18 Month Update




Lately I've been stepping back and realizing that I no longer have a baby in the house. He's more so a toddler if anything. Sometimes I cringe at the word toddler because 99.9% of that word is always associated with the 'terrible two's'. {For Tracen two wasn't so bad as three was for us.}

With a wedding on our brains it's hard to think about more kids. Actually I take that back, I think about having more kids EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. But I know that I don't really want to be pregnant at our wedding so preventive measures are in check.

I think back to when I first had Skylor. How I would stress thinking how the hell am I suppose to go to the park with two kids. How am I suppose to play with Tracen and run around with him while holding, nursing or caring for a newborn. My anxiety was at an all time high when I was home on maternity leave and Jerek was at work. I use to wait to go to the grocery store, to Target or even shower until he got home. As the days went by and I learned how to deal things go easier, as cliche as that sounds.

Sure there were days when Tracen lost his shit, Skylor blew his pants out and I tried to pump & nurse at the same time, but those days passed and were rewarded with a glass of wine, or two, later on. Now I know that the hard part wasn't getting through those days, it's looking back on how fast it's all gone. As soon as I knew it we were buying our first house and celebrating milestones like potty training Tracen and Skylor walking.

The other day I left work to go be by my sister in law's side as she gave birth to my nephew. It brought me back to Sky's birth and while mine was a little easier than her's the end result was all the same. A healthy baby.

With a big brother around for Skylor he's growing exponentially! He's learning things faster as he is mirroring what Tracen does. Talking more than because he visually see's what Tracen gets when he uses his words. We're hoping he pretty much potty trains himself, ya know!

As crazy as my house can get with all these boys I LOVE IT. I love everything about it. I enjoy my peace and quite so much more because it's so rare but miss their loud crazy antics when they aren't around. I don't mind our bed being full of people at night, the more the merrier, because I know it won't last forever.

It's only been a few months since the last update so after this I will be doing every six months unless the boys do something really amazing that deserves a whole post dedicated to them. Ashley over at Words about Waverly celebrates half birthdays with half birthday cakes, how amazing is that! I'm 99.9% sure I'll be stealing this idea, what better reason to throw a party every 6 months!?


WEIGHT: 22 lbs 

HEIGHT: 33" 

SLEEPING: If you asked me last week I'd say great! However since Sunday night he has basically screamed bloody murder the entire night. I took him to urgert care yesterday thinking maybe its an ear infection and nothing. Basically just a virus and to keep sucking his nose, etc, etc. UGHHHH!

EATING: Standard answer; everything the eye can see!

FAVORITE MOMENTS: When we come home from work Tracen and Skylor both run to us with such big smiles on their face it makes us both SO happy to be home. Okay I'll tell you the truth, Tracen runs up to me while Sky mean mugs me until Jer gets home and they both run up to him. They love being at home with Jerek's aunt and are starting to like daycare/preschool now but when we come home it's like we've been gone for ages the way they great us. I can only hope at 16 this will still be the same. Hopeful people, I'm hopeful!

LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS: Night time lately with him being sick and screaming all night it makes my heart hurt and my eyes, my eyes are reallllllyyyyy tired!

FIRSTS: No first's really but he's getting good at crawling up stairs but when we are at the top and I ask him if he wants to go down he starts crying and reaches for me to hold him. He's using a spoon and fork much better although he prefers to share all meals with the dog. I SWEAR he was a homeless dog in his past life! He's always in the dog food/water, in the trash or giving Ducati food!

LIFE CURRENTLY : Since Tracen's birthday and the holidays are over you would think it's calmed down a bit but it really hasn't. As I already mentioned our nephew was born a week ago and we also celebrated 5 other birthdays; two of our aunts, Jerek's dad and my mom and cousins birthday was yesterday! So many Aquarius's so little timeUnfortunately Jerek's grandpa passed away yesterday but is in a much better place now. January flew by and 2015 has been great otherwise, hopefully I'll have some wedding updates for you in the next month *hint hint*

We'd probably be friends if...


Ever meet someone and think yup, you're my spirit animal.
Ever stalk scroll through someones Instagram and want to befriend them instantly because her outfit is on fleek {no I didn't just say that} and your kids could totes be friends.
Ever read someone else's blog and want to email them, professing your love to them, that you think the same way, laugh at the same jokes, or don't shower for the same amount of days that they don't.

If for some reason you've answered yes to any of these questions I want you to know that you're not alone. I too have many people I think I'd be friends with IF X.Y and Z happened. Or if I wasn't so scared they would think I'm uber creepy.

