This Is Why We Do It!!

I thought I would take a moment to vent about how much football is a part of the Adams' household. Most people have no clue what being a football coach entails, let alone marrying a man who coaches the great sport. I have come to LOVE this game. I guess I kind of have to. Our lives pretty much revolve around football. For those of you that know me well, I am a very emotional and reflective girl. I am not a fan of the "aging" process. For some reason, I think about it often and how fast time passes by. Everyday, I reflect on my life in one way or another. Yesterday, I thought about football. Why, you ask? Well, I was very upset at this sport yesterday. I have been extremely sleep deprived and being sleep deprived has led me to be a little grumpy toward Klay, pretty much for no reason. I totally hate when I get in this mode. Football takes up so much of Klays time that I am left to be in charge of EVERYTHING else in our lives. 95% of the time, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am a type A personality, and like things done "my" way. With Klay being a football coach, I have been able to have things "my" way and pretty much will be able to the rest of my life. That sounds kind of selfish, but it really works out to both of our advantage. He is not a "planner" and hates organizing or scheduling things. But yesterday, I was just so bothered that he was not able to be home and help me around the house. I was also bothered that I have been asking him for weeks to get some tax information at the school, and have had no results. This happens when you marry into football. Your husband has NO time to do anything other than football. I hate when I get grumpy over stupid things like this, but it tends to happen every now and then when you are basically on your own. This led me to reflect...it led me to thinking about why football is such an important part of our lives. It takes a special person to coach this sport. It takes passion, determination, and heart. It takes these things because football is ever changing. You could get laid off tomorrow, you could get another job and be moving tomorrow, or you could be suddenly going out of town for a few days for some reason or another. But most of all, coaching football is about teaching the youth. I remembered this yesterday when I stumbled upon a few pictures of Klayton coaching his boys at WWU. These pictures reminded me of why he does what he does, regardless of the LONG hours (he works generally 6am to 6pm in the off season and 5am to 10pm in season) and being away from home. He is such an influence on the youngsters that he coaches. And they love him. I was reminded by these pictures what a player once said to me "We are all worried that he is going to leave here to go to a better school. If that happens half of our team would quit". This made me feel good, not that the team would quit, but that they loved having him as a coach. Not just the offensive line, but half of the team. That, to me, is an accomplishment. I remember that moment he told me what I was thinking. I thought to myself, this is why we do it. This is WHY we do it!! He totally validated all of our hard work, and it made me feel so good. And, I was reminded of this yesterday upon my daily reflection...This is WHY we do it! I was reminded that Klay coaches football because he loves the sport, he has a passion for the sport and has never lived without it. He coaches it because he is a great teacher and inspiration to others. You can see how happy the boys are below. I can't find the picture of all 20 of the boys and him, but below are his starting O-Line men:

Last Game @ WWU:
The night that WWU cut the football program, all the boys came over to get sappy together, although they don't look so sappy to me!

Why do I do it? Not coach obviously, but dedicate my life in a different way to this sport? Well, because I love Klay obviously, but because I LOVE that I am a part of making a special impact on peoples lives. Klay isn't just a coach, he is a teacher, and mentor to his players. After this reflection, I quickly called Klay and apologized for being a crab. Reflection is therapy! Thank goodness it is free! (I can't wait to meet his new offensive line and capture the new memories from here to help me reflect!!)

Klays first game coaching WWU:

I Love My...

Beautiful English Bulldogs - AKA Brewski and Lola. These pups have been with Klayton and I through thick and thin. I thought I would take a minute to blog about how important each of these pups are to me. Since having Mya, they have kind of taken a back seat as far as attention goes. But, they still love me unconditionally even though I have made their lives change drastically. They have done so well with Mya, it's amazing!!

