'There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family.'

 

Ive spent so much time worrying about Opeie since this whole covid fiasco started. Stressing about the impact that this situation is having in him, the fact that he's not seen some of his friends for a while and his general well being. The parent guilt is constantly banging at the door even though I know it is out of my control. As I stood in the house this week and watched him sitting on the shed outside with his besties watching the sun set I was reassured that actually, despite the confusing government guidelines and the massive change to our lives, he's actually got everything he needs. A calm, loving home, a doting dad, and the kind of friends that you could spend your whole life hoping for... (the excessive amount of LEGO is a bonus too). 

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." ... 'and LEGO'

Day 84:

Today was another one of those days that can just do one. When these days pop up you can guarantee that myself and Opeie always turn to the LEGO for a pick me up. Those magical bricks have some crazy healing power. 

Hoping for a few happy days please.

"Get out of my way, you Cakesniffers!"

Its been a tough few months with our lives changing so much with the split. As I said in the last post I feel like I've really lost myself in all of it and I know the boys are feeling the same way, Opeie especially. With his mom not being around I've been trying as best I can to keep him busy and in the company of the people that love spending time with him. This has not been difficult at all because we have the best group of friends around us and they definitely more than make up for our lack of family. 

Over the last few months we've spent a lot of time hanging out with our friends Charlotte and Rich, usually walking the streets of Shropshire in search of Pokemon. To continue the love of all things Pokemon and our blossoming friendship, they invited us round to theirs today to bake cakes and decorate them in a way that only Pokemon enthusiasts know how.

As the saying goes 'A baking session isn't successful unless you've messed up a couple of batches first'. No you're right, no one has ever said that, but as we all had a good laugh about the mess we made and Rich pointed out that the one batch looked like it needed vegetables and gravy with them, it was clear that the muck ups really add to the memories of the afternoon.

We soon had a decent batch to work with though so we set about adding some flair to our cupcakes. While we created our masterpieces we chatted about all sorts and I was reminded yet again how in awe I am of that amazing 7-year-old of mine. He loves being around other adults and is such a confident kid when it comes to general chit chat, everyone seems to adore him as much as I do.

With the first couple of cakes finished it was time for an action shot, Pikachu... I choose you!

The cakes ended up taking so much longer than we expected but thats the great thing about being around amazing friends, you get lost in all the fun and the time just flies by. With the cakes finished the only thing left to do was check to see if our creations tasted as good as they looked...they totally did.

These may be some of the toughest months we've been through but being surrounded by such amazing and caring people has made us realise that we really are the luckiest three boys.

"If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."

Being a stay at home parent is amazing it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done and the time I have with Opeie is cherished. Along with Mrs M and Seth he is my best friend. Spending the bulk of your time with a three year old though does come with minor disadvantages. When everyone is happy and all smiles it's amazing but when things are playing on your mind, your life's having bouts of negativity or your upset, the day times (especially when Opeie is napping) can sometimes feel a little lonely. 

Last night our friend Lucie text to ask how we were in light of things that had been going on, Seth's operation etc and asked if I fancied meeting up this morning, I jumped at the chance. Opeie is the best entertainment I could possibly ask for but sometimes I really need some adult conversation. I tend to avoid friendships with moms I meet in fear of upsetting over protective partners, it's happened in the past and I didn't like the way it made me feel. There are a couple of you moms out there that I really get on with though which is lovely and Lucie is one of them.

We arranged to meet up at Apley woods for a walk about and to let the kids have a run about together. Even though it's not far away I'd never been but I knew the fresh air and adult conversation would do me some good. Lucie has recently joined the blogging world also and writes Magee and Magoo so we got to talk about writing, life, parenting and general chit chat. It was such a nice change and Opeie and Mrs Magee loved exploring together.
 

Apley woods is great for walking about, its quiet and tranquil and there is plenty to explore if you're in an adventuring mood, there are carved sculptures dotted about, a lake with ducks and plenty of trees to climb if that's your thing.

As i said before the meet was well needed and did wonders for my sanity but it was clear that Opeie needed it just as much as i did. He loves being at nursery, spending time with his friends and today was no different. I forget sometimes that Opeie needs time around children his own age and getting to run around with Mrs Magee today was lots of fun for him.

Here's to many new adventures with our friends.

“When you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.”

Sometimes in life and I'm sure it happens to pretty much everyone, you go through a rough patch. Maybe everything is getting on top of you, you've had to make a life changing decision, Lost a close family member or friend. Whatever it is that's going on its nice to know that you have people out there looking out for you. Its lovely to know that Mrs M, the boys and M's family are there for me and i will never take that for granted. Sometimes though people you have only known for a short time do the most amazing kind things.

We had had a really awful few weeks,  it was just one bad thing after another being thrown at us and it had got to the point where we were wondering 'whats next?' 'How could things get any worse?'. We're really positive people and i like to think we work hard at making our own good fortune but sometimes things are out of your control and things can very quickly get on top of you.

Last Sunday, early morning there was a knock at the door and i thought 'great whats this now?' as i said loads has been going on and it was causing me to be a little pessimistic in regards to daily situations, no body knocks our door on a Sunday morning unexpectedly. I opened the door and there stood a courier holding a package. Couriers don't generally come on Sundays so that was a surprise in itself, i signed for the package and said goodbye. As i turned to close the door i opened the package and stood silent for a minute before saying 'what?' in a loudish voice. Mrs M, Clearly feeling as pessimistic as i, called through the house 'Oh no, what is it?' I walked into the room smiling from ear to ear. Mrs M repeated 'what is it?' in a slightly more abrupt voice so i handed her the package.