Take Mary Kate & Ashley for example. I'm positive they need me in their lives they just aren't aware of it yet. I love meeting new people and especially love when I can find a good old weird human being that is just like me, kids or no kids.

I figured if you're new here, or if you know me in real life, I'd let you get to know me a little better. It's always nice to snoop in someone else's life without having to ask right? RIGHT.

We'd probably be friends if you love hot sauce as much as I {we} do {true story, I use to have a stock pile of all different kinds!}

We'd probably be friends if you put a whole bag of chips on your Jimmy Johns sub {BBQ chips only}

We'd probably be friends if you love Mary Kate and Ashley.

We'd probably be friends if you talk about poop. How you don't poop enough. How you are lactose intolerant. How much your kid poops. How you rather wipe a potty trained kids ass than a diaper wearing kids ass. Talking about poop at the dinner table. With you in-laws. The day after drinking poops. Poop. Poop in general.

We'd probably be friends if you are constantly changing your hair. {Have you read this??}

We'd probably be friends if you watch YouTube more than you watch regular TV. My subscription box is ridiculous.

We'd probably be friends if you fold your underwear. Yep I'm sharing my underwear drawer with the internet, colorful isn't it.

We'd probably be friends if you drink Starbucks, if you own a gold card and if you know my Starbucks order by heart. Starbuck is L.I.F.E. yo!

We'd probably be friends if you hate feet or people that clean their ears at the SAME TIME!!! {I'm talking about you JEREK!!!} G-ROSS!!!

We'd probably be friends if you still have your baby blanket and it looks something like this...{mind you this USE to be blue and this also USE to have little square pictures)}I think there is still mascara & snot on this thing from crying all through out high school {I was grounded for 90% of it in case you're wondering} shot out to my mama for keeping me in check ;)

This post is really pointless to be honest but I mean this is my blog so if I want to talk about how weird I am, I can. Sometimes when I'm trolling Instagram admiring {is that even the right word without sounding creepy} some fabulous people I just want to type 'OMG, can we seriously be real life friends!' and then I come back to reality..

Anywho, Happy hump day!

50 Shades of Grey : The Perfect Gray

When we first bought our house we knew we would be painting every single wall of that thing. Every room was covered in semi gloss paint with atrocious mudding work. When we started looking at paint colors all I could think about was the color gray. Did I want something more blue gray, purple gray, light gray, dark gray, gray stripes, gray chevron, gray gray gray! All I could think about was how many rooms I wanted to be gray!

Jerek informed me the house would consist of other colors besides gray. Damn him.

I might be the only women on this planet that has not read the 50 Shades of Grey series yet. I figured the movie is coming out soon so I'll just wait for that I suppose. Recently while in Ulta picking up things you pick up at Ulta, I saw a new OPI line and the colors were right up my ally. Dark, gray and very fall/winter-ish vibes were steaming from them. I didn't even look at the name until I got home but I knew I had found the perfect gray nail polish.
After returning home I went online and looked up the nail polish name because I was curious as to what collaboration this was for. OPI always teams up with great artists or performers so shouldn't be surprised on this one when I realized it was the 50 Shades of Grey collab and how cool this made me. I mean, women swoon over this Christian Grey guy, so I'm sure as soon as I painted my nails Jerek would flock to me, right?
This color is seriously the best gray I've ever owned, and I own quite a few! The colr is so opaque even after just one coat. I started with the only base coat I ever use and that's the Gelous one. Then I did two coats of the 'Embrace the Grey' to ensure a true color payoff. Following this up by my favorite and most used top coat, seche vite, I SWEAR by this stuff!

So what I'm trying to say here is get one or get ALL of the colors in this collection! Between a deep luscious red, a shimmering silver with blue sparkles and a few different shades of gray to choose from, this line really knocked my clothes socks off! Dare I say I love this color MORE than my coveted 'you don't know jacques' polish! WOAH WOAH, things just got serious here!

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As for our house, you're probably wondering how many rooms have made it to the gray side right? Well so far our bedroom and half bath are gray and my dressing room is gray and white stripes. I'm still working on the other unfinished rooms in our house. I'll keep you updated as I slowly convince Jer gray is the way to go, so stay tuned.

30 Things to do Before I'm 30



What a cliche title huh.

In case you don't know I'm 28 1/2 years young and I have a little under a year and a half before I turn the dirty 30. While I personally feel like I've done a lot in my lifetime there are some things I need want to do before I turn 30.

