T~Ball

 Gracie started T-ball a couple of weeks ago. For those of you that are uninformed about T-ball, there are no outs and every kid bats every inning. Every hit gets one base, no matter how far it is hit, or if the fielder gets the ball to the base before the runner. It's all about learning the basics of the game. 

Her team. Nine kids ages 4-6.

Meeting her teammates.

 

Learning some fielding basics.

Can I be a Raider, too, Dad?

Finding second base~they practiced running them in the correct direction.

Found first, Momma!

Watch out, Ryan Braun. There's a NEW #8 in Wisconsin!

She decided to bat left handed.

What a swing!

Bee got bored and requested the park, across the parking lot from the field.

Baseball!

If you've read our blog for a while, you should know that we are big baseball fans around here. With Daddy on two softball teams, Gracie has been asking for her own bat an ball for a while now. Daddy found a Spider-Man one at work today. Gracie loves Spider-Man, and often shoots webs at us, just like he does in the cartoons, so this was a double treat for her.

"Momma. Don't take picture of me."

Swing batta, batta!

Not so sure about her expression~she was having fun, really!

Racing Corey

At Miller Park there is a kids' zone with a slide, throwing area, and more. On of the attractions is a place for kids to race a cutout of All-Star, Corey Hart. Unfortunately, the cutout doesn't move anymore, but Gracie still had fun running as fast as she could down the path.

What Do We Do With Polish?

My friend and I have an ongoing joke about the Racing Sausages at Miller Park. She loves the Polish, and I think the Hot Dog is the only one that makes sense~it's the taste of baseball! As a gag gift for my birthday last year, she gave me a beanbag Polish doll. I also have a Hot Dog one. For the last year or so, we have been teaching Gracie to throw the Polish on the ground and kiss the Hot Dog. We wanted to show her Gracie doing this, but didn't get a chance during our last trip so I video taped it.

Home Sweet Home

Of course we went to a couple of Brewers games while we were in Milwaukee. Ahh, we miss our "baseball family" so much. It was very good to see everyone again!

Miller Park~our home away from home for many years.

A marching band performed the National Anthem, and we watched them march in before the game.

Gracie getting a balloon puppy from a clown.

Watch out! Future homerun derby winner!

Bee on a big hot dog in the kiddie land.

Sliding down a replica of Bernie's slide.

Gracie was getting overheated so while I nursed Bee in the first aid station Josey watered her down a bit. She was much better after she had some "Brewer water" and a bath!

Brewers/Twins Game

To continue Daddy's birthday celebration, we headed out to Target Field to catch a Brewers game! We brought Bri with us, but Gracie got to go play with Grandma all by herself (no sharing Grandma with Bee today!). We had a lot of fun, but ended up having to leave very early because Bee just couldn't take a nap there and was getting quite upset about it.

"I'm goin' to my first baseball game!"

Daddy and Bee, waiting for the gates to open.

Pretty nice field-it's no Miller Park though.

"I got my own bat!"
She was so happy to play with her very own Joe Mauer baseball bat that she was kicking her feet so fast they are a blur!

Teaching the Important Stuff

Many of you know that Daddy and I are huge Milwaukee Brewers fans. We met most of our friends out there at Miller Park and had season tickets for a few years. Gracie spent most of her first summer at Miller Park-we know many of the employees and even had to "make the rounds" before every game to see all of our "baseball family." You may not know that before moving to Milwaukee I was a Twins fan. I grew up outside
of the cities and even spent many birthdays at the Metrodome.

I had to pick the girls up at my parents' house after work today and after dinner we put on the Twins game. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: Gracie, what's on t.v.?
Gracie: (barely glancing at the t.v.) Brew-ah
Me: (Smiling in a slightly gloating fashion at my dad)
Grandpa: You need to teach her.
Me: I DID.

Gracie being held by Corey Hart, Brewers right fielder (and Daddy's fav player).


This photo of us was in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Opening Weekend 2009.

Gracie Loves Baseball

I cannot get over how good Gracie is at the baseball games. We put her into the baby frontpack and carry her around in it. Our body heat keeps her really warm, and she sleeps through the whole game! Both yesterday and today we went to the game and I fed her just before they started playing, and she didn't wake up again until we got home. We did get these great pictures of her before she passed out.

A Successful Journey

Yesterday I decided to take Gracie for a little journey. We packed up everything she may need and ventured into the big world to go to Babies 'R' Us. She cried the whole way there. Once we got there, I took her to the "Mother's Room" and fed her, hoping that would calm her. It didn't. I had to hold her the whole time I shopped. It was fine, except then everyone feels the need to come admire the baby-fun at first, but really prolongs the trip! While I was there, I grabbed the March issue of American Baby, which they give out for free. We wandered for a while, and then headed home- she only cried half the way home.
That evening, as I was feeding Grace, I paged through the magazine, and found an article on calming your baby. One of the things it suggested was to create white noise. I mentioned it to Brian, and he said "no wonder the bathroom fan put her to sleep so fast last night." He had sent me to bed and taken over baby bed time the night before. Hum. . . So later, when she got fussy we tried the usual techniques-baby backpack, bouncy chair, shhhing then we put on the baseball game. It's official, she's already hooked on baseball! She was entranced with the game for a good 45 minutes before the crying resumed. Suddenly I remembered the article. I took her into her room, turned off the lights, and turned on the fan. We started rocking, and she was out like a light in about 2.2 seconds! YES! Victory! I don't know why I didn't think of that on my own-Brian needs a fan to sleep, and she is a daddy's girl. I guess sometimes you just need to see/hear it from someone else before it makes sense. Here's hoping it will keep working.

Baseball

As most of you know, Brian and I are huge Brewers fans. Last year we hit about 62 of their games, including three in Minnesota. This year we have scaled down our season ticket package to 20 games, and moved our seats from the outfield to the fourth floor for the baby. The team was in town this weekend to play their final two exhibition games and since we are missing Opening Day for the wedding (and all tickets were $10) we went to the games and brought Gracie. I was a little nervous at first. I haven't really gone anywhere with her yet, and baseball is a pretty big time commitment (not that we couldn't leave early if we needed to). I must say that Miller Park is amazing for new parents. They are SO accommodating! We have a carrier that is similar to a backpack to carry her around in, but needed the stroller for before the game and traveling to and from the car. We weren't sure what we were going to do with it once we were ready to sit down, but then someone told us we could check it at Guest Relations. It was great, and we know the people that work in Guest Relations, so we now have a great excuse to visit them every game. Also, I started out feeding her in a bathroom stall, but after talking to one of our friends at Guest Relations, she told me to go to the first aide station. They block off a section for me to have a private place to feed her. Gracie got to meet Brian Shouse (my fav player, who had a new baby in September)-but she slept through it. He congratulated us, and we got to chat for a little while. It was nice to be back in the ballpark.