact, he turns toys that are not intended to be sports-related into a way to score points or make baskets.  Case in point, Bradley grabbed the cucumber and strawberry from his plastic play food last week, and attempted to play baseball with them.  This week he got some new sheets for his big boy bed, so I snapped a picture of him in his new sports sheets, with his sports pjs on (thanks, aunt Ari- these are the ones you gave him).

Fast forward to Friday night, when we were schooling Bradley in the fine cuisine of Chinese food.  After testing the tasty waters of lo mein noodles, and sweet and sour chicken, B spotted the fortune cookies.  He got a kick out of cracking open the cookie, and taking the paper out.  Not that I put any stock into the fortunes that come of out the cookies, but imagine my surprise when Bradley got this fortune:

Even his fortune cookies are sports-related!!  It's destiny!

The Hunt for Reds' October

Yes, I am fully aware that football season has officially begun (my Titans and Wildcats are both off to good starts), but for some of us, baseball season is still trucking along quite nicely.  Most years I wouldn't care at this point in the season.  Much like the Cubbies, my Reds fizzle out before the post-season is ever a consideration.  Alright, I admit that was a lame attempt to get a reaction out of a few readers who are loyal Cubs fans, and I would also admit that the Reds are usually much more miserable of a team, and haven't come close to winning a world series in a while... 1990 to be exact... but I would say again to those few Cubs fans still reading this, and How Long Has It Been For Your Team??  That's what I thought.

So here we are in September, and as of tonight, the Reds have a 6 1/2 game lead in their division, still solidly in first place, and we are optimistic about our odds at making a run into the October post-season.  Cutie Patootie first baseman Joey Votto is still in the running to win the triple crown (George, do you know where I might snag a rookie Votto jersey?), and we have this insane new pitcher from Cuba who has a 106 mph fastball, aptly nicknamed the Cuban Missile .  I would say besides the one closing pitcher in our bull pen who constantly blows his saves, and infuriates my dad beyond belief, that the future looks mighty colorful for the Reds!

Take B out to the ballgame

Last Saturday we took Bradley to his first baseball game: the Nashville Sounds vs. the Omaha Royals.  It was really hot & humid, but we braved the heat throughout the game so we could stay for the fireworks after the game.  Amazingly, Bradley made it through the whole event.  It helped that we constantly had food & drink to distract B.  Anyone who knows my family knows we love to eat.  Here's a list of all we ate between the 6 of us to occupy Bradley throughout the game:  hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, pizza, coke, beer, pretzels, ice cream, icee, slushee, peanuts... am I forgetting anything??

Here's Bradley cheering for the Sounds!

Bradley went from lap to lap as he got restless- here's B with uncle George

...and enjoying a slushee with Grandma B

Bradley & I after the game- the Sounds won!

Mr. & Mrs. Murdoch- this captures them perfectly I think!

Mama & Daddy B

The final scoreboard- Sounds win!

mom & dad with Bradley- after the game and waiting for the fireworks

 

For the fireworks I sat Bradley in my lap and wasn't sure what to expect.  He slept through fireworks this year so it had been a while since he had seen any.  I warned him that they would be loud but pretty, and to look up in the sky.  My little man sat perfectly still on my lap, covered his own ears and kept his hands there the entire time while he watched the fireworks pensively.  It was not one of 2 reactions I thought we'd get- animatedly-excited or scared.  He seemed fine when they were over, and has been talking about them for days. 

On one of Bradley's walks through the stadium, Dad bought Bradley a soft Sounds baseball, and so far B has slept with it every night.  he was so excited to have it the first night, that the next night I was shocked when I put Bradley to bed and upon walking out of his room, he started crying "My baseball!  My baseball!"  Down I went to locate the ball and delivered it to my wailing son.  After that he was fine.  Some kids are attatched to stuffed animals, my child is attatched to a ball.  Go figure.

the fairer days of football

So far I've been relatively quiet on here this season about football. It seemed that every team I cheered for would lose, making this season a cursed one for me. However, the season isn't over, and both of my favorite teams are making a run towards greatness in their respective divisions.

