Books and Babies

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This is a fabulous listography from Kate Takes 5 this week, an opportunity to share books for babies. One of my favourite topics! As a mother and a teacher books are one of my best loves and I have been reading to Esther and William since before they were born. I read to them in the womb, beside their incubators and their cots, I read to them now on my knee and they have started to turn the pages themselves. They love to look at pictures and they enjoy watching my face as I read. I am certain that they recognise the pattern and intonation when I read certain books. Their favourites. Our favourites.

I have already blogged about some of these books and will link to them rather than write about the same books again.

The first books that we bought Esther and William are written by Oliver Jeffers and you can read about them here.

Our most read book, by far, is Eric Carle’s Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? which you can read about here. This one has an audio link too!

Our best bedtime book is I Love You, Sleepyhead and that can be read about here.

We also love Hairy Maclary and share our thoughts about these fab books here.

And here are 5 other books for babies, books I have already chosen as perfect for babies of my own.

The Gruffalo
This is a magical story that rhymes and encourages children to really use their imaginations as they try to picture in their minds the monstrous Gruffalo. It lends itself to being read aloud or acted out with a range of voices. It is a great story to animate too. I love this book and so do Esther and William. We read this a lot and sometimes watch the animated version on You Tube whilst waiting for our tea.

The Rainbow Fish This is a lovely book with beautiful illustrations. It tells a story with an important message about friendship and sharing. Again it lends itself to being read aloud and provides real inspiration for arts and crafts activities. (Always the teacher!)

Click Clack Moo Cows That Type
Children’s books have to be enjoyed by the adults that read them too and I find this book hilarious. It is a comedy sketch, well written and simply illustrated. Though Esther and William are still too young to understand the humour of the book they love the differnet voices and sound effects of literate cows and ducks taking over a farm. A great, fun read.

A Cultivated Wolf
A book about the importance of books and reading. A story of friendship that appeals to all the family. Great moral too, that anyone can change their ways if they want to.

Tanka Tanka Skunk
Two animals who together sound like drums! This book is great fun to read and shout out loud over and over again. I do it with increasing vloume and speed til me and the babies collapse in fits of giggles. It is great fun! Great in the classroom for teaching about rhythm and breaking words up into syllables. A book that encourages you to really play with words and have fun.

And books for another time … The Silver Sword, I Am David, The Machine Gunners, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Children on the Oregon Trail, The Secret Garden, Private Peaceful … I could go on and on.

I hope that we have another book listography soon, in the meantime, come and join in this one. I have read everyone’s posts with my Amazon account open and we will have a lovely large box of books on the way come Friday. Thank you everyone!

Teething Twins Update

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About a week ago I posted about amber anklets for teething. Amber Pumpkin kindly sent me an anklet for each of the twins to see if it would ease their teething troubles.

I have to say that I was keen to try them after a few terrible days and interrupted nights through two very unsettled babes.

I decided to try the anklet on William first and I have to say that after just one day his symptoms did seem to improve. He was much more settled and a generally happier baby but he was also dribbling less, not chewing so many fingers or so often. He seemed to be improved. Importantly he seems to be feeding much better and eating more solid food. I have not changed anything else, apart from the wearing of the anklet. Since this started I have used no calpol or powders on William, none at all. I cannot say for sure that any of this is down to the wearing of the amber but I can promise that it is the only thing that I changed.

Esther, who did not have an anklet on, continued to chew and dribble as before. I am going to put her anklet on tomorrow to see if it will have a similar positive effect for her.

Neither baby yet has any teeth so I think we still have many teething times ahead I am going to keep using the anklets and hope that they continue to work their magic.

For more information about the anklets you can visit the Amber Pumpkin website or read back through my previous post Twin Teethers.

Jenny Craig – Day 1: Part 1

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Today is the first day of my 28 day Jenny Craig Weight Management Plan trial. I am feeling quite apprehensive about it actually, almost like I am on trial. The children must have sensed my heightened mood as they have been awak and raring to go since 5.30am. It is now 7.45am and they are already back in bed having had a breakfast of fresh, warm apple puree and a good play. Bless.

Now I am about to start my day. Today’s breakfast is a 40 gram serving of muesli with half a cup of milk. I can also have as much fruit as I like and as much tea, though without sugar. I usually have just one.

Before that though I need to weigh myself and make a note of my measurements too. These details are recorded on my Jenny Craig Lifestyle Graph. I have to measure my bust, waist, abdomen and hips.

Here goes

Bust = 93cm / 36.6 inches
Waist = 79cm / 31.1 inches (Oh my God!! I used to be 26/28 inches!)
Abdomen = 92cm / 36.2 inches
Hips = 92cm / 36.2 inches

And I weigh (in the morning, after a large mug of tea!) 9 stone and 11 pounds. So ideally, I have 11lbs to lose.

Crikey I am larger than I thought, and must look kind of barrel shaped as bust, hips and stomach are all about the same. If I needed some extra motivation I think that I have just found it!

Time to make my muesli!

