October felt like a whirlwind. Cory had to do some schooling for is job which lasted EIGHT weeks!! I had dived head first into training for a half marathon and it was fast approaching. I think there was some holiday involving costumes and candy or something like that....
Here's what else happened in October:
We spent most of our time at GiGi's and PawPaw's house and we got to play with lots of cousins while we were there!
This is a picture of my cousin, Natalie, and me. Our parents are twins. We are their first borns and share a birthday. We also each have a 6-year-old girl, a 4-year-old boy, and a 2 year-old boy. Kind of creepy cool, huh?
We also took our first trip to the circus which was very exciting, especially since Cooper was practicing his escape artist act the entire time. Whew! I earned my Wonder Woman cape that night.
And since I was already wearing my Wonder Woman cape, Why not use my super powers to get some pictures of my beautiful kids.
I had to snap fast, because I blinked two times and this one had stripped and was streaking across the house.
A few more days, a few more adventures....
....then, it was Coop's birthday!
How could you not love that face?!
We like to do birthdays right: Cake for breakfast, Chuck E Cheese for lunch!
The next day was a wonderful day spent at the Sargent Family Reunion. Sargent is my MawMaw's maiden name. Check out the size of my family (minus about a dozen who weren't able to make it)! My mom is one of eight kids and They. Have. Multiplied. That precious lady in the front is my MawMaw. We are so very thankful for her!
Here is a picture of all the attendees
I think the theme for this month could be called cousins, because after the family reunion we went back to GiGi and PawPaw's house and had MORE fun with....you guessed it....COUSINS!! This is why I loved growing up in a big family :)
We also picked muscadines. Something is always growing in the country.
We did get to go home for a few days where the kids did a great job of keeping themselves entertained....
But our stay at home was short lived.
October 19th was Race Day. Like I said earlier, I had fully committed myself to training and I felt so good because I had improved my pace significantly. However, there had been a nagging pain in my hip that began the last two weeks of training. I rubbed myself down with essential oils. took lots of epsom salt baths, and even popped a couple of Aleve in hopes that the hip pain would not show up during the race I had worked so hard to run.
I started out strong, but at mile three the pain came back with a vengeance. By mile four I knew I better stop running before I injured myself seriously (It's kind of humorous knowing what I had actually done to myself, but I am so thankful it wasn't worse)
Here I am trying to smile through the tears. I was so disappointed, but I was trying to hold to the truth of James 1:2-4 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
I was so happy to see my mom and my sweet babies at the finish line cheering me on. I stopped at the PT booth after the race to get stretched in hopes it would alleviate some pain. Then, we quickly headed home where my little nurse propped my feet up and took excellent care of me.
My mom ran to get us some lunch and when I tried to get up to do something for one of the kids, I realized quickly that I could no longer put weight on my left leg. I didn't know what to do. Almost any movement at all caused a shooting pain in my hip. And Cooper had, of course, stripped all his clothes and diaper off and was streaking in the backyard. I had to put my 6-year-old in charge until my mom got back. She was a champ.
It was clear that something was not right so I went to an Orthopedic specialist the next day where they x-rayed my hips and saw no fractures or breaks. The doctor chalked it up as a muscle strain, prescribed me an anti-inflammatory, and instructed me to try and get off my crutches in a few days If it had not improved in two weeks I would need to go back and see him. I knew I couldn't take care of my kiddos by myself, so back to GiGi and PawPaw's we went.
Surprisingly, I felt a good deal better in a couple of days and I was able to get off of my crutches. Of course I was still taking it easy and not doing anything strenuous, but I thought I was on the road to recovery and was trying to get things back to normal...
....if you can even call us normal. HeHe!
Wish-listing and Homeschooling seemed to be our top priorities
However, a week and a half after the race, I started feeling a dull pain again. It was different than before, but it intensified within a couple of hours. I picked up Cooper and felt a POP. Just like that, I was suddenly not able to put weight on my left leg again and was confined to crutches once more. I figured I had strained the muscle again, but maybe a little worse this time. However, I wasn't going to let it stop us from having a good time. Halloween was just around the corner, so themed food was a must!
And trunk-or-treating at the local church wasn't so bad on crutches
That concludes my October post. Stay tuned for November, but remember I didn't make any promises. ;)
