{Full Swing}

I must confess...

I being a baseball mom.

T-ball is in full swing and Trav absolutely loves every single moment of it.


Thursday April 7th, was Trav’s first official game. He was anxious to play in his first “real” game. The only full sentence I heard out of his mouth for a whole week was “Mommy is today the day I play baseball for the Rangers?” Marking off a calendar didn’t help with this level of excitement because every morning, every afternoon, and every night, I was asked the same exact question.


I can’t say that I am complaining too much. I think I have been waiting for this day ever since I first held my little boy in my arms. =)

Bat bag ready to go




Water bottle full


Uniform and cleats ready to be worn



This was my first official t-ball game. I wasn’t sure how different it was going to be from actual baseball aside from the obvious. I did manage to learn a few things and I am sure that there will be more to learn as the season gets underway.

Here is what I  about t-Ball so far:

T-ball kids are the best. They really don’t know what they are doing. They have an idea but they are still learning. They know that they have to hit the ball. They know that they have to run to first, second, and third base. Some kids like to slide into home plate while others like my son, like to run at full speed until they are about a foot away from touching the plate. I guess he figures he ran all the way around and that’s good enough for scoring a point. Who needs home plate anyway...right? We are currently working on this skill. =)


T-ball kids don’t care that they are playing against their friends because out on the field, they are all playing together. Trav was so excited to see his friends from school. He made sure to stop and chat for a few minutes at each base stop. Didn’t you know that 5 and 6 six year olds have a lot to share? Apparently the ball field is one of those places where secrets are shared and giggles are required!

Yup, this little guy makes me

 

being a baseball mom!

{Friday Fun With Military Spouses}

There are no new secrets to share this week but I hope you like “Life Alpha to Zulu”. It was a bit challenging but a lot of fun to do.



This week’s link up is over at Our Crazy Life.

It’s Friday...and I am off to visit some Gator’s and Friends with my favorite kindergartner =)

{Life from Alpha to Zulu}

I am really behind on this post but in my defense, it was a lot harder than I thought. I really had to do some thinking and I'm not very good at that these days =)

One of my favorite blogger friends hosted an A to Z Military Life post. The deployment process played a huge factor in a lot of my ABC answers. I am super excited to read what others MilSpouses had to share.

I am probably missing a ton of things but this was as far as my brain would take me =)

To all of my military family & friends out there, if you had to sum up your life as a military family which words would you use? Here is a small glimpse into our ABC military life. 

ALPHA

Air Force, Airmen, Active Duty, Appreciation, Afghanistan, APO, American Flag, AAFES, ALS, AFN, Air Show, Acronyms, Accountability, Adaptable, Apprehension

 

BRAVO

Bryanna, Brave, Boots, BDU’s, BAH, BAS, Basic Military Training, Base, Briefing, BX, Barksdale AFB, Blue, Blog, B-52’s, Baseball (softball), Brinkley

 

CHARLIE

Camouflage, Care Packages, Countdown, Courage, Continuous Change, Challenges, Cell Phone, Commander, Chaplin, Commitment, Commissary, Coveralls, California, College, Confused, CRS (Can’t Remember S***), CDC, COLA, CONUS

 

DELTA

Deployments, Detachment, DOD, Dependents, Duty, Defense, Degree, Dress Blues, Disney, Dream Sheet, DH

 

ECHO

Endurance, Emotions, Enlisted, E-mail, Education, Experience 

 

FOXTROT

Flexible, Forever Friends, Family, Freedom, Faith, Fear, First Sergeant, Formation, Flight Line, Friday Nights, 4-Always & Ever

 

GOLF

Gear, Goodbyes, Government, GI Bill

 

HOTEL

Hurry Up & Wait, Holiday’s, Homecoming, Home, Heart, Hugs, Honor, Hero

 

INDIA

ID Card, Independence, Inspections, Instructor
 

JULIET

Jason, January, Jets, Juggle

 

KILO

Kalyssa, Kandahar, Kunsan, Kisses, Kids, Kindness of Others, K Loaders

 

LIMA

Letters, Love, Lonely, Learning Process, Long Distance, Leave, LES, LRS, Lackland AFB, Louisiana

 

MIKE

Millie, Mall, Moving, Mission Essential, Missiles, MWR, Maintenance, Meltdowns, MRE, MyPay

 

NOVEMBER

NEX, NBVC, NCO, North Carolina

 

OSCAR

Orders, Obstacles, Ocean, Overseas, Oath

 

PAPA

PCS, Per Diem, Pride, Patriot, Patience, Promotion, PT, Phone Calls, Pictures, Prayers

 

QUEBEC

Questions, Quality Time, Quiet, Qulifications 

 

ROMEO

Rank, Retirement, Retreat, Reveille, Relocation, Readjustments, Reunions, R & R, Red, Running

 

SIERRA

Shannon, Salute, Service, Single Parent, Sponsor, Strength, Sandbox, Surprises, Separation, Sacrifice, Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, Stripes, Stars, SAHM, School House

 

TANGO

Travin, T-Sgt, Troops, Tricare, Training, Travel, Taps, Tears, Transitions, TIS, TDY

 

UNIFORM

Uniforms, USO, United We Stand, United States of America, United As One, Understanding, Undisclosed Location, USAA

 

VICTOR

Veterans, Vandenberg AFB, Victory, Vehicles, Volun-told

 

WHISKEY

War, Webcam, Wishes, Waiting, Wife, Worry, Wine, White, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

 

X-RAY

XOXO, X’s on the Calendar

 

YANKEE

Yellow Ribbons, Y’All, Yonder

 

ZULU

Zero (0) Dark Thirty, Zero Sleep, Zero Tolerance, Zoo

{Embrace the Camera: April 7th}

One of the BEST things about spring....
 

