1st Time Back to CHUY'S - YUUMMMMY!

Amy & Tara at Chuy's!!!! YUUUMMMMY!

I am so excited this evening was my first visit to Chuy's since having surgery. My best friend, Tara and I went to celebrate her belated birthday. You see her birthday is May 30th but because of me having surgery and not being able to eat normal we postponed our celebration until tonight! We had so much fun, I think we were there for almost 4 hours! The food was fabulous as always. Tonight I had my first taste of flour tortilla and didn't have any problems. I ordered chicken soft tacos with rice and beans. I ate about 3 bites with the tortilla and then opened it and ate just the inside and I ate about 3 bites each of rice and beans. Before the meal I had about 8 chips dipped in creamy jalapeno dip.....the best dip in the world! It was so good and it was wonderful to spend time with my best friend. Until Thursday when Chris goes back to the Dr.....Blessings to all!

Pics from the visiting Nords from CT (brother-in-law and nephews)

Alec, Chris, Dad, John Jr, John Sr, Mom @ the pool in mom & dad's backyard

John Sr, Alec, Chris @ the pool in our subdivision

John Jr, John Sr, Alec

Amy & John Jr

Alec, Mom, John Sr, Dad, Chris, John Jr & of course Blondie and Peanut - Can't you see the resemblance in this family??? They all look alike!

My turn to be part of the family pic but I don't look like them! LOL

Our little family

Things are going very well. We are getting recovered from having the family from Connecticut for 3 weeks. We really enjoyed having them here and can't wait to see them again. As for us and our progress....things are still going great. We are both feeling well and neither of us has gotten sick at all. Chris goes back to the Dr for his 6 week appt on Thursday so I will have new pics to upload at that time as well as new details. Until next time....blessings to all!

Dr Visit

Everything went great at the Doctor today! He said I am progressing great and that he doesn't see any problems. This is 2 months since my surgery. I have now lost a grand total of 70 lbs! How crazy is that? My hormones seem to be getting back to normal and I am feeling better with all of that. Every question he asked about "having problems" I answered no to and he replied with great that's my perfect patient! So things are progressing as I had hoped and with everyday that passes I am feeling better and better. I can't believe it has already been 2 months since surgery. I go back to the Doctor on 8/20 for my 3 month follow-up and at this appointment they will do labs which means 10 vials of blood. Yuck! Not looking forward to that but glad to have it done because it will give the picture of my hormones as well as all of my levels and if anything is off at that point it will be addressed. So at this point, I have been released from the restricted eating. I am now free to try anything I want while keeping to a low fat low calorie diet. The key is to be like a baby and only try one new thing a day to make sure its something I can handle and that it doesn't make me sick. If I try too many things at one time and get sick, then I won't know what made me sick. The big try of the day today for me was 4 tortilla chips with some salsa! It was wonderful to have the crunch of the chip in my mouth. Chris goes back to the Doctor on 7/30 so we will update with pictures of him at that time. Until next time, I am going to try to go to bed early tonight, blessings to all!

What a great feeling and a great reaction!

I just had to share this because well I just can't stop smiling at the moment. Today at lunch I was in the break room at my office where I am everyday for lunch watching One Life to Live and I was putting my lunch in the microwave when I heard the door open. I didn't hear anyone say anything so as I finished stirring my food and putting it back in the micro I turned around....with that a girl I use to work with that ate lunch in the break room with me everyday (she transferred to one of our field offices back the end of April) was standing there. And her response was "Holy cow, I didn't recognize you from the back and I was wondering where you were now you turned around and its really you. Your new name is the incredible shrinking woman!" About 10 minutes later 2 other girls who I eat lunch with everyday came in and she looked at them and said I can't believe no one told me she had shrunk this much! I have to tell you this was the most amazing feeling. I am still struggling to see it myself but I see it in my clothes and everyone around me says there is a big difference but when you see someone you haven't seen in 2 1/2 months and that is their response you know you are changing. She went on to say that face looked so different to her and she just couldn't believe how little I looked! I laughed and said, I am smaller but I am not little yet! I just had to share that because I can't stop smiling. I go back to the Dr tomorrow so Chris will take front, side and back pics of me in the morning before we leave and I promise to post them tomorrow night when I get home from work.

Until tomorrow.....Blessings to everyone! Also one more quick thing, I have a very good friend who needs your prayers. Her husband has MS and he is battling some depression and has just been diagnosed as bi-polar. He is being treated and things are getting better but they are struggling. Please keep them in your prayers as they have 2 little ones. I know she would appreciate any and all prayers.

Monday was Chris's 1st Day back to WORK!

I made him pose for pictures before he left. He was so excited to be wearing a shirt he hasn't worn in 2-3 years! He felt great and made it all day but he was very tired when he got home. He is doing wonderful and goes back to the Dr on 7/30. I go back to the Dr next week so you can expect to see pics of me next week along with my updated weight!

The great news is we had to go do a little shopping the last few days because I don't have a single pair of shorts, capris or pants that fit me. I have been wearing lots of sundresses. So finally tonight I managed to get 2 pairs of shorts and a couple shirts so at least I have some comfy clothes to wear on the weekend. The best news is the last pair of shorts I bought before now (I cannot believe I am putting this in writing on the blog for everyone to read....)well those shorts were a size.....oh gosh am I really typing this....size 26 and the shorts I bought today are a size 20! Then I bought a couple t-shirts and instead of a 3X I bought XL! HOLY COW! I may not see the weight loss in the mirror but the clothes definitely tell the story! Chris was really excited too because he got 2 pair of shorts and he was originally wearing a size 52 and the shorts he bought were a size 46.....then he also went down from a 3X shirt to a 2X shirt! As you can imagine we haven't had shopping trips this fun in a long time. It was weird to try on sizes you thought would fit and they fell off of you! Just crazy.

Things physically are going well for both of us. Neither of us have gotten sick and thrown up a single time! Huge accomplishment! I am having some issue with my hormones being out of whack but the Dr tells me that it will take another month or 2 for that to get back to normal. Needless to say with hormones out of whack I am a bit emotional and all over the place but hey I can deal with that.

Thanks again to everyone for their support and prayers! Until next time.....Blessings to All!