Big Hat No Cattle

That's one of my husband's many popular phrases. I am using it here to demonstrate my inability to stay away from this blog thing even for three days after vowing to do so...

Just wanted to share a bit of wisdom with you. Here goes:

Probably not the best idea in the world to watch the LOST two hour finale right before falling asleep on a night when your husband is gone for the entire night.

I started it at 10:45pm, after seeing him off (a whole other story). I was only going to watch a little bit, enough to satisfy my curiosity and to help my reward for a day of hard work...I thought a way to wind down.. WIND DOWN?? After not being able to stop watching it once I started, it did not have a calming effect at all. Big surprise? I guess I just hadn't thought much about it. Leah, if you are reading, you will be shaking your head at me, I know.

So, then at midnight, I was so wide awake and scared of every noise, that it took an hour of funny late night shows before I fell asleep. The rest was down hill..

1am - fall asleep (not a deep one)

2am - Maisie screaming... gonna let her cry herself back to sleep, since if I go in there, it's a lengthy process back to sleep.

2:15 - Still crying and I am can't not go to her. She's taken off her diaper, probably hours before - thus all bedding sopping wet. Take her to bed with me.

4:15 Ruby crying - go feed her.

4:35 Back to bed and sleep

6:15am - Maisie's natural clock goes off and that's that.

I am fishing for some big huge comments here people! I have the whole day to get thru with lots going on...Prayers for ENERGY!

Milestones

Daphne completed her first year of preschool last week. And although Daphne sang the "ready for kindergarten song" and got her little certificate, she will do preschool again next year. Her b-day is Sept. 7th, so she misses the school cut-off by 6 days. We are all okay with her being the oldest in her class, rather than the very youngest. She is going to be so so ready...but I think it will make her feel really good about herself!

Maisie is doing fantastic at her little school, which she attends just one day a week. She doesn't really have a true milestone to speak of - although I think we are going to try panties next week. So, instead I will share her favorite playtime activity. She spends a good amount of time daily putting all her babies to sleep - each with their own spot and blankie etc. I think it is really sweet and love that it keeps her busy.

Ruby finally is rolling over - at almost 5 months. You'd think I would be less excited about her milestones than I was with the first two babies...NAH, it's just as fun! The big girls are Ruby's biggest cheerleaders too. Side note - I have a hard time keeping them in clothes...oh well!

I have to say that although this blogging has become one of my favorite downtime pastimes since I started in September...it has also taken the place of the good ole fashioned film developing, putting pics in albums etc. I have not put one picture in Ruby's baby book yet. So I am signing off until I get caught up there. Since I love blogging, I am hoping to get my ducks in a row fast and get back to ya'll.

Love,
Stef

When Everything Comes Together

On Mother's Day, my birthday, everything came together to make a fun photo shoot...

A. In January, Mike and Pam, brought Daphne, Maisie and I home a wonderful gift - coordinating spring/summer dresses - treasures they picked up in sunny Hawaii.

B. I hung my dress up on the wall next to my treadmill and got in around 20 workouts in a

month and a half. The countdown to the day Pam wanted us to wear our dresses finally got me motivated. I lost 10 lbs - enough to make me feel better about myself.

C. The day before my b-day, I went to Nordstroms and found a sweet little white sweater to cover my arms a little and the perfect shoes to match.

D. Sunshine on my special day.

E. What else? My very talented sister - a photographer my nature...Becca Laine!

F. Oh, and duh! My sweet daughters, who at their age, of course need no exercise or even sunshine to light up any picture!

(now I guess I better hang my swimsuit next to my treadmill, but I have a feeling that's going to take a LOT more workouts and motivation than the whole dress thing!)

Beside Still Waters

This weekend, my sister-in-law, Becca and my cousin-in-law, Jill and I escaped for a weekend away at my family's little cabin at the coast. It's only a tiny little fishing cabin, in and of itself not worth much...but its value is all tied up in its location and the memories made inside its walls over many years.

