The Real Supermum has started a new weekly blog hop that lets us take a look back at the week just passed and represent a snap shot of it through, well, a snap shot.
Why not come along and join in?
Here is my moment of madness from last week.
Left Luggage
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.
Adorabubble!
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!
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
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?
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.
The Silver Sword is a book that has stayed with me all of my life, or at least since I first discovered it in primary school when it was read to me by my teacher, Mrs Foster.
The Silver Sword is a story based upon true fact that touches my heart every time I read it.
It is an inspirational story of tremendous courage, hope and determination in a terrible situation. It is the tale of four children’s struggle to stay alive as they journey through war-torn Europe, during the years of Nazi occupation.
This is a book that I will definitely hare with my own children and one that I have used in my teaching with children from Years 5 and 6. As well as being a story to share for its own sake it can also be a powerful text to use as part of a literacy or history lesson.
Personally I would incorporate the novel into a half term topic about war and conflict focusing on children and refugees. I believe that this would enhance the children’s understanding of the setting of the story, time and place, and help them to empathise with the characters and their situation. It would also give opportunity for looking at war poetry and other related texts such as When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and I Am David, two of my other most favourite books!!
I believe that The Silver Sword is a strong story, appealing to both boys and girls. I also feel that it is a novel that children can become really involved with and feel passionate about as the main characters are the same age as them and share similar likes and dislikes. They can really try to put themselves in their shoes.
At different points in the story children can further their understanding of and empathy for the characters by using hot-seating. One person would assume the role of a character from the novel and the other children would ask them questions about how they are feeling at a certain time, what are their fears, their worries, their thoughts about the other children and characters in the book. This would be a good way of considering what happened to Edek before the other s find him and or to Jan before he finds the others, or to the mother. It helps to enhance the understanding and enjoyment of the story by encouraging children to really read between the lines and think what could have happened based on what they already know about the novel and the war situation. It also helps to ask children o try to relate what they are reading to their own lives in some way, perhaps through emotions and feelings. When have you felt sad and lonely? Who is your best friend and why? If you had a treasure box like Jan’s what three objects would you put into it and why?
This book lends itself to being a platform for discussions about refugees and children’s experiences of war. It would be interesting to work with different charities such as The Red Cross to really develop understanding and compassion in this area.
On a creative note it would be good practice to watch the television serialisation of The Silver Sword, with children at home or at school, and notice and discuss any points that are different from the book. This would include evaluating the performances of the actors playing the main characters. Is it well cast? Do the characters loo as you imagined them to? Who would you cast in each role?
With my own children at home and pupils at school I would ask them, at the end of each reading session, to make a prediction of what they think might happen next in the story. Anticipating what might happen next in a text is an important part of reading, it is how we link what we know, what we think and what we have read together. It helps us to make sense of what we are reading and it uses imagination and creative thought.
I believe that as well as being great to read The Silver Sword provides a springboard form which many forms of writing can be launched (or sprung! ) – diaries, letters, stories, poems, reports, recounts, information texts, arguments and many more. The book has strong characters and a good plot with some chapters that could potentially lead to very powerful, creative interpretation, particularly Chapter 27, The Storm.
This book gets me so excited!
English is a subject that I have always been passionate about and I hope that through this passion, my knowledge of children’s literature and my ability to meet educational objectives through that literature, I will be able to inspire my own children and the pupils that I teach in my classroom to love English and books just as I do.
The story of The Silver Sword takes children on the journey of The Balicki Family but it is also a very personal journey where it is possible to discover many new ideas, new words, new thoughts and new inspirations. I truly believe that children take something from every story they read that moves them a little further on in their journey of discovering exactly who they are and what they want to be.
On this World Book Day 2011 I recommend this book as a winner with children aged 9 – 99.
Every journey begins with a single step so perhaps reading The Silver Sword could be yours.
Esther and William are now almost 8 months old!! I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown. They are growing bigger and stronger everyday and developing very distinct personalities. This has become apparent recently as they have started teething.
