Abstaining from Facebook!

Filming in London went really well. It was a full on day, but I enjoyed every second of it. The experience was fab and I would love to do more stuff like this in the future. The production company e-mailed me this week to say that they were on with the editing  and it was looking great, cant wait to see the final cut!!!  A few days later, I did some After Dinner Speaking for a lovely group of ladies. I remember when I first started doing these, I used to get so nervous and stressed out, now I try to just enjoy myself and consentrate on the fact that I'm doing it all for the charity ' Ronald McDonald House', that's the bonus that keeps me going. It's very rewarding to give a little back to help such a fantastic charity which has helped us on many occasions through our little boys treatment at Alder Hey.
Last Saturday, me & my lovely hubby took part in the Blackpool 10k. Well ,we thought it's 7 weeks till the London Marathon - this little one should ease us both in and give us some experience of organised running as we've only ever done the Great North Run previously. It taught me some lessons indeed, like not setting off too fast and getting drawn into keeping up with other runners, like I did on Saturday.  It wasn't anything to do with the distance we did because we run between 4/10 miles every time we go out. It didn't help that you ran twice around the same route, which is always quite a boring thing to do on any run. On a more positive note, I was also blown away with the support from my 2 girls. At every turn throughout the route they where there cheering me on. I thought they would just be waiting at the start & finish, I was so proud and happy to see them, they really did make a difference just being there for me. It's just a pity they wont be there when we run in the London Marathon, I could really do with there support. My hubby was also amazing. He encouraged and stayed with me the whole way round, never giving up on me, even when other husbands were running off from their wives to make good times, my hubby never left my side and talked to me all the way around. Training didn't go so well last week. We did run everyday apart from our rest day on Friday, but I only fitted in 4 spinning classes unlike the usual 8 I normally do. Hubby has had a chest infection for 3 weeks which hasn't helped things either, but he is amazing the way it's not stopped him from running. Some nights he's not slept but he's still up and ready to jog on at 5.30am. Just goes to show you what you can really do when you set your mind to it, bless. Last weeks training suffered because I was very busy with appointments for the children and baking my cake orders, I seem to spend my life playing catch up. This week though, I'm on it like sonic, helped by the fact it's the first week of the year that I've had no appointments, yay!
Well in the last 2 days I've spent over £215 and I've not been anywhere! Well they do say - things come in 3's. I've just paid out for my dishwasher and hoover to be mended and now our car is in the garage, god knows what that's going to cost. It doesn't rain but it pours.
Sometimes in life you come up against the odd person who begrudges you and your family any happiness. It has happened to me, like it's happened to everyone else. Personally it doesn't bother me or get to me, I don't let it. There'll always be someone out there trying to drag you down through their own insecurities and jealously (cause that's what it is). In our personal circumstances it always makes me think these people are quite sick to begrudge any happiness to a family who go through so much, why would someone be like that??? I'm very pleased to say this only happens to me once in a while. Hooray to all the wonderful people who fill our lives with happiness. Just keep smiling, these people obviously aren't happy with their lives that they try to bring others down. Rant over lol :)
I was only thinking this because today I received 2 letters for our Millie, the first one was her National Insurance number, which means she's coming of age. I can remembered the day I got mine all those years ago, it made me smile. The second letter was a date for Millie's next operation. It will be her 8th and this one will hopefully make Millie speak a little clearer as her surgeon is going to be joining her throat muscles together were there is a gap. That one made me cry. Millie's been through so much with her cleft lip and palate and her cerebral palsy. This op is in the summer and once again we'll be staying at Alder Hey for a short while (hopefully) this time. Some people should spend a day at that amazing children's hospital, it might make them much nicer people, who knows???  
On a brighter note Sunday's going to be a big exiting day for my Millie as she's competing for the first time in a para discus event at Stanley Park in Blackpool. This will be her first comp since being categorised a couple of months ago. Millie's so exited. She's been training hard for this for over a year now, I'll be there to cheer her on and support her like she does for me. 'Go Team Forrest'.
Millie has also been accepted into both her chosen colleges this week, as long as she carries on and gets her target grades she can then choose which one to go to. It might seem nothing to anyone else, but it's massive step for our Millie. All we've ever wanted is for Millie is to be happy and to achieve as much as she can. We also just want her to be accepted and loved by everyone she meets. The biggest compliment anyone has ever given me was to credit me with raising 3 well mannered, grounded, polite and happy children.
Our family Friday nights in, have been fantastic the last couple of weeks thanks to new series of The Middle and Modern Family starting on Sky One from 7pm. If you've never watched either of these shows, you seriously need to check them out, they are hilarious family viewing and so ironic. You cant beat snuggling up with all the fam, fire roaring, hot chocolate in hand with lots of whippy cream & marshmallows, followed by some sweet treats, my kind of heaven.
Last Sunday whilst we all sat down to our tea we decided as a family we should play a little game for one whole week. Everyone should pick something for everyone else to give up. They picked giving up facebook for me, I did try to convince them to make me stop eating cake for the week, but they wouldn't have it :( Hunk of Hoo got smiling more and he's also not allowed to tell anyone off, including me lol. Millie has to eat more fruit & veg, that's quite an easy one I thought. Alex has to look after her doggie, Nell 100% of the time and ickle Christopher has not to go on his xbox all week, he's really struggling, bless. Well in my next blog I will report back on how we all got on, my monies on meeeeee lol, keep smiley xxxx

