Highlights!

We had an incredible weekend at the Colorado Open!  Here are just a few of the exciting moments, full recap coming soon!

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Three Months!

Recap of the Walden's victory at the Colorado Open coming soon but first, I owe a special little man a happy birthday!

Watch me grow!

Stats:
12 lbs
23 inches

My little man, little dude, bug, monkey, Finntastic...

You have been in our world for 90 days.  We started out as strangers.  I wasn't so sure about you in those first few weeks and I'm sure all the big people and strange sights and sounds around you were overwhelming.  Now, 3 months after your birthday, you have become the perfect little addition to our family!  From the beginning, you have been such an angel of little being.  You are peaceful, full of joy, so easy to love.  You never cry unless something has really got you upset, and once we fix whatever it is, you're smiling seconds later!  You sleep like a little champion, inherited from Mama :)  At 1 month you were sleeping 8 hours and now we put you to bed between 9 and 10 and you sleep til 7!

You are making more and more sounds every day, you love to talk to everyone! Squeak and chirps and coos and gurgles!  You bless us with lots of smiles and belly laughs.  You are very contemplative too.  You look serious sometimes, like you are pondering something of great importance...  You're arms and legs still wiggle and jerk like they have a life of their own, but your movements are getting noticeably more coordinated.  You have mastered the fingers, hand, whole fist in the mouth and you can stick your favorite toy Ralph in there or whatever else is nearby!

We take you along on all our adventures, to the Weasel, out to eat, to the Stables, CrossFitting, and you are such a trooper through it all.  You are so happy to just be with us and chill.

You love to be outside and and starring the sky and the leaves.  You love looking at your big picture books too.  We sing old Camp Alleghany songs before you go to bed at night.  You are so strong, you bust out of your swaddle most of the time!  guess its time to retire the swaddle...  You have outgrown some of your little jammies and onesies too.   I predict you will have mama's height and daddy's confidence and courage.

I love you Finn, Thank you for being our angel baby boy... 

Mama 

3, 2, 1, GO!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is the BIG day folks!  Saturday and Sunday Eric will be competing at the Colorado Open at Front Range CrossFit!  Check out the events and heat times!  The Waldens (including Finn and grandma Annie) would love to see your smiling face there :)  Now for some much needed sleep!

Singin' in the Mud

Whoops!  How did a week go by with no posts?  I'm a naughty pet!  Naughty!  We had such a cool weekend.  On Saturday we went down to Erie to support our friend and Tasty Weasel bartender in her competition for American Country Star.  She ROCKS.  Absolutely blows my mind.  Such a powerful voice and a whole lotta sass in a tiny little package!  She did me the honor of asking me to sing backup with her on the Carrie Underwood song Last Name.  It was soooo much fun!  Thanks April and kick ass on the rest of your competition and your rise to stardom!!!!  (seriously, keep an eye out for this girl!)

After a late night, we woke up Sunday morning, picked Eric's mama up at the airport, and headed to Copper Mountain for the Warrior Dash!  We ran a 5K up and down the mountain with a bunch of obstacles, like jumping over fire, wallowing through a giant mud pit covered in barbed wire, and climbing over wrecked cars. FUN!  Afterwards, we got a furry viking hat, beer, and a ginormous turkey leg. mmmmmmm....

Here are some highlights.

Before, all decked in his cape

pre-mud

Rarin' to go!

this guy wasn't so happy when his suit got weighed down in mud

sweet beards ladies

my muddy man 

go fast!

love that mud!!!

Annie watched the Finn boy while mama and daddy got dirty

Happy Walden 

so freakin' tasty!

true love

200 baby!

I've been feeling a little down lately about progress and training and what not. But today I got a huge boost of confidence after going into the noon WOD and doing some squatting.  I got my old PR of 185 and then I went for 190 and got it!  Then it was pointed out to me that I was using a guys bar instead of a girls, so... I actually squatted 200 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing like a 15 pound PR to make the day better!

a

Getting ready, thinking its only 190#

the purple belt of power helps a lot!

UP!

