Happy 3rd Birthday, Bugs!

A year ago, after your second birthday was when I decided to start blogging...if you can really call it that. It was at that time that I decided that the combination of how fun you were becoming, coupled with how terrible my memory is was a perfect combination to start capturing these moments forever!

Since then, it's only gotten better. You. Not my memory. Or my blogging. 

Santiago, Santi, Bug-a-Boo, Santi Cinco, V, Bugs, Mr. Man, Aago and TT are nicknames you've accumulated over the past 3 years and this morning on your 3rd birthday you gave yourself a new name...Santi Spidey! 

At 3 you are non-stop, rambunctious, all boy at your craziest but soft and gentle and so loving at your sweetest. Santiago, please maintain all of those qualities that make you the strong compassionate little boy you are today. 

In the past year you've visited your family in Pittsburgh, Texas and Vegas. You went sled riding for the first time, started soccer and gymnastics lessons, started keeping up with the big kids in the 'hood, got your tonsils and adenoids out, became a great jumper into the "big pool", watched movies under the stars, started telling stories, singing songs and having a "girlfriend"...I don't know if I'm ready for that one! 

You refuse to use the potty even though I know you know how. You love almond butter and jelly sandwiches and broccoli, you're starting to drink just a little less milk a little more water and quit taking naps most of the time. 

You're into super heroes (Spidey & Super Man), Mickey Mouse Club House, firetrucks, bulldozers and wrestling anyone that will get down on the floor with you. 

Some of your (in)famous phrases include:

"Ugh, where'd my toys go?" Every morning you say this when you wake up to see your toys have been cleaned up in the living room from the night before. 

"Mama, push the butt", "I want to touch the butt", "where's the butt?" Replace all of the "butt"s with "button". Make it more appropriate? It reminds me of your first fave movie, Finding Nemo when they say "*gasp* He touched the butt!!!" Replace butt with boat in that case. 

You ask me to "build a bridge" when you're being tucked in at night. This means to wrap the blanket around & under your cute little piggies. 

You're definitely in the "why" phase, but I've turned it into a competition. Do I run out of answers to your incessant whys before you stop asking? I'm getting pretty good!!

I say, "you're the best" and you respond with, "no. I'm not the best. I'm Santiago Guerra."  This is true, but I still think you're the best!

This last year has been so much fun with you. I'm so impressed with everything you're learning, your negotiating skills and how sweet you can be. I'm so excited for what's next, to see what changes & what stays the same. One thing that will never change is how proud I am to be your Mama...even though you now call me Mom or Mommeeeeee every once in a while. 

Here's a recap of your 3rd birthday party & continued celebrations. You had special visitors from Texas this year-grandpa, grandma Nena, big Mamo & big Popo....whose names have thoroughly confused your father and I on this trip :)

There are a lot of pictures to follow, but the best part is definitely the pinata video...enjoy!

Captain Aago

This is your gf, Natalia.  You're in charge.  Obviously.

Sword fiiiiiights!!!!

Pinata was the best part!

Santiago Jr. down to Santiago V - 4 of the 5 generations

Spiderman on birthday morning

You asked for waffles & bacon for your birthday breakfast

Shooting webs

Beauty & the Beast at the Children's Theater for your birthday!

Brunch at Nada

It was awesome to have your Grandparents AND Great Grandparents here to celebrate with you.  Thanks for giving us another year of love, laughs, snuggles and sometimes pure exhaustion.  It's worth every second!  We love you, Bugs!

30 Days of Thanks

I think 30 days of thanks will be an annual blog post for me. I like to take the time to reflect on something that makes me happy each day...at least for 1 month I like it. 

There's a post from last year too, if you'd like to check it out!

Here we go...

1. Random Excitement- Disney on Ice was amazing and Santi loved it. The best parts if you ask him? Mickey and the "ice truck"...during intermission. 

2. Household organization- I feel like I've been behind on house stuff for 2 months, and today finally caught up (somewhat). *exhale moments*. 

3. Good people- similar to last year when I stumbled upon a random act of kindness (#19) I found this today on the corner of 6th & Broadway. It feels good to see the good that's out there. 

