The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

Matty introduces me to Madeleine for the first time Happy New Year's Eve everyone! You know what I love about this time of year, aside from playing with all my new Christmas presents?: the lists. I love me some lists, and as the year ends everyone has them - the top news stories, the biggest celebrity breakups, the best this and that. I just can't get enough of them. And so, in the spirit of year-end lists, I present to you my own lists of the top Stefanie-centric things and events of 2011 - enjoy! Three generations in front of our well decorated Christmas Tree My Top Ten Life Events of 2011 Giving birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl Moving to our new home and new neighborhood (Dot Rats for life!) Watching my husband finish the Boston Marathon (his 1st marathon ever) Celebrating the first year of marriage to my amazing, loving husband Getting to tell our family and friends about our bun in the oven My sister-in-law moving back to the East Coast from Seattle Buying our f...

Here we are ladies and gents, the final week(s) until Baby O'Shea makes her world debut! I have so much running through my head as I wait for this little one to join us, and I am feeling a cross between impatient, unprepared and pure bliss at what is to come. The hardest thing about all of this, for me, has been that my "due date" is really just a shot in the dark as to when I may have her - a point in the middle of four weeks that I could go into labor. As an obsessive planner, list-writer and type A extraordinaire this really has been the hardest part for me. I mean, if I just knew that she would begin her descent on 11/26 after I wake up from a restful 8 hours of sleep with my Mom here from Reno and my maternity leave started I could be so much more prepared, right? Nope, not really. But it doesn't stop me from wishing I knew. Since I don't know, I have taken to thinking that I am going into labor most all of the time, but this morning was the first time that I...

Yesterday my four favorite ladies feted me and Baby O'Shea with a gorgeous baby shower. Everything was perfect and so perfectly me - lots of pink, owls, yummy eats and cupcakes from my favorite place - what more could a prego lady ask for? Nothing! But I did get more - I got to see some really wonderful women who made me and this little (er, not so little lately) bump in my belly feel like a million bucks and showered with love and gifts (so, so many precious gifts). I am so thankful for the ladies that came and it really meant so much to me to see these women who have seen me through so many phases of my life - work friends past and present, NOLA volunteer friends, friends I have inherited from Matty and his life before me - who all had one thing in common: they are all true, dear friends to me and made me feel so grateful to have them as I move closer to this new phase in my life. When I got home last night and sat on the nursery floor with Matty showing him all the new clothes,...

We went to Niagara Falls and it was beautiful and breathtaking and wet. I know that Fall doesn't technically begin until the end of the month but the crisp air and the pumpkin flavored coffee has me so excited for my favorite season! I love the Fall, especially in New England; apple picking, pumpkin flavored things, scarves and sweaters, Halloween and the O'Shea Annual Oktoberfest party; Halloween and Thanksgiving (candy and gluttony) and...oh my God, wait...Fall...then that must mean....holy shit, we're having a baby! (cue tire squeals) This little person who has been growing in side of me, and who is currently bopping and kicking and squirming around, is going to be here in just a few more months, and we just cannot wait to meet her. This week we toured Mt. Auburn where I will be giving birth and it really, really hit me that there is a period of time between being pregnant and cuddling our little girl; namely, that somehow I have to get this little baby out of me...

I took this picture of my beloved city while waiting on the library steps for Matty to come whisk me back to Dorchester. This weekend we had our first big bash at our new place and it was super, duper fun. Lots of friends came by throughout the day and night - work friends, HONO friends, high school friends (of Matty's), friends of friends; it was lovely. There was a ton of food and beer (of the root variety for me) and lots of laughs and good times. There were even a couple little ones running around the backyard being adorable. It really made our new home feel like just that - our home. I can't wait until we have a permanent little one around; she is going to be here in a few months now, though the running around will take a while, I hope. It will be so, so wonderful to finally meet this little lady who is the center of our lives and thoughts and window shopping. By the time she is born her little floating fetus will have been in more states than I had been in by the t...

I am sitting at our new desk in our guest room of our new home. The desk faces the window that overlooks our new street; I see trees and the neighbors, the baby kittens that live next door and the lawn that someone mowed while we were at work yesterday. I see my husband working on his bike, involved in his work and never the wiser that I am admiring him from inside. I cannot wait to watch this man be a father to our baby, to celebrate being my husband for a year in September, and to spend the rest of my days loving him. He really is the most amazing dude ever, seriously. The baby is growing bigger and more livelier in my tummy. Matty can feel her kicks and stretches and somersaults. She still lets me eat spicy food and sleep comfortably, but my back and stomach are no longer options at this point. Next week will mark my third trimester. Next weekend my bestie will come up from NoHo and we will hang out and shop for girlie things together and gossip and laugh. We will be joined by other...

