Update

I haven't blogged in over a week.  Shame on me!  It's been a little busy around here and I'm just now getting to sit down for a few minutes.  

Yesterday I had company all day.  My mom's cousin came to visit from Chicago and she spent the day with my family yesterday.  She brought up the gifts from my mom, Aunt Kim, and herself for Allyson's birthday.  I'm still struggling to believe she's 5 now.  

I still remember waking up in the hospital after she was born completely confused.  The doctor said I had four seizures and I ended up getting moved to ICU for a few days.  It was scary.  I had bruises up and down my arms for weeks from IV lines getting pulled out and my tongue was swollen so bad I could barely eat.  It has to be the worst feeling in the world to have your newborn baby leave the hospital and you have to stay.  I'm not sure I was even awake when they released her.  I'm pretty sure it was the most traumatizing thing my husband has ever dealt with.  He was in the room when one of the seizures started.  He was trying to hold Ally sitting in a chair while I was sleeping and said my arms just flew up over my head and jerked back down yanking the IVs out.  He tried to call the nurse and hold my arms down while still holding Ally in one arm.  He was shaking so bad after the nurses came in, they decided to take Ally back to the nursery to give him a chance to calm down.  I felt so bad for him after we finally made it home.  For probably a month afterward, if I twitched in my sleep he freaked out.  Here she is newborn.

And here she is now!

She had a great time on her birthday.  We got her a huge cake.  She wanted a yellow cake with flowers so that's what she got!  A half sheet cake with white icing and pink flowers.  She was so excited when she saw it.  It makes everything worth it when we watch her smile.  She's growing up fast!

Melody has conquered sitting up on her own.  She can sit up from crawling and now she pulls herself up on anything sturdy enough to hold her.  When she wakes up from her naps she's standing up in her crib waiting for me to come get her.  She got the cutest pillow yesterday and she just loves it!  Aunt Kathy decided since she wasn't old enough for candy she'd get her that instead.  If she sees it in the floor she'll crawl over to it and flop on top of it.  The pillow is just as big as she is, lol.  Look at this happy face!

So, about me...I am 1.1 lbs away from being the weight I was when I graduated high school!  How exciting is that!!  I'm not done, not even close.  I have more weight to lose, but I do feel so much better now.  It's amazing.  Don't worry, I'm still keeping my food journal.  I haven't forgotten about it.  I'm just not going to post it anymore.  When I'm down to my ending goal weight I'll post before and after pictures.  I didn't take any specifically for the start of this endeavor, but I have some that were the reasons I motivated myself to get healthy and lose weight.  From the beginning I've lost 52.9 lbs total.  Now keep in mind that I dropped 40 and then found out I was pregnant with Melody.  So I gained again with the pregnancy and have been losing since then.  It's been up and down.  I can't wait for the final results so I can compare my pictures.

Anyway, here is my tip.  I've decided to keep doing the tips.  Hopefully they help people.

Tip of the day:  Did you know your body retains water because it feels like it isn't getting enough water?  This was actually a new thing for me.  To stop water retention you should drink more water!  No, I'm not joking.  I'm serious.  Water helps your liver convert fat into usable energy.  Not drinking enough water causes your body to go into "famine" mode.  It bombards your kidneys with concentrated fluids that create more work for your liver.  Thus resulting in your liver working overtime trying to do the job your kidneys couldn't do and not doing it's own job, which is stated above (in bold).  Your body will store the fat instead of burning it off as extra energy.  Instead of excreting water and waste, your body will retain it for repeated use.  We know it as water retention.  To relieve water retention you should drink an increased amount of water to return your body and it's processes to normal working order.