Christmas at Home

In keeping with our desire to spread out Christmas we did our family presents to each other on Christmas Eve Morning.  

We had been struggling to get our kids to give us ideas for Christmas.   We are not really “things” people.  The only one who had suggestions was SpinCycle, who wanted more Hot Wheels.   We didn’t want to just buy things for the sake of buying them either. 

Kilo and I had the great idea of instead of buying things we plan a cool trip.   We have talked about taking all the kids to Disneyland for almost a year but had been waiting due to some health things SpinCycle was working on.   We decided it was time to stop waiting and just go. 

Our original plan was to have the kids open bags that were all packed and tell them we were leaving that night.  Then we found that is such a popular idea that the parks are all super crowded till after school starts again in January.   So instead we decided to skip the first 4 days back to school and have a great vacation.  

We found an awesome deal on a hotel that actually sleeps 6 people.   Yeah!  Then we found the City Pass.  That gives you 3 days in Disneyland, a day at Universal Studios, and a day at SeaWorld for one low price.  Christmas was planned.   Add in some Christmas money from my Grandparents and Kilo’s Grandparents and we also got a day at Lego Land.

Christmas Pajamas

Since we still wanted them to open things for Christmas Kilo and I made matching shirts for 3 days of our trip and one of their favorite Disney character. 

Everyone got one like this

The girls got Minnie

 

Everyone got Lego Ninjago for Lego Land

The boys got Mickey

I love Winnie the Pooh

Mellissa got Jasmine

CJBuddy got Sully and Mike Wisouski

SpinCycle got Lightening McQueen and Mater

Kilo got Wall-E

Erlop got Tangled

I had decided that I wasn't going to carry everyone's stuff on the trip.  So we got everyone a backpack to wear for the trip.  

The final thing they got from us was bank accounts.   They older kids keep saying they need somewhere to put their money so they don’t spend it all.  So we opened a savings account for all the kids.  It came with a cool penny bank that we filled with coins for them to use.  

The day they got the gift the younger kids were not super excited about the trip.  They have never gone so had a hard time understanding what they got.   The older kids were super excited.

My family Christmas party

Christmas this year was a little different for us then usual.   Usually we race through presents at home, then run back and forth between our two families.  The kids are so busy they never even get to do something with their presents.

This year we did it different.  My family decided to do Christmas the Sunday before when we were doing our regular Sunday night dinner.   Mom made a nice dinner and then we did our normal nativity pageant.  

Trying to get some order from the large group

SpinCycle dressed himself to be a wiseman

CJBuddy was the Inn Keeper

Mellissa decided she was too old to act.  So we played with the baby and directed.

Erlop as one of the choir of angels.

After the pageant, we did the cousin gift exchange.

Erlop got a kitty hat from her favorite cousin in a private exchange

Erlop got fun animal socks

SpinCycle got a Bay Blade Warrior

CJBuddy got a awesome book

Mellissa got a earring holder

Then we did gifts from my parents.

My parents got all the kids these cool bags with their names on them.

It was nice to not have to fit so much in to one day and have this fun with the whole family.

One month doctor follow-up

Today was my one month follow-up from surgery with the doctor.  I was so ready for this since this would be my first fill in my band. 

Stats:

From pre-surgery diet (Nov 3) through today.

22 pounds lost

Lost 1 inch the whole way down my abdomen.

Lost ½-1 inch on my arms

Lost ½-1 inch on each leg.

At the doctors today we did the first fill.  They had me lift my legs while lying on my back to engage the muscles and then he tried to poke into the port.  And he missed, and he missed, and he missed again.   After about 25 pokes he started to say that there was still to much fat between the port and my skin and we might have to wait another month and hope the fat goes down so he came try again. 

I was ready to scream.  There is no way I wanted to wait another month to hopefully finally start the process that I thought would start when I had surgery a month ago.   He decides to try one more time and finally was able to stick the port.  Hallelujah!!!!

So the standard first fill he does is 4cc of saline.  If I want more I will go back in a month.   Right now I am able to still eat and drink fine.   I did get full after less then 2 scrambled eggs today at 11:00 and wasn’t hungry again till 4:30.   Hopefully this will start the actual weight loss that I paid so much time and money to have. 

The doctor also sent home a disk with my pre-op pictures today.  