4. Support from family and friends. A simple Facebook post/question led to a snowball of interest to help support a great cause and a crazy desire I have to raise a ton of money for LLS!

5. 3 years without a stomach bug for Santi & a speedy recovery after it hit him. Kids are so resilient!

6. "Monsters in my tummy" that didn't stay long. I also caught Santi's 1st stomach bug & he kept saying that I had Monster's in my tummy & I needed to drink juice to get them out. Too cute!

7. Snuggles on the couch with Santi enjoying the first Christmas movie of the year, The Polar Express!

8. Real Talk with my husband is something that doesn't happen often between jobs, parenting & trying to maintain our elite social status (jk), but when it does I'm thankful for the reminder that our marriage is worth so much more than we the lack of time we have to feed it and also the reminder to feed it more.

9. #sundayexperiments which is a fancy hashtag for meal prep. Sunday dinners remind me of my grandparents and family and making memories and just being together. We did that today. All of it. 

10. Opportunities to do something that matters. I've officially decided to run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Woman of the Year!

11. This guy. The gift that keeps on giving. Happy 7 years with us to this lil Dolce named Bubba. 

12. A husband who makes me feel appreciated. It's a simple thank you when I do something for him that is neither big or extravagant, but he notices. 

13. 

14. Finally a good Asian restaurant! 

15.Pictionary. Yes. A board game that brings friends together like no other!

16. My Grandmas' Things. It's not about the things. It's about the memories they bring back. Grandma Rose's bench (that I'm refinishing) & Grandma Betty's pasta bowl are 2 of my faves. 

17. Snow!! Our first of the season is too early, but it's still beautiful and reminds me of being a kid outside for hours, coming in with burning fingers & toes but having had so much fun!

18. "Lay with me, Mama." Says Santi 

at bedtime. I'm laying here long after he's asleep. Thankful he still needs me -even though I feel like he's getting too big too fast. 

19. Money. It's not what you think. We've been trying to bribe teach Santi to use the potty for months. The bribe he'll finally accept? Money for his piggy bank!

20. Productive Days. Not just for the sake of getting things done, but because of the high I get from crossing things off of my list & feeling accomplished!

21. Fridays. Especially before a week off. TGIF!

22. Traditions. So happy to have our own family traditions to carry on with Santi. Today we rode the Polar Express train as our kick off to Christmas!

23. These munchkins. We have 2 darling nieces & 3 handsome nephews that we rarely get to see, but are enjoying (almost all of) them now! These pics are >7 years apart!

24. Permission to act like a kid. No one actually gave it to me, but it makes me so happy to play trucks, have nerf gun wars & play outside. You really are as old as you feel & today I was about ten!!

25. The Cov. It's my therapy, my escape, my motivation, my release, 

Accomplishment and not to mention some of my favorite people. 

26. Moments. Twice today I thought, "what did I do to be so blessed?" I got tears in my eyes watching my niece/nephews put up the Christmas tree with Santi & then again when he fell asleep snuggled in my arms after awaking from a bad dream during nap time. So much love!!

27. A house full of awesome! It makes my heart happy to have so many awesome people coming together to give thanks for everything we're blessed to have. Especially each other. 

28. Free days. Nothing on the calendar, no where to be, just time at home with my boys to do as much or little as we'd like. Today included Christmas crafts, movies & decorating. 

29. Making memories. Santi & I had an "adventure day" (aka everyday with him!) but today was extra fun! He asked Santa for 3 reaaaaallllly big presents!!!

30. Life. Everyday is not perfect or easy, but I am so thankful to have every second of it with family & amazing friends. 

At some point I realized that I'd skipped lucky number 13-just like the buttons in an elevator. I'm sure that day I was feeling thankful for wine. 

If I forgot to write a post it's probably because I needed it really bad or drank too much of it!

Is there something you're thankful for that seems silly but means a lot to you...like wine?

You Want This Recipe

If you eat, have eaten, prepared or even researched paleo recipes then you know so many of them will say something like, "it tastes just like the real thing!" I've seen it with spaghetti squash as a sub for spaghetti, cauliflower as a sub for rice and also mashed potatoes and especially paleo "desserts".  Whatever that means with >50g of sugar.

If you've eaten these imitation dinners then you know they're usually good, but definitely not "the real thing". 

