Max is styling in the outfit Tawny gave him at my baby shower. I'm so glad she got to see it on him in person. :)
Aunt Tawny and Maxwell
Sad Lola, Tawny, and Max
We took our time and enjoyed the morning. Eventually we got out of the house and met Brittany and her family at the park. Apparently the afternoon of Halloween is a GREAT time to go to the park because we had it all to ourselves.
Lola had a breakdown when we got to the park. She was so upset. She ended up walking off and crying by herself.
In the far distance in the center of the picture you can barely see the garbage cans on the edge of the grass. To the left of the garbage cans is a small dot. That's Lola. That is how far away she went from us to be alone and work through her stuff.
Here's a zoomed up view so that you know she really IS there. Poor girl. She really didn't want to be close to us at all. But luckily we were completely alone and could keep and eye on her without worrying about anyone else.
Peter and Alex playing on the playground
Me swinging with Max. He didn't like it too much.
He wasn't very happy until I fed him. Isn't he cute though?
Not too old to swing (or jump out of the swing)
Landen swinging
Hayden
Lola
The "men" entertained themselves by seeing who could throw a tennis ball the furthest. They did this for awhile. Joe won. Then us girls tried it. I can't even tell you the last time I threw a ball. I psyched myself out. It was pathetic. I am going to have to put some time in practicing so I can not completely embarrass my son. Super-awesome-softball-guru Tawny put Britt and I to shame.
Throwing the ball around must have put the boys in the mood, because afterwards we went to some indoor batting cages. I have never in my life been to a batting cage. I hit one softball at 40 mph and that was enough for me - it hurt! (The last time I hit a ball was probably junior high - over 15 (HOLY COW - 15?!) years ago.
We all had a lot of fun!
Sleeping babies - Max and Landen
Tawny showing us all how to really do it - she was freakin' amazing!
Candy colored tongues
Put me in, coach!
Britt impressed me. Apparently her and Joe have been a few times to the batting cages.
Joe helping Hayden
Peter rockin' a too small helmet
Cutie pie Lola
Max hanging with Momma
Alex ready to strut his stuff
Group picture!
After the batting cages we headed home to get ready for trick-o-treating
Lola was a good witch
Lola and Max in his orange Halloween outfit
So cute! The back of the good witch.
The three trick-or-treaters - - -Lola, Landen, and Hayden
Alex holding Max in his ninja costume
The dads are leading the way and the kids are following
Joe and Monkey Landen
Lola showing off her candy
Hayden the shark showing off his candy
Alex and Peter (Peter's face shows his mood that night)
Me holding Max. Max was NOT happy about trick-or-treating. Eventually I got him to suck on the binkie (miracle) and he went to sleep.
As soon as we got home, Lola dumped out her candy and was so cute about sharing. She would come up and offer something to you without you even having to ask. Max didn't go up to any doors and get candy. Hopefully next year (I look forward to raiding his candy!)
Max was a little happier at home so Peter got some shots of him in his costume.
His fighting stance
He's a FAST ninja!
Fighting off an attack from Lola's dog
Alex and Max
It was a fun Halloween and it was even more fun that we got to spend it with Alex, Tawny, and Lola! We only did 2 streets of trick-or-treating and the streets were pretty empty. You'd have to walk past 4 dark houses to get to 1 with their lights on. Next year we will go to a different neighborhood.
I don't have an exciting adventurous story to go along with this broken foot. That would make it somewhat cool. Nope. I am the idiot that breaks her foot by just walking.
I had just left Brittany's house yesterday after picking up Max after work. I put Max's car seat in the base and was walking around the back of my car to the driver's side. I stepped on a rock or a twig or something that caused my left foot to be uneven and so my foot rolled to the outside and I heard a crack. I knew instantly that it hurt but I hope that I had just twisted it and that it would feel better in a few moments.
During the short drive home it continued to throb and I started to think that something might really be wrong. When I got to our parking garage I loaded Max into the stroller along with all the bags I drag with me everyday (laptop bag, nursing pump bag, diaper bag, purse). I was able to push Max and put a little weight on my foot but I had to go slower and it still hurt. By the time I got to our door I was in a lot of pain and couldn't push the stroller over the threshold.
Once inside I immediately elevated my foot. I took my shoe off and noticed there was already some swelling. Peter brought me some ice and some Advil and I hoped like crazy the pain would start going away. After about 2 hours of deliberating what to do, I was clear that it wasn't going to get better and I needed to go see a doctor. So we loaded poor, tired Max up and headed to an Urgent Care. I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk on it at all to get to the car. I tried to hop but it was too far to go all the way through our hallways to the parking garage so Peter went back and got the rolling office chair and pushed me to our car on that.
Luckily there were no patients at the Urgent Care and they got to me immediately. I really hoped it wasn't broken - I've never broken any bones and up until my C-section, I had never had an stitches or sprains or anything. I hadn't even had my wisdom teeth out. (At the hospital they called my medical history "vanilla" - meaning completely plain). They took X-rays and I waited for the verdict. The doctor came out and asked if I had ever broken anything, I looked at him and said "why, because I have now?" and he said yes.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! My perfect, vanilla medical history has turned into rocky road this year. I fractured my 5th metatarsal.
So I now have a boot on my foot and some crutches because I can't bear any weight on my foot even with the boot. They say it will take 4-6 weeks to heal and I have an appt to see an orthopedic specialist in 2 days. I have pain meds which are okay to take while nursing but prohibit me from driving.
Ugh, it's a mess. I am supposed to go to Arkansas on Friday. There's no way I can walk through airports at this point. I have 98% of my Christmas shopping left to do. I had all these plans of things I want to do like baking and decorating and getting Max's pictures taken. I can't even really go into the office at this point. Then there's my son - I can't carry him around. I can't even push him in the stroller. I certainly can't carry him in his car seat up Brittany's stairs. WHAT BAD TIMING!
