For your viewing pleasure.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Playing it well...
So- we lost last night. 4-0.
But it was wonderful. It sounds kind of messed up to say that- but it’s true.
FACT 1: We have developed a game plan over the course of the season to play a very conservative, defensive style of play when we play teams that could eat us for breakfast. It was a tip that we got from a coach at Leon when we went to play against Chiles. Our strategy has been in these games: defend and keep it close. We don’t want to get stretched out and allow one two passing in our mid-field, which gets us back on our heels, scrambling. We want to create a big, air-tight space full of lots of bodies… if the team we are playing gets frustrated with this tactic and pulls back and just launches shots from 20-30 yards out, we will deal with that just fine, Thank you very much.
FACT 2: The thing is, that we are just the sort of team that can mess you up if you’re a Gulf Breeze or a Chiles or a Lincoln. We play smart soccer. We have fundamental skills. We coach well in the sense that we look for mismatches all over the field and make sure that players in key positions aren’t outmatched by their mark. We’re tenacious. We’re scrappy.
FACT 3: And when its called for, we can be a little gangster.
It has worked with varying degrees of success. Against Lincoln it was an EPIC FAIL. Chiles, somewhat success. But we’ve never really executed it that well. The reason, is that it requires soooooooo muuuuuuuuuuch patience. Really, it does. It goes against everything that these girls have been taught- and forces them to play a style of play that feels ineffectual. In any case, we’d focused on it this last week of practice and were committed to it last night. Our hope was to keep the game close and evaluate the game plan at 65-70 minutes to determine if we should start pushing.
It was breath-taking to watch. This style of play, BTW is counter to how these girls have been coached since they step foot in this program. It’s ugly in that we don’t have possession of the ball for very long, and so we don’t build passes out of the back. It was breath-taking none the less. It was awesome to watch because we actually executed a game plan. For once. Top to bottom, everyone on the team knew what we were doing and tried to do it.
No lie: Gulf Breeze was awesome. They were a great team. My heart was in my throat for most of the first half, where we held them 0-0 till 5 minutes left. And we played not only on our half of the field, but in our defensive third for most of the game. They also had the best high school player that we’ve ever seen. Her name is Maggie Rodgers and she is a baller. She is the combination of several of our players: she has skill like Lizzie, speed like Mandy, a touch like B-Rod and strength like Megan. The score line was: Maggie Rodgers 4, Wakulla 0.
Here is how she is a phenom: Our plan for dealing with her was simple: man mark with our strongest, toughest, fastest, most aggressive, most physical defender (Megan). Here is the thing about Megan- she’s deceptive, because you look at her and she looks like your typical California surfer girl/girl next door: she’s tan, blond, blue eyed, soft spoken, sweet disposition. And you don’t think she could play. But she is solid muscle- and not in a big lumbering kind of way. But all muscle in the, “I will kill you and get away with it because I look like an angel” kind of way. So our plan was to stick Megan on this Maggie person and hope for the best. This girl is a phenom because she managed to get away from Megan on a couple of occasions (despite the best efforts of Megan who was fouling, bodying up, playing overall physical ball)- but the second that she got away from Megan (which wasn’t often), she had to deal with Kellie who is ridiculously scrappy and tough. And if she got away from Kellie, she had to deal with Bre. And if she managed to get away from Bre, she had to deal with Kristine, who’s no slouch in the back. This girl got hacked and pushed and shoved all night. She got her jersey pulled and her share of elbows in the chest. Seriously, the only thing we didn’t do to her was an open field football tackle. And she still scored four goals. Only the really good players who have always been good can play like that- she is clearly used to being the best player on a team, the one who always gets the “treatment”. Clearly. Case in point: during the run of play, she hit a ball from 20 yards out. I thought, “Wow, Shay might get to that.” Then the ball dropped and curved AWAY from the goal and went side netting- far side. That was her 3rd goal of the night. Turns out, this girl is going to UF to play ball. UF. In the words of BT- “That is so B-A!”
The score of 4-0 doesn’t do the game justice- it was 2-0 till about 8 minutes left to go. We fought this team for 72 minutes. It was awesome.
Here is the thing that breaks my heart: everyone stepped up last night. Everyone. Dave and I were uncharacteristically intense with them during pregame…rather chilling them out- we got them pumped up. And that is the thing- if we had our Disney Movie ending we would have won last night. We would have gone onto the Regional Semifinals and won there and Regional Finals and won there. Then we’d go down to Ft. Lauderdale and win state. But that never happens. For us, the awesome end to our season was getting all of these kids on the same page- and everyone giving everything they had. Do you know how rare that is? How beautiful it is when you execute a game plan? It was awesome.
But it was wonderful. It sounds kind of messed up to say that- but it’s true.
FACT 1: We have developed a game plan over the course of the season to play a very conservative, defensive style of play when we play teams that could eat us for breakfast. It was a tip that we got from a coach at Leon when we went to play against Chiles. Our strategy has been in these games: defend and keep it close. We don’t want to get stretched out and allow one two passing in our mid-field, which gets us back on our heels, scrambling. We want to create a big, air-tight space full of lots of bodies… if the team we are playing gets frustrated with this tactic and pulls back and just launches shots from 20-30 yards out, we will deal with that just fine, Thank you very much.
FACT 2: The thing is, that we are just the sort of team that can mess you up if you’re a Gulf Breeze or a Chiles or a Lincoln. We play smart soccer. We have fundamental skills. We coach well in the sense that we look for mismatches all over the field and make sure that players in key positions aren’t outmatched by their mark. We’re tenacious. We’re scrappy.
FACT 3: And when its called for, we can be a little gangster.
It has worked with varying degrees of success. Against Lincoln it was an EPIC FAIL. Chiles, somewhat success. But we’ve never really executed it that well. The reason, is that it requires soooooooo muuuuuuuuuuch patience. Really, it does. It goes against everything that these girls have been taught- and forces them to play a style of play that feels ineffectual. In any case, we’d focused on it this last week of practice and were committed to it last night. Our hope was to keep the game close and evaluate the game plan at 65-70 minutes to determine if we should start pushing.
It was breath-taking to watch. This style of play, BTW is counter to how these girls have been coached since they step foot in this program. It’s ugly in that we don’t have possession of the ball for very long, and so we don’t build passes out of the back. It was breath-taking none the less. It was awesome to watch because we actually executed a game plan. For once. Top to bottom, everyone on the team knew what we were doing and tried to do it.
No lie: Gulf Breeze was awesome. They were a great team. My heart was in my throat for most of the first half, where we held them 0-0 till 5 minutes left. And we played not only on our half of the field, but in our defensive third for most of the game. They also had the best high school player that we’ve ever seen. Her name is Maggie Rodgers and she is a baller. She is the combination of several of our players: she has skill like Lizzie, speed like Mandy, a touch like B-Rod and strength like Megan. The score line was: Maggie Rodgers 4, Wakulla 0.
Here is how she is a phenom: Our plan for dealing with her was simple: man mark with our strongest, toughest, fastest, most aggressive, most physical defender (Megan). Here is the thing about Megan- she’s deceptive, because you look at her and she looks like your typical California surfer girl/girl next door: she’s tan, blond, blue eyed, soft spoken, sweet disposition. And you don’t think she could play. But she is solid muscle- and not in a big lumbering kind of way. But all muscle in the, “I will kill you and get away with it because I look like an angel” kind of way. So our plan was to stick Megan on this Maggie person and hope for the best. This girl is a phenom because she managed to get away from Megan on a couple of occasions (despite the best efforts of Megan who was fouling, bodying up, playing overall physical ball)- but the second that she got away from Megan (which wasn’t often), she had to deal with Kellie who is ridiculously scrappy and tough. And if she got away from Kellie, she had to deal with Bre. And if she managed to get away from Bre, she had to deal with Kristine, who’s no slouch in the back. This girl got hacked and pushed and shoved all night. She got her jersey pulled and her share of elbows in the chest. Seriously, the only thing we didn’t do to her was an open field football tackle. And she still scored four goals. Only the really good players who have always been good can play like that- she is clearly used to being the best player on a team, the one who always gets the “treatment”. Clearly. Case in point: during the run of play, she hit a ball from 20 yards out. I thought, “Wow, Shay might get to that.” Then the ball dropped and curved AWAY from the goal and went side netting- far side. That was her 3rd goal of the night. Turns out, this girl is going to UF to play ball. UF. In the words of BT- “That is so B-A!”
The score of 4-0 doesn’t do the game justice- it was 2-0 till about 8 minutes left to go. We fought this team for 72 minutes. It was awesome.
Here is the thing that breaks my heart: everyone stepped up last night. Everyone. Dave and I were uncharacteristically intense with them during pregame…rather chilling them out- we got them pumped up. And that is the thing- if we had our Disney Movie ending we would have won last night. We would have gone onto the Regional Semifinals and won there and Regional Finals and won there. Then we’d go down to Ft. Lauderdale and win state. But that never happens. For us, the awesome end to our season was getting all of these kids on the same page- and everyone giving everything they had. Do you know how rare that is? How beautiful it is when you execute a game plan? It was awesome.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hey look at me, I'm on the floor!
