Photos - Ewokmama

A Plant In A Boot Saves The Day

April 26, 2013 By Ewokmama

Jack has these meltdowns sometimes. He gets so agitated and upset that he starts making all kinds of noises – growling and moaning and seething. He kicks and hits things and looks wild-eyed. He rocks and flails. He is SO UPSET and his whole body shows it. He radiates stress.

When he was a toddler, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It sucked, but it was usually in connection with being overtired and overstimulated. The best way to handle it was to let him go at it in a darkened room. He was smaller and less destructive then.

Waiting it out is harder these days. He can cause real damage to himself and the stuff around him. The dark room doesn’t seem to penetrate the haze and he gets even more upset if we try to hold and hug him.

So last night when Jack went into his tailspin (because I had demonstrated to him why I didn’t like to be climbed on), I was at a loss. He didn’t want to be held or massaged or even talked to. I tried anyway, but he was completely out of control of his own faculties and I had to just get out of the way lest I get kicked in the face. When I reached the point where I just wanted to yell at him to STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT, I realized I needed to leave the room.

I traded places with David and he wasn’t much more successful than I was. Instead of Jack calming down, the tension kept building. David tried to get him to think of happier things but that just seemed to piss him off more. Finally, David passed the torch back to me and left the room.

A few minutes later he came back, this time with one of Jack’s plants. He had recently planted some Dragon Tongue beans and the sprouts are shooting up fast. Jack started to calm when he saw the sprout, and then he had an idea. He asked for a boot and David complied. Then Jack created an ode to WALL-E:

This helped immensely! You can’t help but smile at a plant in a boot, right?

I then offered to read one more chapter from The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (<-sponsored) so that Jack had a bit more time to wind down and all was then well with the world.

But who would have predicted that a plant in a boot would do the trick? What will the solution be next time??

Filed Under: Parenting 101, Photos Tagged With: 6 years old, kids, meltdowns, parenting, tantrums, wall-e 4 Comments

Crystal vs. Ice

January 16, 2013 By Ewokmama

I’ve been dealing with a nasty Vitamin D deficiency that has made me fairly useless. The major symptom I’m having is fatigue. I nap a LOT and simple things wear me out. It’s quite annoying. I’m on supplements now so hopefully I’ll get it all under control soon!

In the mean time, I’m spacey and an accident on Monday did me no favors in rectifying that. I’ve lived in California my whole life, mostly in the central valley where it has snowed maybe once in my life (and it didn’t stick). It did get frosty there and I remember warnings about black ice on the freeways, but I lived in a very flat area that saw little water due to drought and the fact that our sprinklers were totally broken anyway. So, while we had frost on our windshields, I never dealt with an icy walkway!

Now I live on a hill. Not only is there about a 30 degree upward slope from the sidewalk in front of our house to the back of our property, but the street slopes perpendicular to our property slope, as seen here (note: that is the previous owners’ RV. My car was parked in that spot.):

Well, on Monday I was in a hurry to get to work so I stepped out of the house, not paying any attention to the ground beneath me, and headed to my car. Halfway down the walkway (see left-most yellow star), I slipped on a layer of ice and fell, skinning my knee and ripping my (favorite!) pants. I sat there for a few seconds to determine if the ankle twisted beneath me was broken (it wasn’t) and I went back inside to change out of my ruined pants before trying again.

I didn’t fair much better in Act 2. This time I decided to walk through the grass toward the driveway and avoid that patch of ice on the walkway! BUT…I got to the driveway and made it a few steps before my feet left the earth and I fell flat on my ass! The poor dog slid down the driveway, his legs and paws scrambling to find some traction, looking a lot like Bambi on ice. I grabbed his leash and hauled him up to me and got him in the car so he couldn’t go skating further away. He looked thoroughly confused!

Then, because I’m an absolute MORON, I figured I’d go pick up the water bottle I had dropped the FIRST time I fell. It had rolled down the gutter to the front our neighbor’s house. I tried to walk down the driveway behind my car, ever so gingerly, and that would be when I fell for the third time – this time hitting my right temple on the icy concrete.