Our Family in 2007:

Brewski - AKA: Bruce, Bub, Bubba is 5 years old. He is MY boy. No, not daddy's boy, MY boy!! I was with this boy the first day that he was born. I wish I could upload his puppy photos, seriously the CUTEST pup ever. He is the man, no really! Ask anyone. This dog is just a stud. He is so passive. He reminds me a lot of Klayton. He is very chill and LOVES everyone. We got Bub when we were still living in Boise. He has been through several moves with us, including a move in Boise. He can adapt to anything. His only downside, he is allergic to EVERYTHING!! He is on sweet potato and fish food. Yes, after years of being at the vet, no really, we would get discounts because we were there so much, we finally figured out that he is allergic to normal dog food. It's a good thing they sell his food at Petco so it is still convenient. Bub loves to sleep with Klay and I. The first day we brought him home, we tried everything in our power to get him to sleep on his own. Nope, didn't work. He whined everywhere we put him, until...we put him up on the bed with us. He went right to sleep. When we woke up the next morning, he was under the covers snoring. Still to this day, he goes under the covers and sleeps in my arms, and I wake up to his snoring. Now, he is not as spoiled as he used to be, he doesn't sleep in the bed every night anymore. This was very hard for him...ok, and me too! But he gets to sleep in bed with us the night before I wash the sheets. Believe me, he LIVES for this!! I am in love with this dog. He has been my partner for many years. When Klay is gone, he comforts me. When I am feeling down, he comforts me. When I was pregnant, he layed as close to my stomach as he could every night. He comforts me. As Klay would say: "I wish you treated me as good as you treat Bruce".... Here are a few pictures of my boy:

Mr. Gray Beard (his face used to be all black, now it is white! and he's only 5!!)

My Boys:

I LOVE this pup:

And now on to Miss Lola - AKA: Loleesh and Baboo (don't ask how we come up with these nicknames for our dogs. Our family has always come up with weird nicknames for our animals. Funny thing is, the pups come to all of their weird names). Oh Lola, where do I start. Miss Lola is now 3 years old!! We got Lola right before we moved from Boise to Bellingham. We had just gotten married and decided we would take some of our wedding $$ and buy a new bulldog. We thought, Bruce is such a stud, why not get another one. I let Klay pick out Lola. At first, I regretted this with no remorse. We went to pick out a pup and took Bub with us so that we could make sure they would get along. Right when we got there, Lola wouldn't stop chasing him around. They hit it off immediately. When we were trying to make a decision, Lola went right up to Klay, sat in front of him, and looked up at him. He said: "I want her!", so that's what he got. The first year of having this little miss, was pretty much he**. She was a TERRIBLE puppy. She would eat poop, yes, eat poop! She chewed a hole in our wall, two actually, and she was so wild it was unbearable. I remember telling Klay after a month of having her that we needed to find her another home, he wouldn't let me. It was the best decision he has made. She finally grew out of her poop eating stage, thank goodness, and since has been such a love in my life. She is so loyal and so loving. She just loves people, but has a downside when she encounters them, she will jump on them and lick them to death, anyone!! Once you meet Lola you grow to love the little thing. She just loves so hard. She is also my guard dog! When Klay is gone, watch out! I feel completely safe. If anyone comes to the door, she barks like she is going to kill someone, whereas, Bruce could care less and stay asleep. Before having Mya, I was a little nervous that she would be a little aggressive towards her...not in the least! She licks her feet everyday and sits next to her when she has her "tummy" time. She is such a lover and always puts a smile on my face. Here are a few pictures of my girl:

My Girl:

She's a daddy's girl:

She's a character!

Buddha Girl:

Thank you pups for being such a huge part of the love in my life. You pups make my heart smile!

