Day 8 - For Sammy

This morning one of our dear family members passed away, our beloved dog Sam. We brought Sam home from the San Antonio humane society about six months after we were married. Jeff and I walked into the dog area, where a yellow lab was in a room all by himself barking nonstop and jumping up and down. Jeff took one look at him and said "that's the dog I want". I said to myself "oh crap!"
In his prime Samuel L Puppy, as we affectionately called him, was full of energy and life, but was also a cuddler. Many a time I walked in to the bedroom while Jeff was taking a nap to the picture of them spooning.

I dedicated my class today to my first dog. Rest in Peace Sammy, you're no longer in pain.

At the lake

Hanging with his buds

 

 

 

 

Being a good boy

 

 

Taking a nap

 

 

Taking another nap

 

Posing Pretty

Day 7 - Distractions Everywhere!

Took the 6:30 class last night with Tara!! She was awesome, as usual!

For some reason it was hard for me to block out all the distractions during class, but I did the best I could and so my goal was accomplished.

One distraction came from a student that was behind me and to the side, and since we are all facing a mirror I had a full view of them the entire class. I'll be honest, its pretty rare that I notice anyone else in class besides myself, but last night I had to really concentrate on not being annoyed. It was kind of evident that this student was new to the yoga, there were certain things throughout class that I saw them doing and I thought to myself "You're not doing that right, be careful". I had to remind myself to trust that the teacher would be keeping an eye on this student and help them if they were really going to get hurt. That part was probably the hardest, but eventually I was able to not notice as much. One of the reasons I go to yoga (and this might sounds selfish, but so be it) is so that I can focus on myself without worrying about anyone else.

Another distraction was probably a reaction from trying to get over the one described above. My mind kept wondering to topics outside the yoga room. Thinking about friends, family, what I needed at the grocery store, what I was going to do for dinner. It made the class seem to go faster, but again its a distraction. In order to squeeze out as much as I can from class, I try my best to focus on myself without worrying about anyone or anything else.

I do try my hardest not to worry about everything around me, it's really hard and usually I'm not very successful. Isn't it just so much easier sometimes to worry about those around us rather than what's going on with our self?

Until later today.

Stay hydrated my friends

Day 6 - Just Us Girls

Was able to take the 4:30 class this afternoon. It was one of those rare classes with only ladies, and there were about 7 or so of us total. Plus I got to take class next to my compadre Dorothy!

Of course since there were only a handful of students & our teacher Shane was the only guy in the room we had to give him a hard time. Lots of fun :)

Ended the class with Shane telling us we were the best class he's taught here! Girls Rule!

Until tomorrow.

Stay hydrated my friends.

Day 5 - Letting Go

The theme for today seems to have been "just let it go". Meaning all those little things that cause an annoyance, today I seemed to be able to acknowledge the annoying-ness, but then let it go.

Made the day so much nicer, and yoga was so much less intense....aaahhhhh.......also helps to have a less intense teacher too, thanks Carlos!

And came out of yoga to some very cute texts from my mommy!

Until tomorrow

Stay hydrated my friends!

Sharing The Love

As Jeff and I have gone through our road toward adoption, people have asked us lots of questions. I think most people are just curious about the whole process if they, or someone close to them, has never gone through it.

Of course in our country there are all kinds of different ways to go about the adoption process; international, domestic, open and confidential to name a few. Jeff and I have chosen an open domestic adoption, with a big emphasis on the "open" part.

Since last November we have learned a lot, discussed a lot and thought a lot about what we feel would be the most comfortable with during our journey through adoption. One thing we thought would be the most natural, is for our child to know from the beginning his/her own story. To make adoption the "norm" of who they are and where they came from the get-go. This hopefully avoids the worry-some issue of "when is the right time to tell him/her", when is too young, when is too late. Our plan is to bring up the topic using children's books. So far we've bought 2 or 3 (I'll post the titles later).

Below are some articles provided by our adoption agency (see link to the right if you'd like to visit the agencies website) that I would like to share with all our friends. I hope this answers some questions and brings up some things that you might not have considered.

Enjoy!

Dear Abby

Involving Family & Friends

Speaking Positively

Day 4 - eVeNiNg ClAsSeS rUlE!

Done! 6:30 class with Charlottte at Hollywood Park! Walked into the yoga studio to a raucous "CHALLENGER"!! Loved the awesome support!!

It was nice to have a longer break between classes (more than 24 hours) but as the day wore on the antsier I got to get to class and have another one checked off my list. Do love the afternoon classes compared to the morning ones, not so stiff by the evening.

Until tomorrow

Stay hydrated my friends

Day 3 - Breath in....Breath out

I decided to go for another early morning class and took the 8:30 am at the Huebner studio. For the first half of the class the only way I got through it was by just concentrating on my breath and not on the fact that I was sore, stiff, hot and tired. Breath in....breath out...breath in....breath out....

