Wishing I was here...

 ...can you blame me?!  AWESOME!  There is just something about the beach/ocean that makes me feel free and almost like I can breathe better!  I have this thing about living in land-locked places like Indiana that makes me feel almost claustrophobic!  Maybe that was due to growing up on a peninsula all my life?  But, I really just LOVE waking up to this kind of view every single morning.  It refreshes me even during a tropical storm like we were caught in for a couple days in Holden Beach :)

 And we really miss this...a pool!  I think if the kids had a pool they would never leave it!  Makes me wish we could trade houses with Nina and Pops in FL!  And LOL on daddy and Hays (below)....I missed walking on the beach like this...even at night...and seeing who can do better cartwheels...can you guess who won that competition!?

 Here's our first time on the beach in NC...thank goodness for that jogging stroller!  Logan was a happy/sleeping camper in it most of the time!

 And I always love the openness of the mountains in NC...especially on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Maggie Valley! 

 And this time we even viewed it from the back of horses!  Breathtaking!  And below is one of my fav. views in NC...Big Creek.  Love this!

Just wishing I was in these places today...and even NYC, except I don't have pics downloaded to show off of that yet!

It's been a humm dinger of a day.  Logan seriously cried for most of it.  I think his rice cereal has him backed up and he is in bad need of a big poop and feeling pretty crummy while waiting (not to mention his gas about makes us pass out!) :(  He cried in my arms, cried in his crib, cried in his high chair and cried in his car seat. He finally cried himself to sleep long enough for me to get some store errands done. But, what was supposed to be my first day of "decluttering" was not a successful one :(  Defeated once again.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day...

Update...there is hope for tomorrow being more productive/less cryful as Logan apparently did his big poop while I was typing on the blog. Hallelujah!  On a side note, it wasn't even all that stinky of a poop...also a big hallelujah! :)  Hopefully he cleared himself out and feels better!  Oh the cruelty of poop :)

An "Un-full" Day...YAY! :)

Well, I am frustrated today. It's officially July and I actually posted this post yesterday and somehow it got deleted. I actually can see that 10 people looked at it so now I am wondering if something fishy is going on and I need to password protect my blog, which I really don't like to do.  But, I simply cannot be redoing posts or worrying about if things are going to get deleted.  I have invested too much time in all this :)  So I am feeling VERY frustrated this morning b/c I spent quite some time on this yesterday and now it's all gone :( :(  Just tack it onto my life lately...one step fwd, two steps back.  Can't seem to make any progress with anything!  Ugh :(  Anyway...in regards to our day yesterday, I just thought it'd be fun to post some MV, NC pics from our awesome Gritz vacation--one of my fav. stomping grounds!  And I had no real "theme" to this post but to say that I always love how we try to match some of the kiddos in their clothing and this year Nina and Candy were pro "matchers"! :)  LOVE the bright colors.  Candy found all these outfits and our new fav. store (Crazy 8!)...kids looked so cute!  Love this one of Nina and Pops and their super 7!  It really is a great pic of all of them, which is rare to come by with 7 kids sometimes!

Lol...love this crazy bunch!  Even Nina is a crazy-facer!  I love how Hays is looking at Pops, maybe thinking, "if you aren't making a face, neither am I!"...little does she know that he's just "funny looking" anyway :) J/K, love you, dad! (but that hat says it all :)) 

The sweet 4 year olds....only 3.5 months apart and such good buds.  I love that they are so close in age!

SS (Sewing Shopping) Sharon made these cute shirts for the girlies...love them and so did they!

Nina and her handsome little men!  Candy found these cute "toughest lil' brother" shirts too.  Poor D just can't match anyone anymore...he's too big...almost bigger than Shelby!

And LOVE this pic...again...rare that all the kids are happy and looking in one direction!  Great clothes from Nina...love the orange, since it's Pops' signature color...very fitting for his grandkids!

The flashlight girls! lol :)  They don't officially match, but Ash saw Brooke wearing this and she loves to match her so she ran upstairs and found something pretty darn close!

