A Cast for Christmas

On Wednesday around 11 A.M., Baylor walked into the other room for maybe 20 seconds by himself and when he returned he had this "mysterious limp" in his right leg. We never heard anything fall, he never cried. Nothing. Scott, his parents, brother and I all noticed it and looked at each other like "somethings not right". As the hour went on, the limp got worse. Scott poked and prodded Baylor's hips and legs but nothing seemed to bother him. I tried to lay Baylor down for a nap at 12:30 but being unsuccessful in doing so, I let him down out of the chair and that's when he almost tumbled over. That's when we decided to call an Orthopedic Pediatrician in Mobile. They were able to get us in for 2 P.M. that day thankfully. By the time we made it to the doctor's office, Baylor couldn't even stand up on his right leg to walk. It was scary, to watch your child go from running that morning to not even being able to walk and not knowing what caused it. Once the dr. assessed Baylor, he decided to do some xrays. This was not a pleasant experience: a big dark room with big machines and having to sit completely still is not fun for a 2 year old. Once the xrays came back, the dr. came in to talk to us. Nothing showed up on the xray but in kids, if they fracture something, it doesn't show up until the bone starts healing in a week or so. Scott googled "2 year old with sudden limp" and all this stuff came up about infections, Perth's disease and toxic synovitis. So when the dr. told us he thought he just sprained his ankle or had a stress fracture, Scott told him about his google research and pushed for them to do blood work. The Dr. told Scott we were thinking worse case scenario and overreacting. I thought these two were going to start going at it with all the tension you could feel in the room but I mean what would it of hurt to do some blood work, that's what I have insurance for right? He reassured us it wasn't nothing to worry about and to just have a follow up at home in BR when we got home from Christmas vacation. Regardless, Baylor could not walk so they had to cast his leg, for support and for what ever was wrong to heal. The process actually went over very well. Baylor flirted enough with a nurse enough to get a cookie and then get a sucker before the process began:

We picked out Christmas Green for his cast to celebrate this unwanting Christmas present. They also gave Baylor a little gripped boot to put on over his cast to keep it from getting dirty and so he wouldn't slide all over the floor. Believe me, this cast did not slow down my baby one bit! He still ran (yes ran), jumped on the bed, played and rode his tricycle. By the time we finished up at the dr. and made it home, my little guy crashed at 5 p.m., in the car, a few minutes from the house. We brought him inside and let him take a cat nap under the tree:

What an eventful, nerve-racking Christmas experience this was! I never could have imagined Baylor would be in a cast before the age of 3 for no apparent reason at all! I knew a cast would possibly be in our future but for crazy reasons like diving off the bed or jumping of the climbing castle outside or falling off his skateboard or bike, typical boy behavior. What a bazaar Christmas present!? Follow up is scheduled next Wednesday with Dr. Frierson in Baton Rouge.

Elf on the Shelf

We traveled home to Alabama for a whole week this Christmas. Baylor's cousin Madison has a special elf that comes to visit her every year before Christmas, to report back to Santa about how good or bad she is being up until Christmas. Baylor stumbled upon Madison's elf one day at nap time and was in love. One night, he had to have the elf to rock with for bed time. When I finally got him asleep, he had such a good grip on the elf, I couldn't pry it out of his hand. Needless to say he went to bed with Baylor and that's where he stayed until he decided to leave to visit Santa for the night:

I have talked to Santa and he told me that Baylor's very own elf will make his first appearance next year. By that time, I think Baylor will have even more of an understanding of Christmas and Santa since he will be turning 3 next year. And I already know Baylor will love having his very own elf!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I took the time to blog about Shutterfly yesterday because they had a blogging promotion going on for 50 free photo Christmas cards... how can anyone pass that up? If you haven't already noticed, I have changed my blog look. I just really wanted something different, even though it's not what I was really going for when I changed it, but it will have to do for now since I don't have time to mess with it. Have you noticed our great family picture underneath my blog title? Out of 200 shots, this is the only good picture we got of all 3 of us and I plan on using it on our 50 Christmas cards from Shutterfly. Take a look at my blog from yesteraday at the card designs I'm interested in and let me know what you think would look best with this picture because I could really use some help! I wanted to share some of my other favorite photos from our shoot over the weekend.

Oh Christmas Cards, Oh Christmas Cards

I have always been adamant about sending out Christmas cards every year since Scott and I have been together. Before Baylor was born, Scott and I would try to take a picture and include our dog Bama, to mail out with our card. If we didn't get a picture, I would still mail out cards to everyone we knew. I think I sent out, on average, about 60 Christmas cards every December. Since Baylor was born, I have been terrible about doing our cards. When Baylor arrived December 8th of 2008, it was too close to Christmas and I was too tired to get a family portrait completed. I did have Baylor's pictures made with Santa and sent it in a few cards to a select few of our family and friends. Last year in 2009, I was too wrapped up in Baylor's 1st birthday party planning and too tired again to attempt Christmas cards, much less pictures. This year, I have no excuse.... we were due for a family picture anyways, seeing we have not had a nice one made of us since Baylor's birth. I had Scott's Mom take us down to Fowl River in Mobile to take some family shots over Halloween weekend. Though she is not a licensed professional, she does photography on the side, is pretty good and she's free! She did a great job this year and we were lucky to get 1 good shot of all 3 of us out of 200 and something pictures (literally). When I decided we needed a family picture, I also decided I was going to do photo card for Christmas this year. I have also thought about writing a "2010 Wrap Up" letter or maybe just ordering a story card with a photo this year. I found some great photo cards at Shutterfly and have it narrowed down to a few:

1. Retro Wheel Green Christmas Card: the name says it all... it's retro style with Christmas colors included!

2. Christmas Letter Christmas Card: I think this is a great alternative from a long letter, I could just sum our year up in a short paragraph and include pictures!

3. Love 2010: This is another alternative to a letter or the Christmas Letter Christmas Card... short, sweet and to the point!

4. Seasonal Chic Noir: This photo card looks very modern and I love that I can put our initial on it!

5. Good Cheer: I like this one because it is simple but modern looking.

6. Elegant Floral Black Holiday Card: definitely one of my top 3. This card is very pretty and elegant.

6. Elegant Damask Noir: another top pick of mine.

There are just so many I love on this site, I don't know how I will chose! I guess I will have to let my husband put his 2 cents in!