A snow day...

Yesterday was a snow day for me. There was no school, therefore, no work! I love snow days, especially when Frank is off too. We get to spend the whole day together, and now we have a beautiful daughter to spend it with. She really makes it the most fun. She is always doing something new and funny, and being home all day, i get to capture it on photo and on video!



Sometimes she gets very camera shy, and she has learned to "sniff" out the camera no matter where you hide it at. I've tried hiding it behind pillows, way far to each side, below her, abover her, even behind me! Nope, she always finds it and stares at it, and she doesn't like to smile for the camera for some reason. Does this mean i don't have a model on my hands?

Laughter lives Tuesday...

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.


Today's edition of laughter lives tuesday comes brought to you courtesy of Madylinn and Frank. It all went down on Saturday night. All three of us were in the living room downstairs. We noticed that Mady's diaper was a little ripe, and she needed a change. We all moved into the computer room to change her...and yes, sometimes it's a team effort with us. Frank opened up her diaper and she had pooped pretty good, and she wasn't done. If you think you know where THIS is going, i think you'll be a bit surprised. He waited until he thought she was done pooping, and, with wipe in hand, he went in for the wipe. He got 1 wipe in and then it happened...she wasn't completely done pooping after all, but she had to fart too! It was kind of like a cannon. It's hard for me to say exactly what the scene looked like immediately after that moment, or for the next few minutes for that matter, because i was on the floor laughing so hard my eyes were watering. That was our first explosion, and i'm sure it won't be our last.

Congrats Maria and Joe!!

So i have a baby story to end all baby stories, at least in my sheltered little world it does. This is how the story happened, according to the people involved. None of the names have been changed to protect their identity. This is a true story...lol

My friend Maria is 36 weeks 6 days pregnant, which means no baby for 22 more days...or so we thought. Sunday morning at 5am, Maria woke up. She felt, what she thought at the time, was a mucus plug or clot or something (those of you who are mothers will know what we are talking about and be less grossed out than the other people reading this blog). When she went to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, her water broke. Maria was home alone at the time because her hubby was at drill in Lehighton. She called her sister Gina to take her to the hospital. While Maria was getting ready to go, Gina got on the phone to call Joe and let him know what was happening. Joe's sgt answered the phone and proceeded to tell her that he could not put Joe on the phone...military protocol. "Fine" Gina said, "Just tell him that his wife's water broke and she is having the baby". Of course, that was a different story, and they put Joe on the phone. He said to let him know what to do and call him back when they figure it out. Well, Gina called back on the way to the hospital and the sgt again said he could put Joe on the phone again. This time Joe wasn't there. Here is where the story gets better. Joe and his military buddies had gone out drinking the night before, and they had gotten home a bit after 2am. Joe must have been pretty drunk, because (according to him), he slipped on the ice. He had to crawl to bed because he couldn't put weight on his leg. When they woke him up for the first phone call, he realized that his leg hurt like h*ll and he should probably get it looked at. Well, in between calls, they assessed that his leg was broken, and they were transporting him to the hospital to get it casted. He just so happened to be going to the same hospital that Maria was on her way to. The sgt told Gina about all of this and said Joe would be there when Maria arrived. Seriously, does that really happen?! So Maria got there and got set up, but didn't get to see Joe, she just got to talk to him on the phone. Well, she was stalled at 1cm for about 7-8 hrs. Here is where the story gets really good. Near the end of this time, she was informed that Joe was going into surgery to get plates and screws put into his leg. Who knew the brake was that bad! And what luck for Maria, to be going through this without her hubby. She had to put her sister's name on the paper for people allowed in the delivery room, just in case Joe wouldn't be out in time. They said he should be in surgery for about an hour, then in recovery for about 1-2 hours. Luckily, Maria made it until Joe was out. They brought a bed up to the labor room, and at 4:45pm, Octavia Christine Templin was born. Joe got to hold the baby at first, then when they took her to clean her up and test her and all, they took Joe away. He would be gone all night. Needless to say, both he and Maria were pissed. I would be too! Joe's nurse told him he could call Maria. If you know Joe at all, you would know that that didn't fly well with him. He was his usual sarcastic self. I'm surprised he didn't make a break for it and come up to her room on his own. They finally let him back to see his daughter this morning at 11am. Nothing like almost 24 hours until you can see your baby. His leg is casted, and he has to keep it elevated. The final kicker to this story is that Maria will be discharged Tuesday afternoon, and Joe will be in the hospital, most likely, until wednesday at the earliest. What a story to tell your baby about her birthday.

