"Get off your horse and drink your milk."

When we found out that Opeie was on his way we had many decisions to make about how we were going to approach certain situations. In some ways myself and Mrs M have very different parenting techniques and views on life but when it comes to the important things we agree on pretty much everything. Mrs M has very strong views on breast feeding which is great because I really didn't want my boy brought up on formula. It's been quite a tough journey which could have been ruined within the first few days by incompitant NHS staff, but thank fully we got through the difficult times with the help of a few people ( our brilliant midwife Amanda, and Telford BEST ) and i am so proud of the fact that she is still feeding our boy. Thank you to everyone who supported us, you'll never know how much you helped, by listening and offering a supportive ear!

He still doesn't sleep through the night and he can be quite demanding at times but Mrs M has the patience of a saint. She has given and is still giving the best start to our little angel and i am so thankful for that. I always wanted children even from a very young age  but i wanted to make sure it was with the right person and in a stable and happy relationship. I spent all these years obviously waiting for Mrs M as she is greatest mother i could ask for for my boys and she is so loved by us all.

Our little super hero will continue to grow big and strong thanks to breastfeeding and its all down to Mommy and of course a very supportive daddy.

I guess this post is just to say thank you from me, Opeie and Seth. We love and need you more than you will ever know. x

(If anyone ever needs any breastfeeding support, feel free to message us via here or our Facebook Page, and Mrs M will do her best to point you in the best direction she can.... it can feel like a never ending journey, can be stressful , but the health benefits for Moms and babies/toddlers is incredible..)

"the beast lies somewhere in the stump, choose a passage"

After my post a few days back about Opeie's eating habits ("Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon." ). I decided to go out and buy a few of the products that we had found online in the hope of saving our poor Cream carpets. Asda have got one of their Parent and Baby events on at the moment and as if by chance many of the items from the Nuby I Monster range were included in this. Obviously it was meant to be so i added a few items to my basket.

After mentioning it in my last post i had to purchase the I Monster Snack Keeper (the one that made me think of the Woodbeast from Flash Gordon) and give it a try. Weve been having real difficulty over the last few weeks with feeding Opeie, brought on by his larger back teeth coming through. I know it's happened to all of us already but i cant even begin to imagine how uncomfortable it is for him, poor little thing.

He's really lost his appetite which has been stressing Mrs M out. I on the other hand am a little more laid back about it. One of the moms at the school once said to me "no one ever starved next to a full pot" which i guess is very true, the food is always there just at the moment he's not eating loads. Plus to be fair he's still feeding from Mrs M too so we know he's well fed in that sense.

Well lunch time came round and we unleashed the new tableware onto our unsuspected child. Our little Flash Gordon wasnt at all scared by the Woodbeast and shoved his hand straight in. Our snack of choice for the Monster Snack keeper was cheerios...

 ...as Opeie loves them. Their slightly sticky and when thrown off the high chair can end up as a permanent fixture to the rug. This item completely stopped that (i did the probably typical dad thing and threw it about a little to really test its worth and i wasn't disappointed). The rubber teeth are soft enough for your child's hand to easily get to the snack yet firm enough to not let anything get out when dropped. I will be testing this with maybe raspberries tomorrow to see how that goes.

Opeie really loved this bowl and at one point was even trying to feed him some fresh fruit (obviously concerned that the little monster wasnt getting his 5 a day.

The second item i picked up in the supermarket was the I Monster Toddler Feeding Bowl i was instantly drawn in by the very high sides which obviously is great for the prevention of any unwanted spillages. It resembles a free standing roll top bath. Mrs M made a comment about bathing our new baby bunnies in there for fun... I had to resist the temptation of a cute photo opportunity (our boy will be eating out of it after all). It is a great sturdy plastic bowl and it really put a smile on Opeies face.

The third item i brought was the I Monster Toddler Feeding Plate and to be honest i brought this mainly on the fact it looked so fun. We already have some low sided plastic feeding bowls that are roughly the same size and shape but i really loved the design on this and it was nice to go with the set. Plus one of Opeie's favourite words at the moment is 'teeth' and there's plenty of those to point at.

Opeie ate loads better during this meal and i honestly believe that it was because of the bowls especially the Monster Snack Keeper as he was excitedly putting his hand in and then was eating eating his find quickly so that he could shove his hand back in again. Were really hoping that it continues so that Mrs M can relax a little.

On the whole the range is great the only way i could improve on the design myself would be to add a sucker to the base as although the high sides lessened the spillages Opeie was still able to pick the bowls up and move them about which as we know as parents can sometimes end in food being catapulted across the room.

Well it turns out that rather than being scary the woodbeast instead caused excitement and intrigue and our poor teething boy finally having a full tummy, Thanks Nuby.