WHY I thought I could walk on ice, I don’t know. I cannot explain my thought process at all! But I got into my car after that third fall and sat there, dazed, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do and whether I could even drive. I had fallen three times, but I was too cold to know if I’d hurt anything other than my rapidly swelling finger and throbbing head. I really needed to get to work (we had a big event that I was supposed to be there for), but I had just hit my head on concrete! Plus, my pants were a bit wet. I sat there contemplating and staring at my steering wheel.

The garage door opened then, as it was time for David to take Jack to school. He and Jack looked over at me curiously, then walked over to ask what was going on. I told him the whole story, explained my dilemma, and I don’t really remember what happened then but I went back inside to call the doctor and MomGyver a make-shift splint for my finger.

I also happened to check the weather report and found out there was a ‘hard frost advisory’ in effect for the area. Very helpful.

So later that day David drove me into the Minor Injury Clinic at Kaiser and I got an x-ray of my finger and a CT scan of my head. Thankfully (and kind of miraculously!), I had no broken bones and no bleeding in my brain. They splinted up my sprained finger, told me to stay home two days to recover from my mild concussion, and sent me on my way.

So that is my story of utter ridiculousness on a Monday morning and how I got my second concussion in the span of about a year. I’m going to have to start wearing a helmet when I leave the house. Please forgive me if I don’t finish sentences over the next few weeks, as I’m concussed!

By the way, if anyone knows where our sprinkler system timer is located, I’d be mighty grateful for the information!

Filed Under: Photos, Working Mamahood Tagged With: accidents, concussion, Health, life, weather hazards, winter weather, working parents 3 Comments

Decking The Halls

December 3, 2012 By Ewokmama

We’re gearing up for Christmas. This is our first Christmas in our new house, so we are pretty excited! It’s been a rough year, but we are taking every opportunity to celebrate life. I’m trying not to let the fact that Jack has a lumbar puncture and chemo scheduled for Christmas Eve get to me. Blech.

Last year our dog ate our stockings, including the personalized knit one I’ve had since I was a child. To write that wrong, I went to Etsy and found an awesome stocking shop called Forshee Designs and now we all have coordinating stockings with our names on them. They are big and sturdy and gorgeous (and we hung them high – out of Lambert’s reach!).

David and I bought ornaments and Christmas lights at Kmart, since we only had decorations fit for a miniature tree (having lived in apartments for so long). David decked the house with white dangling lights and the windows are lined with blue lights. I put snowflake decals in our front window and we have flickering LED candles in all of the windows. That went a long way to making things feel pretty magical.

Our shopping is nearly done. This weekend I did a blitz on getting stocking stuffers at Pier 1 and Target. I also got some holiday crafts to work on with Jack, including a gingerbread cookie decorating kit. I then hung our Stampin’ Up! advent calendar – filled with chocolate and small toys. I’m not super excited about most of the things we got for Jack this year, but I think the top three would be the Little Thinker CDs (a story is told or question asked on the CD and the kid is supposed to draw along with it), the Creatures Card Game and the animated Ewoks DVD (which he may not like at all!).

To complete our home decor, we just need a tree! We’ve decided we’re getting a real tree this year. I found a Christmas Tree farm in our new town where we can cut our own. I remember doing that as a kid and LOVING it. I can’t wait to take Jack and search for our perfect tree and then take it home and decorate it!

One thing I’m super excited about this year is a DVD we got from Your Santa Story. I went onto the website and input Jack’s info and asked that Santa tell him what a brave and strong kid he is. On Christmas morning a note will appear from Santa to tell Jack about the DVD. Santa will then talk right to him and even tell him where his last present is hidden. I can’t wait to see the look on his face! If you want to give your Christmas a little extra magic this year, go check it out.