I've been able to bring Jill and Becca here for 5 years in a row to celebrate my birthday. We look forward to every one of our rituals...chatting away on the ride there, watching movies our husbands would roll their eyes over, enjoying the few but very tasty restaurants available, shopping at our favorite store there, and eating sweets in all the down moments. And of course just savoring the view out the window and our bit of hard earned freedom. We did bring along Ruby and Josh, our nursing babes...but that's okay, because we hardly ever just get to love on them like we did with our first babies.

This year, Becca was called home very early in our trip to tend to a sick little one. It was an easy decision of course, as there is no where she wanted to be, but holding her little boy and making sure he got better. The day got even worse when her Jack Russel Terrier got ran over by a car that evening and rushed to the hospital. Fortunately Jabe, her son is doing fine and her dog is home and on the mend too. But, poor Becca, she definitely didn't get the rest she was looking forward to this weekend.

Blessed as we are with husbands that support our little tradition and that this little cabin is available to us FREE, we plan on doing this again next year and the next and the next. I'm so thankful that my family shares this little getaway with each other and that no matter what stage of life we are in, we always can have a beach retreat.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures Becca shot of our little "Woods Cabin" the night before she had to leave us.

I was born on Mother's Day...May 11, 1977.

Years ago, my mom wrote this in my baby book. I've read this so many times in my life and when people say, "speak life into your children"...I know that my mom was doing this for me from the get go.

(It's hard to read here, so here's my favorite part: 'I knew she would be a remarkably bright and aggressively keen young lady. I nursed her while we waited and she took time from her busy day to look me straight in the eye, as if to see who her mother was at last. I hope she was reassured - I know with that one glance from my new daughter, I could be secure in the knowledge that she knew me as mother and that we would always have a special bond.'

Years later, she is still speaking life into me. She always takes the time to tell me how she loves me and encourages me like no other person. She builds me up and has a gentle way of teaching me even now. Here is my birthday card that she gave me today, 31 years after she wrote in my baby book: (It amazes me that today in this card she used some of the same words like "bond", that she used back then and she wasn't copying from my baby book, since it is in my possession now.) Just a testiment that a mother never forgets those first moments with their babies....

Stefanie's Favorite Things

I've had this idea cooking for a long time...my own version of Oprah's Favorite Things for the mom's group I lead at my church. And what better week than this one, since my birthday and Mother's Day are on Sunday?!!!

Just thought ya'll would enjoy seeing some fun products and maybe gaining one for your list of favorites. The following are most of the items shared today. Each mom got to take home a baggy of some samples too (the inexpensive stuff of course...) And we savored my favorite dessert - strawberry shortcake - at the close of the show.


Hope you enjoy!



Conair "noise machine" (found in pharmacy section at Walmart for around $15)



Jack Black Products are Mike's favorite - found at Nordstroms! Father's Day?



My favorite illustrator of all time - Eloise Wilkin. Beautiful stories and pictures...



Best paper towels out there! Have really sweet designs too.



My favorite diet soda - a Safeway staple!

Sugar free and 60 calories w/out milk - 6 lattes for the price of one at Starbucks!



Anyone that knows me well can name my favorite candy - Swedish fish!!!!! (red is best)



Praise Baby dvd's. My friend Angela got me hooked on them via my sis-in-law a couple years ago. Best nighttime, winding down time, children praising GOD time, 30 minutes ever!!



The BOZ series...good learning tools, Christian messages, fun characters. MOPS product.




All time favorite pajamas for infants are found at Children's Place. Three for 25 bucks. Zipper feature great for tired mommies and impatient daddies. Also a wonderful "extra outfit" for the diaper bag since it doesn't require a onesie or socks.

Thank You

Thank you:

Angela

Leslie

Lindsay

Sharon

Jill

This week has been a hard one - and you don't even know how much your comments on my last post brightened my life.

Just that you all GET IT ~ now, that's huge! Especially to Leslie, because you made it seem like you are experiencing a bit of the easier life now and that you called me "friend" ~ it was like you were hugging me thru this computer! Just remembering that "this too shall pass" is a blessing.

Thanks for taking the time to comment to me!