Band Stuff

I haven't posted much about my band lately, I suppose I probably should, huh?

I got a .6 cc fill on Monday, which would be my 5th. That brings me up to about 6.4 cc in my 10 cc band. I'm just a few weeks shy of 6 months post op.

Let me tell you, this band is freakin' amazing when you have the right restriction. You'll recall that I was visiting my original surgeon in Denver for my first 3 fills, and he was sort of being a weiner about it and didn't want to be too aggressive. So, mainly for the reasons of convenience, I found a local doc. My first appointment with him didn't go really lovely (click here), but it's all turned out fine, so I went back to him Monday (and plan to continue to go back). But this doc is willing to be more aggressive because I am local, and could see him quickly in case of an overfill.

That all being said, I think I can safely say that I didn't really experience any restriction until my 4th fill that I had done locally. And let me tell you, it was like I could hear a choir behind me as the light finally turned on. So THIS is how the lapband works!?!?! Huh. I now see why the bloggers I'm following are losing weight!!! Now I can finally weight, too!!!! AND, I don't have to beat myself up about it any more, because I literally HAD NO HELP. How every exciting!!!! Liberating, too.

So this 5th fill has been just as awesome as the 4th. Granted, it's only 2 days old, but I love it. Yesterday, I was on liquids (I was still within the first 24 hours after a fill) until about 1 pm. I had stretched (not cheated!) the rules and had a really soupy 1/3 of a baked potato around 11 am and about 4 bites of mac and cheese in the early afternoon. We went out to Chinese buffet for supper with my in-laws last night. I had 3 small crab rangoons, about 1/2 an eggroll, and about 3 bites of various flavored chicken pieces. It was delicious, and I was absolutely filled when I left. Before bed, I had a protein malt, which, as always, was delicious.

Today is my second full day on this fill, and it's shaping up to be great. I'm just not that hungry. When I am, 4 bites gets me to a satisfied, no longer hungry state, and about another 3 or 4 bites gets me to a full, do not want another bite state.

Oh, one other thing - I had my first PB this last weekend. We had went to a band demonstration at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln (Go Huskers!), and it was flippin' hot. As usual, we forgot to get cash, so we had no means of getting a beverage. So, we sat outside and sweated for 3 hours before we could leave and get something to drink. When we finally got some water, we grabbed some snacks, too. Well, I had eaten some pretzels and then took a swig of water, which turned out to be to big/too soon. I knew it wasn't going to go down, cause I'd never felt that sort of pain before. I had to PB it back up whilst in the car, into a plastic grocery sack. My poor hubby felt horrible, because there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, my two kids in the back seat were too engrossed in their movie to notice Mommy was feeling sick. Plus, the whole process only lasted about 3 minutes, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Anyways, I guess I've joined the PB club. I don't plan on participating much, sorry.

So that's my band news. Yay!

The Halloween Costumes!

WARNING! Lots of pics!!!

So for those of you who don't know, I like to sew. I was never taught, just sort of figured it out on my own by jumping in to a pattern about a year ago. I googled a LOT of stuff, and watched a lot of youtube. I've done various things over the last year, mostly for my two little girls, age 3 and 4. Having them to dress up makes this hobby really fun. Plus, it's a reasonably priced hobby. All the materials for both of these costumes cost me about $40. As I get better at doing this, I don't have to buy extra fabric to cover for mistakes, so that saves me money, too. I don't have pics of the back of the costumes because they don't have zippers yet. I'm going to wait to put those in until closer to Halloween, so that way they won't outgrow them in the next 2 months.

Anyway, on to the pics!

I'll start with Karina, my 3 yo. She picked out this pattern, and calls herself a Fairy Tale Girl when she has it on. The pattern shows a blue dress, so she was convinced she had to be blue, but when we went to pick out the fabric, she decided on this hot pink. I like it, it's a good color for her. This one was pretty basic, just a dress. The skirt has 3 layers - a cotton underskirt, one white tulle overskirt, and one pink tulle overskirt. She has 35 linear feet of tulle in her skirt, so it's pretty poofy. The sleeves were more complicated than I'd ever done, but easy enough to put together.

Overall pic of Fairy Tale Girl:


A closer up of the midsection:


Side view:


A matching pointy hat with flowy scarf. I haven't decided if I want to keep attaching this to her head with bobby pins as shown in the pic, or if I want to put a chin strap on it. Thoughts?


