well they are related...

Dad's photo dump

I love looking through Andy's phone and seeing the photos he's taken...so here, I'll share my faves:

Oh. Hello handsome. You're looking great today.

Could I be wearing any more toys right now?

 



And who are you looking at Elephant?

First day of school!

 

 Dying from cuteness overload.

Middle of winter and we headed to the lake.

That's what you do when you get an invitation for the whole family to have a sleep over with friends. And we couldn't get out of town fast enough.

We packed and packed and loaded up (yeah we all know Andy did the loading) and as for packing...I forgot all of Ethan's winter stuff, most of Emmie's diapers and the eggbake for breakfast, because I'm awesome on no sleep.

Did I mention we also went out the night before? Like out out, with dinner and drinks and friends and a babysitter and we stayed out way too late for parents of a not sleeping through the night three month old. Mom and dad were both drinking Coke before 9am. At least Ethan slept the whole way there and Em was knee deep in Dora and snacks.

 

Alicia 'always a teacher' Larson had a bag full of tricks waiting for Emmie. Paper, stickers and markers...and a glue stick! This was Em's first encounter with a glue stick and it was love at first sight. I've always been a little worried that my girl wouldn't be crafty. I mean, that's kinda all I know! But thankfully she is already a professional with the glue stick.

 

Crafting away with Alicia. Glitter stickers and a glue stick. Heaven.



When she wasn't crafting, she was dancing. Matt's parents built a beautiful new cabin with an all season porch that turned into Emmie's dance studio. And after dancing, she turned the fireplace into her desk and used Molly's bumbo as her chair.

 





Please don't bother me, I'm busy drawing on my Surface.

And the babes? They pretty much just hung out, doing baby things. Did I mention how great it is that Matt's brother has a toddler too...so in our room there was a toddler bed, pack'n'play and a high chair? Yeah, pretty great.

 

Oh hey Molly, mind if I drool all over your toy?

It was a gorgeous day at the lake so we packed on the layers and sent Em out with the boys. She loved trudging through the snow and getting sled rides from Dad and Matt while Ethan stayed cuddled up by the fireplace with the girls.

 



 



Needless to say, the Fellows family sleepover was a success. Em slept well in the toddler bed and Ethan was Ethan...I hear there was a 4am rendezvous between Ethan, Molly and the dads. I wonder if that is what Matt and Andy envisioned their all nighter would be like.



Ethan's Room

Finally, the room is complete!

 Still in the bassinet. Emmie is not sold on the big girl bed, so we need to bring up the pack and play or go buy a crib.

 Here are the over sized Anthropologie flashcards in cheapo Walmart floating frames. Easy. Peasy.

And the alphabet print that brought it all together (it's all level in real life, apparently I'm not).



And the mobile! I don't know why I decided to make him a mobile, but I'm really glad I did. I love how it turned out and it got some crafting out of my system with the only price tag being the paper.

It hangs near a vent, so the paper globes spin all by themselves.

And most important, the view from below.

my valentiny

 

How sweet are these tiny E bracelets?

I searched high and low and finally found what I wanted here on Etsy. Well, almost what I wanted anyways. The seller had necklaces and I wanted the same style in a bracelet. One little e-conversation later and the bracelets were in the making.

The picture doesn't quite do them justice, but they're exactly what I wanted. Sweet and delicate and not spendy. And I love that these little Es sit perfectly on my wrist and catch my eye throughout the day and bring me to a happy place, thinking of my real Es.

The things she says...

One of the best things about blogging is being able to go back and read through my posts. Years later, when memories have faded, these blog posts are still black and white. And by simply reading a post, I'm brought right back to that memory like it was yesterday.

I've been reading through the posts of Emmie's first year lately. Comparing life, seeing what was happening then, and thinking back on all those new mom moments.

I want to make sure that years down the road, when my memory is fuzzy, I will remember all the funny things this little toddler said as well. I can't even explain how funny she is. And I can't even tell you how many times Andy and I catch each other's eye and just laugh at what came out of her mouth:


Stalling while tucking her in at bedtime one night: "Mom, you wearing pants? Mom, you have eyeballs?"

All in one breath: "Who's makin' that noise?Tucker?Oh!My love Tucker."

Putting on chapstick: "Mmm...that tastes pretty."

Picking out her two M&Ms after going potty: "I picka blue, matcha my shirt."

