The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

My future Banksy. I have to admit something: I am in an unhealthy relationship that causes me to lose sleep, be less productive and makes me like myself a little less. So this week I decided to end it, a relationship that has lasted half of my life and given me (what I thought) were a lot of good memories. This week, I broke up with my snooze button. I know, devastating, right? Those sweet 9 minute increments in my alarm are gone. No longer an option. A thing of the past. It is day two and I am feeling like I can keep going. I can, right? See, the thing is, I abuse the snooze button. I will hit that bitch for an hour, even more, because I think it is allowing me to get more sleep, but I know it's not. Then when I wake up I just feel tired and guilty for missing my morning run, having to rush around or not getting my usual morning snuggles and Sesame Street time in with Maddie. It was starting to get out of control, so with my first marathon only a month and a half away and ...

It is kind of ironic to type the title of this blog when I am amidst one of those weeks where I alternate from not being able to believe that it is already Thursday to not being able to believe that it is only Thursday. This is what happens when everyone goes on vacation and leaves you in charge while you are simultaneously fighting a (finally winning) battle with a head cold. The goods news is that I have some free time to blog and my sense of smell and taste are coming back. Woohoo! Last weekend was the first time in six weeks that we haven't been to the beach. We pretty much meant to go, but then the sniffles came, the long runs for marathon training had to be done and the weather just wasn't that nice. I guess this truly means that summer is coming to a close. Dang. I did enjoy that three hour nap with the tot though, even if it wasn't in the sand. It has been a lot of years since I have been going "back to school" in the fall, but I always feel the symbol...

Hey guys! I've been a little quiet on the interwebs this week because my Mom is in town and we have been so busy having fun and spending all the time we can together in the short time that we get to be together. Mom is taking care of Maddie while our nanny is having a well-deserved week off, allowing Matty and I to save our vacation days and Mom to have some solo bonding time with the tot. I am a little jealous of all the fun those two are having, but it is so good for them to have this time and to create these memories, and I got to come home to homemade spaghetti Tuesday and get go browse Target after work tonight, so I still get a lot of the bonus of having Mom here. Not to mention the fact that Mom took me shopping on Newbury Street while the tot was kind enough to snooze the whole time. I so rarely spend money on myself these days, so it was darn nice to be spoiled (thanks Mommy!). I cannot even imagine how different our lives would be if we lived in the same state, or eve...

Hey guys! Just in case you were wondering, we did indeed return from Martha's Vineyard. We thought about turning and running when our home bound ferry came for us, but we needed to get the cat some food and I didn't bring enough outfits for proper island life to continue. So, here we are, back in the thick of it. We returned from MV super late Saturday night, slept in and had a fairly normal day of church and errands and cleaning on Sunday until nap time. Then, shit got real. I had put Maddie down and, although she was awake, I left her in her crib to get herself asleep, which she has actually been able to do the past 5 months or so. Matty and I were sitting on the couch, basking in all our upcoming free minutes when we heard it: THUMP. BANG BANG. Say, what? The kiddo had escaped her crib. Houdini was officially, unequivocally, a toddler and our few months of finally getting to sleep through the night were OVER. Sigh. So since then it has been a couple weeks ...

Hi there! Just checking in from Martha's Vineyard where we are amidst our annual family vacation. It's just us three and my sis-in-law, her hubs and my sweet niece, which is less family than the past few years, but still plenty awesome.  We've been spending our days at the beach, strolling through the little towns on the island and eating grilled things outside for dinner each night. The weather has been agreeable though a little too hot for a cottage with no AC and too much leather furniture (yuck) but I'm tan and wearing flip flops all the time, so I'll take it.  Maddie has been enjoying the beach so much; she absolutely loves being in the water and will happily stay in until we have to drag her and her blue lips out. She hasn't been sleeping as well as she usually does while we are on vacation; a strong refusal to take a regular nap without some serious work has been the pattern, but it's so hot and light where her crib is that I can't help to sympath...

Celebrating Independence Day in Style! Oh, sneaky day between the 4th of July and going on vacation, you are really messing with me! Here I am at work (well, physically anyway) getting ready for our annual week on the Vineyard with my SIL, BIL and my sweet niece. I am beyond excited to have a week to rest, be on the beach, take naps, read books and spend as much time as possible with my lovely little family. Maddie has turned into such a water baby - she is so happy just playing at the sink, splashing water and making a big, ol' wet mess. I cannot wait to hang out on the beach with her and watch her run around in the sand on those adorable little toddler legs. The past few weeks have been rough at work, produced one heck of a mean summer cold, and left me feeling as ready as can be to get out of the city and onto a beach chair. It has been hot as can be in Boston these past few days, and while I do love that it is no longer raining, a more gradual switch than a heat wave wou...

Fish at the pediatrician's office! We need some of these. No, not the Beatle's song, though I do like that song, especially as it relates to a cute story about my husband and his father's awesome storytelling that resulted in little Matt O'Shea explaining that England has 8 days in a week due to Greenwich Mean Time. Ah, I cannot wait for Maddie to start being fooled by her Papa's elaborate stories. I want eight days a week because seven is just not enough anymore - not even close, actually. Between work time, family time, personal time, friend time and the most overlooked, sleep time I just really want one more day to have time to do more of it (especially that last one). A typical weekday has me up at 5am and out the door for a run, back to hang out with Maddie and have breakfast and play and watch Sesame Street, then it is off to work while Maddie and her nanny go on awesome adventures. I get home, we cook and play and dance and have tubbie time, sometime...