Where has the last six months gone?

Okay okay I know its been like AGES!!!!! I guess I've just been busy doing this and that. So let me quickly update you all on where we are at since I last posted in August last year.

So.... the boys are now just over 3 years old -cue the usual phrase "it goes by so quickly". But to be honest it really does. Sam and Fin are completely different little boys to what they were 6 months ago. As of one week ago, we are now potty trained. And I cant tell you how good it is to get that out of the way (post on that coming real soon).

We have moved house and settled in well. That took up a lot of our time and still is taking a lot of time. There isn't one conversation that doesn't start with "so you know the garden..." or "you know we were going to paint the wall this colour..... well....". It takes a lot of time and I'm sure we will still be doing the house for at least another six months. I will also post on how it was moving house with two toddlers and how they took it soon too.

Well I guess that's kinda it. Hmmm maybe not that much has happened actually. I have spent many an hour reading blogs and stalking instagram for like minded mums such as me that find raising two boys a bit of handful and a lot of a pain in the ass. Huge shout out to The Unmumsy mum blog and book and also the recent book I read that was incredible for helping me feel normal. There will be a post to come soon too about the struggles I've also been having with being a mum and trying to keep my head above water.

So this is us now. Back into the blogging and I hope you keep wanting to read about our little world. x

The juice cleanse review DAY 1

So I decided to do a 3 day juice cleanse. I have done the Forever Living C9 in the past and really enjoyed that (okay I HATED the aloe vera) but enjoyed the 9 day process.

This time I thought I would do a 3 day juice only cleanse. Not for weight loss but apparently to clear all the toxins from my body (mental note: stop the smoking!) and hopefully re-set my body a bit.

I have previously read about many many cleanses and never attempted one. To be honest, who would enjoy the thought of having no solid food for three days? However this week, I was googling and found one that looked good to me. The lovely people from Just Juices will deliver 15 bottle pf cold pressed juice to my door for £60. Now for those who have looked into juice cleanses before, they are not cheap. So £60 I thought was a bargain.

So for three days you have 5 juices as well as hot water and lemon, at least 2L of water and decaffeinated fruit or green teas. The water is still a struggle for me as I have never been one to drink lots. The green tea is fine as I have been drinking 2-3 cups of it every day for about 2 weeks. This is what Just Juices claim the detox does:

'Just Super Cleanse is a simple way to bring yourself back to the basics of life and to the basics of food – incorporating all natrual, easily-digested, nutrient-dense juices into your daily routine in the most convenient way possible. This flawless cleanse program is designed to restore and heal our most prized possession — ourselves. By giving our bodies a break and cleansing our systems, we are able to repair our pH balance and create a healthy alkaline environment free from fatigue, headaches, insomnia, aches, pains, digestive problems and unhealthy skin.'

When my lovely refrigerated pack arrived I was very excited to see inside. All the bottles were packed to keep fresh. I was a little disappointed about the information that came with it as it was just an A4 piece of paper with a double sided photo copy on it  of what you're supposed to do. I expected more on this really.

In the Super Cleanse pack you get all the 5 above for 3 days. That's a lot of fridge space!

DAY 1: I woke up so hungry. Not a good start. I knocked back my hot water and lemon which is recommended every morning and at 9am had my first juice. Its funny but knowing you can't eat anything that day makes you a bit miserable. Just a trip into town made me grumpy, that me and the boys couldn't have lunch in the cafe like we do at least once a week. The afternoon dragged, I didn't look forward to tea time and all I wanted to do was go to bed early and wake up on day two. It amazing how much your day is focused on what and when you are going to eat.Everything smelled amazing. Walling down the street, the boys dinner cooking. Cheese strings! EVERYTHING was teasing me. It also didn't help that when looking through facebook and instagram, most of the post seemed to be about food!

But I did it. Okay I did have one tiny bit of chicken. Like the size of my little finger. That's not bad considering I'd spent all day STARVING!! I thought these cleanses were supposed to make you full and not hungry. Hmm well lets see how day 2 goes.

Wish me luck - OH AND BRING ME CHIPS!!!!!!

Fraternal or Identical

After two-and-a-half years, we have found out the true origin of our twins. We were convinced from the day that we found out I was carrying twins that they were fraternal.

"Around two in three sets of twins are fraternal. Two separate eggs are fertilized by two separate sperm, resulting in fraternal or 'dizygotic' (two-cell) twins. These babies will be no more alike than siblings born at separate times. The babies can be either the same sex or different sexes, with the odds roughly equal for each."

 When we had our first scan at 9 weeks (I was very impatient), we were told they were non identical twins, which was the safest combination of twins you could get. So fast forward two and a bit years later and we have just been told that they are IDENTICAL! So it looks a bit like this..

So the boys came from one egg and split very early into two. This means they get their own sac and placenta and will appear fraternal.

The funny thing is, all the people that were like "are you sure they're not identical?" or "well they look very similar", "have you had them tested?" can now say to us "see, I told you so". However that's only based on that they cant tell them apart facially. Yes I agree that they do look very similar, but they do also look very different. Even down to their face shapes.

But, we decided to get a chorionicity scan last week which consists of a swab of the cheek for each of them and they are tested to see if their DNA is the same. It really didn't matter if they were or not, I mean, it doesn't make any difference to anything, but as so many people couldn't tell them apart, we thought it may be worth just checking.

 "If the division into two embryos happens in the first three days after fertilisation, the twins will develop their own placenta and membranes. They will look the same as non-identical twins on a scan."

 So you can see the confusion and we had no reason to doubt this. But as fraternal twins are more common, it was assumed that that's what they were and were happy with that.  So we originally thought our twins were the same as image E. Two eggs fertilized to make two embryos. As it turns out, they are the same as C.

 Anyway, non of this matters at all and we are very very lucky to have our boys.  Im actually really pleased they are identical. 1. it means they are closer than we thought and their bond should be tight for the rest of their lives. 2. Its not a genetic thing, which best of all takes us to 3. my chances of having twins again has been dramatically reduced as  identical twins happen completely spontaneously! Woo hoo!!

Ok, I'm a little bit upset about that. Because if were were to have another a baby, I actually wouldn't mind having twins again. Honestly I wouldn't. I mean look at these faces - special or what!