That's our baby girl! Oh my gosh, it is July?! Where is the time going? Oh, maybe into moving/planning for baby/traveling/working/family/life.. .Things are so busy but are at the turning point for calming down, well at least as far as our life goes. Okay, I lied, the only thing that is going to calm down is that after this weekend we will be officially moved into our new place, but that really feels like it is going to make all of the other little things in my life so much easier. I am a routine person, I like to have my times that I do things and way that I do things and I feel like moving just makes everything absolute chaos - food isn't being made because the kitchen is a half-packed mess and we haven't been grocery shopping so we don't have to move perishables, evenings are spent being a tired prego lady or moving things over to the new place, and I don't want to waste time cleaning the old place but my OCD is making me not want to look at anything in our house ...

Make way for Bruins....er ducklings! Things that are awesome in my life right now (not necessarily in order of their awesomeness): My Mommy is on a plane on her way to Boston! Right now! And she will be here for a week. She hasn't seen me since I have been pregnant, so it's super exciting that she will be here to rub my belly and eat ice cream with me. We aren't homeless! Not only did we find a place to live but it has so many great things: it's a 3 bedroom, which means a spare bedroom for family and friends to have extended visits (especially after the baby comes and I will need them more than ever), it has porches and a yard, it is deleaded, it is gorgeous and freshly painted/stained/cleaned and it is not in Allston!! It is all the way in Dorchester where there are no college kids and there is actual diversity and there are real Bostonians. Yay! Today marks the official start of Pride Week in Boston and my co-workers and I went to watch the flag raising and show our s...

What can I say, I really love post-its. We sent this to my Mommy to remind her that she'll be making pancakes for me this time next year. Kidding Mom! Finding out we are pregnant has been the single most exciting thing to happen to the two of us since getting engaged, but we actually had to think about this announcement and how/when/who to tell. At first it was just ours to share, only we knew that there is this little person growing inside of me, and we could look at each other and know that we had this awesome secret between us. The thing is though, I hate secrets. I hate surprises. I love blabbing about things, especially exciting things. This whole intimate husband and wife secret thing was not going to last. I love you my dear husband, but I got a mouth on me, and he knows that. The obvious first person for me to tell was my Mommy, the woman who carried and birthed me and has been my closest confidant for 28 (then, now 29) years. So I called her and we chatted and, since she w...

It's true!! Matty and I made a baby, and it's growing and thriving in my tummy right now! As of today I am 12 weeks and going into my 13th (helloooo 2nd trimester) and I am feeling great. I have been ridiculously lucky and have not had any morning sickness or crankiness or emotional breakdowns at all. The most significant symptoms I have are being super, duper tired and a bout of hormonal acne that is bringing me back to my high school days. Both of these things are supposed to fade out this trimester, and I am going to see my dermatologist to get some prego-friendly goods for my face. Considering the many (many, many) stories we have all heard/seen/read/experienced about what being knocked up is like, I think I am making out like a bandit with this pregnancy so far. Since this is the first time I have been able to shout it from the rooftop, I give you my little story on how we found out there was a baby on board: March 14th was a Monday that followed a pretty crazy weekend. I ...

Oof, my head. Yep, I am feeling a wee (LOT) bit hungover today. Still. At 7pm. Whoops! Last night Craig and I pulled off a pretty epic surprise for his dear girlfriend, and my dear friend Emilia's birthday. Both of her parents were there, who I love and was happy to catch up with, as well as our nearest and dearest. Amy even came up from NoHo and we had a sleepover! It was awesome. I definitely drank too much on an empty stomach and am very thankful for my husband for getting me home safe despite my insistence on wearing cowgirl boots on the ice (thanks again, babe). I think I have been taking my new motto "drinking for two" a little too serious, and I may need to start climbing up the slope to sobriety as the begin date for Operation Make Baby grows nearer. Maybe after this beer. Hey - you don't have to stop drinking for 9 months, so quit judging! I find myself handling this new goal the same way I do most everything: lots of reading, researching and talking to my fr...

Why hello there! And a very happy 2011! I hope that everyone had a safe, peaceful and joyous holiday season; I know I sure did. Christmas minus the gifts plus the massive hang out time was a pure success; we were able to share many meals and talks and drinks with most of the people that we love, and thanks to the "great snowstorm of 2010" we even got extra time with Megan and Julian. Score! New Years was a great time spent with the people that we love the most (and a new found vice of mine called whipped cream flavored vodka ). We had Amy, Kendra and Suad over for the evening, and Dave and his lady made a cameo, and we drank and laughed and (everyone but my passed out self) rang in the new year with a bang...well it was more like Kendra and Matty realizing what time it was and apparently Matty did this amazing dance which I missed out on, but still, it was an epic time. The next day we had guests in and out to visit all morning and afternoon, we ate red velvet pancakes and...