Max turns 13 tomorrow

I sure wish I was better keeping this blog up-to-date. The kids keep me busy and time marches on. This week we are at the beach in North Carolina with friends for our yearly adventure. Tomorrow, my boy, turns 13. 

Max is a fun child. He is emotional. He loves to have a good time. He loves in adventure. He loves to tell you how he’s feeling. He absolutely loves a good argument. He loves to make you laugh. He loves to make anyone laugh or argue. I’ll keep you on your toes.

I’m excited to see what the teenagers have in store for him. He has a good heart. I pray that God continues to grow his heart for him and help Max to see the path. He is supposed to be on as he grows.

Tomorrow, we will have another day at the beach. Max will have as much bacon is his heart can desire.

I never imagined my life without a son. I am so thankful for Max. I love you buddy and wish you all the best always.

Max scores his first soccer goal in a game today!

Max has been playing 11u rec soccer this fall with FC Frederick. I think he’s enjoying it OK, but of course he wishes he were playing with Henry still. We are about halfway through the season. He has games locally on Saturday afternoons. 

Max his favorite position is defense. He likes to play the back line. He’s very comfortable back there. Rarely does he like to take and drive the ball towards the goal. Today, he drove all the way down the field and scored his first goal. We are very proud of him. I hope he is very proud of himself. It’s really fun to watch him succeed on the soccer field!

Luckily the whole family was there when it happened.

His team won 4 to 1 today!

Max’s umbilical hernia repair

One of Max’s doctors Discovered the spring that he has an umbilical hernia left over from when he was born. This Friday, we finally had it repaired. Four days later Max is doing OK. He handled it like a champ. He is brave and patient.

The day of surgery he was scheduled to start at noon, but kept getting pushed back and pushed back, until 4 PM when they finally started. Max, David, and I spent a good five hours in a 8 x 8 hospital room with Max in preop. He was good for the first few hours watching TV while I did work and David did stuff on his phone. Eventually back got old. Things started to get silly. The boy hadn’t had any food for dinner the night before. We offered by this time he be well on his way to recovery. Find me when the doctors took him in he asked if he could walk to the operating room. The Anastasia Yala just was very kind to him, and told him that he could go however he wanted and that he had been very patient. So off walked about five doctors, my sweet nine-year-old little boy, and his daddy to the operating room. They said one of us could go back, and David is the one that can do these things without showing emotion. So I assume that’s what’s best for the kids at that point in time. Meanwhile, I headed to the waiting room alone, saying prayers for my boy.

David came out a few minutes later and said things have gone very well. The anesthesiologist were impressed with Max has one capacity. Apparently he has an excellent set of lungs and should either be a singer or professional screamer. We have seen the evidence of him being a professional screamer. 

The surgery lasted a little less than an hour. We got back to see Max after he had started to come to. He was very groggy and confused. His arms were moving about on his face. I kissed him and ripped his hair and asked if he was OK. He told me he needed coffee.

At that moment in time to nurses turned to me and said what did he just ask for? I said he asked for some coffee. He said does he drink coffee? I said nope, never. But I think he feels the way he thinks I feel each morning when he knows mommy needs her coffee. Everyone had a good laugh over this, and we encourage Max to go back to sleep because he didn’t need to wake up right now. 

But Max wanted some apple juice and some food and he wanted to wake up. No doubt he was confused because after the coffee, it came in a request for mommy to go have her hernia fixed now.

Recovery went well. He was able to keep down apple juice and goldfish and a popsicle before we left the hospital right around rush-hour. They don’t keep them long and postop care for outpatient surgery. I always wish that they would keep them longer.

Max did great on the ride home. By the time we were heading home he was asking what we were having for dinner and there were signs that he was moving in the right direction. I was pleased he never threw up.

When we got home his sisters had some presents for him. Gramma was also waiting to see how he was doing. He stayed on Tylenol and ibuprofen for less than 48 hours. The only thing left is to get him walking upright and not scared of using his abdominal muscles again. This part is still a work in progress.

I’m really proud of how he has handled this all. He goes with the flow, he is brave, and he keeps a good sense of humor at every turn. I’m so sorry he’s going through this, and I hope this journey of the surgeries over the next month will help us figure out how he can live a better quality of life.

