7/3-7/17: Family

Yes, I've been neglecting this blog again.  My most recent excuse is that my mom is in the hospital again. This time with a traumatic brain injury.  So I've been a little preoccupied.

7/3:Blueberry cobbler

I love blueberries.  The Small Human loves them, too.  So I bought way too many blueberries at the farmers market.  The Small Human then decided he didn't like blueberries that much after all.  So I was left with 3 pints of blueberries, and I needed a place to put them all.  Here's where they went.

We ended up buying another pint to make blueberry ice cream, but that was on a different day.

7/4: Happy 4th of July!

Here's a montage of all the small humans in the family at this point (excluding Moose):

Sleepy time

Splash!

Funny faces

A Pop Pop with his grandkids

7/5: Sparklers

We watched the town's fireworks display from my in-laws' backyard.  Prior to the show, we lit off sparklers.  Here's a photo of the boy holding one.

7/6 Delaware River

Today was a busy day.  We started out at a friend's picnic.  It was HOT outside.  The Small Human was the only small human at the picnic, and he was on his best behavior, if I do say so myself.  The party included super-soakers and water balloons, so we was happy.  After a long day of outside, we went to a show that Hubby's uncle was playing.  On the ride there, the Small Human fell asleep.  Trying to wake him for the walk from the parking lot to the bar was a challenge.  When we finally got him into the bar, we discovered that there were no tables available.  Bummer.  We eventually dragged some chairs over with Hubby's mom.  Then the music started.  The Small Human's hands were firmly placed over his ears.  Too loud.  So we found another table of relatives to squeeze into further on back.  But by that time, it was obvious that the Small Human had enough,  He was rubbing his eyes and laying his poor, tired head on the table.  We called it quits 5 minutes later and left.  I took this photo on the way out.

7/7: First watermelon!

I've never grown watermelon before.  The vines seem to be having a great time running through my garden and trying to grab every thing that's in sight.  This is the first fruit that I found.  Hoping we'll have plenty of watermelons by the end of the summer!

7/8: No photo. 
 I should be putting in old photos as spacers, but I just don't feel like it today.  I'm sure you won't really mind. Besides, I posted 4 photos one the 4th of July, so that counts for something, right?

7/9: Snack time

My best bud and his family went away for vacation for a week.  His old lady cat came to hang out with us at work for the week.  We spoiled her rotten, cut her nails, and gave her a bath.  Most cats are unappreciative of such things, but this old lady was not. After her spa treatment, she happily chowed down.

7/10: Long line

As the time nears 4PM, the parental units line up to take their small humans home from camp.  This is an example of that line.

7/10, PM edition: Disaster

My mom is very frail, and that's on a good day.  She falls. A lot.  And she breaks things when she falls. Like her neck. She did that three months ago.  So when I got a call from my stepfather that Mom had fallen again, I wasn't too surprised.  But this time, he told me that she had fallen on a hook that somehow managed to land in her eye.  Once it fell out on its own, the eye shut and began to gush blood.

Once Stepdad was at the hospital, he called me again.  Apparently the hook didn't injure the eyeball.  It injured her fucking brain.  Immediate surgery was recommended, and she was given a 1 in 5 chance of not surviving the surgery.  Mom had managed to damage a 2x3 inch section of her brain, which is pretty damn big.


My brother and I packed up out stuff and headed to the hospital.  We were fully prepared to stay for 3 days, which is exactly what happened.

7/11: The ICU

My brother and I arrived early the next day to find Mom hooked up to a bazillion tubes and wires.  She was intubated and not breathing on her own. And that was without any sedation.  In other words, Mom was in a coma.  What you see here is about half the pumps and monitors she had on her.

7/12:  Fur kids of the ICU

In a ward that is mostly white with some mint green accents, filled with the scent of antibacterial foam and the sounds of machines beeping, it was nice to see something not so cold and sterile.  The nurses of the ICU made a mural of all their pets.  It was right at the entrance of the unit, for all to see.

7/13: Medieval Times

My brother and I stayed at the  hospital until Saturday afternoon.  Hubby, the Small Human, and I had tickets to see Medieval Times.  I felt guilty about leaving, but my mom was still in a coma, and there wasn't much I was going to be able to do.  Besides, I really missed my family and wanted to spend some time with them.  As soon as we walked into the place, we were assaulted by the many stands of souvenirs to buy.  Immediately, we purchased a glowing blue sword for the boy.  We also bought a photo of us posing with the king, but that photo is kindof awful, and I don't want to share it,

Anyway, the Small Human was fascinated by the knights and their steeds.  We cheered for the Blue Knight loudly.  I discovered that watching the show with and without a child are two different experiences.  This time, my watching the show was interrupted with breaking up my child's food, make sure he drank his water without spilling it, and answering numerous questions about which knight was up next, who was the bad guy, what would happen if such-and-such won instead of the Blue Knight, and so on.

The three of us had a most excellent time.  And it was a very nice distraction from the terrible things going on with my mom.


7/14: Latte love

We were back at the hospital on Sunday.  Mom was finally extubated, and could speak a little bit.  She's been having these attacks, where she'd flail her arms and legs with all her might. To prevent that, she was heavily sedated.  But she recognized us and said she loved us.  After 4 days of worry, it was a nice bit of relief.

The barrista on the first floor of the hospital punctuated the moment with heart-shaped foam in my cappuccino.

Later, my cats explained to me just how they felt about my absence:

7/15:  A walk in the park

Walks in the park are great for clearing one's mind.  I spent a good 45 minutes walking the paved trails. On my way back to my car,  I saw a flock of ducks.


7/16: Cake shopping

My son's birthday party is coming up soon.  So it's time to buy a cake. We're going with a Spongebob theme this year.  The supermarkets can all do themed cakes without costing a fortune.  This is one of the designs I found.

7/17: Harvest

Our cherry tomato plant has been happily making fruits. They're quite tasty.  The watermelon you see, on the other hand, left its vine too soon.  While is still smells like a watermelon, there's not any pink fleshy goodness to be found in its middle.





That's all I got for now.  I'll post more when I get more uploaded.  With luck, sooner than three weeks from now.