My VERY First BYOC!!! (and got my BOOBs bag!!)

It’s Friday and time for BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy! A couple of questions we answer to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break. Copy to your own blog and enjoy!



This week my questions are going to themed…as in they are all about blogging and just to throw you off – there are more than 5 this time!!

1. When did you begin blogging? Do you plan to do it a long time or do you think you’ll stop after a while?


I think I started on this blog in August, 2009? I blogged for years on a site called Multiply but gave up on that b/c there was a lot of drama and it was stressing me out and so not worth it! I think I'll keep up with it b/c I do enjoy writing out the things that go on day to day..

2. What do you enjoy more - blogging yourself or reading other’s blogs?


I really enjoy reading other's blogs. I get so much good information and enjoyment out of reading about people's lives!  I guess I'm kind of a voyeur like that.  I like to blog myself, but there are times when I really have nothing to say!!


3. What’s the biggest thing blogging has taught you? Biggest surprise about blogging?

That I can be completely random!! I seriously sometimes look at the things I blog about and think "what in the hell were you thinking??!"  I'm actually surprised at how close people get through blogging.

4. Have you met any other bloggers in real life – solely because of your blog or theirs?

Yep, I have!  I've actually hung out with Jenny from NYC a few times and met Colleen from NYC as well last year.  I have also met Vickie a couple of times as well and Liz(Lizzy,Libby Lou) from here!

5. Does your blog have a general theme as in one topic or do you cover everything and anything?

I pretty much talk about anything. Nowadays it's generally all about Mac!  But I'm hoping to get back on track with the weight loss stuff.

6. Are you public or anonymous? Whichever you are – do you ever wish you were the other?


I'm pretty public.  I'm also not very shy in real life and generally say whatever is on my mind anyways, so I don't really hide much on my blog.  With that being said, I don't advertise my blog though so not everyone I know has read it! I pretty much shout from the rooftops that I had lap-band surgery as well and have found that it has garnered me tons of support that I didn't expect!
7. What’s your best blogging advice for a new blogger?


don't take things too personally. Like, if you don't have a ton of comments or a ton of followers.  I used to get all bent out of shape if I didn't get any comments but on the other hand, I don't often comment b/c I'm usually reading real quick, so I'm over that phase!  Put out there what you want to put out there and if you say something that poeple may not agree with, be prepared to have people disagree with you and be ok with it.
8. Does anyone in your real life read your blog/know it’s address? Do you wish they would or wouldn’t?

yes, I have a lot of "real life" friends who follow me and my family all know my blog/address. I'm good with whomever reads it.

9. Do you enjoy blogging or do you view it as a chore? How often do you blog?


I do enjoy blogging, just wish I had more to say and more time to actually sit down and do it.  I try to blog once a week, but it's becoming once every two weeks! Wish it were more.


10. Do you tell people in your real life that you blog? Or keep it a secret?

I do mention that I blog and if someone asks, I'll give them the address.


***I got my BOOBs bag yesterday and have to say Holy Balls!! You girls did fantastic with it!! Thanks soo much!!! ****

Hope everyone has a great weekend and if you are out celebrating Halloween adult style, be careful!! Pics on Monday of Mac in his little costume.. He's a LOBSTER!!!  Here's a sneaky peek:

Lordy, Lordy, Look who's 40!!!!

ME!!!!!

(the company I work for just got approval for lip indication for one our our drugs - thus the lips sucker!)

Yep, I turned the big 4-0 this weekend!!!  It was very anti-climactic..  40 doesn't feel much different than 39 or even 35 for that matter!! 

On Saturday, in lieu of doing our usual training walk, we opted to go to Pinnacle Peak and hike.  It's about a 4 mile hike and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning!  My cardio level is still not where I'd like to to be so I had to stop multiple times for air, but it was a really good workout!  My calves are killing me today! 

Saturday night, my husband had a party at a local sports bar/restaurant.  It was fun to have all my friends gathered together for some drinks and laughs!  Coupled with the amazing MSU/Wisconsin game, it turned out to be a spectacular night!! I drank entirely too many beers so I woke up with a slight headache yesterday morning and really wasn't up to doing much of anything on my actual birthday!! Timmy and Mac and I had a nice little lunch together and then just relaxed! All in all it was a fantastic birthday. I really kept saying to myself how lucky I felt, I have great friends, great family and the most fantastic two men in my life, Timmy and little Mac. Can't imagine life getting much better than it is!  Here's me and Melissa - she's one of my closest girlfriends and came in from Detroit to celebrate with me!

