HB is recovering. He woke up Saturday headache-free and nausea-free. I sighed loud enough for our neighbors down the street to hear, but I was still concerned. All Sunday he felt well, and we let him go out and do a little bit. Still symptom free.

Today he went to school and around 11 I received a call; he had a headache. UGH. I went to meet him and gave him some Motrin. He described the headache more like pressure rather than pain. I didn’t know if he was copying what a “How to recognize a concussion” poster which was taped on the nurses’ door, or if he really knew the difference between headache pain and headache pressure. Either way, I left feeling like we’d started all over again. Would my 9-year-old son ever be better?

When he got home, HB told my husband that the pain was different this time. We’ve had a weather pattern move in today, and hubby seems to think that the headache was sinus-related rather than concussion-related.

Either way, he won’t be playing in tomorrow’s game. #2 game that he’ll be missing, and I highly doubt that he’ll be playing on Saturday. Maybe, maybe – and that’s a BIG MAYBE – he’ll go to practice on Thursday if he’s headache-free for the next few days.

So really no news here in Michigan. Just cloudy, overcast, fall days, and me wishing I were on a beach!

One of the worst words a hockey mom can hear is “concussion.” HockeyBoy has his second one. Ugh.

He was hit from behind last night in practice. I wasn’t there. My husband was there, but not in the rink. We can only go by what HB told us. Details aside, after the fall he felt dizzy, nauseous, and immediately got a headache. HB decided to skate one more drill before telling his coach that he didn’t feel well. To me, that was a good sign.

When HB and Mr. Yankee arrived home, I was told what happened. Since we’d been through the concussion scenario before, we immediately diagnosed him and figured that if his head hurt this morning, we’d call the doctor. He was acting his same self, so we didn’t think that a trip to the ER was necessary. But our thinking changed when we gave him a glass of apple juice and a small bowl of Goldfish. He told us that the apple juice was horrible, that it didn’t taste right. He couldn’t taste the Goldfish either. This lack of taste sent us to the ER.

Luckily, HB passed all of the neurological tests that they gave him at the ER. He looked so good that the ER doctor did not want to do a CAT Scan – which I was very happy, why radiate him if it is not beneficial? He was diagnosed with a head injury with mild concussion. We were sent home with a recovery plan which HB is not happy with.

You see, the first game of the season is Thursday. Albeit it’s a scrimmage, but it’s the first game with this new team, and boy is he bummed. We tried to explain that missing a few games isn’t that big of a deal, that it’s better than missing the whole season – speaking of which, I have a story about that – but to a nine-year-old obsessed with hockey, missing a game is the worst thing that can happen.
Oh well, is what I told him. He’ll have to learn to deal with it.

We have a friend whose son plays football. He’s twelve and plays in the local league. I don’t understand the dynamics of this league, but he can play in it from 2nd grade through 8th grade. He’s been playing since 2nd grade, so he’s been in that system for a very long time – 5 years. Anyway, he was hit pretty hard when he had his head down. He was in pain, and he was pulled from practice. He was able to walk and everything, but there was a lot of neck pain. Long story short, the spine doctors told my friend that her son had done everything to make himself a quadriplegic. Luckily, he’s not, but he is out for the entire season.

Sports can be brutal and freak injuries happen. HB’s injury is certainly not freakish, but it is too bad. Since he had a mild concussion in January – not from hockey, but from a stupid act of sliding down a slide headfirst multiple times and crashing into hard snow – he is more susceptible to concussions. It scares my husband and I that he’s now got another one, less than 9 months later.

Maybe the hockey career will have to come to a stop sooner than HB would like. Only time will tell – horrible cliche but unfortunately the truth.

Peace,
Kris

I saw this over at Today’s Big Thing and had to share. I love this!

Ok, I can’t get this to show up here, but go to and you’ll be able to see a pretty funny video.

The Red Wing training camp started yesterday up in Traverse City. I wish I could go, but alas TC is over 4 hours away from where I live and there are these little things called kids, hockey, work, and school. Anyway, I found this video on YouTube from last year’s training camp. I think it’s hilarious when they start to fight against their own teammates. We went to a Whaler scrimmage in August, and I couldn’t believe how much they fought there. It disheartened me until one of the other mom’s said that they do that because they’re trying to secure a spot – those who were fighting were free agents. Ohhh….that made sense to me then.

Still, I don’t understand why fighting has to be a part of hockey. I’ve never liked it, and even more as a parent of a hockey player, I don’t like it. At least I don’t have to worry about it for now; HB has two more years before he starts checking. Once checking starts, the fighting starts. Maybe we’ll have him start lifting weights then so that he at least will be able to hold his own.

Crazy.

