Steph's Sweet Treats has grown mostly by word of mouth and Facebook.  My customers have been outstanding at telling their friends and family about me as well as spreading the word on Facebook.  I rarely do any outside advertising, so the fact that Steph's Sweet Treats has grown the way it has, just goes to further show how amazing my customers are.  So it's time to celebrate you...the customers!  

I am planning a Customer Appreciation Day event at the Ley Memorial Pavilion at Harris Park on June 25 from 11am-3pm!  All the details are still in the works but I wanted to get it out there early so you can mark your calendars and plan on stopping! Since there's been so many local supporters of me, I thought I'd make this a day to help and celebrate other small local businesses at the same time.  

So not only will I be set up with merchandise and discount cupcakes, there will be vendors of all kinds (example: LulaRoe, Arbonne, Scentsy, etc), door prizes, and hopefully some music and food vendors!  There will be all kinds of amazing things in one place for a day full of fun, cupcakes, and me thanking you for making Steph's Sweet Treats a dream come true for me!  Mark your calendars and stay tuned for all the details!

​As usual, thanks for another week of orders!!

Six months....six whole months...that's half of a year!  How is it possible that it has ALREADY been half a year since we had Wyatt???  That's a long time in real life, but in mommy life I feel like I blinked and my itty bitty newborn has developed into a little man!  So there will be no more blinking over here!  Just kidding...but seriously...how?!  

Many of you have been able to see Wyatt when doing pickups or popping into an open day, but in case you haven't, or if it's been awhile, I thought now would be the time to do an update and look back at the first six months of running a business with a baby.

 Looking back at those first few weeks and months I'm still not sure how I did it.  I filled orders two days after coming home from the hospital!  Ok...I do know how I did it...an amazing husband who came to the bakery with me so I wouldn't have be separated from my newborn.  There was a few times when I ended up going into the bakery in the middle of the night while he was sleeping so I could finish some things up and not miss bedtime or him waking up in the morning (oddly enough it was for two very large orders involving cows, but for two separate company's/farms).

When my husband went back to work my mom took over coming to the bakery with me and Wyatt when I was going to have long baking days.  If I had a lot of orders to fill and it was going to be a long day, my mom would come along so she could help out with Wyatt so I could continue with my order filling instead of pausing.  For this I will be forever grateful!  I didn't have to be away from Wyatt for hours on end and I still got to fill orders.  Now I still get the help of my mom a day or two a week at home while I go in and bake.  I try to pick those "helps days" based on the amount of orders I have, and I try not be gone for more than six hours.  

Go ahead a call me crazy...I get it, people go to work every day all day and have to leave their babies, but it's my personal choice not to...and if I and lucky enough to have to then why would I? I'm sure at some point I'll feel comfortable to be gone longer (and not feel like my heart is being ripped out)...but I don't yet, so I won't.  I have done some serious reorganization of my bakery in order to make a dedicated space for Wyatt to make being a mom and business owner as easy as possible.  

No matter how busy things get, I have made a promise to myself and Wyatt that I will snuggle up with him at least once a day during one of his naps.  Some days this is really challenging and will become more so as he naps less and wedding season starts, but for now I will do my absolute best to keep this a constant in our lives.  I don't care if it's only 10 minutes....I will enjoy every last minute.  

One of my biggest challenges has been keeping up with inquiries.  After having my phone wake up Wyatt during a cuddle session one too many times, I keep it on silent the majority of the time.  A lot of the time I cannot answer the calls, emails, messages, or texts immediately like I use to.  I do my best to send a quick note to people saying I see your message, call, etc. and let them know I will respond as soon as I can.  Now that Wyatt is aware of things around him I try really hard not to constantly have my phone in his face or be working away responding to people with him watching me.  This makes getting back to people even more challenging; so please hang in there with me! I will get back to you; I just don't want my son seeing me on my phone constantly or have it in his face 24/7.   

Every moment seems so precious, as many of you know.  I am the queen of saying yes to people, and I have really tried to go out of my way to continuously accommodate and take on extra for customers when I can, but I refuse to put my son on the back burner.  I want those special moments, craft making, snuggles, and playing-the things that will forever stay in my mind.

 But that also doesn't mean I am putting my business or customers on the back burner!  I hope I am satisfying you guys as well and fulfilling all your baking wants and needs! I have been lucky enough thus far to manage/balance the best of both worlds (being a mom and business owner), and I hope you guys can see this and have been happy with how I have managed the two.  I have gone back to open days, and have only turned down really last minute orders or limited orders when a weekend is super packed (something I did even before baby).  Thank you all so much for your continued support and orders!  I hope to see you all at the Valentine's Day open day!  Now please excuse me while I go shed some tears over this milestone!