Babies and Hearts! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Oh my gosh you guys...having a baby is superrrrr time consuming! I know I'm probably stating the obvious, but I never really knew that until lil' Felicity came along.

I've been wanting to post for so long, but in the downtime moments I have I'm either trying to make our house look legit, or the sweet sweet voices of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills have sucked me in, and I'm zoning out in front of reality TV. (Super healthy, I know.) However, I have gotten my act together enough to keep notes on a couple of funny/weird things that have happened.  But first an update on Felicity...

DUDE. She is THE BEST. I am seriously obsessed with her. She will be 3 months old tomorrow. It sort of makes me feel physically ILL how much I am in love with her. I want to eat her face for breakfast. (Too far??) All she does is laugh and smile and put her fist in her mouth. It's great. Likes: pink, ruffles, Homegoods, pooping at really inopportune times, silly voices, having the song "dynamite" sang to her (I attribute this to the fact I sang this one too many times while pregnant). Dislikes: Lady Gaga arriving to the Grammys in a giant egg, the lesbian comb over we give her after baths, hiccups. We have the eerily similar same likes and dislikes. Weird.

Lesbian with a comb over. 

Joel and I are starting to get into a rhythm with the baby now. We both have our specific jobs, and really put the "TEAM" in TEAMWORK. Read: high-fives, chest bumps, motivational speeches; "Go get that nasty diaper, babe!! You own the diaper, the diaper does not own you!! You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take!!!" You know, things of that nature. I usually do dirty diapers, while Joel is the one to make the bottle and prepare Felicity for feeding time. But the other day we were rushing to get ready for church and I needed to put make up on so I asked Joel to change Felicity's poopy diaper. And this was his legit reaction, "But I JUST put my shirt on!" Ummm...I'm not sure what tumultuous activities take place when you change diapers Joel, but when I get in there it's a wham-bam-athank-you-ma'am process. He really feels strongly that changing a diaper requires a full strip down of clothing because "you just never know". He is either super dramatic, or SUPER SMART because he really puts on a show before a dirty diaper which is why I end up changing 90% of them. Joel= sly dog.

Felicity is an amazing tool for passive aggressiveness between us too. (That is such a sad sentence to write.) We have gotten into the habit of saying how we REALLY feel under the veil of baby voices. It goes something like this:

Me: Hi Fliss! Hi baby!! You're a happy baby aren't you!? Aren't you!!
Felicity: Coo Coo, Caaa Caaa!
Me: Felicity you are so cute!! You tell Daddy that if he doesn't hang the curtains tonight he is going to be moving to Beat Down City, population: 1!! Oh yes he is!! Yes he issss little one!!
Joel: (Staring me down)
Felicity: Coo Coo, Caaa!

Woopsies! Now Joel has caught on and he does it too:

Joel: Hi baby! Hiii my little love muffin!!
Felicity: Goo Goo Gagaaaa!
Joel: Oh Felicity I love you so much! I love you a lot!! Oh little one, wasn't Mommy acting crazy last night?! She was acting soooo crazy with her Riesling so I couldn't tell her I didn't like the chicken she made! So crazyyy, little girl!!
Me: (Weeping silently)
Felicity: Coo Gaaaaa!!

Pretty awesome. And by "awesome" I obvi mean deadly. Effective but deadly.

In all seriousness having the baby here now is just a J.O.Y...JOY! She is the bomb.com and I want to be more like her. She is easy going, well-natured, and takes pooping her pants in stride. All things I aspire toward. I hope I can blog more then once a month as time goes on. I keep telling myself that once she can occupy her time with toys, it will be easier to blog? Who knows. Until then I'll keep providing quick stories that will help in building my "babies first year diary."

Cue brag roll of pics:

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On a mushy note, Joel and I are celebrating our one year anniversary today, and our little girl is the best anniversary gift we could have gotten!!! I just want to give a quick shout out to Joel...Happy Anniversary and Happy Valentine's Day to my handsome, hard-working, funny, kind, perpetually light hearted husband! I think my feelings can best be summarized in an excerpt from the ever talented Salt N Pepa's hit "Whatta Man":

I wanna take a minute or two, and give much respect due 
to the man that's made a difference in my world
And although most men are hoes he flows on the down low....


