Going to Nursery School

We got the letter.

I cried buckets, for this is the end of an era. It signals the start of my girls journey in growing up. I think she is ready, I think I am not ready.

She currently attends preschool every day for three hours but from September she will attend the school nursery and wear a uniform. Growing up.

I've already started amassing the uniform she needs to wear and casually mentioning it to her and how much fun she'll have.

We visited together for an hour and she played and talked to her teacher, she liked it.

It's a wonderful thing and I hope she enjoys the process of learning as much as I do.

But I can't get my head around the fact that next year she will go to school for full days. She will be in the care of someone else for a full day and I won't know what she is doing. Parents with older children will read this and probably laugh at my naivety and once she is at big school I'll sigh with relief. But at the moment it feels like she is going to grow up too fast and I can't go with her always.

She is just realising that she won't be going back to preschool in September but instead going to big School, she cried that she'll miss her best friends and it makes my heart hurt for her because I can remember what it felt like going to school (albeit a year later than she is and to actual school and not just three hours a day) and it's scary stuff. I'm hoping she will have a lot of fun and it'll get her ready for the following year when she has to go.

We missed saying goodbye the her preschool as she got the sickness bug that had been going around the week before (we missed the last two days) so I feel there is no closure for us. Perhaps the ten or so weeks she is off (yep that's right, 10 whole weeks! She starts in October) will help us both forget about the wonderful place she has just left.

It's all beginning, my girls growing up.

My Journey - Weight loss

This photo is simultaneously one of my favourite and least favourite pictures, I found it hard to put on the blog and so big too! I love it because it shows me and my wonderful babies (one of whom was brand new) but I was shocked at how large I was. I know, I know, I'd only given birth two weeks before but still I didn't realise I was as big as I am. I'm not huge in the grand scheme of things but for me I am bigger than I want and need to be. The shock came from the realisation that I was a lot larger than I thought I was and as the days turned into months (currently on month three) I was putting on more weight.

I was tired so would reach for a slice of cake and coffee (because I deserved it and needed the sugar high), dinner would be the same size portion as hubby and I'd help the toddler finish her dinners too because she was being picky didn't mean I should waste food. I was also cooking her a bit extra 'in case she wanted more food' but the reality was that I would help eat this extra food.

My turning point came when I was walking through our local Sainsbury's and saw an advert for Slimming World and the next week I joined. It was so daunting walking through that door and on the short walk to my class I phoned my mum for morale support. My aim is to loose at least a stone and a half but more than that, I want my to be able to comfortably wear my engagement ring again. I had to take it off at about week 20 of pregnancy due to swelling and then I added weight on top and my skinny hands were no more.

I'm finding the plan so easy to follow and the range of food I can eat, means I struggle to see how I can loose weight whilst eating what I do. But I am. It's difficult when sleep is meagre and all I want to do is sabotage myself and eat lots of unhealthy food. By staying focused and being prepared makes it easier, I can still have chocolate and sweets if I want and have to count them as syns (I'm allowed about 15 syns). Most fruit and veg, meat and beans are free to eat in whatever quantity I want.

It's sometimes hard when you don't want to think about food and just reach for something rather than planning. That's the only downside, you need to think about what you are eating and how it fits with your day. But I guess that's the point! Slim people eat consciously and in moderation and that's what I'm hoping I get to.

So far I've lost almost a stone and I'm enjoying the range of food I now eat. I've always eaten lots of fruit and veg but now overall I'm making healthier choices and not snacking on doorstop size pieces of fresh bread or slices of cake. There is nothing I crave or feel I'm missing out on (yet).

Not the most flattering photo (again) but the weight is moving and all I really need to do now is up my exercise and tone up the flabby bits as well. As you can see, my boy is also growing and although I often get down because it isn't happening fast enough (I like instant gratification...hence the cake addiction) and I still look pregnant, my boy was worth every single pound gained.

It's still a way to go but if anyone is struggling with weight, I would recommend Slimming World. If you tried it in the past (like I had) and know about red and green days you'll be surprised as they've added the Extra Easy plan and it really is easy.

This isn't a sponsored post, I just really believe in Slimming World.