BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The latest





Yes, it's been a while since I last posted and we have been super busy. Holden and I have been traveling a lot more lately. He is growing so fast, I figure I need to go and do things while I can! Holden is just a mess these days. He is really close to walking and way to smart for his own good. He colors and LOVES books. He crawls over to his book basket and pulls every one of them out, " reads" them to himself one by one and then brings them over to us and holds them up and says "uh" which means read this please.( I add the please because I like to think my child is polite with his baby talk) He also loves to eat diaper cream, not real sure why, but for some reason if he is really quiet we know he either found a tube of diaper cream and is eating it, or he is playing in the toilet. He definitely grows more and more opinionated each day which can test the patience, but it's fun to watch him learn and grow. Recently Evyn and Henry came to visit and we had a blast. Forgot how good old times were for us, and who would have thought we would both live in the Bay area and have sons 6 months apart..pretty funny how life works out. Tolly got called up so we have enjoyed seeing the some familiar faces from home out here in California.
We were recently asked to do a spread for Bay Area parenting magazine and I think it's kind of funny because I don't exactly think we should be in a parenting magazine if our child eats diaper cream and plays in the toilet.
We also recently went to the beach the whole family for All Star Break and that was wonderful! Holden loves his cousins and had a blast playing with them. We can't wait to get back and start seeing them on a regular basis!
Landon and I's biggest chunk of time lately has been going to planning a charity event for this off season. Due to Landon's liver disease and the fact that he will probably one day need a liver transplant, we have become very passionate about organ donation. And, because of the way we have been blessed in life and the doors that have been opened we feel that we should give back. This year on November 7th we are going to host the Inagaural Donors on the Diamond at Fluor Field in Greenville, Sc. I have been running around like a mad woman trying to get everything planned for it from 3,000 miles away. Needless to say, we will be super busy when the season is over. We are looking forward to getting home and seeing our friends and family, but the A's arent too far out of second place in the AL West, so with a little luck, maybe they can do it! Missing you all...God Bless, talk to you soon!diap

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Loving Being Home



It's been a while since we last blogged and lots has happened. We moved out of our place in Sacramento and into a house in Walnut Creek that I just love. It is in the same area as we lived last year and I love being able to walk everywhere in that cute little downtown.
Holden and I just flew home for a few weeks to visit family and spend a week at the beach and we are so excited we can hardly stand it. All week me and my sisters have been stocking up on things to take on our vacation. Holden celebrated his birthday here with friends and family and it was so special to have them around for his very first ( but second) birthday. He especially loved seeing his buddy Tripp again, who has changed so very much!
We have been spending a lot of time with our cousins while we have been home and we got to meet baby Brooks for the very first time. Holden didn't quite know what to make of him. Just yesterday we went downtown to the fountain ( a cool water thing for the kids that shoots up all over the place) and played...then had lunch. And a few days ago Nana drove down to see him and spend a night with him. He is definitely loving all the attention. We were terrified of Sasha when we got home, but we are getting a little better now. He is getting really close to walking. He pulls up and cruises all around the furniture, but I am not pushing the walking thing..it's hard enough now and all he does is crawl. Hope all is well around the country with everyone else. Hope to blog again soon with pictures from the beach!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Our Little Man is ONE!!!!






So, our little Holden turns one this Thursday and I can't believe a whole year has gone by! Despite our minor disaster of being sent down, we still had a celebration. After some deliberation, we kept the plans we had made and we just stayed in San Ramon an extra few days...and boy was it worth it! We did a barbeque at San Ramon Central Park and although it was a little windy...It was still great to get everyone together! The Gross', Wuertz's, Pennington's, Davis' and Barton and Jamie all came to support Hoho on his big day. The kiddos played while the adults ate..then the fun for the little man began. Holden LOVED his cake ( first sugar he has ever had). We had a special little cake made for him and he devoured it! We ended up having to take what was left of it from him so that he could open presents. Once that started..it looked like a toy store exploded in his lap! Everyone was SO gracious and he got some wonderful things..or more like A LOT of wonderful stuff. He played ALL day with all of it and had a blast! Not to mention, it was a nice break for Mommy for him to entertain himself all day as I was unpacking and doing laundry YET again for about the eighty thousandth time.
Holden will still get to celebrate with our family when we go home on at the end of this month, but I was so glad he got to do something for his actual birthday with his buddies out in Cali. As for his first steps..I think they could be coming soon! He is pulling up on EVERYTHING and cruises around! Of course,his buddies Braxton and Allie have already both beat him in that!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Our weekend



