Introducing......

BENJAMIN KNOX GARCIA, NOVEMBER 23, 2011

This is the first pic we took of him with his eyes open.  And, yes, he was born with all that hair.  :)

 I thought this would make a cute pic...looks like he's humiliated...that, or hungover.  :)

 Chilling out with PaPa Shields in the rocking chair.

 Meeting Grandma Shields for the first time.

 Chilling out watching the Thanksgiving football game with Daddy.

 I loved this one...this is a shot of him grabbing Chris' hand.  We were still in the hospital at this point, so he was less than four days old.

 This is a shot Chris took of us after I fed him.  He was sleeping.  Not my favorite shot, but there aren't many of he and I since I'm usually the one taking the pictures.

 Momma's sleepy baby.

So, life with a newborn is pretty C-R-A-Z-Y!  But, make no mistake, it's worth every sleepless moment!  He was born Wednesday, November 23, 2011.  Exactly between my brothers birthday (the 22nd) and Thanksgiving.  He weighed 7 pounds, 8.5 ounces and was 19 inches long.  

It's so odd.  For someone that never wanted kids...I never thought my whole world would weigh 8 pounds.  He's my absolute everything.  Everyone always told me that you don't know love untill you have a child, and I understand that now.  

As a rule, he's a really good baby, he only makes noise if there's something wrong with him, and at just under a month old he can sleep mostly through the night.  He wakes up when he gets hungry or needs changed of course.  

Chris and I are just totally in love with him! 

For the most part, the pregnancy was easy and I didn't have too many issues.  I ended up on bed rest for the last 8 weeks.  At first the doc thought I was pre eclamptic, but thankfully that test came back negative.  Because he was so long, the doc thought he was going to a large baby (like at least 10 pounds) so she put me on bed rest so he wouldn't come early.  Turns out he was average, just really long.  And I'm kinda short torsoed, so that's why it looked, and felt, like he was taking up every inch of room I had.   

At his two week check up, he had gained half a pound, so he's was a little over 8 pounds and grew three inches to 22 inches long.  Which the doctor says is great, puts him in the top 50th percentile.   

The labor process was a bit of a hassle.  It's called labor for a reason right?  :)  Actually, I was in labor for three days.  On Sunday night I started having contractions so we went to the hospital, but I was only dilated to a 1 and my water hadn't broke yet so they sent us home, Monday and Tuesday the contractions were intensifying (back to the hospital), but with the same results.  Dilated to a 1, but no water break, so they sent me home again.  Wednesday, the contractions were about a minute long each and 6-7 minutes apart.  So, back to the hospital we went.  Got there dilated to a 1 and an hour later I was dilated to a 3.  They were going to send me home again, due to the fact that my water hadn't broke yet, it actually never did.

That was when I took matters into my own hands.  lol  I told them that I was scheduled for a c section and that my doctor had never planned on me going into labor in the first place.  So I told the nurse that I didn't care if she had to go and knock my doctors door herself, I wasn't leaving the hospital without my baby this time.  Maybe a little rude, but mind you, I'd been in labor for three days by this time.  Who would be cordial?  :)  

Well, that was at roughly 6:30am, by 7:15am I had been admitted, prepped and was on the operating room table, on my way to lala land for them to deliver my baby.  My doc works fast.  :)  And when I woke up in recovery, my wonderful hubby and my perfect baby boy were right there waiting for me. 

Well, I guess that's all I have for now.  Hopefully I'll be able to blog more in the future and be able to keep up with you guys and the events of your lives.  

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Bump-date :)

HAY EVERYBODY!!  Holy crap it's been a while. 

 I don't know if I really even know what all to say since it's been so long.  I'm sure I'll find something to yammer on about though.  I usually do.  :)


Last time I blogged it was April 24th and we had just found out we were pregnant and in the process of moving.  Well, the move is all done, and we're finally 99% unpacked, with the exception of one room, which is the baby's room.  


Speaking of the baby:  IT'S A BOY!  We're naming him Benjamin Knox Garcia, and we'll call him Knox.  


I would have to say the main reason I haven't been blogging, or reading for that matter (I'm so behind) is that my Summer term in school was really hard.  I only took one class, but it pretty much consumed all of my time.  It was anatomy and physiology.  Got out of there with a C, couldn't believe it.  I'll take it though.  That's one of the hardest fought for C's I've ever gotten in my whole life.

Here are a few pics of me that have been taken in the last few weeks that I'd like to share with you guys.

 This was taken in June at my family reunion.  Someone snatched my phone, so it's a little blurry, but it's a nice profile shot to show how I've grown since then.

