making changes

My life is a circus.  I tell you, it's that third baby!

I love her, she's precious, and I wouldn't trade her for Eric Church, but it's like this:  I used to have two hands.  One boy in each hand.  But baby number 3 is like throwing a third ball at me and I CAN'T JUGGLE for sh*t.  I am just not that coordinated.

It's all I can do to wake up at 5:30 am, nurse Gracie, get the boys up and dressed.  And get us all out of the door by 6:40!!  Then I rush them off to day care.  Get to work at 7:30.  Leave at 4:30.  Pick them up.  Get home at 5:30.

Then:  nurse hungry baby, referee two little boys, cook dinner, force boys to EAT said dinner, spoon feed baby girl, hose boys off in shower, put them in bed, catch my breath.....

It's a circus.  But I love it.

Exhausting.  But I love it.

I decided to make some changes though, because I knew I was putting myself last.

After 7 months, that's how old my sweet Gracie is, I still had not had ONE, not ONE, purposeful workout.

My hubby works even earlier than I do, so morning workouts were not an option. Evenings were not an option bc dinner doesn't fix itself.  Boys don't get bathed and put to bed by magic fairies.

By the time my kids are in bed at 8pm, I have no desire WHATSOEVER, to workout.  Plus, that is the only hour per day that my husband and I see each other.

Enough 'scuses, right?

So I chopped my work day!

Yep, as of this week, I get off between 1:30-2:00.  I headed straight for the park and walked for an hour every day so far.  It felt so good.

Heck, I might even start jogging.

Right now my weight is bouncing between 141-143.  I would SO LOVE IT if I could get to the lower 130's.  Maybe I CAN, now that purposeful exercise is part of the equation.  I say "purposeful" because I easily walk 8,000 steps a day at work and lift heavy people.

You know what though?  I'm so thankful for where I'm at right now.  This surgery has given me my life back.  There is no way, I mean NO WAY, I would've EVER had the energy to live this circus before losing some serious weight.  Part of that is because my job as an occupational therapist is so physically demanding...but so is motherhood.  My body is now able to keep up with the demands of both jobs now and I really couldn't do it all before.  I feel so blessed.

Got my face lasered a month ago. And now I'm all healed up!


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Just Busy!

Okay y'all. A few people have emailed me to make sure I'm alive. I am! Not only that, but I'm happier than ever.





That pic was a few weeks when we went to Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Here's another:







As far as my weight goes--I'm below where I was when I got pregnant. Gracie is now 6 months old. How did that happen?!

My oldest just turned 5! What the what?!!!

My little Gracie has been in the hospital four times since birth... Respiratory issues. It started with RSV back in November. Now she's on Flovent, Albuterol, and occasionally steroids and is doing much better. Last hospital admission was back in February so hopefully that is all behind us now.

My boys had their tonsils and adenoids removed last month. Here they are looking pitiful.












They are doing great now though!

Last week I got my face lasered. The CO2 dot laser. Ouch. It still hurts.






It's supposed to help smooth out some acne scars and blast away the melasma I've had since the first pregnancy. My whole face still itches horribly and burns so I hope it was worth the cost and the suffering, lol. Also, Vaseline on your face feels disgusting but is a necessary evil.

I think lighting my face on fire would be a lot cheaper and would probably not hurt any worse.

My sweet Grace is already 6 months old, rolling over and cooing like crazy.

Here she is with my MIL on Valentine's Day.






Oh, and besides working full-time, I've been learning how to quilt. This one still needs a border.






And this one now has a wide hot pink border but I still need to quilt it...thinking about mailing it off to be professionally finished from this point....







I'm so ridiculously busy but loving life!! Right now I'm working 30+ hours a week but am thinking about dropping my hours down. I miss my babies! I hate dropping them off at 7 and leaving them there for TEN hours. Makes me feel horrible.

But I do enjoy my job, doing inpatient acute therapy (I'm an OT), I just want more balance in my life, that's all.

