Starting today... 2st to lose.

[owlets]

Whilst shopping with my super slim friend over the weekend I realised just how fat I feel - and getting on the scales provided proof. I've put on 2 stone - 1 stone of which has come on very recently ( think a month or two?!).
Other than looking lumpy and increasingly featureless, my legs are achy and I don't feel like I've woken up properly ever.
So, I'm going to start on the diet today. The plan is to eat lots of veg and fruits, lean meats, and limited carbs. I'm going to have 3 decent sized meals a day, and not snack unless I'm truely hungry.

I'm going to weigh myself and post on here every Tuesday. Anyone who wants to join in please do!

Starting weight; 11st 13.
(Target weight 10st so 1st 13lbs to lose)

Lol, we've had another one as well. It's definitely blasting.

But a bit freaky, nevertheless...

(have spent many years listening to distant rumbles of tanks and guns and artillery shells lol)

And again. Might have to scan all the local web pages and see if there's been a slip overnight that has caused all the excitement...

Apparently a highway on the other side of the valley is closed today due to avalanche hazard, so I'm guessing they are blasting to reopen it.

Madwoman noooooooo! Never accept a lift from a stranger - especially if he's small and green!

Well that's madwoman gone again!

I was naughty last night and had a Chinese take away and some red wine. In my defence though it had been a very stressful day with ds2 and I haven't had one for aaaages. Meant to be busy making place cards for my sister's wedding (which is next weekend!), I made the invitations so these need to match, so this is just a quick howdy. I'm expecting to have put on weight thanks to last night and Saturday so not looking forward to tomorrow's weigh-in.

Sorry about your ds moose , poor love. Sounds very painful, did you manage to get him checked out?

.

Oo, they brought you back Madwoman - did you get to see the stars?

Lamb, sorry you had a bad day with ds yesterday. I can totally relate to the need for some comforting sustenance after a day like that.

I was craving chocolate last night and ended up with a raging headache that meant I ended up with cocodamol and an early night. It came on quite suddenly and was a really odd pain, not sure what all that was about, but at least the cocodamol helped me get to sleep.

Ds2's foot was much better after being iced and then kept raised from 3.30 to 6.30. He's currently playing light sabers with dd with kitchen roll inners, so I figure it must be feeling a whole lot better today. We have an appointment first thing tomorrow to discuss the whole dodgy joints issue and luckily its one of the senior partners, who's a decent GP.

I have been to toddlers with dd this afternoon only to discover they had a creepy crawly hands on session, involving giant snails and cockroaches, tarantulas and snakes and for some unknown reason - a hermit crab . They also had some gorgeous little chicks that have just been hatched, so I forgave them for springing the bugs on me.

Dd had everyone in stitches when they were doing the hands-on bit with the insects. First the lady asked what insects live in shells and she shouted out 'bears' (obviously channelling your dd madwoman ) then when asked what insects had six legs she shouted out 'DRAGONS!' really excitedly! She agreed to hold the giant snail, but made it plain that she was completely disgusted by the slime and finally informed the whole room loudly that one of the chicks had 'poo stuck to its bottom'. Never a dull moment with dd around.

Just been sitting in the playground waiting for ds2 and ds1's maths teacher (who is also a playground Mum two days a week) came to sit with us. She is so lovely and so genuinely pleased with how well ds1 has been doing in maths this week. We have been so lucky with this year's teachers - such a shame we can't keep them.

I'm exactly the same weight as last week! Still 10st (I'm down by 2 ounces but I can't count that as a loss can I? Can I?!)

Your dd sounds hilarious moose , does she want to be like David Attenborough when she grows up?
Good teachers! Don't you sometimes just want to hug them and tell them you love them a little bit? Or is that just me? Ds2's teacher is pure gold and I'm terrified that one day he'll push it too far and she'll snap. She wasn't as smiley as usual when I went to pick him up and I got the impression that they'd had 'a bit of a morning'. I do feel worried for him, he is so rude and has no idea how it makes those around him feel. Even the children in his class looked drained .

How was the first aid course madwoman? Is this part of a job or for yourself? I did one as part of my nurse training about a million years ago so could probably do with a refresher. Dh did it recently, not sure I'd trust him mind!

Morning all.

Been to GP about ds2 this morning and came back . Blooming doctor was so rude and dismissive, didn't bother to do a proper examination and made me feel like I was fussing about nothing. . Still, he has referred him on, although I was so wrongfooted by his attitude I forgot to ask who to.

