Fingerprints...what a blast!

I don't even know where to begin with our finger printing experience! 

Let's start by saying that we opted for the 'digital finger printing' because #1 - our results will come back in 2 weeks rather than 12 weeks or longer and #2 - it was only the difference in cost of about $56 more each.

Our experience was quite cute!

Got to this little small office with one gentleman working.  He had an extremely DRY sense of humour - but we all got along just great!  In fact, we laughed several times so hard because of comments he made!

We walked into this little office, not very modern.
 
First he started out by taking Noah's finger prints using ink - just for FUN!  We thought that was pretty special of him to do this.

I went first and to my surprise, I was quite difficult (in terms of relaxing and letting my fingers go in the direction the he wanted them to go in)!  After this comment, Jacques (the jokesture) made some funny remark that he would have to show me how it's done!

Well, well, well...he was (with his stiff little accountant fingers) way more stiff than me.  The guy kept commenting about how he could hear Jacques fingers 'creeking and cracking' as he was manipulating them in the position he needed them to go.  At one point, Jacques asked him how they did criminals (who may not be cooperating).  And the quote of the day was this:

"Oh you'd be surprised how relaxed they are when they are unconscious!"

OH MY - did we laugh!!!

Anyways...at the end of the day we both have our fingerprints completed - YAY!  One step closer.

Dietitians and Finger Prints

I spoke with the dietitian yesterday about how I've been feeling (little energy at night often dizzy when working out).

We came up with a plan that I will work with a 1400 calorie diet for the days of my light workouts and a 1500-1600 calorie diet for the days of my big workouts.  She wants me to try this for a week and re-evaluate after my weigh-in after doing this for a week.

So far...yesterday, I feel much better. BUT...I did take it easy and just went for a nice paced walk outside, rather than at the gym. 

Today, considering we have our appointments (in Fredericton - 2 hour drive) to get our finger prints done - I won't be doing a workout today.  Tomorrow, I hope to re-hit the gym for my 'hard' workout and more calories!  I hope this will work.

AND - yup, today is the day.  FINGER PRINTS - going to find out if we are 'wanted' or not by the police!!! lol  It's going to be a fun day with my boys (Jacques and Noah)...going to make a trip to Costco, The Running Room (to get me a good pair of running sneakers), Science East (Jacques first trip)...and some more shopping types of stuff!

We ARE making progress in this adoption process - so exciting!

At the same time, we just had all of our siding (for our home renos) delivered yesterday.  I can't wait to get our home renos done - because this again, means we are ONE step closer to BABY!!!

Weekly weighin and diet

SO happy to report that I lost 4.0 lbs in week 4 (making a total of 19 lbs) AND I am down another 2.0" (making a total of 14.5" down)!

YAY, me!

As for my diet, I've contacted the dietitian and my family doctor - in hopes to go over my diet (caloric intake) to make sure I am doing this right!

My apt for the doctor is next Thurs, Nov 3 and still waiting for the dietitian to call me back!

That said, yesterday (Tuesday)...I upped my protein in the morning and lunch, plus I ate 10 almonds before heading into the gym and yesterday was great.  I felt fantastic.

That said (again), yesterday was my 'light' workout as well.  I'm going to try the same thing today (for my hard workout and weights) and see how it goes.

Changes and More Paperwork progress

I decided to take the full weekend off of working out and give my body a break - which was perfect, considering Jacques and Noah were away and the fact that I got 64% of our paperwork for INTRO2 completed (after approximately 12 hours of typing)!

So back at it today for my workouts!

Today's workout was a bit different in how I came out of the gym feeling like.  I came out feeling a little dizzy and light headed.  I was at the gym from about 10:30-12:00 noon because I had an apt first thing in the morning (which is when I usually go to the gym).  I didn't think about eating my snack heading into the gym because I always eat my morning snack on the way home from the gym (which is usually around 10:30 am when I am done).

So I think I need to make some changes in my diet.  I am going to contact the dietitian and my doctor just to be certain of my caloric intake is healthy through this process.  BUT....for now, I am going to bump up my protein for breakfast, grab a few almonds BEFORE I head into the gym for my work out and possibly bump my calories up just a bit again.

