Slimming World Update #1

I was going to make weekly updates about my progress but I never remember to sit down after weigh in and actually write the post - so they'll just be as and when I remember.

I'm now 7 weeks in and have lost 9.5lbs - not a huge number but with my other half having ankle surgery, having a newborn baby, birthdays, meals out and all the other excuses I just haven't been 100% sticking to plan. But a loss is a loss and I'm now 9.5lbs closer to the weight I want to be than I would have been if I'd not bothered trying.

I've challenged myself to have lost 30lbs by Christmas - I reckon this is doable if I try and stick to the plan properly.

So far I am loving Instagram (support, inspiration, motivation...), magazines and a facebook group I joined that is full of suggestions. The meals I have loved most are the chicken pad thai I made the other week, campfire stew (I'll post a recipe soon), chinese chicken curry and I've started most mornings with a syn-free mushroom omelette and baked beans.

I did take some "before" pictures so when I start to see some proper progress I'll upload those. But already my clothes are looser and more comfortable. I have more energy (despite the lack of sleep with Oscar..) and I just feel happy that I have something for myself to be focusing on. I put so much effort into looking after everyone else that I often forget I need looking after too!

2 Months Postpartum

So Oscar is now over the 2 month mark. He has changed so much already.

He smiles when you smile at him, if you tickle his cheeks or touch his nose and if something makes him happy (sometimes it's me talking to him, sometimes it's a light switch... smiles are smiles and cute either way!)

He gurgles a lot and copies sounds. His "vocabulary" gets bigger constantly - by which I mean the sounds he makes. He likes to say "a-boo" and "goo" when he's happy. But if you talk to him he copies the vowel sounds and is starting to master more consonant sounds too (b, g, d, m, l..). It's so cute now that if I say "hi" or "hello" to him his copy sounds so like the real word (or maybe I'm turning into one of those mums who thinks their child is a genius...)

He is much more alert now through the day and definitely knows when it is night time as he sleeps for big chunks through the night. We've not really established a definite routine yet but there's definitely more of a pattern than there was a few weeks ago. I can't wait for us to be in some kind of routine - but at the moment I'm happy to just go with the flow.

He's bottle-fed and taking about 3-4oz on average at a time. He should be having 6 5oz bottles a day (according to the formula box) but instead he's having about 8 3-4oz bottles a day. We're having a few issues with reflux so I'm not wanting to really push him. Although we are now trying to encourage him to take a bit more at each feeding time to try and support some sort of routine.

He's well and truly grown out of newborn clothes. He's mainly in 0-3 month sizes but some of his baby grows are starting to get tight and his feet don't really fit in them anymore. This week he has started to wear some 3-6 month size jeans that are a little bit big on him but it's better than squeezing him into the smaller sizes. Everyone seemed to buy 3-6 month clothes for him as gifts so as soon as he gets into that size we'll have some gorgeous little outfits to put on him every day :)

We can tell that he is getting stronger now. He holds his head up much better (except when he is tired), he punches and kicks the air really forcefully when he gets excited about something, if you hold up stood up he'll try and straighten his legs to support himself and if I lie him on his tummy he's started to push his feet out to force himself to move forward!

Today he had his first set of immunisations and he screamed! Poor little thing. The nurse did them in his legs and afterwards when he'd calmed down every time she went to put his jeans back on he bawled again... So he came home with no trousers on and all wrapped up in a blanket lol. He's been quite niggly ever since and considerably more hungry than he ever is (which is the opposite of what she told me might happen). I was definitely not prepared for how much he hated his injections but he has the next set in 4 weeks so I best give myself (and Oscar) a pep talk before we go in!

He's growing really well and gaining weight nicely - we go to the baby clinic next Wednesday for him to be weighed so we can see exactly how he is doing. But he's got squishy little cheeks and seems to be a happy little boy so I know he's growing well.

Putting the "pro" in "procrastination"

Source

Next month I turn 24. 24 with a house, a relationship, a baby...and no sense of get-up-and-go! I am the queen of procrastination. I get Oscar's bottles ready just in time, the kitchen is maintained to a standard enough to cook in there (unless we have guests in which I case I panic-clean!), the clothes are washed and dried but rarely put away... you get the picture. I have "no time" to do the housework - and yet I am on level 44 of Odd Socks and have watched 4 seasons of Breaking Bad in under 3 weeks...