Soreness vs pain

With 2 weeks til the Colorado Open, I have been trying to get into the gym as  much as I can.  Some days are harder than others and I have had to scale workouts quite a lot because I injured myself.   I don't feel like I'm at my best for a competition.  I am disappointed because this is my first one and I really want to perform optimally, but I just don't feel like I am there because of the state my body is in.


You see, the problem is I got pregnant.  And there is this hormone called Relaxin that builds up during pregnancy to loosen your ligaments  to facilitate squeezing that baby through a narrow space.  Well its still in my body now, and since I went hard and fast back to working out after Finn was born, that Relaxin is proving to be a problem for me.  I took a week off after Finn was born and was still working out til the day before I went into labor. I took it relatively easy while I was carrying him around.  But as soon as he was out- it was go time!  Unfortunately, I guess my body us all loosey goosey and heavy lifting and jarring my spine all around has caused me to be in significant pain ever since the birth. Specifically low back and neck pain.


The common sense solution?  Take a break or scale back significantly.  Yes I know that.  And I have been trying  to some extent not to lift heavy and refrain from movements that aggravate my neck.  But I am totally torn because we signed up for the Open and I have been waiting a long time to compete.  Hence the training six days a week and being really frustrated that I am not making progress.


Being sore is a great thing.  It means your muscles are adapting and changing.  There's a popular saying in this house and in the CrossFit community, "pain is the feeling of weakness leaving your body."  Well maybe.  It depends on what kind of pain.  After reading a great article in the CrossFit Journal, I'm getting better understanding of how much soreness is beneficial versus counter productive. 

“Lots of us treat muscle soreness like the stereotypical mother-in-law,” writes Tony Webster, PhD, a CrossFitting exercise physiologist from Victoria, B.C . “You’re not really sure if you like her or not, but you know she’ll be back, and you better find a way to deal with her."
The article explains that you need the pain, swelling, and shakiness of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) because it indicates that your muscles are adapting to your last workout by getting stronger. It discusses why some workouts hurt more than others (and massage and stretches don’t do much to minimize it), and strategies to manage DOMS over the long term.
In addition to soreness there are a number of other things that happen as a result of muscle damage... In most cases after muscle damage, the membranes of muscle fibers are compromised, allowing substances to spill out into the bloodstream.  In severe cases, “rhabdo” can lead to cardiac arrhythmias (due to blood electrolyte imbalances) and/or potential kidney failure (when the muscle proteins accumulate in the kidneys and prevent them from filtering the blood normally)...Further consequences of muscle damage include loss of muscle function – the muscle does not recover its strength and power capabilities for at least several days after the exercise bout.  In other words, the range of motion through which the muscle can effectively operate is significantly reduced while it is recovering. 

I know it all seems very negative to this point. But there is 

a silver lining. It’s called the “repeated bout effect.” This 

refers to the fact that another similar bout of exercise 

will not have the same consequences as before. 

Remember that muscle damage and soreness are 

essential and probably unavoidable pre-requisites for 

optimal muscular adaptation. If you have an aversion 

to feeling sore, you can either stop doing CrossFit (not 

an option for most!) or reframe your attitude. How?

Try any or all of the following:

1. DOMS can make you feel less guilty about taking 

rest days.

2. DOMS is a sign that your body is adapting

3. DOMS gives you valuable delayed feedback about 

your performance in the exercises concerned.

So there.  Unfortunately what I have going on is not run of the mill soreness,  I have some pretty significant ligament damage in my low spine and neck.  So I am pretty much constantly in pain.  I am trying chiropractic care, rolfing, and massage. I want to just determine which method will help me most in reducing  my pain.  But when it comes down to it, I wont really feel better until this Relaxin leaves my body, and I don't know how long that will take.  

In brighter news, we have been doing some fun, new (to me) workouts this week.  We did  a couple of prowler workout at Twin Freaks with James.   They are always a hoot! (by "hoot"  I mean horrible, griding, and leg crushing-yet some how fun.)

We also went over to Coal Creek CrossFit, a new box thats opening up in Lafayette and did an inaugural WOD.  I got some good tips on a rope climbing!

That's it, that's all.  Wish me luck!

