Looking back at September

My initial thought was that nothing happened in September since I spent half the month on the couch.  Then I remembered how busy we were in the weeks leading up to surgery.  Even with me on crutches we still managed two weekends out of town and one pretty busy one (the one right after surgery was blissfully open and relaxing).  Life is a little different than a month ago!

1) The weekend after Labor Day we had a long weekend at the lake.  You know you are doing something right in life when you are jet skiing on a perfect Thursday evening in September.  I love sunset jet ski runs, always beautiful and this one might have been my favorite one of the summer.  Plus, Luke getting a jet ski ride in before bed keeps him happy.
2) The Friday of our long weekend was our hottest lake day of the summer...after Labor Day even!  Heat indexes were near 100° and it was our only lake day of the summer we didn't have to go anywhere, all day.  It was awesome.  Luke loved his last time splashing at the sandbar.
3) Our last family jet ski run of the summer.  Lots of happy memories.
4) A rare picture of just Matt & I!  Amazing at how the quantity of those sharply decreased after Luke entered our lives!
5) Luke discovered capes.  I love this picture.
6) A few days before surgery we went to Turkey Run State Park for our annual camping trip with my family.  All 20 of us were there (although not all camped all weekend) and it was wonderful.  A little chilly (like the morning here) but still fun to be together.  And much better than our 100° last camping trip together!
7) Our little camping cove.  We shared 3 spots with 5 tents.  It was chilly but so pretty down in the trees!
8) The day before surgery Luke and I made our last shopping runs together.  I had a coupon for $1 off a Jamba Juice at Target so Luke got his first taste.  He was hooked.  Smart kid.
9) Luke loving the truck his Great Grandpa made him and being a happy kid while Mom was on the couch.
10) This is the turtle we bought Luke in New York the day we found out about him.  It normally lives under his crib but he loves to bring it downstairs after naptime and use it as a pillow.  It's adorable.
11) One day while on the couch, I heard Luke making some noise on the porch (he frequently plays out there).  I hobbled out to find him sitting on the chair, just chilling.  First time he managed to do that!  At 18 months he's just turning into a climber.  I don't mind at all that it took him this long!
12) We participated in our second Fort 4 Fitness as a family.  Matt pushed Luke & I in a wheelchair the whole 4 miles.  We had signed up before we knew about surgery and I didn't want our registrations to go to waste.  Luke was perfect sitting on my lap and we only took 8 minutes longer than last year. 
13) Beautiful fall foliage.  I'm not counting on seeing much this year so exciting to see some pretty trees!
14) A new view on the couch when I got my cast off and my boot on a few days ago.  It took a lot of convincing to get the doctor to let me do the boot instead of a cast but I got to wash my foot and shave my leg at home.  That was awesome.
15) While at the doctor's office we scheduled my next follow-up visit which is when I should be allowed to walk again.  That afternoon I made a countdown chain.  26 days to go.  We will make it.
16) As if watching an active toddler and having only one good leg wasn't enough, I came down with a quick stomach bug earlier this week.  Matt made me a nice bed outside the bathroom to save me multiple trips up and down the stairs on crutches.  He even got pillows for my foot without me asking.  This is love.   (And the bug only lasted a few hours...just enough to make me miserable and kinda worthless for the day.)