What a month! Life has had a lot of ups and downs lately. Let's start off with the fun story of how I broke my foot: wrestling alligators. Don't believe me? Alright, then, I was walking and then broke my foot. Yup. That exciting. I was going down my stairs super carefully like I always do because I don't want to trip or fall or anything like that. We were coming home from Church, so Stephen was carrying Paige for me. I reached the bottom of my steps safely and waited there while Stephen unlocked the door.
Once it was open, I took a step forward to go inside and slipped. I was wearing one-inch wedge heels and my heel decided to walk on the side of my shoe instead of the bottom. My foot rolled and I caught myself in the doorway, already knowing I was injured. I sat just inside our door to examine my foot. I could see it starting to swell. With my previous experience of spraining my ankle quite regularly, I figured that's all this was--a sprain--and took things easy. We wrapped it and I borrowed crutches from a neighbor. I told myself two weeks and I would be back to normal.
That week, we had family in town visiting for Paige's birthday party. We spent time with both the Rollins side and the Hutchins side. It was really special to have both families supporting Paige and us as she turned one. I hobbled around the best I could, borrowing a boot and relying on my crutches, trying to will my way through a quick recovery. Paige started walking that week, and I joked she was walking better than I was (which was true).
We had a great party for Paige. I did it in a pink and gold theme, based off of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I went all out with the decorations and pink and gold food. I love party planning. I love hosting. I love living life like it's Pintrest, even for just a few hours. We had a really good turn out for the party, and I think people had fun. Paige received a lot of thoughtful presents (thank you all!) and enjoyed her cake smash. I'm really proud of how well things went and how fun it was.
The next weekend, Stephen and I had dates planned. His work rented out the tubing hill at Solider Hollow for their employees and family. We left Paige with a babysitter and drove out to the hill. We had a lot of fun tubing down in large groups. I romped around on the snowy hill, telling myself the sprain was basically healed. I took a break for a bit for it, but besides that, I didn't miss out on any of the fun. There was one run we did with at least a dozen people. Near the top, Stephen fell out of his tube and decided to triumphantly run down the hill after us. It was really funny.
The next day, Stephen and I went to a dance in honor of Valentine's Day. Because we had had so many family events going on the weekend before, our Valentine's Day was simple--we exchanged gifts, and then Stephen got me flowers and chocolate the next day (since V-day was on Sunday this year). He gave me a home spa kit, complete with a back scratcher, bubble bath, loofah, head massager, and a pumice stone. I got him a jade Manaia necklace in the shape of a dragon--it's a pendant from New Zealand, where Stephen served his mission, that has significance in the Maori culture.
Since we didn't do much for the actual day, the dance was our way of celebrating this year. It was a corny, cheesy stake dance, but I loved it for that quality. Everyone dances like dorks, and it's endearing. Stephen doesn't particularly like dancing, but he'll do it for me. We danced until my feet hurt, and then danced more. We left Paige with a babysitter and didn't stay long, but it was still fun.
Earlier that Saturday, I went to a Fearless Birth convention. Stephen's cousin got me free tickets, so I took a friend from La Leche League. We had a really good time. We basically just looked at a bunch of vendors, got a lot of business cards, and had fun samples. When it was time for the raffle drawing, I was excited to hear my name as one of the winners! I got to choose from a large table of donated prizes. I ended up with a large gift basket full of prenatal supplies (no, I'm not pregnant, but someday I probably will be again). Going through everything, there was probably at least $100 worth of samples and supplies. I'm glad I went!
The next week, my sister, Susan, got engaged. When she started dating Joe, everyone knew they were going to get married--except for Susan and Joe. They took their time of formally dating for 2 months before getting engaged. I'm super excited to help plan their wedding. I'm their official wedding coordinator, and I beg to say I'm more excited for their wedding than they are (though they are definitely more excited for their marriage than their actual wedding day). I've harped on them to get their opinion on details to start making progress, and, while I may be preemptively planning some aspects, we're making good progress.
