What does it really mean to be INSPIRED??

The spring semester has finally come to an end, leaving me with plenty of time to reflect on the actives of the last month.  I have been luck enough to have been surrounded by some amazing individuals who have reminded me just what the word "INSPIRED" means.

At the end of April I was honored to be asked by Skirt Sports to again help with the Boston Marathon Expo - standing along side owner and founder Nicole DeBoom, assistant Noelle Wilson, and epic marathon pioneer Katherine Switzer.  INSPIRING is being surrounded with three women who define the meaning of #realwomenmove - through their personal accomplishments, promotion of general health and fitness to women of all shapes and sizes, and support of our growing young ladies who are about to join the active lifestyle movement.

I would have to say that the best part of the weekend was watching Katherine Switzer interact with a 3rd grader who wrote a school hero report all about Katherine's impact on female marathon running.  Katherine was so grateful, and took her time to talk to the young lady all about her experiences and what it was like being a marathon runner prior to the 1970's.  Having such a woman leading the way for health and fitness among our youth is one of the reasons I love working in the field of exercise physiology and being an Ambassador for Skirt Sports - I know that we are making a different to the lives of so many women and young ladies across the globe.

After enjoying two days at the expo with my favorite Skirt Sport ladies - it was off to be INSPIRED while volunteering on the Boston Marathon Course on Monday.  Despite the cold rainy weather this year, nothing could have been more rewarding than seeing thousands of runners pass by the tables, 9 miles into their marathon journey.  Among them, those that INSPIRE me the most - the disabled athletes.  Those athletes who have persevered through so much more than just the training for a 26.2 mile run.  The athletes who run with one, or even two, prosthetic limbs; the blind athletes, the wheelchair athletes, all of the athletes who work harder than the typical human to achieve greatness.

I left the marathon experience feeling uplifted, feeling stronger, and feeling humbled.  A clear reminder that no mater the challenge, perseverance, dedication, and determination can lead to achievement.  That achievement does not need to be a 26.2 mile race - it doesn't even need to be a 13.1 mile race - choosing to get up off the couch and make today the day to start the healthy journey towards a new body is achievement enough.  Today's achievement will turn into tomorrow's reward.

Looking for a little more INSPIRATION???  Take a minute to enter to win a basic entry into the Skirt Sports Virtual 13er (this means that you can run from the location you live in - no traveling to Boulder, CO required. Although Boulder is an amazing place to race!!!).  In order to enter - leave a comment below (be sure to add in your email address where instructed so I can notify if you have won) and winner will be selected at random at 6:00pm EST (so you make your entry for your printed skirt!).  Even if you don't win - the virtual 13er is a great way to INSPIRE run a half marathon with friends locally!!

2015 - New Year New Goals

Perhaps being 40 is the realization that although mentally you may feel 20, physically your body will constantly remind you that you are, in fact, not 20.  And on most occasions, your body may actually attempt to force you into believing that it is more like 50 or 60, even though that is completely not true.  So, with this ripe (old) age, I have decided that trying to exercise, lose weight, engage in race training, and recover it can't be done the same way it was when I was 20, or even 30 for that matter.

Part of heading into 2015 was the realization that I was in fact well distanced from my athletic past.  A two year stint on the DL for disk herniation and 4 broken vertebrae had left me beyond my worse for weight gain and inactivity levels.  Perhaps the continued back pain was a correlation between the lack of activity, weight gain, and stress on the joints?  Hmmm.... it was seriously time to stop whining and get moving - even if that moving wasn't what it was a few years ago.

I have started 2015 with some specific and detailed weight loss and activity goals, that are achievable in the correct time frame - healthy weight loss occurs at no more than 1-2 lbs per week, if it is going to stay off and become part of a permanent lifestyle change.  This means that I have to accept that losing 45 lbs is going to take me AT LEAST 22-45 weeks - Hello Jenn - you didn't put it on overnight, it's not going to come off in a month - FACT!