Oh yes, I seriously do want to hug ds1's teachers regularly these days. His poor class teacher looked more than a tad frazzled and had this > < expression when I went to pick him up on his worst day this week. I don't think she'd experienced him at full throttle before and it was obviously a big shock to to the system. She's still chipping away at him though, encouraging and praising and trying to keep him positive, bless her.

Am getting a bit twitchy about his statement now. I know the deadline isn't until the 26th and LAs always run things to the wire, but all the reports were in over a fortnight ago. Dreading getting a note in lieu - there seem to be a lot of them popping up over on MNSNs at the moment. I reeeeaaaally don't want to have to go to tribunal. Dread to think how the stress will affect my health and don't have a clue on costs etc.

In other news, from what I can gather the boy who attacked ds1 has apparently been excluded, again. There was a big incident earlier this week and he hasn't been seen since. I feel very for his parents, it must be really hard on them. Knowing how long it took to get the school to understand just how much support ds1 needs and then even longer to get it actually put into action, its probably a work in progress with him, as obviously if he was being properly supported these 'incidents' wouldn't keep happening.

Anyhoo, weigh in:

Friday 2 March 2012: 10 stone 13lbs (153lbs)
Friday 9 March 2012: 10 stone 11lbs (151lbs)

Of course we have to remember that it has been TOTM which kind of gave me an advantage for this week's weigh-in, but all the same, I'm very happy with that.

Target for Friday 16 March 2012: I hesitate to put a target in for next week, because my weightloss seems very slow and jumpy these days, but I suppose I can hope for the best and put 10 stone 10 lbs (150lbs)?

Its been hard work this week, haven't felt a bit like exercising, but have made myself do it anyway and it was worth it in the end.

Right, I'd better shift my bum. I have a lasagne to cook, as the dcs won't eat my Mum's cooking and also need to sort mine and dh's stuff, as well as get the dc's belongings ready.

Pah! All I feel like doing is drinking coffee (decaff of course) and MNetting.

Just had to come on and see if Lamb had survived the whole of BFBM, but there's noone here. I did circuits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 this morning. I don't enjoy doing circuit 6, so skipped that one. Hoping it will be enough to counter much boozing (although will be sticking to gin and slimline) and scoffing this evening. I fully intend to have a night off everything, kids, dogs, diet, exercise and eat and drink as much as I want to without worrying.

I had a bit of an NSV this morning, (Non-Scale Victory - as they say on MFP). Got the skirt out that I bought off the ASOS sale at Christmas, put it on and it won't stay up! Its a 14, so I suppose now I have to really start believing I might be a 12. Also put on a size 12 top I've not worn before from La Redoute (optomistically bought it in sale, thinking I could always use it as a base layer if it was too tight). Its label that usually comes up really small as well - and it fits nicely across my chest and hips but is all baggy and flappy in the middle! A size 12 is baggy on me! Now if it was a Next of M&S 12 I would understand it being loose, what with vanity sizing etc - but this particular label always comes up small.

So that was a nice boost for my confidence before tonight.

Ds1 is working hard at being traumatised by the whole thing, but we've made it as easy as we can on him and just have to hope he's ok I suppose.

Oh and dd is cooking something, possibly at UTI - great timing. Still, my mum has raised three daughters and all three of my dcs adore her, so I have to trust she will cope and deal with anything that crops up.

Have a great time!!!!

Get you and your skinny girl clothes

Your mum will be fine, they will all be fine, and you will have a fabulous break. Make the most of it!! There's nothing that can't be fixed tomorrow x

Go get 'em, Aeryn x

Thanks!

Well we all survived. Ds1 sobbed all the way there - then again when we arrived, but I gave him a rescue remedy pastille and told him it would help him feel better and that seemed to perk him up a bit. He wasn't happy, but coped ok when we left.

Drove down, arrived at the hotel, which we knew in advance was going to be very shabby - and it was, but ok as somewhere to lay your head after a few glasses of the fun stuff. Got into our outfits and went to book a taxi, only to find there are none to be had in that town - the lady at the hotel looked at us like were completely mad for asking. There are quite a few listed, but none answer their phones and the one we did manage to get hold of told us there would be over an hour's wait. By this time we were already late for the party, so there was nothing for it but to walk.

What seems like a short hop in the car, turned out to be a 40 minute walk - through town - on a Saturday night - with dh dressed like a shiny silver astronaut! He had his coat on over the top, but his silver legs drew quite a few double takes - not to mention toots from various passing vehicles, including a Tesco delivery van! Fortunately he seemed to detract attention from my rather rock-chick-esque outfit and I was really grateful that I'd managed to buy a long faux-leather coat from ebay the week before, as I looked fairly normal ..... ish.