Pops and his lil' guys in their "first mate" shirts on our fav. bridge over Big Creek.

Pops and ALL his FAVS! :)  Poor Brooke...I think she was tired :)  And love the pic below of the "shark boys" pretending to be ferocious!

Well, I am still miffed about the time wasted on this post yesterday that was deleted, but I will say that yesterday was a lovely day.  It was what I like to call and "un-full" day...I think every Sunday should be this way honestly!  We slept in a bit and went to late service at church. It was good to be back after being on hiatus due to vacations for like 6 weeks.  Great to see friends, worship and especially see our besties!  And then we had NOTHING on the agenda for the day!  That just never happens!  Kev and I had both decided the day before that we needed a free day (even though our house needs desperate attention).  We just both agreed that we needed a day to refuel or we are becoming even more worthless during the week as far as getting things done.  And I loved that even our sermon yesterday was along these lines....it was about Elijah and one analogy that stuck with me was about "feeling crusty around the edges" and that if you are to this point you are "burned out" :)  We are totally crustified here in the Steg house! :(  So, yesterday was our day off.  A rainy day and just a good day to do nothing much.  The one "fun" thing we did do was give Logan his first taste of real food (well, not counting the lemon he had in NC and the cake he totally didn't mean to put in his mouth on his half b-day :)).  The verdict is still out if he actually liked the rice cereal.  He didn't refuse it and did keep opening his mouth and thankfully he never gagged (like his brother before him :))...but he did start to puke and cry a bit towards the end.  So as Hailey said when we sent her the pic on the phone "unsure" is all we can say about Logan's first impression of food.  Now we wait and wonder how his first smelly real poop will be.  No more easy peasy not-too-smelly breast milk poops (which honestly do smell quit manly and gross!) :(  And I must admit I am a little sad that he's no longer a 100% nursing baby.  I just loved that he was growing so big just from his mama's milk--proof of how amazing God created us.  Ah well....it's all proof my baby is getting bigger too, which bums me out :( :(  On a happy note, Hailey was in great spirits yesterday.  She texted us bright and early to say she was watching our church sermon from last week online with 3 of her friends.  I was impressed to be honest. I have never watched one of our sermons online.  After that she spent the day out with friends...at Century 21 (apparently this is a shoe/clothing place in NYC and no a realty place...we laughed b/c she had fun trying on crazy shoes and sending us the pics...one looked like a bear died to make it...very wooly!), she also frequented Duane Reade (like a Walgreens) and Starbucks (her staple in NYC :)).  Sounded like she had a nice relaxing day off herself.  We all need those!  So, that's a quick recap of yesterday.  I am miffed this all got deleted, but it just goes to show that I am constantly behind on things and technology doesn't help! :)  Today officially starts "Steg clean out the crap/clutter"!  July is our hopeful month of getting this house ready to sell. We will need major prayers on this front b/c it's a major overhaul--major...I really can't emphasize that enough :)  I almost wish someone would drop off a big dumpster in a our driveway and I could just start tossing everything into it!  Wish us luck!!

A Full Day...

Well, the day only has 5 more minutes in it and I am too pooped to say a whole lot...but it's been a full day as usual...

The highlight was spending the afternoon/evening with good "old" friends in Kev's old stomping grounds of Danville.  I just love our wonderful friends, Chad and Cor and fam...and all the other "Danvillers" :)  We just had the best time chillin' out and chattin'.  In the midst of days where I feel I get nothing done, it's so good to know we have friends who feel the same way :)  Just loved hanging at their new home tonight.  And it was soooo great to hear my happy NYC daughter on the phone. She had a great day on the "shark" (boat) and apparently getting soaked by it was a good thing :)  She sounded in good spirits and I love to know she's having a good time.  The only bummer of the day was that it poured/stormed so badly that Shelb only got 3 hours of her girl scout campout in :(  But all in a all a good day....no progress made on the house, but still a good day! :)

A continuation...

