Vacation

Slimming World Update – Week 55

08/08/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hey.

Hows your week been? Mine’s been fab. Busy in the best kind of way, seeing some wonderful friends and getting loads done. My favourite kind of week. I went out on Saturday with my buddy Jo and without Oscar. It was so nice to just talk, without having to have one eye elsewhere in the room and to finish a sentence in the first attempt! We went to the Thai Terrace in Guildford. The weather wasn’t super sunny, but it was warm so we sat outside. The view was lovely. Having not been out for Thai in so long, I got a bit baffled by the menu and just went with whatever Jo had, meaning I got a delicious Pad Thai with Prawns and a four piece starter of things on sticks. Had I had my wits about me I know there were better things I could have chosen, but I decided it I’d just enjoy it and reduce my syns for the rest of the week. Which is what I did. I was straight back on plan after that meal, eating less than 15 syns every day. It was fine.

Which I why I was astounded and completely baffled (seriously I can’t explain how baffled I was and to some extent still am) when I got on the scales last night and saw I had gained 3.5lb!!

I wont lie to you, I had a bit of a cry on the way home. You can be as circumspect and objective as you like in group, but I felt so, well, cheated is probably the best way to describe it. I hand on heart did nothing different last week (bar one meal) than I did the week before (when I lost 6.5lb!). I know it averages a loss of 3lb over two weeks, but that wasn’t much comfort last night when I so desperately wanted to get my next award. Ah well. So now I have lost 6 Stone 1lb (89lb).

Normally I’d just say, OK on wards and downwards 😉 , but this coming week is a bit different. We’re going on our first holiday in three years on Tuesday. It’s only a mini break (I wrote about it here if you’re interested), but it is totally catered. I can go with a sensible head on, but I know I am not going to be able to stay completely on plan. I could stress about this, but do you know what? I’ve worked bloody hard for the last three years, both carrying and looking after my son full time. I deserve a couple of days relaxation. I’m not going to go mad (my tastes have changed too much to that to be honest) but I’m not going to let my time be ruined by feeling anxious about what I eat. I will however be straight back to it when I return though, that I can promise.

I’m have also decided to take my first ever Slimming World holiday since I started, meaning I shan’t be weighing in this coming week. It feels a bit weird actually. I’ve not missed a single weigh in since I started over a year ago. We’ll see how it goes.

So as I am going on holiday, and due to the lack of weigh in, there will be no update next week. In fact I plan to take a complete break from blogging next week. Again that’s something I’ve not done in over a year. I do hope you understand. Although I say I’m not going to blog, I may not be able to help myself 😉 Lets see how it goes eh?!

Ending on a positive note I just wanted to tell you about my latest purchase. I have been in that Joules again! tut tut Lisa! But seriously this was the only top I found all day that just looked and felt right, what can I say? Pssst (she whispers) Oh yeah and it’s a size 16 and I bloody adore it hehehe.

'Rose' Top Joules Size 16 — ‘Rose’ Top Joules Size 16

Have an awesome couple of weeks guys.

See you soon!

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Crank up the Cliff, we’re going on a holiday….

07/07/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

We haven’t been on holiday since before I fell pregnant with the boy – it’s been a frigging long time and it’s starting to get me down. Having family in Devon is great as we can go and visit them and it feels like “going away” but deep down I think we all know it’s not really the same thing. A holiday comes with no obligations and a trip to the city where all your family and friends live does not. I’m not complaining, it’s just the way it is.

So anyway yeah, Oscar has never had a proper holiday. This is mainly down to lack of funds if truth be told. But it also has something to do with not really knowing how to holiday as a family/with children. Before Oscar, we were massive fans of the Greek Islands having visited five different ones over the past 10 years. When he was a baby, and buoyed by a complete naivety of the situation, I was adamant I wanted to take him there, right now! Maybe it would have worked when he was a dot of a thing, but the more I get to know him and the more I wise up to what he’s all about, the more I know a proper beach holiday is going to have to wait. Not really for any other reason than he’s a runner. He would NEVER sit on a beach and build sandcastles, at least not yet. At all times one or the other of us would be having to run after him. I’m sure he’d think it was a great lark, but he’d put up with constantly being dragged back, about as long as I would put up with running after him. We’d come back more knackered than when we went away!

This being the case I think Ben would be just as happy to not take a holiday, or at a push take a ‘staycation’, a holiday at home. Only that’s all I do. I’m here all the time. It would be like me suggesting we spend a week in Ben’s office in Camberley, taking day trips out to the Co-Op or to look at Sandhurst barracks down the road. He sees these things every day – it wouldn’t be a holiday for him. And as I spend my whole life in my house or around the local area, staying here wouldn’t be a holiday for me either. If they say a change is as good as a rest, then that wouldn’t be it.

So I got to thinking, maybe the answer would be to consider the unconsiderable (at least it was two years ago) – holidaying in the UK. My childless self would have just gasped and slapped me. What is the point? It’s more expensive and the weathers shit, right? OK, so yes it can prove just as expensive as flying to another country (which is bonkers if you ask me) and the weather can be wholly unpredictable. But look at last summer. And this summer’s not shaping up to be half as bad either. It can work. And kids don’t care where they go do they? I didn’t.

