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Made It Home

We made it home from Boston and I couldn’t be more grateful. Yesterday it looked like we were going to be in Bean Town thru Thursday! If I’m being honest, even though I was stoked he was cleared to fly, I was still very nervous.

This anxiety of course carried into both flights, but the first one especially. I could see him wincing in pain as we took off from Boston. At that point, he finally acquiesced and took a Tylenol. Meanwhile, I was a mess the whole flight.

I’m incredibly grateful to the great Delta flight attendants that brokered a seat swap, so I could sit next to him. In addition, to the seat swap, they gave him free earbuds and some nice treats from first class. They also checked on him quite regularly. I’m so thankful for them!

We made it home and he’s fast asleep. As expected, the flight made his headache somewhat worse. Fortunately, it seems the nausea has improved. He’s hoping to get back to school tomorrow, but it will really depend on how he’s feeling in the morning.

Expectedly, we’re both completely exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally. I haven’t quite processed the last 48 hours fully, but I’m sure in the coming days I’ll work through it. Plus, now I’m back home so I can go in my yoga silk and unwind. Thanks for all the support and your continued prayers and well wishes.

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An Update To The Update

So here’s an update to the update on Goalielocks. We were in the ER in Southern New Hampshire medical center for several hours this afternoon. Based on his symptom and mechanism of injury, they ordered a CT scan. Unfortunately, the CT scan showed what they believed to be a small bleed on the brain.

As he spoke the words, my heart sunk. Brain bleeds are never good. The hospital is pretty small and wasn’t well suited to treat Goalielock’s injury. For example, if he needed surgery to alleviate pressure in the brain, they couldn’t do it. The ER doc felt it was likely non-surgical and an observation approach is likely the approach they’d take.

Consequently, he was transported via ambulance from Southern New Hampshire Medical Center to Massachusetts General in Downtown Boston. In order for this to happen, our incredible hockey family sprung into action: helping me pack the car, driving me to the hospital and bringing me the rental car tomorrow.

Our ride took about 45 minutes and he was triaged into the acute care part of their giant and impressive ER. Goalielocks was quick to notice his doctors were all Harvard affiliated. I’m pretty sure he was impressed. Nonetheless, we were there for several hours.

While he was in Mass General, his case was reviewed by his ER doctor, the attending ER doctor, neurosurgeon, neuro-radiologist, radiologist, pediatric neurosurgeon and the chief of neurology. In the end, they felt the hospital in Nashua misread the scan. There was no brain bleed present. None of their specialists saw bleeding on the brain!!! Thank God!

Our ER doctor was spot on, the emergency department in Nashua was right to send his case to them. They’re much better suited to accurately diagnosis these types of injures. Nonetheless, we’re both hungry and exhausted. Neither of us have eaten since 9:00 this morning. I didn’t feel right eating while Goalielocks waited to be cleared by the neurosurgeon. The good news is we have pizza on the way and a late check out. Undoubtedly, we’ll be sleeping in tomorrow.

Lastly, thanks for all the prayers and well wishes yesterday and today. They mean a lot and prayer certainly works! Special thank you to our hockey family for helping us out today. We love you to the moon and back!

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New England Weekend

We left balmy, beautiful South Florida for a New England weekend full of hockey. After yesterday’s events this is the perfect distraction for our boys. Fortunately, we had several of Goalielocks’ teammates on our flight into Boston.

I seem to remember the flight being shorter, but it seemed quite long. Consequently, I made good use of my time by watching Bad Moms 2 and Loving Vincent. Bad Moms 2 wasn’t nearly as good as the first one, but it was still funny.

On the other hand, Loving Vincent was absolutely masterful. It tells the story of the aftermath of Van Gogh’s life and death via the characters in his paintings through the paintings. Not only does it tell the story brilliantly, but it does so by animating his paintings in glorious fashion. I was completely transfixed on the film and can’t recommend it ugly enough.

Unfortunately, once we landed in Boston the hard work started for me. There’s a lot of freaking traffic from Boston all the way to New Hampshire! Whiskey tango foxtrot! We spent an hour and a half driving from the airport to the hotel. We’re entirely and completely exhausted!

