Hey folks! I'm still here!

I updated my latest weight loss in on www.myfitnesspal.com and was really stoked to go back to my blog and see "70" staring back at me.  WOW.  That's pretty heavy stuff!  70 pounds!!!

So what's happened since I went to oBand Surgery Center on August 13th, 2010?

• I've lost at least 12 inches off my hips/waist.
• I've lost 4 full dress sizes... I even got into a fun cocktail dress from back in the day - that looked GREAT -  that was 5 sizes down from my highest regular size.  I won't count the one size above regular that I bought when I was 8 months pregnant with the Twinkies or the other few larger sizes with very unforgiving fabrics.
• I've lost 3 notches on my watch, which originally was pretty snug on the very last hole...
• I've lost 5 bathing suit sizes.  It really felt good to hit the pool this summer!!
• I've lost at least 6 inches from around my back/chest.
• I've lost 2 cup sizes. Not so awesome.  Oh well.
• I've lost my mind...wait, that was the lobotomy I got recently.
• I've even lost a width of a shoe size.

But what I've lost the most? 

• A little inhibition.  I still do want to crawl into a corner when the spotlight is on me, but I'm less likely to avoid the camera flashes.  I even voluntarily got up and did some karaoke at a twins convention this weekend!
• A little humility. In a good way of course... I am happy to accept compliments now. I love it when friends and family goes out of their way to tell me how great I look.  I actually say thank you, and mean it.  And I don't feel like I am fishing for them... they come naturally and easily.  I still sometimes blush.  ;-)

I've GAINED:

• confidence.
• happiness.
• more friends - because I'm exuding the aforementioned confidence and happiness!
• and apparently, "longer arms" because I can wrap them around other people farther!

Yay me!  But I still have a long way to go. Maybe this time I won't be absent for so long!

The funniest place you've ever nursed or changed a diaper!

I was just visiting MomBloggersClub website and saw a title that tickled my fancy...  I clicked on Granola Grizzly Mama's site to check out her latest post. First of all, I liked her name.  Random thing about me... the vast majority of my new mom friends (i.e. friends I met while pregnant or BECAUSE I had kids) are the more naturalistic "crunchy" breastfeedin', natural-birthin' kind of mamas.  And I am so not.  But I think I would have been if my circumstances were different.  I digress...  The post was about the funnier or more unusual places Granola Grizzly Mama nursed her babies "on the go," so this is my take on it (which is pretty much like my response on her posting, but I added to it!)  And, I just had to change the rules. 

If I could recall all the places I've changed a diaper on the fly, that would be an impressive list. For the past 4 1/2 years, I have had at least 2 in diapers and for well over 1 year, I had 4 in diapers. No... my kids aren't still peeing themselves into the 3rd grade... I just had lots of kids in under 2 years. :-) I am the queen of changing twin toddler girls both in under a minute flat. It is possible, so long as it's just pee! So also note, when I am changing one diaper, chances are, my other 3 are strapped into the car, a stroller, all of them cloistered in one toilet stall, or out in public and told to hang onto my shirt with the fear of God put into them that if they let go, they will surely regret it.

So... I've changed diapers:

• in a car (in the trunk, back seat chair, back seat floor, drivers and passenger seats and passenger floor, and with child standing on the tailgate)
• at a park
• at the mall
• in grocery stores
• at Disneyland (in line at a ride)
• at the zoo (on the tram)
• on the Queen Mary (out on the deck)
• at the beach
• at a concert (during a song, of course)
• at church
• on the ledge of a pool
• on a bus bench
• in a booth at a restaurant (yeah, I'm one of those moms but only if I am certain no one will notice what I am doing)
• at a bar in a country club (did I mention I was one of those moms too?!)
• on the set of Dexter, Two and a Half Men, Ghost Whisperer, and According to Jim (yep, studio exec's just love me for that... and Charlie Sheen may have been slightly annoyed)
• I am sure the list can go on and on and on... but my memory is pathetic sometimes.

But the BEST one? Just happened this week. I was being questioned by the police and I changed the crappiest, nastiest diaper ever right in front of the cop with a gun and a clipboard.  I mean, my poor kid had a nasty diaper and was whining about it, so was I going to make her sit in it for another hour?  Nope, because that's the kind of mama I am.

Do I win?  Or can you top that?!

Photos courtesy of Google Images

Random Things

I was surfing a friend's newly published blog (which I am not linking to for privacy sake, unless she gives me blessings) and ran across her post of 25 random things.  I posted mine on Facebook back in January 2009, and thought I'd take a stroll down memory lane to see what my 25 things were.  Amazingly, 24 were right on target, and just a few needed "freshening up."  Here goes!

1. I like to know what the rules are. And, I like to find my way around them whenever possible, because they don’t apply to me.

Countdown 3...2...1

*10* Random Things about Me:

1. I have 2 sets of twin girls, 21 months apart

2. E.T. was filmed across the street from my house when I was a kid; our house can be seen in several scenes.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

My little “poor me” rant from earlier this week was apparently ill timed.

Would You Like Some Cheese with that Whine?

About a year ago, the Daddy and I started talking about moving our family from the little suburb of LA that I grew up in and had lived in (on and off!) for 25 years, and heading about an hour southeast to the place where Daddy spent his 20’s and coincidentally, close to where I was born.