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Monday, December 2, 2013

Meet our December 2013 Fan of the Month, Stephanie Chaparro!

I am so excited to introduce you to our December Fan of the Month!  Her name is Stephanie Chaparro and she is a super sweet, warm and welcoming member of our online community!  Thank you so much, Stephanie, for allowing us to get to know you better as our Fan of the Month!  Read on to learn about Stephanie and her beautiful family, and click here for information about the Fan of the Month feature, including how to enter to be FotM!  We are now open for entries for January 2014!  Emails can be sent to info@twinkietush.com with Fan of the Month in the subject, following the format in the post I just linked. :)

Now, about Stephanie!





What is your full name?

Stephanie Elizabeth Chaparro


Where are you from and where do you live now?

I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ. With my husband being active duty Army when we were first married (now a veteran) I’ve lived all over, but we have found ourselves back in Arizona as it’s where both of our families live and our hearts are.


How many children do you have and what are their ages?

I have 4 children. Gabriel is 15, Ariana is 8 as of November 25, Jacek is 5, and my twinkie tush baby, Annika Jade (AJ) is 18 months.


How and when did you find twinkie tush?

I discovered tt when I posted an ISO on another CD page for girlie fitted diapers. I had a very generous tt mama offer me a NIP OS serged Electra and I fell in love! When I finally had it in my hands and on AJ’s bum, I couldn’t believe how great the fit was! I needed more! It’s like they were made just for her… the rest is history!


What is your favorite twinkie tush print of all time?

Every time I see this question answered by previous FOTMs I always wonder how they narrowed it down! This is such a hard question to answer! I’m going to go with OS serged Arwen! I was ISO of this print from the moment I discovered how well tt worked for us. I finally got my hands on one and it is just as amazing as I’d hoped it would be. Next would be my original print Mermaid Song. Everyone knows that tt has the most amazing collection of prints ever though, so my “favorites” are always changing!

Arwen

Mermaid Song


Do you have an ultimate ISO print?

My current “Ultimate ISO” would probably be OS serged Venice or When in Rome.

Venice

When in Rome


What is your favorite personal non-parenting related, non-work related hobby?

Well, before life revolved around parenting related things, I danced ballet and contemporary. When escaping reality I love going to the ballet and getting lost in the pieces. I feel so inspired while watching it can literally bring me to tears.


What makes you feel most inspired or grounded?  How do you take care of yourself and your spirit?

Ha! Spoke too soon… While I do feel inspired watching ballet I also feel inspired watching my children grow. Man, I am just overcome with emotion most days watching them learn and grow and love. They just love and trust so unconditionally and innocently… I’m absolutely enthralled by them.


What is your favorite activity to do with your children?

We love to travel (by car)… ßthe mamas who know me, will understand that because I’ve shared that I have an insane fear of flying… growing up in my family we didn’t get to travel much, but my husband comes from a family who traveled all the time. He’s shared places and experiences with our children and I that I never could’ve imagined on my own.


What is/was your favorite place to visit?

My favorite place to visit is the Grand Canyon. We traveled to the Grand Canyon, the first time for me, a few years ago and have been several times since. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend planning a trip. It is breath taking! Walking up to gaze out over just a small portion of it for the first time, literally made me gasp. It’s like looking at a painted picture. It’s a beautiful reminder to me of how great and powerful God is. It’s amazing. I can’t say it enough!


What is your favorite book?  What about your favorite movie?

My all time favorite book would have to be Deadline by Randy Alcorn… Read it! You’ll be inspired. My all time favorite movie is Dirty Dancing… first because it’s got lots of dancing and second because… well, Patrick Swayze!


What is something surprising about you, that people might not guess upon meeting you?

Hmm… that I’m over 25?! LOL People often guess I’m much younger than I look, which isn’t terrible I guess! Other than that, I’m pretty open. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I love animals! Dogs, specifically… & I’m a big advocate for pit bulls! I’d love to own a rescue one day!


What twinkie tush attribute and/or philosophy do you most appreciate?


“We value quality, honesty, positivity, and community.” This is my favorite sentence on the entire tt website! The twinkie tush community lives this sentence. I’ve become close friends with several other tt mamas since becoming a part of the tt community and am so thankful for them. Their honesty, positivity, and true quality friendships have seen me through some difficult times recently because some of us have SOOO much in common through our little ones! My family and I are currently struggling with an Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis for my middle son and without some of the love and support that these mamas have offered, I’m sure I’d be much more of a basket case than I normally am LOL Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those mamas (they know who they are) and I truly love you all so very much! I never would’ve thought that some of my very best friends could be women that I have only known online. Without the tt community, I never would have crossed paths with these women, so thank you to Gretchen and the twinkie tush team for that as well!


What would you tell someone who has yet to try a twinkie tush diaper?

I would say (which I say often when I’m trying to convert someone!) that while the price may seem intimidating, you will end up spending much more trying other diapers that won’t work. I truly feel that you get what you pay for and with twinkie tush it is such high quality, that you just can’t be left disappointed. Invest in something that will last. You’ll be glad that you did!


Tell us your funniest cloth-diapering or parenting story!

Well, I shared this recently on the twinkie tush fan page, but I’ll share it again, because it was hilarious. My husband was talking to the baby telling her to go grab a diaper so that he could change her. She walked over to where we keep them all and came back with a diaper still wrapped in plastic. Those who have been around awhile know I have NIP hoarding problem… Anyway, my husband looked at the diaper, looked at me, then looked back at AJ and said, “Nope, not that one. That one’s wrapped in plastic and I don’t know what that means… I don’t know if mommy’s buying it or renting it or selling it… it might be a collector’s item.” I died laughing. My husband is not huge on cloth diapering, but he doesn’t complain either because he knows it makes me happy. It was just a silly moment that has stuck with me since!


Tell us about one of the most meaningful parenting experiences you have had.

I’ve had so many of these; it’s difficult to narrow it down. We are a family that believes in God and tries to center Jesus Christ in the middle of everything that we do and teach. I don’t like using the term “religious” because for us, Jesus is greater than religion. I try to teach my children that just because people believe one way or the other does not make them or us less important than anyone. I want them to grow up respecting and valuing others opinions, views, and beliefs. While we do lots of teaching from the Bible, I’ve tried to never force them to think one way or the other. They attend public school and listen to “regular” music. They watch all the cool new movies and get into trouble just like other kids. They are not sheltered by any means and they know that the world can be a mean place at times. I try to just give them the information as I understand it myself and hope that my influence as their mother is enough for them to follow in my footsteps. I think that one of the most meaningful parenting experiences I’ve had is when my oldest children came to me, on their own, one morning before school, and asked how they would go about asking Jesus to live in their hearts. I had such an enormous amount of pride in them at that moment… wow! Gets me teary eyed just remembering it! It’s my hope that I can continue to lead them in the right direction for their lives. I want them to know that they can change the world just like anyone else can and I want them to touch everyone that they come in contact with.


Thank you so much twinkie tush for this opportunity. I’m so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful online community of mamas who all have at least one like goal in common: raising our children the best way we know how to and supporting each other while we all do that.