Author: stefanie

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In mommyhood, the only constant is change

A couple of weeks ago, I was wondering to myself, when did Stella grow up? At almost five years old, it feels that the changes in her are always happening, yet subtle. That’s why I was so amazed by how grown up she seemed in her school photos. It all just snuck up on me.

But when it comes to the little one, these changes keep smacking me in the face each and every day. There’s nothing subtle about Margot.

The time between seven and eight months old brought a lot of major milestones, such as sitting up on her own, saying Mama and Dada, and clapping her hands.

Margot turned 10 months old on November 1st, and for the last week it feels like her development has hit another gear. First, the little gal starting pulling herself up onto her knees in her crib and at the edge of the couch. Then in the last day, she has pulled herself up to standing in her play yard and her crib.

SLOW DOWN, girlfriend! In the last few weeks, crawling finally clicked for her. It never occurred to me that standing and (eek) cruising could be so close behind. Was it like this with Stella? I honestly can’t remember.

Also this past Saturday, Margot finally started to cut her first tooth. It always feels like the appearance of those first few teeth starts the transition from baby to soon-to-be toddler. Pretty soon, she won’t have that cute gummy smile anymore.

This past week has me amazed at how much can change in such a short amount of time. It’s a lesson I learned when Stella was little, but clearly forgot as she got older.

Each month of their first year was an opportunity to pause, reflect on the previous weeks, and make note of all of the changes. But I’ll admit that I’m not always very good as recording these things. The last few months in Margot’s baby book haven’t been filled in, and eventually I’ll refer to her monthly photos on my Instagram to fill in the blanks.

Life’s moving crazy fast lately. I can’t believe I was already thinking of invitations for Margot’s first birthday. Sometimes I try to imagine what she’ll be like when she turns one. Will (more) teeth finally come in? Will she be walking? What new words will she know?

But really, I need to slow down my brain and take it all one day at a time. She’s growing up fast enough as it is.

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Yep, I’m obsessed with The Container Store’s wrapping paper

When I moved to Chicago for grad school almost 10 years ago (woof… where did that decade go?), one of the favorite places my mom and I liked to go when she drove in to visit me was The Container Store. It seems quaint, considering there are two locations in the Metro Detroit area now, but at the time it was always an exciting adventure.

The best discovery we made during a pre-holiday visit to The Container Store was their Gift Wrap Wonderland. That place carries the most beautiful array of Christmas wrapping paper and coordinating accessories I have ever seen. I love that they range from very minimalist to vintage to whimsical to elegant and everything in-between.

Somehow in the last few years, it has finally clicked with me that buying quality paper makes wrapping presents easier and more enjoyable. And buying coordinating paper creates the opportunity to mix and match the paper for presents without them looking like a mixed bag of gift wrap scraps. I have learned from my mom how much presentation of presents makes all the difference. Her gifts are like pieces of art.

Even though I could probably make the trip to visit one of the Michigan locations, I decided to take a look at their wrapping paper online this weekend and I. Am. In. Love. I ended up placing an order for several rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, as well as some rolls that can be used for birthday gifts.

I couldn’t resist the gorgeous green and white Boxwood gift wrap or the whimsical Wild Holiday Animals gift wrap pictured above. I also found the beautiful Green Marrakesh paper that could be used for Christmas gifts or any other occasion.

And this might be my favorite non-Christmas find of the day: DONUT PAPER.

So if you’re ever looking for wrapping paper that takes it up several notches and makes gift giving even more fun, get thee to The Container Store. Or stay on your couch on a gloomy day like I did and go wild on their website!

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Two-ingredient pancakes to make anyone smile

At 10 months old, Margot is well into eating solids, and it’s safe to say she is such a happy eater. Despite not having any teeth yet, she has been enjoying bites of table food as well as her purees for the last several months.