Something VERY interesting happened yesterday.
So Nico and I got back from Wakulla around 730pm. I had a TON of stuff to do- get soccer stuff and warm stuff ready for the game tonight. Thaw milk and make bottles, etc. I wanted to make some soup that I started the other night (16 bean) and do some dishes. So I put some of Nico’s alphabet tiles on the floor in the kitchen (actually between the dining room table and the kitchen, right by our back door (for those of you who’ve been to our house)). I threw a blanket on it; put Nico in his Bumpo seat and a bunch of toys on the blanket. So I am also doing laundry at the time, cooking, doing dishes. And I hear a quiet thump. I turn around and Nico has managed to get himself out of the Bumpo and is lying on the floor. Wha-WHAT? Yeah!! Little Homey had been leaning and arching in the seat to get toys. I think this time, he just added his legs to the equation and KABLAMO! Onto the floor.
I resisted the urge to swoop down and pick him up (I think he might have hit his head). I looked at him, waiting to see if he was going to start crying. He just looked back with a look that said, “So what? I just figured out how to get out, sucka!!” It was awesome!!
Of course, I rearranged him, so that he would be on the tile and blanket combo. And he scooted off of it five minutes later. Turns out that he would rather be laying on the dirtiest part of the floor of the house (just inside the back door where the dogs go outside) than on the clean blanket I laid on the floor for him. So, there is that!
Looking forward to the trip tonight to Pensacola. We have a lot of awesome parents who are going to be going. I am interested to see of the girls will step up. Will report more later.
So Nico and I got back from Wakulla around 730pm. I had a TON of stuff to do- get soccer stuff and warm stuff ready for the game tonight. Thaw milk and make bottles, etc. I wanted to make some soup that I started the other night (16 bean) and do some dishes. So I put some of Nico’s alphabet tiles on the floor in the kitchen (actually between the dining room table and the kitchen, right by our back door (for those of you who’ve been to our house)). I threw a blanket on it; put Nico in his Bumpo seat and a bunch of toys on the blanket. So I am also doing laundry at the time, cooking, doing dishes. And I hear a quiet thump. I turn around and Nico has managed to get himself out of the Bumpo and is lying on the floor. Wha-WHAT? Yeah!! Little Homey had been leaning and arching in the seat to get toys. I think this time, he just added his legs to the equation and KABLAMO! Onto the floor.
I resisted the urge to swoop down and pick him up (I think he might have hit his head). I looked at him, waiting to see if he was going to start crying. He just looked back with a look that said, “So what? I just figured out how to get out, sucka!!” It was awesome!!
Of course, I rearranged him, so that he would be on the tile and blanket combo. And he scooted off of it five minutes later. Turns out that he would rather be laying on the dirtiest part of the floor of the house (just inside the back door where the dogs go outside) than on the clean blanket I laid on the floor for him. So, there is that!
Looking forward to the trip tonight to Pensacola. We have a lot of awesome parents who are going to be going. I am interested to see of the girls will step up. Will report more later.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
All Shook Up
I have dried toothpaste on my sleeve. I have no idea how it got there. I also have no plans to try to get it off other than trying to scrape it with my finger.
Not much going on:
Work is slow right now. I never was able to Double Dutch jump rope, but from what I understand, you don’t just run into it and start to jump. You have to time it well- making sure that you ran in at just the right time, just as the ropes were getting where you can keep yourself in play. That is kind of how it is at work… I am just trying to figure out where I can jump in and keep myself in play.
On a completely unrelated matter: Nico took another 3 hour nap at daycare yesterday (awesome). What is not awesome is that they almost had to take him out back and hose him off because he had diarrhea EVERYWHERE. What’s worse, is that I think I am giving it to him. DOH!! The last week or so, I have been mixing a little bit of guacamole in his rice cereal to give it some taste. I thought guac was just mashed up avocado- turns out it sometimes has other stuff in it (like citrus juice, some spices). Some of the “smoother” commercial varieties of it have sour cream in it (which is dairy). Any of these could result in stomach troubles for the Beast. So I guess I need to be a little more careful about what I give Nico to eat-maybe even read the ingredients. Organic Hippie: FAIL!!
Bonus: some of the soccer parents have gotten us a charter bus to go to Pensacola. Yay!! This is going to be awesome. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being a grown person riding a school bus… going 4 HOURS to the god-awful end of Florida? Damn, we might as well be playing in Alabama. In any case, I am glad that they did it… for the girls. And for me… there is nothing worse than being shaken to death on a school bus for four hours. Most of the West Florida teams show up to Wakulla in charter busses- I think it might be a little intimidating for the girls (we never go anywhere in a charter bus). I think that they might assume it’s a REALLY REALLY good team, if you’re riding in a charter bus. I am just nervous now that it might jack up our flow (meaning they are going to be all weird and not play). Of course, that doesn’t really mean anything because any day ending in Y might jack up our flow. Me being in a good mood might do it, me being in a bad mood might do it. Us wearing our reds might do it. Us wearing our whites might do it. Us playing on our field might do it. Us playing on someone else’s field might do it. What can I say? Welcome to being a team full of teenage girls.
Not much going on:
Work is slow right now. I never was able to Double Dutch jump rope, but from what I understand, you don’t just run into it and start to jump. You have to time it well- making sure that you ran in at just the right time, just as the ropes were getting where you can keep yourself in play. That is kind of how it is at work… I am just trying to figure out where I can jump in and keep myself in play.
On a completely unrelated matter: Nico took another 3 hour nap at daycare yesterday (awesome). What is not awesome is that they almost had to take him out back and hose him off because he had diarrhea EVERYWHERE. What’s worse, is that I think I am giving it to him. DOH!! The last week or so, I have been mixing a little bit of guacamole in his rice cereal to give it some taste. I thought guac was just mashed up avocado- turns out it sometimes has other stuff in it (like citrus juice, some spices). Some of the “smoother” commercial varieties of it have sour cream in it (which is dairy). Any of these could result in stomach troubles for the Beast. So I guess I need to be a little more careful about what I give Nico to eat-maybe even read the ingredients. Organic Hippie: FAIL!!
Bonus: some of the soccer parents have gotten us a charter bus to go to Pensacola. Yay!! This is going to be awesome. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being a grown person riding a school bus… going 4 HOURS to the god-awful end of Florida? Damn, we might as well be playing in Alabama. In any case, I am glad that they did it… for the girls. And for me… there is nothing worse than being shaken to death on a school bus for four hours. Most of the West Florida teams show up to Wakulla in charter busses- I think it might be a little intimidating for the girls (we never go anywhere in a charter bus). I think that they might assume it’s a REALLY REALLY good team, if you’re riding in a charter bus. I am just nervous now that it might jack up our flow (meaning they are going to be all weird and not play). Of course, that doesn’t really mean anything because any day ending in Y might jack up our flow. Me being in a good mood might do it, me being in a bad mood might do it. Us wearing our reds might do it. Us wearing our whites might do it. Us playing on our field might do it. Us playing on someone else’s field might do it. What can I say? Welcome to being a team full of teenage girls.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Battle of the Beast-Redux
We’re gearing up around here for the throw-down this weekend. If we lose our game on Thursday, we are done-done for the season. Which would mean, no more driving down to Wakulla for a while, no more getting home at 10 or 11 after games, which means that we can start to put Nico on a somewhat coherent sleeping schedule. Do-what? Yeah. For real.
We’ve been reluctant to do the whole schedule thing with him because it seemed wrong because we were putting him to bed anywhere from 830 pm to 1130 pm. Get home from game at 11pm, nurse, feed solids, bath time, books, songs, sleep would easily have us up till 1 am. So despite the intellectual awareness that we would be creating a monster, we put him to bed by rocking him. And eventually just brought him to bed with us, because it was easier than fighting to get him to sleep in the bassinet.
Last night, we went to Monk’s for dinner. We got home around 930- I had to pump and asked Dave to get Nico ready for bed (including the bath routine). Nico was out of the bath for about 5 minutes before he was seriously PISSED. Like, WTF? I AM A BABY!! WHY AM I STILL AWAKE AT 1000PM? I SHOULD BE SLEEPING! WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU, JERKFACES? ALL I WANT TO DO IS SLEEP? CAN’T YOU CLOWNS GET IT TOGETHER?
So, I am wondering if he has sort of set his own inner clock- to be ready to sleep at 930-1030, and every minute he is up past that time=meltdown, meltdown, meltdown. In any case, what it has meant is that I have gotten to sleep a lot earlier than I normally would this week. Of course, that goes out the window when we go to Gulf Breeze on Thursday…
In any case, Dave and I really want him out of our bed. Not because he is rotten or a noisy sleeper or anything. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He is usually pretty quiet and is just so precious. It’s just that we’re nervous about the dogs sometimes ending up in the bed (a couple of weeks ago, Drake actually stepped on Nico). Plus neither of us get good sleep when he’s in bed with us… if it’s possible to separate your shoulder while sleeping (because the way I let him lay in the crook of my arm) I have done it.