Adding fitness to an unstable back also means that I am going to have bad days - days where I know I have done too much.  This means, that no matter what the workout program may say for that day - I have to accept a day (or even two) off.  Pushing beyond the pain isn't going to make this 40 (really more like 65) year old back feel like a 20 year old back, it's just going to make it worse: ACCEPT it Gordon, you may have to accept the sprint distance as the new half iron distance.

All of these goals are things that are a working progress towards feeling more fit and more healthy in 2015 - getting back to where I used to be before spending too much time on the DL.  These are also goals that my growing ABC's are going to see and realize that they are part of life, no matter the age. That healthy goal setting, eating, and activity are important to bodies of all ages and a skill they are going to need for a lifetime.

With the changes I have for 2015 I have changed the ABC kids blog title to include the more active approach our family is taking in the coming year.  You will see more of our posts about how we are staying active, incorporating health and fitness into our daily lives - especially for a family who has individuals in nearly 3 different centuries - which is going to pose challenges of its own.  Hopefully these stories will inspire you to keep on moving or to stay moving; and to realize that if you are a mom who has put her fitness goals on the back burner while your little ones are getting going, you can get all of those goals back and still juggle it all.  Cheers to our new 2015 :)

And so the 'girly' issues begin..... (or continue)....

I think that I knew 9 years ago when Dawn and I started talking about wanting children, that there were going to be bumps in the road for that child as they endured the school age years.  I expected and prepared myself for dealing with the 'there may be derogatory remarks made because he/she has two mom; kids can be mean about others with atypical families; there may need to be some ability to find other families like our own.'  And I wasn't naive enough to think that there wouldn't be the usual 'picking' comments made about wearing glasses, or having braces; but I think that I had expected those to happen near middle school, and I had lots of time to prepare.

Unfortunately what I wasn't ready for is that all of this stuff would start sooner - much sooner.  At the ripe old age of 7, and in second grade, I am faced with a child in tears:


      "I didn't eat lunch today because I didn't have anyone to sit next to.  There is this 'popular' table and I just don't get invited to sit there."

      "No one plays with me at recess, they called me a baby for having pigtails in my hair today."

      "The girls were all coming up with silly names for each other and two of them said mine is 'fatty' and it made me feel really sad."

What? This is happening in 2nd grade? Did I miss something?  Yes, I know, kids are cruel, they will find ways to put others down, but in today's day and age of eliminating bullying - why does it seem to me that it is happening to the younger population.  And where are these kids learning these behaviors? That it is okay and acceptable to use derogatory terms to label other kids - haven't we continued to teach the golden rule?????
 
        DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU'D HAVE DONE TO YOU

Because in this house there are two major things that I repeat over and over again - treat others as you'd like to be treated - AND - if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.  No, my kids aren't perfect, and frankly in my own four walls they can't handle doing this to each other.  But in public and towards other children, we go out of our way to reprimand the moments that they aren't following these basic rules.  Isn't everyone else too?

Yes, I know that our kids re going to get picked on.  Cassie is like a mini-me, and I can recall all to well being called fat, chunky, chubby, and fluffy.  And hopefully I can teach her to have the strength to tell someone that what she is saying to her is not nice and it hurts feelings.  That she can have the strength to tell someone not to take her library book away from her.  That she can have the strength to know that she can be the better person by smiling back or turning the the other way.  She is a beautiful, caring, compassionate young lady and hopefully the reinforcement she gets from her moms will help her to be empowered enough to stand up for her amazing self and for those around her who don't feel like they have the confidence to do the same.

I am posting the photos from our dance costume try-on's tonight, a stressful part of dance as Cassie was not feeling so confident in her body or in her dancing abilities after today's school events.  Hopefully the more she hears the good things, she will gain the confidence to know that she is a special young lady.

My goofy girl - tap costume

These are going to be cute for their tap song

Brooklyn showing off her costume for the Lilo and Stitch Hula song

Brooklyn showing off her costume for her Lilo and Stitch Hula song

Look out!!

