…and took a sudden, drastic slidingdownthemountainatfullspeedwithnobrakes turn for the worse.

Had a regular crazy busy day on Monday, a fantastic massage on Tuesday at Garden City Hotel and a regular busy Wednesday. Thursday I spent the day in the city at the PhotoPlus Expo at Javits, walking the floor checking out all of the fun photography toys and products. I also took 2 classes, one of which was with my favorite photographer ever, Jasmine Star. Totally great and so motivational. Came home and it all fell apart. Shoulda just stayed in the city I think.

John got hit in the shin with a line drive (from the biggest 12 year old on the team who regularly hits homeruns over the fence) at batting practice about 2 weeks ago and it has since turned into cellulitis. He had it once before- after getting hit in the shin at batting practice by the biggest 11 year old on the team who regularly hits homeruns over the fence- are you sensing a theme here yet?) back in the spring. Apparently, if you have cellulitis once it has a very, very high rate of reccurance. So there you go. He had been on oral antibiotics since earlier in the week for it, but when I got home from the city and took a look at his leg, I knew he had to go to the hospital right away. His whole leg was hugely swollen, rashy all around,  and a very angry shade of red. So off he went to the ER and they admitted him. Of course, there were 31 patients in the holding area and no beds available so he was in the ER overnight until about 2pm on Friday. Last time, the oral antibiotics worked mostly and when there was no further improvement he went to the ER and they gave him one dose of IV antibiotics and sent him home. Which totally worked. But this time it’s so bad he has to have multiple IV treatments every day. And there is currently no release date for him. As you can see, we are both thrilled by this news.

I was at the hospital 3 separate times on Friday to visit John and drop off stuff and pick up John’s car. Good times. At least he has the big, private room at the end of the hall with the big private bathroom. And the other selling point was that we didn’t have FOX at home on Cablevision since they were in a price war, but John had it in the hospital so he could watch the game. We’ve since regained FOX so now it’s not so special.

Some ugly rashy pictures to follow. Beware. (this is MUCH improved from how it looked on Thursday night) It goes from his knee to his ankle and all the way around the leg. Plus theres some on the other ankle as a bonus. The pen lines are drawn on by the doctors to make sure it isn’t spreading further.

Ok, so if that wasn’t enough for me to deal with (plus canceling all my shoots for Saturday), Jack was pitching today for their very last game of the season (he and Patrick both got great hits in the 1st few innings of the game). The batter hit a line drive (sensing more of a theme here, people??) right into Jack’s head. He went down like a ton of bricks. The coaches all raaaaaaan out to the mound as did all the kids on both teams. They always tell the moms to wait and not run out and I resisted running my ass out there. That was really hard. All I could think is that I couldn’t go to the hospital anymore. He was moving so that was a good sign. I did eventually get the okay to go out and see him and he seemed okay (checked those pupils and they were equal) but said he was dizzy and that his head hurt. He finished pitching the inning and made a great play so I wasn’t crazy worried, just regular worried. I called the pediatrician and they said to take him to a local pediatric urgent care so we wouldn’t have to wait 4hrs in the ER (and really, no more hospital is good for me). They were great at the urgent care place- had us wait an hour to observe him and he seemed to be improving so they sent us home with instructions on what to watch for and if any of those things show up, that I had to bring him to the ER immediately. The only problem with that is that they said if he’s falling down a lot and being forgetful it’s a possible sign of a big problem. Yeah, but this is the kid who has so far this year: fallen off a moving treadmill in gym, fallen off the chorus risers, fallen out of his chair in class just switching positions, lost his folder (his major important folder) no fewer than 4 times, lost his Oakleys, and lost his sweatshirt (all of which did eventually turn up). So how exactly do I tell if he’s suffering from traumatic brain injury, or just being Jack?

Jack with his icepack on the couch.

