Fresh

I've finally got around to uploading some fresh pictures of The Man. We went out last week to the park and took some shots on "the green blanket" Have a look on the slideshow to the right. Enjoy!

I've been wanting to write an extensive piece on my new life with our angel Evan but somehow I don't get to it....surprise surprise..... Life has been busy with visiting family members. Both my sisters have just left on Saturday after spending 10 days with us. It was wonderful to have them here and I miss having them around already. Now Adarsh his mom is here for the week which is also lovely. Since Evans arrival I've been going through a time warp rollercoaster. I don't know where all of it goes but all I can say now (because Evan is calling ;-) is that I am deeply in love with our little man and there is nothing more I'd like to do then spend my time with him. I will do my best to write some of what I'd like to share with you soon so stay tuned. For now you can see three of my favorite pictures of my two favorite men.

Love to you all who have shared in our bliss so far,
Heleen

Baby is Here!

Welcome to planet earth, Evan Tomas Williams

Born on January 17, 2008 at 8:35 pm in Mountain View, CA weighing in at 7.5 pounds. Heleen delivered completely natural and baby was able to latch on straight away for feeding. Heleen trusted me to coach her through and catch him as she pushed...It was the most amazing yoga practice of our lives. Breathing and concentration with the perfect postures! We had the expert guidance of our midwife Lin and our loving nurse Wendy. We feel so lucky and so blessed.

Presently, we are all happy, healthy, and home. I'll be busy trying to get up more pictures and return all of the calls, texts, and emails as quick as I can.

Christmas belly

Christmas time

Here we are at our friend Karens house where we celebrated Christmas with her 3 beautiful daughters, wonderful friends and delicious food. And as you can see Adarsh never stops having fun. This time it's all about shaking my belly or trying to grab the basketball inside of me ;-)

We've had a wonderful holiday time chilling out and gathering the last bits and pieces together for our little man. Adarsh's aunt and uncle came for a short visit as well which was great fun. New Years eve we were in bed by 11pm which is quite extraordinary for us as our usual time is 9-9:30pm as we have to get up very early in the am. Adarsh was teaching on New Years day as well so we had a good excuse not to wait till midnight. Honestly, it didn't matter to me. There aren't any fancy fireworks going on in the neighbourhoods in the US like where I grew up in Holland anyway. In my little home town everybody goes outside at midnight to fire off all the fireworks they have and it was always mesmerizing for me as a kid and a lot of fun. After the fireworks were finished everybody went around till the early hours to wish eachother a happy new year. Very celebratory and fun. My sisters are still doing this and as they had the new year already at 3pm (my time here) the new year had also begun for me.

Anyhow....we've only got a few days left till due date so things are starting to get exciting. I still feel very good and everything is going smooth. If this little boy is going to be as easy as during my pregnancy I'm gonna be a happy mama.

Stay tuned for updates on the new arrival!!

Happy new year!! Enjoy every second of your amazing journey!

Heleen

Completing the circle

Here is a crazy picture of me being all domestic baking cookies. Me! baking cookies. What can I say, I'm quite the kitchen goddess these days and I'm blaming it all on the mama hormone. Lets see how long that holds up ;-).

I've got 4 weeks to go till due date which is quite amazing. I still remember so clearly being in India this year in May where I found out we were pregnant. We had just finished our first week at the Shala in Mysore and that was it for me as you don't practice Ashtanga in the first trimester. That was a bummer but to be honest I didn't care as I was over the moon about this little wonder inside of me. I remember our ultrasound at the lab in Mysore clearly too. Here we were in a waiting room with only Indians staring at us, probably wondering what these westerners have been up to again ;-). It was definately special to have our first scan and appointment with the gynaocologist done in India. After all it's the place where we met so it was quite appropiate to complete the circle this way. Well....to have our baby in India would be the real deal but we opted out of that because I wasn't up for that (do I need to explain?).

So here I stand in our kitchen, ready for a new phase in life. I think I still don't realise what's coming to me, my brain is still thinking about things I want to do next year that I probably wont be able to but he.....it's good to keep on ones toes right?

We've planned our boy's first big trip around the world already as we'll be teaching in Thailand in June 2008. That'll be fun, this boy is going to be a travelling one :-)

For now, have a blessed Christmas and a new year full of love, compassion and happiness

Heleen

baby showers

Here are a few pictures of our second (aren't we spoiled?!) baby shower. Being from Holland I wasn't really used to this shower thing; wedding shower, baby shower..... Where I'm from you don't give gifts untill the baby is born but here in the States they do. A month or two before the baby is due a friend organises a party for everyone to come and shower the expecting parents with gifts. The tought behind it is to help the new parents to get the things they need.

Now that I've experienced it I have to say that it's a really fabulous tradition. As a first time parent it can get overwhelming to figure out what one needs. What clue do we have? The baby shower took care of all that anxiety and it's so wonderful to feel all the support from the community around us.

My first baby shower was organised by my dear friend Brenna. It was a shower for me only with only girls attending. Even baby sons and male dogs weren't allowed in. It was an intimate setting at Brenna's home and I was absolutely touched to see my close friends gathered together and mainly by them sharing in my happiness I feel about our soon to be born baby. I was very touched by all of their generosity, friendship and care.

