The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

I did a terrible job of keeping up with all our summer travels over here because I was really busy enjoying every (well, almost every) moment of them! I was flipping through my Instagram last night and it is literally three months of adventure! I feel so lucky to be able to do these things with my kiddos and to have a husband that is always willing to let me create these crazy memories together. At the beginning of the summer we created a summer bucket list and on that was a trip to Mystic. CT. Matt and I had been briefly when we first started dating to sight-see with my grandparents while they were visiting from the West Coast but it was an ill-fated trip (I ended up in the hospital the next day with a kidney infection) and we only saw a little of it. This time around, we had big plans! We drove down on a Saturday morning and headed to The Dinosaur Place , which is just a few minutes from Mystic. I had no idea what to expect and had gotten Maddie pretty excited about it, so was re...

Last weekend while out running errands we decided to avoid the highway and cut through the Blue Hills to get home, as we often do when we are trying to lull a certain toddler into a weekend car nap. Maddie wasn't really falling for it, and it was super gorgeous outside, so Matty had the great idea to take a spontaneous little hike on one of the easy trails. It turned out to be the best random idea of the day and provided us with a much less cranky toddler after all that fresh air. One of the many things I love about living in Boston is the close proximity to some pretty amazing outdoor spots that always seem to amaze me with the way you feel so out of the city (but really it is just right there!). The Blue Hills is one of those spots; hike to the top of the Great Blue Hill lookout point and you get a great view of Boston and beyond. It is seriously just a few miles outside of city limits, but it feels like you are in the middle of a wonderful, quiet nowhere.  Maddie is in...

THIS KID. My heart can't even take her some days. Hooray, we made it! This was not a short week for me, so I am a little extra excited over the impeding weekend since it seems like everyone else got to avoid their Monday this week. It was a good, productive week at work and at home and I am looking forward to some time to unwind from it all with my little family.  I am incredibly thrilled that we will finally be getting our washer and dryer situation taken care of this weekend. I know, life is full of exciting things for the O'Sheas right now and this ability to do laundry at home may just put me over the edge. New baby? New house? LAUNDRY?!  No but really, we have not been able to use our washer and dryer since we moved and had planned on getting someone to wire/plumb our basement to be able to use the machines we already had instead of buying a stacked unit for our small area inside the house, but decided to take the plunge and get the stackables, It would likel...

These two and their shenanigans. I just had to post this cuteness. Hi y'all! Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy Friday, mostly because I just really love typing that it is finally Friday. It has been a very busy week between work, Matty back in classes and trying to not sleep through my half-marathon training runs (the weather is just so crisp and perfect for sleeping at night!). Today is our four year wedding anniversary, and to celebrate we are going to my AIL's house to do laundry and not make our own dinner. I know, it IS heavenly. Then tomorrow we get to go out on a dinner date to canoodle and talk about how incredibly awesome the last four years have been. I am so proud of everything that we have accomplished together: a healthy child, our own home, growing careers and so much travel, laughs and memories. I really, really love that man of mine and am amazed at how these years are flying by. Four years ago! We have absolutely not one single thing...

One (of many) unfortunate side effects of this home buying roller coaster has been feeling a little like we are stressing away our summer and spending a lot of time and energy on things other than the beach and sunshine. Of course I know that in the long run it will be more than worth it, but I really can't wait to just be in our new  home and get back to summer time and the livin's easy instead of INSANITY . It does look like we will be on track to close on July 31st, which happens to be the day before we go to Newport Jazz Fest, but those boxes will be there waiting for us when we get back, right? Right.  I cannot help but laugh at the way things happen, but at least it looks like it is happening so no complaints over here. If there is one thing I love, it's a time management challenge! This weekend we did manage to have a whole lot of fun despite the stress of everything living in the back of our minds. We started Friday afternoon visiting our fav...

I really wanted to come to this space and complain about Monday, because Mondays suck, and every two weeks I have all this stuff due and so they really suck. Sometimes I get this ridiculous Monday blues where I am not sure how I am going to make it to Tuesday, but then I get home Monday and have no obligations and I forget most of my grumpiness. I have this tactic in which I always make sure I have nothing planned on Monday nights. I used to see it as a free night and throw things on the calendar but then I wised up to the fact that all three of us sometimes need an extra day to adjust to life after the weekend, so Mondays are just that. A transition day, if you will. Tuesdays are yoga and Wednesdays are free for plans and Thursdays are family dinner and Fridays are, well Fridays! So Mondays are our (my) day to get my grumps out and process the insane amount of things I have put on my plate for the rest of the week. See, I am already less grumpy just knowing that all I need ...

