CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

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Showing posts from December, 2013

Magnificent Monday #10 - Bye Bye 2013!

Welcome to Magnificent Monday! Poor old Monday, the most hated day of the week... But Monday can be magnificent ! All it wants is to be liked ! Like this Monday by liking some new Facebook pages and making some new friends! CharlieBeth @ Life as Mumma Walker & Kate @ Family Fever Tweet The Facebook Linky The Blog Linky By participating, linkers agree to be added to the blog.family-walker.co.uk email newsletter list, but don't worry, I wont spam you! I'll just email you invitations to linkups. You can opt out at any time

Pin it Party #10 - NEW YEARS EVE EDITION!

Welcome to the Pin it Party! with your hosts My Life as Mumma Walker & Embracing the Good Life Let's keep it simple: Link up any posts you have that you would like to have shared on Pinterest Follow the Host boards: CharlieBeth79 and embracingtglife Check out and pin other party linkies - as many as you can! Follow as many of the other party linkies as you can Follow this party's board and wait to see your post get pinned! HERE I'd especially love to see great blog posts with pics, recipes, DIY, crafting, reviews, blogging advice, beauty & fashion. That said, it's pretty much rules free, but please remember that mine is a parenting blog so don't share something which might be seen as too offensive! The Button: You don't have to take one, but it's there if you want it! Tweet Follow Pin it Party by CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker on Pinterest By participating, linkers agree to be added to

Magnificent Monday #9 - Merry Christmas!

Pin it Party #9 - CHRISTMAS EDITION!

Secret Dairy Post - Post BFP Docs Appointment

It's been less than two weeks but it's felt like forever since I got that first BFP. Today is finally Doctors day! So I waited my turn and gleefully trotted into my Doctors room when she called for me. As I took off my coat she asked "So.... how did the pregnancy test go?" I grinned and reached into my bag "Would you like to see? Don't worry, they're in a bag!" She laughed and had a look at the two tests I did this morning, one a regular pregnancy test, the other a clear blue digital. She decided against any further tests! "Well, I think you're pregnant!" We chatted for a little about my change in diet and my weight loss. When I explained what I was eating she was perfectly happy for me to carry on with the changes I have made. She said that loss in the 1st trimester is fine, and I should focus on not gaining any weight in my 2nd and 3rd trimesters. She said that "babies are perfect parasites" that take everyt

Going AWOL!

Christmas is so very very near! And I am no where near ready! The tree only went up last weekend, I've left Hubby to do most of the shopping for presents and the wrapping (luckily most of the people we buy for are his family so he knows better than me what to get anyway). I've not been feeling very festive. I think the hassle with the car getting smashed has affected me more than I thought to start with. I've been stressing about that instead of tinsel and gift wrap. I am so very very tired too. The kids have had coughs and cold, I've caught it too, and so has the Hubby. They've been up and down all night every night so they are tired and cranky an so are we. We're falling out amongst ourselves already and school hasn't even finished for the holidays yet! But the point of this post is to say that with the festive season upon us, and visits with family and friends taking up the vast majority of our time for the next week or two, I am likely not going to b

Jack's Christmas Show 2013

We were late, which is never a good thing. Tom has refused to put his boots on, or even look for them, so by the time we had wrestled him into them there was no way round it, we were going to be late! Almost 10 mins late! We were allowed to sneak in though, although there were only two seats so I bagged them for me and the kiddies and Mark wound up at the back, standing up. We were about as far away from Jack as we could be! But at least we hadn't missed his part. The kids were all great, but I was itching to see my boy in action. Eventually the Sugar Plum Fairy was shown the Toy Robots and it was Jack's turn - along with his friends - to parade up and down for her. Have a look - it's only short. Spot the one rocking it out and moshing away? That's my boy! I think it's safe to say he enjoyed being a Toy Robot! And I am so proud of him because he really got into it and enjoyed himself! (and I will enjoy reminding him about wearing tights when he

Galt Toys Review: Baby Puzzles - Transport

We're still loving our Galt Toys selections. This time we're reviewing little George's game Baby Puzzles - Transport There is pretty much nothing about this that George doesn't love! He even likes to carry the box round with him using the handy little handle. He has great fun tipping it all out, packing it all away, and tipping it out again! 20 months old. This is what he likes to do! Learning Through Play He loves it when I come and play this game with him. His bigger brothers play it with him too. He's picked up the idea of matching the two bits of each vehicle and spends ages trying to line them up perfectly. You can see him working on his motor skills as well as recognising which front end goes with which back end. We've been playing a game where we say the name of each vehicle as we pick a piece up and then make the noise to go with it. Georgie figured out the matching pairs quicker this way. We're even working on his basic counting when we tid

