November

November was so nice!  I couldn’t believe it was November.  The temperature stayed near 60 most of the month.  I was outside running a ton.  It was crazy.  Ryan and I went golfing one afternoon.  I took my new bike in to get sized (a two hour process that had to wait until my mom was here to watch the kids, but I think it will help keep my knee strong) and then took it out for a little ride.  In November!

I was running one beautifully, brisk morning.  I was absolutely loving the sunshine and fresh air, soaking it all in before winter hits.  It was probably in the 30’s when I started running and I was wearing a jacket, but with the sun I got a little hot at times.  I took off the jacket and put it on my waste for a couple of miles, but when I turned a corner and the sun was on my back, my arms and hands got cold so I put the jacket back on.  About a mile later I TRIPPED!  On what?  Nothing.  My own feet.  It was so weird.  I had been feeling so good!  I was running at a little faster pace, actually.  I had planned to run about 10 miles.  I was listening to a book on my phone and so I was definitely in the zone.  I have no idea what happened, just that all of a sudden the rocky road was coming at my face.

I hit my hands hard, my face a little, my knees pretty good, and somehow my elbow and shoulder too.  I rolled I guess because I ended up sitting up in the grass on the side of the road, staring at the blood dripping from my hands.  My hands were cold enough that they were kind of numb.  I mean, it stung really bad, but then not as much.  I sat there thinking what do I do now.  And I was pretty mad because I was only 5.5 miles in and I had been feeling so good!  I tried to see the damage to my face on my phone camera, but it was pretty bright out.  I could tell it wasn’t dripping at least.  I assessed my knees and decided they weren’t too injured.  So I figured I would try and run and see how I did.  If I was hurt, I would call Ryan to come get me.  I pulled out a tissue and held it around the wounds in my hand to stop the dripping.  And I started off.  Besides my hands stinging in the cold, I felt pretty good.  After a mile or so my hands were numb enough that it didn’t hurt anymore.  I was four miles from home when I fell.

I came up behind my neighbors Courtney and Julie about a mile from home and ran with them the rest of the way.  I considered doing an extra half mile in the neighborhood to get to 10 miles, but as soon as we got to my neighborhood I felt my knee aching and decided maybe it was hurt a little.  And I was anxious to see the damage on my hands.  It wasn’t pretty…

I texted my neighbor who has a surgeon for a husband and he told me to just keep it clean and covered.  It hurt SO darn bad to clean it out.  I couldn’t even get all the dirt out.  But I bandaged myself up and headed out to kids sporting events all stinky still because I couldn’t figure out how to shower yet.

It was fun answering all those questions about how I injured myself.  “I was running…”  {eyebrows raise while they try and figure out what to say to that}.

Being allergic to Neosporin, and sensitive to bandaid adhesive, I was a bit nervous.  It took a lot of wrapping and money on bandages.  I did wear a few bandaids at times.  I had to glove up to try and keep it from killing me while I washed my hair for the first few days.

After that I let it get wet hoping it would clean it a bit.  I was pretty bruised up too.  My hand especially.  I hit my right hand hard.  I was very grateful that I had been wearing longer pants (capris) and a jacket.  Because even with the jacket, my shoulder was red and bruised.  My knees and elbow were bruised. I would have had so much road rash all over my body had I not been covered.  My clothes came out pretty well too!  My capris have a spot you can see where it is worn from the road but other than that, they’re good.

It did put a damper on some of my workouts.  I could still run, but I couldn’t swim or do planks on the floor, or much strength cause I couldn’t hold weights.  It only lasted a week or so and then I got my bike sized and took it out.  I even got the rototiller out and was able to maneuver that thing around.  All by myself!  First time!  Would’ve been much easier without the sore hands.

I was anticipating months of healing.  I mean, there was a big chunk of skin missing from my right hand.  So I was surprised at how quickly it formed a scar.  The scar was sensitive for a very long time.  It’s been months now and it’s still a bit sensitive.  And the bruising inside my hand lasted awhile.  But the skin healed fast.

My mom came to visit in time for birthdays.  We love having her here!  She had surgery on her hand so she had to be careful.  But we had fun.

My brothers came up to spend some time with Mom and my family.

Fun pictures.

50’s day in Kindergarten.

Indoor soccer started and our first game we played against Ingrid’s son Brayden.  He is the size of a 14 year old (maybe 17) but he’s 11.  He is a gentle giant though!  He was amazing in the goal box, I mean his size helped.  But when they pulled him out onto the field the second half, our team scored a lot.  I know he could’ve been more aggressive but he seemed like he was really cautious about throwing his weight around.  He doesn’t want to hurt anybody.  It was fun to watch them play.  He is such a sweetheart.

Kylee’s team is the same team she had in the Fall plus Averi.  It’s been fun.

Kylee did a diorama of The Island of the Blue Dolphins for school.  I helped her a bit with shaping the clay, but she did everything else.

When I’m on the treadmill, Kaden will often say “My turn!”  (I put an ! because he has to yell so I can hear him over the treadmill, not because he’s being a mean 2-year-old.  He’s super sweet.)  He likes to walk on it. 

Sadie’s class had a feast for Thanksgiving that I came to help with.  It fell on Kaden’s birthday.  And Kaden was tired and cranky!  All he wanted was a cookie and/or a juice and he just cried and cried.  I let him have a juice but I refused to give him a cookie when I knew we were having cupcakes later for his birthday.  I had to take him home and missed the songs and stuff.  But he was inconsolable.  He was much better after he rested and his birthday turned out great.

And by the end of the month, we did finally see some snow.  The kids were happy.  Me, not so much.