Sometimes I photobomb the kid while she brushes her teeth. Before this whirlwind weekend takes off, I wanted to stop in and wish everyone a happy Friday, and an extra happy Good Friday and Easter to those of you who celebrate. I have a short day at work today, which is an awesome way to round out a really productive week in the office. I got a huge burst of motivation and energy seeing my vacation days on the calendar and it pushed me to get a lot of things done that I have been wanting to tackle.  Once I get out of the office I am forcing Matt to also take a half day with me so we can all go to church, where I am scheduled to read, and then I have to be a total last minute mama and go get everything for Maddie's Easter basket and egg hunt. Whoops! To say I have been swamped lately would be the understatement of the year, and at least it isn't the day before! Tomorrow I am running the BAA 5k, which will be a fun way to kick off the weekend and get pumped for wa...

I don't know why, but Maddie has been having some serious sleep issues again, which results in her waking up in the middle of the night and one of us sleepwalking to bring her into bed with us and then her keeping us up for a couple of hours until we either put her back in her room, where she eventually passes out, or us almost giving up on ever sleeping again when she eventually passes out....at which point an alarm always seems to go off. This morning, my sweet, sweet husband actually got up with her at 5am and let me have a glorious hour all to myself in which I had the deepest sleep ever.  But then it was time to get up.  I know that someday we will all joke about what a terrible sleeper little Maddie was and how it helped her study so hard to become the engineer/train conductor/macaroni and cheese chef she ends up being, but for now, it just sucks. A lot . And it makes for some pretty hard Mondays, especially with those long runs on Sunday. Oh, parenthood...

Hey guys, happy Friday! This week has been a little nutso; I don't even have any pictures to share here (what?!). Lots of things going on in the home buying front that I will be sharing soon, but lets talk about the weekend! Tonight we are running a couple of errands in Harvard Square and then picking up some delicious, Lent-friendly eats at El Pelon to eat at home in our comfy clothes. I am hoping for a relaxing night to start the weekend off right and make up for some of the sleep that I missed out on earlier in the week. I love my Jawbone , but sometimes knowing that I actually only slept four hours instead of the whole five and a half I was in bed is a little depressing... Tomorrow while Matty is at class Maddie and I have her second gymnastics class and then I am going to get her help in making Irish car bomb cupcakes (don't worry, I won't let her lick the Guinness cake batter, unless she refuses her nap). Saturday evening we are going to a play date fundraiser tha...

I seem to have fallen into a not-so-awesome pattern where I get everything laid out Sunday night for both going to the gym and getting dressed for work to be out the door early, we get the coffee ready to brew, and get settled in for an early night. Then, I stay up too late, wake up in the middle of the night, and snooze button my way through not just the gym but also that time to get out the door anywhere near the time I want to. Ugh. Me and that snooze button have a very unhealthy, co-dependent relationship. Not that this is news.  I guess I can cut myself a little bit of slack since I did manage to get out for 18 glorious miles of marathon training yesterday, including up and down Heartbreak Hill for my first time. I took it slow because I am getting over a chest cold, but it felt pretty good, and it was one of those runs where I thought to myself "yeah, I can run a marathon...again", which is good because it is only 8 weeks away! The sun was out, Matty was by...

Whoa, last week was a doozy, and this week is going to be pretty crazy too. I have a lot going on at work and am getting prepared to run the Hyannis Half Marathon on Sunday by eating as clean as possible, sticking to my training plan and trying to get a lot of sleep and kick this lingering congestion. Here's hoping I can make it happen!  There is so much going on but I wanted to put up a quick post with some of the cute pictures I took of Maddie over the weekend and let everyone know that I still hate winter, especially after spending three hours running outside in it yesterday. All of us had a three day weekend that made me wish all weekends were three days; it is just amazing what I can get done with just one extra day, and getting to spend extra time with my little family was pretty great. Highlights included: longs runs on separate days (yay for  not eating up a whole day!), Nutella pudding (by me) and banana bread (by Matty), Maddie's first time with  paints an...