I thought I would share the other websites I’ve found helpful in getting ready for Christmas this year for those of you who are dragging your feet! I know it can be hard to get started and it can be stressful to spend all that money. We certainly don’t have a lot to spend this year after buying a house, a car, and paying a bunch of copays so we are watching our spending, but the celebration is important to us so I took extra care to find deals and rebates. Maybe you can benefit from my shopping experience via these websites:

Pinterest – This is where I keep track of holiday craft ideas, recipes, and gift ideas. You can follow me there if you’d like (not that I profess to have especially great taste).
Ebates – You get a percentage back from merchants you buy from when you click through the Ebates site. It’s free money, so you are screwing yourself if you don’t do it – I’ve gotten over $400 back since I joined in 2008! This year I am getting cash back from purchases on Groupon, Amazon, Tanga, The Children’s Place, eBay and Zulily.
Etsy – For unique, handmade anything! There are some really good stocking stuffers to be found (like mojito lip balm), personalized stockings (as mentioned above), or that special thing for that quirky friend of yours who likes things like Velveteen Rabbit necklaces or beard beanies.
Threadless – For unique artsy or funny shirts. Everyone loves t-shirts, right?
Tanga – A great deal site! I particularly like the deals on board games, such as this 3-pack of Dominion for $60 (we love this game!).
Nomorerack.com – This site has a bunch of new and amazing deals every day. There’s a flat rate shipping fee of $2 per item. You can get some really fantastic deals!
Naked Wines – Usually it’s a losing proposition monetarily to run a small winery. This company helps independent wine makers distribute their wines without the crazy overhead, which means cheaper and more unique wines for customers! If you click my sidebar button over on the right you’ll get $100 toward a $160 purchase – perfect for stocking up for the holidays.

What are YOU excited about this Christmas?

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This post is not a sponsored post and only contains retailers and products that I would personally recommend; however, some of these links are affiliate links for which I may receive compensation.

Filed Under: Gear, Holidays & Events, Photos, Shopping Tagged With: christmas, december, growing up, holidays, imagination, life, parenthood, Photos, santa, toys 2 Comments

Getting Jack Back

October 24, 2012 By Ewokmama

“Mom, I’m starting to get used to myself in the mirror,” Jack told me recently. He further explained that he was feeling better about how he looks with short hair. I told him that’s great! He is a handsome kid no matter what his hair looks like and I’m very happy he can see it.

His appearance is worlds better than it was nine months ago. He’s put a few pounds on since he was first diagnosed (he’s gone from 42lbs to about 45) and his hair is growing back fairly quickly with mostly the same consistency and color as before he lost it. His eyes aren’t as sunken and the circles are there less frequently.

He runs, he climbs, he is mostly back to his old self. He has fewer aches and pains, more energy, and expresses less fear. This was readily apparent on our recent trip to the zoo with some neighbor boys – Jack challenged them to races and climbed a tree with them, too! We were there for four hours and he didn’t even say once that he was tired. *I* was the one who had to nap when we got home.

The Child Life Specialist mentioned that the fact that he is feeling so good is likely part of the reason Jack’s been having difficulty taking his medicines since maintenance began. He LOOKS healthy, he FEELS healthy, so it’s hard for him to feel motivated to take something that tastes terrible and doesn’t make him feel any better. Not to mention the fact that he’s just plain sick of being a cancer crusader – he’s gone back to school and just wants to be a regular kid.

We have a lot of cancer treatments to get through still – two years more – but I’m happy to see that we don’t have to wait that long to have our boy back. We missed him.

Filed Under: Adventures, Cancer, Cancer Mom, Illness, Milestones, Photos Tagged With: 6 years old, cancer, cancer mom, Health, kids, leukemia, life, Photos 7 Comments

Forward Movement

September 11, 2012 By Ewokmama

I took Friday off work to prepare for a weekend trip to wine country. We didn’t plan to leave until the afternoon, so I took the opportunity in the morning to see about getting Jack enrolled in his new school district. I finally had all the paperwork I needed (with three items to prove residency!) and, after calming my nerves (somewhat) by drinking a warm beverage, I headed over to our neighborhood school.

Well, as it turns out, our neighborhood school is FULL. The waiting list for first graders is already four kids long, which would make Jack number five. I was promptly sent to the district office.