The one I made tonight was better than the real thing. It was probably one of the best "pasta" dishes I've ever eaten & it was completely paleo.

Side note:  Paleo Comfort Foods is one of my first and favorite cook books, and it does a really good job of imitating the heart clogging stuff.

Recently I've learned a lot about the way I cook. People ask me for recipes. I tell them ingredients. They ask for amounts and I show them by making a circle with my finger or a portion of the palm of my hand. I don't measure. I also don't always use the same ingredients when making a recipe the next time. What I have in the fridge, what sounds good and what are in recipes I've recently looked at are all inputs to what and how I cook. 

I look at a bunch of recipes online, pick what I like from each and start tossing stuff in a bowl or oven or somewhere. 

That's how this recipe was derived. My friend Jess stopped by my desk at work and we talked about a veggie spiralizer. I have a ton of friends that have them, but after my conversation with her I immediately bought the one below.Impulse buy.  It was cheap, works perfectly and is easy to clean.
 

The original inspiration came from Pinterest and it was also made with pasta. It may as well have been rat poison because when I read that I immediately hit x. 

Then I remembered it when my spiralizer came in and created this gem of a dinner. Note: My hubby and 3 year old both slurped their "zoodles" just like fettuccini!  This is the same hubby who has vetoed spaghetti squash from entering the house. Ever.

Here's my best attempt at a recipe. And yes, this is as good as it will ever get. Ever ever.

Buy this spiralizer (Ouddy Stainless Steel Spiral Slicer - Best Julienne Spiral Cutter for Various Veggies such as Zucchini, Paderno & Carrots)  or use one you already have. 

Ingredient List:

Bacon
Rotisserie Chicken (or slow cook, boil, shred etc your own)  My way is better easier.

1 sm/med zucchini per person

2 avacado 

1/2 c basil

1/3 c (+ some) EVOO

2 garlic cloves

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Grape tomatoes

Roasted broccoli

-bacon in oven @400 ~25 min turning 15-20 min in. I raise mine on a baking rack so it's not flat on pan and it cooks evenly. 

This gives you time to do all of your other prep and yes I got it all done in <25 min. 

Spiralize one small-med sized zucchini per person. Use the wider blade that creates thicker zoodles.

-put avacado, basil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil into food processor until smooth. 

-pull desired amount of chicken from bone and set aside

-cut a few grape tomatoes in half and set aside

-heat tiny bit of bacon grease (because everyone should have this on hand.  always.) in large pan and add zoodles with salt and pepper. 

-when bacon is done crumble a few pieces (I did 1.5 strips per person...I think)

-add sauce, chicken and bacon to heat and mix everything together. 

-Garnish with tomatoes (or put them in...I don't like cooked tomatoes so that sounds worse than dog food to me)

-prepare to amaze your family and friends with you super fantastic culinary skills!

-the picture reminded me that I left out the roasted broccoli that I told you about here. 

See. I told you I don't remember recipes. 

Also, you could cheat a little and throw parm cheese in the food processor with the sauce, and that would be magical. Not that I did that or anything, because it's totally paleo.  Right?  Yah, exactly. Magical.

Have you made a paleo recipe or a more healthy version of a classic that's "just as good as the original"?

Tell me about it in the comments. I love good recipes. And comments :)

Whole Life Challenge Update #2

I feel normal again. After 3.5 weeks I feel like my body is back to feeling & looking normal...whatever that is. More like, what I'm used to vs. "normal". 

Things I love:

-feeling/looking normal

-I'm over the walking zombie, feel like I slept 3 hours and haven't eaten in 3 days crash that happens during the reset phase

-bullet proof coffee - I'm addicted

I was on a bender. A lack of discipline. It's my birthday. It's your birthday. It's our anniversary, the sky is blue, the cleans are heavy-kinda bender. I ate garbage (for me) for 2.5 months and this was the perfect opportunity to Get. A. Grip. Thank you WLC & CFNC!

Things I'm (re)learning:

-how to meal prep

-you feel better when you look better & vice versa

-I like Sunday meal prep much better when it's not summer. 

I love to cook & I'm pretty damn good at it, but cook on a Sunday. During summer? No way. That's what husbands and grills are for! Thanks, babe for being an awesome griller...I've taken over the reigns!