 Hubby took these last night.  As you can all see, "we've" grown a little since June.  

 This is a picture that my mom took.  This was also at my family reunion in June.  He's already so loved.  We can't wait for him to get here.

Well, I guess that's all I have for right now.  Not much after spending a little less than three months not blogging.  Hope you're all having a great day.

Lots of reading to catch up on.  :)

 

Make a pregnancy ticker

ALL ABOARD!!

First of all, let me say, Happy Easter everybody.  I know that I've been a real slacker in blogging.  I've been reading blogs, just not commenting or writing any. 

I have great news though....my ticket for the mommy train has been punched.  :)  We're expecting and due December 1st. 

Here's a shot a of my seven week baby bump.  We're so excited!  Our families are also over the moon for us.  As are most of our friends.  As you guys remember if you've been following me a while, I went through a period where I didn't want kids at all. 

Other things going on in our lives is that I'm going back to school for my bachelors degree.  I decided to major in Health Information Technology.  Which I can do a million things with that.  I'm leaning towards healthcare/hospital administration.  But, we'll see what happens when I graduate, which will be about three years from now since I just started.

We're also in the middle of moving.  The weekend we went out of town to tell my folks about the baby (the first weekend of this month) our house got broken into.  We weren't here, so no one was hurt and nothing was taken that can't be replaced, but it still jolted us pretty bad, so we decided it's time to move on.  With the baby coming we've officially outgrown this place anyway cuz it's only a one bedroom.  Which is great for me, the hubs and the beagle, but now we're going to be more than that. 

There is a building here at home that's downtown and it's been renovated into luxury lofts and it's all secure and monitored 24/7/365, so we thought that would be a much better place for us to raise our family.

Here are some pics of the new apartment:

This picture came out a little dark, but all of these were taken with my phone, so I guess they didn't turn out too bad.  :)  This is standing in the kitchen and looking into our living room.  Love the giant picture windows and all the natural light we'll be getting.  We also have an amazing view of downtown, which I didn't take pictures of since it was during the day.  After I move in I'll take some pictures of that for you guys.

This is standing against the picture windows facing the opposite direction into the kitchen.  The living room and kitchen are all one room.  Love the cherry stain on the woodwork.  It shows dust pretty bad, but I love how it looks.  Very elegant and classy.

This is standing against the far wall looking across the living room.  It's pretty large, we actually have more space than we have stuff to put in it.  Which isn't always a good thing.  :) 

 This is still in the living room and looking down our rather long hallway.  There isn't any carpet in the apartment except for the bedrooms.  Everything else is cement.  It's a historical building and in order to keep the historical value they weren't allowed to carpet the entire apartment, just the bedrooms.  But we're going to get a large area rug for the living room and a runner for the hallway, so hopefully that'll make it easier and cut down on the echo.  Which is terrible.  Much worse than I thought it would be for some reason.

Our bedroom.  Nothing special here.  We do have a bathroom in here though, there's also a guest bathroom in the hallway.  Didn't take pictures of those.  Didn't see a need.  A bathroom's a bathroom right?

And, this is the baby's room.  When I get this all set up and decorated I'll be sure to take pictures of if and post them on here.

Well, I guess that's all I have for today.  Lots of stuff going on the next few months.  Between school, moving and the baby coming I can't promise how often I'll have the time to post, but I'll try to keep you guys updated as much as I can.

Happy blogging my friends.  Sorry I was absent for so long again, hopefully I'll be able to keep this up more since I'm sure I'll have tons of news in the following months.

My Word of the Year

I know this is a little behind, but better late than never right?  :)  I chose this as my word of the year for a lot of reasons.  A few of them are as follows:

~I'm close to goal; as of this morning I was 178, and my goal is 150-140, give or take.

~Hubby and I are TTC, and I have to be healthy in order to get pregnant as well as have a healthy baby.

~It's not so much about losing weight for me anymore as much as staying healthy (hence my word choice).  This is because I'm pretty content where I'm at right now.  I need to tone up a little bit, but as you all know I've had some health issues that have kept me from accomplishing that in the last few years.  Those are now worked out and I've started a walking program.

~The doctor said that even if I got pregnant now I was healthy enough, mentally as well as physically.  Which leads me to my next point.

~Mental health also ties into physical health, at least in my opinion.  If you're not mentally/emotionally healthy, you allow so many things get in your way that wouldn't mean a hill of beans to you otherwise.

~Spiritual health.  I've never been known to be an overly religious person.  However, my folks and I are LDS (Mormon).  It's been a looooooong time since I've been to church, for a lot of reasons, but that's a blog for another day.  I want to work on my spiritual health because I want my kids to know my religion and that I love and believe in it very much.  They won't know that if I don't go.  Bottom line.

