Starting today...

For those who have read my blog for awhile now, you know that I've never shared my weight and I normally don't set too many goals. As a matter of fact, this lapband blog of mine could not be further from an actual weight loss/ lapband blog!!  However, starting today, I am setting a goal. Time to get my shit together and get to where I started out at!

I've finally added a ticker for the first time ever (I've been blogging since 2009!) and as you can see, I have 70 lbs left to go in my weight loss efforts.  No, I'm still not going to share my weight!!  I don't think it really matters what I weigh, it's how much I lose and how I'm doing that matters. Plus, it's really nobody's business!  I would be happy if I lost 50 more lbs making for a total of 130 but my main goal is 70 more, so I would be down 150 from when I started.  My restriction right now is really good, I'm losing weight pretty steadily these days. I'm finally down to pre-preggo weight! And I'm feeling motivated.  I'm even going to set mini-goals (getting really crazy here!)

Lose 10 - July 12th (trip to Michigan)
Lose 20 - Sept 12th (Cabo Trip)
Lose 35 - Christmas

So, I'm basically giving myself another year to lose 70. Would I love to do it sooner than that? Sure thing!  But I want to be realistic too.. I'm going on my 3rd year with the band so I know that losing is going to be slow, slow, slow.

So, that's my plan. Wish me luck!!


Here's a cute little pic of me and my little man from yesterday, my first Mother's Day.. it was fabulous!!!

BYOC!

BYOC!!!

It’s Friday!! That means it’s time for BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy! brought to us by the Draz.  We answer a few questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break. Copy to your own blog if you so desire and have fun!

1. Are you a “wake up on the first beep of the alarm clock” or a “hit the snooze button 50 times before you get up” kind of person? Is your alarm clock set to the right time?

• I generally will hit snooze a couple of times but lately, I get up around 5 when Mac wakes up and feed him and then put him back down and then just lay in bed until around 6ish..when I get up and start getting ready. Literally, my goal each day is to get myself ready before he wakes up again..  I like the challenge of it all! :)

2. Do you decorate for any holidays other than Christmas?

• Not really. I would love to be the type of person who has decorations for every holiday but I just can't get myself motivated to do it. I decorate for Christmas and that's about it.

3. Would you consider yourself a spontaneous fly by the seat of your pants kind of person or a massive OCD controlling planner kind of person or someone in between?

• I used to think I was a spontaneous type until Mac showed up but looking back, I really wasn't. I'm a planner, not in an OCD way, but I do like to know what I'm doing a month from now..  When I go on vacations, depending on the place, I generally just go with the flow.

4. Tell me some of your MUST have hair products that you use consistently….you know - share your “hair routine”. 

• I'm really into Bumble and Bumble products (mainly b/c my friend/hairstylist Jordana bamboozles me into buying them!) but I wash/condition every day and then use their "Straight" gel/serum. I blow dry with big round brush and then use their "brilliantine"smoothing cream and some hairspray and then I'm done.. I am quick and can usually get my hair done in like 7-10 minutes.

5. Repeat question: How was your week and what are your upcoming weekend plans?

• Dear God, my week and the last two weeks have been rough.  First I hurt my back, then we went to San Fran where Mac got sick, finally he was diagnosed with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (they seriously need to come up with a better name than that!) which spread through his daycare like wildfire. He's better but then I came down with a horrible sore throat  (big white bumps on my tonsils) so I went to get checked out yesterday and thankfully it's not strep but just something viral. I feel way better today so I'm hoping our weekend plans include all of us feeling great again! 

We are pretty much going to lay low and relax and get our house cleaned up since we have done nothing all week since we got back from our trip!!  Sunday, we are going to Mother's Day brunch with our friends and then just going to hang in the pool. It's going to get up in the 100s this weekend!  YIKES!! 

And just to show how immature I am, this morning when I walked into our cafe downstairs, I saw this sign..  made me chuckle.

Have a great weekend!! 

I left some lbs in San Francisco...

Hey all!  Just wanted to do a quick recap of our weekend in San Francisco.

First though, an update on my back.  I finally went to see a GP last Wednesday and they gave me muscle relaxers which helped just a little. I went back to my Chiro on Thursday to have them give me anti-inflammatory shots and those helped a little.  Thankfully, while we were in San Francisco, my back pain really didn't bother me. I think it's because we were walking so much and it was loosened up by all the walking.  B/C as soon as I got back to work on Monday, the back pain returned again. Must be from the sitting. It's no where near as bad as last week but it still sucks. I've not done Pilates in over a week and I'm dying!  Doesn't look like I'm going to go back until next week sometime b/c I don't want to injure myself again!  

