I was just reading my latest blog entries... Wow how life has changed!
Well two weeks after that last entry (jan 2009) I found out I was pregnant. Jennifer was born in late September 2009. Rob was deployed from Mar 09 - Jan 10. He was deployed again in May 11 - Oct 11. Than we moved from NC to KS. He is doing to a year long school for the Army.
I gained 45lbs during my pregnancy with Jenny and only lost 15 of it at delivery. I lost an additional 20lbs over the first year and stopped losing at 160lbs. I haven't really tried all that hard to lose anymore so i really can't complain. Over the last 18+ months I've been eating like a "normal" person and haven't lost nor gained.
I've been lazy though. Being a mother of four and having a newborn, I pretty much stopped exercising. But I started back walking about 5 weeks ago and running 2 weeks ago. Though I look healthy I was out of shape. My heart rate is still higher than I want to during a run, but it is improving fast.
We are living about 45min outside of Kansas City. I've had 4 plastic surgery consults with that many surgeons. And with the help of OH I finally found the plastic surgeon in KC that specializes in reconstructive/massive weight loss plastic surgery. He is Dr. Ponnuru.
The first round of plastics will be a TT, BL and lipo on the inner thighs. Later surgeries are my arms w/ possibly some back lipo or tuck. And then likely my inner thigh, if lipo doesn't get me a result I can live with.
So that is the short condensed update.
I hope you are all enjoying your journeys and loving your results!!

 It has been a long while.... too long.... I am a selfish/bad buddy.

Well, life has been going good health/weight wise. I'm staying steady 150/153 lbs for over 10 months now. Made it through the holidays without a gain!! I'm eating normally, feel normal and often forget I even had the surgery (until I try to over eat, then this awesome stomach of mine reminds me) I LOVE MY POUCH!!
My low blood sugar episodes are doing a lot better. Instead of an almost daily occurrence there will be a day or two every few weeks now where I need to stay on top of getting my snacks in/avoiding too low blood sugar. But they are getting fewer and farther between. So I guess my body is starting to figure this all out.
My low blood pressure is doing a lot better too. I only feel light headed/oooopps feeling while standing on occasion now. It has been a long while since I totally blacked out. I'm very thankful about that!!

I've been thinking about finally taking the plunge and starting plastics. I want to do my neck first. It isn't horrible, but I feel like it makes me look 20-30 years older; KWIM? I have a 60 year old woman's neck not at 33 year olds.... The rest of my loose skin has bounced back better than I thought it would (looks TONS better than it did back in March when I first reached this weight) and is easily concealed with clothing and a good bra of course!     So the neck will come first. I'm thinking about using Dr. Fremont Eaves over in Charlotte. What I've read/researched about him so far I'm impressed with! I just need to find out when having the procedure done is a good time. Soon I hope.

Other parts of my life... We went to DC for New Years, I'll post some pics. We had a lot of fun! It was cold though. The boys are old enough to understand/appreciate the history now. Brian (oldest son) LOVED the museums; he would read everything in each exhibit. Sweet Bailey slept a lot. She was bored most of the time. But she did really like Natural History Museum; seeing all the animals. We got a lot of 'wow!'s and 'what is that?!' from her there. Jason I think was just happy and content with us being all together as a family. He was joyful and helpful and excited about everywhere we went. We really had a great time!

We've been trying to get pregnant for a while now with no luck. This isn't new for us; very OLD hat. And is a little frustrating. But I KNOW without a doubt it'll happen eventually all in God's time. In His perfect time. My 3 children are a huge testament of that! And evidently our 4th will be no different. 

Rob is deploying again. He'll be leaving at the end of March. I'm sad but knew this is what I signed up for when I married him 15 years ago. So I try not to mope/complain about it too much. THANKFULLY I live on post and have a great group of friends who love me. So I won't be lonely or left floundering. And I've done year long deployments before, so I know I can and will survive this. I'm just going to miss him SO much! He is my best friend, the first person I go to for anything. He is my rock. Luckily I have no time to wallow in my self-pity once he leaves. I have 3 kiddos who need me. I keep telling myself, I'll be fine. And I will be. I'll be fine....

