Why Have I Not Done Yoga Before?

Natalie has been getting really smart lately. She is very interested in letters and numbers and colors and shapes. Her favorite letter is B, but she is also fond of identifying and asking you to write the letters P, F, Y, O, S, E and recently C, G and D. 

As she seeks out new adventures, she has to adapt some of her old toys to make them more challenging. Thus the socks on her hands as she maneuvers these beads....

Natalie mostly terrorizes and bullies the dogs and they spend their days trying to stay out of her way. But after breakfast this morning, I came upon this lovely scene of her petting Nick nice and soft.

Other items of recent news:

Natalie finally started staying in the nursery at the YMCA. For the longest time, I would drop her off and they would come and get me 15-20 minutes later because she wouldn't stop crying. Starting about 3 weeks ago, she would still cry when she went in, but then once they started showing her toys, she would stop and play. Now, she goes in and doesn't cry but stands against the wall for a little bit. Sooooooooo. This means I now get to go to classes! I went to Yoga last Monday because I felt a little too sore for the zumba class that I originally intended on attending and it was so awesome that I went back on Friday and went Monday and Friday this week. How have I never known how awesome Yoga is before?! I guess I've only ever done yoga moves as warm up stretches for other sports. My only other exposure was Micah doing P90x yoga, which was pretty crazy. So, this is my first time attending a live class and it's been so awesome. It's great for stretching and balance and building strength. I love that I don't feel out-of-breath and sweaty during the class, but I still feel like I'm pushing my body. I can definitely feel how much I used my muscles the morning after. I leave feeling relaxed and energized instead of nasty and exuasted. I feel like the instructors say very thoughtful things throughout the workout without getting too touchy-feely.  Like, they talk about love and gratitude and goals without getting too weird and spiritual, which I really appreciate. So, hopefully I can continue to enjoy that. I might even add Pilates on Wednesdays, since the zumba class I went to last Wednesday gave me a massive headache. Yay!