Twas the night before St. Anthony's

THE NIGHT BEFORE ST. ANTHONY'S

Twas the night before St. Anthony's

And all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

not even a spouse.

The bikes were all racked

in transition with care,

in hopes that a good race day

soon would be there.

The children were nestled

all snug in their beds,

knowing that Papa

would be there instead.

With I in my bracelet

and chip timer strap,

I had soon settled down

for a few hours' nap.

When out on my nightstand

there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed

To turn off the chatter.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear

but excitement and happiness

And no longer fear!

I gathered my backpack

my towel and Gu's

transition mat, (no wetsuit)

sneakers, bike shoes.

My helmet, race numbers

and my body glide

prepping my mind

for this wild ride.

I jumped in the car,

the stereo thumped,

I sang loud and hard,

to get myself pumped.

And soon there I was

with transition still dark,

my age on my calf,

my body marked.

The sun started rising

just over the bay,

I put on my swim cap

and got on my way.

I stood on Spa Beach

and it called to me,

the ocean, the waves,

the sparkling sea.

The national anthem,

Swimmers gathered around,

Last minute chatter,

The horn ready to sound.

In just 30 seconds,

It would be my turn,

the countdown's begun

and my face starts to burn.

I zero my watch,

And play air guitar:

Happy racing to all!

And to all, NEW PR!

BODIES.

Oh these bodies of ours. They can throw us for a loop so much can't they?

I'm sitting here with my giant jug of water that makes me look like a hamster when I drink it.

Hydrating because tomorrow is a really big race. St. Anthony's Olympic distance triathlon. One of my two really big races of the year (the other is the Augusta 1/2 Ironman in September.)

Right now it's 9 o'clock in the morning and we're supposed to be walking in the March of Dimes' March for Babies. I raised just over $700, just under my goal but still, our team as a whole raised about $6,000. (Thanks to all of you who donated directly and through Bondies for Babies! I love you!)

I wish I could see if our team won the family teams award like last year. My wagon is sitting in the front room all decorated because our theme was "NICU SURVIVOR." My son and I were going to wear camo.

It is the first time since my son was born that we didn't walk in this walk.

It feels weird and makes me want to cry.

My little one was up last night with a terrible fever and throwing up. I could have gone on the walk this morning with my older one, but I needed to take over the "next" shift after my husband pulled the all-nighter. Well I didn't need to, he could've handled it, but you know how it is. I got up and saw my husband sleeping on the floor in my little one's room and knew. I needed to be here.

My son got sick last night and I missed the walk today, but he slept in, we got up, I saw him eat again, I cleaned him up, sanitized his room, got everyone else fed and let my husband relax a little, instead of leaving at 6 a.m. to cram the 3 mile walk pulling a wagon into the day and worrying the whole way how he's doing and not enjoying that moment.

It's hard to let go of some of the things that are so important to me, like this walk.

But I'm trying a new approach to things and it's called (brilliantly), "letting go."

It's also called "cutting my losses," "living in the moment" or "come what may." But any way you put it, I'm trying to be at peace and guilt and sadness free with what happens and being one with my decisions.

It's not so easy though.

And it takes practice. I'm still practicing.

Now we're in sickness roulette, one of us may get it or NONE of us will get it! Who knows!? It's a wonderful game, isn't it!

And who knows, we might not race at all tomorrow.

But either way I'm ready for it.

And I'm hydrating with my giant water bottle.

Come what may, right? It's moment by moment up in here. I'm not anticipating anything and at the same time I'm anticipating everything.

So.

If no one is sick by 2 o'clock, I am picking up my race packet. If no one is sick by 8 o'clock tonight, I'm going to bed.

If no one is sick by 3 a.m., I'm waking up.

And if no one is sick by 7:30 a.m., I'M HEADED OFF INTO THE WATER in my orange swim cap. (ORANGE?! I WANTED PINK! But orange is my son's favorite color. That has always cracked me up and will definitely carry me through the swim. Even if I do look like fruit.)

Of course, I get almost everything that comes into this house so there is a good chance I may not be racing at all! However, the last time one of my sons pulled an all-nighter, no one else miraculously got it, so I'm clinging on to that. Strike that. Actually I'm just going to be one with whatever happens. Mkay? Now I'm just incessantly talking for the sake of hearing myself type.

For now, I hydrate.

If I go to bed tonight without any illness, I will post my traditional "Night before St. Anthony's" poem around bedtime and you'll know that I'm racing.

And tomorrow I will mobile post a picture from transition and you'll know I made it. (Of course I'll be tweeting from @christieo the whole time so you might know what's happening before then.)

But if it's Sunday and you're reading this, definitely one of us is hovered over the bowl, ok? So throw some "hope it passes quickly!" thoughts our way.

Red Friday

It's a full week now that my brother-in-law has been in Afghanistan. He says it's rough out there but so far so good. Last week I started Red Fridays on my blog to remember all our servicemen and women fighting. Sometimes it'll be an update or a post, sometimes a photo or maybe just a day my blog turns red for the day.

I just want to thank everyone for the prayers, my sister was really touched by your kind thoughts and comments!

We continue to send him motomail to keep him uplifted and boost his morale, so if you are wearing red or will wear red on a Friday, send me a picture! I will post it here and (if you don't mind) I will post it with the others on a motomail that is an email that gets printed out for him.