I spent the first 12 years of my life in the West Midlands. In that time a holiday to us was a week in the UK, usually somewhere like Bournemouth, Devon or Cornwall. And I loved it. I still remember the thrill of staying somewhere new. And the butterflies I’d get when the sea would come into view, competing with my brother to be the first to shout “I can see the sea!”. We spent hours playing on various UK beaches, my favourite at the time being Boscombe Beach. I remember it’s ramp down to the sand, the concrete hot under your bare feet, the pier we never went down, but occasionally sheltered under if the weather suddenly changed and the excitement of queuing for an ice cream or gathering to watching a (frankly macabre) Punch and Judy show.

The last time I worse a bikini! My brother and me on Boscombe Beach circa 1985 — The last time I wore a bikini! My brother and me on Boscombe Beach circa 1985

I’ve no idea how my parents felt about the whole experience but I loved it and it gave me precious memories to carry with me for life. But I was older. And I was a very different child to the boy. What can we do, that Oscar will enjoy, will work for who he is, but that wont leave us with black rings under our eyes cursing the money we’ve spent? You might think we’re over analysing the whole thing and there might be parents reading this who are screaming hey just do it – go with the flow, enjoy it. But I know my guys (the big one and the little one) and if it’s not going to work for both of them, in some way, then what on earth is the point?

Last week we were introduced to the idea of a UK hotel break, but one that is super child focussed. Our friend Michelle and her hubby and two toddler girls went to Moonfleet Manor in Weymouth, part of the Luxury Family Hotels chain. She came back saying she hadn’t relaxed so much since the girls were born, thanks to the absolute focus the hotel places on enjoyment for all the family. I had to check it out and they really do seem to understand toddlers, and more to the point the parents of toddlers, completely. Part of the deal is a creche, run for four hours a day to allow everyone in the family to spend some time doing what they enjoy most. It really didn’t take me long to sell it to Ben. We’re going for a mini break in August and Oscar’s already booked into the creche for two hours each day. I hope to use the spa, absolutely I do, but I think I’m just looking forward to sitting. In peace, without feeling like I should be doing something. And with the baby listening service provided as part of the deal it’ll be nice for Ben and I to spend some quality time together. You know, just being grown ups.

Maybe one day we’ll be able to do two weeks in the Med, enjoying the beach and the local food and all that jazz. For now, I’ll take a hotel in Dorset that is going to help me care for my son and give me the break I’ve been craving, every time.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

School holidays suck

14/08/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

When I was a child the school holidays, particularly the six week summer holidays, were my favourite times in the whole world. I remember playing with friends, riding my bike, making perfume out of rose petals and water (really gross!) and attending week long play schemes. And there in lies the clue. I’m remembering the holidays of an older child. I don’t remember those from when I was a littley and no one told me just how disruptive and stressful these could be!

During term time, Oscar and I have a kind of a schedule, much as those children who go to school.

Mondays, we decide on the day
Tuesdays is Noah’s Ark Toddler group followed by coffee with a friend
Wednesday is library or sometimes a trip into Godalming
Thursdays is Hammer Toddler Group followed sometimes by lunch with a friend
Fridays is my NCT group meet up
Saturday is swimming lessons

Its pretty samey, but I need this routine as much as the boy does. I like to know we have something planned for most days. It motivates me to get out of the house. Its important for both of our sanity’s.

However, in the holidays, and particularly in the summer holidays everything stops. All the toddler groups grind to a halt and the library’s activities for pre schoolers cease. I looked into it and most other local pre-school classes/courses (such as baby gym, music, sensory, play etc) also stop. Their hiatus leaves me with no more routine and a baby I can’t explain this to.

Don’t get me wrong, I know why this is. Some toddler groups are run in schools, which need to close their buildings in the summer. Some groups are run by women who have their own older children who need looking after. As an aside, neither of these apply to our groups.

I see many places running classes, courses, schemes and workshops over the summer and these are wonderful, if pricey. I remember going to some myself as a child. But not one of those I’ve seen does anything for under 5’s let alone under 2’s. It would appear that the assumption is that younger children/babies do not need entertaining in the holidays in the way older children do. I can’t think why this might be the case, or is that just my toddler?

OK, so this is the case and we the parents of little children just have to suck it up and get on with it. Right, so we find new places to takes them, different things to do. We find the money to cover the expense and we go. And wherever we go is heaving with older children, as quite rightly their parents have had the same idea. But this can makes these trips incredibly stressful. Anything physical, such as a park you would happily let your toddler roam around, suddenly becomes dangerous with long legs and big bodies fly around with gleeful abandon. As it should be of course. But I’d like to see you explain to a firebrand of a 16 month old that actually he can’t go in that park or as happened in the playpark in RHS Gardens Wisley on Monday that he had to go back in the buggy and be taken away for fear he’d be brained! He was livid with me but what could I do?

Whenever I bring this up my husband tells me to “be the miracle”, In other words, “do something about it”. Or “if your’re not going to do anything about it then shut up”! So I try to not bitch about it and find other things to do. I’d find it hard to do anything about it at the moment, as I have Oscar to look after. Maybe I’ll wait til he’s older. Oh wait then he’ll be off school and I’ll have to look after him. Oh hang on……… 😉

Believe me I do understand the situation. The only people affected by this are parents of young children, who either have little ones to look after or who work. And those who work often have their little ones in day care and probably don’t notice as much, as day care runs all year. Why wouldn’t it? You pay enough for the privilege. Maybe I need to think more seriously about going back to work. That’d shut me up!

Maybe it’s just where I live. My friend in the US says this simply doesn’t happen where she lives. What’s it like in your neck of the woods? How did/do you cope with toddlers in the summer hols? I’d be interested to hear.