Not Me! Monday...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Here is my weekly dose of the Not Me! Monday's. I'm going to keep it short because i plan to post another post, and i'm sure you don't want to be on here forever reading things.

* I most certainly DID NOT laugh until i was ready to pee in my pants when Mady had her "cannon explosion"...for more details about this, read my laughter lives post tomorrow.

* I definately DID NOT order Mady a bunch of clothes for next winter already. Seriously, even though they were on sale, i would be nuts to order clothes that far in advance, not knowing what size she would be by then

* We most certainly DID NOT go out and buy ourselves 2, yes count them 2, iPod touch's this weekend. Why would we need 2? That would just be a waste of money, and i don't waste money anymore.

* I definately DID NOT walk out the door to go to work and forget my keys. My life is so care free, why would i ever let something slip my mind?

*~The following is Frank's addition to the post~

We most certainly DID NOT take our baby to visit my friend in the hospital, who just so happened to have her own baby just yesterday...Frank thinks this was wrong of us. He compared it to someone proposing to their girlfriend at someone elses wedding. I personally don't think it's bad, but like i said, this was his addition to the post, so i let him go with it.

My Week in 3 words...

Gimme a break




I've decided to make Saturday's my official "My week in 3 words" day, just like they do on Good Morning America on Saturdays. So from now on, you will get to enjoy my week in 3 words and a photo...and probably 200 or more words to explain my week in 3 words, lol.

This has been an exceptionally long week for me, work wise. Having to work a saturday is no fun, especially when you work from 7am to 5pm. To top it all off, i was at a wrestling tourney. Now, this would be ok if it were my varsity boys, or even that i would just have to take care of ONLY my boys, no matter the age. But this was our junior high tourney, so i had to take care of 12 teams worth of little wrestlers. Everyone was bleeding, or swearing that their ____ (fill in this blank with your preferred body part, they all applied today) was broken and completely immobile. And to top all that of (yes, it gets better), there was a group of 5-9 year olds running around that i always seem to have to watch out for. I've made it a point to not look out for other peoples kids, as i always get stuck doing this and end of missing something important. I just had to basically stand guard at a door to make sure they didn't go inside where they weren't allowed. Why do some kids refuse to listen and curse at adults and throw a tantrum? Where were their parents? Did their parents ever tell them not to do those things? I still don't know where the parents are, or if they even knew their kids were missing.

To buy or not to buy...

So Frank and I have been debating back and forth for a few days now. Should we or shouldn't we. It's all over the Bumbo. Yes, you heard me correctly, the Bumbo. A foamy plastic seat for Mady, and it's causing all this question. We don't know if we should buy it or not. Some people say their babies have used it once or twice and then, kind of, rocked themselves out of it...and others say their babies love it. I don't know what to do. Maybe if she were a month younger, i would be all over this. But at this point, she is almost...and i say almost carefully here...almost sitting up on her own. She just wobbles a bit side to side. I don't know...she's gone this long without one. I am giving myself until this weekend to make a decision. That's when we do our grocery shopping, and that's when i'm either going to buy it or not, at least that's what i'm saying now, until this weekend comes and i haven't decided and i want more time.

Laughter Lives Tuesday...

I've become pretty dull apparently, because i've resorted to doing all these "day" things to fill space. Well, actually i do it because it's so fun, and it's even funnier to read, so i thought i would join in the fun. Don't worry, i'm not abandoning the regular Stiffie family antics, i'm just adding some other antics to the mix. Enjoy!


Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.


~*~This weeks theme is "Things our Kids have done"~*~

My moment of the week isn't so much something Mady has done, but more of something WE did to Mady. Frank is frustrated on a daily basis when it comes to Mady. Well, not Mady per say, but her clothes. Her socks in particular. See, here is our problem. Mady has long toes, but her feet are more on the narrow side, so most of the socks we have don't fit her right. It seems that they are all made for babies with really wide feet. Well, i want to put socks on her that match her outfit, that's just how i am. Well, in doing that, that means we will have to constantly be pulling her socks back up onto her feet. That annoys Frank after the first 10 or so times. Well, here is our moment of the week. Yesterday, i put socks on Mady that matched her outfit, but were too big. Well, instead of letting Frank get annoyed, i fixed them. Wanna know how!? I took a piece of tape, ripped it in half, and wrapped it around the sock to hold it up. Don't worry, i'm not abusing my child. I didn't wrap it tight or anything, just lightly, very lightly, up around the top of her ankle...so the sock would only fall down to a certain point and then stop. If you could have seen her taped sock, you would be laughing as hard as we were. We did manage to fold the top of the sock down over the tape so you couldnt totally see it. Problem solved!