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Pictures

I thought that I would post a few of our most recent family pictures.

A mama dove decided to make one of my hanging baskets her home and she brought 2 eggs with her.  I discovered the guests when I took the basket down one day to water it, had it tilted towards me and mama dove flew out and hit me in the forehead.  Luckily I didn't drop the basket.  The eggs hatched over the weekend.

Conner (L) and Xavier (R)

Enjoying roasting hot dogs over our new fire pit (actually we've had it for a couple of years but it wasn't until just recently that Rick had the time to put it together)

Our little ballerina, Bekah, during studio rehearsal for her first ballet recital.

Bekah at her recital with Mommy (top L), Great Grandma Eckert and Uncle Tony (top R) and Rick (bottom middle)

Not much else going on here. We've started baseball season (Conner) and softball season (Bekah) so I guess our summer is in full swing!

Lurking

I've just been reading everyone's blogs, trying to glean some inspiration. Nothing new here. Same weight, no gain, no loss. Praying that sunshine and warmer temps will inspire me to get out and walk!

Un-fill update

Saw the NP this AM.  She removed .4 cc of fluid. We'll see how it goes from here. She told me not to hesitate to call if in 4 weeks I feel like my hunger is out of control, we can then schedule a fill.  Otherwise, I see the doc in August for my 1 year anniversary.

Doesn't look like I'm going to make my goal for my "50 pounds down by my birthday" tomorrow but I am 43 down and that's way better than where I was for my birthday last year.

UN-fill scheduled

I called my surgeon this morning and scheduled an un-fill for Wednesday.  I'm hoping for just a tiny un-fill.  This morning I got stuck taking my vitamin....OUCH did it ever hurt!  I know I'm too full.  I am not able to eat anything that is not soft or liquid.  It will be 4 weeks on Wednesday since I got the 1 cc fill and I've lost 5 pounds.  I am now ONE POUND under my lowest post surgery weight!  Don't get me wrong, I am happy about that but I know that my doc would not be happy for me to continue eating the not-firm foods I have had to be eating.  You would think that as tight as I am and as little as I am able to eat the weight would be dropping off but nnooooooo, of course not.  I wake up in the morning and my stomach is growling so loud but I can't eat anthing.  I drink coffee and sometimes have a protein bar but it doesn't stay with me very and I'm hungry again. Very frustrating to say the least.

Anywho....my current total lost is 41.4 pounds.  I finally broke a plateau I had been stuck at for quite some time and now I am one pound below the lowest I've been in a while..

I'll let ya know how the unfill goes.

Good Eats

Just for fun (and to give me some different ideas) will all you fellow banders post what a typical good food day looks like for you?  Just list what you eat for meals/snacks for a day.  Thanks and I really appreciate it!

Blessings,
Sarah

Hump day

I went for a brisk 1/2 hour walk last night! Felt good...now I just need to keep doing it!  My band doesn't feel as tight as it has been which is good.  The other night I made Amy W's "Hot Meat" recipe and was able to eat a little of that with some mashed potatos and green beans.  That's the first solid food I've been able to get down without gettnig stuck since my 1 cc fil.  On the scale front, I weighed this morning and it's going down.  I am ONE POUND away from being back to my lowest post surgery weight!

Still doing liquids/full liquids

So far today I've had no stuck issues. Yesterday morning was the worst episode I've ever had! (Got stuck eating Greek yogurt with just a little bit of bran cereal in it) I was miserable for almost 2 hours. I litterally had to leave work so that I could slime in private! Not a good feeling. I made homemade black bean soup (thanks Amy W for the recipe) Tuesday night and baiscally that, Greek yogurt and water are all I'm taking in. I want to have a couple of no stuckage days before I try to introduce soft/mushy food. Thanks Sandy Lee for the advice.  Hope that things are going well for you now too.

My weekend starts at 3PM today.....yeah me!

1 cc fill!

I saw the nurse practicioner last Wednesday, 1st time seeing her and I really liked her.  Anyway, she gave me a full cc when she filled me! Not sure but it may be too much.  I can't eat anything but soft foods right now but I think I've made my band a little aggitated.  So I am going to give it a few days to see if it calms down. I hate to have to drive an hour one way to have some taken out so I'm praying it doens't come to that.  I've lost 4 pounds since my fill. Not too shabby! Plan to go for a walk OUTSIDE when I get off work today! Looking forward to that.

Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Sarah

Tom and Jerry on a Saturday morning

Wow! That brings back memories.  Xavier (almost 6 YO nephew) and Gabi (3 YO niece) spent the night last night and we are up this morning watching Tom & Jerry.  Rick is working today but so far has no calls.  (He's on call tomorrow, praying that he doesn't get any calls and so that he can go to church!!!!)  I feel motivated today to get some organizing done around the house.  My sister Rachel is here too and she's the Orginizational Queen!  Hopefully we'll get some things accomplished.  Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

Trying to be a better blogger

I'm going to TRY to do a better job of blogging (journaling). I worry that I don't have anything funny, whitty, important or exciting to say but I've reminded myself that the reason I started this blog was to journal my journey. So, whether that journey be good or bad, boring or exciting I'm going to make a real effort to post more often.  I'm just going to state the facts.....and right now the facts are not good.

I have not weighed in 10 days or more and quite honestly I don't want to weigh because putting my jeans on this morning tells me what I already know. I have put on weight. I'm going in the wrong direction and it's my fault.  I've been on a downward spiral since Thanksgiving and so far I have not been able to kick start my weight loss.  I want carbs..............I want sugar.................I want diet (or not diet) pop........I do not want to exercise. I've totaly forgotten how to eat well for my body to be healthy!

A couple of observations that I have made:

• I felt much more alert when I was off all of the sugar & carbs following my surgery (previous to surgery, I had a really hard time staying awake. I was always yawning and sleepy)
• I had way more "get up and go" following my surgery.  My "get up and go has got up and gone"  I am quite content to sit and watch TV or read
• After surgery, when I was eating according to my surgeon's guidelines, I was NOT hungry or even thinking about food all the time.  NOW, I think about food constantly!
• When I drink lots of water I do not have as many headaches....as of late, almost every day I am having headaches

I 've been feeling a little "dirty" lately. Like I've been hiding something from all of my blogger buddies.  I've been kidding myself too, I guess.  Thinking that if I don't talk about the problem, the problem won't really be here.

Plan of action -   Well I guess one of the first things I should do is make an appointment with the dietician and get back on the plan for eating.  Maybe dig out the guidlines that I was given by the dietician prior to surgery. While I'm being honest here I've gotta say that it would be much easier to just keep doing what I've been doing....mindless eating, eating what I want when I want but if I continue to do that then I will continue to get depressed and gain weight. 

I don't think my doc will even talk to me about doing a fill until I have talked to the dietician so I'M GOING TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY!
I'm going to get my head out of my butt and start make the changes that I know I need to change! And I'm praying that God will give me the strength to push on and be successful at getting this outta shape body in shape!  I can't do this on my own, of this I am certain.  I'm going to have to get honest with my family and ask them (DH and DD) to help me. I've got to be accountable to them. And I'm going to start journaling my food.....though I really hate this task!

I realize that nothing really profound has come out of this blog today but I think it was good to get it all down in writing!

"Dear John"

My sweetie and I went on a date tonight.  We had dinner and saw the new movie "Dear John".  Did I like it? Well lets just say we went to WalMart as soon as the movie was over and I bought the book.  It's a real tear-jerker that's for sure.  But I think the reason I cried so hard....and my sweetie did too), is that so much of the movie was just like our own love story.  Since the first time I saw "The Notebook" (also written by Nicholas Sparks) it made me think of Ricky and I.  "Dear John" did the same thing.  A really good move and I reccommend it. Just make sure you take the Kleenex with you!

Zumba

Bekah (DD) and I went to Zumba Tuesday night.  It was fun.  The Christian church here in Greensburg holds classes in their mulit-purpose room/gym and it's free-will offering!  They have 2 classes on Tuesday nights, 2 classes on Thursday nights and 1 class on Saturday mornings.  It was fun! There were probably 75 people in the class that I went to. Almost not enough room to move.  It certainly is a workout. By the time I left there I was wishing I could move like the instructor did. Don't think I'll ever get to that point.  I plan to go again though. The hour just flew by.

I can't get out of this funk

I don't like myself right now. I'll just be real blunt about it.  I went to all the trouble and expense to have this wonderful lap band surgery and I still feel like a failure.  I am still stuck at 37-42 pounds lost (depends on what day I weigh) and have been stuck for probabably 6 weeks now.  No, I have not been exercising.....I'm lazy and No, I have not been eating as I should.  I am hungry alot and I am tired and sluggish feeling. All I can think about is eating sweets and carbs!  What is wrong with me. Why can't I shake this?

I am going to Zumba tonight come hell or high water so maybe that will make me feel a little better. Who knows!?!

Okay, just had to get that off my chest.  Thanks for listening.

Sarah

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!

Yup, it's true....today Bekah turns 9!   N~I~N~E years old..............where did the time go?!?

I love you Bekah Boo!

I pray God's blessing on you today and ALWAYS!

I'm so proud of the little lady that you are becoming.

Questions answered

I had a few questions posted regarding my last blog, "National Delurking Day".  I don't know how to link to other's blogs so I will just have to identify everyone by their screen name.  Here are the questions and answers.


Amy W asked: "Have you ever broken any bones"?


