my weekend in pictures.

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{As you may have seen on my Instagram Stories, we headed to the Museum of Flight on Friday with the girls. It was SO fun! We are definitely headed back soon and will probably get a family membership. It was that good, guys.}

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{And Eloise kept asking if all of these statues were real people! She was really in awe of this astronaut. Maybe she’ll be an astronaut?!}

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{Aaron took Eloise to ballet on Saturday morning since the studio isn’t super Daphne-friendly. So when she got home, I asked her what she did. And then she posed.}

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{I really wanted to join in on the Women’s March this weekend, but got cold feet and chickened out. And I was lamenting about it all Saturday long. But THANK YOU to those of you who did march! In the current state of things, it is easy to stay silent and just go with the flow of things, even though it is really messed up, but we need everyone to speak up and shout out about what is going on! Thanks for being brave!}

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{We had friends over for dinner on Saturday and Eloise convinced Aaron and Dave to play a game of Chutes and Ladders before bedtime. And she won!}

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{Daphne did NOT want to take a nap by herself this morning and the only way she would sleep is if I held her. So I did. It was really uncharacteristic of her (she NEVER does this!) but I figured she is almost 1 and I probably won’t get that many more chances to hold her while she naps, so I just went with it and enjoyed the quietness of that sweet sleeping baby.}

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{And the girls were playing together this afternoon which was the most adorable thing. I think they were playing store because Eloise was handing things to Daphne thru the windows and doors and then charging her for them!}

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{Sunday night is Instant Pot night at the Lower house. If you have any good recipes, send them my way!}

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{Semi-obsessed with this LOVE sweatshirt I picked up from Hanna Andersson (and also sweatshirts generally). I originally wanted to get one for me and both girls, but that ended up being sort of expensive… so I just got one for Mama! For reference I picked up the girls sweatshirt since I didn’t like the woman’s one as much.}

This was our final weekend of Aaron’s paternity leave, so it felt a little weird to me. Like this entire week is going to be really different as we find our new normal again. But I am going to survive, right?

How was your weekend?

M

This post contains affiliate links.

guest room/office: styled hydrangeas {sponsored}

Every New Year I find myself wanting a fresh start and get into cleaning/decluttering mode as well as “buy all the new things” mode. Great for post-holiday sales but bad for my wallet since it was just Christmas, right?

So this year, I have been in purge and decluttering mode (you should see the stacks and bags full of things in our office ready to go OUT) but have also been trying to re-style and refresh some of the spaces in our home.

In an effort to save on the amount of things we have (as well as saving money) I have been extremely selective about what has been coming into our home. It is easy to just buy all of the things, especially home decor, in order to fit the empty space, but I have taken a new approach and have really enjoyed it much more. Instead of the constant buying, styling, and getting rid of (and then rinse and repeat) I have been editing pieces out of our decor that I don’t really LOVE and then shopping around the house to see if there is something we already have that would fit what I am looking for. Sometimes I can restyle a piece in a new space and it’s perfect and sometimes I do need/want something new and then it goes on my to-buy list for when I am shopping.

One newish thing that I have been really liking in some of our spaces is faux flowers. In the past I wasn’t a huge fan, but some of the faux flowers are really good! So when Silk Plants Direct reached out late last year to see if I wanted to style and blog about silk flowers, I had to say yes!

There are tons (and tons) of options on Silk Plants Direct, so if you are shopping, I would highly recommend setting some filter criteria. I sorted by flower type (hydrangeas and peonies are right at the top for me) as well as by arrangement (I wanted something already in a vase or container). And then it was onto shopping! Faux flowers (good ones at least) tend to be a little pricey, but I think it’s worth the cost. If you buy real flowers, you know how expensive of a habit that can be, and you don’t have to replace faux flowers every week (or change out the water).

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I loved this purple and green hydrangea arrangement and I knew I could style it in a couple of places in our home (office, bedroom, living room). At least for me, I like a simple arrangement (flowers and color) in a simple container (no big designs or graphics) because it is easiest for me to style it with other things. For the time-being, this arrangement will live in our office/guest room on one side of the dressers, though I am sure it will move around the house once I start to get the itch to re-style!

