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!

The dummy fairy arrived!

 Sammy has had a dummy and his cloth since we went to Australia back in 2013. Remarkably, so far, I cant see that his speech  has been affected. His teeth however had suffered slightly and this is something that we will need to get looked at at some point soon. So I made the decision that the dummy had to go!

So yeah, I have mentioned the dummy fairy on a few occasions, but Sam really hasn't been keen on the idea. However this time when I mentioned it in passing (after being sick to death of seeing this pink bit of plastic stuck in his mouth), he said yes! So i grabbed hold of that yes and rolled with it.

My plan of action for that day was to clearly explain, over and over that the dummy fairy would come when he was asleep and take his dummy away and give it to the little babies that needed dummies. In return for being such a brave boy, the dummy fairy would leave him a present. A simple concept that both Sam and Fin seemed to understand. I even showed them a picture of who was coming and said how happy she was that Sammy was giving up his dummy.

So at nap time I said that this would be the last time he would sleep with his dummy and that when they woke from their naps, we would go and buy some special bags for them to decorate which we would put the dummies in and hang on the door ready to be collected. I made sure that Fin was involved in this too because if Sammy got a present and Fin didn't, I didn't think it would be that fair. So Fin took on the role of helper to remind Sam where he dummy was when he asked for it.  They decided they each wanted some chocolate coins and a dinosaur. A phone call to Mark and £30 later, the dinosaurs were purchased and I managed to find some coins left over from Christmas.

Now I really wish I had gotten picture of the preparation stage but I didn't. Sam had a pink shiny gift bag and Fin chose a red one. They happily decorated them both with Peter Rabbit stickers and sparkles.We phoned Daddy and told him what was happening and we also called Nana and told her who was visiting that night. I though it would help to seal in the deal.

That night, we went through what would happen at bed time so there were no surprises. We had our stories, hung the bags on their door and waited in anticipation for s**t to go down! Now amazingly, there was no crying, no fussing. Sammy did ask for his dummy as soon as he got into bed (I think the realization set in) but he was OK about it. I had to sit in between them and tell them how happy everyone would be without dummies whilst stroking their hands.  It seemed to do the trick and we had a full night sleep with no disruptions.

The next morning I got up really enthusiastic and excited about what the dummy fairy had bought in the night. The boys jumped up and bought their bags into our bed. They were thrilled with their presents and Sammy didn't  seem to miss his dummy. Fin got his present for being such a good helper and I was so proud that my plan had been so well executed.

 These were the best pictures we could get!

 A week later and all is mostly well. Nap times have really suffered unfortunately but Sam hasn't really asked for his dummy. We have noticed that he is very very grumpy in the mornings and whether this is a result of not having his dummy, we don't know. But night times are completely fine. He sleeps all night without a hitch. Best of all, I can see his lovely face all the time now!