Go Braves

About a month ago I wrote a post talking about how the Braves needed to get rid of Terry Pendleton because of how poorly we were hitting. Well, a month later the Braves have turned it around. Bobby Cox finally moved Jason Heyward into the top 3 in the order and the offense is clicking. If I blame Terry for our woes, it is only fair to give him some credit when we are playing well. I read the other day where the Braves are #1 in MLB in walks, which is great because it shows being patient at the plate. That is another area where Terry should get credit. Nice work TP. I don't know if it is any of his doing for our horrible hitting last month and our great turnaround this month, but I have to give credit if I gave blame in the same area. To be honest, I still don't think he is a great hitting coach and I hope he doesn't end up as the next Braves manager. However, I cannot argue with how the Braves have turned it around this month and he deserves some recognition for that.

As you can probably tell, I attribute it more of the success to the moves Bobby has made. Heyward being moved up in the lineup and Prado being moved to leadoff, specifically. Those 2 were already getting on base all the time. That gives Chipper, Glaus, McCann, and Hinske opportunites to drive in runs more frequent and not have 2 outs when they get up to the plate. I am also thrilled Hinske is being given the chase to play everyday. I am a big fan of his since he was in Toronto and have been hoping he would get more of a chance to play. I would like to see Heyward move to #3 in the lineup, but I know he won't be there as long as Chipper is around.

I hope the Braves are able to sustain the momentum we have right now. They are playing really well and I believe we are good enough to at least win the Wild Card. Hopefully Jurrjens can recover and bring us one more great pitcher to use. I know we have some older players, so hopefully we keep them all rested and healthy. What do you all think? Are the Braves hitting better because of Pendelton or Cox? Or maybe they just turned it around individually? Can the Braves win the Wild Card? Let me know what you think in the comments

Georgia Tech's Allen sends a message - ACC Blog - ESPN

Georgia Tech's Allen sends a message - ACC Blog - ESPN

Random Landon Pictures

Landon has been doing some crazy stuff lately. We were able to get some of it on camera. I have some videos that I plan on posting, but I haven't installed the video editing software yet. I know, I'm a slacker. I'm also a perfectionist and I want to chop down some of the videos, so that is why I just don't post them. However, I may end up just doing that because I know it will be a long time before I am able to work on the videos like I want too.

While you are waiting on me to get around to posting the videos, take a look at some of these pictures.

Landon in February, to give you an idea how much he has grown



Time to kick back, relax, and get my bottle



He's getting mentally prepared to finish the rest of his bottle. This picture could be a good caption contest picture.



Like I said, the food tends to end up on his face



Landon decided to take his food out of his mouth with his hands and put it on the tray. We did what any good parents would do. We watched him play in it.



What food on the tray? It wasn't me!



Landon decided to eat his play center.



Landon likes to wiggle around to get comfortable before falling asleep. Sometimes he ends up in interesting places...

I know what you are thinking. Yes, we did give Landon a bath after he played in the food. It was pretty hilarious to watch him play in his food. That's one of the best things about having a child. The most mundane, ordinary task can turn into something you won't forget for a long, long time. As mentioned above, I do have some videos I plan on posting in the near future. My next Masters class starts on Monday, but I hope to find time to edit the videos like I want too. If you have time, browse some of my older posts with Landon pictures. The changes he has already undergone is amazing.

Easter Pictures

I'm finally getting around to posting some of our Easter pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Getting Landon ready to go



Christi and Landon before church



Me and Landon



Landon and his massive Easter basket



Kenleigh and Landon. She is 1 month younger than Landon but is already bigger than he is.



Family portrait



Landon getting ready to go to Easter lunch



Good picture of Christi and Landon



Landon up close



It's the Easter bunny! Oh wait, it's Landon!



Landon sitting in his basket

Soccer

I've been playing soccer with some guys at work. The season actually started in March, but I haven't been able to play because of my back. That changed last week. I was finally able to play and ended up playing 2 games. Those were our team's only wins of the year, so I'm going to say me playing is a direct correlation to us winning :) We have a good team, but we haven't been healthy all year. A lot of people had some other injuries come up, like mine. We have the playoffs coming up the next few weeks, so hopefully we can make a run at the title. I'll keep you informed out how we do.

My first game back I ended up hurting the other team's goalie. It was a complete accident. My friend Luis crossed me the ball in the box (right in front of the goal). I was wide open. Right as I get ready to strike the ball, out of nowhere the keeper tried to dive onto the ball. I couldn't stop my swing and I connected with the ball. The problem was since he was diving onto the ball, my foot also connected with him. Needless to say it hurt him and I think he might have broken a rib. He was being aggressive because we were already up 5-1, but it's not good goalie technique. Still, I felt horrible because although it was an accident I still hurt him. I haven't heard how he is doing. Hopefully just a bruise.