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And after having this arrangement in the house for a bit, I have been really happy with them. The flowers were a little smashed from shipping in a box, but I gently fluffed them up which worked well. From a distance, I think these are pretty good faux hydrangeas, and even the “water” looks pretty real. I will definitely peruse Silk Plants Direct if I find I need more faux arrangements for some of our other spaces and also really love the idea of a faux flower plant for outside during the spring and summer.

Be sure to check out Silk Plants Direct on social media (depending on what your preference is): Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest.

AND Silk Plants Direct is offering 10% off for blog readers for any order (except custom orders) if you use the code BLOGGER10 at check-out.

Do you have any faux flowers in your home decor?

M

This is a sponsored post brought to you in collaboration with Silk Plants Direct. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog!

 

daphne {week 46}

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // romper: Primary // keys: Amazon}

{week 46} It has been a BIG week around here with Baby D, and the weeks are just flying by. I keep looking at the calendar and just can’t believe we are getting so close to March 1st. Commence party planning.

Daphne’s official first words are “good girl.” We have been noticing her saying it for a while, mostly around Sadie, but will almost always say it on command and also when she sees Eloise. It’s the cutest! We have a video and I will be sure to post it soon. Daphne also says “mama,” “mimi,” “bop bop,” and occasionally “papa” but none of those things are in context, so I think they are just sounds at this point.

Also, Daphne is officially waving AND clapping. Guys, I remember this from when Eloise was this age and it was the best. If you say “Hi, Daphne” and wave at her, she will most certainly turn towards you, smile, and give a big arm wave. Like her entire arm. And she also likes to spin her arms around during mealtime (or when she is in her highchair). Cute, but not amusing when there is food on her tray. And clapping, oh clapping. Daphne has been working on getting those hands together for a little while now, but she finally got it. And there is lots and lots of clapping these days.

Daphne is so, so fast and she is into everything. And if you can’t find her, it’s a sure bet that she is in the bathroom pulling all of the toilet paper off the roll and clapping!

We are still doing well with one morning nursing session and four bottles throughout the day. At first we were starting with 3 oz bottles since we weren’t sure exactly how much she was consuming (that’s one of the tricky parts about breastfeeding) but it seems like she wants more like 4 oz. I also updated some of her bottles to the Level 4 nipples (which increases how much milk comes out) and now she can down a bottle in a matter of minutes. It’s really impressive.

We have also been really trying to offer Daphne water at mealtime too (since she has a formula bottle before meals) in either a small cup (a shot glass to be specific) or a straw cup and she LOVES it! About half of the time she will swallow the water once it is in her mouth, and the other half it just falls out of her mouth. She got this silicone pocket bib from Santa though and we have been loving it! I like the pocket and the adjustable neck strap. Plus, it is super easy to clean and dries really quickly. I may pick up another one!

And here is Eloise’s 46 week update.

Happy 46 weeks Daphne!

M

This post contains affiliate links.

 

my weekend in pictures.

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{Sisters. Watching them play together is the best.}

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{Eloise and I bundled up and headed to the Zoo for a play date!}

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{E and her friend Bea. These girls have known each other since they were 6 weeks old!}

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{Eloise at ballet on Saturday morning.}

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{I took a quiet (and quick) moment for an amazing cup of coffee in the middle of a very busy Saturday morning.}

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{Last minute sign for a friend’s baby shower (which will now hang in the baby’s nursery) which I am loving.}

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{We showered a mama-to-be (for the second time!) on Saturday morning with a fun brunch. These ladies have been with me basically since Eloise was born and I cannot imagine a better group of women. #mytribe}

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{Saturday afternoon was so gorgeous and sunny that we just couldn’t stay inside after Daphne woke up from her afternoon nap. So a family walk around the neighborhood was a must! Eloise has been doing so well on her balance bike and Daphne was obsessed with the stroller!}

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{Aaron power-washed the front and back decks and now they look amazing!}

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{After Pure Barre I got home and Eloise asked me to take a picture of her in Papa’s hat. She was so proud!}

We had a really busy Saturday – ballet, mama brunch, and PEPS – but it turned out to be really fun! The girls got some good time with friends and Aaron, and I also got to be out with some girlfriends and catch up (which we rarely get to do since we have 10.5 kids between us! And the weather ended up being super nice and sunny on Sunday which was great. We didn’t have huge plans, but enjoyed the weekend and the time together.