Party was good, but only two people knew who my character was. I was foolish enough to let a friend pour my last three drinks and suddenly started to feel verrry tired. Eventually falling asleep on dh's lap during a party game, then sloping of and curling up on the front doormat before the host graciously offered me his dd's bed to sleep on. Slept for about an hour, then got up and rejoined the party, only to discover that the three quarters full bottle of Tanqueray I took with me, was empty and my 'friend' had been pouring me massive measures thus explaining my sudden desperate need for a nap. We set off to walk back to the hotel at 3.10 am and arrived back at just before 4.00 am - but had to be up for breakfast no later than 8.30!

BUT - I was fine, woke up at 8.00 and had no hang-over whatsoever! Went to pick up our best mate from the party house at 10.30 and they were all gobsmacked and a tad disgruntled that I was so perky!

Even better, Mum had made us a lovely roast dinner when we went to pick up the dcs and that was just what the doctor ordered.

All 3 dcs were fine and well behaved and ds1 coped well, despite being stressed. Unfortunately, he's now off on his 'I only have a year left at this school' worry, so we've just had tears about that.

Starting to feel it now, going to have a nice long bath and an early night.

Oh yes, almost forgot. The boy that attacked ds1 has actually been expelled, which makes ours the third school this has happened at. Turns out the last incident was serious and involved him attacking ds's teacher, among other things. Apparently he is going to a residential school down south.

Back from going AWOL for the weekend, sorry I missed wishing you and your combats good luck for your night out moose. Sounds like you had a good night! Many's the time I wish I had gone to sleep at a party rather than soldiering on and having to be reminded of things said and done. Doormat hey?

I still haven't done anymore BFBM since that once last week. Stuff keeps happening and I just haven't had the time or the being arsedness, but I will, I will, I will, I promise!

One of the things was telling ds2 he has PDA. The start of a long and ongoing process. Have either of you had 'the talk'? Went quite well I think. The best bit was shopping him some drawings some older kids with PDA had done to describe how it felt when they got angry or felt anxious. He completely related to them and has been doing loads of drawing of his own here and at school. On the downside has been more poo. Oh well. Dh is away with work until Wednesday which may make it easier in some ways.

showing him not shopping him!

Ahem - twas gin I'll have you know - its dh that guzzles tequila. Interesting fact - if you pour tequila on a camp fire, you get a beautiful display of rainbow of sparkles. This goes down very well at music festivals.

Did your ds get a dx of PDA then Lamb or are you preparing him for the assessment?

I ended up having 'the talk' with ds1 after a relative let the cat out of the bag. We had decided he wasn't emotionally mature enough to deal with it and at the time may use information about ASD to opt out and the EP and Assessment Centre agreed, so we were going to wait a year and just talk more generally about differences, strengths and weaknesses etc. It was all good in the end though. I think like a lot of children he was actually relieved to find out why he's always struggled and felt different.

Fantastic that he's doing drawings of how he's feeling. We did that with ds1 when he wasn't communicating with us, had shut down and was school refusing. It really helped at the time and has since been seen and used by several 'professionals' and we even included some of the drawings in the annexe of his SA request. (All the school related ones were very black with lots of sad and scary faces. Home was yellow - his favourite colour, with lots of smiley faces and kisses. )

I will forgive you for not getting stuck into BFBM, you have more than enough going on in your life at the moment.

Wasn't going to weigh myself until Friday, as I was pretty sure I was going to be a good few pounds up after the weeked. Then I couldn't bear the not knowing, so weighed in this morning only to be pleasantly surprised that I am actually only a pound up at 10 stone 12!

Mind you, I look about 100 years old and am completely exhausted today - only to be expected really. Managed three hours of housework this morning before I gave up, crashed and spent the rest of the day mooching about with dd in the living room - and no workout for me today.

lol at finding aeryn sun asleep on the doormat at a party!!

sometimes you just need to let off some steam. glad you had a good time, and hope you recover quickly!!

first aid was for brownies btw, just ticking boxes.

ds1 has his first 1-1 psych appointment this afternoon. goodness only knows how it will go, but she seemed switched on, so I will have to grit my teeth and keep my fingers crossed. he's not had a great weekend. i spent most of saturday evening washing pants, he failed to make any headway on his science fair project, and we had a huge argument this morning because he was whining about his hockey helmet not fitting (he was asked to get it out yesterday so that dh could adjust it ready to take to school today. he didn't.)

and i've got a cold and feel pants.

I was just resting me eyes you understand.

Good luck for this afternoon. Really hope this psych is as switched on as she seemed and can help your ds.

Sorry you/he had a bad weekend and you have a cold. Hope you can get some time to rest and nurse the odd lemsip.

