My son walks better then I do, and he is chatty about it too!

Elliott has been furniture surfing since april. I had perfect timing with breaking my leg and not being allowed to walk on it. A few weeks after I broke it, while still laid up, he started walking. WOW can he ever motor.
Well apparently no on told him gravity isn't just a rule, its THE LAW! The poor guy has a million bruises, cuts, scrapes, and bumps. He wipes out so hard sometimes his head smacks off the floor before he has a chance to put his arms out.
He also has started talking a lot more, his favorite being a very enthusiastic HI! whenever someone comes into a room or he comes into a room. He also uses his "hi" first thing in the morning instead of crying when he wakes up. We hear his little chipmunk voice from his room "HI! Mom? Mom? Mum, mum, mum... HI? HIYEEEE? Dad? DAAAAD? Dad! HI!" He figured out after after a few days that mom never comes because of her broken leg so now he just calls for dad. But both Chris and I cant help but smile in the morning to this.
His second favorite word is Yum! But its more Um. Anything he eats that he likes every mouthful is followed up by a muffled UM! We also find this very cute.
Now because I am not very mobile I am getting super frustrated with is little grabby hands and that fact he is now mobile, and smart enough to block me when I am trying to do something he doesn't like, like take something away from him, or change his diaper.
I can't help but feel I am missing out on something not being able to be as active with him as I would like. I had bought him a bunch of summer clothes, hats, sandles, for out door adventuring. I had planned on putting a garden in this year, and introducing him to dirt and bugs while weeding in the garden. All of that went out the window.
I will have a screw in my leg until the end of September. I can start walking this coming friday, but wont be able to do as much as I want to at first. I will however be taking Elliott for a few walks a day if the weather is nice to rebuild my lost muscle in my leg. I am excited to get him outside and in his wagon he got for his birthday and has yet to use. I wont be running around with him at the park, on the play structures like I wanted. But we will see, we will just have to make fall and winter all that more special.
I am really enjoying this age, and his little personality that is coming out.

Life as a Broken Mom

The friday before mothers day, I fell down the outside steps to my sisters house while holding Elliott. Okay, when I stay steps I should really clarify. There were only three, and I rolled my ankle off my heel shoe down one. The inside of my foot touched the inside of my calf. My only reaction while falling was to shield Elliott. I landed, he started crying, and that's when I tried to move my leg. I remember thinking "what is that high pitched sound?", and that's when I realized it was me.
My sister came running out and collected Elliott and checked him to make sure she was okay. She had to finish dealing with her new born son and came back out to see what she could do for me.
Well it turns out not a whole lot. While she was inside and I was left alone I just stared at my leg convinced I had broke my shin in half. I took off my shoe and pulled up my pant leg and it didn't look broken. I tried moving again, and again started crying.
When she came out I asked her to get me the phone. I was now convinced that I had sprang my ankle. I guess I told my sister that through my sobs. I called Chris and told him I needed him to come and drive me and Elliott home because my sister had to go and pick up her 3 year old daughter at daycare. I was SURE I just needed to go home and I would be fine. I would put some ice on it and be fine. Looking back I now know I was in shock.
I hung up with Chris and tried again to move my leg. WOW! It hurt so bad. I got up the three steps and into my sisters house backwards, on my butt, crying with every movement. By the time I was in the house I knew I needed to go to the hospital. Really, I should have called an ambulance.
Chris came and it became clear he was not going to be returning to work, or driving me home. We then called my mom. Chris took Elliott home and me and my mom went to the hospital.
I wasn't in the ER forever. But we did find out that I did break the tip of my fibula vertically. The tendon that runs from the middle of the fibula to the tip was stretched with such force instead of ripping it ripped the tip of the bone its attached to off instead. I was put in a splint, given crutches and sent home.
A week later I got to go see the doctor that specializes in bones. He figured I had a fracture at the mid fibula, tip of the fibula, and the top of my other foot. Good news was it was just the one break. The other foot was sprang, and the tendon just damaged at the mid fibula.
I got a cast and was told to come back in a week so they could take some new xrays to see if its healing right.
I went back and it wasn't healing right. All the soft tissue damage I did made it so the tibia (the small bone in the shin) was to far away from the fibula, so they had to put a screw in it. I had surgery the next week, and was in a splint again for another week. So by this time it had already been 4 weeks since the break. I was told to come back in two weeks to get the staples out of my ankle.
I went back and had more xrays and am healing properly. I got great news that day, I got a boot instead of a cast. That means I get to take it off to sleep and bathe! I was to come back in three weeks to get my final check up and be referred to physio.
So I am a week away from that last appointment. All this time I have not been allowed to put weight on it.
So here is where the mom part comes in. ANY of you who have kids know that a toddler is non stop go go go! Well have fun doing that in a cast and being told ABSOLUTELY NO weight on the broken leg. Also add a sprang foot on your "good" leg that you get to hop around on, respranging over and over and over again. Not so much fun.
I am super lucky to have a wonderful friend who came in from the province over to come stay with me. She took care of both me and Elliott that first week, then had to go and take care of some personal business for the second week, and came back the third week. Another wonderful friend then took Elliott every day for the fourth week. Then my friend came back again to help for the fifth week. The other friend has been taking Elliott every second day for the last week and next week. I can do almost everything around the house with him. I am lucky to have hard floors on the main floor. So we bought a cheap task chair for me to roll around in, so that I can pick Elliott up. Without my friend taking Elliott every second day I would be in a world of hurt.
My mom and my mother in law have also really stepped up with coming over to help when I have to go for doctors appointments, or need help putting Elliott to bed.
My poor husband has been having to do about 99.9% of everything around here. I try, but there is so much I just cant do. Its frustrating. Whats even more frustrating is how I can't do things with Elliott. I had so much planned for the summer... so far we have been hanging around in the house :( poor guy!
Thats the story of how I broke my leg, and how I have wonderful friends and family to help. I will talk more about trying to raise Elliott.