This list goes on, I know it does, but that's all I can think about now.  Hope this blog finds you all feeling and doing well. 

Happy posting my bloggies.



Officially TTC

Well my bloggies, it's finally happened........I've purchased a ticket to ride on the mommy train.  Not aboard yet, cuz we aren't expecting, but we are trying.  As to which I must say.....I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.  :D 

All of my friends seem to think that I'm off my rocker a bit, due to the fact that for YEARS I never wanted kids.  Then it was like I did a 180.  My doctor told me that I was now more than healthy enough (183 and a BMI of 30, thankyouverymuch) to have a baby then we should go for it.  So we are. 

Hubby and I, and our families are excited, but let's be honest here...I'm scared to death.  What if I won't be a good mom.  Now, mind you, I had wonderful teachers.  My mom and dad kick ass.  They've always stood in my corner, right or wrong, and I know even now, at 30 years old, that I could always come home if I wanted.  The open door policy is in full effect and in complete working order.  I also what my child to have that. 

Sooooooo......I've read a crapton of articles, bought a couple of books on the subject, a pregnancy journal, and am in the process of enrolling us for parenting classes.  Hubby thinks this is going a little overboard.  Oh well, that's just the way my hubs thinks.  My reply to this was that I'm going to be the one with a person growing inside me, not him.  That seemed to shut him up. 

Deep down, I know these things might not necesssarily make me a better parent, maybe not even a good parent...but it seems to help.  Maybe it's all in my head, maybe not.  I just know that we're at the age (both of us in our 30's) that we have the opportunity to be very prepared and make smart parenting decisions, I want to make sure that happens. 

Also, in certain things in my life, I'm very hypervigilant.  I want to be prepared.  Now, if you walked into my house right now, you'd laugh in my face.  lol  But when it comes to the big stuff, all I want to do on the day everything goes down is show up.  So, by the time we get pregnant and the baby's born, all I want to do is show up at the hospital and try to stay as relaxed and calm as I can, because I want to know that everything is taken care of.  Sounds like a good plan to me, and the doctor thinks it's a great idea.

The doc also said that since I haven't reached my goal weight yet, I might not need to gain any (if very little) weight.  Just a few more calories a day to give the baby the nutrients it needs.  Which means a few good things for me.  No unfill (unless the docs office says so), and it would make it easier for me to lose the baby weight in the future. 

I've also been given the ok to exercise from my spinal surgeon.  When I went to see him last week he said that everything was textbook perfect and that I'm going to be fine.  Nothing major, just a little walking and other types of cardio.  This will also help keep me at a healthy weight. 

Well, y'all I guess that's all I have for today.  Happy posting everyone, and have a great weekend.  Racing season starts this weekend.  YAHOO!  So, I'm off to my mom and dad's to watch the Daytona 500, can't wait.  Talk to you all soon.

Getting Back to......Whatever

Soooo.....here I notice that I've been absent again.  Damn me and my busy life...or something like that.

Currently things are going ok-ish here.  Hubby's leg is getting a little better.  He went to his last doctor appointment a few weeks ago, and, I still think the doc is a whack job, but I have soooo much bigger fish to fry than a stupid doctor.  Hubby says it doesn't hurt, and I have to take him on his word for that.  Not that I think he would lie to me about being in pain, but anyway...just one of those things.

I thought I had strep throat a while back, so I went to the urgent care center here in town and they told me that it's not strep, but was some sort of viral bacterial throat infection.  No cure.  My tonsils swelled up so bad that the only thing I could eat was ice cream.  Which was bad for my band, but I didn't gain too much weight.  I am better now though, at least I think so...I was supposed to go to the doc again today for a follow up, but it was snowing and we're supposed to get about 10 inches of snow, so I stayed home.

That snow storm was totally nuts though!  Oh my gosh!  We got over a foot to snow, then it stopped for about a day, and three more inches of snow came down.  Which I know that most of you guys reading this got wolloped too.  I know that Amy had some awesome pics from her mom and dads boat in Florida in the snow.  Gorgeous pics if you're reading Amy!  Just gorgeous. 

And now I'm working on re-enrolling in school.  Again.  Working on getting my bachelors degree in health informatics.  Which is medical coding/billing; hospital management; or a ton of other things I can do with it.  I was doing distance learning from home, only to find out that the school I was going to lost their Missouri accreditation with AHIMA, so now I'm back to square one.  The oldest person in both of my current classes.  YEA ME!  Riiiight. 