Cassie in her Jazz costume (shake your tail feathers from Chicken Little) and Brooklyn in her ballet costume (The Cinderella song where the mice are making her dress)

Enough with the broken back already!

So..... I've despite all that I have been through with this little back of mine, in the last couple of weeks, I have tried to take on the 'be positive and you will feel positive' approach.

Today - it's just not working!

On October 10th I was in a hurry to get the girls some new clothes for school when I flew down the wooden stairs, missing one and landing just below the center of my back on the step behind me.  Yes, there were lots of choice colorful words, lots of tears, and about :30 minutes of time to get off the floor.

Two ER visits and lots of pain later - I had broken the transverse processes of the first four lumbar vertebrae of mine.  Wow, really? I broke my back? Are you sure?  What now???  What about my job? My active kids? My triathlon career?  MY LIFE????

The right side trauma led to a whole cascade of trauma on an already herniated left side of my spine, plagued with SI joint disfunction and about 2 years of sciatia so bad I was sure that the bones of my lower legs were broken.  Am I going to have to live like this forever? Are there options for treatment? Is the pain ever going to go away????

Yes, if you find an awesome anesthesiologist names Dr. Pulai, he will conduct an RFA on your left side to get ride of the constant sciatia.  And all of a sudden, three weeks post procedure, I am pain free for the first time in 2 years...... had I only known before I did my last Ironman when all of these issues began.....

But the stabbing pains still exist in the right lumbar spot of my back.  By the end of the day of teaching 5 classes and walking across most of campus.... I am suffering.  And so I turned to the internet:

            "Transverse process fractures are rare, they typically do not require surgical intervention, however, they can be exceedingly painful and take significant periods of time to heal because of the massive muscles attached to the bone."

Well, awesome, sign me right up.

So here I am, 15 weeks post fall/break of back, and my vertebrae are still broken.  The right side of my back is still exceedingly painful.  And I don't have any answers about the hows or whens of doing things.  (Unfortunately the researcher in me has already pounded the medical journals for answers. Some say rest and wear a brace, some say you can resume activity 4 weeks post injury to tolerance because the bones will never re-fuse, some say to be pain free before returning to activity.....).  I will get through this. It sucks.  The mental scope of realizing that I honestly may never run or bike again at the level I had before is killing me.  Feeling like I can't keep up with the kids at the end of an energetic day is devastating.  I hope that I can compete again, I miss it dearly. But it is far more than that - it's going through a day of my life not feeling that someone is stabbing me in the back; it's saying yes to skating or sledding or pig piling on mommy.

This is just a hiccup in general scheme of things, and I will get through it.  I will get to be active again... maybe not tomorrow or the next day - but someday. I just have to have the mental strength to get me through the days like these (I already have an amazing wife and three kids who keep me motivated!).

Moments to always remember....

This is a snowman kit.  Some of you have seen it before, a nifty little plastic container shaped like a clear snowman who's inside contents are that of everything you may need to decorate your finished lump of packed snow.  The perfect sized plastic carrot for the nose, 8 or 9 large black buttons for eyes or buttons, a scarf to keep him warm (or maybe colder, warm would be bad), and even the perfect pipe.  The ABC's were blessed enough to get three of these kits this year from Auntie Terri and Auntie Kris, each with a different colored scarf tied to the outside, perfect for knowing who's was who's. 

So here it was, the third day of January, and the "Big First Snow Storm of the Year" had finally stopped dropping the powdery white stuff early enough that morning for everyone to go and play.  Oh, of course school was cancelled (it's not like we live out west where the trudge through everything).  Two of the girls from down the street asked to come up and sled on the little bump of a hill in our front yard, so we had 5 little snow bunnies outside while Mama was in her glory snow-blowing the driveway.  It took about 20 minutes before the three 5 year olds wanted to come in (it was, after all, only about 10 degrees out).  Cassie and her friend Kyra, however, remained outside in pure heaven.

After about 5 minutes both girls popped their heads in the front door and said they were 'thirsty,'' so I supplied them with a cup of water as they stood on the front rug.  "Mom, can we take our water outside?  We might be more thirsty?"  Sure, whatever you need, put them on the porch, just go it quickly and shut the door, its flipping cold out!

