When It Rains...

What a week it's been!  I'm feeling a bit pulled in a million directions... as we often do as mothers, right?  Between wife, mom, teacher, volunteer, sports fan, cook, chaffeur, and cleaning lady (I should be fired from this one), I always feel like my plate is full.  But now I'm going to add nurse/caretaker/pratically single mom to this list because Brad is having shoulder surgery today.  Ugh. 

With the March for Babies coming up quick, I'm trying to get a final push in my donations to get to my goal, yet feel like I'm never really doing quite enough.  I'm also blogging for the Family Teams Blog (www.marchforbabiesfamilyteams.blogspot.com) when I get the chance. 

In addition, I'm waiting on some results of a vote that should be taking place in these next few weeks.  Last week, my friend Vi and I went to Austin to testify at a hearing to the Public Health Committee in support of House Bill 740.  This bill would mandate all newborns be screened for critical congenital heart defects by way of pulse oximetry before leaving the hospital.  This is the little clamp they put on your finger to measure your oxygen levels.  The test is noninvasive and the thinking behind it is that a low oxygen level is a good indicator of an underlying heart defect.  We were honored to speak to the lawmakers about how important this is and are really hopeful that the bill will be passed on to the next step.  Check out the link to see us in action... around the 1 hour 35 minute mark.  http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/committee-broadcasts/committee-archives/player/?session=83&committee=410&ram=13031310410 

And finally, yesterday we found out that my grandmother fell and broke her hip and will be having surgery today as well.  My mom left early this morning to be there, so I'm going to have my plate full this weekend.  Thank God for my dad and some great friends that are helping me with getting everyone where they need to be.  But I have a feeling I'm gonna be worn out come next week.  I'm praying my grandma is strong and has a successful surgery, but it's scary with her being 86 years old. 

Here's to hoping this is the last bit of this "stormy weather" around here.

Love to y'all,
Tracy

North Texas Eagles

This weekend was spent at Tate's second baseball tournament of the season.  The boys are really working hard and doing a great job.  They seriously improve every single game.  Unfortunately, they went 0 and 4, losing a couple close battles up till the last inning.  They're trying hard to keep their chins up, but it's getting difficult when they're all used to playing on teams that do pretty well.  They don't really realize that the teams they're up against are the best of the best from all over DFW. 

Despite how the games ended up, Tate did a pretty solid job.  He bats second in the order (our very own Elvis Andrus) and rotates from left field to short stop to catcher.  He hit a homerun both yesterday and today - which is technically more of a double with some overthrows, so he can then run the rest of the way home.  But for the sake of six year olds, they call these homers and get stickers for their batting helmets, so we won't argue.  

Like I said, overall, job well done, Eagles.  You made us all proud and we're looking forward to rooting you on to your first victory! 

 Playing some left field.

 Ready for the pitch.

Baseball ready at short.

Single up the middle.

Watching his teammates.

Favorite cheer: B-U-S-T! Bust it, Baby!  Bust it!

Behind the plate... gotta love that form.

Action shot.

All smiles in the dugout!  

Love to y'all,
Tracy