Wednesday Loveliness

I'm linking up with Jamie for WILW.

My little Bubba Gump joined the "Two Bite Club" at school. I asked him what new food he tried and he said, "Not cheese!" He is on a spaghetti kick right now. Our main battle every night is to get him to sit at the table with us and eat his food. And to wear pants when we have company.



Chris' grandma, Betty, passed away in December. She had a ton of glass chicken dishes that I loved. My in-laws packed them up and sent them down to my house. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate knick-knacks {how the heck do you spell something that sounds like a tap dance?}, but I love these little bowls.



Girlfriend has some hair! If I do not comb it straight down, it dries with a poof like the top corner picture. I don't like putting big bows in her hair, but I did buy some little barrettes that are so tiny, they look like they were made for Barbie.



Do you ever see people at the zoo that walk their kid on a leash {or excuse me, a glorified monkey backpack with a tail}?

I can't do it.

I WANT to do it... because it would be easier and less stressful, but I can't go there.

I've been panicking about what we are going to do at Disney since I know Haven will want to walk a lot of the parks. Then I was browsing ETSY one day and found these. They are just little padded bracelets that the parent and child both wear, with 36 inches between them so that they don't get separated. I ordered two in a Toy Story fabric for Haven and my nephew.



Parenthood season finale last night?! No one tell me how awesome it was, because I'm an old hag and went to sleep at 8pm.

Oh... and all of the premium edits on PICNIK are fee right now. They are going to Google+ in April, so use them up. :)

Happy Wednesday! Tootles.

Haven's Robot Party

We had Haven's 3rd birthday party this weekend. It was a beautiful day in St. Louis yesterday, in the 60's, so I made a spread of food and sent the kids to the backyard to play.



He was so excited about every present he opened. He officially has every toy that Pixar creates for Toy Story. :)

The clothes? Not so much... He just tossed those to the side and started opening the next gift like a little savage. Mommy appreciates the clothes, though!



My brother was, errr, kind enough to open every toy, assemble it and load it with batteries.







Of course, our little tradition had to continue. I found this robot cake on Betty Crocker's website. His head crumbled apart during the crumb coat, but Haven still had fun helping me decorate it. I ended up having to put a child lock on the fridge to keep him from slipping his finger across the cake, eating the frosting and candy.



Hopefully pinterest will be more kind to this cake. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Glave!

Happy Birthday, to our little bubba, Haven.

You are all ball of sunshine and stubborness.

A wave of giggles and orneriness.

A beam of God and a little monster.

And we could not love you more.

Safety First

It’s almost Haven’s birthday party, which means cleaning gets bumped up a notch at the house of Stanfield. My general strategy is to not have man things like tools, or in this instance a ladder, and think that it will get me a few more precious seconds in front of the tv. Sorry if I’m a delicate intellectual type with an amazing body, that’s just me.

However, my plan usually backfires and I have to MacGyver household items to complete my chore. Tonight the adventure was cleaning the outside windows, without a ladder. I can only imagine the horror of people who would come to Haven’s party and see that the outside windows had been rained on. “What! Water spots on the windows?!?! We are leaving this party!” I won’t even mention the embarrassment of them finding out that we had a rug on the back porch that was… supposed to be an inside rug… we are the Clampets.

I go out with the tallest thing we have. A chair from the butcher block table. This gets me a few feet off the ground but I need to go higher. I check in the shed and the only other flat thing we have is a cooler. Perfect. It will be extremely slippery and dangerous.



I climb to my near death and wash the windows. My wife is quick to point out that one window looks terrible as I am clutching vinyl siding for dear life. I finally get done and then notice that the rods that connect the legs of the chair are out of their holes. The chair could have collapsed at any minute… safety first.

In my defense, I had no idea Chris was outside standing on a cooler on top of a chair. I couldn't tell from my view on the couch. Thanks, Pumpkin! :)

People Pinning Your Blog to Pinterest

This morning, Natasha posted how you could find what people take from your blog and post to Pinterest.

