New Orleans Rock n Roll, March 4, 2012

Things that happened in NOLA: (once we finally made it after a 9 hour drive from Houston that should have been 5)

1) a man selling me compression socks for the race told me "you're tall so I'd go with this size". I'm tall? Who knew!?

2) a 5 year old (or so) kid kicked a beach ball smack into Carrie's face (ON PURPOSE!) while we were heading to the shuttles after the race. When I asked "where's your mommy?" he yelled "I'll hurt you!" Uh...

3) somehow we were VIP and gained access to a rooftop cafe at our hotel 24/7 where we enjoyed free cappuccinos, water, Pepsi, snacks, sandwiches, and much more. We thought we were very cool.

4) I learned that penny slots let you play your $20 much longer than 25¢ slots do... but you still lose (unless you're Amanda)

5) Bourbon Street is absolutely the most disgusting place on the face of this earth. I mean it's horrific. You can smell it three blocks away; it's all vomit and urine. I experienced it Friday night and don't care if I ever set foot there again! *

6) *disclaimer from above... I will set foot on Bourbon St for the Red Fish Grille and Pat O'Brien's though. Both worth braving the nastiness.

7) I was waiting for guns to be drawn at 5 am as we were hailing a cab at our hotel. Big fight between the Hyatt worker trying to get us a cab and the taxi driver who wanted to take us to the airport. For real. I was so scared. The taxi business is no joke.

8) The people in NOLA are so friendly! Even though it's such a gross town they are still so nice. Go figure. ;)

9) I ran my first (but not my last!) half marathon in 1:41 and was so emotional about it. There were so many people holding up signs throughout the 13.1 miles. One was a 6 year ovarian cancer survivor who was genuinely thanking everyone for running for her. (The Rock n Roll Series is sponsored by the American Cancer Society) Another read "you're running for my son". Every time I saw a sign like that I got choked up and had to calm myself so I could breathe and keep up my pace! Don't get me wrong, there were funny signs too... "Go Complete Stranger" or "Worst Parade Ever". It was an awesome race! I'm so proud of the four of us (Carrie, Amanda, Jennifer and me) for doing it, and thankful to Chris for being our cheerleader and holding all our crap!

10) and finally... I had a great birthday celebration with Chris after the race... sight seeing tours, beignets, shopping, roulette playing, and food, food, food. What a way to ring in a new year! Amazing!

Carrie and Me on Decatur St by the Mississippi on Saturday

Pre-race.... 6:30 am, 3/4/2012

Tour of the French Quarter, so fascinating!

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square

Sharing a yummy beignet at Cafe Du Monde

Inside the cathedral

Scouts and Swimming and Sledding, Oh My!

Max has had a busy winter! He started Cub Scouts last fall and it's been so good for him. You know he has a mild demeanor and typically prefers playing with more evenly-mannered girls but Scouts has given him more chances to rough it with the boys, which he seems to love! Recently he got to participate in his first (but definitely not last) Pinewood Derby Race. He was so into it! Being our first year we didn't know what to expect; there were some really cool cars! Max named his the "FireBull" (he put a bulldog sticker underneath the car along with fire stickers on the sides) and was excited to race. He didn't do too badly either, coming anywhere from third to first place in each heat he ran. Can't wait to see what he decides to do with his car next year!

Swimming is also keeping Max really busy... three nights a week plus weekend meets. He is really a great swimmer and keeps improving!!! He is the absolute very youngest in his age group (the cut off is Dec 1 for age and of course his bday is Nov 30) so he is swimming against kids that are two years older than him in many cases. This weekend he broke three personal records at the KEY Invitational at the West Carrollton YMCA. He went from 1:02.89 to 54.62 in the 50 Free, 26.29 to 24.90 in the 25 Free and from 27.22 to 26.43 in the 25 Back. He was SO excited! He earned 6 points for the CFY team this weekend!!! He then informed us he wants to get a swimming scholarship when he goes to college and will probably be in the Olympics! Ok, then! :)

Basketball season is winding down as well... I don't have pics to share of that though. He is a really strong shooter this year, maybe thanks to the hours spent outside (during this super-awesome mild winter!) playing us in "HORSE"? It's quickly becoming one of his favorite sports; he waffles between it and swimming as his top choice.

And speaking of winter, last year we had SO many snow days and like 28" of snow or something by mid-February. This year? Like maybe an inch total! I love it. Max hates it. He got a new Zipfy for Christmas and bought his pal Max one for his birthday last week as well. When will they ever use them? Well after their basketball game on Saturday Max and Max took to our backyard to test out the dusting of snow we had. It was really cold so they were only out there for maybe 20 min but they had fun nonetheless. The boys want a BIG snow badly! I think they are crazy but then again, I'm not 7. ;)

Snow.

