Perfect

Yep. I've always felt it, but now I know it. My nephew Andrew is perfect! We were in Stevens Point this weekend for a wedding (more on that in a minute) and we had the pleasure of surprising Andrew by showing up at his Legion baseball game on Friday night. He pitched. But not only did he pitch, he pitched a PERFECT game!! No hits, no runs. They called the game in the 5th inning because the score was 14-0. How cool is that?? Way to go, Andrew!! I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy that we could be there to watch you. The coach gave Andrew the game ball and his teammates signed it. Then came not one, but two, Gatorade coolers with ice water in them...all over Andrew!! It was a great moment for this proud Aunt. Man am I going to miss that boy when he leaves for the Air Force.

Now about the wedding. I would have taken pictures, but our camera went on the blink a couple of weeks ago so I didn't even take it with us this weekend. Time for a new camera (we've been saying that for well over a year now). Anyway...Andy Widdel got married this weekend. Who is Andy Widdel?? He's the youngest of two boys. His parents are Keith and Evelyn. OK. So, who is Andy Widdel?? The Widdel's were the very first family I ever babysat for. David (Andy's older brother) must have been about 4 or 5 when I started babysitting for them. Andy came along a couple of years later. So Andy is truly the first kid I ever babysat for from the time he was born. Makes me feel old. The wedding was great. We got to talk with some good friends from my home town, eat some great food and dance. There was a slide show, too, that took me down memory lane. I'm so glad Andy and his wife Dana invited us to be a part of their special day. The really fun thing was that my Mom and my sister and brother-in-law were there, too. Oh...and we took Mark's niece, Emily, with us to babysit for Hope while we were at the reception. It mostly worked out great, but Hope is still very much a Mommy's girl, and had a few crying episodes.

Speaking of being a Mommy's girl, here's where I need some advice from those of you who are parents. What do I do?? Even this morning when I dropped Hope off at Grammy and Papa's house she cried and cried because I had to go to work. She got over it pretty quickly though. I figured she would. BUT...I called a little while ago to see how she was doing and she started calling out, "Mommy." Then my m-i-l put Hope on the phone and at the end of our conversation (yes...I know she's only 23 months, but you really can have a conversation with her which amazes me) she started crying, "Mommy. Hold you. Mommy. Hold you." I felt HORRIBLE! I'm sure she's down for a nap by now so I'm sure she's all better. But here's my dillema: how do I get Hope past this super clingy stage?? She always wants Mommy. Part of me is so flattered by that, but, in all honesty, part of me would like just a little bit of a break from time to time. Not much of a break because I love being with her so much, but I'm just talking an hour or two here or there. Do we just let her cry it out or are there other techniques we can try?? PLEASE post some words of wisdom for me!

OK...time to go. I hope everyone has a blessed day.