Head Shot, Part 2

For my friends who have vasovagal syncope -- or those of you who are just squeamish -- you should probably stop reading this post. Check back on J-Fest 2011 or some cute photo of Pippi until we're done here.

For the rest of you -- those who need a reminder to wear a hat or want to scare the hell out of motivate your kids to put on the sunscreen -- here's the latest on my head wound.

As you may recall, I had a basal cell removed from my forehead nine week ago. Nine.

After the surgery, it looked like this with the stitches in it:

Now, after some repair surgery for some granular something or other that was preventing it from healing properly followed by major face swelling and then a staph infection plus two weeks of antibiotics (plus the, ahem, usual infection that goes along with two weeks of antibiotics) and Duoderm, it looks like this:

And in case you're wondering, my skin surgeon put a bandage back on it right after she took that picture for me. The sad news is that this photo looks a lot better than the crater I was peering at last week.

So yes, that's another week of a bandage on my head that can't get wet. Another week of my sweet husband washing my hair in the sink for me. Another week of walking around with a big white circle on the corner of my forehead that makes everyone look at me like I just might be a lost amnesia victim.

Sigh. At least I have cute hats.
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J-Fest 2011: Blog Post Retrospective

A lot happens around here in the course of a year. So it's great to have the blog to look back through things we've already forgotten.

Today Junius is officially six. As in, closer to 10 than birth. I suspect that if I blink slowly, I'll open my eyes to discover that he's 16. Gulp.

Here, for your reading pleasure in chronological order, are five of my favorite Junius posts (plus one to grow on) from the past year...

1. First Day of Kindergarten (Aug. 4, 2010): The backpack looked so big and he looked so little. But he wasn't nearly as emotional about the day as his mommy was.
2. Carolina Hurricanes Bring on the Fun (Sept. 19, 2010): Junius has turned out to be quite the serious hockey fan. Thankfully, there's a lot of fun that comes along with that.
3. You've Got a Friend in Junius (Jan. 31, 2011): One of my proudest moments during the school year wasn't about Junius' academic performance.
4. The F-Word (April 5, 2011): Junius is a bit of a tattle-tale. But sometimes, his tattling is hilarious -- like in this episode about his sister's language.
5. Sign That Summer Is Coming (May 13, 2011): Junebug + friend + slip-n-slide = summer. It's good times in the front yard.
6. Hair (June 14, 2011): Juni and I both got lots of cool points for this one. We also had to buy new hair product.

Happy birthday, Junius! May the coming year be just as amazing!

Click these links for favorite posts from Junius' 5th birthday and 4th birthday. And feel free to share your favorite Junius story in the comments below.
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J-Fest 2011: Celebrate Good Times

Junius takes after his mom when it comes to celebrating birthday -- counting down for months in advance and then extending the party as long as humanly possible. And why shouldn't we? No matter how old you get, having a birthday is always better than the alternative, so you might as well make it worthwhile.

If you thought that J-Fest was just a blogging activity, you'd be wrong. We've actually been celebrating Junius and his birthday in various ways since the last week of June. Not cake and candles every day, but doing a variety of things specially for him.

Here are five ways Junius is celebrating his 6th birthday:

1. Cupcakes at school: Even though he goes to a year-round elementary school, he's still tracked out in July. So we took cupcakes to share with his classmates on the last day of school -- he got to wear the birthday crown and have everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him in the cafeteria.
2. Touring the museum: Junius loves a museum. I'm not always sure why, but I think it just seems a little exotic to him. So on July 4th, we took our patriotic selves downtown to the NC Museum of History -- armed with an activity pack from the front desk, we explored our state's history from the American Indians to the NC Sports Hall of Fame (including a look at Richard Petty's race car).
3. Camping at the beach:We took our first family-of-four camping trip at the beach this week (see photo, with more posts to come next week). Junius has been begging for all of us to go, so this seemed like the perfect time to grant his request. We also came home a little earlier than planned, so Junius and I snuck in some free bowling at Sparians, a bonus trip to Marbles and a lunch date at Bruegger's.
4. Sleepover with "cousins": One of our most favorite families recently moved away, but they're making the trip back to town for our celebrations. That means we get a bonus party with Ms. B and our fake cousins, who will be spending the night at our house. Hoping he enjoys the sleepover with pretty girls when he's six because it won't be happening when he's turning 16.
5. Movie party with friends: The official party on his official day will include taking Junius and his closest friends to see Cars 2 at the movie theater. Nothing like a row full of 6-year-old boys and girls to make a movie extra entertaining. And of course, there will be cake -- which Junius and I are attempting to make together for the first time. (Yikes.)