I'm wearing red today! That is my official red shirt. When I wear it with khakis I look like a Target team member and people ask me where they can find stuff.

Thank you, Kirsten, for supporting Red Friday!

And thank you Beki for supporting too!!

Are you wearing red today? Send me a photo at christieo at averagemomswearcapes dot com!

"Iron Baby": When Dads Have Preemies

So often we talk about the mommies when we talk about babies and pregancy and delivery.

And when a baby's born prematurely, we talk about how the mom feels; the feelings of guilt and failure that our body didn't do its job of carrying our baby safely to term, the feelings of sadness and guilt for a pregnancy ended too soon, the pangs we have when we see another hugely pregnant woman who made it further than we did, the fear of the safety of our baby lying in the NICU isolette. All.those.feelings.

And that's just barely scratching the surface. Not to mention the post traumatic stress of a traumatic pregnancy and delivery, dealing with the baby's surgeries, complications and beyond.

But usually there is a daddy standing by, drying our tears, trying to ease our pain and our worry and being our rock while we grieve and walk around like zombies day to day. I mean, someone's gotta keep it together, right? And usually it is them.

But when do they grieve?

Do daddies grieve?

A few months ago I read the story about the man behind "IronBaby."

I was following @ZenTriathlon on Twitter. He had really interesting podcasts that I'd download and listen to on my runs and one day I ventured over onto his site and stumbled upon "IronBaby."

It sounded like Ironman. But really it was IronBaby and I wanted to know more.

It turns out he's a triathlete. A daddy.

And a daddy of a preemie.

And that's how IronBaby was born.

At the time I found his story, my preemie mom's group, "Mommies Little Miracles," was in the middle of doing our NICU Baby Showers. Here we were supporting moms with babies in the local NICUs and it occurred to me that the dads sort of get left out in the cold. I realize that instinctively men and women grieve differently, but sometimes it's even worse because they're not even allowed to crumble. They're the ones that need to be strong while we crumble, right?


Wrong. Even tough guys like Brett have a hard time with prematurity.

 Brett Blankner, the founder of Zen and the Art of Triathlon, started out as a competitive swimmer, eventually getting into cycling, running and triathlon. Triathlon for him is a lifestyle with constant and ever-changing training that requires, above all things, balance.

Some of my favorite points of his Zentri Philosophy are:

"Tri training is not only for tri racing. The fitness gained improves your whole life, work, and family relationships."
"What you learn about yourself during the grueling training will change your life."
"You can easily train for triathlons during the time most people waste watching TV."

He has podcasts; he trains triathletes, he lives triathlon. I was so touched by Brett's story of IronBaby that I had to get the whole story from him, so I got a chance to catch up with him on the phone.

A few years ago, Brett was training for his first Ironman while his wife was pregnant and their baby was due in December.

He signed up for an Ironman that was in late October, but as the story of prematurity often goes, baby had other plans.

His son was born 2 1/2 months early.

Instead of standing at the starting line of his Ironman in October, Brett found himself at the starting line of a very different, very scary journey. "The dad can feel kind of powerless. As a dad you just kind of sit there; I wanted to do something," Brett told me.

And he didn't make it to the race. Instead he spent countless days and hours in the NICU at his son's side, all trained up and nowhere to go. "I felt really powerless and to get all trained for something and not do it, it drives you crazy," said Brett. So one day, he decided he'd take off on the 140.6 miles on his own.

He planned his route and he ran his own race.

Brett traveled the 140.6 miles through a pool, on bike and on foot, through the streets of College Station, Texas.

"There's no crowds to motivate you," Brett says on his website, "you have to totally support yourself, and quitting is very tempting when you keep passing your own house multiple times. I've done both and it actually feels harder."

The first time he did Ironbaby, it took him 17 hours.

Along the way, he mobile posted on his blog and was encouraged by his readers. "That was neat to see people responding as I was doing it," said Brett.

And it fueled him to do Ironbaby three more times, each time getting faster, each time getting better, each time with more support, virtually and in real life. And each time watching as his son grew older and was able to support him too. "Last year he leaned out the car and said, 'Why are you going so slow daddy?'” Brett laughed.

Through Ironbaby, Brett has raised thousands of dollars for the March of Dimes and the Ronald McDonald House, among some of the other charities.

Because like me, maybe you, and millions of other people, his family was blindsided by prematurity. "People have kids left and right, people just assume that’s what’s gonna happen until they run into a situation when it’s not," says Brett.

Even still, Brett remembers the sounds of the NICU so clearly. "I hear anything that sounds like it, it sends me into a flashback," says Brett, "Anything we can do to keep people from having to hear those beeps is worth it."

Brett raises money for the March of Dimes and the Ronald McDonald House, along with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's, which his dad is currently fighting. (Maybe I'll even join Brett in his IronBaby race one year!)

I'm pretty sure that Brett wears a cape in this scenario, since we're all about capes up in here. But Brett says his little man is the real superhero. "He toughed it out and showed me what a real Ironman truly is," says Brett.

Today that tiny IronBaby is a super-healthy, amazing six-year-old.

*  * *

Thanks Brett, for sharing your story with me!
Find Brett Blankner at Zen and the Art of Triathlon (http://www.zentriathlon.com/) and on Twitter at @zentriathlon.

As you know, I am walking in the March for Babies this weekend. You can donate to the March of Dimes and help me reach my goal by clicking here. I'm also selling Bondi Bands with the proceeds going to the March of Dimes and for that, you can click HERE.

