Soccer Mom?

I am not exactly sure what is meant by the term "soccer mom," but I did take Nadia to her first practice yesterday. I think she had fun! I found out I need to buy her cleats, and I think a soccer ball so she can practice in our yard would slso be most helpful. She did wear shin guards and soccer socks yesterday for the first time, and I'll be picking up her uniform on Tuesday. The first game was supposed to be April 6, but it's been pushed back to the 13th, which means she should have four practices before the first game. Her favorite part of the practice last night was playing sharks and minnows. She especially liked being a "shark" and trying to steal the ball from a "minnow." It definitely helped that she knew one boy on the team (from our church). I hope she has fun playing soccer! I am planning on having her do Upward Basketball later this year. Maybe Daddy could be her coach! Oliver, Ian, and I are hoping the weather warms up for the rest of the soccer season as we were cold yesterday. I also realized I was supposed to bring her water. I'm learning!

I wish I had brought a video camera instead of my camera with me (although actually I could have recorded a video with my DSLR camera). Watching ten children ages 4-6 attempting to dribble their balls across the field was downright hysterical. Nadia had never dribbled a ball in her life, and I will say just over the span of one practice she improved quite a bit. I imagine the games are going to be rather humorous also. I want her to try a variety of sports and hopefully she'll find at least one that she enjoys and wants to stick with for a longer period of time. First was gymnastics, then ballet, then tap dance, and now soccer. This is the first one that has involved fundraising though. I am NOT a fan of selling things (it's Yankee Candles this time). I know the organization just gets a small portion of the proceeds. Whenever a child comes to my door selling something, I honestly wish they would just be collecting donations for their organization rather than selling something. It would cost less money for me and give more money to the organization. I'd rather pay a little bit more for the registration and skip the fundraising.

Oliver has had a cold for five weeks. During those five weeks he's only slept through the night twice. Sometimes he's gotten up multiple times in the night, but mostly he's been getting up once. His cough went away, but his runny nose is back, and he's also had a fever off and on this week as well. Last night he only slept 8.5 hours total (was up from 4-5am). I've been getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night on average for 5 weeks. I'm pooped. My situation is mild though compared to my sister as all six of her children are sick, including her youngest who is only about six weeks old. Still I'm hoping that Oliver will get over his cold asap, sleep better at night, and go back to gaining weight at a better pace. My other sister, Wendy, also won't be getting much sleep these days because she gave birth to Grace Caroline today. My parents now have 13 grandchildren age 10 and under - 6 girls and 7 boys. Grace and Julianna are very close in age just like Adam and Joshua are also just a few weeks apart in age. We are looking forward to meeting Grace in December and Julianna in 2014.