So we’re gonna test Nicole’s theory: that anything with kids can be undone in a week. Hopefully it won’t take a week.
We’ve been reluctant to do the whole schedule thing with him because it seemed wrong because we were putting him to bed anywhere from 830 pm to 1130 pm. Get home from game at 11pm, nurse, feed solids, bath time, books, songs, sleep would easily have us up till 1 am. So despite the intellectual awareness that we would be creating a monster, we put him to bed by rocking him. And eventually just brought him to bed with us, because it was easier than fighting to get him to sleep in the bassinet.
Last night, we went to Monk’s for dinner. We got home around 930- I had to pump and asked Dave to get Nico ready for bed (including the bath routine). Nico was out of the bath for about 5 minutes before he was seriously PISSED. Like, WTF? I AM A BABY!! WHY AM I STILL AWAKE AT 1000PM? I SHOULD BE SLEEPING! WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU, JERKFACES? ALL I WANT TO DO IS SLEEP? CAN’T YOU CLOWNS GET IT TOGETHER?
So, I am wondering if he has sort of set his own inner clock- to be ready to sleep at 930-1030, and every minute he is up past that time=meltdown, meltdown, meltdown. In any case, what it has meant is that I have gotten to sleep a lot earlier than I normally would this week. Of course, that goes out the window when we go to Gulf Breeze on Thursday…
In any case, Dave and I really want him out of our bed. Not because he is rotten or a noisy sleeper or anything. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He is usually pretty quiet and is just so precious. It’s just that we’re nervous about the dogs sometimes ending up in the bed (a couple of weeks ago, Drake actually stepped on Nico). Plus neither of us get good sleep when he’s in bed with us… if it’s possible to separate your shoulder while sleeping (because the way I let him lay in the crook of my arm) I have done it.
So we’re gonna test Nicole’s theory: that anything with kids can be undone in a week. Hopefully it won’t take a week.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Almost crawling, yall.
The weekend was pretty good.
We lost our District Championship game on Friday night... on set pieces- one was perfectly taken, the other was badly defended. DAMN IT!! I hate set pieces. But it reaffirmed a pattern that Dave and I see in watching professional soccer: most goals are scored on set pieces. We gave up the first goal in about 10 minutes and got our heads down. It broke my heart a little.
The field was a sloppy mess. Slippery. But at least it wasn't raining. Click HERE for a link to the article that the Democrat did. One of our dads (Bill Rollins) took the picture... its pretty amazing. Am wondering who is going to take pictures for us after his baby graduates?
The major bummer about it is that now for the first game of Regionals, we have to travel to Pensecola. BARF. 3.5 hours on a bus? I'm not a fan. Some of the parents are working on getting us a charter bus. But we're still alive... we have a chance- right?
So Saturday Dave and I had a couple of good long talks about strategy and came up with a game plan... so we had the girls over today to talk about it (they had been wanting a classroom session). We watched some soccer and did some diagramming. I hope it helps. I wish that someone had done that with me when I was in highschool... to be able to see the pressure, see the positioning. We'll see.
It was fun to have them up here... the house seems kind of quiet now. Nico is so close to crawling... just now, Dave set him on the bed in our room and he has taken to trying to push up into a crawling position. Doesn't quite have the strength yet... He can either get his little butt in the air or his little head. Not both. But he's close. Its pretty cool.
Hope yall had a great weekend.
We lost our District Championship game on Friday night... on set pieces- one was perfectly taken, the other was badly defended. DAMN IT!! I hate set pieces. But it reaffirmed a pattern that Dave and I see in watching professional soccer: most goals are scored on set pieces. We gave up the first goal in about 10 minutes and got our heads down. It broke my heart a little.
The field was a sloppy mess. Slippery. But at least it wasn't raining. Click HERE for a link to the article that the Democrat did. One of our dads (Bill Rollins) took the picture... its pretty amazing. Am wondering who is going to take pictures for us after his baby graduates?
The major bummer about it is that now for the first game of Regionals, we have to travel to Pensecola. BARF. 3.5 hours on a bus? I'm not a fan. Some of the parents are working on getting us a charter bus. But we're still alive... we have a chance- right?
So Saturday Dave and I had a couple of good long talks about strategy and came up with a game plan... so we had the girls over today to talk about it (they had been wanting a classroom session). We watched some soccer and did some diagramming. I hope it helps. I wish that someone had done that with me when I was in highschool... to be able to see the pressure, see the positioning. We'll see.
It was fun to have them up here... the house seems kind of quiet now. Nico is so close to crawling... just now, Dave set him on the bed in our room and he has taken to trying to push up into a crawling position. Doesn't quite have the strength yet... He can either get his little butt in the air or his little head. Not both. But he's close. Its pretty cool.
Hope yall had a great weekend.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
"This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill. Fifteen percent concentrated power of will. Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain. And a hundred percent reason to remember the name."
Guess who took a 3 hour nap at FSU yesterday? I know, a year ago and you might have guessed Jessi Bishop. But not this time- Nico. For real. Little homey slept for 3 hours straight in the afternoon yesterday. You have no idea how much of a win this is. He has been one of those “Half-Hour Nappers”. Oh… the half hour napper. How I don’t miss thee. I remember when I used to teach preschool (the 4-5 year olds) it was always an EPIC battle. Tripp: “Miss Jessi, I am just not tired.”
Still, we are, for the first time since Dave and I have been coaching, playing in the District Championship game (Whoot!!) Of course, I think this is more a function of the fact that our district got a LOT easier when they redrew the districts. But I am NOT complaining. So we host Rutherford on Friday night. Should be interesting. Some of our girls want it pretty bad- which you gotta love.
Me: “Then too bad for you Tripp, because I don’t care if you are not tired. You are not getting up to play with toys. End of story.”
Tripp: “But I am just not tired.”
Me: “Boy! Zip it!”
So I was glad to hear that he slept well. Turns out when he does sleep well, he isn’t Mr. Cranky Pants going to soccer. Which is nice. I rocked out to teen music on the drive down yesterday while Nico looked out the window and wished for the days when he could drive himself and not listen to “Party in the USA” on REPEAT! Sucka!!
We won the district play-in game against Godby last night, 3-0. Yes, that looks like a closer outcome than any other game- but we played well. Nice and relaxed, lots of nice passing, LOTS of shots. Srsly, if it weren’t for their GK, the game would have ended 6-0. She brought her A-Game. I think, top to bottom, this is overall the best team we’ve coached. We have a lot of depth, even with our 5th, 6th and 7th players off the bench. And despite the fact that we are graduating 7 senior starters, I think we’ve got some good soccer ahead of us still. In the past, with Lizzie (our big gun) we were good- we won a lot of games with her, but for the most part, she carried us a lot. Now, I think that our team has a lot more skill- every night it’s someone new that steps up. Sometimes it’s our GK, sometimes it’s our defensive center mid, sometimes our leftback who was converted to a midfielder and then converted back to a left back. Sometimes it’s one of our attacking players. And that is in addition to players who ALWAYS play well (like our center back, center mid and striking attacker).
Still, we are, for the first time since Dave and I have been coaching, playing in the District Championship game (Whoot!!) Of course, I think this is more a function of the fact that our district got a LOT easier when they redrew the districts. But I am NOT complaining. So we host Rutherford on Friday night. Should be interesting. Some of our girls want it pretty bad- which you gotta love. Looking forward to a leisurely weekend. Hopefully I can get a couple of runs in and work on my dissertation. The problem is, that when you’re struggling just to get to the weekend, it’s hard to be productive- because all you really want to do is sit around and recover from the week. Nico has been eating avocado mixed with his rice cereal all week (well- mostly just avocado- a couple of times guacamole pinch hit for us). Am thinking this weekend of maybe getting some sweet potatoes in the mix. Whoot!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Things taking up my mental bandwidth 4
*Thinking that the cookies and cream cake that Dave left in the fridge for me was delicious.
*Really Cokely? Really? I am not usually one to lay blame on anyone. But really? Curt Schilling? Says Jon Stewart: it's not like republicans are playing chess and democrats are playing checkers. It's like the republicans are playing chess and the democrats are at the nurses office because they glued their balls to their leg. Awesome. My parents are happy.
*Nervous about Friday night (District Championship game).
*Excited for the sweater that my mom is making for Nico. See, this is how it goes. I see something I want. I lament my lack of skill to my mother. She steps in with the save.... I know, I'm an awful kid. My mom should be busy surfing the web and finding lots of interesting things, but right now she is too busy making stuff for my kid. No, I don't think think she is a sweat shop... its just that all the other babies moms are going do to do awesome things like teach their kids Chinese and science and math... at the very least my kid needs to at least look cute with his little baby sweater. Suckas!!