It took about 15 minutes before both girls returned.  "We drank all of our water, can we have some more?" More water and out the door.  (settle the three 5 year olds with something that all three of them can do).  

And Cassie and Kyra return again rather quickly this time.  Cassie pipe's up, "Uh, mom, I think we have a problem.  You see, we wanted to make a snowman.  So we asked Mama, but she said that the snow was too powdery, it needed to be wetter.  So we took the snowman kit and added some snow and then added our water to it, because the snow is to powdery.  But now we can't get our snowman out."

And now, as a parent, you need to explain to your young child the purpose of a 'snowman kit' with a straight face despite wanting to burst into pant wetting laughter.  "oh my dear ladies," I replied, "The snowman kit was not intended to make you a snowman if you added snow to it.  The container is filled with all of the things you need to decorate a snowman AFTER you have made one, by rolling large balls in the yard.  I am so sorry you though that this would allow you to add snow and have a snowman pop out of it."  

Yes, there were two very disturbed faces.  And a third twisted face that was still trying very hard to contain the humor of the issue.  "Oh, okay.  but the snow isn't right." was Cassie's response with a sad face.  Kyra whispered to her.  Suddenly they both thrust their cups at me and in unison said "Can we have some more water???"  "Um, no, you may not pour water all over the snow in our entire front yard so that you can make a snowman.  There will be more snow storms this season, and lots of snowman making.  Go hop back on your sleds for a while."  

Paaaauuuuusssseeeeee 

"Okay!" They piled out the door.  

The Family Tree

It's a two post kind of day - this is a short one.

Cassie had to complete a project for school over winter break, to compose her 'family tree.'  This could be as detailed as she wanted it to be, in any format that she wanted it to be, and go back as far as we could - without driving the mom's nuts.

Now, I know that I am lucky enough to have an Uncle Randy who did our genealogy back generations, but I wanted to go back as far as Cassie could remember.  So for my family history we decided to go as far back as we could based on who Cassie may have seen in my own family albums.

On Dawn's side, we were lucky enough to have Mimi's help to get us back one generation further than on my side, showing Cassie just how far back a family tree can go.

In the end, Cassie wrote our the entire thing herself, writing names in green, to fee like the free, and her name and our names in brown to be like the trunk (I supposed we should have added the twins, but it was her project...).  We found some cool leafy decorations in my scrapping supplies to spruce it up a bit.

We are VERY proud of her final project, it was turned in yesterday:

What Comes Home in the Folder.....

The dreaded noted came home yesterday from Cassie's class - "a student in your class has lice."  Personally, it was like a total freak out moment for me.  I've heard all of the horror stories.  The painstaking process of getting rid of every nit, of cleaning every sheet, blanket, pillow case and article of clothing; the bagging of every stuffed item your children own..... and then the hair - oh dear, the hair.  Brooklyn's hair is so long, it would put me into orbit to have to comb the solution through it.  The sheer though of this freaks me out!

No worries - we have defense - a special leave in conditioner that repels Lice. The girls need to keep their hair in pony tails or braids for school and sprayed before they walk out the door for the bus.  No problem, right??? Well, sure, as long as Mommy is around.  As Cassie begins to storm upstairs to wake me up at 7:30am (the day after I had the radio frequency ablation done on my back) to get her hair done, Mama stopped her "Cassie, don't wake Mommy! I can put your hair into a ponytail."  Cassie looked at her for a second, processing what she had just said, and then took a couple more steps towards my room, she was clearly in disbelief.  Mama stated "Cassie, please don't wake her, watch, I can do this!" as she proceeded to grab Brooklyn's hair and form a disorganized ponytail in the back of her head.  "See, no problem."  Well, it may not have been the neatest or the most organized ponytail, but it was in fact a ponytail, and for all intensive purposes, it would do.  Cassie gave in; handed Mama the pony holder and held her breath.  Mama was even good enough to remember that all three kids needed to get sprayed with Lice Repelling Leave In Conditioner, crisis averted, and Mommy was still sleeping in, recovering from her back procedure.