Before settling in for the night we enjoyed a great dinner at the Pig’s Tail. We split poutine and eggplant with our friends. For the main course, we enjoyed flat iron steak and pizza. Now we’re off the bed as we are beyond tired.

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Hockey Weekend in Georgia

My Mayor and the Hubby got back today from their magical hockey weekend in Georgia. While I usually go on the out of state tournaments, since I’m going to Boston this week, I had to pass up on the trip.  Fortunately, it was a great opportunity for the Hubby and My Mayor to spend some quality time together.  And by quality time I do mean a 9.5 hour commute each way.  At least, they had Coach P and the Mayor’s teammate Nino to keep them company on the drive.

The actual tournament was outdoors on the University of Georgia campus in Athen, Georgia.  Yes you read that right it was an outdoor tournament in Athens, GA.  The rink itself is covered with a roof, but is otherwise in the elements.  I watched some of the games via Facebook live when it didn’t conflict with Goalielocks’ game.

Fortunately, I was able to catch the entirety of their Saturday night game via Facebook live.  Well sort of….  Unfortunately, the fog was unbelievably thick.  You couldn’t see anything outside of the neutral zone.  In fact, I’m not even sure that there were goalies out there.   As I watched the game unfold my imagination was running wild with the silliest ideas one could conjure.   The fog was so thick aliens or swamp monster could have kidnapped either goalie and nobody would have been the wiser.

Truly, it was an incredible sight.  Since they don’t check at peewee, the risk for injury was small.  If it was Goalielocks’ team in a hitting league, the game would not have gone forward.  It simply would have been too dangerous.   Amazingly, the fog made for some incredibly cool photos, which I’ll share here.

I just asked the Mayor was his favorite part of the trip was, aside from their visit to a strip club, and his response was priceless.  He responded “I don’t remember yet what my favorite part was.”  As soon as he remember his favorite parts of the trip, I’ll certainly share them with you. Meanwhile, the Hubby’s favorite part was seeing the state of Georgia, exploring Athens and the UGA campus.

Tonight’s song performed by one of Athens, Georgia’s own R.E.M is “Man On The Moon.”

Conjure

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Friday Eve

It’s Friday eve to a weekend full of hockey.  My Mayor and the hubby are headed to Georgia for an outdoor tournament.  Yes, you read that right.  They’ll be playing on an outdoor rink in Georgia.  In fact, I’m a little bummed that I won’t be able to see how the organizers pull this off.  Meanwhile in Florida, Goalielocks’ (my tendy) team will be playing Saturday.  If we happen to lose the first game Saturday, we’ll be playing an additional game on Sunday morning.  Here’s hoping we win, so I don’t miss aerial yoga.

 

In honor of our impending hockey weekend, I’d thought I’d share some links to my favorite hockey related posts:

  1. Love They Tendy
  2. Skol Vikings!!!
  3. My Favorite Night
  4. Hockey Culture
  5. Split Saturday
  6. Hockey Mom Wisdom
  7. Hockey Season is in Full Swing
  8. Saturday Night in Tampa
  9. Split Saturday
  10. Wheels up
  11. Wheels Up Pt. 2
  12. Wheels Up Pt. 3
  13. The Trouble With Travel

After this weekend and next, I’ll have some great stories to share.  Goalielocks and I are headed to Boston next week for a tournament with his team.  It will be our third time to Boston for hockey.  Thankfully, I really enjoy the city and the surrounding area.  Lastly, I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my Goalielocks.

Tonight’s song performed by the B-52s is “Roam.”

 

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Life With Teens

Life with teens is oh so fun.  I knew getting into this whole parenting gig that we’d be in for it when our sweet, darling baby became a toddler.  Yeah, they were right.  When our kids were toddlers many a tear was shed by them and us.  In fact, for the first two years of his life, I was convinced the Mayor was an 88 year old man from Boca trapped in a toddler’s body.  He was that cranky.  However, it seems nothing can prepare you adequately for the beast that is a teenager.

