Monday, February 21, 2011

ABC survey thingy

(A) Age: 27
(B) Bed Size: Queen
(C) Chore You Hate: Dusting, washing dishes (no dishwasher)
(D) Dogs? I had a miniature schnauzer growing up. He died in 2007; he was 15.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Protein drink
(F) Favorite Color: Red
(G) Gold or Silver? Silver
(H) Height: 5'9"
(I) Instruments You Play: Played the piano for 2 years in middle school
(J) Job Title: English Teacher
(K) Kids: 1 (possible) girl on the way!
(L) Live: South Korea, soon to be Alabama
(M) Mom's Name: Arlene
(N) Nicknames: Howie
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? a week for a stomach thing when I was 5, 4 days for mono when I was 16, and 1 night for back surgery when I was 17
(P) Pet Peeve: People who ask me simple questions because they're too lazy to figure it out themselves
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "I would rather die a thousand deaths than to see my mother's dress on that spoiled, selfish cow!" (Ever After)
(R) Right or Left Handed? Right 
(S) Siblings: 2 brothers, 2 sisters
(T) Time You Wake Up? 9am-ish
(U) Underwear: hipsters
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: sourkraut
(W) What Makes You Run Late: My husband
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: foot, back, belly, arm, neck
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: pasta sauce
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: I don't really like any of them, they all smell bad. If I have to choose though, lions!
Thursday, February 17, 2011

PSA

In an effort to keep band-related things separate from baby-related things, I'm going to try to keep my completely non-band-related posts in my other blog, Marc and Christina in Korea. I do that anyway, more or less, but I wanted to put it out there in case anyone wants to follow me over there, too.

End PSA :)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

It's a baby kind of day.

Today I had my 15-week appointment. My doctor here does an ultrasound at every appointment, so it's exciting to see how the baby grows every month. (I'll miss this part when we go back to the US!)

Anyway, the doctor told us we're *probably* having a girl! She said, "I do not see any evidence of a scrotum or penis, so, you're probably having a girl." It wasn't a super-clear image and I'm only 15 weeks, so we should know for sure next month. Although, it's still technically illegal for doctors to reveal the sex in Korea, so maybe she was 100% sure but just couldn't come out and say it.

Here are a couple of video clips from our ultrasound today :)


Underside (butt view) of the baby--this is where the doctor said she thought it was a girl:


Okay, well, that's all :o)
Saturday, February 12, 2011

Not sure what to do.

I'm not really sure what to write about anymore. Since I'm not *actively* trying to lose weight for the time being (since I'm pregnant and all) and I've been maintaining 235 for a couple of weeks now, I guess there's just not much to talk about! So... I'll just ramble for a minute.

I've heard that usually the band tightens up during pregnancy, and most women end up needing a total unfill by the time the baby's born. So far, though, I haven't really had any problems. Any PBing episodes have been due to me forgetting to chew/take small bites etc. In fact, it almost feels looser than before! I've actually been able to eat a bowl of cereal in the mornings which is just crazy. Usually I'm lucky to get my protein shake down in the AM.

Oh, I guess there IS one piece of big news to share. For the last year or 2, Marc and I have been planning to move to Texas upon returning to the USA. Marc's parents are there, teachers get better pay there, and there are more/better job opportunities. Well, about 2 weeks ago, one of the *big* bosses from the company I worked for in Alabama (before we came to Korea) contacted me with a really great job offer. Basically, it would just be silly to turn it down. Marc and I talked about it for a day, and decided to accept. SO, 2 years of "plans" out the window just like that! It's good though. I love Birmingham, AL. It's been my home since I was 7 years old. My family is there, we have friends there, and I'm happy to go back to my old company (I'll be a supervisor, with actual underlings. This should be good.).

Just 65 days until we leave Korea, and so much to do in that time. Packing, shipping things home, finding a place to live, finding a place for the cats to live until we have a place to live, finding doctors (OB and Lapband)... for now, I'm just going to enjoy my Sunday afternoon.
Friday, February 4, 2011

Confession time! and other things.

Marc and I were off work this week, February 3-5, for Lunar New Year (I love 3-day holidays!). We decided to go up to Seoul with some friends and hang out and shop around on Thursday and Friday. When I think about it, I actually did really well with my eating; my downfall was the candy store we went to at Lotte World Amusement Park. I didn't get much, but I ate the majority of it last night and now I just can't believe how much sugar I ate in one sitting! It kinda grosses me out to think about it now, but it's done and over with, so... moving on :)

I went shopping with my friend and I bought a couple of dresses and shirts that will work well in the summer and with a pregnant belly. One of the dresses I don't even know the size because it didn't have a tag, the shirts are European sizes and essentially mean nothing to me, but the other dress is Banana Republic, size XL! Do you know excited I was to be able to fit into a plain old XL (NOT from Old Navy!)???

Lola (my band, remember) and I have an interesting relationship. While I would like to be more diligent about exercise and eating healthy food, I think what I'm doing is working okay right now. I don't binge because I allow myself to eat what I want and I don't deprive myself (which was always my downfall in the past). I completely avoid sandwiches and anything on a bun because it's just too damn hard to deal with even when I take it apart (although yesterday at the train station I really wanted a Whopper Jr. from Burger King, but I settled for a Twister wrap from KFC). Yes, I feel a bit guilty about my candy binge from yesterday, but now that it's off my chest, I feel better and can move on.

Lola is literally my lifesaver--my biggest problem, I now realize, was definitely my portion sizes and now it's virtually impossible for me to overeat. God knows I try, I really really try to continue eating--but when the mere thought of one more bite makes me nauseous, I know it's time to put down the fork. I doubt I'll ever be a "model" bandster; I really admire those of you who are so dedicated to your exercise routines, and food journals, and are actually able to turn down the french fries. However, I also realize that everyone is on their own unique weight loss journey and we have to do what works for us. Nobody knows us better than we know ourselves, and it doesn't work to compare our habits to those of another because as long as whatever you're doing is working, does it really even matter?

I used to be so judgmental of weight loss surgery, except for people who were like 500 pounds or something. I remember one of my coworkers got lap-band during one of my weight watchers phases and I now realize that I wasn't so much judgmental as I was jealous. I hated seeing the weight just melt off of her while mine continued to pile on. Here I was, struggling so hard (although there were other emotional things going on too), and she hardly had to try--or so it seemed. Then I came to Korea and found the blog of another girl in Korea who was struggling to lose weight; then she didn't post for a while, and then one day she wrote that she decided to come clean and tell the blog world that she'd had weight loss surgery (she got the sleeve) during her absence. I can't explain why, but I just felt so lost after that, and that is when my attitude about weight-loss surgery finally started to change. Here was this girl, my age, having the same exact struggles as me, and she made a decision to change her life because it wasn't working on her own. I started researching lap-band options in Korea then, but kept it on the backburner--I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Trying to have a baby is what ultimately forced me to make a decision. Once I learned that my weight really was hurting my ability to conceive, and the doctor refused to help me until I lost a few pounds, I had a choice--I could wait months and months and months to lose some weight on my own only to have it come back (because it would, I know myself), or I could do something radical and lose the weight forever. Of course, the joke was on me when I found out that this baby was conceived some time near my surgery, but I know that I'm much happier pregnant at 235 than I would've been at 280.

Wow, my original plan was just to write about my candy binge but I guess I had lots of other things to talk about also. Take care, y'all.



P.S. I decided it was time to change the title of my blog. I didn't want to mislead any potential visitors :)
 

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