Today was mostly a continuation of how I felt yesterday.

I am feeling pulled to be the "fun summer mom", while really all I want (and need!) to do is dig into this mess of a house.  I know I can't do both...I am really not good at being "fun" and "work" mom at the same time.  I gave into "fun mom" though and out we went to the public pool (my least favorite summer place, I might add!)...which for me was "work".  But, I usually vow during the summer to go there once a month so this was my "June visit", which now I realize July is right around the corner and I will have to go then too.  The kids did have fun though and Shelb got to spend time with a best bud which she loved.  I thought that'd give me reprieve as far as her asking for friends to come over, but instead now she wants more. I can't win with her. :) It was fun to see my baby splashing around in the baby area though.  It was also especially comical when he let one of his signature big ol' pukes go right in the water with lots of floaty breastmilk chunks to boot!  Thank goodness he saved his blowout poop for Target and not the water. I don't want to be one of "those moms" who they have to shut the pool down for :) 

It's late so honestly I don't have any more energy to think or blog (especially since we are just now starting to pack for girl scout camping tomorrow), but I did want to say that my fav. part of the day was this morning with my little guy.  He discovered our cat (Syd) for the first time today.  I know most babies prob. notice their pets way before 6 mos, but our cats our old and lazy so we'll make that be our excuse :)  At any rate, it was super cute.  Syd has missed us since we've gone sooo much and she has been extra affectionate (actually annoying is more like it...especially at 2am).  But she really caught Logan's attention this morning.  He LOVES to touch things lately so he put out his hand and she just kept rubbing against it and he was giggling the cutest giggle every time she'd do it.  Then she'd meow and he'd stick out his hand and she's rub against it again and he'd just smile and laugh.  It continued for quite some time.  At one point she was even sticking out her paw and begging him to pet her and he would.  Very comical :)  It was like they were communicating in their own little way.  It was very cute....all until the big fluffy tail went in his sweet baby mouth :)  But, it was super cute while it lasted.  I just melt over baby giggles...especially deep voiced little boy ones :)

1/2 a year and other stuff...

Ok, I'm a basket case today...let's just put that out there before I start blabbering :)

I am not sure if it has anything to do with the day (my baby somehow has been on this earth 6 months and I feel like I blinked and his newborn baby days were gone :()...or maybe it's the fact that I'm coming down off three awesome vacations (yes, even NYC and its stresses are looking better to me than the realities of life)...or maybe it's that I see the writing on the wall as far as cleaning up this clutterbox and getting it ready to sell (i' just ain't gonna happen unless I ship the kids off somewhere and vow to not leave the house...which ain't gonna happen now that Logan has PT once a week and Ash has speech 3x per week on top of just the regular busyness of seeing friends, etc...all good things, mind you, but time taker-uppers just the same)  And maybe just all this is seeming extra overhwelming b/c I am sad my baby is growing up so quickly before my eyes...or maybe I just miss my oldest girl and not having my family all together in the house at night...who knows.  I am just not able to focus on anything since I've gotten home.  At any rate, I just wish I could snap my hands and have an extra 24 hours in the day...or maybe even better, snap them and have this house cleaned up. I know that type of stuff is so not important in the everyday realm of life, but I really had such high hopes for this summer and getting our home back in order b/c honestly it's gotten soooo bad that I can't really function well.  Once I gather enough confidence I will truly have to take photos of it and post them. I want to be held accountable to never let it get this bad again....but I have had to put my family first and these last 12 months have been rough...probably rougher than I have let on....and the house and organization have had to go by the wayside...

All this to say that I am sorry the blog might seem like a bit of a downer lately.  I guess it goes to show that I am only human and lots of things get me down.  But, I am really trying to keep it in perspective....

