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!

****

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

Over night oats

Well, this may look disgusting but it is actually soooo yummy.... And if you are anything like me in the morning, I run around getting ready and trying to make breakfast at the same time like a headless chicken. But this I have found to be a great time saver for me.....

Ingredients...

1 banana
Any fruit of your choice for toppings
Oats - 35g
Yogurt - less than 200g (about 8 tbsps - but still weigh it)

Now you can use the above quantities to either make one big breakfast for 5pp or split it into 2 Tupperware boxes to make 2 normal sized breakfasts for 3pp each.

Also, just so you know, you might need to check the propoints of your own yogurt as each one is different. Some people also use Greek yogurt instead or an actual WeightWatchers yogurt or similar.... I use this one from Lidls....

Oh and I use these oats from Lidls too..

So here is what you do....

1. Mash the banana

2. Add the oats, yogurt and the mashed banana altogether

3. Mix together and add the fruits as well and mix. 

Or you could just mix it and then add the fruit on top...

Leave overnight in the fridge for it all to soak in together and then enjoy the next morning cold.... Yes that's right, cold. At first I was like 'that is a disgusting idea' but then as soon as I had my first mouthful I was in love with it!

In the morning, sit back, eat and enjoy! 

Love, Mrs O x

Baked Banana

Got some bananas going spare or just fancy some sweet fruit to go with your dessert well this will definitely tick all boxes....

Oh, and it's all 0pp or free on SS & F&H :) (well, minus the ice cream!)

All you need is a banana, sweetener and some tin foil

1. Pop your banana on some tin foil and sprinkle in sweetener.

2. Make the foil into a boat and make sure it is air tight.

3. Either pop it in the oven for 15mins or place on the BBQ and it will end up looking like this... Careful as it will be hot

4. Chop it up and serve with something yummy .... I serve mine with ice cream :)

5. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Love, Mrs O x

Drum roll please... (and then pick me up off the floor!)

Ok, I have been desperate to share this information with you but as I was away last weekend I haven't been able to share this until now........

So I went to my first weigh in after my first week on Simple Start. Before I got on the scales my leader said to me if there was anything I had missed - and I admitted like I did in my last blog post that I had missed chocolate and naughty stuff but then I stepped on the scales and LOOK!!!.... This was the result....

To say I was shocked was an understatement!! It really spurred me on for my next week's eating.. After talking with my leader, I decided to continue on the whole F&H thing as it allowed me to eat loads but also as I knew I would be going away at the weekend it would allow me to save my weekly points for the weekend.

The class was really good - and it showed how great a leader she is - the class was full - so much so we had to get more seats!! My lovely class friend and I sat together chatted about how our week went and how we both thought of each other about how we thought how each other was getting on. 

The class was all about cocktails. The best part was that she split us all up and gave us all a task to find specific drinks and kinds of drinks. As you all know I have a love for fruity drinks and so I found this really interesting as you can forget how high in points drinks can be! 

So coming away from the class I set myself the task of finding 0pp fruity drinks! At first in my head I had thoughts of making marvellous cocktails but then I realised that I needed to start smaller and work my way up! So in the shops I managed to find the Robinsons 'Squash'd' range..... Which I thought were a brilliant idea. They also really helped me when I was away at the weekend as it meant that instead of having just water at the dinner table whilst the others were all having Shloer and nice cordials, it meant I could have something juicy too!

(Picture taken from online as I couldn't get my photo looking this nice!)

I also made a point that when I went into the supermarkets I would look at their low cal / sugar free fizzy drinks. Asda wasn't so good at this, but Tesco and Sainsburys were. I nearly bought the drinks in Tesco as they were really good value and also had a good variety, but when I got to the till I realised I had left my purse at home!! However, when I went into Sainsburys - with my purse! - I picked up just two drinks to try out - and they were a big success in our home! 

These drinks are 60p each and well worth it! These are the two that I bought...

