Updates!

Hello my faithful readers - so sorry i've left you hanging for so long! I believe updates are in order! First thanks for all your kind words of encouragement and a special thanks to Margo for all the great website resources for support groups - i have not joined them, but reading them has offered great insight, support and relieved some stress! Each day is different - some days I have great days and others I have "woe is me" days - but i've learned - THAT'S NORMAL!! Thanksgiving went well and I got to focus on what Thanksgiving is all about instead of what a lot of people do - the food! I truly enjoyed being with my family and my sister-in-law's family. The nephew was the center of attention that day and it was great to just soak up all the family lovin! I still couldn't snuggle him - but i was able to get on the ground and crawl around and play with him which was great! I finished up my stage 3 diet while in Cleveland at the convention. The Convention it's self was blah, but seeing great friends like Popple and Fiance Kate and CHWCer's like Kelly and Jan was fabulous!! Food was a different story - i think i did more harm than good that week. I started off better but ended not so strong. I drove down with Paula and Jim and brought food with me. Once in Cleveland we found a grocery store and i bought some more to get me through the week. Our hotel was a good 4 or so blocks away from the convention center and all that walking plus all the walking and being on your feet during the day KILLED me. Not to mention I always had a backpack on that carried my food and books... I was in some serious pain most days. I can't even describe what my insides felt like other than awful. Which in turn made me not really feel like eating. We ate out our first night - Me, Jim and Paula went to Houlihans and I had chicken and a potato - $13.95 for me to eat a 1/4 of it! Wednesday night we went to Hard Rock and Popple Dan and I shared Chicken Nacho's - YUMMY!! I ate lots of yogurt and cheese sticks during my week. My chicken cold cuts went bad pretty early on (I don't think my fridge was keeping them cold enough!) So I was pretty low on the protein intake. I tried Tuna Steak for the first time too - YUCK! This is a learning process for me of what I like and what I don't like of all things I can eat! Since being home I've struggled eating again. I know its because I wasn't getting in all I was suppose to last week that my pouch is not really liking any food - but it's a little better each day! I am also back to work this week Part Time, 15-20 hours a week. I came in today for lunch with the staff and the staff meeting. I had watermelon and pineapple for the first time - that was a treat!! I also finally got to satisfy my craving for broccoli tonight with my STEAK dinner - it was good... tastes a little different, but hey my pouch tolerated it so that's a bonus! Other than just working on increasing my calorie and protein intake up to what it's suppose to be (1000 calories and 65 grams of protein - i'm at 700 calories and 35-40 protein) Thanks again for your love and support!! I will be better at updating and blogging now!! PS - Mrs. Heimann I CAN NOT wait to meet you!! I will see you next week!