Magnificent Monday #8

Secret Diary Post - Weight Loss

So, like it said in my official published post, I have lost 3lb again this week. I admit I am a little confused about how I feel.... I'm glad to have lost some weight because I am obese. But I'm a little worried that maybe I will be perceived as someone who is more bothered about losing weight than they are about providing for their baby. This isn't the case! I love this little Bean. I already love it just as much as the three boys I already have. I'm not trying to diet to harm my baby or because I am vein. (If you knew me in real life you would know I certainly am not vein). Being obese isn't good for my baby. I've been told this by my midwives, consultants and dietitians when I was expecting my 2nd & 3rd babies. In fact, the changes I have made to my diet (diet as in eating habits, rather than weight loss) are exactly the changes I'll be told to make once I see my GD consultant this time. I have cut out almost all the junk. I still have the od

Weigh Day

I am stunned that I have lost weight this week. I thought I might drop a pound maybe. But 3lb? I've had the odd naughty this week.... like half a very large cherry bun and the school Christmas fair, and a McDonald's with the kids. But I have watched my WW points to make sure I don't go mental with my treats. I'm sticking to the fruit and veg thing though. I'm never hungry and never without something to snack on. I'm just choosing healthy snacks packed with good stuff. This is my average menu: Breakfast: Cheerios, skimmed milk, banana and a coffee. Lunch: Salad sandwich with wholemeal bread & low fat cream cheese. Two pieces of fruit. Herbal tea. Dinner: Proper meal with lean meat, 3+ veg, pasta/rice/potato. Sugar free juice. Snacks: A very large box of carrots, celery & cucumber to nibble on as and when through out the day. I've got stuff that I can nibble on to top up my points, like fat free yoghurt that I dollop all over fru

Secret Diary Post - Being a Good Girl

Rach got her 3+ on a Clear Blue digi today. That means I should get mine in 5 days time. Tuesday! I was planning to do my digi on Monday and then book in with the doctors so I'm glad I saw this because I'll hold off now. I will prob do a normal test on Mon and call anyway... then do the digi on the day of my appointment to take in before the battery dies! I'm working hard on being a "good girl". I haven't told anyone else about Bean yet apart from a few select people online (you know who you are!), no more family and none of my off line friends. It's hard! But I am actually starting to get a kick out of it being secret! And I am enjoying keeping this Secret Diary knowing I'll publish it once everyone knows who needs to know. The change in diet is still going strong too. I am eating SO MUCH but it'll all healthy! Yesterday I packed so much food for work that I couldn't eat it all! I ended up snacking on it in the evening - which is my wor

Eating Right for Baby (even before there is one)

Since I've discovered it likely to be my weight that has caused my Secondary Infertility I have been reading more and more about healthy eating while TTC and pregnant. I'm planning to stick to healthy eating when I'm pregnant... and I know that's not always going to be easy! In my previous pregnancies I have just chucked all ideas of healthy eating out of the window and allowed myself to use my baby as an excuse to stuff my face with junk. Every time I fancied something I said "the baby wants it". OK, sometimes that was true, I really could not get through the day without eating a ton of chicken when I was expecting my first. Milk has been a big thing with all of my babies. But that's all ok. Chicken is healthy (unless it's KFC or something) and there's nothing wrong with me drinking milk. I guess my baby wanted the protein and calcium. But what did my babies want from 3 packets of jaffa cakes....? probably not a whole lot! Now, it's very

Pin it Party #8

Tom's Christmas Show

Today is the Nursery's Christmas Show! Tom has been very excited about this and has been singing his heart out when ever I've played my Christmas CD or YouTube Christmas playlist. A couple of years ago when it was Jack's turn I got to video the whole thing (it's only short since they are 3 & 4 years old, and the script is the same every year) but this year we weren't allowed to as some of the kids parents had declined the photography bit of the nursery contract (understandable, but still upsetting), so instead we were allowed to take a photo of our own child at the end. It's such a shame because Tom was a SUPER STAR! He played a Snowman. He'd told me he was going to be a Christmas Tree, but this part was much better! The Snowmen got to sing a duet! "I'm a Little Snowman" to the tune of "I'm a Little Tea Pot" Which he did beautifully! He knew all the words to all the songs, he knew all the actions, he took a bow at t

Secret Diary Post - Who Knows, Who Doesn't!

