Words With Friends

Have you played? Are you addicted?
If you've played with Nick then I'm sorry. He's relentless. Everyone I know is annoyed with his genius.

I would like to brag that I beat him yesterday.

*takes a bow*

- S

Chicago: Part Deux

Greetings from a windy city! (But not 'the' Windy City.)

Although it's against my rules to post anything on the blog about work, I've decided to bend the rules a tiny bit to share photos from a recent work trip. 

Chicago in the summer rocks. Nick and I visited back in February and it was cooooold. Fun, but chilly.

I used a cool app called Hipstamatic to take all the photos on my iPhone. I really love how some of them turned out, so I thought I would share.

Chicago in the Summer - By: Stephanie T.

- S

Blast Off...

We're not celebrating July 4th late here at the Trougakos Family blog...we're gearing up for a super duper space party!!!

The invites have gone out, the plans have been made, the cake has been baked (and frozen, don't worry).

Be ready for alien fights and a 3-D rocket cake.

This message will self-destruct in two minutes.

-S

I'm Not The Mom I Thought I Would Be

I'm always curious to see what kind of mother my friends turn out to be. I don't mean if they are 'good' moms or 'bad' moms, because all of my friends are fantastic moms. I more mean what type of mom. Are they a natural-hippie mom? Keeping-up-with-the-latest-trend mom? Go-with-the-flow mom? Sterilize-everything-seven-times mom? Eat-only-healthy-non-junk-food mom? You get my drift.

Let me start by saying that I am NOT the mother I thought I would be. I could have easily been the keeping-up-with-the-latest-trends mom...and I still am to some degree. I could have seen myself as a sterilize-everything-seven-times mom, but I wasn't. I would never have imagined myself to be a natural-hippie mom, but I sure am. I would never imagined myself to be a food-obsessed mom, but yep that happened to me.

It's funny what motherhood does to us, how it changes us. As mothers we're all connected in some way. We understand sharing obnoxious amounts of photos, telling stories that include subjects like pee-pee, pureed peas, and smelly milk necks. We laugh, we enjoy and we bond. We're all doing the same task, but going about it in different ways. That's pretty amazing.

Today I was giving my $.02 worth of advice to my friend, Sarah. She's expecting her first this fall (a cute little boy) and was asking advice on carseats. It made me think about the things I was thinking when I was in her shoes. I remember picking out our travel system based on color! *gasp* It was a cute little system, gray and orange, what more could an OSU fan hope for? I think about that now and want to hang my head in shame. But, what did I know? I didn't have a kid, most of my friends didn't have children....all baby items are made equally,are safe and lead-free, right? Right?  *wink*

That memory lead me to think about how much I've changed over the past five years. (Can you believe he's almost five?) I'm not even close to the same person as I was then. I not only ended up not being the mother I thought I would be, I'm not even the person I thought I would be. I'm a whole new me, a better me, a more grounded me. A cool mom, a researching mom, a hippie-vegetarian mom. I love it!

I like watching how my friends change when motherhood hits. I like guessing what type of mom they'll be. But, most of all I love, and I mean LOVE, being a mother. Nothing has quite fulfilled me like being Mason's mom. I look forward to it everyday. I look forward to growing and changing with him. Protecting him the best I can. Teaching him the best I can. Showing him love the best way I know how. Being the best example I know how to be for him.

For me, there is no greater joy than motherhood.

- S

Absolutely Nothing

I have nothing to update, absolutely nothing.

The past three months we've been running ourselves crazy. We've logged almost 3,000 miles during three road trips, and visited another country. We've hosted people, been hosted by people, planned parties, celebrated birthdays and a wedding, attended play practices and the performances, started training for a half marathon, planted a garden, planted a flower bed, sewed, designed and photographed. We've laughed, made memories, shared memories, enjoyed our time together, planned our next adventure, and taken moments to enjoy the small things.

But last weekend we did absolutely nothing and it was amazing.

- S

4th of July 2010

Good times, good friends!

Our neighborhood goes crazy on the 4th of July. Being out in the country under no city limit laws sometimes has its advantage. :) We hosted a cookout for the 4th and celebrated with food, fun and fireworks for all!

---> Click here for more photos from our 4th Fest <---

- S

Nick's an Old Man!

Happy Birthday Nick!



Mase gives Nick a frog travel pillow. :)


They boys and their pillows.




Grr....mean man with new tiki torches.


- S