I've done serious meal prep 2/3 of the Sundays of the challenge & survived the other because of lots of evening plans & leftovers. 

This past Sunday was my fave! 3 fully prepped meals in ~90 min. 

#1 - one of my home cooked faves! Scallops, Brussel Sprouts, shiitakes & roasted red pepper sauce. Everything cooked in a bit of bacon grease & grass fed butter. It's not the dish that my husband has named after me, but it's amazing!

#2 - easy prep salmon. Grass fed butter, crushed garlic, dill & lemon. 

#3 - roasted pumpkin seed salsa chicken stew. Yes. That's all one (delicious) thing that goes in a crock pot. It also makes your hubby say, "mmmmmm". 

He's always my paleo torture test. This week we're 3 for 3. He's not paleo, but will pretty much eat anything I cook and give a very honest review. 

I like being good at cooking. I like when my husband recognizes I'm good at cooking. He's very sweet and feeds my culinary ego often so I'll keep feeding his hungry belly yummy goodness often!

That means under no circumstance does spaghetti squash enter this house or his plate. He has spoken and pulled the veto card on spaghetti squash. I on the other hand, will never make menudo. Don't know what it is? Look it up. You'd veto making it too!

Things I loathe:

-still not really digging no steel cut oats in the am

-not hitting my 3rd snatch at 115 on a 3rm...nothing to do with the challenge; I'm still just angry

What has been you're biggest challenge so far? Mine is no wine. No Red wine. No Cabernet to be specific. It calms me. It makes me happy. It's probably better for everyone if I have a glass every night, but I've been doing my best to only have "social" cocktails vs. solo cocktails. <-- that does not mean out of a solo cup! Although, I'd be lying if I said that's never happened! It's actually more than you'd think. 

Share your fave recipe in the comments! I'm always looking for new stuff to torture my husband with!

Whole Life Challenge-update #1

I like to be challenged.  Tell me I can't do something & I'll prove you wrong.  One of our first Christmas' together I asked Jimmy what foods were a Christmas tradition & he said Tamales, but that there was no way I could ever make them.  His mom had never even made them & blah blah blah blah - I stopped listening after that.  So, I researched them for a couple of weeks, put together instructions, a grocery list & a few spreadsheets and days later we had ourselves some pretty awesome tamales! HA!  I win!  Or did he win because he tricked me into making tamales?  No...I win!  Ha! Right?  Net of the story is, I like to be challenged.

I like to be challenged but I don't like doing challenges.  I feel like I have a pretty good grip on exercise and nutrition.  I also don't eat paleo, so those challenges are usually out.  For some reason, I decided at the very last minute to sign up.  I'm glad I did...I think.  I'll try to document a few things here and there from my personal point of view - which is of a wife, mom & crossfitter who works full time for a Fortune 50 company - trying to feed my family as healthfully, quickly, easily and stress free-ly as possible!

6 Days into the Whole Nutrition Life Challenge and I'm feeling good-ish.  It took me 3 days to get used to drinking black coffee (cinnamon in it helps), stop eating birthday cake (since we celebrate 2 birthdays + an anniversary in 1 week) & realize that the hardest parts of this challenge for me are:

-no screens at work during breakfast & lunch

-giving up chocolate, steel cut oats & quinoa

This also seems like much more of a nutrition challenge than anything else since I already fulfill most other requirements besides screens at work during meals.  

No Screens at Work:  If you know me, you know I'm an "all in" kind of girl.  At work, I'm there to get a job done & that also consists of working while I eat to maximize my productivity.  I love my job, but it is not my life (although at times it does consume a lot of my time), and I want to get shit done in order to move on to the fun stuff asap!  You know...time with my boys, crossfit, wine...oh wait, can't have that either.  Ugh!  Add another really hard thing to this challenge!  Anyway - this is a HUGE habit shift for me. 

Chocolate, Steel Cut Oats/Quinoa ... (and wine)-  No description needed on why I miss chocolate.

