Dear Holly: Dolly the Doppelganger and Belle of the Ball Instagram Posts

15 weeks.

Dolly and Holly. ‪#‎doppelganger‬

Dear Holly,

This past weekend our family didn’t do much, which is very unusual for us. Therefore, the main thing I did was take care of you.

You better believe, though, that it was crucial to keep my phone nearby so I could take some inevitably good pictures of you to share with the world on Instagram.

The first magnificent shot was when Dolly (the doll your Grandma sent you from California, in which your brother Jack adopted as he practiced for you) ended up near your play mat.

It just so happened you were wearing pink and white, just like Dolly. So I placed the doll right next to you, and the magical shot was born.

The rest of the world agreed that Dolly really is your doppelganger!

Then later that afternoon, you spit up on your outfit you were wearing, so Mommy helped you with a wardrobe change.

Dear Holly: Dolly the Doppelganger and Belle of the Ball Instagram Posts

Belle of the ball.

She put you in the dress that Uncle Andrew and Aunt Dana sent you. My immediate thought when I saw you in front of me was, “belle of the ball.”

It instantly became one of my favorite pictures of you, ever. How could it not?

Look at your big smile. Look at the way you appear to be playing in your dress.

Seriously, just look at how beautiful and happy you are!

I know it’s only natural to see my own baby daughter as the prettiest little girl I’ve ever seen, but truly, you are one beautiful baby.

And it only makes sense that you would be, when I look at Mommy.

So while last weekend was seemingly uneventful overall, I was proud to capture two wonderful pictures of you:

One hilarious picture and one adorable picture.

And I see how that’s what kind of little girl you are proving to be already: hilarious, yet beautiful.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Holly: Dolly the Doppelganger and Belle of the Ball Instagram Posts

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

I’ve only had an Instagram account for about 6 months now, but I can’t help but notice an ongoing theme: My son’s sense of humor is beyond his years… and mine. The thing is, I’m not convinced he’s trying to be funny. And that’s what makes it so great.

After one of on my most recent Instagram posts, I had one of his my son’s fan’s suggest I do a sort of “best of” compilation. I decided to go for it.

By scrolling below, you will be able to see my top 20 my most favorite Instagram posts featuring my son’s most confusing/bizarre/genius/awesome quotes, ideas, and artwork; spanning from November 2015 through April 2016.

I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to keep a straight face. Feel free to share with me which of these is your favorite and tell me why.

And if you’re not already following me on Instagram, there’s a good chance that this blog post today will convince you to do so: @nickshellwrites

#1 “The wolf is peeing in a bag and there is a suction cup on the bag that connects to the bottom.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#2 “She has the chain so she can fly… and so she can’t get away.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#3 According to Jack’s drawing today at school, dragons really did breathe fire. Looks like there was more than one way to breathe it out.”

1My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#4 “The whale had gas and then the fish swam by and got stuck in the stink, then it all went back up the whale’s butt.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#5 “He eats the spaghetti and meatballs and then he potties them right into the toilet.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#6 “It’s a mommy baby and a baby baby and they are just wearing diapers.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#7 “The machines are taking the needles out of the seal ghost.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#8 Jack explained that we were reading his love letter to Mommy upside-down. I guess that’s better than what we thought?

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#9 Jack secretly drew a picture today at school of a dog doubly relieving himself in the yard next to an ant hill.

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#10 Jack took it upon himself to do a sequel to yesterday’s innovative piece… this time with a cat doubly relieving himself. He specifically told me he drew it for Mommy.

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#11 “Look, Pandy is in the Air Force now. She has swords.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#12 “The truck isn’t hauling Easter eggs… they’re poop balls.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#13 “The bad tree is spraying the monster so the monster is shooting him with a lightning bolt.”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#14 He made the 10 Commandments out of cookies and icing at church this morning…but he’s already eaten 5 of them.

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#15 “The lightning hit the building and then the sneaky mischievous fire said, “Hey, what are we going to do today?”

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#16 Not sure why I came home to a trail of 5 hand-crafted paper bag cat puppets leading from the front door to the kitchen. My son has yet to explain.

#17 He was the only kid in his Sunday School class to decorate his cross with a two-headed dragon.

My Son’s Top 20 Accidentally Hilarious Instagram Antics: @nickshellwrites

#18 “Hey Daddy, someday can we go to Indiana? I heard you can get the Mr. Happy book there.”

#19 Jack insisted I take a picture of him as a “slime pirate”. So here it is.

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#20 I thought something felt weird all day in my shoe. My 5 year-old son quickly, and proudly, confessed.

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Now, which was your favorite and why? And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram: @nickshellwrites

They Grow Up So Fast: Instagramming Life

June 6, 2012 at 9:17 pm , by 

A year and a half.

Yes, it’s a parenting cliche. But it’s so true and therefore I must confront it:

“They grow up so fast.”

We live in the age of Instagramming. Granted, I’m not actually cool enough to have a smart phone to share a vintage photo version of what my kid just did any given moment of his waking hours.

But I see Instagrams all the time on Facebook. Some being unintentionally ironic and uncreative- like a picture of a Starbucks cup. Others, however, are photos of something a bit more relevant and important in life.

Like our kids.

And I think that’s a pretty symbolic concept. Prepare for me to get deep here.

If you’re like me, you spend the majority of your time doing the things you don’t want to, like driving to and from work, being at work, cleaning dishes, etc.

A very small percentage of my life is actually spent doing what I really want to do; which is spending time with my wife and son.

So I constantly carry my camera around in an effort to capture every warm, fuzzy moment I can. Because as I’ve written, these are the longest years and the shortest days of my life; being a parent, that is.

It’s my attempt to magnify the best parts of my life and be able to share them with everyone who cares.

Consider this: We are constantly traveling through time and space.

My best Internet research tells me that since the Earth is always spinning, we are constantly moving at 1,040 miles per hour. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that.)

Good thing for gravity.

We are forced to travel forward into time while simultaneously stuck in physical locations we don’t necessarily want to be and participating in events we’d rather not.

There is no such thing as the present. Once we think, “this is now,” it’s no longer now. It’s back then.

So anytime we can make a positive memory into one that is eternal, indestructible, and virtually omnipresent, why wouldn’t we?

So why is Instagram so cool? It automatically “retro-izes”  events that just happened, dressing them up like a Dharma Initiative Polaroid in order to direct-deposit the memory into the classic “good times” folder in our brains.

That’s basically what deja vu is- when our brains mistakenly file a current memory as a classic one.

Now back to the beginning: “They grow up so fast.”

We can’t stop it. We can barely detect the tiny changes in our children that happen overnight. We want to hold on to “this version” of our kids forever.

The next best thing we have to pressing the pause button on their current cuteness is to take a picture and therefore speak a thousand words.

That is how we travel back in time to places we’d rather be.

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