Before

After

The terrible week from hell

This week is the definition of terrible both for the diet and personally.

Monday night we went to the in-laws for dinner like normal.   They had made Lasagna with garlic bread for dinner.   So I had green beans with some sauce from the lasagna.  Wasn’t enough food and I was not feeling right.   I decided to go watch TV with Spincycle and CJBuddy while they finished eating and cleaned up.  I was snuggling with Spincycle because I was freezing.  Next thing I know they are waking me up to leave.  I had fallen asleep while sitting next to Spincycle. 

Middle of the night I woke up with a fever and a massive headache.  I took some pain killer and went back to sleep.  By the time I woke up to get the kids up I was so sick I could barely move.  Kilo took the kids to school and I could barely breathe due to a sore throat, let alone drink or eat anything. 

When I went to get the kids from school I decided this wasn't just a cold and headed to the doctors.  They did a rapid strep test (I had white patches) and it came back negative.  So feeling sad that things didn't get better went back home to feeling awful.  

By Wednesday morning I was still getting worse.   I had a really high fever that wasn't going down much even on full pain killers.  As the day went on I felt worse and worse. 

That night at 9:00pm I get a call from the doctor.  The culture test for strep came back positive.  So they called in some antibiotics.  Kilo wanted Yogurt Land so we got some on the way there.  I decided to have some with him since I hadn't got any food down all day.  It felt so darn good. 

Thursday I spent most of the day drugged up and sleeping still feeling awful.   My mom’s side of the family had a big Christmas get together planned for that night at a local roller skating rink.   She wanted me to come despite not feeling well.  So I drugged up good and we went roller skating.  Kilo and the kids had a BLAST. 

We at the karaoke party room, so when the kids were tired from skating they had treats and singing they could do.   I mostly watched because I still felt terrible even with the double dose of pain killers.   But I did borrow the kid’s scooters and go around the rink a few times. 

Friday I am still not feeling quite human yet.  Still can’t eat and super sore throat.   The kids had wanted to go see a free gymnastics meet at a local college.  But it was also payday.  So I did the shopping because we were out of food and by that time I was so done for the day.  So we talked the kids into staying home and doing a movie pizza night instead.  I was grateful they stayed home as I fell asleep again during the movie.

Saturday we went and saw Hobbit with Kilo’s family.   I was starting to finally feel slightly better.  Then I went home and got the younger kids ready for a family outing.  

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a big block they own here.  Each year they decorate it with Christmas lights and nativity scenes.  Since I was a young child we have gone every year as a family. 

The last 10 years we have got together with my family and drove the Trax and Front Runner (mass transit train systems) downtown to see the lights.  It ends up being about a 6 hour event by the time we ride the trains, get dinner, walk around, and then ride the trains back. 

I reset my pedometer right before we left.  By the time I got home I had done just short of 7,000 steps.   Kilo says his was more then that but that is what mine said. 

Here are some fun pictures Kilo took

These are some my family shared on Facebook.

My family minus Mellissa

My family that came (half were home sick)

CJBuddy and SpinCycle waiting for train home

SpinCycle, Mychicksmom, Erlop waiting for train home

So the terrible week of sickness ended up with cheating eating because I couldn't eat most things.  I wanted to exercise this week and did none because of feeling so bad.  But on the bright side I finally broke my plateau and lost 3 pounds this week.  

Crazy play week

This week was a crazy busy week at our house which made writing things hard for me.    Mellissa has been involved with the school play for the second year.   This year they preformed a play called Honk Jr.   She was part of the ensemble and has been practicing the dances and songs since early September.

This week was performance week.   Since the school doesn't have a stage they rent one in the local big city.   So a 30 min drive from our house.   So Mon-Thur this week I had to take her and some of her friends on a 30 min each way drive then watched the play.   It was lots of fun to see the plays and most of the days didn’t care much about the drive.  Except Tuesday!   There was a HUGE snow storm and it was so super slippery and very scary to drive with 3 teenagers talking in the car.

Part of the cast

I did manage to eat good most of the week.   I even took the girls out for ice cream and didn't even have a taste.  

Friday we went to a local fundraiser for the children’s hospital.  They have people donate Christmas Trees and other Christmas items and then they display them for a weekend and auction off all the stuff off.   Because we donated a tree before, my kids love to go see all the new trees for the year.  