We are headed into this week a bit slowly with the holiday tomorrow, but it’s a bit bittersweet since this is Aaron’s last week of paternity leave. I think we are all ready to be back to normal, but gosh we will miss having Papa around all day!

How was your weekend? (I am realizing now that it is a long weekend, but since every day feels like a weekend right now since Aaron is home, I am just going to pretend this was a regular two-day weekend!)

M

daphne {week 45}

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // sweater: made by Aunt Kelly // top: Old Navy (old but similar) // leggings: Target (old) // slippers: Hanna Andersson}

{week 45} This week we have been at Mimi and Paga’s house (my parents) for the week to attend my cousin’s wedding and to have a late Christmas celebration with family.

The drive over was long (10 and a half hours) but Daphne did SO well! She is really such a great little traveler. We woke up the girls early (6 am) to head out of town and Daphne was back to sleep within a few minutes of leaving the house. She also was in a really happy mood when I woke her up which always helps! We kept to the regular routine with mealtimes and naps, stopping for breakfast and lunch, and then Daphne put herself to sleep on the road. Her naps weren’t quite as long as they are when she is in her crib, but she wasn’t fussy so no complaints!

Daphne has done pretty well sleeping. A few nights she has had really good nights where we put her down and she doesn’t make a peep until morning, but we did have one night where she was up and crying for hours (HOURS) before I finally rocked her in the living room and slept with her on my chest on the couch. That entire night was kept thinking “this stinks, please go to sleep” but also “thank you so much for not doing this every night!” We have been using this travel sound machine and it is awesome! {Our old one went thru a crazy amount of batteries but this one is USB. We looked high and low for a good travel sound machine and finally found this one!}

The biggest thing that happened this week was that Daphne learned to clap! And just in time for the wedding. Daphne spent nearly the entire wedding ceremony on Saturday clapping and babbling! It was really sweet and everyone couldn’t stop laughing at her! She is also working on waving too. A big, full arm wave. I love this stage.

And here’s Eloise’s 45 week update (also on my parents’ living room rug)!

Happy 45 weeks Daphne!

M

This post contains affiliate links.

my {long New Year’s} weekend in pictures.

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{Little Daph always wants to know what everyone else is up to so she doesn’t miss anything exciting!}

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{We brunched at our old favorite Portage Bay Cafe for New Year’s Eve with an old and dear friend.}

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{It has been cold, cold, cold here. Bundled up babies are the best!}

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{Making popcorn with Papa!}

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{Family movie night selfie. Our New Year’s Eve plans changed sort of at the last minute so we decided to start a movie night! It was Eloise’s first movie and she was BEYOND excited to stay up past bedtime and watch Moana. And amazingly, she watched the entire thing. She had a lot of questions, but the longest thing she had ever sat thru before this was an episode of Sesame Street so we weren’t sure how she would do. And before the movie started, I reminded her that we had met Moana at her friend Lily’s birthday party – it was one of those dressed up princess characters – but she had NO idea at the time who it was. And then Eloise asked me if we could have a play date with Moana. It was so sweet!}

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{Got in my first workout of week 4 #BBG this afternoon. Originally I was planning on waking up at 6 am to do my workout (which is the normal routine for me) but this morning the alarm went off and it was not going to happen. But I am proud that I did it since it is so easy for me to talk myself out of a workout as the day progresses.}

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{We headed over to the Andersons after naptime and the kids got to play together!}

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{Just 6 weeks apart and right now they are grabbing toys from each other and poking each other in the eyeballs, but some day soon they will play and it will be so cute!}

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{And we had to get in a game of Catan since it has been FOREVER since we have played. But playing with kids up is no joke. Definitely didn’t get into my groove when Daphne was constantly swatting at the game board… next time!}

Obviously we had a super mellow New Year’s weekend which was sort of perfect. As with Christmastime, the end of the year tends to get busy and chaotic, so it was really nice to just be at home with the girls and stay in, for the most part. We celebrated the New Year without much pomp and circumstance, but it still feels nice to have a fresh new 365 days ahead of us! And Daphne turned TEN MONTHS today which feels big.

How was your New Year’s weekend?