So, on to San Francisco. We got there on Friday morning and promptly dropped our bags and headed out to explore the city. It was so fun, Mac was in a great mood, we kept stopping at little cafes to have some wine and small bites of food (places I had been referred to eat at!) We did some shopping (thankfully was able to get the 4 new pairs of shoes in my bag on the way home!) and just enjoyed our day!  

Saturday, unfortunately, was when the wheels fell off the bus for Mac. He woke up kind of ornery and I could tell he just didn't feel right.  He was eating fine but just kept falling asleep on me and wanting me to hold him.  We went to the baseball game and he slept through most of it until around the 7th inning when he started to completely lose it (ironically, so did the Brewers..  ) We left the stadium and he was inconsolable. Completely not himself. Got him back to the hotel and took his temp - 103.7.  Being the hypochondriac that I am, I freaked and started talking about taking him to the nearest ER.  We called our Ped here in Scottsdale and they suggested giving him Ibuprofen and seeing if we could get his fever down. So we did and it did go down. That night was miserable.. no one slept.  

Sunday morning, he seemed to be doing much better even though we were all super tired. We ventured out a little more and met up with an old co-worker/Friend that I hadn't seen in over 10 years. It was super fun to reconnect, have her and her husband meet Tim and Mac and just giggle and reminisce.  We walked around a lot some more and then left for the airport.  Mac's fever kept spiking. Luckily he slept through most of the flight, only waking up to scream a few times.. We got him home and he still wasn't better and his temp was back way up so I made the call to take him to the ER that evening.  Oh, and he wasn't taking his bottle either so we were starting to worry about dehydration. After a multitude of tests, lots of crying and even a catheter (oh my heart) they could not find anything besides the fever wrong with him. Poor little guy is now just starting to act like himself, laughing and smiling and eating up a storm.  

I tell you, how people survive the first few years of raising a child without becoming an alcoholic or needing anti-anxiety pills is beyond me.  I've been a mess for the last couple of days, just worried that I'm making the right decisions for him and that he's going to start feeling better soon.  If we have learned anything, we now know that the kid does not adjust to change in his schedule well and does not like hotels (who doesn't like hotels??) so we are probably not going to be traveling with him for awhile if it requires us to stay in a hotel. It's not worth him being so miserable and then dealing with him being sick and trying to get back on schedule for a week later!! 

We did manage to get a couple of kind of cute pics of him on Sunday while we were out and about!! 

San Francisco was NOT kind to my hair!!! 

One good thing about our trip is that I came home about 4 lbs down from last Monday's weight!! woohoo!! looking back, I really didn't overdo it and I barely drank which is very unusual for me b/c I like my beer and wine!! I did fall off the no-sugar wagon and had some treats but I'm trying my hardest to get back on that wagon..

I'm confirmed for Boobs!! I'm rooming with Kristen and we booked our hotel today!! So, super excited about that. 

that's all for now.. keeping Grace in my thoughts tomorrow as she has her band removed..  we are hearing too many stories like hers and it makes me nervous!!  

xo,js 

Back Aches and Frozen Foreheads...

Ugh...... where do I begin.

I have had so much to talk about the past week but just haven't had the motivation to blog..  now, here I sit, under a Vicodin/iced tea haze with writers block!

Why am I on the Vicodin, you ask? Because I, while getting up from the floor whilst cleaning my cabinets, picked up my 20 lber aka Mac on Sunday morning and did something fierce to my back.  I honestly thought the pain from the last month of pregnancy was enough to break me, but that was nothing compared to this pain. How I have managed to work through this is beyond me, but I am a warrior!  I can barely walk when I first get up and then while walking, I get lovely spasms that take my breath away. I went to my chiropractor yesterday and he believes I have a bulging disc. He adjusted me and then they proceeded to give me 6 anti-inflammatory injections and then a massage. Nothing changed. Last night, I took matters into my  own hands and broke out the leftover V that I had from my c-section. I tell you, that helped a lot. But I also think it just helped that I wasn't sitting non-stop, as I have to do at work.  Today, I woke up not feeling much better. Came into work for a bit and then went back to the Chiro. I was basically hoping he would magically fix me, but alas, I'm still in lots of pain.  I do feel about 10% better but who knows if that's the pain pills or if the problem is starting to dissipate.  I just need to be better by Friday, when we leave at 7:00 am to fly out to San Francisco. Mama's got a lot of walking plans on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and let me tell you, picking up the kiddo and walking around don't sound too appealing to me right now!  So, please pray to the back healing gods that I start to feel better soon!  I would appreciate any positive back healing vibes sent my way!

Otherwise, everything else is pretty good. Mac caught the Croup last week so that was fun. Poor guy just was miserable at night but otherwise happy as usual.  He got his first haircut - pics below!  I thought for sure he would wig out but he was cool as a cucumber through it all. He looks like such a little man!!

