christmas season 2013

The Christmas season seems so long ago even though it was in full swing last month. Grace was only about a month old when the season started, and we were still getting up with her every 1 1/2-2 hours at night. One evening, the day before she turned one month old, I was sitting on the couch working on BSF lesson questions. Brett had just put Stella down for the night, and Grace was hanging out in her swing a few feet from me. She started to fuss loudly and cry, and not wanting her to wake up Stella, I jumped up to pick her up. As I jumped up, my foot jammed into the leg of the coffee table, and I experienced one of the most physically painful moments of my life. Tears immediately streamed down my face, and I couldn't stop crying. Brett rushed over to me and helped me get to the couch, and he held Grace while I continued to writhe in pain. He got some ice for me, but even the slightest touch of anything against my left fourth and fifth toes was just too much. That night I had to hop on one foot to bed, and Brett got up every time with Grace, and would bring her to me to nurse. I had to sleep with the injured foot hanging over the edge of the bed because even the feel of the bed sheet was extremely painful if it brushed against my foot. Brett planned to stay home from work the next day as I couldn't walk on it. My mom came in the morning to watch the girls, and Brett gave me a piggy-back ride out to the car.

When we got to the clinic, I had X-rays done, and the doctor said the fifth (pinky) toe was dislocated and the fourth toe was broken. He called a podiatrist and asked if he should set the toe (reduce it, as he called it), or just have me see the podiatrist, and the specialist go ahead and set it. This was the most painful part of the doctor visit: he had to give me one shot in either side of the dislocated toe in order to numb it so he could push it back into place. The shots hurt SO FLIPPING BAD. I looked away when he pushed the toe back with a popsicle stick-looking thing. I then had to get the foot X-rayed again to see if the toe was indeed re-set. It was interesting to see the before and after X-rays. They had me set up an appointment with a podiatrist for a followup the next week because it looked as though the toe would slip out of place again, and the podiatrist wanted to check to see if my toes would require pins to keep it all together, and then I went home. Since I was nursing, I opted not to take the really strong narcotics. But then later that afternoon the numbing shots wore off and I was in excruciating pain. I called and asked if I could get that prescription after all (with plans to pump and dump my milk). The doctor's nurse asked him and he said he couldn't prescribe narcotics over the phone. AAHH! He did say he could prescribe me Tylenol with codeine, so we went with that. Brett picked up the medicine for me as well as crutches from Walgreens. I still couldn't put pressure on the foot AT ALL because it was so painful, so I wore myself out hopping around to either the bathroom or our bedroom. The crutches helped over the next few days, and then eventually I was able to put a little pressure on that foot to get around minimally, but I was pretty much confined to the couch. My mom came over every day that week at 7:30 in the morning as Brett was leaving, and she stayed until he came home at night. She played with Stella, changed both girls' diapers, prepared meals for Stella and me, and even cleaned the kitchen every day plus a host of other household tasks. I felt so miserable and useless. I hated seeing my mom working so hard for us, but there is no way I could have functioned without her because I was hobbling around on crutches and still couldn't put very much pressure on that foot right away. I think if I had only just had to deal with the broken toe, it wouldn't have been that bad, but the dislocated one is what put me over the edge. So painful.

It may seem like a small thing - injuring a foot - but it came at such a challenging time. I was still dealing with postpartum healing plus postpartum blues. I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to get out and do all the Christmas season fun things like taking Stella to the Holidazzle parade (this was the last year they were doing it, and so we missed out) and Christmas gift shopping. I LOVE looking for gifts for people - especially Christmas presents. (I think gift-giving is one of my love languages). Maybe the silver lining in all this was that the injury caused me to slow down and just accept that I was immobile. I set the Pandora station to traditional Christmas music/carols, so I was soaking in wonderful music like the Hallelujah chorus, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, O Holy Night, etc.

I believe the promise of Romans 8:28. Injuring my foot just four weeks after having a baby, and dealing with the challenges of Brett still working crazy hours just about broke me. I believe God CAN allow us to deal with more than we can handle because this whole last year has been more than I can handle. I'm just thankful to my core that I haven't been alone. He has been with me all this time refining my faith through various obstacles and trials, and He has sent wonderful people to help me when I thought I was going to be alone.

Stella was so much fun on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. She enjoyed handing out presents to my parents, sister, and brother-in-law Jesse, and us on Christmas Eve. She received some great gifts, and we feel so blessed to have family that love her so stinking much. Christmas Day Brett, Stella, and I watched The Sound of Music, and she's become obsessed with it ever since.

Mom and Dad's house Christmas Eve

Gifts for Grace

Stella's kitchen utensils

Stella's "band in a box" from Land of Nod

My mom gave me a Hobo Lauren, and I love, love, love it (as well as the Clarisonic Mia she gave me that I've wanted for a long time!)

So serious! As my cousin Tara put it so well - they look like the people in the iconic piece of art, American Gothic

Lorence Christmas get-together; my cousin Emily's son, Rowan (3) and Stella had a ball

Brett's parents Skyped with us after Christmas and Stella opened their gifts to her and Grace as they Skyped. She loves her Snoopy, MagnaDoodle, and Curious George book from them!

New Year's Eve we decorated and ate cupcakes, and that's about it! 

A few days later, Brett and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary by going out to dinner at one of our favorite spots, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. We actually went there last year for our anniversary, but who cares. Last year we were getting A LOT more sleep than we were this year, but it was so, so fun to get out and spend time together.

And on our actual anniversary date (it fell on a Tuesday this year), he surprised us by coming home early and picked up a delicious dinner from Spasso, a restaurant a few blocks away from our house. I still can't believe it's been 9 years. It boggles the mind, I tell ya.

Thus concludes my December and most of January recap. Whew!