The Tennessee Titans have won 4 in a row now, after starting the season 0-6. Though it's not likely, we even still have a shot at getting a wild card spot and playing in the playoffs! All it took was for Kooky McCrazerson, Vince Young, to decided that he wanted to be an NFL quarterback again, and all was right in the Titans' world. That coupled with the fact that we have this awesome running back Chris Johnson who has come alive once again, and you've got yourself a ballgame folks. No longer are people talking about what draft pick we're going to get, they're talking about the post-season- unbelievable!

I was privileged to watch my Kentucky Wildcats stun the Georgia Bulldogs this past Saturday night on national TV, and had a difficult time not screaming at the tv while I watched it. Bradley was in bed though, so I had to reign in my fandom, and cheer in whispers. We are now bowl-eligible for the 4th straight year, and it looks like we may finally break into one of the big bowl games this year instead of the crappy Liberty Bowl, or the Been-there-done-that Music City bowl. This weekend we play Tennessee, and I am calling it: UK will beat UT finally this year, and I'm gonna be in Tennessee to watch it happen.

Oh (and) four crying out loud!

What the heck is going on?  My beloved Titans are 0-4.  Can this really be the same team who had the best record in the NFL last year?  And coming up, we've got Peyton Manning and the Colts, and then the Patriots after that.  I fear we might very well be this year's Detroit Lions.

To add insult to injury, My Kentucky Wildcats have yet to get an SEC win, and UT can't doesn't seem to be any better than they were last season, even with their new hotshot coach.  Add to that the fact that Brian is deployed so I've been watching a lot of games by myself, and you have one depressing football season thus far!  

Super(Puppy)Bowl Sunday

It's Superbowl Sunday and I couldn't be more apathetic about today's game. It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since my live blogging debate about the cuter QB- Tom Brady or Eli Manning (of course it's Tom), 12 months since those weird Vitamin water commercials with the dancing lizards arrived on the scene, and 365 days (approximately) since the last Puppy Bowl!

I have Bradley all decked out in his Superbowl outfit- an adorable brown and blue ensemble with a football logo and stitching that reads "Future Quarterback" on it. Look out Peyton, you're going down, and I don't mean to the 4th floor!

I also laugh every year on Superbowl Sunday and dig up this video for the occasion, about who Jesus is not. (Jesus does not condemn you for watching football.) If you've never seen these clips they are pretty amusing.

Here's my lackluster cheer for the day- Go Cards- only because Kurt Warner is the comeback kid, and I don't want the Steelers having the most Superbowl titles of any team. Okay, I gotta go- the starting line up for the Puppy Bowl V is being announced right now as I type this!

having a ball today- foot & basket, that is

I've been relatively quiet on here lately about my favorite sports teams, but I can be quiet no longer.  While Brian's teams had lousy endings to their seasons- the Packers fizzled and didn't make the playoffs, and Wisconsin who started the season ranked lost their minor bowl game -my Kentucky Wildcats won their bowl game, and the Titans finished the regular season number one in the NFL!

Today the Tennessee Titans will take on the Baltimore Ravens at home, and you had better all be watching as my team continues to beat their opponents, and will probably continue to not get any love from the rest of the sports world.  But it's playoff time now, and all bets are off.  Every game is a must win, and brings us one game closer to the Superbowl.  But I get ahead of myself.

Now it's basketball season too, and the Big Blue also plays Vandy today, so it's a full day of tv watching for me, perfect for this yucky rainy Saturday.  Now the only decision that remains is what color of blue do I wear?

Titans update

The Tennessee Titans are 9-0!  I know that as soon as I publish this blog I will have jinxed my team, but I have been wanting to blog about my beloved NFL team all season, and kept neglecting to do so because of my superstitious jinxing beliefs.  But I am throwing caution to the wind... we are Number One in the AFC south, and have a great chance at going to the Superbowl!  I know, I know, there's a lotta season left, but 9-0 isn't too shabby a way to start the season.  I'm proud of my boys.  

"In Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power. Well that football field out there, that's our universe. Let's rule it like titans."

"No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house, and pushes us around."