I had started this process off (as kind of a cleanse) at around 1000 calories per day, then bumped my intake to about 1200 calories per day - maybe I will try 1300 calories now.  I'm just SO scared to go up too much and all this work NOT work because of my calorie levels and I am equally as scared to do this in a NON healthy way.  I WANT to be healthy doing this.

I snuck on the scales (SHAME ON ME) on Monday morning and I saw that I was down another 2.5 lbs!  I'm so excited of the progress and the fact that I am doing it RIGHT.

OH and...not sure if I documented the progress on my strength or not.  

OK...here goes:

The first week we were at the gym, Noah and I were doing 'crunches' (NOT complete sit ups because shamefully, I couldn't even get up to do ONE full sit up).  WELL....last week, I tried it again to do a full sit up and VOILA - not only did I do ONE full sit up but I did 10 FULL SIT-UPS!!!

From last week to this week, I'm only doing FULL SIT-UPs now with extra weights on my chest.  YUP...I started with a 3kg ball on my chest and got to 2 sets (the first set of 15 and the second was about 12).  Just yesterday, I went up to a 5kg ball on my chest and did 2 sets of 15.

PLUS...I started a new (and harder way too).  I layed straight out on my back with my hands straight above my head (laying down - so my hands, holding the ball are in a straight line with my body lying on the floor).  I pulled myself ALL THE WAY UP with my arms extended over my head the whole time and brought the ball to my toes (so kinda like I was bending my body in two) and back.  AND....I did this 15 times, took a break and again for about 9 times.

HOLY strength PROGRESS.....I'm SO excited to get back there today to do this again.  I can feel my waist and hips just shrinking away.  I LOVE it!!!



As for the paperwork (that I SO love doing) - poor Jacques, he looks forward to having a baby but this paperwork he just DREADS doing!   I've tried to help him out in the sense that I try to apply his answers from our previous paperwork but this set of paperwork is SO much more detailed that I can't for a good bunch of the questions.

So far, up until tonight I got Noah to answer his questions (about 25 more minutes) and I've typed Jacques answers as he narrates to me (about another 30 minutes of work).

I am very happy to report that we are AHEAD of MY schedule (want to be done by Friday) to get this round of paperwork done. 

We have completed 200 out of 248 questions (all of which are Jacques to complete) so we are about 81% of our paperwork for INTRO2!!!

We are making progress baby - SO exciting.

I want to be able to call on Friday to say that we are almost complete so we can get working on INTRO3.

Once all of OUR side of the paperwork is done, then we just wait for our INFO and TRAINING session (which is PRIDE) on Jan 13 & 14 (in Fredericton), then our home study! 

It's really moving right along!

Paperwork, paperwork and MORE....

.....you guessed it, paperwork.

Jacques and Noah took a father-son trip this weekend, this time to Saint John, NB.  They got a hotel, went to a movie, went to a QHL (Quebec Hockey League) hockey game and most importantly are having some MALE bonding time!  You know, in Noah's words one of the most important things happening this weekend is that 'they can eat as much junk food as they want without having Mom say 'that's too many calories'!!  What a kid!

On my night HOME alone, I had a friend want to come over and watch a movie and another friend invite me to go to the movies.  I had to turn them BOTH down because in all honesty, I just wanted to stay home and work on this pile of paperwork! 

As of last night, I wrote until 11:45 p.m. and I completed 3 out of 14 documents (answering about 48 out of the 248 questions) and now I am up at 5:30 a.m. to continue! 

I had many distractions; watched plenty of GOTCHA DAY videos, listened to music, had a visit from a friend & talked to my mom.....some pretty good procrastination took place!  I woke up this morning thinking 'I didn't use my time the best way', but now that I figured out that I have about 1/5 of our paperwork completed - I'm feeling really happy with the progress I made!

A few more days of hard work like this and hopefully (my goal is), by Friday when we go to get our finger prints we will be done all this paperwork.

Off I go to NOT procrastinate and write, write, write!

