Who are you?!

I have written and then pressed delete on so many blog posts recently.... So after gaining some confidence again about sitting down and writing about me and where is my life at yesterday, I have promised myself NOT to delete this one!

Life as a blogger means that I am forever taking photos but recently, my camera isn't being used as much and the things that I am taking photos of just doesn't feel like me.

I feel like my identity as Emma-Joy is vanishing....

I feel like I am in that typical cliche scene of 'my head is telling me one thing but my heart (my body in this case) is telling me something else'.

Inside I know I am still the same person, but my body is morphing me - which is it's way of preparing me - to have another job title under my name... Maybe it is because Baby O is coming as a bit of a surprise?

And I think that's why I haven't blogged for such a long time (it feels like)...

However, a few events this last week have made me finally enjoy what I am becoming... A mummy.

Whilst driving home from work one day this week, these funny movements that I have had in my tummy (that I knew were coming from Baby O) for the last month have finally made me realise and made me hit reality that they are coming from a real human being inside of me. My own flesh and blood growing and preparing to step into this world.

One day at work I had a bit of a funny black out / crazy head moment (basically thanks to a lack of eating and exhaustion).. It was like a mini wake up call of 'hey Emma, you need to look after yourself as it's not just you that you are looking after'

Then finally on Friday I went to the baby show at Olympia with both my Mum and my MIL. It was such a lovely day. Not only for the things we got for free, purchased, and some of the products we all laughed at together, but also that every now and then we had some moments down memory lane. There were even some tears shed at different points of the day.

At one of the stands I bumped into one lady who ran a website for Mums - a bit like NetMums maybe? Not checked it out yet as I need to sort out all the leaflets I got - you know what it's like when you go to those kind of shows/exhibitions. But I got chatting with the lady on the stall and she really inspired me to get writing again, she even gave me her business card. Which is one reason why I have decided to not worry about blogging all about Weight Watchers for now and to just continue writing about my day to day life with all it's ups and downs!

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So I am now 6 months pregnant.... I know! That is scary and whilst walking round the baby show on Friday, lots of people were saying 'wow, not long to go now'.... Which is probably another reason why my head was like, GET TO GRIPS WITH IT WOMAN!!

Just so you know, I will write a write up about the baby show (and not hit delete!) and I will post it up in the next few days.

I think this point now deserves a little 'catch up'....

This time of the year is definitely time to get the hot chocolate out... and it has been made full use of! Man, I love Whittard's White Hot Chocolate!!

I bought a new car........ Well, Mr O bought me a new car! After all the trying out of lots of different cars, trying out the boot size to fit THE pram etc we decided to get another Swift! This one is very swanky though... All mod-cons in it - even air conditioning! Hahahahaa..

 

I had a lovely time in Oakengates with the ISS... One of my fake little sisters and her Mum came along to see me. What a lovely surprise it was to see her <3

Oh, and I got a chance to wear one of my comfiest maternity tops....

 

(At Olympia I got lots of comments about it!)

I came across this really sweet boys outfits, which emphasises that no matter what sex we have they are still going to be dressed in really cute clothes!

A few weeks ago, the best way for me to chill out and let my legs calm down was to have a bath. Baby O must have been lying in a funny position which made my right leg and hip feel really sore

I had my 20 weeks scan.....

This could have been our last chance to see Baby O, but as you can see, it was being just as stubborn as it's father and wouldn't show us it's face or heart....

Oh, and what blog of mine would be complete without some pictures of my food....

Look away now if you hate crawly things.... But look what I found under a cushion at home... Even I was scared of it and I don't normally mind dealing with creepy things!

As part of 'prep to become a Daddy' I think that Mr O has developed a phantom baby! He has cravings, he's tired all the time, he needs me to get things for him oh and he is 'ill' too!! Here he is fast asleep!

Whilst looking at some old photos at home, we pulled one photo out of a frame and then we came along this beauty....

This is my Mum and I (she recons I was about 4 months in this photo). I hope Baby O is as small as I was! Plus it just shows how beautiful my Mum is.

More food.... Yummy 2 ingredient cookies with chocolate chips in them.... (Recipe here)

... So as Baby O was being stubborn, I had to go back at 23 weeks. This to me was a lovely blessing in disguise as it meant that I got to see it again! I got to see the heart and all 4 of it's chambers in such good detail. Unfortunately it was being stubborn again in allowing us to get a nice side profile, but we all think that it is laughing in these pictures ....

  

So that was Baby O on the inside and this is Baby O from my view day to day.....

I now have a new best friend too... 

As you may well know, I am a bit of a bargain hunter! I have so far managed to not buy anything at full price! I have even managed to get lots of things that are second hand and hardly used at really good prices. I have used local Facebook selling groups to find things, just like this gro egg ... It is a baby room thermometer that glows different colours depending on the temperature of the room. 

