Potty Talk

Ok - disclaimer, this is a post about potty talk so skip it if it grosses you out, or you are not a mama (because, it will probably gross you out).

Here's the thing, a few weeks ago Cy had to go to the bathroom pretty badly. He had to poop and pee at the same time and couldn't decide which to do first. So, he sat down to poop (told you, gross) and in turn ended up peeing all over his legs and floor. He doesn't have the whole tuck concept down yet. Needless to say, my neat freak of a child freaked out and basically scared himself to death. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, he essentially stopped pooping consistently at this point. He would definitely do it but not as frequently, same with peeing. So, this all came to a head Memorial Day weekend when he was backed up, and I mean BACKED up. I think what happened was that he totally stopped pooping, like resisted the urge to go for a few days and then couldn't when he needed to. Cy was miserable. Every time we tried to get him to sit down and go he literally screamed and cried. It was nuts. I was nervous about sending him to Bush Gardens with my parents on Sunday after Saturday night being so miserable. He went to be crying and woke up crying. Poor little buddy. I was hoping that my parents might be able to convince him to go but that was to no avail either. So, when they got back from Bush Gardens he was still fussy/crying because he was so uncomfortable. Brad and I made the decision to give him a rectal stool softener/laxative to get things moving whether he wanted to or not. It happens pretty quickly so we put it in (yuck) and set him down on the pot and he screamed bloody murder. However, like clock work it happened quickly and painlessly and he was immediately like a whole new child. He was SUPER relieved and I could tell immediately that he felt better. He has gone pretty consistently since then but only when I am around and I have to sit in there with him. Before all this, he wouldn't let us in the bathroom with him as he needed his "privacy". It's so weird how/what happened but I'm glad we're back on a regular schedule again.

You're welcome for this gross post with WAY too much information into the potty life of my son;)

Meat Free Summer

The Cooke family is going to have a meat free summer this year. We are going to be on the road and camping for most of the summer so I thought it would be an easyish thing to incorporate. I was a vegetarian for 10 years and fell off the wagon about 10 years ago and think its time to get back on. There is just so much empirical evidence coming to light that links the meat industry to cancer in humans...including fish as evidenced here: Farm Raised Tilapia. The more I read and the more I learn about the meat industry and the way the animals are treated from the second they enter the farm until they are slaughtered is disconcerting. Of course, I am interested in the ethical treatment of animals. I certainly don't want anything to suffer, but i am also very interested in what affect this meat is having on the human race, namingly my family. The World Cancer Foundation just came out stating that from this moment on, noone should eat any form of processed meat (the article here: Meat Carcinogens) because of the high levels of sodium nitrates which is a known carcinogen in humans. No to mention the amount of antibiotics pumped into cows and pigs while they are on the farm to keep them from getting sick. This obviously just aids in bacterial resistance to antibiotics because they are exposed to it so readily. These are the same antibiotics that humans use to treat bacterial infections. It makes no sense to use the same medicines on humans that we use on cattle to stave off bacterial infections. This is found mostly in processed red meats and pork products which we don't eat anyway but the poultry industry is just as disgusting and lackadaisical about their production as red meat and poultry. That leaves seafood, right? No, farm raised fish are also pumped full of antibiotics and hormones and grown so quickly that they are essentially devoid of nutrients. The argument is that if you get your meat from a local farm and you can observe their practices, you are better off. Or, if you go totally organic you are better off. The local farm, maybe but that is a giant pain in the butt in my opinion. Organic, who knows. There are so many levels of Organic per the FDA that I'm not buying into the overall health of this movement yet. So, the best bet in my opinion, for my family is to just eliminate meat from our diet all together. This can be scary too as my chances of contracting salmonella from sprouts is actually higher than getting it from a hamburger but I'll take my chances (except we don't eat sprouts...ever because of this). Cyrus and I will be fine with this, I've actually been doing it for a few weeks and really don't notice the lack of meat as I don't really enjoy it all that much anyway (except for fried chicken or chicken wings - I'm a sucker). Cy doesn't like meat, or milk, he never has. I can't get him to eat a piece of chicken if his life depended on it. He does love salmon and will eat that so I will continue to give that to him if it is wild caught and fresh. He loves veggie burgers and chic nuggets from Boca. He will also eat griddle "fried" tofu dipped in ketchup like chicken nuggets. Brad is going to be the tough one as this will be a different kind of mentality for him. He doesn't eat red meat because he is deathly allergic but he LOVES bacon and sausage and eats chicken/fish pretty regularly. I'm just going to have to keep it interesting for him this summer.

