Going, going, gone.....

You can follow my new wordpress blog over here:

http://thenthebabycarriage.wordpress.com/

I've still a few bits and bobs to sort out, but I think it's the way forward for me :) 

Outlaws

Steve's family came up for the weekend. 

We had a lovely Friday, Steve was at work, and his younger brother was left with him to do some inputting (he's fundraising for a trip to Malawi and we're paying him some money for work he does for Steve), so Steve's parents came to our house to see Joel. 

After a cup of tea (well, tea for me, and herbal stuff for them!!) we walked to town to show Joel the Christmas lights.  He liked them a lot and pointed, and cooed.

As it was quiet by 5pm, we let him out of the buggy and he ran around the town centre, and looked at the giant tree and the nativity set.  We're telling him all about baby Jesus this year, and the Christmas story which is lovely.  We have a lovely Usbourne book with touchy feely bits that he's liking :)

We then took him to our favourite Indian restaurant, and we had poppadoms to start, with mango chutney, which he liked.  Then he had some rice with passanda sauce and a bit of naan bread for his main.  He liked sitting on a chair on his own (albeit a bit low!) although we could tell when he was getting a bit tired.

On the Saturday we took him to the sensory room within our library and did a bit of shopping.  In the evening, Steve and I went to a party and were only out till 11pm, and on returning, found Joel to be awake, with tear marks.  Apparently he'd woken up quite upset, and had cried for 45 minutes (I wished that they'd rung me to ask me to come home) and wouldn't settle, and had kept crying.  The most bothersome comment was that 'it was becuase I'd not told Joel we were going out and Granny and Grandpa would be there instead'. 

He's 19 months old, and if I'd said we were going out, I'm not sure he'd (a) understand, (b) understand and be upset, (c) forget after a sleep anyway

So I was upset after that, and he wouldn't settle for ages, so we were all tired and grumpy on Sunday, Joel was extra pickley at Church, and I was stressed out and burst into tears at church as everything seemed to go wrong. 

So I had a little lie in on Monday which helped but Joel's routine was all out of whack, which these visits seem to do to him.  So Christmas will be hectic as Steve is cross my work do is on Thursday 20th, as he wanted to go to Exeter that night, I'll have all the packing to do, the last days of wrapping I won't be at home for, and I'll need to be super ready and prepared.  Christmas just isn't relaxing when you have to travel with a baby for hours.  And it doesn't help that Steve feels I'm keeping him from his family and home so Joel can have Christmas morning in his own home and go to his own church. 

I'm trying to find my peace and goodwill at the moment.

Blogger Photo Issue

I'm a bit cross with Blogger to be honest.

It currently won't let me upload any photos, as it hosts them on picasa, and I've reached my 1gb limit.  Well, I can't delete them without losing them from my blog, so I'm not going to do that, and I think it's a shame that it seems to be making blogging more difficult.

Is there an easy (without paying for extra photo storage) way of carrying on with Blogspot, or is Wordpress the way forward?

I have imported my blog over there already, although I still find it confusing (and without a lap top at home is's not easy to update it via an ipad) so I'm all a bit up in the air with it all.

Any thoughts or considerations?.......

Limbo

I don't know what's going on with my cycle this month.

I had some weird spotting, midway through, which is not normal for me.  Could have been ovulation bleeding (which I'd not heard of) but doubt it was implantation bleeding.

I then had the positive OPK a week later than it should have been according to my handy (or not so handy app).

And now, I'm in limbo.  I'm on day 30 of my cycle so far.  I'm not 10 days past ovulation yet as that was on day 22, so I guess I'll allow myself to test at the weekend if AF hasn't shown up by then.

With all the signs of ovulation this month, I have to add, I am hopeful, although I've not got any symptoms at all yet.  Not like in May so I'm half expecting a period, but it would be the best ever Christmas present to see two lines this month.

I hate the waiting. 

Humpf

I felt that I'd been quite good this week, with mainly boring diet foods so I was a it bleurgh to find i'd not lost any weight at all this week.  So in two weeks I've still only lost 1 pound.  Maybe this dieting lark isn't for me if I can't actually lose weight through dieting and eating less.

So Steve's parents have come up this weekend and we went for an Indian with Joel after seeing the Christmas lights in town.  (well, dieting hasn't worked so far soi felt i deserved a treat!) He loved sitting with us, eating poppadoms and rice with pasanda sauce.  He had a late night as we didn't get back till after his bedtime but he coped very well.

He loved the lights and Christmas trees, and he looked so adorable in his winter pramsuit.

Pictures to follow.

Slimming World

I've been trying to be good this week with staying on 'The Plan'.

I can see why I didn't try dieting before.  I don't like feeling restricted.  I am suddenly craving food I didn't use to crave as much as this.  I am looking forward to Christmas and feeling that I will eat what I want for one week, and never mind the consequences.  I'm not someone who overeats for the sake of it at Christmas, but I'm longing for pate, and brie, and mince pies.

This week I've eaten about 4 melons.  (that's right, I said 4!!!)

I'm trying to stuff myself with vegetables, salad and fruit before going onto free food.

After the weekend's upset with too much fat laden food, I've reigned it in, and have been nibbling ryvita, extra light philly and red grapes for lunch (surprisingly tasty and nice and crunchy), salad bits, ham for snacking, fat free potato wedges, poached eggs and baked beans.  Stir fry with noodles, and slow cooker beef stew with mash and fat free fromage frais stirred through for moisture.  Mullerlight yoghurts, and more mullerlight yoghurts.  I will probably make another curry this friday night and pretend it's a takeaway in my head.  I will probably try the lamb rogan josh recipe this time.  And something with chicken tomorrow.

It's a bit exhausting thinking about food all the time.  I didn't used to think about it this much, and it's hard thinking of what to make night after night.  It's more expensive as well, as I'm buying a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables and seasonal stuff I find boring!  Apples and oranges.  And melons.  So many melons.   I used to like melons!!

I hope to see more of a difference this week.  Come on 2lb loss!!

OPK's

This is the first month I've been trying ovulation prediction tests.

I bought some cheaply off Amazon, not the smiley face sort, but sticks on which two lines appear when one's LH hormone levels surge which demonstrates ovulation is about to take place.

I'd given up with them really, having dutifully tested every day from day 10 of my cycle but to no avail.  I began to think that I didn't have any eggs, my hormones were not around, and things looked a bit hopeless.

Then on day 22 of my cycle I got a postive test!  Two very strong lines meaning ovulation was imminent!  A week later than is normal for a 31 day cycle, but with mine alternating between 31 and 38 days for the last 6 months (weird isn't it) I guess it's not too crazy.

So I'm sure you can guess what happened next without me going into too much detail (!) and I'm now in the two week waiting period, which is crazy times where your hopes slowly rise, and your search yourself for symptoms every day until finally, you allow yourself to take a test when you presume you're 10 days past ovulation.  Obviously, I'm really hoping that Aunt Flo doesn't show this month.

Lets wait and see.  At least I'm reassured that I do have the relevant hormones, even if they're a bit like my husband, always late!!!  :)