Now, I know there is NOTHING more annoying that following a blog and the blogger going AWOL, however, I really hope you will excuse me for my absence, but the reason was…….

I HAD A BABY BOY!

Since 7am on Monday 20th February 2012 – the day I found out I was pregnant and danced around the bathroom with joy after peeing on that awesome stick – I have, of course, been on Cloud 9 (as well as dog DOG tired).

Some things fell to the wayside (like, errr blogging), but I ABSOLUTELY kept up reading my favourite blogs, namely;

Fairytales are true (Sarah, I am so excited for you and to see baby Tuck x).

Little Baby Garvin (I envy Jessica’s chalkboard skillz – and the fact she can put headbands on her baby – #iwantagirloneday)

As the Foreste Grows (also AWOL at the moment, but Heidi also has a fab excuse)

Enjoying the Small Things (Kelle really inspires me and is also expecting a baby boy)

Glamorous Life of a Housewife (Whitney is a fabulous Christian Mom-blogger with THE cutest boys)

Veronika’s Blushing (a new Mama-to-be)

A Blonde Ambition (Leslie just seems so sweet, I found her blog randomly via Kelly Stamps’ blog one day and was hooked)

Mr Stepford and I have had plenty of discussions regarding blogging, Facebooking etc etc during my pregnancy and subsequent conversations regarding our family and broadcasting our lives.

To put it bluntly I am not to talk too much about my family on this big web’a'sphere.  I’d love to say this is because we are international spies, or secretly very famous or some other fabulous reason but after much MUCH discussion it is really just out of respect to my other half.

He works in the “internet” if you will.  Living day in and day out for websites (he built this beauty for me in an afternoon) and he personally doesn’t want our faces plastered all over the internet.

I have a slight differing opinion on this of course (I am an over-sharer) but if I disrespect my husband on this request, where will the buck stop?

So – blogging henceforth will be done anonymously, as far as my face goes.  I’ll still be blogging honestly though – I’ve got a LOT to catch up on. I’ll just have to get a little creative with picture editing.

I’ve missed the world of blogging and I am ready to give the blog a little TLC again.

So, without further ado – meet my son (or an out of focus shot of my hair and a squished baby face just home from the hospital).

He is now 11 weeks old and looks SO different now, so I figured a newborn baby-face was ok to show on the blog!? #imightbewrong

Little AJ was born at 9:30pm on 17th October 2012 and stole my heart immediately.  All 6lb 15oz of him.

Be back soon – the baby calls. xxx

I learnt this on my drive to work.  Mr S called and told me that “Son has the day off school today, there is a burst water pipe and they’ve closed the school and well, he is also very upset”!

Me: “Why is that hun? Normal upset, or crying upset?  It CAN’T be because of school, he loves a day off”.

Mr S – “Didn’t you hear!?  Steve Jobs died last night”…………silence…………….

My poor boys.  Steve Jobs is their absolute hero because well, they are total nerds.  They are complete Applephiles #totallymadethatup

So here’s to the credit card maxing out on the iPad2, and the new iPhone4S – collectors pieces right?

Oh, and hoarding EVERY Apple thing we own from now until eternity.

Of course, I am sad too, it’s always sad when someone really cool or inspiring passes away.

But I am mostly sad for my sad geeky boys today.

Can we talk about how absolutely horizontal that makes you? Ehh, maybe not, I don’t even have enough energy to move my tongue to tell you!

I also have a baby shower to attend this Saturday. The baby-mamma has been busy crafting for the big day. Take a look at the little guessing-games and advice slips she drew. I scanned them for her so she could print multiples.

Baby showers aren’t really all that common here in the UK, so she isn’t going too crazy on the games, I think it’ll be just a gathering of girls some great food and lots of baby talk. She has told me she is making a pram-shaped piñata. I’ll take a few snaps to show you how it turned out, if she doesn’t mind me showing you those. The £1 entry for the guessing the baby’s weight is kind of cute, the winner will get a voucher from the Body Shop for the total amount entered.

We each have to bring a dish to the party and I am going to take my fail safe Potato Salad. Going by my Danish Grandmother’s (Mormor’s) recipe, it is always a hit. I’ll take a few snaps of it and post the recipe once I have made it. You’ll probably see my kitchen as a disaster zone though because I need to make enough to feed 25 people!

My friend whose shower it is doesn’t read my blog, so I thought I’d show you what I got her. I wanted a present for her, rather than for the baby. Even though this is her first, she is already sorted with a LOT of stuff, and with 24 or so other women attending, I didn’t think it’d be wise to bring another soft toy or baby outfit so I got this…..

It is a Mum’s 5 year one line a day diary. You write down all the little memories daily for the life of your child so that you can look over it later and not forget things. Like the day they first rolled over, slept through the night, crawled, took their first step, first word etc.

Blogging is a GREAT way of recording the memories, but for non-blogging Mum’s/Mom’s, I think this is a cute little gift. When it arrived, it was a little smaller than I expected, about the size of a pocket dictionary or so, but perfect for a handbag, so you can take it with you everywhere. It is made of real leather too, which may not be to everybody’s taste, but I think the quality is lovely. If you want to get one for yourself or for a friend, click here for the site, or on the image below to see Amazon’s offering.

I will bid you goodbye for now, see you in a while crocodiles.

