Catching Up

Whew!  It's been a crazy couple of weeks.  I'm sorry I haven't posted.  Recovering from the surgical ERCP took way more out of me than I anticipated.  The hematoma that developed at one of the incision sites is still giving me a bit of grief.  I am getting it checked out tomorrow.  And last week we took a much needed family vacation to Orlando, FL.  So I am just now getting back into the swing of things.

I am feeling so much better.  I have felt like crap all summer long and I am finally feeling "right" again.  It is re-assuring to know that I wasn't losing my mind - something was wrong with me.  I'm hoping that this ERCP really fixes things and I don't have this problem again.  At least not for a while - I'm so done with hospitals right now.

Vacation was incredible.  I haven't had a vacation like that in years.  None of us wanted to leave at the end.  Usually by the end of vacation I'm ready to get back to the real world and I'm sick of all the people I'm with (yeah - you know who you are wink wink).  :)  I don't know if it's just the timing of the vacation after all the crap I've been through this summer, or if I maybe imbibed a little too much of the happy pills or pain killers and was just really enjoying myself, or what, but this vacation was simply heavenly.  We did go to Disney, but I think that even if we had not done that we still would have enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Everyone just had a really great time. 

Not everything went perfectly while we were there, but it was all good.  I had planned a surprise for the kids that would make me the coolest mom ever.  I got them tickets to a Jonas Brothers concert.  Unfortunately, there were flash floods in the area and they flooded the amphitheater the concert was at and the concert got cancelled.  So I'll have to find something else to make me the cool mom, I guess.

And as if on cue, when we got back - I could not walk without a lot of pain in my right foot.  Apparently, practically being in bed all summer is not conducive to then getting up and walking for 2 days through Disney, and I now have a stress fracture in that foot.  I think I may have officially kissed my chances of doing the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon this year goodbye.  Whoever has the voodoo doll of me - seriously - I think I've paid my dues.  Whatever I did to you - I'm sorry - please stop.

Sneaking up on 60 pounds down!

Here are some more pics from my vacation. This is picture below is of the first outfit I have bought that is NOT a plus-size outfit! NO WAY! I am slowly but surely sneaking up on being 60 pounds down since surgery. It's only been 12 weeks. I am quickly running out of clothes to wear! I don't know what I'm going to do about clothes for work pretty soon.

This is a classic picture of my sister just enjoying the sun on the dock.

This was just a fun pic before heading out on the town.

I just love palm trees.

SO RELAXING!

I am back from my trip to Clearwater for my sisters vacation. It was so wonderful. We had a fantastic time - a fun time - a leisurely time. We slept as late as we wanted, took naps whenever we wanted. Most of the time we had no idea what time it was - nor did we care. We were totally women of leisure. It was fantabulous. We walked everywhere we went so we were probably walking 3-4 miles a day (in my humble estimation - Shannon will probably dispute that). I managed to loose 6 pounds while on vacation! Who does that? Kanga was a little on edge while on vacation and not happy with most Roo that was given to her. That was pretty frustrating.

Here are some pictures of some of our adventures. One wild and crazy thing we did while we were down there ... we got tattoos!

This is my tattoo. The word "Loved" with 3 diamonds around the word. My kids birthdays are in April and that is their birthstone. One is blue (for my son, Caleb), one is Purple (for my daughter Megan), and one is pink (for my daughter Marissa). And, yes, it HURT. Apparently the top of your foot is one of the most painful places to get a tattoo. This REALLY hurt.

This is my sister's tattoo. She got the same word, but got two hearts - one for each of her girls in the colors of their birthstones.

Here is a silly pic of our feet together.

Here is a pic of what I looked like most days on vacation - just hanging out in my bathing suit on the doc behind our motel. We would walk along the beach and people watch, but it was so easy to sit out on the doc and just rest.

This is a fun pic of my sister. I think this pic captures the whole essence of our weekend together. It was just so great. I am so thankful to my sister for making me do this. I so needed it. I am renewed and refreshed and ready to tackle life and all it brings again. And trust me - life is bringing it's share lately. :)


I will post some more pictures soon when I go through what's on my camera, etc...

I'm Leavin' On A Jet Plane ...

I think I mentioned on here before that my sister has seen that I am in desperate need of a break from reality - a getaway - and has graciously arranged for me to come visit her. I am leaving tomorrow evening to go down to Clearwater Beach for the rest of the week. There will be no children and no husbands - just us sisters sitting on the beach and doing blissfully nothing. Expect to see pictures posted here so I can torture you all. :)

In getting ready to leave I have had an interesting problem - finding clothes that fit. I have found a ton that fit, but now the problem is deciding which to take with me! It's so exciting to have cute clothes that fit. I drove my husband crazy last night trying on a gagillion things and going "Does this look OK?" Of course, he's not that crazy about me going without him - so he could care less if I look OK or not. :)

I am looking forward to sleeping in, napping, sitting in the sun, walking, reading a book without being interrupted every 5 minutes, and just basically not living by anyone else's timeline.

When I come back I have an appointment with my Primary Care Physician (Dr. Bloom) to discuss some hip pain I have been having. I went to the chiropractor about the hip pain earlier this week. He said my hip was mis-aligned, but he also feels that because of the rapid weight loss I have my hips are having some bio-mechanical issues. He feels physical therapy is in order because my gait has probably changed. Right now my hip locks up randomly and really hurts when it does. So we'll see how physical therapy helps.