The Family Stone

 Yesterday, in addition to finishing my taxes it was also August's 6 month birthday!  Hurray for August!


Thank you to my mom for the polka dot cupcake wrappers, sparkly tube of writing icing and light blue decorative pearls.  I wasn't planning on spelling anything with the cupcakes - but realized after the fact I was one cupcake shy of being able to spell "August Stone."  So we opted for the date instead.  It wasn't until later that Warwick pointed out that the entire thing looks like a date.  Whoops!  A casualty of naming your child after one of the months.  :)

And the cupcakes were really for Beatrix's sake since August can't eat them yet.  I just wanted her to be aware of his half birthday....and I wanted to practice my cupcake making skills in preparation for my future.  


"Stop with the paparazzi thing, Mom!!!!"


And a nice glamor shot of August in front of our house -- taken yesterday.  We have to get as much enjoyment as we can out of the green grass before Las Vegas burns it to a crisp!

I have always loved school pictures.  Even now, I love looking back and seeing what I looked like at each one of these annual landmarks.  My mom used to put each new picture in the same frame on top of the old picture.  When I was old enough, I'd unframe them all and look at myself grow up in front of me.  So it is with great pleasure for me that Beatrix got her first-ever school picture taken last month.  She's younger than most in their "first picture," but I'm thrilled to start the tradition early and capture her at such an adorable age.  Enjoy!


Her class of toddlers: Cassidy, Montse (short for Montserrat), Beatrix & Augustus along with Ms. Cris.


Beatrix with her beloved stuffed pug, Poppy.


My little cutie!!  Such a poser....  :)

I promised myself I wouldn't apologize for lack of blog entries this year.  I'm a busy woman.  I have two little ones who keep me busy.  That being said, no apologies for such a delayed update.  

August is turns 6 months old next Friday!  He is nearly crawling!!  He gets up on his hands and knees but hasn't synchronized the movement.  He ends up falling forward to get what he wants.  I'm sure he'll get the hang of it any day now - but I'm not encouraging him because I love his immobility right now.  

He is eating "food" now.  He isn't really fond of it -- but shows so much interest in everything we eat.  He really doesn't want to bother with purees, he wants to jump directly in to appetizers and sandwiches.  Alas, we're going through the motions.  The first food that he even remotely likes - carrots.  These pictures are from a few days ago.


Beatrix is now 2.25 years old.  She is a handful.  Sometimes I think she is getting easier -- but then she decides to explode into a pile of boneless, screaming toddler.  She asks for water.  You give her water.  She gets hysterical when you give it to her deciding she wanted milk instead.  I HATE that side of toddlers.  I try to be rational with my explanations and rules -- but it really is hard to rationalize with an irrational toddler.  Sometimes it does work.....but not often enough.

When she's in a good mood, she is AMAZING.  She came up to me last week and asked me to take her picture out of nowhere.  She just wanted to smile really big for the camera.  So here is Beatrix with an amazing smile and awful hair.  And thanks to Jessica Eterno for the adorable dress from TEA.  :)


And that's it for my free moment.  I need to do some cleaning in preparation for "WINE AND WHINE."  I invited some orchestra friends over that also have a toddler and love of red zinfandel and only live about a mile away.  HURRAY for Saturdays!

It is Valentine's Day -- Beatrix's first that she has any clue about.  A few weeks ago we started her in a Montessori preschool very close to home.  She goes there 3 mornings a week which has enabled me the pleasure of one-on-one time with August -- plus more time to work for Warwick while August takes his morning nap.  Beatrix and I *needed* this time apart desperately.  She is well into the terrible twos and my temper and fuse are shorter than I'd like to admit.  I love her to death, but when Mr Hyde comes out -- she is my little nightmare.  Thank goodness she isn't like that all the time!

Playing the ABC game on Mommy's iPad.

So back to Valentine's.  I got to make cookies for her class (I'm now in love with America's Test Kitchen which helped me make the BEST batch of chocolate chip cookies I've EVER made: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/), and she got to help me make a dozen homemade Valentine cards for her classmates.  Right now it's a novelty for both of us!  I'm sure someday in the future I'll let her succumb to prepackaged cookies and Spongebob pre-made Valentine cards, but for now -- we're HOMEMADE ALL THE WAY!!