B~A~S~E~B~A~L~L

I officially became a Ranger fan after I spotted this cutie running the bases with a glove in his left hand and a ball in his right hand.

Okay so my heart still lies with the

Angels

but I’ve made some room there

to throw out a little extra Texas spirit =)

And....

I couldn’t let this Thursday go by

and leave out a shot with the 4 of us together.

These are some keepsake treasures we found on our recent visit to New Orleans.

Happy Thursday!!!

{Well Ain't That A Pain In The Teeth}

This week has been a little crazy to say the least. I am trying to figure out how we made it to Wednesday already. Do you ever have those weeks when time is moving fast yet somehow it seems to be standing still? That’s where I'm at this week and I can’t say that I like it all that much.


The dentist office seems to be my second home these days. Luckily, the kids all have healthy teeth. The only one who has a cavity in her mouth is Miss Kalyssa. That filling taught her an extremely valuable lesson in keeping up with a strict daily flossing routine. She was pretty excited to be the only one who didn’t have to make a second trip to the dental office this time around and being entered to win $50 was a pretty big bonus =)


I learned a few things about Bryanna and Travin’s teeth in the past week that didn’t exactly bring a smile to my face. I was pretty sure that all of my kids were going to need braces eventually. Jason and both of his sisters had to wear them so, I just assumed that mine would end up taking that route as well. What I didn’t expect was that I would have to put two of my kids through some rather rough dental procedures.


Bryanna has always taken pride in her teeth. She has always taken really good care of them. She has about a 30 minute routine each night (she’s a little obsessive like someone else in the family). =) When she was 6, her baby brother who was so little and cute at the time, was swinging a broom around and hit her in the face knocking half of her front tooth out. She has sported half of a fake tooth for the past 5 years. Unfortunately, over Spring Break it started to bother her so, back to the dentist we went. We found out that her root had actually been fractured by the trauma and over the years, it has slowly been dying. The dentist was rather impressed that it held as long as it did and was happy to share that it didn’t affect the growth in her adult teeth.
However, we were referred to a specialist because he was pretty sure that she was going to need a root canal. The car ride home was a little gloomy. I had to explain a root canal to my daughter. She was so heartbroken because she truly has worked so hard to keep her teeth as perfect as can be.


We set up an appointment and made our way in a couple of days later. The x-ray’s revealed exactly what Bryanna had feared. She was so hopeful after her few doses of antibiotics. She was feeling so much better. She had hoped that she would get to avoid having to go through the root canal process. The specialist was really great at explaining everything to her but she still walked out of the building with tears in her eyes and her heart feeling a little heavy. We had a long talk about everything and we came up with a plan. As a special treat for being the girl that she is and for having to go through all of this, we are going to move forward with the painting process in her bedroom. At the end of this month, Bry will have the purple retreat she has always wanted =)

As for Trav, gosh where do I start? At his regular check-up, I learned that my son’s teeth were growing in at an angle. The original plan was to place fillers in between his baby teeth so that his adult teeth could grow in a little straighter. The x-ray’s that were taken yesterday were a bit more extensive. Once the dentist looked at them, he realized that Trav was going to need more work than they originally thought.


Problem # 1: His teeth are too big for his little mouth.


Problem # 2: His teeth are growing in at an angle because of problem # 1.


Problem # 3: His roots are basically being twisted during growth because of problem # 1 & problem # 2.


How do we fix the problems?


Shaving down the front teeth.


Two teeth extractions.


Possible fillers if the top molars don’t show improvement in the next 3 months.


For those of my dear family & friends who are in the military and have the great United Concordia as your dental insurance, you can only imagine what my bill is looking like at this point. And the best part, we aren’t even close to being done!!! The orthodontist is still waiting for me to call.


Yesterday, we showed up at the dental office 1 hour before Trav’s scheduled appointment because he had to take a special medication to help him relax. I have never in my life watched my son go from one extreme to another the way that he did yesterday morning. I was warned but I had no idea what I would witness. Trav went from an all time high to a complete crash down in a matter of 40 minutes. He was so out of it by the time they called us back to his room that I literally had to carry his 53 pound body and lay it down on the table.


Trav did really well until they came at him with the mask. For those of you who don’t know my son, I will tell you that he doesn’t like to cry in front of others (unless he is out to try to prove to the world the he is the boss). He tried so hard to hold in his tears. I had to put my ear next to his face to hear what he was saying. He told me “I’m done being here mommy. I can go to school now.” I explained what they were going to do and I promised to stay right by his side. The dentist was fantastic. I got to know him rather well. My seat was positioned right next to his. I had to watch every little thing the dentist did to my son because Trav's little hand would not let go of mine for anything in the world.


Tooth # 1
Bigger than expected



Top tooth is about the size a tooth should be when it is pulled out.

After all was said and done, Trav was a happy camper. He got pretty spoiled by everyone at the dental office. The dentist told him to take the rest of the day off from school and that he could eat all of the ice cream he wanted. Needless to say, I didn’t have to make any special deals with my little man. He was pretty happy with what the dentist ordered him to do =)