After turning 25 I kinda freaked out saying the normal 'OMG, I'm so OLDDDD now!' That soon passed as the years have gone by and I've realized that age is just a number and as long as I'm taking care of my health and body who says what age is really "old." 

We're not gong to call this a 'bucket list' or a 'before I die list', that word usage seems all so stressful to me. It almost implies that you MUST do these before your 30, or ELSE! Were just calling it my 30 before 30 list and as I do with my monthly goals, if they happen, GREAT, if not, it's cool, there's always 31!

1. Get married ;)
2. Go to the beach in the winter
3. Take a hot air balloon ride
4. Read 10 books
5. Go to Lollapalooza in Chicago
6. Make a baby blanket for someone
7. Go to NYC
8. Sky dive
9. Run a half marathon
10. Visit sleeping bear sand dunes
11. See a Broadway show
12. Camp {in a tent, under the stars...and not complain}
13. Meet Mary Kate and Ashley
14. Drive a 2 seater car
15. Go to Disney/Book a trip to Disney
16. Rent a house/cottage for a week in the summer
17. Wear a bikini {mom goals guys, mom goals}
18. Take boys to Niagara Falls
19. Buy a DSLR camera
20. Ski/snowboard & not cry
21. Go to a Oprah live show 
22. Pay credit cards off {and not use them!}
23. Visit a winery
24. Take a photography class
25. Volunteer at a shelter 
26. Fly first class
27. Go to a Lions game
28. Transfer Blog over to Wordpress
29. Audition for a reality show {Amazing race, I need you in my life!}
30. Start a garden {try to keep alive!}

So there you have it, there's my list! As you can see a lot of it has to do with traveling. I want to get rid of a big chunk of debt so we are able to travel more as those life experiences are worth far more than any designer bag to me. I'm excited to start working on these and hopefully vlogging it as I go! A lot of these can be combined as well, like maybe I'll wear a bikini on the beach in the winter while taking a picture with my DSLR camera of a book I'm reading that I will then post about on my blog that I transferred over to Wordpress...on a camping trip. BOOM 6 things, done all at once. I told you I'm a great multitask-er, didn't I?

Also, some of these are non negotiable. Like #13, I mean ideally I would want them to stand up next to me at my wedding but beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

10 Things Our Wedding Won't Have

It's been about 3 months since Jerek proposed and by now most brides have their venue picked out, know what colors they want their brides maids to wear and maybe even started wedding dress shopping. Hell I know people that got engaged after me and already have their's, lets be honest here!

While I've scoured the internet looking at venues, dresses, food menus and flower crowns {yup, thats happening} and instead of thinking of what I DO want I've started coming up with shit that I we don't want our wedding to have. And in true Chelsea form I'm going to let you all know just so you aren't surprised down the road. Aren't you so lucky!



1. Garter/bouquet toss-I always try and sit back in the crowd when this one comes on. I did catch the bouquet at my girlfriends wedding in California, although I'm still convinced she turned around and basically handed it to me! Mind you Jerek was also at this wedding with our 8 month old son so I was the LEAST bit "single" to be catching that thing. 

2. Cutting cake/face smashing- There is absolutely no logical reason why I need to mess up my gorgeous makeup, no reason at ALL! Tears while saying your vows that make your mascara run, that's one thing, but cake smashing all over your eye lashes making them sticky the entire night and for what, a picture? Yea I'm ALLLLLL. SET. on that one.

3. Bachelor party-Jerek and I are totally in on the same page on this one. It will be a joint one. Here's our thinking, mind you we have kids so this really doesn't apply to some brides that are childless.  Sometimes we go out on the weekends, most of the time one of us goes out with friends and the other stays home with the boys. We try and not ask family to babysit as they already help us out enough through the week. Once in a while we get invited to weddings, birthday party's or really need a date night which we then call on family and figure out arrangements. SO, with ALL that being said you best believe if we get a night alone from kids we are not spending it alone from each other! You see we kinda like each other and kinda want to spend that alone time that we rarely get together. Plus most of our friends have gotten to know each other over the last 11 years, lets all party together!

4. Penis crowns, straws, etc- This goes hand in hand with #3 but I absolutely despise the whole lets tramp around with a schlong hanging around my neck all night with a big tiara that says last fling before the ring. Mind you, I'm not hatin on anyone that has done this, I've been to bachlorette parties that the bride has done this and that's fun for her but I personally just don't want this at MY  our bachlor{ette} party.

