The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

On Maddie's last day of school she brought home a summer reading list, and while many would recoil at another thing to get done, and over the summer no less, I jumped with joy that Maddie and I had another reason for our favorite date: going to our local library.  The ladies and I try and go once or twice a month to stock up on new books, see what programs are going on and let Annie throw someone else's board books all over the ground, but since it is summer and dinnertimes and bedtimes aren't such a huge deal I wanted to try and make it a weekly event that just Maddie and I do together for a little one-on-one time while Annie gets some floor play and cuddles from Daddy.  So last night Maddie put on her unicorn helmet, grabbed her scooter and off we went, stopping to say hi to some friends in the neighborhood, gawk at the ice cream truck that I wasn't prepared/stocked with cash to indulge in and chat about the life and times of my favorite four year old. We knew ...

The best part of Maddie starting preschool last fall is definitely the love that she now has for school, added to her already instilled love to learn and socialize that seems to have developed immediately out of the womb but the second best part? Summer vacay, y'all! No dragging the kid out of bed at 6:00! No more rushing to get everyone dressed, fed, teeth brushed, packed, and out the door at exactly 7:15. Not that the grown ups get to stop doing that but to take away the stress of doing it for the kiddo for a few months...hell to the yes. When you have a baby up at 4:55, one grown up running,  and one 4 year old who literally has to be dragged out of bed in the mornings, things can be, well chaotic. Couple that with my need to make sure beds are made and toys are picked up (I cannot leave a messy house, it will haunt me all day), I get in about 3 miles of walking around the house before I actually walk to the train for the day. But not after next  week, suckers! Sorry, I...

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 have to say, last week was the hardest I have had yet as a working mom of two who also trains for half marathons and likes to hang out with her friends. I am well aware that I have a lot on my plate, but last week finally came crashing around me and I spent a couple of afternoons in tears and Friday morning on the train trying to act like I had allergies when really I was just a weepy mess. For all of the wonderful that Maddie is, she can be very, very ( veryveryvery ) challenging, as most three and a half year olds are, and for some reason it took last week to push me a little over the edge. Needless to say, when Friday afternoon finally rolled around I was thrilled to have the week behind me and SO excited that we had a dear friend offer to watch BOTH girls that night so Matt and I could go out on a date. Like, without one or both kids. It was amazing! In order to get some peace and quiet that we are not used to when with the girls, we decided to go see Jurassic World in 3D IMA...

Parenting has been a trial and error situation; we had a pretty good idea of the type of parents we wanted to be and what we wanted this child-raising thing to look like but really, you don't know shit until you are in the thick of it and trying to make it all work in real life. Am I an expert? Hell no. Do I make mistakes? Absolutely (all parents do!). But as I approach baby number two, I think there are a few things that I have learned along the way that have really worked for our family and hopefully they can help out at least one of my many friends who are expecting their first bundles of joy. Consider this one in what might be a few of the big things we have done that have been wins (I promise to share the fails too, because we have definitely had our share of those!). If anything, this is something I can come back to when I am having a day of fails to remind myself that we are (usually) nailing this parenting thing. We don't have a coffee table. Our living room floor ...

It's countdown to baby number two over here (I'll be 38 weeks on Wednesday) and I'm in full nesting mode when I'm not making sweeping changes at work because, why would I ever make things easy for myself? We've made some awesome progress on my house to-do list (kitchen back splash and bathroom decor) but now we just have to wait until we can actually open the windows to do some painting projects. At some point we are redoing the bathroom into a double sink situation but that can wait until after the baby is here (or so my husband tells me). So now we wait, I wash things and make extras of dinners to freeze and hope I can get things on autopilot at work for a couple months. Here's five things I'm loving lately as we hunker down and wait to meet this baby girl:  Special time with the one who made me a Mama . As soon as I saw that positive sign on my pregnancy test and felt the thrill of getting to bring another baby into our family my thoughts immedia...

You guys, really, this snow! We have had more snow this past month than has ever been recorded in the history books...and this is Boston so you know we know history! There is just SO much snow and no longer anywhere to put it. It really is absurd, and I hope that someday summer really comes so I can think back to it from a warm spot in the sand and laugh. Really, I just hope summer comes... Of course, the more snow the less we get out, which is the pits. One energetic toddler and one restless, preggo mama plus four feet of snow is just a terrible equation. So, instead of letting the snow beat us down on Sunday, we decided to brave it all and take a trip out to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to see a special Madeline exhibit that is ending soon: Madeline at 75: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans I had read about the exhibit when it was in NYC over the summer and was going to try and see it there, but once I found out it would also be in MA, I decided I could wait and save the...

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...

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...

On Saturday we hosted Maddie and a group of her friends (and parents!) for a day at the Boston Children's Museum. Winter birthdays can be tricky and being 5 months pregnant with a city-sized dwelling meant that it was better to outsource, and the Children's Museum was the perfect venue! Everyone got full-day admission and we had a party room for crafts, cake and presents; we were there a little over four hours and I am still recovering from all the fun. I was so thankful for the party-planner and other staff who ran around like crazy to make sure everything was perfect. It was really fun to see Maddie and all her little friends running around the museum and enjoying the exhibits together; there is so much to do and we didn't even see everything. It was my first visit (Maddie's third) and now I am definitely going to be asking for a membership from Santa so that we can go back a bunch this winter! The theme of this year's party was dinosaurs, as you will see in ...