Mommy Hood

Being a mother is everything I expected and MORE. It is MUCH harder than I ever imagined though, in a good way. Mya is almost a month old, oh my!! I have been trying my darndest to get her on a semi-normal schedule. About a week ago, she was eating every 3 hours or so. It takes me about an hour to feed her, including getting her burped. She has gotten so much better at eating. She loves to eat so much, that she eats so quickly and ends up barfing it up all over herself. Her last few days of feedings have been amazing. She is getting the eating/burping routine down. Both her and I have been much happier since she has been eating better. After eating, she would play in her swing for 15mins or so, or play on her play mat for 15mins or so, and then she would fall asleep for 2 hours. She has only been waking up around 1am and 5am every day for feedings. I thought, wow, she is so young, and already on a pretty good schedule. But...the past few days, she has been off of her rocker, let me tell ya. Yesterday she only napped for about 3 hours, and she was up for a total of 12 hours. I thought for sure that she would sleep a few more hours last night. Nope. She was like clockwork. 1am and 5am. No extra sleep for mommy. She has also been wanting to eat more. When she fusses, I try everything in my power to not feed her if she has just had a feeding. But, if she doesn't take her binky, then it really means that she is hungry. Yesterday at her 5am feeding, Klay fed her 6 1/2 ounces. She usually eats 4 ounces. She still didnt go to sleep after that large feeding. As we speak, she is sleeping on my shoulder. She fell alseep burping. I am TERRIFIED to move her because I myself am exhausted and don't want her to wake up. She LOVES to fall asleep on me. I love this feeling, but I am also very aware that I dont need to let it happen all of the time. She falls alseep on me everyday, but I always put her down when I know she is in a deep sleep. I try my hardest to put her down when she is just dosing off, but what can I say, she loves to be rocked to sleep. If she isn't rocked to sleep, she starts to fuss. This is my downfall as a mommy, but hey, I am ok with this. She is only this tiny ONCE and once only. I am going to take advantage of her needing me to feel comfortable. I am feeling more confident as a mommy as each day passes, which is too fast! I just hope that I can feel more confident in getting her on a good schedule. When she has an "off" day, I worry that something is wrong, or that I am doing something wrong. But I just need to remind myself that she is barely a month old and still trying to figure out the world. Bless her heart.

Our Blessing

Our dreams finally came a reality on January 22, 2010 when we were blessed with our beautiful baby girl Mya Danelle Adams. My pregnancy with Mya was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better nine months. I never got morning sickness, I didn't gain an excessive amount of weight, and most importantly, Mya was absolutely perfectly healthy. That is the only request that I had asked of God. Please bless me with a healthy baby, and my prayers were answered. Labor and delivery were a lot more bearable than I could have imagined. I was terrified of giving birth, extremely. I went into it with an open mind, hoping that I could have the baby with no epidural. Nope, not the case, and I am totally OK with that. An epidural is a LIFE SAVER!! My water broke at 1:30am (which was a shock because when I saw my Dr. earlier in the week, I had not made any progress, and we were thinking she would be coming later than her due date). That was it, we were having a baby. I was suprisingly relaxed and ready to go to the hospital with NO anxiety!! Shocking!! Here is a picture of Klay and I as we were off to the hospital! Can you tell that she had "dropped", my belly looks funky! She was ready to go:

We arrived at the hospital at 2:30am. No contractions, none! So at 7:30 they hooked me up to Pitocin to induce labor. Ya, not so fun! I ended up getting an epidural pretty early on, thank goodness. The epidural was fantistic until it wore off on my left side...ouch!! I took the pain for awhile, remember waking up freaking out because the pain was so bad. I was at 8cm and my epidural was no longer in affect. Finally, the Dr. came in and fixed my tubing and gave me a suringe dose of pain killers for the epidural. Oh, lord, I was in heaven. A half hour later, it was time for me to push! I was worried that I would feel some sort of pain, but thankfully, everything went so smooth and pain free. I was told to push at 6pm and at 6:15pm Mya entered the world. She welcomed the world at a whopping 6lbs 1oz and 18 1/2 inches long. She came out with an attitude, let me tell ya!

Thanks to her, I feel confident that I can be pregnant and go through labor and delivery again. She was good to me, and still is. She is such a strong baby with such a loving personality. She is finally here, and now we can start living our lives as The Adams Family.

**Expect the Unexpected**

Life has been one big roller coaster ever since I met my husband Klayton. We met over 9 years ago, when we were seniors in High School. Little did I know, he would be my husband and the father of my child. We have been through so much together, he is my rock, the one who keeps me sane when I find it hard to cope in this wild world. After high school, Klay and I moved to beautiful Boise, Idaho. He played football for Boise State and after that ended, he decided that he could not be away from football. It is in his blood, his soul. I encouraged him to get into coaching, because he was just not the same without his daily dose of football. Little did I know, that once he started coaching, our lives would forever be changed.