Food and an early night are called for!

Well I'm off to the 'BIG SMOKE' again tomorrow to be filmed cooking all day lol. Have been very, very busy 'prepping' for this day  for the last 2 weeks. You just wouldn't believe how much hard work I've been putting in on this project, in between baking brownie orders and training for the London Marathon - which is in 9 weeks!?!?
I even turned down the option of staying over in a posh hotel for the night because I would miss all my babies way too much. In saying that, with the things lined up for me this year, I might have to get used to being away every now and again.
Next Monday I'm doing another after-dinner speach at a social event locally. I don't mind this type of work, in fact, I really quite enjoy it lol. Well you know me, love talking and it's all about my favorite subjects ie - Winner, Cooking,Weight loss and how I ended up doing all this!!! And  it's more money for my charity fund!!
Then, a week on Saturday, my Hunk of Hoo informs me that he's entered us both in the Blackpool 10k. He says it's ' just a little one' to get us in the mood for the London Marathon, as if I need it lol.
Well, on my return, I will no doubt blog all about my trip out of the Ridge and what I got up to. I've got a feeling I might fall asleep on the late train back home. I probably should consider hanging a message around my neck for someone to chuck me off  when I hit Preston!

Go Team Forrest!

Just been hit with a brick of realisation - I can finally say i'm a good role model for my children to follow. It's taken me a long, long personal journey to come to that conclusion, mind! It's all about getting the balance right in life and the old me missed out on so much living and then in turn my family did too. All because I was 'morbidly obese' and extremely unhealthy/unhappy. I was also lacking in confidence because of it and that stopped me doing things with my family. Now, just because I changed what I ate and brought a little exercise into my life, I'm a very different person, not just on the outside, but on the inside too. I always think if you're good 80% of the time, you're allowed to be naughty the other 20%. I'm so proud of my children they are my biggest achievement in my life. If I died tomorrow, I'd died happy knowing I've produced 3 very well balanced, well mannered, polite, loving and caring members of society.
In saying all that my 20% naughtiness must of come last night. I did get very carried away eating lots of left over Christmas cheeses & savoury biscuits whilst watching - The Kings Speech, snuggled up with all the family. You've gotta love cheese & biscuits, they were the best bit about the film for me. Daughter No2 fell asleep as soon as the film started, Child No3 started complaining about being bored 20 minutes in, so started playing on his ipod instead. I must admit I'd only give the film 7/10. I have no idea what all the fuss was about when it was first released. It was a fun night though and supper made the film more bearable lol.
Today I'm going to dig some of my Ravioli recipes out as hunk of hoo and Millie want to make some for tea. It's only because Millie wants the recipes for Food Tech, I know her game. Well Mum's got to be good for something I suppose.

Justine Forrest: Great training week, feeling really good. Have str...

Justine Forrest: Great training week, feeling really good. Have str...: Great training week, feeling really good. Have streamlined our diets for the last month or so. Trying so hard not to eat any additives or pr...