This Damn Foot!

This foot is STILL giving me problems. I decided to go to the Patient First to get an X-ray tonight. I knew after my 10-miler this morning that something was not healing right. Every single step was painful and it hasn't been like that since I started running on it again after I banged it in Costco. I'm sure that the 20 miles up/down Wintergreen and 10 this morning didn't help. To top it off, my quads/glutes are so sore from the wintergreen run and my toe is killing me. It was tough to get out of bed this morning!

I have been putting off the x-ray because I have the high deductible insurance plan and everything is basically out of pocket until I hit my deductible of $2500. I just didn't want to spend the money for them to tell me that I just stubbed it or something, so I put it off for about 2 weeks. But, today I knew.

So, I went to Patient First after dinner tonight and was pleasantly surprised that there was hardly anyone in there. That didn't stop the wait though. I was rushed through the entry part, brought back, got my xrays, and escorted to my room (they tried to get me to get in the wheel chair...seriously?!) where I waited and waited. Finally 1.5 hours later, the doctor came in (thank heavens I brought a book).

She asked me what happened, I lamented the story and said that it just doesn't seem to be getting better. I told her about my training regimen and she just sat there and blinked at me. Then, somewhat incredulously, she says, "your foot is broken". Damn. So, she asked me what kind of pain meds I was on and I told her none (blink, blink). She asked how tall I was for the crutches and I told her I didn't need any crutches (again, blink blink). She fitted me for a boot/shoe which I told her that I didn't need or want. She insisted and after putting it on I told her that it didn't feel any more secure than my Danskos and that I would just wear those. She again suggested the boot so I asked her how much it costs. She told me not to worry about it that insurance would cover it. I told her about my high deductible plan so she looked it up....$140. Now, it was my turn to blink at her. And we wonder why the health care/insurance industry is so screwed up. I guarantee this boot cost less than $5 to make. Ridiculous. So, again I said thanks but no thanks.

They wrapped up my toe and told me to make an appt. with an orthopedic specialist to deal with prognosis and healing. My plan is to find a sports med person that will understand that i am running this race in August and help me set forth a plan to heal and train consecutively.

Memorial Day Canoe Trip

Two of my senior boys, Ben Noftsinger and Paul Timmons, wanted to spend the day on the river with Brad and I. I told them a long time ago that we would do it not thinking it would actually happen but they really wanted to so I said ok. I roped Brad (and Cy) into coming with me (since i can't actually drive the trailer with the canoes on it yet) and our friend Charlie wanted to come too. We had a nice day on the river. The weather was cloudy which was not what I was hoping for but it was fun to spend the day on the river with those guys as it will probably be the last time that I will get to hang out with them as they graduate next week. It was a nice way to end the year with them.

Memorial Day Cook - In?

Mom and Dad came over on Sunday night for a Memorial Day cook out that ended up being a cook in because it was raining. They had taken Cy to Bush Gardens for the day while we went to Wintergreen for our run/mtn bike adventures. Cy had a blast!! I am sorry we didn't get to see him riding his rides but I know my parents love to be able to take him to do those things. We are lucky to have them, and Brad's parents, here to help!

My parents came over with Cy when we got home and we got busy putting our picnic together. We grilled up corn on the cob, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, and turkey dogs. I made roasted butternut squash, black beans & baked beans, we had watermelon, and chips. We followed this delicious meal with some homemade cupcakes (thank you mama) and ended the evening with a cocktail on the porch while Cy played outside. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday!

Wintergreen Assualt

Creighton and my long run this week was 20 miles. I have not run 20 miles at one time in a few years. Every time I train for a distance race I end up breaking something or pulling something. So, even though I have been training really well and really smart this time, I was still a bit nervous from these past experiences. We decided to head up to Wintergreen mountain because the road is a LONG steep ascent to the top of the ski hill. Our 50k has a 9.5 mile ascent out of the gate so this would be a good training opportunity to try to duplicate that. I asked Brad to go with us the night before so he could get some mountain biking in up there as well and luckily, he found out that Wintergreen was having a Memorial Day festival which included a mountain biking race. So, he signed up for the sport division.