Holden and I are in the midst of seeing Landon off for an 11 day road trip and I think we are both getting tired of looking at each other's faces...SO, for the weekend we spent time down in Walnut Creek. Saturday we spent the day at the Gross' house. They have a beautiful pool and backyard and we swam and ate lunch there. Holden is such the little fish..he just LOVES it. He goes under and would stay in the pool ( or the bath) for hours if I let him! Sunday we went with Missy and Jamie to church in Livermore and it was nice. We walked around Walnut Creek afterward for lunch and it made me really miss the area. I loved where we lived last year right there in downtown, walking distance from everywhere, it is such a quaint and fun little town, expensive yes, but really great. Holden is now terrified of the Pennington's dog, Sierra. Usually he loves dogs, his own included, but I think we disturbed Sierra when we walked into their house and she barked loud and was all over Holden's feet, so from then on, he screamed whenever she came around.
Holden is into clapping, waving and kissing now. He gives kisses A LOT, but mostly to girls. Although, Daddy gets his fair share too. He is pulling up on everything, dishwasher included and he even climbs into it. He thinks it is funny to pull up on our headboard and throw things behind it so that I have to climb underneath the bed to get them out. He is not eating anymore baby food and is a really good eater these days. Tomatoes and carrots are his favorite vegetables. He will eat ANY kind of fruit ( LOVES it). He is getting so big so fast, it makes me sad. He will be one next week and we have a small birthday party planned for now and I hope we get to do it. We are going to do a cookout at the park on his actual birthday. If for some reason we aren't in Oakland and we don't get to do it, I have a fallback. We are definitely doing one at home in SC when I fly home at the end of June, so for my sanity..either way, baby Hoho will get his first birthday!
Baileigh and Tolly have been so sweet to pitch in and help take care of us with Landon gone as well...it sure is nice to have good friends!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Holden's little personality

So, in the midst of moving every other day, Holden has come into a little bit of his own personality. He certainly knows how to object if he doesn't like something..feed himself and talk up a storm. But now he has begun dancing, clapping and giving kisses out like they are candy..he is definitely a loving little thing. He crawls all over the place and is really into opening and shutting doors, taking everything out of my purse and lifting up the shower curtain to play peek a boo while you are in there..so much for privacy. He is also pulling up a lot! He has a lion truck that he likes to ride around the house when you push it and he pitches a fit if you take him off of it. Just the other day, I turned around just in time to catch him doing a headstand! Now, of course, he can'get his feet off the ground, but he sure tried! I have attached a video of attempting this headstand thing...but you may want to turn down the volume on your computer because I did not realize just how annoying my voice is until I listened to it! What can I say, I was trying to be encouraging!

And it continues...




So by now, my husband thinks that it is comical to play jokes on me as to where we are going to be tomorrow. I know this because he came home last night and carried on perfectly normal conversation with me until we got into bed, at which time he informs me he has a 6 o'clock am flight to Baltimore. Yep, he is back up..after about 4 days down this time. And it will probably only be for about two weeks until Coco comes back off the DL, so we are just waiting. The hardest part of all this is, I am trying to plan a birthday party for my Hoho's first birthday and that is just impossible right now. On a good note, I am being taught to enjoy and live each day as it comes, because heaven knows I can't look past today! I am actually only taking things one hour at a time right now. We have also enjoyed our time in Triple A with our good friends the Tollesons. Holden is finally getting over whatever virus this is that the boys have been passing around the locker room for the past month and things are somewhat settling down. The A's did a nice ceremony for the perfect game and were kind enough to frame Landon's mitt and include him in the festivities. As things just continue to get crazier every time we go up or down, I am so grateful that despite this lifestyle, we all have a constant in this world no matter what..and boy am I learning, he knows what he is doing, even if we dont!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Crazy Week





