Easter 2016

Happy Easter! We had a laid back holiday this year. Since Madison had to work an overnight, we decided to celebrate on Saturday instead of Sunday. We made a special call to the Easter Bunny and he came and dropped off baskets on Saturday morning for the girls. We spent the day playing with new toys, baking brownies, having an Easter egg hunt in the living room and painting. I only took a few photos of the girls because I'm trying to be in the moment more. Although truthfully I did record the entire Easter egg hunt to sent to the grandparents.

Hope you had a lovely holiday!

Emery Jane

Emery Jane is here! She was born December 2nd at 6:35pm. I am very late at posting this birth announcement (since she's three months old now) because "two kids."

She is the most perfect baby. So sweet and cuddly, hardly cries, and has just started smiling and laughing a lot. Someday I'll share her birth story here, but it is the least dramatic story ever. Really it could not have been easier, or faster.

Nora loves her. We are so lucky that she has bonded with her so quickly. She has been so great about sharing our time with the new baby.

Speaking of Nora, she is going to be THREE next month! Where has the time gone? I have tons of photos to post from the last few months that I have taken off from blogging. For now, enjoy these few tiny newborn photos.

 

 

Pregnancy Update: I'm Exhausted But Enjoying This

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with Baby #2. Since we passed the halfway point, I thought it might be nice to record an update of how things are going. This pregnancy is much different than my first. Nora was a surprise but this baby was mostly planned. I say mostly because we knew we wanted our kids close in age, but I don't think Madison or I were expecting to get pregnant so quickly. 

Overall, I feel a lot better than I did last time. Of course, there is still the general aches and pains, but they aren't as bad as I remember them being last time. I have more energy and can come home from work and be awake the whole evening without falling asleep on the couch. Now that might be partly due to the fact that I still need to take care of Nora, so who's to say I wouldn't be napping more if she wasn't constantly asking for milk or crayons. 

When I got pregnant with Nora, I was fresh out of college and living on my own with my boyfriend for the first time without roommates, so I was still pretty immature at that point. There's no denying that I took full advantage of pregnancy and ate horribly. That contributed to my weight gain and hypertension, which eventually lead to me being induced early to make sure Nora was healthy. This time I'm trying to prevent that by eating healthier, or trying to at least. I did buy myself a jar of cookie butter at Trader Joe's this weekend so I'm not going too crazy. At this point I have gained less weight than when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Nora which has alleviated a lot of stress. 

Speaking of stress, I feel a lot less of it. I've done this before so I know what we're getting ourselves into. We still have a lot of Nora's baby things, so we aren't starting from scratch. Nora is already sleeping in her big girl bed so there is a crib ready and waiting to be filled with a sleepy newborn. 

At my last visit my doctor asked how this pregnancy was compared to my last one. I told him it was going better than the last and he was surprised by that. Apparently a lot of women feel that their second pregnancy is more difficult, especially because they are taking care of another child at that point. I suppose I should consider myself lucky. That's not to say that it has been a piece of cake. My back is killing me and I have heartburn almost every night, but I feel like I can enjoy this pregnancy more and just can't wait to have a new little baby to snuggle. 

All in all, I feel really good. I know things are going to be difficult once the baby comes and we readjust to life as a family of four, but I cannot wait for that day to come. I know we're up to the challenge. 

Nora's Big Girl Bed

Madison and I recently transitioned Nora out of her crib into a big girl bed. I posted about trying this before, but that didn't work out so well. This time, it was a necessity because a few weeks ago Nora figured out how to climb out of her crib. That was terrifying for all of us, and while we weren't sure if she'd try it again, we didn't want to take any chances. 

We took a trip to Ikea that weekend and picked up a twin size bed for Nora and put it together that day. She loves it. I mean really loves it. In her eyes, this is probably the best thing we've ever given her. She has always likes to play in our bed and sprawl out and roll around, so having her own space to do that has made her the happiest baby ever.

