I lost a first grader....

Yep, I got on the scale just before Christmas and I have lost 60 lbs. Well, now its 62. C weighs just over that....I have lost a first grader!!! WOO HOOO!!!! Tomorrow will be 3 months since I started the pre-op diet. Its been 2 1/2 months since surgery. I cannot believe how fast its coming off!!!

Well, this family has had so much time with friends and other family over the last few weeks. It has certainly been a great year Holiday wise. We finished off the rest of our Christmases. (Is that a real word? LOL) It was a blast. Santa treated C to a few GREAT gifts. She got "big girl presents" this year. A digital camera from her Papa, a netbook and UDraw from Santa, Roller Blades from Papa....we had to have the "now that you are a big girl and getting big girl presents you have to prove you are responsible enough to take care of them and keep them" talk. So far so good. It has only been a couple weeks though ha. Here are some pics from Christmas time....OH, and yes, I did get ANOTHER watch for Christmas. this one was from C and it is GORGEOUS. :) She knows just what her Mommy would like. Sweet baby girl.

At work, Santa and his elf came to visit. They stopped in for a quick photo op. It was cool to see something good going around up there. I do love my job :) I finally even got my sign for my office so people know where I am LOL

I am so thankful for where I work. It is filled with politics and drama and BS...but when you work with a bunch of women, what the hell do you expect? I have met some amazing people up there though. CH has been amazing. She and I aren't the type of friends that we have to talk everyday. We are the type of friends that can be brutally honest with each other and know its in our best interest....we are the type of friends that no matter what, we know the other will be there in our time of need and even if we disagree about something we will always have each others back. She was pummeled by Due (the dog we are puppysitting for a while) when she came over to bake Christmas cookies with C. I <3 her. She is southern belle with white trash and badass all rolled into one. My whole family likes her, and naturally her family likes me. Who wouldn't? I'm Awesome....Which remind me of a song I will post in a minute...

RP came over too. He enjoyed Duke as well. He is crazy as hell. Duke, not RP....though RP can only be described as crazy. I have known RP since I was a Senior in HS. We met through a mutual friend. RP and I had an instant connection. We are 2 peas in a Bi-polar pod. We are alike in so many ways...hell, we have sisters with the same name and even our FB passwords are almost exactly the same. Its crazy how in sync we are. Its scary how in sync we are. HA But C LOVES her some RP. She cannot get enough of him. When he came over, She was around him pretty much the whole time.

 

 I know I talk about my friends and K a lot but without them, I would still be sitting on my fat(er) ass, eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos and wishing I wash getting in shape. Now, I am doing it. Emotionally these people are the ones that can get me through anything. I have several other people that help...SD has become someone I turn to often. I ran into someone at work on Friday that I haven't seen in a while. He is an amazing person. He makes me want to grow and become a better person. There aren't a lot of people today that can really inspire me to be better....but he does. He seems to dabble in everything and be pretty good at it. Dr. L is his name (for blog's sake). When I saw him I was walking onto my old unit and he told me to come here....I had no idea who the hell he was talking to. I stopped and asked if he was talking to me because who wants to be the moron that walks up to say HI and then gets looked right past? LMAO NOT ME!!! But I did walk over and he gave me a hug, said I looked great and told me I was doing a good job. So Dr. L, thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for supporting me. I hope I see you around more often so I can be constantly reminded to be a better me :)

I have been reading a lot more lately. Fiction, Non-Fiction, self awareness...everything. I cant get enough. I have read a new book every night this last week. This week was all fiction....I go through those the fastest. That is probably because they don't hold my interest like others. I love series of books, trilogies and series. They keep things interesting. I LOVE how you can read a book from Stephen King and catch things that he references in other books. I love it. It makes you think. I love to think......I love puzzles. They make you use your brain....I love being smart and making myself smarter. How nerdy do I sound right now? Wow...

Here are some random pictures I have taken....the first one is a pink heart cloud that was floating in front of me when I left for work on Friday. I thought it was pretty. i am kind of impressed with the picture really LOL Then there are a couple pics of Duke (yellow) and Sasha (black). Paco hasn't wanted his pic taken lately...bone head. I love these dogs like my furry babies. :) The last two are recent pics of me :) I can finally wear the shoes I bought back in 2008 or 2009. I LOVE them. I love zebra period. lol I was too fat before to wear them, I could feel the heel bowing under the pressure of my weight. NOW THEY DON'T DO IT!!! LOL 

I hope everyone has an amazing NYE :) PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE and have a freaking blast :) Lets make 2012 the year of greatness!!!!

And before I forget the Awesome songs that I love....

Confidence Boosters

K told me today that he can tell I am getting more confident. I really am. Seeing the changes in myself are fun and exciting and weird. Mostly, it still feels good. I worked out yesterday and today. I was so sore this morning when I woke up. I decided that working through the soreness and taking it to the next level was the only way to go. My goal is to keep working out Sunday,Tuesday, Thursday,and Friday. Rest days will be Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. I love the feeling AFTER the workout is over. I loathe the feelings DURING the workout. LOL I am sure some of you know exactly what I mean.