When Stella was first getting into solid foods, I discovered a recipe for quick and easy pancakes in a mommy Facebook group. The best part about them is that they only require two ingredients: banana and eggs. They were a great option for introducing eggs (gotta get that protein in) with the sweetness of the banana, and strangely enough, they basically look and taste like regular pancakes! I also loved having an option for using up an overripe banana that didn’t involve banana bread.

I continued to make them for Stella even as she got older as a healthier and easier alternative to regular pancakes. But now her diet mostly consists of peanut butter sandwiches, applesauce, yogurt, cheese sticks, and bananas, so our little miss picky hasn’t wanted to have anything to do with the pancakes in the last year.

This week I decided to make them for Margot, and it looks like our family is 2 for 2 when it comes to the two-ingredient pancakes!

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Why animated characters make the best Halloween costumes

Happy Halloween! Halloween is one of the best times of the year, and I often spend the other 364 days of the year dreaming up the perfect costumes. Often, I’ve drawn upon pop culture and sentimental favorites for inspiration.

In looking back on some of my favorite Halloween costumes, I noticed a common theme: they were animated characters. And it makes total sense. There’s a creative freedom that comes with taking a cartoon and making it come to life. It often means fun makeup and hair, and searching for or creating clothing pieces that match what the characters  wear.

Most of the costumes I’ve worn below were courtesy of the Salvation Army or my own closet, with little additions here and there (the apples on my Mrs. Felicity Fox costume, for example). Zuzu’s Robin Hood costume was actually a Peter Pan costume from the pet store… who knew their outfits were actually so much alike?

Also, when your friend puts the effort into a homemade Marge wig, you have to dress up as both Simpson daughters to really make it count.

Here are 10 examples of our animated character costumes over the years.

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DIY: Tamatoa Halloween costume

Back in March, Stella announced that she wanted to be Tamatoa for Halloween. I tweeted about it:

And Jemaine Clement, the voice of Tamatoa, even gave his approval:

And months later, that wish became a reality. This was a total DIY effort, with several visits to the craft store, a search for the perfect purple clothes (thanks, Kohls), an Amazon order for purple tights and kitchen mitts, and lots of gold spray paint.

We took Tamatoa out for a spin during MSU Safe Halloween last week, and it was so much fun to see the reaction of parents, kids, and the MSU students alike. Stella got a lot of attention for her costume, and I think that made her feel very special. It made the last month of putting this costume together worth it.

Here’s how it all came to life, in photo form.

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When did Stella grow up?

Thanks to my iPhone and digital camera, it’s safe to say my girls’ lives have been well-documented, from big moments to the most ordinary, day-to-day occurrences. There are many times I’ll scroll back through photos on my phone or marvel at my Facebook memories and see how much the girls have changed already.

But it really hit me when I received Stella’s school photos this week, taken by Allison Davis, a wonderful local photographer and her classmate Fletcher’s mama. Stella has been going to the same adorable preschool since she was two years old, and by next fall she’ll be off to kindergarten. Allison has taken the children’s photos each year.

Seeing the school photos from this year was one thing, but comparing them to the photos from the previous two years made me emotional to say the least. Looking back at when she was two years old, she looks like such a little girl. And this year, she’s looking like a young lady.

In some ways, I can start to imagine how she’ll look in the years to come. It’s becoming less of a mystery as she loses the last bits of baby from her face. Her hair is less wispy, her smile more purposeful.

It makes me really proud and sad all at once — I guess that’s what it’s like being a mom, right?

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How do I put this delicately? I’m addicted to delicata squash

As I’ve gotten older, it has amazed me how many of the foods I love now that I used to absolutely despise. How does this happen??

I used to think cilantro tasted and smelled like dish soap. Now it’s one of my favorite herbs to eat in the summertime. And in the last several years, I’ve grown to love a variety of root vegetables, particularly when they are roasted together.

Which brings me to squash. Years ago, you couldn’t convince me to try it. Now, it doesn’t feel like fall without butternut squash soup, squash in pastas, roasted squash with meat, even squash on salads!