Mad Science Party Part II: Rockets, Ooze and Goo

OK this part of the Mad Science party is a post best told in pictures.

How to get 28 kids between ages 4-9 to sit quietly.

Making of the volcano.

Spewing.

Mentos and coke, stand back, men!



Thar she blows!



Preparing for launch.

5-4-3-2-1...

BLAST OFF!

Everyone, run straight toward the road to find the where the rocket landed!

Cake!

"Favor "bags. OK Biohazard favor bags. Free from my friend who works at a hospital!

Contents of biohazard bag: pop rocks, "light saber" and "plasma sample" (i.e. slime). The kids also made a bouncy ball from scratch as one of the experiments that they got to take home.

And that's the wrap!

If you missed it, Part I of the Mad Science Party is here (decorations, invitations, etc.)

Planning a Mad Scientist Party!!! The Best Party to Plan Ever! Part I

So you want to plan a Mad Scientist birthday party?!

I'm so excited I got to do this. My 5 year old is a science freak and to be honest with you, most kids ages 4 and up are. I mean who doesn't love stuff that fizzes, bounces, foams and shoots into the sky?!

I came across this theme unexpectedly. I was at a loss for a theme for this party and I love throwing themed parties. I have done Elmo Music, Race Car, Jungle, Cowboy, and Firefighter (email me if you are interested in any of these, I will post be posting about them too!)

I was leaning toward "astronaut" because we just saw the Discovery shuttle launch or "pirate" because a treasure hunt would have been fun, but then I came across this: Mad Science Tampa Bay, a company that brings the experiments to YOU!

Now, I lucked out here on this because I didn't have to come up with my own experiements but the good thing is that Mad Science has locations all across the world  (Click HERE to find a location near you!) not just here in Tampa Bay. There are two locations in Tampa Bay, by the way, one that serves the Tampa area and one that serves Pinellas. And both of them are super accomodating. Sidenote: I had to change my party date pretty quickly because of my trip to LA that popped up but not only did the St. Pete branch quickly accomodate me, the Tampa location was willing to if St. Pete couldn't, so they are all really nice and accomodating.

My favorite thing about this though was that you could hold the party at any location (for me it was at Safety Harbor City Park which is free to residents), have a huge guest list and the price is very affordable (unlike bouncy house places that allow for 15 kids and it costs hundreds of dollars without food.)

Now, the party itself was affordable, but darn it if I could keep myself from spending time on money on cool decorations, which I couldn't help myself! Also note: clearly think out the guest list (class? no class?) because honestly, this turned out to be such a cool theme that parents didn't want to pass it up, so if you invite them, THEY WILL COME. The good part though is that it almost doesn't matter how many people you have because the rates are so reasonable, however it might matter when it comes to food and favors. Just a thought.



So I will start first with the invitations and decorations.

Invitations

I used clipart basically and some wording I found online and put it together in Photoshop. I took one copy to Kinkos and copied it onto fun green paper and used green, blue and red envelopes.


Decorations

For decorations, I found a lot of cool ideas online. First I made a Mad Scientist Hall of Fame.

I printed out pictures of famous mad scientists (Dr. Doofenschmirtz and Dr. Evil were my favorites) but also there was Doc from Back to the Future, Dr. Frankenstein, and I had two pictures of my kids from a children's museum where they were mixing "chemicals" i.e. colored water and I used those too. I printed them out as 8 x 10's in black and white (to save ink) except for Dr. Doofenschmirtz who deserved to be in color, and I took them to Kinkos and laminated them for $2 each. I hung up a piece of string and used a clothes pin to hang them.

I also found these at the dollar store. Sweet!

I bought a cylinder set and test tubes from an educational store in Tampa (a SUPER STORE, ACTUALLY called "Lakeshore Learning"!) and filled them all with colored water. I bought dry ice which was only $1.50 a pound at my local grocery store and put dry ice chips in them to make an experiment display.

I have never used dry ice before. Have you? The only thing is, it melts pretty quickly. So you have to keep putting ice chips in it. Which was fine because it looked.REALLY.COOL. But I kept having to replenish it which was sort of annoying. I probably should have used big chunks and less water, so you can learn from me!

I found signs at the party store, they were joke signs that said "quarantine," "toxic waste," and things like that, but we had to black out some of the wording on one of them because of some adult language that I didn't notice at first (whoops! I guess the word "prostitute" at a kids' birthday party is a little inappropriate!) But it was fine print anyway so you could barely see it.

Birthday Boy!

Mad Science gave the birthday boy his own lab coat as chief mad scientist.

I wanted so.badly. to get lab coats for every child and online there are really reasonable rates for disposable lab coats. However, don't wait till the last minute on this. If you want to do this, do it early so shipping prices are cheap or free. I made that mistake. I waited too long, BUT, that's ok because it was so hot outside and I would have cooked all the children if we used them. So it was a blessing in disguise. If you're interested in lab coats though, I found some online for cheap here, at Mr. Disposable, on Ebay, Amazon and on Overstock.com. So they're out there.

What I did instead:

Nametags for each "mad scientist intern." When they came in, they went to the check-in table, got a full body scan (i.e. glow stick with me saying "beep! beep!" as I waved it around them, "cleared" them, and handed them their name tag.)

