The Bad Guys

Photo Credit www.zazzle.com

So I've mentioned part of this on facebook, and to a few of you already -- but we have had a lot of "Bad Guy" talk at our house.

The other day I was reading The Economist. It was the issue just following Bin Laden being taken down. Opposite his picture, was a picture of Obama. Holden, interested in what Mommy was doing pointed to the pictures.

I showed him Osama and said "Bad Guy," and then he pointed to Obama and I said "Good Guy." Soon after he started assigning "Good Guy / Bad Guy" to everyone.

• The dude with his hair slicked back? Bad Guy.
• Tyrannosaurus Rex (or "Sharp Tooth" at our house)? Bad Guy
• Dad? Good Guy... or Happy Guy.

He'll use Good Guy and Happy Guy interchangeably.

The "Bad Guys" are also responsible for a host of problems in our home.

Holden's Blue Bus missing? Bad Guys.

Lovely disappears? Bad Guys.

Mind you, this is not me making the assignments -- it's ALL Cito. Danny tried to tell Holden yesterday that T-Rex was not a bad guy, just misunderstood.I've been on 'repeat mode' with the phrase, "They're not bad guys. Some have just made bad choices."

Today, whilst riding his balance bike into the living room without his helmet, I asked him what was missing from his head. He told me (or at least tried to say) "helmet" to which I responded, "Where did it go?"

He immediately followed up with: "Bad guys took it."

Should I be concerned there are random villains constantly looming throughout my house and causing bedlam and mayhem?

Green Thumbs & Dirty Fingernails

I'm guest blogging over at Make & Takes today for my monthly bit on living more sustainably for you and your family.We're talking about gardening with kiddos. There's a great pic (if I do say so myself) of last year's lavender garden and one of my faves of Holden with one of his little gourds. His hair is also ridiculously blonde.

Hope you'll check it out.

Barefoot & Pregnant: My IronGirl Details

Yep, that's right people. Turns out over the past three months-- that have included a raw food week, two triathlons AND pole dancing lesson-- I have also been growing a little person inside of me. Huzzah!

I'm just past the 12 week mark, so of course it's time to share the news with the blogosphere.

That said, I hope you understand a little more fully why my tri-training kind of went to pot last month. I finished the SHAC triathlon with a renewed sense of determination, getting a little taste of what this body could be capable of...and then that blessed first trimester exhaustion hit me, and my ever so familiar aversion to the nauseating scent of fried chicken. Once that happened, I realized it was time to find out if my (as they say in Juno) "Eggo's prego."

OK, so recap on the race (if you're interested):

800 m swim (17 minutes, 1 second): Super crazy turbulent waters. And we started pretty far in the back of the pack so by the time I got in the water I felt like a fish in a koi pond feeding. Swimming in open water is NOTHING like swimming in a pool. Form flies out the door to keep your bearings because you literally cannot see in front of you.

Transition 1: (6 minutes 7 seconds.) I should've practiced getting that wet suit off before race day... it was pretty comical. And yes, I kick it old school style started the bike in my swimsuit (no bike/tri shorts) and some vibrams. A piece of work I am.

14ish-mile Bike: (57 min 39 seconds): Yes, I'm disappointed in my performance here. But it's my fault. My chain fell off in the first 1/2 mile, and while I'm sure they had support teams all along the way, I think the race staff figured we could at least managed the first mile on our own. I was shifting on the uphill, and apparently my 'components' were off a little bit anyway... (And one would probably learn this if they had actually ridden their bike outdoors.) So failure to plan, is a plan to fail - eh? I had to stop twice (once to 'fix' it, and another because it never sounded quite right until around mile seven,) and even then I was somewhat limited to what gears I even dared use. I think it probably cost me about seven minutes... (frown and a huffy breath, here).

Transition 2 (1 min 55 secs): Dump the bike, grab some water and head out... don't even need to change shoes with the Five Fingers. Oh and I put on a running skirt, because as fabulous as my wobbly bits are, I didn't think Vegas was ready for my jelly....

