First Baseball Season Complete

We had quite an eventful weekend last weekend. It started with the mom's softball game on Friday night. I had so much fun playing in it. It made me want to play more often. The only bummer part is that I am not in sprinting shape and my legs have not been very happy ever since. Anytime I do a quick movement my quads want to seize up on me. 

Saturday morning Axel had his first game of the day. Here is my handsome young man playing right field, one of his favorite positions (besides catcher). 

Here he is batting. His form is much improved since the beginning of the year.

He has been connecting almost every time within the first one or two pitches. It doesn't go very far, but he consistently gets a hit, which is better than being inconsistent!

The sun came out just as we were finishing our first game. Here is most of the team and the coaches.

We had a wonderful visit from Auntie Shannon, Uncle Ryan and Braylin. They arrived during Axel's first game and then came over for an hour of playtime. I did not manage to take very many pictures, but the one picture I did manage to capture is super cute. Here is little Braylin pushing Pheeny around in her wagon. So cute!

Auntie and family headed home for lunch and Braylin's nap time. Axel was excited to have a couple more hours of playtime before he had to head back to the field.

Before Axel's second game was the Red Sox home run derby. Axel was really swinging hard and getting his body into it. Keith and I are so impressed with how much Axel has improved with his attitude. To see him try and have fun has been quite the accomplishment this season.

After Axel's second game Keith played in the coaches softball game. He pitched and was having a great game until the last inning when he sprinted to second base. His hamstring gave out and he dove face first into second base. I felt really bad about not getting any pictures, but I was busy trying to get the kids fed since it was dinner time. Axel enjoyed a cheese burger from the Snack Shack. After we got home daddy was down for the count. While he iced he read Axel a book.

The next day was Axel's end of the season party. The kids received their trophies, Tshirts and year books. Can you believe they do year books for baseball? The kids enjoyed swimming, popcorn and cake.

After they received their trophies the kids got to push the dads and coaches into the swimming pool. They had so much fun pushing the dads into the water.

Every child had the chance to push in each of the dads and coaches. Here Axel is pushing in Coach Keith/ daddy!

Axel swam like a champ regardless of the cold weather. According to Keith the water was warm. Most of us moms couldn't even think about taking off our jackets and long pants although a couple of brave moms managed to go for a swim.

Here Axel is playing football with a few of his teammates. The transformation of Axel's attitude, confidence and general desire to do things has been unbelievable. Praise the Lord for allowing everything to fall into place with the last minute registration and the amazing group of boys and parents we had for Axel's first team sport experience.

On Tuesday evening the kids and I attended Annika's graduation from middle college. She spent two of her high school years at the community college taking classes. She is officially done with middle college and high school and will be entering one of the top nursing programs in Oregon next year. It was definitely bitter sweet watching her graduate. It is hard to believe 5 years has gone by and that she is a young adult starting the next chapter of her life. We hope and pray that we will be able to find another trustworthy babysitter that truly loves our kids.

I threw this last picture in here because Phoenix wanted to build a big train track yesterday for the first time. Up until now she only wanted to build a little track that she can sit and and push the trains around. She now appreciates the coolness factor of having the trains go around a bigger more intricate track. It brought back so many wonderful memories with Axel. We hope to have a low key Memorial Day weekend. Axel and I have been fighting a bad cold all week. Check back next week because if all goes well, I will have pictures of Phoenix and her new shorter cast!

Happy Mother's Day 2015

The Szolusha household has settled into our new routine. We have gotten use to the hectic schedule of school and baseball and we have gotten use to a 2 year old with a cast. We have acclimated to missing normal working hours each week. I find it amazing at how quickly children adapt to their surroundings.

Phoenix is an absolute champ at living life regardless of her cast and inability to walk. She has had her moments of frustration, but in general she tries to do everything she use to do. 

The girl loves tea. I never expected my 2 year old to enjoy tea as much I as do. I use to drink tea every day, and sometimes multiple times per day. I gave it up years ago, but have recently been revisiting it since Axel and Phoenix took interest in having tea parties. Our current flavor of choice is decaffeinated cinnamon tea.

Sometime last week I had to let Phoenix start playing on her own outside. Within a matter of minutes she had figured out how to climb the slide with three limbs. Since then she can now climb up facing forwards, sideways and backwards which appears to be the easiest. She goes down the slide in all positions as well.  I am so proud of her for not letting a little broken leg get in her way of having fun!

Here is another picture of her at Jack Fischer Park yesterday. She played for 2.5 hours non stop. We were both ready for a nap after we ate lunch!

Axel and his school spoiled me this year for Mother's Day. The teachers had them do 4 projects. He made me a nice card, gave me a picture of himself holding flowers that says, " I love you mom", made a mom poster with his picture in the middle and a heart necklace. I was very surprised and honored that Axel worked so hard on his mom projects.

The kids and daddy picked bouquets of flowers for me. This has become a lovely tradition. I have been enjoying the beautiful flowers all week!