Along with my Jenny Craig meals and snacks I can have as much free food as I like. My free foods include: diet drinks; tea and herbal tea; fresh chilli; garlic; herbs; spices; Worcestershire sauce; Balsamic vinegar; asparagus; bean sprouts; broccoli; celery; mushrooms; onions; peppers; sugra snap peas; tomatoes. I can eat as much of these as I like. Can almost make vegetarian fajitas out of that little lot! No wraps though!

I can also eat up to 3 servings per day of any of: melon; strawberries; honey; jam; jelly and low cal hot chocolate.

The Jenny Craig menu plan states that it is important to eat all the foods on your plan and aim for weight loss of 1 to 2lbs a week. The free foods are designed to increase your satisfaction without significantly increasing your caloric intake.

I have never been on a diet before and have always thought I would be terrible at sticking to one as I am such a fussy eater but I really do think this plan could work for me as I can fill up on veg should I not like one of the specified meals. I am looking forward to getting started now.

Will let you know how I have got on at the end of the day.

Jenny Craig – What Have I Got to Lose?

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Jenny Craig – Initial Telephone Consultation

For the next 28 days I am going to be trialling the Jenny Craig Weight Management Plan.I wanted to trial this programme before committing to it or something like it in preparation for my wedding later this year. In July 2010 I gave birth to my beautiful twins Esther and William. It is now March 2011, I get married in September and I am still a stone heavier than my pre pregnancy weight.

I weigh 10 stone and ideally I would like to weigh 9 stone. I am hoping that the food, one to one support and activity plan from the Jenny Craig Programme will help me to achieve my goal in time for my big day.
First of all it is important to know that this is not a diet as such but a weight management programme. One of the great things for me is that you still get to eat crisps and chocolate and even chocolate flavoured breakfast cereal; it is about doing so in moderation. Jenny Craig promotes moderation not deprivation.

For me this programme has begun with a consultation with Programme Director, Ian Robson. He is very open and friendly, very good at his job (!) and we immediately got on well.

He talked me through the main aspects of the Jenny Craig plan and what I would be getting as part of my 28 day trial.
Ian talked to me as though I would be embarking on the plan for 12 months. This is the recommended time frame for losing weight with Jenny Craig.. This is the time that their experts recommend is needed for not only losing the weight but learning the right tricks and tools for maintaining your new weight and keeping the fat off! Jenny Craig offers 3, 6 or 12 month programmes with 12 being what they think to be the best time frame for losing weight healthily. On average customers using the programme have about 3 stone to lose, for me I am aiming to lose only one stone but I want to make sure that I keep it off.

So how can Jenny Craig help me to do that?

The programme is all about portion control and educating people about their eating habits. Using Ian’s analogy the Jenny Craig team view their clients like computers whose wiring or programming is wrong. They need to take the memory out, wipe the hard disk and reprogram. For many of us in order to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight after the initial loss our food habits need to be revisited and rewound.
Ian and I talked about the fact that as children we are often made to eat everything that is on our plate, no matter what the portion size, and in fact we are rewarded for eating a huge portion of main by being given pudding, only if we completely empty our plates. I am currently weaning Esther and William and already I am saying this to them, just a few more mouthfuls and then you can have something nice for dessert!

We need to eat the foods that we enjoy but in moderation and this is what the Jenny Craig Plan supports

So, how is it going to work?

Straight from the horse’s mouth “I am about to embark on a journey of self-discovery where I will learn to understand my current diet and lifestyle habits and develop new skills, techniques and knowledge to help manage my weight successfully in the long term.”

But how?

For the next 28 days I will eat a calorie controlled diet. This will consist of 1200 calories a day eaten in the form of a breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack. Jenny Craig does not allow people to eat less than 1200 calories a day as it is just not sustainable. On the Jenny Craig programme you can choose to have all your food delivered to your door ready for you to pop in the microwave or heat on the hob. They also provide snack bars and crisps. You then supplement what they provide with your own fruit and vegetables but they provide a Grocery Guide to ensure that you purchase the best food for the diet or plan that you are following.

The programme is designed to fit around your lifestyle. During your first telephone consultation you will discuss in detail how you live your day to day life, what you eat, drink and how you exercise. It is like a friendly chat with somebody new who is going to help you achieve a goal. Jenny Craig provides you with a weekly consultation plus a telephone number for their care line that you can ring at anytime for further support. This can be for menu advice if you are going to be eating out or to ask what activity you can do to work off that extra digestive biscuit or glass of wine!

The Jenny Craig diet is sodium correct and so should reduce fluid retention in the body. Because of this I can expect to see my biggest drop in weight during the first week of the plan as my body gets used to this lower salt intake. I have to say that I do not add any salt to my food currently but am aware that there can be hidden salt in some foods. I am going to be interested to see what happens as the weeks’ progress.

One of the things that I really like about this plan is that it is an education about eating that can have a positive effect on the whole family we learn about proper portion sizes and what Jenny Craig terms as eating and burning.

This programme is designed and constantly adapted to fit around your lifestyle and as a mother of twins I certainly hope this is true as no two days are the same for us.

And what am I going to feed my partner?

Please follow our journey over the next 28 days as I aim to lose a stone with Jenny Craig.

