The summer is almost over? (Catching up on the blog)

<>I finally figured out why I couldn't post anything with pictures (my feeble excuse as to why I haven't posted anything for so long) - it was because I was out of memory space with my google pictures.  So I forked out the $20 or whatever - and here we go!  These are late in coming - but I will try to do some catch-up.  Max is sick this weekend, so I have a little down time! Here are a few pics from our summer trips to the West Coast.  Max did the Vegas/CA/UT tour with grandma and grandpa - and Scott and I did Seattle.  I then went straight from Seattle down to Vegas to meet with Max.

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Max and I on Grandpa's ATV <><><><>

Grandpa, me, Aubrey, Max and Addison at 'Grandpa's Cabin' in Utah.

Dillon, Aubrey, Addison, Max & David (Cousins) all compare muscles...

Max helps grandpa add gas to the ATV

Where did the time go?!!?

And now we are in the latter half of May!  So many things have happened, so many stories, adventures, mishaps and excitements.  Not even sure what to include and what to leave out!  I guess the problem is - I now Facebook more - and so I tend to BLOG less - which is sad - because blogging is much more, well, journalistic?  FB'ing is trendy, but it seems impermanent.

I'm all over the place tonight - so I will quickly jot down some things - and maybe - MAYBE come back to them at a later date.  We'll see...

Hmmm...  Let's see...

Dental Adventures!:  Max's 'third' tooth is really coming in now.  I think I mentioned it in the past - but basically, he has this 'extra' adult tooth that will be growing right inbetween his front two teeth.  It is coming in fast - and REALLY pushing his two front teeth apart.  The top picture was taken on New Year's Even, and the bottom picture was taken 5 months later. Not sure if you can tell - but there is a LOT more space between those teeth now!  I talked to Max's dentist about it - and if Max can't wiggle his baby front tooth out by the end of school, we'll have to have that one removed.  Then, no matter what - we have to get the 'extra' tooth removed.  Lot$ of fun...  But pretty interesting too...

Running Events:  I am finally trying to make some time to get back into running and what not.  I am super busy at work - but tyring to do it anyway.  2 weeks ago my friend Erin and I ran a 5K here in Reston.  It wasn't exactly my best time ever, but considering I had not even walked briskly for over 2 months - I think I did pretty good!  Then last weekend Max and I participated in a 5K for our buddy Seamus - who has Cystic Fibrosis.  I was SO proud of Max who rode his bike the entire 5K - even though he was very tired and there were some long, hard parts.  He did great!  Thanks to my friends and family who donated to the cause as well!

Home Improvements:  FINALLY I got somebody in here to take the horrible, awful tile off of the bathroom walls, repair the drywall and repaint everything in my downstairs bathroom.  It still needs some more work - but is looking SO much better!  I am slowly making progress to get this house looking better!

Max's Medical Issues:  We finally have a diagnosis for Max - he has encoporosis (which I probably just spelled wrong and am too lazy to correct because I am just SO tired...).  Basically - he is constipated beyond our imagination - about 3 years backed up.  We have gone through MRIs, lots of doctor appointments (and more to come) and are now enrolled in a study with the University of Virginia.  Max has to take daily medicine and do daily exercises - but I have to say - things are getting SO MUCH BETTER.  He is actually able to poop once a day now - and I don't think he has EVER done that before.  So - still lots of problems surrounding the whole issue - and I don't think Max really wants me to go into it in detail here - but he and I are working to get things better.

My Car!  My old car died.  Yes - it was a sad day.  Well, actually, it didn't die all the way - but I had several different mechanics and dealers all seperately tell me that it was not safe to drive, and they should technically not let me drive it off the lot.  But I did.  Until I found my new, cute Honda Insight!  So, I am now making monthly car payments again - but at least it is for a nice new car that makes my commute a little more enjoyable.  I'll have to put a picture up soon!

Well, I really need to get some work-work done and get to bed soon.  Sorry I am not better at keeping up - but that is how the world turns!  Have a great Wednesday!