Since Grace was born I STILL have not resumed working out! Getting to 141 without exercising is amazing if you ask me but I'd still like to get toned up. With that said, my job is quite physical. A lot of heaving lifting, think about how heavy a stroke patient's limbs are....and a lot of walking. My pedometer says I go about 8000 steps a day. But I want to do more. I want to get some strength training.

But I need some balance first....must cut work hours....

Going to Vegas with my hubby in a few days. That'll be the first "real" vacation we've had since BK (before kids). Well, alone that is! We've been all over with our sweetie pies in tow.

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Two weeks

My baby is two weeks old today.

I had a planned c-section (my 3rd). My OB let my husband announce the gender. It was so funny. He stood up to peek over the drape.

He stood there.

And stood there.

I was anxiously awaiting to hear if we had yet another boy or if we'd get something different.

Finally my OB said to him, "You recognize that, don't you?"

"Aha, another boy," I thought. My eyes welled up with tears because three boys was going to be awesome.

Still, my husband stood there, peering over the drape. "Please tell me you've SEEN one of those before?!?!?!!"

My husband finally stammered, "it's a girl."

Here she is. Grace Annabelle.




My smallest baby yet. My boys were 9 lbs 12oz & 9 lbs 3 oz. Gracie was 7 lbs 2 oz. It was by FAR the easiest pregnancy & delivery. I had none of the complications I'd had in the past plus I was comfortable working right up until the day she was born. Again, I have this surgery to thank for that.

Now that I'm on maternity leave, I've decided to learn how to quilt. I've made a few rag quilts in the last few months but now I'm trying to learn how to make real quilts. Here's the one I started for my baby girl.




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5 more days

A few fellow bloggers have so thoughtfully emailed me recently asking me how I'm doing. Thanks to all y'all. ;)

I'm feeling great and my baby will be here in only 5 days (Monday Sept 17, scheduled c-section). My two boys are getting super excited. We can't wait to see if they'll have a brother or sister.

I've been working much more than I originally planned when we moved from PA to TX. Officially, I'm scheduled for 3 days a week but I've been frequently (meaning almost always!) working 4-5 days a week just to make more money since I plan to stay at home with the new baby for 12 weeks.

Plus, I love my job.

And the more I'm home, the more I fall victim to internet shopping....so really I have worked so much so I can have $ to spend while I'm on maternity leave.

Anywho. Soon, I'll have time to relax and give you all a better update. For now, here's a baby bump pic from 2 weeks ago, almost 37 weeks pregnant.

Patients are always surprised at how far along I am and say things like, "you're so tiny!"

I love it. With my first two pregnancies I got all the way to my delivery date and people were surprised I was pregnant at all. I just went from big to bigger (I guess) and it hurt my feelings something terrible.

Plus, I couldn't work up to my due date with the other pregnancies. My job as a therapist is too physically demanding to do full-time while 110 lbs overweight. I'm currently 80+ lbs lighter than when I delivered the first two. I feel great and have had NONE of all the complications I had with the other two.

This surgery is the most amazing gift.




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glucose tolerance test

During my second pregnancy, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  So for this pregnancy, my OB wanted me to get tested sooner than normal.

Soooo last month when I was 20 weeks pregnant, I had to take the 1 hour glucose tolerance test.  I just had to fast for three hours.  I had breakfast that morning around 6:30 and fasted until 12:30 (call me an overachiever).  First off, I had to drink the 8 oz glucola within 5 minutes.  Since I was 10 months out from my surgery, I was able to do that.  It wasn't comfortable, and I would never choose to drink that fast, but I was able to get it down.  But but but.  Within about 10-20 minutes of guzzling the 8 oz drink, my forehead broke out in a light sweat and I started to feel extremely nauseated.  My mouth watered up several times and I honestly thought I was going to vomit.  But I never did.  My head also felt cloudy, like I couldn't think straight.  Sort of like being drunk.  I sat in my chair wondering if it was possible to go into a coma after drinking only 50g of glucose.  I wondered if that was a lot of sugar.  