I spoke to ds1's teacher after school about the flipping Tudor costume he has to wear on his school trip. One or two mums have said they've ordered one, but having forked out for the book day costumes, I am a bit at having to spend another twenty odd quid on yet another outfit he'll only wear once. Anyway, she said last year no-one bought outfits and that they are telling people to put rugby/football type knee socks over trousers to make them look like breeches and then put on a big blouson blouse, belt and waistcoat. Which would be great if we owned football socks, a waistcoat and a big blouson style shirt - but we don't.

Not sure what to do now and I need to order it tonight if its going to get here in time, I've already left it too late really with all my umming and ahhing and then waiting to ask his teacher what to do for best. Just wasted over an hour trying to buy a cheap second hand blouse and waistcoat off ebay, but can't find anything suitable that's going to work out cheaper than a pre-made Tudor costume by the time I add it all up. Have half a mind to make dh look when he comes home, just so he knows what a total pita all this stuff can be.

Ds2 filled in his tally/log sheet for the first time today (to record how many times he falls because of his knees/ankles). He fell three times at break and then had a big fall at lunch because his knee went backwards and that was just in the first day!

Oops sorry about the gin/tequila confusion! Good job with your weight

As for the dx - no. And I was unsure about talking to him about it for this very reason, but he has been talking about his mid-brain for so long and he can get so upset; threatening to throw himself in the fire etc, and he has so many appointments and observations. I talked to my mum and to dh about it and tbh there is so much going on with him and he can be so bloody rude and violent that I find it hard to cope with him sometimes. We could wait for weeks/months for a dx or we could give him control over and responsibility for his own life. PDA ticks every box and quite frankly I'm fed up with the whole torturous process. We've known something wasn't right almost since he was born but it has taken this long to be even listened to. I know I'm gambling here but as far as ds2 is concerned it describes him and the strategies help him so any term would just be a bunch of words. The weekend was a crisis point where something needed to be said. This way he knows that some of his behaviour is just not acceptable and why he does it, and that he is not the only one who does it. Plus I was feeling uncomfortable that he was being talked about by teachers, Drs, EP, SALT in those terms and in front of him. Very confusing for him. Do you think I've done the wrong thing

Sympathise with the pants washing madwoman, same here

No I don't, I think you've done absolutely the right thing. I think we were over-cautious with ds1 and didn't give him enough credit when we decided not to tell him. In retrospect, I think we should have been more open with him sooner.

It definitely helps him to know that although some of his behaviour is unacceptable, we know that its not his fault and that there is a reason for it.

He recently read a few books about ASD one written by a child who has it and one by the brother of a child who has it, as well as one about famous people who are reputed to have or have had it. I think it's really helped him to feel that he's not alone in his struggles. It must be horrible for them feeling like there isn't another soul in the world who understands them. Lord knows I've felt that way enough times in my life to never want my child to go through it.

I've been really worried.

Yes, that's how I feel. He feels so different and isolated at the moment. One thing we do know is that he is not NT. CASBAT believe he has PDA but they're not specialist in that area. Specialist assessment coming up in a few weeks. fingers crossed.

It's good that there are quite a few books for your ds to read I wish there were more! I spent most of my young life feeling similarly alone. Ds was pleased to learn that there's a girl at his school in Y4 with PDA too. Yet to find any celebs or millionaire types with it though!

be careful what you wish for!

i think keeping discussions open with him is really important. ds1 was actually fine about the whole adhd thing (although, we have also discussed aspie stuff too - not to dx, but to explain that some of his differences are also shared by children on the spectrum.) but it's so hideous. i'm not sure i'm entirely convinced, even now. really we just all want a definitive and something positive to do about it. the endless toing and froing of possibilities and what-if, maybes are exhausting. so i do feel your pain.

the paed helpfully suggested jim carrey as a role model to ds1.

because, really, if i lived with jim carrey i wouldn't have murdered him long before dumb and dumber, honest. which kind of helps explain to me why ds1 drives me completely bats, but doesn't do a lot for mother/ son relations.

i mean, jim carrey.

with soiling, anxiety and phobias thrown in for good measure.

I'll join you in that corner madwoman!

I remember watching Batman Returns and it slowly dawning on dh and me that ds2 was terrifyingly like the Joker! We still whisper about it now.

Jim Carrey though? That is quite bad.

Actually just had a sort of relaxing evening with ds. We've gone to bed at the same time which has helped I think, but he wanted to see what I was doing when I was replying to moose. I explained to him that I'd told you about him and that you understood because your dses (?) are similar to him, that it's like being cousins. He liked that.