Hope your birthday celebrations are just as awesome! And if you've missed the first few days of J-Fest 2011, check out these posts:

• Mr. Big Stuff
• Decisions He Made
• A Few of His Favorite Things

J-Fest 2011: A Few of His Favorite Things

One of the funny things about having kids is watching them turn into people. As in, actual people with their own opinions and attitudes about everything on the planet.

I realize this might seem blindingly obvious, but somehow it startled me when Junius didn't like the clothes I picked for him. Or when he'd refuse to eat something that I knew for a fact to be delicious because he had decided he didn't like it.

What I'm most curious about is to see which of his opinions stick and which ones evolve over his lifetime. So in order to capture what he liked best as a five year-old (or at least on this particular day), here's a list of favorites according to Junius:

1. Favorite sport: Hockey
   This one I could have guessed. Ever since his dad took him to his first Hurricanes game, Junius can't get enough of hockey -- whether he's watching live, watching TiVo or playing in the driveway.
2. Favorite place: Beach
   Genetically speaking, there's no chance he could have preferred anywhere else. Thank goodness we didn't cancel each other and give birth to a mountain boy instead.
3. Favorite toy: Cars cars
   For those of you without little boys, that means his collection of toy cars from the movie "Cars." He has at least four different Lightning McQueens, plus an assortment of everyone else.
4. Favorite color: Dark blue
   This one I'm questioning. I think his favorite color is actually red, but perhaps he's picking dark blue just to annoy me. At least he doesn't have a Duke t-shirt.
5. Favorite food: Hot dogs
   I know they're not the world's healthiest food, but they're damn tasty -- especially grilled or served at a baseball game. He likes his with ketchup and a bun.

Tomorrow find out about all our celebrations during J-Fest 2011 as we prepare for the big day!

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J-Fest 2011: Decisions He Made

We're celebrating Junius all week as he turns 6!

Again, that's six years old, people. Crazy stuff -- and it means he can do all sorts of cool things that he couldn't do when he was a preschooler, including making more of his own decisions.

Sometimes that's hard for me to let go of, but it's also fun to watch him figure out what matters. And it's interesting to see when he has strong opinions about something that I wouldn't have predicted.

Here are five decisions he started making on his own over the past year:

1. Getting dressed: If left to his own devices, Junius would wear all red most days -- as in, red basketball shorts and a red hockey t-shirt. For variety, he'd add his blue/yellow basketball jersey. This makes me crazy, so we came up with a deal. On Monday through Thursday, he has to wear a collared shirt to school (although most days I let him pick which one) and on Fridays he can pick what he wants. It's not always fashionable, but it mattered to him.
2. Making breakfast: Because Junius wakes up like an alarm clock stuck on 6 a.m., my husband had the great idea of teaching him to make his own breakfast. Now he picks out his cereal, toast or English muffin (most days) and gets himself fed before school.
3. Riding the bus: Although it made us a little a jittery to imagine our little kindergartner on the bus with 5th graders, Junius really wanted to ride the bus home from school each day. Thankfully, our 3rd-grade friend was also on the bus, so we said yes. I have no idea why he liked riding the bus, but he did -- and it was nice that Pippi and I didn't have to sit in carpool during what used to be her naptime.
4. Playing hockey: As native North Carolinians, my husband and I were probably most likely to encourage Junius to play basketball or soccer or swim team. But the kid loves hockey, so he's decided to learn how to skate this summer so that he can start learning to play hockey in the fall. We're bracing for cold days sitting in the stands, but we'll be there to cheer his choice.
5. Halloween costume: Last Halloween was the first year Junius decided on his costume entirely on his own. And interestingly enough, he ended up choosing two -- Batman and Spiderman. Guess my days of suiting him up in adorable animal costumes are long over.

In some ways these seem like small decisions, but it's a step. A little bit of control over his own young life. And before we know it, he'll be deciding on summer jobs and college tours and all sorts of big fat hairy deals -- hopefully getting in some practice early will help in the long run.

