Rainbows, Teddy Bears and Unicorns

Anybody who knows me, knows that I'm generally a pretty happy person. My friend at work calls me "little miss Sunshine" all the time. James has called my his Sunshine for as long as I can remember. And to put it nicely, I'm a tad on the side of naive or innocent. I guess I have lived a pretty sheltered life. I grew up in church, saved at the age of 5 and baptised at 7. They didn't usually baptise kids that young, but after speaking with the children's Pastor, he told my parents that I really knew what I was doing. I have had an amazing relationship with God my entire life. I was also a PK. Nothing like having your father as your Youth Pastor. I loved it! But I was not usually invited to the parties. For Sure! My Parents were amazing examples and I never once felt like the ministry was more important than our family. So I never really felt the need to rebel. I definitely had a healthy fear of both God and my Father!

So a few months back I was sitting around talking with James and our good friends Scott and Katie. I have no idea how the topic of me and my eternal innocence came up, but the next thing I know James and Katie are pretty much saying that my life can be summed up in Rainbows, Teddy Bears and Unicorns and strolling down Candy Cane Lane. Everyone found this extremely funny, except me. I can tell you for a fact, I have never once given much thought to unicorns! But I guess that's beside the point.

The point is, it has stuck. I get reminded of this quite often! But I'm okay with it. Who cares if I am perceived as "Lil' Miss Innocent". I am very happy with the life I have lived. In these days and times, I feel like that I have taken the "road less traveled". And I do believe that has made ALL the difference.

A Blog of a Different Feather

Okay, so now that my actual surgery is over and done with, there doesn't seem to be much to continue to blog about. Oh don't get me wrong, for those of you few who may still be following, I will continue to blog updates on my weight loss. But when I started this blog, I thought the changes to my body were going to be what the new me was about. Oh if only I had known what 2009 was going to have in store for me.

The past 3 months have probably been the most chaotic time of my entire 31 years of life. But in this time of craziness, I have grown and changed so much. Me as my own person. With my type of personality, I have a tendancy to put most people and things ahead of my own personal needs. Probably one of the reasons I got as big as I did. But as I went through some very trying times, I learned how strong I can be. That is a new one for me! I have never considered myself to be a strong person, EVER! I guess my perception of strength did not meet up with Gods perception. I am a very emotional person, and I guess because the world sees emotions as weak, so did I. But I am learning to embrace who I am, because that's how God created me! Amanda! I am who God created me to be. I am a strong woman, oftens times I am a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. And I think that is something I've had to learn this year.

So my blog is evolving. It started with being just about a physical new me, but quickly turning into so much more! I'll post pictures soon of my weight loss. Almost 65 pounds down, and I am feeling great!

Loves ~ Amanda

I'm so behind!

Okay,
So for anyone out there who may still be following my complete lack to update information on my weightloss, I'm finally posting!

Surgery went really well. I love my surgeon! He is absolutly the most caring doctor I think I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Even down to my incision bandages being heart shaped! I spent 3 days total in the hospital. That was quite a shock to my system. I've never had to be in the hospital before. But Baptist Hospital in Nashville is amazing. I had some great nurses and techs! My mom and Dad were with me and that made the days so much better! And James would come after work and stay until I fell asleep. I had such a great support team!

Once home though, that was a different story! That's when I thought..."Oh Crap, what did I do" But after the first two weeks, life seemed to get back to normal. I took 3 weeks off of work and I am so happy that I did! And my mom stayed to whole time. She was a rock! And she cleaned out the majority of my house! Goodwill never say her coming!

Well here I am, almost 2 months post-op and doing great! For the first time in my entire life, food is not a priority. That is such a great feeling. And I am down 47 pounds and just 7 pounds to my first goal! Life is so exciting again! I look for ways to be more active, because I'm starting to feel good again. I really wish I could have done this years ago. But I know all things happen for a reason. I am down 2 solid sizes too. That's a neat feeling. And I love the reactions of my friends and family. Especially at church. I have some amazingly supportive friends.

So that's the last two months in a nutshell! I'll try to keep a better update and add some pictures soon!

Yucky Details!