Close up of the bodice:


A close up of the puffy sleeve detail:



On to Gabby, my 4 yo. She is Little Bo Peep (she calls it Little Bo Pee!) This one was a bit more complicated, but just because it has lots of pieces - dress, apron, pants and bonnet. We need to track down a shepherd's hook for this one - in the pics, she's posing with a curtain rod (her idea). I don't have the sheep costume done for the dog yet, I can't find the right type of fur. Hopefully I can come up with something. She looks grumpy in the pics - she's not, she's just trying to pose.

Overall pic of Little Bo Peep:


Close up of the laced up bodice:


The bonnet. I really like the ribbon that ties by her ear:


Sleeve flounce, close up of apron:


View from below. You can see how the pants work in this pic. When it gets closer, I might take the skirt up an inch or two so you can see the pants better. I'll just have to see how much she grows in the next two months:


Better view of the pants. They have 4 layers of the eyelet trim around each pant leg. These are the first pants I've made, they actually were pretty easy. I don't even want to think about how dirty the bottoms of these are going to get while trick-or-treating, but that's the point, right?


Side view. The bodice has all sorts of dimension:


Looking off into the distance. I like this pic because her whole costume is blowing in the breeze and you can see how it all moves. Plus, she sort of looks like a real shepherd looking over her pastures!


A close up of the eyelet lace. This costume had 10 freakin' yards of this trim, so I stared at it A LOT. I think it looks like smiley faces.


So that's our Halloween costumes. I really, really love doing this. I wish Halloween came 6 times a year, I'd make costumes for all of them! Maybe when they get into school we'll have a need for more costumes. And, we do get a lot of wear out of these - we have a Halloween party at school, a Halloween part at our house with lots of little friends, the actual holiday, and then we take them when we go to see our grandparents and such. And then, after the festivities, the costumes go in the dress up closet, where they get plenty of use. Anyway, I love doing this. And to think, when Gabby was set on my tummy as the doc shouts, "It's a girl!!", I thought to myself, "I'm not gonna have the slightest idea what to do with a girl cause I'm a total tomboy." I guess I've figured it out over the years.

Thanks for listening to my non-band rambling!

I'm still here!

Holy hell, it's been a long time since I posted! This newborn baby in my house sure is taking up a buttload of my free time, previously spent on blogging. Plus, the weekends have been really busy!

A couple quick updates:

-I went camping with my family and my in-laws last weekend. They know I have a band, but they don't understand the logistics, nor do they care to ask. I had to tell them I couldn't really eat bread (especially at breakfast time), and they said, "WHY?" I told them I couldn't swallow it. They said, "Have you always been that way?" Of course not, dummies. Well, they say, "Why can't you swallow it?" Um, because I have a band?!?! Remember this big surgery that I had a few months back where you kept my kids for 4 days?!?!? Yeah, it affects what I can eat. Maybe you should look into it.

-I didn't get the job I applied and interviewed for. It was a supervisor position, and would have been absolutely perfect. I was really bummed. Still am, actually. But, I'll keep applying, I guess. I interviewed for another one last week, but haven't heard anything on that one.

-I finished my girls' Halloween costumes last week. They're freakin' adorable. I'm getting pretty fast at it, I got the "Fairy Tale Girl" (that's what my 3 yo calls it) done in a day, and Little Bo Peep took me about a day and a half. They're coming out with fewer and fewer mistakes, too. I'm definitely getting better. I'll post pics ASAP.

-We stayed home this past weekend. I don't know why we don't do this more often - we all get lots of sleep, and we get a ton of stuff done around the house. I guess we're just too busy, so we're always away from the house on the weekends, staying some place else. This next weekend we'll be home again. I'm looking forward to it.

-I'm going in for my 5th fill today. I'm currently at 5.8 cc in my 10 cc band. I did not have any real restriction until my 4th fill about 5 weeks ago. In that time, I lost about 10 lbs, but have definitely stalled out over the last two weeks or so. We'll see what today brings.

I guess that's about all for now!

Just a couple little things.