5k Run (31:26): It didn't take long to realize that shoes would've been nice for the run. I was thinking it was 'trail running,' which is fine with the Vibrams. But a construction zone that is all rocks the size of my big toe and larger? Not really ideal for a newbie 'minimalist' (aka wannabe barefoot) runner like me. I felt like I had to be pretty careful about where I was stepping and I think that affected my pace a bit. I was hoping to be about 3 minutes faster on the run too...

So that takes me about 10 minutes off what I was hoping for. But Danny said I need to "stop being so 'effing' competitive" (no seriously, those were his words when I kept replaying my perceived failure to him, over, and over, and over again). And I didn't get much training in... e

So final time: 1:54:08

Looking back I'm actually pretty stoked to be under two hours... especially pregnant, right?

Speaking of this poor, blessed fetus in my belly... what I've already put the kid through!

Hey welcome to Suite-Mangum madness little one. This is just a sampling of what's to come for you!!!!

BACK to Yoga on Fox

Holden shows his Dad a little Down-Doggie Action after a run

So I'll be doing another Yoga Segment on FOX 13 this weekend. Our focus will focus on a few sample postures for a healthy back and spine.

Where: Your TV (if you're local, Fox 13)

When: Saturday morning, 8:30ish

Who: Yours truly and my older sister Cassandra will be my demo girl/model

Why: Because the world needs yoga, and this is the closest I'll ever get to calling a truce with Bill O'Reilly

Namaste

PS. I know I'm behind a bit on blogging... but I have a million (give or take a few hundred thousand) posts in my head about the IronGirl, our Disney Cruise and how happy my heart is it's time to work in the garden again. (I know, the carrot posts promise to be even more riveting than last year's. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat. All in due time...)

The Blessing, and anniversary

Two years ago, this was the first Sunday in May, which also coincided with Holden's blessing day at Church. My dearest friend Lindsay Morgan took the pen and jotted down the beautiful things Danny had said and blessed our little guy with.

I found them to frame them and put them in Holden's room last week, and thought it was worth documenting and writing down a bit of what I remember.

Holdencito,

Your Father has blessed you with amazing talents and desires. Take a look-see:

• Knowledge that the Lord loves you
• A Cheery disposition
• Blessed with Faith
• A keen attention to the feelings of the Spirit
• Patience, and the ability to use it through affliction and hardship
• To be civically minded, seek opportunities to serve others and those that are less fortunate
• A keen intellect, with a desire to learn academically and spiritually
• Blessed with a respect of women, especially your mother
• No desire compromise any daughter of God
• A desire to serve a full time mission
• That you may find a choice daughter of God, and enter the temple with her
• A personal relationship with God and Christ
• The ability to communicate through prayer

And all other blessings that God sees you stand in need of.

I love you, Little Bits. Oh and before I forget, I love how when we're at a restaurant and I ask you if you want noodles or pizza to eat, you say: "Zee-Pa!" I just didn't want to forget to write that one down either....

In honor of this weekend's IronGirl

Image from Mapmyride.com

You know when you've got a race coming up, and you think to yourself, "I have done the training. I've worked hard and put in the time." And even if you're not exactly sure how it's going to go, you can feel confident in your preparation.

Yeah... this weekend is not going to be that race.

For reasons not really worth disclosing at this point, I ought to just say I haven't been real motivated. Which kind of blows, because after the SHAC triathlon I got a taste for how fun and how much potential I have as a triathlete.

Likewise, I kept thinking I was going to piece together my videos from SHAC, and then just post that with a few snippets of typeface; but it never happened...

(The following is the long-winded version of my memories from the race...which could've been showcased in with 3 excel columns and a bunch of videos, only one of which I'm including.)

OK, so here's the breakdown from the triathlon on April 2:

Final Time: 1:13:13.7

400 yd Swim: 7 minutes and two seconds

T1 (that's tri speak for transition 1, apparently): One minutes 37 seconds

10 Mile Bike: 36 minutes and 40 seconds (Help me with the math... is that pacing at 16.4 miles/hr?)

T2: 1 minute and one second (I only had to rack my bike and throw on my running skirt)

3 mile Run: 26 minutes and 50 seconds (Under a nine-minute mile which is pretty decent for me considering I couldn't feel my legs or get a deep breath for the first mile!)