Three weeks after I rolled my foot, I went in to see my podiatrist about my orthopedic shoe inserts. It was a follow up appointment and really casual. I mentioned that I hurt my foot and asked if they would check it just in case. By this point, I was walking on it normally, though I definitely knew it got sore easily. It had a really bad bruise for the first two weeks, but had faded by then. I had gone tubing and dancing and even ran on the treadmill a bit with it. They took x-rays of my foot; it was broken. They showed me the image of my fifth metatarsal and how there was an obvious gash in the middle of the bone. It was still barely connected, but looked like a wedge was created as the bone split.
They podiatrist started saying words like "surgery," "screw," and "plate," and I felt the blood disappear from my face. We decided to take a conservative approach at first, hoping my foot heals correctly with a boot and crutches, but if it doesn't, I may need surgery to fix it. This would start my recovery process all over again. With the way things are now, I am able to get around and take care of Paige, but, if I need surgery, that won't be the case for some time.
I have one more week before I go back in to check on my foot, so any positive vibes and prayers would be appreciated. I've been much more careful about taking care of my broken foot since then. I'm wearing my boot all day, and I use my crutches when I don't have my boot on, like at night. I've also used the electric carts at stores and, while I feel ridiculous driving around the stores with Paige on my lap, the carts have really been helpful.
A week ago, Stephen took me out on a date to get sushi. I absolutely love sushi, and it's one of those foods that I don't even attempt making myself at home. If anyone ever wants to bring me sushi, you will instantly gain points in my eyes. After dinner, we came home and made a blanket fort in our living room and watched a movie in it because we are adults. I highly recommend blanket fort dates--it was in a blanket fort that I first kissed Stephen on the cheek when we were dating. The next morning when Paige saw it, she was really confused, but slowly warmed up to it and ended up playing in it a lot before we took it down.
This past weekend, my mom and my sister Sarah came to visit during their Spring Break. We met up with Susan and Deborah, my sisters, and went wedding dress shopping for Susan. It was a lot of fun to play Say Yes to the Dress with her. She looked good in every gown. We had a pow-wow about her wedding details, and while it was stressful at times, I'm excited about it all. It was also just good to have family visiting. Paige bonded more with her Grandma and Aunt Sarah, and my mom helped me to sew an Easter dress for Paige. It turned out so adorable! I'm excited to see her wearing it in a few weeks.
As far as Paige is concerned, she's growing happily and healthfully. She weighs 18 lbs now and took her one-year-old shots like a champ. She talks a lot nowadays. She says "Daddy" very clearly, and likes to call me "Jane", or as she says it, "an". She also says "yes," especially when we offer her food. She has started to pick up a bit on baby sign language and points to her mouth when she's hungry. She waves a lot, too, and her sign for "all done" is basically just a wave. The point is to communicate though, and she's good at that, so I'm happy. Paige will wave hello and goodbye to people, and she folds her arms during prayers. Shes' a vivacious eater and dances when we're getting her food. We're having some power struggles with nursing, but while I may be ready to wean her some days, she's still happy to nurse.
She walks like a pro now and seems to prefer it to crawling. She likes her shoes and tends to carry them around with her rather than wearing them. Paige has been more explorative at home and found the blanket closet we have. She loves to hoard her toys in there. Paige enjoys shopping and has been really excited the few times I've let her walk around a bit at a store, though those escapades are short-lived when she starts emptying shelves. She also enjoys walking around at church, and while we keep her contained during sacrament meeting, the next two hours are sometimes spent wandering the halls, following her.
Paige is a huge Daddy's girl. She has associated phone calls with Daddy and asks if it's him every time I call anyone. She also runs to the door to greet him when he comes home from work. She'll call for him from the crib when she wakes up, and when it's the middle of the night, I like to shove Stephen and remind him, "She wants you." She actually just wants him to get her to bring her to me, but still, I don't have to get out of bed (it helps that her foot is broken, so I don't want her walking on it to get Paige overnight. :) -S). She sleeps really well most days. She's going back and forth between one and two naps a day, but they still last about 45 minutes. She's growing up, and while it's bittersweet, it's been a lot of fun. She keeps us on our toes, and since I only have one fully-functioning foot, it's an adventure.