The name tags worked out well because the head "Mad Scientist" could call the volunteers by  name and also because we had a lot of kids who didn't know each other, so they could read the name tags (or at least parents could.) Also, everyone knew who the party crashers were too! Because we had two child party crashers who didn't have nametags who were mooching off our pizza.

I used colorful table cloths (orange and bright blue) and found little labels like "hypothesis" and "purpose" and taped them all over them. My mom said she overheard the parents and children talking about these words, so that part ended up being educational! On some of the other tables, I taped cutouts of black question marks. I also found squishy monster heads in the dollar store and put them in jars on the table and used rubber gloves for balloons and caution tape.

The caution tape ended up being AWESOME because it kept the kids out of the "danger zone."

Food

Honestly? Food wasn't the star of this party since it was at 3:30 and the party was packed with experiments, so I kept it simple. We had pizza, I made a fruit salad, had individual bags of chips on the tables and coolers full of bottled water, Capri Sun and soda. And cake. That's pretty much it. However, this ended up being super cool!

Kool-Aid just came out with Kool-Aid Fizzies!

So I had tiny bottled water for each child and gave them a tablet so they could fizz their water. Little tiny experiments! (That was my mom's idea, thanks mom!) That was a huge hit!


It was a packed house.

I am pretty sure everyone had a good time.


I'm "this many."


This one was in his glory.

Tomorrow I'll be posting the favors, the cake and the actual awesome experiments!
* * *
Part II of the party is HERE.

Mantra Monday: Slow Down, Breathe, KICK ASS

It's so hard to write a Mantra Monday post today about the week ahead when we had such an amazing weekend and there's so much fun weekend stuff to post about! Like the last game of tee-ball and the mad science party (rocket launch, mentos and coke, adventures in dry ice! so.much.fun.)

And then it was Easter and not to mention THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME on Easter too, which was completely unexpected!

How bout that tank top?

And also I found out what happens to a phone when a mom carries way too much stuff and is in a hurry and then the phone falls face down on the cement.

And now that the last week is over, my brain is now going a million miles a minute with the March of Dimes walk coming up on Saturday and it's time to switch gears because the ST. ANTHONY'S TRIATHLON IS ON SUNDAY!

I can't believe it's been a year since that race!

I just re-read that race report from my old blog and forgot how much it took to do that race, how much digging I had to do to cross that finish line.

So here I am, sitting, with my mind going a million miles an hour and getting a little freaked out and overwhelmed at what is about to transpire on Sunday.

The race on Sunday will not be wetsuit legal, the water is already 80 degrees and it needs to be 78 or below to be wetsuit legal. And the wetsuit, well, it actually saved my life last year. The water was so rough they had to eventually shorten the swim and the wetsuit helped me stay afloat. So I think I am getting nervous about not using a wetsuit.

However.

I did swim a mile in the ocean without a wetsuit last week and did just fine. But my fingers are still numb with nervousness as I type this.

Therefore the mantras have to be three-fold this week.

1. SLOW DOWN!
Because first and foremost, before anything I have to (calm) and slow down.

S-LOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW DOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWN.

Make lists.

Do one thing at.a.time. Slowwwwwwwwwwwly.

Ever hear in swimming that sometimes you have to slow down to speed up? It's so that you can slow down, get in synch again and get your breathing under control and then you can go faster. I have to do that. I have to slow down so I can get myself under control here.

2. Breathe.

And then when I succeed at slowing myself down, I have to breathe deep breaths. Big ol' slow deep breaths. And not be scerred. Cause I did this before right? I know way better now what to expect! (Let's not think about the fact that knowing what to expect can actually make you scared-er. Since you're no longer ignorant to what can happen. So strike that from the record. Not even thinking about that.) The fact is, I can do this. I hope I am in the same shape I was last year though. Am I? I am going to have to assume that I am since there's not much I can do about it now! And while I'm at it, self-doubt, be gone! There is no place for you here!

3. GEAR UP FOR ASS KICKING.

Finally, after all is said and done, I have to prep my mind for the ASS KICKING I'm going to do on Sunday! In a mid-packery type of ass-kicking way of course. Because I have to go HARD OR GO HOME! This is a race against myself, my brain and all my inner voices. Sure, it's a competition against other people, but really, it's just a competition with myself.

And in the end I have to remember to enjoy each moment as I go through them this week, this weekend at the walk, at packet pickup and the practice swim, and the night before the race.

Because like the little sticker that's sitting on my corkboard in front of me at my desk says, it's the little moments that make life big.

And I don't want to miss those.

A Day Packed Full of Baseball and Mad Scientists

WIERD SCIENCE!

I've been working for weeks on this Mad Scientist party for my 5 year old and today is the day! OK I've been working on it for days in spurts because I've been so busy but still, this has been a really fun party to plan. I hope that the mad science lab we have showing up is as awesome as it sounds and if so, I cannot wait to share this secret I have been in the dark about for years now! A mobile mad science lab that comes straight to you?!

So besides the mobile mad science lab (which is SO inexpensive I can't even believe it) I have "plasma samples" test tubes, beakers, dry ice, hazmat signs, a mad science hall of fame, and wait till you see what the goodie bags were made from! (And they were free!) However this is a theme that you can easily go crazy on and by the way, almost all of the people you invite will actually come because it's so cool, so just be forewarned whilst in the invitation stages.

