OBSTACLES

We had an unfortunate accident in the Trailmomma home last night. My worst fear . . . Vans came home from soccer injured. Not just hurt but severely injured. He spent the night on the couch elevating his ankle (which looks like a giant softball is trying to grow out the side of it). He was miserable. Poor guy.

This morning after I got the Peanut off to daycare, stopped at work to say hello and tell my boss the situation, I drove back home to get Vans and take him for Xrays.

The end result? He has a severe ankle sprain. He has to be on crutches for about four weeks and cannot bare any weight on his leg at all. I have to take him to the hospital tomorrow to get fitted for an eboot (how sexy). His ankle is too swollen right now to even attempt to put one on today. So four weeks of crutches and the boot, followed by 4 weeks of an ankle brace which means 8 weeks total of NO activity. No running. He can try cycling in four weeks ONLY if the swelling is down and he has some mobility but most likely he shouldn't push it even if it feels good.

He is pretty bummed out about all of this as am I. This is not going to make packing and moving and watching the Peanut any easier. This also might mean my trip to San Francisco this weekend might not happen. I don't see how he can manage handling the Peanut for two days on crutches while in the midst of potty training (which has not been going so well . . . 3 accidents over the 3 day weekend). Life happens. I just want him to heal and be 100% again.

At least he is still smiling once in a while . . .

Actually this was an "are you seriously taking my photo?" face . . . I got a kick out of pushing him all around Kaiser in their funky little wheel chairs! Only one minor accident occurred involving his bad foot and the elevator. Sorry honey! :-)

IT'S A FASHION STATEMENT

Happy Columbus Day! I am Italian and probably should celebrate this more but really, I am just grateful that the Peanut's Daycare is on federal property and therefore they are closed on this joyous holiday. My office is actually open despite the courts being closed today. However, the Peanut and I are busy doing errands.

First, I woke up and went out for a four mile run. Nice and easy. I followed Dr. Lau's orders and even wore my compression socks and got quite a few stairs from people as I ran.

So not cool.

I don't look like the kind of person who should run while wearing compression socks. I have to say, I didn't really like it. My ankle felt great but my legs itched. I'll continue to try running with them for the rest of the week. It figures the temperatures are going to rise this week too. Ugh.

After my run, the Peanut and I had a "date" at our future new home. We met a contractor out there who is doing to do some fencing work for us. He was about an hour late but the Peanut and I played hide and seek and enjoyed looking around our soon to be neighborhood. 

After the meeting with the contractor, I promised the Peanut that I would take her to a near by park. I clocked the distance with my car . . . 1 mile from our driveway to the park. Not too bad however there were some pretty gnarly hills that might make walking to the park with the stroller a real work out. 

Still, this is one awesome park. Check out the view from the play ground area:

How cool would it be to play soccer on that field! It over looks the entire Folsom and Sacramento region. The Peanut enjoyed the park too.

Just seeing the home from the outside and the surrounding area got me really excited. I know we're most likely not going anywhere until early November and boy do we have a lot of packing to do . . . but I think the Peanut is excited too as she kept asking to go inside our home. 

Yesterday the whole family went to the Davis Ranch Harvest Festival. This place is a hit every year. They have so much to do for the kids and we love getting our pumpkins here. The pumpkin prices are reasonable but the parking and bouncy houses are free . . . that's music to Van's and the Peanut's ears!

I was impressed that she could climb this!

Down the BIG slide!

Then pick some pumpkins!

Lots of pumpkins

These were too big. 

Pony Rides, a new favorite!

Then she surprised us all

and enjoyed some lumpia!

(she ate 3 rolls)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF POTTY TRAINING

First things first . . . I met Pigeon this morning for a nice early (just past sunrise) morning run. We saw lots of wildlife out there today. Deer, turkeys, jack rabbits, ducks and hundreds and hundreds of running groups. I, of course, forgot to wear my compression socks. I honestly did not do it on purpose. It was dark and compression socks are not part of my pre-run routine. I will definitely wear them on Tuesday though because running today and then standing on my feet all day at work really made for one angry ankle. I even wore my compression socks during work today. Overall though, the run was fun. I seem to be struggling with my lungs. I think the change in seasons and my intense allergies have something to do with it.