We left the house at about 7 and got to Wintergreen at 9. We dropped Brad off at the top (where he had to wait for his race to start at 12:00) and drove the truck back down to the base. Driving up and down the mtn. made both Creighton and myself a bit nervous seeing how steep it actually was. We finally got started about 9:45. We both had our new hydration packs on and were trying them out for race day.

The ascent was slow and steady. Creighton, rightly so, was holding back in the beginning which I found to be difficult but I'm glad we did. We had a gradual incline for about 2 miles before the mountain smacked us in the face. We ran 10 miles up the mountain, slow and steady. Creighton was more comfortable with a walk/run strategy while I was more comfortable with a steady slow running pace, I find it difficult to start and stop. We got to the top and stopped briefly to refill our water bladders (mine had a hole in it!!! It started leaking down my back on the way down. Boo. I will have to try to fix it or send it back to the company) and eat a bit. I did a great job with my nutrition and my hydration on this run. I never got hungry or thirsty, even at the end of the run I was feeling really good. I ate a few fig newtons, a pack of PB crackers, and 2 packs of Welch's Fruit Snacks. I had Chex Mix too but didn't need it. I am avoiding gels and bars at all cost in my training and trying to eat "real" food so I don't have to deal with the gut bombs I get from those energy foods.

The downhill provided some relief to my hamstrings and calves for the first few miles but then my knees and quads started to get fatigued. To top it off, my left foot (which I just found out is actually broken) was super painful on the downhill as it kept slamming into the front of my shoe. The downhill was fine, slow and steady again. Creighton did not fare so well on the way down. Nausea got the better of him and he needed to take it easy. We finished the run in just under 4 hours which I thought was pretty good for running up a mountain and stopping for some fuel breaks. I was happy with it.

After getting back to the car, we drove back up to find Brad. He had ridden the race course 3 times for a total of 13 miles and WON his division! He's so awesome. He won 2 lift tickets to Wintergreen which I am excite for this year! Also, the festival was lovely. The weather was warm and the sun was shinning and we sat out and grabbed a beer and listened to the band for a bit before heading back to Richmond to get Cy. It was a GREAT run and a wonderful day, I am going to be so ready for this 50K.

Take a breather, Mama

Cy and I stumbled upon a little arts and crafts corner at AC Moore this weekend. I needed to run in quickly and find a few picture frames and some of that tacky stuff to adhere pictures to the wall. This was one of those mornings that I had a number of errands to run and a short amount of time to do it. So, when we walked by this sweet woman who said, "would your son like to make a hat", I smiled and hurriedly said "No thanks, we're in a hurry". Just as I said that, Cy started bouncing and said yes yes yes. I find myself presented with moments like this a lot. I have a plan, something that needs to be done, yet Cy doesn't sense the urgency. I try very hard to be present in the moment with him and remind myself that the things I need to do are not as important as his experiences and our time together. It's kind of like when he wakes up in the middle of the night because his covers are messed up or he dropped his water. Brad gets annoyed with him and tells him to fix his covers himself, but the way I feel about it, very soon Cy will no longer call me into his room in the middle of the night to do things like that....and then I will wish that he would. So, I try to go with it. Hence, the wonderfully purple (his choice and his favorite color) hat that he made at AC Moore this weekend (that he hasn't looked at or worn since, shocker!)

RiverRock!

Dominion River Rock 2013 was pretty good. The events and schedule were amazing as usual. The weather was tough. It was a literal down pour for most of the day and night on Saturday. Cy did not love the rain but he was a trooper through it all. We got down to the island around 12:00 and got to see the Gibbon slack liners, the rock climbing competition, the kayaking race, the dog jumping contest, and Brad's mtn bike race. The race started coming down hard and heavy about 10 minutes after he left the start. He entered the Single Speed division this year which is a tough division. Basically, these are the guys that are so bored at actual mountain biking that they have to make it harder by riding a single speed bike. They are insane. Brad did really well and placed 6th over all. He, of course, was not happy with that (he likes to podium) but I thought he did awesome. The weather was horrific. He crashed 3 times and his breaks were totally blown out by time he got back to the finish line, so all things considering, he rocked it.
I had signed up for the James River Scramble 10K again this year, I love the course and it's one that Creighton and I really like to do. However, I had to bag it because of my foot. I haven't run since I hurt it on Wednesday and am feeling a bit irritated at the moment. I think I may go get an x-ray tomorrow...it's not really getting any better at the moment. Anyway, I bagged the race and was a total spectator on Saturday. It was fun.