Well, not in the usual way the most people break bones (by accident). When I was a Freshman in High School I had corrective foot surgery and the doctor broke both of my big toes using a little chain saw…..and I was awake for the whole thing! Freaky!

The "other Sarah" asked:  "Did you ever go through a stage of spelling your name without the "H"?

No I never did spell my name without the “H”.  I was always proud of my name and the fact that my parents chose a Biblical name for me. I actually get very offended when people spell my name without the “H”.

Carla asked "Why did you spell your daughter's name the way you did"?

I chose to spell my daughter's name (Rebekah Faith, nickname Bekah) the way we did because I wanted it to be spelled like it was in the Bible. I also thought it was cool that my name ended in “ah” and so does hers.

Thanks for the questions ladies and for "delurking".  Keep those questions coming.  I think it's fun to get to know each other by asking randmon questions.

I hope everyone had a great Saturday!
Sarah

National Delurking Day....what a great idea!

So great of an idea that I stole it from fellow blogger Alexis!

"Did you know that today is National Delurking Day? Well, it is. For those of who that don't know, it means that if you are a regular (or even not so regular --heck even if I don't know that you read my blog) reader of my blog leave me a comment and say hello! I'll also open it up even further and open it to questions. Yep. Ask me anything you want (well...try to keep it PG-13 or so). You can ask me anything about my band, my life, whatever you may have been curious to know about me and I will respond with my answers in my next post.


Public readers and blog stalkers alike, I want to know who you are and get to know you so I'll start by letting you ask me what you would possibly like to know about me."
 
Thanks Alexis for the inspiration!
Sarah

Pictures

I haven't posted any pictures in a while so I thought I would use the few minutes that I have to put some on my blog.  They are miscellaneous pics from December.

Bekah and Conner hamming it up!

Rick was supposed to be posing as Conner was in the above photo....I had no idea he was doing this

until I looked at the picture afterwards.

My sweetie and I at the Eckert family Christmas.

A pretty decent picture.

                                       

                   Bekah and my neice, Gabi                               

Conner being silly!

My nephew, Xavier

Blah....blahhhhhhhhhhh

I'm feeling kinda blahhhhh today!  There is so much hype going into the CHRISTmas holiday and then for me it's always a huge let down when it's over.  Usually takes me a few days to get over the fact that it's actually over.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  My younger sister, bro-in-law and nephew & neice arrived in IN safely (treaveling from NC) and will be here until Jan. 2nd.  My older sister, bro-in-law and nephew & neice were able to be at Mom & Dad's for our family Christmas celebration.  My one bro-in-law is an EMT and had to work on Christmas day so the rest of us (12 in total) spent all day Christmas day at Mom & Dad's playing games and eating. We all spent the night....had a big slumber party, the kids really loved it! Then the day after Christmas we had our tradtional B~I~G breakfast and exchanged gifts. 

My Sweetie got me 1/4 ct diamond earrings,  DVD set of  season 2 "Friends" (my favorite show), a pair of gloves and the best thing was that he hand wrote me a letter that made me cry.  He's such a sentimental guy!  The kids got me a pair of cool snow boots which came in handy yesterday for the beautiful snow we got.....too bad we didn't have it for Christmas day.

Other than the fact that I'm bummed that Christmas is over, I'm B~L~A~H because I have been eating horribly and I've not excercised in well over 6 weeks.  I'm so mad at myself! Here I have been given this great opportunity (lap band surgery) to get myself in shape and better health and I've basically wasted the past 2 months.  Even though I have not gained weight I have not lost anymore!  I have decided that I'm going to start the new year off and refocus. I'm thinking I'm going to try the 5 day Pouch Test  (http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html). I'm calling on all my fellow bandsters to see what ya'll think. Do you have any better ideas to motivate me and jump start my weight loss....again?  You ladies have been a wonderful support to me since my surgery and I'm calling on you to help me get this thing back in gear! I am desperate! HELP!

42 down and size 16W jeans!

I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed yesterday and found 206 staring up at me!  I just about fell off the scale!  That's a total of 42 pounds lost since my Aug. 4th surgery.

Ricky and I went shopping tonight and I bought a pair of 16W jeans.  I thought they looked really good....Rick said they were okay but he thought they were a little big.  I went ahead and bought them because I felt good in them and I really neeed a pair of jeans to wear since the 3 pair I have now are just about too B~I~G!  Yeah.....now if I could just figure out how to get that money tree to grow so that I can go on a real shopping trip.

I wanted to give a quick shout out to some new hair products that I've recently tried and since fell in love with.  Currently I am using the mousse and hairspray of the Fat Hair line.  It's made a huge difference in the thickness of my hair.  I plan to get the shampoo and conditioner this week to add to my collection.  I got mine at Walgreens and I think that Target sells it too, though I haven't checked for sure.