martitalinda

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After years of PRAYING and losing hope with my adult kids not ready to settle down .. my daughter focused on travel and career and my artsy fartsy dufus and lovable son not ready to settle down CUPID hit! love like I have seen no other ensued ... and before you know it this here OH sista is going to be a grandma..... wait for it.... pinch me!!! TO IDENTICAL MONOCHORIONIC/DIAMNIOTIC TWINS..... I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo HAPPY!!!! 

Panama/USA/Russia all merged into two identical bundles of love ... identical twins ... either two girls or two boys we won't know their sexes until next month ... ohhhhhhhhh I am so hoping for girls ... there are 4 sets of identical twin girls in my family starting with my mom and her three brothers ... and now my very own son is having identical twins...

Is this related to Weight Loss Surgery???it is! it is! it is!!!!! I have health and mobility and 5 co-morbidities in remission and energy to spare ... hoping for longevity to live this dream ... I can't wait for them to come into this world....

Ultrasound pictures of my GrandTwins!!! I am soooooooooooo happy ... I asked for one and now the portion has doubled..... DOUBLED BLESSINGS!!!

 

My son and his BEAUTIFUL Russian bride ...cupid hit and they mutually fell in love and are inseparable ... she was adopted by an American family at the age of 9 along with her brother by and American family and has been in the USA since -this country is her home ... unfortunately she lost her adoptive parent to heart disease and her brother shortly thereafter just a couple years ago (may they RIP)...she is so happy to be in our family and we have all embraced her as one of ours... My heart swelled when without prompting she called me mom and called my beautiful DD her sister.  She loves my son and he loves her all the much back ... and I love her like one of my own ... and I love love love my grandbabies to come ... two for one ... PINCH ME!!!

Me and my DIL on Friday looking at the ultrasound pics ... and ROFL at the Jean-Louis big heads showing already LOL....

 

 

 

My son and his beautiful wife..

 

THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY.... OMG I am going to be a grandma FINALLY!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY and I get 2 in one shot ... ohhhhhhhhhhh PINCH ME!!!!

Today marks 7 years 9 months since my RNY gastric bypass surgery ... it feels like it was just yesterday that I was being wheeled into the OR ... the same excitement of getting up each day minus 5 co-morbidities and any obesity related diseases ... health and mobility as I look forward to becoming a grandma for the very first time .... I ran a 10K and a 20K over the past weekend ... health and mobility in an old arse like me ... yes I am celebrating my monthly surgiversay and I love the goofy terminology too....

Soooooooo happy for another brand new day in which to celebrate life and joy with all life's challenges and blessings... from the beginning I tracked it all in my digital empowerment journal "A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches Away"...

Thank you OH for allowing me to share SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY...

Enjoying my 2nd litter of awesome toy poodles ... the white one, Bentley, is going to an awesome OH sista who I met at an OH Event in Long Island, Darice Blackman.... I have twelve old weeks to love them up LOL....

September is a special month for our family indeed ... it is the month of celebrating the kidney that was flown via LifeStar all the way from Kentucky to safe my husband's life.... it is the month that we continue celebrating our anniversary of commitment and dedication to each other ... 25 years married, 29 years together and we make it last ... and to make it more special yet .... we HAVE ANOTHER SEPTEMBER CELEBRATION....

ON FRIDAY OUR SON EXCHANGED HIS OWN VOWS OF LOVE AND DEDICATION TO HIS BEAUTIFUL BRIDE ... the Justice of the Peace came to the house and in a simple lovely ceremony they were wed ... my little boy now a loving husband and responsible man ... YIKES he is 30 and I am old LOL.... ...They will have their wedding in the church in a couple months as we arrange for family on both sides to travel...

I am soooooooooooooooooo HAPPY .... I love to hear them plan and map their future out together ... two hearts that beat as one and a third one on the way ... my very own and very first grand... and yes I made that dress...

Wishing love and blessings to my Kenny and Emmie ... they have a long journey ahead and many many challenges to tackle ... I have love and hope and faith and as much love for them as they have for each other to wish them the best and give them my 100% support as long as there is breath in my body...

To think that my son was my ring bearer when I married my Al 25 years ago ... my son also walked me down the aisle at my vow reaffirmation ceremony 18 months after my RNY .... and I get to be the loving... goofy ... stern yet friendly and totally supportive mom ... 