5. First dances-I don't know why but I just find this so awkward. I really don't want people staring at me while I whisper into Jerek's ear 'dude, I feel so weird that people are staring at us wondering what I'm telling you right now. Okay now laugh and pretend I said something funny!" We probably would also look like we did at those 8th grade school dances that we had once a month and were too scared to talk to each other. Ya, kinda like that. I'm thinking we will just all dance awkwardly together, the more the merrier right!

6. Ceremony time-There's no need for this to go on longer than 10, 15 minutes tops. We say our vows hopefully without ending up in a sobbing mess of tears {from us or the kids} we kiss, smile and go party, that's it! No need to say and 'now you begin your life as one.' Uhhh remember those 11 years and 2 kids I've talked about? We've been "one" for a while now!

7. The Mr & Mrs. announcement- One thing I absolutely HATE {good thing Tracen can't read or he'd yell at me for saying hate} is when the person announcing the wedding party {yeah we won't be doing that either!} says "and now for the first time, Mr & Mrs. Jerek {last name}!" Uhh, hold the phone, back it up, stop clapping. I may be changing my last name to match my boys but I'm still a damn person and you can refer to me as THE or Mrs. Chelsea {last name!} This is not 1920...End rant.

8. Person who marry's us- While I do have a church that I go to {I've been really slacking lately!} I don't want to meet the person marrying us for the first time the night before and write down 5 things about our relationship so they can "get to know us" before the nuptials. Uh uh, not us. We will be having someone that knows us lead the ceremony. So all you family members reading this start racking your brains who you think we will ask, because it will be happening ;)

9. No veil- It's just not my thing. As I started above, I'm drooling over flower crowns anyways.

10. Matching brides maid dresses-If you've ever looked at my wedding Pinterest board you will see I'm a huge fan of the miss matched, let your bridal party pick out whatever the hell they want to wear type dresses. If someone has size triple F tits you better believe I'm not having them wear a strapless dress, that's just cruel! Most likely they will feel uncomfortable the whole wedding and it will show on their face and in pictures. I never did understand why some brides are so set on a certain dress that they don't care if their "best friends"/bridal party likes it or not. It's like they don't want their wedding party to look good too? Like they think the girls looking good would take the attention away from the bride or something. I mean HELLO! Who wants pictures of your bridesmaids lookin like shit in all YOUR pictures...NOT THIS GIRL!

I'm sure there are things I left out and hey, maybe I'll change my mind on things! If that happens I will have a post after the wedding letting you know how right you were and how wrong I was! Probably not though because Jerek will tell you... I'M NEVER WRONGGGGGG ;)

Here's my disclaimer though, hopefully you all understand that I'm not putting down anyone's weddings that had any of these things or if you personally like these classic wedding traditions that's okay too! I'm personally a very nontraditional, go against the grain type of girl and I'm just letting you know what to NOT expect. This will probably give you a better idea of what it will be like...whenever that may be! Maybe next time I post about wedding related things I can let you know our plans...maybe;)

And the survey says


Google is one of my best friends.
We chaton the reg.
I Google everything. 
This usually leads me to Youtube though 
and then I get distracted and start watching vlogs that I'm behind on.

When I have questions about blogging I Google it.
When I have questions about the best bronzer for fair skin, I Google it.
But when I have questions about my own blog sometimes Google isn't enough and neither is Jerek. Sorry beach.

So here's where ya'll {said in a mid-western attempt at a southern accident} come in.
Recently I've noticed a few different bloggers {Stef & Dana} that I read daily have small surveys at the end of the year. They ask their readers, their friends, what they like, don't like, would like to see different, etc.

I started this blog solely because I was bored at home on maternity leave.
I've read blogs for years and decided that I wanted a way to remember funny times, to bitch and moan about things that frustrated me and to document important memories that I never wanted to forget. It was a way for me to be creative as my corporate job is SOOOOO not that! 

While this blog was started for ME I've realize I do have people that enjoy reading it other than my mom and grandma {shout out to my peeps!} and I'm sure there are things that might bother the crap out of you. You might want to see less talk about the color of pop I cleaned up the other day, and maybe more outfit posts. You may like my reviews but don't like my choice of font. So I figured I'd make a little survey like the ones I took on other blogs and see what the people have to say. Now I'm not saying I'm going to change my blog, the things I write about or the way I talk based on a few questions that are anonymously answered, but I figured why the hell not see whats up wit cho brains, right? 

RIGHT.