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There are quite a number of similarities between the toddler and teenage stage that i have notice.

  1. Temper tantrums – While they once threw temper tantrums over losing blocks, not watching Caillou or other very serious toddler problems, as teenagers they now lose their ish over the simplest of things.  For example, you should always proceed with caution when asking teen to go to bed, take shower, do homework or god forbid to do a chore. c1f4170247f3ad17b1276bc1c2f8e137--raising-teenagers-raising-teenager-quotes
  2. Rock solid logic.  Have you ever argued with a two year old?  No, there’s a reason for that.  Its a zero sum game.  The beauty of teenagers is their intellect and their vocabularies are a little more mature.  For example, tonight I asked Goalielocks to take a shower right after practice, so he doesn’t keep everyone up with the commotion.  His response, “great well I guess I don’t get to eat tonight.”  Now mind you, he had pizza before going to practice.  Another favorite of mine is their argument that we want their animals today because we won’t take them to Petsmart or Petco immediately.  To date, we have not lost an animal due to a delayed trip to the pet store.IMG_1260
  3. Their taste is music is equally horrible as it when they were a toddler.  Only when their teens, the music is a much more insidious albeit still simplistic.  If you’re curious what I’m referring to check out the song “Gucci Gang.”  They also think Tupac wasn’t a real rapper and sucks.  No further explanation is needed here. You’ll be begging for the muscial stylings of Sesame Street in no time.
  4. Their personality is often amplified as both a toddler and a teen.  Did you have a strong willed toddler? Well, boy oh boy, are you in luck because you’re about to have a strong willed teenager.  (I’m praying for you now.)
  5. Stubbornness is a trait that both age groups excel at and is so pleasing to parents.    IMG_1475
  6. They’re silly.  At least they share some good traits, eh.
  7. Whether or not they will ever admit, teens need their parents.  In fact, they need us just as much as a teen as they did when they’re a toddler.  The dynamic may shift, the aggravation level will increase, but they will need you.  Moreover, they will need you as a parental figure and not a friend.
  8. As a toddler, you’ll clamor to enroll them into the best preschool.  While when they’re a teen, you’ll agonize over secondary and higher education options.   It is a bit overwhelming at first, but I’m hoping by the third one we’ll have it mastered.

Each and every stage of the boys lives has been an amazing chapter.  Our oldest is an adult, which sounds odd every time I say it.  My oldest has become an amazing man and is proof that the hubby and I can survive life with a teenager! Tonight’s song performed by Nirvana is “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  I loved this song when I was a teenager attending junior high dances where we’d all bang out head to that song.  For me, it also represents Jake’s awakening into music.  It wasn’t too long after he started choir as a high school freshmen that he began to discover real good music.  Nirvana was one of the first, of many, bands he discovered.

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Milestones

Last year was full of major milestones for our family with Jake’s graduation, start of college and the Mayors’ completion of elementary school.  It was a lot of big changes for our family, so much so that I completely forgot about this year’s forthcoming milestones.  Yep, this year Goalielocks will finish middle school and get his learner’s permit.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!  Can somebody stop time?

Last month, we completed the choice program application for his high school program.  Like his middle school program, he’s looking to continue in the medical choice program.  I still can’t believe that he’ll be starting high school.  It’s absolutely insane, but the scarier part is that he’ll be driving.

Its scary enough having one teen driver in the house.  Honestly, I’m not sure my heart, stomach and pocket book can handle another teen driver.  I hope my neighbors are prepared as well.  I have a new respect for what my brothers and I put my parents through when we were first driving.  Moreover, in South Florida you have the added worry of your teen driver having to contend with elderly driving and other crazy South Florida drivers.  In good news, once you learn to drive here, I’m pretty sure you could drive anywhere and feel comfortable.

Meanwhile, I started my 14 day vegan meal program that I purchased off of Groupon.   The meal plan from the Vegan Garden comes with 14 breakfast and 14 dinners.  Tonight’s breakfast was a chocolate muffin, which was very yummy.  If I hadn’t bought it as a part of a vegan meal plan, I wouldn’t have known it was vegan.  My dinner was a great dish of spaghetti and “meatballs.”  Fortunately, the spaghetti and meatballs were absolutely yummy.  In addition to being flavorful, the dish was filled with protein.   I complimented these meals with a vegan protein shake for lunch.    After my two-week meal plan is over, I’ll give you a full review and run down on the Vegan Garden meal plans.