OH! I keep meaning to blog about this! The company I work for sells Dysp*rt, which is the direct competitor of Bot*x and I got to get a little facial maintenance done as a model for the training class!! Basically, I had 50ccs of the injectible placed right between my eyebrows. It barely hurt and it's fabulous!! Now, when I frown, you don't see the lines! I want to get the rest of my forehead done now but will have to pay for that out of pocket. We do get some amount of reimbursement so I'm looking into it. We also do fillers so I'm hoping the next time the training class comes in, they'll pick me to be the model to have that done. I could use a little filler around my mouth!  I took this picture of myself this morning to show my hubs how I was smiling through the pain! I wish my bangs weren't in the way and you could see what I'm talking about..

My weight continues to move down, which is a good thing. I can't do any Pilates this week or any other kind of exercise (although I'm trying to walk to loosen up the ol' back) so I really have to focus on my eating. I am doing pretty well on the no-sugar thing but I'm not going to lie, I did have a sugar free frozen yogurt on Saturday night.. with Reeces Piece's on it!!! OOPSIE!!!  I've also been getting B12 shots (had a groupon) and I'm not sure if those are helping with the weight loss or not but I'll take all the help I can get!!

Hope you are all well!!!! Starting to get super excited about BOOBs even though it's a ways off!!

Duh, it really does work...

So, as you may or may not know, I had decided to give up all the crappy foods/sugars that I'd been gorging on for the past few months. I started last Monday and basically stopped eating the cookies, pudding, ice cream etc that I had been eating.  On Thursday, I probably could have killed someone for even a Hershey's kiss, but today, day 9, I'm feeling GOOOOODDDD!!!  And I got on the scale this morning and lo and behold, as a reward for my eating better and cutting out the crap, my scale is down 4.5 lbs since Monday the 16th. That is the most I've lost in a little over a week in a really long time. I noticed that since I wasn't eating the crap, I also wasn't really eating much more than my 3 meals and a small snack either.. amazing how this has worked for me..  I gotta tell you, 2.5 years out from Band Surgery and I'm still learning something new or relearning things every day!

MandaPanda posted a fantastic post this morning about Band Timelines and I so appreciated it! Everything she says is dead on. I lost about 80 lbs in my first year and then found out I was pregnant and am now, 9 months after giving birth, back to that 80 lbs. I still have about 70 lbs to go so I'm barely even 1/2 way there. Like Manda says, it does get harder after that first year and you do have to work harder. I am living that truth right now. I also think that unless you exercise, what is the point of getting the band?  You HAVE to incorporate exercise. It not only helps with the weight/fat loss, but it helps with the loose skin and honestly, it's all part of the motivation for me.  I've been really frustrated with a lot of people on blogs wondering why they aren't losing the weight or making excuses non-stop when they post the things they eat, the fact that they aren't exercising and have lost motivation... uh, DUH, there is your answer right there. As many have said, the Band is just a tool. YOU have to do the majority of the work. There are so many other things I want to say right now about the many people seemingly opting/hoping for alternative surgeries (those that actually have problems with the band which require them to have revision surgeries are not included in this BTW.. I fully get there are many medical reasons to have to find alternative options due to erosion, slippage, etc)   but I'll keep them to myself.  There are so many successful Bandsters among us that have lost a lot of weight and have kept it off.  We are very lucky that we can draw motivation from their successes every day!  So, please don't give up!

I'm going to my band doctor next week to get a check-in. I haven't been since early January but I haven't really felt the need to go either. I'm pretty sure my restriction is at a good level, I definitely have days where I get stuck, but in general, that's due to poor choices in eating.

Hope you all are having a lovely Tuesday!

Five Point Friday!!!!

Yahoo! We made it to the weekend. I have to say that after my Monday Sucks blog, things started looking up and now we are at Friday. PTL!
So, I know everyone does the whole 10 Things Thursday  and the BYOC on Fridays, but I had some other things to talk about today so I'm doing my own little 5 points today!

1. Mac is 9 months old today!! Hard to believe huh?? I have kept a human being alive for 9 months with little to no injuries (save for the one time he fell off the couch but that wasn't my fault.. that was Timmy's fault for looking away for a minute!). He's truly an unbelievable joy and I can't believe how long we waited for him to come into our lives, but we did and it was totally worth the wait.  Side note:  I actually  had a note from someone on FB that told me that I posted too many pictures of him.. say what?? I told them to either hide me or unfriend me b/c I didn't need that kind of BS. Can you believe that? I know I'm the obnoxious mom who posts a lot of pictures but seriously?? You are going to take the time out to tell me that I do it too much? buhbye!!  Oh, and if you want to be friends on FB and we aren't, let's be friends!  Warning though, I post a lot of pictures!!  Jen's FB page.   So anywho, here are a couple of 9 month shots: 

9 Month Shots

Me and Bub

His daycare was closed yesterday so I brought him in to work to see my pals.. and my friend Erin put him to work at her desk!!