The mighty adventurer!

Elliott has become an excellent furniture surfer. He did half a lap around the living room and kitchen the other day. Now that he is able to go adventuring he is a very busy little boy.
Only a toddler, a new one at that, can make the most impeccable house seem dirty. They seem to find every little piece of lint, scrap of paper, or otherwise. Lucky for me he still finds novelty in giving what ever he finds to me.
Its endlessly amusing to me to watch him find enjoyment in the weirdest things. We have toys strewn all over the house, yet the pop box, dog kennel, and lint roller are his favorite things to play with.
He also has a big love for music. Its about the only time he pays attention to the T.V. is when there is music or singing on.
I must admit I am really enjoying this stage of his life!

Looking back. WARNING LONG.

I meant to do this near his birthday. Look back at our first year together. Life happened and I was busy. So lets call this last 14 months looking back.

We got pregnant intentionally. We were advised that it may help with my ongoing, undiagnosed, medical condition. "They", being the doctors and specialists, thought that my medical condition was probably making it less and less likely that we could become pregnant. And honey, we weren't getting any younger! So we thought, desperately, that it was a way for me to get better, and for us to be a little family before it was to late.

My labor was not typical. Enough said. We were both healthy and happy.

Elliott was a wonderful little new born. He breast fed easy, like he was born to do it. I have never been a person that liked a lot of physical contact, so it was hard for me to be fed off of day and night, but I did it for him. He liked his sleep from the get go. I did have delayed bonding with him, which I guess can happen when you have a c-section.

Shortly after his birth Chris' grandpa was diagnosed with Cancer. Shortly after so was my grandmother. His grandfather passed away in June. My grandmother is still fighting the fight. She is a tough old lady! Chris' stepfather's dad was also diagnosed with cancer that year, and he recently passed away.

The same day of Chris grandfathers funeral a close friend tried to take her life. Elliott was only a few months old at this point. A few weeks later I had my exploitative surgery, and we again were rocked with devastating news.

Looking back at the last 14 months I realized that I was having a "hard time" being a mom. I spent most of my time feeling like a really crappy mom. Like it wasn't coming natural to me. Everything from wanting to spend time with him, and wanting to be affectionate to him felt forced. Taking a look back at everything else that happened, I now realize that I was dealing with a lot more then most first time moms have to deal with. Death, friend drama, health issues, health scares, and everything else that was going on.

Really if we had taken even half of all those issues off the table I think I would have felt much more successful, comfortable, and confident about my new role as mom. Discussing all of these things with my sister recently has made me realize that I just need to forgive myself for the last year, and look back at all the success I had as a mother.

Elliott is a wonderful person. Right from the get go, he has been a really easy baby. He slept good from the start. He eats well. He has a super laid back personality, takes life as it happens. He is a snuggle bunny, which I can proudly say I LOVE! He is a flirt. If you are a woman, with dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes, watch out! He has had several developmental set backs. His head is crazy large head. It held him back from crawling and walking. We where insured by the peditrician that once his muscles where strong enough he would do a bunch of new stuff all at once. It felt pretty crappy watching all the other babies do new things, while I had a little baby blob. Within a two week period he went from just doing a weird version of crawling to pulling himself up holding on to us, and low furniture, to walking while holding on to us, to furniture surfing!! It feels great to finally see him figuring out the world is a place to explore.

