Callie Meets Santa

Here are some photos of Callie and Santa to hold you over until I have time to write about all of our Christmas festivities this year.  Merry Christmas!

The Broken, the Healing, and the Made Whole

It has been a very tough last few weeks and this will likely be a very long post.  We have not had the typical start to our holiday season that we expected.  As we entered the week of Thanksgiving, we were already weary and worried because of a stomach virus that Callie had come down with at the end of the previous week.  She continued to suffer from the virus even as we left for my parents house on that Wednesday.  We thought she was improving but we ended up experiencing the longest trip to the lake so far because she whined and cried and seemed on the verge of vomiting the whole trip.  She also had a terrible diaper rash that made it painful for her to sit for such a long time.  Once we arrived at the lake, we discovered that she had a high fever that would not subside with just medicine and we had to put her in cold bath to bring it down.  We were still worried about Callie's condition on Thanksgiving morning when we got a call from Sharon, Grandma's caretaker, that Grandma had finally stopped fighting the chronic infections she has had for the last year and had taken her last breath.  Thankfully, Callie improved that day and we managed to put together a late Thanksgiving dinner after Mom and Dad returned from Sharon's house.  We were all stressed, tired (and Mom and I were sick to our stomachs) throughout the Thanksgiving weekend as we prepared for Grandma's viewing and grave-side funeral.  I was very proud of how my Mom held it together and made so many important decisions.  Seeing family and spending time catching up with them was a highlight of the weekend but we were very much missing Becky and her family who were not able to fly in from Utah.  Dreama and Steve came in to babysit Callie for us during the times we needed to be in Roanoke.  Dreama was the angel of the weekend, working without complaint behind the scenes, cleaning and making delicious food.  Matt, Callie and I got on the road Monday evening for what we hoped would be a relaxing drive to Richmond to spend the night and then head home the next day.  But our trip was complicated by a minor accident at a Wendy's where a broken hinge caused a heavy door to slam into Callie's head.  She was in pain the rest of the trip and ended up getting carsick about 15 minutes from Matt's parents' house.  Next came arriving home on Tuesday and realizing that Callie and I were both coming down with messy colds.  We spent a few days house bound and snotty and were finally getting back to normal by the beginning of this week. But this past Tuesday, Dec. 6th, while walking around on the deck and playing with leaves, Callie slipped and fell and then cried that cry that all parents know means trouble.   We rushed her to the ER and spent almost four hours there, returning home after 1 a.m. with a pitiful little girl in pain and wearing a splint.  Her very uneventful fall was just enough to cause a spiral fracture up her tibia (shin bone), a common injury for toddlers.

The title of this blog post is, "The Broken, the Healing, and the Made Whole".   The broken is our baby's precious little leg, our hearts over the loss of my beautiful, sassy and always smiling Grandma and our various illnesses during the last few weeks.  But Callie is on the mend and is healing quickly.  She got her purple cast today (the color she requested) and is already walking around on it.  The doctors say she will recover completely and will be back to normal as soon as the cast comes off in five weeks.  We are over our colds and viruses and will hopefully have stronger immune systems this winter.  Our family is also healing from the loss of Grandma because, only days after her death, there was a celebration of life.  My cousin Ashley had a baby girl and named her Everly Lauvon after my Grandmother Lauvon Catherine (Bonnie) Worley.  The made whole is my Grandmother.  She had been suffering from dimensia and various ailments for years.  She didn't always recognize me when I visited and was thinner and weaker every time I saw her.  But she is no longer suffering.  She has been made whole and is in the presence of our Lord Jesus and we are celebrating that.  And we are celebrating that our baby girl will heal up and be whole again and that all of our illnesses are only minor bumps in the road and nothing serious.  So, even though it has been a rough few weeks, we are finding our silver lining and counting our blessings.

This picture was taken before Thanksgiving and before the stomach virus.  Callie and I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies together.  She helped me by putting what she thought we needed on the counter.  Her ingredients included bold Chex Mix and granola bars.  Notice we also don't have a "No Shoes, No Pants, No Baking" rule in our kitchen!

After Callie's fever went down, she and Nana prepared the turkey centerpiece decorations for the next day.

 Papa also had a project.

And Daddy did what Daddy does best!

 Callie LOVES pomegranate seeds.  She also loves to share them, especially with her Great-Uncle Bruce.

I love this picture because I remember carrying Alex around when he was that age.  I know that makes me sound very old!

