Event Update...

As some of you know I am planning to participate in an Ironman in St. George, Utah on the 1st of May 2010. For those unfamiliar with an Ironman, it is a long distance triathlon that includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. Training and competing in this race has been a goal of mine since I was diagnosed with cancer almost five years ago.

To make this race more meaningful, I have organized a fundraiser with a goal to raise $25 per mile for a total of $3515 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. When I was diagnosed with a Grade IV Glioblastoma I had many questions and concerns. During that time I found the Lance Armstrong Foundation to be a very helpful resource. It gave me a place to turn to with all of my questions and, most importantly, it helped me realize that I was not on my own, but that there is a whole support group of cancer survivors.

I know I am not unique in being touched with cancer. Since my diagnosis I have met many other cancer survivors like myself and I know cancer in one way or another has touched us all; whether that is by caring for a loved one with cancer, knowing of someone among our friends or acquaintances who has it, or having lost loved ones to the disease. Cancer is something that pertains to all of us.

So, please help me attain my fundraising goal to help support all who are touched by cancer. To donate please go to http://www.livestrong.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=325373&supid=133888097 by May 1st, 2010. Remember, any amount is appreciated and will help! Those who donate will receive a Live Strong bracelet by mail as a token of appreciation.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Sincerely,
Jairo Vanegas
Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Lance Armstrong Foundation

Just another injury

Let me orient you to this picture. This is Jairo’s lower leg and what looks to be a second knee is a ginormous hematoma. The story behind this lovely injury …

Jairo decided to go on a long bike ride Saturday morning. This particular day I woke up at 5:45am and Jairo was gone, which did not surprise me as he usually trains early in the morning, but what bothered me was the rain I heard. I was hoping he changed his plans and went on a run or swim instead since the roads would be quite slippery, but to my chagrin, when I finally got up Jairo’s bike was not in garage. Well, I figured, if he did run into problems he would give me a call.

So, 9am rolls around and in walks a drenched, limping, ragged and bloody clothed Jairo. Dude, what happened!! Jairo’s reply, “well, I slipped on the road and took a little spill. I thought about calling you, but once I fixed the bike I figured I could get myself home.” Seriously! This is not the first time Jairo has taken a bad fall on a bike and the statement from the “guy mind” is, “at least we fixed the bike.”

When we were first married I came home to a house full of mountain biking buddies and Jairo was sitting on the couch with a busted lip, black eye, horrible road rash up and down his body and what we later learned was a broken hand. They had all been sitting there for almost 3 hours waiting for me to come home (this was before everyone had cell phones) and no one, including Jairo, thought to wash all the gravel out of the wounds before the blood dried or even maybe just go straight to urgent care to get the hand checked out. The first thing I hear when I walk into this scene is, “hey, don’t worry, we just need to get one part and the bike will be fixed.” REALLY! Thanks for easing my mind … that’s exactly what I was worried about!

Ok, back to this incident. Our plan for Saturday was to take Ethan to the children’s museum and Jairo was not about to change plans (obviously not a big fan of changing plans based on the situation is he??). I asked if he just wanted to take it easy but he said he was fine and just needed a quick shower. So, we head off to the museum and after walking around for a few hours Jairo says his leg hurts. I think he’s referring to the road rash leg and he says no, it’s his other leg. I ask him to lift his pant so I could take a look, to which he reveals this third knee. A guy standing next to him almost lost his lunch when he glanced over. The picture really does it no justice.

Needless to say, we made haste to get home to rest, ice, and elevate his leg. At this point I also force Jairo to point out any other injuries to which he reveals bad bruising all across his abdomen from slamming into the handlebars and a large gash near his groin … let’s not forget the major artery he barely missed! Luckily he didn’t pass out at the museum from blood loss due to internal injuries. Well, at least the bike is fixed.

(Jairo's better days on the bike)

Laughable language of a two-year-old

Here's our little chatter man just chillin’ on a phone call. He likes to talk on the phone far more than a two-year-old boy should. It seems that on a daily basis Ethan has some new word or phrase that is added to his ever-expanding vocabulary. At times these can be frustrating, humorous, sweet, and everywhere in between.

