Well, apparently I blinked and three weeks went by without a blog post. So much for getting into a consistent writing routine! In my defense, October has been a whirlwind, and somehow the month has nearly flown by. I just looked at the calendar and realized we have less than a week left. Yikes!
Just as I started to feel like we were settling into a new routine, the kids had fall break and started a new quarter of school. I’ve been trying to soak up some extra time with them and enjoy this beautiful weather. October has always been one of my favorite months of the year. I love putting out our fall decorations and planning for the upcoming holidays. This Christmas Queen is already starting to defrost; I’m just trying to hide it behind all the pumpkins for now. That doesn’t mean the planning hasn’t begun.
In the middle of all this, I’ve also started going through Jeff’s old medical records for the first time. And this isn’t exactly a small stack of paperwork. There are thousands, yes, thousands, of pages to go through. Some are even front and back. Needless to say, that’s been keeping me occupied. There’s a lot more to unpack there, including a few things I never knew, but we’ll save that for another day.
Despite the strange schedules and everyday chaos, we’ve managed to stay consistent with the changes we’ve been making. In a previous post, I shared some of our dietary adjustments and why they’re important at this point in our lives. We’ve also been working on making exercise a more consistent part of our routine.
Working out together isn’t something new for us, but we’ve certainly had our ups and downs when it comes to staying consistent. Since Jeff returned home from treatment, one of my priorities has been building on the progress he made while he was away. Much like our dietary changes, we’re being more intentional about exercise because of its potential benefits for blood flow and reducing inflammation. We’re also looking at the bigger picture. Nutrition, exercise, adequate sleep, and managing stress all play important roles in brain health. With a few months before Jeff’s next set of brain scans, I want us to make the most of that time and do everything we reasonably can to support his continued recovery.
These aren’t habits we plan to abandon after his scans. We both want to be strong and healthy for years to come. And don’t worry, I’m not suddenly turning this into a fitness blog! I’m certainly no expert, but these changes are part of our everyday lives, so naturally they’re becoming part of our story, too.
Finding enough hours in the day has always been the challenge. We enjoy working out (aside from my hatred for cardio), but between three kids, school, and work, finding time for ourselves isn’t easy. So our solution was to wake up at 4:30. Yep, AM. That gives us time to work out, get cleaned up, get the kids off to school, and get Jeff to work. As crazy as it sounds, working out together has become some of the best quality time we get in this season of life. Our evenings tend to pull us in different directions, so we’ve come to appreciate that one-on-one time, even if we’re focused on the workout.
Of course, making all of this work isn’t as easy as it sounds. One of our biggest challenges is getting enough sleep, which is especially important for Jeff’s recovery. Sleep is essential for brain health, and I feel like it needs to be one of our highest priorities right now. Unfortunately, finding time to exercise and getting enough sleep don’t always go hand in hand. With a 4:30 AM wake-up, we’d need to be asleep by 8:30 to get eight hours. We have three kids with busy schedules, and some nights they aren’t even home from their activities by then. That’s a separate issue I could get worked up over, but I’ll spare y’all for now. And who would have guessed that a teenager wouldn’t want to go to bed at 8:00?
So why don’t we just work out at night? In my younger years, I would have considered myself a night owl. These days, even on a good day, things start looking a little like Weekend at Bernie’s around here somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00. I can barely keep my head up. Unfortunately, I don’t consider myself a morning person either, although I can’t seem to sleep past 5:30 these days. Once I’m up, I’m up, whether I want to be or not.
So now that we’ve established I’m neither an early bird nor a night owl, I’m left wondering what exactly I am. Maybe with the right amount of caffeine, I can be a decent middle-of-the-day person? Although by 3:00, I’m usually reaching for my afternoon cuppa just to make it to bedtime.
I guess that’s where we are with a lot of things right now. We’re finding what works for our family, adjusting as we go, and trying to make it all fit into the life we’re actually living. Things are finally starting to settle into something resembling a routine, although I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to figure out along the way.
And while I may have accidentally disappeared from the blog for three weeks, I certainly haven’t run out of things to talk about. We’re just getting started.
Oh, and for anyone who may be wondering…
No, I haven’t given up my refrigerator cigarettes. Come and take it.
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