Great training week, feeling really good. Have streamlined our diets for the last month or so. Trying so hard not to eat any additives or preservatives. Everything is made fresh from scratch and I'm only allowing myself  my banana cake for my sweet cravings. All our bread is home-made and I've even dusted off my pasta making machine. It's not that much different to what we're used to, as I always make bread and cook everything from scratch anyway. Always have done. It's surprising how much cheaper making everything from scratch is and I also get an extra kick out of the fact I'm providing my family with the best I can afford. I'm as busy as the next person, so having no time is no excuse. I think it helps that I'm an immensely organised person. Oh and that thingy called -Tesco food delivery service is also an ingenious invention hahaha, couldn't manage with out it!
What a fab weekend I've just had. Cooked and baked for two days solid and then on the second day a friend of mine, a professional photographer, came round to take a foody shoot of my creations. Charlotte did an amazing job, everything looked so darn delicious. It was so much fun and I will reveal the reasons 'why and what for' eventually!!! hehehe. Check out Charlotte's website :- http://www.holden-photographer.co.uk/Site/Welcome.html
Today is cake Thursday, but because i'm being really, really good I'm now re-naming it 'Healthy Snack' Thursday, well for the moment anyway. I will always 'NEED' cake in my life, some people like a drink, I have cake as my vice. I tell myself it could always be worse and that way I don't  beat myself up about eating a big slab or two lol. My moto in life is - 'you can have your cake & eat it', I'm living proof lol.
Oh and if you do fancy eating or giving cake this Valentines Day, why not check out my website for my award winning chocolate brownies :- http://www.browniesbyjustineforrest.com/ ♥
 

Freezing Febuary!

Keeping very busy at the moment, have so much in my head. Training's back on track, too. The thing with me is, I've noticed over the last 3 years, everytime I achieve something - I then want to better it straight away, I spend my life not giving myself enough credit for things I've done and beat myself up about everything!!  It's not such a bad thing, it certainly drives me on to want more for me & my family. It's like my running, I hate it most of the time, the only time I actually enjoy a run is when we're heading home, but it wont beat me, I will carry on until I'm getting some kind of pleasure out of it. If it wasn't for the charity that I'm doing it all for, then it might be a very different story!?!  I dont know if I'll keep running when the London Marathon & the Great North Run are done this year, but I have actually inquired  about places in the New York Marathon for next year, yes I'm mad, but anyone who knows me well enough will tell you how determined I am when I put my mind to it!!!  Went for a long run first thing Sunday morning with my hunk of hoo. It was such a beautiful morning, made even better by the fact it was my ickle mans 11th birthday, yay. He had a lovely birthday weekend and got very spoilt  'obviously' lol. Monday we went back to Alder Hey for his big M.O.T. Everything went really well and his consultant was very pleased with his progress and he dropped two of his drugs. Now he can go back to playing his beloved footy and also playing out at break times at school. He came back the other day saying he feels much better when he's playing and he doesn't get out of puff as much and even his friends have noticed too, bless!
January's always a very busy appointment time for all of us. On average we have 4 appointments a week between Christopher, Millie and myself. Millie was back at RPH on Thursday to see her cleft lip & palate team from Alder Hey. It went ok, Millie now needs more surgery at the back of her throat because there's a large gap in her muscles there and they think it will help with her speech if corrected. They also think because of Millie's Cerebral Palsy she may have a delay on her speech and signals coming from her brain. That was a shock for us all, but it does fit with things she's experienced academically. This will be Millie's 8th operation and I know it's going to be the hardest one for her because most of her previous surgery she cant remember because she was so little. They think Millie's op will be this summer at some point and it will all be done at Alder Hey!!!  She wont be able to eat any solids for 3 weeks post op, but Millie's been through all that before when she wasn't allowed solids for over 6 weeks.
Today, I've been for an M.R.I scan at Fulwood hospital. Over the last year I've been for a series of tests. Once upon a time I would never go near a hospital for myself or to any well womans clinic because of my size. I didn't want anyone ever knowing my weight as I was so ashamed about it. So now when they send for me to have any tests I automatically want them done to make sure I'm fit and well. Today was an experience, the tunnel thing I could cope with, it was the noise and I suppose it didn't help that I needed a wee very badly and I had to stay in this tunnel, very still for half an hour. While I was lying there, I was taken back to when it was my 26th birthday and Millie went into hospital to have a C.A.T scan on her brain. She was just 6 weeks old and we chose not to  have her sedated to keep her still. She, as she always is, was amazing and stayed still and never cried the whole time she was strapped down and inside the scan tunnel. I remember when the results came back a few weeks later, they stated that Millie had a shrinkage on one side of her brain and we should keep an eye on her to see if she was developing normally. Another moment in our lives when I felt my heart had been ripped out and blamed myself for Millie's problems. We were then told  to wait and see how Millie developed. Up until that point, apart from Millie having fits for the first few days of her life and having a cleft lip and palate, we thought there was nothing else wrong. Millie carried on showing no signs of brain damage, then at 6 months old our health visitor thought there was something wrong down the left side of Millie's body and sent her to The Willows in Preston to be assessed, that's when her Hemi-pleghia - cerebral palsy- was diagnosed. Thinking about that today made me feel so grateful, Millie could have so easily been confined to a wheelchair and mentally not with us. She's such a fighter.
Another thing that struck me was the size of the tunnel itself. There wasn't that much room around me, I certainly wouldn't have fitted in when I was 14 stone heavier, even if they had have squeezed me in there!! They play you a cd while your're lying there and the one they put on for me was the same cd I use to listen to when I first started walking around Longridge to lose weight, now that did make me chuckle, if it wasn't for the nurse telling me before I went into the tunnel to keep very still I would have been dancing away to the tunes and smiling!!!!!  x    

