The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

I hide nothing when it comes to my love of Christmas and each year as Maddie gets a little older and a little more into it the magic of the season just overwhelms me. This has been a really fun year with her, not to mention we get to have Annabel experiencing her first Christmas (wrapping paper is the BEST!). Even though we have been super busy this year, we have spent a lot of time looking at lights, reading books, doing crafts, baking cookies, watching movies and enjoying everything that Christmas is about. Maddie has been all about it, and not all about the presents, which makes my mama heart so very happy. Even if it isn't always the case, I hope we can keep the focus on the real core of the holiday and make sure that we are also giving back as much as possible to those don't have a basement full of toys waiting for Santa to deliver them tonight (all from our friends and family who spoil my sweet girls so!). I hear it time and time again that these are the years; the magic...

Can't wait to be one of those Boston Marathoners! On April 18, 2016 I will join thousands of runners to make the famous trek from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, a feat that is probably one of the harder things I have chosen to do in the past few years (aside from that whole childbirth thing, but even that is negotiable). The Boston Marathon is the marathon; whenever I tell people that I have run marathons the first question  is always "have you run Boston?", to which I always let them down by telling them I have only been a decades long spectator. This year though, I get to change that, and I get to do it by running for an organization who is dear to my heart and helped solidify my identity as a Bostonian. Let me take you back to the beginning. I moved to Boston in 2005 for two main reasons: a new adventure far away from my hometown of Reno, Nevada and to attend school at Suffolk University and pursue some sort of career where I could help people. At the time, ...

Politics and dead birds aside, I am a fan of Thanksgiving if only because it involves two of my favorite things: warm fuzzy feelings and food. I could list a lot of things I am not thankful for at this very second, because I am definitely having one of those days BUT there is a heck of a lot more that I am thankful for, and that is much more fun to share, right? This year I am thankful for not one but TWO happy, healthy daughters. I am lucky to get to be their mama and that Annabel has been a relatively easy baby compared to a certain someone else... I am thankful that I have an awesome husband to raise those two kiddos with and that even though this season in our life is more falling asleep on the couch at 8:30 than sunset strolls, there is no one in the world I would rather have by my side. I am thankful for my mom and the renewed commitment we have made to our relationship; the mother/daughter relationship is a special one and I am thankful to have such a loving mom who is a...

Last night after I tucked Maddie in and whispered "goodnight, my three year old" she told me "and tomorrow I am four and it is going to be awesome" and I don't doubt it for one second. Our Maddie is a lover of life, of friends, of fun and EXCITEMENT. She is the least shy person I have ever met and makes friends wherever she goes. Everyone knows her - at school, at church, at the local breakfast diner - because she is quite unforgettable with her big smile and need to talk to and hug anyone she meets. She is kind and funny and smart beyond what I could have imagined and although raising a big personality doesn't come without some big exhaustion I would not have it any other way. Maddie Jane, you light up our family's life like a meteor storm. You get the biggest smile out of Annabel and have taken this year of change and chaos and run with it (quite literally). We love managing your busy social calendar just as much as we love snuggling with you ove...

I am thrilled to report that Maddie may be just as excited about holidays as her mama; from decorating the house to arts and crafts projects about the big day, not to mention the actual day when it finally, finally came, she was INTO Halloween this year. We spent the weeks before watching movies ( The Great Pumpkin being a family fave), carving pumpkins and attending as many Halloween festivities as we could fit into our schedule. And talk about getting some mileage out of a costume! We got a lot of use out of that unicorn and little Annie had three that she rotated based on the party (and ability to crawl as fast as she could in it). We had a school Halloween party, a trip to the Castle Island Halloween Party with their new nanny, the annual Pumpkin Float, pumpkin carving with our awesome neighbors and a little costume parade around the neighborhood with Maddie's school; she even got to wear her costume at dance class! I was really glad she loved the costume so much and didn...

My last blog was about the end of summer and now here we are in the thick of fall and man oh man have I missed this blog of mine. I love coming here and sharing our life, spewing random things and making a little piece of Internet memory for myself. Note to self, schedule some blog time in at least once a week. So what's new?  My Mom recently made a super spontaneous trip to see us (read: bought tickets less than a seek before flying) and it was absolutely magical. We decided not to tell Maddie and when she woke up and wandered into the kitchen to see her Gramma standing there it was just the cutest situation ever. She was beyond confused, surprised and elated and spent the next 5 days in Gramma heaven.  It was also really awesome for me to spend time with my Mom and get to work on our own relationship. It's interesting how things change when daughters become mothers and start relating to their own mothers and WOW things can get messy but I feel so close and at a gre...

Yesterday was September 1st, and even though we are no longer having cocktail hour on Tuesdays (more on that later) I asked Matt to pop the bottle of Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin so we could welcome in the new month and the inevitable and terribly sad truth that summer is on the way out. It is not, however, completely gone and so I will not say my official goodbye until I have spent the entire weekend on the beach, which will be my third weekend in a row because I never say no to a Cape Cod weekend invite. The end of summer hasn't felt this tangible since I was in grad school, with two of the four O'Sheas going back to school...or one going for her very first time and one already having started this week. You read that right, folks, our sweet baby girl is starting Pre-K on the 14th and we are all as excited as can be. I spent this morning getting her uniforms organized and am on day two of attempting to follow our new family schedule with hopes that two weeks is enough practice b...

AUGUST! Here we are half way through August and my tan is just now getting good, so here is hoping for a September that still has beach days because I am really not ready to let this summer go yet. I am now fully aware that we New Englanders make up for the horrific winters by jamming a million things into the summer months and I am officially ok with it, though my husband may say differently. Last weekend, for example, our Sunday afternoon opened up and so we drove up to York, Maine to eat at the Goldenrod, go to the zoo and enjoy one of the most beautiful drives along the water. It was awesome and as we sat in traffic on the way home I couldn't believe that we had spent the morning at Maddie's swim class but then crossed three states and pet baby goats. I love you, New England, even if I do say otherwise in the middle of February. Kiddo is wearing zebra leggings too, if you can't tell. GOATS! She was so sweet with them and I really wanted to take one home. ...