This got me curious because when I check my pages and posts view in my STATS, I have about 20-30 people everyday that look at Haven's Mr. Potato Head Party or the Mario cupcakes that I made once.



All you need to do to check if your blog has any pins is to go to:
www.pinterest.com/source/insert the name of your blog.com
(example: www.pinterest.com/source/thestanfieldclan.com)

Anyway... I go to my source page and I see four of my images that have been repinned... and I feel freaking famous... but only for about two seconds.

Why?

Because some lady that re-pinned the Mr. Potato Head cake that I made for Haven commented, "Cute if I was done a little less sloppily." Sloppily?!

Ouch.



It was for a two year old... not a Cake Boss episode. And after mixing Cool Whip with chocolate frosting to get the color right, the texture wasn't great for a frosting knife to smooth.

And it was from the heart... even though my little Bubba just wanted a cupcake like the rest of his guest.

Anyway, I am making him a robot cake for his 3rd birthday this weekend. Hopefully, pinterest will be more kind to me. Ha.

Happy Wednesday! I'm off to buy new sheets for our bed... Haven had a stomach ache in the middle of the night on my good sheets, so I rolled them up and tossed them. Good excuse to go shoppin'.

Moles / My Wenis / Disney Questions / Words I Misspell

Welcome to a five minute dialogue of randomness

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Last spring, I noticed a bump on my lower leg. I thought it was an ingrown hair, but after picking at it {and almost bleeding to death}, I realized it was a mole. I haven't really thought a lot about it... except for when Haven and I lay down together, he tries to scratch it with his toe nails. The child is a basket case.

Anyway, within the last few weeks, it's been itchy and has become really hard. After a little googling and wiki browsing, I have diagnosed myself with cancer. I go to the doctor on Monday. Chris is probably already looking for a new wife. Ha. :)



{Anyone ever have one of these removed?}

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But back to Haven.... my weird, little child. I posted once about how he needs to "pinch" me every night... or anyone for that matter. When he gets really tired, he likes to pinch the extra skin on the top of my hand. His favorite is my elbow. Then, Sarah told me the extra skin on my elbow is called my wenis. Oh great, my son likes to pick/rub my wenis to relax when he is tired. Now we are both basket cases! The only thing that is giving me a little hope that this isn't the weirdest thing in the world, is that my friend Betsy said her fiancé does the same thing to her. He did it to his mom growing up to show her that he loved her. So, Haven must love me a lot, right?

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We're going to Disney in May. The whole family is flying and we're renting a van when we get to the Orlando airport. I was hoping that we could all do carry-ons, to spare Orlando the expense of a jet-lagged three year old at the baggage gates. However, I am thinking we must have to check some stuff. A high school friend who travels a lot with her babies said that TSA allows you to take your stroller all the way to the gate and they allow you to check it there.

I am wondering about car seats... Olive's snaps into her stroller and Haven has a forward facing one. My newphew is in a booster. We check these, right? Or do you think we can check them at the gate with the stroller, so that we don't have to wait for baggage? We have all paid for seat,except for Olive... Maybe they should sit in them on the plane? Do they count as a baggage fee? I've been browsing the TSA and airline site, but haven't found a clear answer. I just don't want to show up at the airport looking like the Beverly Hillbillies.

Any favorite restaurants at Disney or Universal?

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I never spell restaurant correctly the first time.

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Before I went on maternity leave, Chris asked what I was going to do at home all day {since caring for a newborn is a walk in the park and I might get bored}. I told him how I made a list of words that I commonly misspell and that I was going to give myself spelling tests.




I know, I'm nuts.

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Over and out. Happy Tuesday!!

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Post Pregnancy Weight Loss: The first 15 lbs

80% of my blog friends are new moms or young moms that have had kids in the past few years. This statistic is the only reason why I'm not hiding underneath my desk right now.

Emily and I have been emailing each other words of encouragement, but I thought I would share my struggle with you guys too.

