I fear, the time is near...

Yup.  Time to stop pretending I just had a baby.  Time to stop making excuses. (For example:  I ONLY had a baby 4 months ago... that is still "just", right?  Don't I have at least 8 more months to use that exuse?)

(Ahem...)  Anyways, I weighed in this morning and was pretty impressed with the scale, given my steady (albeit slow) intake of libations over the last few weeks...  When I went to my doc's office about 3 weeks ago for my physical, I weighed in there at 232.  This morning I was 227.4.  Not too shaby, again considering that I've done NOTHING in regard to exercise except lift a wine glass...  that counts as exercise, right?  Wine-glass-lifting... sometimes a big one, sometimes a smaller one, sometimes a heavy cut glass one, sometimes a cheap-o dollar store one.  I have to balance out the muscle use of course! 

I've lost weight... what is to be bummed about?  Well, at lunch today with Dennis (yes, we actually got to go to lunch together!) I had a delicous seafood chimichanga and ate all of it.  Yup.  All of it.  So between obviously needing to get my lapband adjusted (October 12th can't come soon enough), stopping my drinking with my eating (i.e. drinking water with my meal) and really working to cut back on the wine, I've got to change something.

Since that just isn't enough for me to attempt on its own (overacheiver here), I've decided that I also need to actually start the core exercise routine the trainer gave me AND get our family calendar back in shape.   I'm starting first thing tomorrow.  After I have a glass of wine tonight as I plan it all out.  Happy Friday, ya'll!

Back to school and MIA... sorry!

Wow... it's been over a month since I've last blogged!  I have to say, getting back into the swing of work, and having a second kid (i.e. baby) has definitely kept me busy! 

On the home front, we've started school (both Lucia AND Liam) and are finally getting into a routine of sorts, although we aren't quite there yet. I am looking forward to us really getting into a daily routine where we know exactly what is happening and when. I think that will help me a lot with my weight loss (see below).  I haven't been doing very well on the band front, but I feel good that today I am focusing on water and protein, and have some short-term goals in place... one of which is to be better about blogging...

Liam - School Picture Day (3 months old)

Lucia - 1st day of School, 2nd Grade (7 yrs old)

On the band front, I am not feeling at all good about my body right now, and as a result, I've chosen to hide from blogging a bit.  I got filled about a month ago and have lost maybe (?!?!?) 5 pounds if I am lucky.  I am really struggling with getting back into the groove of being banded.  Although I have more restriction than I did, I don't have enough - but at the same point, don't want to get more right now until I can get back into my routine of not drinking with meals, focusing on high protein, etc...  And to be completely honest, I have been partaking in far too much wine.  This weekend I cooked up a bunch of the egg bites from Eggface's website, and also made some other things that I can grab-and-go with from the freezer - I am hoping that will help me kick things along.  My biggest struggle is figuring out how to fit exercising back into this new routine, because with Liam's eating schedule and getting up in the middle of the night, running early in the morning like I used to isn't in the cards right now.

Before going back to work, we were in the Outer Banks... Jacquie and I were supposed to connect, but unfortunately Hurricane Irene had other plans and the OBX ended up being evacuated... very bummed, but at least I know I'll get to see Jacquie sometime this fall/spring when we head south to FL next...

OK... it's a new "season" (I always think the start of school should be the start of a new year), so I am hoping that I can really get back into a better routine and back below 200 soon!!!

So much to update, but just a quickie BOOBS picture for now!

What a crazy few weeks!  Lu, Liam and I were up in NJ last week visiting family which was lots of fun.   I thought I would have a lot of free time (HAH!), but it turns out I didn't... so at this point, I am EXHAUSTED in a good way, and getting back into the swing of things at home... but one of the highlights of my visit was being able to connect with Catherine and Jen when Lucia and I went up to NYC for the day...

Lu, Me, Jen & Catherine

It was so fun to see them - and so cool... we picked up right where we left off in Chicago (or blog-land)!  Sometimes when you really connect with people, the conversation is so easy as it is with these two ladies.  And I also got to meet Catherine's friend Marjorie, who I feel like I know from her blog - many thanks to her for taking this picture of us!  I am excited to see Jacquie in the Outer Banks next week... I've seen more BOOBS in the last month than since last year in Chi-town!  I guess that makes up for me not being able to go this year.

More to come... hope all is well for everyone else.  Happy Weekend!

