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The middle of December

The middle of December was pretty calm and quiet.  Not much happened since I barely left my bed.

We did go to Peter's work Christmas party.  I really enjoy the people he works with and had a lot of fun.  Also, now that I know everyone better, I enjoyed myself much more than last year.  (It wasn't bad last year but because I didn't really know people I just sat there quietly.)  I just sat on the couch with my foot up while everyone brought the food and goodies to me.  We re-gifted the white elephant gift we got last year.  It's a smaller version of the leg lamp in "A Christmas Story".  I've held onto that thing all year and kept the box where I wouldn't see it frequently and not forget about it.  When we took it, I was a little worried that people might think we were totally lame for bringing it back and re-gifting it.  However, when it was opened during the game, it got a good, long laugh - SCORE!  The gift we took home this year was great.  We brought home some lights that go on your fingers.  Max is going to love watching those on our fingers.

Since I was unable to do it, Peter was now in charge of bath time.  Up to this point, I was always the one taking the lead on Max's bath time so it was tough to pass the baton.  :(  This broken foot has caused me to miss out on many of the things that I used to do with Max.  I know it's not going to be that way forever but for the first couple weeks it was really hard on me because I felt like I never really got quality time with Max other than when he was nursing or laying on my bed (which he didn't like for very long).  So even though I was around him, I missed him a bunch.

Max getting his first bath from only dad.  (I had to sneak into the bathroom and watch - I couldn't bear to stay in the front room away from the action.)

All clean!

Have you met my chubby baby? :)

Max hanging out on mom's bed

Peter all ready to take Max to Brittany's since I couldn't take him over there (I wasn't driving at this point) but also couldn't take care of him while I worked from home.

Britt and Joe were great about coming over to visit since getting up to their apartment on the second floor wasn't in the cards for awhile...

Maxwell and his uncle Joe

I just love this face - especially his dimple!

Sweetly sleeping

We had some cold days so it was fun to break out the "winter" clothes and bundle up Max.

It's been fun to watch the difference in how Max plays as he gets older.  He's now a pro at grabbing onto the toys when he's on his mat.  He likes to bring them to his mouth, of course.  He still doesn't like the mirror very much and he ends up crying if he looks at it too long (he doesn't like looking at the mean baby in the mirror).  He's also started liking to keep his legs in the air with his feet together.  Here, you can watch it happen...

Hayden loves Max and always wants to give him kisses. He shows concern for Max and is a great cousin.

Max loves Hayden right back

Here's a video of Hayden playing with Max. 

Max finally grew too big for the Size 1 diapers so we moved up to Size 2. 

Before I broke my foot, I had plans to have a girl's baking day with a couple co-workers just like we did last year - you can read about it here.  After I broke it though, I thought I'd have to cancel.  When the day came, I decided to just make it work.  My friend Jana wasn't able to come so it was just me, Lori, and her family.  Lori wanted Max to come too so Peter drove me over there and then Lori got Max.  I was nervous about how he'd do, especially since I wasn't able to walk around with him or do much with him if he started getting upset.  Overall he did well - he enjoyed having the kids sing Christmas songs to him and handing him his rattle.  He watched a little football with Lori's husband and Lori rocked him to sleep when he got tired (with her oven vent fan on, of course since my boy is so dependant on that white noise).  Since I had my crutches, we weren't as ambitious as last year with what we made.  I sat at the table and dipped pretzels, cake balls, and decorated mini cakes while Lori made some snickerdoodles.  

Max and Lori's son, Austin

I had a great time, and loved getting out of the house after being cooped up for a week, except for the one trip to the doctor's office.  Plus it was fun to see Lori's family coo over Max and play with him.  I'm glad he's getting bigger and less fussy. 

Once I was out, I wanted to stay out, so we tested my scooter out at retail.  We hit Babies R Us and it was certainly better than using my crutches.  I could cruise around quickly and the scooter was pretty nimble as long as I didn't need to make any sharp turns or turn around.  I also felt good that I was able to get a little of Christmas shopping done. 

Max is sucking on his fingers/hands all the time.  This 3-finger version makes me laugh.

Another fun thing Max has started doing is he likes to make noises while we are singing to him.  To me, it seems like he is trying to sing along.  It's super cute.  I tried to capture it on video but of course once the camera comes out, Max stopped doing it as much.  I got a little bit though - - -

Foot update

Me, my boot, and my crutches

So it's now been 4 weeks since I broke my foot.  Here's what's happened since I last blogged about it  (click here to read that blog...)

