150 Steps...In the Present Moment

Yesterday was a down day...not "down" like "Oh, I feel so sad and down", but down as in doing nothing/relaxing/ foozling . Having stayed up crazy late on Friday night I slept in ridiculously late yesterday, which is always weird for me because my actual preference is to head to bed early and be up relatively early. Sleeping in always leaves me feeling super groggy. Luckily it was a gorgeous day - just the kind of day that I wish we had all summer long - not quite 70 degrees, sunny with some  poofy  cottony looking clouds floating gently across the sky, and a cool breeze. I spent the afternoon reading a book while laying in a lounge chair on our deck. Lovely. It occurred to me last evening that these kinds of down days are soon going to be a thing of the past and that Chris and I should take the time to enjoy them now before the arrival of the Little One. "We're not going to have quiet days like these anymore once The Kid arrives," I say to Ch

When we decided to adopt a child not so long ago one of the hardest things for us was to keep it quiet. So we didn't. Chris e-mailed me just a few days after we made The Big Decision to say that he had spilled the beans at work to a very close friend/colleague. I, of course, felt that this gave me license to spill the beans to some of my colleagues over lunch that same day. And after we spilled the beans to our parents and siblings it just went on and on from there. Now the majority of our friends and family are in the know. The craziest and most amazing thing about sharing our adoption plan with others is that just about everyone we've told has some connection to someone who has adopted. We keep hearing things like, "Oh, my friend and her husband adopted a little boy from Russia" or "You should talk to my sister. She and her husband have a little girl from Guatemala." Two of my colleagues have adopted children from Ecuador and Russia. Another of my

Friends and family who have known me for a long time were a little surprised at the recent announcement that my husband Chris and I are planning to expand our family by one. To tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised myself. In a journal entry I wrote: "I once told Chris that whatever other people have that 'clicks' on in regards to being a parent that I don't have it. But recently...I can't say that I feel my biological clock ticking... It isn't really that 'longing' for a baby that I've heard other women talk about (in fact I still think that me attempting to have a biological child is still not a great idea)...but what I have been feeling is the desire to raise a child, to have the experience of being a mom and certainly allow Chris the opportunity to be a dad. "I'm not exactly sure when all of this started, but if I had to narrow it down it was the first time I saw Chris holding [our niece] Amelia. There was something so

New blog...New mom (almost) I tried blogging once before...for three whole days. At the time, I don't think that my heart was truly in it so I deactivated my blog before anyone other than my husband had a chance to read it. But now I have something to blog about...something about which I am truly excited...our new Little One! ...Well, the Little One that will be joining our family in the (hopefully) near future. My husband and I are on the road to adopting a child - or as it's been described in several of the adoption books we have in the house - "the adoption journey." We're at the very beginning of the Yellow Brick Adoption Road. I've created this blog to record our journey and to keep our friends and family updated on our progress toward becoming "Plus One." It's late and I need to head to bed...to read just a few more pages in the baby name book that I bought for my husband and so far haven't let him read. More tomorrow.