I've been peeking around at some blogs (okay a lot of blogs) and am so happy to see so many of you having so much success!!!! But for the few that are struggling for whatever reason here are some (((HUGS)))). I probably should post comments in the blogs but feel like I'm invading peoples little world since I've been MIA so long. But I truly do hope and wish everyone will find happiness and contentment on their journeys!!

I'm almost a year out!!
I'm doing my ‘year out’ update now because I'm going to be on vacation during my actual year anniversary.
I'm at my personal goal of 150 lbs. Well, I jump between 150-154 lbs depending on what time of the month it is, but I've been holding steady in that weight range since mid-March, so over 3 months now. Whooo-hooo!!! 
My diabetes is more than gone. For the past couple months as I've added more carbs in my diet I've noticed an hour or so after those snacks my blood sugar will plummet. I still have my meter from my last pregnancy (had gestational diabetes) and my blood sugar has gotten as low as 56. Not a good thing at all. So, I have to make sure I never have an all carb snack; like a banana. I need to have protein with every snack or meal, otherwise my body confusingly fights my old pre-diabetic state, so my doctor says. He also said it should be temporary, once my body figures out it doesn't need to be fighting the diabetes anymore.
I'm too dealing with low blood pressure. Hopefully only a temporary thing as well......???? Crossing my fingers, hoping it all evens out VERY soon!! These issues I'm dealing with I never came across while researching weight loss surgery. Or maybe I didn't pay attention to it if I did come across it?? But my doctor assures me, it can happen to some people and my body is smart enough to eventually figure it all out. It is still in shock from the rapid weight loss and just needs time.
Other than that.... I really can't complain! I really am feeling great! I can do anything I want to do! If my boys want me to come out and play ball or run around kicking the soccer ball or whatever. I have nothing holding me back! I can do it and I never lose my breath, my joints aren’t killing me, my back isn’t aching from just running 20 feet. We go on our family walks and I feel like I could just keep walking for hours! I feel strong, I feel healthy, I feel 'me' blossoming again!! 
I still can't believe what I see in the mirror, but slowly as the weeks go by my brain is able to comprehend a little bit better how much smaller I really have gotten. I wore a new dress to church this past Sunday that showed more leg then I've showed in years, over 10 years at least. Now it really wasn't that short, it was a knee length dress. I'm a prude I know. But when I saw my reflection in the glass doors of the church, and I saw how skinny my knees were. I almost just stopped and stared and cried! I have sexy knees!! It is hard for me to think of any part of me as sexy. I mean sure I'm thinner, but I'm a deflated balloon! LOL! But darn it I have some sexy knees! Heck I'll even say I have sexy legs, well ignoring my inner thigh anyways. LOL!
I feel free!! That is what I wanted the most out of this besides my health back, just to feel free. To be free to do any physical activity whenever I needed to or wanted to and not be out of breath doing it. Free to buy off the rack at any store I choose. Free to sit in a theater seat or plane seat and not feel I'm pouring over the arm rests. Free to walk down the sidewalk and not feel judged or looked down upon by those I walk past. Free to keep up with my kids and not tire before they do.
How fitting it is for me to celebrate our countries independence the same weekend I celebrate my surgiversary; my own FREEDOM from the old body that was literally killing me.

I am FREE!!! 

I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this second chance and having the opportunity and courage to do it while I am young and still have so much life to live!! 

Happy (Early) Independence Day to you all!! And may God continue to bless you in your journies!!

 

 

 

 

I saw this on the news yesterday. I am a HUGE Tom Hanks fan!! Love the man!! While watching the video (see below for link) on YouTube I noticed the old typewriters in the background and thought to myself, he must collect them. Then reading more about the video I realized this video was originally posted on his MySpace page!?! Tom Hanks has a MySpace page?!?!? Why can't he, I don't know lol! But it just seemed odd to me. Well so of course I checked out his page and what did I find in his interests, Old Manual Typewriters! Didn't know that about him. :o)

Oh, almost forgot the link.

http://www.myspace.com/tomhanks