Tuesday, December 30, 2008
boys and girls don't try this at home
seriously don't, but if you do, do the 2 things I didn't, put on a pair of gloves and have lots of paper towel within reach.

I rearranged the studio today, organised, tidied and dusted, all so I could do some scrapping, I spent 5 hours in here cleaning and Michael even vacuumed for me. So when I go to print the Christmas photos I am running low on ink. I had the two blacks I needed but not the cyan, I did have a cyan that went in the old printer..

don't I have a syringe around here somewhere for refilling ink cartridges?? oh yes look I do, I know what I will do, I will take the ink from one and put it onto the other, then I don't have to go out in the 39C (102.2F) stinking hot day to buy more ink..




This almost tops the blackberry sauce I made with salt the other day after spending an hour in the sun risking life and limb to pick the darn things... no actually that was pretty tragic.

So now I have to wait for the mats to dry before I can do anything, atleast the room is clean, but who knows how long I will be walking around with blue hands. I have tried, soap, hand cream, hand cream and eucalyptus oil and next I will try some turps.



look, my hands and my eyes match now!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
weight loss update
well I survived Christmas dinner, I was really good about portion sizes and ate really slowly. I've only shed another kilo in the last two weeks which has disappointed me a little, especially considering how little I am eating and the added exercise I am doing. I just have to remind myself that this is a long term thing, I need to take it slowly. I can really feel where the 13kg (28.6lbs) have gone from though so that makes me happy, I can really see the weight loss in the mirror if not on the scales.

In two weeks I have a fill, that is when they inject saline into the little pouches around the band to make the opening to your stomach smaller, it will be back onto liquids for a few days while I get used to it. I am mainly eating soups now and I can eat sao's (crackers). I just picked up my chewable calcium today, they aren't too bad and the multi vitamin went down fine.

The most amazing news though is that I just did my blood sugar levels and they were 5.0 two hours after a meal!!! before this operation they would have been around 12.0 I am hoping that my diabetes up and goes.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
tis the season or tra la la la laaaaaaaaaa la la la la
Today is tree trimming day.

Part of our Christmas tradition is having mum and dad come up to visit while we decorate. Back on November 29th we went out to the tree farm and selected our tree and this morning Michael went out and cut it down. This year we went for one that actually fit in the car and the house, we have had some pretty big trees over the last 4 years but this one is perfect.

While I got out and untangles the ornaments mum sat with the boys and asked them what they wanted for Christmas lunch. Riley's list is very funny, mum will make it for him too, Alec's is very predictable but I loved how she wrote it down.


I really love all the ornaments, next year I think I will pick up a few new ones but with the smaller tree we had some to spare today. We just do lights and baubles, when Michael first turned the lights on they went through their whole routines, as I don't do flashing lights very well we set them to fade which is nice and gentle on your mind.


Riley is so into Christmas, he loved decorating the house and wanted to put decorations on the tree himself.


Alec was awfully excited about mum and dad coming but wasn't sure where he fit in, he made sure everyone had stickers and played uno with Riley and dad.


Riley made sure he got plenty of Kim time and clamoured all over dad terrorising him.


Ta da!! our tree all done.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
School is finished!
Wow where has the year gone!!! It started with the usual anxieties and settled down to be a wonderful year with a few bumps but over all I am happy with it. The boys had wonderful teachers and that was the saddest thing knowing that our time with them has ended and will change, our wonderful aide Helen will be with us again next year so that is always a comfort and Alec had the same teacher in pre-primary that he will have in year two and our IEP (individual education programme) meeting was so positive I have high hopes for the new year.

They had a class Christmas party today and everyone bought a plate, I made a suggestion to Alec but he already knew what he wanted me to do... marshmallows, tiny teddy biscuits, sultanas, cheesy crackers and vegimite sandwiches, Alec's entire range of food all in the one place. We put aside a little of each for him because I have seen those kids go for food, you risk life and limb getting between them and party food so we made sure Alec wouldn't miss out.

My boys are ready for holidays and so am I, I will miss everyone but I am planning a few bbq's so we can all get together and now as of today I am excited about decorating the house on Saturday, I can't wait to get the decorations out and for the tree to arrive!
Monday, December 15, 2008
what day is it today
and what day will it be tomorrow and what week is next week called.

The constant questions of a five year old, he is obsessed with numbers right now, more so now that he has a freddo frog advent calendar. Thanks for that mum!!! Mum pleaded the grandmother and said it was her job to spoil them every morning for 24 days with a freddo frog for breakfast. The first thing out of Riley each morning is a check on which day we are having today and so far he has been right every morning. I just make sure they spend an extra 1/2 hour outside playing to work off that freddo.

Sadly Michael's mum wont be with us this year, she went to England to spend time with Michael's sister. I wasn't sure if the boys really understood that grandma wasn't coming this year and that was confirmed friday night when Riley asked what day we were going to pick up grandma. I felt really sad for them, but I am going to get Michael to set up skype so we can have some time Christmas day with the other 1/2 of the family all the way from England. He just remembers that every year grandma is here.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I survived a McDonalds birthday party
Only just!