However, my bestie explained it to me that I just need to keep plugging along, and that as long as I'm enjoying myself and getting good grades, I just as well rock it.  Good advice.  Love the bestie.  :) 

I guess that's all that's going on with me right now.  Just wanting to keep you all posted and let you know what was going on.  Hope you all had a good holiday season and are enjoying yourselves. 

Happy posting everyone.

Three 50/50 Chances...

So, I took the hubs back to the doctor on Wednesday, this time the orthopedic surgeon.  And I wasn't happy with the results I got.  Not happy at all. 

First of all, we waited an hour and half.  The place was busy, so that's not really a big deal, but they could have at least informed us they were running an hour and half late when we got there.  The appointment was at 3:30 and we didn't get out of the waiting room untill 5:00.  Like I said, they were busy, so I'm ok with this, but we had other stuff we needed to get done that day, before 5:00, and it didn't get done. 

So, anyway, we get back there and the doc comes and looks at his leg, and gives me three 50/50 scenarios, and these were his exact words:

1.  The swelling could go away, but it might not;

2.  I could operate, but I might not;

3.  If I do operate the swelling could come back, but it might not

WHAT?!  I'm so glad I didn't have to pay this whack job a co pay, I would have been so pissed, because I really think he gave us a dis-service.  I could have told him all of those things, and I'm not even a doctor.  Not even close. 

Then, this "doctor" told us that hubs could go back to work tomorrow if he wanted to.  Which I said there was no way in hell that was going to happen.  His leg is still really swolen, not quite, but almost twice the size of his left leg.  The doc did tell us that it's blood swelling.  Which means that when his leg got ran over, the trauma separated his skin from the subcutaneous tissue underneath.  Creating the pocket where the swelling is. 

I don't think that the doc telling us that it could go away, but then again it might not is bullshit.  I wanted to get a second opinion, but hubby doesn't want to.  The jury is still out on that actually.  I just don't know what to do. 

The doc released him to go back to work on the 15th, but said they will give him another week if he needs it, I will just need to get in touch with the doctor and his boss in enough time to get the extra week off approved.  So, my job this week is to make sure he gets some activity to loosen his leg up.  Walking or riding the stationary bike or something.  Which I'll be watching to see how he does with that, how is walking is, and how much he needs his pain medication.  His going back to work next Monday all depends on that.

I know that he's going crazy, and he's ready to go back to work, and I'm ready for him to go back to work.  :)  Good grief, he's driving me crazy!  We don't usually spend this much time together. 

I got my fill last week, and I got the 1cc that I wanted, but I don't know if it was enough.  I know that a few months ago this was my sweet spot, but it doesn't seem like it is anymore.  Which the sweet spot is pretty elusive I guess.  I'm going to give it another week.  Which I would have to do anyway, the doc will only fill you every two weeks.  But, I know that if next week I'm still not at optimum restriction I'm going to get another fill before Thanksgiving. 

That's all I have my bloggy ladies.  Happy posting and enjoy your weekends.



Life Update

Happy Saturday everyone!  And, Happy (early) Halloween! 

Here are some of the updates that have went down over the last couple days.

Thursday~Went to get my fill and it went great.  Got the other 1cc that I wanted since that was the other half of what was drained when I had my back surgery.  So far so good.  It was my sweetspot before, but I don't know if it is now.  I still seem to be able to eat more than I like and don't have as much restriction as I would like.  But, as we all know, fills sometimes take a few days to kick in.  Here's to hoping that I'm going to gain a little more restriction in the next few days.  If not, they said I could come back and get another microfill if I felt I needed it.  I'm going to see how Thanksgiving goes and if I don't have my prefered restriction by then, I'll go back. 

I got to meet a great friend of mine that I'd helped through this process and she just recently had gastric bypass and is doing great.  She had a few issues in the beginning with a lot of pain and some spasms, and had to spend a few extra days in the hospital because of it.  But she's home now and doing much better.

My father in law had to put his dog to sleep also on Thursday, he was 19, but it was still pretty rough.  But, at least he lived a good long life.  Hubby and I went to visit my father in a law a few days ago and the dog didn't seem like he was doing well.  I asked him if he'd taken him to the vet and had him checked out, and he said that he did and as long as the dog was eating he was fine.  Ok then.  We took that as a good sign.  Well, a couple of days later he was showing some signs that he was suffering, so my father in law decided to have him put to sleep. 

Another friend of mine's aunt passed away, this was also Thursday.  And I was out of town for all of it.  It was kinda crazy.  From the time I woke up pretty much till the time I went to bed I was getting texts and phonecalls.  I'm glad that my family depends on me though.  It's great to feel needed and know that my family and friends can come to me for support. 