I was still a little nervous that the transition wouldn't be easy, but with baby #2 on the way, we didn't really have a choice. The new baby will be getting Nora's crib, so she needed to move into a new bed before December anyway. Much to my surprise, Nora has been doing great. The first night, she didn't get up at all. She slept until 6:30 (which is when she normally gets up) and only cried because she tripped over a footrest on her way out of bed. We moved that into her closet so that wouldn't happen again.

Nap time has been easy. Bed time has been easy. I'm honestly shocked because she has been giving us attitude and not listening lately (terrible twos) so the fact that she will go down and stay in bed until it's time to get up is amazing.

This is what her bed looks like right now. We added a blue polka dot duvet cover and got some really cute hot air balloon sheets from Target. She has been relishing the fact that she can have more "friends" in bed with her, so that collection has been growing. We still need to add some artwork or something over her bed, but it really is a cute little nook. There's also a blanket squished on the side because the first night she did roll into the crevice between the bed and the wall and couldn't figure out how to get out. Daddy to the rescue on that one.

My favorite part of this transition has been that now when Nora wakes up, she requests that we read book in her bed. She gets as many books as she wants, and I get some cuddle time. Win win. 

Have you transitioned your toddler into a big kid bed? Was your transition easy, or did you have to try it a few times like we did?

Freshly Picked Moccasins: Review & Giveaway - CLOSED

In our home, we really love Freshly Picked moccasins. These soft soled shoes are stylish, durable, and comfy for little feet. The 100% leather shoes are easy to put on and take off, but most importantly, they stay on your baby's feet! Nora is tough on her shoes, she spends a lot of time outside playing and we really have trouble finding shoes that won't be destroyed after a week of daycare. Thankfully, these moccasins are perfectly handcrafted to withstand a crazy toddler day.

If you are interested in getting a pair of these moccs for your baby, my number one recommendation is to follow the size chart! We are now on our third pair of moccasins and Nora's first two fit her perfectly as soon as we got them. This time, I guessed at her size without actually measuring her foot. Even though she is a size 6 in most toddler shoes, the size 6 moccs are much too big for her. We recently received the gorgeous Stay Golden Suede Moccs pictured above, and Nora won't be able to wear them until the fall. I'm kicking myself for getting the wrong size because this pair is so cute I really wanted her to wear them this summer. Luckily, the warm golden tone will be beautiful in the fall when these are more likely to fit her. 

The upside to this is, I got to go through old photos of Nora wearing her smaller moccs for this post! I'll take any excused to go through my photo archives. 

Nora's first pair of Freshly Picked moccasins were Platinum. Not quite silver, and not quite gold, these shoes were perfect to go with any outfit. 

Our second pair were Golden Rod. These bright yellow moccs are so sunny and cheerful, they were the best summer accessory. 

My personal favorite, Nora's moccs staying put during a long day at Ikea! Anything to make a trip to Ikea less stressful gets an A+ in my book.

Now it's your turn to win a pair of Freshly Picked moccasins for your baby! One reader will win a pair of moccs in their choice of size and color. To enter the give away, all you have to do is head to the Freshly Picked website and leave a comment below telling me why you love Freshly Picked, and which color you would pick if you won. For additional entries, follow my social media sites below and leave an additional comment telling me you did so. 

1. Follow Hello Kelcey on Facebook

2. Follow Hello Kelcey on Twitter

3. Follow Hello Kelcey on Instagram

4. Follow Hello Kelcey on Pinterest

This giveaway ends June 7th at 11:59pm. Good luck! 

Congratulations to the winner, comment #5- Susan Sharp!

Baby #2!

There's going to be a baby! Madison and I recently got the wonderful news that we are going to become a family of 4 this Fall. We are beyond thrilled to be growing our family, and Nora is so excited to be a big sister! 

Madison and I want our children to be fairly close in age, so this timing feels perfect. Nora will be just under 3 years old when the baby arrives, which we think is a good age difference. She is currently in the "little mommy stage" where she likes to take care of her baby dolls by feeding and rocking them to sleep, so it will be very exciting to see how she acts with a real baby in the house. We both think she is going to be a wonderful big sister. 