Saturday night, we all met at the Lehman's house to get ready to head back down to the island for the Toot's concert. We all decided to ride our bikes since we were going to be drinking. They lived about 6 miles a way from the show. The ride there was easy, so was the way back but I had a hard time keeping it on the sidewalk :)

The concert itself was amazing. Toots and the Maytals are this phenomenal reggae band that has been touring for 30 years. They are just so good. The show was great. It was raining just a bit but the air was warm. The atmosphere was awesome, good loving vibrations from everyone and Toots bellowed from the stage. That is, until, some drunk 19 year old male decided to throw an empty vodka bottle at Toots and cracked his head wide open on stage. I was in absolute shock. It was just one of those surreal moments in life when you are just overrun with confusion. I realize bad stuff happens everywhere, all the time, but it's moments like these when I ask myself what the hell we are doing here, in Virginia instead of Colorado. I was angry, very angry. They caught the guy and arrested him. Toots went to the hospital and got 7 staples in his head (he actually slowly crept by me in a golf cart as we were all walking out and I just grabbed his arm and loved on him for a moment, telling him how sorry I was). The show ended abruptly and we were all escorted away. It was a terrible ending to a wonderful day. As we rode away on our bikes, all in a bad mode, we decided to head to O'Tools for some late night junk food of fries and buffalo chicken wrap (I paid for that one later!). We were all feeling much better after that and ended up getting home about 2am. I felt like I was in college again. All in all, all things in perspective, it was a really great day. Needless to say, we didn't make it back to the Festival on Sunday - feeling a little bit rough (bad food + too many drinks = a rough morning/day). 

Hydration Pack

My last item for the big 50K came in today. My hydration pack, UltraAspire Surge Vest, arrived today. I did a lot of research on this pack and it seemed like the best one for this race and I can use it in the future for some other adventures. It holds 2L of water and has lots of little pockets for nutrition and my phone (always important).

I also went with a pair of nov-8 RocLite 315 Shoes for my new trail runners and I like them a lot. The tread on them is huge which will be good for the trails but they are light and cool which will also be good for the race.

Getting closer! Now, if only my foot would heal I could get back out there. I am going to try to run tomorrow and see how it goes. If it hurts a lot, I am going to get an x-ray tomorrow afternoon.

The Littlest Gardner

Cy and I are enjoying our gardening this year. It's a bummer that we are doing it all in containers because we are going to be gone, but we enjoy watering and observing our plant each day. Today we planted some herbs in a window box outside the kitchen and we we up these old compost bins that already existed outside of the house. They were pretty gross and lord knows when they were used last but we cleaned them out, filled them with some organic dirt, started adding our fruit/veggies remnants and now I just need to get the worms. I am going to go to the bait shop this week and we will be all set. I love that these are already built into the ground. Usually I use a big Tupperware but its obtrusive and I have to worry about it getting too hot or cold. These will be perfect!

Vaccinations

I had to get my vaccinations for my Costa Rica trip. I went to Costa Rica about 10 years ago and don't remember getting any vaccinations before I went last time but now the CDC recommends Typhoid, Hepatitis A, and a Tetanus booster. I had all of these in 2000 before I went to Africa but it's time get get boosters I guess. Dr. Bruce also gave me some antibiotics for when I return should I have any kind of Traveler's Diarrhea...let's hope not!! I'm super excited about this trip. It's a long time away from my boys (9 nights) but it's going to be an adventure!!

Being A Boy!!

Just a few pictures of Cy doing what he does best...being a boy!!

Shooting the cannon at Tredeger

New Super hero dress up outfit

making a tunnel for his dumptruck to zoom through

pee break, in our front yard. Not sure how long he can get away with this but it cracks me up. He doesn't even consider going inside when he's in the middle of playing.

playing in trees

so goofy:)