Tonight’s song performed by Simon and Garfunkel is “Mrs. Robinson.”  I had to choose a song with the legendary Paul Simon as he announced his farewell tour today.   P..S. The pics are some of my favorites of the boys and my dad from our trip to Norway.  My dad taught my brothers and I how to drive as well as Jake.  I hope he’s ready for his new student Goalielocks!

 

 

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Blink Of An Eye

Tonight the Mayor and I were listening to music and it reminded of how time flies with the blink of an eye. We were listening to Nirvana, Bush, Green Day, Tupac. When their music first debuted, much like the Mayor is today, I was in middle school.

So here’s my list of things that pass with the blink of an eye:

1) Your childhood. It’s amazing how slowly the years seem to go by as a youth, but quickly here came adulthood. How lame….

2) Your childrens’ childhood. Okay, I totally call shenanigans on this one. While my childhood flew by, my kids’ youth seems to be moving at light speed! Can somebody put the brakes on all of this? This is total b.s.

3) Your well deserved weekend. No sooner have you blinked on Friday night when Sunday night rears it ugly head. Why can’t Mondays move this fast? How is one supposed to get all the housework, hockey, workouts and errands done when the weekend moves so fast? It’s impossible!

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4) Your long awaited dream vacation. You’ve planned the big vacay and countdown to the departure day. And then you blink and the vacation is over. Why oh why must the fun stuff in life fly by?!?!  Can somebody take me back to Norway?!?!?!

Since all of life’s brilliant moments seem to vanish in the blink of an eye, the key is to cherish and be grateful for these moments. Fortunately, while we cannot stop time, we can appreciate the time we have above ground.

Tonight’s song performed by The Verve is “Bittersweet Symphony.”

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Realities of Mom Life

The realities of mom life aren’t nearly as glamorous as Gloria from Modern Family would have you believe.  In fact, they can be quite the opposite of glamorous unless you include cleaning up vomit in your definition of glamorous.  I know I don’t!  In the 18.5 years of motherhood, I’ve learned the key to motherhood is the learning to be agile in your planning and expectations.

While I would love to have nice things and perfectly clean house, I’ve found with three boys in the house it is darn near impossible.  When the boys were younger, we removed all of the toys and furniture from our upstairs loft.  At the time, and still to this day, my boys use the space as their mini hockey rink.  Yeah, it’s crazy.  Yeah, there’s damage to the walls and floor.  I mean, who doesn’t love when the kids take permanent markers to their new wood floors?  But you know what, my boys have had a blast spending their days/nights playing mini-hockey.  Moreover, it is much better than video games.  As a mother, you quickly learn which battles to fight and which ones to let go.

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I always have high ambitions for my weekends. I’m going to go to the gym, run all my errands, hang our with friends, organize my closet, etc.  The reality is again I have to be agile in my expectations and planning.  My plan may be a bit grandiose given my hockey mom schedule.  While the reality of what I’m able to accomplish, in my own mind, is quite paltry compared to my ambitions.  I guess when my kids reach 18, I’ll have time for all of those grandiose plans.

Moreover, this weekend in Chicago I had hoped to see downtown and eat relatively well.  I can’t say that ate completely poorly, but Giordano’s -while amazing- is not anti-fat ass compliant.  Fortunately, we only ate there two out of the four days.  As for the sight seeing, our hockey schedule simply didn’t allow for it.  I had planned to do this Monday before heading to the airport, but this plan was derailed by both boys’ teams making the semi-finals. It wouldn’t have been nice to see downtown, but truth be told I’d rather be watching my boys at the hockey rink.