Mr O has also been doing a spot of cooking too.. As he is a massive meat fan, I think he always tries to find and cook THE biggest bit of meat he can! He also forgets about vegetables so I often have to bump in with some! But this last week he cooked me this beautiful bit of beef ribs. We had enough for dinner then lunch and dinner for the next day too!

Now, excuse how I look in this photo as I have been rough this last week! But it just shows how big Baby O is getting :( When my Mum saw me on Friday one of the first things she said to me was 'you're getting massive' which was then shortly followed by 'you've put all the weight back on your face'.... I was like, great thanks Mum! More about that in my Baby Show post...

And finally... This is one of the products we all had a good giggle about.....

We nearly bought it but they only had purple or blue - which was one of my big bug bares (I don't think that's the correct saying but oh well!) at the Show - all the gender specific stuff!

And finish! I feel like I have got a weight off my shoulders, a burden I have been baring for a while. I am just going to enjoy being me, this new changing woman. I am going to enjoy writing about my new and ever changing life and all that it brings to me. 

So, as always...

Love Mrs O xxx

go go go!!

This week I had to have a very good telling off to myself! As you may have read I keep on saying that I have 'started again' or that I need to up my game, well, in all honesty I haven't. One week I will loose a bit, the next gain some and I feel like a yo yo on a piece of weight loss string!

 

So on Thursday night I told myself off - I openly admitted it on the WW UK support group page on face book and the support I got from people was amazing - told you I love that group and this made me love it even more! Since February the pounds have been slowly creaping back on and i've gained a sickening 7lbs - and then reality hit me and realised why I am doing this all in the first place.

 

I worked out that I would eat really well and healthy and then I would have a few days binging on naughty pizza or naughty amounts of chocolate! But to loose weight you must be consisitant and yes, although those odd few days you CAN treat yourself but not every week and definately not EVERY day!!!

 

You may remember that I bought the propoints pack a few weeks ago... Well this has been my weight-loss-life-saver! And I can now say that those horrible 7lbs are slowly but surely coming off.... So just like my run up to Christmas, I thought I would start back up again on my weekly losses - that too is a great push as it's a written public chart!

 

Week 1 - 0lbs

Week 2 - 2lbs

Week 3 - 1lb

 

So when I sit down for lunch it now looks like this, with my journal stuck to the side of me! ....

 

 

So back to life in general.... What have I been upto? Hummmm well I've been busy as always - I had an amazing time singing with The Sydney Staff Songsters - we (The International Staff Songsters) did a joint concert with them in Staines on Wednesday 23rd April

 

On the Friday (25th) evening and all day on the Saturday (26th) we (The ISS) were recording

 

On the Saturday evening I was then the guest soloist of the Enfield Citadel Band of The Salvation Army (and as you can tell my voice was then shattered). I sung two contrasting peices - Ave Maria by Caccini and I also sung 'I feel like singing all the time' by Keith Prynn.

 

I'm just glad that day I started my day like this....

 

 

One of the great things about Weight Watchers is that you can use up your left overs and things in the cupboards and fridge like this...

 

 

I made a lovely chicken curry-esk thing with left over veg from the fridge.

 

And who knew how easy it was to make a small amount of jam to serve on crumpets for a lovely warm breakfast....

I just used up some left over blue berries (and 2 raspberries I think) popped them in the microwave for literally 20 seconds and put them on my toasted crumpets - you don't even need to use the butter - brilliant extra point saving tip!!

 

I have also made an amazing 3pp roast dinner - you can check out how and the recipe here....

 

 

I have also been loving my julienne peeler more and more - it saves so much time and makes your food look really posh with little effort!!

Ohhh.... Raddishes - totally fogot about these little gems until I found some reduced in Lidls!!

 

And talking about Lidls and bargains..... You can get a whole bag of mixed seeds from there for ONLY 99p... perfect for sprinkling on your salad to add a bit of crunch!!

 

 

Easter - remember back then?! Seems ages ago now but to stop myself going over-board on eating away on the chocolate I smashed my eggs up and pointed them all up into bags....

 

 

Ummm.... lunch!

 

Again, lovely low pp dinners - This was Cous cous and asparagus salad with fish and a corn on the cob - 9pp

 

You may have seen that I am in training at the moment for Race for Life - out running I have the opportunity to see some amazing views.....

 

I've also in these last 2 weeks found my love for pesto.... What better way to make pasta yummy than to add a bit of pesto to it ... for only 1pp for 1 tbsp it's not too bad on the points.

Dinner - Salad with 10x olives(1pp), 3pp chicken, pasta & pesto.

 

I spoilt myself and bought myself a Bobble - I try and drink a whole 1ltr at work a day and this bottle is 1ltr. If you haven't seen them before, it's basically a water bottle with a filter on it.

Oh, and then Mr O treated me to these Kofte kebabs... But they were so high in propoints I gave one to Mr O - so he ended up having 3!

 

 

So, back to normality - I have some amazing events planned for this weekend which I can't wait to share with you all....

 

Have a lovely week and enjoy the sun that is supposed to come....

 

Love, Mrs O x