When there is a K at the beginning of a word, she says T instead, which made this an instant classic: "Dad! Look! I brought you a kitty."

She wanted to come to work with me in the worst way. I told her I had to go and bring home the bacon. I got home and was greeted with: "Mom! You got bacon?"

And while I really want to post the video of her running through the kitchen "naken" singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat....I'll post this instead:

 

 

Completely obsessed. She watches the video on YouTube daily and from time to time we'll hear her singing to herself "I miss you so bad, I miss you so bad."

A love letter.

My dearest Blog,

I miss you.

I think about you often. I think about the photos I want to share with you. I think about all the things I want to tell you.

I want to tell you about the mobile I made for Ethan's room. I want to share with you all those Emmieisms that I started to tell you about weeks ago, but never finished. And I want to show you the Valentine's Day present I bought myself.

But alas, our time together is limited. You see, in order to finish the mobile, I had to pick: you or crafting. I'm sorry I had to choose crafting. And I know it's no excuse, but crafting only after bedtime made the project take longer than expected. I hope you understand. And that Valentine's Day present, it took time to find and yes, I felt like I was cheating on you using the internet behind your back.

I miss the old us. When we first met I would stare at your beautiful blank screen and just type. Type whatever came to mind. Now I rush to get in some words along with a photo just to make do. I feel guilty about that, I truly do.

Bloggy, I know we can make it through this rough patch. Even if I can't be with you as much as I would like, please know that I am thinking about you.

Always yours,

Kelsey

xoxo

where the magic happens

Magical stuff like Nyquil induced sleeps and Dora at the crack of dawn and waking up in pain from a Cheerio imbedded in your leg and some smell you just can't put your finger on until you find a god only knows how old diaper under the bed. Yeah, that kind of magic.

 

The new duvet arrived and I'm in loves (thank you West Elm). For years and years I have been a white aka bleachable bedding kind of gal, because Tucker is a jump on the bed with muddy paws kind of dog. Now that Tuck is not allowed upstairs, I can add some color!

 

And the chair corner, that's this weekend's project. Some shelves? Some pictures? Something else? Yet to be determined...but I'll report back.

 

 



 

Light gray, dark gray, aqua, orange and yellow...I'm basically Rainbow Bright over here.

Week one is done.

Seemed like the most daunting of all the weeks when returning to work, but really week two is starting just the same. I think it’s just work in general huh?

The week went relatively smoothly and quickly. And it wasn’t exactly a forty hour week with Andy calling in sick his first day on the job. He had the flu and went to the doc. We all know that men are kinda babies when it comes to being sick, but when the man says he needs to go to the doc, only then can you believe it’s legit. Tamiflu in hand he was a new man the next day and my two hour work day really eased me into things.

It was nice to be around grown ups again, nice to leisurely shop on my lunch and nice to be showered and ready and wearing real clothes…that’s a total lie…I wish I could be sweats and we all know it.

It wasn’t so nice to come home from work and see my babe for the first time at 5:30pm though.  And the whole having two kids that go to bed at 7 and trying to figure out how to spend time with each of them when one still takes a late afternoon nap and the other doddles her way through dinner and everything happens at the same time…it’s kind of overwhelming. And I have no idea how it will all get done when we’re both working…but I suppose a million people do it every day and so will we.

I recently read an article about what NOT to say to working moms and I thought it was pretty entertaining. Here’s a little snip about the average day. (And in no way do I think stay at home moms have it easier by the way…life and parenting and work is hard for everyone.)

It's sort of like doing a triathalon. You start each day with a morning plunge into icy water, getting everyone to school/work then do an an eight-hour bike ride, all topped off with a half-marathon of dinner, homework, baths and bedtime. During your bike ride not only will you be expected to pedal hard, you'll also have to take phone calls from the school, the babysitter, and the doctor, respond to birthday party invitations, take a quick side trip to grab supplies for an art project, order groceries and a new pair of jeans and remember to return library books because it all needs to get done RIGHT NOW. If you're lucky, there's some wine left over in the fridge.

cryin' wolf

You never know if you can believe what a toddler says.

Like when she went running to dad saying that I punched her...I pinched her damnit. Pinched. And not on purpose either, accidentally when I was buckling her in...and she won't let me forget it.

So this morning when she was crying out "I'm stuck, I'm stuck" from the bathroom, I didn't know what I would find:



Emmie, just stay right there, mom needs to take a picture.