Off and on

So it's been sooo long since I've written on my blog. I think I was mostly annoyed by how long it was taking to upload my photos. Natalie showed me how to do it fast from flicker but since my account is with shutterfly then it still takes forever.

Anyway, on to new adventures. The kids are doing great. Erik is in 9th grade now and is finally getting used to seminary and high school. Elise is almost 3 (I still can't believe that!) and is so funny these days. She cracks me up most days and sometimes drives me crazy. I love that she is talking more and more and is so expressive. Jared is still working at 2 schools in downtown and not really loving it but it helps pay the bills. Speaking of bills in November we moved to a new place. I was a little skeptical at first of the sketchy neighborhood, but the house is perfect for us (a rental). It has 4 bedrooms and more importantly 2 bathrooms. We also have an enclosed porch that is now the game room and a pretty large storage/washer room. I love having my own room back now that Elise is in her own room. It was fun to do a little painting, but I've been slow to put up decorations except for in the living room. Cleaning hasn't been on my top list of things recently either. If I could just muster up the strength to find a place for everything it would be so much easier.

So last week I had surgery for weight loss. I had the vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Basically they cut out 3/4 of your stomach and that's it. No reworking of any intestine thank goodness. The surgeon was very pleased and so was I. The pain was so much more tolerable then when I had my gallbladder out a few months ago. I couldn't believe how painful that was! So I've been recovering for a few days now and wanted to share some of my progress. It's been a rough couple of days food wise. I feel like I'm in mourning over losing a friend. I guess I never realized how dependent I really was on food to make me feel better or entertain me or just about for everything. Plus it's amazing really how many food commercials there are!

At the beginning of my journey last summer when I first started taking classes about having the surgery I was 318 pounds, the biggest I've ever been. During the 3 month class I lost 14 pounds and then by the time I went to see the surgeon I was at 301. He was happy with my progress and they scheduled surgery for January 13. One week before I had another appointment with my surgeon and I weighed in at 305 (the holidays and pre-surgery got the best of me). He wanted me to lose a few more pounds before surgery. I would so nervous they would reschedule that I was pretty good that week and when I came to weigh in right before the surgery I was 296. Since then (last Thursday) I've lost 13 more pounds and am now down to 283. I can't believe how fast it's coming off, but I'm sure I'm losing a lot of muscle in there too. So that's a total of 35 pounds since last summer. My goal is to be around 169 or so. That's a good weight for me.

Today I started on some new foods (I've been drinking this horrible protein drink for the last 3 days). I tried cream of wheat strained. Not so yummy. And then I tried the cream of celery soup strained and that was delicious. Next came some yummy light yogurt. But the shocker was light soy milk. It tasted like a milkshake. Such a nice change from the yuck of Isopure. So I'll be on protein shakes and the like for the next 10 days and then get to graduate to some pureed foods. I was really shocked though how full I was from 1/2 cup of strained soup and 1/2 cup yogurt. It was like Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily since there's not a whole lot to digest it doesn't take very long to empty out of my teeny tiny stomach. In time I'll get to enjoy some of my favorites again (at a much smaller portion of course), but for now I'll just stick to torturing myself by watching the food channel network. There have really only been 2 strong cravings over the last few days, a bite of a big crusty bread sandwich and a bite of spaghetti. Mmmm, one day.

I really should post of pics of my progress. Maybe when I'm not so mad about how slow they take to upload. I'm going to try and write in here a little more about it too, just to help ease the food funeral. Oh I almost forgot. When I had my lasik done I remember the first few days were horrible. I kept thinking why did I do this to myself. Then at about 3 months things were almost crystal clear. Nowadays I tell everyone it has been worth every single penny I spent on it. I hope this surgery is similar. In fact, I know it is.