J-Fest 2011: Mr. Big Stuff

Junius turns six this week. That means it's time for J-Fest 2011!

Did I mention he's (gasp) six?

He's changed so much in the past year -- although I sometimes miss his little, round baby self, it's absolutely incredible watching him grow up. 

So rather than write about how ridiculous it is that he seems so big, I'm going to give you a list of really cool new accomplishments of the past year.

1. Reading: My boy can read. Not in a jump-into-a-novel-totally-fluent kind of way, but in a understand-that-sign-and-read-to-my-sister kind of way. As a book geek, I'm in complete and total love with watching him read.
2. Writing: Not only can he read, he's also learning to spell. He writes the sweetest notes, like "I luve you Mommy" and "My dad is the best." Clearly he's on the path to a great career in marketing and public relations.
3. Math: After school one day, Junius came home and asked me, "Mom! Did you know? That if you take two? And add another two? You get FOUR?!" He was amazed at the concept and I still grin when I watch him calculate.
4. Basketball/Baseball: Junius participated in his first two team sports this year -- winter basketball  and spring baseball. It's possible that his favorite part was the uniforms (he's still wearing that basketball jersey), but he worked hard, learned a lot and joined his teams with a smile.
5. TiVo remote: Okay, I realize I'm admitting one of my less-than-stellar parenting techniques with this one, but the fact that Junius can operate our TiVo remote has revolutionized mornings at our house. Both kids wake up at 6 a.m. Every. Single. Day. So if Junius can come downstairs with Pippi, get their milk cups out of the fridge and find an age-appropriate show via TiVo, Netflix Instantly or general television, that buys us an extra 30 minutes in bed. 

More J-Fest 2011 lists will be coming the rest of the week -- hope you enjoy celebrating with us! For his official birth announcement press release, click here.

Friday's 5: Selecting Hats

Because I can't seem to make my wound heal any faster (turns out I've got a staph infection, so I'm taking an antibiotic FOUR TIMES A DAY FOR TEN DAYS), I'm focusing now on how to prevent any more skin damage. I've decided it's finally time to embrace the hat.

So I ordered five hats from Zappos. Just as Zappos' return policy is genius for online shoe ordering, it is equally brilliant for selecting hats. Now I need some advice from you on which ones to keep. But first, a few caveats...

• I took these photos myself, which was a little tricky given how big the brims are on some of these hats. My arms are long, but they're not Inspector-Gadget-long or anything.
• With the lump of bandage on my forehead, I can't get the hats all the way down on my enormous head. And when I try to do it anyway, it hurts. We'll just have to pretend for now.
• Looking at pictures of myself is one of my least favorite activities. Let's just focus on the hats, shall we?

And here, in order of brim size (more or less), are the hats:

1. Lightweight bucket hat: I love the super lightweight fabric on this hat -- some kind of magical Columbia sportswear fabric. The brim is smaller in the back, so it doesn't bump against my neck. And if I could actually pull it down on my forehead, I think it will give more shade in the front. Is the color too bright? Or cute and summery? Maybe hard to tell online.

2. Big brim bucket hat: I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, this hat is going back. It looks so terrible on my that I couldn't even get a decent picture. It's too shallow and won't sit down far enough on my big ol' head, even without the bandage. A shame, really, because it seems very pack-able.

3. Taupe ribbon hat: I had high hopes for this hat, but it just doesn't seem right. Not sure why, but I couldn't get it to bend evenly  so that it would sit straight. But the little ribbon lines are very cute, so maybe it's worth trying?

4. Tan ribbon hat: Much easier to bend than #3, this hat is very light and has a bendable wire edge to help it hold its shape. But is the color too light for my pale skin?

5. XL brim brown hat: This hat is so big that I honestly wasn't sure I could capture it all in the picture -- it shades not only my face, but also my entire shoulders. When I put it on the first time, Pippi stopped in her tracks and said breathlessly, "Mommy! That hat is FANCY!" I want to believe it's very Audrey Hepburn, but someone else in my house (who will remain nameless) made sombrero references when I pulled it out of the box. Too much? Or just the sort of glamour my poor head needs?

Okay, readers -- help me out here. What do I keep and what do I return? Or if you've got better hat options I should consider, leave me some links in the comments.
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