Shoulder Saga

Back in March, we found out we earned a permit to hike Mt. Whitney. I started training specifically for it and in doing so, added upper body strength exercises. Within a few days, I noticed my left shoulder was hurting. I stopped doing the exercises and rested my shoulder. About a month later, I lifted Gemma up and tweaked my shoulder again. I went to see my doctor, who recommended PT. I did that and headed out to California.

The day before our Mt. Whitney attempt, we hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. On the way back, my shoelaces snagged on something and I fell hard. To protect my left shoulder, I braced myself with my right arm. It was a bad fall. Lots of pain in my right arm/shoulder but it subsided. I wasn't worried too much. It didn't stop me from hiking Whitney the next day.

When I got back, I resumed PT for my left shoulder but mentioned that my right was now bothering me more. We kept doing PT for both shoulders with no improvement on the right side. (The left has improved enough so that's nice.) This all led to a MRI in September. Results showed my right shoulder was partially dislocated and the ligaments around it were too relaxed/loose that they wouldn't hold my shoulder in anyways. The only fix for this is surgery.

Early November, I had the surgery. Thankfully, it is an easy surgery- 1 hour and you're home within an hour or two after surgery. Recovery will be 4-6 months but I already have significantly less pain than I had before surgery. Before, I couldn't even carry a bag of groceries with my right arm without pain. Lifting my arm above my head was a no-go. Throwing balls with the kids was not possible.

I have 6 weeks in a immobilizer sling with minimal movement aside from PT. Then 12 weeks of no weight bearing. And then strength exercises until 4-6 months out. It makes day to day life a little slower and tricky but we are managing.

Door County Race

Back in the spring, my sister asked if I would run a relay race with her and some friends. It was the Door 50, a 50 mile relay race in October in Door County, Wisconsin. Any chance to see fall colors in Wisconsin will be a quick yes from me. We had a team of 5 runners so we each did 10 miles. Unfortunately, I messed up my shoulder and didn't train super well for the race. Plus I tweaked my ankle on the run. So my time wasn't great. But the other runners were quick so that helped. I spent Friday-Sunday morning in Door County with the race, then went to church and headed to Wausau to see my parents and family for a night. It was a quick weekend away but to be back in true "fall" was great. I remembered why I love October and orange so much. But then I reminded myself that Wausau would have snow a week later so I am happy to be back in Texas.
 

Air Show and Eclipse

 We got a special treat in Houston this fall- the Wings over Houston Airshow and the eclipse was close. It was during a soccer game so we brought the glasses so we could check on the sun throughout the game. The kids thought it was cool. Then we visited a local park to see the airshow. It's expensive, crowded, and very loud if you go to the actual airshow. The location is only about 15 minutes from our house so we are able to see a lot of it from our neighborhood. The kids enjoyed seeing the Thunderbirds and aerial plane tricks.

Halloween

 

We had a great Halloween this year. Trunk or Treat went well and the kids loved celebrating with the wards. Gemma had at least 3 different costumes that she rotated through. Lydia rocked out in the Squirrel costume again. I think we have 3 years of that costume and this year was probably the last. I don't think it will fit anyone next year.

Tanner was a werewolf for his second year in a row. And Ashton chose a skeleton costume, which was easy.

Our school also does a Book Character parade on Halloween. They have to dress up as a character from a book and then the kids parade around the school. It is for grades K-2. Thankfully, Tanner picked a soccer book so just wore his soccer uniform. Gemma chose Princess in Black, which we made at home. Except, she got lost during the parade and didn't get to participate much. She got embarrassed when she got lost and it was a rough day.

The kids made it through part of the neighborhood on Halloween and hit up the teachers that live by us. We had dinner with a bunch of neighbors and then went as a big group. Poor Gemma, already having a rough day from school, fell at least 4 times during trick or treating, which led to a bunch of blood and bandaids. It was just not her day.

School Starts

School started back in August. Gemma started kindergarten, Tanner in 2nd, and Ashton in 4th. Gemma was excited about starting school. With dual language, there are only two teachers per grade (out of about 6-7 classrooms). I was hopeful Gemma would get Tanner's teacher but we got the other teacher instead. It has been a good fit for Gemma but I still miss Tanner's teacher. 

We've already had one parent-teacher conference with Gemma's teacher where she told me Gemma is behind academically. Her reasoning- Gemma isn't reading in Spanish yet. Suffice it to say, I am not that worried that Gemma is not reading in a second language that she just started learning 10 weeks ago. Hopefully the teacher calms down a little bit after I communicated that I wasn't worried at all. I get it- the school has to assess the child in the Spanish language, regardless of their native language. So technically, she is behind the standards. But the teacher did assess her in English (it's required if the student "fails" in Spanish) and she passed just fine.

Tanner has Ashton's teachers from 2nd grade and we love them! And Ashton has all new teachers for 4th grade. Thankfully, one of them is a mom of a student who has been in Ashton's class since kinder so we know the family.

For clubs- Tanner is in running club again. Gemma will do a STEM club next spring. Then, Ashton got into the school choir and made the robotics team. Only 8 kids in 4th and 5th grade get offered a spot on the team so we were surprised she was picked. It's been a little intense with building the robot in time for competitions, but she is enjoying it.

Lydia started preschool at the local high school that Gemma did last year. The school allows 3 and 4 year olds as long as they are potty trained. So Lydia got to go this year too! It didn't start until early October so we had a little bit of time of just the two of us in August and September. She loves preschool and has done well there.