On top of all this I was worried about hubby being home by himself because of his leg.  I was gone for just a little over 24 hours so I figured he could handle it, but stranger things have been known to happen.  Comes to find out, he was fine left to his own devices.  :)

So, Thursday when I got home I put on my comfy clothes and (tried to) watch Grey's and Private Practice.  Well, I made it about halfway through Grey's and that's all I remember.  Fell alseep.  Hubby woke me up after Private Practice and sent me to bed. 

Friday~I had my 90 day follow up for my back surgery.  Doc told me I was perfect, I told him that I was aware of that, but wanted to know what was going on with my back.  :)  So, anyway, doc said everything is textbook, but wants to see me in three more months.  Then he's going to give me the green light to start exercising again (thank goodness) as well as starting to try to have a baby.  Should be exciting.

Took hubby to the doc for his leg and they took him off work for another week, at least.  We're also going to an orthopaedic surgeon on Wednesday.  He's able to walk on it a little more now during the day, but is having difficulty at night still.  It's still pretty swolen and the part that is swolen is hard.  Which concerns me.  The doc didn't see anything disturbing on his MRI, we asked him some questions and then I asked if we could see an ortho, which hubby didn't want to do, but I don't care.  :)  I would rather be out the co pay for that, then have him go back to work too soon and do more damage, or make temporary damage permanent. 

There was the option of sending him back to work, but on light duty.  Which isn't an option.  Hubby works really hard and doesn't really know what light duty is.  His boss told him the same thing, that it's not an option, cuz she can't afford to pay me to stand over him, and doesn't think he could do it. 

Office Depot is really being very, very supportive about this.  Which eases our minds a lot.  I would hate to have him get hurt and use up all his paid time off, only to go back to work to find out he's been let go.  Not only would I be UBER PISSED, we would also be pretty screwed. 

Then yesterday evening I spent the evening with my bestie and we embarrassed our other halves by sharing knowledge, and laughed our asses off, at them and other things.  Good times.

Today~should be cleaning house, but I'm not.  Watching the Mizzou/Nebraska game and hoping Mizzou wins.  That's about all I've got for today my friends.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy posting.



MRI's, Fills, and Friends....Oh My

What's up y'all.  Just a quick post to let you guys know that we got hubby's MRI yesterday.  They gave us a disk of the shots they took, and I'm not a doctor, but I did see a couple things that kind of concerned me.  First of all there is A TON of swelling still.  Thankfully no internal bleeding though because all the fluid was white on the MRI shots, and I know that blood shows up black on x~ray's and MRI's.  Also, still no broken bones, by some miracle.  I guess his gallon of milk every couple of days habit, while albeit expensive, isn't such a bad deal after all.  If he comes out of this ok, I'll buy him all the milk he wants.  :)  So we're lucky there.  And there is one other shot of the back of his leg that it looks like the piece of cartilage that keeps his tibia and fibia from rubbing together is completely blown.  Like it's bone on bone.  And there is a tendon that is behind his leg, we're thinking these are the main issues we're going to be facing going into the doctors office on Friday.  I'm thinking worst case scenario right now, the doc will have to scope his knee and drain some of the fluid off.  Which is still a surgery and still scares me.

Like I said, we're not doctors.  But with the issues with my back and going to school for coding I've seen some x~ray and MRI shots.  Not enough to make me an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I kinda know what I'm looking at.  That's the only knowledge we have going into this.  I just know that with the tendon issue, it's only in one shot.  Which could mean a lot of things, good and bad.  It could just be something that's an anomoly to that shot, or it could really be something.  Pretty worried, but I know that there's nothing I/we can do about anything unill we see the doc on Friday.  Hubby has decided it would be best for him to take another week off.  Thank God he's got the time that he can use for it.  He has about 4 weeks of vacation/sick/personal time that he can use so we won't lose any pay.  Other than the bonus money we'd be getting from all the overtime he usually gets, as well as some other bonuses he gets for selling accessories and warranties on computers and stuff.  But, I'd rather be out the extra bucks to have him healthy. 

I'm getting a much needed fill tomorrow.  Wanna know how I know it's much needed?  I ate four pieces of pizza for dinner last night.  Let me put this into perspective for you

FOUR.  PIECES. OF.  PIZZA! 

What the hell?!  Now, granted, I really haven't been the same since I had 2cc's taken out after my back surgery.  And my doctors office, after you're post op for over a year, they won't put more than 1cc in your band at a time.  Which, normally I would say that's a great policy, but they took 2cc's out, why not put 2cc's back in? 