M

daphne {month ten}

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{alligator: Jellycat // shirt: babyGap (old) // pants: Target (old)}

{month ten} TEN MONTHS?! Ahh, March 1st is way too close. I am not ready for this. Especially when I was putting together our yearly review and seeing all of those tiny baby pictures of Daphne. Where did all that time go?

This picture perfectly captures Daphne’s sweet little belly. Oh my gosh guys, we love this tummy! It is so round and rotund, especially after mealtime, and we have had to start sizing up in shirts in order to cover it! I don’t remember Eloise having quite a belly, but I really hope Daphne’s sticks around for a while.

The biggest change this month has been that I started weaning Daphne which is a pretty big departure from where we were last month! As I have been mentioning in her weekly updates, I started weaning Daphne from the breast to a bottle because she was biting so much. I slowly started dropping nursing sessions and we have been offering a 3 ounce bottle instead and the transition has been super smooth. We had some frozen pumped milk that we alternated with formula in the beginning, and now we are completely on Holle formula (now Stage 3). It seemed like Daphne had a little bit of tummy trouble (crazy diapers!) when we first started with only formula bottles, but she seems to be doing well now. Just yesterday I dropped the lunchtime nursing session so Daph is just nursing first thing in the morning before breakfast. I am still sad about feeling like I needed to wean before I was really ready, but it has been nice at the same time. With Aaron home on leave now, being able to offer bottles gives him more of an opportunity to care for Daphne (and for me to not feel stuck at home). Anyways, we will keep up this current system (hopefully) until Daphne turns one and the formula bottles transition to cups of cow milk.

Despite our guesses, Daphne still isn’t walking or standing on her own yet (we suspected in the fall that she might be walking by New Year’s) but I am thankful. She is already so mobile and for those first few months of walking, there are so many falls and close calls. I am definitely okay on waiting. Daphne doesn’t seem too interested in trying to stand on her own yet and will just drop to her bottom if she wants to move or can’t hold onto something. She is cruising on everything though and has mastered the side-step for sure! We did put up the extra gate in our upstairs hallway to keep Daphne out of the stairwell and entryway. She is learning about stairs still and does well climbing up, but still is pretty far from being able to do stairs well.

In the past few weeks, Daphne has moved into a 4 hour feeding schedule. It has been nice to have more time in the afternoon before she goes down for a nap, especially since Eloise does “quiet time” rather than nap time now. The naps move around a bit depending on what we are doing that day or whether Daphne is more or less tired, but have been averaging 2 hours each!

7:30 am to 8:30 am – wake-up and nursing

8:30 am – breakfast

10 am – morning nap

noon – bottle and lunch

2 pm – afternoon nap

4 pm – bottle and sometimes a snack (if she sees Eloise eating one)

5 pm – occasional 30 minute catnap

6 pm – bottle and dinner

7:30ish pm – bottle and bedtime

And lastly we fully moved Daphne to her convertible car seat since she had outgrown her infant seat (in height, not in weight). Plus, she was getting heavy enough that I couldn’t very easily carry the infant seat! We picked up a new Britax Boulevard with Clicktight for her during Amazon’s Black Friday sale and we have been pretty happy with it. It is basically the updated version of Eloise’s seat so we aren’t learning an entirely new seat (really nice). The Clicktight feature is new for us though (we didn’t opt for the upgrade with Eloise) but it makes installing the seat so much easier! Daphne seems pretty content in her new seat and can see Eloise better now (she is rear-facing while E is forward-facing) and she likes that. She also has more access to her toys (we have this storage console in the middle seat) which is helpful! A rear-facing seat is a little tight in our current SUV since it requires the passenger seat to be pretty far forward, but it works well enough.

{weight} 20ish pounds. we don’t have a scale, so I will weigh her later in the week!
{hair} blackish brown.
{teeth} two bottom middle teeth, top four teeth, one more on the bottom cutting in.
{eyes} dark grey/brown.
{clothes} 9 months and 12 months, 6 to 12 months, starting into 12 to 18 months.
{diapers} size 3 {from the honest company}. At home we are doing cloth (Grovia) and disposables when we go out and overnight.
{feeding} nursing in the morning around 8 am. 3 oz bottles at lunchtime, after naptime, and at dinner. bedtime is around 7:30 with a 3 or 4 oz bottle.