Kris

HockeyBoy is a 4th grader this year, and the big beginning-of-the-year project is collecting 20+ insects, display and all. Gross. All the talk at the end of 3rd grade is the big bug project. When the last day of school came and went without a word about collecting bugs during the summer, I thought we were in the clear; the school had realized that this was just not a humane project. I even went as far as emailing the principal letting her know my disdain and disapproval about killing innocent bugs. What sort of message does it send to our kids that it’s ok to collect and euthanize insects? She agreed with me and assured me that there would be other means of completely the project without killing anything.

I breathed a sigh of relief, told my son he’d have to do something else, and went about my business of enjoying the summer bug-free.

Well that all changed once HB was in class. I don’t know if it’s peer pressure or what, maybe he just wants to fit in, but he begged and begged to collect bugs. I told him I would not help him – yes, I know I’m a bad mother – and that it would have to be done with his father. Mr. Yankee didn’t mind that HB would be killing bugs. No big deal.

So, now I have bugs in my freezer in the garage, on the counter in the kitchen (no where near the food or where I prep anything, it’s more like a butler’s pantry counter), and who knows where else in my house. I’ve caught a few for him, but only when he couldn’t do it himself and Mr. Yankee wasn’t home. I have no idea how many bugs we have and neither does HB.

This morning the baggy with the cricket was on the kitchen floor. Who knew how it got down there – I thought it was dead. HB saw it, and exclaimed, “It’s still alive!” Ugh. I thought they were all dead.

We’ve got other people in our family looking for bugs. HB really wants a walking stick – “Two Mom, ‘cuz I wanna keep one as a pet” and would really like a preying mantis, although I think those are endangered or close to it. I don’t want any part of this and have said so from the beginning. I’ll be glad when Sept 30th is here and the bug project is gone to school.

Yuck.

Kris

Can a manuscript be too short?

I’ve been slashing so much out of my edits that I’m afraid that I may have cut too much. I’ve not taken all of the words out yet from the computer copy, but my hard copy has so many sections crossed out, I hope I still have a story!

Seriously, editing for me these days has become something I actually look forward to. It’s getting me that much closer to having a finished product. It’s like I’m so close that I can see that the editing is making it better.  It’s rather strange.

My deadline to have it to Christine is less than a month away now. At this point, I think I’ll be delivering it to her early. Then I’ll be able to start on the next set of edits for Stolen Years. One of these days I’ll actually get around to writing.

Kris

All yesterday it rained and rained here in SE Michigan. Our grass went from a sickly brownish green to a full blown green, especially after today’s almost continuous downpour. Last night, however, we had quite the excitement as what we’d like to think of as a mini-tornado blew through. Fortunately, all that happened was a very large portion of a tree was stripped from the base, and an outdoor canopy and swing took a little dive across our patio.

My oldest is especially suspectible to thunderstorms since right after we moved here, the tree closest to his window was hit by lightning. He, of course, was a bit agitated, but thought it was cool that he was able to see a tree flying through the air. I didn’t think it was cool, but thanked the heavens that the tree didn’t crash into the house.

A few miles from us, however, wasn’t so lucky. We heard that indeed a tornado touched down in our township and that it ripped through two sections of an apartment building. Red Cross was already on the scene this morning helping those who had lost their home. I pray that they’ve found shelter.

Also, I hope that our friends in Texas are safe during this turbulent weather season.

Peace,

Kris

If you click on over to my website, you’ll see that it’s been updated to look a bit more professional. I can’t thank the Romance Divas enough for hosting an auction that led me to winning a site designed by a professional web designer, Jodici Belle. I’m so happy with it. I love the colors and the layout. She did a fantastic job. Since I know a bit about web pages, I’ll be updating it on my own, but I’ll be forever grateful to Jodi for creating a wonderful web place for me and future readers!

If you get a chance, please check it out and then leave me a comment here on my blog.

Thanks!

Kris

We bought Wii Fit over the weekend, and it’s a lot of fun. Amazingly enough, though, it has brought out several things:
1. 3 out of 4 of us are fat. No surprise there with myself and my husband, but my seven-year-old thinks he’s overweight since the Wii Fit told him so. I’ve gone as far as said that he can’t play anymore if he doesn’t stop thinking he’s fat. He’s short for his age, and the BMI results don’t mean a thing.
2. We are all very competitive. I thought it was just my oldest son, but playing those games has brought out the wannabe-winner in all of us. The boys – and I mean, all of the boys – want to be 1st in the Ski Slope jump. It’s a balance game to see how far you can jump. I don’t think it’s in the video above, but it is very fun. I have to say that I was tickled a bit when I was in 1st place. But my husband quickly changed my placement. I don’t even think I’m in the top 10 anymore.

So, if you’re looking for a different type of game that gives you a bit of a workout, I suggest the Wii Fit. I especially like the running and stepping!

Kris

Aww….this poor white polar bear is green with envy because his ex-mate hooked up with his best friend.
Just joking – the polar bear took a dip in an algae-infested pool at a zoo in Japan. Crazy.

Saw this on Yahoo! and couldn’t help myself.

Hope all is “green” in your world.
K