Friday, 22 May 2015

20 month chatter

Henry seems to be learning new words all the time now and chatters away all day long, even though most of it makes no sense! My mum suggested making a list of all the words he could say so that we don't forget so please feel free to ignore this boring post, it's more for our digital baby book that this blog has become....
Mama
Dada
Marmar
Parpar
George (sounds like Didge)
Zach 
Hoover
Banana
Man
Guhguh (his word for all drinks!)
Uvas (his first Spanish word....it means grapes)
There
Down 
This
Bye
Lola
Peppa
Twittwoo (owl)
Baa (sheep)
Moo (cow)
Ragh (lion/dinosaur)
Woo woo woo (dog)
Bzzzz (bee) 
Uh huh (he always says this instead of yes)
More
Spoon
Balloon 
Cake 
Peacock 





Thursday, 21 May 2015

Best Birthday Ever

I really love birthdays, not just mine, but everyone's. Yesterday's was probably my best yet; I had such a lovely day with my beautiful family. Mr B had bought dairy free muffins for breakfast in bed and Henry loved singing happy birthday and helping me to blow out my candles. We then went to my mum's and opened my presents there before heading to baby group for the morning. Henry then had a nap whilst I tidied my gifts away - I was well and truly spoilt this year by everyone.  After Henry's nap we headed to Crook Hall for afternoon tea and a look round the gardens with Marmar and Parpar. They'd made such an effort with my dairy free tea, I really appreciated it, especially after such a long time without decent cake! The gardens there are fabulous and Henry loved exploring/chasing the poor cat that lives there. Mr B then picked me up and we spent the evening at the spa chatting, drinking prosecco, reading magazines and enjoying the many saunas, steam rooms and jacuzzis. After we'd finished we had an amazing 3 course dinner before coming home to our sleeping baby boy. 

So all in all, a pretty perfect day, 28 will take some beating!






Shhh, no one mention Weight Watchers

Well I've had a week off from Weight Watchers to enjoy some amazing birthday food. I didn't want to be miserable going out with family and friends to celebrate and counting points while they all ate cake, so decided to just have a week off and enjoy it! Here are some photos of some of the amazing things I've been eating. Normal Weight Watchers service has resumed today, boo!!

Starter platter in The Botanist - houmous, poached salmon, Parma ham and pomegranate, mint and couscous salad.

BBQ chicken and chips at The Botanist

A Rose Cosmo to go with lunch
Tasty dairy free snacks from Pret

A massive roast dinner 

And the most amazing vegan cupcake 

A dairy free Muffin Break coconut and banana muffin

Dairy free afternoon tea at Crook Hall

My starter at Rockliffe Hall - beef carpaccio, corned beef and salted peaches.

My main course of chicken with vegetables and mash

My dessert of strawberries and cream, minus the cream!! It was strawberries done in various ways with strawberry sorbet and strawberry foam, so so good!!










Tuesday, 19 May 2015

27

Tomorrow I turn 28, this is officially my last evening as a 27 year old. I've mentioned before on my blog that when I was a little girl I was most looking forward to being 27; I thought it was a good age, where I'd be a proper grown up but still young enough to be 'cool'. I imagined being married, having children, I'd wear cool clothes and always have a takeaway coffee in my hand (that's what cool adults do). Funny how most of those things turned out to be right, I need copious amounts of caffeine due to the sleep deprivation caused by the child, I'm married and beyond happy. Not sure about the cool clothes though....

Anyway that's it, being 27 is pretty much over, and what a year it was. It lived up to every expectation I had as a little girl and I'm excited to see what my 29th year will bring.

Here are my highlights of '27'
Blowing out the candles on my 27th birthday 

An amazing, warm summer full of adventures

A very special first birthday

An amazing week at Disneyland Paris

A pretty magical Christmas in Essex

A Norfolk adventure with friends

Laughing until our tummies hurt

Blowing out the candles of my 28th birthday cake 













Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Weight Watchers - Week 4 - What I Ate Wednesday

I only lost a pound this week at Weight Watchers, taking my total loss in 4 weeks to 12 pounds. I have been really good and kept to my points so I'm not entirely sure why I only lost a pound, but it's better than putting it on I suppose. A huge positive this week was that I bought a size 12 skirt, wahoo! I'd really like to fit comfortably in to size 12 jeans so fingers crossed that's not too far away. I also went for a 2 mile run at the weekend and I felt really good afterwards; I'll definitely be trying to keep that up once or twice a week. Unfortunately for my diet I have such a busy foodie week coming up with it being my birthday next Wednesday. I have lunch out before going to the theatre with my mum on Saturday, Sunday lunch out with friends on to celebrate my birthday and then a special birthday breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner at the spa on Wednesday!! I think I'll be lucky to be the same weight this time next week.

On to What I Ate Wednesday. Here's my run down of the day.

Breakfast 

40g alphabites cereal with Koko milk (5 points). We bought this cereal for Henry because it's really healthy and full of calcium, but I really love it too and you can actually have quite a lot for the amount of points that it is.

Snack

I had a raspberry fruit yoyo (1 point) at work for my snack. The kids at school all eat these and I absolutely love them too. They're just made from pure fruit and really low in points too.


Lunch 

I had half a carton of this skinny tomato and lentil soup with a toasted bagel thin (6 points) before having a lovely long nap with Henry.


Dinner 

After Weight Watchers I had made sausage casserole (12 points) which was full of different veggies, 5 types of beans and chicken sausages. I used the Heck chicken sausages for the first time and they were amazing! You can have 4 sausages for 3 points which is brilliant compared to the points in normal sausages. I had it with a small serving of brown rice. Henry had the same as it's one of his favourite dinners.  

Snack 

I had a bowl of fruit and an Alpro yogurt (3 points) once Henry was in bed. I didn't take a photo though, I was far too excited about my night time treat to stop and photograph it. 



Sunday, 10 May 2015

Salmon and sweet potato fishcakes - recipe

I still absolutely love cooking for Henry, and luckily he still likes to eat everything we put in front of him. Yesterday I made some fish cakes which he loved so thought I'd share the recipe here. I just made it up with the ingredients that I had in the fridge so you could substitute them with anything you might have that needs using up.

Makes 8 small fish cakes

1 medium potato
1 medium sweet potato
2 tablespoons of sweetcorn
1 teaspoon of chopped parsley
1 medium salmon fillet
A handful of kale, chopped finely 

• Bake the potatoes in the oven along with the salmon.

• When the potatoes and cooked though, leave them to cool and then remove the skins.

• Mash the remaining potato with a fork and add the other ingredients to it.

• Once the fish is cooked, flake it with your fingers and add to the potato mixture. 

• Roll into small balls and flatten slightly. At this point you can freeze the fishcakes if necessary.

• Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and cook the fishcakes until golden brown before serving.



Henry ate all of his fish cakes like a little star; he is really loving his food at the moment. After every mouthful he says 'mmmmm' with a huge smile on his face. He really makes us laugh with some of the faces that he pulls whilst eating.




Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Weight Watchers week 3

Well week three was a success after a shaky weekend where I 'accidentally' ate a fry up (long story)!! 

This week I lost another 3lb taking my total loss to 11lb.

I meant to do a What I ate Wednesday post today but have been so hungry at mealtimes that I just scoff my food without a second thought of taking a photo!! I will try and do a foodie post at some point in the next few days. In the meantime here is my favourite WW friendly breakfast: soya yogurt, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and crushed up shredded wheat. Only 4 propoints and so delicious.