Well, I had 1cc put back in in August, was supposed to have the other cc put back in last month, but around fill time I was having major tightness issues so I thought I'd wait.  Wise choice, but crappy choice at the same time.  So, I'm having the other cc put back in tomorrow and I can't wait. 

I also get to "meet" a great friend of mine that I've been talking to on Facebook about bariatrics for a long time.  She opted to go with gastric bypass instead of the lapband, but I just love, love, love her! 

I feel like we've known eachother all of our lives and we're certainly lifelong friends.  One of the greatest things about this community.  We're so tightknit that even without most of us meeting in person, we know eachother.  We know more about eachother than most people that have met us in person know. 

YOU.  LADIES.  ROCK!

I wanna leave you with a dose of cuteness for the day.

Hubby and the beagle were taking a nap on the couch yesterday and I had to take this picture.  I don't get to take cuteness pictures of my hubby very often, cuz he's just not the cuteness type.  lol 

Well, that's all I have right now.  I'll keep you all posted on hubby's results from the doc as well as my fill.  Happy blogging my friends and have a great couple of days.

Mind Dribble....

I don't really have a lot to report, but I know that I need to keep blogging.  This sisterhood is amazing and the support I've received here is just as amazing.  I really hope some day I can pay it forward.  Which I plan to by working in bariatrics when I graduate from coding/billing school. 

Hubby is getting his MRI tomorrow afternoon.  Still pretty nervous about that, and still won't know anything till Friday when we see the doc for a follow up. 

I'm gaining/losing the same five pounds I've been screwing around with since July.  Still holding out for that fill I'm getting next week. 

I'm learing how to cook.  This is a surprising thing for everyone that knows me.  I've burnt water before.  Seriously.  Ruined a $40.00 pan, hubby was pissed.  But I've actually noticed that hubby and I are a decent team in the kitchen.  Shhhh, don't tell him I said that.  I've taken great care to inform him I don't do kitchen stuff.  You know, like Bill Cosby in Himself.....if you act stupid and make others think you can't handle it, they will believe you, and you'll get out of it.  Smart man, that Bill Cosby.

Other than that, nothing else really major going on.  My attorney has FINALLY, repeat FINALLY gotten his shit together when it comes to our bankruptcy and is actually filing it as I type.  'Bout damn time if you ask me.  However, he's only charging me a flat $1,000.00 to do the whole thing.  On the upside, saving us money, on the downside, you get what you pay for.  Oh well, at least it's getting done.  And we have a long history together and I trust him, so at least it's also getting done right.

Well, that's about all I have for today my bloggies.  Happy posting and enjoy your Monday.

Does Size Matter?

Minds out of the gutter ladies.  Ahem.......Draz and Amy.  :D 

I saw a shirt at Target that I've wanted really bad for quite some time.  Well, when they first started carrying it, it was almost 35.00....would love to be able to spend 35.00 on a shirt right now, but that just isn't going to happen.  Well, for my birthday I got a 15.00 gift card from Target from my BIL, it's a sign.  :)  Well, I went and the shirt I've been drooling over for weeks was on clearance for 17.00.  You can bet your ass I bought it. 

Super cute right?  I thought so.  And, since I'm a tomboy to the bone I thought it was a nice mix of comfortable yet kinda girly to keep mom happy.  :D  If you notice the slight V neck as well as the ruffle like something or other on the front.  Well, that's not even the best part.  And the sleeves are reversable.  If you roll them up there's a different pattern on them.  This is what size the hanger said it was.

Notice the hanger says XXL.  Well, I don't try on clothes.  Even after losing weight, I still hate to try on clothes.  I'd rather get depressed at home if the clothes don't fit than in a dressing room, in public, with terrible lighting.  Maybe that's just me.  And in regular sizes I wear between an XXL and L actually, depending on brand of shirt and the cut.  No big deal to me.  I've noticed in this period of me losing weight that sometimes size really doesn't matter when it comes to clothes.  I just know that I don't have to shop at the fat girl store anymore.  Which is pretty damn cool.

This is what size the shirt actually is.

I have no earthly clue why this turned out so blurry, I took about six pictures and this was the best one, but the shirt is a size XL.  In a juniors!  Holy shitballs!  (Thanx Amy)  And it's a super girly cut, ruching, smaller at the waist.  The epitomy of girliness.  Or as girly as you can be with a flannel shirt.  lol  When I was putting the shirt on actually I thought "whew, good thing I got a XXL, this is a little tighter than I would like it to be."  Then I took it off and saw what size it really was.  I would have squealed with joy like a little school girl if hubby hadn't been sleeping on the couch. 