Spring

Although I can't see the 'grass' in front of my house (covered with snow), I did see some bulbs pushing up from the one section of my yard not covered in snow!  I'm banking on that little plant being the sign that winter is on the way out, and spring is on the way in!

Not much going on here right now - though it seems we are always busy doing one thing or another.  Max is really loving kindergarten.  He has his ups and downs, but he is really progressing with his reading and math skills.  However, I think this kid might turn into a historian!  Everyday he comes home with stories about Rosa Parks or George Washington.  The other day he gave me a list of reasons why Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther were similar and different.  (They both were shot!  And Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech infront of Abraham Lincoln's Memorial).  I am going to make a list of places for us to go visit this summer to help cement some of this learning.  If I can figure out how to do it - I will post it on my blog.  Locals (or people travelling to DC) are more than welcome to join us. 

Max and I enjoyed going to BINGO night at his school on Friday.  Tomorrow morning Max and his class will be on his local school station (WTER) singing the Christmas songs (the snow has really put delays into some of these performances).

Sorry no pictures today - but I will try to put some up soon!  Let's hope for more warm days so we can melt this snow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Again, I start off a blog apologizing for not keeping up with this blog. Despite the fact that I have spent the last week being snowed in by the biggest series of storms ever to hit the DC area in over 100 years, I have not had time to keep up with this thing.  Will try to do better?

Anyway - to say the least, we have gotten a TON of snow.  No, really - a ton.  Max has missed 6 days of school so far for the two storms that hit last week, and schools are still closed tomorrow - and possibly Tuesday.  Will he ever go back!?!?!

My backyard has about 2 1/2 feet of snow (maybe more - I am not going out there to take an official measurement!) that is going no where fast.  I have ice cycles taller than me hanging from my roof.  There are piles of snow 6-8 feet all over the place - parking lots, road medians, sidewalks, everywhere.  Parking are more like mazes than open spaces.  Let me tell you - it is crazy.

Today, Scott and I actually joined a group of parents who went out to help dig out schools - hoping it would help them to open on Monday.  We dug snow, broke up ice, and worked - but still - no school.  Yes - we have a lot of snow!

I will try to blog again soon - and hopefully it will be less 'snow' oriented!

Still busy!

I guess I will always be busy - that is just the name of the game! Question of the day - to recap everything that we have done since my last real post or not? Well, I don't even remember when the last post was! So, maybe if I come across downtime (or if I get special requests) I will go into more detail. But the short of it:

Max didn't die from H1N1. (In fact, he is doing quite well). We did a make-up trick-or-treat with some friends and neighbors and had lots of fun.

Scott and I went to some more Penn State games and froze our butts off - but were glad we had the van!

We went to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving and had a great time cooking, playing games and hanging out. We were there for the first snow and Max and Kyle even got to go sledding before it melted off.

I got Pluerisy. Go figure.

I turned a year older. (Yes - 22 years old AGAIN!). Max gave me some vomit on the doorstep for my birthday. Very lovely! But things turned around and Scott took me out for a VERY nice dinner and got me my most favorite possession - an Ipod touch. I am ADDICTED. I love it. I listen to Podcasts on it all the time- and now even my commute seems better!

We had the snow-storm of the century! We got TWO FEET of snow here in Virginia - and that is a LOT for us. The schools closed three days early for winter break, and we spent a couple of days without being able to drive around too much, and many hours shoveling snow. A month later, there is STILL piles of snow stealing precious parking spots in shopping centers...

Christmas came and went. Max was with his dad - and so it didn't seem like "Christmas." But, luckily we got to celebrate a second Christmas on New Years with Scott's family - and it was a great time. Max, however, scored BIGTIME on Christmas. He got to open presents in the middle of December (the last weekend he was with me before Christmas), then again o

n Christmas Eve with his dad, then some MORE presents when he got back to my house a few days after Christmas, THEN HIS GRANDMA sent him a package (that took 2 long weeks to get here - don't ever send packages using USPS at Christmas time...) and he got to open MORE presents, then he got even MORE presents in Pittsburgh! It was like never ending present month!