*Resigned to the fact that I will likely not be *running* the half marathon at Disney- more like walking. Perhaps at a leisurely rate... but whatev.
*Wishing that I could take my bulletin board from home to work with me...
*Has anyone tried the new "healthy" menu from Taco Bell? The Fresco soft steak tacos are amazing. So are the five layer beefy burritoes. But I try to avoid those as I think they=morbid obesity=heart attack=early mortality.
*Did you know that if you deposited 2,000 dollars for a child born tomorrow into an investment account that earns 10% interest for 65 years that by the time your kid turned 65, the account would be worth over a million dollars? That is amazing!
This old mare just aint what she used to be... aint what she used to be... aint what she used to be...
Let me tell you- working makes you appreciate the weekend so much more. Even more so when the weekend is a 3 day weekend. LOVE.
Not much going on around here these days. Trying to settle into a routine… sort of. I had 30 minutes of bonafide bliss this morning. When I woke up, Nico and Dave were still sleeping. So I got some stuff done: dishes, packed my bag for the day (including lunch), made mine and Nico’s breakfast, ironed a shirt, got Nico’s clothes ready, got his diaper bag ready, got practice clothes ready. It was nice, I didn’t feel like my head was going to pop off and spin around on the floor.
We had practice yesterday. I did PKs with the girls while Dave did ball work. In case you didn’t know, we have been in three PK shootout situations since we have started coaching- and lost all three. One of those may have been my fault (forgot that you put your best shooter at #3, not last- DOH!). Every so often, I make the girls take PKs, just to see where we are at- who is the most consistently good, who is the most consistently bad. The reason is, that I am afraid that Districts might be decided by PKs this year. Given that we don’t score much, and can defend with the best of them for 80 minutes, I am nervous that we’ll be looking at a 0-0 tie at the end of over time and regulation.
Its funny, because the most unexpected kid is actually probably among the best. She’s a senior, she used to be a our backup goalkeeper. She is actually a hell of a defender. I kind of phased her out of GK training because she stresses out about it- about going into a situation and HAVING to make saves. Really, I was mostly afraid that she would have a heart attack and die on the field (she is already competitive enough- she doesn’t need that stress in her life). Turns out, she is one of the most consistent PK shooters. Routinely she is one of our no-miss or one-miss shooters. Statistically, she is one of our better shooters. But I am struggling with the decision… do we let her shoot or no?
And there is another one, one of our softball players- one of the coolest customers you’ll ever see. Steady and calm… we’ve said to her: “you’re marking so and so. Shut her down.” I can pretty much consider it done. Wednesday at practice, she put five of five over the bar. Monday, she put 5 of 6 inside netting- perfectly placed- hard. No goalkeeper is going to make those saves. HOT AND COLD. Of course, if my GK comes up big, with 3 or 4 saves, this may be a moot point. Teenagers. Wow. They are funny.
Even funnier was that yesterday, one of my girls took me out. For real. I finished the practice in goal (our backup GK had to go home)- wearing running shoes. Someone sends the ball through and while I was out of the goal, I called it and leaned over to scoop up the ball. And one of our scrappy little forwards ran into me and knocked me over. Can you believe that? Yeah, I couldn’t… this is how it went:
Jessi (still on ground): WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? I CALLED THE BALL.
Chelsea: laughing
Jessi: WHO TAKES OUT THEIR COACH IN A PRACTICE? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Chelsea: (still laughing). You’re always telling me to go hard….
Jessi: YOU’RE NOW GOING TO START LISTENING TO ME? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I AM OLD! LOOK AT ME! I AM OLD. WHO TAKES OUT THEIR OLD COACH AT PRACTICE?
Obviously, I got the last laugh here… the next ball in, I came out hard and made sure I got her feet. She flew in the air- it was great. Of course, the kids all thought it was hilarious. “Coach B, do you want a glass of “Suck it up?” Cherry flavored.” AWESOME. How the roosters come home to nest… (right? That is how that saying goes, right?)
All for now. Word. Yall have a good day!!
Not much going on around here these days. Trying to settle into a routine… sort of. I had 30 minutes of bonafide bliss this morning. When I woke up, Nico and Dave were still sleeping. So I got some stuff done: dishes, packed my bag for the day (including lunch), made mine and Nico’s breakfast, ironed a shirt, got Nico’s clothes ready, got his diaper bag ready, got practice clothes ready. It was nice, I didn’t feel like my head was going to pop off and spin around on the floor.
We had practice yesterday. I did PKs with the girls while Dave did ball work. In case you didn’t know, we have been in three PK shootout situations since we have started coaching- and lost all three. One of those may have been my fault (forgot that you put your best shooter at #3, not last- DOH!). Every so often, I make the girls take PKs, just to see where we are at- who is the most consistently good, who is the most consistently bad. The reason is, that I am afraid that Districts might be decided by PKs this year. Given that we don’t score much, and can defend with the best of them for 80 minutes, I am nervous that we’ll be looking at a 0-0 tie at the end of over time and regulation.
Its funny, because the most unexpected kid is actually probably among the best. She’s a senior, she used to be a our backup goalkeeper. She is actually a hell of a defender. I kind of phased her out of GK training because she stresses out about it- about going into a situation and HAVING to make saves. Really, I was mostly afraid that she would have a heart attack and die on the field (she is already competitive enough- she doesn’t need that stress in her life). Turns out, she is one of the most consistent PK shooters. Routinely she is one of our no-miss or one-miss shooters. Statistically, she is one of our better shooters. But I am struggling with the decision… do we let her shoot or no?
And there is another one, one of our softball players- one of the coolest customers you’ll ever see. Steady and calm… we’ve said to her: “you’re marking so and so. Shut her down.” I can pretty much consider it done. Wednesday at practice, she put five of five over the bar. Monday, she put 5 of 6 inside netting- perfectly placed- hard. No goalkeeper is going to make those saves. HOT AND COLD. Of course, if my GK comes up big, with 3 or 4 saves, this may be a moot point. Teenagers. Wow. They are funny.
Even funnier was that yesterday, one of my girls took me out. For real. I finished the practice in goal (our backup GK had to go home)- wearing running shoes. Someone sends the ball through and while I was out of the goal, I called it and leaned over to scoop up the ball. And one of our scrappy little forwards ran into me and knocked me over. Can you believe that? Yeah, I couldn’t… this is how it went:
Jessi (still on ground): WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? I CALLED THE BALL.
Chelsea: laughing
Jessi: WHO TAKES OUT THEIR COACH IN A PRACTICE? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Chelsea: (still laughing). You’re always telling me to go hard….
Jessi: YOU’RE NOW GOING TO START LISTENING TO ME? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I AM OLD! LOOK AT ME! I AM OLD. WHO TAKES OUT THEIR OLD COACH AT PRACTICE?
Obviously, I got the last laugh here… the next ball in, I came out hard and made sure I got her feet. She flew in the air- it was great. Of course, the kids all thought it was hilarious. “Coach B, do you want a glass of “Suck it up?” Cherry flavored.” AWESOME. How the roosters come home to nest… (right? That is how that saying goes, right?)
All for now. Word. Yall have a good day!!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
The end of the first week. WOW. That is all I have to say. WOW.
Crazy. I am enjoying so far the stuff I have been doing in the J-O-B. I am basically just learning the lay of the land, figuring out the language, etc. Pretty exciting stuff.
I am looking forward to the weekend- a three day weekend at that (Whoot!!). I am going to try Nic’s suggestion of getting Nico’s stuff ready for the week on Monday (MLK Day- Double Whoot!) Should cut down on some of the nonsense that I deal with in the morning… of course, it would be easier if the weather would warm up a bit. This cold snap has made me realize that we really have nothing in the way of warms for this kid… a ton of short sleeved onesies doesn’t go far to keeping this kid warm. They do work well for layering…
So I picked Nico yesterday from FSU. It was the first time I had gotten him so late (420) and I encountered many of the other parents who were also picking up their kids… let me tell you, it was pretty much amazing. I heard 3 different conversations in foreign languages (2 chinese and one Japanese-I think). Man!! I wish Nico were talking already so he could learn some language from them.
We had senior night last night. Its so weird- because I remember the conversation that Dave and I had about our Freshmen our first year. We had been getting KILLED by the likes of Lincoln and Bay (to the point of being mercy ruled). One of the few consolation points we took away was that in four years when our huge freshman class would be seniors that they’d be really good. And we said our goodbyes to them last night. Have we really been there for 4 years? It’s hard to believe. It’s even harder to imagine a team without these kids… Shay Given in goal is just the way it’s been for so long, Rambo being the muscle, Mandy’s ridiculous speed and flexibility and those slides that keep a ball in play, Lil Carter’s intensity- so hard core, its kind of scary, and B-Rod’s soft touch- I am pretty sure she could juggle raw eggs. It will be weird without this kids.