I got through the first half and was in a much better place mentally. That's the part of class when I sometimes come up with my "BRILLIANT" ideas. I had 2 today, but now that class is over I'm not sure actually how brilliant these were. So I will not be sharing them yet, must mull them over more.

Mom's on her way over to help me finish sewing the curtains for the dinning room, then we're going to work on hanging things on the walls of the nursery, and hopefully will get to cleaning off the stroller and car seat donated to us.

Until tomorrow,

Stay Hydrated My Friends

Day 2 - Already Sore...WTF

All day yesterday I had the intention of getting up and going to the 8 am class this morning. Then last night when I set my alarm, I realized it was the weekend and I should chill, sleep in and go to the 10 am class instead. But low and behold I actually woke up on my own early enough to take the 8, so yay me!!

I can't really remember the last time I took class 2 days in a row, and as I mentioned previously I've cut back on the number of classes I'd been taking weekly. Needless to say, it was 8 am and I was really stiff and already sore. So my mantra for today is

"I will not think about how I'm going to feel at day 30 if I'm already sore, I will not think about how I'm going to feel at day 30 if I'm already sore."

Also M and I discussed my previous post, she thought it was hilarious and made sure I knew that she didn't think I would freak out in the delivery room.

Until tomorrow.

Stay hydrated my friends!

My 60-Day Challenge - Day 1

The yoga studio I go to has something called the 60-Day Challenge. You take 60 classes in 60 days, which is hopefully 1 class a day for 2 months. When you are done you get to sign the studio wall, say a few words, get a t-shirt and get your picture taken for their Facebook page.
People do this challenge for a variety of reasons, I did one close to 8 years ago, and needless to say my signature on the wall has faded.
M is due sometime at the end of October or beginning of November, which is a little more than 2 months away. I had been thinking about doing the challenge during this time, but hadn't completely made up my mind yet.

 M has asked both Jeff and I to be in the delivery room with her when R is born. Just as a side note because I think it's cute, she said she thought hard about if she would ask Jeff to be in the room as well, but decided him being a nurse took the weirdness out of it. Any-who, back to the topic at hand. It came up while we were talking about the delivery room that, of course, Jeff has seen an actual delivery but I have not. M asked me to watch the TV show A Baby Story so I would have a better idea of what it was all about. She seems to be a little worried that it will be to intense for me and I'll freak out. I know I'm not going to freak out, and I plan on saying that to her (even after I watched several episodes of the show). But I'm not sure that will convince her.
So to bring this all full circle, some might not see the connection between doing this challenge and my comments just above, but for me there is. Actions speak louder than words, and this is my action to show her just how committed I am to this adoption and no matter what happens in that delivery room I am going to be fine. Not sure if anyone will get this connection, but I hope she does. I'm dedicating this challenge to our possible adoption triad.

So on that note, today was day 1 of the challenge. I took the noon class with the yoga instructor Carlos. It was a great class, though I must confess I got a little winded during the standing series. Probably because for various reasons I have cut down on the number of yoga classes I have been taking a week so my stamina has diminished....at least that's what I'm telling myself.

So stay tuned to my daily yoga reports! Stay hydrated my friends (note: this is not a jab at anyone, you know who you are, this is because it's HOT yoga and I'm sweating my ass off and the classes are so much nicer when I actually have fluids to sweat out and keep me cool)

About Time Ya Slacker!

Seriously May, that's the last time I posted something? I can be such a procrastinator sometimes. So here's an update:

WE'RE MATCHED!!!!

But I have a feeling the few people that read this blog probably already know that. Had my first phone call with M around the beginning of July and for me it seemed like a good "fit" from the get-go. Then when Jeff was able to talk with her and in the middle of their conversation he mouthed "she's perfect" I got chills.

I heard and read about other potential AP couples experiences, about being comfortable and feeling a special connection. And I held out and truly hoped it would happen that way for us, but I don't think I really thought that it would feel that way...until it did.

I'm not saying it's perfect, I've had moments of doubt. Not doubt about our thoughts and feelings about M, but doubt that she would stay confident in her decision about choosing us. But so far when that's happened I've heard from M and she seems to say the exact right thing to make me feel better. Which seems weird to me, shouldn't I be the one supporting her not the other way around?

For now I am getting the feeling it's time to start communicating the important things a little better. So far I've purposefully not been to pushy, I don't want to over step or say the wrong thing. But I can see how that might be taken as us not being excited or open or trusting of M. So we might as well lay it all out on the table so everyone knows where everyone else is coming from. then we will know where those boundaries are and trust that if we over step them M will let me know.

DUE DATE: Sometime around the end of October or beginning of November

IT'S A BOY!