I was able to get out for a bike ride. We also went out for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. I wasn't able to get a good picture of me with the kids, but I was able to spend the day with them, which is exactly what I want to do. I have been so struck with what an honor it is to be a mom and be able to experience God's unconditional love for us through parenthood. I am overcome with emotion and love for God when I realize that he loves us the way we love our children.

I took Phoenix to Westgate shopping center on Tuesday to ride the merry go round, but it was out of order. Instead she played in the little kid play area.

She was so happy climbing and playing.

I took her there again today because she had to much fun on Tuesday.

It is hard to believe that Axel's baseball season will be over this weekend. I am playing in the mom's softball game tonight. We have a double header tomorrow with the home run derby and festival. Sunday is the end of season baseball swim party. It is going to be an action packed weekend.  I hope to get a few good pictures, so check back soon.

I leave you with two very cute pictures of the kids being their charming. wonderful selves.

Phoenix breaks her leg!

Life has been interesting for us over the past few months, with the past week the peak. I received a phone call Tuesday, April 27th that Phoenix woke from her nap at daycare crying. Angela, her daycare provider, could not get her to stop crying so she called me to let me know that something was wrong. Since I was at a doctor's appointment after work I told her to let me know how she was in 10 minutes.  I then received a text that she had stopped crying, but was unable to walk. She tried to get her to walk but she just collapsed. Ten minutes after that text I received another that Phoenix was fine if she held her and that she still would not walk. So, after the last communication that Phoenix would not walk and all the other kids were playing in the water and Phoenix did not want to play in the water or walk I left my appointment. I of course tracked down the medical assistant to let her know that I was leaving. 

 I was so angry at myself. I had wasted nearly an hour to be seen by the doctor and ride my bike to daycare, while Phoenix waited for me. Of course on my quick ride down Lawrence Expressway I had all kinds of awful thoughts cross my mind as to what was wrong with her and why she couldn't walk. I also had to pray for my safety as I was riding as hard and fast as I could and traffic was picking up as rush hour was just starting.

When I arrived Phoenix was quietly watching the other kids play from Angela's lap. She did not want her left leg touched and cried when I tried to touch it. I rode her home in the Burley. I luckily ran into my neighbor and asked her if she could pick up Axel from after school care. I was able to get a hold of Keith on the way to Kaiser and told him he needed to head home and that Axel was next door at Rishaan's house.

Axel and Daddy managed to arrive at Kaiser at 7pm, We had already had xrays taken from the hip down to the ankle and were waiting for the results when they arrived. The doctor wanted to rule out any infection in her joints and of course any fractures. Within 5 minutes of their arrival the doctor came in and said, "so she has a spiral fracture of her tibia". I was shocked. Keith was relieved. We both thought this was the best case scenario as bones heal and any other causes of her inability to walk were not good. They splinted her and sent us home with an appointment to be seen by ortho and casted the next day. The splinted her leg straight as seen above. You can see that it was really easy for her to learn to stand with her leg straight. We quickly learned from Dr. Cappiello, an orthopedist who I have worked with for years, that they cast this fracture with the knee bent to prevent what you see in the picture above!

 Phoenix was not excited about the cast. Axel was kind enough to pick out a pink sparkly cast for her.

 I believe most of Pheeny's tears were from fear and not knowing what was happening to hear. She really was very brave and cooperative.

 When we got home Annika came over to visit. This of course brought lots of smiles. Phoenix surprisingly slept really well that night.

 On Thursday Phoenix learned to scoot on her butt around the play room and throughout the house. We ventured out for groceries and then to Axel's baseball game. It happened to be over 90 degrees that day so we stayed in the shade. Daddy and Axel were not too happy that we were not on the field. Phoenix was initially upset, but quickly changed her mind when 3 other moms and their kids joined us in the shade.

 Phoenix had fun playing peek a boo with Easton.

 On Friday, Daddy stayed home from work to watch Phoenix while I took off for a conference. I mention this for two reasons. One, Keith told me that Phoenix learned to pull herself up to standing and onto the couch and back down while I was away. Which is great but scary since we don't want her to hurt herself. I also mention this because ironically Friday was one month after we found out that the baby I was carrying had past. On April 1st we excitedly went to our perinatology ultrasound and amniocentesis appointment in hopes to find the gender and the health of the baby only to discover the baby had past. On May 1st, this past Friday, while I was at a very expensive conference I finally received the two phone calls I had been waiting weeks for. I was a little worried about missing part of the lecture, but was happy to finally have answers. I was able to first speak with the doctor and later to our genetics counselor, Michelle. We learned that the baby was a girl and had triploidy. Michelle said that this is still considered a fluke of nature even though this was the second triploidy baby that we have had. This was actually the best possible news for us because if the autopsy and genetic work up did not reveal anything wrong with the baby then they would have had to do a work up on my health. Although Keith and I are sad, we are also very hopeful that one day we will be able to have another healthy child like the two beautiful children that we already have. We are also okay if this doesn't happen.