I had a "paleo break-up" ~ a year ago because I was DYING in the gym!  I know my physical capabilities and limitations pretty well, and I know that the reason I should have to stop during a WOD is because I can't breathe – not because my muscles are tired.  As I gained strength and lean muscle mass, I was noticing that my muscle endurance was getting worse and worse.  I wasn't able to keep up with the amount of carbs my newly formed fabulous muscle needed to work at its new capacity (it’s hard & smelly to eat 220g of carbs worth of broccoli) & it took its toll.  So, I added carbs...gasp!  Newsflash-I didn't get fat, either!  Turns out, it's actually what my body needed to continue making Gainzzzz!  And now...I have to give them up?  I even have this pinterest board devoted to them!  I'm seriously debating just taking a 1 point hit every other day so I can have a nice warm bowl of steel cut oats or quinoa/rice with dinner.

Note: days 3 & 4 I felt that same level of muscle fatigue as when I was eating paleo, but wods on days 5 & 6 have felt much better. I even PRd my 5rm clean at 130!

I guess I’ll stop complaining & talk about what I’m doing to be a success at this challenge:

I did some awesome meal prep on Saturday.  Roasted broccoli was by far my favorite concoction from the weekend, so here's the (very technical) recipe:

-chop some little green trees, throw them in a bowl

-chop some garlic (which must be a fresh clove-or two- IMO)

-drizzle healthy fat of your choice - coconut oil has a good high heat tolerance & clarified butter from grass fed cows is a good choice too

-season to taste with pepper, salt, onion powder & red pepper for a kick

-make the bowl dance (as I tell Santi when he helps) & shake it up

-Roast at 400 for about 10 minutes

-in-SANE deliciousness of flavor explosion in your mouth

My only regret is that I wish I'd made more, because I was popping it like candy as I was cooking everything else.  At one point I used a piece of broccoli to "dip" into  the chili to taste it as it was cooking which was also amazing, and broccoli is probably a little better for you than Ruffles.  Forget chocolate covered marshmallows.  Chili covered broccoli is the way to go!

I've also decided that I'll keep a few notes outside of the reflection to document this experiment experience.

I'll always try to write in format of things I love, loathe and am learning.  This is a template for a running list I keep of things on life in general, so thought it would work here too!

Things I Love:

-perfect score for day 1...even though it will likely be the only one. (But I've surprised myself & have only list 1 pt. thus far!!)

-got a lot of food prep done

-reminded to take vitamins which I always forget on weekends

-soccer in the yard was seriously fun “exercise” with Santi

-that I only had to give up 1 point for blue ice cream at King’s Island…I would have given all 5

Things I Loathe:

-starting a day of change without my usual coffee. No heavy cream = sad. I even left my travel mug on the checkout lane at Kroger by accident on day 1.

-having to say "no thank you" when Santi offered to share him PB&J with me. He said, "mama I share. You take a bite." Ugh! Broke my heart!

Things I am learning:

-I can do “performance”, but may just deliberately subtract a point every other day or so to get more carbs (steel cut oats, quinoa, rice). EDIT-starting to feel a little better after a few days, so will wait it out. 

-I'm more excited about this challenge than I thought I'd be.

-How to not be a sugar addict.

-how to do a muscle up

You're absolutely right. The last one has nothing to do with WLC. At all. It simply exists on every list I make. 

These are things from my point of view, but you should check out one of my crossfit besties, Sarah, to see what she’s going through.  She’ll have some good stuff for you on this journey too!

Throwdown Moments 2014

1. Getting to see people in action that I don't normally workout with & meeting new friends. 

2. Jarrett saving my life (and our time in the 3rd WOD) by telling me to stop doing burpees to set up the guys bar. 

3. Feeling really nervous when Sarah looked at me & said "155 next?" on OHS, thinking there's no way & then actually hitting it!

4. Santi running up to me after the first WOD to give me a hug & stopping because, "ew mama all wet". Then proceeding to try to steal a stranger's towel to wipe me off. 

5. Awesome teammates who are so supportive & encouraging. Travis who beasted 275! Derek who couldn't have possibly put any more heart into the last WOD...esp the last row and especially Sarah who is my perfect cf partner because she balances me, pushes me & most of all doesn't complain about my sucky cardio. 

6.  Having a husband who supports my addiction not only by hanging with Santi all day while I'm competing, but coming to cheer us on!