I am forever grateful for my family and friends and for OH for providing the space where I could share and track SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY... I love my RNY .... I got to be a fat bride 25 years ago and a more slender bride at my reaffirmation ceremony 18 months post op...

Today I am in perfect health and fit and ohhhhhhh so looking forward to being a grandma ... I thought it would never happen for me and it did ... and I am ready ... 

This is me today... 7 years and almost 8 months post-op .... I am embracing Joy and making it happen to me .... Thanks for allowing me to share SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY!!!

My best NSV ever .... I am going to be a grandma … a real one… FINALLY …Married by the justice of peace next week with church wedding to follow in December allowing my family time to come up from Panama…. as my only son prepares to be a loving and responsible husband and wonderful father I am doing cartwheels … I AM A NANA …. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM A NANA.... A NANA..... A NANA..... I AM OH Sooooooooooooo happy for Kenny and Emmie, my new daughter…

This is my BEST NSV ever .... I thought it would never happen for me but it is soooooooooooooooo happening and I am so grateful for my AWESOME tool and my decision to follow through with WLS 7 years and 7 months ago and sticking to it and maintaining seamlessly for life ... I can run and play and be a healthy nana for my first grandbaby I am soooooooooooooooo happy I am totally goofier than ever....

Best wishes to my son and my new daughter ...

and me? I forgot to post on my 7 year 7 month out monthly surgiversary ... go figure ... but it is never too late ... I am in Maintenance... with NO REGAIN ... feeling healthy and strong .... and counting my blessings and looking forward to the beautiful grandbaby to come ... 

 

This is me today compared to before my RNY surgery on 2/5/2007

 

and on Sunday before I hit the pavement in a 20K run... its my life, its my journey, I am owning it and loving it .... 

 

Loving my journey...  I did my fave accountability routine getting into duds I wore at 2-3 and even 6 years ago tracking my weight loss maintenance for the same fit at my lowest weight and TODAY!!

On 8/5/14, two days ago, I celebrated 7 years and 6 months since my weight loss surgery... I am in maintenance keeping 203 pounds off with no regain... only fighting the occassional puffiness in my arms since my modified brachioplasty I am good to go ... fit and healthy and in maintenance I got rid of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux, sleep apnea, diabetes and secondary pulmonary htn... my joints are totally grateful and I no longer wheeze and sputter and cough and get out of breath on exertion ...best decision I made for ME! tired of yo-yo diets and morbid obesity and five co-morbidities I took a risk... and I am NOT GOING BACK! I am forever grateful to my sister Mela R.I.P. for encouraging me to track my journey in a picture a day .. it definitely keeps the pounds and inches away ... I can feel it.. I can see it ... well sometimes since dysmorphia is still alive and messes with my mind at times I still see the fat lady in the mirror ... after all that woman is still me ... my heart is still the same in a smaller frame .....

This is me today and before surgery in a comparison collage... my pup Leo one of my 5 toy poodles hopped in my pocketbook for pics too...    

My joints freed from weight enjoy walking, running, jogging, swimming, dancing you name it... what is better than a train ride into the city with my DD for an awesome day of fun??? with 0 joint pain or SOB on exertion... I love it...  

Hanging out in Manhattan with my DD ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Big Apple...

 

 

 

  Enjoying a concert on the Green... Salt and Peppa rocked!

 enjoying twin dresses same size with DS and GF ... goofy LOL  

Loving my journey today...

 

 as much as I did yesterday...  

 

the difference? HEALTH AND MOBILITY ... I refuse to go back  if  I can help it... I am pressing on ... for LIFE!  

Thanks for allowing me to share .... SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY!  

I am holding steadfast ... living life in health and mobility since my gastric bypass surgery ... I am forever grateful for the awesomeness of living life minus five co-morbidities all related to morbid obesity ... of being able to run a 20K and still getting up early for a stroll along the beach with my puppies ... I am celebrating this awesome tool today, 7 years and 5 months later as if it just happened yesterday .... Maintaining a total loss of 203 pounds and loving it ... 

 

and me today 7 years and 5 months after my RNY surgery ... happy as a lark ... living life with health, mobility and love for self and others ... it starts within...

