Thursday January 4, 2017

Weight 116.4, calories 1032. We are supposed to get a big blizzard today (though snow will be mixed with rain here on Cape Cod). We have a generator that goes on automatically so even if power goes out so we will be warm. BUT, we are supposed to fly out of Boston at 11:15 am tomorrow. We need to be able to get on the road at 8:30 am tomorrow morning which could be a problem. IF we don't have too much snow and the highways are taken care of quickly we could be fine, but this is very nerve-wracking. I wouldn't mind changing to a flight over the weekend but right now Jetblue is only allowing changes for today's flights. I hate this kind of uncertainty.

ETA: 10 good things about me (I'm not sure I love this list... In re-reading it, it is the physical ones I filled it with that I think should be replaced - 1 & 7, maybe 3 - have I mentioned that I can be a bit of a perfectionist which is both a pro and con?):

1. Have good hair
2. Am good at setting and achieving goals external to myself
3. Am good at decorating my home
4. Would do most anything for my children. If I could have taken eldest DD's place I would have
5. Am smart
6. Treat my pets as family members
7. Dress well
8. Have a "can do" attitude
9. Don't hold a grudge for long
10. Am a logical thinker

Have a thoughtful Thursday!

Ten Good Things About Me:

Insightful

Spiritual

Tenacious

Wise leader

Healthy

Honest

Lifelong learner

Loving

Creative

Nurturer

That wasn't easy...which means I needed to do it ! Dangerously frigid here. We're not getting the blizzard conditions Liz is, but night time temperatures negative 30 to negative 40 and day time in the negative teens for the next few days.

The lure of vegetables is strong. There was left over spaghetti squash I planned to add some protein to for lunch. It looked and smelled so good after I heated it, I forgot the protein. An hour later, I had the unanticipated opportunity to go out to lunch, and had ham vegetable soup and picked at part of a turkey wrap. Note to self: eating under my sleeve is much harder when it's not protein first AND the liquid in soup is difficult to judge.

JFDI... my body and mind are craving more regular physical activity. Today: framework for activity routine... beyond staying warm !! Nice job on that diagram, Devon !

Weight: 132.0
Macros: cals - 1,438, carbs - 150, fats - 38, protein 103, fiber 17
Veggies/Fruits (goal 8): 9 !
Sleep (goal 8 hours): 5.5
Exercise: Aquarobics

It must have been National Poop Day, because I joined the rest of you who were setting some new personal bests. I have never been so fascinated with poop as I have been post-op.

Veggies yesterday were so good - for lunch it was oven-grilled sweet mini peppers, cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce (in a Southwestern chicken salad). For dinner it was more tomatoes, onion, lettuce with a vegetarian spicy black bean veggie burger, which we discovered when DSD was here for Christmas; turns out veggie burgers aren't bad at all! And later in the evening I ate two big cups of black seedless grapes, which currently are our favorite grapes.

Hubby really felt quite good yesterday after his hydration/steroid infusion. It was a good day for us both.

Yesterday morning's aquarobics class felt like receiving a late Christmas present; I was so grateful to be back in the pool. Afterward I had a training session with a brilliant physical therapist who's working with me to move my body in ways that better support and strengthen my 72-year-old knees, rather than in the ways I've learned to avoid hurting my knees but that continue to weaken them. Yoda's instruction is tough: "You must unlearn what you have learned."

Last night, while waiting for our niece to get off work and come out here to spend the night before our shopping extravaganza to The Big City today, I watched the Tina Fey movie, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." I was blown away by a line uttered at the end of the movie: "You embrace the suck. You move the **** forward. What other choice do we have?" I interpreted this NOT as avoiding feeling the feels, but embracing the feels and still moving forward. It seemed eminently sensible and liberating advice.

But first, I'm going to embrace a lot more coffee!

Today I'm seconding Devon's theme: Follow through!

P.S. This morning I'm seeing each of you in my mind's eye as you address today's challenges and opportunities of all magnitudes.

Wow so much going on today already!

I'll have to check back in at work.

Weight: 181.8

Yesterday's u/s and appointment went well. Surprisingly well. Nugget is in 72nd percentile for estimated weight. Her little (big) belly puts her ahead. I'm a little worried her head is behind but I guess it's just a guesstimate and not concerningly low--just in comparison to her belly is it smaller! Her estimated weight is 3lbs. 11 oz. already. And I'm not even 31 weeks yet. Wow. So I guess my stomach size is not indicative of hers!

I think I mentioned the naming thing here already. It's tough. DH and I have really begun to identify Nugget as Rebecca Kathryn. We've been very open with the stepkids especially about this name and been pretty sold since Thanksgiving (although top contender since we found out gender). It was only my sister's mean, off-handed comment that caused me to urge DH to ask DSD if the middle name Kathryn was too close to her first name, Katelyn. She politely admitted it was "very similar." And she's uneasy about it. DH wanted to go ahead and use Kathryn but I feel like now that we've asked, it's hard to disregard. Ugh. The good news is I don't think DSD is intentionally trying to use this to stir up drama or get attention. If she had, she would've said it earlier. But I'll agree with DH that I wonder if it's something that she won't really care about in a couple months and yet we've changed the name because of it. (this is exactly how DSD ended up with her name--MIL threw a fit about the proposed name, and yet recently when DH mentioned that "awful" name as a contender for Nugget, she said "that's a lovely name") Trying to go through names last night was kind of disappointing because it's just not the same as the lovely name we'd already chosen :( But currently I'm thinking Rebecca Rose (advantage is her monogram will always be lovely!), Rebecca Jane. Maybe even revisiting Charlotte, although I think both of us now think Nugget is a Becca. Silly stuff. I'm sure it'll be lovely on her, whatever it is.