Paperwork (INTRO2) - received Tues Oct 18

I just went through our next round of paperwork to organize what had to be done and schedule my time to work on it!  There is ALOT of work to be done and I'm so excited!  This is SO my cup of tea!!!  This is like a FULL TIME job (and I LOVE it)!!! 


In our next set of paperwork, we need to complete the following:

• Criminal Checks  (apt set for next Friday)
• Finger Prints (apt set for next Friday)
• Medical Checks (calling doctor today to make apt)
• Financial Statements
• Self Assessment  (20 questions both Jacques and I have to answer each)
• Individual Questionnaire (10 questions both Jacques and I have to answer each)
• Child behaviour and motivation questionnaire (21 questions both J & I have to answer each)
• Children’s questionnaire (Pre-Teens & Teens) (21 questions Noah has to answer each)
• Letter of reference from School (see note below) (6 questions for J & I to complete together because we home school)
• Your Autobiography (Answer in a paragraph-like structure) (17 questions both J & I have to answer each)
• Cross racial & Cross cultural adoption questionnaire (38 questions both J & I have to answer each)
• Information of child(ren) already in the home  (8 questions for J & I to complete together)

As a check for myself...I will post updates as we work though all of this paperwork.

So in total - we have 248 questions to answer (and these aren't like 'yes or no' answers - they are all like paragraph form with explanation type of answers) & financial statements to prepare (thank GOODNESS Jacques is an accountant!). 

Once we get close to completing all of this....we get a next pkg of paperwork called INTRO3!

So exciting to be working at it to move forward in our process to adopt!!!

No complaints here!

Run, Run, Run

As I head farther into my journey, I wonder what I want to do or what goal I want to achieve once the limits of my weight are removed.

I say 'limits' because Noah and I are reading a book called "Life Without Limits" about a man (Nick Vujicic) with no arms and no legs.  In the beginning of the book, Nick writes (pg 2):

"As we begin our journey together, please take a moment to think about any limitations you've placed on your life or that you've allowed others to place on it.  Now think about what it would be like to be free of those limitations. What would your life be if anything were possible?"

These words have have stuck with me for over a month now (since we began reading the book, which is a MUST read). 

Over the past few days, as I work out I often think about what life will be like when I'm NOT overweight and NOT limited by my weight? 

All I could think of is: I WANT TO RUN!  Now, if you really know me you would know that this is the most crazy and absurd thing I've EVER thought.  I've NEVER been able to run, whether I was up in weight or down in weight.  Running is just not me.  It hurts my lungs too much.  It hurts my ankles, my shins. I hate running.  Why would people run???

Have you ever seen those people jogging in the mist of the morning or the sunset at night?  They look so at peace and FREE. 

SO...I'm getting rid of my limits and I'm going to run.

Well...this is what my goal is to run NON STOP for more than 30 or 60 seconds!

Results - so far

Wednesdays are my day to weigh in and measure....

I hadn't intended on measuring myself every week, but after I had only lost 0.6 lbs this week and feeling overly disappointed - I had to do something to change my mind.

To my pleasant surprise, in ONE WEEK - I am down 4.5 inches! 

Holy Smokes - this is crazy!!  My waist alone is down 2 more inches!!!

My totals so far are this:

Weight lost - 15 lbs

Measurements:
Bust - down 1"
Under Bust - down 1.5"
Waist - down 3.5"
Hips - down 3"
Right Thigh - down 1.5"
Right Calf - down 1"
Right Arm - down 0.5"
Neck - down 0.5"

Total measurements down:  12.5" in 3 weeks!!

New Routine from trainer

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Hard cardio - get heart rate between 140-150 for workout, including 15 min each of elliptical and treadmill (for a total of 45 minutes) - so alternating back and forth.

Weights - 2 sets of 15 reps on all of circuit (all body)

Tuesday & Thursday

Cardio - including 45 minutes on treadmill.  Every 5 minutes, up incline by 2.0.  Walk at a pace that is like I was going for a walk with a friend.  WELL - I'm pumping it to about 3.5 or 3.7 mph.

I up'ed my caloric intake to about 1200 per day now.

We'll see how this goes....

Paperwork - Round 1 (Gentle Path)

INTRO1 & our first payment - have been sent.