If you would have asked me a month ago, which would happen first, Landon would steal a base, or catch a perfect game I would have laughed and said that even though there have only been 18 (before Sunday) perfect games in MLB history, that the latter would probably happen first. Well, both have happened this week and Landon and I have just sat back in disbelief. We could have never of fathomed that we would be in this position after the way this whirlwind season has started....but obviously we are just chess pieces in this game of life and God is the puppeteer. Between all of the interviews, and media calls we have dealt with, we found time to sit back and relish what God has done. Sunday was an absolutely magical day. Not only was it Mother's Day (my first with the little man) but also the day Landon caught Dallas Braden's perfect game. Now, thanks to an amazing performance from Braden, Landon will forever be in Major League Baseball history. Holden and I joined them in the room for the press conference after the game and Holden proceeded to crawl around talking..during the whole interview session,making friends with all of the media. ( I guess that's something new he is going to have to learn about in the future) Now with all the ups, downs and back and forths we have been through this year, this just made me smile ( I haven't stopped for about 4 days now) because I had such a hard time trusting God's plan for my life and have struggled with peace in this whole situation so much. And let me tell you, the only reason Landon was catching that day was divine intervention my friends. You see, God had a plan all along, and it wasn't until I surrendered, learned to trust and live day by day( which as you know, is a HUGE stretch for me) that he revealed it. Who's to say what will happen from here, well only he knows. But we can rest assure we are following his plan, and I think it's a pretty good one.

Holden and I have made the trip to Texas this week to watch the boys play the Rangers. No, not because I just love flying with Holden ( if you don't know, check the older posts) but because I LOVE the Hotel here in Dallas. It is a Four Seasons, and a resort, so I feel like I am on a tropical vacation. Not to mention they have childcare and an amazing spa ( so I was able to talk a facial out of Landon for my Mother's day) And we have had a great time as a family. We are really enjoying every day we get to spend with the A's at the time..there are some great people involved with this team.
On another note, my sister gave birth to her second ( a boy) Brooks Edris Blanchard and we can't wait to meet him ( Holden is ready to teach him some bad things). We love and miss you all... Here is a pic of Holden we took while out for some lunch in Dallas!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Update for the week



Just figured I would post an update in case anyone might be wondering if I had committed myself to an asylum yet( of course I'm just kidding..on a bad day, I know we still have it better than most). We have enjoyed our week in Oakland...this week Holden went to his second birthday party ever, Allie Gross' first birthday and he had a blast. It was during the game in a suite and we really enjoyed our time socializing. The wives also had their first bible study of the season and it was great to be able to see everyone again from last year. Holden has decided that smacking Brady Pennington in the face was a good way to interact with his friends, so needless to say...we have been working on that. He has also been playing with Braxton Wuertz a bunch and those two are hilarious together. Braxton is much better at pulling up, but Holden has been doing quite a bit of research on it,and has been trying a little more in the downtime. We enjoyed our first off day of the season yesterday and it was great. Nothing special, just a little laundry, shopping, dinner and a movie (but that's way more than we can usually ever do together in a month during baseball season). We spent half of it in our apartment in Sacramento before heading back down to our hotel room in San Ramon.
In my never-ending quest for peace,there has been new developments as well. In the wives' bible study we prayed for peace, and the next day we had an e-mail from baseball chapter about peace! And the verse in it was my favorite...Isaiah 26:3. There was some additional scripture on it as well about peace which didn't really resonate until the next day when I got a text from a family member...SAME scripture. So, yes folks...I appreciate all of your prayers, they are definitely making it up there, God is really revealing himself to us and providing peace in this crazy unknown. We are planning on making the flight to Texas on Sunday if Landon is still up in the big leagues, so if anyone needs more prayer requests, we would greatly appreciate it!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

