The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

I wish I could say that I was ending the year on a bang, but really I am ending it on my sick bed (er, at my desk at work being sick). For the second time this pregnancy I have bronchitis, which is just as fun as it sounds. Luckily, I seem to be slowly getting better and not progressing towards pneumonia like had happened in September. It has definitely been the pits feeling crummy over the holidays and I feel sad that I haven't been able to play with Maddie and her new Christmas toys as much as she wants me to, but here is hoping I will be on the mend soon. 2014 was a pretty huge year for our family and I just wanted to do a little end of the year recap to say goodbye to a wonderful year and hello to another exciting one! The Big News This year we became homeowners! This was a goal that had been HUGE for us and while the process was anything but awesome, the day that we closed and opened the door to OUR home was amazing and (almost) worth all the chaos leading up to it. Then,

Even though this Christmas seemed to come and go at lightning speed, it was a really, really awesome one. At one point I was washing dishes and I thought to myself how awesome it was to be in our OWN home that we own forever and ever, celebrating Christmas with our little family. It was so comforting to know that next year we would be in this same home and have another little person to share in the magic of Christmas with! We didn't do anything over the top and the focus was more on Maddie than anything else, and it was perfect. She got lots of presents from all of our wonderful family and friends and seemed so truly thankful as she opened each one up. All she asked Santa for was a giraffe that was big enough to ride one, and when she walked into the living room Christmas morning to see just that I think her little heart soared right out of her chest. She turned to me and said "Mama, is that a giraffe? For me?"; it made my heart melt as I watched her hop on with her swe

I can hardly believe that Christmas is just a week away! Life has been so very busy with the day-to-day but we are really trying to take some time everyday to enjoy the season and see the magic of it all through Maddie's eyes. It was a lot of fun to deck the halls of our new home and I am already excited to hit some of those post-Christmas sales to add to our arsenal for next year. Having such festive walls makes it pretty hard to forget that Christmas is coming, even when we are swimming in work, school and new baby preparations. I just wanted to pop in and share some pictures that I took the other night and wish you all a happy one week until Christmas! Our Christmas tree! We love getting Christmas cards! This year our hallways is a great place to display them.  The tattooed Nutcracker got extra tough with a Maker's Mark scarf this year.  Another gift from Maker's Mark; oh how I miss thee in my eggnog.  Maddie has her own tree in her room wit

It is pretty appropriate that I am sitting down to write this as snow flurries and super-cold temperatures are going on outside, with some sort of Nor'easter/winter storm headed our way, but it is very much winter, and Christmas is definitely on the way! I love this time of year and all of the beauty, magic and joy it can bring, and experiencing it with Maddie is like getting to see it through new, wondrous eyes, which is just so awesome. Pretty much from the weekend after Thanksgiving until Christmas we have at least one festive commitment each weekend with another option or two if we are feeling up to it. Here are some of the fun things we have been doing to celebrate the season so far: The weekend after Thanksgiving the Mayor and Santa rode around in a trolley making stops at different parks in the neighborhood to light trees; by some awesome coincidence the tiny little playground on our corner was one of them, so after dinner we walked on over to take part in the lighting. I