Hi Erikka,
I'm Erica from Montgomery, Alabama. I too am too afraid of getting the bypass and just recently looked into the lap band. I'm also a single mother and want to do all of the things you mentioned and more with my son. I scheduled an appointment with my PCP for the 7th of Oct. and hope to begin my 6 month supervised diet and hopefully by this time next year I'll be banded too.
Welcome!!
:cool2: