The kiddos at Christmastime

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

img_2013

I’ve been remarkably bad at yearly holiday cards. I trailed off after our first year of marriage, when I burned myself out on wedding invites, thank you’s and of course, the beloved Christmas card. The timing of our wedding thank you’s in conjunction with the Christmas send out was unnecessarily stressful to say the least! I am in awe of families who have a professional shoot, followed up by a beautiful photo cards mass mailing. You, my friends, are on another level and I salute you. Continue reading →

12 favorite children’s stories (and my wishlist)

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

12 favorite children's storiesLuke is really taking in story-time to the fullest right now. Most evenings, we’ll come into the bedroom with a bang. Having conquered dinnertime with it’s endless multitasking–pesto pasta, peel the oranges, fix Kate some cheesy toast, dishes clean, dishes dirty, fill the water, put out the dog, no show, yes show, no chocolate, yes chocolate, etc–and dinner is won. Bravely, we march, or rather wrangle, our way to the bathtub.

Luke is gloriously proud that he can now undress himself without me (as am I!) and put his toys in the bath, plug it up and place the soap carefully on the edge of the tub. Bath time roars on with laughter, cries, scrubbing, rinsing, nearly a thousand questions and then drying, toothbrushing and running the house naked. We take it step by step, then into to the bedroom and the pajama, diaper, lotion, vapor balm wrangling continues until that solemn, perfect moment of flashlights, a stack of books and a dark room full of quiet, under the cover coziness. Continue reading →

11 months

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2016-12-11 at 4.53.55 PM.pngScreen Shot 2016-12-11 at 4.54.36 PM.png

Sweet girl! We’ve already had eleven months with you! You are such a picture of pure joy to us. Your smile, your excitement, your incredible bubbly laugh when your brother does anything at all (particularly jumping on the bed with him..). You flap your arms wildly when you like something. And you’ve begun to put your hands together to indicate more, which I’ll take any day over the smacking of your highchair tray until all your food is on the ground (and thus, eaten by Maverick). You now eat pouch veggies/fruits (praise God.) but still will only eat pomegranate seeds and butternut squash in it’s pure veggie form. Continue reading →

Day trip to the North Coast

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

IMG_1959.JPG

Over the Thanksgiving break, we wandered our way up the salty, steep, winding coast with extra layers, blankets and plenty of fruit, yogurt and peanut butter and jellies to feed a small preschool. We have always loved the peace of a long picturesque drive to think or chat while children stare, chatter and hopefully sleep. Luke was discussing with James how he’d remembered listening to the Jack Johnson song before (“I remembered that one, daddy!”) while I tried to recollect the last time I’d been to the various farms, beaches and trails flying by on either side of the highway. Continue reading →

Late night essay

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment


Arm asleep, drool on shoulder. Snotty, congested breaths, chests rise and fall. Various limbs nestled tightly with mine, comforted in the closeness. All other beds in the house emptied in the span of a few sleepless hours over a tearful bargain for ours. A haggle often lost by us, I’m sure the record is staggering. Such is the predicament of the midnight hours with our sick children. Continue reading →

Monday morning diary

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

Most Mondays are spent on walks or homebound, with the occasional hangout as well. Our double stroller serves as our second car a couple days a week, so I’m usually somehow out and about with the kiddos, walking to the grocery store, park, coffee shop or down to the beach. This particular day we were still recovering from sickness and stayed inside a little longer. The gloomy skies definitely beckoned us home a bit too.. Continue reading →

Our birth story–Kate Abigail

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

Processed with VSCOcam with m5 preset
well played, warning tag..
Hello! Well. Although I’m nine months late to this, my recollection of this incredible day does not grow dim. This girl. Our Kate. Born on a rainy Saturday morning in January.

My feelings toward birth this time around were on a whole, a lot less stressful. Maybe because our we had enough to worry about in our lives at the time? Most likely yes. But across the board, all I wanted was an anxiety, stress, tension free birth. That’s sort of a tall order when you write it out like that–sorry Kate! So stress-free meant that for the first seven months, all I considered in regard to this birth is that James and I would be present. I didn’t really think about too much past that, except signing off on the VBAC agreement and pinning a few hospital bag ideas.

Continue reading →