Band Check-in, Life updates and a new addiction

Lucia and "Buzz"

BAND UPDATE:  I was filled last Tuesday with 5 cc's, and have been doing pretty well, although I need to start really monitoring my protein intake to make sure I'm getting enough, and also need to get more water in.  I do have restriction, but not perfect... I go back in about 3 weeks, so until then I'm fine.  I'm down about 5 pounds as of this morning, which I am quite happy with.  I hate this "in between" stage (especially with the clothes situation), but it isn't a terrible thing I guess given the reasons!  I will definitely need to figure out my options for going back to work...  pickings are rather slim on the bottom - it will be a lot of dresses and skirts I think!

Lucia post show

I am heading up to NJ tomorrow for a week to visit family up there, and on Wednesday Lucia and I are heading into NYC where I am hoping (fingers crossed) to connect with a few special bloggers if only for a few minutes!  Lucia has our schedule PLANNED OUT!  Not exactly the things I would choose if going into NYC, but it is her day so she gets to choose!  Right now we have possibly the Empire State Building and definitely Toys R' Us (apparently there is an indoor Ferris Wheel) and of course, American Girl for tea and a bit of shopping in the late afternoon...  Who knows what else.

My other focus in life... My babies... They are both doing great... of course, my seven year old "baby" is in heaven this summer - she took horse camp last week and just LOVED it!  She did really well, and was extremely committed.  I've never seen her so into something / committed to something like this!  We are going to start her in lessons this fall, so  we'll see how that all plays out.  She will definitely have to keep on earning the lessons though - it is an expensive sport!

Liam is wonderful.  He actually slept almost 6 hours last night (ROCK ON)!  Of course, I was so thrown off by that, that I've been awake since 3:30 AM.  I hope that this is the first night of many more to come - we'll see!  He is such a chilled out kid - doesn't fuss or cry at all (unless he is hungry or has gas)... and he has started grinning and laughing and "talking" - he is definitely finding his voice and makes the funniest sounds which end up cracking all of us up!  As of his weight check this morning, he is 12 pounds, 4 ounces and 24 inches long!  He is a big boy and absolutely adores his big sister...

Finally... My new addiction: PINTEREST!  I don't even know where to begin explaining it, but it is the coolest board out there.  Basically you "pin" things that you like (from pictures to sayings, recipes to DIY projects).  My "pins" can be seen here.  Thank god I am not back at work because I have been spending a LOT of time the last few days on here!  Fun stuff.

That is everything new and (?) interesting from here... I hope everyone else is doing well!

My first post-baby fill...

Hello everyone!!!  Wow... my first truly BAND related post in a while!  I went back in this afternoon to get my first fill post-band, which they did under fluoroscopy.  Hurray - SUCCESS!!!  In fact if anything, Liam kicked my port back into place a bit while he was baking in there!!!  She said everything looks great with my band, which I am VERY relieved about.

Pre-baby, my port was flipped, so I would have to lay on the table and do a half-crunch while the NP pressed the port into place (i.e. pushed half her weight on my rib area) and then would try to get the needle to go in at an angle... Today the port was accessed much more easily - I laid down and with just a bit of a push, she got it on the first try!

When I was unfilled, I had 5cc's in... Today she gave me 5.5 cc's and I go back in about 4 weeks to see how things are going.  I definitely feel restriction - it is weird going from complete LACK of restriction back to the slow gurgling feeling as fluid goes down, but I am glad to be there!

According to their scales today, I am 41 pounds higher than I was when I was unfilled... 237.5 on their scale (I was 196.5 last time).  I don't feel bad about that number at all.  Lord knows I have something wonderful to show for it, and I feel confident that I can get back down under 200 and then continue on down toward my goal.  In regard to my goal, it was 160.  I don't know what it is now - honestly, it is more a size thing for me.  I'd really like to get to a size 10/12 on the bottom.  I realistically don't think my body will go much smaller, and it may not even go there depending on how much excess tummy skin I end up with.  We'll see.  But I'm glad that I am back on the band-wagon journey!

Finally, I am relieved to know that there are a few others out there (shout out to Jen!) who are about the same amount of time out from being banded as I am, who are also in the process of restarting their commitments for whatever reason!  Now I just have to retrain myself on everything like chewing, small bites and not drinking with meals... And start remembering why I did this in the first place - which is to take care of me!  Wish me luck!