i would love to say that otto is a minimalist baby and is perfectly content with a carefully selected few heirloom wooden block toys. he’s not. he’s like his mother. he is constantly moving from one thing to another and loves to explore and touch different textures with his hands and mouth. he is drawn […]

technically we were here for a conference but i’ll take a conference in bay harbor, michigan anytime. we got to spend an entire long weekend here for the michigan petroleum association convention a few weeks ago. even though it rained almost the entire time we still were able to soak up the beauty of this […]

a striped awning and i was hooked. i mean, how adorable is this little shop in petosky, michigan!? when i asked for recommendations of places to check out in northern michigan so many of you told me to check out american spoon. I’m so glad that you did! this shop was charming and smelled delicious […]

i’m sitting here quietly in my kitchen dinette area in my bathrobe because i don’t want to wake up otto by getting dressed and i have to get this off my chest. i’m going to level with you a minute. i’m overwhelmed. if you’ve been reading my blog since it started in 2009 this is […]

if i’m looking sad and forlorn in any of these photos it’s because i’m morning the loss of my once youthful breasts. can i say that on here? youthful breasts? well from youthful to useful i guess they went while i exclusively pumped for a solid year. thats right ladies and hopefully no gentleman. a […]

well i think we’ve fully recovered from the wild one’s first birthday party. we had 90 of our friends and family (that’s right 90) over to our house friday night for what we called “ottopalooza” and that it was. we ate dinner outside on the most perfect summer night. different groups of friends mingled on […]

i remember everything about the day you were born. i remember waking up one year ago today and feeling you roll around tight in my stomach too big to go much of anywhere else. i remember placing my hand on my ribs by your head and just knowing that in a few short hours you […]

are you getting sick of me saying i can’t believe my baby is “x” months old? well… brace yourself because i can’t believe my baby is over 11 months old and almost 1. i remember sitting on my bed where i am typing this now a year ago. 8.5 months pregnant sitting in my underwear […]

as we celebrated our 9 years of marriage on june 13, it hit us that our mattress is also 9 years old. and much over due for a replacement. it was a nice bed and obviously lasted us this long but it was very worn in and had two big dips where each of us […]

do you know how long “take otto’s 10 month pictures” has been on my to do list? forever. well at least a month. and you know what? he is 11 months in two days. boo. so luckily i actually did take these pics with my friend ashley when he was actually ten months old. granted […]

A while ago now we went on our first family road trip to charleston, south carolina. it was one of the best vacations of our life. it was relaxing, intimate and quiet. everyone was so friendly and the architecture and landscaping were absolutely breath taking. not to mention the shopping was amazing. (read more about […]

i think we may have started a new tradition for mothers day. or at least maybe i hope that its a yearly tradition. rewind – we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do to for mothers day and thinking maybe hiding out at home or going to pentwater? maybe chicago for the […]