Man Makes His Plans...

We saw the orthopedic surgeon yesterday morning and got some great news. Not only do I not need surgery, but I also don't need a cast! The tip of my ankle bone broke off when the ligaments pulled so hard, but the bone is still sitting in place. So I just have to wear the brace for the next 3-4 weeks, and then another splint for a while, which will keep my ankle from turning to the side. I can start trying to put a little weight on that foot and eventually walk w/the boot w/o the crutches. This means such a faster recovery time and hopefully no atrophy of the muscles etc from lack of use of my leg. It would have been hard to rehab the leg while in my 3rd trimester of this pregnancy! I'll still be staying w/my parents for several more weeks and will still need help w/Caleb etc, but this news is such a huge relief. We appreciate all of the offers for help, and will be sure to let you all know as needs arise. Thank you for the prayers!

Well, this is the best way to update lots of people at one time, so here it goes:
I (Laura) fell and broke my ankle on Tuesday! I was at my best friend Tanna's house and was chasing Caleb as he tried to run out the garage. It's all kind of a blur, but I stepped wrong on the little 2 inch step where the garage meets the driveway. My ankle rolled to the side and I heard and felt it snap. Nasty. I've always heard people talk about how painful that is and such a crazy sound, but I never had any idea what it was really like. Now I do! But I am so glad that I was with Tanna. She was awesome and got me to the ER with our poor, scared, screaming babies! Then she took care of Caleb while I was in the ER.

Anyhow, b/c of the swelling, they could only splint it at the time. I go to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to find out if I need surgery or just a cast.
The craziest part is that it was my right ankle so I can't drive, can't take care of Caleb by myself, and can't live at my own house b/c all the bedrooms and showers are upstairs! I am so thankful to have family close by. Caleb and I are staying at my parents' house indefinitely, and I guess Marc and I will see eachother on the weekends :(

Anyways, I'll keep the blog updated as we know more about surgery etc. We would appreciate the prayers. Later that night after I broke my ankle I started worrying about all of the things that I wouldn't be able to do, and I couldn't see how they were all going to work out. But I just started praying and asking the Lord to work them out, and it has been exciting to see all of the ways He is taking care of us in this and providing for our needs. And we know He will continue to do so.

We had our 20 week sono today and baby looks great and healthy!
I absolutely couldn't believe it, but
It's a GIRL!!!
We are so excited. We've had lots of questions about names - not sure yet, but we'll let you know when we decide!

Caleb is very excited to share his summer with you! He's been very busy and there's good reason why I haven't blogged in so long...
Caleb is going to be a big brother! I'm 18 weeks pregnant right now, due at the end of February. I haven't blogged at all or done much of anything else this summer because this pregnancy was pretty rough for the first several months. I thought all the nausea etc was bad the first time around, but this one was even worse. So I mostly layed on the couch all day trying to take care of Caleb, which wasn't easy considering I was on some seriously strong meds and couldn't even drive for about 6 weeks. Anyhow, we had some really amazing people helping us out, taking Caleb, cooking meals, doing laundry etc. Thank you to each of you - you know who you are.

These first pictures I took in some nearby bluebonnets, just on a whim one day, but I think some of them turned out really well!

Caleb loves being outdoors, and now that we have such beautiful weather, you can find us at the park most days! This was the first time he's ever played at a park, and he loved it. He tried out walking in his new tenniesMastered going down the slide...And then turned right around and climbed back up! I don't know why I'm always so surprised when he does new things, but I just couldn't believe that he could physically climb all the way back up to the top of the slide. Seriously, I didn't help him at all - just had my hand behind him in case he slipped. My little monkey never ceases to amaze me!We finished the day with a relaxing swing...also a firstAnd I'm pretty sure he thouroughly enjoyed that, too!

Caleb loves to go to his Gramps and Grammy's house...

Caleb's Aunt Janice got him the cutest outfits for his birthday. Since she doesn't get to see him very often, I thought she might want to see him wearing his new threads.
I can't decide which is my favorite, but the Puma warm-up suit is at the top.

Caleb had his 12 mo. Dr. visit today. He did great and charmed all the nurses. He was all smiles, well, of course until the dreaded MMR shot that apparently burns.
The Dr. said he looks like he weighs more than he does! But Caleb weighs in at 23 lbs and is 30 inches long - just above the 50th percentile. He even said a new word. He waved and said "byebye" to the nurse!
I guess some of them are debatable, but I'm pretty sure he says 5 words now: "dada", "mama", "more", "doggie", and "byebye". He's also learning what "no" means. It's pretty funny to watch him shake his head back and forth vigourously after we tell him "no touch" to something off limits. Our next step is getting him completely off formula, which doesn't seem like it'll be too hard. He tried organic whole milk tonight and loved it! Lately he seems to have a fear of random things. Last night it was a hat, over the past week it's been shoes, and he still has a phobia of the vacuum cleaner! But I hear it's normal to be afraid of weird things, so I guess for now I'll just keep vacuuming when he's not around, but at some point, the child has to wear shoes :)