Trains

The girls love trains, love with a capital L. But they are loud. Such a dilmena when up close and personal.
And, let's just give a belated "Happy Mother's Day" to all the lucky ladies blessed with beautiful babes. Least of which is my sister and her newest little angel:

It's a boy!!!

Christopher William O'Neill has arrived!
8 glorious pounds, 12 ounces
21 inches
12:29pm
Proud dad!
Beautiful mama and her baby boy!
Great job and congrats to Barb & Bo!!!!!!!!

The stork should be arriving today!!!!!

Our love, thoughts and prayers to my sister and her hubbie Bo up in Cleveland - they are currently chillaxin in the hospital with her new BFF 'epidural' - last check was 7cm. Woo hoo!!!!!
Ryan has been repeatedly asked whether the baby will be a boy or a girl - the last few times she has responded "girl named gaga"......Hopefully only a matter of hours and we shall find out for sure! Love you BARB!

The Barbara post....

Well, apparently the sister is a little peeved at the lack of mention lately.  Granted, she was in town and therefore I should have blogged about it, but hey, it's only Tuesday for heaven's sake.  Give the blogger a break and some time!  The pregnancy hormones must be raging - so without further adieu, the Barbara post.

Uncle Bo and Aunt Barbara came in town for the last time as a family of two - next time we see our favorite peeps they will have a new bambino in tow.  Not only did they help celebrate Reese's birthday, but our lovely cousins and Aunt threw Babs a precious little baby luncheon at fancy schmancy Neiman Marcus.

And before we dive into some baby shots, let's soak in the yummy goodness that was this little pastry number that started the meal; move over bread and butter:
Anywho, back to the mission at hand....
Since they have elected to keep the baby's sex a surprise (although we all know that babe is a boy), one of each:
And Babs, let's think twice before spewing all the hateful anger from your keyboard after not being mentioned in the previous posts, mainly it's because I don't really have any photos of you in your gloriously prego state. This is about it.
So next time, let's consider your blogging potential and rev up the camera time, alrighty?

Hotel de Britt

In order to not reveal our whereabouts, therefore alerting internet stalkers hellbent on burglarizing the innocent citizens of Kirkwood, I did not blog last week while the girls and I checked into Hotel de Britt. Can you tell I am the daughter of the Director of Public Safety?  Anywho, while Grant spent a torturous 8 (yes, E-I-G-H-T) days in Cabo San Lucas for work, the rest of the Stiffs packed up and spent a 3-day weekend at my parents house in the equally glamorous West County.   While dad had beaches, Ryan and Reese got a sweet new computer setup all for themselves.   Grandma & Grandpa hooked the grandkids up with their very own (older) computer to use (aka - bang away at the keyboard).

 While locations may change, one thing doesn't.....time-outs.  Ryan still had her fair share even at Grandmas.

 And if one weekend at the oh-so-accommodating Hotel de Britt wasn't enough, we checked back in last Friday night for one evening before Dad got home and while Aunt Barbara was in town!  The girls had a blast and Babs got some great practice as her first bundle of craziness is due May 6th.

Not only did we miss dad because he's dad, we really missed his words of wisdom and sound parenting. As the girls were both playing in Reese's crib and Grant and I were cleaning our room, I wondered if the girls were okay......he said "as long as we keep hearing two voices, we're okay"

Sunday Funday!

Aunt Barbara & Uncle Bo are in town for Thanksgiving and the girls couldn't be happier, two more people to aid in their endless quest for treats and playmates.  Ryan and Reese spent this 60 degree Sunday playing with their cousins Anisten, Nolan & Jack.   Now if we can just teach them all how to rake and bag leaves, then it'd really be a 'Sunday Funday' for the Stiffs'.  

This is for Babs!

