yoga for my sign! ha, it's perfect

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)


Go with feminine Hatha-style moves like the Half Moon and Cobra. Avoid stricter, more angular styles like Iyengar. Balancing poses such as Dancer's Pose or the Tree help bring you emotional stability, and the Boat helps strengthen your weakest area -- the belly. Yoga at home with a video might appeal to you homebody types

Love this work out dvd! it's 30 min. and its tough. The firm workouts are thorough, safe and effective. The instructor is great about cueing for the next move. I am a huge fan of at home workouts, Ever since I had Kate I've worked out at home. Now the kids are older, I have other options such as the gym, or bootcamp or even yoga classes. But if you want a great 30 min. work out, this is awesome!

Another Monday is upon us. Kate gets to sleep in this morning b/c its graduation exam time and the upperclassman go in late. Yay for them! Kate and I spent an hour digging through all the junky clothes at TJMaxx yesterday to get to some treasures. We found a few and it was worth it. We also spent an hour at the fabric store trying to decide what to use for the straps for her prom dress. One of her friends mom works there and she was helping us, she had some great ideas so we'll see what the seamstress says. Less than two weeks until spring break! This is going ot be a busy week. I have to sit in Joe's class tomorrow for teacher plannning, work, today, work WEd. sit in Joe's class on Thurs so his teacher can go to the teacher lunch and then Rick's parents come on Friday. Busy busy! I think Jack has a track meet in there somewhere.

Happy Birthday Joe!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet adorable, loving, Joe!! I dreamed last night of sonograms and babies. Not quite sure where eleven years have gone. We've lived in four houses, three cities and had several different cars since Joe was born. We've met wonderful people along the way. We moved to Hoover when Joe was three so he really doesn't know anything other than bama bangs, football, road trips up north and lots to the beach. He is truly a southern boy. Jack on the other hand has a little more yankee in his blood. He thinks it would be so great to live somewhere where it snowed all winter. We moved here when Jack was 6. He remembers good times in the snow. He would probably last about four weeks in Illinois winter. He likes to wear shorts too much to live somewhere cold. Kate is all southern even though we moved here when she was 9. She is cold when its 60 degrees. Anyway, I have to buy birthday cake and ice cream today so we can celebrate in style. Rick is leaving for a business meeting this afternoon. We had a lovely weekend. I ate too much but thats okay, Everyone gets one free day a week and I always enjoy mine! Kate made a road trip to Auburn yesterday with some friends. Rick and I wanted her to go so she could get a feel for the campus and the social scene. We'd like her to stay with about 3 hours of home for school. I know she doesn't want to miss the boys special occasions in high school and going to a school that is some what close will allow her to come home easily. She said she loved it and had a great time.

Eleven years ago today I was in labor and didn't know it. Actually I was in labor the whole week and didn't really know it. Joe's due date was Feb. 27th and I was scheduled for induction on the 27th b/c my blood pressure was high and he was done cooking. Rick had a program that night, he was working for Eli Lilly at the time and Ellen and I took Kate and Jack to Heath and Melody's. They were staying the night there b/c Rick and I had to be at the hospital around 5 for my pit drip. Ellen and I went to Steak n Shake for dinner. I didn't eat anything but I did have an orange freeze. We went home, I started feeling kind of yucky and I put my jammies on and went to bed. I woke up at 2am with contractions. They were so weird b/c they didn't hurt that bad so I just sort of timed them. They were about every 7 min. I got up, took a shower, curled my hair, put make up, and then my water broke. I woke Rick up and told him that I was in labor and we needed to leave. I think he called my mom, why? I'm not sure. She was in the quad cities but he wanted her to know. I remember that the weather was really nice. It was warm for the end of February. I told Rick he could stop at the 24 hour Walgreens and get a magazine because I just knew it would be a long time before Joe would be here. He said, no he was fine. By the time we got to St. Francis, the contractions were every 4 min. and I was having a hard time walking through them. We got up to the baby floor and were greeted by a couple of nurses. I told them that I thought I was in labor but I wasn't sure. They showed me to the room, gave me a gown and then I thought I was going to throw up. I told the nurse before she checked me that I was probably only a 2 or so and I wanted my epidural. She said, no time for an epidural, you're 8cm, this baby is coming. They hooked me up to the heart monitor to see how Joe was doing. Every time I had a contraction, his heartrate would drop dangerously low, when the contraction was over, it would recover and be fine. The er dr. probably should have done an emergency C section but she didn't. Dr. Crane made it to the hospital and delivered Joe. Joe was born with the cord wrapped around his neck three times. Thankfully, he was fine but it was definitely scary seeing Dr. Crane unwrap the cord. What a night! He was born on his due date without the help of pit. I really wanted to go into labor on my own and I did. Yay!! He is so wonderful and such a blessing to our family.

Loving Yoga!

I could quite possibly do a blog entirely on yoga. I love it so and my body calls for it every day. I know that sounds silly but it's true. Once you get into the routine of yoga, the muscles and the mind and even the heart literally call out for it. I'm definitely not a rock star yoga girl but I do it almost every day., I even do it with Ralph staring at me from the bed and with Owen sitting on my head. Yoga is not a religion (duh) right? but it is highly spiritual. It is an amazing experience when the heart and the mind connect to God and prayers from the soul spill forth. That doesn't happen every single time for me. Some days my mind is rushed and the heart isn't able to connect. Some days my heart is sad or worried and the mind isn't able to connect with it. But when they meet it is awesome and that my friend is what yoga is really about. The added benefit is how it works with the physical body, that is icing on the cake. My wish for you is that someday you find the peaceful place yoga can offer. Once you do, your mind, heart and muscles will call for it every day.

Fab Friday

Friday once again! I really don't have anything pressing planned today which is kind of nice. I am very ready for my sweet Joe to come home from his camp out with the 5th grade. I miss him! I organized his room last night. We sold the bunk beds in the fall and there were still things from the desk on Joe's floor. I put all of his old stuffed animals in his closet and I put all the books that were on the desk on a bookshelf in his closet. I love having the kids room's clean and organized. Jack needs to work on his and Kate's well, Kate's is Kate's. I cleaned it before Christmas and i do that for her once a year. It is back to looking like a tornado has whipped through it. Whatever. I'm not working on it until December. She can do it.  Speaking of Kate, she pulled an all nighter last night. She had an English project due this morning and she has been so busy with other projects that she didn't get to it until last night. She got it done though. I suppose those kind of nights are preparing her for college. I remember pulling those kind's of nights. Jack has his first track meet this afternoon and this one is actually at HHS. I love it when they're close! I think it is supposed to clear up and be pretty this afternoon, not super warm but at least sunny. Kate and I need to get her prom dress to the alterations shop. Spring break is in 2 weeks and the shops will be busy. I would imagine most girls have been asked by now and dresses have been bought. I'm glad we got Kate's when we did. Kate and her friends are super excited about spring break and prom. Lots to look forward to.