Here's a picture of my x-ray.  It's kinda hard to see in this format, but I promise.  It's a broken bone.  :)

My foot in the boot, on the way home from the Urgent Care the night that I broke it

A picture of my swollen foot the morning after I broke it

I went to see the orthopedic specialist 3 days after I broke my foot.  That morning my pain had lessened to where I was able to hobble around a little without using the crutches.  It still hurt a little and the going was slow but I could do it.  I was encouraged and looking forward to hearing what the doctor said.  He looked at my x-rays and agreed with the diagnosis of the urgent care doctor.  I had a "Metaphysical fracture at the base of the fifth metatarsal".  However, he didn't echo what the urgent care doc said regarding recovery.  He said absolutely ZERO weight on my foot for the next 3 weeks.  And then he said that the average recovery time for this injury is 8 weeks.  He wanted to push a hard cast on it but I told him I'd be a super patient and wouldn't walk on it even though it was in the aircast/boot.  At least with the boot I could take it off to take a bath or scratch an itch!  He agreed, showed me how a fungus was growing on my foot because I was sweating in the boot (and then taught me how to avoid that), told me to take lots more calcium and vitamin D, and that he'd see me in 3 weeks. 

I left that appointment feeling awful and completely discouraged.  Zero weight on it?  For 3 weeks?  I couldn't even get to my car easily on crutches let alone anywhere else.  Plus, now my total recovery time had basically doubled (plus the doc said I may need some physical therapy).  Even Peter taking me out for Mexican food after the appointment didn't help my mood. 

I struggled for about the next 2 weeks not to be completely distraught and overwhelmed by this injury.  I felt like I needed help to do everything.  I was able to work from home through the end of the year.  My boss was great and let me do whatever I needed to do to take care of myself.  But I was lonely being home.  Max went to Brittany's every day because even though I was home, I wasn't able to take care of him.  Most of the time I just stayed in bed with my laptop.  Peter was super helpful but understandably is annoyed with the situation.  Brittany and then Kimberly, when she came to town, have been so very helpful.  They have helped cook, clean, do laundry, watch Max, run errands, shop for Christmas presents, tidy before the house cleaners got here, etc. 

I have also been blessed with love from my friends.  The day after I broke my foot my friends Tida and Jess brought me lunch.  They also offered to help me get out of the house and do some shopping but I turned them down with the excuse of needed to work (which I DID need to do) but really I just wasn't game yet to go any further than 20 feet on the stupid crutches.  My friend Lori also came to visit and brought lunch on of the days I was home and so did my friend Chad.  It made me realize that I HAVE made good friends here in Texas finally. 

After the visit to the orthopedic specialist and mental breakdown, we decided to rent a knee scooter.  I figured it would be much easier to get around on than crutches and would enable me to do at least a little Christmas shopping and I could go walk around and look at Christmas lights when Kimberly and Kaity got here.   I got my scooter the very next day after I ordered it and boy, did it make a difference!  I look a little like a doofus but who cares!  It is so much easier to get around.  I am faster, have a cool basket to put stuff in, and it is a little fun too.  It doesn't have a very tight turning radius and going backward is just awkward.  Plus, I have rolled over my good foot a few times and eventually my knee gets sore but the positives far outweigh the negatives. 

A pic of the bruising on my foot

I went back to the office after the holidays.  The building is so large that I decided to take the scooter even though people may think I look silly.  It's just not worth the pain of using the crutches to go all over.  Let me tell you, if you want some attention just go around on a knee scooter in an office building.  I get tons of looks plus everyone wants to talk about it.  I have been given the nicknames "Scooter" and "Scoots".  It certainly is a conversation starter and no one can take me seriously.  I'm a good sport about it though and joke right along with them.

I went back, last Thursday, for a follow up visit to the doctor.  He did more X-rays and said he was pleased with how it was healing.  He said I could start to put a little weight on it (while in the boot).  He said I could put about 20 lbs of weight on it and gradually increase that 5-10 lbs every few days.  He also gave me some physical therapy exercises to do at home and said I could take the boot off to sleep at night as long as I didn't toss and turn too much.  And he'd see me in 3 more weeks.  So I was pretty pleased with that visit.  I was hoping he'd let me start walking around in the boot but this was at least a start.  I have no idea how much 20 lbs of weight is so I can basically using the crutches still but put my foot down and put a little weight on it. 