So we did our little ceremony. I made voice recordings on my iphone of me talking about each senior… how awesome they are, how much we would miss them, etc. I also made a recording of underclassmen doing the same for each senior. My booster president burned them to cd and we played it over the PA as they walked onto the field with their parents. The underclassmen gave them flowers. In turn, each of them gave me a rose and a little note. It was pretty amazing. The only thing that kind of bummed me out is that a couple of the underclassmen said I sounded creepy. I think I just sounded monotone and quiet.
We’re really a good team… It’s really kind of tragic that our record doesn’t show it… we’re 4-10-4 (but 6 of losses were by 1 goal). We have sound fundamentals- we pass well, in general, we move without the ball. We just can’t score… and unfortunately, that is half the game. The game plan to not give up any goals will, at best get you bunch of ties. Which was the case last night. JP2 has this player who we didn’t have an answer for last time- she literally was the undoing of us last time. So I put one of our strong, physical seniors on her to man-mark and shut down. And that was the last anyone heard of her. So we were strong and smart in the back (even given the fact that two of our main guns back there have been hurt and haven’t played much as of late). Our scrappy little forward who is probably the smallest person on the field (but doesn’t realize it) hurt their GK. TWICE. Both legitimate tackles. The first resulted in a cleat to the face for the GK… and the second (2 minutes later) our little forward probably should have backed off… but it was legit. It was a pretty hard fought battle resulting in a 0-0 tie.
You can definitely tell it’s the end of the season though. Everyone has those nagging little injuries that refuse to go away… knocked and turned ankles, sore knees, bruises, raspberries, scrapes, strange ailments (“Coach B- how do you stretch THIS?” (accompanied by player pointing to random part of the body- the side of the lower leg). I guess it’s good that my girls play so hard. But it does make me uneasy knowing that some of them could really stand to have a break and we just can’t sit them. What’s worse is that some of the ones who are a bit banged up are going to go straight into softball, track and tennis. It’s even more of a drag when you get to the end of the season battle weary like we are… but I guess that is the trick in sports- that it’s not just enough to make it through the season, but to make it through the season with the least amount of injuries and banged up players, and to do the best you can in the post-season.
Crazy. I am enjoying so far the stuff I have been doing in the J-O-B. I am basically just learning the lay of the land, figuring out the language, etc. Pretty exciting stuff.
I am looking forward to the weekend- a three day weekend at that (Whoot!!). I am going to try Nic’s suggestion of getting Nico’s stuff ready for the week on Monday (MLK Day- Double Whoot!) Should cut down on some of the nonsense that I deal with in the morning… of course, it would be easier if the weather would warm up a bit. This cold snap has made me realize that we really have nothing in the way of warms for this kid… a ton of short sleeved onesies doesn’t go far to keeping this kid warm. They do work well for layering…
So I picked Nico yesterday from FSU. It was the first time I had gotten him so late (420) and I encountered many of the other parents who were also picking up their kids… let me tell you, it was pretty much amazing. I heard 3 different conversations in foreign languages (2 chinese and one Japanese-I think). Man!! I wish Nico were talking already so he could learn some language from them.
We had senior night last night. Its so weird- because I remember the conversation that Dave and I had about our Freshmen our first year. We had been getting KILLED by the likes of Lincoln and Bay (to the point of being mercy ruled). One of the few consolation points we took away was that in four years when our huge freshman class would be seniors that they’d be really good. And we said our goodbyes to them last night. Have we really been there for 4 years? It’s hard to believe. It’s even harder to imagine a team without these kids… Shay Given in goal is just the way it’s been for so long, Rambo being the muscle, Mandy’s ridiculous speed and flexibility and those slides that keep a ball in play, Lil Carter’s intensity- so hard core, its kind of scary, and B-Rod’s soft touch- I am pretty sure she could juggle raw eggs. It will be weird without this kids.
So we did our little ceremony. I made voice recordings on my iphone of me talking about each senior… how awesome they are, how much we would miss them, etc. I also made a recording of underclassmen doing the same for each senior. My booster president burned them to cd and we played it over the PA as they walked onto the field with their parents. The underclassmen gave them flowers. In turn, each of them gave me a rose and a little note. It was pretty amazing. The only thing that kind of bummed me out is that a couple of the underclassmen said I sounded creepy. I think I just sounded monotone and quiet.
We’re really a good team… It’s really kind of tragic that our record doesn’t show it… we’re 4-10-4 (but 6 of losses were by 1 goal). We have sound fundamentals- we pass well, in general, we move without the ball. We just can’t score… and unfortunately, that is half the game. The game plan to not give up any goals will, at best get you bunch of ties. Which was the case last night. JP2 has this player who we didn’t have an answer for last time- she literally was the undoing of us last time. So I put one of our strong, physical seniors on her to man-mark and shut down. And that was the last anyone heard of her. So we were strong and smart in the back (even given the fact that two of our main guns back there have been hurt and haven’t played much as of late). Our scrappy little forward who is probably the smallest person on the field (but doesn’t realize it) hurt their GK. TWICE. Both legitimate tackles. The first resulted in a cleat to the face for the GK… and the second (2 minutes later) our little forward probably should have backed off… but it was legit. It was a pretty hard fought battle resulting in a 0-0 tie.
You can definitely tell it’s the end of the season though. Everyone has those nagging little injuries that refuse to go away… knocked and turned ankles, sore knees, bruises, raspberries, scrapes, strange ailments (“Coach B- how do you stretch THIS?” (accompanied by player pointing to random part of the body- the side of the lower leg). I guess it’s good that my girls play so hard. But it does make me uneasy knowing that some of them could really stand to have a break and we just can’t sit them. What’s worse is that some of the ones who are a bit banged up are going to go straight into softball, track and tennis. It’s even more of a drag when you get to the end of the season battle weary like we are… but I guess that is the trick in sports- that it’s not just enough to make it through the season, but to make it through the season with the least amount of injuries and banged up players, and to do the best you can in the post-season.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I'll make a mental note of that...
I wish that I could say not much is going on around here these days, but that would not be true. I am in the first week of working and its kicking my butt. Apparently, laying around till 1000 am in bed with the baby and getting up and putzing around the house till I’d have to leave for soccer practice at 2 is not the same as working a real job. This is what my day looked like yesterday:
645am: wake up 45 minutes LATE because I opted for an alarm clock that doesn’t work over my phone’s alarm clock. DOH!
650: prepare breakfast for Nico (rice cereal) and Me (oatmeal). EAT. Try to feed Nico rice cereal that he really isn’t interested in.
705: Make lunch and snacks for day- to get me through 8 hours of work, trip down to Wakulla, through warm up and a game, gather warm clothes for me, gather warm clothes for Nico, layout clothes for him to go to school in. Make a mental note to put away basket of clean clothes. Pack my bag, pack the diaper bag, the pump.
715: Get dressed. Make a mental note to either have a tummy tuck so I can wear my pre-pregnancy dress pants to work, or to get my ass to a treadmill so that I can wear my pre-pregnancy pants or buy new pants. Brush teeth, notice face breaking out. Make a mental note to put some makeup on if I have time. Twist hair back into standard bun. Make a mental note to brush my hair tonight (so I don’t get dreads) and to dye my hair, because this is not a good look.
725: Check Nico diaper- needed a change. Dress for the day. Play the game of trying to put a long sleeve top on a baby. Wonder if it’s acceptable to send him in to day school with a onesie and a snowsuit. Make a mental note that I should stop being a bad mom and wash some laundry- its where all of his warms are. Put all the stuff he needs in his carseat, so Dave can remember to take it. Hat, blankets, bottles, change of clothes, warm stuff for game, my wrap, extra blankets. Socks.
735: haul stuff to car, including work bag, soccer stuff, shoes, socks, warms. Go over day procedure with Dave. Make sure that they have everything they need for the day.
740: Give Nico and Dave a squeeze- kiss out the door.
741: Make a mental note to take my car to the dealership to see why the heat doesn’t work.
742: Note that I can see my breath in the car all the way to work.
750: Arrive at work.
751: Frantically answer as many emails and texts as possible before going into work-where I go into a communication blackout. Not sure if its acceptable to have a phone or be texting and emailing from it, especially given that its my first week.
800: Work.
400: Leave work. Change into soccer clothes in the car. Curse the slow drivers.
410: Arrive at Dave’s work (he went to get Nico).
415: sling attitude at Dave (he was supposed to have Nico there at 415).
425: Dave arrives with Nico. We make the switch. I am driving down to Wakulla (LATE) for a 445 team picture.
426: Feel bad about slinging attitude at Dave.
440: Informed photographer left. Relaxing drive down to Wakulla.
505: Receive text from JV coach that there are no referees yet for the 500 kickoff of the JV game.
506: Begin frantic emailing and calling, sure that that this is my screwup.
515: relieved to know that I didn’t screw up, the refs are just late.
730: start game.