When I got home, I looked at a 12 oz coca-cola and it had 39g of sugar.  So there's your comparison.  

Anyway, after an hour they drew my blood and told me I could go.  The lab tech could tell I felt terrible so she brought me a wet rag to put on my face.  It helped.  But I knew I was in no shape to drive so I sat in the lobby for an extra 30 minutes until I felt like my head was clear.  Also, I'd stashed a protein bar in my purse because I knew I'd be starving by the time the test was over.  Ha!  For the record, I wasn't hungry---hard to feel hungry when you feel like puking.  But I ate it anyway, hoping the food would somehow help me feel better.  

I felt sick and disgusting for the rest of the day.  My head hurt.  My stomach hurt.  I got diarrhea within two hours.  Yeah, you needed to know that detail.  I was at Target doing some shopping when all of a sudden......okay, I won't go in too many details.  :)  But the test really made me feel awful!

AND, I just knew I'd failed the test.  I felt like it took forever for my body to clear the sugar so I figured there was no way I'd passed it.

I started freaking out about how I'd have to go and get the THREE HOUR glucose tolerance test which requires you to drink DOUBLE the amount of liquid in the same amount of time.  Technically, the 1 hour test is just a screen.  Most people who fail the screen will go on to pass the 3 hour test (and not get diagnosed with GD like I did).  I wondered if I'd be able to do the 3 hr GTT without puking.  I mean, my tummy is small.  I couldn't dream of how 100g of glucose would make me feel if 50g made me feel so bad.  I honestly thought 100g could put me in a sugar coma.

 But you know what? 

I was wrong.  Hooray!

My OB's office called to tell me I'd passed and I honestly couldn't believe it.  

The bad news?   I have to take the test again around 26 weeks.  

Right now I'm 24 weeks.  Hopefully I'll pass the test again.  But I'm kinda dreading it.  I read somewhere on the internet there's a different test for WLS patients.  Something about eating 18 jelly beans instead of drinking the glucola.  That would be cool.  I'm going to ask my OB about it when I see her this Thursday. 

After having gestational diabetes during my second pregnancy, let me tell you--it was awful having to stick my fingers 5 times a day to check my blood sugar.  At first, I didn't think it hurt at all.  The needles are really tiny.  But after a few months of pricking yourself 5 times a day, your fingers start to get sensitive.  

Have you ever looked at a diabetic's fingertips?  After years of pricking and pricking, they kind of look like raw hamburger meat.  

All that finger pricking was one of the reasons I started seriously considering WLS in the first place.  Women who develop GD have a 50-60% chance of developing type II diabetes within ten years.  The thought of dealing with that for the rest of my life was unsettling. 

Anywho.  Here's a recent pic that I took at the mall bathroom.  I don't have a full length mirror at home and I can never remember to get my husband to take my picture, so this is all I got.  I've gained about 15 pounds from my lowest weight.  So this puts me at 156.  The baby only weighs 1.25 lbs or so right now, so I'm a little freaked out by the math.  And the bump!  Look how big I am!  I look like I could deliver in a month.  But, according to my pregnancy-BMI-calculator app, my BMI is less than 25 at that weight (156 in week 24).  So I'm trying to be okay with it.  My original goal was to get no higher than 163.  Hey!  I hear you laughing.  Yeah, yeah.  I don't think I'm gonna make it either. My first two babies weighed over 9.5 lbs.  So only the baby can gain weight from now ON.  Not me!

I've been walking for an hour a day (or more!) after I get off work every day.  I found a hike/bike trail super close to my boys' daycare, so I go walk and then pick them up.  It's a lovely walk---I should take pics for you guys.  It follows a creek for about a mile, is paved, and has tons of ducks and birds that are so domesticated they will sit their plump-sized-overfed-selves on the concrete and not even move when I walk by.  I love it!  Temps are in the 90's right now at that time of day, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up with it, but it feels great to be active.  I've been wearing a pedometer and averaging about 15,000 steps a day---about 5,000 at work.  If you look closely at my legs, you can see a tan line under my knee from my capri walking pants!  I never noticed it til I took this picture.  Then I looked down at my legs, hoping it was just the light of the bathroom.  Nope!  Farmer tan.  I must get a full length mirror so I don't get these kinds of surprises.  Awesome, right?