 Ashley and Everly.

 Alex and his adorable girlfriend Alli.

Meeting of the Cousins.

Those fine little lines on her shin bone is the break.

Hanging out with Mimi.  Matt's parents were already here when Callie broke her leg.  Their short visit was extended by several days.  They were a big help because Callie needed constant attention and had to be carried everywhere while in the sling.

Back to bathing in the sink!  Thankfully, Callie's cast is waterproof so we will be able to bathe her normally now.

Callie's boys were very concerned about her boo boo.

 "Ready for my pupple cast, Mommy!"

 Her leg was so itchy after taking off the splint.

Talking to Dr. Fox.

 They were amazed by how good she was.  She remained perfectly still the entire time.

 Looking at the bone poster with Daddy.

 Daddy was so proud of his brave little girl!

 She has a little shoe we can put on to help her walk.  She didn't waste any time getting to the walking either.  By bedtime, she was moving around the house pretty well and even crawled out of her bed and came to look for us once.  

 Her "baby toes" as she calls them.  I later painted them purple at her request.  And we also made a shopping trip to Kohl's to buy some wide-leg jammies and some leg warmers for the other leg.  She can fit in a few pairs of pants but will be wearing a lot more dresses and skirts.

She asked Daddy to hold Chester in place and then said, "Daddy take picture???"  She is becoming a camera ham!

All Aboard the Zoo-Choo Train

Callie loves the zoo and Callie LOVES trains.  If you ask her what she wants for Christmas she will immediately say, "Choo Choo Rain" and she means the big table with all the tracks and trains on it.  We recently spent one pleasant afternoon at the zoo with Mimi and Yoo-Hoo where Callie got to ride the train.  It was a perfect day because it was after the big Zoo-Boo Halloween crowds and so there were very few other people around.  We are zoo members so we hope to spend some more pleasant winter afternoons with some of our favorite furry and scaly friends.

This was my favorite zoo friend of the day.  I love his color and am just amazed at how many times he can fold himself up.  I guess it's comfy...but it reminds me of those days where I eat too much and my tummy is spilling over the top of my jeans!

Callie may be turning into "Little Miss Independent" but she still wants her daddy time.

It was a little difficult to all stay on the turtle!

 Just a group of playful otters out on a nice day!  The real otters were hibernating.

 When Callie saw we were nearing this cavernous lion enclosure, she asked if that was where the dinosaurs were!

 Oh boy!  Train time!

 Kisses for Daddy.

Poor Yoo-Hoo has to contort himself much like that snake to make sure Callie can reach one of his fingers to hold.  You should see how he has to twist his arm from the passenger seat of the car to reach back to her car-seat.  Mimi and I have to lay down the law on the hand-holding while he is driving, though!  In those instances, she will resign herself to holding Mimi or Mommy's hand!

And speaking of fuzzy friends, here are a few pictures of Callie and her fuzzy brothers.  She regularly says that she "wuvs" them now.  She will throw herself on one of them and say, "Aww, Wuv Ollie" (or Poe Poe or Hecker - she can't say Chester yet) as she flattens whichever unsuspecting napping feline she encouters.  Both Poe and Ollie will patiently lay there while she loves on them.  Chester is still afraid of her and that makes him her favorite one to chase since he is always running from her.  He doesn't get mad at her or strike at her, but he will run and hide as soon as he wiggles out from under her.  Ollie has surprised us the most.  He is the least tolerant cat we have but he LOVES Callie and is happy to be her pillow any time she wants.  He is usually purring away even when she is trying to ride him like a horse.  And he misses her at night and nap time and frequently gets in trouble for standing in her doorway and meowing.  We call him our rooster.  It's cute but very annoying!

 They will lay like this for a long time.  Sometimes she demands that he sit by her when she is playing in the floor.  That is when I think she really needs a dog because cats are just not THAT obedient.

 My poor childhood pet, Zack, had to wear lots of different outfits.  Not sure Ollie will put up with too many wardrobe changes the way Zacky-Dog did, but at least he does do hats!

And when Ollie won't wear one, she knows Yoo-Hoo will!

Ollie even gets the pleasure of "flying" in the laundry basket with Callie.  Matt's mouth looks funny in this picture because he has to make constant WWII fighter jet noises.

Chester is a sitting duck when he gets on Mommy's lap.  Callie often asks me to hold him in place for her since she can't usually catch him herself.