Hahaha!!!! Yesterday's Clear Blue Digi! Naturally the first person I told was Hubby! Everytime I get pregnant I tell myself "keep it to yourself for a bit, don't even tell Hubby just yet" but that lasts a maximum of a minute! Hubby struggles to take it all in this early on. In fact, until he sees the 12 week scan he's never really that convinced. To be honest, I don't think it really sinks in with him until that baby is put in his arms! (oh God, hormones.... welling up at that thought!) The girls on www.PregnancyForum.org.uk know. That's one of the points of being on there after all! Naturally that means that my sister-in-law Rach knows because she is on there. And she is pregnant too! Just 5 days ahead of us (although the midwife will put me 5 days ahead of her because they don't take long cycles into account, it will take out dating scans to see who really is in the lead!) I'm guessing that my brother in law will know too, she's

Blood test results!

This afternoon I got a call from my 2nd Fav doc with my blood test results. It's the same lady I saw who originally said there was no way I could get to the clinic just yet (and not my fav doc who got me in there!) She said my progesterone results score 15, which still means nothing to me. So I asked outright "does that mean I've ovulated or not?" And she said it wasn't likely. But I could take a preg test next week and then come in to see them. She went on to explain that the blood test is looking for a very narrow window and can be easily missed. Ideally I should have had the test on CD28 but that was the Saturday so CD30 was my first chance. So I've done a little research and after finding dozens of comments on various forums all contradicting each other, I found someone who posted a link here: Progesterone in Pregnancy which says this: I believe I was "mid luteal phase" when I had my last blood test. I'm not on medication yet. I thi

Magnificent Monday #7

Jack's Ju Jitsu Grading! Yellow Belt

I get to be a proud mummy again today! Ok, I'm always proud of them, but days like today give me something to show off about why I'm proud of the them. Today Jack had his second grading for Ju Jitsu and is now the owner of a smashing yellow belt! As usual to parent ban meant I didn't get to watch, which is a real shame (especially since I don't have the car so I had to walk around Morecambe on a cold and wet Sunday morning in December looking for somewhere to get a coffee) and as usual when I asked Jack what he had done he said he didn't remember (Jack code for "can't be bothered to talk about what's done, what can I do next?") but I tell myself he wouldn't get put forward for grading if he wasn't progressing, and he wouldn't be moving up if it wasn't sinking in. And he really enjoys it. That's what really matters. So... WELL DONE BIG LAD! Love you!

Weigh Day!

Well I was up at the crack of dawn this morning and on the Wii Fit to get my calorie burning in before the kiddos got up and I have lost a lovely 3lb this week! Chuffed to bits! I only did half an hour on the wii fit instead of the hour I have been doing on my days off work, party because I felt sore and tired form the hour and half I did yesterday (Eldest challenged me to beat his score on the 30 minute jog. He won!) But also because I knew I'd end up trekking all about the place later on in the day while he was at his JuJistu grading. And I did! 3 times I walked along that prom in the rain today! Parent's can't stay to watch so after he was settled in I walked from the school into town and had a couple of coffees, then I walked back to collect him, and then back into town again to get some lunch and a ride home. My legs ache! But I bet the sea air did me good. He passed his grading too! So that's a total of 18lb lost and a BMI of 34.3! Not bad going I think!

The First Secret Diary Post - BFP!

It's going to be a while before I publish this post, although I will date it for today, 8/12/13. I'm not publishing it now because it's too early to tell family and stuff so I don't want them stumbling on it by accident (which happened with my second baby, serious social media slip up!) I'm going to carry on posting as normal, and all my pre-12 week pregnancy posts are going to be labelled "Secret Diary" and will be published to the rest of the blogging world once we've told all the family. Today I got a faint BFP on a cheap pregnancy test. I am beyond excited! Hubby isn't willing to believe it yet because it is faint, but it is there. I am 11dpo according to Fertility Friend, giving me an estimated due date of Aug 20! That couldn't get any better! I so desperately want my baby born before September because of the school cut off! Because of my GD history I'll prob get booked in for induction a couple of days earlier than that as wel