And if you’ve been around me in the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard me talk about my new most favorite: delicata squash. I’m addicted to this beautiful, sweet, and easy-to-work-with ingredient.

Delicata squash and I were introduced by Blue Apron, which has been a culinary yenta for our family when it comes to discovering new and special ingredients.

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Tribute pumpkins: A family tradition

One of my most favorite parts about Halloween is carving pumpkins. For our first Halloween as a married couple in 2009, Zack and I invited his cousin Brian over to carve pumpkins together. That was also the year Michael Jackson died, so I decided to carve a tribute pumpkin in his honor. MJ has been inextricably linked to Halloween ever since “Thriller,” so it seemed seasonably appropriate as well.

For the last eight Halloweens, we’ve kept up the tradition of getting together with Brian to carve pumpkins. And if/when there’s a notable death in the world of pop culture (we had a hundred to choose from in 2016), we’ve made a tribute pumpkin in his or her honor.

In the years since, we’ve had Brian’s partner Rion join us, and last night we were also joined by Zack’s cousins Kenny and Jessi. It has become a really fun holiday tradition with dinner, cupcakes, and a Halloween playlist.

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This ‘Hocus Pocus’ sweatshirt is the thing I didn’t know I needed

It’s obvious to any child of the 90s that the Halloween game was completely changed with the release of “Hocus Pocus.” For the last two-plus decades, this flawless movie from childhood has been so much fun to watch at least a few times in the month of October.

I’m a certified scaredy cat, so this movie is right up my alley for repeated Halloween viewing, along with “Beetlejuice” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Last week, my love for “Hocus Pocus” was brought to an extreme level upon discovering this most perfect “Hocus Pocus” sweatshirt on a Buzzfeed list about fall clothing. How basic am I?!

I immediately ordered one and it arrived this weekend.

Because it has been the most glorious fall weekend in Michigan’s existence, today seemed like a perfect day to wear it. And of course, watch the movie!

Look at these cute little pumpkins on this gorgeous day. Those leaves! The warm sun!

Days like today are definitely not a bunch of hocus pocus, but they sure are magical.

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Cute and easy paper bag pumpkin craft

Hardly a day goes by that Stella isn’t painting, coloring, cutting, taping, gluing, and designing her own mini masterpieces. As someone who grew up going to the summer arts camp offered by the Farmington Hills public schools for six years straight, it is so fun seeing Stella love art.

A couple years ago, she made a paper bag pumpkin at the library, painted orange with jack o’lantern features made out of black construction paper. I brought it out with the Halloween decorations this month, and she talked about wanting to make another one.

Today we made three, for her preschool teachers. And thanks to the package of 100 orange-striped paper bags from the Halloween section at Target, we’ll be able to make 97 more if the mood strikes.

How to make paper bag pumpkins

For this craft, all we needed were old magazines (or newspapers), paper lunch bags, decorative ribbon (or yarn), paints in seasonal colors, a glue stick (not pictured…whoops. Don’t call the Pinterest police on me), and black construction paper.

I helped Stella by cutting out triangle and circle shapes for the nose and eyes, and then jack o’lantern mouth shapes, from the black construction paper. We then glued the shapes into the faces we wanted on the front side of an unopened paper bag.

Then I told Stella to “make snowballs” out of the torn-out magazine pages, which she thought was pretty amusing. We put a few of the paper balls into the paper bags to give them a fuller shape.

I then scrunched the opening of the paper bag together and tied the ribbon at the top.

After that, Stella had fun painting each of the pumpkins her own way.

I feel like these fall on the border between keep-forever kitschy cute and future victims of a KonMari strike, but I love that they were quick and easy to make and saved us (okay, me) from an afternoon of endless “Vampirina” episodes.

It really holds its own with a decorative Pottery Barn pumpkin, don’t ya think?

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