CYLB Season 1: The Lead up to Game 1

It has been a long time coming.  According to the blog, since April 17, 2015, Braylen has had an interest in baseball.  I have received countless comments through the years from his preschool teachers about his amazing throwing arm, mom friends about his hand-eye coordination when batting, and neighbor dads wishing their boy could play like Braylen.  It was time to get our talked about son on the ball field and see where he matches up!

He's been watching Daddio play for year
Sept 2015

Never too cold to practice baseball
2016

Once again, Jason got roped into coaching.  I'm seeing that childcare workers and coaches will ALWAYS be in high demand.  Lucky for me, I have little athletic skill, so you won't see me out there coaching.  Jason, well, we know from who Braylen gets his athletic gene.  We should just rename him Coach Jason.  haha.

Braylen is playing in the Catonsville Youth League Baseball.  We've been holding out until he was 5 to be in this league because Braylen was not keen on playing tee ball, this kid wants you to pitch to him.  His gear has definitely improved since his days with the soft bat and ball

Hand-me-down batting gloves

A REAL bat and ball

Using his new baseball bag.
First practice!!!

Braylen is on the A's this year.  His team is 5 and 6 year olds.  He is definitely hanging in there with the older boys.  There has been a clear shift from orange everything to green everything.  I'm surprised he hasn't asked for us to repaint his room yet!  

Looking like a real little leaguer!

He practices on Tuesday and Saturday for now, which will change to Saturday games in another week.  This kid cannot contain his excitement about REAL baseball practice.  It doesn't matter that it was 40 degrees and windy for one practice; he's ready to go!

"Opening day" is April 28th.  We are all so excited for his first game!  

Elev8 Season 1

Way back in July we signed Braylen up for Elev8 basketball.  It's been a long wait for him, but basketball season finally arrived in January.  Braylen loved putting on his jersey and having a "real" game.  He asked daily how many sleeps until the next basketball practice.  I pray he always has this kind of enthusiasm for sports.

Elev8 is a basketball program that teaches basketball along with Christian principles for being a team player.  I was hoping Braylen would have some of his Sunday School friends or MOPS friends on his team.  We enjoyed meeting up with friends from our time at CPC; those were the only familiar faces on his team though.  It was still a fun Saturday morning hang out at Crossroads seeing friends from our church shopping days :)

Braylen was on the "mini" team consisting of 4 and 5 year olds.  It was a fun first taste of "real" basketball for him.

Adding his own flair to passing

Braylen had no problem cheering for baskets made

Let's be honest, 4 and 5 year olds playing basketball is like herding sheep.  I liked that they got jerseys like the big kids; that made Braylen's winter.  I also thought it was so special that they announced the minis just like they do with the big kids before games.

Shockingly, all Saturday practices/games happened this winter; no snow closings!  Evie and I used some of our Saturday mornings to spend time without the boys.  We are learning what is means to be a family and go to each other's events..... some are happier than others about attending...

The closing ceremony was a fun morning of skits, awards, and more corralling of sheep.  Braylen is always happy to get a metal for his collection.

He is already counting down the months until next season!  

Jr. Dugout Club: First Orioles' Game

The kids received an amazing gift for Christmas this year: the Orioles Jr. Dugout Club!  For only $25 per kid, they go to 6 Orioles' games, receive a give-away at each of those games, a backpack full of Orioles gear, $1 hotdogs, and the grow-ups get up to 10 extra tickets for $6 or $15 depending on section desired.  Um, that is a DEAL!

We went to our first Jr. Dugout game today

We went for the "expensive" seats this game and brought along our baseball loving grandparents and some Red Sox fans (boo!)

Braylen was ready to catch the home run balls hit into left field

He was pretty close to getting one; a Red Sox home run was hit and caught by a fan 8 rows in front of us in the first inning!  Good thing Braylen was paying attention because mama was busy taking photos 

A true O's fan in her pink.  C'mon G!

Even though the O's lost, it was still an exciting game with lots of hits (by the Red Sox).  The kids love the hotdog race and dancing to the music

 

On Sundays, kids are allowed to run the bases after the game.  We figured the weather was ideal and we didn't have another Sunday game this season, so why not.

Um, standing in line for over an hour might be a reason "why not".  Kids can start lining up after the 8th inning, so we wait as long as the 9th inning lasts plus some.  The kids were tired and hungry after a full afternoon.  

Waiting in line

We played I Spy kind of games while we waited.  Once the line started to move, it wasn't bad.

 It was finally time to get on the field!

It was so exciting to be on the field.

Cue the waterworks for Braylen that it was over... sweet baseball loving boy.

And cue Mommy and Daddio crashing after kids were put to bed 

Little Kickers

The kids selected soccer as their winter sport.  This was Braylen's second experience with Soccer Shots, Evie's first.  We put them in the same class expecting the worst, hoping for the best.  There were only 4 kids at their time slot (after some begging of mama on facebook to get more friends).  

Orange shirts, a dream come true for Bray

Braylen improved his soccer skills as well as his emotions regarding scoring goals and being told time was up.  I'm not sure why parents push their children to do sport earlier than 5 or 6.  I'm realizing we all THINK we have to get our kids into sports to socialize them, teach them about teamwork, or get them started early so they can be on the traveling allstar, Olympic team at 12.  They can't handle an organized sports at 3 or 4!  I am realizing this with my children as I see the tears and frustrations on mom and dad's part get less and less as they get older.  This session was better for Braylen, but I think it was still a tad early for him.  Backyard soccer is still best at 4.

 Evie had a difficult time focusing with her brother and best buddy, Tyler, from preschool there.  Since every kids has to do soccer, check, she did it.  This mama is NOT a soccer fan.  I would be happy to have them doing something other than soccer.  Sorry all the soccer fans in my life; it's just not my thing.