It is fun to go see but it is lots of walking.   After 2 hours of walking, we were all hot and tired.  So we went to where they sell treats.   They all decided to have frozen yogurt and I joined them.  So that food was not on diet but I needed something for me to eat.   It was lots of fun. 

SpinCycle

Mellissa

CJBuddy

KiloForce

Saturday Kilo took me to do massages and then dinner out with his family.   We went to our favorite stake house for dinner.   I had a small part of my fillet and broccoli.   It was a good dinner and still on diet. 

Over all it was a good but busy week.  I followed the diet really well still eating the 70-30 in the larger portions.  Weight didn’t change much but I measured so that we could see if I was losing inches.   So in a week or 2 I will measure again and see if I am losing there.

Post thanksgiving blues

Friday was a hard day for me.

Kilo wanted bacon egg mcmuffins for breakfast, one of foods that I love to eat.  Kilo cooked the bacon outside to not smoke out the whole house, and I cooked the eggs and muffins.  It was hard to make them for everyone else to eat and not get one.   I did have eggs, cheese, and a small amount of bacon.  I still ate well but it was hard emotionally.

Then Mellissa decided that she wanted to make sugar cookies.  My all time favorite cookie.  So for the next few hours she had the kids helping her to cut and cook sugar cookies.  It is awesome that she likes to cook, but she left quite a mess.

Kilo and I decided to be productive and so we carried out Mellissa’s old dresser and brought back in the 2 newly painted ones and hooked them together.   Then we went and attached CJbuddy’s since he couldn’t use his top one till it was connected.  Then we finished in the little kids room.  One of their dressers is on the heater vent and so we added holes to the bottom so that the heat can get out.   By then I was tired and completely done.

Kilo could smell a neighbor barbequing and wanted to do the same.  So luckily I have pre-homemade patties in the freezer.  So he grilled those up for dinner.  I ate mine without the bun.  They were yummy.

By the time dinner was done I was so tired from carrying and moving furniture and upset that everyone was eating my favorite foods without me, and the fact that I still haven’t lost any weight since surgery, that I cheated.  I grabbed two of the bite size cookies (pictured above in the center) the kids made and ate them.   They were small but by the time I had chewed them I felt so weak for cheating that I felt worse.

Over all I can say that was the first time since surgery where I sat down and cried that this might not have been a good choice after all.  Not that it is bad just that we spent all that money and it isn’t working.  Kilo assured me it was a good cause and to calm down but still struggling with this one.

Thanksgiving Day 2013

We had a great Thanksgiving.   Tradition for our family is that we meet with Kilo’s grandparents at 10:00am at a restaurant called Chuck-a-Rama for the big dinner.  They pay for everyone that will come.   So all you can eat buffet, we usually eat so much we hurt by the time we leave.

This year I did really good.  I ate a small amount of turkey, and ham.  Some yummy baked squash they had.  Then I cheated at dessert, I had 3 bites each of bread pudding and apple crisp.   Over all I didn’t over eat, stopped when I was full, and other then the 6 small bites of dessert, ate what I was suppose too.

After dinner we all go to Grandma’s house for games, presents, and a talent show.   Mostly it is a way for Grandma to get everyone together to talk.  The kids love it because she always has little gifts for everyone that also includes some cash.   So we talked, and had fun.  For the talent show, Kilo recited Jabberwocky and showed off some of the home automation that he has been working on.  I showed off one of my cross stitches that I had finished and framed.  Mellissa recited the Gettysburg address that she memorized for school.  CJbuddy showed off his Origami one of his favorite things to do.  And Spincycle sang a silly song that he loves based off a singing bear he got at Thanksgiving from grandma 4 years ago.  Erlop said she was too shy and did nothing.

After the time at Grandma’s we went to Del Taco for some cheap tacos for everyone.  I chose to have an egg and cheese burrito.  Ate half of that, with the tortilla, but not bad of a food option.   Then we went to a 4:00 show of Frozen.  The kids had us stop and let them spend their cash from grandma on treats and then also had popcorn.   I was good and didn’t have any.

Finally at 6:30 we got home.  I was ready for dinner.  I had eaten the right portions and so was ready for the next meal.  Everyone else was still stuffed from earlier so I had dinner on my own. 

Over all it was a great day and very little cheating on food which is great for a day dedicated to food.