930: game over (we won 1-0 woot).
1000: Leave Wakulla.
1010: Nico starts crying.
1020: Stop at Woodville Highway and 98 to change Nico and feed him. He is pissed.
1045: Continue drive back to Tallahassee.
1115: Arrive home.
1130: Pump.
1220: Finish pumping. Begin working on senior night stuff.
1245: BED.
Aren’t you stressed out? Yeah! Me too!! On the upside, not much left of this kind of schedule. We have one regular season game left (tomorrow night), plus two games next week. One the week after. Whether or not we win that first game after districts will dictate how life goes for a while. It would be great to win districts and get the loser of another district. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will win the first game of regionals- as we’d likely be playing a panama city or pensecola team… there are a lot of good ones. But maybe once the season is over, things will chill out for a while.
All for now. Write more later.
Monday, January 11, 2010
This sh*t is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
So I started my job today. Wow! Work is hard. I am not sure its for me.
Ok. Just kidding. Actually, I am pretty stoked about the job. What I am doing: helping facilitate a project for Medicaid that will be getting all of the medical records for the State of Florida into one electronic system (insert right-wing conspiracy theory comment about insurance companies, premiums and "pre-existing conditions". No, Thank YOU, Glen.) Part of the stimulus package money was allocated to get these sorts of projects off the ground all over the country. Sort of a kill three birds with one stone:
1. Theoretically better care because doctors have access to your whole medical history, not just the stuff you can remember when you present yourself at an emergency room in the middle of a cardiac event.
2. Reduces waste... environmentally (less paper) and money spent on repeat exams and procedures that are done because each doctor needs to have a copy of your records/procedures/scans on file with their office.
3. Puts people like me to work. I got monehs... I save some... I spend some on things like baby clothes, dog treats, pedicures and dinners at "Food Glorious Food", putting money back into the economy.
So right now, its pretty much just learning the lingo. Its been pretty cool so far working there (for the one day I have been there). The people are pretty nice. However, I have already been part of a debacle. I am trying to continue the whole breastfeeding thing as long as possible. Our pediatrician says that most of the benefits of breastfeeding are for the first 6 months- which means I have one more month of breastfeeding/pumping. I am idealistic and whatnot, hoping that I can keep going after the fact. But, it looks doubtful. Especially since today while I was pumping in my office one of the IT guys kind of invited himself in. Despite the fact that I had a sign on the door that said, "Do Not Disturb". Apparently, these types of signs are completely disregarded when you're new. So I am pumping and the IT guy knocks. I was sort of incredulous, because REALLY? THERE IS A SIGN ON THE DOOR. For added measure, I have my bag on the floor barracading the door. I ignore the knock, because clearly, there is a sign- surely they are not knocking on my door. Au contraire. I answer, "YES?" To which the guy pushes the door open just as I get covered up again. Really? Then again, someone kind of barged in as I was finished. The suggestion was that I include a little more information on the sign (Breast milk Pumping in Progress). As "Do Not Disturb" makes it seem like I am in there napping. Napping. Orly?
Not much else to report. Nico hasn't been really into his rice cereal much these days. He's eating it twice a day (morning and evening). Its kind of cool, because in the morning, I am usually eating oatmeal, so its kind of like twinsies. Today he wanted nothing to do with it. So I took a tiny piece of banana (about the size of my pinky nail) and mashed it up in there, for a little bit of flavor. He tried a couple of more bites, but was pretty much unimpressed. But I got a great idea- I want to start a baby food blog. Like, all the different ways you can prepare fruits and veggies for baby consumption, along with the results. I have read that the supposition that baby food be bland is actually not exactly true. That its okay to try out spices on babies- just in moderation. Guess we are going to have to move to new house, so I can start to keep Dave's CuisineArt food processor on the counter in the kitchen. Its a lot of work to put it together now.
All for now.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Crying it Out
Sorry I have been MIA- this week was pretty crazy. In between Nico starting child care (and all the hoops you have to jump through with the paper work and the what not) and the soccer season starting back up (we took a win against Godby and drew with Rutherford yesterday), we had kind of a social week.
Tuesday night one of our girls' parents had us over for dinner after the game (she kept Nico during the game since it was ridiculously cold). They had cornbread and soup waiting for us when we were done with the game. BTW- have found another corn bread that I will eat (in addition to Cracker Barrel's). Mmmmmmmmmm. So we were out late on Tuesday night. Then we had dinner with Ursie and Clay and Deanna on Thursday night. Ursie and Clay had a baby about six weeks after Nico was born- and just moved back from Ft Pierce. Of all my friends who have had babies recently, Ursie is most similar to me these days in that she is an advanced graduate student- trying to balance a dissertation and being a mom.
Nico is doing well. Getting big. He seemed to do well with child care last week. I think that the girls that work there might have had a come to jesus meeting with Nico about the sleeping- there arent enough of them to dedicate just one to hold Nico while he goes to sleep. In the struggle that Dave and I have had just to "get by" with Nico, we have produced a little monster when it comes to sleep habits. The Baby Whisperer called this "accidental parenting" where you just fall into something that works for you. Of course, this is largely because of our life thus far. Putting him on any kind of schedule didnt seem like a great idea at first, because I knew that it would just get messed up by soccer. For example, if we have games at home, this often doesn't put us back to Tallahassee until 1000-1030 at night. This is often after a long, stressful day. Having a 1.5-2.0 hour routine that involves eating, taking a bath, infant massage, reading books, changing into jammies, listening to music, singing, etc. didn't seem reasonable. However, rocking him to sleep did seem reasonable. So did nursing him till he went to sleep. The result is a situation I have now, where I am tipped far back in my office chair, him laying on my shoulder sleeping because this is the only way he can get a nap while I do something "productive".
But there are other things too. I am opposed to "Cry it out", where your baby learns to self-soothe himself to sleep. Its one of the only parts of parenting that Dave and I disagree on. He is worried that Nico won't be independent- that he will be fearful and afraid to be by himself. Which is a valid fear, I think. But all I can think about is, what Nico is probably thinking, which looks like this:
Nico (thinking): I am tired. I need to go to sleep. Where are those people that take care of me? I am tired. So I should start to cry now, because that is what happens. I cry and someone comes to get me... then I can go to sleep. Okay, I am crying now. Where is that lady? She usually comes to get me. Any minute now. Keep crying. Lets cry a little louder- she might be doing laundry or something and she probably can't hear me. As soon as she hears me she will come get me. Any minute now. Where is she? Why isn't she coming to get me? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME SO I CAN GO TO SLEEP. LADY- CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? I AM CRYING. WHY ISNT SHE COMING TO GET ME? MAYBE SHE ISNT TAKING CARE OF ME ANYMORE.
MAYBE ITS SOMEONE ELSE. OH GOD, WHO IS GOING TO TAKE CARE OF ME? WHAT IF I AM HUNGRY? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME!!
WHERE IS SHE? SHE ISN'T COMING. I AM SO... TIRED... GUESS I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF NOW... SINCE CLEARLY I CAN'T COUNT ON THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN TAKING CARE OF ME MY WHOLE LIFE. JUST GOES TO PROVE YOU CAN'T COUNT ON ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF IN THIS WORLD. EVERYONE ELSE LETS YOU DOWN. I AM ON MY OWN.
Seriously. Dude, did anyone ever see the episode of Mad About You, where Paul and Jamie do the CIO with Mabel? Check it out here. How Jamie feels at the end? Exactly.
Since we have never really put him on a regular schedule and done all the other things that are supposed to help him sleep through the night on his own, I feel that the CIO method is a little extreme. So the soccer season will end soon. Likely at the end of the month or beginning of Feb. And we'll try getting him on a regular schedule and see if that helps. And maybe he wont have to be rocked to sleep or held as he sleeps. Hopefully, because I dont want to use the nuclear option (CIO).
Tuesday night one of our girls' parents had us over for dinner after the game (she kept Nico during the game since it was ridiculously cold). They had cornbread and soup waiting for us when we were done with the game. BTW- have found another corn bread that I will eat (in addition to Cracker Barrel's). Mmmmmmmmmm. So we were out late on Tuesday night. Then we had dinner with Ursie and Clay and Deanna on Thursday night. Ursie and Clay had a baby about six weeks after Nico was born- and just moved back from Ft Pierce. Of all my friends who have had babies recently, Ursie is most similar to me these days in that she is an advanced graduate student- trying to balance a dissertation and being a mom.