Hollencamp vs Hollencamp

Cheers to the end of soccer (hopefully for good... hehe)

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Shortly after we cut the Philly cord, Braylen has been asking Daddio when they could go to an Orioles game.   He even asked with his nasally cute toddler voice paired with his hand on Daddio's arm and striking eyelashes.  How could we turn down that adorable-ness and the offer of $6 tickets to the game?  Not us!

So today was the big day.  To say Braylen was excited is an understatement.  This boy is expressive and today was no excpetion; he could not stop smiling.

Father-son date to the O's.  

Jason said Braylen smiled the entire time; he could not have been happier to be at Camden Yards.

Not quite nosebleeds, but in the sun.  But who cares, Let's go O's!

Today was about spoiling Daddio's little boy at his first baseball game.  Treats, stuffed animals, baseball for his new collection...

"The Bird"

 

There ended up being no one in the seats in front of them, so the boys moved down.  What a view!  

My knees are shaking just looking at this picture.

The boys lasted the entire game, cheering on the O's to a victory.  Awesome memories of his first baseball game.  I love my little Maryland-born boy rooting for the home team!  How long until he is asking to go again?  :)

 

Cutting the Philly cord

Cheering for Philadelphia sports teams is how I was raised.  My dad had partial season tickets to the Flyers, of which I was his hockey watching buddy for many season.  I grew up loving Ron Hextall and the "crazy 8" line.  I still remember the letter and newspaper clipping my dad sent me at sleep away camp one summer sharing with me the awesome news the Flyers acquired Eric Lindros.  My grandfather had partial season tickets to the Phillies.  I sat in great seats behind the Phillies' dugout, waiting for the Phanatic to walk in front of us for his 7th inning dance on the dugout.  No tickets to the Eagles, but the Eagles were a big deal in the Stefany house.  Eagles playoff games was the only time my family ate in front of the TV for dinner.

Jason and I shared a love of Eagles football watching in college, yet found it frustrating once we moved to Maryland because we didn't get all the games.  We spent many Sundays in Federal Hill at MaGerks cheering with other Philly transplants.  We rooted (past tense since who has time to watch that many games with kids?!) for the Flyers and Phillies in the playoffs; we just didn't get enough games to cheer all season.

It appears Maryland will be our home for a while, so how will we raise our kids?  They are Baltimore born and raised; do they become Ravens and Orioles fans?  Switching from Eagles to Ravens is too hard for us and honestly, a football game is not where I want my innocent children going on a Sunday.  Camden Yards is beautiful and games are fun and affordable.  End of conversation- our kids will be Eagles fans and Orioles fans.

Braylen has gone hog wild about the Orioles.  He wore his Orioles gear the past 4 days.  He is lucky that Mommy does laundry at the beginning of the week!  While Mommy was out at the MOPS retreat on Saturday, Daddio got Braylen an official Orioles hat.  It has not been off since then, except to sleep.

Day 1 with his Orioles hat

Tuesday

Thursday

Braylen's special reward in the evenings is to watch the Orioles with Daddio before bed.  He is so adorable asking Daddio questions about everything he sees.  (Daddio needs to learn the Orioles team inside and out for this kid!)  Braylen sweetly asks Daddio if he has gotten tickets to go an Orioles game yet.  

Father-son bonding over the hometown team, I think we made a good decision letting our little boy bleed orange and black.

Batter up!

Evie and Braylen are born softball players.  Look at their mother and auntie-

If that doesn't scream MLB future, I don't know what will?!  

I need to comment on that picture.  My sister lovingly posted that on my facebook page after I posted two pictures of Evie and Braylen playing tee ball.  We liked to refer to ourselves as the "dandelion pickers" since we stood in the outfield picking weeds.  I think we lost every game that season.  Let me take a minute to rant about team shirts.  Why can we not give some love to petite or NORMAL sized people?!  Why does every team jersey have to be size large or extra large?!  Clearly those shirts are too big and so it Jason's 30 years later when he got his team shirt.  IT IS OKAY TO HAVE SOME SMALLS AND MEDIUMS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, moving on....

One last comment, Mom, did you make us have opposite knees in the air and did you position the bat that way?  That's a classic mom thing.  Good work.

Aside for softball superstars Mommy and Auntie L, Evie and Braylen also inherited genes from the great G and Poppop.  Interesting fact- my parents met when my dad was the coach of my mom's softball team.  Before you get creeped out that he was 16 and she was 11, they were in their 20's :)

My dad was often referred to as "Mr. Baseball".  I remember him playing on the church team, but before my memory took over, we played on various other teams from little league through community teams.  The Stefany and Pronzato families are big Phillies fans; I went to many games sitting a few rows back from 1st plate.  Wiffle ball was a favorite pastime in our backyard and when we went to see my Poppop in Oreland.  

I will say, I was a little taken aback with the passion my brother-in-law has for soccer.  The Stefany's are not soccer people.  Jason said to me our kids WILL play soccer.  I don't know, I am just not a soccer mom.... 

I am pleased softball has taken the lead as the family sport so far.  Jason got "highly recruited" to be on the men's softball team at our new church and also signed up for the co-ed league.  The kids excitedly talk about Daddio playing softball, yet when we went to his practice last week, they were not quite the cheerleaders I thought they would be.  Daddio has some major skills for being a "soccer player" (I like to tease that he played the bench on varsity than the field)

Braylen received a tee ball set for Christmas which we brought out this week for the first time.  I was impressed how quickly they got the hang of it.  Clearly the softball gene is in them.

And our lefty batter

Wiffle ball is back!!  Looking forward to another generation of softball players.