I know that ain't nobody perfect, I give props to those who deserve it
And believe me ya'll he's worth it
So here's to the future cuz we made it through the past
I finally found somebody who can make me laugh
You so crazy
I think I want to have yo baby

....pure poetry. I love you!

xo,

Charlie

P.S. United With Love has featured our wedding on their site today! Check it out :)

A Super Long Post About My Awesome Baby

Well friends, it's been 8 weeks since Felicity touched down. And WOOO what an 8 weeks it has been!! It sounds so cliche but the whole thing is totally an adventure. Joel and I have no clue what we are doing, but Felicity seems happy and that's all that counts!

In the last week or so she has started to smile!! But like a true diva, it will only happen under certain conditions: Must be well fed. Must have clean diaper. Must be mid-morning. Must have lavender scented candle burning. Must have Fiji water in her dressing room  nursery. If we meet these needs she will light up like a Christmas tree, and it gives me goosebumps every time. It's like getting a really sweet gift over and over again. Joel says it's the first ROI (return on investment) the baby gives you for your hard work.

I mean honestly...like really?! I can't even stand it.

It's fun to see Joel with the baby, and life with him now is seriously like being in a FULL TIME musical. All he does is sing things. To Felicity, to me, to the cats. It's pretty awesome. I love how happy he is. He is so cute with the babe, and just like everyone says...you really do fall in love with your husband all over again.

A quiet moment. Le sigh.

So far I think I'm a pretty OK mom. It's still really insane to me that I am someone's mom. And that I birthed her. HAHAHA. It's so weird say. Felicity has NO CLUE what a spaz I am...and for that she is lucky. I mean eventually she will get her whits about her and the jig will be up, but right now her cluelessness equals my awesomeness. She is my bestie and I just love being with her.

1 month photo

She is a really good baby as far as I can see (although I'm bias). She just hangs out and likes to be with the big kids. But sometimes she gets upset. I call her cries "requests" which helps me stomach the fact she can wail like RIGHT IN YOUR FACE! And so I tell her, "Miss Felicity, I've heard your request! Yes, you've made your request perfectly clear! No need to repeat yourself!!"

Even though she has been around for awhile now, and provides hours of entertainment (read: blogging material), I want to write about her birth story. I want to look back and be able to read about the details of the experience, you know? I'd like to have the whole thing written down while it's still pretty fresh in my mind.

So the day I went into labor, November 14th, I woke up in a serious funk. It was a Sunday, and I was crying about a lot of things. I was upset about being swollen. I was upset about being tired. I was upset that Chick-fil-a was closed. I was just UP. SET. And I felt like everyone around me was having their babies. I was all, "Why does our baby hate us?!?! WHY DOESN'T SHE WANT TO MEET US!?!?!" I went about my day feeling sorry for myself. Around 4:30 that afternoon I was working on a little home project, and was in my garage when all of the sudden...WOOOOOSH! my water broke. I was so convinced I wouldn't know when my water broke because people says it's not like the movies where it's a gush. That most of the time it's a trickle and it's hard to know. But this was from the movies. So we raced to get the go bag and feed the cats, and got to the hospital by 5:30 pm. And what did I do on the car ride? Touched up my make-up, obvi. Because I have priorities, people. And the priority is to not look busted.

Once we got to the hospital I changed into that killer gown, and settled into the room. Pretty much the hours of 8 pm to 5:15 am were my labor hours. I started getting contractions, and I could REALLY feel them by 11ish pm. I was in back labor, and I was in pain. They shot me up with The Good Stuff around 11:15 pm so I couldn't feel the contractions. After that things were pretty uneventful. We watched Sunday night football. And by "we" I mean Joel. (If you know me at all, you know that this should have been deemed UNacceptable). We also watched Sarah Palin's reality show. Which is really boring. But Sarah is super cute with her prom hair. (Sidebar: That Willow daughter of hers is a giant B. She is so rude, and definitely is in her angsty teen years.)

