Thankful Thursday Week 9

Welcome back to my weekly linky, I hope you can link up and share what you are thankful for this week, a story, a sentence or just a picture, its always good to find our silver linings. If you would like to link up I would  love for you to grab the badge below and spread a little linky love to some of the others taking part.

This week I'm thankful for Springtime! I realise its not here quite yet and sadly some of you have had a rough old time recently, but its starting to show the signs here in Monkeyfeet HQ, the mornings are lighter and the evenings are getting slightly longer every day. Its making a real difference in my motivation and I've found this week that my efficiency levels are coming back marvelously. I've tidied, sorted, created, blogged, and get this, we've not had a single scumbag tea all week! By that I mean we have not dined on fish fingers and waffles once! Please don't get me wrong I don't actually consider anyone who eats fish fingers and waffles a scumbag, Far from it, I love a fish finger sarnie, but here are HQ Spartacus knows I've had a bad day if that's what he gets for dinner and we now jokingly refer to it as our scumbag tea!

So with the hope of spring on the horizon and the sight of snowdrops and daffodils  peeping thier heads out to say welcome,  I am feeling energised, motivated and fresh as a daisy even on only 4 hours sleep a night, I hope the improvement continues and the world starts to look cheery and full of colour very soon, but for now, some lovely daffs to brighten your day...

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The Monkey Cup

Sometimes I find myself rolling my eyes (yes I am that bad a parent) and thinking or even saying 'goodness me it's only a ....' You can fill in the blanks with any number of things, book, cup, spoon, action figure. You get the drift right? 

For example, we have mismatched cutlery here at Monkeyfeet HQ (I know, I know hang my head) and for some reason Peanut has gotten it into her head she likes the round handled spoons, and she gets quite bent out of shape if that's not what's in her breakfast bowl. Now  I'm not a brilliant morning person I like to get up and running and on with my day faff free. So this spoon issue drove me round the bed one particular morning. So after having spouted 'goodness it's just a spoon'I traipsed off into the kitchen to find a 'round one' and that's when I saw this....

And had a lightbulb moment!

I know it seems a strange thing but this monkey cup was bought in Edinburgh Zoo because it reminded me of cups my gran used to have for us grand kids (three of us) when we were little. She had an orange giraffe one, a yellow tiger and a brown monkey one. Oh the fights we had over the monkey cup, not one of us wanted it because, well it was brown, the colour of poo, and when you are young these things matter not just like 'ooh I don't want it' but I mean REALLY matter, 'my life will end if you make me drink from that' kind of matter. Imagine a day of two other people laughing ALL day because you had the ' poo cup' !

So now we all use a round spoon for breakfast and not because I'm pandering to a stroppy five year old. It's  because Ive realised in her world that spoon means something, just as much as the monkey cup meant to me, and as parents I think we need to remember sometimes that our little people are forging thier way in a big scary world and the strangest things take on huge significance in thier quest for independence. 

So the next time your little person has a melt down because you chopped thier potatoes/ gave them orange not apple juice/ opened thier yoghurt/ gave them the wrong spoon etc etc. I think it's important to remember ... no one wants to be forced to drink out of the 'poo cup' do they ? 

Thankful Thursday, well really, Thankful Friday Week 8!

Some of you will have noticed the absence of my usual Thankful Thursdays Linky. Well  at least one, Thankyou Clare from Emmy's Mummyand Harry's Too!

This week has not been a good one, ignoring the fact that we have been housebound in the half term because of chicken pox, and that Mummy has been struck with a two week virus.... We lost internet connection!!!!! 

So this weeks Thanks is slightly different (and much later) than I had planned because yesterday I discovered how hard it is to create a linky on a phone! Or in my case not actually possible. So I've happily been able to access Facebook and Twitter but no real internet. Whilst normally I'd have happily tootled to my local coffee shop and posted from there using lovely free Wifi, not so during  my half term pox prison! 

So this week I am thankful for my home Wifi!

I realise this is a very 'first world problem' but I'm very aware of how much easier my life is with internet at home.

I hope you can link up and share what you are thankful for this week, a story, a sentence or just a picture, its always good to find our silver linings.

  

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Project 365 Week 8

47 - The sight of my baby's hand so still in sleep and so tiny always makes me thankful for our little blessings.

48 - The chicken pox have hit, and all my boy wanted was a snuggle with his big sis.

49 - Peanut met 'Hugless Douglas' today at our local library 

50 - Termite looking very big, showing us that a baby's life is a tough one! 

51- A visit to a local living museum where we saw some soldiers showing us what it was like in the war, Peanut was intrigued by the Gun, The Golden Child and I where not so enamoured. 

52 - It may have been blustery and breezy today but we made the most of the bright skies and took to our scooters, in fancy dress of course !

53 -Termite listening to peanut sing 'once I caught a fish alive'

Eek see you all next week and we will be heading into MARCH! Is that spring I can hear knocking gently on the door... 

Oxo Tots Review and Competition

I'm sure you all guessed how much of a fan I am of Oxo tots from my last review. So I was excited to be given the chance to review more of thier products just in time to start Termite's journey to food.

I've been browsing the website a lot and  lusting after lots of thier things, this high chair in particular is on my wish list. Although I'm not sure I can convince Spartacus that we need ANOTHER high chair. But back to weaning, we chose  The Sippy Cup Set (RRP £10.21) and, because we are following baby led weaning and not in much need of plates or spoons, we picked The snack disk (RRP £5.11) this is recommended for older children but seemed to fit our needs well.