You can find out more about the plan by looking at their website, their Facebook page or by following them on Twitter.

Wish me luck!

We Wanna Be Together!!

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This weekend the Rewind asks us to think back to August and share a post from then.

August 2010 saw me spend every day in NICU/SCBU with Esther and William.

The post I have chosen to share reflects on a very special day when the twins were reunited for the first time outside of the womb.

Please read REUNITED

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

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Making Our House Our Home
For this week’s flashback I want to share some photos, in no particular order, of Willow House becoming our home.
We decided to move from our cute little cottage in Bodiam at the end of 2008, when we started IVF. Naively we just assumed that the treatment would work first time and that very soon we would be a family of 3, or even 4.
We found our current house online before it was properly on the market. There were no pictures, only a very brief description, but as it was in a good location for us we decided to go and take a look.
We found this house, our home, and we immediately fell in love with it.
It is a higgledy-piggledy lopsided 17th century cottage which has been sympathetically improved and extended creating a wonderful family home. It is softly lit through small windows and has a very warm feel inside though in reality the house is often freezing because of all the holes in the ancient walls!
On our first viewing we rushed from room to room gasping and exclaiming at how perfect it was for us. The beams, the original floors and doors, the little garden leading to stepping stones over a stream and on to the village green. It was perfect. We could see how we would fill and use each room. It excited and inspired us. We wanted the house to be ours. But we were not the only ones … another couple had viewed he property with as much excitement, energy and enthusiasm as us.
At the end of the viewing we had a chat with the owners who seemed to like us, a young, professional couple with no plans for children!! The owner did not want children living in their house. David and I assured them we were not planning any as they told us that we were not the only people interested in the house.
We went away excited but disappointed, we could not move into a house where we could not have children. Once home at our other house I decided to write to the owners and explain our story to see what could be done. I explained about the IVF and how we might fall pregnant within weeks or not for tears, it was impossible to know. I told them how much we loved the house and that if we were to have a baby there we would leave before they were mobile and able to cause any damage.
We sent the letter and we waited.
We waited.
Then we got a letter, a letter saying that the house was ours and in February 2009, the day of our first unsuccessful embryo transfer, we collected our keys. Later that month we moved in and vegan making our new house, Willow House, into our home.
During the two week wait of that first IVF cycle I had furnished our new house through EBAY. And on moving day David and his Dad drove all around London collecting the bits I had bought. It was a very tiring day particularly for David and his Dad.
There were some bits of furniture I had not bought that David made; our enormous dining table and our bookshelves. And later our television stand. He made them all from wood using no nails or screws. He used the Internet to teach himself how to do it and they are amazing. A real focal point of our house along with the fires.
This house is in a community that has become special to us, I was baptised in the church behind our house where later this year we will marry and next the twins will be christened. I taught in the village school, we had our engagement barn dance in the church barn and it is just a really lovely place to be. I will be sad when we leave to buy a house of our own.
This is a house that is at its best at Christmas. The beams and fires come alive when decorated with traditional Christmas trimmings and our magnificent table can host a wonderful festive feast.
It has become even more of a home since the babies arrived and we created their nursery and playroom. For a house that is not supposed to have children it has become all the better for having the here.
I love our house, our home.
I hope that you enjoy this peek inside.

For further Flashback Friday Fun hop on over to Cafe Bebe’s Blog and see what other people are sharing.
Perhaps you have a favourite flashback of your own?

Reasons to be Cheerful

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Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy From the Heart

After a not so cheery week last week I am back this week and full of beans. Hurrah!

This week has been a good week and I am hopeful that next week is going to be a good one too and so we are full of cheer in the Nairn/Henley household. Here are the main reasons why …

We have a beautiful new addition to the family. Our beautiful niece Diya Isabella was born on the 21st February, a very special and healthy baby girl, weighing a little over 7lbs. We were lucky enough to go and meet her on Saturday and she is just so cute. She is all tiny and curled up and new to the world. She has the softest, darkest hair that curls round the nape of her neck. She has long crinkly fingers and such delicate little features. She is still all floppy and new and it is impossible not to love her. We are so pleased and proud to welcome her to the family and especially pleased that Esther has a little girl cousin who is so close to her in age, and will be even closer in development. Welcome to the world Diya Isabella, we look forward to watching you grow x

My Mum is staying with us at the moment meaning that David has more time to work and I am able to get out and about more with the twins. So far we have been to Ashford shopping, Leeds Castle for coffee and cake and today we are going into Maidstone for a walk around. All of this outing and abouting has been made even more special by the fact that the sun is shining and spring is definitely on its way. This also signals the end of cold and flu season and a slight relaxing of our self imposed isolation. The twins can come out of hiding and finally embrace the world!

Esther and William had some professional photographs taken with Paul Barsby in Ashford and the results are stunning. We had the session as part of the Cherubs programme but could not resist buying some extra prints of our own. The portraits are great, don’t you agree?

Have you had a week as cheery as mine, perhaps you need an extra slice of cheer this week, whichever, why not pop over to Mummy From The Heart‘s Linky and see what is making a smile this week.