Cousins and Uncles

Cousins and Uncles
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Holy Crap but my last post was lame! Tedious, boring, dull dull dull!

Let me tell you what the Maynard household was like last night. I'm driving home from work, and as I'm about to turn off into our subdivision, I get a text message from Jon: "BRING BEER". So I turn around and head towards Decatur.

Just inside the city limit is a classic gas station/liquor store combination. As I'm paying for my 12-pack of Michelob Light, the owner of the store gives me a free beer. It's a Budweiser Select in one of those aluminum bottles. I guess they aren't selling very well if they have to give them away, but hey a free beer is a free beer.

I get home and I'm greeted by the wail of a 9-month old and the anguished look of a frazzled father. Brenden needed a hug, a bottle, and a diaper change. Then I fed him dinner which consisted of diced chicken (thighs are the best - more flavor plus they don't taste like pencil shavings if you overcook them) and green beans plus the occasional goldfish cracker. I help him eat, as well as chase the cats off (they are eyeing his diced chicken) while I work on my aluminum beer.

Once he's happy (and I'm working on a Michelob), I wash out the aluminum bottle and give it to Brenden. He is absolutely thrilled as he cruises around the room and bonks objects with his new bottle. I have noticed (as many parents have before me) that a child's interest in a toy is inversely proportional to the amount of money spent on it.

Dad & Son

Dad & Son
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Letter to Brenden Month 9
So I'm only 3 weeks late. It's been a hectic Month! This one is going to be short, too.

Brenden, honey - you are still developing at a rapid pace. We have pretty much stopped feeding you baby food, except for some of the fruits. When I change your diapers, you vaccilate between fighting like mad with me and laying still, all happy, with your legs up in the air.

You are cruising pretty well. You can almost make a full circuit of the living room by holding onto things. Matter of fact, you are starting to get bored with just the living room. I hope it turns warm pretty soon, so I can spend some of our weekend afternoons keeping you from eating bugs outside.

Most of all I love how you are starting to sleep through the night. You wake me up occasionally with a 'WHAAA!' but you settle back down pretty fast.

You are so huggable, hon. Don't grow up too fast, ok?

Happy

Happy
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Cutting my teeth on bars
And rusty chains, I’m gonna break my
Rusty cage and run


Now lets see how many hits I get because of Soundgarden. Anyway, here's a pic of el jefe when he was in the hospital earlier this month. As you can see his disposition was unaffected.

Here are my reviews I haven't linked to:

Corpse Bride
Class of 1984
Pulse
Pride & Prejudice
Good Night, and Good Luck.

Some of the grammar and syntax errors really make me cringe. I have been in a hurry lately, as is the editing staff (they are overworked, I am running after my kid).

I am reviewing Everything is Illuminated next - all I know about it is a hobbit stars and that creepy guy from Phantoms directed it.

Ed's Tag

Ed's Tag
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I truly need to start posting more. I have kept writing reviews for Cinemablend but I have been too lazy to post links. I shall do that shortly.

My brother has finally unloaded his Atlanta house and will be moving up to Andover, Massachusetts at the end of this month. That sucks, the skydiving is much better in this part of the country! I wish him and his wife, Jen, well in the People's Republic of Taxachusetts.

Alabamastan is a much better place to live! Unless you want a beer or a sex toy.

And now for a slightly melancholic moment and brief movie review:

When Johnny Cash died I recall making the comment that he must not have wanted to keep fighting because his wife had died. That was just a romantic notion on my part; I knew just enough about Johnny and June to know their romance was legendary.

I finally saw Walk the Line last week and I now wonder if my comment wasn't more true than I believed. If you go by the movie, Johnny Cash was a weak man who just desintigrated when his first marriage went to hell. The pills didn't help either.

I saw Ray and a lot of people have commented on the similarities to the story. The biggest difference of course was that Ray Charles had a very tough streak in him and that's what pulled him through his problems.

If Walk the Line told the truth, if June Carter (and her family) hadn't helped Johnny Cash, we would have lost that legend a *lot* earlier than we did.

The thing I admire most about Ray Charles is his strength. The thing I admire most about Johnny Cash is June Carter Cash. No wonder he passed away only four months after she did.

I can't watch Cash's video for his cover of 'Hurt' without bursting into tears.

Brenden's First Blog Entry

outdoors
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

; jj z] nmoiy79 gy yiuoi;puok fgcxff

Feeding

feeding
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Wow, have *I* been slack!

This week has been pretty hectic - about a month ago I noticed a bump under Brenden's skin when I changed his diaper. I thought it was odd, but it was small so I ignored it.

It remained there, about the same size, but he is due for his 9-month well-baby checkup this coming Monday so I thought I'd point it out to his pediatrician then.

Monday night, howerer, I noticed it had gotten appreciably bigger, so I took him to the doc on Tuesday. She was as puzzled as I was. It wasn't red, and it didn't bother B too much when we poked at it, so she ordered some blood work and made an appointment for us with a pediatric surgeon.

Jon took him to this appointment on Wednesday afternoon. The surgeon took one look at B's bump then at his blood work - his white blood cell count was pretty high - and told Jon to get B admitted to the hospital.

Pook kid was put under and they drained and cleaned what turned out to be an abcess. We had fought mighty hard with diaper rash for a while until a local lady told us about Boudreax's Butt Paste. Yeah, silly name, but that cleared his rash up. Unfortunately the rash had gotten bad enough that he had open sores at one point. Open sores + poop = nothing good.

We got out of the hospital this morning. He was kept on an I.V. for the administration of antibiotics - plus we were there for so long becuase they wanted to rule out a staph infection (staphylococcus aureus - there's words to strike fear in any parents' hearts!).

Turns out it was plain old e. coli.

Brenden did a phenomenal job of staying confined to a hospital crib for 2 + days. Apparently (and I'm totally projecting here) he inherited some of my easygoingness along with his dad's charm and exuberance.

So anyway, I owe a Letter Month 9 which I hope to get to soon. Brenden is currently tearing up our computer room so I know he's none the worse for wear.