My Angel

Well, a lot has happened in the past year with the birth of our son and Landon’s first year in the big leagues..but I feel like more has happened in the past week than all that combined! To say that this past week has been insane would be a DRASTIC understatement!! In all of our years of baseball, Landon and I have never been moved back and forth. We have always started in one place and stayed for a while before being moved up, to which we have stayed up. This year, that is not so. In an unexpected turn of events Landon started this season back in the minor leagues again (despite the fact that he had a really good year last year), but was called back up last week. I had planned to meet Landon in Las Vegas since we haven’t seen him in a month (Holden and I went home when Landon was moved down because we didn’t have a home!) so this meant I had to cancel our flight to Vegas and Sacramento and book a new one to Tampa to meet him and then book one back to Greenville, then out to Oakland. I no sooner got all of that done then when we found out Landon had been moved back down two days later. I found this out 9 pm on Friday and realized now, I could still make my Vegas flight, but I had to fly out the next morning at 7!! So, I hurried to do laundry and get the house in order to leave it for a month or so. Needless to say, we left poor Sasha at home this time.
Holden and I made it to the airport on time the next morning only to find, we were delayed to Atlanta because of the tornadoes!! When we finally boarded and made the 30 minute flight down to the peach state we get there in time to watch our plane leave! We missed our connection in Atlanta and were stranded! Now, for those who aren’t Mothers yet…these words are DEVASTATING to hear when your son is crawling all over the place, you have been up since 5am and you have NO HELP. The airlines informed me that they couldn’t put me on any flights that day until that night and even then, they probably wouldn’t leave because the weather was supposed to get WORSE!! I was on standby for about three flights (by then Holden was clothes were brown from crawling around the nasty airport floor, and I was sleepwalking). The woman at the counter then informed me that my priority as a standby person had been restarted because I had made a phone call to the delta customer service to see if there is anything else I can do. I then lost it…broke down to the woman at the counter ( and I mean the ugly crying that is really embarrassing..I guess the stress got to me) and she put me on the next flight (guess she could have done that all along) I got to Vegas only to find, my luggage was lost and we had no clothes. I stood in yet another line to get our luggage delivered to find out it wouldn’t be there until the next day…awesome, I told Holden, guess we are going naked. We finally arrived to the hotel in Sin City and you would think yes….happy ending right?? Not so much! After waiting in a 30 minute line just to get our key to the room, we get up there in time to go back to sleep. We enjoyed a wonderful two evenings in Vegas and about the time we get our luggage…Landon gets the news…He is back up. Now don’t get me wrong, we were ecstatic…but oh my. I changed my flight to go back to Sacramento (at least this way I can go to the apt Landon had gotten us and wait until he gets back in Cali). Holden and I leave EARLY the next morning still jet lagged and now going on three days NO SLEEP. We get to Sacramento only to walk out into a rain storm with monsooning winds. We were supposed to pick up a teammates car, so we take the shuttle to the economy car lot. Now, when I tell you we take the shuttle to the lot I mean…Me, Holden, car seat, stroller and about a month’s worth of luggage somehow stumble onto the shuttle filled with people all staring at me like I am crazy for doing this…looking like we haven’t slept in days. Not a pretty sight, let me tell you…you know it’s bad when you see that look on people’s faces. One sweet angel of a man helped me on the shuttle..and I can’t say enough about him. The shuttle finally drops us off in the HUGE parking lot in which I was told to go right and just find the car. Now friends, let me tell you..just go right means nothing in this never-ending sea of cars. As the rain pours down on us, Holden is winching and shuttering because he is being drowned in the downpour. At one time I let go of the stroller and he blew across the parking lot with me running after him..that is about the time I just let go of my luggage ..actually I put it in a parking spot and abandoned it to find the car. That is probably now why my laptop is broken…it fell in a puddle. I called my friend over and over to no avail..and for the second time in a week, I broke down. We were drenched, tired, cold and lost . Literally, I went up and down rows and found nothing..not even their panic button worked. About that time my angel of a man came back! In his white truck he pulled up and said, "Can I help you?” Now you have to understand, as a baseball wife, I am pretty independent and not one to ever take a lot of help, so I didn’t really want to say yes..then he asked “Can I drive you around to find the car? “ I didn’t know what else to do, and was so grateful. He loaded all our things up and put us in the car and we drove until we found the car. I could have given him the biggest hug!
I tell you this story to say…God is always taking care of you. I know for a fact he put that man in my life to help. Some may say in a life like this where you don’t know where you will be tomorrow night or where your children will lay their heads…it is impossible to stay sane and I would agree….IF I didn’t have my Lord and Savior. I have struggled greatly with trusting God’s plan for our lives this year….and God has answered that with two words “Perfect Peace” One day, in a matter of thirty minutes, God brought one verse to my attention THREE times..coincidence, I THINK NOT! The verse? “ You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3. That has been the motto I have lived by in the past month. My friends…I am a living testimony to the fact that anyone can have peace…because as anyone who knows me will testify, I am a bag of stress and nerves 99% of the time, and miraculously…this year, I am calm and confident in God’s plan for our lives, no matter where that may take us tomorrow..or even in the next hour!!