INTRO1 included:

• 2 x SD Checks (one for Jacques and one for myself)
• 1 x Intercountry Application Form
• 1 x Registration of an Intercountry Adoptive Applicant
• $300 payment

We also received an email advising us that our Introductory and Training Session will be held in Fredericton on Jan 13 & 14.  Until this is done, we can not move forward with our homestudy.

Talking to TDH as well, and if we do not have our paperwork done for February (or when ever they need it)...they will continue to take someone before us.  They told us not to worry, because it takes a while to build a program (like this new program for Russia).  She assured me that whether we were the first family or not, we would most likely travel in 2012!

I am just so excited to be moving forward - and to know that we should travel next year!!!  YAHOO!

UP NEXT:

INTRO2 - which is a big part of the paperwork (including fingerprints, marriage certificates, criminal and medical checks, financial checks, questionaires, etc)

Can't wait to get this slew of paperwork and get working on it!

Monday - WEEK 3

I am SO motivated by my results so far.

Last Wednesday (I cheated) and stood on the scales - I was blown away with a loss of 6.4 lbs in ONE week.  I guess what I am doing is working!

I wanted to see, one step further so I did my measurements (this was from 2 weeks previous).  I had lost 8 inches in total (2 inches around my hips alone)!!!

I know I told myself that I would not step on the scales until Oct 31 - but I just couldn't wait - I CHEATED!  THESE results are definitely encouraging to me.

For my diet, I continue to make the effort to keep my calories between 1000-1100 per day using the Biggest Loser 4-3-2-1 Pyramid.

I have not found myself to be hungry (except for one day I forgot to have my protein at lunch) and I am satisfied most of the day.

As for my workout....

I continue to do 45 minutes of hard cardio per day.

Up to this point, I have been doing 15 minutes of treadmill, 15 minutes elliptical and 15 minutes of treadmill.

I start off with my first 15 minutes of increasing the incline every 3 minutes, bringing it up to about 6.0 or 7.0 mostly always walking between 3.3 and 3.7 mph.  By about minute 6-8, I like my heart rate to be between 130-140 and keep it there for the first 15 minutes.

Once I finish this, I jump on the elliptical where I keep my heart rate between 130-140.  Every 2-3 minute I work harder to get my heart rate into the 150's (for 2-3 minutes) - then slow down for 2-3 minutes and so on until my 15 minutes is up.

Then I get back on the treadmill and start off where I left off on my 1st 15 minutes and work my way backwards.  Sometimes, I had got myself into a run for about 20-30 seconds at about 4.3 mph.  This is as far as I could handle - but I plan to start trying to go longer and faster.

Yesterday, for the first time - I ran for 48 seconds at 4.8 mph at an incline of 2.0.  I was SO proud of myself.

Once I finish my cardio, I usually did my arms or legs on the circuit machines and would do 80 varying sit ups (crunches, elbow to knee for obliques or bicycles for lower abs) - doing 8 sets of 10 each.  I can feel my abs getting stronger than I was at the beginning.

TODAY - Mon, OCT 17 I am meeting with Shawn (my trainer) to get an official weight program. 

My biggest challenge this week, was yesterday.  Our church hosted a pot luck with lots of yummy food.  I brought my own salad and managed to stay focused.  The only extras I had was 4 little turkey meatballs and 1/2 of a 2 bite brownie (that brownie alone was 70 calories - but SO worth it)!  AND...I still managed to stay just below 1000 calories for the day!

Looking forward to this weeks weigh in to see how I've been doing.

Friday - Week ONE

I can feel it already through my waist and hips.  My one polar fleece sweater is already a bit looser than it was at the beginning of the week and my one pair of track pants are already starting to feel loose!

THIS type of pay off is SO much better than a number on the scales.

SO glad I put my scales away until October 31!

Perseverance

Well I had my first weigh in and I was shocked to only see 1lb lost.

I have done EVERYTHING right - exercise (and lots of hard core cardio - twice a day for Sunday thru Wednesday at the gym and last Wednesday to Friday, lots of walking and activity) and food....keeping it under 1150 calories per day.  

