What have I gotten myself into?

We've been practicing football for over a month now. Yes, I said "we". (I'll get to that in a moment...) And the first real game is on Saturday. Thankfully, it's a home game. Kind of easing us into this mess-and I mean MESS!

The first week of practice (5 days, conditioning,) was ok. You've listened to me talk complain about eating dinner early (4pm) so that Headless boy #2 wouldn't get sick at practice from the heat. You answered my pleas for help when I needed meal ideas when we were watching the diet for weigh-in. Did I mention that I was suckered into being the team mom? Luckily, there are 4 of us, but still? Team mom? What was I thinking? To my defense, I asked what the duties were and was told "Oh, just making a snack schedule for the games." My a@@.

So, the next week, in the middle of the first week in pads, and trying to loose weight, we were told that we had to do a snack bar the following week. Yep, that would have been the first week of school! We had 5 days to collect money from each family, come up with a menu, do all of the shopping, and have volunteers for 4 nights. *sigh* So the first week of school looked like this: kids to school, walk, shop for the snack bar, ice the drinks, get kids from school, feed the kids at 4, get ready for practice, go early to practice, set up, sell, break down, get home, get the kids showered and in bed, collapse. Wash, rinse, repeat. For four days. We made $561, so I suppose it was worth it.

The weekend following that we were scheduled for a scrimmage. Aren't scrimmages supposed to be against one team? Gah! 10 plays us, 10 plays them, repeat, break, repeat 2x. Long break. Switch teams. TIMES 5. Oh, did I mention it is summer here? And we were not told that we would be at the field for 5 hours? Oh, and add to that the people that were asking me if I had brought X,Y, and Z because I'm the team mom? I actually layed into a couple of people that day because of the lack of information. I'm happy to do a job if I actually am told what needs to be done. Is that too unreasonable?

(I might insert here that we were told that on the first week of school we were going down to only 3 days of practice per week. Uh, NOT.)

So the next week on Tuesday, when we were supposed to be getting ready for the BIG WEIGH IN, I was told that they had to weigh in in their padded pants, tshirts, and socks. Huh? When we were first told about weigh in, it was shorts. I loooove being lied to! Makes me sooooo happy.

{You might remember that #2 is my big kid. He was 11lb. when he was born, and has stayed on that growth pattern ever since. The weight limit for 7yo's in this league is 90 lbs. He has been 89 lbs. for about a year now and due for a weight gain. He tends to gain a bunch then grow up into the weight. We held our breath all summer long.}

At the start of practice waaaay back in July he weighed in at 92 lbs. We watched what he ate. He busted his butt at practice. His pants added up to 3 lbs., depending on the time of day he got on the scale. Great.

The last few days before weigh in were a nightmare, but #2 was a trooper. The day before, he weighed in at 88lbs., and ate the following: breakfast-scrambled eggs (1 whole, 1 white), watermelon, lunch-rice cake, watermelon, dinner- half of a chicken breast with a teaspoon of barbeque sauce for dipping, water, and watermelon (2 bites). I hated doing that to my 7 year old. Seriously sucked.

The morning of weigh in he got on the scale. 87. Breakfast? A sip of water, 2 bites of watermelon. Then he peed. 85. Off to weigh in, and (finally!) he made it.

I handed him a bottle of water and a box of Cheeze-Its. Then we went to McDonalds for an early lunch of cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Well deserved, I say.

*****

Sorry! I can't believe how long this is already. So, I'm going to end here and continue later. I swear I'll finish. Really! Because I haven't even gotten to the real bitching yet. Aren't you excited? Heh. Come back soon!