Holiday Rant

What She Wore: Black capris; black tee; gray, cable-knit, hooded sweater with a zipper; black and gray herringbone mary janes with two little straps.

Tis the season for a little ranting, right? Today I am trying to address Christmas cards. I like to send the photo kind of card--mainly because that is my favorite kind to receive. I love seeing how everyone is doing and growing. Here's the thing--I like sending CHRISTMAS cards. My card this year reads "Christmas 2007." As if we've all just graduated from the event. I hate that. I went to several sites and all the card I found said "happy holidays" or some other crap. Seriously, is it that hard to offer the option of a Christmas card? I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas--I'm not an idiot--but why can't I get any choices? The research I did shows me that there are about 150 million Christians living in the US. Surely I'm not the only one who wants to send a cute photo card. I've looked over the cards my Mother-in-law has recieved this year. A couple of them are religious is nature--they're also heinously ugly. Glitter, woodland creatures, and other business. Seriously, is being a Christian just un-hip and out-dated? Christmas is about celebrating a miracle and celebrating the reason for faith. Can it be that hard to make a card that says, "Merry Christmas?"

Personally, I think that most of us have just dropped the ball. We don't even notice that cards don't say Merry Christmas. We think that Happy Holidays is a synonym. For a lot of years it was OK with me. But this year is different. I'm celebrating my own miracle--my faith. I needed more than "Christmas 2007." Nothing out there could adequately capture the joy, the amazement, the revelation that this year has been. It's a shame.

End rant. Feel free to move about the cabin.

Life is Good

What She Wore: grey LSU long-sleeve tee; blue jeans; slip-on tennis shoes.

When we moved into our "new-to-you" house we had the heater replaced. It was putting out "greater than recommended" amounts of carbon monoxide. Now, the last thing you want to do is poison your family while they sleep, so we went ahead and got a new one before we officially moved in.

Wouldn't you know that the dang thing would stop working this weekend? Just in time for one of the few times this year when the temperature will dip below freezing. We've only been in the house about five days. We don't want to pay for a weekend service call, so we're back at my Mother-in-law's until Monday.

Even so, I'm feeling pretty darn good these days. Our follow-up with the nuerosurgeon was on Friday and the news was better than good. Not only are Charlie's ventricles shrinking (thank you, shunt), but his brain is expanding into the new space. This is basically the best news you can hope for when your kid has functional equipment lodged in their skull. But that's just my opinion. To top it all off, he's using his eyes to look on his bad side, his weight gain is steady, and he's looking more and more like a real-live boy all the time. I'll admit it--I'm thrilled. I could not have asked for a better Christmas present.

I realize that my view of my child is skewed--he looks in both directions!!! He reaches for toys!!! He can hold a sit for a few seconds!!! He will tolerate solid foods!!!--but that's OK with me. Every step forward fills me with awe.

What She Wore: blue jeans; slip-on tennis shoes; a grey t-shirt that says, "Diet Coke."

It has been a crazy week. All my weeks seem crazy these days. Monday, we did a little stint at the emergency room--Charlie was acting funky, so we went in for a CT scan. Everything's great--shunt is looking good and ventricles are smaller. Tuesday I had my mother-in-law over to eat in a house that doesn't even have a place to sit. No matter, I made this divine salad with bacon, green beans, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. Super yummy. Yesterday I had lunch with my mom and went shopping to buy Charlie some clothes that fit. The kid is growing like a weed. Last night was the office Christmas party for the Hub.

It's crazy around here.

Next on the agenda, get my Christmas decorations up before I miss the holiday completely, pray that my Christmas cards get here on time, and make some of my all-day, way-to-complicated Mexican lasagna.

I promise a real blog entry sometime soon. Meanwhile, I'll just leave you with a picture of my favorite cutie.

Happy News

What She Wore: my new Levis; a Saints tee; tennis shoes.