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While we were in Chi-town, the hubby installed the yoga silk.  Initially, I had envisioned that I’d be the only one using it while the rest of my family made fun of me for it.  Oh how I was wrong.  Surprisingly, my younger two boys (in particular) love doing inversions in the silk, swinging on the silk and laying back in the silk relaxing.   I’m not mad that they love it, but I’m definitely going to need to buy another silk for the house.  I had hoped that the boys would use it post-hockey practice to help decompress their backs while opening their chest and shoulders.  Thankfully, they’re doing this, but I think they want to live in it.

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Meanwhile it was back to work for me with a sinus headaches courtesy of the cold weather and flights.  Fortunately, I only came back to 1,000 emails.  That made for a fun morning. Truly, it was nice to be back at work and back into our regular routines.  My body was clearly still on CST as I woke up way later than I had hoped.

We’re back to a daily song and tonight’s song performed by The Cranberries is “Dream.”  I was devastated to read that we had lost yet another amazing musician, Dolores O’Riordan, from my formative years.  One of the first albums I bought was The Cranberries album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?.  It was also an album that both my dad and I were really into.  For me, it was one of the first times my dad’s and my musical tastes aligned on music.  Of course, now it is a much different story with a lot of my musical preferences heavily influenced by my dad.

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Rest Day

After a 5:00 am wake up call and an early morning arrival this morning, today was a rest day for my boys and I. All three of us slept in late and were slow to get out of bed. I ran and got breakfast around 11:00 also making hair appointments for Goalielocks and I for later in the day.

Apart from a couple of errands after our hair appointments, the only other item on my calendar was yoga tonight. In my mind, I gave myself a loophole to the only “sneakers” rule. Honestly, I just needed to wear some flip flops after wearing boots for the last several days. Moreover, yoga is miserable in sneakers. As you know, yoga isn’t about being miserable.

As for yesterday, We had a good, but odd travel day. First of all, I have to commend both Delta and Hertz for amazing customer service. For example, when the rental return crew saw our luggage in the car, they arranged for someone to drop us off at the terminal. This was a total godsend.

Surprisingly, both check-in and the security check points were pretty quick. We hit a snag, however, when we got to the gate. Unfortunately, security and the check-in desk, had let a passenger group through without noticing their baby didn’t have a reservation. How this traveler didn’t know he needed to have a reservation, so everyone on the plane would accounted for, is beyond me.

Since the baby didn’t have a reservation, they couldn’t let the child on the plane. The gate agents worked feverishly to fix the issue, however it isn’t so simple to add a last minute reservation as the plane is about to push back.

Throughout the entire ordeal the dad stayed stoic as his two older children were by his side. His mother, who was arguing with the gate agents, was sent down to board the plan to prevent further delays and aggravation.

As a result of this issue, the plane leaving to New York wasn’t able to leave the gate until after our flight was supposed to board. Consequently, our flight ended up leaving an hour late. While the New York flight left almost two hours late. Throughout the entirety of the ordeal, Delta’s gate agents remained calm and professional. As for us passengers heading to the ATL, we were just happy we weren’t on the New York flight.

When we boarded our flight in ATL, they invited the Mayor into the cockpit. He got to sit in the captain’s chair, play with the yoke and wear the hat. As he sat in the cockpit, he and the pilots discussed the controls and flying. The captain told him the first officer would be flying and to let him know how he did after we landed. They had offered the Mayor the opportunity to switch spots with the captain, but it’s probably better they didn’t since the Mayor fell asleep before takeoff.

Our flights were fast, smooth with great Wi-Fi throughout. The weirdness for me continued once we landed in FLL. After we grabbed or bags, I headed to the restroom before we drove home. While most people shut the stall doors when they use them, the janitor at FLL found this to be unnecessary. I have seen things I can now I see. I get that the airport was empty, so maybe she thought she could leave it open. However, she didn’t even close it after myself and another travelled walked into the restroom. People are crazy in Florida! But hey no icy or snowy roads here, so I’m good!

Yoga was fabulous at Burn tonight! I’m super excited that the Hubby setup my yoga silk while I was in Chicago. The boys have all tried it out and think it’s amazing. It’s a great place just to “hangout and chill.” Well, I’m off to finish unpacking and get more laundry put away.