More NSVs (Non Scale Victories)

Well, I don't even know where to start. I was going to wait until Sunday to post but I was afraid I would forget everything. So here it is...

We went away this weekend for a family mini-vacay. We stayed in a hotel in Mississauga that has one of Ontario's largest indoor waterslides, and indoor and outdoor pools, for two nights. We went swimming about 5 times in those 2 days - gotta take advantage of it! Well it was so amazing going back to this hotel after 8 months since being there last, and feeling comfortable in my own skin. Getting three kids and myself ready for swimming 4 or 5 times is a task a the best of times. When we were there in January, I kind of dreaded going swimming because getting us all dressed after was such a chore. This time - not a problem at all! I actually couldn't get enough of it.

So I mentioned the water-slide. Guess what, I DID IT! I went down the slide. I know to some of you that's not a big deal. But I never would have done it before because I could never get up the stairs to the top, let alone feel comfortable going down. But this time, I ran, yes, ran, up the stairs and didn't feel like I was going to pass out when I got up there! And I ran to the slide and slid down like I owned that thing. What a blast!

On Sunday we had our nephew's baptism. It was wonderful to see family we hadn't seen in a while. Baby James was so gorgeous! I had a number of family members tell me (who hadn't seen me in a while) that they could see a difference in me, especially around my face. It was encouraging to hear. We went to a Yacht Club in Oakville for the reception after the baptism and the menu... Prime Rib! I so badly wanted to be able to eat some of it, and I did! Even though I could only eat about an ounce of the steak and some of the pepper, it was so good to eat real food!

On Monday morning we went to Niagara Falls. We went to Tim Horton's for breakfast and I ordered a ham and egg breakfast sandwich and only ate some of the egg and cheese. I went down nicely!

Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places on earth. The falls just remind me over and over again of God's majesty and beauty of His creation. When we went to Niagara Falls last year, we parked our car, took out the stroller (for the kids in case they got tired, but it was actually more for me to use as a walker), and walked down to the falls. We weren't at the falls 2 minutes before I had to sit down and take a rest because my back was hurting so much. The tears started flowing because I felt I was ruining my family's trip. Throughout that day last year, I felt like such a failure and loser for allowing myself to get so out of shape. Fast forward a year, we got out of the car, walked down to the falls (without a stroller to hold onto) and we were only there less than two minutes before the tears started falling again. This time, HUGE tears of joy! No back ache and I felt like I could have run around the falls, maybe even dive in for a swim. Heck, I could have joined Nik Wallenda in walking across them! haha Stelios and the kids kept laughing at me (not to be mean) but just found it silly that I was crying so much at being so happy. Funny quote of the day was from Michael (my 5 year old son) after my daughter asked why I was crying at the Falls. He said "because she's getting skinny!" LOL

It was so amazing being at the falls and looking at them with new eyes, so appreciative of what God has done in my life through this surgery.

After the falls we went to Marineland. Again, I was overwhelmed at how I was able to walk around with such ease. We were there for 7 hours and the only time I sat down was on rides/shows or to eat supper. I also went on a ride that I wanted to do last year but couldn't fit on, the Swing ride. It was a tight squeeze this year too, but I still made it!

Last year at Marineland, I also cried a lot because of all the pain I was in. Stelios had to keep asking me if I wanted to leave and I wouldn't leave because the kids were so excited to be there. But I was completely miserable. I tried to hide my misery from the kids, but they had to notice it because of the crying and having to sit down so often. Also, when we were there last year, it was just days before my first appointment with the doctor in this surgery process. I knew I had to bring in a "before" picture, which I had planned on doing the day before. But I asked Stelios to take a picture of me at the end of the day at Marineland so that I could remember how horrible I felt. I wanted to remember the misery so that I would never allow myself to get there again. I haven't shared the picture with anyone else except my family. But I'm going to swallow my pride and show you the picture from last year and the comparison from this year. It was taken at the exact same location. I was hoping there would be a bigger difference since it is 45+ lbs difference, but the number doesn't do justice to the difference on the inside!

Well there you have it! I did lose some weight already this week, but I'll update that on Sunday. YAY!