VALENTINES....

Saturday night Chuck and I went to Macon to see Celtic Woman. Chuck gave me the tickets for Christmas which was a big surprise. He often catches me and the girls watching Celtic Woman on Ga. Public Television. Both girls love it but we needed a date night. Even though Celtic Woman was in Atlanta this week, it was easier to make the Macon show on a Sat. night. It only took an hour and ten minutes to get to Macon from where we live anyway. Chuck really enjoyed the show as the stage perfomance is really entertaining. I enjoyed the songs but really loved watching the percussionist with their huge set up of a variety of drums, cymbals and Irish drums. (I play drums so my attention was captured.) We ate Thai food before the show and even though I could not eat but about a third of what I usually do it was enjoyable too....guess this was our Valentines/Christmas date! (Nana and Poppy spent the night with us to keep the girls. We made it home by midnight.) If any of you ever get the chance to see Celtic Woman I am sure you will not be dissapointed.

ONE MONTH POST LAPBAND...

I have survived the month of liquid foods. Looking back it was hardest the first week. I can start having real food now, but will try to stay around 900-1100 calories....I think I can do it now as I am not as hungry and do feel fullness when I eat. I have never really felt full before....so it takes some getting use to. When I take a few bites I have to slow down, as that is all my pouch will hold. It is a weird feeling, almost like I didn't swallow well and the food didn't go down. I feel like I need to drink, but with the band you are not suppose to drink with meals so you do stay full. When I feel hungry, I have been having hot tea to put it off for a while and that helps, but I cannot believe I have not had a diet coke in a month. Frankly, now that I have not had it, I am not craving it. A big help is the Lapband.com website where I can go to log what I have eaten and it adds everything up for me. This is a major plus as I hate having to add calories or keep track of carbs or proteins. I walked my first mile around the neighborhood two days ago and hope to walk several times a week and increase the miles up to 5 as a first goal. I have spent time visiting some other "bander" blogs, so I can get some recipe ideas and meal plans. I will have support group meetings once a month and that is coming up next week, so I am looking forward to that. It will be nice to hear how others do things. So for the weigh-in this month: 11.5 pounds lost! All I could think at first was "is that all for another week of liquids...1/2 a pound since last Friday".....this has not left me feeling motivated. I did however call a friend who had the band over a year ago and has lost 90 pounds. She assured me she didn't lose very much until her 3rd or 4th fill and then it was very consistent weightloss. She had a few months where she lost nothing in the middle, but she went for more fills to make sure she would lose. So I will have to remain hopeful that the best is yet to come. Here are the comparison pictures for now.

Happy CHinese New Year.....

We celebrated Chinese new year with other families who have children from China. Of course we ate Chinese food and the kids worked on arts and crafts when finished eating. It was nice to talk to other parents who know just what it is to adopt a child from China. This will be a great connection for Shiloh as she grows up!

First post-op, Lapband visit....

11 POUNDS!!!

This is after 3 weeks of the prescribed (before and after surgery) diet of protein shakes and liquid style soft foods and broths. One more week and I can start back on softer foods and meats, the idea being to add back slowly with a lower carb diet. My first "adjustment fill" will be on March 3rd where the band is tightened up. This first one is done under flouroscopy (xray) to make sure all is well with the band and it's filling. I will continue to post pictures once every month. So I will try to remember to put the first months picture on next week. I have also been searching for Lapband meal ideas that my whole family can enjoy and will post some recipes here that we will try! I hope to slowly rid this house of the starcy things we have in the cabinents and take this family to a lower carb lifestyle one recipe at a time. (All except for the littlest person who we need to fatten up a bit! She can eat lower carbs later on, when her three year old size isn't wearing 24 months!)