A bit shaky, yet hopeful, I headed into the district office, only to be told that I had arrived after enrollment hours. I can’t recall clearly what I said at that point but I know I babbled, near tears, about my kid not having been in school since December and just at least needing to get him on a list because he couldn’t attend school until this phase of chemo is done anyway and..

The office manager had a look of panic on her face and muttered, “Oh, dear,” before calling over another employee. I must have been quite a sight because the second employee took me right back to her office to find a spot for Jack in school.

THANK GOODNESS for the pity of others – if they hadn’t helped, I am sure I would have fallen on the floor in a pool of tears. Apparently I can take on the big monstrous things without falling apart, but when it comes to something like enrolling my kid in school – something that SHOULD be a routine and fairly easy thing - I can’t handle it going wrong! I cling to the little things, the little reminders that we’re still ‘normal.’ If those little things slip out from under me, I’m bound to lose my shit.

In any case, the wonderful, compassionate people at the district office helped me and did so quickly. We got Jack enrolled in our next-closest school, on a waiting list for our neighborhood school (just in case), and I should be hearing shortly from the Special Education folks to figure out a plan to homeschool until Jack can attend class in October.

I felt AMAZING after I left that office. I did it! My kid is going back to school! Life is starting to return to normal!

That was followed up yesterday with a visit to the dentist – his first time! That has been one parenting task I’ve been failing at getting accomplished up until now, and I’ve been beating myself up over it all these years. I was more than a little relieved to hear that Jack’s teeth were found to be in good shape – even with cancer and all. Whew!

Jack and I swung by his new school after his appointment. He liked the looks of the playground and the wall mural, but declared the place seemed haunted. I’m hoping that’s just because there were no kids around (thanks to a staff development day).

Not that I’m worried – at this point, after what we’ve been dealing with these past nine months, I’m not afraid to take on a few ghosts!

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Getting my groove back, Illness, Parenting 101, Photos, School Tagged With: 6 years old, cancer mom, first grade, growing up, Health, life, parenting, school 8 Comments

My Boy, Since Cancer

September 5, 2012 By Ewokmama

Since Jack was diagnosed with cancer there have been both sweeping changes and little changes in our life. Some are harder to describe than others. Aspects of his personality that were there before might now come out in a more noticeable way, or they might be more hidden, protected. Jack is still himself, of course, but the version of him we are living with now isn’t as steady or balanced. I wonder how much of him is changing permanently because of this experience.

I’m not sure I can still describe him as a “happy-go-lucky” kid, for instance.

His mood can change on a dime, and he is VERY sensitive. He is quick to cry, quick to anger, and quick to feel defeated. No amount of good-natured teasing is allowed. A simple behavior correction or disagreeing statement will send him running to his bedroom with an, “I’m going away from you now!” If he gets angry, he’ll growl and even hit himself in the head.

Jack is great at interacting with adults now. Often it seems he prefers it; after all, adults behave less erratically than kids and are more likely to give him what he wants. Other kids require more negotiation, more effort to communicate, and a jumble of emotions, including frustration. Being isolated from social situations like school and daycare for nine months has led to Jack avoiding socializing with kids if he can help it. It even takes cajoling to get him to attend a birthday party.

With that said, it can be difficult to interact with Jack due to his lack of attention span. He has so little focus. Questions must be repeated several times, and he needs constant reminders – within seconds of each other! – to get him to do anything at all. He is distractable, flighty, and more forgetful than ever.

His skills with art are as great as ever, but any math he knew from Kindergarten has eroded (although we’re hoping this can be regained fairly quickly). His interest in reading has lessened, likely due to headaches and side effects from chemo. Since he is easily frustrated, he typically doesn’t stick with new things long enough to improve at them.

He’s been a fairly thin kid since he reached the toddler stage, but now he has ZERO muscle definition. He is skinny as can be – the baby fat is gone, too. His eyes are a little sunken with shadows, and his skin is so, so dry all the time. Despite continuing to go on hiking adventures with his dad, he is quickly winded with any activity – he no longer runs everywhere or challenges us to race to the door.