The second baby shower was organised by our friend Ross who invited the entire Yoga community here in Mountain View. This time it was for everyone, men and women alike. I was grateful for that because I'm good at standing in front of a group as a teacher but being the center of attention privately is another story.....I was very happy to have Adarsh by my side to receive the blessings together. Below you can see the pictures of the happening, again it was overwhelming to have so many people come and share in our joy and to shower us with so many generous gifts. Adarsh and I are overwhelmed by the amount of gifts and by the sweetness and love everyone has given us throughout our pregnancy. We feel very blessed and very grateful and can't wait to show off our little man :-)

Challenges

I thought I'd write down a few notes on what is going on for me in my Yoga practice at the moment. I've been having some physical challenges with an instabil pelvis which is causing me pain in my left back/bum/leg. Walking is painful and pretty much everything else needs to be done with a lot of attention to have as little pain as possible. I'm 7.5 months pregnant, apparently it's a common thing....

So every day I am religiously doing the exercises the physio therapist gave me in the hope it will get better soon. I had stopped my Asana practice for a week because I was told that my flexibility is creating the problem and stretching the muscles makes it worse. Truly, it just wasn't happening. This morning I couldn't help myself and thought I'd give it a try and see what happens when I do SuryaNamaskar A. Boy oh boy, that's where my internal challenge woke up brightly..... My Asana Yoga practice had been a challenge since the beginning of my pregnancy but today I was incapable of doing anything, my body resisting in many ways. It has been frustrating to hear all the stories about Ashtangis who can keep up their practice during pregnancy without any problems. They drop back in backbends, practice whatever series and stay strong throughout. Being a teacher (and admittedly having quite an ego) you want to be one of those stories, a strong example. Especially after all those years of practice I never doubted that's how it would be for me. But here I am, 7 months pregnant with a body that is resisting strongly, not capable of even doing a Sun-salutation. For this physically ambitious lady that is a tough nut to crack so a big cry came out. After a good stint of waterflowings I soon realised that this is one of the first lessons towards motherhood; accepting what is going on, a change in priorities, I am not in control. At the same time I also realised that this is a phase and like everything else in life it's temporary. Slowly I am getting to the point that for now my Yoga practice is: acceptance and surrender.

And so I step on that mat and observe what is there, taking one breath after the other. A Yoga practice indeed.

Heleen

proud and handsome dad

This picture was taken at a Yoga party and isn't our baby going to be mega cute with a handsome dad like that?! You can see it makes me very happy....

Baby boy is growing steadily, his little head is down already and my midwives believe he will stay this way till he's ready to pop out (which is approaching soon now....).

Finally, some kitty action

I just found this picture of kitty in- action. It's not the most flattering of me- oh well. And in case you were wondering, yes, I do seem to be sleeping on top of my cat. Really, he doesn't mind.




This pic with Heleen is much cuter.
He was a little fella then!

baby's nose coming out

Adarsh is comparing his belly to mine but I'm afraid he can't keep up....

Adarsh vergelijkt zijn buik met de mijne maar hij houdt het niet bij....








Wasn't planning on publishing this publicly but friends (and Adarsh) who saw it thought I should, so here you go....it's the real thing....

Wilde deze eigenlijk niet publiek maken maar vrienden die het zagen vonden dat ik het wel moest doen, dus hier is het.....het is reeel....

San Francisco

I thought I'd show you all a place we like to go and enjoy the view of San Francisco. I think it's just gorgeous. For all of you who will come and visit once the baby is here.....we'll take you to this place!
Little baby is growing well, my bellie is expanding every day and he likes to make sure I know he's still there by kicking my insides. It's a lot of fun. I'm happy to say that my Yoga practice is back on track since a couple of weeks. Modified of course but it feels good to do it again and I'm happy to maintain some of my strength and flexibility. Little baby seems to enjoy it too cause he's all quiet while I do it. He doesn't like me to bend back very much so I'm not doing much of that (finally a good excuse ;-). I can't believe I am already entering my 3rd trimester!

Dit is een plek waar wij graag naartoe gaan om te genieten van het uitzicht op San Francisco. Ik vind het prachtig. Voor al degenen die bij ons op bezoek komen als de baby er is.......deze plek zullen we je laten zien!
De kleine hummel groeit goed, mijn buik groeit elke dag en hij laat me weten dat hij er nog is door me goed van binnen te schoppen. Het is erg grappig allemaal. Ik ben blij dat mijn Yoga weer op rail is. Met een aantal veranderingen natuurlijk maar het voelt eindelijk weer goed om het te doen en ik ben blij dat ik mijn kracht en flexibiliteit op peil houd. De kleine man geniet er ook van want hij is lekker rustig als ik het doe. Hij houdt er niet zo van als ik teveel achterover buig dus dat doe ik niet zoveel (eindelijk een goed excuus ;-). Ik kan het niet geloven dat ik al aan mijn 3e termijn begin!