It's also a big big day because it is also the last day of baseball. I haven't updated our progress in tiny sports throughout the season but I will do a full recap of both at some point but I will say actual playing appears to be on a "season on season off" basis and this season it was "season off" for baseball and tiny soccer.

I think we learned a few things along the way and by we I mean me too, but there was definitely very little playing and lots and lots and lots and lots of digging. The fields should be pristine and fully weeded by now. Along with the dugouts. Because they're not really dugouts in sandlot baseball which is what tiny baseball is called, they're benches with fences around it in some grass, but they probably are dugouts by now actually with the amount of grass pulling that went on in there this season. I'm just saying.We have bright futures in landscaping and lawn management here.

I mentioned that our coach is a former major league baseball pitcher, right? I found his baseball card on Ebay and (as team mom) I'm giving each of the kids one of his baseball cards. I think it'll be cute for 5&6 year olds to look back on in their teen years and lifetime knowing he was their coach wayyy at the beginning.

I can't have enough coffee today, honestly. My hair is still in disarray and my eyes are still half-closed and I have to be out the door in 45 minutes yikes!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend so far!

Oh before I go, the winner of the cool pair of Sigg Water bottles is: dana10879! You should have received my email, congratulations! You will now be hydratin in style!

Prayers Needed

Today I am wearing a red shirt because it's Red Shirt Friday. I heard about Red Shirt Friday on Facebook and until my brother in law comes home, me and my blog are participating.

It's official.

Last night, my brother-in-law made his way into Afghanistan.

He's right at the front and he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

He is a Marine.

He is also a husband, a daddy, an uncle, a Godfather, a son, a brother, and a grandson and to add to his titles he recently found out he's going to be a daddy again, too, so come November, right when he's scheduled to come home, he'll be a "father of two."

Right now he's real important to this country but back home he is real important to a lot of people.

So he needs to come home safely. As do all the men and women he's fighting with.

So I am asking today, on Red Friday, this Good Friday, or this weekend if you are at church and celebrating Easter (or even perhaps in the daily rotation?) will you say a prayer for him and his safe return?

And if you can spare two prayers, will you pray for the strength of my sister who will be waiting with her baby girl and little tiny bean on the way for him to come home safely?

She reads this blog and will hear your encouraging thoughts and words. She sure could use them.

I know inside she feels like her cape is crumpled but I can assure you (and her) that it's fastened on quite tightly and perfectly pressed while she's at it. That's just how she rolls. (And by the way, military moms and wives wear bright, beautiful beddazzly capes and I think sometimes they're also made of steel.)

There is not much I can do from here, half a world away from my brother-in-law and three states away from my sister.

But I sure can pray and gather prayers from my friends. So if you can spare one, two, or perhaps, 6 months worth...

Cause even strong people need prayers sometimes.

And if you're waiting for someone too or you just want to show your support for troops, you can wear a red somewhere today, or on a Friday, any Friday too! With me! Target (the red shirt Mecca) is having a sale on fitted red tees for $8 of which I have partaken.

OOH OOH! IDEA! IDEA!

I have an idea! If you perhaps choose to wear red after reading this (which you don't have to of course but think about it), I would love love love it if you would take a quick picture with your phone cam and email it to me or Tweet it or tweet me and I will post it here in future Red Friday posts -- and even in the Moto Mail my brother in law gets every day if you'll let me!)

It's a tough job out there and I hear morale ain't so high, so support back here will hype him and his guys up for sure.

I mean, could you imagine being able to send him a laugh pictures of random people (well not random to me of course!) wearing red supporting him and his team? It'd be so awesome! He'd think I was nuts which he already does! OMG the possibilities are endless! You could wear red and then hold a sign saying, "Hi Christie's brother in law!" or something equally as catchy. Or you could dress up all your little people in red and take a picture! Or even the dog! Or the fish!

OK I'm getting out of control.

Perhaps because we all need a laugh and a prayer at some point.

Anyway. Thanks, friends. Your prayers are so greatly appreciated, you have no idea.

This is what happiness looks like...

When a green blanket makes it home.




(Thank you, lady at the Courtyard Marriot in Lake Buena Vista. Thank you.)

The Plight of Green Blanket

When we go away, I usually let the kids bring one blankie and one "friend" to keep them company. If we bring more than that, they're expendables (sorry, toys!) and if they get lost in the shuffle, well it's not that big of a deal.

(Amazing how watching Toy Stories 1,2, & 3 millions of times just made me feel guilty typing that.)

Anyway, almost every parent I know can sympathize with the plight of a lost blanket, too, in one form or another.

As soon as you say the words, "We lost the blankie," the words are met with a drastic gasp, followed by, "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!"

I'll never forget my lost blanket. When I was a little girl, I had a ratty old white blanket. We lived out in the sticks of upstate New York and every restaurant was a kajillion miles away.

Of course, that's where I left my blanket. At a restaurant a kajillion miles away. I think it was Easter. I remember my dad ordering the lamb.

I remember my beloved blanket's holes and its dirty offwhiteness that made it the perfect blanket. It was torn and ratty but it was thin and fit nicely in my hand when I sucked my pointer finger. I know, pointer finger? Oddly enough, my husband sucked his pointer finger too. (Match made in heaven!)

My daddy of course turned back to get it. I don't remember, but I was probably a wreck. I must have blocked it out.