So on Thursday night I felt like things were looking up and my mood improved.  That lasted for about 24 hours.  Friday mid-afternoon I noticed my back was starting to hurt.  I figured I had probably had bad posture while sitting in front of my computer and tried to sit better to alleviate the pain.  That didn't work and the pain kept increasing.  So at one point I crawled under my desk to try and do some stretching on the floor.  That didn't work either and the pain was to the point that sometimes it was making me catch my breath. 

About 4:30 I decided I couldn't take it anymore and was going to go home.  On my way to pick up Max the pain was so bad that not only was I catching my breath, but it was causing me to moan a little bit.  Britt brought Max down and put him in the car (since I still can't lift the car seat into the car) - I had to work hard to hide the pain for the 1 minute that she was interacting with me.  On the drive back home the pain was so bad that I was really moaning through it just like when I was in labor.  In fact, when he came to get Max out of the car, Peter joked and asked me if he should be timing it (like contractions).  The pain was BAD - and I remember hearing that kidney stones are as painful as giving birth. 

So, as soon as I got inside, I got on Google and started looking up kidney stones.  The pain described was exactly what I was feeling and I had also experience some of the other symptoms that go along with kidney stones.  Then I looked at what caused kidney stones and one of the possible causes is excessive amounts of calcium such as supplements especially when not taken with food - BINGO!  I was taking bunches of amounts of calcium for my foot (as directed by my doctor) and in the morning I wasn't taking them with food and then at night I would take them right before bed.  I couldn't believe my stupid luck - only I would get cursed with something worse as a result of trying to heal my broken foot.

The next few hours were ROUGH.  The pain was seriously bad.  I ended up taking some of the pain medication I was given when I broke my foot and did a couple of recommended natural treatments (drink lots of water, drink a tablespoon of lemon juice mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil, drink water with lemon oil, drink cranberry juice, and drink coconut milk).  I don't know which one worked, but around 7:30 - so 4 hours after I first felt the pain, I felt light years better.  Most likely because the pain killers kicked in.  I don't know when, but at some point I must have passed the kidney stone because when the meds wore off I wasn't in pain anymore. 

I have had some back pain each evening to the point of needing some pain meds again each evening but not to the extent of that first day.  I hope this doesn't mean that I have more stones that are looking to find their way out.  If I don't feel completely better by the end of the week I will go to a doctor. 

So there ya go.  An update on my foot saga.  And I thought 2012 was going to be only good times.  HA HA HA HA HA HA.

December has come to town...

There's holiday stuff everywhere out there!  As usual, I enjoy the Christmas music on the radio but I don't want to deal with the hassle of getting out the Christmas tree and the decorations, so I don't.  Max is too young to care right?  We'll have to deal with it later so might as well take this year off.  I told Brittany we'll just take some pictures in front of her tree and call it good.

We went to Outback Steakhouse with Britt and her family.  Max is getting better about going to restaurants.  He usual will want to eat at some point too, which can be awkward sometime to maneuver and he never really just settles into it and eats without pulling off a bunch of times.  But, we make it work.  And he will sit for a little bit in his car seat or we'll get him out and let him sit on our laps.  I am glad we are figuring out a way to make it work without having to plan for that perfect moment when he has just fallen asleep and then hurry and eat before he wakes up.

Peter and Max

Playin' at the restaurant

Ha!  I love that face.

Happy baby

Talking to mom

I love those socks

All of a sudden, Max started sucking on his lip.  It was so funny and out of nowhere.  He only did it for a couple days and then hasn't done it since.   The video is short and he only sucks his lip for a little bit but it makes me laugh.  Poor kid really wants to suck on something but still won't take a binkie.

Video of Max talking it up.

On December 11th, I gave in and decided that I wanted some Christmas decorations in the house so we put up the tree with some help from Joe and Brittany.  It's a good thing we did because the very next day I broke my foot and if that tree wasn't already up, it certainly wouldn't have gone up after I was crippled!