Some images of Max after school this afternoon during our first snow fall of the winter. (it's been an AWESOMELY mild season!!!) Isn't he handsome?

Things to Do/Eat/Drink After Tonsil Surgery

I hated this day. Look how pitiful! (immediately after surgery)

It's been two weeks. Max finally got to go back to school this morning. He was up earlier than usual because he was so excited to see his friends/teacher. He still isn't fully healed; who knows when those scabs will disappear in the back of his throat? Up until Monday he also still had pain when he ate food, only on one side. But Tuesday he seemed to be totally pain free so we are moving in the right direction. It did take him a full two weeks to recover. Poor kid. I'll admit though, it was nice having him home for two weeks without interruption. The house is awfully quiet this morning... and I'm a bit lonely.

I think Max lucked out that his surgery was two days after Christmas and just three weeks after his birthday; he was not short on things to do thanks to all the gifts he received! In this blog post I'm going to break down our time together at home in "list" style. I like lists. This is not in chronological order. If any of you are planning on having your kids tonsils out in the near future, maybe this list of "what to do after a tonsillectomy" will be of some assistance. ;)

First the facts: Max ate immediately after surgery. He was starving. Eggs were his choice most often. He rarely complained of pain except when he was asleep so we didn't give the Tylenol with codeine around the clock. He was very swollen for days and sounded like he had marbles in this mouth when he spoke. Around day 5 he started complaining more of one side hurting, especially when he ate/drank. This lasted through day 12. The only thing he liked to drink was pop. Either straight up or in slushie form. Even apple juice hurt. And while he ate regularly, he lost 6 pounds over these two weeks. His first night sleeping straight through with no pain meds was about day 9. He was a busy body for most of the two weeks but didn't leave to go anywhere until day 12 when I took him to see a movie. I think compared to most, he had a slow recovery but he did awesome in that he rarely complained. He was free to take Tylenol with codeine from the ginormous bottle as needed and was put on amoxicillin for 10 days. He really is a trooper!

Things Max ate/drank: (not so much nutrition here...)

1) scrambled eggs (tons!)

2) pancakes

3) pudding

4) jello

5) oatmeal

6) pizza

7) meatballs

8) cheese quesadillas

9) applesauce

10) ramen noodles

11) soup (watch the salt... it burns!)

12) 44 oz. coke or mt. dew slush from Speedway, daily (he will hate those days are over!)

13) gatorade

14) ravioli

15) orange crush

16) sprite

17) ice cream

Things Max (and Mommy and Daddy) did:

1) legos

2) puzzles (three of them, some with the assistance of Papaw, Austin and Mimi)

3) paper airplane competitions

4) fort building

5) matchbox car racing

6) remote control car driving outside on nice days

7) GAMES! (my word, I think we played every game we own- scrabble was a fave)

8) Wii

9) DS

10) homework! (he had plenty to catch up on!)

11) crafts

12) nap (ok, just one day... he's not a sleeper)

13) movies/tv

14) made cookies/bake pops/jello

15) read and enjoyed cards from all the kids in his class

I feel as though I'm forgetting things! Am I? Oh well. You get the idea. We stayed busy. It was fun!

Max also helped a little as I completed a craft that has been on my to do list for months; I found this chevron rug tutorial on a craft blog I follow and since I love all things chevron I decided to go for it. It started with a jute rug from IKEA, white paint, "hazel" paint from Sherwin Williams, and a chevron template piece cut from cardboard. This thing took hours but after three days we were done. It's not perfect (I didn't measure the spaces between stripes because I don't have time for things like that) but I love it! Now I just need to find a permanent home for it in my house.

All in all we had a great couple of weeks together. Chris was off for a big portion of it due to the holidays, so that was helpful. Max, even though he didn't see many friends during this time, was never short of someone to play with since we were both home. And even though I'm lonely today I'm happy knowing he is back where he wants to be... with friends at school! We have a follow up with the ENT after school today to make sure all is well before he rejoins his swim team next week, too! Here's to a healthy 2012 with no more sore throats!!!!

Christmas 2011... and the Days that Follow (Warning: LONG Post)

What a fun Christmas! Sweety the Elf made a GIANT mess in Max's room on Christmas Eve, his last night here for the year. Not cool. He pulled all underwear, socks, sweaters, etc. out of his drawers and put them all over the room. Clean up for me!

