We all know the recovery rules that are spouted off all the time, right? Eat within 30 minutes of strenuous activity, ice, foam roll, compression, chocolate milk, etc. What are the recovery rules for Thanksgiving?

You may assume that I mean overstuffing myself… but I didn’t do that. In fact, I hardly remember if I ate a Thanksgiving meal! I know I made a put together a plate of food at my grandmother’s house… I know I sat down and my daughter insisted on eating all of the sweet potatoes on my plate and the fruit salad from her dad’s plate, but nothing on her own plate… I know there were a lot of pies there and I had a tiny sliver of a couple of flavors, but never got back to having tiny slivers of the other flavors… I saw relatives, relatives of relatives, immediate family and people of no relation to me. We spent 3 nights in 3 different locations, all with a one-year-old in tow… and she did really well!

Alex had stomach flu the weekend before Thanksgiving, and then she came down with a cold the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. With the help of Hyland’s Baby Cough Syrup and Hyland’s Baby Tiny Cold Tablets she got through without too many symptoms (mainly runny nose) and she slept through the night each night, even though she was sleeping in unfamiliar places and in her Pack ‘N Play instead of her crib. But yesterday she woke up with a fever of 101 and I couldn’t send her to school like that! So I took a sick day to take care of her. She wants to cuddle a little more when she’s sick, but not big relaxing cuddles. I have to be standing and she will cuddle into my neck. But if I try to sit down she’ll twist around or throw herself backwards. I’ve read things about taking the opportunity to nap with your toddler because those days will be gone before you know it… well, apparently those days were gone before they ever arrived. I think I may have been able to nap alongside her when she was a month old, yet I was too naive and new to this motherhood thing to recognize that.

More than anything, I’m just tired. Not so much physically tired, because I’m getting pretty good sleep the past week (even with traveling and sleeping in tiny beds)… just emotionally and mentally tired. The thought of Christmas shopping exhausts me and I am having a hard time putting together a “wishlist” for myself. I don’t want things… I want experiences. Or naps and bubble baths because those seem more practical than experiences since I have a toddler. I don’t ever want to go on another trip again. It’s just too exhausting, and yet I know I’ll have more in our future.

I need to spend some time working on review posts tonight. I need to write something for The RUNiverse. I need to get in some running.  And I need to feel more in control of my life, which is a dangerous spot to be in. ED convinced me I needed control at a time when things felt out of control and I ended up more out-of-order. At least I recognize that pattern now, but it’s still feeling a little like I am staring at a fork in the road where I can meander down the wrong path all too easily.