Losing weight post-baby is no joke. Forget motivation... Where is the time? Surely something needs to be cleaned, right? Oh, maybe I should take a nap instead.

After having Haven {and gaining almost 70lbs}, I decided to try that whole "lifestyle change." That phrase is just the fancy way of telling everyone that you're on a big fat diet.

Are you wondering how it's possible to gain 70lbs? Well that me tell you. Go from being a vegetarian your whole life to eating Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches from Hot Shots every day. Oh, and dip those sandwiches into mayo. Fatty McFatterson. Every. Day. Because when you don't have kids yet, going out to eat for every meal is as normal and affordable as breathing air.

When Haven was a year old, I was still 30lbs up from where I was pre-baby gargantuan. Just counting my calories and going to the gym took the pounds off. I went for extra 10 because I like to play mind games with myself.

So here I am post-Olive. I gained between 30-35lbs with her. 6 weeks post Olive, I had started gaining weight. How is that possible? I don't know. If I am stuck in a house all day, I cannot control my eating portions. And it was Christmas... and I have the appetite of a teenage boy going through puberty.

Fun fact: My stomach is a bottomless pit.

One more tid bit about me. I am obsessed with before and after pictures. Weight loss, home remodels, recipes, thrift finds, etc.

Which is why I am hooked to checking Mama Laughlin's blog every Monday. She is a little over three months out from having her 2nd baby. Every Monday, she posts her workout recap from the week before and her new weight.

We have the same goal: 135lbs.

So without further rambling... Here is me... In my Biggest-Loser-weigh-in-attire-glory:

6 weeks post Olive: 170.8 lbs





7 weeks post Olive: 160.0 lbs {I did an herbal cleanse to lose the water weight that I was still retaining}





11 weeks post Olive: 155.8 lbs




Are you mortified? Did you know that there could be a white Teletubby?



The first 10 lbs came off in one week. I did a 10 day herbal cleanse, which basically consisted of me eating clean, drinking an ocean of water, and taking some fiber pills. Out with the old...

The last 5 lbs have been a struggle. I may have celebrated the first 10lbs for too long.

What I am eating/doing:

- Going to the gym for one hour right after work. I like to do 30min of cardio, some chit chatting, some tv watching, a few weights, then I end with lunges and crunches.

- Drinking 100oz + of water daily. I have a 20oz cup and I make sure to fill it up at least five times.

- Breakfast: Protein shake {1 scoop of protein powder, a banana, a handful of frozen strawberries, and a cup of 2% milk}

- AM/PM Snacks: cutie oranges, 1/2 Luna bar, walnuts, cottage cheese

- Lunch: Spinach salad with veggie toppings. My favorite dressing right now is Paul Newman's Lite Honey Mustard

- Dinner: {I don't eat meat} My go-to options are: Lentils with green veggies/ steamed brown rice with salsa and avocado/ Sweet potato with cottage cheese and veggies/


I was hesitant to post pictures, but peer review/encouragement is a great way to get the last 20 lbs off. Checking in with Emily has been a big help for me... so why not check in with all of you new moms too?! :)

Happy Monday... I'm off to eat my salad!

Kindness

I started following Megan's blog almost two years ago. She left someone a sweet comment so I clicked on her name and was directed to her blog. That day, she made cupcakes with some kind of cookie frosting after school for her daughter and son.

Over the course of that first year of me following her blog, I was always so inspired by her quotes and uplifting messages.

Then, the winter before last, her and her family packed up and moved to an island across the world. She would post about her struggles, the simple things in life we often overlook, her good days, her bad days, and even her home schooling adventures.

When I was going through a lot of stress trying to sell our last house, she sent words of encouragement on a daily basis. I am so thankful for her. Her positivity. Her charm. Her weekly messages of finding pleasures in the simple things in our daily lives. And her pictures... they are probably my favorite. She can make a grocery list look artsy and beautiful.

In December, the same week Olive was born, her husband's work obligation on the island was over and her family returned to Texas. She emailed me one day asking for my address. And yesterday this arrived {in super cute wrapping paper, of course}.



