Caught ya by surprise!

Another entry! And I didn't even wait a month! Why??? Lots going on, that's why and I just wanted to document a few things so I have a frame of reference when baby #2 comes around.

Marissa is starting to use a spoon! Sure, she still dumps a ton of it on the floor (particularly when she's trying to share with you) but quite often she gets it right and feeds herself. Very cool to see. We sort of take the whole scoop, balance to mouth and eat thing for granted, much less having the spoon turned the right way!!

She's also climbing on everything now as we got her a two step stool for washing her hands and an adjustable platform for by the kitchen counter so she can get up there and watch us cook. She also is walking a ton of course and has been for a while, but today for instance we walked down to Starbucks instead of me putting her in a stroller. That's a first. LL has walked around the block with her, but this was her first trip with me. Yay me!!

LL has made available to Marissa on her iPad all of these videos about different things like "Potty Time" and such that star a woman who is very energetic and does sign language to all the songs she sings. Now Marissa knows "Stop, and Go Potty" meaning stop what you're doing and go to the bathroom. Of course she still has her diaper on, but it's a start. She's been very good about letting us know when she needs changed by simply telling us instead of crying. I have to say, it's one of my favorite developments.

And now for some softball pics from Orlando:

Here's the team at the entrance to the Wide World of Sports complex.

Prior to the WW of Sports, you enter Disney!

And this is just part of where we walk on our way to the fields.

The one picture of me actually hitting.

Me at third.

And me actually READY at third. Ha!

Finally an update

Well, too much time has passed so I thought I should try to keep up the online journal.

Marissa just turned 18 months on the 11th. What a cutie pie she is. At her checkup she was finally talking to the doctor. At home, she talks up a storm. In front of strangers, not so much. The doc was pretty impressed with her ability to string words together into short sentences. She is in the 93rd percentile for height and 50 percentile for weight.

In other Marissa news, LL bought a two step stool for her to use to get up to wash her hands at the guest bathroom sink upstairs. Immediately Marissa climbed the stairs, pronounced "Ta-da!" and wanted to wash her hands.....which she proceeded to do about a dozen times straight. LL also got a stool of sorts for her to climb up on in the kitchen to watch while we cook.

Finally, as it relates to Marissa, we had a nanny change. Our first nanny, Elvie Delosreyes, left us for full time employment so we were without a nanny for a week. We have a new one though, an Indian woman in her late 50's early 60's named Aisha. Week one was pretty good with her, so we're hopeful!

Last Wednesday I headed down to Orlando with our softball team for the USSSA world series at the Wide World of Sports complex. We also played at the Osceola Complex which are nice fields but not quite as nice. But they are just as hot and have just as much as humidity. We played one game Thursday and won, two games on Friday and won both, two games on Saturday (possibly the first time we've made it to Saturday) and lost both. The first game was against a team from Syracuse, the second against a chirpy team from Las Vegas and the third against a team from Illinois whom we run into fairly often. In fact, about 4 guys on their team were on our team last year, but they weren't team players. It felt good to beat them by a bundle (20-10). For the tournament I was 5-9, but was 3-4 on Saturday and my only out was on a line drive that the first baseman snagged. Being 48, being married with one little gal and another youngster on the way, it could be my last time down there. You never know.

By the way, the Comfort Inn's on Irlo Bronson Hwy are terrible. Don't stay at either one. Also, the Budget car rental place is close to the baggage claim. If you go with someone else, Alamo is good but don't do Dollar....not enough people working.

I'm writing this while watching the Bears play the 49ers in game two of the season. At our first game, we had almost 30 people at the tailgate and it was a beautiful day.....at least until we lost the game in OT to the lowly Bills of Buffalo. We were down 10 points at half, tied it up by the end of the third and blew it going down the stretch. Our special teams and offense have put us in a 17-7 hole tonight at half-time.

As usual, lots of things going on with lots of thoughts, but not enough time to put them down. Maybe things will change with the cooler weather.