Last week of January!

Well what a week! Christopher sang & danced his heart out at the M.E.N on Tuesday night, how proud was I?? I cried my eyes out the whole 2 hours & 15 minutes, never been as proud, it was immense and so overwhelming. He did pay the price though and didn't go to school the next day because he was so tired and lifeless, so we spent the day snuggling and eating the left over crimbo chocolates as a treat!!!!. If you all hadn't noticed 'I love all my kids so much it hurts'. Millie and Alex also had a great week. Millie got her school report, which was glowing as ever and her parents evening was the same. All her teachers said she's a joy to teach and a fantastic member of society. She tries her hardest at everything she does, which we already knew because if there's one thing I try to instill in my children it's that anything is possible and you should give every opportunity a go and put 100% into it, which I think they all do. Sometimes, when I pick Millie up from school and watch her walking towards me, she totally blows my mind. She's had so many hurdles to get over in life and she's achieved so much, all this with her disabilities, she is truly inspirational and she certainly inspires me on a daily basis. Alex had a great week too, her training session on Sunday with the Lancashire Girls Golf Team went well and she also had a great write up about all her golf achievements over the last couple of years in the Longridge Golf Club news letter/e-mail. Alex is the quiet one of our family, but don't let that trick you into thinking she's soft, because that girl has got some serious courage and strength going on.
I've hit the wall with my training for the London Marathon this week and everything is overwhelming me. My running and gym work are going well but I'm just feeling the pressure of keeping focused. I'm so hungry all the time and I'm trying so hard to eat as healthy as I can because I do understand the importance of it when your training so hard. Hoping next week will be a turning point after we get this birthday weekend over with. I always struggle at this time every year since Christopher was born, mainly because we went through so much for the first nine weeks of his life as he hung in there. It's harder for me this year because of  what he went through last summer. Things could have turned out so differently for us all and that frightens the life out of me. It's just something I have to find a way of dealing with and get myself out of this- end of January rut- I'm in, I'm so tearful all the time.
Sunday will be Christopher's 11th birthday and that in itself is an amazing achievement with everything he's been through in his short life. So we make every birthday a special one. Going through what Christopher has keeps me grounded and makes me not take life for granted, as there's always someone worse off and Christopher is doing amazing. He's been through it and he'll always have his heart condition, which he'll need treatment & drugs for, but hopefully he will carry on doing well and achieving his dreams. He goes back to Alder Hey next Monday for a M.O.T on his heart and hopefully he'll have some good news about one of his drugs, we'll see. For the moment he carries on being closely monitored because of the surgery he had last year. Hopefully, someday, his appointments and tests will go down in numbers and he can get back to playing his beloved football, but if that's the price we have to pay for sharing our lives with him then it's a small price. So today I've been ordered to make 2 fudge cakes for Christophers'  birthday cakes, one for Sunday and one for his class at school to enjoy. Every year when he blows out his candles we all wish for the same thing, so far our wishes have come true and Christopher carries on getting stronger and stronger. Here's to many more wishes coming true for my ickle man. Good luck to Christopher for Monday at Alder Hey Children's Hospital and hopefully good news! xxxxx