I have been wearing clothes that I have not worn in a few years. They aren't tight. They fit and they fit well. That hourglass figure people keep telling me about is starting to show. :) 

We had Christmas with my Madre's side of the family. To get ready for it, C got to decorate the tree. She is so proud of it. :) She did a great job.

Of course when everyone came over, C and J had to be center of attention. They were so cute. When those two play together you sometimes forget they are cousins. They play and fight like siblings. I guess they are close enough that they might as well be brother and sister. Anyways, everyone had a blast yesterday. We had Mexican food, yummy cookies, amazing apple pie and lots and lots of fun. So much fun as a matter of fact that the guys fell asleep on the couch.

I got a great gift from a woman at work. She is awesome for sure. I love love love my gift. Thanks LT!!!

Best part of the gift? The fact that I will have to take one or two links out so it will stop spinning around on my wrist. LOL

Tonight we have decorated cookies (again) and relaxed all day....after the workout that is. LOL Hope you all have a good night!!!!

Almost Christmas Time?!?!?!?!?!?

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone! It is insane. I am sitting here watching the Army/Navy game and its hard to think it was just a year ago that K and I were there. Insanity. We have been through so much this year. Lots of downs and a few ups. I'm glad this year is ending on an up. :) The second pic is from exactly a year ago, the first pic is from yesterday. Exactly a year apart. Wow. Makes me feel good :)

Last year I couldn't button that jacket that I was wearing. It was tight. This year I am wearing it, buttoned. So many changes. :)

I have been working my butt off since Thanksgiving. C broke her arm. She was trying to teach J how to fly and she ran from the head of my bed to the foot of it and jumped off....she flew alright....right into the floor. Of course being Mom of the Year I told C that unless she was bleeding or her arm was broken she shouldn't scream like that so she went to lay down. About 20 minutes later she came into the living room saying it still hurt really bad. It was really swollen and she couldn't unbend it.....at the hospital all that made her better was picture time. I am so glad her Aunt P was there with us!! A couple days later we went and saw an amazing doctor who got C a hot pink cast. She was in pain, but she loved the color!!!

Oh that girl....she is going to be the death of me one day. HAHA

This surgery is still giving me ups and downs mentally. A friend of mine calls it the bipolar coaster. That is exactly what it feels like. Some days I am so excited that I am getting smaller and smaller and other days I am discouraged about the changes. Its hard to deal with but I am slowly getting through it. The bipolar coaster can take me on a long ride, but in the end I will get off on the up. I have amazing people around me to help get me through things.

After my last blog, a couple of my friends (that I didn't realize read my blog) told me that what I said about them made them emotional. We have talked more. I truly don't know where I would be without the people that have helped me write my life story. RP, BZ, EM, CH....you have all helped make me who I am today. I love you guys.

Now I have to go get Gramma's present with C and J :) We are all so excited about Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The First Thanksgiving

I bet you thought this would be all about the first Thanksgiving....you were wrong. Its about work, me, weight, C, K, Madre, P, J.......lots of things. And the first Thanksgiving of this year. First of three. LOL

So work.....we went to a tobacco free campus. That doesn't mean anything for me since I quit smoking a while back, but it means something for my co-worker, S. S is the one at work that did as much of the liquid diet as I would let her. LOL She has been a HUGE supporter for me and she has been an amazing person to get to know. I know that cutting back/quitting smoking is going to be hard for her. I have been there. I have quit smoking and I have had to quit food. Two very hard addictions. I know she can do it, but I also know she has a high stress job. Instead of smoking we are walking. We walk around "the block" at the hospital. We didn't walk a lot, but we walked enough to make me feel like I was getting a little bit of exercise in, and I hope enough to curb her craving for the tobacco. S, I will do anything I can to help you!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! I sent her this today, I thought it was hilarious and it reminded me of her:

I took measurements on the 19th. I meant to do it on the 17th, the one month anniversary of my surgery, but that didn't happen. the last time we measured, it was the first day of my liquid diet. It is amazing how much I have lost. I am not ready to post my measurements yet. I will soon, but emotionally I am not there yet. I will say that in my arms I lost a half inch, in my bust I have lost 3 inches, in my waist I have lost 8.5 inches, in my hips I have lost 6.5 inches, in my thighs, 5 inches and total weight loss has been 47.8 lbs. :) Not too shabby. The starting weight was on Oct 1st...that means in 6 1/2 weeks I have lost 47.8. That is 7.4 lbs a week. Wow. My family's first Thanksgiving was this weekend and I had no pants....or so I thought. I ended up wearing some that I haven't worn in over a year. :)

C got her haircut on Saturday morning. That was hard to see when she got home. She came in the house and looked like she was 9 years old instead of a 6 year old 1st grader. : \  BUT she does look so freaking cute.

