Hazelbunny

Mom jeans are tapered leg jeans that sit right at or above your belly button. They make everyone that weighs over five pounds look like a wideass. The best bet is a midrise, straight leg or bootcut jean in a darker wash. I wore mom jeans for years until a non-fashion tarded friend took pity on me.

I am a suburban mom too. I guess I was referring to the stereotypical suburban mom - ie - I pour every ounce of myself (finances, energy, and time) into my children and can't be bothered to consider anything other than comfort and cheap price when it comes to my own clothes. Another way to describe it - if you arrive somewhere and your children look like they came in a limo and you look like you got dragged in by the Greyhound bus - then you are a victim of suburban mom syndrome.

If you want honesty here goes - I only like skorts on children under 10. There are some really cool running skirts that have shorties underneath. Running Skirt, GymGirl, MarathonGirl, Nicole DeBoom, SkirtSports, TRIKS But the skirt in front and shorts in back just screams suburban mom. capri overalls - no - especially not in denim. Again really cute on children under 10 and worn constantly by suburban moms (although not as cutely) Denim mini skirts - this is where age comes in. Are you in your young 20's? in that case then I see a lot of girls wear calf length tights under denim miniskirts - it looks cute. If you are older than say 28 I would pass on the denim miniskirt. I know none of us wants to drop a fortune on clothes as we are losing weight. But you know what - most of us got fat because we put ourselves last on the list or we dropped completely off the list. Even if you just pick up a few stylish items from Target it will make you feel so much better.

I wear the Enell sports bra - Enell Sports Bra - Welcome I have very large breasts (although shrinking quickly) and they don't move an inch in this bra. It is the only bra I have ever found that makes working out comfortable.

I have to agree. Society hasn't gone downhill - especially for the poor. Have any of you read accounts of what life was like for the poor and unprotected in the mid to late 19th century (like 1850 to 1990) in places like New York and Chicago - absolutely deplorable. The difference is now we can see those faces and hear their story. 50 yrs ago if some Mom flipped out and killed all her kids the only people rocked by the story was her community - her city. Now the whole nation hears about it. It gives the impression that child murder, poverty, molestation, etc are more common. I don't think that those things are in fact more common - just more widely reported due to advancing technology and 24 hour news.

Also Texans identify themselves as Texans. My uncle is from Michigan and when I asked him what they called themselves he had to ask someone else to come up with Michiganders. The lady from New York or the woman from South Carolina probably wasn't identified over and over ad infiniteum as "The Texas woman who......" Media plays on perception and obviously people have this perception even though the facts do not back it up.

You could fit fifteen of the fifty states inside Texas with a thousand square miles left over. Not to mention that we have the largest population outside of California. We are not prone to killing our children - chldren die almost every day at the hands of their parents and most of them do not live in Texas. I live in Houston and I was horrified by what Andrea Yates did. As a parent I can't even imagine what kind of sick mind is necessary to take the life of your own child in such a cold blooded way. Assuming that Texans are "more prone" to kill their children is like assuming that everying rides a horse and has a ten gallon hat in Texas because you have seen three people on the news from Texas who rode horses and wore hats.

So my home scale has been reading 318 for several days now. I was so excited because I thought I had lost 67 pounds......uh no. I went and weighed at my surgeons yesterday and it was 330 - which is still 55 pounds so I am not complaining. I need to just stay off the scale unless I am at my doctor's - I am starting to get a little obsessive about it.

It can be hard but it is all about perspective. When my first child was born weighing a pound we went through a roller coaster - 3 1/2 months in the hospital, surgeries, etc. 5 months later I was on a the phone with a friend that start crying because she had to take her new baby for her first shots. At first I thought it was ridiculous because compared to what we had been through it wasn't even a blip on the radar screen....but then I paused. It was important to her, it was traumatic to her because she hadn't been through what we had been through. She had no frame of reference for where we had been - couldn't even imagine it for that matter. Same way with people who only have 45 pounds to lose. They have no frame of reference for what it is like to need to lose over 200 pounds. So for them it is hard and traumatic in the same way it was for my friend taking her baby for shots. I would have loved to switch places with her but there is a side benefit. In the same way that I appreciate every single breath that my child takes in a way that a parent who hasn't gone through what we did can't even imagine - I appreciate every pound lost off my supersize frame I think more than someone who started off so much smaller.

Hmmmmm......what is it worth to you?? I can't wait till Saturday. I have noticed the difference too. Man oh man the other day I thought my head was going to explode - well at least until my little angel walked in and said "What are you doing to Mommy Daddy?"

Medge - The fill is disconcerting isn't it? Hopefully you will get good restriction out of it. Sophie - I am tight in the morning and loose in the evening too. I have decided to stay with this fill because I can still eat everything healthy. Tammyj - congrats on the 40 lbs!! I rocked at the gym today - 45 mins on the elliptical and a quick 20 minutes on the treadmill. But I find I have to waterload before working out because exercise makes me TIGHT!!

Happy Birthday Denise!! I have been crazy busy lately with the last few weeks of school. Tomorrow is the first day of summer for my three kids. I am excited - I love everything about summer - swimming, the beach, playing at the park. My weight loss has slowed down from the beginning but it is still consistent. Plus I am sitting her in size 24 jeans!! (from a size 34 at surgery).