Work is still work, and is keeping me busy. Max is learning all kinds of crazy stuff in kindergarten like what nocturnal means and all sorts of cool facts about chipmunks. Very impressive. He is also learning to play chess and how to build Lego Robotics at the Y. He is also going to start learning to play the violin! His mom is going to be his teacher for the first year, and if he is still committed after that, I will start forking out the dollars for a real teacher! Time to dig out all those notes I took in college! Maybe my two years of being a music major will pay off after all!

A new year...

So, it is a new year, and one of my many goals is to be better at blogging. Actually, I considered bagging the whole blogging thing, thinking nobody really read it anyway, until I started getting verbal requests for updates. So, this first one will be short. I'm actually doing it from my brand new Ipod Touch (which I truly love with all my heart) so please excuse the typos... I will try to download and post pictures soon.

Here is to a new year!

Sick day...

This morning Max came running into my room, upset because he had just thrown up. He hadn't eaten anything the day before, so I didn't believe him at first, till he ran into the bathroom and started throwing up again. For the next several hours, he threw up about every 20-30 minutes. He couldn't even keep water down.

Around noon he stopped throwing up, so I tried to get him to eat or drink something. That didn't go over too well though - his mouth is still hurting from the spacer. We are getting close to 48 hours of basically no food in that kids stomach. I stuck him on the scale tonight - and he has already lost 2 pounds! For a kid that barely hit 38 pounds, dropping down to 36 pounds stinks! Here's to hoping he feels better in the morning!

Tooth: Lost, then Found!

Well, we have had our fair share of dental adventures this year - and I'm HOPING they have come to an end. But we'll see... Here is our most recent teethy adventure...

The other evening as I was brushing Max's teeth, he rose hand and said 'Mom - it hurts, it hurts!' I stopped brushing and looked in his mouth - and oh man - his gum was VERY swollen, and there was a big white bump in the middle of it.

I was hoping it was a little piece of popcorn or something, but after a few days, it got bigger instead of smaller. So we went to the dentist. After some X-rays, the dentist explained that this tooth had a LOT of fillings in it (remember back when he had 17 cavities!?!?) and almost half of it had been replaced with filling. Turns out that it just didn't work out... There was a teeny tiny piece of bacteria or SOMETHING left behind, and the whole root and pulp and everything just rotted away... So the answer: the tooth must come OUT! So they put Max on anti-biotics so that his body would react OK to the novacaine, etc. For the next week and a half, that bump got bigger, hurt more, and puss started oozing out - CONSTANTLY!!! Nasty. It started getting so bad that I finally had to move up the extraction date.

So early on a Monday morning, Max and I headed down to Jungle Dentistry (I LOVE these guys!) down in Tyson's Corner - and 20 minutes later, Max trotted on out proudly sporting his tooth in a little monkey necklace around his neck.

We had to stop off at the mall for a quick errand on the way back - and Max REALLY wanted to wear the tooth necklace in. By this time, his head was starting to hurt - so I decided to let him wear it. We entered through Macy's, and just as we walked into the main part of the mall, Max did a jump, and the monkey part of the necklace FLEW off the string. We ran over to make sure the tooth was OK - but the TOOTH WASN'T THERE! It was gone! So we scoured the floor of the mall. We walked back through Macy's, no luck. Max was devestated. He was so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come now that the tooth was lost. So, we went back to the car, to see if it had fallen out in there - no luck... So, we gave up the search, and slowly walked back to the mall to finish our quick errand, when all of the sudden Max yelled out with pure glee! "Mommy, mommy, mommy!!! I FOUND MY TOOTH!" It had fallen out on the sidewalk in front of the store, and he STEPPED on it! Luckily it didn't break. He picked it up - and it was in 'perfect' condition.

So, I kept the tooth in my pocket for safe keeping, and the tooth fairy picked up the tooth that evening!

Max's description of how he felt: "Mom - there is a bomb in my head." It was hurting really bad. Later that afternoon he told me the bomb had gone off, and he was feeling better.