The final results showed me missing a medal by one minute...but it's all smoke and mirrors because the 1st and 2nd place finishers in my division also happened to be the leaders overall for the women (so I technically took 6th out of the 30 - 34 yr old ladies).

Here are some of my fonder memories:

• Comparatively speaking I did pretty good in the swim (4th in my division). But my older sister heard I did it in 7 minutes and was positively embarrassed for me... tough crowd at the Suite house. (If you look in the far right corner of the video you can see me 'trot' to my lane and then dive in... Danny get's a flip turn and calls it good. He also says he hates hearing his voice on the video, so if you're watching this and he's sitting next to you turn down your computer volume).

• The fact that I don't wear bike shorts because there's NEVER enough padding for my sit-bones and girl parts; so I opted for one of those awesome foamy-blubber-seat covers instead and just rode in my one-piece swim suit and Vibrams (that's right; those clipy-foot pedals scare me). Yes, I looked pretty classic in a short-bus kind of way.

• Making the second loop on my bike, in front of LOADS of spectators and my husband, I did not shift appropriately for the hill out of the parking lot and managed to make a few horrible sounds with my bike, a lot of grunting and a cadence that would barely register as actual movement. A guy even yelled at me "PEDDLE FASTER!" (Thanks for the motivation sir.)

• I am kind of a pathetic biker overall. Danny will tell you that while I can rally on the hills ... it's the straightaways, and the slight declines that I struggle with. (OK so not so much downhill...I mean, everyone rallies at that right? But I mean just enough of a decent to not qualify as straight.) Hubs says I look like I'm out for Sunday ride on a cruiser--my body moves all around, I smile a lot, my elbows are out and my form's totally ski-wampus... so there's room for improvement obviously. Again, I don't use clips. Which reminds me...

• The nice thing about Vibrams is that you don't really need to have dry feet to wear them so your transitions go faster... especially if you're wearing them FOR THE BIKE AND YOUR RUN

• There's just too many wobbly bits with all my lovely-lady-lumps to run in a swimsuit; so I opted for a running skirt for the last transition. But I'm sure some of the spectators had wished I'd covered up a bit before the run, because I think the one thing missing from my bike transitions was pineapple (you know, to go with all my cottage cheese?)

• When I got off the bike and actually started my run, my ear were plugged and I couldn't get a deep breath. I felt like I was plodding along at a 12 - 15 minute mile pace. And it was at that point I thought to myself "WHAT THEY HELL WAS I THINKING WHEN I SIGNED UP FOR THIS?!?!"

• I am happy to report, I think Yoga translates well for triathlons since I didn't really train for the SHAC either and did ok. As I mentioned on facebook and a few of you, I can only hope the same proves true with Pole Dancing classes and the IronGirl. It's a different kind of cross-training, but a transferable skill nonetheless.

Happy Earth Day, of course

Happy Tree Hugger Day Friends! What a GOOD FRIDAY it is!

We have been celebrating all week.

• It started with Meat-Free Monday (and Tuesday, Wed, Thurs and today, actually.)
• Read The Lorax -- again and again and again and again.
• Started my first 'official' bit as a regular contributor for Make & Takes talking about living more sustainably for your family and the planet. If you didn't check it out yesterday, just head on over via HERE.
• And Holden and I spent a good chunk of the day in the dirt and mud and with the worms getting part of our garden prepped. We also got some seeds in the ground; but who knows how they'll do with this weather being so awful.

So last year for Earth Day I did a post about what we were trying to do as a family to be more green. It's funny to look back at that now and see how we don't really 'try' anymore with that list...it's just a part of us. Like Yoda said (paraphrased): There is no try, only do or do not.

But this year, I've got a much bigger list... With the help of Practically Green and a five minute quiz you can see where you rank: somewhere between "barely green" and "wicked green." I didn't make the top cut, as my "Solidly Green" ranking comes with PLENTY of room for improvement; but living sustainably is not an overnight process.

Once you've taken the quiz and your score is tallied, you can earn badges of green honor in different areas of your life. I've gotta admit, I dig my "Natural Baby Badge." I totally double dog dare you to check it out.