My two year band anniversary is coming up this weekend and while I am definitely not a success story (yet) I have a lot of thoughts on the last two year and why I'm so grateful for my band and the life it has given me (back!)  So, keep an eye out for that post!!

Hope you are all well and had fantastic weekends!!  Can you believe it's almost the end of October?? Holy smokerooooooosss...  

The big one..

Hey all! It's my birthday week!!  The big 4-0 is coming up this weekend and for the first time in years, I haven't been all consumed with my birthday!!!  I know it's a little selfish, but hey, when is ever just about you?? Really, only on your birthday!  This year is a little different thanks to the little man that has taken up the big hole that I didnt' even know I had in my life!! 

I can't even begin to put into words what joy Mac has brought me these last 3 months..  I guess the perfect example is last night, I went out to Happy Hour with my girls from work and while I love to go out and do fun stuff, all I kept thinking was I couldn't wait to get home to Mac and smother him with kisses and snuggles!!  I was bummed when I got home and Tim had not only already bathed him, but fed him and put him down for the night..  I mean, how can you not just melt when you see this little face: (he wasn't feeling well on this date, which explains the bags under his little eyes!) 








So, enough about the baby. I need to commit to talking about weight loss b/c that's what this blog was originally about, right?  I'm happy to say I'm finally losing again! I have been to my dr twice in the last month and gotten a total of 3 cc's put back in my band, which brings me up to 8 cc in a 14 cc band.  I'm finally feeling restriction and have lost about 5 lbs since last Tuesday. Woot Woot!!! My pre-preggo clothes still do not all fit, but I'm getting there.  I still have about 20 to go before I'm back at my lowest and then I want to lose another 50 to get to what I feel will be my ideal weight.  I'm motivated now that I know my band is working (it was always working, I just wasn't working it well!)  If only I could cut out the crap from my diet now!!!  I'm eating so much less but I'm still not making 100% of the right choices. I did have to go cold turkey on the Diet Coke this week. I picked it up after I had Mac and was having WAY too much and not enough water. Two days in and I'm not dying or shaking yet..  I've done it before and will do it again. My workouts are getting more frequent and I'm hoping to add more each week. I'm still training for the 1/2 we are walking in November so last weekend we did 12 miles..  it was ridiculous.. I hate walking but I did it b/c now I just feel guilty that my friends signed up for this thing and if I didn't show up to train, I'd somehow be letting them down..  but I keep showing up, hating every minute of it!! :)

I'm back to work and it's fine.  It truly is like I never left!  The one good thing is now I'm forced to leave at 5 to pick up Mac from daycare.  Speaking of daycare, it's going wonderful!! If he could talk, I think he'd say he loves it!! His daycare provider just loves him and he lights up whenever he sees her!! She takes such good care of him while he's there, which makes it easier to not miss him so much while I'm at work! Last week, she was off for two days so Michelle graciously offered to watch him... she took these gorgeous pictures of him.. 

She has a gift for capturing the most beautiful shots!!!  She should really make a career out of taking pics!!!

As I mentioned earlier, this weekend is my 40th. My girlfriend Melissa is coming in from Detroit tonight and Timmy is throwing me a little party at a local bar/restaurant so it should be super fun!!! I'm so not stressed about turning 40 b/c I feel good about myself, my family and where I'm at in my life...  there's not much better than that!!!

Hope you are all well!! 

***OH!!! And I won the BOOBs swag bag today!!! I'm so freaking excited b/c I NEVER win anything!!! *** I'm sooooo going to BOOBs next year!! Thanks girls!!

Back to Reality..... Sad vs. Happy...

Sad:            My baby boy started daycare this week (yesterday)
Happy:        He seemed to do well and my heart didn't hurt too much while he was gone!

Sad:            My 12 weeks of maternity leave are coming to an end on Thursday
Happy:        I will be rejoining the land of the adult conversation!!! I'm actually excited to go back to            the land of adult conversation!!!  And having a schedule that doesn't involve diaper changes and feeding and cleaning my house!

Happy:        My girlfriends came to visit a couple of weeks ago to meet and hang out with Mac.
Sad:            They left!!!  Seriously, I have the greatest group of friends in the world.  I don't think I'll ever meet people like these girls. They just get me and there's no expectations, no drama, just caring friendship and tons of fun!

Sad:            My weight is slowly moving down but I'm still not in much of my pre-preggo clothes
Happy:        Amy sent me a GINORMOUS box of clothes to get me by until I'm back        down!!! Including some of the stuff I had sent her previously(well, that's kind of sad though!)

Sad:            My 40th birthday is in 3 weeks and I have no big trip planned, no party planned, nothing...I'm usually the party planner or assistant so unless I do it myself, I guess it's not going to happen..