 What do Oxo say about these products..,

The OXO Tot Sippy Cup Set grows with your child from age 6 months and up. The 200ml Sippy Cup with Handles is an ideal first Cup for babies transitioning from bottles. Its leak-proof valve prevents spills and releases pressure for comfortable sipping. Soft, non-slip Handles are angled so babies don’t have to turn their wrists too far, and the Handles are removable for when baby’s grasp develops. When baby is ready to transition from sippy to regular cup, remove the Sippy Cup lid and replace it with the OXO Tot Training Cup lid. The Training Cup lid has a transparent insert with perforations around the perimeter to control the flow of liquid when the child tilts the Cup to drink. A tipped Training Cup will also spill more gradually to minimise messes during the learning process. When ready, remove the perforated insert and the Training Cup converts to a regular Cup. All OXO Tot Sippy, Straw and Training Cup lids are interchangeable. 

Featuring a curved shape, low profile, and non-slip base, the 180 ml Snack Disk keeps snacks contained while your toddler learns to self-feed. Designed for children 12 months and older, the Snack Disk is moulded to fit comfortably in tiny hands or on small laps. A generous opening allows for easy access to the goodies inside, and a see-through lid snaps on securely for storing leftovers or taking treats on the go. Perfect for holding fruit, vegetables and dried snacks. Top-rack dishwasher safe for easy cleaning. Complies with BS EN 14372 safety standard.

What we say...

Termite loves the cup and got on really well with it straight away, she can easily tip it to the right angle to drink, or more truthfully just pour water at her face, and with the removable no spill seal we can make it free flow to make things easy while she is learning to transition to a cup.

I love that this cup is going to last us a long time, we can change it so it adapts to her different stages.

The snack pot is a really good size but also easy for her to pick up (albeit to use as a missile but we are still learning!) and the lid gives a lovely satisfying click as it seals so I know we won't have any lunch bag leakage.

I love the colour and the design is so nice its a very attractive looking set. Is it sad that I find children's eating accessories attractive?

Good Stuff

• Lovely Design
• Great Colour Very user friendly
• Leak proof
• Sturdy

Room For Improvement

• The colour range is limited, It would be nice to see reds yellows or even purples in the range, but this really boils down to a personal hatred of pink and blue choices in things. To be fair the pink and blue in this range are vibrant and not putrid pastels! 

• Price, these items are more expensive than others on the market but I really feel like this is a case of getting good value for money, these will last I don't think we will need to buy another sippy cup (although Ive probably cursed myself to losing it now!)

 You can connect with OXO on Facebook or Twitter and those fabby folks over at Oxo have offered one of these sippy cups and a snack disk worth over £15 as a prize just for you lovely lot, so pop your entries into the rafflecopter below and we will draw a winner from the correctly completed entries next week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine Shmalentine!

I realise I'm going against the grain here but I felt a rant coming on and needed to share ...

I love my husband, the kind of love that means I would follow him anywhere, will support him in his endeavours and cheer him on. He may not be a hearts and flowers kind of fella but he loves me he is my rock, my comedian, my hero, builder, engineer, taxi driver and  counsellor, he is my hero. 

I do not need him to buy me overpriced shite (pardon me) one day in the year  to validate our affections. No I'm not being full of bravado because we don't 'do' valentines day. This is the truth I would rather spend money on some bulbs for the garden than have him spend four times the normal rate for a bunch of flowers that'll be dead by Wednesday!

People,  show  those you love how much you love them everyday.  Don't  wait for one commercialised excuse to fleece the nation of thier hard earned cash.

There I'm done, Happy Friday People 

Thankful Thursday Week 7

Welcome back to my weekly Linky. I hope you can link up and share what you are thankful for this week, a story, a sentence or just a picture, its always good to find our silver linings.

This week I am very very thankful for ......

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I love to hear from my readers so feel free to comment and follow
Karen xx

Project 365 40-46

40 - whilst I'm fully aware of the display of bad parenting here.... I couldn't help but laugh when Peanut Put the lid from 'potsy'  on Termite! Termite was rather pleased and Peanut took this picture! 

41 - Making the very most of the precious remaining free afternoons with my Golden Child before September takes him to all day school, we popped to our local park where we had great fun showing Termite the swings for the very first time. 

42 - Brocolli today on our baby led weaning journey.

43 - We are a house of snot and coughs today mammy is grateful for ....

44 - Four Family members in the bath, bubbles everywhere but it warmed us up after a freezing school run!

45 - Wet and windy outside the boy and I saved the galaxy from the comfort of our dining room 

46 - Nothing  else for it, welly's on and puddle jumping commenced, such fun. 

Despite the Poorliness and lack of sleep it's been a rather snuggly and loving week. 

Project 365 33-38

Good gosh, heading towards the middle of February and with the promise of spring in the air, I'm pleased to say family Monkeyfeet seem to be getting back on track, so here's our week in pictures... 

33- Family  outing to a living museum, Daddy playing on the steam digger!

34 Baking Day, lovely iced biscuits which didn't last long enough to photograph. 

35 My Little mouse

36 Big melon smiles, a trick taught by the aunties. 

37 A new look for the living room, gone is the red.

38 Park fun with friends

39 Bee hideouts made at our local library

See you again next week 

X

Thankful Thursday Week 6

Welcome back to my weekly Linky. I hope you can link up and share what you are thankful for this week, a story, a sentence or just a picture, its always good to find our silver linings.

This week Termite has been especially bad at sleeping and in the middle of the night (the very loneliest time of night ) when there is just me and her and the sound of everyone sleeping I find my iPhone is my solace! It keeps me alert so there's no risk of dozing of f with her in my arms, I get time to draft blog posts (albeit very badly spelled ones! Tiredness and a touch of dyslexia are not good friends!) I can do the banking, the shopping, play games or just peruse good old Facebook.

Image courtesy of apple.com

So today I'm giving thanks for my trusty iPhone it is, in my opinion,  a sleep deprived mum's best friend! 

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Silent Sunday 2/2/14