I have this beautiful baby boy who a year ago I didn't even know if I'd meet and kiss his sweet face.  And here he is laying on my shoulder just perfect in every way.  He spent his 1/2 bday just like any other day.  Going to and fro mostly to his sibling's activities.  He did start out the day celebrating at the peds off where we discovered he is a whopping 19lbs, 14oz!  Ouch!  No wonder he was breaking my back in his Bjorn in NYC!  That's one big boy!  And he did not love the gift of shots this morning, but he put on a brave face for his siblings who were very worried watching him :)  We did pull off a sweet little half bday party for him tonight...though we were bummed daddy had to work all night and of course Hailey missed out (though she did call during it and talked to the half b-day boy :)).  The funny/sad thing about the party is that he loved both his cakes so much that he tried to touch one of them and got fondant all over his hands and it was so sticky he couldn't get it off and he went bonkers and that was the end of that.  He tore half the cake apart trying to get the fondant off his hand.  I think he may be like his brother before him and like to touch things, but not like to be dirty!  Poor kid!  But, it was sweet how his sibs doted on him all day.  At one point I could hear Shelby and Ash upstairs doing something and when I finally went up with Logan they surprised him with balloons, recycled gifts and a lego cake.  It was cute and made my heart full to see how much a little brother can be loved.  He is never lacking for that!

So, yes, I am feeling stressed....feeling the stress of being pulled in a million different directions.  I have always been pulled in thousands of directions, but with 5 kids it has just added to the "pullage".  I hate feeling so scatterbrained and not ever getting anything fully accomplished.  Lately I've been adding "take a shower" to my to-do list just so I feel I have accomplished something in a day.  Today I haven't even checked that off my list.  Ah well.  Someday I hope to read this in my rocker and think "gosh, I miss those days".  Right now I just hope I make it to those days! lol :)  Don't be too jealous of my life :)   

Busy Day...

Don't really have much to post today b/c I was hoping Kev would have time to download our NYC pics...but somehow the day/night got away from us all...and it's almost midnight and none of us are in bed yet.  I will say, that we decided today to make Logan's 6 month b-day tomorrow sorta fun so we made 1/2 bday cakes today for him. Yes, I said "cakes" b/c of course the kids couldn't agree on just one so we made two.  I'm sure most kids don't celebrate half b-days (heck, we never have!) and I am quite certain most 6 month olds don't have two cakes!  But, Logan will tomorrow and the poor kid won't even get to eat either of them.  Hopefully his first taste of real food (rice cereal!) will make up for it! :)  Anyway...so I may wake up in a puddle of tears in the morning as I realize a half year of my baby's life has flown on by :(  How can that be?!  Wasn't it just Christmas and I was wondering if he'd ever arrive?

At any rate, I am in brighter spirits tonight after talking to my Hays. She sounds like she's enjoying classes (though sore) and also had a great time on her double decker bus tour of the Big Apple with her good buddy, Maggie.  I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I was really worried about her a couple days ago.  I just want all my kiddos to be happy! 

That's all I've got for now....it's been a busy day as usual in the Steg house...including an hour of us being in the dark during a storm power outage.  Life is never dull!   

What were we thinking?

Well, we are home...finally...from our crazy "quick" trip to NYC.  Home 24 hours later than we intended, I might add...

My only thought for the day is that the Big Apple should have a disclaimer as you enter...saying "those with 5 kids stay away"! :)

Not saying it was all bad, but we definitely had what seemed like an infinite amount of snafoos that have left us needing a major vacation from our big city jaunt. Kev actually seems to have forgotten all the stressful things that happened to us in those 2 days muddling through the city....or maybe he is just the optimist in our family b/c on the way home he said he had fond memories of our vacation there.  I have not forgotten how stressed we were getting lost on the subway and trying to keep track of some wandering kids (we'll let you guess who :))...and so much more "fun"...

I will go into more details later, but just had to make a comment on the blog while my mind was still fresh with emotion from such a crazy trip. 

But the ultimate reason for our trip was a success...our Hailey is at SAB and dancing her heart out. :)  I am so proud of my oldest girl and her 5-wk time away.  Say a little prayer that she has a safe, fun and memorable time.  I am slightly worried about her, but hope it's just the mama in me and not a realistic concern :)