The Journey of Parenthood…

Kye’s Lowndes Football Game

As many of you may remember from my post last year about high school football, it’s a BIG deal around here. Have you ever seen the show Friday Night Lights? Well, it could totally be set in Valdosta, GA instead of Texas b/c it’s just as hardcore here as it is there. For real.  If you’re from Valdosta then you “get it.” If not? Then you seriously don’t understand (which would be ME).

This season is Cole’s, Zach’s cousin, senior football season and he’s the starting quarterback. Around here that means he’s a BIG DEAL. Of course I totally support going to all the home games in order to see Cole, I’m not heartless here people! It does help knowing that this will be the last season we have to go to for awhile though 😉

We actually bought season tickets to the games this year so we are going to be attending games on the reg for awhile! Last season we missed several of them (darn) since we didn’t have season tickets and they often SELL OUT. The few games we went to it worked out okay taking Kye because he was actually still small enough to fit in the baby carrier car seat and he would sleep during the game no problem. Remember his first game and this adorable picture?

This season we knew it’d be a little trickier since he’s older now, obviously not able to be in a carry car seat, and knows when it’s time to go to bed. We decided to take him to the first game of the season (last Friday night) for a test run then decide how to handle the rest of the season. I assumed it’d be his first and last game…and I was right! 

We headed out to TAILGATE at 5:30 (game didn’t start until 8!). All of Zach’s fam was out there and Mr. Rusty even had the RV. No joke! Kye was super cute and had a great time following all the “big kids” around and eating off everyone’s plate.

Lookin’ fly with his GAK (Great Aunt Karen)

Walking with Big Papa

driving the RV like a pro!

We didn’t even leave the tailgating until 7:45 which was already past Kye’s bed time. He was still being sweet but was kinda misbehaving because he was so tired. I was feeling the guilty mommy feeling and the game hadn’t even started yet!

Outside the stadium

He really enjoyed watching some of the game and Zach was so proud to have his son there with him. Even though I don’t understand why our whole town shuts down on Friday nights, I do love seeing my husband so proud to be a daddy. He loves showing off his son (almost as much as he loves getting his own attention from people)! It was funny because while we were sitting watching the game I overheard the people behind us whispering “wasn’t that the guy who was on ESPN?” haha gotta love gettin’ recognized. Zach is such a celeb. I, of course, didn’t share that with Zach – didn’t want it going to his head 😉

watching Cole play!

All the snacks I had packed lasted awhile but he was just exhausted. It was pitiful. He looked at the field and said “bye bye” and “nite nite” to it. He wanted to go to sleep. You know when you go to Walmart at 10:00 and you see some lady there with her kids? And you think “um, your kid should be in the BED lady!” Well…I felt like that Walmart mom. Sure, there were TONS of kids all around us. And yeah, in this town no one was judging me for having my son at a football game (I’m probably more likely to be judged for not taking him!). But still, I knew I wasn’t doing what was best for my child. And seeing him so sleepy and not having fun bugged me. I’m proud of myself though because I didn’t say a word. Zach actually did! He said we needed to go ahead and leave at halftime because he felt guilty (do I have the world’s greatest daddy as a husband or whhhhhat?!).

Yes, he had his paci and his monkey-it was well passed his bedtime!

“nite nite football”

We left at halftime, changed him into his pjs in the car, and he was hardcore asleep before we even got home. We actually pulled in the driveway right around 9:30 so it wasn’t even that late but we knew that we are not going to put him through that again. For the rest of this season Zach and I will be going to the games without him and we’ll find a sitter to stay at the house while he’s sleeping. Maybe we’ll luck out and he won’t want to go to another game until he’s in high school?!? A girl can dream right?

Emily Parker
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