Yes, the time of the month when I look at the calendar and realize it is the monthly anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery 7 years and 4 months ago today ... it is my Monthly Surgiversary WOOT! and I do celebrate ...

I celebrate the day I took a risk and signed and INFORMED consent and lay under the scalpel and took my life back from morbid-obesity and 5 co-morbidities determined to get the monkey of yo-yo dieting and satiety issues off my back ... determined to run again... determined to be healthy again ...

I was forewarned that this remedy was not a magic bullet and that it takes two to tango if I wanted to make it work ... and I was ready for the dance ...  with just a few rules and an incentive towards health and mobility I was good to go ... 7 years and 4 months later I am still going and am not letting go ... #determined .... and unless circumstances out of my control arise I KNOW that I AM NOT GOING BACK!!!

These are snippets of my journey ... it is MY STORY and no one can tell it like I can ... I share to encourage myself and maybe someone else just like I myself have been so encouraged by all you posters on her as I fend off the demon of morbid obesity one day, one choice, one picture at a time ... I am in it for me and my good health trickles down and benefits my family and friends and community ... I am more than a survivor... I am an overcomer .... and I am moving forward sometimes with a prayer and a press ... sometimes hanging in by the skin on my teeth ... always knowing that should I fall I will get up ... and once again start over ... 

Thanks for allowing me to share .... Have a HAPPY THURSDAY everyone!!!!

This is my today's entry in my digital empowerment journal A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches Away ... an empiric tool that my dearest sister Mela (RIP) suggested I do at the start of my journey ... a goofy and fun tool that works FOR ME!!!! Thanks for allowing me to share....

 

Having a boxing lesson teaching my wee toy poodles to walk on a leash LOL

You, I, we are phenomenal women indeed.  YOU WILL BE MISSED!!! in my heart and memory I have a keepsake my favorite poetry written by you...

Phenomenal Woman

BY MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size  

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,  

The stride of my step,  

The curl of my lips.  

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,  

That’s me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,  

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.  

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.   

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,  

And the flash of my teeth,  

The swing in my waist,  

And the joy in my feet.  

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

Men themselves have wondered  

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,  

They say they still can’t see.  

I say,

It’s in the arch of my back,  

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.  

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.  

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,  

The bend of my hair,  

the palm of my hand,  

The need for my care.  

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

 

That’s me. 

 

This is my favorite poem written by an awesome phenomenal women who has departed today.  RIP my beautiful sista ... you will live on phenomenally indeed...

What an inspiration this poem was/is on my life journey .... I too am phenomenally made indeed....

I received the most precious gift ever,  an awesome Pollera Tiriada,  one of my native country's national folkloric dresses complete with tembleques, the head adornments, which was sent to me via my niece upon returning to the USA this past Wednesday to receive her second Master's at U of Buffalo on Friday.   This pollera is one of my departed sister Dr. Maria Carmela's awesome collection.  Maria Carmela, Mela to all danced and was a very active participant in a Conjunto Típico, a panamanian folkloric group which was her favorite passtime away from her job as the Chief of Intensive Care at the Children's Hospital in Panamá.  Her awesome and very expensive collection of polleras and montunas were willed to my sister Rosita, myself and her nieces my daughter included.  The dresses are bulky and heavy and I was sooooooooooooooo surprised at the beautiful gift sent to me by my sister Rosita with my niece ... Mela's Pollera Tiriada ... OMG... it was like Christmas in May...

This is a downloaded picture of a Panamanian Pollera Tiriada for reference...

This is me on yesterday so honored to wear my eldest sister's awesome and totally adjustable pollera tiriada panameña.. I slipped right into it and donned the braids and the tembleques like it was just yesterday that I wore a pollera with the tembleques my mom would make ... it was like second nature ... I remembered... because my roots are still there... my heart never left ... 

Putting on my Pollera Tiriada and taking pictures in it yesterday was such an awesome feeling and an awesome NSV ... I would have never been able to carry it off wearing one of my sister's dresses at my highest weight of 327 pounds ...I was the ONLY morbid obese person in my immediate family...  It also made me happy because on Mother's Day I made a pollera for the doll I made with poured porcelain and my kiln in remembrance of my mom ... inspired by that my sister paid extra to send the heavy, bulky pollera up with my niece ... and I love it....