Today Max had a spacer installed to keep his other teeth from moving around. He doesn't like it much. In fact, he hasn't eaten anything all day. Tonight I got him to eat some soup broth. I'm hoping he feels better soon!

Busy Weekend

Well, we had a busy weekend! It started off with a VERY exciting trip to Kaiser to get FLUE SHOTS! Yes, very excited. I had to practically TIE Max down - he was screaming bloody murder. One would have thought it was time to amputate his arm or something. However, he SOMEHOW survived - and we were able to then move onto SOCCER practice/game.

He did great at soccer - the was the first time it seemed like the kids actually played with some sort of strategy. They didn't all run after the ball in one big group. Instead, they actually spread out and passed the ball to eachother. It was pretty cool.

Then I dropped Max off at his dad's and I started getting ready to go to the Caps game. We had great seats - right up against the glass. Scott was literally sitting RIGHT next to the opposing team - on the other side of the glass was #35 from the Maple Leafs. We went with my good friend from work, Michelle and her husband Tim. It was a pretty fun night.

This weekend we also picked up Max's Halloween costume. He was originally going to be a Ghost Buster, but the store didn't have that costume in stock, so he quickly changed his mind, and went with a very cool Batman costume. I have to say, he is the most handsome batman I have ever seen! Now, the trick will be getting him OUT of the costume and back into normal clothes for school tomorrow...

Back to school, more Penn State, Teeth, and busy life!

Wow. OK. Where to start? First, I see I didn't put up Max's first day of school pics on my blog. Here they are - several weeks late... So far he is really enjoying kindergarten. In fact, the other night he told me that when he grows up, he wants to be 'the most awesomest teacher ever!'

Max and I attended my co-worker's wedding last weekend. Max was SO CUTE playing with his friend Seamus - they both looked so cute dressed up in their ties!

Max is also doing soccer again this year. He begged and begged to do it, and now he isn't so sure how much he likes waking up early on Saturday mornings for his games...

Other exciting news for Max: his long-awaited Snuggie has arrived. Max and I now have Matching Snuggies. Actually - he has a Snugglette, and I have a Snuggie. And since I ordered them on-line, you HAVE to do the 'buy one get one free' thing, so we now have 2 Snuggies and 2 Snugglets. So far, we have found them to be very comfy - though I don't know if I will be adorning it out in public quite yet... :)

Other Max news... You will recall that Max had to get a LOT of fillings a few months ago. (17 fillings to be exact). Well, one of those fillings didn't go so well - and he now has a severely abscessed tooth. Right now he is on antibiotics, and he will be getting the tooth pulled in a week and a half once he has finished his medication. Since it is one of his baby molars, they will then have to put a spacer in to make sure that his baby teeth don't shift around and mess up his bite, etc. I guess this tooth pulling will get him warmed up for when his 'extra' front tooth comes in this next year and we have to pull it. So much fun!

Let's see... News on the Penn State side of things. Today we got back from our 3rd trip up to Happy Valley this weekend. This trip was a wet, cold, and LOSING one. Although the game didn't end how we wanted it to, we still had a nice time - and we are LOVING the van. It is really nice to not have to sleep in the PT Cruiser!

Other than that, life continues to keep us busy. I'm busy at work, as usual. It is hard balancing my work demands with Max's emergency dental appointments, and occasional illnesses. I don't know how other single moms (and moms whose husbands are at war, etc.) do it. It is a very hard juggling act. I constantly feel that I am being pulled in so many different directions. As a mother, Max is my first priority. But part of being his mother also means supporting him financially - and that is hard to do when I have to miss work so often... Traffic has also been getting worse, making it harder to get home in time to pick up Max from after-school care. I am very blessed that I have a few friends that have been able to help me when I get in a squeeze. I really do appreciate having those friends in my life. So - thank you to those of you who have picked up Max when I couldn't get there in time, or who have picked up medications and transported them from one place to another, or who have offered to watch him when he is sick and I still have to go to work. I may live thousands of miles from my family, but I do feel that I have a support group around me.