{likes} watching and chasing the Roomba, eating, bath time with Eloise, watching big kids or babies, crawling, pulling up to her knees or feet, spinning on her back and belly, teething rings, chewing on anything, sitting in her highchair, staring at her quilt (from Amanda), rattles, nursing, riding in the car (usually), her big sister Eloise, Sadie, singing, lights, paci, being bounced, sucking on her hands, being tickled, talking (cooing).
{dislikes} having gas, lying down flat right after eating, being hungry or tired, not having a bottle immediately after seeing it, having her face or nose wiped off.

{nicknames} Daph, Daph Daph, Daphers, Bug, Snorty, Baby D, Daphne Doo, Daph-a-doo, Love, Lovebug.

And here is Eloise’s ten month update.

Happy 10 months Daphne!

M

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highlights of 2017.

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{My Insta #bestnine2017}

Happy 2018!

January. My family came into town to celebrate a late Christmas, I was well into my third trimester with Baby Foot, Amanda threw me a beautiful Mama Celebration, and I was still making it to my Sunday afternoon Pure Barre class. Eloise and I saw Caspar Babypants in concert at the Land of Nod, finished up our Mama-and-Me dance class, and attended story time all month at the library.

February. Baby Foot was “full term” as we entered Birthday Month (but decided not to make an appearance this month; see next month…) and we had our last meeting with Jennie, our doula, before the birth. And I started seeing the midwives every week. Eloise turned two-and-a-half. We had play dates with friends, a (birthday/Valentine’s Day) date night at my very favorite restaurant Serafina, went to the Children’s Museum, and I had my first (and only) pre-natal massage. I celebrated my 32nd birthday and got to have lunch with my childhood best friend and her son! I shared some maternity photos. I got a mani-pedi and Aaron and Eloise had a date to the Symphony. I posted my last pregnancy weekly picture (at 39 weeks). My mom and dad arrived into town. My due date came. And went. We waited. And Eloise told her friends and teachers that I had a baby BOY even though I didn’t! At 41 weeks I went to see the mid-wife and had my membranes swept (and started scheduling an ultrasound and no-stress test for the end of the week). My dad had to fly home. I went to bed early and then went into labor!

March. We welcomed Daphne Lucille into our family! Eloise and Grammie came to the hospital to meet Baby Daphne, and our wonderful friends started bringing us meals and coming for visits. We started Daphne’s weekly picture series. Amanda watched Daphne so Eloise and I could get out for a date! We had our first family photoshoot with Meg. We found our new normal after my mom went home and Aaron returned back to work. So many baby snuggles. I shared my second newborn and post-parum essentials. We hosted a Baby Shower En Blanc for Jess, Cale, Big Sister Jaz, and Baby Austin!

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April. Daphne turned ONE month! Eloise had spring break and my mom came back into town for a visit, we celebrated Easter and ventured up to the Tulip Festival. We started grocery delivery with Amazon Fresh. I was cleared at my post-partum check-up and started back to my regular Sunday afternoon Barre classes. We went up to visit Jess and meet Baby Austin! My dad came into town for a visit to meet Daphne (since had to leave to return home and then I went into labor!).

May. We headed to Indiana on our first trip as a family of four and for Daphne’s first plane ride. Daphne got to meet so many of her family members on Aaron’s side including Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. I celebrated my third Mother’s Day! I started a six week Pure Barre Challenge and going to class 4 times per week. Uncle David came into town. We celebrated Aaron’s 34th birthday! We had a family dinner date (a monthly tradition!) with the Sadliers. We celebrated my old friend Sascha’s nuptials and had a low-key Memorial Day weekend. Daphne participated in her first UW lab study.

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June. Daphne turned THREE months! Aaron started the first half of his paternity leave (6 weeks)! We celebrated our friend Ford’s first birthday (and the birthday parties begin!). And my mom came into town for a long weekend. We took a day trip out to Bainbridge Island via the ferry to see our friend Jerry, and we applied for (and got) every one a (new) passport! We celebrated Father’s Day! Eloise went to the dentist (and Daphne tagged along but didn’t have any teeth yet). We went to an end-of-the-school-year-potluck for Eloise, and celebrated our friend Lucy’s first birthday and our friend Madeleine’s fifth birthday. I (successfully) completed my Barre Challenge! We had friends over for dinner and went strawberry picking out in Duvall. We celebrated our friend Ella’s birthday and Uncle Stan and Aunt Kathi came into town for a visit (en route to Alaska).