Should I join the bullet craze? Perhaps I will:

-I had my interview yesterday. I think it went pretty well. One little piece of excellent news is that this team is now hiring TWO supervisors instead of just the one that I applied for. The team is made up of a manager, 4 supervisors, and about 100 team members. The 4 supervisors' teams are starting to get a too big, so that's why they're adding this 5th supervisor position that I applied for. BUT, after I'd already talked to HR and set up my interview, one of the current 4 supervisors put in his resignation. So, they have to hire 2 positions now, so they're just going to pick 2 candidates from this particular applicant pool instead of doing the whole thing all over again. Basically, better chances for me!

-I have my 5th fill scheduled for Aug 23rd because my weight loss had really slowed down, but then today I lost 1/2 lb. I don't know. I'm still going to keep the appointment. Maybe I'll just get a baby fill.

-I have a 3 year old that loves to learn new words. It doesn't phase her a bit if it happens to have 4 syllables, she loves new words. The other day, she asked me why it is that cars get smaller when they get farther away. I told her that's called, "perspective." I mean, if she's going to ask, I might as well teach her, right? So now she's been going around telling everyone that when they see a car get smaller as it gets farther away, that's called, "perspective." Let me tell you, I've gotten some shocked looks when these words come out of my 3 year old. The other day, hubby took the girls swimming at our local indoor pool, and she asked what the sign next to the hot tub says. Hubby says, "Spa Regulations." She goes, "Yeah. Spa Egg Relations." She came home and continued to tell me about it. It was pretty cute.

-It's flipping hot here. The air temp is like 97 or so, but with humidity, the heat index is nearing 120. HOT. I live in an old house, so my AC can't keep up. By about 4 pm on these hot days, even with the AC running all the time, it gets to about 78-80 in the house. It's miserable. We put window ACs in all the bedrooms, though, so we can sleep in comfort. Yuck. Remind me of this when I'm b*tching about the snow in 4 months. Of course, snow=college football, so that always helps.

That looks pretty good for now. Toodles!

Interview is this afternoon!

I might be getting a touch nervous. Maybe. Just a little, though.

It's weird because I'll know at least 2 of the 5-6 people on the interviewing panel, and I know those two pretty darn well. I've been chatting with one of those people on Facebook (we were FB friends long before I applied for this job) a lot recently, and he's been pumping me full of information. He has also made it perfectly clear that I'm his choice, even before I come in and interview. I've heard from others that he's really become quite respected in the years that I've been gone, so I can't really have anyone better in my corner - he's a tenured, respected employee AND he plays a part in the hiring decision. I hope he plays a BIG part in the decision!

So anyways, be thinking of me at 3:30 central time!

My Next Fill

I'm trying to decide if I need it. I've had 4 fills, but never really experienced any restriction until this 4th fill a month ago. I had my first 3 fills with my surgeon in Denver who was afraid of being too aggressive because I was a plane ride away. I had my 4th fill with a local doctor who wasn't afraid of being agressive, and FINALLY got good restriction. I lost around 10 lbs in 3 - 3 1/2 weeks.

My weight loss has slowed, and I can eat more than I could. In fact, even immediately after this fill, 4 oz of protein would keep me full for 2.5 - 3 hours. I never really made it to 4 hours. But, I was experiencing restriction for the first time, and was losing really nicely.

Now, I'm not, and I get hungry a lot sooner. So I called to chat and see what they think. As I've never really had good restriction (until recently) to loose, I wasn't sure if I need a fill or not. I told the nurse how things were going, and she said she thought I could use a litle one.

So then I had to ask if she thinks the doc will want to do a barium swallow with this one (for $367 - I'm self pay) or if she thinks we can get by without one ($100) because I don't know if I can afford the $367 right now. She goes, "Oh no no no. Your first appt here was $367 because you had a swallow, fill AND the initial consultation. Of that $367, only $65 is for the swallow, and $100 is for the doc's time, so from here forward, if you need a swallow, it'll be $165. If not, it'll be $100."

So how about that? I had it wrong this whole time, I thought my first visit was $367 becasue we did a barium swallow, but it turns out that a big chunk of that $367 is attributed to the consultation. So that makes it a lot easier to plan for more fills - it will be either $100 or $165, instead of $100 or $367. Whew. Finally some good news on the financial aspect of this band.

So I set up an appointment for the 23rd, because that was the next time the doc was available. We'll see how these next few weeks go. Hopefully it won't involve any gains!

Can I talk about sewing on this blog?