Hell has no fury as an Aunt scorned. My sister came to visit two weekends ago and she is appalled (I mean APPALLED) that I have yet to post about it. Sorry Barb, a few other things going on at the Stiff household. This will be a little hard as we really don't really have any pictures of the weekend but picture if you will Ryan having a ball with her energetic, fun loving Aunt. Barb's visit came on the heels of Ryan getting in trouble at school for biting her dear friend Charlotte - Ryan was sent home with a book "Teeth Are Not For Biting" so Aunt Barbara made it her goal to preach "NO BITE" throughout the weekend. Every time she would say it, Ryan would stop dead in her tracks (kind of like she has heard that phrase a time or two before). Now, every time Ryan reads a book, there is some inaudible blabber and then sprinkled throughout her narrative you will hear "NO BITE" --- well done Babs, well done....

Jack and Aunt Barbara hiding from the 'biter' in their favorite spot. Notice the blue painters tape on top --- this small investment will keep children occupied for hours. Next Christmas Ryan would like a roll or two of tape and some cardboard. That's it.

Ryan, Jack and Nolan - who knew how popular a box could be?

Checking out god knows what.....

Gobble, gobble.....

Ryan's first Turkey Day was a four-day vacation full of family, food, drooling, and endless kisses on the cheek. Uncle Bo & Aunt Barb were in town for the holiday and sure did love on me! Ryan spent lots of time with cousin Jack, each trying to out-perform the other to get everyone else's attention.

Two monkeys.....

Getting in the holiday spirit - doing my best Santa impersonation: rosy cheeks and too much milk.

Uncle John & Jack with my folks and I

Very studious, thank you Grandpa...

Not too psyched to be forced into matching outfits with my cousin...

Chillin' in my Baby Einstein

My mom told me it was rude to point...

Have you ever tried to get 4 kids together for a photo? Thank you Aunt Mary Lee for hosting a yummy breakfast at your house!!!

Two tots in a bucket...

Crazy mom got a little over-zealous with the Christmas attire... Barb is that a turtleneck and sweatshirt, circa 1984?

Shoutout to Babs!

My sister had been in agony the past month watching visitor after visitor hold her new niece before she could get her hands on her. Now that she just had 5 fun-filled days with Ryan, she is demanding a presence on the blog. Here you go Aunt Barbara!

Barb tends to put a lot of people to sleep:)

How many people does it take to trim my fingernails?

Stylin' in my new MaryJane socks (I have them in every color thanks to Aunt Barbara!)

My favorite chair...

Not so sure how I feel about Texas, sorry dad.

The waiting game...

This will be short and sweet as there is not much else to report - at my 39 week appointment yesterday I was pleased to hear that things are progressing quite well. All the usual stats were very good (blood pressure, baby's heartbeat, etc...) and I am now 80% effaced and 2-3 centimeters dilated. I had sensed that little Stiffler had dropped even lower as the sense of carrying around a bowling ball between my legs had intensified and the doctor confirmed this - she said he/she was extremely low. I'm still not sure what any of this really means - are we talking hours? days? another week or two? Who knows. So now we wait. Although we will definitely keep up the walks in the park and trips to the gym in hopes to keep things moving along.

Friday fun - a pic of Jack and my sister.

*Also, a special hello to my cousin Ann! We love hearing from you! Thanks for all of your comments!

April Showers!

We've passed the 30 week mark and can't believe June is right around the corner. We even started the obligatory baby classes last night - Grant was a little shocked to learn that a newborn usually likes to feed every 1.5 - 2 hours. He turned to me with a look of disbelief on his face. Time to up the Starbucks gift cards!

We've had quite the busy month --- Last weekend my lovely husband and good friends Sharon and Patricia threw me a surprise baby shower in Denver. It was exactly what I had wanted, low-key and fun with boys invited as well (thanks to some alcohol they managed to sit through the gift opening and even through out a few 'oooohhhhs' and 'ahhhhhhs' from time to time).

I went to St. Louis for a baby luncheon thrown by my lovely mother and sister. Unfortunately we forgot the camera at the actual luncheon, but of course, the camera was on 24/7 whenever Jack was around. Thanks to my friends and family for all the adorable gifts, it was great to see them all!

Here's a little shot of Jack at 5 months with his dad and two favorite aunts:



And a bonus photo of my favorite little guy: