A trip to the Houston Rodeo and Zoo!

Spring has definitely arrived in Houston. While I am never anxious for warm weather to arrive again, I am excited about some of these beautiful days we have been having around here. A little over a week ago Sam and I took a couple of days off work just to have some fun days with Elena. We took her to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and she had a grand time. All she could talk about for days was seeing the animals (or aminals as Elena would say it) and riding the pony and the pink elephant ride. She was such a brave little girl trying new things while we were there. Here is a photo of her taking a pony ride, she loved it!

This past weekend Laura and I took her to the zoo. Saturday was the premiere of the new red panda at the zoo. It was a really cold day when we arrived, but once it warmed up we had a really good time. As always she loved the petting zoo and seeing all the animals. Here are a couple of cute photos from the trip.

Three Days Till Spring

Spring officially begins on Friday, March 20. It seems like it has already been Spring in Houston for a few weeks now. I really missed not having a very cold Winter but at least it did snow for one day, that was a lot of fun and definitely not expected.

All is well on this side. Sam and I are staying busy with work and trying to figure out what renovations we want to do to the house. We are still waiting on contractors to get to work on our roof and other Ike-related damage. Hopefully they get started on that soon. We are also looking for new flooring since we both hate carpet and carpet is very hard to keep clean when you have 6 cats and a dog.

In addition to work and home duties, we are still working on our diets. I am happy to announce that Sam has lost a total of 30 pounds as of today! I am so proud of him. My weight has plateaued a little so I am trying to stick to the plan until I start losing again. I am sure it will happen, it just can be a little frustrating when you are trying hard and you do not see the scale move. I am working hard on being positive though.

We are taking the next couple of days off work to spend time with Elena and just enjoy a brief break. Work for both of us is a little slow this week since several people are out for Spring Break. We plan to take Elena to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo tomorrow so she can see all the animals, by far her very favorite activity.

Speaking of Spring, last week Elena and Victoria helped to plant some grass at my parents house. They had a ton of fun, mostly watering the grass. Well in point of fact, they had the most fun watering each other. Here a few cute pictures that Angie took.

Back to the Blog!

Our family has been really busy lately so I am sorry for not posting any updates as of late. On January 29th I started a new journey in weight loss by having Lap Band surgery. It was a hard decision to make, but it was a step that I had to take in order to get my weight down. After having Elena I was able to lose all my gained pregnancy weight, however within her first year I gained it all back and then some. I stated having problems controlling my blood sugar and my blood pressure started to rise. I have struggled with weight issues all my life and I have never been able to successfully keep off any weight I lost in past attempts. I had to have the surgery for Elena's sake. She is only two and I want to be more active with her and more importantly be around for her for many years to come.

Adjusting to life after Lap Band has not been too hard. The first week after surgery was miserable and I was questioning why I ever did it, but now that the pain is gone I am happy that I took that step for my health. I am still learning what I can and cannot eat as well as how much I can eat. Since the start of 2009 I have lost 38 pounds and counting! It is slow progress now, about 1-2 pounds a week from here on out, but as long as I can keep up that pace I will be happy.

Sam has been wonderful in supporting me in this journey. In fact, he has been dieting and doing a wonderful job at losing some weight. He is now down 24 pounds since the start of 2009. His help and motivation have been so important in this process.

Elena is doing great lately. I was home with her for three weeks after surgery and I loved having so much time with my little girl. It was so hard to get back to work. But she is happy to be back with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, and Victoria during the work day. She still loves the Wonder Pets and she is slowly starting to warm up to other shows like Word World and Martha Speaks. Below is a great sleepy photo of her in her Wonder Pets pajamas!

I hope all is well with everyone and I will work on posting more regularly as well as getting some more photos up. Wishing you all the best till next time!