Ballet shoes. Glitter. Hair bows. Tights.
I grew up in a family of all girls, four of us to be exact ( my poor dad)! All I knew my whole life was dance classes, recitals, competitions, and lots and lots of makeup and hair gel. I grew up my whole life thinking my future life would look pretty much identical to the one I had lived – I would be a mom to a handful of cute little girls in tap shoes and top knots. Little did I know.
Fast forward to age 25 – I became a BOY mom and that future I had imagined for myself suddenly looked nothing like the pink, sparkly one I had envisioned. Fast forward again–I am now the proud mama of 3 little BOYS and as you can imagine, everything I ever thought would be is completely different – in the best way possible, of course. Potty talk, stinky socks, legos, hot wheels, and sports. And… BASEBALL.
I give baseball a category of its own, because {confession}: baseball season is a thing. It’s a much larger THING than I ever knew or could possibly even be prepared for!
The LIST. It’s a list that rivals the length of a school supply list: team uniform, cleats, batting helmet, knee socks (with the matching belt of course!), pants, a bat {confession: did you know these come in different sizes?} a bag to hold all of the said equipment with fancy clips that attach to the fence, and don’t forget team snacks!
LAUNDRY. Hellooooo laundry. You thought doing laundry for three dirty boys and two adults was fun? Let’s throw in some more clothing that’s stained with dirt that certainly doesn’t come off easily, and requires you to wash it at least twice a week! With three games and two practices a week, I have to be on top of my stain-fighting game. I’ve had to get used to this new normal, since I don’t know about you, but {confession}: I like to leave laundry until the last minute.
Bye-bye free time. That moment you push REGISTER on your computer might as well be the last time you think about a stress-free evening or Saturday for the next 3 months. Your evenings now consist of fighting the evening rush traffic to dart from one practice field to the next, McDonald’s drive-through for the 3rd time in a week, and {confession} LOTS of Diet Coke to make it through. And your Saturday’s? That teeny tiny little bit of free time in between games? Laundry.
But even though baseball season is busy, and I find myself rushing around like a mad woman trying to find shoes and matching belts and ALL THE THINGS – I can’t help but be giddy on the inside when my seven-year-old hits a home run.
When I overhear other parents whisper to each other, “I’m so glad we’ve got this kid on our team”.
When my four-year-old waves and smiles at me with a huge grin from first base because he hit the ball so hard.
When my son looks at his dad for his approval after hitting a fly ball. And suddenly in the moment I am fumbling for my phone trying to push that button on my video camera and yelling so loud – and I’m suddenly THAT MOM.
I quickly forget that I was ever a mom that imagined pink fairies dancing on stage and hairspray and fake eyelashes. This baseball game is good. It brings families together. It forces us to spend HOURS in the car together and BE together. It builds confidence, it brings joy. It’s where I am meant to be with my little boys. PLAY BALL!!!!!
You forgot something very important on the equipment list…cups! ?? We’ve been doing baseball for a few years now. This year we have three boys in baseball. Add that to four nights a week of dance and some art classes thrown in and it is going to be crazy.