Chris has been the most amazing person that I have ever known. He is a great dad, he is a great partner, and he is a great person. He takes care of me when I can't even take care of me. He puts Elliott and I first when it counts. He stands up to me being a suck. He is there for me when the craziness of life gets me down. He is more then I deserve, and a better man then most women get. He is supportive, and he has stuck buy me through this horrifying, crazy medical drama that I have been dealing with for the last 4 years.

I look forward to the next year. I am hoping life is a bit calmer on all fronts because I know that Elliott isn't going to be getting any calmer, and I want to take that on full force! I know that I will have great support from Chris, my family, and my close friend.

No news is good news and Long time no blog.

Life has been hectic the last couple months. My grandmother is battling cancer and is doing well, but the radiation she received is doing a number on her brain.
We got the results of the CT scan and it looks like we have to see a specialist because two of Elliott's cranial plates have fused prematurely. Its probably not a big deal, but we have been referred to a neuro surgeon. I called his office a few weeks after the result and was told that depending on the severity of the case we should expect a call for consultation in the next 6 months! WTF? Um okay... So its been a few months and Chris and I are trying to look at it as a good thing. The surgery he would need is a button hole surgery and is pretty straight forward.
Elliott's head has been the same measurement since 9 months, so that's a great thing! He has also been an extremely busy boy. He STILL does not crawl on all fours. He prefers the sit and pull myself around with my arms method. It works great for our hard floors, but you get him on carpet and he gets frustrated.
Just this last week he pulled himself up on his slide grandma and grandpa got him for his birthday! He looked soooooo proud! The last few days he has finally figured out furniture surfing. For several weeks now he walks holding on to our fingers for support.
The little guy is doing exactly what the doctor said he would do, a bunch of things all at once, skipping steps along the way to catch up with other kids his age.

Dizzy Dizzy Baby

Elliott had to have a CT scan on his head today. His head is off the charts huge and he fits into a 2T-4T hat already. Both our normal doctor and pediatrician are not really concerned that there is a problem. They both agreed that a scan should be done in case its that size because of extra fluid or growths. My family doctor says he thinks Elliott has a case of big-head-itis due to his parents having huge heads. Well I have a big head that is for sure, and some of Chris' sibblings have larger heads too... so its no surprise his turned out so big. Yep, still not crawling or walking!
So today we went for the scan. They had to put him to sleep for the scan to keep him still. They give him gas through a mask. He was under less then five minutes. The nurse took him away and then brought him back all loopy. He was swaying his head and upper body in circles. The whole waiting room got a kick out of it.
He is a little off today, finding almost everything funny. Other then that he is doing fine!
We find out the results next week. We are not worried, but glad that our doctors are being proactive.

Wow! Its like he's a little person!

Any parent of a laid back child will probably be able to relate to this post.
Elliott has always been a laid back observer. He doesn't want to be the center of attention, doesn't want to be fussed over. He just wants to do his own thing. Frankly its BORING! HA! But the last few weeks Elliott personality has been blossoming. He claps, he squeals, he show preference for toys, or objects. He has a sense of humor. He is finally getting out of that baby blob stage. NO he is STILL not walking or crawling. He does LOVE standing, but can't pull himself up. He is just a million times more fun then he has ever been.
Its kind of a relief really. You never want to think poorly of your child, but you can't help feel insecure when your baby is sitting back watching all the action and everyone else child is all over the place being little characters.
Both Chris and I know that Elliott is very smart. He needs to think everything out before he takes action on it. This includes new objects you give him. He needs to spend a few minutes examining it before he starts playing with it. Its cute to watch really. I hope this behavior of being thoughtful continues!

"Mother Knows Best"

Christmas celebrations have come and gone. I must say it was very anticlimactic, but I am sure in the years to follow Elliott will enjoy it more.
This was the first family gathering that I actually felt like I was Elliott's mom. As mentioned in previous posts Elliott is not a big fan of being held and snuggled endlessly by me and his father, let alone other family members. So Christmas "morning" came (we did it in the afternoon) and I plopped Elliott down in the middle of the floor and there he stayed. Relatives sat with him and talked and stuff but he wasn't held by anyone. He lasted a lot longer then either Chris or I thought he would.
Normally if it was just one side of the family or another visiting he would be passed around like a doll from relative to relative until he was uber grumpy and had to be "rescued" by Chris or I.
Because it was both sides of our family I think no one wanted to "hog" him. It worked out better this way anyways.
I also felt more like a mom because I put my foot down about Christmas. I told both sides that we would not be driving all over the city, in a rush, from house to house to make sure we got to see everyone. We instead had our very first Christmas morning as a family, and invited everyone else over for coffee, goodies, and present opening in the afternoon. It was great. I can't say everyone was happy about it, but Chris and I where, and ultimately so was Elliott.