Better Days :)

Things are looking up, and I am a much happier bunny than I was in my last post. Amazing what a good night asleep can do for the soul. Friday was a good day. We finally heard from the courtesy car people and things are starting to move, all be it slowly. This is taking some of my stress away, although we're still not 100% sure we'll get to see family this Christmas (which would be awful). I called my docs for the blood test results. The woman on reception read out the cryptic notes on my results and then asked if I had understood a word of it, because she hadn't. We laughed about it and arranged for one of my two lady doctors who have been dealing with my secondary infertility to give me a call on Monday and explain. Then I can call the Fertility Clinic on Tuesday and tell them. Why do doctors and such feel the need to speak in code when it's the poor reception staff and us commoners on the street that need to understand them too? At least my nice doctors will spe

Pin it Party #7

It never rains.....

.....but it pours. That's how the saying goes, right? I've not heard a dickey bird from the insurance people yet, and neither have my garage. Which means I am still without a courtesy car. Luckily my boss had loaned me one, so I only had to fork out for diesel instead of a whole hire car to get too and from work. Only that has now failed it's MOT so as of tonight I am carless again. (my lovely wrecked car didn't fail it's MOT!) This weekend is our Jack's Jujitsu Grading in Morecambe at 9am, for 3 hours, and parents can't stay to watch. It's going to be a nightmare without a car to drive. There are no buses at that time on a Sunday and it's too far from the train station for him to walk and still be fit to do his grading (he is only 5 years old), so we'll have to get a taxi. It wont be cheap. The grading is paid for already and he shouldn't have to miss it become someone else wrote our car off. We can bus and/or train home probably. No i

Craziness, Self Pity & The Green Eyed Monster

I know it's just my head state at the moment, but it seems like everyone except me is pregnant or having their babies. The news today of yet another pregnant friend has left me feeling delighted for the happy couple... and like I've been kicked in the gut all at the same time. I'm being totally selfish, and tomorrow I will feel completely different! But right now I want to wallow in a giant vat of Cadbury's Chocolate and not surface until the world ends. I am now constantly staring at my Fertility Friend chart... willing it to suddenly shout "You're pregnant!" But that would be an impossible thing since my chart cannot make me pregnant after all. No amount of tweeking it will change what's happening or not happening inside my body. I'm practically counting the seconds until my next temp check to see if it rises again like it did today, and I'm itching to get my blood test results on Friday. It might say I have ovulated! I'm 99.9% certai

21 Day Bloods (again, on CD30!)

Today I marched in to town and saw the nurse who took some more blood for another 21 day progesterone test. This one is actually on cycle day 30 since my cycles are so long. The Fertility Clinic are reasonably sure tht I am not ovulating, but said that my previous CD21 Day test would have shown negaive regardless as I seem to be at least trying to ovukate atound CD25. Makes sense! The ideal day would have been CD28, but that was Saturday and (aside from having my car wrecked) the surgery is closed so I couldn't have it done then. Friday was too soon. So it had to be today. I was supposed to be at work today, but with the whole car/garage/insurance mess, and the appointment being at 12 noon, and having no transport, my boss agreed to me having the day off. The walk will have done me good though (3 WW points) and certainly got my blood pumping and easy to take - nomally my body doesn't like giving any blood up at all! I can call for my results at the end of the week, but I&

Magnificent Monday #6

Weigh In Day!

I've been working really really hard ever since that Fertility Clinic appointment. I've been on the Wii Fit every day (apart from yesterday, but since I was in a car accident that has probably written my car off I think I can be forgiven) for at lest 30 mins but usually over an hour. I do less on a work day becuase by the time I'm home, had my dinner, and put the kids to bed, I'm just too tired to do more than 30 mins. When I'm not at work I get my hour+ in! The doc said I only NEED to do 20-30 mins 2-3 times a week so either way I'm on a win. I have also stuck to my Weight Watchers ProPoints, drunk pleny of water, stuffed my face with fruits and veggies.... And I have been rewarded! I have lost weight, and I have reduced my BMI from 37.4 to 34.8! (I also got my 5% loss star!) Now I know that is just week-one loss, and the first week is always BRILLIANT. It will slow down to about 1-2lb a week, but what a cracking start! I feel really motivated! The tri