Baseball, Old Style, and creepy crawlies

I feel like my entire life revolves around baseball right now! Last week was packed with it once we got home from vacation. Eli is on his regular summer league as well as an All-Star team. His All-Star team had a tournament Saturday and Sunday, which ended up being an all day event. I love watching the games, but it's hard to plan anything else because you don't know the schedule ahead of time. It all depends on if they win or lose each game.

Eli was SO excited to be on this team. He had to try out for it, so I'm really happy for him that he made it. I think the most exciting part for him was the uniform ;) He couldn't wait to wear it, so he finally got to wear it on Saturday. As the team was warming up for their first game, Eli hit the ball and actually broke his wooden bat!

I told him that was pretty cool, and it was too bad it didn't happen during the game ;)

I was a little worried about his thumb, because he hurt it pretty badly when we were up north. Noah was using a slingshot, and Eli ended up getting hit with a small rock. His thumb swelled up and bruised, and I just hoped it wasn't broken. We put a splint on it, and when it was wrapped up, I remembered a certain Fourth of July where I got a fish hook in my finger, and then was a little dramatic with dressing it. I knew I had a picture of me somewhere from that day, so I dug it out (virtually) when I got home. I thought it was pretty funny!

Anyway, Eli ended up doing great at his tournament. We only won one of three games, but he had fun, so that's all I care about anyway. Watching the games is so nerve-wracking for me! 

After the games on Saturday, Jerry, the kids, and I went to Dave and Renee's for some yard games and a bonfire. Dave surprised us with some Old Style beer! 

Dave is actually much happier than he looks in photos, hahaha

Anyway, if you don't recognize the beer, it's seen on just about every episode of Shameless (my very favorite TV show). Jerry and I got Renee and Dave hooked on Shameless, so it was pretty fun to get a hold of the Old Style beer (which you can't get around here--it's from Illinois). 

I hadn't had a single drink since I was in Portland over a month ago, but I couldn't pass up the Old Style! And it was actually really good, even for a non-beer drinker like me. I'm sure it's just your average cheap beer in Chicago, but it was a fun novelty for us to try.

Yesterday, Noah had to leave for church camp, where he'll spend this week. He was very excited to go, but I'm a little bummed he won't be here for his birthday on Thursday. We're going to celebrate it next weekend. 

I took this picture just before he left. It's hard to believe that the next time I see him, he'll be a teenager!

A couple of months ago, I was looking through a brochure of different summer camp events for kids, and there was a cooking class for kids ages 9-11. Eli was interested in signing up, but when I thought about it, I figured he probably wouldn't learn much with kids two years younger than him and several kids in a class. I knew I could teach him everything (and more) than he would learn in a $100 class, so I asked him if he would want to do something similar on our own when Noah was at camp. He loved the idea.

He told me several times how excited he was to choose, shop for, prepare, and cook dinners every day this week. We wrote down a list of ideas, and I wanted to choose different cooking techniques each day. The meal he was most excited about was steak. We never eat steak, mainly because it's so expensive and Jerry and I don't really like beef very much. But, Eli had watched a show where Gordon Ramsey cooked steak for steak sandwiches, and Eli told me all about how he cooked it. That's what he wanted to make. So, we chose steak with sautéed zucchini and summer squash. 

Eli picked out the ingredients at the store, and then I showed him how to prep everything (even how to preheat the oven, the difference between a skillet and sauce pan, soup pot, etc.). He did all the work himself--searing the steak, adding garlic, thyme, and butter, then putting it the oven to finish cooking. Meanwhile, he sliced the zucchini and summer squash, and sautéed them in olive oil. 

When he was done, everything was actually really DELICIOUS. Like I said, I don't really like beef, but even I ate a few slices of this. He was very proud of himself.

Tonight, we are going to make a chicken stir-fry so he can learn how to chop and slice all sorts of different vegetables, and to make a sauce for it, as well as cook perfect rice (I am the master of cooking rice!). 

This is random, but I found a beast of a spider in my laundry room. It was midnight, and I went in there to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. I could've done it in the dark, and I started to, but then I decided to flip on the light. When I did, I noticed it... literally the largest spider I'd ever seen. After I stopped gawking and gasping out some very foul language, I grabbed my phone to take a picture--I had to get a picture of this thing--then I called Jerry and Noah in to see it. None of us could believe it.

Here it is next to a 40-pound box of cat litter, so you can see the relative size of the thing. 

It wasn't moving, but I was terrified to do anything about it, considering the last spider fiasco we had. This spider actually dwarfed that last spider in size. I thought trapping it under a plastic cup or something would be better than spraying it with Raid only to have it run and crawl somewhere that I couldn't get to it. We eventually got it into a mason jar, and I was still marveling at the size of it. 

Jerry said it was probably a fishing spider, and after reading about them, I am pretty sure that's what it was. They like to be in wooded areas and near bodies of water (we live right across from woods/marsh). They are actually big enough that they float on the water and catch small fish and large insects! I have no idea how it got into the house, but the very next day, Jerry used some sort of foam sealant to seal around the drain holes under the sinks and any spot that leads under the house. I don't ever want to find one of those things again!

Anyway, things have been crazy busy around here all week, so I am hoping to get a chance to write more frequently soon (probably after next weekend's baseball tournament). Hopefully everyone had a great weekend!

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Camp Fireside (family vacation)

It feels so good to be home!

On Friday, Jerry and I drove (with the kids and Joey) up to Ewen, Michigan. My entire family--my parents, siblings and their spouses/kids, and dogs were all meeting there at my sister's property for several days over the fourth of July. Ewen is in the far northwestern part of the upper peninsula.

The route we chose (the fastest route) was over nine hours! That may not sound so bad, but considering we had two adults, two kids, all our luggage, and a 60-pound dog in a midsize car (a Nissan Altima--we rented it for the trip), it was going to be a very long drive. That was the thing I was most dreading about this trip. Since we are working on saving money right now, we didn't want to stop along the way--so it was a straight-through drive.

The ride ended up not being so bad after all. It went by pretty quickly. Once we got into the U.P., we realized we were going to be driving right past the Air Force base where Jerry used to live when he was younger (until he was 12, except for a couple of years when they lived in California). I had never seen it, and I thought it would be fun to see where he spent his childhood years. So, we took an extra hour to stop there and look around. It is no longer a military base, and unfortunately, it's very run down looking. Jerry was disappointed to see his childhood home like that. We did get some pictures, though.

After that, it was about three more hours to get to Jeanie's camp. Jeanie (my sister) and her husband (Shawn) own a 109-acre piece of property in Ewen (they live in Rockford, Illinois, but go to their camp on weekends), and they named it Camp Fireside. They recently built a beautiful cabin (Shawn and his friend literally built this amazing cabin from scratch--including the wood furniture):

When Jeanie first started going up there (it's a five hour drive for them), she wanted a "dog park" so that she could bring her dogs and not worry about them running off. Shawn fenced in a decent-sized area around the fire pit for the dogs. Later, he fenced in five and a half acres! Now the dogs have a ton of room to play. Jeanie invited Joey, as well as Nathan's dog Bailey, to join us up north. She also invited a few of her friends and their dogs to come as well.

Pole barn and one of the campers

Jeanie has a few campers on the property for guests to stay when they come, so Jerry, the kids, Joey, and I stayed in one of the campers. I am SO not an outdoorsy person, but staying in a camper was much more comfortable than staying in a tent! Jeanie got us all matching hoodies for the weekend--a different color for each family, and ours was green. It made for a cool family photo!

I had bought a hammock on Amazon a few months ago, for the sole purpose of using it at Jeanie's, but it sat in my closet until we packed our bags for this trip. I was worried I'd never be able to figure it out by myself, so I just wanted to wait until my older brother, Brian, could show me how to set it up. Turns out it was extremely easy! It literally takes less than three minutes to set up, and anyone with half a brain could do it. I couldn't believe it.

I bought the two-person one, because it can be used by either one or two people, and I thought Jerry and I might have fun lying in there together (the weight capacity is 500 pounds). The entire hammock folds up small enough to fit inside of that little pouch you see on the side. And it wasn't even hard to get it all back in there! At Brian's suggestion, I did spend an extra $15 to get a better set of straps. The hammock comes with straps, but the ones I bought separately make the set up even easier and they are sturdier.

Anyway, since I'm sure someone will ask, I got it on Amazon. Here are the links to the hammock (the brand is called Winner Outfitters) and the straps (these are affiliate links, so if you buy through these, I get a small commission; but I paid for the hammock myself, so this isn't a sponsored ad or anything):

   

Relaxing in the hammock ended up being one of my favorite ways to pass time camping. It was SO comfy! And even Luke loved it :)

Speaking of Luke, it was so fantastic to spend so much time with him. Whenever Becky wanted a break, I was happy to walk around or just sit by the fire with him.

Luke even rolled over for the first time while all of us were crowded around him--and I got it on video!

The first evening we were there, I went on a four-wheeler ride with Jerry and the kids. Jerry said I look like I belong on Chips with this helmet on. Hahaha.

The kids had a blast the whole time we were there. They went four-wheeling a lot, swam in the lake, fished at a dam, played Corn Hole, caught frogs in Jeanie's pond, shot Nathan's guns, and watched Brian's fireworks display.

Noah and Eli with their friend (Jeanie's friend's son) playing in the lake

Eli and I playing Corn Hole. He beat me. 

Luke's first time swimming in the lake. Clearly, he loved it!

Eli catching (and releasing) frogs in Jeanie's pond

The boys on four-wheelers

Nathan brought a couple of his guns for target shooting. I had never shot anything other than a BB gun in my life, and I thought it would be fun to try! When I saw him shooting his rifle, he looked like the snipers you see in the movies, and I wanted to give it a try. It took a while for me to understand how to use the scope (I am right handed, but my left eye is dominant, which took some getting used to). I actually hit the bulls-eye! Shooting the gun was super fun, and it makes me want to do it more often (just target practice--no hunting for me). 

In the evenings, we all sat down around the fire to chat and joke around. We made s'mores, and I love that my kids enjoy making them for me--so they do the work, and I get to eat yummy s'mores ;)

Joey had a BLAST playing with the other dogs. There were six dogs total at one point! Joey especially liked playing with Jeanie's basset hound, Bentley. Joey was so tired after the first day, that he pretty much slept the rest of the weekend, haha.

Jerry and I took the kids to Lake Superior for a couple of hours so that they could touch the water. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and it contains more water than all of the other Great Lakes combined. It's known for being SUPER cold because it is so deep.  People don't even swim in it because of the cold temps (unless they do it just to say they did!). We walked along the beach looking for cool rocks (the beaches have so many rocks, and some of them are really unique).

Brian has done a very elaborate fireworks display for the last couple of years, and they just keep getting better. I hadn't seen one yet, because this was my first time to Jeanie's property, so I was looking forward to it. Check out this trailer full of the equipment to launch the fireworks! He had a whole computerized program set up to automatically launch everything in the timing and display that he wanted.

The fireworks were going to be on July 3rd, and Jeanie let some neighbors know about it. The display has been so great that people who live around there all come over to watch the show. It's actually better than the city's display! I'm not exaggerating. After seeing it, I was stunned. I'm normally not a big fireworks person, but this was AMAZING. If the drive wasn't so long, I'd go up there every year to watch the display. (In in the video at the end of this post, I have a few clips of the fireworks.)

Anyway, we drove home yesterday, only stopping in Mackinaw for some fudge (Mackinaw and Mackinac Island are known for the most amazing fudge!). Side note: Mackinac is pronounced "Mackinaw", and both spellings are used--but Mackinac refers to the island and the bridge, while Mackinaw refers to the city.

It feels great to be home! But obviously, we had a lot of fun. I put together a series of one-second video clips with my 1-Second Everyday app, and turned the entire vacation into a very fun video! I posted the video below...


I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!

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Lower Body Lift Update! (5 years post-op)

I've been meaning to do this post for, oh, about three years now. Haha! Can you believe it's been five and a half years since my lower body lift?

So, I've been wanting to write a quick update and post some updated photos for anyone that's curious how my scars are looking after over five years. I don't think there is a huge difference in the one-year post-op photos and these new photos, but I guess that's a good thing? I am still absolutely thrilled with the results of my surgery, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

As a reminder, or to those that are newer to my blog, after losing 125 pounds in 2009-2010, I was left with a lot of loose skin. I still have a lot of loose skin on my arms and legs, but the worst was my abdomen. I had to stuff my skin into my pants, which was so annoying!

It was very uncomfortable to exercise in any way with the loose skin. I got rashes under the "apron" of skin on my abdomen whenever I would exercise, and the motion of it bouncing when running was comparable to running without a bra--NOT comfortable, to say the least.

So, I asked my insurance company if a tummy tuck would be covered in any way. I was really surprised that I met the criteria for having them cover a huge portion of the surgery I ended up having! I had to have lost 100 or more pounds; kept it off for at least 6 months; and have a problem with rashes from the loose skin.

I did a lot of research to find a surgeon, and the first consult I went to was with Dr. Donna Tepper in the Henry Ford Health System. I instantly liked her and felt very confident with her, so I didn't even go to any other consults. She was very insistent that I would have much better results with a circumferential tummy tuck (also called lower body lift, or belt lipectomy). Basically, they make an incision that goes all the way around your body, instead of hip to hip like a regular tummy tuck. The remove a "belt" of skin, and then pull up the lower half and pull down the upper half to meet at the pubic line, and then stitch it together.

I had lots of stretch marks--from pregnancy, yes, but also from being so overweight for so long. The stretch marks went all the way up past the bottom of my rib cage, so I knew those wouldn't be removed (the ones in the very low abdomen can be removed with the belt of skin). I was okay with having stretch marks if it meant I wouldn't have a large apron of skin on my belly.

I was terrified of the surgery, but my surgeon was super confident that I would have amazing results, and I really trusted her. My surgery went flawlessly, and I followed her post-op instructions right to the letter. I wasn't allowed to sit up or even recline at all for 10 days--I had to either be standing or lying flat. It was a challenge, but I did it! This was to help make sure that I didn't get any openings in the incision line. I didn't have any complications during recovery, which was awesome.

I documented everything in detail, which you can find on my "Plastic Surgery" page (the tab under the header of my blog). For now, here is a five-year post-op update.

I haven't had any problems whatsoever with the results of the surgery. My scar has faded a lot, and I barely even notice it anymore. For the first year or so, my stomach felt kind of numb and very weird (for lack of a better way to describe it). I hated having my stomach touched in any way, like if my cats walked on it or if Jerry touched it while "cuddling" in bed or something.

Now, it feels almost back to normal. I still have mild numbness around my belly button area and just below the hip bones on my sides. It doesn't bother me to touch it at all, but there is a slight lack of sensation there.

As you all know, my weight fluctuates a lot--since surgery, my weight has been as low as 121 pounds and as high as 160 pounds. When I gain weight, I do gain in my stomach--the fat accumulates on each side of and on the top of my belly button. I also get love handles on my sides--those are the first to appear and the last to go when my weight fluctuates.

The only part of my surgery that I would say that I wish was different is that I don't accumulate any fat around my incision line. That may sound like a good thing, but when I gain weight, I gain above the incision line and below, which leaves an indentation where the scar line is. When I'm at around 125-130 pounds, my silhouette is pretty smooth. But any higher than that, and there is an indentation around my hips.

Because of this, I have a hard time finding jeans that fit properly! I like low-rise jeans, but I have a very small butt, and no real hips to hold them up. So, I constantly have to tug at them to keep them from falling down. I don't have this problem with mid-rise jeans, so I prefer those.

I really wish that I didn't have the loose skin on my thighs and arms (my thighs are terrible), but for now, the scar wouldn't be worth it to me. Also, the thigh surgery is very complicated; everyone I know who has had it said it was very difficult to recover from. In the future, however, I may have the surgery because the skin on the insides of my knees rubs together when I walk, and it's getting worse as I get older.

My arms don't look great, either, but again--I don't hate them enough to have the surgery. Here is a photo of me holding Luke, and all I could focus on was the stretch marks and odd looking loose skin.

There is one pretty embarrassing issue with my arms, too! You know how people (pre-teen boys, mostly) make fart noises by cupping their hands under their armpits and lowering their arms quickly? Once in a while, my arm pits make that noise out of nowhere when I just lower my arm quickly! It only happens when I'm wearing a very loose shirt, and I don't think anyone has ever noticed it. But it always surprises me when it happens. Just an odd random tidbit to share, haha.

Anyway, on to the pictures! Since that is probably the only reason you are reading this post ;)  As a refresher, here are a few that led up to today's:

"Before" pictures--you can clearly see in the pic of me bending over all of the loose skin and where my abdomen "should" be.

These are some from the early stages post-op:

I had to wear a compression garment for six weeks

I believe this was on Day 2 post-op. My belly button was still packed with gauze.

This is the incision line across my back (obviously right above my butt). I like that she did the incision very low, so that it doesn't show at all when I wear panties.

I believe these ones were about two weeks post-op. The incision was looking cleaner, but I was very swollen:

And then here are today's photos. My skin looks much better without a camera flash, haha. The above photos were taken with a camera instead of a smart phone (I didn't have a phone yet). And the flash from the camera made my stretch marks stand out big time!

(I was tempted to put a filter on them to make my skin look nicer! But, I don't like using filters because I feel like it's "cheating" or something. So all of these are unfiltered.)

My scar is barely noticeable! Again, I love that the scar is so low that you can't see it at all when wearing panties (I pulled these ones down low so you can see the scar).

