Hi, My Name is Staci

And I used to blog regularly.

But seriously, school started and it's like my brain has turned to much and I am incapable of putting words together coherently to resemble anything close to noteworthy. So here's a brief update...with hopefully more to come after I recover from the start of another new year.

Me??: Biggest news yet...I am about to hand in my Master's paper. FOREVER! I am doing the final revisions and will be walking across the stage in December as a Panther grad again. I am beyond elated to have this off my plate. Changing jobs and having a baby put a serious cramp in my school work. I had to start my research all over and pick a whole new topic. Not a top priority with a newborn in the house.

Doug??: Football....teaching....football....throwing out his back....football. See a common thread here? Football dominates his time and when he isn't there he's trying to soak up time with his amazingly beautiful, wonderful wife. And by wife I mean adorable daughter. Which leads us to...

Jani!!: This child is a 22 month old ball of spitfire. 22 MONTHS! Two years ago I was ticking the weeks off until she would arrive. Now I'm trying to slow time down as much as I can. She talks nonstop, loves football, runs everywhere, adores Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa, and loves to color. She is really into drawing right now. I'm amazed at what she actually can draw beyond scribbling. She is a master at drawing balloons and loves making anyone around her write names on paper. We had a wonderful summer just watching her soak up her world.

So I will try harder to give some more updates...like about our zoo trips, our home improvements, and our transition back into a daily schedule....after I get these paper edits done :)

Wordless Wednesday

Iowa Summer in One Picture

Happy Day Mommy!

I heard this all day today. I woke up to it...I heard it while I showered...I had it whispered in my ear at bedtime. Jani loves birthdays. She hasn't quite wrapped her head around what that is but she loves a party. She doesn't say Happy Birthday. She prefers to shout "HAPPY DAY!" at the top of her lungs.

I am officially 29. Hard to believe when I really sit and think about it. I can still vividly remember a number of birthdays. 13...16...18...21...25. Each memorable in their own unique way. I was surrounded by different people at each of them and fondly remember the place I was in during each stage of my life. Sometimes thinking about being alive for 29 years blows my mind. It seems like such a long time. I feel like I was just in high school. To look at my life now, I just wonder how time flies by so quickly. I'd love to be able to post a picture of my day but the camera never even made it out of the bag. We worked on the patio and then sat on the patio and admired the work :) Busy day. I feel like I blinked and it was gone.

But here's to my 29th year. May it be filled with happiness, love, friendship, and family. I am a blessed girl.

Explosive

This word thoroughly describes my daughter's diaper at supper this evening. My hubby and I went out for a nice relaxing dinner with some good friends. As we are about to leave the restaurant, Doug lifts Jani onto his back. No more than 5 seconds later, another friend points at his back. Poop. And lots of it. Streaming down his shirt, her legs, into her shoes, and all over the floor. I grab Jani as fast as I can and attempt to go into Supermom mode. I hate big kid poop. I rush her to the bathroom. Which brings me to a very important debate I just had with my husband....

When we got into the bathroom there were 3 stalls. Two regular and a handicapped. The changing table was of course in the handicapped stall....as most changing tables are. I was desperate to get to the changing table and, lo and behold, someone was in that stall. The other two stalls were completely open...but that one had to be occupied. So we stood there. Poop dripping down my child's leg, tears streaming down her face, and me, totally panicked, just wanting to clean her up and calm her down. And we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, the door opened and a girl, about 10 years old, comes walking out. Most definitely not handicapped nor did she have a child that needed changing on the changing table. So now here's the debate...

Upon entering a bathroom do you automatically go to the handicapped stall simply because there is more room or do you stop to see if other stalls are available first, and if so, choose one of them? I argued that if other stalls are available, it's courteous to choose one ESPECIALLY if the changing table is in the handicapped stall. Doug disagreed and said you should take the roomy one and look out for yourself. Now, I know there are special circumstances. When I was ginormously pregnant, I used the handicapped stall. I most definitely needed the hand rails and the extra turning space.

So what do you think? Use it...or be courteous?

Secret Garden

This post feels like just yesterday. Jani was just crawling, barely saying anything, and could be entertained by a simple toy. The girl we attempted to take on the Garden Tour yesterday was very much NOT this child :) Yesterday was hot. The kind of hot that tries to suffocate you. You feel it when you walk outside and sweat instantly. This type of weather makes for a very uncomfortable walk through sweltering oasis's. But we had fun...as we always do. We had our typical Panera lunch and headed out. Jani really did have a great time and would have preferred us to just let her run amok. This is typically frowned upon :) Here are a few shots...

And here is how she ended the day....a laugh a minute this one :)