I guess I know what wood in a fireplace feels like!

IT'S HOT here in TN!! WHOOOOOOO DOGGIES!

Itchy had soccer evaluations Saturday morning at 9:00 and we strolled out the door and IMMEDIATELY started melting. It was hot, humid and MISERABLE. Did I say MISERABLE...pardon me, I should have said FRIGGIN MISERABLE. He did awesome though! We were able to get on the coaches team we were with last year. Not the official announcement though, the wife sent me a super secret ultra covert operation email that said "Itchy is on the team!" At least they already know he's a smack talker. I know a few of you ladies have heard me talk about my smack talker extraordinaire - but he works it and is VERY animated about it. I told the team last season before we even started that it's something we're working on - but it's not done in a spiteful way. One of the moms even confirmed that she thought he was being cute and not being ugly. Regardless, I'd rather he not talk smack. I'll admit the hulk muscles are pretty cute after he makes a goal, I just don't think he needs to yap with the other team about the score after being so animated. Because of his food allergies, he's on the smaller side and I just know some day a kid is going to come and whallop him because of his BIG SIZE mouth. This is of him last season....hey - and he went Krogering too! LOL

So not only that - Cowboy had a football game Saturday. It was a BOWL game (in TN it's basically a PRESEASON game) and they WON!! What's that you say? Did you win a trophy or medal? NO!!! We won the OPPORTUNITY to go sweat BUCKETS again the NEXT day to perhaps get a trophy. Football on days like that is CRAZY...but a football game at 3:15?!?!!? COME ON PEOPLE! There are LIGHTS at the facility - why not play the scorching games at NIGHT?
I made sure Cowboy had an overabundance of fluids all day...but STILL - sheesh, with the heat index at 115...just about NO amount of fluids can help dent that heat! I get a lot of comments about our decision to let Cowboy play football. "I could never let my baby play football" "Isn't that a bit rough for him?" "It's too hot to play football". Well, the heat I can't alter - that's probably my main complaint aside from a few coaching issues that we didn't have last year. However, the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives, not to mention he really enjoys it. Yeah, he's got bruises up and down his arms and legs and it looks like we beat him to a pulp...I have to watch his hydration a lot during these first two months but he GAINS a tremendous amount. We spent years going through physical therapy to work on his low muscle tone and get him more coordinated with his gross motor planning. This will be his 3rd year in football and I'm hoping the 3rd year that he'll make HUGE leaps in his physical progression. The first year (7 years old) he was able to walk up and down steps alternating feet instead of doing the feet together step, feet together step method - for the first time WITHOUT being prompted. That basically means he gained enough confidence in his strength and coordination that his mind and body LET him do it! The 2nd year (8 years old) he was able to CONFIDENTLY ****RUN**** down the stairs. Yeah I know, not something most mom's jump up and down about and encourage - but you should have seen him.... he was FLYING down those stairs. I made him do it again just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I was proud of him, but that doesn't matter - HE was proud of himself once he realized what he had done. Once your body and mind has mastered a task - it opens it up so all energy is then placed on the next task. His speech always progresses, he tied his shoes for the first time (How many YEARS of occupational therapy has tried to get him to do THAT?) last season and it always helps his core strength for horseback riding. Yeah, it's hard to watch my baby get knocked around sometimes...but it's GREAT to see a child we NEVER thought would be a football player knock a few other kids around and overcome some hurdles. Last year he made quite a few key plays in the games so that made it even more exciting. I can't wait to see what he's going to do this year!

I have also been ALL consumed with trying to find Geekfloat(DH) a new boat. About 3 weeks ago he found THE one, he couldn't live without it - had been looking for that model, price range and the color wasn't bad either (same as my truck)...so we called to make sure they had it. SOLD OOPS! We started looking and looking and looking - we just weren't finding what he wanted. I noticed the 'sold' boat was still on the dealerships website so I called and they said the sale had fallen through. YAY!! We went out Tuesday (an hour drive!) to take a good look at it - ended up putting a deposit down - negotiated some extras and we'd go pick it up the next day. We ARE the owners of a new (2005) Stratos boat! Geekfloat is happy and I imagine I get to win all arguments for a good deal of time which is great for me! Believe me, I'll use it every chance I get! "Come on, all you have to do is vacuum for me - I mean, I did all the legwork for the boat - it's the least you can do!" I kinda like the ring to that.

Anyway - sorry I haven't been around. I hope to respond to every one's blog and get back into the swing of things! Missed you ladies!