World Series Champs!

Simply amazing.  The last couple of months have been a whirlwind in St. Louis.  It seems weird that baseball is over.  Nearly every day over the last two months, we've had news about baseball, some bad, but mostly good.  Just two months ago, in late august, they were 10-1/2 games out.  Yeah, they basically had no chance.  But, then something amazing happened.  I don't know why, but they just started winning like crazy.  They went 18-8 in September, and clinched the wild card on the last day of the season.  Just amazing.

They beat the Phillies (the best team in the NL) in five games.  They went on to beat the Phillies (the second best team in the NL) in six games.  Then it was on to the World Series.

ESPN put it best:

It was so improbable, so unthinkable, that it had to happen. Despite massive deficits in August and September, despite playing four elimination games in the postseason, despite twice being down to their last strike the night before, the St. Louis Cardinals are the World Series champions for 2011 after winning Game 7, 6-2, over the Texas Rangers on Friday.

It was the craziest series I've ever seen.  After game one, it appeared we had the series in the bag.  We won 3-2, but it seemed like a bigger lead than that because our bullpen was unhittable. 

Game two was going swimmingly until the 9th.  Our unhittable bullpen through the first two rounds finally gave one up.  Texas didn't score until the 9th.  It all came down to a stolen base.  Their guy was safe by about a tenth of a second.  If he would have been out, the game was ours.  The Rangers stole that game.  We dominated them again, but just couldn't pull it out.  Instead, we lost.  Grrrr.

We all wondered how the Cardinals would react.  They reacted well in game three.  Pujols finally had a breakout game, after a postseason that was less than great for him.  He had 3 consecutive home runs to tie Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the most home runs in a World Series game.  It all started on a Cardinal runner called safe at first when he was clearly out.  I felt sorry for the Texans, but then we beat them by such a wide margin, not many people could argue that the blown call won us the game.  We won 16-7.  Awesome.

Our offense was finally clicking, and I had high hopes going in to game four.  Unfortunately, we ran into Derek Holland, the Rangers starter, in that game.  He dominated us, only allowing two hits in nine innings.  This was the first game that they truly dominated us and I was worried.

My only hope for a win in game five was Chris Carpenter.  He had pitched a gem in game one and is always amazing in the postseason.  He's our ace.  He did well in this game, giving up two runs in seven innings.  Unfortunately, Mike Napoli got a double in the bottom of the 8th, to give the Rangers a 4-2 win and a commanding 3-2 lead in the series.  We were defeated, and deflated.  The good news is that we were going back to St. Louis.  I thought we were a long shot (although we had been a long shot for months at this point).

So then came game six.  I wrote about this previously.  I still can't get over that game.  It truly was amazing and will probably hold up as the best Cardinals game I ever get to witness, especially knowing we went on to win the Series.  Simply amazing.  We won 10-9 and David Freese was our hero.

And then it was time for a game seven.  We went over to Ryan and Jackie's for the game.  Peggy, Sally, and the kids stayed through the first four or five innings, then went home to get to bed.  I stayed through the end, and was sure glad I did!

The one thing that may have won us the series (or at least helped) was, oddly enough, a rain delay.  Game six was pushed back a day because Wednesday night was somewhat rainy.  If it were a normal game, they would have had no problem, maybe just a couple short delays.  But the MLB decided to push game six and seven back.  As soon I heard this, I knew our chances went up drastically.  This meant that Carpenter could pitch on four days rest.

And that's exactly what happened.  I was worried in the top of the first, as the Rangers were hitting Carpenter well.  The general thought was the if Carpenter had a good game, we'd win.  If not, we'd lose.  It wasn't looking good at the start.  David Freese solidified his MVP status in the bottom of the first.  He hit a double to drive in the two game tying runs.  After that, Carpenter settled down and only gave up no more through the start of the 7th.  The bullpen picked him up from there and finished it out.

Overall, it was just an amazing two months.  Everything centered around the Cardinals and what they were doing.  I can't believe it's over, and I still can't believe they actually won!

Here's Miller's house for the final out:

Saying no!

I remember his sister doing the same thing.

The Greatest Game

I just witnessed the greatest baseball game I've ever seen.  Heck, it was probably the greatest game most people alive have ever seen.  Probably the greatest game in World Series history.

We thought it was over in the 7th.  The Texans were up 7-4, and we were deflated.  We were losing the series 3-2, and it seemed our season was over.  In the bottom of the 8th, we got one back. 

Twice, the cardinals were not only down to their last out, but their last strike.  Twice, they got a big hit to tie the game.

In the 9th, it was David Freese.  Two outs and two strikes.  One strike left in our season.  He hits a deep triple to right field to score Pujols and Berkman.  Amazing.  I was jumping so high, I almost hit the ceiling.  I may have woken up Peggy too.  Oops.

Then in the top of the 10th, Motte gave up a two run home run.  Seriously?  Yeah.  Seriously.  We had all the momentum, and completely lost it.

On to the bottom of the 10th.  We scored one to bring us within a run.  Jay was on 2nd with Pujols up.  They walked Pujols to get to Berkman (even though Pujols has had a mostly terrible series and Berkman has been amazing).  The crowd boo'd, but I was happy.  And then it happened.  Two outs, two strikes.  Again, one strike left in our season.  Berkman gets a hit to center field.  Tie ballgame.  Outrageous.