Almost as soon as we found out, I asked Madison if I could make an "irrational purchase" and ordered these adorable matching sister bear and baby bear shirts from maisonwares on Etsy. These shirts have been saved in my Etsy favorites for months, ever since we started talking about having another baby. They are so cute and such great quality. I can't wait for Nora and the baby be able to wear them at the same time! That willl be about a year from now, so I suppose I can be patient. 

I'm am now even more excited to have this space, because I started this blog after Nora was born. It will be so fun to blog during this pregnancy so I can share the process of preparing the nursery, packing the hospital bag, and getting Nora ready to be a big sister. I hope you're as excited as we are to start this brand new journey of becoming a family of four!

On Growing Up

No denying it, Nora is growing up. She is going to be two years old next month, which blows my mind. I can still remember her being a tiny 6 pound baby that just liked to sleep on me. Now she runs all over our house, tries to dress (and undress herself), and talks in full sentences. It has been amazing watching her grow and develop. She is so smart and very independent, but still very much our baby girl. 

The other night, Madison decided to take the front off of Nora's crib to turn it into her first "big girl bed." We had been talking about doing this for a while, because Nora loves to crawl into our bed and cuddle with the pillows and blankets. Look at that happy face! She was so excited. 

The first night went ok. She didn't even want to read a book before bed because she was so excited to sleep in her big girl bed. She slept from 7pm until about 1:30, when she woke up with teething pain. We let her sleep in our bed the rest of the night because she was very upset. All in all, it was a good first attempt because she didn't try to get up and play with her toys at all. 

The second night was very different. We have been trying to keep her bedtime routine the same, so that she knows when it is time for bed. She went down fine, but within 15 minutes, she was up playing with her books. I went in, laid her back down and told her that she needed to go to sleep. 15 minutes later, up again and trying to open her door. We decided to put her crib back together and told her that it was a privileged she would need to earn again. Honestly, she seemed relieved to me. She loves her bed, and we have a really good bedtime routine. 

This whole situation made me think about how different every child is. I know some kids who have been able to sleep in a big bed as soon as 18 months. Nora is clearly not one of those kids. She sat up and learned to crawl later than babies her age. She didn't walk at by her first birthday, and first words followed after that. It never bothered us, because we know all babies grow and develop at different speeds. 

We know now that Nora isn't ready for the responsibility of a big girl bed, and that is fine with us. She also has no interest in potty training at this age. We bought her a little potty to use, but she gets very upset whenever we ask her to try it. I had thought that she might be potty trained by 2, but since that clearly won't happen, we'll aim to work on it this coming year. I never want to be the mom that forces these things on her kids, I know she will come around it in her own time. 

I love watching Nora grow up and learn new things, but a part of me also loves that she is taking her time doing it. 

California Trip - October 2014

This past October, our family took a trip to sunny California! This was our first family trip ever, and actually the first time even Madison and I have taken a vacation together. We've been together for 4 years so I'd say it was long overdue. 

We left on a Saturday afternoon and Nora was in surprisingly good spirits. I like to be over prepared so we ended up at the airport much earlier than we needed to be. We sat her in her stroller with some snacks and a movie and waited for our plane to be ready. 

This was our set up on the way there. We had a layover in Chicago so for the first leg of the trip we took turns with Nora on our lap while she watched movies on Madison's computer. Those Minnie Mouse headphones are probably the cutest thing ever, and she seemed to like them! Nora did really well on the first plane ride. She cried a little on take off and landing but other than that, she was really well behaved. 

When we landed in Chicago we sprinted to our gate and ended up with enough time to grab some food. The second flight did not go as smoothly. We were all exhausted at this point, by the time we landed in California it was almost midnight our time. Nora was very squirmy. A few people sitting near us we nice enough to try and entertain her. The icing on the cake was when we opened our water bottle to give her a drink and the pressure made it explode all over her! Imagine: tired, cranky, soaking wet baby. She was not happy. I ended up taking my sweatshirt off and giving it to her so she wouldn't be sitting naked in a cold plane- because we obviously forgot to pack extra clothes in our carry on bag. On top of all of this, we didn't have WiFi on the plane so we had no idea what time it was. So basically it was a seemingly never ending nightmare. But it did end. And here I am (almost) laughing about it later. 