One bad realization we had when we were putting up the tree, when Peter got the box for the tree out from our storage unit here at the apartment, he realized that the box that was sitting on top of the tree box was empty.  We had heard a few months ago about how someone was breaking into storage units here but didn't bother really checking ours out, no one would want anything in there.  Well, apparently they did.  We had a lamp (picture of the lamp is below) that I got from my dad that used to be in my room as a child.  As far as the story goes (as I know it) the lamp belonged to my Grandma Nelson before that and I don't know where it came from before that.  But, I viewed the lamp as a family heirloom.  Really the only thing I have like that and I was planning on one day putting it in my daughter's room and decorating around it.  Well, when the movers were packing our condo in California they packed the lamp and wrote on the outside of the box "Tiffany lamp".  Clearly the lamp ISN'T a Tiffany's lamp but the description obviously enticed whoever broke into our storage unit.  They left the box exactly where they found it, but just empty.  So far we can't tell anything else that they took but who knows.  There's so much stuff in a storage unit that you forget is there until you need it.  I was so devastated when Peter told me.  I really want to replace it but don't know anything about the lamp and have no idea where to start to try and find another one.  BUMMER!

"Kallie, come look at this..."

I'm in the baby's room putting stuff away and this is what I hear Peter say from the front room.  So I come out and this is what he's done...

Be wary of Daddy-posed photo shoots. 

(It looks like Max is smiling at the computer but he's actual smiling at Peter who is behind the computer)

End of November

Here's some pics from the end of November

I know it's dark but I just love his profile!

Max hanging out while we playing games at Brittany's house Thanksgiving weekend. 

One night we went to get Max out of bed and he was laying there, happy as can be, with one sneaky arm that escaped the swaddle.

Huh?

Hey, ladies!

Ooh!

What's over there?

Caught in the act of drooling!

Max working on his soccer skills in his soccer outfit.

He has started liking to hold his feet together like this.

Sad face

Here's a video with some of the noises he's been making lately.  Sorry you have to also listen to my silly coo's.  You never know how silly you sound until it gets played back for you, right?

Goodbye 2011 - Highest Highs and Lowest Lows

Goodbye 2011.  You were a roller coaster ride.

Down - You started out rough with lots of "morning" sickness.

Up - In March, Peter and I went on one of my dream vacations.  We went on a Mediterranean cruise to Italy, Greece, and Turkey with a couple extra days in Rome.  It was amazing.  It was a nice reward for making it through my first trimester.  I got to see places I had only dreamed of ever seeing in person.  I had many "pinch me" moments because I couldn't believe that I wasn't dreaming.  And, the best part, Peter loved it too.  :)  It was my most memorable vacation ever!

Down - In July, my mom left us.  It came as a huge shock but was not unexpected (that may be a confusing description to you but it's the truth).  Losing her was extremely painful as was the ensuing work that had to be done in Salt Lake with her funeral and cleaning out her house.  I lost it once in the days after her death to the point of doing that cry where you can't catch your breath and Max kicked me - HARD.  It was a reminder that I didn't get to lose myself in mourning because there was a little baby inside me that was affected too.  I mourned her death deeply but not really until after Max was born.  And then it was awful.  Daily crying, everything reminded me of her and how she was no longer there.  You can image what a mess I was with that going on and my hormones being all over the place anyway after having a baby.  I know my mom was in pain and had a hard life.  I still just can't wrap my brain/heart around how she could leave just 3 weeks before Max was born.

Up - Maxwell Charles Millar arrived on August 19th!  Our lives have changed, our hearts have grown.  I adore him.  I miss him while he's sleeping.  I stress over being the best possible mom I can.  I still am amazed that we have a baby!  It's unbelievable to me that after so long of nothing happening, that we finally were blessed with a son.  It's been 1 year and 10 days since I learned I was pregnant.  That time has flown by.  We have been showered with love and support.  We have had more visits from friends and family in the 4 months since Max was born than we got in the last 4 years. 

Down - On Dec 16 I broke my foot.  How? Walking.  Yeah.  That exciting.  Other than my c-section, my medical history was blank.  I had never had stitches, never broken anything, never had surgery - not even to get my wisdom teeth removed.  So, this broken foot rocked my world.  Not only did I have a broken foot that I couldn't put any weight on, but it happened during the holiday season when there are parties, shopping, baking, etc.  All activities that were now much more complicated if cancelled for this year.  AND I had a 4 month old who I couldn't walk around with, couldn't move from room to room, couldn't carry to the car, couldn't push in a stroller... you get the idea.  The timing was AWFUL.  I have struggled to remain positive and cheerful.

So, 2011...you gave me some amazing gifts and pushed me down at the same time.  I can't think of any other year in my life that has had such extremes.  I imagine down the road I will look back and see how much I grew because of what I went through this year.  However, at this point, I really hope 2012 is more of a pleasant, calm train ride rather than another roller coaster ride.