I may have never met her in person, but Megan is a dear friend to me.



Chris- "Who sent the package?"
Me- "Megan from Living the Dream!! Isn't that so nice of her?!"
Chris- "Island Megan?"
Me- "Yep!"



Thanks for the goodies, "Island Megan"!



Happy Thursday, everyone. :)



via pinterest

Valentine's Day Stanfield Style

Chris and I have been sending each other links for Valentine's Day ideas for awhile now. Actually, as I was typing that, I realized that I was the only person sending the links.

Overpriced black flats
Teeth whitening kit
Hooded zip up

Boring stuff.

Then yesterday, I decided it was time for me to have a movie star smile, so I ordered the whitening kit.

I texted Chris and said "Let's just do a cheap swap. We don't need anything really." Well, I didn't need anything because I have an online shopping problem. Most days, during meetings, I will throw a bunch of goodies in my cart... and then last minute, "x" out the page. This usually solves the problem and satisfies whatever weirdo need I have to fill my shopping cart to the virtual max. Unless I get an online coupon. Oh, and you have 20% off if I enter this special code? Take all of my money, please.

Anyhooo... We had some snow coming down in St. Louis yesterday. Chris' school dismissed early for the weather and I decided we should pick up the kids early. I stopped by the mall on my way home, figuring I would grab Chris some work clothes since he got hired FOR A NEW JOB this week {which means more money, which means Holly adding more stuff inside her virtual shopping cart}. So I'm in the Gap, I have picked him out some work khakis {and I sweater for myself}, and I take the goods up to the register. Then all of a sudden... in walks Mr. Stanfield... BUSTED.

He was at the mall shopping for maaa-waaa.

I asked him if I got the right size and he said I did but he already had those pants. Oh, that's fine... I'll just take the sweater for myself.

We walked around the mall together, without kids,{which is pretty much like being in Paradise Cove} and decided that we didn't need to buy each other anything for Valentine's Day.

When I got ready to leave for work this morning, I noticed that he had started my car-- which is really thoughful because:

1. I need to be out the door by 5:45am and he doesn't need to leave until after 7am.
2. I have this terrible fear of being kidnapped while walking out to my car in the morning, so I usually make him stand at the door and watch me leave. Today, I knew he already scared away the kidnapper by cleaning off my car and warming it up.
3. He left me some mini Reese's cups on my passenger seat.

And to end my little story... Here is a picture of Olive Betty dressed up in her Valentine's Day outfit. Little blurry since she is a wiggle worm in the morning.

Valentine's Day Card-- Working Mom Style

I was browsing pinterest last month and found this Valentine.

It might be first child syndrome... or the fact that Haven is indeed my first child, but I want him to have the cutest Valentine's in class. When you can't always be a room mother, you tend to go overboard to let the real room mother's know that you're not an absent working mom.

Do you think I should see someone for these issues?

Anyway, trying to get a picture of Haven smiling with his fist in the air nearly turned me into a pageant mom. The women on Toddler's and Tiara's had nothing on me and my "coaching."

We even started "practicing."

This photo was weeks in the making. One night after a spaghetti dinner, I decided that we should practice again.

Go figure the only good photo of him doing the pose is the one of him covered in pasta sauce.

It would also be our luck that we missed "Hair Cut Day" at school and Haven was taken to Fantastic Sams {which isn't so fantastic} on a whim for a $14.95 haircut-- that is not at all even or flattering. It looks like Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber with Haven finishing off the last two cuts on his own.

Oh well. I know I am not the only one with this problem. And he is still my perfect little butter ball either way.

So this is how we did it:

1. Bribe your child with cookies, candy, and endless hours of the God awful Wonder Pets in order to get him to smile while raising his fist.

2. Print out the photo-- Walmart had Valentine's Day greetings for .28cents/each, so to go above and beyond a little more, I upgraded.

3. Puncture a small hole in the hand of your child.



4. Pop a sucker through that hole...

5. And then just tape the back so the sucker doesn't move...



Waaa-freaking-Laaa, room moms!



