Hello! Hello!

So since my last post, I haven't fallen into a deep hole and sunk in it at all - don't worry! But I've been trying to think and figure out where shall I take this blog now over these next ?? months whilst I can't do the lovely Weight Watchers?....

I don't really want to make it a blog full of stuff about Baby O, so I thought I would make this blog - for the time being - into one about life - all of my encounters, my trips, emotions, everything, you name it (and I can then also talk a little bit about Baby O and not feel guilty!)

So, like an old fashioned story tale book, let me take you back to where I left off - which feels like forever and a day ago!

As soon as we found out that Baby O was growing inside of me, Mr O decided that the first thing that needed to get sorted was to find THE pram! This was mainly because it would then lead to us sorting out my car and getting me a new car sorted. We knew that I would need a slightly bigger boot and 5 doors rather than 3. After trying out lots and lots of different cars and getting them to BlueWater to try the pram out in the boot, we have finally settled on.... Another Swift!! Hhahahaahaaa! My swift has been such a great and reliable car for me that we thought, what's the point changing something when it works. So we have now gone for a Limited Edition version with 5 doors and the best thing is is that the pram fits in the boot!!

Now, if any of you know Mr O, you will know that he is a massive car fan and that he can tell what type it is by just seeing a wheel or something stupid. He can now do this with prams!!!

We decided to go to John Lewis to find 'The Pram' and we can not fault their brilliance in how they helped us. The lady spent a good 2 hours with us, asked us all the things we would require with it and also took Mr O's height into consideration and she then said that X, Y & Z prams were the ones for us. We then chose this one... A beautiful Limited Edition Countryman Silver Cross ...

I did, of course, also fall in love with this beautiful Silver Cross, but unfortunately it was a little out of our budget!!

Oh, and Baby O is growing nicely... To get this picture was a task and a half! After trying to get Baby O to stay still in one position for 30 minutes, I was then sent off to go and walk around for another 30 minutes and to drink a drink!

But Baby O is growing so much that I've gone from this... 

  

(The pic in the gold dress, I must have been about 8 weeks)

To this.....

(17 weeks)

Now as for my Mum and Dad (who have just celebrated their Pearl wedding anniversary)

They are becoming more and more the excited grandparents to be.... Dad is adamant that Baby O is a girl (maybe he should put money on it?!) And Mum has dug out all our old baby stuff! She has even already given me the crib that myself, my sisters and two of my cousins slept in as babies... Making Baby O baby no 7 to sleep in it when they arrive....

As all new expecting mothers do, I have been doing some research and grabbing bargains when I can.

This was a great bargain and it just needs the stickers peeling off, some sanding down and then a lick of paint. I bought it for £3 off a local selling site on Facebook!

And one of the things that I have researched is this little sheep..... It is definitely on Baby O's wish list as it seems to solve many problems with sleeping....

Now whilst we have been visiting numerous amounts of baby shops, Mr O and I have had a few giggles along the way. This one picture sums up the other day after walking around Ikea and Mamas & Papas....

The caption that went with this photo was 'Off his rocker'!

Enough about Baby O! So what else have I been doing apart from all this Baby stuff?!!

Well, firstly I have been enjoying time out with Mr O. We have been going places, seeing things, eating things, all to help us enjoy the time we have with just the 2 of us until we become 3!

We are always going past this pub that has been done up and we never really thought much of it so we never ventured inside until one Friday evening and we decided to try it out...

We now can't wait to go back in there!! This was the starter and oh! my! it was massive!! Just look at all those olives!!

Then came along my main....

Now you all know me well and know how I love my desserts! But I didn't have any room for it :( So our next plan is to go there for just desserts!

I warn you now as you will see a trend in the food I must be craving but I've only just realised how many different forms it could come in until writing this!!

So what have I been craving? Orange juice with bits or smoothies!! AND Spag bol / maybe just the mince!!

Mr O and I have enjoyed afternoons and evenings walking around London and sitting in little parks like this one off the back of Regent Street.

We stopped off in Hawkesmore to have some refreshments and I had this lovely milkshake that is made from cornflakes...

Now what post would this be without a mention of Lidl?! They had a special week on the other week and one of the things they sold were these amazing coconut ice creams. They just reminded me of being on holiday!

Oh yes and Mr O bought an exercise bike... Need I say anymore?!

This last week I have celebrated 25 - or as my sister put it 'half way to 50!' 

You can tell how well my Dad knows me, Mum said that he picked this card out for me....

My lovely superintendent made these cakes for me at work....

And they gave me this lovely bunch of flowers...

So this last week again all I have done is eat out!!

Friday night started off with a lovely meal out with my bestie - Mr Ding Dong.... We went to an American style restaurant. Lovely food but as the night went on, it just got so noisy in the restaurant. You could tell that the waitresses were used to the noise as when she came to take our order at the beginning of the night the lady's voice pierced my ear!!