Basketball camper of the day

Max has tray enjoyed the summer basketball camp for elementary school kids each year. This year was even better because some of his friends were there too. 

He worked hard, had fun, got a good report and even was celebrated as camper of the day on the last day for his effort and sportsmanship. 

I couldn’t be prouder!

Art, may turn me into a pack rat

This is a gingerbread house max constructed for me years ago. I think he was still 5 maybe just 6. It’s been on my dresser for 3 years. He was so proud of it when he made it for me. I was proud of him too. It has stood tall and not crumbles. His construction abilities run high!

But if I keep this all forever, I will be Burried in dust! 

So it is off to the dust bin.  Shhhhh don’t tell the kids. 

Lady Grey tells Max goodnight

Each night when we say prayers, ritualistically Lady Grey comes in to maxes room and jumps on his bed. She usually lays beside him, and snuggles into his chest or armpit. Max has gotten quite used to this company and enjoys it. This evening, Lady Grey decided she was going to try to get closer. Today, she made her self a warm soft spot on maxes pillow beside his face. Max found it hilarious! Needless to say lady Gray did not stay long thanks to the jiggling and the giggles.

Scientific mind in the making

While waiting for his turn at the dentist Max built this. I thought it was pretty. He figured out how to stabilize this whole making it high and using all the blocks. He spent a good amount of time on it. His mind works a lot like mind I think. 

Max prevails in his first street soccer tournament

This weekend maxes soccer team did games differently. They ran something called a street soccer tournament. We really had no idea what to expect. The kid showed up and played new short pick up games with different boys every 15 minutes. They played a total of six games in two hours. It was exhausting for them.

The way the scoring worked was to add up individual totals for their teams for each of the six games and then see which boys came out on top. Max was ranked four out of the 70 boys there. We were so proud of him when he got the award. The award was just a little soccerball, but the pride that came with being acknowledged for his hard work and effort is priceless. I’m so proud of him. I’m so happy for him getting some recognition for the hard work he’s been putting into soccer this year. It was his idea to move to the new team and work harder at soccer. He’s proving to keep up his end of the bargain which is to work hard.

Max’s first communion

Max had his first communion this spring on Maundy Thursday. This is the day Jesus celebrated communion as the last super with his disciples. It was a moving and fitting way to celebrate and I hope Max will remember this honor. 

Gramma game to celebrate with us too. She bought him aspecial  cross necklace to celebrate. 

I hope Max’s journey with God stays strong his whole life! 

Max working hard at soccer

Max wants to be good at soccer. He’s really trying hard. We’ve told him to try to fall less and stay on his feet. He didn’t think that was important until I offered money for success. Now he’s committed! Each night he comes home excited to tell me how he did and how many falls he has had. 

Money is a good driver! 

Max gets character count

In January, Max is third grade class nominated him for character counts. His teacher decided to put him out for being respectful. I was so pleased for him receiving this honor. This boy has such an amazing heart and it is so awesome for his classmates and teacher to recognize him for it. We enjoyed a lunch of chicken nuggets in his honor during the Ceremony which actually didn’t happen until the end of February because there was snow during the week in January where we were supposed to celebrate.

I want to be a professional soccer player

If you weeks ago as we started to talk about spring sports and Max confirmed he wanted to play soccer, he confided in me and told me that he wants to be a professional soccer player when he grows up. This was one of the reasons he gave me for wanting to move to a new club to play in this year. He’s convinced he has a better chance if he plays at the good club.

I love my boy and I love that he thought about this himself. So of course, we paid triple the money and signed them up. After two practices I can see a difference in terms of the way the coaching happens. He will definitely also need to put in a lot of hard work to make this dream come true.

I’ve decided that every little boy should have a phase in their life when they’re growing up where they’re focused on being a professional athlete. I’m happy to see the energy and max around this phase.

Max’s basketball skills are growing

Max has been working really hard at his ball handling skills. He’s been spending some time in the basement in the evenings playing games of keepaway with Ellie and David that really help with his dribbling and passing.

I was excited to see at the last practice but he nearly 1 a game of who was the best at dribbling from end to end in the gym. He was proud of them self and I was really proud of him too. I only wish his coach would take notice.