I never knew 7 boys and their siblings could make so much noise. We sat there going.. WHAT? PARDON? WHAT WAS THAT? the noise was incredible. I treated myself to a chocolate sundae because I'm still not big on coffee and fizzy drinks give me air, you see it isn't gas but air, it sounds really weird and feels very odd.

Today we are doing a few around home things, tomorrow I will start de-constructing the studio, it needs a good clean and an organise and I really have no idea what I have anymore. Then during the week bit by bit I am going to get the house ready for Christmas decorations. I'm sure I need some more so I might have to go shopping for some new additions, you can never have too many baubles for the tree, well you can but this way you can rotate them for variety.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
first big outing
that is if you can call grocery shopping an outing, I could think of some good other things to call grocery shopping with Riley but we wont go there.

First stop was the doctor, he was pretty excited about how well I am doing, he sent me for some blood work though because we have to see if I need to take my diabetes medication or not, I'm not right now and my blood sugars are pretty good. I just hate the thought of having to take those huge tablets which means I would have to crush them and I bet they are so yummy!

One nice thing we did was go and have a coffee, so cool to be ordering the small size, I still couldn't finish it. From there I managed the spend $270 on 2 weeks groceries, atleast this week it looked and though I had that amount of groceries.

I'm tired now and my side had started to ache a little by the time I got home. For lunch I had a cup of soup and found that quiet satisfying. Only a couple more days on liquids and then I move onto puree food, I am having a few lumpy bits in my soup right now and finding those really manageable. I'm still super nervous about eating actual food, will it get stuck, will it hurt or be sharp and horror apon horror will I bring it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

School church service tonight and a birthday party tomorrow afternoon and it will also be Riley's last day of school and now we are two weeks from Christmas day!! the boys are so excited about Santa, we walked past Santa today and Riley says...

Actually mum, I just need to tell Santa sumpfink quickwy

Poor Santa is starting to get anxious, my boys are changing their minds or trying to add to their list and unfortunately for them that boat has sailed and is on its way already.
Monday, December 08, 2008
day seven and eight
comfort is still eluding me. Saturday we made the florentines for the teachers and work colleagues chrissy gifts, 120 of them! This was good as it kept me on my feet, upright seemed to be the only comfortable position I could find, I even staggered around the block a few times.


If you would like the recipe Michael has posted the recipe over at cafe grendel

The best thing happened though, my friend Kim who I hadn't seen for a few months replied to my post... she had had banding done too!!! waving to Kim!!!!! so Saturday I talked to Kim for ages on the phone, thank you so much Kim I feel so much better now, you see by day 3 I was having buyers remorse, what had I done!! was I bloody crazy, I had ruined my life, I was cancelling Christmas, swimming lessons and our trip to Busselton! That is my coping mechanism, cancel everything and withdraw. Now I am on track and looking forward to moving forwards and going clothes shopping in a month or so!! my clothes are loose and I will just have to hitch them up all day for the time being but I might treat myself before we go on holiday.

So Sunday we even went shopping, I love Sunday trading we so need it all the time. I picked up everything on sale with 30-40% off everything I bought, my kind of shopping. I bought some new sheets for the boys beds, some red quilt covers to match their red pirate wall and lots of nice comfy play shorts for them. Then last night I finally got a good sleep, it took lots of pillows but it worked, today we are off to Riley's final session of Gymbaroo, I can't believe school will be over in a week and a half, Alec woke up at 7:40 this morning, they are getting tired.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
days zero to six
well here I am, this is the first day I have been coordinated enough to type or use the computer. Sleep has been terrible, I think most of it is just the hang over from the anaesthetic. I've been pretty pain free until last night when I had to get up and take a tramadol, all my incisions were aching.

You see on Monday December 1st I had gastric banding surgery.

I put a lot of thought into this over a good 12 months, then when I got my appointment with the surgeon it seemed to take forever, then suddenly all my appointments were done and I had started the 2 week diet before the operation, I had a type of optifast shake meal replacement thing, it was quiet yummy I just got mine from the chemist because everyone (even the surgeon) said optifast was revolting.

So from a start weight of 130kg between the shakes and the operation I am now 118kg, 12 kilos lighter with 48 to go!

The whole hospital visit was uncomfortable, for a private hospital they were pretty average, I was put in a rock solid winding bed, thankfully I had a great night nurse, she got me a new bed at midnight, then come morning she pinched me a big lounge chair from maternity. I made good use of my buzzer, you see they had to take the leg pumps off and disconnect the drip every time I needed the loo, which was about every two hours. 9:30am a cowboy of an orderly pushed me through the main lobby of the hospital in a gaping gown for a swallow test, I hadn't even been allowed a sip of water. The barium was bitter and revolting but I wanted that test done so I could go home. A glass of water kept down for an hour and I was free to go. Unfortunately all the dehydration had given me a migraine so it was home to bed for me.

Each day I have improved, I might be able to read a book today, yesterday I did a little laundry and cleaned the boys room using the picker uppers. Today we are making Florentines for teacher gifts and even though sleep still is a little strange I feel a lot better.

I am on liquids for another week then I start on soft food. This is a second chance for me, I owed it to myself and my children to be here, each day I am feeling better about this decision.

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