Just Kids And Cats

Just a little photo dump from the last little while of kids and cats.  Both of which are growing.  Fast.

ummmm....   Cavan in December is the same height Hunter was in June.  I think he might be a giant.

Pukes went through the house.  Sad face.

Tweakers is learning to tolerate the kittens, but she still gives a good smack down from time to time.

I love my cuddle time!

Pumpkin Cat made it right out the door when I opened it for a second to check on the kids.  Battleship wasn't so brave.

Lego building/destructing is always in full swing.

Cavan and his buddy on the growing snow hill.  They spend hours and hours out there each week and the temperatures have been way above the normal making it perfect for playing out.

Shopping Under The Influence

Boxing day saw a wee bit of splurging in this household.  Boxes are now arriving in the mail, mainly filled with new clothing for me.

I had some money saved up to buy some new clothing and my Dad gave me a nice chunk of cash to go towards a new wardrobe (thanks Daddy!). 

But learning a lesson.  One should not shop online, at night, while under the influence of some hefty pain killers.

My box from MEC?  Well I guess I liked one shirt so much that I ordered four of them.  All in the same lovely teal colour.  Whoops!  I have sold two to friends and just one more to go.

Then my Old Navy order came in.  I had ordered a new shirt for each of the boys, just different colours.  Thought I had ordered the same size for each shirt as a 6/7.  Nope.  One is a boys 6/7.  The other is a boys 14/16.  Fits me lovely though!  HA!

Every single item in the MEC order fit me.  And fit me well.  Sending back a few Old Navy items just because for the first time in my life I can be picky.  When you weigh over 300lbs, if it fits, you buy four of it.  It is a weird feeling to have choice in my clothing.  I have zero style.  And I don't even know how I want to dress.  For the most part, I just ordered basic shirts and pants, but splurged and got better quality than the usual Walmart clothing I have been wearing forever.

I am waiting on boxes from two other companies.  Both of which I did orders at night while on pain killers.  I wonder what entertainment those boxes might have in store for me?

Yep.  Loved the shirt so much I got four.  :)

I also ordered three new appliances from Sears for our kitchen.....  Hope I didn't screw up that order!

Bum Watch Week 9

Nine weeks post surgery!  Yahooo!

Big changes this week?  Walking!  On Sunday I lost it with cabin fever and decided to go for a walk around the block.  All geared up, I stepped on our first outside stair and slipped and fell down all of them.  Somehow I managed to not hurt myself at all!  Then I continued and walked half a km to a friend's house for tea and then half a km home.  It was good for my head to get outside for some fresh air and get my body moving again.

Monday I went to the gym for the first time since surgery.  I did a slow walk on the treadmill and walked half a mile (machines aren't metric) in 15 minutes.  So slow!   Then I went back Tuesday and did one mile in 20 minutes.  I felt fine after each walk, so I will keep with that for now.

I am still very swollen in the abdomen and my legs are just getting bigger.  I did a morning compared to evening waist measurement and I go from a 33" waist in the morning to a 36" waist in the evening.  I have added an extra compression wrap to my mid section along with wearing my normal batsuit to help control the swelling.  It just seems to be sending all the swelling into my legs.  They are going to take a long time to see their new normal. 

My wounds continue to heal.  There was a doctor in Faro yesterday, the same one I saw before Christmas, and she took our her scalpel and scraped my inner thigh wound down deep again in hopes of getting blood flow to it and promoting healing.  I hope it works this time!  She did it to two wounds last time (that one included) and one has healed over now.  The inner thigh wounds have been very stubborn.

Bum wound is nearly done.  Right hip wound continues to fill in.  Seroma hole wound on the left hip we are poking open so it can still drain.  There is a cavity behind that hole, but it is filling in too.

Really, all good news.  Drug routine is nothing in the morning, two muscle relaxants in the early afternoon, depending on activity another round of those early evening, and then still one percocet and one valium before bed.  We are working on weaning me off of the percocet and valium now.  Last night I had just half a valium and did well.  I was also in bed at 11pm and slept until 7am.  Finally getting more of my normal routine back in place.  I would like to be off the percocet and valium by the end of the month.

So onto week 9 pictures!

WARNING!  BUM!  HEARTS!  HAND COVERED SNATCH!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Wow.  155lbs gone for good.  Swelling is leaving from the top down.  I see more waist!

Lots of leg swelling as compared to week 4.  Right side is full of fluid!  Who knows, maybe I won't end up lopsided in the end.

BUM!!!   Nearly healed over.  I cannot believe that giant hole is healing.

Right hip wound is much more shallow and healthy looking!

I love looking at my old photos.  I have come a long way!  I just want more of that lower abdomen, upper pubic, and lower back swelling to leave!

So that lower inner thigh wound is where the doctor scraped it down with a scalpel.  The one at the top is covering over slowly (it is the first wound that had post surgery).  But scar lines are all looking great!

2014: Goals!

I just love doing my list making and goal planning for the next year!!  