Here are a couple of shots of what the shirt looks like on me.

For some reason the first shot makes me look like I have GIANT hips, what the hell?  The second one turned out kinda yellowish for some reason I have no idea.  My mother I'm not, can't take a good picture to save my life today.  Oh well.  Note the gap between my arm and my waist in both pictures.  That's pretty neat!  Haven't seen that in a long time.  I think it's been about ten years to be exact. 

On the weight loss friend I'm pretty much stalled.  With hubby being hurt I'm eating really crappy and sleeping even worse, so that's just causing me to shovel in whatever I can when I can get it.  Making my life a breeding ground for bad habits and bad eating.  Not really eating too much.  I'm staying steady, but I'm getting pretty hungry betweeen meals and eating too big of portions.  I've actually been flip flopping with the same 5 pounds since July when I had to have my massive unfill due to surgery. 

I'm getting a fill next week though, so hopefully that will rocket me back on track.  That's what I'm hoping for. 

An update on the hubby:  he's still in some pain and can still only put very little weight on his leg.  The swelling and the bruising is starting to go down a little.  There is still one spot on the inside of his knee (which was the point of impact) that is still very swolen and hard.  He also has no feeling in that spot.  This is my biggest concern.  However, there's nothing we can do untill we get the results of the MRI next week.  We're pretty mcch at a stand still until then.  I'll keep you all posted though.

A quick thing that's totally off track and not related at all to weight loss.  To my friends reading this are gay or lesbian.  I would like you to know that I think the violence against teen gays causing all of these horrific suicides is awful.  I want you all to know that I'm wearing more purple than a pimp right now supporting this cause.  I think there is a special place in hell for people that bully anyone.  Especially those that can't help the reason they're being bullied for.  It's like bullying someone for being fat.  We can't help it.  Just as you can't help it if you're gay.  To my friends, I love you.  The fact that you're gay doesn't mean a hill fo beans to me.  You are who you are and I loved most of you Ioved before I even knew you were gay.  Please know that you have my unending and undieing support.  Keep fighting guys.  Hopefully we'll see an end to this terrible ignorance in our lifetimes.

That's about all I have for today.  Happy posting my friends.

I'll Sell You the Whole Seat......but You'll Only Need THE EDGE!

Mmmmmmkay.......I know in my last blog (which was yesterday) I promised some pretty crazy stuff.  Well, are you all sitting down.  Seriously, this is some crazy shit.  I'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge kinda crazy shit.  :D  Sorry.  The race fan in me takes over on occasion.  Ok, most of the time., but anyway, there are things to blog about. 

So.  Here.  We.  Go.

The first picture.....

Did anyone else know these existed?!  Toasted Cocnut Marshmallows?!  Holy crap!  I found these at Wal-Mart, if anyone is interested.  I find these new because I don't shop at Wal-Mart save for very rare occasions.  These are SO GOOD!  However, beware, eating half the bag will make you gain about two pounds overnight.  I was all jazzed up and called my mom to tell her about them, and she goes "oh yeah, those are good.  I've eaten those before."  Ok, a couple things here:  1) way to take the wind out of my sails mom; and 2) WHY THE HELL WASN'T I AWARE!?  Just kidding mom, I love you. 

Now, on to more serious stuff.  Hubby and I agreed to volunteer at a haunted hayride this year, because of our love for Halloween.  And the money collected for admission goes to the Susan G Komen, Fight for a Cure.  Getting to scare people, for breast cancer research, how can we, of all people, turn that down.  That would be like if someone said to me:  "I just had these pit passes to telladega lying around, want them?"  HELL YEAH!  Since both hubby and I have been touched by cancer in some pretty major ways, this was a total no brainer for us.

Our first weekend to volunteer was last weekend.  Well, sadly, it was also our last for the season.  Since it was a hayride atmosphere, we were out in the woods.  Well, Chris didn't think that me crawling around in the woods trying to scare people so soon after back surgery was a good idea, so I volunteered to be a "guide".  Meaning I got dressed up in costume and makeup and stayed on the trailer that was going through the woods.  I got to ride around all night basically.  Which was cool, cuz I just picked the weakest/mouthiest person in the group that was on my wagon and pretty much stared them down the whole time.  :)  Each ride was about 30 minutes long.  I was dressed up as a deranged mechanic that looked like someone beat the crap out of me and drug me through the mud.  Head first.  I also had a giant fake double barrel shotgun that chris made out of wood, and painted it to look like a real shotgun.  Every now and then I would bang it on the ground of the trailer we were riding on and scare people.  Good times.

