Reasons to Be Cheerful

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Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy From the Heart

In a week when many people around the world are holding on to hope with their bare hands I feel quite selfish gloating about my cheer. And yet here I am, because this week I do have genuine reasons for cheer and pride. My little miracle babies are doing so well and I cannot hide how I feel about that after the terrible start to life that they had.

My Reasons to be Cheerful this week:-

Esther and William are above average in their general development
This week we had a clinic appointment for Esther and William at the hospital. At this clinic they are weighed and undergo a number of developmental checks that I do not pretend to understand. What I do know though is that the Consultant told us that she is very very pleased with both babies. William is just above the 75th percentile for development and Esther is just below. This is marked against their corrected age of 4.5 months. I was so proud watching them work thorugh the exercises with the physio I thought that I might burst with pride and they did everything with a smile too. The session was topped off when one of the nurses said to us, “We always knew these babies would be clever ones!” Proud Mummy moment!

Esther and William loved their first baby class, Baby Sensory

Today we went to Baby Sensory for the very first time and Esther and William both loved it. In particualr they loved helium balloons and the ball pool. I was so impressed with the class leader, Julie Reynolds, and her welcoming manner that I signed up for 10 weeks straight away and we start next week!! I am so excited!!! I am going to review the session on my blog so please watch this space x

Esther and William have moved into their very own BIG cots!!
After William crawling on top of Esther in his sleep a couple of times we decided that the time had come to move Esther in to a cot of her own. It has only been one night so far but again it is a really proud Mummy moment though I am also sad that they are not sharing anymore. My babies are growing up. Next move will be into a room of their own and no longer with their Daddy and I. That will be a big moving day. This was just a small moving day but a big reason for cheer.

Need more stories to make you smile? Hop on over to Mummy from the Heart’s blog and share your Reasons to be Cheerful.

Friday Flashback: Wee Sis

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Today I have been missing my little sister. She lives in Australia and I know that she is very happy there but sometimes I really miss her, more than any words can say.

Today I have been thinking about when I first introduced, Julie, my little sister to my fiance, David. Dave and I were living in West Malling at the time and Julie came to stay in our flat for a long weekend. We had a fabulous time and as I knew that they would, Dave and Julie got on really well. It was brilliant, two people I am closest to in the world seemed to like each other, I was a very happy girl.

It was the summer of 2007 and I think it was a happy time for all of us. We certainly look happy in the photos I have chosen to share today.

It was a glorious summer weekend. The air was warm, the sun was shining and swimming in the sea was refreshing and cool. We went to the beach at Joss Bay and it was a perfect perfect day. At night we went to the pub, the three of us, and got merry chatting and playing drinking games. It really was a wonderful day.

This Friday Flashback is of happy summer days with the people I love best of all.

Jenny Craig – 14th March 2011

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This morning I had my Jenny Craig consultation with a lovely lady called Claire. We reviewed the week and I admitted to my cheating. We discussed the fact that I am breastfeeding twins and she explained that my calorie intake should not be 1200 calories but 2300 calories so it was no wonder that I had found the need to cheat!
Today Claire is going to send out new, adjusted, menus to allow for the extra calories.
Not sure that I will eat the full 2300 calories but what I will do is continue regulating my portion sizes and being aware of how much salt there is in certain foods. Too much salt leads to water retention which can lead to excess weight!
The main focus of today’s consultation was finding out what kind of eater I am.
There are 5 main styles of eater as identified by the Jenny Craig Programme:
Uninformed Eater; Emotional Eater; Unconscious Eater; Social Eater and Balanced Eater.
I am an emotional, unconscious eater. I miss some meals, I eat food because it is there and I also tend to eat when I am bored and sad.
You can learn more about these eating styles and discover what style you are by looking at the Jenny Craig website.
This week I have been asked to reflect on my eating style and try to avoid eating when and what I shouldn’t.
Today I have so far eaten porridge and a banana, soup and crumpets and a Jenny Craig snack bar. Looking forward to Jenny Craig chilli for tea!
Wish me luck! I will let you know how I get on x

One Word Answer

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The whole-hearted Mummy Beadzoid has tagged me in Mummy from the Heart’s One Word Meme. I have to say that I am quite nervous in taking up this tag as I am rather scared that people will have nothing to say!! I am hoping that people who read my blog will respond and maybe some of my friends who will see this on Facebook too. David, my fiance, says that his one word would be TROUBLESOME!!!!

But what exactly is the One Word Meme???

I was sat on my bed this morning doing my prayers and my mind started to wonder to conversations I have had with online friends recently. Basically it seems as if there are some people out there who have some very odd (but nice) perceptions of me. They think things about me that I would never have guessed. In the last week I have been referred to as super-blogger, uber blogger, ethical blogger, most positive blogger. All very lovely and have boosted my confidence a good amount but would I ever have guessed people would think such things?

I am creating a meme, called the 1 Word Meme and I would love for every one of us to be able to collate all the the positive words left by our real life friends, virtual friends and fellow bloggers so that we each have a sheet of positive affirmations to treasure and boost our self-esteem.

Please leave a comment, a one word comment, that tells me what you think of me, something positive, esteem boosting!!

As this is a Meme I have to tag other people to take part. As I am quite late coming into this I think many people have been tagged already and so I apologise if I tag you and you are one of them.

Tag – You are it!!

MummyManda
Yorkshire Mum at Large
Multiple Mummy

The Gallery – Trees

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I hope that I am just in time to join Tara’s weekly Gallery. The theme this week of trees made me immediately think of one photo, of one tree. The Tree of Gondor!