At 4 am my mom showed up with a ham sandwich for Joel, and Vanity Fair for me. She knows what's up. It was nice to have her there to distract me from the fact I was about to GIVE BIRTH. We listened to music, watched the news, and chatted. She said I looked like I was, "smokin' & jokin'" which to me is the highest compliment one can receive while in labor. Thanks mom!

At 5:15 am Melissa, my nurse, gave me the green light to start pushing. Now let me stop and tell you about Melissa. She was my super lovely, fun, sweet, helpful, motivating nurse. I had a crush on her. (And Joel did too.)  Melissa pretty much did everything. Yes the doc checked in a few times, but Melissa was there through it all. We totally bonded. At one point I asked her if it's ever annoying to labor with someone all night, only to have her shift change at 7 am with no baby in sight. She said yeah it was. So I looked her dead in her eyes and said, "Melissa! I'm going to get you a baby by the end of your shift if it's the last thing I do!!!" And I did! I poured my little soul out to her in a thank you note after it was all said and done. I thanked her for making the whole situation THAT much better. She was really really great. (Fair Oaks Hospital, raise up!)

And speaking of being awesome, Joel was super supportive with giving me the positive affirmations I needed. I told him I didn't need any of that massaging, or calming touch crap they teach you in labor class. I told him I needed him to frequently remind me that idiots have babies every day, and they live to tell the tale. That if those fools could do it, so could I! That was my motivation to push. (Poor guy didn't know what he was getting into when he married me.)

Pushing is way more anti-climatic than I thought it would be. It was just me, Joel and Melissa. Having Joel helping me push made me so nervous at first because I thought it may require him TO LOOK. I think it made him nervous too. We both were SOOO not prepared for him to be looking into The Eye of The Tiger. Looking into The Heart of Darkness. Looking down into the Belly of the Beast, if you will. But thank goodness he has self control and never ventured a peek. At one point Melissa asked me if I wanted the mirror and I barely let her finish the sentence before I gave her a giant HELL to the NO. Listen, I don't need to smell the milk, to know it's badddd.

Before I started pushing I had asked Melissa an over under on what time the baby would be born. She said she bet the baby would be here by 6 am. Well 6 am came and went and I said, "What the French Melissa! You said six!!" And she was like, "OK, well we will have a baby by 7 am!" Um, no thanks. I needed this baby NOW. I couldn't handle pushing for 60 more minutes. So I pushed until I could push no mo, and Felicity was born at 6:25 am. The last five minutes of pushing were a whirlwind. The doc and all the various nurses came rushing in. Oh and this random lady. It was so weird this woman was standing by the door, with this rolling table contraption in front of her just staring. But not like watching with anticipation/joy/empathy/excitement on her face. Watching like she was watching an Oxy Clean commercial. Totally bored. Totally over it. On the verge of snoozing. It was weird. I remember mid push looking at her and thinking, "Ummm so sorry I'm boring you. So sorry you find my BIRTHING A CHILD so incredibly uneventful." As soon as the baby was born, she was outtie500. Creepy. Funny BUT creepy.

Everyone started wishing miss Felicity a happy birthday, and that was adorable! My doctor did a great job and was being really sweet to her. Overall he was so amazing. But at one point he turns to me and in his really soft spoken voice says, "You may not want to aim to gain so much weight next time." ERRRRRRRR. STOP THE MUSIC. WHAT?!?! Yeah. I "aimed" to gain sixty pounds. I "aimed" to get so swollen that I felt like a circus freak. I "aimed" to haunt my local Chick-fil-a. I most certainly did not AIM to get so big. Apparently being swollen was requiring little Felicity to work extra hard to make her adventure into the world. (Plus side of water retention is instant weight drop once the baby is born. Hurrah!) I of course didn't say any of this and instead wussed out being like, "Oh woops. I'll work on that next time." LOCK IT UP, CHAR. LOCK. IT. UP.

After that my family started visiting and everything was just a blur. I was so tired, excited, nervous....THE WORKS. Felicity is the star of the show.

Get on with your bad self, girl.

Oh my goodness so now she is here. And it is wonderful!!! We are so so blessed and lucky. Felicity is the PERF addition to our family.

<3

Anyway, so that's the story morning glory. Sorry it's so long! I was really trying to remember everything. (Even the silly stuff!) I'm going to continue to blog, although I know it won't be as frequent as it used to be. I love blogging, and I don't want to give it up!! 2011 will be my year of time management, I just know it.

And with that I'll leave you with some more pics!

Who loves a good giftcard? Felicity loves a good giftcard!!

Baby's First Thanksgiving! 

"Whatcu talkin' about Willis?"

The two biggest sleepers in the house 

I told her the Pajama Jeans commercial was on behind her

Felicity and her cousin Camille on Christmas morning. Santa definitely came for these two :)

Thanks for letting me share our story with you!!

xo,

Charlie

Welcome to the world baby Felicity!

I finally had my baby! HOORAY!!!!!!!

What up girl!?! Felicity Carlin Sellier born on 11-15-10 6:26 am 9 lbs 7 oz 22 in

Why yes, I was going for the too much blush slash ill-fitting gown look.

Trying to let gravity do its thangggg

ice chips!

ELVIS IS IN THE BUILDING

Big foot?!

I traded my makeup for a BABY!!!

She is literally the cutest thing I have ever seen.  My little berry!

We found a large cardboard cutout our doc, Dr. Fisk, in the hall. My delivery Captain, indeed.

A proud and handsome papa!!

My babes.

All in all I had a easy, semi-fast delivery. We feel so blessed everything worked out, and that we have a happy healthy babe on our hands!!

So that is the reason I haven't been blogging! I've been baby-ing!!! Hopefully when things settle down in the next few weeks, I will have time to blog again. In the mean time I have been stalking the blogs when I have the time.  

Hope everyone enjoys the Thanksgiving holiday!

Much love,

Charlie (& baby Felicity!)

This Week On "Charlie In Charge"

Hello beautiful people!! T.A.I.F!! I hope everyone had a great week. I started my modified work schedule this week, and it feels great. I only work 5 hours a day now, and spend the rest of my hours stalking the Michael's craft store dollar isle elevating my feet. Truthfully this is what I NEEDED, my friends. Having my cankles elevated in the afternoons has helped my Frodo Baggins feet immensely.

Here are some things I've been up to this week:

1. Planning my outfits for this weekend...

I have two pretty major things to attend this weekend. On Saturday night the school Joel teaches at will be hosting their annual Garden Party. It's this great event for parents and faulty to eat, drink and enjoy the beautiful campus. Last year it was so cold and rainy! My dress barely made an appearance because I was wrapped in a coat all night.

(Sidebar: I tried to find a pic of my dress from Anthropologie and I had no luck. But I did find these two gems....


  

Sign me up for these beauts post pregnancy!! via Anthropologie )

This year it is essential to look good, but also FEEL good. And because of Canklegate 2010, I am limited in my outfit choices. I will not, under any circumstances, be wearing CRC (cankle revealing clothing).  It's definitely a dressy event and most women will be in a skirt/dress. BUT this is what I'm going with:

The Garden Party by charlie25 featuring a knit maternity

I'm hoping that great hair, makeup and accessories will take away from the fact I'm wearing pants. (Anyone reading this who will be there Saturday-- avert your eyes!) I'm secretly happy that I'm wearing pants. With a skirt you have to worry about looking tan, shaving, etc. (Soooo I guess I'll just be super pale and hairy and getting the last laugh? Yes.)

Sunday afternoon is my baby shower and I'm so excited!! But I am all confused about what to wear! I will definitely be sporting pants (black) but I wanted to wear a colorful, fun top. I have a lot of black shirts and honestly that's so morbid for a baby shower! (At least for ME to be wearing. If anyone is planning on wearing black to the shower I salute you. And I am jealous of you.) So I am currently on a mission to find a baby shower approps outfit. Any thoughts?

I have this shirt (which looks way better on/in person):

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It's flattering, comfortable and with the right accessories will get the job done. But like Ariel says,  I WANT MOREEEEEE!!! I'm not looking to break the bank, but if anyone knows of shirts that fit the bill let me know!