]]> http://www.mrsstepford.com/marriage-and-motherhood/well-hello/feed/ 0 http://www.mrsstepford.com/marriage-and-motherhood/misc/hand-compliment/ http://www.mrsstepford.com/marriage-and-motherhood/misc/hand-compliment/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:47:56 +0000 Mrs Stepford http://www.mrsstepford.com/?p=1560 Mr. S said something the other day that really struck me; it was like he had summed up all of my feelings about socializing into one sentence;

“Darling, you dish out so many compliments when you meet new people, it is compliment after compliment”.

I am Mrs. Stepford and I am officially a chronic-complimenter. Get me to group therapy stat!

Fact is I know I do this, but never really took the time to self-analyze. I don’t know exactly when my chronic-complimenting may have started, but if you ever meet me in real life, be sure to have your ego stroked.

I guess it may be some sort of passive/friendly #iamaniceperson thing to make people aware that I really am friendly, and genuinely interested in them or something. They should know this anyway by just getting to know me, but it is like I want to hurry that ‘getting to know you’ along a bit and delve into looking into whether we can forge a friendship. See here for resons why – Why making friends sometimes isn’t easy.

Perhaps it is the “I have no settled roots in this town” complex I seem to have adopted along the way. I really hope it doesn’t seem desperate, because that’ll just be embarrassing, and I absolutely stand here with my hand on my heart and say that every compliment I DO serve out is 100% genuine.

Any enlightenment would be great. Do you over-compliment, or do compliments from new acquaintances make you feel uncomfortable?

Are handing out too many compliments a character flaw, or an endearing characteristic?

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

P.S – Normal blogging will resume on the 21st July…. I’ll be in Europe handing out compliments to the Grecians!

Finally I am back in the land of the living and ready to give my blog some of the love it has been missing.

Such neglect. If there was a home for neglected blogs, I think I would have had the officials knocking on my door by now.

Here’s why…

I am back after a crazy, crazy hen/bachelorette weekend in Manchester that literally took me over a week to recover from, never again shall I drink and dance til dawn. – Don’t hold me on that one…

I came back to a house that needed a clean from top to bottom. This isn’t a reflection on my lovely H2B’s housekeeping skills (which are in fact brilliant), I just got a bee in my bonnet and wanted EVERYTHING sorted and spotless. Does anyone else get into these moods?

I need to sort out the sale of my car as H2B bought me a new one as a surprise on Friday (I finally have a decent sized family car), no longer will shopping or camping trips involve burying a 9 year old boy in outdoor regalia or mountains of produce.

The Stepford household had a 5 year old sister and 9 year old son to entertain for the weekend – which required round #2 of previous house clean.

Trying to set up Skype to have a long-awaited conversation with my friend back in Australia, I’ve never Skype’d before and kinda nervous about it – I’ve never felt the urge to don make up and blow-out my hair before answering the phone, so why do I with this? Will it become less important? “Hello.. please pardon the fact that I look like crap. How are you by the way?”

I am also desperately trying to chase friends for their input for a gift/photo book for my best friend who is getting married in 45 days. This will then need to be edited/designed, printed and delivered. Prayer request please…. It is going to take a miracle.

In the meantime, I am still working on my book, reading as many books as I can (something my ‘how-to write a book’ book told me to do), trying to lose some weight and exercise… and fabulously failing.

Phewee said Hong-Kong Foowee.

So I have a great big list of posts (which currently sit half-finished) that will be up over the next couple of days, so sit tight and please forgive me for being a bad blogger!

Here are a few fun things that have kept me going and entertained me over the last week.

See y’all soon!

Based on my previous post complaining that I can’t find a good photographer in my area who shoots in a style I like, I decided to take matters into my own hands and finally learn how to use the Canon 450D that was my birthday treat last year.

Mamarazzi has helped me so much already – never one to enjoy ‘technical’ books, this hits the nail on the head by giving you enough practical advice whether you take photos with a compact camera or a more sophisticated dSLR.

The real gem with Mamarazzi however, is that it actually gives you much more than technique, it teaches you about style, and how to interact with children (your own, or others). If you can′t seem to take enough great photos of the children in your life, then this is the book for you.

I have a 5 year old sister (BIG age gap I know) and a 9 year old step-son and I love capturing images of them, but where the Mamarazzi book will really come into its own is when I have my own babies and can photograph their growing up and capture those great memories on film – without red-eye, or blurry or too dark, or underexposed etc.

The blurb:

Mamarazzi teaches you how to photograph children with the style, clarity, color, and beauty you see in professional photographs. The guide combines humor with solid know–how to show you how to compose shots, handle cameras from basic compacts to advanced dSLRs, take portraits or candids, create prints that impress, and even work with kids! Packed with beautiful examples and written in a down–to–earth style from one mom to another, this book will help mamarazzis everywhere take better photos.

Moms are one of the fastest–growing segments of the camera–toting demographic, and the blogosphere has a term for them, Mamarazzi’s.

Mixes information, inspiration, and fun for women who want to take better photographs of the children in their lives.

Explains how to set up a camera and use the controls on basic compacts up to advanced dSLR cameras
Covers shot composition, determining settings, exposing images correctly, the essentials of printing images, how to process for clear and bright color, and more.

Includes stunning examples of portraits and candids of children.

Become a better mamarazzi with this fun and informative guide!

Mamarazzi [mah-muh-raht-tsee] (noun, plural): Mothers who doggedly pursue opportunities to take, share and display photographs of their children.

The book has had some great reviews from other Mom’s and photography enthusiasts on Amazon.

Click the image below to get hold of it.

If you want to learn how to take better photos of your kids, I really suggest Mamarazzi as a useful guide to children’s photography.

Do you have Mamarazzi on your bookshelf?