Our 7 year old son has worn a mohawk for the last two summers. We also use it as a reward - if he gets the principals discipline award (no N's in conduct all year in any subject) then he can get a mohawk on the last day of school and keep it all summer. We also get the snarky remarks from other parents (whose little hellions are generally hanging from the ceilings). I think it is funny really - the incongruity between the headbanger haircut and the polite little boy that says yes maam and no maam. gadgetlady - I have never had to step it up - my kids have always responded to the tap. And when I say I mean "business" it is not a threatening warning or an admission that I have run through ever other method of discipline. It is a wake-up call to my child that he/she has become complacent in their behavior and need to get back on track and behave in the way that they know is expected. They have never pushed the envelope and as my 7 and 9 year old have aged I am able to just tell them "Get back on track" - they no longer need the tap.

This is where we differ. The times that I have spanked my children it has not been to inflict pain - even stinging. It is more of a wake-up call - Mommy really means business and you need to get yourself back on track now. I finally figured out what I find a disturbing about what you do - it is about inflicting pain and it is a completely powerless situation for your child. I realize it may be different in practice but it just sounds a little odd. And the whole hug right after somehow makes it ten times worse. Almost like a man beating his wife and then buying her flowers.

I spanked one of my kids in the grocery store (a tap on the butt with my hand) for absolutely awful behavior. It was exactly the way I would have spanked her at home. I was not concerned that family services was going to come knocking. I realize that not everyone agrees with spanking....to each his own. I love my kids dearly, I wanted my kids, and they are some of the most joyful kids you have every seen. I don't think that the occasional tap has done them harm. I do not rely on spanking as the only discipline in my house as I said earlier. What I try to do 99% of the time is catch them being great (which isn't hard) and reinforce that! It is much easier to encourage good behavior than to punish bad behavior. And as an aside......I find the hands on the wall, using a switch, and then hugging a little scary too

I agree talking can work and it does work with two of my children. I don't think all unspanked children are thugs - as long as the parents are enforcing the rules. But neither are all spanked children low self-esteem, prone to violence, rocking in a corner from fear kids.

My mom has COPD - she gets out of breath drying off after a shower. I quit smoking when I got bronchitis three years ago and could barely take a breath and had an asthma attack picking up my 9 month old baby. I realized that was the way my mom felt EVERY DAY! No way...not for me. My pulmonologist said some people can smoke until they are 95 years old and it nevers does any harm. Some people smoke for a few years and have problems. I didn't want to be one of the ones that had problems. And I don't want my kids exposed to second hand smoke and end up like my mother.

I got there about 7:30 - I was scheduled at 9:30? (not sure exactly)- actually went into surgery around 10:30. I left around 1:30 feeling OK. I was terribly nauseous - I had to get a zofran shot before I could get up and walk around because I would start heaving the second I stood up. The zofran shot is a freaking miracle I tell ya. I went home and slept most of the next two days except for my scheduled walking around times. It really wasn't bad at all.

I spank my kids. I have not had to resort to spanking very often (and I have three kids) but when necessary I will smack their bottom. These were my spanking rules.....I didn't spank before two because honestly they just wouldn't have gotten it - I used redirection. The spankings were hand to bottom only (no switches, paddles, etc like when I was a kid). My kids have survived and thrived. I never spank my oldest child anymore because honestly it wasn't the best method of discipline for her. She responds more to talking, grounding, etc. My middle one is also rarely spanked (maybe five times in his whole life - he's 7) - he responds more to being removed from the fun. My young one on the other hand.....nothing worked but the tap on the bottom. She got her first tap and decided she did not like it at all. Even the threat of a spanking is enough to straighten her right up. My job as a parent is to teach my children to be upstanding, happy adults who live their lives with integrity. I don't think a couple smacks on the bottom (that don't even hurt) are going to permanently damage their self-esteem or land them on a therapists couch in 20 years. Failing to discipline and guide my children, however, will have an enormous effect on their future. We all bitch about unruly children, children who think they are entitled to everything, children who are disrespectful - I think alot of those kids would be better served by a parent willing to enforce their own rules - even if that means an occasional spanking.

I quit three years ago and they are right - there is nothing worse than a convert. I could care less about "smoker's rights". I think my right to breathe in a public place trumps that. Until I quit I never realized how nasty it smelled and I absolutely hate to have to run the "gauntlet" to enter a public building.

WOW - I can really see the difference!! Great Job

It can be daunting. I just look at minigoals. I was so excited when I lost to the point that I had less than 200 to lose. And I put it on a pound at a time so I try to keep my mind at taking it off a pound at a time instead of trying to wrap my head around the entirety of what I have to lose.

Here is how it was described to me - if you fill a baloon with air it will gradually seep out - same thing with the saline in the band. If you fill a baloon with water it will stay in - same thing with omnipaque - it is a thicker solution. Not everyone needs it - only those who have problems with losing saline.

My fill is great!! My first fill was 1.5 CC's and I only had .2 CC's left - the rest had evaporated. So this time they put in omnipaque and I can really tell the difference. I feel like I did right after surgery.