Parenting premature babies can be very confusing as you are always trying to provide for them to two ages, their actual age and their adjusted age and you are never sure which to apply to what, for example weaning, sleeping, routines and teething.
I am now confident that I know that anything related to feeding and digestion, including teething, is marked against their actual age whereas anything that is developmental such as crawliing, rolling, talking etc is measured against their corrected age.
And so at almost 8 months actual we are well into the zone of teething though have nothing to show in the way of teeth. I am quite distressed to learn of some prem babies who started going through the motions of teething at 6 months, as ours have done, but not been rewarded with teeth until well into their first year!
The reason I find this idea so terrible is that our twins, and William in particular, are really struggling with growing their teeth. They are very unsettled during the day, constantly chomping and chewing anything that they can get their mouth on apart from their food. They often seem to find feeding painful particularly their solid food. William has had an earache linked to his teething and repeatedly tugs at the infected ear. Both babies have struggled to get to sleep and to stay asleep once finally gone. It has been very tiring and emotional for all concerned and is still going on.
One of the problems I have foudn is finding anything that can be used to soothe Esther and William’s tiny mouths. Though they are really now quite old babies they are still very tiny, Esther only weighs 11lbs. Finding teething toys to ease their gums has been impossible. I twitted about this a week or so ago and was very pleased to receive a helpful reply from @Amber_Pumpkin
Amber Pumpkin suggested that I might like to try an amber necklace for the twins to soothe their teething symptoms. I naively asked if they would be able to fit the beads into their mouths as we had been struggling with other products. Amber Pumpkin kindly pointed out that in fact amber necklaces are not chewed but worn so that the healing properties can work their magic.
Babies do NOT chew on the amber – it works by warming against the skin and releasing minute amounts of soothing oils which is absorbed into the bloodstream.
A natural analgesic, amber will help calm a baby without resorting to drugs.
Amber is a resin, not a stone. It is therefore warm to the touch, as well as very comfortable and light to wear.
Scientific investigation into the therapeutic effects of amber is ongoing.
Currently, there are two different theories that attempt to explain how wearing amber on the skin can have a soothing and calming effect on teething babies and toddlers.
One theory suggests that when amber is worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases minuscule amounts of healing oils from the amber which are then absorbed via the skin into the bloodstream.
Amber’s anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties are also recognized by allopathic medicine. In Austria, Switzerland and Germany, you will find amber teething necklaces sold in local pharmacies. Pharmacists and doctors have long known about the healing properties of amber which include calmative, analgesic, antispasmodic, expectorant, and febrifuge (anti-fever) functions.
A second theory is based on scientific findings which have shown that amber is electromagnetically alive and therefore charged with a significant amount of organic energy. Its special attribute is the fact that it is electronegative. Wearing amber produces negative ionisation on the skin’s surface. This, in turn, has a positive influence on the human body. The negative ions assist in the in the prevention of illness. These health-promoting effects apply to babies, children and adults alike.
http://www.amberpumpkin.com/amber-teething-necklaces-do-they-work.html
David and I have tried Calpol and teething powders on Willim and Esther with very little effect and so we were, or I was, keen to try something new. I asked Amber Pumpkin if I might trial one of their products and wrtie about our experiences on my blog. They kindly agreed and sent me two tiny amber anklets for Esther and William to try. They sent anklets rather than a necklace to ensure that the babies could not pull them off of themselves or each other as the anklets will be safely hidden in their baby gros.
We are going to start wearing the anklets tomorrow and I am going to write on my blog each day about how we are getting on.
I have to admit to being a bit sceptical but also really hoping that they do work as I love the idea of them.
If anyone else has exprience of using amber jewellery to help with teething then I would love to hear from you.
If you would like to know more about Amber Pumpkin then you can visit their website at http://www.amberpumpkin.com/
Here’s hoping that an end is in sight for the terrible twin teething troubles!