 On Saturday on the way home from the conference Keith's 20 year old Saturn's transmission finally decided to blow. My Knight in shinning armor quickly came to the rescue. He drove the two kids to me and then let me drive home, while he stayed and took care of the car. He was able to drive it to the repair shop in first gear! I am glad that he didn't have to wait the expected two hours for the tow truck to arrive. After he got home we headed to the park as we always do. We just had to be a little more creative. The kids played catch while sitting.

 They also played seated kick ball. Axel has been extremely charming and understanding. He is an amazing big brother. He is always great about taking care of and playing with Phoenix when she needs attention. After seated kick ball we played on the play structure. I took Phoenix up and down the slide and she happily swung from the bar just over the slide. We feel so very blessed for our health and the time we have together.

Baseball

We have been busy with baseball. Axel has one practice and two games a week plus we try to practice 10 hits, 10 throws and 10 catches on a couple of other days per week. His confidence is really blossoming and he is making consistent contact with the ball, especially in games. He may not hit it very far, but it is cool to see him contact the ball on the first or second pitch, almost every time up to bat. I would say he is one of the most consistent hitters on his team.  He is also starting to learn to catch and can sometimes catch multiple balls in a row. A huge improvement since the beginning of the season.

Where there is games, there are spectators and that is exactly what Phoenix and I do. We watch and try to cheer for Axel, that is, unless she has one of her friends near by. The picture below is Pheeny patiently watching the boys. 

This past week we have run into one of her daycare friends, Macey, which means she has been running around, ripping holes in her pants, and just having fun, fun, fun.

Last weekend, the coach that usually pitches was out on travel which meant that daddy had the opportunity to pitch to Axel. I was a proud wife and parent seeing the dynamic two.
Here are three shots of this special event.

It took him 3 or 4 pitches, but he made contact and hit it just in front of the pitching mound. 

Because it was warm last weekend and Axel had a great game, the kids enjoyed their first ice cream cones of the season. They were both covered in chocolate as they always request chocolate ice cream. Daddy puts some fresh cocoa in the vanilla ice cream that we buy, since it is the only ice cream that we have been able to find that only has 3 ingredients and no corn starch in it.

Our neighbors officially sold their house so now Axel wants to spend every waking moment with Rishaan whenever they are not at school. Hema, Rishaan's mom, picked the boys up early from after school care on Monday and Axel had a two hour play date at Rishaan's house while I was working. When I arrived to pick him up he begged to stay there and eat dinner. I reminded him he doesn't like the food they eat and with Rishaan's help we convinced Axel they would have more time to play together in the future. Here Rishaan is tying Axel's shoes for him. Sooooo sweet!

I will close with a picture of Phoenix waiting for our babysitter, Annika. When I told her she was coming over so mommy could go to the dentist (to get a filling) she quickly ran to the window and said, "I am watching for Annika." She waited there for almost 10 minutes! So cute!

Tea Parties

I am not sure who asked, but both kids wanted to have a tea party. I was saving the tea set my Aunt Cindy had given me for when Phoenix was a little older, but I decided that the time was right. I went into the attic and got it down. We pretended to have a tea party for a few nights with crackers as our cookies. 

 Last week Axel had his bi-annual teeth cleaning. He continues to impress me and the dentist at how mature and charming he is. He has never once cried or whined in all the years we have been going. It amazes me at how much he is growing. We also went for his annual wellness check last week. This is his biggest year of growth since his first year of life. This year he gained over 3 pounds and grew 3 inches. He now weights 36 pounds and is 42 1/4 inches tall! This puts him at the 2nd and 5th percentile, respectively. Keith and I did the happy dance as he moved up in percentiles!

 The kids were both really good for each of our appointments so they earned a real live tea party. They were both super excited. As you can see the tea party table expanded.

 I poured the tea and Axel poured the cream. We all enjoyed our tea, crackers and Phoenix also enjoyed some delicious jelly beans to go along with our tea party.

 Axel was not a big fan of the tea, but

 Pheeny loved it. I think she drank 3 cups and I drank maybe 6 to 8 cups (They were really tiny).

 After Pheeny's nap we went to Jack Fischer Park on both Thursday and Friday afternoon last week. The kids enjoyed play time and the beautiful weather.

 Phoenix absolutely loves books. Her she is having her own little story time. We always have books everywhere around the house. It is a little frustrating, but not something I will ever complain about :)

 Phoenix continues to want to do everything Axel does.  A couple of days ago when picking up Axel from school, Pheeny decided she wanted to carry Axel's back pack. Boy, did this make her day!

 Axel has been busy building all of his new Mine Craft Lego kits. Here is nearly 1500 Lego pieces put together.

 I love his creations. He followed the directions for only one of the three kits and the rest he designed himself. I love his creativity!

 Today Phoenix and I had the privilege of meeting Axel at Vasona park for one of his field trips. We enjoyed a lovely little walk through the park.

 The kids enjoyed looking at the ducks and geese and other wild life.

 Here is a group shot of Axel's Class.

 After the hour long stroll the kids got to learn about wild life and meet some reptiles and amphibians.

 The first and only animal that Phoenix and I were able to see was this little toad. She was getting restless so we went to the park and ate some lunch. Now we are off to pick up Axel from school and enjoy the afternoon together.