2.  I should totally be doing work right now instead of blogging, but it's Friday and I'm not..  

3.  I'm going on a self-imposed sugar detox starting Monday. I seem to have slowed my weight loss right on down and I know exactly what is happening.  I sometimes get stuck so instead of eating something that is good for me, I'll eat what I know will go down and it's not always the best choice. I have a ways to go with this weight loss thing and I'm only sabotaging myself by not following the rules. So, I've told all my girls at work about the sugar detox in the hopes that if I do fall off the wagon, the disapproving looks and comments will make me feel bad enough to get right back on!  

4.  I can't believe I neglected to mention that my girlfriend Jamie and her husband and family (3 kids - 7, 6 and 3) came to visit last week. They stayed for almost a week and what at first seemed as if it might chaos for sure, ended up being the most fun week ever!!  I had to work all week but we would have dinners and fun at night and tons of laughs.. Jamie is one of my Chicago girls.  Everytime I see one or some of them, I get so sad when they leave and poor Timmy has to talk me out of packing up our stuff and moving back to Chicago!! 

5.  This weekend is going to be pretty low - key and I can't wait! We are going on a little date tomorrow night - dinner and a movie.. we roll large and super exciting, I know..   We are going to San Francisco in a couple of weeks so I'm trying to save some pennies so that I can do some serious shopping while there!!  

Hope you all have a good weekend!  

Mondays blow..

Yes, they do! AMIRIGHT??  Especially Mondays after a long weekend, one that was fantastic time spent with my boys..
I haven't blogged in a while (what's new?) so I figured I'd do a little catch up via bullets..

• Anyone have the new Blogger format? It blows like Mondays do..  not sure why they keep having to change it. 
• Know what else blows?? Judgmental people... seriously, why can't women just all get along and support each other and not try to one up or act like we are in freaking high school constantly?  it's really sad to me, but lately, I feel as if I'm surrounded by judgment. Maybe time to reexamine relationships??  OR just wish that everyone was like my Chicago girls? 
• My body is SORE!!! I did a private Pilates session this weekend to make up for two classes I had missed and holy moly if my booty didn't get whipped into shape during that session....  it's amazing when you focus on what you are doing, how much more sore you are!!!  I love taking the classes but a Private Session is always a better work out b/c you aren't paying attention to anything but what you are doing.  
• Our Easter was great. We went to Church (always fun with an 8 month old who likes to just say "da, da, da, da..." over and over and over again!) and then over to some friends house for lunch/dinner. I made Shrimp and Grits and a ridiculously decadent Peanut Butter Trifle..  beyond good! It's sitting in my fridge calling my name every time I open it.. I think Grace pinned it on Pinterest so damn you Grace!!! :) 
• My little boy is doing fantastically!  I feel a little bad that we didn't really do much for him for Easter. I mean, he has no clue right now the difference between Easter, Christmas and the 4th of July so I figured, why waste money on it when he doesn't even know the difference? I did get him a little Easter Chicken and his furry sisters discovered it while we were out yesterday so there goes that gift..  He did get a new bathing suit and a floatie for the pool so I guess I did get him something! He tried swimming (not really, but sitting in the water) on Friday. At first it was a little touch and go but once he got used to it, he was splish-splashing and trying to crawl all over the place. A few pics of him, in case you missed him.. 

He would not stop squirming in order for me to get a good pic, so Happy Easter!!  

 Trying to take off those damn bunny ears!!!

Happy guy in the pool! 

• Spring Training is finally over. I think after going to 8 games, I definitely did my duty as Wife of the Year!  It was fun, but it was nice to have our weekends back to just play by ear this weekend.  We are going to San Francisco for a game at the end of this month and then to  Milwaukee for a wedding the first weekend in June, oh and BTW, there just happens to be a game that weekend - how convenient!!  So, I'll still be getting Timmy's baseball fix in the next couple of months.  
• Just in case you missed seeing me or couldn't remember what I look like, I took a shot of myself last weekend in the car..  I'm a nerd.  I should have taken a full body shot b/c it was hotter than balls outside and I actually was wearing a tank top and shorts (the horror!).. I did not care that day how I looked but just needed to stay cool!  

• My band is finally loosening up a bit after about a month of being extremely tight. I had an ongoing battle with allergies and the mucous that was flowing down into my stomach was causing me to tighten up something fierce. Pretty much anything I ate, came back up.  Thus I lost NO weight in March.. total bummer but I think things are back on track now and I'm working on upping my exercise as well.  Pilates is good but I need to get the cardio in as well.  I seem to stay in a decade (ie weight range) for a couple of months.. so I've been in my current decade for about 2 months now so I'm ready to start seeing the scale go down again.  I've still got a long way to go!!! 

Hope everyone is well, sorry for the long post!!  

xo,js