Eventually, my mom empowered me subconsciously to eventually give up the blanket, and one day I just walked over to the trash, said, "I'm a big girl!" and tossed it in.

In hindsight, whaaaaa??? Why would I ever do that!? Poor blankie.

My son is not there yet. He's 5 now and he's had "Green Blanket" since he was a baby.

It's sort of brown-green now. We should really wash it more.

When we went to Disney last week, we left the hotel, enjoyed a whole day at Hollywood Studios, and right at that time where the kids are really spent and things are going downhill fast, we got to the car and made the discovery.

Green Blanket was gone.

It really could not have been worse timing.

My husband had already gone home because we drove separately and I was on my own with two tiny hot messes at dinner time (with no dinner in the near future) with the face paint half-smeared off by the mix of sweat and tiredness. Getting to the car without any crying or yelling had been a feat in and of itself.

There was a point earlier on where I knew we should have left (ya know, when everyone was still happy...) but I pushed it.

We overstayed.

So when we realized the blanket was missing there were tears. Even the little one was crying over his brother's blanket. His heart was broken too.

Then there was screaming.

And flailing.

The missing green blanket had indeed shoved him right over the edge that we were so delicately teetering on when we left the park.

I turned around on the highway before we got too far, called the hotel, no one was left in housekeeping; they were gone for the day and were sure to be listening to the madness in the background on their voicemail when they got back and got my message.

I felt for him too. I remember buying it, wondering if that would turn out to  be his "beloved" and lo and behold! It has!

When we got home and he longingly described his blankie, he even knew where the softer patches were and the rougher patches were. It was surprisingly detailed for a five year old.

Luckily, long ago, my mom bought the same blanket and we kept the spare at her house. It was a much cleaner, less worn version of it. I explained to him that we would get that and would that be ok? I knew just "switching it out" would not have worked.

He was sad but he said yes, that would be ok. (He's a trooper. Or any old blanket in the storm I guess?)

So.

He's been loving on that blanket for more than a week now, full well knowing and telling everyone that's not his "real" green blanket, that the "real" one is at the hotel. (I really was proud of myself for getting everything together and everyone out of the hotel in a timely manner, too! How could I have left one of the most important things!)

The "lesser" green blankie. I love how he rubs it on his cheek like that though. Sooo cute.

However.

On Thursday I got a call on my voicemail. It was a really excited head of housekeeping (who I thought said also had a 5 year old but it turns out she said, she also once had a LOST BLANKET, how I mixed that up I don't know) but either way, she was happy to report that the laundry service that does their sheets found the blanket all tied up in the sheets! And a tee-shirt too! (I still have no idea which tee-shirt.) But HELLO!

GREEN BLANKET WAS FOUND!!! I'm seriously thinking about sending a thank you card!

We had all resigned in our heads to the fact that it was gone forever, but it has miraculously turned up!!!!!! And it is in the mix of the U.S. Postal Service as we speak. We are just waiting, it could be any day now, it could even be today! It is just making a short trek from Orlando!

OOh I can't wait to see his face! Hooray!

So do you have any blankie, stuffed friend tragic losses and/or miraculous reunion stories? How heartbreaking ARE they?! This was quite an ordeal!!

Mantra Monday: (Insert Motivating Word Here)

Well it's time for a Mantra Monday and time to bring on the week ahead.

Only I'm feeling less, "Bring it on!" than "Eh, ok, let's bring it on... shall we?" in more of a "let's get this thing over with" sorta way.

Not very aggressive.

It seems like I have several great weeks in a row and then I have a frustrating one. But that's normal right?

I guess I'm just disappointed.

I thought I was going really fast in the race, I thought I was kicking some butt, and then when I crossed the finish line and got my time, turns out I didn't. Um, not at all in fact.

Wah wahhhh (that's my Debbie Downer sound.)

Yeah, I'm whining a little bit about it. Because I thought I came so far! I thought I was swimming like a shark!

Sigh.

So this is the week where I regroup.

Maybe that's the word I need this week: "regroup."

Ya know how you do a lot of stuff and you're doing really well and making breakthroughs and then all of a sudden you go through a test and you find out you're not as awesome as you think you are and then you feel frustrated and instead of working on the stuff you know you need to work on you feel like giving up and saying, "Well then what the heck am I doing this for anyway?"

?

Yeah, it's taking me all I have to not do that.

Because I want to.

I feel like I face this feeling every other month.

I mean, why is this so important anyway?

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were talking about the things we see during training.

The beautiful sunrises, the dolphins in the water along the causeway, the feeling of the wind on your face and the water on your skin. The adrenaline, the endorphines, the feeling of life pumping through your veins.

It's really not about the race and the numbers in the end.

The reason I do it is because of the way it makes me feel when I'm doing it. What I see when I'm doing it. The way it makes me feel like I'm living and not letting life just pass me by. The rush and the push and answer to my question, "Can I do this?"

I get caught up in "doing it well" as opposed to "doing it" and sometimes just "doing it" isn't enough, I want more. Like everyone, eventually "good" is not "good enough." But whose definition of "good enough" am I using? The numbers on the board when I check my times and compare myself to everyone else? Or my own definition?

Because I had victories in that race even though the numbers might not say so.

The numbers don't tell the story of the race like I felt it.

So now, simply, it's just time to regroup.

Then dig in and push a little more.

But most of all, remember when I'm doing it, why I'm doing.

