While my son loves my book it was not the big hit among his gifts this Christmas it was a collection of books that I got from Amazon that allow him to create scenes and let his imagination run wild!

The first book is about farm life!  He loves the little felt pieces so much that he will try to keep them and hold them.  Holding a “rain cloud” over my head and announcing “Mommy, it’s raining” which then requires me to shiver and act wet until he bring out the sun to dry me up! LOL!  The story is very limited which I actually like because then he gets to imagine different scenes that are going on during the different farm scenes

During my pregnancy I understood the implications of not only being a geriatric mother but also an overweight mother and while physically I had trouble being as active as I was before the pregnancy I become vigilant about the foods and portion sizes I ate to make sure that I did not gain weight unnecessarily.  After my pregnancy my weight has since picked up because my activity level became, well to be truthfully non existent, while the food habits I engaged in during pregnancy did not change. 

I had casually thought about undergoing a bariatric procedure years ago.  Countless times and multitude of frustrations of exercising and “eating healthy” but never attaining the coveted ideal BMI goal left me frustrated and hating myself and my body.  At times I thought about undergoing a bariatric procedure for what I thought was an “easy fix”.   However, in pursuing my dream of becoming a physician I realized that bariatric surgery is NOT an “easy fix”.  The more I learned the more  I realized that even with all the frustrations that I have endured in my pursuit to be the idea BMI the idea of going under the knife was not something that I was willing to do for a shallow goal to achieve a targeted number that never took into account my ethnicity and its impact on my body structure and weight.

This is a journey that I am on and one that I am fully committed to not only for me but for my family.  I’ll keep you updated with my process and progress.  If you have any questions please leave them below and I’ll try to answer them directly or in upcoming posts.

The ADA recommends changing your tooth brush every 3-4 months (sooner if damaged).  If fined starting out January with a clean and new toothbrush just makes me smile in the morning  and evening and is a small tangible symbol of freshness.

Christmas usually comes with great gifts; clothes, shoes, jewelry, makeup, body sprays etc.  As I find places to put my presents I also take a moment to look and see what I haven’t used or have not attachment to and I put them in a bag to prepare for donation.  I also use this time to go through my sons clothes and shoes to find things that not longer fit and add those to the collection.

One of the things I am working on this year is setting boundaries and putting myself and needs first.  One of the self destructive behaviors I realized, through therapy, is that I allow myself to be overextended to help others but then have no one to replenish and take care of me.  Going into 2021 I am working on putting myself first so I created a mantra that I recite to myself every morning to help me stay focused.  I think having a mantra helps encourage oneself for the year and also serves as a great motivator.