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9.12.2013

ELDER LOVIN, IN THE CITAAYY


this is my baby brother blake. my baby brother blake is an old man now and i can barely stand it. where did the time go? he's leaving on a two-year church mission in just three short weeks and i can't even deal. is this the little girl i carried? is this the little boy at play?

so blake is here this week so i can pinch his cheeks and give him lots of noogies and remind him a million times about how i used to change his diapers when he was little, and also so he can go to the nintendo store one more time. it's been so great having my family here. i'm trying to make sure i get all two years worth of obnoxious big sister stuff taken care of in one go, it's a tall order.  


so what else is there to say about blake . . .  besides the fact that he's hot and gets all the ladies. (p.s. blake hijacked my laptop just now and wrote that himself.) okay, here's what else there is to say about blake. blake started walking really early, and he had this amazing bow-legged old man shuffle that we loved. we would watch him putter around the house in his little footie pajamas when he was about nine months old and giggle at how adorable he was. he was just about the cutest thing.


blake went through this really fantastic phase when he was about six or so where he watched a lot of japanese cartoons. one time he organized this massive pokémon tournament for all of the neighborhood kids. sudden-death rules, handmade fliers all over town.... oh no, he's telling me it was yu-gi-oh. whatever. it was amazing. 

i call this, the three randys! big randy, little randy, female randy.

i really did change a lot of blake's diapers. and he's spit up on me soooooo many times. i was 13 when he was born, my dad was doing a lot of traveling overseas, and my mom had my two sisters to take care of too, so a lot of the time i really did feel like blake was my baby. i remember watching him play in a burger king play area while my mom took my sisters to a dentist appointment, and this older couple kept shooting me the dirtiest looks thinking i was some unwed teenage mother. i thought it was kind of funny and didn't bother correcting them.

thanks to blake i learned how to properly burp a baby, how to slowly bounce and sway the fussies out, how to swaddle good and tight, and how to reinsert a pacifier one-handed while simultaneously talking on the phone and flipping the pancakes. blake made me a better mother. he made me a calmer mother. i'll owe him for that for the rest of my life.


blake is a great brother-in-law. blake is always on brandon's side, even if brandon's side happens to be pretty dumb. i had a hard and fast rule growing up that any guy i dated had to really like my little brother. not just put up with him, but like him. you know, little brothers can be sort of obnoxious to their big sister's boyfriends sometimes, and a few of the guys i dated would sort of look at blake with a wary eye, like, how long do i have to play with this kid before we can leave? but with brandon, it was instant. it wasn't so much that brandon had patience for blake, but that brandon got blake. brandon and i spent our first christmas together when we were dating back in 2002, around the time that Blake And The Incident With The Bran Muffin went down, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. (another time.) 


blake, we are gonna miss your face. you are such a stinker and these next two years are going to be so good for you. what a fun time to be a blake. i can't wait to see how your mission molds and shapes you. i can't wait to see how you come out the other side. 


p.s. blake also makes rad choices in footwear.

more of blake in ye olde archives past: 
HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE
and i wrote a little bit of fiction inspired by blake once, you can read that HERE.

oh i almost forgot!
on me: 
high waisted black denim + silk boy shirt: madewell
clogs: c/o nina z
wool socks: camper via j.crew
(similar HERE)

on me again:
airbrushed tee: custom marc jacobs
(going on all month at their bleecker street location!)
jeans: h&m
(size down!)

on huck:
leggings: thief and bandit

29 comments:

  1. your family is so sweet, always makes me smile. how lucky you holbrooks are to have them in town! happy wishes to blake! xo

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  2. Go Blake! Where has he been called to serve?

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  3. Ooooh Natalie! My brother was born when I was 11, I know the feeling that he was your baby. When I was pregnant I was a little afraid I wouldn't think my own baby was as beautiful, silly, fantastic as my brother. That turned out ok, in the end ;) And the dirty looks, my older brother was 13 at the time and my sister was 10, so we got some teen parent glares too. I still get those 20 years later though, you know? Anyway, two years away! My heart hurts a little for you.

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  4. You know, I always thought that I wanted an older brother when I was growing up. But really, having a little brother might be the better end of the deal. Yep, I just decided that it is. :)

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  5. siblings are the best. well wishes to, blake.

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  6. my youngest sister was also born when i was 13, and i would get just the WORST looks when i'd push her around the mall in her stroller. she's 17 now, and when she gets sassy with me, i like to remind her that i changed about 1,000 of her diapers.

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  7. I was the same way with my baby sister. I was 7 when she was born, but we both say that I helped raise her. Congratulations to your brother on his mission!

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  8. Cute! Such a fun little family. Love the baby pic! :)

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  9. Aw, that's so sweet! I got all misty-eyed.

