WE'RE BACK!!! :)

WE'RE BACK TO BLOGGING!!! :) Shocking, right? I'm so bad at this thing. I always tell myself I'm going to be better at updating it, but time gets away from me.

So, where do I even begin with updating this thing?! So much has happened since July! Let's see... I'll give you some quick updates (And if you know me, this could be hard because I have the WORST memory... no joke, can't even remember things that happened in a movie I just watched the night before... lol)... OK anyways, here goes:

August - Chuck, Owen, Tyson and I enjoyed our last week together up north before Owen and I headed home so I could begin my fourth year teaching kindergarten. It was SO hard leaving Chuck, especially knowing our family would be broken up for two long months! We left Pennsylvania on August 7th.




I started back teaching August 11th. I've got a great class, and I'm truly thankful for that! But boy, it was extremely hard juggling working full time, taking care of Owen and keeping the house together for two months without a husband around. I'm so grateful for my in-laws and the help they gave me! I'm lucky they live so close. My father-in-law and grandma-in-law would watch Owen during the day while I was at work. My mother-in-law spent the night a few nights during the two-month span and took care of Owen as he still wasn't sleeping through the whole night at that point.

Also during August, Owen ate baby food for the first time (bananas) on August 21st. He sat up for the first time by himself on August 28th. We were at my brother Danny's house, so my whole family got to see it. It was awesome! He was very proud of himself too. :)



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September - We visited Chuck Labor Day weekend. Sat in the airport for two or three hours waiting on Chuck to pick us up that Friday night because OF COURSE his game went into extra innings! I should have known that would happen. We finally saw Daddy at about mid-night. It was a great weekend! We gave daddy his early birthday present. He turned 28 on September 14th. Daddy also got to see Owen sitting up for the first time!! We enjoyed our three days together, but it went by way too fast.




My brother turned 30 on September 20th. We had a surprise party for him in Jacksonville where he's been living. Can't believe he's 30!!!! I still remember when we were super little and all our times together. Like the times when he used to get mad because I learned how to water-ski before him... learned how to stand up on the hydro-slide before him... learned how to snow ski before him... oh he'd get so jealous because he'd be stuck on the bunny slopes while i was going down blacks. haha... ok, ok, we do have lots of other memories that don't involve me doing things better than him! :) But I probably won't have room in this post to share all those, so I'll save them for a later time. :) LOVE YOU DANNY!!!




My mom also celebrated a birthday on September 13th. I'll leave her age off this blog. :) My mom is truly the greatest mom of all. I only hope someday Owen will treasure me like I treasure my mother.

We took another trip to Pennsylvania to see Chuck! This trip was extra special because we watched him play in the play-offs!!! This was our last trip to Pennsylvania. We met so many wonderful friends this season. It was very hard to say "good-bye" one last time. A special thank you goes to the GM and his wife Christina. They were beyond AWESOME!! I've never felt so welcomed and comfortable during a baseball season before. I will miss both of them so much. Oh yeah, during this trip, one our closest baseball friends (Ian and Lauren Bladergroen) also told us great news that they were expecting their first baby! We are THRILLED for them!!! Secretly hoping they'll have a boy because Owen has enough girlfriends already! He needs a buddy!






Other things this month - Owen ate a lemon for the first time on September 10th and LOVED it! No faces were made. He simly just enjoyed it. Crazy! He started getting baths without using the infant seat (September 26th)... just sitting in the bath these days like a big boy. He loves bath time! :) He started standing with just support on his thighs (September 17th). Also, he started standing using support from the couch on September 29th.

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October - Daddy came home on October 6th! And he came home as the ATLANTIC LEAGUE CHAMPION!! He and his team won the league's championship! I was soooo proud of him! What a GREAT way to end the season. He's looking forward to getting his RING!!! :)



Once daddy was home, he quickly had to transition to his "Daddy Day Care" job. Yup, that's right. He watches Owen during the day while I'm teaching. I think he was pretty nervous at first because he had never spent more than two hours alone with him before this point, but he has done a GREAT job since day one. He also started doing baseball lessons. We actually hardly see each other because once I get home from work, he takes off to give lessons until about 9 p.m. every night. He's also giving lessons during the weekends too. So our time together is short.

My dad had a birthday on October 9th. OK, I'll go ahead and tell you his age. He's.... just kidding dad. I LOVE YOU! :) You'll always look young to me!

Chuck's dad retired from his job as a police officer. We attended a touching and very special retirement ceremony for him. Rita (Chuck's mom) also threw him a retirement party on October 16th. Great fun! Congrats Charlie!



And how can I forget... My grandmother turned 103!!!!! Yup, she made it another year! She is truly AMAZING! I have NEVER met a woman quite like her. The fight in her is beyond belief. We had quite a scare back in August and was told some saddening news. But she proved everyone wrong. And we shouldn't be surprised. She does this time and time again. I am so thankful my family and I got to celebrate another birthday with her! Oh and, it is awesome to see her hold little Owen. It melts my heart every time. She loves him so much. In fact, I'm now used to her just asking for him before even acknowledging me. :) Too funny.





We also went to the Georgia-Florida game. My mom and dad kept Owen for us. It was great tailgating and attending the game without mommy and daddy duties. :)





Owen took part in his first Halloween! He dressed up as a lion. We went to "Boo At The Zoo" and took him to his first pumpkin patch. We also took him trick-or-treating. :)






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November - Chuck and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on November 4th. It is hard to believe it's been 4 years. He took me to dinner at Ruth's Chris and we went to a movie. It was our first night without the little man. He spent the night at grandma and grandpa's house.