We moved from Boise to Bellingham, Washington for his first job as an Offensive Line coach. I know you are probably asking yourself, where is Bellingham? Well, it is about 20 miles from Canada. Yes, pretty much out in the middle of no-where. This is not a place that I would recommend living unless you like the "bum" lifestyle. Living in Bellingham was one of the most trying times in my life and in our marriage. It was our first big move as we set off to pursue our dreams. When we moved to Bellingham, I was overjoyed with the fact that we could start trying to have babies. We were in Bellingham for two football seasons, and still no bambino. Life was trying. God was testing our hearts and making us stronger. Things were starting to get on track for the "baby" dreams, when Klayton got the news that Western Washington was dropping their football program do to lack of funds. Basically, the economy screwed us! Shocking right? It was funny, we were in Disneyland for Christmas 2008 when I remember Klay saying he was glad that the economy doesn't affect his profession. Seriously, two weeks later, in early January 2009, he got canned. Little did we know this was the BEST thing that has ever happened to us.

In February 2009, Klayton started to work as the Tight Ends coach for the University of Washington. We were moving....to Seattle!! I absolutely loved Seattle! God took care of us, and I got to transfer jobs from Bellingham to Seattle. This worked out so well. I loved living in the city, and felt so alive again. All the while, we decided to put the baby dreams on hold as we didn't have good insurance, and weren't in the "financial" situation to realistically support a child. I came to grips with this and really started to enjoy where I was in my life. Life was good...but it was about to be AMAZING!

In May, Klayton called me at work and said....pack your bags, I got a call from Sac State, they offered me the Tight Ends coaching position. I know what your thinking, isn't this a step down from UW? No, not really. When you live the life of a football coach, then you will understand. Sacramento is where we were born, where our lives began together. This was a great opportunity with better pay, and something we had been waiting for since Klay started to coach. I always dreamed of coming back home for a few years to spend some much needed time with my family and friends. It is truly a blessing that we are able to be back home with our family and friends for a few years. No, this will most likely not last, we will not be living here for more than a few years. I am soaking up every minute that I have here. I feel truly blessed.

Klayton moved home without me for about a month. Two days before my family was coming up to help us move, I found out I was pregnant!!! I really didn't believe this, really. I took about 10 tests, and it seemed to be true. We were moving home, and having a baby!! Life is good. Really. We have a beautiful baby girl, Mya Danelle, who was born on January 22nd. She is such a blessing and has completed such an emptiness that I have had in my heart. I feel so lucky. Klayton also got promoted this year, which has helped us greatly! He is now the Offensive Line coach. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work and dedication. He is such a motivation for me - he works his bum off and has such a passion for what he does.

Just yesterday, Klay and I were talking about LIFE. If someone would have told us a year ago, when he lost his job, that we would have moved twice in one year, and we would have a baby in January, we would have laughed histarically.

If I have learned anything through our journey together, it is that you can NOT plan life. You can have an "outline" of where you would like to be and what you like to be doing, but you can not EXPECT what you really what. Seriously, you need to expect the unexpected. I have always been and A-typical person. I like to plan, I like timelines, I like to prepare. Our journey together has taught me to veer away from the "perfectionist" in me and to enjoy the ride that God has given me. And I do. I truly do. I love my life and I owe it all to my amazing husband - who has given me the opportunity to grow and develop a new sense of myself.

Below are a few pictures from our adventures together ( I am not able to upload our super old pictures from years ago together. I NEED to learn how, once I do I will get them posted. )

Life is Good!

Engagement Photo:

Our Wedding Day - June 3, 2006:

First Day in Bellingham @ WWU:

Last Game @ WWU:
Christmas @ Disneyland - 2008:

Our Family in 2008:

Sac State Dinner Under the Lights - 18 Weeks Prego:

38 Weeks Prego:

The Adams Family - Mya is 1 Week Old:

Blogging...FINALLY!

The time has come, I am going to try to start blogging...FINALLY! My friends and family have been bothering me for years to start blogging, but I have never found the time nor the motivation to do so. I have decided to give in and start blogging for one reason, and one reason only...my beautiful baby girl, Mya Danelle. I now feel like I have so many reasons to blog and document our lives. I love the fact that I can take this blog, and make a so called "book" out of all of my future posts to have for our family. Now, I am not a writer, not by any means. I graduated with a degree in Psychology, so I am far from a writer. Please forgive the TERRIBLE spelling that will come about in my future blogs, or the lack of capitalizing words. I am so not interested in the proper way to write. So, future readers, you have been warned!

I look forward to blogging and am really hoping that I can keep up with it and stay motivated to document our lives. So...here's to my future blogging efforts!!