I started this blog about weight loss, but there's just not much to yak about in that department. Yes, I'm losing steadily, but that's all I have to report. Don't get me wrong, it's REALLY exciting, but other than saying, "I'm losing steadily," I wouldn't have much else to blog about.

So, if you all don't mind, I'm going to talk about sewing that doesn't pertain to my weight loss because it doesn't involve new clothing for me.

That's right - I'm starting Halloween costumes. It's early, I know, but I'm hoping to work on costumes during August because I have bolero jackets and pocketbooks to make in September for the wedding at the end of October. So my girls and I started looking at patterns this week, deciding what they want to be.

Gabby, my 4 yo, chose Little Bo Peep (little gal with the shepards hook, in case you're not familiar with nursery rhymes):


Karina, my 3 yo, chose what she calls, "Fairy Tale Girl." It's the blue one:


Now all I have to do is figure out how to fit all the supplies into the August budget!

Last night I had some Mommy time out and about on the town, so I priced all the materials. Gabby's looks like it's coming in around $25, but a whopping $15 of that is just for the eyelet lace trim that's used on the pant legs and around the sleeves and apron. I'll be working my butt off to find that for less than $15. I mean, it's just freakin trim, and it's 2/3rd the cost of the whole costume? Not gonna happen. I have to find a more reasonable alternative. Ebay has some possibilities, I'll just have to keep looking.

Karina's is a bit more reasonable, around $16 for everything. However, I don't know if I'll be able to do it in blue, as I couldn't find everything the same shade of blue. I did find everything that matches in a nice dark shade of purple, so that might be what she gets. She says she really wants blue, but that's because of the picture. I know if she gets a big frou-frou fairy tale dress, she'll be happy with it no matter the color.

So anyway, that'll be my project. I was thinking I might try to find a pattern for our doggie and turn her into a sheep for Gabby. That'd be cute, wouldn't it?

YAY! I got an inverview!

Remember my post from last week about me potentially going back to work? I just got a call from HR, and I'll be going in for an interview next Tuesday!! YAY for me!! I also found out that I won't be required to take the "are you appropriate for a management position" test becaue I took it a few years back when I moved from the non-salaried to the salaried positions, and they still have my results. That's way exciting for me, because I remember when I took it, I was told that I had one of the best scores HR had seen. Granted, that was almost 5 years ago, so I'm sure some geniuses have come through and passed me up, but I can't be REALLY far down on the list, right?

And I would think it would bode well for me that that test has already been administered (no additional cost for them) AND they'll know ahead of time that I scored really well on it. Don't you think that's a good thing?

The first interview is with the woman hiring the position, someone I worked with very closely a few years back. We know each other pretty well.

I'm REALLY looking forward to it. I've watched another little boy part time in my home for 3 years now (he's the same age as my girls) and his newborn brother just started coming this week. After having 3 preschool age children for quite a while, and now having to take care of a baby, it just reminds me how I'm so over the baby fever business. I have no desire to care for a baby AT ALL. I mean, I take good care of the child, it's just not what I want to do.

Yeah, I think I'm ready to get back into the workforce.

Nothin' too exciting.

Hey all,

I'm losing, so that's exciting, right? I've been losing solidly for 3 straight weeks now, so it's starting to feel routine!! How ridiculous is that?!? I love it!

Definitely looking forward to the 20somethings. And what's after that? Onederland! YAY!

Remember my dress I made a few weeks back for a wedding we have this weekend?

If not, click here for a refresher.

Well, I've lost 5-6 lbs since then, so we'll see how well it fits, cause it fit like a glove when I made it. So we'll see how it looks for this weekend.

Hopefully all of you are shrinking!

I'm a Versatile Blogger!

I was nominated by several people:

Kagead at Provoking Practicality
Mary at Being a Winner by Being a Loser
and
Nella at Skinny B---H!

Thank you so much ladies, I love your thoughts and comments on my blog. You all rock!

Seven things you don't know about me:

1. I just recently put my bellybutton ring back in. I got it done while a senior in college (so that'd be about 7 yrs ago) when I had lost a bunch of weight on WW. I took it out when I started to work on getting pregnant and while I had babies and such. I was wanting to get it pierced again, but figured I'd try the old hole just to see. Low and behold, it wasn't closed! Took a little wriggling, but I got a ring back in. I'm so happy, it's just one of those things that makes you feel a little sexier, you know?