My good friend Casey Belt got married on November 6th. I got to catch up with old friends and spend a lot of time with Laura Sibley and her hubby. Chuck and I had a great time. Congrats Casey and Jorge! It was also nice to be home in St.Pete for the weekend with my family.





I celebrated my 27th birthday. Owen, Chuck and Tyson made me a birthday cake. Actually, poor daddy was the only one who slaved over it... the little boys fell asleep half way through making it. Thanks Daddy! :) Owen and Chuck took me to the Melting Pot that night too. It's our FAVORITE place to eat. And my teacher friends made my bday super special too as they surprised me with breakfast in the morning and Colleen got me a gift card for a pedicure.




We also took a trip to Auburn to visit some of our closest friends. We stayed with Beth and Bobby Huddleston. They have two little girls (Merrill is 1 1/2 years old and Charlee is a month old). Owen absolutely LOVED his time with Merrill. She was so sweet to him. She gave him lots of kissies and even tried to feed him his bottle. She is so stinkin cute! We tailgated with the Registers and other friends. It was great to see everyone. We try to get together once every year... so I'm already looking forward to next year! I know we will all be friends for a lifetime. These trips always make me miss Chuck's baseball years at Auburn. One, I loved watching him play, but two, we made so many close friends during these years of always being at the ball field!







Other exciting news during the month of November - Owen started crawling!! He has been crawling with his tummy on the ground for a while now, but he finally on Thursday night (November 18th) just picked himself up and took off for Tyson and his bone. Unfortunately Daddy wasn't home at the time, but he's since seen him do it lots of times. :) Owen also has five teeth now. Three of them are REALLY through and two of them are slowly making their way. Poor boy is having a tough time. Overall, he's doing great... but every now and then you can tell he is in some pain. Owen also started saying "MAMAMAMA." Awe, music to my ears!!! Poor daddy is super jealous because he said this first over "DADADA." Oh well. I'm a happy Mommy! :)

So, here I am now... November 21st. I've finally updated my blog, and I'm very proud! :) As for the rest of November, we're headed to St.Pete this Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. Hopefully, I'll post pictures soon of Owen's first Thanksgiving.

THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS LONGGGGGGGGG BLOG!

WAR EAGLE!
Tara, Chuck, Owen and Tyson :)

Injuries :(

Well, I feel like I jinxed Chuck. In my last post I wrote about how he was leading the league in games played. Well, he's such a fighter when it comes to injuries. He's played through a broken hand before, broken finger, getting hit in the head/right above his ear!! (though he had to go on the DL), etc. etc. etc. But a few days ago he fouled a ball straight off his foot. It was pretty painful just to watch! Anyways, it has kept him out of the game for three days now. And it's killing Chuck because he loves playing! However, it's getting better and hopefully he'll be back on the field tomorrow. He's been doing treatment after every game and does this stim (I have NO clue what it is. We actually had a discussion about it because I was apparently pronouncing it wrong, though I walked away from the conversation still confused as heck as to how to say what whatever it was he was doing to his foot!) thing to it every night. He actually fell asleep with it on last night and when I realized it I freaked out because I thought it was on way too long and it would seriously damage his foot! Hah. Well, there is apparently a timer on it... so no worries now! :) Also last week Chuck hurt his knee in a collision at the plate (picture posted below). Maybe it isn't such a bad thing he is sitting out a few games. He needs to heal!

Summer of Baseball

I'm always posting about Owen, so I thought I would give a quick update on Chuck. He is playing for the York Revolution this year and has been doing pretty well (besides a couple periods of just bad luck and hitting the ball hard right to people or getting robbed of some hits... but hey, that's part of the game!). I don't really follow it too closely, but I know he is leading the league in doubles and I think third in the league with extra base hits (unless this has changed since about a week ago). He has played in every game (shortstop) except one, and I believe he leads the league in games played as well. He is truly enjoying playing this year, which is so nice to see (and a big change from last year). I have never thought so highly of a coach before. I am so thankful for his coach Andy Etchebarren. "Etch," as the boys call him, is a former big-time major leaguer who is a World Series Champion. His baseball stats and history speak for themselves, but what a lot of people might not know, is that Etch is truly a wonderful man off the baseball field. Without too many details into our personal life, Chuck went through a rough period last year. He lost a lot of confidence in himself, and this is NOT like Chuck. Well, I honestly believe God placed Etch in our lives for a specific purpose. He has taught Chuck so much this year. He helped Chuck get his confidence back and believe in himself more than he ever has before. Etch's positive vibe has completely changed Chuck, and I will be forever grateful for this. I could go on and on with example after example about how Etch is such an amazing man and the impact he has had on Chuck, but I won't. I'll just leave it at this - A happy husband makes for a very happy wife. :) And another reason why he is really enjoying this year is that a lot of his old teammates who he was really close to from the Red Sox and his team from two years ago and last year are on his team now. Here are some pictures from Chuck's season.













AND FOR SOME EXCITING NEWS!! Chuck's team made the playoffs! They won the first half................................... OK, LET'S BE REAL - I'm happy for him and his team, BUT this means his season will now likely go into mid-October. That means an extra month of long-distance. My oh my... the joys of the baseball life. Here are some pics of the day they clinched!