Our Trip to Cali





So, just to update everyone on our lives. We just made the move from Arizona for spring training to California for the season…and to say the least, it was interesting. I had to fly my brother out to help me with a drive because an 11 month old baby boy, a five year old dog…and everything that comes with on an 11 hour drive is too much to handle for this 27 year old woman! Needless to say, my brother was a huge help. We did the drive all in one day and ended up in San Francisco for two nights. Holden and Sasha were both perfect..thank Heaven..my angel child and devil dog. Holden celebrated his first Easter in San Francisco. My brother and I visited Alcatraz and went to all the games. Those were the fun parts..Drew also had to go to Holden’s Dr. checkup with us and help to unload and reload the car, oh about 4 times while we waited to find out where we would live. Drew did however get to experience the joys of California, such as In N Out, traffic backed up for hours, and oh so impolite people! I think the poor guy went home traumatized. He told my parents he didn’t care if he ever came back to San Francisco AND that I almost hit pedestrians twice in San Francisco, which I am pretty sure I didn’t, Drew just isn’t used to California driving yet. Regardless, it was a good way to bond with my brother before we lose him forever to the state of Alabama. I think he might just have a newfound respect for baseball wives ;)

Vegas Baby!

So alright, in the middle of this roller coaster ride we have been on in the past week, Holden and I stopped in Vegas and had a blast! The pool at this hotel was really cool. It had a huge waterslide that went down the middle through a shark tank! To say that Holden LOVED the shark tank would be an understatement! The child is a fish himself! He LOVED swimming..and most surprising..he knows how! He already kicks and flaps his arms. If you try to hold him on your hip in the pool, he nose dives to be back on his stomach swimming! He didn’t want to get out, so Landon and I took turns taking him around the pool until he finally wore himself out and fell asleep on Landon’s chest in a lawn chair. Then, Landon and I put him in the stroller and got to enjoy a little sun and daiquiris ourselves (virgin that is). Holden also won a lot of money on a blackjack table, and treated Mommy and Daddy to dinner one night in the hotel. No, but really, he got his share of Vegas, and we did play a little Keno from our room (just to do something) and go out to eat. It was nice to be a family again after a month apart..even if it was just for two nights. Holden also went to his first two baseball games of the season…and the poor child isn’t cut out for late nights….it wore him out, so we are going to have to try and figure something out with this baseball schedule thing. Fun trip to Vegas, but now we are back in Sacramento, making this apartment homey enough to live in for the next 6 months….should that be the case..these days, we never know. Miss you all and love you!