Our Five Ring Circus: About Me

About Me

Do you ever wonder what life is like in a big family?  Do you want to know how we stay sane in the midst of daily chaos?  Do you want to know what it's REALLY like to raise a child with special needs?  Look no further!

Hi!  I'm Stefanie.  Welcome to my blog!

1 Husband + 4 Kids + 1 Blog + 1 Giant Dog = A Whole Lotta Chaos! 

I started the blog Lexie Loo & Dylan Too 6+ years ago to chronicle our daily life with our two children.  Over the years, our family AND the blog name grew!

Although I still share our family adventures (and lots of pictures!), my blog now includes fun activities for kids, organization ideas and recipes, lifestyle posts, favorite companies and products, and posts to help break all the misconceptions about Down syndrome!

I would love for you to follow along here, but you can also find me posting regularly on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!  

This is my blog, and here's my story... 

I'm a wife and a mom to four kids, living in the Pittsburgh area. I met my husband, Grant, in the Garden of Eden (read on!) 16 years ago, when I was still a teenager. We fell in love, got married, and here we are...still together and 4 kids later! It was quite a journey!

Dylan is our 10 year old son, Alexandria (Lexie) is our 8 year old daughter, then comes 4 year old Liliana (Lily) and 2 year old Liam, who is rocking an extra chromosome! We lovingly refer to our kids as Phase One and Phase Two. My husband says there will NOT be a Phase Three, but I am trying to convince him to adopt a child with special needs!

When I'm not blogging, I can be found chasing after my four kids (usually with my camera).  Okay, let's get real.  THAT takes up 98% of my time! Blogging occurs in the wee hours of the morning!

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I always knew I would have a big family one day.  I'm the youngest of 8 children, and became an aunt for the first time at age 5. My many nieces and nephews prepared me for motherhood, so there was no anxiety when we had our first child! I spent my childhood acting, singing, dancing, and riding my horse.

I got straight A's all through school, took multiple AP classes, and earned a few college credits in high school.  I was all set to head to college after I graduated, but something held me back.  I decided to take off a year to figure out what I really wanted to do, which shocked everyone I knew!  Halfway through that year, I decided to audition for a musical at a nearby theater.

I ended up being cast as the female lead, Eve, opposite of Grant's Adam.  We fell in love almost immediately.  We got engaged two months after we started dating, and got married a year and a half after we met.  We were young, but I truly believe we were brought together for a reason!

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We enjoyed 4 years of marriage before we had our first child. Our initial plan was to wait until we were 30 to have children.  As usual, fate intervened.  In 2004, while we were still in our early twenties, we found ourselves buying our first house and expecting our first child.  
Our firstborn is Dylan.  He's now 10 years old!  He tried to come into the world at 30 weeks, but managed to stay put until 35 weeks, when he arrived completely healthy!  He is outgoing, friendly, compassionate, and smart.  He loves skateboarding, minecraft, WWE, and basketball. He's officially in the tween years, but he's an amazing big brother!

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Exactly 27 months to the day Dylan was born, we welcomed Alexandria Elizabeth into the world! We were beyond thrilled to have a son and a daughter. Lexie is 8 years old. She loves singing, dancing, fashion, reading, and art.  She hopes to be a teacher one day and would love to help those with special needs! She is smart, sweet, and absolutely beautiful, inside and out!


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We settled into life with two children.  Almost 4 years passed before we decided to try for a third child.  Liliana Kathryn was the perfect addition to our family!  Lily is a character.  She's 4 years old and is the funniest kid I know! She's adorable, hilarious, and full of personality.  Oh, and she thinks she's Elsa!

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We THOUGHT Lily completed our family.

Enter sweet Liam, the unexpected baby who changed our lives!  On August 18th, 2013, Liam Dayne entered the world.  Our lives immediately changed with his birth diagnosis of Down Syndrome.  Although we were initially shocked and saddened by the news, his presence made our lives better.  He truly brings us more joy than we ever imagined, and we're on a mission to show the world that Down syndrome is NOTHING to fear!

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We happily settled into life as a family of six, and despite our new journey into the world of special needs, life hasn't changed much at all!

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Welcome to my blog!  I hope you stay a while and follow our journey!

XOXO, 

Stefanie

3 comments:

  1. I'm happy that I stumbled on your blog. Can't wait to read more about your family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That family photo isn't at trax farms, is it? I am originally from Pittsburgh, too, and my 4th has Downs! She's our rock star

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