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  10. Ahhhh my baby brother just left on his mission about a month ago, and it was way harder than when the first 3 younger brothers left. I always wanted to grow up and leave the house but still have everybody stay the same. If that makes sense. Everyone is growing up, why?

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  11. Awhh that's so sweet! He reminds me of my little brother ♡

    PS: May I invite you to my huge birthday giveaway?

    Win 3 amazing prices with a total value of $650 on my blog:

    www.freshminhtea.com

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  12. Um, LOVE that you have The Staves on vinyl.

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  13. oh sibling love! this post is beautiful!
    I think H kind of looks like your baby bro

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  14. Oh my word, Huck and baby Blake look so much alike! Good luck to your brother.

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  15. that last pic of huck -- I just die from his cuteness!! xo

    http://allthingsprettyandlittle.blogspot.com

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  16. What an awesome post! He sure is lucky guy to have a sister like you, especially to change all those diapers! ha. But really it made me miss my little brother a whole lot.

    xo
    shelby
    http://brandonandshelby.blogspot.com/

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  17. Yup, baby Blake = Huck.

    I saw that pic and at first thought, "OMG, look how Huck is growing up!" before realising, "Wait a minute, that's BLAKE," and I did a double-take. They look soooo much alike, Natalie!

    Also: beautiful post, as always. Your writing is soul food, woman!

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    1. (...forgot to add, aaaaall the very best to Blake while he serves his mission, and may he be blessed with oodles of health, joy and all other awesome things!)

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  18. Where is he going on his mish?

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  19. I was 13 when my youngest brother was born and had the same experience. He totally made me a better mom.

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  20. Love it! Love your posts! The p.s at the end cracked me up ;) Best of luck to Blake on his mission!!

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  21. Aww, Good Luck Blake. I am sure he is going to LOVE it. I was baptised by the most adorable missionary ever (slightly biased I know), in May this year. I just spent the day with him in Edinburgh yesterday and today he has boarded his flight home to Idaho. What these young men and women do is amazing!
    ALSO
    I read the post after this and saw the bit about sponsored posts and negative comments, and I am sad to say I have seen it on almost all of the 'big' blogs when the authors accept sponsors. I guess people do really feel they 'own' a little bit of you when you put yourself out there (not my blog, I can see tumbleweed rolling by there most of the time haha). But I think people should try to understand that having sponsored posts is what makes it possible for some people to carry on blogging.
    Anyway, I love your blog (and love it even more because you are LDS and so am I). And Henry is the cutest little button so don't withhold him he is just too cute to keep to yourself.
    Valerie
    xxx

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  22. Can I just come to New York and hang out with you. You are so stylish and make me want to be in NY so badly. I started following you because you were located in New York and showcased so many things about NY. I fell in love with your blog because you, too, have a love of You've Got Mail, my favorite movie. Not to mention you adorable son, your great style, and fun blog posts. Just saying. I love your blog!! Thanks for all of the inspiration.

    Leslie

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  23. My nephew was born when I was 13 and I took care of him a lot and I remember the dirty looks I would get too! Even worse he went through a little phase where he called me mama.

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  24. I am in full support of the boyfriends really liking the little brother rule. It should be written on a stone tablet somewhere as far as I am concerned. Good luck to your baby brother Blake and good luck to you in his absence. Missions are the strangest kind of empty I have ever felt.

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  25. Your brother is adorable and really does seem like the sweetest! Best of luck to him on his mission, and to you as well (I know I miss my older brother like crazy while he's off at university, and I still see him every couple of months)! And hey, tell him to look ME up in two years :)

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  26. Hiya Natalie!
    It's Gaby, the girl who went to high school with Blake and wrote you that note on notebook paper and asked him to take it home to you. I'm still in awe of a few things - first off, somehow I know my all-time-favorite bloggers brother??? And also, I still can't believe you wrote a post to me! Talk about a dream come true. A year and a half later and it's still one of my favorite moments of my life, like ever.
    I've been hearing about Blake's mission over various forms of social media for a little while now. I was crossing my fingers that you would come out here to visit him before he left and go to his farewell and I could say a big old hello! But alas, it doesn't seem like that may happen now that he's out there visiting you instead. (makes sense, NYC is a lot more exciting than around here). I suppose I am just stopping by to say I wish you were here! haha. But on the real, if you come out to the wild west again, I call dibs on saying hi!!
    You continue to inspire me every day, Natalie, so much so that I started my own blog too. (goodgirlgonegab.com) It kind of looks really bad because I started it up last week, so don't judge me quite yet if you look at it ;) Thank you for sharing yourself with the interwebs. So many people smile because of it!

    Best,

    Gaby

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  27. oh I can see you went to one of my favorite wings of the AMNH, that midcentury polynesian stuff is the best!

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