2. I've been pushing fall in a big bad way...

I just want it to be cooler already! Yesterday was the first day of fall (how do I know this? Because my dotmine planner told me! HEYOOO), and we put up our fall wreath!! I had been promising myself that I would have it up for the first day of the season! It's from Pottery Barn and I pretty much love it.

I tried to take a picture of MY door, but it didn't look as good! Via

I also hit up Bath & Body Works and got a few little items.


Creamy Pumpkin Hand Soap



"Leaves" Candle

If you know what's good for you, you will go purchase these things too. They are delicious smelling and they will get you in the fall spirit!

OK and then something bad happened. I got alittle crazy with my fall scents obsession. I had read (here) about this limited edition Febreze called "Pumpkin Harvest & Fall", and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went to Giant, Safeway, CVS...none of them had it! This only added to the allure. Was it so good they were sold out? Is it so limited that only a few lucky noses would be able to take a whiff? Have I set out on a quest for the 8th wonder of the natural world? All logical questions. I decided to do what any freak show savvy gal would do, and I took to the streets. EBay. There I found more bottles of Febreze Pumpkin Harvest & Fall then I could shake a fist at! But no one was selling just ONE bottle. So I bought three.

And no I haven't even smelled it yet. And yes I think paying $22.47 is redic. And no I didn't tell Joel. And yes when he reads this he will be hearing about it for the first time. (Love you long time, babe!) And no I'm not proud of it. And YES I am looking forward to spraying it liberally all over my home.

Come. To. Mama.

3. I gave myself a mani with this color...

Glitzerland

It's great! Get it. Wear it. Love it. It's a fun fall transition color! (I would have taken one of those pictures where I hold the bottle while showing off my nails, but I'm almost pos that pale-preggo-sausage-finger-man-hands need not apply for that kinda thing. Sooooo you're welcome.)

The plan is to take a lot of fun pics this weekend, and post them next week! I hope everyone has a fun, fab and safe weekend. A week from today we will reveal our next giveawayyyyyy!!

XO,

Charlie In Charge (Yes, I know the show was actually called "Charles In Charge", but whatevs!)

P.S. Here is a T.A.I.F. gift from ATOTS to you:


Via

 

Weekend Recap! + I Need To Stop Buying Stuff For The Baby's Room

So I achieved three of my four goals this weekend, and I feel pretty darn good about that! The only thing we didn't do was put together that circuit candleholder thing. Indeed, we took naps instead. Priorities people. That's really what it's all about.

Basically I did all of the FUN things I had planned for the weekend. Friday night we had fondue and it was amazing! I was a skeptic at first, but Joel is the Fondue Master, and handled the whole thing. He definitely brought The Melting Pot to us :) :)

Hurrah!

Saturday I went out and got those prints framed for the baby's room. I'm really proud of myself that I just DID IT, and didn't talk about it for a fortnight first. I have trouble pulling the trig on home projecty type things, but thanks to my friend Olga at Michael's I was able to get it done in one sitting. Let's pause and talk about Olga for a second, shall we? She is the lovely Russian lady who works in the framing department. I seriously wish I had taken her pic. I totally could have because we bonded.

I've never really framed anything (at least anything legit) before so I walked up with a total "deer in the headlights" look on my face. In her sweet ass accent she asked me what I needed. (Sidebar: Is it me or does everything said with a Russian accent sound scary? She was commenting on how cute the lamb in the picture was and "What a cute little lamb!" said in a Russian accent literally sounds like, "Boris and I will break your knee caps, and pour vodka in your eyes.") I told her I needed white frames, and to save money. Obvi Olga understands me because before I knew it everything was picked out, framed and beautiful! And not too costly.

I said her, "OLGA!!! You are seriously the best! Has anyone ever told you how awesome you are?! Do you know what she said? "Yes." Word, girl. Word. No need to be modest...let that confidence flag fly.

Long live Olga! Prints from Etsy found here and here

I kind of want to squeeze that little rabbit. He is so damn cute.