We needed a stop.  And in the top of the 11th, we got it.  No runs.

I was prepared to settle in for a late night.  David Freese was up again.  3-2 count.  Pitch down the middle and Freese blasts it to the grass area in deep center field.  He gets mobbed at the plate, and we win.  Wow.

This game was so full of emotion, it was ridiculous.  The Cards actually had a pretty terrible game to start.  Three (really bad) errors and lots of missed opportunities.  But, the ending was simply amazing.  I felt like I was bipolar.  One minute up the next minute down.

They were the first team in World Series history to score in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th.

No matter what happens tomorrow in game 7, this was simply amazing.

SO Sweet!

While I was cooking dinner the other night, Abby was looking through the new toy catalog that came from Toy's R Us.  She pointed to nearly everything, saying "I want this....I want that....."  It was getting a bit ridiculous.  We're trying to raise Abby to value things.  We believe that more things doesn't equal happiness (one of the reasons we're so cheap....er, frugal!)  And we're starting to try to instill that in her.

So, I started talking to Abby about wants vs. needs.  We talked about how some kids don't get any toys for Christmas and that she's very lucky to have the toys she does.  She kept asking why, so I explained that some people don't have many toys or even have enough food to eat.  We've had many conversations with her about this before and had her participate in various food/charity drives with us.

That night we were headed to a fall festival at Fox.  Student Council was helping out with some of the games and things at the event.  The money raised was going to a local organization that helps homeless students.

We talked about the kids for quite a while, and Abby was concerned about them.  We talked about how the fall festival was raising money to help the kids get presents and food, and Abby said the following.....verbatim!

"But I have some money in my piggy bank we give them!"

Peggy and I just looked each other and were thinking the same thing.  We are lucky enough to be raising the sweetest girl in the world.  It was something about the way she said it.  Not just that she wanted to donate her money, but it seemed as though she actually understood about other kids that don't have the money. 

I told her that was very nice, and the kids would definitely appreciate her donation.

She replied: "I gonna give them LOTS of money!"

So after dinner, she raided her piggy bank.  She dug out a few pieces of change and we put it in a ziploc bag for her to take.

We got all ready and loaded up in the car (not an easy task when trying to get them in their costumes first), got halfway to Fox, and realized she had set her bag of money down to put on her shoes.  MAJOR.......PARENT.........FAIL.....argh.  We should've known she would set it down, but didn't ever think to ask.  Oh well, the idea was there, and we gave them some of our money instead.

8 months old

Our little guy is getting so big. He's babbling nonstop and on the go. Noah still only has 2 teeth on the bottom, hopefully he'll get some more soon so he can start eating more solid food. He loves to eat. Yes, his hair is getting out of control again. Trying to get him to sit still during a cut is next to impossible, so it will probably be Christmas before we mess with it again. Maybe he'll get a mullet for Christmas, haha!

 

 He wouldn't even sit still for a few pictures. The best part of the crawling, he's easily distracted. He actually wants to play on the floor and chase his sister around so I can get stuff done around the house. He also keeps trying to take the lamps off the end tables and attempting to get to the laptop.

Noah Crawling!

Noah has do SO many new things this week.  He's a totally different kid now that he's on antibiotics to get rid of the ear infection.  By his second day on amoxicillin, he was crawling....amazing.  It's like he learned it overnight.  For the past month or so, he's been getting around, but mostly only by rolling.  But a couple days ago, he finally got up on his knees and started crawling. 

He's already starting to get in to everything.  He reaches for things on the couch, the ottoman, etc....all while on his hands and knees.  It makes for some awkward positions and faceplants into things, but it keeps him entertained. 

We can already see how much different he is going to be than his big sister.  Seeing that he's starting to get in to everything, we've started telling him "no" a lot.  Whenever we would tell Abby no at that age, it took a couple times, but she got the message.  Not with Noah.  You could seriously tell him no a hundred times, and he just doesn't care.  I usually tell him "no" and pull his hand away.  Half a second later, he's already reaching for it again.  You eventually just have to move him a few feet away.  I see that working for another week or so until he really becomes mobile.  Then all bets are off!

And here's some video of his crawling skills.  This was from the day he really learned it.  He's already gotten better since then!  It's a new thing for us, because Abby never really went through the crawling phase.  She went straight to walking.

Ear Infection

For about two weeks Noah has been out of sorts.  It started as a cold and just didn't turn around. He was waking up early and uber fussy all day long. We couldn't figure out why he wasn't his normal happy self. So last Friday both kids had a Hearing and Vision screening as part of the early childhood program. Abby passed with flying colors, no worries about her eyesight or vision.

Noah did fine on the vision part and then during the tympanometry test that checks their inner ear and his right ear flat lined meaning it was heavily congested. So we let it go over the weekend but by Monday he was pretty miserable. The pediatrician prescribed amoxicillin, Noah hates it. He spits it out all over us. I have to hold him down in a football hold while Dave attempts to get the meds down his throat. On the plus side four days later we are seeing a huge difference in his behavior. He's much happier and sleeping much better.

I took this today while playing outside.