Ok... I'm glad I got all of this off my chest. :)

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Allyce to list random facts and answer some questions.

Continue reading at your own risk. These are 10 boring minutes you will never get back. :)

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1. I have always slept closest to the wall. I still do so that if a burglar invades our house, they will attack Chris before they attack me.

2. I wake Chris up at least once every night because I think a burglar has invaded our place.

3. Contrary to popular belief, I have never been robbed... so I'm not for sure where this fear of burglars comes from.

4. Growing up, we were never allowed to leave dirty dishes in the sink. Now when I am at someone's house and they have dishes in the sink, I instantly judge them as being lazy. I'm a terrible person.

5. I was once temporarily detained by airport security for carrying my two dead birds in my carry-on luggage on my way to San Diego with a college friend. The birds had died the week before and I wanted to give them proper burial.

6. I've met President Bill Clinton once and President Obama twice (when he was a US Senator).









7. I once called 911 on my little sister when she was puking in the bathtub. She was totally fine but I was hoping to be on the show... I didn't know the show, Rescue 911, was reenacted until a few years later.

8. I've been in the OPRAH Show audience twice. Once for her reality show, Oprah's Big Give... and once on a Friday live show with Chris Rock and Ben Stiller.

9. I am obsessed with looking at the before and after weight loss pictures.

10. In college, I was 17th in the nation of Verizon customers for Tetris. My relationship with school and my friends suffered and I had to delete it off my phone. I am still afraid I might relapse someday.

11. When I go to a fast food restaurant, I always order a cheeseburger without the meat (but keep the cheese!) and then I put french fries on the bun and eat it that way. I know how outrageous it is but I still get seriously offended when the employee makes a big deal about my order or they mess it up.

12. Christmas ornaments and Little Debbie cakes are my love languages.

Allyce's Questions for Me:


1. Why did you start your blog?
Meg. I found her blog and in three days, went back and read every post she ever wrote. Then I started my own; but I still like reading them more than I like writing my own.

2. Who is your biggest blog crush and why?
I can't name just one, but what I love the most about my husband is that he tries to get into whatever I am into, like Perez Hilton, blogging, Pioneer Woman, etc. During the most random moments, he will bring up Mama Laughlin... Like, "Did you see on Mama Laughlin's blog...blah blah blah." So even though I might not be able to name a blog crush, I know my husband has one. :)

3. What is your favorite go-to meal to cook and where did you learn it?
I don't eat meat, but I make Chris BBQ chicken a lot, but just popping it in the oven and making homemade BBQ sauce. We make tacos a lot, too. But I don't have a famous go-to recipe.

4. Where is your favorite vacation spot you have been and who were you with?
Chris and I went to Miami for our one year wedding anniversary. On the first day there, we had too many margaritas {I fell in the ocean and couldn't get up-- imagine that visual}. When we got back up to the room, we realized we were so sun burnt. We had to sleep in separate beds the rest of the weekend. Not a great late-honeymoon story.



5. What is your biggest accomplishment over the past five years?
Most people would probably say their children-- and while that is true, I would also say losing weight was a big goal I accomplished {I'm so vain!}. A year after having Haven, I decided it was finally time to lose weight. My goal was to lose 30lbs, but I ended up losing 40lbs. I'm back on that eating plan again since having Olive. When I get to my goal weight, I'll post my progression pictures, displaying the true teletubby I once was...

{Me Feb 2010, 175lbs)


{Me, Dec 2010, 135lbs}


6. What is your opinion on social media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, blogging)--do you love it, hate it, think it's out of control, etc.?
I love blogging and facebook. I don't think the internet was even invented until facebook came along. Ha. But I don't think I'm cool enough to be on Twitter. I don't have any witty one liners; although I do love reading Mark Hoppus' and Blake Shelton's twitter pages.


