Tuckered Out!

Sorry for the long hiatus… December was a crazy month!   Our Christmas break got off to a rocky start – while leaving the gym, Amelia fell and got a “toddler fracture” on her lower left tibia.  Initially, I wasn’t sure what was wrong.  I saw her fall, and the fall itself didn’t look bad; there was no swelling or bruising, but she wouldn’t put any weight on her left leg.  I took her to the ER, and before getting an x-ray, the doctor said it might be a toddler fracture.  A toddler fracture is basically a hairline fracture that happened when the bone goes in a twisting motion.  It didn’t show up on the x-ray, so they sent us on our way, saying it was probably a sprain.  I was not convinced; so after doing more research and finding out that it’s very common for the fracture to not show up in x-rays, I took her back the next morning to her regular physician who agreed with my thoughts.  We were referred to an orthopedic specialist.  Luckily, Mike got home in time to go with us to this appointment.  They said that they needed to do a cast to immobilize Amelia’s leg and that the cast would have to cover her entire leg to ensure it wouldn’t come off.  So, we left their office with Amelia in a full pink leg cast with instructions to come back on January 11^th to have it removed.  It took her a while to try walking with it, but now she’s quite the pro.  I’m so happy we only have a week left until she gets it off!

Since this is the first time we’ve ever had our own home with a fireplace and a real Christmas tree, we decided to spend Christmas in our new house, just the four of us.  It has been an intense couple of months with moving to Texas and Mike starting his job, so it was really wonderful to have “down” time together.  We left for Orange County a couple of days after Christmas to spend the rest of Mike’s time off with his family.  We had such a wonderful time, not only did we get a lot of quality time with his parents and sister, Shelley, but also got to see a lot of friends!  I would say the highlight of the trip was having Mike’s dad, Ray, help with Noah’s Pinewood Derby car!  It looks awesome; I don’t know what we would have done without him!

Grandma Sandy knitted sweaters for Amelia and Noah; they both LOVED them!

The weather was PERFECT while we were there – close to 80 degrees and sunny every day!  We took Noah to Knott’s Berry Farm theme park and had a really fun time before it got really crowded.  Mike’s mom, Nancy, is an amazing cook, and we enjoyed so many goods meals.  Not only did our suitcases come back packed with presents, but I pretty sure we gained a few pounds … which were totally worth it!

We got an exciting gift from Mike's Grandma Sandy!  She makes beautiful quilts, but the one she gave us for Christmas was extra special . . . she used my Aunt Amy’s kit (see www.amybradleydesigns.com).

Of course, I had to include this year's Santa picture, especially since it took trying over four different weekends.  Mike and I were not planning to be in it but once we TRIED to sit Amelia on Santa's lap, it became very apparent that was not going to happen without her mommy or her puppy!

Most of you know Mike as a guitarist, but when he was in the band "Patton" with four of his best friends he played the drums.  On New Years Eve, we went to a "Patton" reunion party and Mike played drums on one of the songs.  It was so much fun to see him in element with his best friends!  It was an amazing way to ring in the New Year!