Are we not adorable?

I stole mom's chair
Wait, what are you doing up here?

OK Mom, we'll look pretty for the camera

Now I stole the chair from my brother

Week Six & Seven

I went back to work on the 15th. It's nice to be back.
Last week I had a few people tell me that I was looking great and one told me she didn't recognize me. :) This week I was told that I needed to buy new clothes already LOL.

I had an appointment with the surgeon on Wednesday and he seems extremely pleased with my progress. I'm now up to stage 4 and can eat pretty much anything (within reason) that my body will allow me to have. I know I need to stick to certain things. I now need to get in about 60 grams of protein, along with 64 oz of water a day. It's not easy!

This past Tuesday we added 2 new members to our family. Chris and I adopted 2 dogs.
Marcie is a 2yo black/white female beagle (who's had a hard life) and a 1 yo black/white male cocker spaniel.

(The pictures don't do them justice. They are adorable.)

Week Five

Not too much new today.
I went back to work yesterday. It was great being back.

As of this morning I've lost 28.5 lbs. It seems unreal to me.
I'm still having to make myself eat. I don't really get hungry so I forget to eat.
Last night was a little rough. I was moody and just simply wanted "normal" food.
I know its coming.. another week and I can have any food my body will tolerate (within reason).
It's not that I want a huge plate of whatever, I just want a bite, a taste. But its ok. I'll make it through to next week. :)

Today I have to go buy fabric for the hot tub cover. I need to do some calculations before I go. Right now I need 18 yrds and that seems like alot. So I'm going to see if I do it another way, sideways, if it'll take less.

I'm also going grocery shopping for some new recipes from my new cookbook Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery. I think I'll make scallops. They are tender and soft. There are alot of recipes in the book that looks great. But the best part of the book, the author has put a portion size with each recipe for lap band, RNY, and 'normal' portions also. It even breaks down into the weeks after surgery. It's really neat. With this book you have to remember that each Dr is different and the foods you can eat at each stage is different. So just because the book says you can have so much of a certain recipe at week 2, doesn't mean your Dr want's you to have it. I know there are many recipes I can't have until next week even though the book says for weeks 1 - 4 you can puree it. So you have to use the information that your Dr gives you along with the book.

Week Four

Today is one month since my surgery and I'm feeling pretty good, most of the time.
Today my left side is hurting a bit, but it'll be ok. :)

The Dr's office and liberty Short Term folks finally talked today. It only took Kelly a week and half to get my case worker to call her back. This has been a royal pain in the askmenot.
Why they think they know more about when you should return to work than the Dr is beyond me.
They were only going to pay me thru yesterday. However, today they did extend it thru the end of the week 6/13. The Dr's office said it would be ok. They aren't thrilled and made me promise to not do anything to harm my still healing innards. I promised. I think they also agreed to it because I've asked 4 times now to let me go back to work. I think they are tired of me asking LOL.

This week I've been doing more sewing. Or should I say cutting. I've been cutting out more quilt block patterns for the snoopy quilt. I've also been trying to do a little pen turning. But the acrylics and I aren't getting along. For every set I turn one of the pieces goes flying off the tubing. I did, however, get a wood pen to turn correctly. Not sure what's up with the acrylics.

Week Three

Today starts week 3 and today I get to start eating food again. YEAH!!!
I had an egg for breakfast and it filled me up. That just amazes me.

According to my scales I've lost 20 lbs in 3 weeks and 35 from my first visit in January.

The past few days I've been focusing on sewing and scrapbooking. I've made several cards, gotten 2 pages done on our cruise book and finished a UFO (unfinished project) from a few years ago. I hope to get a few more done before I return to work. I'm still waiting on the dr's office to tell me what they and Liberty have determined as my return to work date. Hopefully I'll know by tomorrow afternoon. Liberty says one date and the Dr's office says a later date. I don't mind either date, but I don't think the Short Term folks should be able to tell me how long I can be out (with pay) when the Dr. (who should know more) tells me its 2 weeks longer. This is very frustrating.

Here is a card I finished today. I'm sending it to my brother Julian, who is serving our cournty overseas in Afghanistan.
It's a black card with a red background. I cut white stripes and a blue field from some star paper I had. The letters were cut using the Cricut using the Sure Cuts A Lot program.