Okay, so Monday I had to go do my Pre-op work. This included blood work, EKG's and Upper GI's. If you've never had an Upper GI done before, Thank your lucky stars! That was horrible! And it started at the lovely time of 7:30am. What a way to start your day. You basically drink a lot of yucky crap and turn around alot, so they can get a good look at your digestive tract. I have a horrible gag reflex. So this was not the best test for me! But gratefully I made it through, and I got to go pre-admit for the surgery. The first thing they did when they took me back was weight me. Which is always a good time for the fat girl! I walk into this little room and the nurse fiddles with this huge machine. I didn't think much of it until she asked me to get on it. I than thought to myself "what the crap" does she think she's weighing an elephant! The scale was ginormous! I comforted myself by telling myself that it's a scale they can get wheelchairs on. Yay that's it! Next was the EKG. I am so glad that nurse was a woman! She comes in and tells me that she needs to puts 2 stickies on my legs, 2 on my arms, 2 on my upper chest and 4 under my left breast. I immediately apologize for the fur growing on my legs, because of course I didn't shave my legs. Than she leans me back and yanks my shirt up around my throat. I was like "HELLO" and so very glad I had a good bra on! Geeze, that was an experience and a half. The rest of the visit wasn't so exciting, just lots of paperwork and signing of the ole John Hancock. All in all it was a major learning experience. I've never had any major thing happen that I had to spend any significant time in a hospital. So I learned that there is just no being modest in a hospital...lol! So that was quite a way to start out a Monday morning. Only thing left now is the actual procedure. Here's to March 30th! 13 days and counting!

I'M APPROVED!!!

I have been trying to have some sort of weight loss surgery for a long time now. I remember talking to my friend Christy about this back in 2002 or 2003. It seemed like there was a road block around every corner. Well I am now a firm believer in God's timing is the best timing. This newest endeavor only started back in November for me. And here I am a little over 3 months later and I'm approved and scheduled for surgery.

I will be having Gastric Bypass surgery on March the 30th. I am so excited but slightly nervous now that I have an actual date. This is major! I will be making some drastic life changes! But I am very grateful for this opportunity. I know this is going to be a lot of work, but these are all changes I've wanted to make in my life. And 5 days before my 31st birthday. I am so excited...what a birthday gift for me. A friend of mine recently told me that she was so proud of me for doing this. Because I'm putting myself first for once. I can not wait to see what my life is going to be like post-op.

So really I just wanted to let everyone know that March 30th is my start of the new me!!!

The Countdown Starts!

Okay, so since my last blog I really haven't had much to report on. I was just playing the waiting game. However this last Wednesday I had my last meeting with the surgeon. It went really well. I had to see the Exercise Guy again and the nurse to talk about food. Surgeon just basically went over the procedure again. I spent more time with everyone else.

On February the 10th, James had the lapband procedure done. Now I will be completely honest at the fact that I was pretty upset that James got to have his done before me. I have so much more weight to lose! However I am now so grateful that he went before me. I know we are having completely different procedures, and the recovery will be very different. But it's really nice to kind of no what to expect. I am definitely not a girl who likes to sail uncharted waters. Everything went pretty smoothly for James, so I am anticipating a great surgery! I also learned through this how amazing our surgeon is. He came out and discussed everything with me and let me know how everything went. I also really like Baptist Hospital. They were very kind to keep me updated and in the know every step of the way. I do have to say that it was a very LONG day and had I known how long I would be by myself... I would have brought a friend. :)

Well now it is all in my insurance's hands and how quickly they push my paperwork through. We are probably looking at mid March. I can't believe this is really happening. There are so many things I so look forward to. Little things that people take for granted. But of course my main goal is my family! After almost 11 years being married to a wonderful man I am so ready to make beautiful babies with him and make him the daddy he has always wanted to be. And I really look forward to making my parents honest to goodness Grandparents. They are more than ready.

Please continue to pray! That is a huge thing for me. I am so excited beyond belief, but I am starting to get more and more nervous as well. This is going to be such a life changing event. I am so grateful for my huge support team! I have the best family and friends a girl can ask for.

I will keep blogging and letting everyone know what's what and when's when and all that fun stuff. This time next year, you probably won't even recognize me!