Lemon & Lime which tasted just like Lilt and the other one was Mango & Passion fruit

So as I decided to continue on with F&H, it allowed me to have food like this.... (All free on F&H)

(PS the dip you see above I made from a WW magazine - and it was VILE!! It's called 'chilly bean dip')

Pancakes with fruit, quark & sweetener

A packed lunch - WW Wrap with ham, salad and quark, F&H 2 ingredient cookies (CLICK HERE to see how to make them), left over pancake with some banana and some strawberries.

Salmon, home made potato wedges and salad

Salmon, pasta and salad

Oh and a meal that took me back to being young.... Egg & Soldiers (or shoulders as I used to say when I was little!)

And as always you'll see that organisation is the key to everything as it doesn't let you sway off track!

Oh, and I got sucked into one of my favourite things... a new lunch box!!

 

Check out the cool knife and fork.... 

As I knew that I would be going away from the Friday I planned and made all my food for my next few meals.

This was Friday's lunch.... (Left over chicken and veg from the night before)

***

So after my lovely weekend away up in Birmingham with my MIL (Mother In Law) and family, I was excited to go along and be weighed again. This week my leader was away but the lady who first enrolled me to my classes was there.

I stepped on the scales.... and only lost 1/2 lb... I was quite upset with myself although the leader said that this was completely normal until my class friend saw me and she said it was amazing!! She kept on reminding me that it was better than no loss or no gain. And she also reminded me that I only need to loose 1lb and I will have reached my first silver 7 :) 

That put a smile on my face and I picked myself up in time for our class to start :) Thanks hun!

So I decided to go back to pointing my little head away.... 

I bought a new journal 

I also bought the latest magazine and treated myself to a new cook book...

I personally blame Skinny Doll for inspiring me to buy this book and even better it had 30% off it AND I had a voucher to use on cook books....

As I knew I was going into hospital this week I also knew that all this reading literature would give me some time and excuse to sit down, relax and recover!

On Tuesday I decided to do the lovely roast bag thing again - just to show to Mum how quick and easy weight watchers food cooking can be!

As I knew I wouldn't be able make tea I left it all in the fridge for her, told her how to make it and left her to it! - Doesn't food taste better when it's made by someone else?!

Oh, and back-tracking - this was my lunch on Tuesday morning before I went into Hospital

In our class this week, the 'Your Week' leaflet showed a lovely mouth-watering sticky Chinese style chicken drum sticks....

I had all the ingredients on the list so I thought I would go ahead and make it. 

As you know, I only like cooking and making things that are quick and easy to make....

Once you had made the marinade up all you had to do is just leave it to let the chicken soak up all the tasty sauce.... (Just so you know, if you make the marinade up for itself for it to be used for something else, when serving 4-6 people it's 1pp)

I then popped it in the oven for about 30 mins rather than doing it on a BBQ like it says to do

And then I served it up with some 0pp veg and some homemade potato wedges 

As always I did some investigating on food in the shops and their pro points amounts.... 

These breaded chicken breast escalopes are only 7pp each and you can buy them as 2 packs (of 2) for £4. They are decent sized too!

Oh, and I have enjoyed a banana split with some chocolate this week too! 

And talking of bananas..... I enjoyed a 'Newman special' .... Banana on my pizza!

So on Thursday night, my little sister came over to cheer me up, and she's still here with us! 

We went out yesterday morning for 'Brunch' and then we went and ran some errands like going to the bank!

It's been lovely to have my sister over :) makes me feel all grown up! So yesterday for our 'snack time' / lunch we had her favourite - humous, a fish humous dip and some veg to nibble on!! (Sorry but for some weird reason it wont let me flip the picture back up the right way!)

Then for dinner we had my famous chicken curry with cauliflower rice and then we had a mock trifle for dessert..... (2pp) 

After being an online member for as long as I can remember, I really do feel that it's the support you get from those people at class that spurs you on! I could easily give in and sit and munch my way through loads of food or give in to Mr O saying 'go on just have it, live a little' - which is his current thing that he says to me. But then I now think, no I want to see an improvement on the scales at class! 

So I can officially do a Chart AGAIN!

Week 1 - 5 1/2 lbs

Week 2 - 1/2 lb

I wonder what week 3 will hold for me?!!....

Love, Mrs O x