Now I'm not going to tell you what was in that package (sorry), I'm not even going to mention who it was from (but i know you will read this so again thank you.), the important part of the story is the sentiment. The package was from another blogging family. A kind and caring group of people that we already felt lucky to call friends before this event. It seems that they had been thinking about us and the unfortunate list of things that had happened to us over the previous weeks and wanted to let us know this in a very thoughtful way. When speaking to them to say thank you they explained that they too had been in a similar situation once and someone had done something similar for them and they felt they wanted to share it with us.

I would usually be quite clear about the fact i have lost my faith in humanity, let down by my extended family and friends i thought were close. But recently we have been lucky enough to meet a few people who have quickly become our close friends, people we can trust and people we have a lot of time for. This gesture of kindness has had a huge impact on us because it has made us realise even more so that our friends are watching out for us.

Sundays surprise package set something in to motion and since then we've had one piece of good news after another. It seems our life now has a new path, There are big things later in the year to look forward to, and a new company to work with on the blog (which i am really excited about). Its great to know that despite recent events we can start moving forward again with smiles on our faces. I feel so lucky at the moment to have the friends and family that we do and i hope (although i know!) we can be there for them as much as they have been there for us!

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

When I use the term 'best friend' I'm usually referring to Mrs M, Seth or Opeie. These are the three people I trust the most. I really don't find it easy to trust people after the life I've had full of selfish and bitter family members, untrustworthy friends and a list of destructive relationships with people that never really cared about me and had very little respect. Mrs M jokes about me being a little hermit like and sometimes antisocial but other people have pushed me to be this way.

There is someone else though that managed to get past my hardened exterior and I'm so glad he did. Having people to trust in your life is really important and outside of my family he is the one person I completely trust and would go out of my way to help him out. In fact i shouldn't say 'outside of my famiIy' because he is very much a big part of our family. I was going to write a post about the great Saturday afternoon we had and what we got up to but as we drove home I thought I'd just dedicate the post to Chris and use the pictures from the day out (ill leave you to come up with your own story from the pictures).

I've known Chris for quite sometime but we didn't speak for many years. It wasn't until a year and a half ago that we ended up out at the same birthday do and our bromance began to blossom. Unlike many of the people I know, Chris makes a huge effort when it comes to our friendship, he's an all round top bloke and the boys love him too.

One of the things I love most about Chris is that like me he says what he feels, once when me and him were out with Opeie I made a comment about us looking like a happy gay couple, to which he responded 'if I were gay I'd be proud to have a guy like you, you're a great bloke', that was a real compliment.

Having someone else in my life that i can trust pushes me that little bit closer to restoring my faith in humanity, I really couldn't ask for a nicer friend!

P.S Nanny Roo, if you're reading this Opeie picked himself some new wellies this weekend, i thought you would approve...

I am just like any other girl, a sucker for bromance.

We had a great afternoon yesterday with our good friend Chris. Chris writes a photo blog called Gingerjamphoto.com and can always been seen about with his camera attached to him, its like an extra limb. We love spending time with him because he is a genuinely nice guy and is very thoughtful. He always makes a lot of effort playing with the boys and they love it when he visits too. One of the other reasons i love catching up (as selfish as it sounds) is that because he always has his camera with him he always gets some great shots while were out and about. They are natural shots too, most of the time he is snapping away and you don't even realise, he's like some sort of photographic ninja. Its not that I'm a poser just that not having access to photo's of myself when i was younger anymore i crave great family pictures of us all and Chris knows how to capture that.

We headed down to Ironbridge, the plan was to have a walk about and take Opeie to the park and we thought that Chris could get some pictures of the Iron bridge itself. The weather was amazing and it was such a nice way to spend a bank holiday. Ironbridge is one of our favourite places and its perfect for those sunny days.

After pottering around the bridge we headed down to the park as Opeie was itching to get the ball out and Chris being the lovely bloke that he is had brought the boys some bubble camera's and old school planes for throwing. Laura used this as an excuse to get hold of Chris' camera which gave us chance to fully embrace what Mrs M calls our 'Bromance'. I love the guy what can i say.

Opeie was having a great time running round the park, throwing aeroplane's and blowing bubbles.

After an hour or so of park fun we headed back to ours for a spot of lunch made by that lovely lady of mine while us three boys ran around the garden, read books and played with the rabbits. Mrs M was booked in with her personal trainer after lunch so after dropping her off us three boys headed off for a walk up the Wrekin. Opeie resumed his favourite place on my shoulders and away we went.

While we were walking Chris spotted some Bluebells and asked if me and Opeie could go and sit in them while he took some photos. Me and Opeie being the posers that we are were happy to oblige. Who's going to turn down lovely father and son pictures? not me that's for sure. Opeie loves flowers so he was in his element, Although the cute sniffing and picking soon turned in to 'Hulk Smash", he's definitely my boy that's for sure, Oops.

We had such a great day with Chris. Not having a family outside of Mrs M and the boys means that i really appreciate the friends that go the extra mile to make the effort. The boys love him too which is great. We've been friends for quite some time but its only been the last year that we've all become close and i feel so lucky to have a great friend that's always there for a chat and loves spending time with us.  Our Bromance is sure to blossom!!

To see more of Chris' great pictures be sure to visit his blog gingerjamphoto.com, it's always nice for us to read about our days out from an outside perspective.

Here's Chris' take on the afternoon... http://gingerjamphoto.com/bankholidayfun/

"choppy waters last night son!"

Just a very quick one as i have been messing about with the Lego (again). There's nothing that says i value you as a friend more than a piece of art work devoted to your dearest friends. Sadly i don't have time to draw at the moment and well i haven't touched the clay in quite some time so a ceramic bust is out of the question. So he for you, Chris and Michelle immortalized in Lego.

Sorry guys i only had one dog in my collection. For any of my other friends that wish to see themselves with a yellow head and ridiculous square legs please let me know and i will do my best.