Max has the best third grade teacher

First semester I’d third grade allowed Max’s need to breeze through things without any effort to come to a head. He got some pretty bad grades. A his conference his teacher and I both agreed this situation was due to lack of effort not lack of abilities. So we put some actions in place to force him to pay attention to details and try harder. Mostly, I have to say this was his teachers doing. She did some extra work and evaluation with him daily. She’s working so hard to establish solid, productive, long term scholastic behavior in him. I’m so grateful! She’s teaching him to slow down and do things right. This is something I haven’t been able to do. 

Max has been working the program and has been successful so far. Today was midterm and Christmas break. I’m most thankful for the kind note from his teacher to him. She’s a superstar! We are so lucky to have her in his life. 

Best part of my day

Today was a very rough day. Work was more disappointing then it’s been in a long time and has caused large amounts of worry and emotional spend. To top that off, Clair seems to have come down with the stomach bug tonight while we were out and about trying to have a nice evening.

David and Ellie are off at a father daughter dance with some other 4th grade girls. They seem to be having a nice time. 

After getting Clair settled I asked max if he would play some games with me. He decided to embrace the opportunity. He and I don’t get to spend one on one time together nearly enough. We sat by the fire and played 3 games of star wars trouble followed by a game of Othello. He was so sweet and kept a kind and thoughtful attitude the whole time. He was happy and told me he loved playing games with me. He’s a sweet boy and he just loves one on one time. I need to do that more. This time relaxes me and took some of the days worries from me. Thanks Buddy!

Now the two youngest are in bed and lady grey is snuggles on my lap. I will say some prayers and try to rest myself, waiting to see what the night holds for us all. 

A growing boy

I've noticed for the past few weeks that Max doesn't always have Spotsies right beside him in bed. Sometimes, he doesn't even ask for him before going to sleep. Last night, Spotsies was on the floor and Max was in his bed alone.

He is a growing boy. He's growing up. He's getting more independent. We make him responsible for many things. I love that he can do things for himself, but I also don't want to rush his childhood.

It's a little sad seeing his Spotsies lying at the end of his bed abandoned. Poor Spotsies. I think they make movies about this stuff, kids outgrowing their lovies.

Max is a sweet boy with a sweet heart. He means no harm. He is so focused on playing with friends these days and hanging with the boys, other priorities are slipping and he's growing up.

A date night with my boy

Tonight, after many requests for a while, Max and I finally went on a date. We talked about it for a while and he planned it. He had great ideas for fun to have. We had to adjust the locations a little because the traffic for Christmas Shopping was madness, however, we had dinner together, did a fun craft together and had a treat - all this being his plan.

We started with dinner at Ayse, where Max was a bit grumpy and down as I think he hadn't drank anything all day. Once we sorted that, he came alive with laughter, love and joke telling. We enjoyed some bread together and some pizza. He was dancing by my table and dolling out the kissing by the end of the meal. He's such a sweetie and such good company. We were both laughing a lot at dinner.

After dinner we went next door to select and paint some pottery. We looked all around the shop and I let him pick the project. He selected a pretty large and detailed gingerbread house cookie jar. So we embarked on the project. I let him select the colors and the parts he wanted to paint. He was patient and tedious in his work. He told me many times this night was so fun and the best date night ever. We lasted about two hours. I needed to speed up at the end, as it was late.

We spend so much time painting that we didn't have time to go get dessert. He took that message well and asked for a consolation treat at home. I obliged and he was quite content really. We ended the night with milk and cookies at our kitchen table together. He then took advantage of the night end, asking me to brush his teeth for him. (He's still a little boy who wants his mommy to take care of him all the time at heart. But that's okay with me. I cherish this age.)

I tucked him into bed on his new soft, small pillow. He was grateful for it and said he loved it. We said prayers and he was off to dream land. It was a late night, but no breakdown, just fun, love and job. He's such a good person. He's such great company. I love him so much!

Here are a couple pictures from our adventure. The one of him with his hands over his face is doing the "Baby Dab" as he called it. The Dab is a move that is out there, i'm not sure where it came from, but apparently all the cool kids do it. ha ha