July. We celebrated our friend Amelie’s birthday as well as the Fourth of July with the annual neighborhood parade and a small BBQ at our house. We headed to Boise for our first family road trip and we saw my siblings and the CBC girls (my oldest and dearest friends) and their families. Daphne got her first haircut (trim). Aaron headed back to work. We had dinner with (Uncle) Ben and (Aunt) Sarah, and Daphne and I celebrated Sami and Baby Sweeney. I had a “mama’s night out” date with my PEPS girlfriends. We enjoyed the beautiful PNW summer.

August. Aaron and I celebrated our SEVENTH wedding anniversary! We attended the annual Night Out Block Parties in our neighborhood. We celebrated (late) with a date night out and the best dessert ever (Hello Robin in Capitol Hill). We celebrated Eloise’s THIRD birthday with a big party at the house. We had a girls play date with the Steiners and I got hooked on Lipsense lipstick. We celebrated Eloise’s birthday! She had her well-child check-up and a birthday dinner. We celebrated so many of our friends’ August birthdays: Harlon, Ethan, Beatrice, Clive, Clark, Clara, Caleb, Lily, and Eli. We had play dates with friends and enjoyed the end of the summer. Daphne learned how to (army) crawl. Eloise and I headed back to school for an open house.

September. We took a trip to the Zoo. Eloise stayed overnight at the Sadliers’ for her first night away, and Aaron, Daphne, and I went out on a sushi date at Musashi’s and ice cream at Molly Moon’s (basically the best date EVER)! We picked up Eloise and headed over to Flower World in Maltby to pick up some plants for the yard. We celebrated Labor Day and the end of summer vacation. We had a play date with two new neighbors. Daphne turned SIX MONTHS and Eloise started her second year of pre-school! We kicked-off football season at the Andersons’. We had a family date night at the Zoo. Daphne and I had play dates with new friends while Eloise was in school. My mom and dad came to visit. Eloise got her first haircut, and then dim sum and ice cream after! Sadie had her annual check-up and was in great health! My dear friend Ashley came into town for a quick work trip, so we had dinner at Marination Station. We celebrated our friend Seraphina’s first birthday with donuts at the playground. I shared pics of Eloise’s big kid room. We celebrated Sadie’s TWELFTH birthday! I took my first Pure Empower class (and it was awesome!) and we had family dinner with friends/neighbors.

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October. I re-launched The Petite Flag Shop for Halloween and fall, and we all got flu shots. I posted my second nursing essentials post. We flew to MEXICO (everyone got new stamps in their passports!) and stayed for a week of vacation and celebrating Maggi and Greg’s nuptials! I celebrated my SIXTH blogging anniversary! I had a fun night out with my PEPS mama friends. The girls and I headed over to a PEPS Halloween play date, including everyone’s costumes. We got a babysitter for the girls and headed out to Ben and Sarah’s annual Ghouls Near Greenlake party (dressed as Where’s Waldo?). I started researching pre-K programs for Eloise and we had play dates with friends. We celebrated our friend Emerson’s first birthday, and had dinner with the Andersons. I got back into my Sunday afternoon Barre class and we went to a fun Halloween party. Daphne celebrated her first Halloween. We watched our neighborhood’s annual Halloween Parade (complete with drum line) and trick-or-treated with Eloise the cupcake and Daphne the donut.

November. I launched free shipping sitewide at The Petite Flag Shop, and we had our annual family photoshoot in SLU. We survived daylight saving time ending. We celebrated Friendsgiving at the Andersons’ house marking the fourth year! Eloise turned three-and-a-quarter. Our neighbors started a new backyard project and we got (part of) a new fence. I shared our travel essentials for the girls since I had lots of questions from friends. We had our first Hello Fresh meal delivery and LOVED it! We headed to Boise for the week of Thanksgiving and got to catch-up with lots of friends and family. I cut my hair short! We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. SO much to be thankful for this year. I launched the Holiday Shop at The Petite Flag Shop. We drove home and stopped at Sumpter Junction for breakfast and Eloise LOVED the train. I got new glasses from Warby Parker (there is one at U Village, but you can also do a home try-on) and we started touring pre-K pre-schools for Eloise for next school year. I started decorating for CHRISTMAS!