So I ask myself WHY only 1 lb lost.  It's a little frustrating, but then again the first week (from Saturday to Wednesday, I lost 7 lbs so it's possible that had an affect). 

I WILL NOT give up...

I WILL persevere...

At the advise of my gym trainer and a personal trainer (friend of my cousins) - some things I am changing this week to work towards a better result for next week.

• will start eating supper before we do our evening gym routine.
• no eating past 7pm, not EVEN one bite.
• will start eating more calories at breakfast and less for each meal of the day (ending with a low calorie supper. 
• pump up the gym routine; 45 min cardio in the morning vs. 30 min and in the evening possibly 30 min cardio vs. 15 min. , pump the weights - push myself harder.
• taking an herbal supplement, Acai with green tea capsule to boost metabolism.
• putting scales away and not weighing myself until Oct 31.

My EYE is on the PRIZE when I'm pushing myself to limits I didn't know were possible at the gym.  I work on the treadmill/elliptical trainer with my eyes closed and picture the day I meet our daughter for the first time.  The day she is in our arms. 

Lord, give me the perseverance I need to get me to where I need to be.


We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

Week 1

Well.....today is day 3 at the gym.

So far, I've been mostly doing cardio (treadmill and elliptical) with lots of sit ups and some weights.

Treadmill....I work up to an incline of 4.0 with a speed of 3.5-3.7.  My heart rate runs about 130-140's doing this.

Elliptical....I've worked at about a 6 on the left number and up to a 12 resistance.  This gets my heart rate between 140-150's.  I usually do this for only 10-15 minutes and the treadmill the rest

I've been on a VERY strict diet now for a week, Wednesday's (tomorrow) are my weigh-in and I'm nervous.  Although I've been doing EVERYTHING right and been as strict as I can be....I'm nervous because I know I have to try to lose a lot of weight and this is WEEK 1 of a very long journey!

Eye on the Prize - BABY

Conception has taken place - our long and very rocky road to adoption has taken yet ANOTHER turn.

Now that we have cancelled our move to Ontario, our adoption from Vietnam can not take place either (living in New Brunswick, you can not adopt from Vietnam).

A few weeks ago I called our agency, TDH, to advise them that we were not moving in hopes to receive our $500 registration fee back (or at least a part of it).

She quickly asked me if we still intended to adopt and I said 'yes' and she started rambling on and on about this amazing opportunity they had for us.  They are waiting to be accredited in Russia (in Nov or Dec) and they needed families that would have their dossiers ready for February!

SO...we graciously accepted!

We are their FIRST family on the list for when they get accredited.  AND.....we could travel in as little as 6-8 months to pick up a baby girl from 9 months - 3 years old!!!

WOW....dream come true!

SO...this is where we get the word "BABY" in the title!

Dream come true, with a little glitch that we found out about when we called TDH back to accept!

Well, I guess Russia is very strict about only accepting 'healthy' looking people to adopt their children.

When asked if we 'looked healthy'  (and trust me, our poor agency had such a hard time with this).  I said 'ummm, yes.....healthy and with a little cushioning'!    I asked WHAT is the exact criteria of weight guidelines for 'looking healthy'.  Apparently, there is NO specific criteria BUT was told that if we get to the point of going before the judge and he or she says we are 'not' healthy looking - they could turn us down right there to approve the adoption.

SO.....that said, I KNOW we can do it and we are on a 'Biggest Loser' style weight loss, get 'healthy looking' journey and we have 6-8 months to do it in!  WOW!!!

I'm pretty militant about this because to me, this is our LAST chance to adopt.

I'M FOCUSED....
I'M DETERMINED....    and
I'M OVERLY DEDICATED....

I just KNOW we can do this.

I contacted our Adoption Practitioner this week and he told us that opportunities like this do NOT come very often and we should consider ourselves VERY lucky that we were 'in the right place, at the right time' basically!

SO - this is IT....there is NO other way than to make this work!

And....this is where we get 'Eye on the Prize' in our title.


This blog is my 'outlet' as a way of getting really REAL about the struggles with my weight and documenting the journey to our baby girl!

SO....here we go!