Then on Saturday night we went out with a load of my friends to No.22 Street in Clapham.

We went for the set menu, but as nearly all the things on the menu for the starters had things in them that I couldn't have I opted for a main and a dessert... 

I had a pulled pork burger for my main and then....

... for dessert I had banoffee Pie - which came with a song of Happy Birthday!

 Then on the Sunday Mr O treated me to Ikea's famous meatballs!!

On the Monday (my actual Birthday) Mr O and I went out for a lovely meal at a local restaurant called Apperfield Inn... I had a beautiful dessert which made me very happy :)

At Christmas we received a trip on a boat down the Thames and we finally got round to using it on Tuesday. It has to be one of the best days out that I have had in a long time. This week off was supposed to be a week away on holiday but we decided to put that on hold because of Baby O. So we made the most of the day by being tourists in London...

We saw the big hippo in the Thames... As well as many famous London landmarks. I even learnt a few things about London that I didn't know about!

We went on the trip on just the right day. Not just because we got to sit on the boat for nearly 4 hours in the lovely sun and get a good tan, but also because it was the final day of the boat festival in Greenwich. We arrived at the last stop just as all the boats went and did their parade down the Thames and past us. We got sights such as the sea Cadets saluting to us then doing a Mexican wave and then sounds of the cannons going off in what must have been in the Naval school in Greenwich.

On Wednesday Mum and I went on a shopping spree to get me a coat for my birthday.... We found this one and I fell in love with it but I needed a waterproof one with a hood! So I had to pose for a picture with the matching hat!!

Thursday I spent the day cleaning and nesting!! Then yesterday (Friday) I spent the morning at the doctors surgery then went shopping in Bromley.... People like my Grandad gave me vouchers for my birthday. He knew I wanted a new dressing gown from M&S but there was no way he would be able to have got that in the post to me!! So I went into Bromley to go and get these items.... I ended up getting big items in there like a dressing gown, new lamp shades, a full length body pillow (to help me sleep better) and a few other bits. 

Near the end of my shopping spree I decided I needed a drink and some lunch. However, as I sat down in Starbucks I felt very lonely. It made me miss my friends and family that lived near by. Normally if I was to go shopping on my own it would be for key things, not to just go shopping for the sake of it. It also made me want Baby O to hurry up and make an appearance as then at least i'll have some company. I hope and pray that I meet new friends to meet up with once I have Baby O so that I don't feel so on my own down here in Kent.

Anyway, if my hands didn't feel like they were going to fall off by the end, my feet certainly did!! I ended up with blisters on my feet as well as one that looks like a bruise too! 

I finished off the day curled up on the sofa with my new dressing gown on and a mug of Whittard's white hot chocolate. Oh and I will easily admit that I went round the whole of M&S testing the softness of all their dressing gowns!! And this one won!!!

So now as I go back to work this next week it feels like I'm going back after a summer holiday! But it's got me all excited about having my maternity time off to look after Baby O.

Hope you all have a lovely week 

Love, Mrs O x

Flash back!

We all have 'that' photo - you know the one I mean - the one where you look awful and is your 'thinspirational' photo. Well up until last week this was mine....

However, thanks to lovely Time Hop (an app on your phone that allows you to see photos of you and your facebook statuses from that day X amount of years ago) this photo came up.....

This photo was taken of me back in 2011 and my word I NEVER wish to go back and look like that ever again! I think I used to be blind as to what I actually looked like! I used to play ignorance and just think I was fine and healthy. Well, I can say now that that is NOT the case!! 

The top photo is still set as my screen saver on my phone but I think I will need to change it to the new one! Or maybe get it printed lots and lots and stick it on every cupboard to stop eating all the naughty stuff or 'just that extra bit of something'....

I was going to post a picture of me 'now, but I can't find one! But I am out tonight at a friend's house for a dinner party and I am sure I will have photos taken then so I will aim to get one up on here next week.

Before the news I know you have all been dying to hear about my weigh in last week I will just catch you up for last weekend....

Saturday I enjoyed this lovely meal from M&S for lunch....

It was really yummy and full of flavor - I'm really enjoying these meals from M&S - they are my Saturday lunchtime treats and they really do fill you up.

When I got in on Saturday afternoon... Mr O had decided to go out with some friends to play ping pong and he left me the most gorgeous bunch of lilies, a stack of DVDs and a little card.....

 

Inside the card he had written a little love note (now a card alone is a shock to the system as I don't even get a Birthday or Christmas card off him!) and then on the other page he had written a riddle which led to this...

So I had a lovely night sitting, watching Films ( I caught up on Orange is the new Black - I so LOVE that programme atm - and I'm slowly watching it all as I am nearly finished the latest season!)

Oh, and that ice cream.... 31 PP! But I sat and ate it all nice and slowly and pointed it all!