December. Daphne turned NINE months! We had family dinner night at the Sadliers’ house, and we hosted a Jingle & Mingle hot chocolate party at the house. We celebrated our friend Nathan’s fourth birthday. I did a Pinterest Christmas blog series, but kept it really low-key. We all have matching family Christmas jammies (if you know me, this is my dream!). We saw Santa at Nordstrom Flagship where Eloise asked for a baby stroller, a scuba diver, and a chew toy for Baby Daphne. We sent out Christmas cards and I updated the blog header. Eloise started (pre) ballet class, and we had dinner with friends down at Greenlake for the Pathway of Lights celebration. We attended a Caspar Babypants concert (at a brewery!) and I started BBG. Aaron started the second half of his paternity leave! I went on the BEST mama date with Amanda (we ate and shopped in Ballard) and I found this amazing cleaning spray. We kept to our annual tradition of seeing WildLights at Woodland Park Zoo. We watched Boise State crush Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl, but haven’t managed to watch any other bowl game this season. Eloise started Winter Break and we said good-bye to one of her teachers who is moving to the Olympic Peninsula. We headed to storytime at the library (Daphne’s first time!) and the girls both saw the dentist. We celebrated Christmas as a family of four, Santa came, we brunched with Ben and Sarah, FaceTimed with family, and had a small Christmas dinner. We watched the Huskies play in the Fiesta Bowl. And celebrated the New Year!

2017 was quite. a. year. And quite possibly the best ever! I know I say that every single year, but this year we got to meet Daphne and Eloise became a big sister. Doesn’t get much better than that! {I have to add that personally, we had a WONDERFUL year, but as a country maybe we can do a little better next year? Just putting that out into the universe.}

And as much as this year was really so fantastic, I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store!

Happy New Year’s friends!

M

And see our previous years’ highlights: 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // 2011

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daphne {week 43}

SONY DSC

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // tunic: Target (old) // leggings: Target (old)}

{week 43} This past week has gone so quickly, mostly because we were leading up to Christmas!

Daphne visited the dentist last week for her first check-up. We were already taking Eloise in for an appointment (she goes every 6 months) and since Daphne had teeth this time, the dentist went ahead with the first check-up. Mostly it was just having the hygienist clean her teeth with a gauze pad and then having the dentist check to make sure her teeth are coming in correctly. And while Daphne did NOT like having her teeth looked at, everything looks good!

And on a related note, I noticed this week that she has another tooth (on the bottom) making an appearance and it has already cut, so here’s to SEVEN teeth for little Daph!

We got to get together with some of Eloise’s PEPS friends late last week for a play date and chose the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center play gym since there were so many big kids. But Daphne had a good time climbing around and playing and watching all of the kids (nearly all were bigger than her). The only tricky part was that Daphne was really interested in trying to climb on all of the big bikes and scooters… keeps me on my toes!

Weaning is still going well and I am holding strong on the first morning feeding. We have had some biting during that feeding, but not too bad. I just am not ready to completely give it up yet! But I started weaning her from the lunch feeding, offering just one side, and it has gone well. So this week I will completely wean her from nursing at lunchtime and offer her a bottle instead. And at some point the bottles will become cups of milk. Crazy that we are so close to that!

We also celebrated Christmas this past weekend, and since it was Daphne’s FIRST Christmas it seemed extra special. She has been in love with the Christmas tree (and specifically the lights!) but has mostly left it alone. I was a little worried that she was going to destroy it or try to eat all of the needles, but she has done a really good job still. I can’t blame her for being curious about it since it sits in the “play area” of our living room, and it sparkles with lights, and there are presents underneath. Daphne would help open some of her presents if we started ripping for her, but mostly she just wanted to chew on everything. So Eloise was happy to help her open everything up! We started letting the girls open one present starting a few days before Christmas because there were so. many. gifts. And even then, Christmas morning was overwhelming! It took us all day to open presents and there was so much over-stimulation. Daphne was interested in some things and the ribbons, but there was just way too much going on. I think next year we will take a note from our Jewish friends and spend 8 nights opening Christmas presents!

And here is Eloise’s 43 week update.

Happy 43 weeks Daphne!

M