I've been thinking more and more about this and it all comes down to one word - laziness. I want to lose weight and I have the easiest form of exercise at my fingertips - housework! Just cleaning my house could burn up to 204 calories per hour.

Plus I'm fed up of having to sift through mountains of junk to find something I want. And feeling too ashamed to have people over.

It's not just the house that suffers. I don't make good enough use of my time. I have been meaning to dye my hair now for 2 weeks, I rarely write a blog post anymore, I cook the same recipes over and over when I have a stack of magazines and books I could use to find something a bit more interesting. I still haven't ventured out to a mother and baby group (although that's partly through fear - other mums intimidate me..).

So this is me saying no more. I'm hanging up my procrastination crown and sorting myself out. I don't feel proud of my laziness and it doesn't make me happy. I'm not aiming for a Pinterest-worthy home or to never have a PJ day again - I just want to go to bed every night knowing that I have filled my time with worthwhile things.

That mum who takes all the pictures...

Syn Box #1

Syns are easily my favourite bit about Slimming World. I like to save as many as possible for the evening and then just enjoy some treats! Here are some I've been loving lately.

Choc Shot

Choc Shot is 0.5 syns per level tsp. It's nice stirred into coffee or hot milk, or drizzled over fruit or a dessert. I like it mixed with natural yoghurt and sweetener for a low syn chocolate pudding. 

Curly Wurly

6 syns of heaven! I love them frozen - they last even longer. 

Meringues

Meringues are around 2.5 syns each and my favourite way to have them is with fruit and yoghurt like a low syn Eton Mess. 

Jubbly Lollies

1 syn each and so many flavours to choose from. Cola is easily my favourite.

Sweet chilli sauce

Finally, sweet chilli sauce is 1 syn per tbsp. It's lovely on syn free burgers or stirred into syn free noodles. I also used it in my Pad Thai recipe.

Slimming World Breakfast Pinspiration

One Pot Breakfast

Overnight Oats

Pancakes

Breakfast Parfait

Spanish-style Tortilla

10 parenting surprises so far..

1) Babies have no control of their limbs
I have love count of the times little Oscar has been watching his hands and then punched himself in the face. Or been crying for a bottle but his hands have swiped it away. It is the strangest thing to see. Hopefully he'll get some control soon!
2) You will be covered in vomit head to toe...and you won't care
Babies are sick sometimes. Oscar has projectile vomitted all over himself, me, the sofa, the carpet, his bouncer... tonight he even managed to get it in his own eye! And all I ever think is how to clean him up. It doesn't bother me one bit!
3) On a regular basis you'll find yourself surprised that this little baby is yours
He's 8 weeks old on Saturday and I still look at him at least once a day in awe. I can't believe I get to keep such a beautiful little thing.
4) Those dirty nappies that everyone goes on about? They won't bother you at all
When I was pregnant all everyone went on about was how my life would be filled with dirty nappies - and it is! Some pretty gross, explosive ones! And not once have I recoiled in horror. I've surprised myself that, as someone with a weak stomach usually, I've not cared at all.
5) You will forget what it feels like to eat a meal without holding your baby/feeding your baby/bouncing your baby with your feet in their bouncer...
Everyone I speak to swears that babies have this "food sensor". As soon as I even think about eating he cries! I now eat all meals with a foot on his bouncer to keep him settled.
6) Baby boys like to pee on the changing table. You'll quickly learn to spot the signs
Oscar likes to wee when I'm changing it. I swear he aims it at me as well. I've learnt to spot when it is about to happen now and I quickly cover him up... and then duck out of the firing line!
7) You'll develop a mental checklist for when your baby cries.
Does he need changing? Feeding? Burping? Too hot? Too cold? It's always something!
8) You will be busy all day and get nothing done
I don't stop from the minute I wake up until the minute I go to bed...and then I'm up in the night too! So why is my house such a tip?
9) Sometimes bad things happen. And you will cope.
For example, yesterday I changed him. First he started to pee. Then as soon as that little episode finished he vomitted, and while I was trying to wipe up the sick he started to poo. A lot.
10) People tell you about this amazing feeling of love you'll experience once your baby is born - but it is so much stronger than you'll expect
I knew I loved my little baby when I was pregnant but the minute I heard his crying when he was born I loved him more than I expected. It was so much that for the first 2 weeks every time I thought about how much I loved him I was so overwhelmed that I cried..