So, I will work from home for now. I will try and do my Christmas shopping online. I will discard some of my plans and others I will adjust. I will have to get help from my loving husband and my awesome sister. And thank goodness Kimberly and Kaitlyn will be here in a week.
We had an awesome visit from Peter's brother and his family - Alex, Tawny, and their daughter Lola. But first, some cute pictures of Max. He is getting so big!
Alex and Tawny came to visit on the weekend before Halloween. They were troopers and made the yucky 18 hour drive from Utah. They were so generous and pulled a U-Haul trailer behind their car that was filled with my mom's stuff that Brittany and I wanted from her house. (It was hard for me to see that stuff again when it got here - I teared up quite a few times. It was just another thing off the "to-do" list of tasks to accomplish after Mom's death. The task list is getting shorter and shorter. The only things left are to sell her house and her car. After that, there's nothing left. It's over and done. Completely done. That's going to be really hard.)
It was so fantastic to see them! We were sad that Jaxton and Payton had school and couldn't come but it was fun to spend time with just Lola, too.
As soon as they got here, Lola immediately wanted to hold Max. She will only call him Maxwell. And it is so cute the way she says it. :) I should taken a video of that! Max wasn't too happy at that point but Lola didn't mind.
I love this picture of Alex, Lola and Max. I seriously love it. Max looks so big! He is doing great at holding his head up and sitting up with some help.
My sweet son sleeping
Brittany came over with her boys to visit as well. Landen is really paying attention to Max now. He was so cute and went over to Max sleeping and wanted to touch him. I look over and see him doing what he's doing in the picture. Touching Max softly, with one finger only.
Peter came home from work early so that he wouldn't miss out on the fun. We all headed to Raising Cane's (yummy chicken fingers and texas toast - their menu is like in-n-out in its simplicity but it's chicken fingers instead of burgers) for lunch. Then the women-folk and the kids went shopping for food and then men-folk went to unload the stuff in the U-haul at my house and Britt's house.
Lola and Hayden - instant friends. I love how children make friends so quickly. Why can't we do that as adults?
Alex, Peter, and Max
I LOVE the music they play in Raising Cane's. My kind of stuff. Here's a video of Peter helping Max get his groove on.
Joe,Britt,and Landen
That night we all hung out at my place and enjoyed snack food - veggies and dip, yummy cheese dip and chips, etc
Lola and her daddy
Tawny has a nice camera and got some really sweet pics of Maxwell.
Best buds
The next day Alex, Tawny, and Lola went to visit with some of her family that lives in the area and Peter and I hung out with Max.
Good Morning sweet Max! - movie
Max got some good tummy time in -
He's finally starting to pay attention to his hands. He really loves to eat them. Here's proof -
This sweet boy is sharing more and more smiles everyday. He's becoming more of what I feel safe calling "a happy baby" with the fussing not happening as regularly. Also, if he wakes up rested, he is so happy! (sometimes he wakes up because he has a burp he can't get up and then he wakes unhappy)
Lola really warmed up to Peter this night and had a lot of fun playing with him. Here they are posing nicely:
Now the funny face pose:
Landen is getting so big - pulling himself up all the time and walking along the furniture. He's forcing me to baby proof my house a little earlier than planned, but that's a good thing.
Hayden and Lola playing
I love the calm face of a sleeping baby.
Have I mentioned how awesome Peter is at getting Max to sleep? He's so much more successful at it than I am. So most of the time, Dad is the one putting Max to bed. I really appreciate it.
His eyelashes are getting more noticeable
Just wanting to touch mom while sleeping
Now I'm awake! Hi!
I came out to my car one day, and look what I found on my window. That's right, a Univ of Utah flag. Alex is a fan of Utah (he has a ridiculous tattoo on his leg, proving what a "fan" he is) and we tease each other back and forth since, naturally, I am a born and raised BYU fan. He threatened to buy Max a U of U outfit and I told him if he did, I'd just throw it away. I had to laugh when I saw this - what a punk he is.
On Sunday we went out to the Waffle House for breakfast. Cheap, fast, diner food.
Tawny and Alex
Lola
Peter letting Max sleep on him
Britt and company didn't come over this night so Lola played with Peter:
For dinner that night, we thought we'd introduce our guests to some real Texas, home style, southern cookin'. Plus Lola's B-day was coming up and we needed to celebrate that too! So, we took them to Babe's Chicken House. The food is amazing.
Us
Alex, Lola, and Peter
There is obviously something wrong with this picture. However, it is the perfect visual depiction of what one feels like after eating at Babe's. :) You sort of go into a food coma after all that food. You can't stop yourself from overeating so you feel a little sick and certainly stuffed. And, you wonder how you are going to get from your chair, out of the restaurant, and to your car.
Lola got the birthday girl treatment and got to wear the chicken hat and be sung to.
Here's a video of the event - she was so cute about it. She didn't quite understand she needed to do some chicken dancing. She just sort of sat there, taking it in, and trying not to move her head so that the big chicken hat wouldn't fall off.
Holding her head so that the hat didnt' come off
That night Alex gave me a facial with the new NuSkin machine thingy-that-I-can't-remember-what-it's-called-but-is-supposed-to-be-awesome. Cracked me up to have tough little Alex doing the girly facial thing. (He did a great job by the way.)
The last full day of their visit was Halloween, which deserves its own post. It was sooooooo great to have them here. We enjoyed every minute of it. It's great to have family around and have them love on Max. Overall, we didn't do too many "things", we just enjoyed each other's company and visited. I love visits like that. I wish we could see our far away family more often. It's time someone invented a form of travel that is both quicker and cheaper than flying.
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