He eats like a bird (since the steroids were left behind) and his diet is limited. The full array of things he will eat includes: carrots, cherry tomatoes, cheese, salami, rice, grapes, apples, edamame, chocolate, waffles, pretzels, seaweed and milk. No more chicken. No more fish. No more peanut butter and jelly. Definitely no yogurt! He’s even less likely than he was before to try new things, too.

It’s not all bad, and things could definitely be worse. Things take longer, are more frustrating or serious, more worrisome. He has not been unaffected by all that cancer has brought in the last nine months.

Still, he’s HERE and he can still smile. He’s growing, he’s still learning, he’s still a spectacular kid. I can hold him and we can laugh and giggle together. He’s still my sweet, Scooby-Doo-loving, alien-impersonating, imaginative and fierce little boy.

He’s still Jack.

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Illness, Photos Tagged With: 5 years old, 6 years old, cancer, cancer mom, child development, chronic illness, leukemia, living with cancer, love, parenting, pediatric cancer, Photos 9 Comments

Jack’s #ShineOn Journal

August 23, 2012 By Ewokmama

This post is sponsored by GapKids. Check out all the fun Shine On activities at your nearest Gap store. For event dates and locations, visit Gap’s Facebook page and join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #ShineOn.

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On Sunday Jack and I got up bright and early to drive down to The Gap in Los Gatos. As I mentioned previously, Gap is sponsoring some Back-To-School events using projects designed by craft blogger MerMag. The project of the day was a journal.

Jack got to pick out his cover cardstock, coordinating binding tape, a label for his name, and there were a variety of stickers and gem embellishments to choose from. He got right to work and didn’t stop upon completing the project itself – he decided he would start drawing inside of it, too! Then he told the project guides all about his sea monster.

The journal was a big hit. Jack’s been drawing since he was 2 years old, and he absolutely loves art, so I was happy to have this opportunity sent my way. This was a great way to get him thinking about school (he goes back in October!) in relation to something he already loves. He plans to write a story about the sea monster inside of the journal. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

If you want to attend one of Gap’s Shine On Saturdays event and live in a major metro area, check out the event locations listed on the Shine On Saturdays Facebook page. For those of you in California, there are a couple events this weekend (one in NorCal and one in SoCal) on August 25 from 10am-1pm in the following locations:

1139 S. Main St. @ Walnut Creek

Los Angeles: 2111 Glendale Galleria

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Filed Under: Holidays & Events, Photos, School Tagged With: art, back to school, imagination, kids, Photos, san francisco, school Leave a Comment

Go Team!

August 10, 2012 By Ewokmama

It’s Friday and I’ve pretty much poured my brain into the posts of earlier this week (please read them!). So, I thought I would bring you hilarity to start off your weekend. A picture of ME, Crystal, EWOKMAMA, as a cheerleader.

Now, I only lasted one season – way back in 1993 (I’m SORRY if that makes you feel old). I wouldn’t go along with the “OMG you guys! Let’s try this super cute thing OMG!” because, uh, yeah. No. I’mma be over here, doing what I was told to do. And I’m going to do a damned good job of it.

Except, well, I was afraid of heights, so, despite my meager 95 lbs, there was no way I was going to be a “flyer.” I wasn’t big enough to be the base of the pyramid, either, so…yeah. I was not cut out for cheerleading. Not at all. But I was fucking cute as all get out!

Go team!

Filed Under: About Me, Growing Up, Photos Tagged With: back in the day, cheerleader, growing up, Photos 4 Comments

BlogHer12 Recap

August 6, 2012 By Ewokmama

I’m really glad I got to go to BlogHer this year. It was a great event and I loved seeing New York City again, as well as my many friends who live in the Internets. This BlogHer, as opposed to BH10, was much less overwhelming for me. I don’t know if it was the fact that I had a buddy (Jana), that I knew so many more people this go-round, or if it was the fact that I went in without any expectations or set plans; it all worked out well and I just happened to run into pretty much all the people I had hoped to see!

This is just a brief recap that does the conference NO JUSTICE. But please consider checking out the posts I’ve linked below and enjoy the pics. Maybe I’ll see you in Chicago next year!

