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Happy 2017!
January. I shared my #bestnine on Instagram, my family came up to celebrate the holiday, & Grammie & Eloise did yoga. I (finally) updated the blog header! Aaron & I went out on a date (with a babysitter!), dressed up, & hit the town for a work party. We set up a family gallery in the downstairs hallway. Santa brought Eloise a kitchen for Christmas & I shared the IKEA hack. Our first (Valentine’s Day) pregnancy announcement was featured on parents.com. (Auntie) Ashley, who I’ve known since college, came to stay for a brief trip! Aaron & I spent a night away at Salish Lodge & Grammie came to stay.
February. We had a playdate with my law school friend Grifan and her daughter Blakely (who moved pretty far away!). Eloise had her 18 month check-up and participated in another study at the UW. I celebrated my 31st birthday by throwing a big birthday brunch with family and friends. Eloise had her first visit to urgent care. We had another playdate with another law school friend Sarah and her daughter Hadley at a very kid-friendly coffee shop Firehouse in Ballard. We went to the aquarium with friends. And we got a new roof!
March. I co-hosted a table with Amanda for the Annual PEPS Luncheon. We had lots of dinners with friends. We all flew to Boise for a long weekend, saw Uncle Jason and Aunt Kelly, and all of my girlfriends. I launched The Petite Flag Shop as a fun, creative outlet! We hosted Easter Brunch and celebrated with the Andersons.
April. We started taking Sunday morning family walks around Greenlake (yay for warmer weather!). I desperately needed a hair cut, but didn’t have time to fly to Boise. We spent a week with Grammie on Maui! I was a regular at Pure Barre on Thursday evenings. I brunched with all of my favorite local Mamas (without our kids!).
May. I celebrated my second Mother’s Day. We attended Miir’s One Year Anniversary for it’s flagship store. Amanda and I crafted. Aaron and Ben moved our side yard fence. Eloise participated in a cool robot study at the UW. Aaron and I had a dinner date to celebrate Aaron’s birthday at Musashi’s – an old favorite! Our friends Ryan, Katie, and Micah stayed with us for Ryan’s medical school graduation. Aaron celebrated his 33rd birthday! We brunched with Jen and Eric who were in town at Preservation Kitchen in Bothell. We took an urban hike from our house to Pike Place Market.
June. I snuck away to Bend, Oregon for a long weekend with the girls, and Aaron flew solo with Eloise. We had dinner with friends, and another (much-needed) playdate with Grifan and Blakely. We celebrated the life of our amazing friend John Sisko. Aaron celebrated his second Father’s Day and I surprised him with a pregnancy test! Eloise and I went to our first Little Gym Class. We celebrated a friend’s first birthday. We flew to Chicago and then onto Indiana to visit Aaron’s family, and got to see Nana and Papaw (Aaron’s parents), the Cambridges (Aaron’s sister’s family), the Garner-Ballards and Uncle Colt.
July. We headed up to Grandpa Neal’s lake house for the holiday weekend and got to spend lots of time with uncles, aunts, and cousins! We headed back to Chicago for a few days and explored the city, ate well, and went to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field. I went to see the Dixie Chicks with my friend Jenna. Eloise turned 23 months. We had our first pre-natal appointment with our midwife. Grammie and Paga came to visit, and then Eloise and I traveled to Boise.
August. Aaron and I celebrated our SIX year anniversary! We celebrated Eloise’s second birthday with a party at the house, and then celebrated her actual birthday at Blue C Sushi (which she still talks about!). Uncle David, Aunt Jodi, and cousins Madison, Gavin, and Landon came into town to visit, and we went to the Boeing Museum, the Space Needle, and a Mariners game. We had a playdate with the Sadliers. Eloise had her two year check-up. We toured Eloise’s new pre-school. We had the first ultrasound with Baby Foot at thirteen weeks. Eloise was potty trained. We made a BIG announcement (spoiler: BABY #2)!
September. I started Project Baby #2 which is weekly bump updates for Baby Foot. Eloise started pre-school at the Birch School. I started acupuncture treatments for headaches. Aaron’s Aunt Sharon and Uncle Mike came into town for a visit. Grammie came to visit too. Sadie went in for her annual exam at the vet and left with a clean bill of health. I had drinks with old law school friends downtown. We went to Tahlia’s third birthday party and Eloise was introduced to temporary tattoos. I had breakfast with my local mama friends. We celebrated Sadie’s 12th birthday. We attended John Sisko’s last show at Sisko Gallery.
October. Eloise’s paci went bye-bye for good! We had the 20 week ultrasound with Baby Foot and kept strong by not finding out the sex. We celebrated our fifth blog anniversary! I hosted a pop-up shop at West Elm for The Petite Flag Shop and Aaron joined me (so it was really a date!). Eloise transitioned to a toddler bed. Eloise and I were featured on Land of Nod’s Instagram feed for a special Halloween craft morning. Eloise and I visited Aaron at work to celebrate Halloween!
November. We had our family Christmas card photoshoot at Gas Works Park. The Petite Flag Shop was featured on the online flash-sale site Brickyard Buffalo. Eloise turned 27 months. We attended the third annual Friendsgiving at the Anderson house. Eloise and I started a mama and toddler dance class with some friends. We flew to Boise for the week of Thanksgiving. Aaron and I got to sneak out for a date night to see Fantastic Beasts. I shared my ideas for Baby Foot’s nursery.
December. Eloise met Santa at Nordstrom. Eloise learned how to play hide-and-seek. We got our Christmas tree and decorated the house for the holiday! We had a double-date night with the Sadliers. We brunched at Portage Bay with the Andersons. We got a new car. Eloise went to daycare (so Mama could have some time to prep for the holidays!). We went to the annual Bite Party and shared a dessert and good company. We all came down with colds. We went to WildLights at Woodland Park Zoo (a new Christmas tradition we started last year). I made an appearance on New Day NW for Pure Barre. Aaron built us a fireplace (we will share more details soon). Eloise went to the dentist and got two thumbs up – she’s a great brusher and doesn’t use pacis! We mostly recovered from our colds and took pictures in our matching Christmas jammies! We celebrated Christmas with presents, brunch with Ben and Sarah, FaceTime with family in Idaho and Indiana, and lobster dinner. We had dinner with the Sadliers and all the kids were matching in their jammies. Grammie, Paga, and Aunt Yaya (my family) drove up for post-Christmas celebrations. And we will be saying good-bye to 2016 by watching the college football playoffs: Go Huskies!
We had an incredible year and it’s hard to believe how much has happened in just 365 days! 2016 was pretty darn good to us and we have so much to look forward to in 2017!
Happy New Year friends!
xo M
And see our previous years’ highlights: 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // 2011