Anyway, we get to California around 9pm and Nora's grandparents are waiting for us with hugs and love and toys for the babe. It was another 20 minute car ride to get to their house and Nora fell asleep immediately. She had a little trouble falling asleep at their house because it was so new, but she eventually quieted down and we all slept well. 

California was so nice. This was my first time ever going and I really can't wait to go back. It was so sunny and warm and gorgeous. We went swimming- in October! Can't say I've ever done that before. 

On our first full day there we met up with Madison's sister, Merrill, and went to the Sacramento zoo. 

On our way into the zoo one of the first things we saw were these gorgeous bird of paradise flowers. 

Madison and Nora looking in at the monkeys. 

Everyone looking at the zebras and ostrich.

Nora getting up close with a giraffe.

I love tigers, they have always been my favorite animal, so this just made my heart explode. She was so pretty. 

Miss Nora Mae, Zoologist, and her monkey sidekick.

Sassy mom life. 

After the zoo we went back to my in-laws house for some burgers. It was glorious. Their house is so nice and inviting and their backyard is gorgeous. 

Nora and her Auntie Merrill, or as she called her: Auntie Meow-Meow. 

I made her sit on this ledge for a picture and after that she was obsessed with it and sat on it every time she came into the living room. 

We ended up at a really great place the next day. Fall is my favorite season and we found a great little spot of fall magic at a lake in Sacramento. There were pumpkins for sale, local artisans selling their goods, a little country store with the best apple cider donuts I've ever had, a pony ride for the kids, and shop in the back that sold fudge. We missed out on doing a lot of my favorite fall activities back home so this one trip made up for all of that!

Very much regretting this outfit choice now but I'm leaving this up because we never have family photos. At least I have a cute husband and baby. 

Seriously, they are so cute. 

One of my favorite parts of this trip was the day we spent in San Francisco. This city was so wonderful. It was warm, but had the perfect ocean breeze. We went to the aquarium and Pier 39 to walk around the shops and have lunch. Before we left we also visited the Full House house and drove down the crookedest street in America. 

This was such a gorgeous day. I loved it here.

The first stop was the aquarium. We entered through the gift shop and within 2 minutes of being there, Madison had already bought Nora a souvenir. She spotted a seal plush and he got it for her because he just can't resist. I don't blame him, really. Nora specifically wanted the white seal, not the brown one. Not even 2 and already very opinionated. 

I tried so hard to get a picture of Nemo and Dori together, they were too fast! Super cute display right at the entrance. 

How fancy, right? National Geographic should totally hire me to photograph jellyfish. 

With my girl in the walk through fish tank.

Grandpa showing Nora some turtles.

Sea otters on the way out!

I love carousels. We didn't ride it because of the last time we traumatized Nora with that. Maybe next time. 

Two family pictures in one trip?! It's a record. 

Her face is too funny. She really liked the wind in her face.

She also gave me about 1000 kisses when we were in this one spot so I think she was happy.

Alcatraz... I definitely almost wrote Azkaban.

Nora loved the "doggies."

We got lunch at Fisherman's Wharf then headed home... 

 

...But not before I got a picture with Johnny Depp. Why is he not excited to see me??

The day trips we took were all so fun, but we also loved just staying in and doing a little bit of swimming. Nora loved the pool. 

TAKE ME BACK! 

I hope you enjoyed this little vacation snapshot. There were a lot more moments that I didn't get photos of. We visited Merrill at her job at Sacramento State and got a tour of the biology department, had dinner in Davis with some of the extended family, and then we just enjoyed the family time. Since we live across the country from each other, these moments are rare and very special. We soaked up the memories and can't wait to go visit again.