7. If you had a whole day to yourself, to do anything you wanted, what would you do?
As lame as it sounds, I would deep clean my whole house, while blaring Alanis Morissette or Adele. After the house was clean, I would grab some Jimmy John's (#1, no ham, but add onions and dijon with bbq chips), then come home and watch all of my shows on the couch, in silence.


8. What is a trait about yourself that you are most proud of?
I'm a really good cleaner. Pathetic trait to have? Yes. In my next life, I will be a Professional Organizer... Like one of those people who go into hoarder's homes and clean it top to bottom.


9. What is your husband's favorite meal that you cook?Chili with crescent rolls. Easy man to please.


10. If you could go back and change one thing about your wedding what would it be?
We literally had a wedding with NO money. We had just enough to buy my dress and pay for a dinner. After the wedding, we went to stay at a casino. We parked in the parking garage and opened all of our wedding cards hoping to pull together enough cash to pay for our hotel room.

Ahh the memories. :)

Our wedding could be a whole post in itself. We had a small wedding, just 50 people.
After the wedding, I regretted not having the big, eleborate 4th of July wedding I always wanted. I was pregnant and although we were engaged, we just kind of threw one together in 30 days. But then I was in a big, elaborate wedding... and it was awful. So I'm glad we kept it small and simple.

But really....all that matters is that you don't regret the person you married. And I don't. I got really lucky with Chris. We have had to face a lot of challenges that would tear most couples apart, but we always just keep pushing on... and laughing along the way.




{Way to end it on a heavy note, Holly!}

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And with that... I'd like to tag these nine ladies (no pressure!):
April at Party of Five
Megan at Living the Dream
Jen at Capitol Tales
Amy at The Story of Us
Emily at the Johnson Five
Steph at Buttons and Bows
Alexis at Life's Sweetest Little Blessings
Tots at Just Another Blog
Betsy at Just Checking In

List some random facts about yourself and answer the following questions:
If you could change your first name, what would you be called?
What are you doing for Valentine's Day?
What's your favorite thing to order at Cracker Barrel?
Share a blog that we might not know about...
And post a funny high school picture :)

Tootles!!

Random Happy Things

I dare you to try and read this post and not cry.

It's not possible.

I read this story a few months ago and have been sharing it ever since.

I don't know why I haven't shared it with you all. My friend Amy has a desire to adopt and the other night we were talking about it. I shared with her this story and started crying just telling her about it.

I thought you all would enjoy an ugly-cry as well. :) It's very moving.

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This letter from Heather to her 8 year old daughter. Heather always makes me laugh.

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I want to go to SNAP. I have no desire in life to be a professional blogger or get 10,000 followers, I just want to meet some of my favorite bloggers in real life. I was scrolling down the speaker list and kept getting more excited. If any of you are going or want to go, let me know. Then I will peer-pressure myself into ditching the family for the weekend and soaking up bloggy-goodness.

Or we could skip the conference, go to San Diego, drink margaritas on the beach, and have someone teach us to use our DSLR cameras.

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We booked a trip to Orlando/Disney for May. My sister in law, nephew, and in-laws are all going. We're spending a day at Hollywood Studios at Disney World {where Toy Story and all of the Pixar characters hang out}, then we're going to Universal for a day or two so that my nerdy husband and his mom can drink Butter Beer at the Harry Potter exhibit. :)

Chris and I have only been on one vacation together. We went to Miami for our one year wedding anniversary and stayed at the Trump Resort {amazing!}. It was a late honeymoon... But the first day we were there, we got margaritas at 10am, had too much sun, and were so sun burnt that we had to sleep in separate beds for the rest of our trip. Not really a honeymoon if you know whadd-i-mean. Not that a family trip with the in-laws is going to be a honeymoon, but it will be fun. I have a vision of us, parading around Orlando in neon shirts, visors, and fanny packs. We are the Stanfield's, after all.

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I walked out to my car yesterday... and Chris had left me a happy surprise. {Swoon!}




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This little girl has Justin Timberlake hair, circa 1998, when it's wet. But as soon as I comb it, it lays straight to dry. :)





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That's all the happy randomness that I have for you today.