Christmas Eve we did the traditional thing at my Grandma's with my mom's side of the family. Appetizers for dinner (turkey meatballs here! And they were delish!), gifts exchanged, memories shared. It was a fun night. Karlie and Samantha even put on a dance routine for us much like Kelly, Erin, Jill and I did back in the day. They were cute!

That night Max left "boobie" cookies (in case you missed it, Max helped me make peanut butter blossom cookies with the Hershey kiss in the center, you know? When they were done he said "those look like boobies" so we now lovingly refer to them as such"), oatmeal butterscotch cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. He was also sure to spread the reindeer food on the lawn. Then he was out like a light.

Once that happened (about 9pm) my dad and our friends Jason and Jim came over to help Chris heave the HUGE basketball pole and hoop into the secretly-hidden-by-cut-tall-grass-cement hole to be a gift for Santa. I was surprised how easily they completed the task. It took like 30 minutes! Now of course Chris and my dad spent days prior putting it together, mixing cement, securing brackets, etc. but there it was Christmas Eve and the project was complete! We tied a big red bow on it and trailed a thin blue ribbon from the hoop, through the garage, into the house and over to the tree for Max to find the next morning.

Max woke us at 7 (he had been awake a lot longer) and Christmas began. I am willing to be all the money I have that we have the cleanest Christmas of anyone. Sure, we have one child, but I mean Max is so careful and very patient. He opens one, puts the wrapping in the trash bag, talks about the gift, allows us to open one if we want then repeats. No free-for-all in our house! Very organized. :)

The blue ribbon intrigued Max but not till all the gifts under the tree were opened. Once he decided to find out what that thing was he was thrilled to find the hoop! It was 29º but he went out and shot anyway, with no coat! We had awesome weather that day and the next so games of "HORSE" and "Around the World" were in order.

Later we shared gifts with family and had dinner at my mom and dad's. It was a great day!

On the 27th we were scheduled to be at Dayton Children's Hospital at 8:45 am for a 10:45 am surgery for Max. Bye, bye tonsils and adenoids. I was so nervous; Max was not. He woke up at 6am "excited" to get his tonsils out. Chris and I did a great job of making him feel like this was very routine and not a big deal at all. Max was so brave! The two hours prior to surgery went quickly too; we were constantly being asked questions, having Max's vitals taken, etc. and before we knew it, it was time for "the drink" to make him relaxed. Took 30 minute to kick in but man it worked. He was so giggly and "saw double". They wheeled him back to the OR just 15 past his scheduled time and 30 min later the ENT came out and said he did great! RELIEF!

Now, if you get easily grossed out skip this paragraph cause I'm going to tell you what the surgeon said... First he said there was minimal bleeding which was great. He also said he handled anesthesia well (later we find out he did not come out of it so well though). Then he said when he cuts the tonsils he then has to reach in with a tool to grab them to pull them out. When he did so he said Max's just oozed pus and food particles and build up. My hands went to my mouth. I wanted to see that though!!!! Anyway, sounds like tonsil removal was definitely the right thing. Gross!

Max had his stuffed animal with him that he borrowed from his teacher to help him be brave. He also wore his Steelers jammies which garnered much discussion among nurses and staff. Who knew!? Once out of recovery we saw him and he was SCREAMING and crying and delirious, speaking in tongues. Scary stuff. He hasn't had much pain since but he sure looks and sounds awful.

On our way into the hospital

Hugging the fat frog from his class

Loopy drug kicks in!

Relaxed from the loopy drug

Forcing a smile on our way out.

Here's hoping in the days to come we all (especially Max) get more sleep and he has a speedy recovery!

If you made it through all this congrats! My hands hurt!

It's Christmas Adam, 12/23

I thought that was hilarious when I was younger, calling the day before Christmas Eve "Christmas Adam". Hardy, har, har.

Been a busy week here at home!

On Monday night we headed out for the 35 min drive to Clifton Mill (near Cedarville, yikes) to see the light display. We'd never been but heard it was great. We learned that everyone over the age of 7 has to pay $10 to get in. RIP OFF! Max wouldn't let us "lie" and say he was still 6 even though I tried to convince him it was ok because he was only 7 by a few weeks. (So honorable, I should take a lesson!) Anyway, the reason I say it's a rip off is because even though the lights are absolutely stunning (there are 3.5 million of them) and the little village is cute, it's so small! It's not like there is much of anything to do other than gawk at a few things and leave. Woodland Lights in Centerville gives you a bigger bang for your buck if you ask me. But anyway, we went and saw and Max loved it all. That was the point!