On Saturday night I wasn't feeling so hot, but we (we as in Olga and me. Just kidding. She is way too cool to hang with me.) managed to reward ourselves with a batch of funfetti cupcakes. No pics were taken because we made them and literally inhaled them within 4 seconds of being taken out of the oven. Joel got a serious sugar rush right before bed and totally had these wild funfetti eyes. I'm pretty sure there is nothing FUN about them, and I'm pretty sure I saw them in my nightmares that night. Sweet.

On Sunday afternoon, while I watched The Rachel Zoe Project and other fab Bravo TV, my loving husband put the crib together! Go Joe-L!!!

Hard at work. With Renard's help, of course.

The finished product!!! (I'm sure these pictures are super boring for everyone but me. Sorry.)

Crib + mirrored closet + yellow walls= GREAT SUCCESS!

We are on our way, my loves! It sure is coming along nicely. Can't wait to see how it all comes together!

P.S. Just got these for the room too...

In grey, white and yellow. Via

That is my last baby room purchase for awhile. (I've gotten other little items I haven't mentioned. Woopsies!) This is getting crazehhhh!

-Charlie

Oh Etsy, You Keep Me Young!

I don't know about you ladies, but I just adore Etsy and everything it represents. I feel like Etsy makes all my creative dreams come true, without me having to do any work. You know? Like if I have a vision for something unique, and funky for my house I go right to Etsy. Why do things like sew, and paint and create when you can just have talented Etsy artisans do all of that for you! Genius.

Here are just SOME (I say some in caps because it literally is just a few of the things I've gotten recently. Thank goodness Joel is also an Etsy Believer. Otherwise this relationship would be a horse of another color. Heyooo.) of my recent Etsy purchases.

Honestly, who doesn't have one of these? Via

Everyone needs a Keep Calm and Carry On poster somewhere in there house, right? The simplicity of the message totally speaks to me. FRANKIE SAYS RELAX! (Or in this case, the Brits say relax?) Either way it works for me and I adore it. I got mine in black, matted it in white and framed it in black. It's in our downstairs bathroom and looks pretty bad ass. The color scheme of the bathroom is fuchsia and black which I am pretty much obsessed with.

I got this little guy in Storm Grey. Via

This cute wittle birdie is going in the baby's room. I'm thinking perched on the crib? Personally, I'd always feel happy knowing a bird as cute as this one is staring at me while I sleep. The best part of the deal is his bargain price of $4. This shop has the cutest wall decals. Can't wait to see how it looks!

Pillows for the glider. Via

These pillows will also be going in the baby's room. Keeping with my yellow/grey theme, my stomach literally started to get butterflies when I saw these! (Or maybe it was the baby kicking because he/she could sense I was looking at something glorious? I'll go with that.) I won't lie, at first my heart was pulled toward this pillow:

Is this the cutest thing ever? Yes. Via

I mean I still might get it because it's so darn perfect for a nursery!! But after much deliberation I ended up going with the more mature choice. Plus it was two covers for the price of this one Koala (although this pillow may be priceless)!

What tailgating season would be complete without these? Via

My husand is a die hard 'Skins fan. His whole family is actually. They have season tickets and take the games very seriously. (As in-- he just surprised me last night with a maternity McNabb jersey. And yes he asked me to wear it for the rest of the night. And yes I did.) Recently, I ended up doing a search for Redskins on Etsy and came across these badboys. Beanbags for corn hole! Joel's brother painted really cool Redskins corn hole boards last season, and now they will have the bags to match. HAIL! (Lulu LOVES when people say that!)

King of the lambs! Via

This is just one of the three 8X10 prints I picked up from this shop. Again...for the baby! (The baby is seriously going to have the best room in the house. Too bad I'm not joking. ) If you have time, I highly suggest visting this shop. They tons of prints to choose from that are reasonable, unique and soooo precious. Plus right now they are having a sale. I'm going to mat these in grey, and hang them in white frames. Against the yellow walls, I think they will look really good. Hooray!

So do you have any favorite shops on Etsy? Any fav purchases? Let me know. Clearly I'm in the business of giving my money to Etsy people. I'm practically a guaranteed sale!

Enjoy your Friday!
xo,

Charlie