Some tasty experiments

I have been following lots of healthy food blogs lately and getting some great ideas.  I have been off gluten fora weeks now, mostly as an experiment to see if I feel healthier.  So I searched for a gluten free crust to make a quiche. Almond flour is an awesome substitute and I've been making tons of things with it.   I adapted this recipe from The Healthy Green Kitchen.

Savory Pie Crust

Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tb. minced chives
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1 Tb. water

Crust Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda, and chives. In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and water. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Press the dough into a 9 1/2 inch or deep dish pie pan. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes , until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling.

For the quiche, I just threw what we had in the fridge together.

Veggie and  Sausage Quiche:

2 Tb bacon fat or oil of choice

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small, chopped 

1/2  green bell pepper, chopped

3  plum tomatoes, chopped 

6 turkey suasgae links

6 large eggs, whisked

handful of chopped herbs, chives, basil, parsley

a splash of milk

1/2 cup Mexican cheese blend

1 Savory Pie Crust, prebaked

Quiche Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Saute turkey sausage until cooked through in large cast iron skillet.  Remove and set aside. Add the oil to the skillet.

 Saute the onion, zucchini, and pepper for 8-10 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add tomatoes  and herbs and cook 2 more minutes.  Chop the sausage into bite size pieces. 

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, and salt. Stir in the sauteed vegetables and sausage, then pour the mixture into the crust.

Bake for 30-25 minutes, until browned around the edges and cooked through. Let the quiche cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then serve.

Dessert was Banana Soft Serve, which has kind of a cult following amongst healthy food bloggers.  It comes from Gena at Choosing Raw and you can find her original post here.  Its really simple and tasty ad fun to make.

Gena's Banana Soft Serve:

Take 2-3 frozen bananas and toss them into a food processor. Let it process for about five minutes, stopping every so often to scrape down the sides. As each minute passes, the bananas will get light, fluffy and take on a creamy texture--sort of like soft serve!

Molly appreciating the bowl licking duties!

Gotta work on my food photography, but you get the idea

I added dark chocolate sauce and almond butter to the finished product.  By the time I was done trying to take these awesome pictures,  it was warmed up and a little melty, I need to eat it right away next time!

I love Chicken

It's 11:50pm and don't have anything clever to say after a full day and watching 2 episodes of True Blood (I love me some hot vampires!)  So I will share a piece of quality entertainment with you.  Kid's got some talent and he's passionate about poultry. And Eric is a turd for shutting off my computer after I played this 3 times in row.  Happy Hump Day!

Another look

I hear it almost every day-  Finn looks soooo much like his daddy!  That was exactly my thought too when he was born.  It was my very first comment when he popped and and they laid him on my chest- OMG he's a little Walden!  Literally! A little clone!  I wasn't prepared for how much he would look like so much like one parent or the other. I thought he would have some of both of us- but on his birthday, he was definitely daddy's boy.  Now I can't tell anymore.  I did a comparison and Eric and Finn's baby pics.   It's uncanny really, especially when they have the same expressions.

Now as he's getting older, I can't tell who he looks like.  I think Finn just looks like Finn. I just had to see if he had a little me of in there, so I dug thru some of my little baby pics. I was a cute lil' bean, dontcha think?

Alex, 2 months, 3?

Finn, 2 months

Alex, 7 months

Finn, 2 months

Alex, 2 months

Alex again!

the Finn Man

I think we share a mouth.  Does that mean he will sing like mama? Or be full of sass? We might have the same ears too.  Who knows! What do y'all think?  He's just his own little self.

In other news, Finn is sleeping a whopping 8 hours, from 10pm-6am.  Friends describe this behavior as that of an "angel baby".  We are feeling veeeery fortunate around here!  Thanks for being so good to us monkey! About a week ago, we moved him from the co-sleeper in our room to the big boy crib in his room.  See some nursery pics here. I worked hard on decorating that sucker, so I'm happy he's spending more time in it! He settled right in.

the bean

I thought I might have a little separation anxiety with him down the hall, but I can look at him anytime on our sweet video monitor.  

And when he wakes up in the morning he comes back to our bed for his breakfast and we go back to sleep :)

Speaking of which, it's time for this mama to get her beauty sleep.  G' night!