After my run I had breakfast with the Peanut and Vans and then left for work. While I was at work, I got the following photos in an email from Vans . . . aah the joys of potty training!

Luckily the "incident" happened outside . . .

First Vans took the Peanut out on the front porch to see the pumpkins. Prior to heading outside Vans asked the Peanut if she had to go potty. The response was "nope."

Then, the Peanut spotted her target . . .

Poor unsuspecting frisbee . . .

opps a daisy! Sorry Daddy

Vans was beside himself. I told him he was lucky that she chose to do it outside and not in! The Peanut made it up to him though . . . she offered to make him lunch . . .

Sorry Daddy! Want some lunch?

Overall they survived another Saturday without me around. Father Daughter bonding at its finest. Tomorrow we're headed to a pumpkin festival as a family . . . I am so looking forward it.

NEW THINGS

Thursdays I normally run with Pigeon. That was our Thursday thing . . . now I have a new Thursday thing. It is called work.  I love it. Every Thursday evening, after my "day job" I will be heading out to my new job and every Saturday afternoon I will also be working. It will take a little getting used to and involve a little creativity to get runs in, hang with the Peanut and Vans and still work but so far so good.

Not running yesterday was hard but I am okay with it. The ankle swelling is slowly getting better.

I also tried this new drink yesterday that I received as a free gift from something I ordered online once.

It wasn't too bad. It is Premium Nutrition's Pro 2 0 protein drink mix (mandarin orange flavor). The stats are not too bad either, 25 calories, 5 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, 0 grams of sugar. It has Whey Protein Isolate in it and you just mix with water. Not too shabby. Just another way for me to get more water into my system and some additional protein . . . I am a vegetarian so getting some extra protein is always good for me. I have no idea how much it costs but I'd try it again. Since it was a free gift it was even better.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to waking at the crack of dawn to get a few miles in with Pigeon before heading off to another day of work. Sunday is another pumpkin festival so I suspect this weekend will fly by in the blink of an eye . . . hopefully not.

When I arrived home from work last night I got the biggest greeting and hug from the Peanut. I missed not seeing her adorable face all day yesterday. That will probably be the hardest part about this "working more thing" but it also means I get bigger hugs and kisses when I get home!

She also had a great evening with Vans so this will be good for them as well.

BEING A BIG GIRL

I normally run on Thursday evenings but tonight I have to work. My intention was to get up early and try and squeeze in something on the elliptical or maybe run the dark streets of my hood with a headlamp but that didn't happen.

I saw Dr. Lau yesterday and he was awesome as usual. I am allowed to run and there is nothing structurally wrong with my ankle but I do have quite a bit of fluid build up down there that we need to get rid of. He gave me some self massaging exercises to do at home to help alleviate the swelling. I was also told to run wearing my compression socks. Ick, he's been telling me that for years but I have always refused and opted to wear them before and after races . . . looks like I might take his advice because I need to get this ankle healed.

So I figured one more day of resting the ankle is not all that bad of an idea yet it still seems weird to me that I am not going out to meet Pigeon after work today. Looks like I might have to summons some inner mojo to get me to start waking up super early for workouts. If we move, or shall I say when we move, that will be my only option most likely during the week. Otherwise I will be running the dark streets of El Dorado Hills with a headlamp super late in the evening.

But, like the Peanut always says, "I have to be a big girl" and do what I have to do to get 'er done.

FAMILIAR TIMES

Last night felt like old times. It has been weeks since I have run with Pigeon but last night put an end to that draught. As usual, I was late arriving or rather we were late starting because I had to finish up a phone call that I started while en route to meet Pigeon.