7.  When I was hating the run and Michelle ran alongside me, was so encouraging & made me push a little harder even though we were competing against each other in that moment. 

8. Friends in town from Canton with a million things to do who came to watch & cheer for me. You are the best, Millers!

9. When 4 people including myself thought my team didn't have a heat assignment for the last workout, until Emily pointed put we were clearly on the sheet right in front of my face. 

10.  The fact that post competition dinner is always some excessive splurge. This time, Keystone Mac n Cheese, buffalo chicken & fries. Mmmmmm!

11. When everyone posts on FB about conquering fears, making PRs, being proud of their team, their efforts & all in all a really great gym and community that we are fortunate enough to be part of!

12. Post competition shenanigans trying to stay out of the sun!

Love the Cov!

Hilton Head, Ohio

Everyone that goes to HHI is from Ohio. That means that when you leave the island, everyone else is going the same direction as you and it will take >13 hours to get home. Not so awesome. 

Know what was awesome? This vacation. By far my favorite Guerra family beach vaca yet & I think it will only get better. A quick recap through Santi's eyes. 

Mmm jelly! My mom usually puts this on a soft piece of cardboard with crushed "peanut butter" (yah, I'm onto you. I know you don't give me the good stuff & you go all whole foodie on me). Wonder if she'll let me eat jelly out of the jar when we're not on vaca?

Ready?

Set. 

Cannonball!! These fools thought they'd be able to relax by the pool.  Ha! I had different plans & it involved constant chaos & minor heart failure!

I flied like Superman!

Speaking of chaos-this is how they had to lock me in my room at night. You'd think I'm prone to escaping or climbing or being rambunctious or something?! Give a toddler a break! Did they think I was gonna sneak out to meet a girl?

They finally remembered that ice cream will stop my meltdowns. Sometimes I bring them on in public when I'm in the mood for Ben & Jerry's. It helps jog their memory. 

I got to be a pirate for a night! Too bad my parents were too cheap to buy me a sword because I already had one. I just had to go all Pirate on some kid & steal his. 

All hands on deck is the pirate version of keep your hands to yourself. I'm not falling for their lies. 

Dang I'm cute!

This is me raising the "Jolly Rancher". 

We saw dolphins on the pirate ship too! I thought pirates had parrots, but whatever. 

We got to hang with my buddies Hayden, Hadley & Hunter. They live close, but I guess we need to drive far away to see them? You'd think the big people could figure out a better plan. Either way, it was awesome and I'm glad I got to see them!

My first pony ride!! Her name was cookie. I like cookies. Especially Oreos. Cookie is the same colors as an Ore....ooooo I get it now!

There was a little girl at the pool who had a crush on me, so she let me play with her lizard. I named him. I call him Keith. Obviously. 

Practicing my chopstick skills at the Hibachi Grill. I bet the other family of big people at our table felt silly when we were both using training chopsticks. 

Next to last day & Mama finally brings me to the "big pool". All week I've been calling the other pool, big pool. The big people have really been holding out on me. So unfair!! 

Mom is so paranoid. She wouldn't take her hands off of me in the big pool. Can a toddler get some personal space? Geesh!

This one just because I'm really stinkin cute. 

Of 92 flavors at Frozen Moo Mama got me her favorite, chocolate and PB. Guess she thought I wouldn't eat it all & she could finish it. Sucka!!! WRONG! Did she forget that I'm her kid? It's my fave too! I licked the bowl. Then tried to eat the styrofoam. 

Me & the ladies!

This is Jake, The Salty Dog & my BFF. 

Sometimes a toddler just needs some "me" time to clear his head. 

Making wishes for unlimited milk, to be potty trained by 3 & to have a safe drive home. 

Welcome to the gun show.  Dada says we're showing off, but I say...well, yes, he's right. 

We finished the last night at the Greg Russell show. He sang silly songs, made jokes that only the big people laughed at & let some little people come up on stage to sing. I'm already thinking about what my sign should say next year when we go back so he'll pick me to sing!

Before bed on the last night Dada  and I sang Ants Go Marching and Booger in the Sugar a million times & it was so much fun! 

Vacation might be over, but I'm still a pirate...right?!