Nico is doing well. Getting big. He seemed to do well with child care last week. I think that the girls that work there might have had a come to jesus meeting with Nico about the sleeping- there arent enough of them to dedicate just one to hold Nico while he goes to sleep. In the struggle that Dave and I have had just to "get by" with Nico, we have produced a little monster when it comes to sleep habits. The Baby Whisperer called this "accidental parenting" where you just fall into something that works for you. Of course, this is largely because of our life thus far. Putting him on any kind of schedule didnt seem like a great idea at first, because I knew that it would just get messed up by soccer. For example, if we have games at home, this often doesn't put us back to Tallahassee until 1000-1030 at night. This is often after a long, stressful day. Having a 1.5-2.0 hour routine that involves eating, taking a bath, infant massage, reading books, changing into jammies, listening to music, singing, etc. didn't seem reasonable. However, rocking him to sleep did seem reasonable. So did nursing him till he went to sleep. The result is a situation I have now, where I am tipped far back in my office chair, him laying on my shoulder sleeping because this is the only way he can get a nap while I do something "productive".
But there are other things too. I am opposed to "Cry it out", where your baby learns to self-soothe himself to sleep. Its one of the only parts of parenting that Dave and I disagree on. He is worried that Nico won't be independent- that he will be fearful and afraid to be by himself. Which is a valid fear, I think. But all I can think about is, what Nico is probably thinking, which looks like this:
Nico (thinking): I am tired. I need to go to sleep. Where are those people that take care of me? I am tired. So I should start to cry now, because that is what happens. I cry and someone comes to get me... then I can go to sleep. Okay, I am crying now. Where is that lady? She usually comes to get me. Any minute now. Keep crying. Lets cry a little louder- she might be doing laundry or something and she probably can't hear me. As soon as she hears me she will come get me. Any minute now. Where is she? Why isn't she coming to get me? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME SO I CAN GO TO SLEEP. LADY- CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? I AM CRYING. WHY ISNT SHE COMING TO GET ME? MAYBE SHE ISNT TAKING CARE OF ME ANYMORE.
MAYBE ITS SOMEONE ELSE. OH GOD, WHO IS GOING TO TAKE CARE OF ME? WHAT IF I AM HUNGRY? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME!!
WHERE IS SHE? SHE ISN'T COMING. I AM SO... TIRED... GUESS I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF NOW... SINCE CLEARLY I CAN'T COUNT ON THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN TAKING CARE OF ME MY WHOLE LIFE. JUST GOES TO PROVE YOU CAN'T COUNT ON ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF IN THIS WORLD. EVERYONE ELSE LETS YOU DOWN. I AM ON MY OWN.
Seriously. Dude, did anyone ever see the episode of Mad About You, where Paul and Jamie do the CIO with Mabel? Check it out here. How Jamie feels at the end? Exactly.
Since we have never really put him on a regular schedule and done all the other things that are supposed to help him sleep through the night on his own, I feel that the CIO method is a little extreme. So the soccer season will end soon. Likely at the end of the month or beginning of Feb. And we'll try getting him on a regular schedule and see if that helps. And maybe he wont have to be rocked to sleep or held as he sleeps. Hopefully, because I dont want to use the nuclear option (CIO).
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Things taking up my mental bandwidth 3
Some things that are rattling around in my head:
*Aside from the sweet potato episode today (Nico got a taste of sweet potatoes at FSU today), I would like to start Nico with Avocado in the next month or so. Then, maybe some green beans, peas, mashed potatoes, carrots. Then maybe some fruits.
*Our girls played REALLY well against Godby. How to duplicate against Rutherford on Saturday?
*Excited to install stata 11 on computer this week.
*Finished coaching courses. FINALLY.
*Can't believe my freshmen are seniors. Surreal.
*Aside from the sweet potato episode today (Nico got a taste of sweet potatoes at FSU today), I would like to start Nico with Avocado in the next month or so. Then, maybe some green beans, peas, mashed potatoes, carrots. Then maybe some fruits.
*Our girls played REALLY well against Godby. How to duplicate against Rutherford on Saturday?
*Excited to install stata 11 on computer this week.
*Finished coaching courses. FINALLY.
*Can't believe my freshmen are seniors. Surreal.
My child arrived just the other day, He came to the world in the usual way, But there were planes to catch and bills to pay, He learned to walk while I was away
So Nico started at the FSU childcare center today. Whoa. Has it really been five months? Yeah, I can't believe it.
As it turns out, I am actually pretty bad when it comes to paper work. I showed up this morning with five pages of the nearly 40 I had to sign and fill out and was like, "What?" Apparently, if I had read the instructions more thoroughly, I would have found that rather than having to fill out a bunch of paperwork by hand, had I just did what I was supposed to do (fill it out in Adobe, which would have populated all the other fields, it would have been cake). But since I didnt, I got to sit in an office filling out paperwork for 40 minutes while Dave waited for me to go with him to drop Nico.
And because I didnt have my act together, I had to then spend the rest of the morning running all over town. More paperwork for my job at AHCA, to the pediatrician's office for immunization and physical records, County Health Department for birth certificate then back to FSU to turn those in... note to self: read all the instructions next time.
It was weird. Sad, actually. For the past five months, its been Nico and me- he's like my little buddy, running errands, watching daytime tele (did you know that they are now showing 90210 on the soap channel during the day? Yeah, I didnt either. Turns out that the reason why I never watched it as a kid is that it exceeded the number of tools that my mom would allow us kids to watch in one show.) The worst of it- which was my inability to put the muscle on him and make him nap in his bassinet allowed me to watch all of Season 5 of LOST on abc.com. What- I can't do any work- he's napping. On me!! Man- I loved naptime! Of course, its weird, as a parent, your life gets divided up into small chunks of time... you lay him on the floor or the mats and he's good for 15-20 min, during which I scramble frantically for something productive to do. Then he gets fussy playing by himself. Play with him for a while. Set him in the bumpo for a bit. Diaper change. Then eat. Then sleep. Then do it all over again.
And I did get a little misty when I left him... mostly because I knew I would probably never be a stay at home mother again. And that is kind of sad.
But- its for the better. Dude- have you ever met those kids who only hung out with grown ups? Really- that is the problem with homeschooled kids... its not that they are dumb or rather socially inept. Its actually that they dont relate well to kids their own age, because they spend so much time hanging out with adults (their parents). So its good in the sense that he's gonna be hanging out with kids his own age. Check it- there were two new babies who were awake and chillin with Nico when I came to get him: one is Chinese and one is from Bangladesh. Isn't that awesome? I want Nico to hang out with those kids and their parents. Learn some Chinese. Learn some Bangledeshi(?).
One of my big fears did not come true today (he didnt cry all day). At least that is what his teachers told me (his eyes weren't all red and his face didnt have that tight, tear-stained look). Which is awesome. I was really nervous that he just wouldn't understand and would resort to crying all day. The fact that he didnt makes me feel better about taking him.
Of course it helped that he wasnt there ALL DAY. We dropped him at 930 and I got him at 200 (to go to practice down in Wakulla). So it was pretty good. I really like it there... I think he's gonna like it too.
So the follow-up question: "So Bishop, if Nico started daycare today and you havent started your job yet, what did you do with your day?" There wasn't much of my day left to speak of by the time I got done dropping forms and whatnot (maybe 2 hours). Literally, this was my thought process on the way home: first I am going to have some lunch, then I am going to do some dishes, print my dissertation proposal, print my PAA abstract, then I am going to clean my desk, then I am going to go for a run and take a shower, then I am going to do some laundry and change some lightbulbs, and then... and then..."
But, then I decided I needed to pump. And I had some lunch. And then it was time to get Nico to go to practice.
As it turns out, I am actually pretty bad when it comes to paper work. I showed up this morning with five pages of the nearly 40 I had to sign and fill out and was like, "What?" Apparently, if I had read the instructions more thoroughly, I would have found that rather than having to fill out a bunch of paperwork by hand, had I just did what I was supposed to do (fill it out in Adobe, which would have populated all the other fields, it would have been cake). But since I didnt, I got to sit in an office filling out paperwork for 40 minutes while Dave waited for me to go with him to drop Nico.
And because I didnt have my act together, I had to then spend the rest of the morning running all over town. More paperwork for my job at AHCA, to the pediatrician's office for immunization and physical records, County Health Department for birth certificate then back to FSU to turn those in... note to self: read all the instructions next time.
It was weird. Sad, actually. For the past five months, its been Nico and me- he's like my little buddy, running errands, watching daytime tele (did you know that they are now showing 90210 on the soap channel during the day? Yeah, I didnt either. Turns out that the reason why I never watched it as a kid is that it exceeded the number of tools that my mom would allow us kids to watch in one show.) The worst of it- which was my inability to put the muscle on him and make him nap in his bassinet allowed me to watch all of Season 5 of LOST on abc.com. What- I can't do any work- he's napping. On me!! Man- I loved naptime! Of course, its weird, as a parent, your life gets divided up into small chunks of time... you lay him on the floor or the mats and he's good for 15-20 min, during which I scramble frantically for something productive to do. Then he gets fussy playing by himself. Play with him for a while. Set him in the bumpo for a bit. Diaper change. Then eat. Then sleep. Then do it all over again.
And I did get a little misty when I left him... mostly because I knew I would probably never be a stay at home mother again. And that is kind of sad.