So, he’s the proud owner of a mild concussion. So he’s taken some Motrin and iced his head and I woke him up several times during the night to make sure he’s okay. Poor Patrick was losing his mind out on the field when Jack got hurt. I think he thought he was dead. My pilates trainer happened to be at the game too-her son was on the opposing team- and she SO generously offered to take Patrick and Timmy  to her house so I could take Jack to the UC place. She fed them dinner (and Jack too since we came back just as they were sitting down to eat). I owe you big Karen! I think the trick-or-treating will be at a real minimum for Jack tomorrow and I have to call the dr. to find out the deal for gym next week.

He was pretty psyched to tell all his friends and his baseball trainer that he has a mild concussion. Like a badge of honor. And as if I needed ANY other reasons to loathe baseball? Between him and John this week, I’m done.

DONE!!!!!! There is not enough sushi, carvel, pretty sparkly things, wine, Xanax or massages that could make this into a faint memory anytime soon. And John’s still not home, and Jack still has a concussion. Happy effin Halloween.

Ok, I’m so behind on my personal posts so I’m going to try to catch up on them over the weekends. For now anyway, until the fall sessions start piling up and I can only post client pictures 7 days a week. I’m so far behind that I haven’t blogged stuff from our trip to Jamaica in May or the end of the school year stuff.

So anyway, here are a few shots from the big boys baseball camp they went to the last week of June/first week of July. Enjoy your weekend!

The fishing trip that isn’t a fishing trip. At all. It’s actually a softball game and a BBQ down in Pt. Lookout (Mayberry on the beach, where I’d love to live). But it’s so much fun and it’s always great to see lots of family all together in the same place.

Hold on cause there are a TON of photos.

The whole ‘team’.  Front row: Timmy, Aidan, George Bailey, Sean, Brendan, Jack, Patrick. Middle row: Brendan, Kevin, Danny. Back row: Grandpa Jack, Bobby, Tim, John, Uncle Gerry, Uncle ThatGuy (Thomas), Billy, George, James, Joe, Gail.

Timmy’s godfather and crazy Uncle That Guy. The boys were wearing their uniforms cause they had to leave early for a game. Thank goodness they are on the same team- cause when they  are playing against eachother, it’s sorta war.My sister in law Inez and my cousin in law Tricia. So sad that George, Tricia, George Bailey and Emma are moving to North Carolina in less than 2 weeks- totally going to miss them. But I know George and I will continue to IM on FB at 2am. And the funny thing is that they are moving about 10 minutes away from my high school friend down there. Everytime Timmy was up at bat (and I think he ended up batting for both teams) it was automatically a home run. Even if it wasn’t. You know, you get thirsty out there in the outfield.Aunt Cathy (who’s house it is in Pt. Lookout that I want to have) and Uncle Gerry who I spent a lot of time talking photography with. And yes, I’m his favorite.Uncle Gerry with his monopod and new camera (he looks pretty professional, right?!) and Billy (who you may recognize from the blog and also from the NewYork NY sports “ball buster” commercial. Yes, beer and cigarette at first base.

Big boys on their way with John to their game. Brothers. More brothers. This picture is just SO twins. They have the same expression, same stance. And if the game wasn’t enough baseball to get your fill, there’s always more in the street after dinner. Aunt Nez loves the babies. The game ball. 

Seriously. It’s all they do these days. 3 games a week plus practice with Coach Bryan. But they love it and it’s all good. A few pictures from a recent away game.

Patrick had his pitching debut for the summer team. He did pretty well- I think he even surprised himself!Jack at 1st. 

So, so close.Making the catch. This was how Timmy started and ended the game. He had that nasty Coxsackie virus this week but was pretty much over it by this game. Except for the catching up on the sleeping. And those eyes? Omg.  This was the one game I photographed this year at the ‘urging’ of Coach Healy. As in he guilted me into it. But it was fun. Going to have to take some shots at another game soon. Somehow, I’m sure the opportunity will arise.