Thursday, October 29, 2009

Max's Mohawk

Today is my son Max's 19th birthday. In honor of the day and because I thought it would be a good look for Halloween, I gave him a mohawk. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold up a kid and cut his hair at the same time? It's near impossible, but here's how he turned out........ His hair had grown so long, because..........well he's Max and Max has a lot of hair, but he was sick for a few weeks and I didn't want to hassle him with a haircut. Here's what we started with.... I already had one side buzzed when I remembered to ask Bay to grab the camera. You can see from the other side that his hair was down to his shoulders.

After I buzzed it, I couldn't get the mohawk to stand up, so I had to cut some of the length of it off. If he was someone who walked around, we could use something extra to really stiffen the spike part, but I don't want to make the kid miserable. He spends so much of his time napping. I think after this, I'll leave the mohawk for a bit and just let it lay down.
I hope he enjoys showing it off at school today. His school has students of all ages - preschool all the way up to the early 20s. He's probably one of the oldest guys there.
Today is also my last day at Relationships - I finished Food/Nutrition a few days ago. I'll still be at Splendicity Fragrance and Pretty By Nature. I'm starting at a new place very soon. Relationships was my first blogging job - it was called Dating Dames back then - my first writing job after a few years away from freelancing. I'm ready for a change, but I'm a little sad about leaving it behind.
**Okay, not my last day at Blisstree Relationships because I can't post. Maybe tomorrow?**

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I Have This Wish For Bay


Just a quick update.......
Max is doing a bit better. He isn't needing breathing treatments as often and he's been fever-free today. He's starting a new week of antibiotics, so hopefully he will be doing well in a few days. We go back to the Dr on Tuesday. His hair is getting so long. Today, I pulled it back and said, "Look girls! Max has a Revolutionary War ponytail." Max wasn't amused, but Sarah sure was. I guess I better give the boy a haircut.
Sarah spent the night with her friend, Kacee on Friday. She came home and crashed early on Saturday, but for some reason, she thought she was awake until 4am. I think she must have dreamed that she was awake. She's asleep right now - wearing a Halloween costume. Bay wore it one year when she was a wizard or a witch. She is so cute.
Bay is feeling sad. She's going to be okay, though. She's a smart kid and while she's had some set-backs, she's figuring things out. She's very resilient and even when something bad happens, she looks for something to be happy about and she focuses on that. I don't know if she's noticed that about herself, but I have.
She had a friend-emergency this weekend. A girl she knows started throwing up and all the girl's friends took off. Bay stayed with her and found her a way home. Anybody that knows Bay very well will recognize this as HUGE. Bay's biggest fear is barf, which has made having Max as a brother challenging, because that kid barfs all the time. I'm proud of her for setting that aside and helping someone out when they needed it. When it comes to teenagers, it's important to appreciate the little things as well as the big ones.
I have this wish for Bay - I really hope that she can find friends like the friends that I have, people like Jackie and Leah who love me even when I'm not very lovable. It's important to find friends who love you despite your flaws. It's not a friend's job to judge - none of us is perfect. People that can't make allowances for human flaws, you are probably better off without them in the long run.
Some of those life lessons really suck.
I'm watching the new season of Storm Chasers on Discovery. Very exciting. I love to watch a good storm, but chasing tornadoes, I'll stick to watching that on TV.
Today was my boyfriend's birthday. I wonder if we will ever get to spend a holiday of any sort together? He's never tasted my birthday cheesecake.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Today Sucked

*This post, for some reason, is refusing to be formatted correctly. Please excuse the lack of paragraphs. Grrr.
My son has been sick off and on for awhile now. It started close to 2 months ago. I've been feeding him full of vitamins and trying to keep him well.
On Saturday night he came down with a fever. He seemed to be getting better by Tuesday, but last night he moaned all night. He's always very tough and stoic. I knew that if he was making noise, that he was very uncomfortable. Sarah woke up in the middle of the night and she cried and was shaking. I think it was a combination of fever and nightmare.
In the morning, Max was no better. I made a Dr's appointment for later in the day, because I had a business meeting planned for the morning.
During the meeting I found out that I lost two of my jobs. It's not that I was doing anything wrong - they are just changing the way they are doing those sections. They keep restructuring things, constant change, and while I will be okay without these two sections, money was already pretty tight. I keep trying to look on the bright side. I keep reminding myself that this means I'll have time to work on my book again. I can practice more with my camera. I can find other blogging jobs. I can find other writing jobs. I'm a decent writer. But the truth is this sucks.
Bay went to the appointment with me. While there the Dr mentioned possible pneumonia and that Max needed an xray. We walked down to the hospital and got the xray done. It's pretty tricky to xray a young man with scoliosis. He can't sit up by himself , so I have to somehow hold him upright and stay out of the way at the same time, while balancing him on the end of a large umbrella stroller (can't take the wheelchair in my vehicle). He now has abrasions on his back from the xray film that was shoved behind him. The xray guys were as gentle as possible placing it there, but the boy has no fat and his spine is extremely curved and curled. It's going to be tough to clear this up.
The Dr called after we got home to say that Max had pneumonia is his left lower lung. The nurse said that she'd called a prescription into the pharmacy. I gave Max a breathing treatment, then went to the pharmacy. They said they got the message, but the meds were not something that Max's health coverage would pay for. They tried calling the office and the Dr was gone. I freaked out and cried in front of everyone there. Bay, who would normally be horrified by a display like this, put her arm around me. I was very proud of her, but at the same time I apologized over and over to the pharmacy ladies. I made a scene. It was very embarrassing.
By this point I was tired (next to no sleep last night) and scared (my son has pneumonia and I was told years ago that was how I will eventually lose him). The pharmacy let me leave with a prescription that is so far not paid for, but if it ends up the coverage will not pay for it, I can go back and cover it.
I got home, suctioned Max, and had an unpleasant text conversation. I turned my phone off because I had no energy left to deal with it.
At this point (almost 9:30 pm), Max is eating, I've got a full days worth of medicine in him. His fever is low and he is not barfing. Bay is spending the night some place that I'm hoping she will finally be able to get some rest. Sarah is feeling crappy, but not barfing. Kitty has not scratched the furniture in a few minutes. The day is finally looking up. Thank goodness that it is almost bed time.
Tomorrow will be a better day.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Ms or Mr Mantis

Max and I are sick. Yuck. First, he got it and now me. So far he's feverish. I haven't hit that point yet. Just the yucky part. I'm taking a lot of Vitamin C.




I found the guy above when I was watering. I had the hardest time getting him to look at me. I have a feeling he prefers Nikons to Canons. Darn. Grabbed the wrong camera.



Mom loves Praying Mantis...... mantises? mantisi? She loves the things. I wonder if this is the same one from earlier the Summer. Do they change color, because that one was little and green. This guy (girl?) looks older.
I'm taking off now. I think I need a Popsicle.