It does sort of crack me up how the kids know which one of us is better at certain things.  Math homework goes to Dawn.  Art projects come to me.  Sporting issues, Dawn.  Drama on the bus, Me.  (Personally I'd like to give that one up).  Either way, they have found our strong suits, more or less, on their own, which is pretty darn impressive.   Both of us completely agree that they are growing up way too fast, especially as we have had the opportunity now to revisit what I had posted in the beginning years.  The reminder of what happened almost daily, it seems like forever ago, yet it was only a few years ago. We truly have seen every bit of the quote:

"The days go by slowly but the years go by quickly"

Hey, it's a ponytail, no one said it had to be neat!!!

Welcome to 2014.....

It's really 2014?

2014.... I just logged into the blog to find my last post.  Yup, February, 2010.  The twins were 2.  Cassie was 4.  That seems like light years ago.

Enough has changed in my life to make me realize even more that I don't want to miss a moment.  I don't want to forget the little things.  I always want to remember those funny times, the instances when words came out wrong, when new memories were made, when a triumph happened.  But, we already are.  I have already missed 4 years of writing down random things that I know that I won't remember.  Not because I don't want to, not because they aren't important enough, but simply because there just isn't enough room in this old brain of mine.

Old brain.... yup.... that's where some of this is headed.  Not that 40 is 'old.'  (Well, that depends on what generation you talk to).  I remember the year I turned 30 - Dawn took me to New Orleans for the women's final four.  I couldn't wait to turn 30!  It was like the right of passage, I was finally an adult (kinda), I was the last one of the crew to be in my 30's, I was excited, it was awesome!  And, amazingly, 10 years has gone by rather quickly, and left me feeling, well, old(er).

I am sure that as the next couple of months unfold, I will start to post more and more about what has brought me back to the blog (its more than just remembering the little things), I don't want this first post to be 15 pages long.  But the painful events of 2013 have lead me to understand that it is time for me to look at the beauty that I have in my four walls and to build on that strength every day and use that strength to put my physical self and mental self back together again.  2014 can be great if I want it to be.

Someday I want to be able to look back and read this blog and remember all of those moments that I can't, all of those amazing times, the laughter and the tears, and feel like I am reliving it all over again.

Here is to the new beginning..... welcome to 2014.

Happy Valentine's Day 2010

I just wanted to say Happy Valentines Day to everyone! Here are a few photos from the party we went to on Friday....

Austin is such a little ham!

Lollipop sword fighting???

oh my! Austin was VERY upset that Brooklyn wanted to sit next to him....

Anyone for a mellon on a stick?

....and yes, Cassie was there, but FAR too busy playing dress-up with the other kids to come out and have a few pictures taken!

there are lots more photos here:Feb 2010

Gosh darn it - WHERE IS SPRING???

I know, I know.... February has only just begun and here I am complaining about the weather in New England. But, do any of you know how hard it is to pack three little ones up and take them out to play in what feels like sub-zero temperatures? Or the price of not taking them out at all only to have them pig-piled in my living room fighting over some random McDonald's toy from 5 years ago? So, yes, I am a little cranky that the weather is a little chilly (or just down right FREEZING!). I am even more cranky that the cold weather makes my kids cranky, whiney, clingy, and absolutely nasty to each other.... ahh, the joys of mommy-hood in the winter!

In the mean time, we are gearing up for Valentine's day, and Cassie has been enjoying some fun card making craft activities (hell, anything that involves scissors and glue sticks will keep her occupied for hours), and although the twins would like to join in and help out, we have found that all they really want to do is eat the glue stick and write on each other with the markers.

