Keeping the Tradition

I was excited a few months ago when I was asked to help coach cheerleading for our church. I love cheerleading and it has been a few years since I have been able to be involved with the sport (yes I call it a sport).

I have asked Emily through the years if she ever wanted to cheer, her answer was no each time. When I told her that I was asked to help coach, I just wanted to double check and see if she would maybe want to try it. She thought it would be fun since I would be coaching.

She had a blast and really enjoyed it. She was pretty good! She has carried on the family tradition of being a cheerleader that has been passed down. The last game was this past Saturday, February 26, 2011. I guess we will wait and see if she decides on continuing to participate.

Where would we be without Change?

It is the end of February, which would normally mean the beginning of craziness for us for the next 8 months. We have had some MAJOR changes over the past few months! Jeffrey made the decision to retire from baseball on November 1, 2010 after 11 years.

We as a family don't know anything other than our baseball lifestyle. We have been used to packing up, moving, road trips, time away from Daddy and BASEBALL GAMES! The past 9 years have been full of traveling, meeting tons of people and pure craziness, but it is hard to fathom that all that has ended.

We have spent the past few months adjusting to the idea that Jeffrey wouldn't be leaving for spring training this year. The first thing we did after Jeffrey retired was adopt a puppy from our local Humane Society. We had promised the kids that they could get a dog once baseball was done and we definitely didn't waste any time. Cullen Shea Ridgway arrived November 7, 2010 at 5 months old and a whopping 32 lbs.

Jeffrey's retirement didn't last long at all, after 2 weeks at home he decided he wanted a job. We had "talked" about waiting until after the holidays but agreed to have him put a resume in to a local Dairy company. We had no idea that he would be hired on his 15 minute drive home after dropping off the resume.

Jeffrey got his CDL and had his own delivery route, however after 14 to 16 hour days we decided that this was not the job for him. I truly think we saw him less than when he played baseball.

Jeffrey did have another job lined up before he left the dairy, but we took some time to enjoy some much needed family time! We took the kids for a very quick trip to Disney. We had a blast! All 3 of the kids are at the perfect age to enjoy being there!

This was actually taken as we were leaving, so we had already created a whole day of memories!

Monday, February 7, 2011

This picture was taken on Main Street USA at Disney World

We had such a great couple of days all together with no worries of work or school. We will now be like other families who take time off of work to go on vacations. There will no longer be an offseason for us to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted to do it.

Jeffrey began is new job February 9, 2011. He is doing an apprenticeship at an electrical company with a goal of hopefully owning his own electrical company with his brother in the next few years.

We are also adjusting to Cade's vision problems. 6 weeks ago I noticed that his left eye was beginning to cross and took him to see a pediatric eye doctor. We was first diagnosed with Accommodative Esotropia, which means he has difficulty focusing and aligning his eyes at the same time. This was a result of him also being diagnosed as being farsighted. He will have to wear glasses to correct the problem.

We then followed up with his eye doctor after a month of wearing his glasses, which also came with his diagnoses of amblyopia. This means that he isn't using his left eye (the bad one) to see, so we are needing to train his brain as well as his left eye to be used. This is done by patching. We will be patching his right eye (the good one) for 2 hours a day to help train both his eyes and his brain to work together. Today was the first day and it didn't go well at all. The poor guy gets frustrated that he is unable to see and just takes off his glasses and gets upset. We shall see how it goes!

2/25/11

Cade trying out his new eye patch that he picked out, he took off his glasses right after I took this picture. I am thinking this is going to be a LONG treatment process.

I will say it has been a blast watching Cade experience seeing things clearly for the first time. He doesn't give us a hard time about wear these at all. I guess he realizes that he can see things clearly and likes what he sees!

It's Time to Catch Up

Wow, it has been months since I have updated what has gone on with us! We have been really busy since my last EVENTFUL blog in April. Jeffrey has continued to play with the Independent Ball Team... The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. He started out the season throwing sporadically to ease him back into innings. He is now and has been for the past few months, throwing a lot more often. He is feeling really great and is looking forward to what our baseball future brings us.

This season was a lot different than past seasons, the kids and I lived at home. This is the 1st time since Jeffrey and I have been married that we have done this. It was a very big adjustment for all of us for many reasons. Aside from hardly spending time with Jeffrey, I struggled with balancing my two lives. My life here at home and our baseball life while visiting Jeffrey.

While at home, I tried my hardest to follow our "Normal" routine. We went to play dates, birthday parties and all of our many activities that we do throughout the year. We actually went to bed at a decent hour and got up early enough to actually eat breakfast (and not at noon). When we would visit Jeffrey, we wouldn't get home until 11:00-12:00 and by the time we all would whined down it was closer to 1:00 am before any of us went to bed. This would then make us sleep right through the morning and into the early afternoon. I don't think we ate breakfast one time during any of our many visits.

The kids and I spend most the summer traveling back and forth from our home base here in South Carolina to where Jeffrey is in Waldorf, Maryland. We were lucky enough that he was still somewhere drivable! (Not sure if that is even a word) The trip was supposed to take about 8 hours, but add 4 of us who never HAD to go to the bathroom at the same time it was more like 9! I know all of us do what ya need to do though to make things work!

We (the kids and I) are finally home. Emily started 2nd grade on Aug. 16. We are trying to get into a routine and get back to our school schedule. We left Jeffrey Aug 2 and will be able to see him for sure at the end of the season which will be end Sept /early Oct. The kids and I are trying to stay as busy as possible in hopes that the time away from Jeffrey will pass quickly! Until then, we are counting down the days until he is home!