Funny thing - the recipe I used took the Nestle Tollhouse recipe and improved upon it, but the recipe recommended AGAINST Nestle's morsels!  HAHA.  Sadly, Nestle's chocolate chips are full of hydrogenated stuff that isn't good for any of us.  I had some I had to use up, but next time around we're going for Ghirardelli.  :)

 I can't believe I have a 2 year old!!  Where did the time go!?  And she has hit her [terrible] 2's with a great stride.   We have had 2 Sharpie incidents in the past 2 weeks which have resulted in graffiti on doors, skin, carpet and duvets.  Thank goodness we adopted much of our furniture second-hand just in case it is victim to similar abuse!

But we also have our adorable, little princess at times.  Here she is on Boxing Day modeling her winter fairy dress accessorized with plastic jewelry, wings and a magic wand!  She held out her hand with ring on it and told me, "Mommy -- I have one just like you!"  I'm happy to say mine has an insurance policy and nice appraisal.  But to the naked eye of a 2 year old, we're twins!  Adorable.



And here a snapshot with her cupcake ready to have the candles blown out.  Due to user error, I don't have a video of the event.  Our "super, easy" Flip video camera failed me.  I pushed RECORD twice....which caused it to stop recording.  :(

Even so, we did capture the moment with young Jackson Dobney looking on.  She looks so angelic in still pictures!!

I've definitely learned something from hosting my first toddler birthday party; if you can swing it, do not have your kids around while trying to prepare!  Beatrix was a handful all morning and August wouldn't nap.  I ended up sending Beatrix with Warwick to pick up the cupcakes to give me some prep time and due to traffic she was fashionably late to her own party.  ;)

It's late.  I'm tired but satisfied after having a wonderful few days with my family and friends!

-Bethany & crew

Everyone always told me that holidays would become more amusing when I had my own kids.  I just had NO idea how much this was true! Beatrix erupts with excitement whenever she sees a Christmas wreath (you can only imagine what happens when she sees a Christmas tree!).  I never paid that much attention to the small details like this -- but seeing things through her eyes has really opened mine.  I can only imagine how that will continue to be magnified as she and August get a little bit older.


Beatrix and Warwick on the stairs at Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  A girl after my own heart -- she loves BLACK BOOTS!  :)


Santa and Mrs. Claus at Town Square in Las Vegas were amazing....though Beatrix and August did not find this to be so!  Luckily, I did get a wonderful shot of just August and Santa that I'm using as a holiday card/birth announcement.  I have some AMAZING shots that were taken by my friend, Erika, that I was intending on using as a birth announcement -- but in the end I ran out of time to do both that and a holiday card -- so I accomplished "2 cards with 1 stone."  HAHA!


I had to let go of my usual uniform distribution of ornaments on the tree.  Now all the breakable ones are at the top.  Plus Beatrix seems to favor one side of the tree so the non-breakable ones are mostly in one spot!

Once again, I'm limited in having time to really fill in all of the details of our lives -- so until my kids don't require so much of me, I'll have to make do with brief updates.  ;)

Happy holidays, merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Family Stone!

Warwick, Beatrix, August and I recently made a trek to Beverly Hills for him to attend another rock 'n' roll auction (courtesy of Julien's Auctions.  Darren Julien is a fellow Hoosier...so he deserves additional props!).   While there it was only expected that I would visit my dear friend, Kristyne, who manages the Christian Louboutin store in Beverly Hills.  Many of us never get the chance to don shoes that can cost as much as a moderately used automobile -- but little Beatrix rushed the store like a seasoned groupie!


"I want a golden goose, Mummy, and I want it NOW!!!!!"  Beatrix selecting a bejeweled stiletto to try on.


Beatrix trying on her selection.  Red socks with red shoe bottoms??  That could become a new seasonal rule a la white shoes after Labor Day!  Apologies for the bad photo of Beatrix....I would have cropped out her blinking eyes but I love the fact that she is so giddy!

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Kristyne, Beatrix and Bethany....Beatrix still more interested in the sexy, red-bottomed shoes than getting her picture taken!

And let it be known -- as much as I love going to this store and playing "princess," I'm restricted from ever buying a pair since they aren't sold at Designer Shoe Warehouse!

And in other news, little August is smiling up a storm!!!  I finally captured an amazing photo of his elusive smile.  ENJOY!!!  He is 8 weeks old in this picture....amazing...even to me he looks like he's at least 3 months old!