2. I am scheduled for my 3rd (count 'em - 3!!) brazillian wax this week. My first was in early June. It was painful, but tolerable. The second one was a piece of cake compared to the first. I imagine the 3rd won't be too bad, either. I pay $55 each time, and that includes a healthy tip. I've said before that we live on a tight budget, but I think that's one thing that'll stay. Hubby likes it too much! Got questions about it? Ask. I'm not shy, I'll tell you.


3. Speaking of not being shy . . .WARNING - Don't read this paragraph if you don't want to read extremely personal info . . .I really, really want to go get a piercing down yonder. I've never done anything like that - heck, I don't even have tattoos. But I want a nether regions piercing. I've done LOTS of research, and know exactly what I want. I've never talked to Hubby about it. I know he'd like it, but I'd want to surprise him with it. I'm not sure how to figure out the logistics. I don't know, some day I'll make it happen. Got questions about it? Ask. I'm not shy, I'll tell you.

Phew, that was a lot of personal information, huh? Dang.

4. I DESPISE country music. Sure, I'm from Nebraska, and everyone listens to it, but I can't stand it. I don't mind the oldies, Johnny Cash and Chris Ledoux and even Garth Brooks, but any of the new stuff makes me want to vomit. Literally.

5. I'm about 1/3 of the way through my Master's degree. I started it when I was working a few years back because my employer paid for it. When I quit working to stay home with my kids, I didn't have the means to pay for it myself, so it's been on hold for a few years. If I end up working for that company again, I'll probably try to finish it. I only have 24 credit hours left, not much at all. I just need to have someone pay for it, because I can't.

6. My hometown is Western, Nebraska. You know when you're in college and people ask where you're from? I always said, "Western, Ne." They would go, "Oh, what town?" assuming that I was referring to the western portion of the state. I would have to say, "It IS a town, in the south eastern corner of the state." It got old really quickly.

7. Actually, I grew up on a farm 3 miles outside of Western. When it's just you and your younger brother dorkin' around on a farm for an entire childhood, you learn some crazy sh*t. Did you know you can hypnotize a chicken? I haven't done it for years, but it always worked when we did it as kids. Anyways, grab a chicken (a feat in and of itself) and hold the wings down so it can't flop all over and get all crazy. Lay it on the ground on its side, continuing to put pressure on the wings/head so it can't move too much. With your other hand, SLOWLY draw a line in the dirt in front of its face, starting a few inches above the head, continuing past the face, and then a few inches below the head. Let go, and it'll just lay there on it's side, which is completely unnatural for a chicken. I'm not sure how long it'll stay down, we always gave it a kick to get it up and moving again. I'm also not sure if it works for all breeds, we just did it to the pulletts we raised for butchering.

8. (I'm adding this one because I thought of it after the fact, and didn't want to delete any of my first 7!)

I have an IUD for birth control. I hear you ladies complain about your TOM and cramping and PMS'ing and all that crap, and I am SOOO thankful I don't have to deal with it. I got my IUD about a year and a half ago, and have totally stopped having periods and all things associated with them. Nothing, nada. I had to get this little plastic device inserted, and don't have to do anything with it for 10 years. Did you hear me?!? 10 YEARS!!! I honestly do not understand why everyone in this world does not use an IUD. You can have them taken out when you want to get pregnant, and your fertility returns in a day or two - a whole lot faster than if you just stopped taking the pill. Seriously. I don't get why you don't have one. Unless you're trying to get preggo, that is. Got questions about it? Ask. I'm not shy, I'll tell you.


On to my nominations. I don't think I'll get to 15, mainly because this took me forever and everyone's already been nominted!

Meli at Love Meli Meli
CurvasPeligrosas
Janelle at Lap band Living
Ali at Petals and Pedals (cause she's a Husker! woot woot!)
Robin at Robin's Band Theory (becasue we used the same doc! woot woot!)

Braids?

So everyone seems to like the braids in my previous pic? Yes? Should I continue to do them?

I've never really done much with my hair, other than straight down or in a ponytail. It's one of those things that draws attention, something I really didn't want a lot of at heavier weights.

So anyway, what do you think?

Also, I'm working on my Versatile post! We've had a busy weekend, so it's taking me a while to get to it. Thanks everyone!