Hey everyone!

Well, I thought being 9 months pregnant would slow me down a bit, but I was WAY wrong.  All that happened is I went from flying everywhere (not allowed to fly anymore), to driving everywhere!  So much happening in southern California in the summer months — I would have never known because this is the first summer I have been home (not playing softball) since I was 10 years old!! Yes, that is 18 years of softball summers … all you travel softball players out there know exactly what I am talking about!!  Well I am not going to lie, I miss playing A LOT.  It is something that once you have it in your blood to play, it just never goes away.  Once the weather got hot, all I could think about was putting my glove on and taking the field.  I hope a lot of you that play still feel that way every time you take the field.  In the meantime, I am just getting so excited to meet lil’ Caleb.  His room is all ready to go, freshly painted (non-VOC paint!) with brand new furniture and LOTS of stuffed animals and wall art.  I can not believe it has actually been 9 months — it has all moved so fast, probably because of how busy I have been. 

 

I got to go to the ESPY’s a couple weeks ago and see a lot of friends and other athletes.  It was such a fun night: working the red carpet, laughing at Samuel L. Jackson, dancing with Stevie Wonder, and of course getting all dressed up!  Earlier that day Misty May-Treanor and I spoke at the Gatorade High School Player of the Year luncheon.  It was really neat to sit with these successful high school athletes and talk to them about the road to come … it only gets rockier, but if you are up for the challenge it can be soooo rewarding! 

Then last week I did a photo shoot with teammates Cat Osterman, Natasha Watley and Lauren Lappin for ESPN the magazine’s new “Body Issue”.  I am really excited about this because I feel the “bodies” young girls are looking up to are just unrealistic and make you feel so insecure.  This issue is using male and female athletes of all shapes, races and sizes in such a beautiful way, even with me and my 9 month pregnant body!  Not too many magazines that are trying to show off the body would choose a pregnant body, but that is why I feel confident this issue with all us athletes is going to be different from the norm and good for our youth to see how many successful, different bodies there are out there.  Magazine hits the stands in October!

After that I was off to coach “Team Hollywood” as we played “Team USC” for a charity fundraiser at USC to raise money for Lou Gehrig’s disease.  It was fun to coach all the movie/tv stars and see who could play.  I thought we were going to get spanked by all the USC alumni (including Marcus Allen and Brett Boone) but we were actually winning until the bottom of the 7th when Brett Boone hit a 2 out homer to win the game.  Even for events that are for a good cause and to raise money, I still want to win — so funny!  I also awarded my Sister One shoe for Nike to the lucky contest winner, Aubrene, who Nike flew out just for the event to meet me and win her one-of-a-kind Olympic shoe (with my real jersey sewn into the tongue of the shoe). 

 

Then Adam and I spent the weekend down in San Diego meeting up with friends, seeing my sister in La Jolla, and the cool animals at the San Diego Zoo — my favorites were the Panda bears and the monkeys, I want a pet monkey so bad … they look so cute and fun!  I have a feeling Caleb will be a pretty good version of the “human monkey” when he gets here by the way he is moving around in my belly!

This week I am speaking on a panel at the X-games here in Los Angeles about the future of getting more girls and women involved in sports — excited to see all the competitions!  Then just counting down the days until my due date — only 2 weeks to go now!!  I hope my next blog includes a picture of me and my new lil’ guy Caleb!!

Keep checking in for updates!!

Love it, Dream it, Live it!
Jessica #2