How did I do with last year's list?   

• Well I didn't make it to 170lbs pre reconstructive skin surgery.  A broken ankle and a few stalls from hell only let me hit 190 prior to surgery. 
• Business growth?  Had to put my hobby/wee business on hold as I focused on my health.  Plus, I was just too busy gardening, playing with my kids, exercising, camping, and then recovering from surgery.  But I did have some excellent sales throughout all of last winter/spring!
• More gym time?  Lived there.  Was nearly running 5k straight too.  Damn broken ankle screwed me over.
• Hiking training?  Again, fuck you ankle.
• More science and math with the boys?  Hell yeah.  It was an awesome year of lighting shit on fire, making messes, and mucking about.
• Garden production?  More than doubled.  I kicked ass in that department.  Mainly thanks to the poisoning of the local vole population.  Sorry voles.
• Organize the photos?  Whoops.  Forgot that one.
• Organize the patterns?  DONE!

So what do I want to do with 2014??

1.  Get my fitness level back.  Before I left for my reconstructive skin surgery, I was awesome.  I was doing the gym 4-5 mornings a week for an hour.   I could plank for 2 minutes.  I could do over 200 crunches!  120 sit ups!  I WAS AWESOME!  Now?  umm....  I get tired walking down the hallway to go pee.  On top of the gym, I was walking the kids to school.  Walking to get them from school.  I was healing from my broken ankle.  I need that level of activity back.  It is going to take months.  So specifically?   I do want to be able to run 5k.  Just to say I did it.  And I want to be back playing squash.  Can't set any dates on those since who knows when I will be healed enough, but it will happen.  Monday I will start back at the gym just walking on the treadmill.  Starting slow!  And I want to be 160lbs on the scale just so I can say I am half the woman I used to be!

2.  More math and science.  Yep.  Again this year.  The boys just love experiments.  We received a number of science kits as Christmas presents.   So many more things we want to light on fire, build, destroy, and grow.  It is going to be a good year.  I told Cavan a while ago to watch out that he might blow away one very windy day.  He replied, "Oh Mum, you are silly.  Gwavity won't wet me fwy away."   I am doing it right.

3.  Hiking training is back on the list.  Chilkoot will be out for this year.  My body needs a solid year to heal from this surgery.  But a friend is coming up in August to hike the Dena Cho Trail between here and Ross River with me.  It is just as long, but not as hard of a hike.  And my hubby can come and rescue me on quad if it is too hard or my body can't take it.

4.  GROW MORE FOOD!  I am addicted to the gardening.  I would like to plant some berry bushes this year and rig up some kind of shelter to help my tomatoes come along since I don't have a real green house yet.  And I want to grow zucchini this year!  Along with that, I am hoping the town passes a bylaw allowing us to have backyard chickens.  Hoping to have fresh eggs!

5.  Spend more time camping.  We camped all spring, summer and fall.  I don't think we have ever had a summer where we have camped that much.  I just want to keep it up!  I even took the kids out on my own a couple of weekends when Matt was on call.  It is getting so much easier as the kids get older.  So more time in the wilderness with my little rugrats!

6.  Sew some new things.  I have a couple of books of nifty little fabric sewing ideas that I want to try.  I don't know where I want to take my hobby/small business at all right now.  It is all on hold while I heal from surgery.  But I do want to try some new projects.  I had to turn away an awful lot of work this fall and winter and I was a little sad to do so!  It was hard to say no, but I am glad I did. 

7.  uggg.... I don't want to add it to the list, but I will.  I WILL deal with that rubbermaid of photos.   I will.  I will.  I will.....   yeah.....

8.  This is a big one for me.  I want to save my money and buy myself a kayak and take lessons.  My ass is finally small enough that this dream can be a real possibility.  Now, to save up the cash.  :)

2014 is going to be awesome!  What are your goals?  Making any changes in your life?  I want to hear all about them!

Bum Watch Week 8!

Wooot!!!   I am already eight weeks post reconstructive skin surgery.  Eight weeks feels like a big milestone in my head.  Not much to report from last week.  No real changes other than wounds are healing up well, energy is still coming back, and I am getting antsy to get back into my old routine.

OHHHHH..... and I did blow $1000 on new clothing during online boxing day sales.  I am sure I will send back 2/3rds of it.  I just ordered all different styles and brands of clothing to try on since I have no clue what will look good on me now.  I cannot wait for the boxes of clothing to arrive at the post office!

I did a good blog post yesterday with lot of nice works about resolutions and how far I have come in the last two years.  So just pictures for you today!

CAUTION!  WOUNDS, NAKED BUM, AND HEART COVERED BOOBIES!

Surgery day and today!  190lbs and now 166lbs.  Starting to get a waist!

My lower back is still very swollen.  Bum still lopsided.  Looks to me like my right side is swelling like mad in today's photo.  I was told by my surgeon it will take up to a year for leg swelling to go down.

Still abdominal swelling, but I don't miss that flap!!!

Thighs!  The left thigh made good progress this week.