Once we started moving the laughter started flowing. It was really nice to run with her again without the worry of her getting in the miles for an up coming race. We talked about the NIKE Marathon that is happening in a few weeks. Pigeon had gotten into NIKE for the full marathon originally thinking she'd be ready to run 26.2 after running 52 miles only a few weeks before . . .but she's smart and she realizes that even though she is feeling much better after running the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run, she should rest her injured body a bit more. I reminded her that pavement isn't forgiving and it might be a brutal shock to her back and displaced ribs if she tried it too soon. She offered it to me and I originally jumped at the idea but now having had some time to think about it, I think I am going to pass on running the NIKE Marathon for a few reasons. The biggest reason of all? Vans asked me not to run and he normally doesn't care about stuff like that but I think he has seen recently how bad my allergies have been and how poor my runs have been not to mention how large my right ankle is right now. He's concerned and rightly so and I will honor his request. The second reason is I would like to do that race some day but I think I would like to race it under my name and not under someone elses and oh yeah, there is that ankle thing again. Listening to my own advice, resting and not pushing. There will be plenty of races. However, that doesn't mean Pigeon and I will be sitting on our laurels that day. Nope, we're still heading to the city to cheer on some friends. My friend Scrapbook is running the half and Coach Nikon's wife Lily is running the full. Pigeon and I will just wander all around the city trying to meet up with them and enjoy our time being spectators and not runners for once.

So last night's 6 mile run was an easy no pressure kind of run. I admit I was huffing and puffing because something in the air is causing my allergies to go berserk lately and I am actually struggling to catch my breath at times.

I see Dr. Lau later today and am anxious to hear what he will say about my ankle. I can already hear the "tsk tsk tsk" for running when it is swollen. He's always said not to run when it is swollen but the swelling never goes away . . . hopefully today he can patch me back up and get me back on my feet.

Last night's run was fairly uneventful. Pigeon got spooked by some deer and it was my turn to laugh instead of her laughing at me for screaming at turkeys.

The Peanut is all about the changing seasons right now. I think Halloween this year will be extra fun as she is understanding the concept of costumes and is really into pumpkins. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. I can't wait to have Halloween parties for her when she's older. In the meantime, we'll just enjoy our trips to the pumpkin patches. This weekend we're going to yet another pumpkin festival! I am so excited. In the meantime, here are more photos from last weekend's festival.

Hi Mommy! I am in the bounce house  . . . again!

.

Picking out a pumpkin

The Peanut's "crew" or BFFs

This one will do!

These people carved out giant pumpkins, got INSIDE

and raced them across a lake!

Watching the boat races & enjoying a treat.

FACTS OF LIFE

You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and then you have the facts of life . . . the facts of life!

Anyone else watch that show religiously growing up? I so wanted to be Jo Polniczek when I was a kid. She was tough and sarcastic. I even asked to go to a boarding school and my parents just kind of laughed at me. Oh well.

Well growing up doesn't mean the facts of life change or get any better. What was supposed to be a great weekend turned out to be a not so great weekend. First was bad news about the new house and now the new house may no longer happen. Let's just say everything is up in the air and the stress is flowing freely all around.

Then on Saturday I worked at my new part-time job. That was probably the highlight of my weekend because I was in my element. Yes, I have a part-time job . . . technically I now have one full-time job and two part-time ones in addition to my family which includes Vans and the 2.5 year old Peanut who took a backwards step this weekend in her potty training. Sigh.

Today I woke up hoping to get a run in early but the Peanut put a snafu in that plan by waking up before everyone. I did get 4 miles and they were four painful labored miles. When I got home I had to race into ths shower and the Peanut ready to head out to Elk Grove for the annual Elk Grove Pumpkin Festival.

I met my fellow mommy friends and their kids and did the pumpkin patch bounce house extravaganza. The Peanut had a blast and was in and out of the bounce house four times.

Overall today was a good afternoon minus one potty training mishap. My ankle is still swollen and hurts off and on. It felt okay during the run but hurt afterwards. I am eager to hear what Dr. Lau says on Wednesday when I see him. Until then, I'll continue to do mini runs so as not to aggravate it too much.

One thing about working on the weekends . . . my weekends now go by so much faster.