We'll find out his real stats in 2 days when I take him in for his 2 month checkup.

Lots of love to everyone!!

Bethany & crew

What a whirlwind the past 6 weeks has been!  And I've been trying to post THIS post since the beginning of the weekend (4 days ago).  So if I'm brief, I apologize.  I just have to take advantage of one sleeping child and post & run before any chaos happens.  We're working at getting a computer downstairs.  That will definitely ease the process.  Until then, Yo Gabba Gabba (a surreal children's show) is serving as my babysitter while a slumbering little August is strapped to my belly with a soft, cotton baby wrap.

We have floors!!  Here is one area -- the conversation pit.  Until we have couches, this is a bit of a dance floor combined with a wonderful, black canvas for large, foam puzzle pieces.  The majority of the flooring is a warm, brown color.  All of the new wood is bamboo and we're LOVING it.  With our lack of furniture, it's sort of like living in a roller skating rink!


Beatrix is having a lot of fun with her baby brother!  Here she is sharing Poppy, her coveted stuffed pug, with him.  I think I've gotten the point across that she shouldn't share things on top of his face.  ;)  For the most part, she LOVES having him around.  She pets him very softly and laughs hysterically whenever he hiccups.  She also loves regressing back to her infancy by climbing in his stroller/carseat and stealing his pacifiers.  Ugh.


Here is my new little poser!  He doesn't seem to like the camera as much as Beatrix did, but I'm sure he'll eventually get used to it.  I'm still trying to catch one of his smiles -- but every time the camera is poised, he ceases to smile.  I guess I should just be happy that we get to enjoy this wonderful little moments ourselves.  But don't fear, I'll keep on trying!

The best news about August is that he is a GREAT sleeper.  Beatrix evolved into a good sleeper -- but those first few months were quite trying.  This one started out a champ from the beginning.  He's now sleeping about 5-6 straight hours each night.  I LOVE IT!  Parenting is so much better when you're not sleep deprived!

Sorry again for my brevity and infrequency.  I'm taking lots of pictures but rarely have a free moment to share them here.  I'm definitely more diligent with photos on Facebook since I can upload images from my mobile phone.

Until next time,

Bethany, Warwick, Beatrix & August!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to our newest member of the family, August Indiana Stone!  


August Indiana
Arrived on 10/15/10 at 4:17pm
9 lbs 3 oz, 20.25 inches

He arrived 3 days after his due date of 10/12/10.  I had made arrangements to meet my OB at the hospital on 10/15 to have my water broken and hopefully motivate the delivery without any additional induction.  I'm happy to say that plan worked with flying colors!  August arrived just under 2 hours after my water was broken.  I was 5-6cm dilated when he broke my water and almost immediately went into hard labor.  The beautiful thing -- I only pushed through one contraction and squeezed out my 9 pound, 3 ounce baby in approximately 5 minutes.  I couldn't have asked for a better finale to what seemed to me to be a super long, drawn out pregnancy!


Here we are off for one of our many walks TRYING to motivate labor.  This one was taken on 10/11/10.  And take special note to the statues across the street.  The ones by the walkway are giant Rolls Royce hood ornaments.  Our neighbor has a full fledged statue garden in his side yard.  


My parents were watching Beatrix while we were at the hospital.  They came about 1.5 hours after August was born.  Here is Beatrix meeting August for the first time.  She was SO excited and happy to meet him!   She couldn't stop grinning!

I'm only 10 days away from my due date.  That means I'm 38 weeks, 4 days pregnant.  Anything after 38 weeks is considered full term.  And this time around, there have already been a few occasions where I thought, "This is it!"  But I was wrong.  I guess my mother's intuition for Baby2 kicks in AFTER he's born.  *sigh*  I'm certainly ready to no longer be pregnant.  I think I went this entire pregnancy without having my feet swell....until about a week ago.  I guess I can't complain since some ladies have swollen feet for months.  I was lucky enough to sneak out and get a pedicure yesterday.  Now I have beautiful, red toe nails to look at when everyone is screaming, "PUSH!!!" at me.  ;)  And since I've been bad about sharing photos of my ever-growing body, I've decided to go ahead and share one (bare belly and all!).  This is me yesterday.  Hurray for no stretch marks!   

And with that, I leave you for now.  Sorry for the delayed update.  At this rate, the next post will have pictures of our beautiful, little boy!!  :)

-Bethany