"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks."

After popping out this morning we got home and walked through the door to find an interesting envelope lying on the floor addressed to "The lovely Saucils". If we receive anything through the post addressed to a saucil we know it is going to be fun as it is a pseudonym that both myself and Mrs M have been using since we met. Seth was very intrigued and once he had seen the Santa stamp he was convinced it was a letter off the jolly red chap himself, possibly with an early request for next years gifts. Inside though was something a lot more fun.

After sending our friend Annie over at Snowingindoors a little Lego gift (if you remember the post), She very kindly made us a thank you card which blew me away and put a smile on all of our faces. Annie had drawn us the Lorax and used her artistic flair (and colourful pompoms) to make some lovely Truffula trees. Inside the card was signed and Annie had written 'Thank you' beautifully inside. Well we were all very impressed and i was touched that she had gone to such efforts. I love seeing childrens drawings and Annie's was up there as one of my favourites.

There has been talk between our two families of a meet up later in the year when the weather gets a little warmer and Annie has come up with the idea of a 'Lego Picnic', Obviously we are very excited about that concept and will be counting down the days.

Thank you Annie for your very kind card, it's nice to know we have such lovely friends xx

My ever loving gaze. Smitten since day one.

 If people could see me at home I'm sure they would think i was a bit of a mental case. Earlier this evening Mrs M said she was going in the bath and after the hectic day she has had with yet another night of minimal sleep kicking it off (thanks to that little cherub of ours... Or mine according to Mrs M when he's been a tinker), It was clear that she would be wanting to relax in the tub without said cherub using the bath for this weeks superhero scuba class. So i grabbed the duvet so that we could snuggle on the sofa and give mommy some peace and quiet. Opeie requested 'Cat in the Hat' as he's going through a Dr Seuss phase at the moment (which I'm loving).

Opeie was engrossed in the cat's escapades and as usual i found myself engrossed in Opeie. I spent the entire 30 minutes of the cartoon staring at him and smiling, do any of you other parents find yourself doing this? is this normal behaviour? I find him fascinating! Becoming a dad is by far the greatest thing i have ever done and will ever do in my life and the boys give me never ending entertainment. I spend most of my day with Opeie with a huge smile on my face and i have shed many a happy tear just because he is around. The day we brought him home Myself and Mrs M curled up on the sofa and had a good cry. Being a dad is so overwhelming and something i would never take for granted, i have been through a lot in life to get me to this point. A few weeks after he arrived i took him out in the car to get him to sleep and as he drifted off i was watching him in the mirror and i burst in to tears, i had to pull over to let it all out. I was quite the teary mess over those first few weeks.

I was smitten by Opeie within seconds of Mrs M waving the pregnancy test at me and i knew from that moment i would do anything in my power to make sure he was always happy. He's a very smiley and excited boy so i know we're doing a great job, i really hope he's always like that. We wont be having any more children due to issues with the pregnancy so i knew i wanted to be at home with Opeie, i didn't want to miss anything. Spending as much time with your children in the first few years is really important, i wanted to have a really strong bond with him early on.

Opeie is going to be two in a few weeks and i cant believe how quickly he is growing up. The last two years have gone by with the blink of an eye but we have had such an amazing time together so far and our family is so strong. I really couldn't ask for more amazing people in my life. His speech is coming on beautifully and so many of the things that come out of his mouth make my heart melt. I'm sure when he wakes up in the morning and we are back on the sofa cuddling again i will go back to my Opeie induced catatonic state, but having a child as beautiful as him how could i not.

What's it really like when it's Snowingindoors?

Since writing for Nuby we've been given some really great things. But My favourite thing to have come out of the whole experience is new friendships. I've been chatting to a few great bloggers and today we we're lucky enough to get the chance to meet one of them or should I say three. Em, Annie and Ezra are the... Well I guess you can call them the stars of Snowingindoors. Both myself and Mrs M were drawn in to this blog from the start mainly because of the great pictures but also because Annie and Ezra looked like such happy children much like Seth and Opeie I guess.

After finding out they live near our beloved 'whole foods' we arranged the meet. So when we woke up this morning we were excited about our mini trip. Our high spirits were almost destroyed by motorway traffic but we eventually got through it and arrived only 10 minutes after we had arranged to meet. We were greeted by three very smiley people which is always nice. Annie very confidently introduced herself and told me how old she was and how old she will be next birthday which I thought was great. Seth is very confident around new people too its a really good trait for a child.

We sat and had a drink in the wholefoods cafe and had a nice chat. We've talked a fair bit online but it's so much nicer to meet people in person. And it's always nice to meet genuinely lovely people. Annie was great with Opeie and I think he was quite excited at the thought of a new friend. We told her all about the super heroes we love and in return she told us how much she liked Star Wars and that Luke was her favourite character. Gotta love our nerdy kids. 

 

We had decided prior to meeting that we would have lunch at Wholefoods, a perfect opportunity to use our Nuby products so we both turned up well armed. We all had a great lunch although Em forgot to eat hers as she was concentrating on the children, classic parenting move. The children were a delight. Ezra made us realise just how bad Opeie's eating is as he was happy munching down his food and Annie was making us laugh with some crazy talk, kids have great imaginations.

 After lunch Mrs M, Em and Ezra went to do a bit of shopping and i entertained Opeie and Annie at the play area outside of the supermarket. Annie is like a whippet and was running rings around me and Opeie. Opeie was really loving having an extra little person to run about with, he was really missing Seth as he does every day that he is at school. It made me realise how much i was looking forward to Opeie running about like that.

We had such a great time and i always appreciate new friends, were already planning our next meet up and apparently Annie is really looking forward to meeting Seth.

You can read more stories about Annie and Ezra at http://www.snowingindoors.com/

Also go to http://www.nuby-uk.com/ for a variety of baby and toddler tableware featured in this post.