This is my mom (RIP) wearing a Pollera Montuna .. another version of the Panamenian Pollera...

 This is the doll I made with a mold and poured porcelain ... I fired up my kiln and shared her months ago but for Mother's Day I made her a pollera ... My Dedes doll.. Dedes was what we called our mom María Mercedes ... she was unique and special and the love of our lives ... she sewed ALL of our clothes... a stay home mom we were the center of her life ... like her I have met no other.... to this day I miss my mom .... she worried sick about my morbid obesity and did not live to see me lose it all and keep it off but I think from wherever she is she sees me and encourages me to press on.... I was so inspired to make a pollera for the porcelain doll and made in her liking...

 

And I made a collage of all four of us, my Mom and my sisters in order of birth ... all four of us in Polleras .... EMPOLLERADAS.... it made me soooooooooooooooooooo happy to once again wear my Pollera and YES!!! I am looking for a panamanian folklore dance group to join ..in the meantime I danced tamborito and mejorana right here at home....

Collage my mom and my sister Mela (RIP) at the top and myself and my sister Rosita on the bottom - both of us wearing Mela's awesome polleras...

I am so inspired by this ... no one knows but me how much my mom and my eldest sister were such great influence on my life pre and post weight loss surgery.  My sister Mela was my angel and it was her idea that I track my weightloss journey in a picture journal "A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches Away" ... 

At 7 years and 3 months post RNY I am maintaining a total loss of 203 pounds and a clean bill of health with perfect labs and stamina and endurance for my age ... I am grateful for an awesome tool and the awesome space that OH provides where I can share SNIPPETS OF MY JOURNEY!!! Thank you ALL!!! and have a lovely Sunday!!!!

My BEFORE....

MY NOW...

THANKS FOR ALLOWING ME TO SHARE!!!! Food for thought seeds and weeds share by my awesome friend Darice:"Your life is your garden, your thoughts are your seeds, if your life isn't awesome, you've been watering the weeds. Word to the wise get rid of those weeds!! "

I REFUSE TO FORGET!...and I won't ... yesterday was my monthly surgery anniversary ... 7 years and 3 months and holding strong ... 5 co-morbidities in remission and 203 pounds gone and never coming back as long as I am in control ... I am doing ME ... and loving it ... and I track it all in my digital empowerment journal "A picture a day keeps the pounds and the inches away" I can see it... I can feel it ... and I own it! its fun and I am loving my journey with health and mobility .. so grateful for my awesome tool ..

I felt SPRING finally and dressed for it this morning and off to work I went ... 

 I gave my awesome toy poodle puppies 7 weeks old now a great big hug

Had an awesome cup of Café con Leche at my desk .... ahhhhhhh COFFEE....

 and for lunch today I had blackened Tilapia with a handful of my fave dried cranberries and a peach for snack later.... YUM!

yesterday I could not wait to get home, done some shorts and hang out with my family and furry babies while DH fired up the grill.. and I found a dress that I had flung in my closet and left forgotten and put it on for a perfect fit on my monthly surgiversary ... but quickly decided it does nothing for me LOL...

 Loving my journey and loving my puppies .... grateful for a space on OH to share my journey....

 

I keep my fingers and my hands busy on fun things ... besides petting my awesome furry babies I love love love to sew ... and to paint... and arts and crafts and anything creative.... Sunday was no different ... I had the urge to paint and painted my friend Lastenia's poodle Marley and my sister Rosita's mini pin Nahla and her poodle Chiqui ... my daughter will be bringing them with her to U of Buffalo to my nieces graduation getting her Master's and she in turn will deliver it to them in Panama..

This is my painting of Nahla and Chiqui .. using heavy acrylic on canvas...

  and this is my painting of Marley... using heavy artist acrylic on canvas

and the best yet was my little twinkies felt grass under their lil paws for the VERY first time..

 

SOOOOOOOOOOO grateful to OH for allowing me to share SNIPPETS of my journey ... and another goofy post ... There is joy and there is misery in equal measures in this world ... I am embracing joy and making it happen to me ... of course there is misery... but I am NOT letting it in .... Forever grateful to my friend Mary for these awesome words she shared with me and forever grateful to my sister Maria Carmela (Mela) R.I.P. for suggesting I track my journey a picture a day...