On the Sunday we had planned to go on a picnic and go fruit picking after church, but we kind of failed on the picnic part! But we did go strawberries and raspberries picking - once we found them! We literally walked all 4 corners of the fields only to find that they were right by the entrance!! But, it still gave us lots of walking and my, did my thighs hurt the next day from all the funny positions you get into to pick the strawberries!

As you can imagine we over picked the strawberries and we ended up with loads - we still have some left! So as you will find out in a bit I used the wherever I could just to use them all up!!

Now for the moment of truth from this week's weigh in.....

I flipping stayed the same!! SOOOOOO annoyed as I played the game down to the last point! Everything was pointed. And I was a little down when I stepped on the scales and my leader wrote down 'STS' on my chart - But she reassured me that it could just take an extra week for me to drop some. She even texted me the day after some words of encouragement. 

And then I stumbled across this little motivational picture thing (I'm stumbling upon a lot of these at the moment!!)

So what did I do in the end with all those strawberries?....

Well they got put into jelly for work....

Chopped up and put into a trifle....

Chopped up and put into a smoothie

Chopped up and put into a cake (You can find the recipe here...)

So to get myself focused and to keep my eye on the goal I kept pointing EVERYTHING....

4pp lunch - poached egg (2) 10 olives (1) ham (1) salad (0) jelly & the famous strawberries (0)

Lunch - poached egg (2) 10 olives (1) salad (0)

Snack / Dessert with lunch - more of the famous strawberries with fresh peach and a WW 1pp yogurt

I even got my 'instagram' on! This was Friday night's meal....

 

  

Dinner - 8pp (Tweaked recipe from the latest WW mag pg 35) 

4pp Dinner - Chicken kebabs with peppers served with salad and 0pp mayo I made it like this....

And finally this morning's smoothie....  0pp

I even pointed up the Pizza I had on Thursday night in celebration!

(Sorry photo taken from Tesco's website as I had forgotten to take a photo!) This actually works out really well on the propoint front. For the whole pizza it's only 14pp !!

Oh, and why was I celebrating? I found out that the results from my last colposcopy had come back and I had been given the all clear. Ok, maybe that should have been the first thing I spoke about this week?!... 

As I put the phone down after talking to the lady on the phone, I cried! They were tears of sheer joy and utter relief. I well up thinking about it now! My path in life could have taken a completely different direction if those results came back differently. And after a year of being prodded and poked in places I wish were kept well clear of to know that I am ok means that Mr O and I can sleep again after nights of tears, of worries and of sleepless nights - and my, have I slept so peacefully these last few nights!!

Now, as always, I have done a bit of digging around in the shops for you all...

The first ones are from Lidl... 

I was looking for something different for breakfast and I came across these....

Honey Peanut Crunch is 30g for 4pp and the Golden Puffs (like sugar puffs) are 30g for 3pp

Now for the Honey Peanut Crunch you really don't get much at all for 30g! And so I don't intend to buy this again although it is sooo yummy! But with the fake sugar puffs you actually get a lot in your bowl for you points!...

I also came across these in Lidl - much cheaper than Hartley's jelly which I normally buy. These too are 0pp... AND at the moment they are only 23p :) 

Now for Sainsburys.... I bought this as it was on offer (sorry can't remember how much) but I stupidly didn't stand there in the shop and work out the points :( Shame I didn't as it was so not worth the points.... 

It worked out as 6pp for half the jar - yes it tasted nice but wasn't worth it for an evening meal - would be worth it though for a night you wanted to do a fake korma as you can use all that sauce like you do from a take away.

And lastly, ICE CREAM :) from Tesco 

Now, they always say to double check their points against working it out on a calculator... And this is a true example of that.... Tesco are famous for putting the wrong points on their food.... Funny how the other supermarkets can sort it out but they cant!

On the packet they mark it as 2pp per pot BUT they actually work out to be 3pp per pot - luckily I had a spare point floating about! Naughty naughty Tesco!

 

Now although I say all that, they were actually really nice! And worth the 3pp AND you get a little Tupperware pot out of it in the end!

So I now change off food and demand all you women to go and get your smear tests done! Don't delay it! Plus I also want to thank all my friends family in your support to both Jeremy and I over this past year. It's not been easy and lots of things we have had to put on hold. We love you all. 

Today I am trying to eat as little amount of point worthy food as possible as I am going out for a meal tonight with friends (as I said earlier) and although I know they will be cooking it all fresh themselves, I don't want to loose out on having a loss this week!!

Hope you all have a lovely week, Love, Mrs O x

OOOHHHH.... Nearly forgot to post this week's chart....

Week 1 - 5 1/2 lbs

Week 2 - 1/2lb

Week 3 - 3lbs

Week 4 - ?

Week 5 + 2lbs    :(

Week 6 +/- 0lbs - STS