But- its for the better. Dude- have you ever met those kids who only hung out with grown ups? Really- that is the problem with homeschooled kids... its not that they are dumb or rather socially inept. Its actually that they dont relate well to kids their own age, because they spend so much time hanging out with adults (their parents). So its good in the sense that he's gonna be hanging out with kids his own age. Check it- there were two new babies who were awake and chillin with Nico when I came to get him: one is Chinese and one is from Bangladesh. Isn't that awesome? I want Nico to hang out with those kids and their parents. Learn some Chinese. Learn some Bangledeshi(?).
One of my big fears did not come true today (he didnt cry all day). At least that is what his teachers told me (his eyes weren't all red and his face didnt have that tight, tear-stained look). Which is awesome. I was really nervous that he just wouldn't understand and would resort to crying all day. The fact that he didnt makes me feel better about taking him.
Of course it helped that he wasnt there ALL DAY. We dropped him at 930 and I got him at 200 (to go to practice down in Wakulla). So it was pretty good. I really like it there... I think he's gonna like it too.
So the follow-up question: "So Bishop, if Nico started daycare today and you havent started your job yet, what did you do with your day?" There wasn't much of my day left to speak of by the time I got done dropping forms and whatnot (maybe 2 hours). Literally, this was my thought process on the way home: first I am going to have some lunch, then I am going to do some dishes, print my dissertation proposal, print my PAA abstract, then I am going to clean my desk, then I am going to go for a run and take a shower, then I am going to do some laundry and change some lightbulbs, and then... and then..."
But, then I decided I needed to pump. And I had some lunch. And then it was time to get Nico to go to practice.
Monday, January 4, 2010
So now its curtains and drapes on anyone who hates...
So, I had sort of an interesting Sunday night. While I would love to be able to have the life and the legs and the joints to run every day, I have set my bar kinda low in that department, telling myself that I will run every other day and maybe walk on the days that I don't run. So far, its been working out okay for me. Until last night.
I decided to go to Leon's track to run (can I share with you how much I love the solace of a dark and empty high school track? LOVE IT!!) so that I could calibrate my ipod. I suspected after my last run (when I plotted my path on google's pedometer thing) that perhaps it needed to be calibrated because it said I rain half a mile more than I actually did. Because my left knee was K-I-L-L-I-N-G me, I decided to take 1000 mg of acetometaphen and a full tab of percocet leftover from Nico's birth (I usually only take half a tab of percocet and no acetometaphen). I gotta couple of new tunes for the iphone. Hello- how is it that I never heard "Round" by FloRida? For my moms who has high speed now (check the song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrjp4IPXSY
So I get over to Leon's track and find that sadly, the percocet aceto combo wasn't miraclous. So I do my run- start by calibrating my iphone (half a mile) then an "easy" two miler. Its not easy. By any stretch. But it is what it is. When I get done, I feel like I was hit by a truck- not in that kelly the baller-i just ran a marathon in the time it took you to run half a marathon sort of way, but more like, "I think I am going to pass out" sort of way. And maybe throw up. Light headed. Nauseated. Not good.
Then my heart sinks as I realize I have to climb up the stairs because I parked up by the highschool. BARF. So I get in my car and contemplate calling Dave to tell him I think I might be dying but will take a nap in the car to "sleep it off". Decide to instead drive home. Haul myself inside, feeling the entire time like I am going to RALPH.
I get home and tell Dave, who thinks I am an idiot. Excused self to see if I can make myself throw up (always feels better to just get it over with). Dont have to make myself because it just happens. I feel a lot better after. So I decide to go to bed, but have to Nurse Nico first. But I itch. Like I took off all my clothes and rolled around in a bed of poison ivy covered in itchy poison. I thought at first it was a reaction to coming in from the cold-know how sometimes your skin can do that as it adjusts back to the warmth? No. My back, my neck, my legs, my arms. It was CRAXY. On further inspection, turns out I had hives. Did some research on the internets. Turns out that percocet releases a histamine (which can cause the itching). Both itching and neausea are side effects of percocet- not that I had a deathly reaction to it. I am an idiot.
Woke up this morning with the only evidence of my pharmaceutical escapades to find only a minor splotchy bit on my wrist. Definitely a good life lesson learned.
Not much new to report on the Nico front. I think Dave might be over the whole, "Dude you're a little baby thing" because he is teaching Nico how to feed himself. This morning he was showing Nico how to hold his own bottle... and just a little while ago, he had Nico working the spoon. Of course, Nico is still a bit sketchy on this- tries to gouge out his own cheek. But he's trying.
Got two games this week- one tomorrow night (Godby- Home) and one on Saturday (Rutherford-Home). Because I didnt know the football schedule when I was making our schedule, I front loaded most of our games away in the beginning of the season). If it is harder to play away than at home, it may have made our pre-christmas schedule harder. So maybe it sets us up for several wins in the next two weeks? Seriously, I could do with about 5 straight wins. That would be great. Kthnks.
Tomorrow night is probably going to suck. Its supposed to get down to 18 degrees. Dave is all like, "Its probably too cold to play." To which I say, "It builds character." However, I think it might be too cold to coach. They are talking about snow flurries this week. SNOW FLURRIES. You can bet your butts that I would have loved to be able to say that I played in snow. IN FLORIDA. Its a golden opportunity.
Did some of my paperwork for AHCA today. My boss isn't too hopeful for me to start on Wednesday- apparently things can move slow for them too. But Nico starts at FSU on Wednesday. I'm nervous!!
I decided to go to Leon's track to run (can I share with you how much I love the solace of a dark and empty high school track? LOVE IT!!) so that I could calibrate my ipod. I suspected after my last run (when I plotted my path on google's pedometer thing) that perhaps it needed to be calibrated because it said I rain half a mile more than I actually did. Because my left knee was K-I-L-L-I-N-G me, I decided to take 1000 mg of acetometaphen and a full tab of percocet leftover from Nico's birth (I usually only take half a tab of percocet and no acetometaphen). I gotta couple of new tunes for the iphone. Hello- how is it that I never heard "Round" by FloRida? For my moms who has high speed now (check the song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrjp4IPXSY
So I get over to Leon's track and find that sadly, the percocet aceto combo wasn't miraclous. So I do my run- start by calibrating my iphone (half a mile) then an "easy" two miler. Its not easy. By any stretch. But it is what it is. When I get done, I feel like I was hit by a truck- not in that kelly the baller-i just ran a marathon in the time it took you to run half a marathon sort of way, but more like, "I think I am going to pass out" sort of way. And maybe throw up. Light headed. Nauseated. Not good.
Then my heart sinks as I realize I have to climb up the stairs because I parked up by the highschool. BARF. So I get in my car and contemplate calling Dave to tell him I think I might be dying but will take a nap in the car to "sleep it off". Decide to instead drive home. Haul myself inside, feeling the entire time like I am going to RALPH.
I get home and tell Dave, who thinks I am an idiot. Excused self to see if I can make myself throw up (always feels better to just get it over with). Dont have to make myself because it just happens. I feel a lot better after. So I decide to go to bed, but have to Nurse Nico first. But I itch. Like I took off all my clothes and rolled around in a bed of poison ivy covered in itchy poison. I thought at first it was a reaction to coming in from the cold-know how sometimes your skin can do that as it adjusts back to the warmth? No. My back, my neck, my legs, my arms. It was CRAXY. On further inspection, turns out I had hives. Did some research on the internets. Turns out that percocet releases a histamine (which can cause the itching). Both itching and neausea are side effects of percocet- not that I had a deathly reaction to it. I am an idiot.
Woke up this morning with the only evidence of my pharmaceutical escapades to find only a minor splotchy bit on my wrist. Definitely a good life lesson learned.
Not much new to report on the Nico front. I think Dave might be over the whole, "Dude you're a little baby thing" because he is teaching Nico how to feed himself. This morning he was showing Nico how to hold his own bottle... and just a little while ago, he had Nico working the spoon. Of course, Nico is still a bit sketchy on this- tries to gouge out his own cheek. But he's trying.
Got two games this week- one tomorrow night (Godby- Home) and one on Saturday (Rutherford-Home). Because I didnt know the football schedule when I was making our schedule, I front loaded most of our games away in the beginning of the season). If it is harder to play away than at home, it may have made our pre-christmas schedule harder. So maybe it sets us up for several wins in the next two weeks? Seriously, I could do with about 5 straight wins. That would be great. Kthnks.
Tomorrow night is probably going to suck. Its supposed to get down to 18 degrees. Dave is all like, "Its probably too cold to play." To which I say, "It builds character." However, I think it might be too cold to coach. They are talking about snow flurries this week. SNOW FLURRIES. You can bet your butts that I would have loved to be able to say that I played in snow. IN FLORIDA. Its a golden opportunity.
Did some of my paperwork for AHCA today. My boss isn't too hopeful for me to start on Wednesday- apparently things can move slow for them too. But Nico starts at FSU on Wednesday. I'm nervous!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)