Happy:       My friend Melissa just let me know that she's coming into town that weekend and it looks like   my friends Angela and Ian may as well so now it looks like we have to plan something!

Looks like you all had a blast in Chicago!!! I would love to come to one of these shin-digs! maybe next year??
Well, I'm off to enjoy these last two days of absolute freedom by getting a pedi and doing some shopping!! Enjoy your week! Oh!  and GO BREWERS!!!!!!  (we are going to the game tonight, hope they win and SWEEP the Diamondbacks!!)

All Mixed Up....

Hi all!  Hope you have all been well!  We just got back from a weeklong vacation/visit with my parents in Michigan and it was heavenly!! I'll talk about that in a bit..

Before I say what I am about to say, let me say that YES, I know that I recently had a baby, I know that things take time, etc, etc... so no need to remind me of these things!

I am FRUSTRATED!  I am so frustrated with the lack of weight loss since I had Mac.  I am at the point that I was almost 2 years ago before I had the band with how I feel about myself.  I'm disgusted when I look at myself, my self-confidence that had finally gotten better after 80+lbs lost is in the dumps and I can't find anything within myself to make things better. I need the Band's help. Right now, my restriction is not so good. I have an appointment on Thursday so I'm hoping that she can get me more of an aggressive fill so that at least I know it's there and is helping me with portion control.  My food choices need to change as well. I don't know what is wrong with me. I seem to have no self-control when it comes to the bad food choices.  I mentioned to my friends last week when we were walking for our 1/2 marathon training and my friend Jen said to me.. "what I think is going on is that before, you were seeing results and you were optimistic so you kept committing to seeing more results, you just now need to get back into that frame of thinking/mind"... this is so, so true. When I was losing consistently, it was enough for me to keep plugging away at it.  Now, I don't see results so my brain goes back into that "woe is me, I'll be fat forever" dialogue it has with itself.  I go back to work in a little over 2 weeks and I'm embarrassed that I still look semi-pregnant.  I need a swift kick in the ass from somewhere and it needs to happen soon.

I'm also extremely hormonal lately and could cry at the drop of a hat..  I keep saying I'm already going through the "change" b/c I haven't had my period yet and I'm almost 10 weeks PP and I keep having hot flashes in addition to a couple of other things.   I need to get to a dr to figure out what's going on..

I'm a mess.

Let's talk about something more positive shall we?  As I mentioned, Mac and I went to Michigan to visit Nana and Chief for a week. It was a nice break from the heat we'd been having (although it decided to cool down in AZ the minute we left!! and Heat up as soon as we returned.. go figure!) Mac met a LOT of people while there and was quite popular!! He finally got to meet his Great Aunt Joan and Uncle Bill (AJ and UB to me!) They are the parents of my cousin, whom we lost this spring.  This was the first time I've seen them since the funeral and it was hard to be at their house b/c I just kept expecting Karen to come down the steps into the kitchen. I had to hold back tears several times... It sucks. I know things won't ever be the same Up North without her but I hope the sadness gets a little lighter every visit.

Ok, now I'm going to end this Pity Party with some pics of Mac.. the kid is growing up too fast!!  He had his 2 month visit today and poor guy got 2 shots and was not happy.. his current stats are:
weight:  13.3 lbs
height:  24 3/4 inches (seems he's going to be a tall one! Not sure where he got his height from!)

he's already learning how to drive the boat at 2 months.. I'm almost 40 and I still don't know how to!!

resting his head on his favorite shoulder - Chief's!

getting to change up the outfits and wear something other than just a onesie was nice!

meeting his Aunt Molly for the first time!!! She really liked him!

Loved being able to snuggle up in a warm blanket!

My own personal protection service.. I mean, who's going to mess with him?? 

**Quick shout out to Nancy D, who reminded me that I needed to blog more!***

Reunited, and it feels so.....different?

Hi all, well, today I went in to my lapband doctor for the first time since December 3rd!! 

There was a new Dr there b/c apparently my normal doc is about a week away from having a baby herself!  I really liked the new doctor and am glad to see they have additional help there b/c normally it takes forever once you get into the office.

Once she reviewed my history and we discussed my current situation, she decided to check my fill level to make sure nothing had disappeard in the 9 months since I was last adjusted.  All 4cc were there so we decided to add a cc and then I'll go back in a few weeks for another fill and we'll just keep adjusting until I get up to where I was pre-Mac..  I'm excited. She's pretty aggressive and since I've never had any issues with being overfilled or anything, she's willing to give me good size fills until I get to the green zone.  I thought for sure she'd have an issue finding my port since things have gotten a little jumbled up in that area, but she was up for the challenge and found it in no time. So, me and Antonio (Band-eras) are officially reunited!!