This is what I mean when I say that there is no fat that accumulates on my scar line. (Again, I pulled the undies down low so you could see the scar). See how the scar indents a little, giving me the appearance of love handles? But it's still a good trade-off!

So, as you can see, my surgery is holding up well! I am SO glad that I had the surgery when I did, because it makes me feel confident and happy with my body. Also, it's MUCH more comfortable than the loose skin! If anyone is considering it, I would definitely recommend it :)  Here are all of the info and details that I wrote about before and after the surgery.

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Catch-up and Wednesday Weigh-in

Yeesh! I meant to write more frequently last week, but I swear the days go by so fast. With the kids playing baseball every day, we've been busy. And we're going on vacation Friday, so we've been getting ready for that.

Anyway, it's hard to even begin a post because it's been so long since I've written, so I'll just write some bullets and keep it simple.

• Someone abandoned this tiny kitten at my younger brother's house, and Nathan asked me if I wanted him/her. While I would LOVE a kitten, there is no way that I can have another pet. I tried so hard to find a home, though, and finally managed to find a rescue that would take him/her (still don't know the sex). Just before I was going to take the kitten to the rescue, however, one of Nathan's friends ended up taking the poor kitty in. 

• This is not very interesting, but speaking of cats, Phoebe has found a new favorite place to sleep, and she looks so adorable there! She blends right in with the teddy bear, and sometimes I don't even notice her lying there.

• The fish flies hatched... ugh. These are the gross bugs that the people around Lake Erie get every summer (I think they're also called May Flies, although they tend to hatch in June). Living right across from the state land, and having a street light in front of our house makes us a huge target for these nasty bugs (they are attracted to light). They're harmless, but they smell like fish ("fish flies") and they're really annoying because they just cover everything. 

• This year, however, Mother Nature did us a huge favor! The day after the big fish fly hatch (they all come at once, usually overnight), we had a huge storm. The wind was crazy, and the rain was so bad that I could barely see when I was driving home. I only had to drive a few miles, but I was going to pull over on the side of the road and wait for the rain to stop. Then I saw huge branches coming off of trees into the road, and I thought it would be more dangerous to just sit there. Thankfully, we got home safely. And the storm ended up being really great, because it completely got rid of the fish flies! They usually hang out for a couple of weeks before they die and smell even worse, but they were all gone after the storm. 

Eli took this picture

• We were at baseball practice right before the storm came, and the sky actually looked pretty cool! But the coach called off practice just in time, because as soon as we got to the car and started driving home, the rain started coming down in sheets.

• The glasses that Noah and I ordered last week came in. Mine don't have a prescription--just an anti-glare coating because my night vision is so bad. I only wear them when watching TV or using the computer at night, or when I'm driving at night, because they keep me from seeing halos around lights--it's awesome! I was so excited the first time I drove at night with them, because there weren't any halos around headlights of other cars. And Noah just looks so much older with his glasses (especially when he actually does his hair--this picture was during a lazy afternoon at home, so no "cool" hair for him, haha). 

• Lucas (my nephew) is getting SO big!! He's almost four months old already. He's been smiling, laughing, and cooing--I love this age! My brother (a pilot) has been getting outfits for him from each country that he flies to, and it's so adorable I almost can't stand it. Brian went to Scotland recently and came home with this. So cute! Becky said maybe he'll get a kilt next time, hahaha. 

• Wednesday Weigh-in was kind of a surprise today:

I was at 132.4, which is down 0.8 from last week. I'm still consistently losing, even though it's much slower than last time. I am hoping that means it'll be easier to keep off. As I see my weight get lower, it makes me a little nervous that I'm just going to gain it all back soon, per usual. But the changes I've made have been lifestyle changes--the correct medication (to treat bipolar, rather than depression) has helped me to stop emotional eating because my mood is stable; and I've pretty much stopped drinking alcohol altogether. I don't plan to totally quit, but I save it for special occasions and limit myself to two drinks. The last time I had a drink was actually in Portland a month ago. Not drinking alcohol has helped me to not snack when I'm not hungry. Before, alcohol would make me want to eat everything!  

Well, we leave for vacation on Friday, so this may be my last post for a while. We are going to the far western part of the upper peninsula, and there is no cell or internet service. It's going to feel so odd! But I'm kind of excited to find other non-electronic ways to spend time. I'm actually going to bring a notebook and write the old fashioned way--I can't even remember the last time I did that. I also have some books I want to read. 

If I don't write again, I hope everyone has a great weekend and Fourth of July! 

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