Just a typical morning...

My day starts by waking to the sun...or son usually. He wakes me up for a position change. I roll him over and will him back to sleep for a few more minutes so I can properly open my eyes to fully awake before starting the day.

I check email and around on the web. Change Max's pants, as he's woken again. I roll him back over for a longer rest this time, and I get in the shower.

When I've finished my 20 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time, I comb my hair so it doesn't dry funny, put on my uniform, jeans and tshirt, and go change Max's pants again. I change his clothes, and tell him what he's doing for the day. I brush his teeth, rub his furry little head, and stretch his arms and legs. I give him the first 3 medicines of the day, and chase them with water. I wonder if the bandana is too babyish, but know his classmates will ask more questions about why his shirt is wet, than why he's wearing a bandana like a cowboy.

I change his pants once more, and look for his shorts. I can't find a single pair so he's going without for now. I pick him up out of his bed, and give him a hug. He falls back asleep, his warm furry hair nestled on my neck. We sit there for a few minutes, but soon I pick him up and bring him to his chair in the living-room.

I have opened Olive's crate well before now, but she's still not awake. Each time I walk into the room she looks at me, as if to ask why I'm bothering her sleep. I search for shorts again, but still don't find them.

I measure, make, and mix all of Max's food for the day. 660 ounces of water, 4.5 cans of formula, 10 tablespoons of one powder, 5 of the other. Mix all together, shake, and pour into 400ml feeding. I prime him feeding pump, and set it to feed him over an hour.

By this time Abbey is awake and asking how I slept last night, and waiting to be asked the same. She kisses Max, and asks him if he's slept well. I let her know he did, and he's excited to start school today. I also let her know that it is HER first day of school as well, since enrollment has gone through, and she can begin 8th grade. She's equally excited, and runs upstairs to shower.

I go back in the bedroom to look for shorts...where on earth are all of his shorts? I brush my teeth and put my hair in a hair-tie to try to tame the fly-aways. I try to coax Olive out of her bed, but she's defiant. Silly dog.

I start a couple of crumpets to toast, and sit down to see what my day holds on the computer. I've readjusted Max 4 times so far, as he's not one to stay put once he's awake. I have 15 minutes to eat my crumpets, make and give him the rest of his medicine, and get him set up in his wheelchair before his speech therapist gets here, and he starts with Skype School. I'll get Abbey set up on her online school, and help with therapy and school for Max.

Oh, and I found his shorts.

Bountiful...

Our garden has only just started to take off. I was excited this afternoon to see Max's pumpkins finally starting to flower. I don't know that we'll get the giant ones this year that we had last year, but hopefully we'll get a couple of orange gourds for his birthday!
But, even with a late bounty, it's been some good eats for sure!

We have just one week left of summer break. Max starts school on Monday, and he's excited for it! I'm trying to fit in a bit more fun for this last week before the schedule blows up with school. Max got to meet his classroom teacher yesterday, and he'll meet his homebound teacher tomorrow.

I'm afraid that's about as exciting as it's getting around here. Hopefully we'll have more fun through the week to share by the weekend.

The Animal Fair

I went to the animal fair...the birds and the beasts were there. Anyone else remember that song from school days? I had it in my head all Saturday morning, as we headed out to the Denver County Fair. It was the first one, which seems strange considering so many surrounding counties have had them for many years.

As I was reading up on the fair, I saw that there were 'walk in' competitions, including knitting. Abbey was excited to submit the scarf she worked on this summer.



She didn't win the main prize, but she did an amazing job on it. Especially for her second attempt at knitting anything. I think if she keeps it up, she'll get the blue ribbon next year!

Here she is with her knitting coach, Lauren.



We walked around the pavilions and checked out all the weird fair things...like the freak show. Yes, a real freak show. Thank goodness it was their lunch break, because I didn't care anything about seeing fella stick a drill up his nose, or lay on nails, or have a bazillion piercings. Abbey was sorely disappointed she didn't get to see all of that. And Max was his own side show as all of the "freaks" that were in there stopped to stare at him, which gave us all a chuckle.

Once we made it out of there, we headed back to the animals. The part I was most excited about, and the part I thought Max would enjoy the most.

We saw llamas, or alpacas...I don't remember which.



A falcon that wasn't on nearly long enough of a leash for my liking, so I stayed far back and let Steve snap the pictures!



Hairy goats that made me reconsider fainting goats as the only type of goat I wanted.





Lots of unique chickens and roosters.





Max likes their hairdo.



A smiling horse. Oh yes it is!





A donkey I tried to take home with me.



And a chicken to pet.



All in all, it was a fun outing. I think we might have to find a time to head out to the Urban Farm in Stapleton for Max to get up close to the animals that were there. It was way too crowded and not wheelchair friendly to take him inside the petting area. But, I think he'd love to pet the horses and let a goat eat from his hands.