On our way home though we suffered a tragedy. Chris hit a deer. We saw them coming and even though he tried to slow down we nailed the second deer trying to cross the two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere. Hit him square on! And it was a good thing. Had he hit the corner we would have spun down into a ditch. The only thing we did was jar forward. We saw guts fly. Max witnessed the entire thing. It was eerie. After hitting the 'reindeer' Max went into hysterics. He cried so hard and his heart was so nervous that he kept yelling "MY HEART, MY HEART!" Amazingly my heart didn't race at all! So unlike me. I think it's because I had Max to worry about instead of myself?? So Max kept screaming how "Daddy killed a reindeer" and "You're going to be on Santa's naughty list" and things of that nature. I couldn't help but start laughing, especially because we were all ok! So then Max breaks into jolly laughter, still complaining of his heart, then the next thing you know he is slumped over in his booster fast asleep! So bizarre! It was quite an adventure and he was excited to tell his friends and teacher about it on Tuesday. Chris's car is now in the shop was some major damage to the radiator... he is driving a navy blue/purple HHR. Awesome. I won't ride in it. (snobby)

Max also had his Christmas party at school this week. It was major. Organized to the tee. (not by me so I'm not bragging) He had such a fun time and afterward his friend Abby came home with us and stayed late into the night. It was a great kick off to the break!

Today I got a letter in the mail from Springboro Schools. It was addressed to me and Chris. I guess "giftedness" typically isn't assessed until 3rd grade but this year Max's teacher felt very strongly about having him tested in 1st grade. The principal gave the "all clear" and testing began a day or so a week for a few weeks in reading and math only. The letter today stated that according to the Gifted Services Coordinator and the State of Ohio (woo!) Max is gifted. The criteria states you have to score above a 95% on the testing to qualify and he got 99% in both reading and in math. So I have learned that once you test "gifted" you are always placed in "gifted" classes. That's great for his academic development, sure, but I sometimes wonder if it's ok for social?? I guess we'll find out! Regardless I'm super proud to brag about him. He is a smarty pants for sure. We've always known that! The thing that really made me chuckle on the letter was it reads "Graduation Year: 2023" HAHA! I guess they use the same form for all ages so they have to fill in the year? Good grief! Let's not rush!

So tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are busy with church and a big family gathering at my grandma's. Sweety the Elf will make his final appearance and then during the night rush off to be with Santa for the year. Max dreads that. He has loved Sweety so much this season!

Have a great Christmas Adam, All!

The Christmas Season

We are having a lot of fun with our elf, Sweety, this season. Ever since he arrived on Max's birthday looking for Sweety has been the first thing Max does in the morning (then he promptly reports his findings to us at 7am). Most of the time we find him in some inconspicuous spot around the house (like hanging upside down from our mistletoe as seen above) but a few times he has gotten into mischief as well. He toilet papered our great room and foyer one night while we slept; he got into Max's candy stash and devoured about 20 pieces of candy and left the wrappers in a trail as evidence; this morning we found him head first in a box of Apple Jacks. What a trouble maker! He's so fun!

This weekend we had a chance to go see Santa as well. Max was very nervous at first because he just didn't know what to ask for. Guess that's what happens when your birthday is just a few weeks before Christmas? He climbed on his lap though and asked him for Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games for the Wii and for a basketball hoop for outside. Santa made no promises but did say Max was definitely on the "nice list", of course! Phew!

This Christmas break we have Max scheduled to get his tonsils out. We first saw an ENT back in October after his 23842387423 sore throat and fever virus this year. The doctor took one look and said they need to be out; they are full of divots and pits that apparently just collect bacteria. Well I wasn't convinced so I didn't make the appointment for surgery but sure enough, just a week after seeing the ENT he was sick again. So I called and said "book him!" but our doctor was full over Christmas break! We were trying to minimize the amount of days Max would be out of school since he has already missed 9 (yes, 9!!!!) so instead we switched to one of the partners in the same practice; he could take Max's case on 12/27.

We met with the new ENT today, Dr. Jeff Adam. I LOOOOOVE him. He was so wonderful with Max and very attentive to our questions. And by him asking Max questions he learned that Max is a swimmer and his favorite stroke is backstroke. Dr. Adam perked right up! Turns out he too is a swimmer. In fact he swam through college and was on the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team! How cool is that? Max won his heart easily and thanks to this connection and instant bond we could tell we were in great hands! We love the extra attention this gets Max.

Only 18 days till Christmas!!!! Enjoy!