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Went bra shopping today. Walked in wearing a 36H (which I knew was too big after losing 30 lbs since my last bra purchase); walked out with a 34DDD. Check out the difference.

Old bra:



New bra:




And I just have to brag for a second that I tried on some 8P capris and they fit (at 15 weeks pregnant!)




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this might be exciting

My parents came up last week and spent several days with us, helping us get settled into our new house.  Mostly, they watched the kids while we got stuff done.  It was so nice!

My dad loved playing with my husband's new iPad so he decided to order one for my mom's birthday.  Don't you love getting things for your birthday that your husband wants?  Hehehe.  Before leaving, he said, "You know your mom will probably need you on-call as tech support, right?"

Sure.....(eyeroll).

So the very day after leaving, I got a text from my dad that said, "Call me when you get a chance."

Here we go, I thought, slightly annoyed.  I mean, if my 4 year old can figure out an iPad, why can't my parents?

So I called my dad.

He had questions about surgery.  He is thinking about getting it himself.  I was so surprised!

So I asked, "Do you want this or does Mom?"

He said, "Oh I'm just so impressed with how great you look that I'm thinking about getting it too."

Let me back up for a second and say that my mom had high hopes when I got my surgery last summer that Dad would see my success and want it too.  But so far he had said nothing.

When my parents were in town, my mom caught me alone and asked if Dad had mentioned wanting to get surgery.  I said "no."  She asked me if I could talk to him.  Now, honestly, I'm not one to push anybody into anything, especially something like WLS.  But I agreed, just to make her happy, but I didn't plan on saying much to him.

About an hour before they left town, my dad and I were driving back to my house and about 2 blocks before arriving home, I asked, "Have you thought about having surgery?"  There was a kind of long uncomfortable pause (he always takes a long time to answer ANY question).....so I filled the silence by joking, "Is Mom still thinking about you having surgery?"  His only response was that my mom has not bothered him about it at all.  So then I just told him that it was the best decision I ever made and that it is so much easier to manage my weight now.  It still requires effort and thought, but it doesn't require perfection to be successful.

And I told him how I never feel deprived.  Food tastes richer, flavors taste more bold, sweets taste sweeter, so that makes me satisfied with less.  Have I ever mentioned that to y'all?  Plus, hunger comes on more gradual.  It used to come on quick, strong, and without warning.  Now it comes on gradually so I can start thinking of a healthy snack before getting desperate and grabbing the quickest thing.

Anyway, that's about all I said, at the most, I might have said less, but my dad said nothing.  To tell you the truth, I pretty much instantly regretted saying anything because I was afraid I'd hurt his feelings.

So I was super surprised when I called and that's what he wanted to talk about!

He'd already been on the internet trying to figure out if Medicare would cover the sleeve.  He also has private insurance, so he was trying to figure out which insurance company to go through.  I told him to just ask the surgeon, that they were used to jumping through insurance hoops and that they would know the best way to go about it.  I told him to call the office and schedule himself for one of those information sessions.

My guess is that my dad's BMI is between 35-40 (he didn't say).  But he has hypertension, high cholesterol, and acid relflux.  He said he wakes up a lot at night so I suggested getting a sleep study because sleep apnea almost guarantees qualifying for surgery (or so I've heard).

I'm so excited for him.  And it has nothing to do with "looking better" or anything like that.  I  know how much BETTER I feel---no back pain, less fatigue, etc.  I can just DO MORE than ever.  I can run around the yard with my kids!  And I'm thrilled he could soon experience the same thing.  :)