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has ever had has told us we named her right, because she lives up to her nickname, Gabby. She can talk and talk and talk.
    As a baby, Gabriella, like Gehrig, was quite easy. She slept, woke up, ate, and went right back to sleep. You could wake her up, play with her, and put her back down without any fuss. And also like Gehrig, she was conveniently adaptable to the baseball life. You could keep her up late, and she’d just sleeplater the next day. She and Gehrig really spoiled me; they made me expect Grant to be exactly the same.
    Gabby is and always has been a happy girl. Her heart is huge and she is happy for everyone. She’s always been a social butterfly, hard to keep at home. Right from the start, Gabby idealized her big brother. He came up with the games and she played them. Naturally, sometimes he picked on her; that’s just what older siblings do. But all things considered they got along incredibly well.
    The funny thing was that with one baby, I’d felt disorganized all the time, but once Gabby showed up, I became the most organized I had ever been. I figured I was getting the hang of this parenthood thing. I could take them on road trips, knowing that as long as I had a couple of action figures and books, they would stay in the stands as long as I needed them to, occasionally stopping their playing to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” At home games they raced to get to the Phillies’ kids’ room.
    The bottom line was that wherever I went with Gabby and Gehrig, it was easy. I let them know there were rules for flying, for baseball games, for parking lots. One reminder was usually all that was needed. I figured this was the way all kids were. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
     
    T WO YEARS LATER , in spring training, we decided that we were ready for baby number three. We found out on Easter in Atlanta, with all of our family there, and I went into labor right after the season ended.
    On October 13, 1999, we had the newest addition to our family, a boy. We named him Grant Ward—another name beginning with G . Well, I’d always loved the name Grant. And we were on a roll with that first initial. Ward is my dad’s family’s middle name, and my sisterinlaw Allison’s new married name was Ward. So it was a perfect name and tribute.
    Now I had a fouryearold, a twoyearold, and a newborn. Let the fun begin!

    Gabby and Gehrig were so excited to have another sibling. Gehrig would have a little brother, and Gabby would have a baby to care for. She was really like a second mother to Grant. When he started talking, he called me “Mommy” and her “Momma.” At first I didn’t realize there was a distinction. I thought he was always calling for me. But I soon found that if he said “Momma” and I answered, he’d get mad. No, he wanted Gabby, thank you very much.
    Gabby mothered Grant every chance she got. When the three of them were together, there were times when they played well, and times when the older two seemed to like to make Grant scream because they could. They were all suddenly very high energy and a bit difficult to keep under control. But they were adorable, so they could get away with a lot.
    Just as I was getting used to the rhythm of our life in Philly with three little kids, halfway through the 2000 baseball season, we got traded, this time to the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the first time since 1992, I had to pick up and move us more than halfway across the country—only this time I was moving a lot more than just me and two dogs. I had to push myself into high gear, quickly finding a house for us to live in, arranging for utilities to be hooked up, securing a pediatrician, packing, moving, and unpacking. My mother was able to help on the East Coast end, and she and my dad came to stay with us for the remaining two months of the season, which was a great help.
    By the time they left, I was wiped out from the move. I assumed it was because of all I was juggling as an essentially single mom. But