2nd SCRIMMAGE & MORE

Did I mention that the day we found out Nathan's biopsy and surgery details it just happened to be April Fool's Day? Some joke, huh? That day was filled with so much anxiety and nerves that it was definitely no laughing matter for us...At least the first half of the day.

I dropped Nathan off at home, he went back to work to get the ball rolling on his medical leave of absence, and I rushed up to the school to get in on the last few minutes of Brooke's kindergarten egg hunt. We saw her in front of the school hunting eggs as we passed by, but she was already done by the time I got back up there. I felt really bad that I had to miss out on it because I've always been there for everything for Cole. And she knows that, too. She seemed to be in good spirits when I got there and ran up and gave me the biggest hug. That was wonderful.We had to rush off to find Cole a baseball belt before his scrimmage. Two stores later and we were really pressing for time to get everything ready before we had to leave. Nathan finally got home just as we were about to take off without him. We didn't have time for me to get gas, so we switched everything to Nathan's car and headed out...To the hood. Not kidding. This place was seriously in just about the worst parts of the hood. It was scary driving through there. But for some reason there is a really nice park and two baseball fields smack dab in the middle of it all.
Brooke wanted to play at the park, so out of guilt for missing out on stuff with her earlier, I took her over there until the game started. We got stared down the whole time from a questionable front porch gathering across the street. It was very uncomfortable. I don't think they liked the flash of my camera, but I couldn't help it.I'm not sure why, but Cole had to play catcher. He did NOT like that. He played in the catcher spot the practice before, but he didn't really do anything but shag balls. The coach didn't go over anything with him about what he should do or where he should stand during certain plays so, I was shocked when I got down to the field and saw Cole with all of the gear on. I've heard the coach say before that they will be asked to play everywhere because you never know who will be sick or out of town.
He looked really cute though. And oh so BIG! Nathan spent the game going back and forth putting his gear on, taking it off, and then standing behind Cole telling what he should be doing. Cole looked really nervous for a while because he just didn't really know what was going on. He got hit by the ball in ALL kinds of places the first couple of innings, but finally started catching the ball later on. He definitely got more action than playing in the outfield.

Cole's comments after the game were that he got hit in the nuts with the ball, his butt cheek hurt from sliding, his legs were tired, and he never got to wear his hat because he was wearing his helmet nearly the whole game. I bet his neck was tired, too.He was exhausted but still had a little bit of energy left to play on the playground. Nathan only let that happen for a few minutes though because that front porch crowd across the street had doubled in size. We went out to dinner and stopped by Blockbuster and ended up not even getting the kids in bed until 10:30 pm. The second half of the day was a good distraction from what we learned at the doctor's office earlier that day. Nathan and I really didn't get to talk too much about everything since he still had to go in to work early the next morning for a couple of hours before driving an hour and a half to the Memphis airport.

So, less than 24 hours after Nathan got his biopsy results and surgery plans, he had to take off to California for work. He's filling in for someone out there who is out on medical leave. The day he left was also Good Friday and the beginning of the kids' Spring Break...AKA 10 days straight of the kids in my face all day and night long while still trying to do my work and never getting a break from them. Fun times.