Any regular reader of this blog will know that my favourite film is Lord of the Rings. In Middle-earth there is one tree that matters, The Tree of Gondor.

In Spain, between the village of Parcent and the mountain top castle Guadelest there is a tree just like it, my very own Tree of Gondor and this is it.

The Spanish Tree of Gondor

The Tree of Gondor Again

I love in this second photo that my Mum is lurking in the background. It always makes me smile.

Hope I have managed to get my entry in on time to this very popular Gallery theme.

Jenny Craig – End of Week 1

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The end of my first week with Jenny Craig is here.

Jenny Craig is not a diet but a weight management programme it consists of a calorie controlled menu, physical activity and lifestyle coaching.

At the beginning of the week I had a 15 minute chat with my Jenny Craig consultant. She talked me through my hamper which had arrived bursting with edible goodness to last me through the weeks ahead. 28 days of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks delivered directly to your door! In this case, to my door!

Next my consultant talked to me about expectations of the programme and of myself. She said that the programme is designed by a dietician to help you lose weight steadily. Eating six times throughout the day maximises your metabolism and aids weight loss. She explained that each day on the menu was nutritionally balanced and so though you could do the days in any order to follow the programme correctly you had to reach all the foods from each day and not mix and match. She also advised taking a multi-vitamin supplement which I do anyway as I am breastfeeding the twins.

So how is the food? It is a diet after all even if it is part of a programme. The snacks are great. The best part of the diet by far. However, as my best friend pointed out to me there are actually similar amounts of calories in Wotsits and Quavers as there are in Jenny Craig Potato Snacks. The cereal bars are tasty, very similar to Special K bars in taste and calorie content. The chocolate wafers and digestive bars are great ways to feel naughty ad get that chocolate fix. So though the snacks are good I am not sure that cheaper, perhaps tastier alternatives cannot be bought as part of your usual weekly shop.

The meals themselves are fine. I supplemented mine with a lot of vegetables and chillies and this masked much of the taste. The foods do all taste quite similar with something of a faint after taste?? They were not horrible at all and I look forward to tasting more of the options next week but they were not what I would call bursting with flavour. I am certain that they are more than good enough if you are desperate to lose weight and have a lot to lose. They are actually very filling for the portion size given.

I have struggled with the diet this week as I have had a bad week with the twins and I am not sure that 1200 calories is enough when breastfeeding twins but with what I have done I have lost weight.

This morning I weighed 9 stone 8 pounds and I started the week at 9st11lbs. So one thing has to be said for Jenny Craig so far, it works, and if I had been following it religiously I think that it would have worked very well indeed.

One thing that I am certain of is that if I do not continue with this diet afte the 28 day trial I will definitely continue with the methodology particularly relating to portion sizes. I know now that though I eat very healthily I do eat far too much and this is why I was not able to lose the baby weight without this help.

I also feel that the available consultations and support are needed to make the initial weight loss a success and to help keep the weight off. At home I have my mother for support who just keeps feeding me biscuits!!

Anyway, onwards and upwards to next week when I have another consultation and a new menu to explore.

If you would like to find out more about this programme then you can visit their website by clicking the picture below.

JENNY CRAIG

Tots 100 Learning Through Play

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Zu3D – Learning Through Play in the Early Years

For this month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop I am submitting the post above. It tells how animation and Zu3D software in particular can be used throughout the early years curriculum to encourage and enhance learning through play. Animation can be seen as digital role play for children of all ages and is a great way of using technology with small children. It is easy to do at home as well as at school. It fosters sharing, team work, speaking and listening skills.

This month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop is being sponsored by MEGA Bloks. These kits would make great animation models providing children with characters and props for their stories and even plot ideas.

To find more ideas to help children learn through play, hop on over to Tots 100 to read the other entries in this month’s Blog Hop.

And please don’t forget to read the post I have chosen to submit this month:

Zu3D – Learning Through Play in the Early Years

Answers on a Postcard Please!

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Well, this is a new one for me.

It is 4.30am and I have given up trying to get any sleep and come downstairs with Esther.

I went to bed nice and early last night as I know that sleep deprivation is really starting to take its toll on me. I am becoming very grumpy and emotional and I am worried that when my Mum leaves this time next week I am going to struggle to cope on my own again.

Not sure why Esther can’t sleep?

But here we are, 4.30am, in the lounge. Esther playing on her gym and me tapping on my laptop, waiting for the kettle so that I can have a cup of tea. Herbal. I have given up the good stuff for Lent! Bad idea! And biscuits. Supposedly on a diet but needs must!

So anyway, after having this early night I was woken for feeds at 11pm, 12am, 2,40am and I have not been back to sleep since!

I think my total sleep is somewhere in the region of two hours!

William and David are now sleeping soundly. And I just do not know what to do with my wired little girl, or with this problem long term.

Esther and William are 7.5 months old and I am still up every 90 minutes on average at night feeding one or both of them. I feel like I am never going to ever sleep for longer than this again.

They are being weaned now and eat 3 meals, albeit small meals, a day on top of their considerable milk intake.

I don’t think that it is hunger keeping them up at night.

So comfort, or habit?

What do we do to break the cycle? If that is what it is.

David wants me to go away and stay in a hotel for a night, leaving him to feed both babies for a night, even though William has always refused a bottle. He says he will manage with a cup or a syringe.

I am sure that cannot be the answer, short or long term.

Answers on a postcard please. Or in the comments below will do.

Kettle’s boiled.