Because it's simply not just about the numbers.
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What's YOUR mantra this week?

Leave it in the comments or blog about it and link up here!

Ps. Have you seen my Sigg Water Bottle giveaway? Going on right now, go to there!

First Triathlon of the Season Report

Boy do I look mannish when I race!

It was one of those mornings where everything seemed to hiccup. The first and biggest thing was that my battery in my bike computer (the odometer and the thing that tells me how fast I'm going) died. Of all mornings, it chose this day. The first race of the season.

 (NOTE TO SELF: Always have more of these kind of batteries on hand. You may never use it but for once every two years but on a race morning, you'll thank yourself for keeping it.)

That really threw my mojo off right at the get-go because I wanted to know how fast I was going while I was riding. Sometimes you feel like you're riding fast and you're really not, sometimes you don't feel like you're riding fast and you really are! So I wanted to know!

We walked up the beach and the butterflies were fluttering in my stomach and my heart wanted to leap out of my chest. It's not enough that we've been here before doing a "mock tri" on other mornings, race day feels like a whole different story. Mock tris make me feel bold and attacking, while race day mornings make me question myself and ask myself, "What am I doing here? And why on earth am I doing this?!

I swam for about 15 minutes to shake out the jitters. It helped a little.

I stood at the edge of the water looking out at the buoy before me, like I have so many times, and waited for the horn to blow.

It's always the part where my heart wants to leap out of my chest the most.

Then the horn blew and we were off.

I swam and swam and I didn't look back.

I can bilateral breathe now, I felt aggressive, there was no fear, I just swam. There were some waves, it was a little choppy but so what, I kept going. I saw some people around me bobbing, taking a minute or five to breathe, but that's ok, I kept going. Usually that person bobbing was me. But not on this day.

I rounded the last buoy and ran out of the water. It was hard to catch my breath by I just breathed rhythmically, two in and two out and kept my feet moving. (Why does a mock tri feel so much easier than this?)

I ran into transition, ripped off my wetsuit traded out watches for the Garmin so I could use it on bike mode for my miles per hour, got my shoes, helmet sunglasses on, took way longer in transition than I wanted and ran out with my bike.

When I got on my bike, the little metal bike computer sensor was banging my spokes the whole way but I didn't dare stop - no way! But it was annoying. I thought maybe it would break off. I didn't care, that's what it gets for quitting on me on race day!

I kept a side-eye on my watch to watch my speed, I was doing great. I was passing people. I passed every girl.

I was hitting 20. Then 21, 22, 23. Almost 24 in the straightway, 10 miles in 30 minutes, it went quickly and it was amazing! NO girls passed me and stayed there. NONE. Except for a fellow Tri Warrior and that's ok. She rocked the bike.

I grabbed a Vanilla Bean GU and headed out on the run.

Oh this hurt.

I tried to keep a 10 minute pace and at first I kept 9:45 but then it fell to 10:20. It was hot. I was slower than I wanted. The timing chip was cutting into the back of my ankle, I had to stop and put some water on it and move it because I was bleeding now, it was all cut up (NOTE TO SELF: Put timing chip on my ROAD ID. MUCH more comfortable on my ankle than this thing they gave us. Might consider writing them about it even.)

I moved my race belt to the front and my race number ripped off.

Seriously?

Can we just finish this thing already?

I picked it up in the end. I ran across the finish line and grabbed my water.

In my tri group, I came in last. That shouldn't bother me but it does.

It bothers me that I felt so good in the swim, that I pounded away so hard on the bike, and in the end, I finished 34 out of 51. I did nowhere as good on the swim as I thought I had. I was 17th on the bike which was awesome, but fell back on the run.

You can see my results here.

My first transition time was crazy and my run time was long.

But it's the first one of the season, right? At least I know what to work on from here.

Things I'm proud of:
-no fear on the swim!
-great bike! Averaged 20 mph!
-great t2 transition time!

Things to work on:
-Speedwork in running. SPEEDWORK SPEEDWORK SPEEDWORK! Training needs to hurt.
-Bricks. Real bricks. Going from bike to running with zero breaks in between unlike the type we have in our group where we lollygag and chat in between, maybe potty, etc.
-Swim to bike bricks. I need to get used to breathing after getting off the swim and hopping on the bike.

Things to add to triathlon bag checklist:
-mosquito spray! (they ate me up in the bathroom! gah!)
-extra bike computer batteries.

So in sum, the first one was just "meh" for me. I had such high hopes because my runs have been so great lately (9:30 and 9:45 is good for me!) But I didn't hit that at all.

So, lots to work on!! And um, why does a sprint still hurt? I am going to double this distance in two weeks!!! GAHH!!!

But.

I'm still proud that I do this at all though.

Gotta keep that perspective, right?

It's Triathon Day! And a Triathon Day Sigg Water Bottle Giveaway too!

++This giveaway is now closed++

Today, perhaps right now, I am racing!

I have my race packet -- purple swim cap included! My number is: 454.

There is my stuff all packed and that's the awesome transition towel I got in Miami, I LOVE IT!! Is it not the cutest transition mat ever???

It is officially the start of triathlon season and I'm doing the Escape from Ft. DeSoto sprint triathlon! Which means I was very likely up at 3:30 a.m., eating my bagel with peanut butter and Polaner All-Fruit in strawberry and drinking coffee (I'm getting nervous just writing this - my fingers actually just went numb! They went numb again when I was editing this post!)

And then it is quite possible that we left before 4:30 to get to transition by 5:15 because we like to get the good spots on the bike racks and have time to decompress before things get started.

This is the most excited and confident I've ever felt for a race yet! I've done the course a zillion times and I'm no longer worried about the swim. (Until St. Anthony's that is, I have some angst about that one but let's focus on one race at a time, shall we?)

And while we're at it, let's celebrate the start of tri season, shall we?

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

Have you heard about "Planet Gear"? It's a really cool website that just launched and they want to give YOU a present!

The website offers exclusive online deals for all sorts of different products, for a limited time, but only for members. Anything from outside gear to trips to books, it depends on what special they're running and when! You can only get in on the specials if you're a member and if you refer your friends, you give them an automatic $10 credit. If they buy something, YOU get the credit too.

Today Planet Gear is giving one lucky reader a pair of really cool Sigg Water Bottles, a set for mom and babe! Pictured are the Summer Breeze and the Little Monkey, and they're really cute and BPA FREE! Because who doesn't want to be stylin and profilin while they're hydratin'.

One of the cutest things I've seen in a long time is a line of clothing called "Mountain Mama," which is for expecting outdoorswomen! How unique and awesome is that?? That is what the next sale is going to be. And the pictures of this maternity-wear are adorable!

So. Wanna win??

The rules for this giveaway: 

• 1 entry: Leave a comment! That's all! Tell me about your current hydration vessel!
• 1 extra entry: Go check out Planet Gear. Tell me what you see there that you like!
• 2 MORE entries: Better yet, sign up! You'll get great inside scoop on specials on gear, clothing, books and more and you can opt out at any time! It costs you nothing to sign up.
• 1 more entry: Become a fan at Planet Gear's Facebook page 

Make sure you leave a comment for each entry!

This giveaway will close Friday, April 22, at 11 p.m. ET. The winner will be drawn via random.org and announced on Saturday!

See you on the flip side, with hopefully an awesome race report!! Good luck to Christy, Lisa, Brooke, and Ashley, among the so many people racing!!  GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!! Sending you good race thoughts, most definitely we will all be up ridicu-early and I'll be thinking of you!
* * *

Disclosure: Planet Gear has agreed to giveaway a set of water bottles to a random reader. No monetary compensation was received. The opinions expressed belong to me.

The Rio Premiere: Part II

OK here's the good stuff -- the real dish on the Los Angeles premiere of Rio!

After I ran around like a madperson trying on every outfit and put on red nail polish 10 minutes before walking out the door and plucked my unibrow, we headed down to the lobby to make our way to the "blue" carpet which was only a short walk away.

We had our own little "mommy blogger" corner of the blue carpet, (blue because the star of the movie is a sweet and loveable blue Macaw named, "Blu.") I had my good camera, my phone, my JVC home-movie video camera where I learned I am TERRIBLE at keeping a steady camera as you will see here, shortly, and a backup camera in my purse (just in case.)

The stars made their way one by one onto the carpet, first will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas, who wrote some of the music for the movie (by the way, the soundtrack is amazing with all the cool drums and rhythms and whatnots, it's totally in circulation in the minivan).

will.i.am plays "Pedro"

And then there was this cutie! None of us had seen him before but this was a pleasant surprise! I mean, he must be really nice!

Francisco Ramos, who plays the "lead Marmoset," one of the bad guys

And then there was Tracy Morgan and I went through all my photos and didn't get any where he didn't look like he was smelling something stinky at the time. But oh, how I love Tracy Morgan and his hilarious voice and his character in the movie, who really does seem to take on some of Tracy's facial expressions, stopping just short I am sure of putting a good, "Liz Lemon!" in there at some point.


Tracy Morgan in his best varsity sweater

 Then there was Jamie Foxx, who plays Nico.

Jamie Foxx

George Lopez, who plays a toucan named Rafael (married to another toucan and you might recognize her voice -- it's Wanda Sykes! Though she wasn't there.)

George put on a pink silly band for a little girl reporter standing next to us. Cute!

Anne Hathaway didn't talk to us, but she did talk to Extra, which was right next to us!

Anne plays the female blue Macaw, "Jewel." She makes her singing debute and she has a lovely voice actually!

The only picture I could come up with for Jesse Eisenberg was terrible! And he was one of the people I wanted to see the most!

Jesse Eisenberg plays, "Blu," the last remaining male blue Macaw -- who coincidentally can't fly. His deadpan voice cracks me up throughout the film.

Hooray! My farmer tan picked the best possible moment to show its stuff!!

Me and Leslie Mann, who plays, "Linda," Blu's human friend. She was awesome. We talked to her later in a roundtable interview. *LOVE* her.

Outside Grauman's Chinese Theater where we saw the premiere

After we did the blue carpet which was a whirlwind, we headed inside to watch the movie and then had our interviews with Leslie Mann!

Finally, the much awaited video (right?) Here's us on the blue carpet with a cameo by me!

I know, it's shaky, I promise to get better at this!

Other posts related to Rio:

• The Official Review of Rio: The Transcontinental Journey of Bird Self-Discovery ($50 Fandango Giveaway included!) at 5 Minutes for Mom
• The Rio Premiere: Part I (my blog)
• The Leslie Mann Interview at 5 Minutes for Mom (Will post as link goes live!)