Right hip wound filling in and looking very healthy.  Causes me zero pain!  Honest!

Bum wound is almost done!!  But the scaring in that area had made the entire area rock hard.  Hoping time and massage will soften the area up.

Seroma hole.  Still leaking and still a larger hole in underneath.  But no sign of infection and confident it will continue to heal!

Why I Do It

A really good friend of mine asked me jokingly this week when I was going to stop posting nearly naked pictures of myself up on the internets.  I laughed and said maybe when I am all healed up.... but maybe never. 

Naw.  The nearly naked pictures will stop.  Eventually.

So why have I done it?  Why am I continuing to do it?

New Years Eve.  Start of a new year tomorrow.  You making any resolutions?  I do.  Every year.  But I am goal setter by nature and I need structure in my life.  I have come to terms with my personality type and I work best with goals.  Oh... and nice lists written with a black pen.  Must be black.

So, are you making a goal to becoming healthier?  Stronger?  Eat better?  Lose weight?

I made that same resolution year after year for as long as I can remember.  But I needed a tool... an intervention of sorts.  So 26 months ago I changed my life and had gastric sleeve surgery.  A tool to help me with my eating addiction.  If you are a long time follower of this blog you have seen it all.  From the pictures of my stomach being cut out, to my losing a heck of a lot of weight, to my most recent skin surgery.

The best part of sharing it all?  The comments.  I cannot tell you how many people have written me through here, or sent me messages on facebook, or stopped me in person and thanked me for my honesty in sharing the entire process I have gone through.  I have had a lot of ups and downs.  Eating addiction is serious.  Just as serious as a drug or alcohol addiction.  When people thank me and say I have helped them on their own path to becoming healthy, it encourages me to keep on the right path too.  A number of people who have followed me on here on the blog or know me in person have pursued weight loss surgery after finding strength in seeing someone they know go through with it and find success.  Others have gone about becoming healthy using other methods of eating changes and exercise.  I am honoured that I have been able to help people to become healthier.

I never want to go back to what I was.  Yes, I was still me and I was a good person, a happy person, a loving person.  But I had an early expiry date.  An expiry date that probably wouldn't have let me see my grandchildren for long.  Heck, maybe not even see grandchildren.  I was 320lbs when I was 32 years old.  And my weight just kept going up.  Easily 10lbs a year.  My boys needed me and I needed my life and my family.

So I will keep on blogging weekly throughout the healing of this recent surgery.  Even with nearly naked photos with silly hearts covering my girly bits.

To those of you making the resolution to become healthy in the new year?  Go ahead.  Make the resolution.  But find a way to help you follow through.  Reach out for help.  Write down your plans and maybe not act on them right away until you have a real plan in place.  Find a support group.  Talk to your doctor.  Talk to a mental health worker if you think you may have an eating addiction.  You can get healthy this year.  You can be successful in this change in your life.  Want it.  Work towards it.  And surgery is not an easy way out if you are thinking that.  Hardest couple of years of my life.  It is just a tool.  Look into the tool if you think it might be helpful in your life.

Make the resolution.  There is always room for change in your life.  And having a bit of extra room in your pants feels pretty good too.   :)

Baby Hunter and I making banana bread.  2008

New born Cavan! 2009

Pushing Hunter on the streets of Kugluktuk! 2007

Just when we were a family of three! 2008

Hunter and I on the other member of our family- Betty the Quad.  2011

Camping with Hunter and reading our favorite book. 2009

Today.  Last day of 2013.  Expiry Date?  Hopefully a long fucking time away.

Lego Love

This house loves lego.  We have build offs on the weekends where the parents take no mercy and completely kick ass.

My kids get limited ipad time in the morning (40m or less).  You know what makes me happy?  When you see your kid opt to put the ipad down and go back to lego.

The lego website has some great articles about brain development, relationships, creativity, and more that are so interesting.  I really enjoyed this one today on building sibling relationships through playing with lego.  Yes, 85% of the time lego play starts and ends in wars between my boys (someone destroys something, someone steals a piece, etc), but then there is that other 15%.  Where one says to the other, "Wow!  That is awesome!"  or "Can you help me build a ...?"

Lego is the shit.

We have gotten most of ours second hand and are always on the look out for more.  But I am an organizational junkie and the big rubbermaid of it was driving (and the kids) crazy.  My mother saw this set up at costco and told me about it.  I convinced her and my dad to get it for the boys for Christmas.  Bliss!  Matt and I spent about six hours organizing the rubbermaid of lego we have and I know it is all for naught since in a few weeks it will all be mixed up again.  But what the hell.  It looked good for a photo!  And at least it is all spread out enough that they can find piece without getting frustrating digging through the deep rubbermaid.

So where is the stand?  In our living room.  Right next to the coffee table that serves as a giant building table.  Yep.  We are all set for weekend build-offs.

Hunter starting the sort.

Matt and Hunter still sorting!

Done!!!  And still space for pounds and pounds more.