The World Cup is starting soon! I am extremely excited! Some friends and I are thinking about setting up some viewing parties. The problem is that since they are playing in South Africa and ESPN is broadcasting the games live, all the games will be at either 8 or 10:30am. I need a TV at work! The weekends will workout fine, but I think we are going to DVR some of the weekday games. I think it's going to be awesome. The US should make it out of the first round, but it will be a shock if they go any further. Look for Brazil and Spain to make it deep into the tournament. I can see the Netherlands, Portugal, or Argentina making a good run at the title as well. Maybe even England. Maybe. Make sure you watch!

The week that was

A lot went on this past week. Wednesday Christi and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! It's pretty crazy to believe it has already been 3 years. Time seems to have flown by, but then again we already feel like we have been with each other for a long time since we started dating our senior year of high school 7 years ago. We had a great time going out to eat while Christi's parents watched Landon. Of course, we spent most of the time wondering what Landon was doing. I'm pretty excited about my gift, which was a mystery trip. I wasn't supposed to guess where we were going, but I did. I'm very excited about it because I know it will be fun.

An interesting side note is that our insurance agent, with whom we have become good friends, also celebrated her and her husband's 3rd anniversary on Wednesday. Pretty crazy, especially when you factor in that Landon was born Dec 2 2009 at 9:59am and their daughter, Abbie, was born around 9am Dec 3 2009. So, we got married on the same day 3 years ago and both of us were in the hospital having our 1st child at the same time.

Sunday was Mother's Day, which took on a whole new meaning with us being parents. Landon and I worked hard on trying to give Christi some gifts she will really like. I think we did good and she seemed to like them. We also went to see Christi's mom as well as my mom and my granddad's wife. Although we saw a lot of people, it was a pretty relaxing day and we had a good time hanging out with family. It was a good day.

Landon is getting huge. He is rolling around all over the place. He's also sitting up by himself and standing up a lot easier. He is a big fan of the exersaucer and loves standing up. He moves around all over the place and is practically jumping up and down. Landon is trying so hard to talk. It's funny because he will make noises trying to talk, and you can make similar noises back and basically carry on a noise conversation with him. It's pretty entertaining. I'm not sure what age he is supposed to start talking, but he has said "mama" several times. Does he know he is saying it? I don't think so because it's too early. He's more mimicking the words, but it sounds just like he is saying mama. The problem is that it is impossible to get one camera. He knows when the camera is on him and he will just stare at you. You have to sneak up on him because he is so aware of everything now. I think that - his awareness - has been the biggest change in the last month or so. He was already pretty aware, but it has skyrocketed lately.

His coordination is improving greatly as well. He can pick up objects and will try to grab many things, which naturally heads straight to his mouth. Kid tries to put everything is his mouth now. It is pretty funny and sometimes frustrating, such as dinner time when he grabs the whole bowl of food and tries to put his face in it. He'll also attack your hands when you are playing with him of changing your diaper. You think you are tickling him or button his shirt back up, but it's a trap! He'll grab your hand or arm with both hands, then wrap his feet around you and puts you in the figure 4. It is quite impressive.

Some other things he has done recently is sticking his tongue out while smiling at you. He's done it before, but now he's trying to chew on his tongue and smile at the same time, which is pretty funny because he makes a funny sound while he is doing it. We think he will start teething soon. He's drooling a ton and seems to have some of the other signs of teething (breaking out some on his chin, trying to chew everything) but we haven't found any teeth yet. I think it could be soon. I also think he will start crawling in the very near future. He has already learned to slide and roll around to where he want to go (and sometimes where he doesn't want to go). It is only a matter of time before he starts crawling, at which point we are in trouble. He is going to be a handful because he has so much energy. Christi and I think that he is going to be all over the house very soon. We are not prepared for that. Terror is sure to reign as we are chasing him around the house. It should be fun.

More updates coming soon.

Epic fail

Cake honoring Bobby Cox has unfortunate misspelling | Jeff Schultz

Back Online

Our router went out last week and I'm just now getting back online. We had a back-up router in case something like this happened, but that router also was dead. I finally went today and purchased a new router. Now everything is back running smoothly internet-wise. Now I can begin to work on my grandfather's computer because it seems to downloaded a corrupt Windows Vista update and has killed it's internet capabilities.

I should be able to post a little more often because I am done with my first Master's class. I'm pretty confident I made an A, which isn't something I could say doing my undergrad at GT. So that is 1 down, 9 to go. I am taking an online course this summer and hopefully it won't be that much work. It doesn't start until the end of May, so I have a few weeks of no homework to enjoy. Of course, that means I have a few more weeks of extra time to do chores around the house, but we normally spend most of our free time keeping up with those anyway. The problem is those seem to pile up faster than we can knock other stuff out. I guess that is just how it goes.

I hate to be short, but speaking of chores, I need to finish folding some of Landon's clothes and then go to bed. I have another training class this week and need to get some rest tonight. Stay tuned because I will have some new pictures and video of Landon and all the craziness he is doing posted soon.