Meanwhile, not a whole heck of a lot else going on here!!  It's hotter than balls here and it's pretty much making everyone miserable.. I was finally given the all clear from my OB to be able to start working out and get in the pool and I've taken advantage of both clearances!! I started my 1/2 marathon training last week again.. my body is clearly going to take some time to get back to where it was pre-baby.. my hips were killing me the entire 5+ miles we walked on Sunday am..  add to the fact it was 100 degrees at 6:00 am when we started, it was pretty pathetic.. OH, and add to that that I had gone out for "mom's night out" with some girlfriends the night before and drank about a bottle of wine, ooooof, I was a mess!!!  Surprisingly, I can walk today and have a little pain in my hips and back..  I'll get there, it'll just hurt while getting there!!

My sister in Law, Beth came for a short weekend last week and it was wonderful to have her!!  She helped us out soo much, made like 10 meals for us to freeze and have at a later date and just held Mac and let me come and go as I pleased (like going out to get a pedi!) I've always loved and appreciated Beth and knew how lucky I was that she came into our family, but I realized so much more how important she is when she was here!  We really had never gotten a chance to spend any one on one time together... LOVE HER!!

Mac is great!  He's going through a little 6-7 week fussy phase.. but it's truly not that bad. HE just seems a little overly grumpy.  I keep chalking it up to the heat as well, b/c that sure has made me grumps!! He is still keeping a pretty busy social schedule still.. lots of lunches and visitors! We are headed up to Northern Michigan next Friday for a little over a week! HOpefully, the change in weather and some quality time with his Nana and Chief will work wonders for both of our moods!!

I head back to work on October 6th and I can honestly say, I"m not looking forward to it. At week 2, when I was so overwhelmed with being a new mom and just tired, I couldn't wait to get back to work.. but now that it's looming closer and closer and I've been having such a nice time connecting with Mac and my girlfriends, I'm going to be sad to see all this freedom go away!  I will be glad to get back to the people I work with b/c I do miss them, even though I see a few of them quite frequently!

Ok, I've rambled on too much!!!  Here are some new pics of Macadoo! Hope you are all well!

checking out his SMILE!!!

Getting ready for his 1st swim in the pool!

xo,js

Getting Back in the Game..

hey all! 

well, here I am 5 weeks PM (post Mac) and I'm ready, I'm ready to commit myself to getting back in the band game.. every time I look at myself, I reminded of where I came from a year ago... I'm not loving the way I look right now. I know that I just had a child 5 weeks ago, but it's tough seeing yourself having gained almost 1/2 of the weight you had previously lost back..  so, I'm ready to be that Jen again and keep moving down the scale!!  I started last night with a really really slow 2.5 mile walk and today I feel like I ran a 1/2 marathon!!!  My whole body just aches!!  Going back out again this evening when Timmy gets home and have a plan to keep on walking until next week when hopefully my dr. gives me the all clear to start really working out again.  I'm re-joining Lifetime next week and I have a plan to do a couple of classes each week with Michelle and then start some training sessions again with Kathi.. 

Speaking of 1/2 marathons..  I'm doing the Women's 1/2 again this year.  This is one that I walked with the Jens last year.  We're supposed to have started our training this past weekend, but since I was dealing with the infection and all, we are a week behind..  that's part of my motivation to get moving again!!  Can't let my girls down!!

Went to the dr again today to check on the status of my incision infection and looks like it's almost all cleared up!!  Unfortunatly, the anitbiotics have caused a yeast infection which is somewhat unpleasant but hopefully that will all be cleared up by next week's visit!  (sorry for the TMI!)  So, I go back next week for my 6 week post-partum visit.  Crazy to think that I've been going to the dr. every week for the past almost 3 months.. I don't know what I'll (or they'll) do without seeing me every week!!!

I'm planning on making an appointment with my band dr. as soon as I see my OB/Gyn next week.  I do have some restriction lately so that's a good thing, but honestly, it comes and goes and it needs to be here to stay!!!

I'll leave you with some new pics of Mac!   Hope you are all doing well!!!  xo,js

Mac at his ped appointment! He's up to 10 lbs 13 oz and has grown 2 inches since birth!!!

Love those chubby cheeks!!!

Too cool for school!

Mac pointing out the flamingoes on his first trip the zoo, which BTW was a horrible idea since it was 300 degrees!! Maybe we'll go back during the zoo lights at Christmas!! maybe..