We had a very EVENTFUL week! Not only did we have family in town for Easter, we had our 1st MAJOR injuries! This is Cade a day after he was playing baseball on our 2nd floor, which is wood. He swung the bat, threw the bat down and started to run "the bases". He slipped on a hockey stick and went right into the corner of the wall. We rushed him to a different Urgent care place because...

two days earlier I took Emily because she broke her wrist! Carson was the only one who didn't require a Dr's visit, however he was the one who started the week by swinging and while he was mid air, the swing broke and he landed face first on the ground.

We had a great week at Grandpa and Grandmas, my parents. We only live 10 minutes away, but sometimes life gets crazy and we go a couple of weeks without seeing them. Emily ended up sleeping at my parents' house the entire week.

The boys love playing in my parents' backyard. We only have a small yard and haven't done much to it, therefore we haven't moved over any of the play toys to our own yard. This at least gives the kids something to do when we are over G&G's house.

This is Easter morning. The Easter bunny came to our house and Emily was not there so we waited to have the kids open their baskets until they were all together. The Easter Bunny does not hide our Easter baskets because we are usually not home. We actually never know where we are year to year at Easter so their baskets are just left out. Not very fun, but they don't know any different.

Jeffrey was home this past Easter for the 2nd year in a row. It was so nice to be home and to be together. We enjoyed our last week together since Jeffrey signed with an Independent ball team in Maryland. He reported on Sunday, April 11. He left early Sunday morning and made it to Maryland at 3:30 that afternoon. He passed his physical and he threw for the 1st time yesterday with a team since March 2008. He threw BP (batting practice), he arm felt great and he was at about 85 mph. We know that God is guiding us to where we need to be and we are looking forward to this season in Independent ball. We are blessed to be on the same team with one of my really great friends, and I think the laid back atmosphere is just what Jeffrey needs to get back into the game! I am looking forward to the journey that God has for us this season!

It has been a CRAZY few weeks! We started the emotional week before spring training to prepare the kiddos for Jeffrey departure. It was a rough week for Emily, the boys really didn't understand. The day Jeffrey left for ST, we kept Em out of school for a couple of hours so we all could have breakfast together. This was a Friday, Jeffrey left the house about 11 and headed down to Melbourne, FL. On Saturday, after hours of waiting, we find out that the Nationals think that Jeffrey is too high of a medical risk, they release him. Jeffrey returned home on Sunday.

In the past week, we have enjoyed our time together as a family! We have also been trying to figure out what is OUR next step. Jeffrey is continuing to help out a a local high school as their pitching coach. The boys are LOVING this, they are able to be around baseball.

We are looking at our options and continuing to pray that God will guide us in making the right decision that is best for our family!

Another baseball season is upon us, Jeffrey will be leaving for spring training on March 5th. After not playing for an entire season, he has signed a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals. We are very much looking forward to what God has planned for us this season.

We have had a great off season. Like I posted in the last blog, Jeffrey made is coaching debut with a 15 u travel team where the season ended in November. After baseball we geared up for the holiday season. We enjoyed our time with family and friends!

We celebrated the New Year by renting a beach house in the Outer Banks. This was Jeffrey's 1st visit there, and he now knows why I have talked so highly of it! When we got home from OBX, Jeffrey really hammered down and got into "baseball mode". He worked out to local high school teams to get them ready for their season as well as himself.

It is hard to believe that Jeffrey will be leaving in 9 days. Even though this is our "normal" it is always hard to prepare for the season. The boys are at the age that they more aware that Daddy is gone and they don't like it. I am grateful that spring training is only 6 1/2 hours away, however it looks as though we will probably be heading somewhere up north for the season. It isn't an easy few hour drive, we are talking 10 to 14 hours depending on where we end up.

I am looking forward to this season and watching the boys take in everything at the ballpark. We have been to a couple of my brother's games this season (HS ball) and it is fun to watch them. Cade will sit and watch the game for about 40 minutes and ask questions, while Carson is off playing baseball with some of the other kids. Emily really could care less. She still doesn't understand why people want Daddy to sign things for them.

Again, I am looking forward to this up and coming journey in our lives. God knows what he has planned for us, so we are just along for the ride!

It has been awhile since I have updated the blog! A lot has gone on since the last time. We are ALL home! The kids and I got home in the middle of Aug and Jeffrey got home Sept. 6 (he drove 19 hours in one day to just get home).

We are already off to a VERY busy fall. Jeffrey has taken on a coaching job for a travel 15 U baseball team. Tournaments started last weekend and we play almost every weekend until the middle of November.

Jeffrey is still rehabbing his elbow here in Charleston. He is working on getting his arm ready to throw for some teams in the next few months. We hope to sign and know where we are going before spring training. We shall see what God's plans are though!

Emily is loving 1st grade. She is doing very well and is being kept busy with homework almost every night. She is doing gymnastics on Wednesday as of now, she is wanting to add another day of it. (Jeffrey and I aren't ready for that yet).

The boys are a handful right now. They are into EVERYTHING!!!! At the start of each morning I can pretty much count on them getting into trouble for getting into something that they shouldn't. It is the same things everyday as well, you would think they have learned by know!

I am staying busy with the kids and being a coaches wife! We travel with Jeffrey on the weekends so we can have "family time". The boys do love being at the ball park and I think it is really good for them! Em on the other hand isn't so excited. The most important thing is that we are together as a family!!!!!