P came over Friday and cleaned (and rearranged) my house to get ready for Saturday. I am SO SO SO grateful for her and to her. I just didn't have the energy or time to do it. She did awesome. Sasha showed her appreciation by mauling P so that she could get her ears scratched LOL

P and I did the EA Sports Active that I blogged about before. We did one of the stretching videos. It was great. She did better than I did, I think. I played 11 rounds of Just Dance with the kids and Madre and Even my cousins boyfriend, R played a few rounds of it. LOL I danced my butt off. I am sore today. :) That feels good. It felt even better to know that I lasted longer than I used to. Usually after 2 short version songs I was breathing hard. Every song we did this time was the full version. It felt great!!! We also did Karaoke....Madre and I sang Bohemian Rhapsody. BAHAHAHA K got video of that...thanks douche. I must say, it was amazing footage.

My goals for this week are to work out 4 times. I signed up for a 9 week challenge on my EA Sports Active. It has me scheduled to work out Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Another goal is to get all of my vitamins in everyday this week. I haven't been getting in my Vit C very often. I want to stay as healthy as possible. I was also going to get my haircut today. That didnt happen either. I will do that this week for sure. shoulder length. Changes. I am full of them.

Changes aren't always fun. I feel like I am losing a few good friends. When they are right in front of you, you tend to take them for granted. When they move away it is harder to keep in touch and talk. Relationships change even when you don't mean for them to. I have 4 people in my life that are not related to me that I turn to when I am having a hard time. One of them recently moved in with her boyfriend in East Texas. She probably wont be coming home anytime soon. I have been down to see her once, and could def go again, its just different. I miss her so much though. Another friend moved to Kansas a while back. We don't talk much, then he went to Alaska. That has made it even harder to talk. Now he is saying he is done with Texas and even thinking about England.....my 3rd go to friend is thinking about moving to Austin. (If this gets super short and scattered its because this is emotion to talk about and I am already tearing up) He has been an amazing friend to me for so long. He and I have known each other since HS. We made a connection back then. Once I met K, R (my friend) and I lost touch. I saw him once while I was pregnant....I kinda puked all over the bathroom and made an amazing impression on him. But then we didn't talk again for a long time. Facebook brought us back in touch. It seems like we have been friends the whole time though. I always wondered how he was doing, what he was up to.....he is so funny. Anyways, he told me he is thinking about moving to Austin. That one def made me cry when he told me. My 4th friend is still here, we work together, and talk on a fairly regular basis. She has been amazing. It is just so hard to handle all of these people leaving and potentially leaving my life. I don't know what I will do when they are all 3 gone. I guess it is all apart of this emotional learning process and learning to not eat my emotions....ugh. It fucking sucks. sorry if you don't like that language, but it is true.

Now I am going to go to bed because I haven't figured out how else to deal with my emotions.

Fod, Ogres, Gorillas and Elephants

Well, I am consistently sucking on updating my blog LOL. It seems like I am posting once a week or once every 2 weeks. I just tend to run out of time to post all the time....not time, energy. I am on the lazy train every chance I get. My goal for this week is to Walk/Work Out no less than 3x. Starting today. I told C after breakfast we would work out on the Wii. She loves to exercise. I just dont want to make myself puke LOL. SO at 9:45 this morning, C and I are going to exercise. Maybe not on the Wii though. The dogs are hella hyper today...we should take them for a walk. :) I saw a great idea on another blog (Busting My Bunz here on Blogger) where they went hiking at Turner Falls. That would be so much fun!!! I def want to do that soon.

My first week back at work went well. I came back on Payroll Monday so of course it was busy as hell. Busy just means it goes faster, right? My week flew by. There were a couple of days that seemed to creep by no matter how busy I was but that only lasted a couple of hours then it was right back to flying by. I packed my lunch everyday. I only went to the cafeteria to get an egg beater and Water. In the gift shop I bought one pack of sugar free gum. I am very proud of myself. As a reward, I went and bought 2 plants for my new office. It is so plain and no real color, so I got these:

I did make one mistake this last week. K cooked chicken and it was DELICIOUS. I was a moron and scarfed 3 big bites down....then my stomach pushed 3 big bites back up. It sucked. My tummy was sore all through the next day. It was a big lesson learned. Eat slow, chew a lot, stop when you are full. I have never done that before. I suppose its all new territory when you have a surgery like this.

Last night we went to see Shrek the Halls made out of Ice. It was awesome. Then we went to Rainforrest Cafe. We all had a blast. We went from freezing to eating. LOL I had amazing rotisserie chicken from the kids menu. It was absolutely delicious. I ate less than a quarter of it and I was full LOL. But C and K chowed down and loved every bite of it as well :) C fell asleep on the way home. I guess that means she had a good time ;)

I don't think I could have made it though all of this if it weren't for good friends and family. I love all of you. You get me out of the house when I feel like this:

and make me feel a little less insane and more like this:

So thank you friends. Thank you family. Thank you readers. You have been behind me 100% and I love you for it. :)