I don't have any pictures of me all dressed up, because I didn't really get the time to take any.  Here's why.  On the first trailer that went through (the one I was the guide on) and hubby was on his way over to the trailer to do his thing.  See, we share the same love for Halloween.  He's worked at the haunted houses around town for about 14 years now. 

He barks. 

Sounds like a rabid rottweiler on crack.

And it's hot.

Anyway, moving on......he lumbered up to the trailer to do his thing.  Jumped on the back, side and front of the trailer and got his scares.  Well, when he jumped off the front of the trailer, his leg slipped.  I saw him laying on the ground and I thought it was all part of his act.  I was captivated.  Thinking he was gonna go in to convulsions and start spitting fake blood any minute.  Then, when the trailer got past him, he kinda made a grunting noise and rolled over to his side.  This is when shit started getting hairy.

I thought the trailer smashed his hand.  He was carrying an axe, in order to bang it on the sides of the trailer and scare folks.  I was turning stuff over in my head about a million miles per hour, thinking that if the trailer ran over his hand and he was holding on to the axe, his hand would be broken.  This was about halfway through the first tour.

When that tour was over and I got back to the gate, a friend of ours met me up there with a golfcart (the hayride covers about 40 acres) and told me that I needed to come with him and see what happened to Chris.  Mild panic is starting to set in at this time.  Still all the while I'm thinking he broke his hand.  Well, I get to him and he's sitting in the "makeup shed" and his pant leg is split open.  Obviously not the broken hand I was prepared for. 

The trailer actually ran over his leg.  Both tires.  On his knee.  The first tire ran over his knee, he couldn't pull his leg out, for fear of doing lots of damage.  Before he could get away the second tire was going over his foot, of the same leg.  At this point the first tire was running over his hand (which was not holding on the axe) and the second tire was running over his knee again.  The trailer was full.  Both sides, so roughly about 4,000 pounds, over his knee.  Here are some pictures of that.

This was the day after.  Saturday.  You can see the point of impact in the center, where the skin is broken.  This is actually where both wheels of the trailer ran over him.

The back of his leg.  Also taken on Saturday.

The outside of his leg.  You can barely see the bruising starting to creep around his leg at this point.

Straight on shot.  I took this on Sunday morning.  Sort of looks like a deformed tree trunk from this angle.

Chris' left leg.  This is what the other one normally looks like.  This was also taken on Sunday.

The inside of his leg.  Also taken on Sunday.

I took this one this evening.  Actually in the middle of posting this blog I told him that I wanted to take more progress pictures.  Told him to stick with me, I'd make him famous.  ;)  The bruising has spread, but he said that doesn't hurt.  I'm gonna have to take his word on that one I guess.  I know if I had a bruise that looked like that, I'm sure it would hurt like all possible hell.  But, that's just me.

Another shot of the inside of the leg taken this evening.

Chris' lower leg.  Still more bruising.

The back of his leg.  I took this one this evening also.

Another shot from the front.  I took this one this evening as well.

So, we went to the ER on Friday, and by some miracle nothing was broke, cracked or fractured then.  Thankfully he's on vacation this week.  Hell of a way to start a vacation right?  We went to the follow up appointment with the doctor today and they took him off work for another week, at least, and ordered an MRI.  The doctor wants to see if the swelling caused any type of fracture or break due to the pressure.  Which I don't think it did, cuz he's been able to put a little bit of weight on it.  If it was fractured, I don't think he'd be able to do that.  But, then again, that's why we pay the docs the big bucks.  I'll keep you all posted on that.

Something funny, the guy that does our makeup for these events is a very talented artist and does amazing makeup.  People actually thought that we had been in some type of horrific accident and I didn't know how bad I was hurt.  I had stage blood and grease all over me.  It was awesome.  Everytime someone walked into the room we were in and looked at me sitting in the chair and Chris laying on the bed, they looked around like we were from a different planet.  Good stuff.

The silver lining to all this.......

This is my "thanks for taking care of my gimpy ass all week" gift.  :)  You can't really see the pic very well, but it's black and white diamonds and there are hearts in the middle.  He said it was supposed to be for Christmas, but we weren't able to get me anything for my birthday because we had to renew the tags on the car.  Such is the life of an adult.  So he said he wanted to give it to me early. 

Well all, that's it.  God bless ya if you stuck with me.  I promised something big though.  And, in true kick ass and take names fashion like my mama taught me....I delivered! 

Three blogs in three days.  Yeah.  I rock.  Happy posting my bloggy friends.