So if you have about mmmm 60 seconds to spare, and care to share {anonymously might I add!} I would love to hear read what you like, don't like, when you read, what you want to see more of etc, etc.


Click here for the survey, it won't take long, I promise!

Many thanks guys!

PS. Throwback Thursday anyone {Jer & I were BABIES here in Chicago}



DIY Growth Chart

Last week in my 2015 Goals I promised you I'd show you our growth chart that I made to keep track of these ever growing boys so here we are! I realize there are probably tons of posts, DIY and videos on how to make these as I've already looked them up myself! But I wanted to show you ours, give you some tips & tricks and even offer up my services if you want one yourself!

I started off watching a few videos and reading some posts on the things NOT to do because I don't really need someone to tell me what to do, I need someone to tell me what to avoid so I don't eff up another project.

I compiled a list and headed to the blue store {I'm not really picky on hardware stores I just know where things are at this store better than the orange store.} We've been remodeling and doing projects around our house since we moved in in March I was able to use some items we already had. For the sake of list making and for ones that aren't renovating their house here is what I needed:

Wood Stain {oil based}
Paint Brush  
Large Sharpie
Stickers {or number stencil & black paint}
Sandpaper
Wood Board {I've seen different sizes used, but I did 12in wide, by 8ft tall}

I started off by sanding down and rough edges that I could see the boys touching even though it will be mounted on the wall.

I then did two light coats of stain in the color Special Walnut {224} by MINWAX. I let the first coat dry for about an hour and then did the second coat and let it all dry over night.


The next morning I took a measuring tape and chalk and marked off each inch, making longer marks every six inches. I decided I was going to hang this on the wall starting 6 inches off the ground so it was over the baseboards. This also allowed me to make the chart 6 feet 6 inches in hopes these boys get Jerek's height gene and not mine.


For the tick marks I decided to take a large sharpie paint marker and a ruler and line these off. I've also seen people use vinyl stickers that you can order off Etsy or I believe even get at Michaels. I went the Sharpie route as this is what I had an it turned out nice.

I bought stickers for the large foot markers but I've also seen a stencil and black paint used for these as well.

And that's really it guys! I thought about putting our last name at the top but I wanted it to be clean and simple for now. What is great about this project is that I can add the last name or anything else I want in the future. I will be using a white sharpie marker for measuring the heights so it stands out. I have been keeping track at all of Tracen & Sky's height via check ups so I will be able to mark them on here. Jerek's aunt had been marking them off at our old house in the pantry but sadly we never transferred it over and the house has since been torn down and built a ginormous one in it's place. So! Thankfully I have kept track of them!

Here is the part where I offer up my services. I know this may seem easy to make to some but not everyone has time or space to do projects. Maybe you have a baby shower coming up or your girlfriend just gave birth and you want something to surprise her with. If you live in the metro Detroit area and want to order one there will be NO shipping charge, yes, you read that right! Make sure you enter "METRODETROIT" in the coupon code area when checking out. I will be more than happy to just coordinate a time to meet up with you, easy peasy lemon squeezy! If you don't live locally but want to order one there will be $30 shipping charge, or you can pay for my plane ticket and I will personally deliver it to you ; ) I've looked around and this seems to be the standard shipping for this size of item.

You can find the listing for the growth charts in my Etsy Store HERE.  If you would like one but maybe have a different idea {want it painted instead of stained, a name added to the top or a special embellishment that ties in with the nursery/your house decor, you can directly message me through Etsy or my email on here and we can create a personal listing just for you.}




Everyday Makeup Routine

Welcome to 2015; you made it!


Just about everyone that I know in real life and in blogland are having babies in July. NO really, I know at least 20 people that are due in July, shits cray! It makes me wonder, what the hell was going on in October/November time frame that got everyone a little frisky. Anyway!

With that being said, as you know {or maybe you're new and don't} I am a mother of two so I only have so much time for me every day. One thing that makes me feel human is putting on makeup in the morning. Sure, there are many, MANY days I rock a bare freckled face {mostly seen on my vlogs} but for my Monday through Friday work routine I enjoy getting ready in the morning because I feel like a semi put together human being when I get to work. 

Finding a makeup routine that works for you is important, with or without the children card coming into play. Here is a little peak at what my everyday makeup looks like. It's pretty basic and easy to do, in fact it takes me under 10 minutes to achieve this easy yet pulled together fresh face. I concentrate on concealing dark circles, playing up my eyes with mascara and finishing it off with a nude lip.

Here is a quick video for all of you that need to see the play by play and some photos for the ones that just like a visual.