Some of his favorite phrases of late include the oh so independent, “I do it!” or “watch dis” for every little thing he’s doing. The frustrating “pwobwy (translated probably),” which seems to be his answer for everything. When I tried to clarify, “do you mean probably yes, or probably no?” his replies with “maybe.” What?? Do Jairo and I speak in such vague terms? Then we have the “NO WAY mom” response to such simple questions as, “would you like some lunch” or “do you want to go to the park?” You would think I just offered him poison by the tone he uses. My favorite is when I give him an instruction such as, “you have 5 more minutes then time for bed, got it?” He responds with a slow, “goooot iiiitt” to which, if only I could see his face, I’m sure his eyes would be rolling like a slot machine. I can’t wait for that same response as a teenager.

Of course, there are plenty of sweet little words like, “luv u mommy” or “miss you” as he says good night. There is also the cute little way he comes to comfort me when I stub my toe or cut the corner too close and hit the wall (unfortunately these things happen to me more often than you think). He’ll come over and put his hand on my back, pull his face close to mine, and with a sympathetic voice and puppy dog eyes say, “I soorrry. Kiss it?” Then he leans over to give me a kiss. Melts my heart!

Thoughts On Shopping & Getting Old

I decided yesterday that I’m old. Not because I just had another birthday … although that doesn’t help the situation, but because of the words and phrases coming out of my mouth that I used to hear as a youth and think, “you’re just saying that because you’re old and don’t get it.”

So, this new revelation came to me during an evening of frantic and frustrated shopping. I hate shopping when I need something and, of course, I was shopping last minute for the perfect item to wear for our family pictures. I say ‘perfect’ because somehow I had this ideal that just the right outfit would hide the extra baby pounds that linger on and conceal any well-into-my-mid-30’s wrinkles. Oh how disappointed I became as I just looked like myself in everything I tried on. I digress.

Anywhooo … in my quest to find something youthful I decided to visit some stores that frankly, I haven’t been in since college and a few I’ve never ventured in at all … and for good reason. The first store I go into is so dark I can hardly see three feet in front of me, let alone discern whether I’m grabbing the navy blue or chocolate brown sweater. Of course, this is coming from someone who is one contact prescription away from being legally blind! Second, the sizing in this store was enough to throw even the thinnest of women into an eating disorder. I had to go almost three sizes bigger to get anything to fit half decent. Then there was the blaring music!! I couldn’t hear myself think (see, I know we all remember our parents saying that when we were younger and just rolled our eyes!) Jairo called while I was in this store and wanted to know where in the world I was. He probably thought I had a particularly bad day at work and decided to stop off at the local bar for a pick me up.

I finally headed out of that store and over to another well known store of my college years when I was practically knocked over by the scent of cologne and perfume even before I entered the store. Oh yeah, and then there was the blaring music again and the low lights. I guess the poor lighting makes your look better?? Anyway, I could hardly talk loud enough to get the sales associate’s attention or so I thought. I finally realized it wasn’t because she couldn’t hear me, but that she was in the middle of a very important social conversation with her very handsome male counterpart about who was going to such and such party that night. Aaahhhh, yes, you guys just carry-on. Don’t mind me.

So, long story short, although I left the mall feeling like I hit my mid 60’s instead of 30’s, I finally found a sweater that I love in a store with bright lights, soft music, and sales people that we’re actually more interested in assisting customers than each other.

Birthdays and Sick Days

So, this post is a bit late, as it has now been almost a month since Ethan's birthday. Bad mom!! Anyway, I wanted to share a little of Ethan's birthday. I can't believe he's two already and starting to look like he's ready to head off to school. Time flies! Turning two has brought along his desire to be Mr. Independent, dramatic breakdowns that really test my patience, plenty of funny sayings that keep us laughing, and a little chatter box who loves to call people and give repetitive accounts of eventful moments in his day.































For his birthday we had a little party with some play-group and neighborhood friends. We played, decorated pumpkins, ate lunch, and opened gifts. Ethan had a great time. He especially loved everyone singing Happy Birthday to him and has requested it several times since when we have had desserts of any kind. Thanks to Jairo the kids had fun pumpkin shaped PB&J sandwiches and thanks to my great friend Emily, we all enjoyed her delicious cream of potato soup. MMmmm!
















This last picture is a sad little Ethan a couple of weeks before his birthday. He was quite sick for a couple of days ... I'm pretty sure it was the swine flu since he had all the symptoms and it was cycling through our ward at church. Anyway, for the first few days he just looked so sad and just wanted to lay around and be held all day. As one good friend said, as long as we know they're going to be ok, sick days are kind of nice because we get to hold and snuggle them ... a desire that has long since passed in a healthy Ethan.