Voices of the Year I particularly enjoyed:

Jana: From a Pecan to a Majestic Magnolia (Identity [read at Open Mic])

Elizabeth at Flourish in Progress: To the Person Who Stole My Taco Bell Gordita Savings Fund (Humor)

Neil from Citizen of the Month: The Poet at the Geek Bar (Humor)

Dresden Shumaker: Welfare Queen (Heart)

Arnebya Herndon: Walk This Way (Op-Ed)

Best Party:

Come As You Are – It was hosted by Aiming Low and Mouthy Housewives. I got some pretty sweet artwork drawn on me by Robin Plemmons, plus I got to give out all kinds of compliments on stickers (and got a few myself). And there was the most amazing chocolate covered peanut butter ball dessert thingy…

Connected with and/or hugged (in no particular order and possibly not all-inclusive):

Jana, Issa, Dawn, Cathy, Nona, Alecia, Allison, Katherine, Tanis, Anissa, Julia Roberts, Liz, Andrea, Jenny, Lauren, Frelle, Stacey, Bossy, Christine, Stacey (who also likes ewoks), Robin Plemmons, Angie, Jenny Grace, Julia, EmmieJ, Megan, Kristine, Jenna

Favorite conference moments:

In the “Blogging After Life Change” session, I spoke up to tell my story and was able to connect with another mom whose son had just recently been diagnosed with Leukemia.

When the lovely Robin Plemmons wrote on my arm, “He will be healed,” we both teared up.

Dancing with the very talented Cathy at Sparklecorn.

‘Fancy’ breakfast with Jana and Lauren.

When I drew a schlong on Allison’s moo card during a keynote.

What I did offsite:

Rode the subway, then had ‘fancy breakfast’.
Ate breakfast for lunch at Serendipity3.
Visited Tiffany & Co.

Things I’ll do differently next year:

Go out to dinner.
Buy a memento.
Attend more than 2 sessions.
Pack a suitcase in a suitcase (for swag).
Share a cab to/from the hotel to save cash.
Take an incoming flight that is NOT a red-eye.
Drink more champagne.
Take more pictures!

Filed Under: blogher, Holidays & Events, Photos Tagged With: blogher, blogher12, friends, Holidays & Events, new york city, Photos, travel 11 Comments

Birthday Shark Clubbing and UFOs

July 18, 2012 By Ewokmama

We had Jack’s birthday party on Saturday. I started baking his cake Friday night (it took WAY longer than it should have). Saturday morning I started on the frosting while David strung up the piñata and handed Jack a golf putter.

Now, word to the wise – it takes a WHILE for a scrawny six year old to get a piñata open. There is a reason these things are supposed to have a billion kids whacking at it! Jack had to take a break at one point because he got so tired from swinging the putter. While he took a break, David tampered with the shark a bit so that when Jack came back it wouldn’t be long before it starting spewing its insides.

Jack clubbing the shark

Jack loved it. He picked each thing up as it flew out of the piñata to marvel at it. This is another reason it took forever to get through that thing! I had stuffed all kinds of random stuff inside the night before, including leftover fortune cookies and fruit snacks. When the owl keychain I loaded in there flew out, Jack brought it to me immediately and said, “Mom, I think you should have this because you really like owls.” Aww!

I had some major troubles with Jack’s cake – everything was taking longer than it was supposed to, the caramel for the icing seized up the first time, and my buttercream freaked out and tried to turn into cottage cheese at one point. Luckily, I was able to fix it and and slap the UFO cake together. I’m pretty proud of how it came out and everyone else thought it was delicious! I added some monster cupcakes for the kiddies.

I don’t think Jack even noticed that he didn’t have a big party with all of his friends there – he seems perfectly happy with the celebration and I think it was a great birthday party regardless of the size. Yay!

Jack’s wish is to bring a dragon to life.

Filed Under: Growing Up, Milestones, Photos Tagged With: 6 years old, birthday, birthday cake, growing up, kids, life, parenthood, parenting, ufo cake 4 Comments