GSD here yesterday. Both trees are down, ornaments off, and trees are up, other boxes waiting to be filled and put away. It's simultaneously a relief and kind of depressing. My house always feels so barren after the holidays. I'm glad this year to have a baby to look forward to because January-March is always my least favorite time of the year. While I do like setting goals and resolutions and having a clean slate, it's just such a weird time of year without all the busyness of football and fall or summer activities.

I wanted to name our first born Todd. My SIL pitched a fit because she wanted to name her kid Todd. She wasn't even pregnant and she ended up having girls. When DW found out she said well it doesn't mater I do not like the name Todd anyway. LOL

No weight today. Didn't feel like getting out of my warm jammies to get the nekkid weight!

I didn't get formal exercise in yesterday but got a ****load of cleaning done, so that should count for something!

Wanna hear something funny? JFDI was in my dream last night. Not sure exactly what is was pertaining to (I think maybe dating???) but the actual letters were in my dream and I woke up for something and made a mental note to remember that to share with you all today!

DS#3 is home sick today - fever and upper respiratory crap. DS#1 still has diarrhea (2 weeks now - yuck!) He has an appointment scheduled next week. Need to go and get him a probiotic as well. Ben also has a respiratory illness with a lot of coughing and that and his chemo yesterday left him sleepless last night.

I brought home some pictures (from his Mom's house) of Ben from when he was a kid. Scanned them into the computer last night. I have some more that we have here to scan in too so they can be part of a "Celebration of Life" slideshow when the time comes. I don't think I went digital until the early 2,000s. Odd to think about, but as much of that stuff as I can get done now, the better. Perhaps he might even benefit from seeing some of the ways we will be remembering/honoring him. Too bad that one of the best parties thrown for you is one you can't attend!

New phone and new furniture should both arrive today. Yay!

Smooches and Hugs!

We had slides for a lot of trips with our older children. We did a slideshow with all the kids on eldest DD's last fully coherent day (obviously we didn't know that it was going to be but we knew she had a few weeks left at most. She died about a week later.).

Greetings Maintenance Besties

144 today. Down a pound. My reward for resisting the cranberry nut bread that still lurks. We had soup and Canadian bacon for dinner last night. Most satisfying.

Liz and Diane O, I thought of you when the news came on last night about the "weather bomb" or whatever they are calling this big storm. Not good and even worse if you have travel plans. Stay safe and warm.

Its fun to read everyone's "top 10" list. Glad to see we are all smart and funny. This exercise reminds me of another list we did many years ago. A friend and I were having one of our discussions about weight and fat and our struggles. I said something like "well I guess there are worse things than being fat". She said "name 10". So I did - things like being a bigot, being seriously ill, being homeless etc etc. It just puts it in perspective. Like Devon's sketch which has all the important themes of life and does not have a picture of a scale.

Paula so sorry there are so many sniffles and other symptoms in your household. We hope everyone feels better soon. Time for chicken soup. And good on you for organizing the pictures. Your family will enjoy that. We did that for my mom and I wi**** could have been sooner so she could have seen it. BB you should do that so you little Nugget can see it growing up.

Well Ann, take care of those knees. Embrace them along with coffee! (speaking of which. . . . ..).

BB, the name games! I still think you should name your girl as you choose and not worry about what the family thinks. Its for a life time and the others will get over it. Yep, this is not a favorite time of year for us either but you have such a fun event to look forward to. So glad your Nugget is progressing well. Thats the main thing.

Today is my favorite type of day meaning my computer tells me "You have no events scheduled for today". Of course there is the endless grocery shopping, laundry, studio chores and so forth. I always hated feeling over-scheduled in my real world job days. As I sit here I am trying to rationalize delaying the big grocery store trip. JFDI.

Well not much else to report here. Now about that coffee. . . . . . Diane S

Weight 164, calories terrible

It's still good morning here for another 20 minutes! I don't know what was going on with me yesterday, but good gosh did I eat a lot. More calories than I think I've had since surgery. It scares me that I still have the ability to do that to myself. It's still less than what got me to my high weight, but it's enough to regain if I did it all the time. I don't think there were any emotional issues going on - things are good at the moment - but it happened nevertheless.

This afternoon I'm doing another hike. At least that might burn off a small fraction of yesterday...

I had several of those kind of days in early maintenance too. I would weigh the next day and get back on the wagon. They got further and further apart over the last 13 months of maintenance as I have gotten more into a routine I think. I believe that keeping up the good habits learned during Post-WLS weight loss and after makes it less likely for old habits to creep back. It's one reason I always track (except for possibly 3-4 holiday days) and I always weigh even after a big eating day. The weighing gives me a mental reset (getting me back on that wagon).