Things have been really good around here. My mom is doing great--she's already making my dad drive her around on errands. Charlie is also doing really well. A while back, the physiatrist told us that there are very few absolutes in the development of a child with a brain injury. Most parents, however, really want to know if their child will eventually walk. Apparently there's a school of thought on this: if your child can sit independently by the age of two, they will probably walk. If your child does not sit independently by the age of four, they probably will not.

Needless to say, we went a little crazy with the sitting practice. When his OT came on Thursday she commented on how much stronger he is. She thinks his sitting is coming along nicely. He still flops over when he loses control of his head, but he can hold a sit for at least a few seconds. Hopefully, will just continue to improve. Also, the OT thinks he's got so much potential that she's going to start asking around to see if any of the PTs she knows would be willing to work with him. Right now PT is booked solid, so the only way we could get someone is if they went out of their way to do it. So, yay! Maybe a PT and definitely some progress. We are moving right along.

And, it's Christmas time, so we went ahead and took some pictures for our card. This one is the silliest, but it's also one of my favorites.

Little Moments

What She Wore: Two-tone purple striped tee with three-quarter length sleeves and a scoop neck; blue jeans; tennis shoes.

Well, we took my mom home today. Without pain medicine, she's basically her old self. She's got an incision running straight down the middle of her chest with a little T at the bottom of it. Everything is tough and she can't lift, push or pull. As soon as she got home she wanted a shower. I stood guard while she did it and then helped her get dressed.

Afterwards, she wanted me to blow-dry her hair. Anyone who knows me will know that this is a dangerous proposition. I've got a curly mop from Hades that I've never been able to do anything with. Most days, fixing my hair consists of washing it. On rare occasions I'll blow dry it, but even then there's a lot of curl and if I'm being honest, a fair amount of frizz. All through high school my mother would patiently dry my hair straight on Friday nights so I could go out with a perfect "do." Once I hit college I realized that I sucked too much to have anything but curly hair. So, I was a little nervous about doing anything for my mom in this arena. She said she didn't care what it looked like--she just wanted it dry. So, I went ahead and brushed and blow-dryed it. I don't think I've ever done something like that before in my life. I am literally hair-impaired.

It was nice. Taking care of someone else for little bit, making things slightly better than they were. A pleasant little moment stuck in the middle of a normal day.

Recovery

What She Wore: a new pair of Levis; red and white waffle weave henley; a strange pair of keds that caught my eye--red with pointy toes and a black and white bow. Really, I can't tell if the stripes are navy or black, but I'm not sure it matters.

My mother is well on her way to getting out of the hospital. She had to stay in ICU a little longer than expected due to some fluid build-up in her lung, but otherwise things have gone well.

The recovery has, however, made my mother really really loopy. So loopy, in fact, that when I go to visit her I have to hide a smile. She's not on morphine or anything, so I can't figure out why she's so looped. She can't keep the names right in stories and she doesn't know what day it is. She tells stories that don't make any sense. I can't imagine what the people who call her are thinking. Really, I'm enjoying it. My mother is pretty serious and this is an interesting change of pace.

In Charlie news, he is doing great. I know he's not progressing like other kids, but he does keep progressing. He's now consistantly swatting at things over his head--even if they don't make noise. He even grabs them and gets them in his mouth pretty regularly too. The stretches have really helped his tight hamstrings and we're working on sitting up! I won't say that everything is perfect, but I've seen so much growth. Go Charlie!

Yawn

What She Wore: old grey t-shirt; blue jean capris; brown strappy sandals. It is WAY too hot to be December.

Well, the Hub drew a line in the sand. He wanted to be moved into the new house by today. More specifically, he wanted to sleep in our new house tonight. Well, no such luck. We've got way more crap than will ever fit in this house. We are going to be having a free sale soon. Ever had a free sale? Basically, you get out all the stuff you don't want and invite your friends and family over to browse. When they leave, you pack the rest of it up and bring it to Goodwill.

I've also said that I'm not moving until he gets the cable and the internet set up. Do you know how boring it is to be a stay-at-home mom with no internet or TV? I'd go bonkers in the first three hours.

So, basically, it's kind of boring around here. Unpacking, getting ready for Christmas and the like.