Other than craft activities, we basically spend the remainder of the day peeling the twins off of one another, be it from hitting, pulling, tugging, pushing, hair pulling, screaming, and any other physical motion that allows someone to take a toy from someone else. We really are surprised at how physical the two of them are and hope that it is something that will tone itself down as they increase in their language skills (to at least scream what they want rather than just some high pitched screech) or until one of them realizes the power of biting (seriously, thank GOODNESS neither of them has figured out or used biting during the heat of an argument).

So .... we will continue to hope that the warmer weather moves in sooner than later, and that I can find duplicates of some of the toys that we have here to mellow out the fighting! In the mean time, we hope that everyone is staying VERY warm!!!

From jan 2010

From jan 2010

From jan 2010

Okay....

Time to hop back on the blogging wagon!!

Phew have things been crazy here with the holidays and all that goes on with raising 3 toddlers; but hopefully things have settled down enough for me to get back to keeping a better account of all that goes on here. Not to mention that there are definitely some funny moments in the making that I would like to get to sharing again. So here is t0 2010 and lots more of amazing memories!

From jan 2010

From jan 2010

Happy Halloween ABC Kids!

I can not believe that it is November 1st today.

Some times I feel like the days go by too slowly, but overall time is going by WAY too quickly!

It was so exciting this year to finally have Cassie understand and be thrilled about 'trick or treating' and wearing a costome, it gives a glimpse of how wonderful it is going to be when all three of the kids are into dressing up. As you can see from the photos below, Cassie was a fairy princess, a costume that I sewed for her from fabric she picked out at the store. It was pretty amazing to see her fly out of the house and go running down the street from house to house; and it also took her about a block and a half before she completely petered out and needed to be carried the rest of the way.

The twins, on the other hand, were just along for the ride. Brooklyn was a peacock (a costume we had from when Cassie was the same age 2 years ago), and LOVED the freedom of being able to wander from house to house or in the middle of the street at her own will. It wasn't until the end of the block that she realized that if she went to doors, they would actually hand her candy! Thus she would start to walk away and then turn and run back to the door to get more, it was quite comical. Austin was a kangaroo who just wanted to pull the wagon or analyze the glow sticks and the flashlight - it's nice to have one calm one of the bunch!

Here are some photos from the evening and our visit to Pumpkintown the day before. We hope that everyone had a very Happy Halloween!

The fairy princess is all dressed up and ready to go and get the candy

Brookie the 'peahok' as Cassie calls it

(And just incase you had forgotten what little Cassie looked like in it 2 years ago....)

Peacock Cassie Halloween 2007

Austin isn't really sure about this dressing up thing

(yup, Cassie was a Kangaroo too in 2008!)

Kangaroo Cassie Halloween 2008

Cassie hits the first house...

Austin did enjoy checking out all the cool decorations on the way by

As you can see here, Cassie is now off and running to the next house, while poor little Brooklyn hasn't even made it to the door yet

The fairy princess checks out the gargoyl on the steps... she isn't too sure about this

Mommy's pumpkins

The ABC kids at Pumpkintown 2009

Cassie loses her head at Pumpkintown

Austin decides to break the rules and go check out the pumpkin

He really isn't too sure how he feels about these pumpkin people!

The twins stuck in jail!!!

Not to worry, we managed to get Cassie in there too.....

And just in case you were wondering what Cassie looked like the last 2 years that we had gone to Pumpkintown:

My does time fly!

The twins in front of the big pumpkin for the first time

This is the portrait of pure goofiness!

Picking out our gourdes!

How I managed this photo, I have no idea, but Brooklyn's face just cracks me up! She actually has a mouth full of apple here that she is trying to chew, and is enjoying people watching on the porch at Pumpkintown

Cassie and Brooklyn test out the hay maze

Cassie decides that the best way to get through the maze is to walk on the bales rather than around them

Mr. Austin is working his way through the hay maze

Time to carve the pumpkins! This is in the afternoon on Halloween day

What is better than manual labor??? Getting them started early on the learning to rake chore!

Cassie in the leaf pile

Brooklyn decides that dancing and wearing sunglasses while on the train table is far more fun than actually playing at the train table

Happy Halloween from the ABC kids!

All of these and more are here: october ?