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Kristen Bell

OUR 2nd HOUSE

I named our newest kitchen addition in honor of Kristen Bell.  It just fits. 

Rewind a bit…about two years…to our old house.  Wait.  Keep rewinding.  Go about twenty five years or so.  I was in Jersey.  With my parents.  Obviously…because I would be only four years old (wink wink!).  And we lived in a really rural part of Jersey…where the state gets it’s nickname of The Garden State…and my mom would be slaving over a dinner for all four of us kids and it would finally be ready.  But of course, we kids were dirting around making mud pies and digging booby traps in the woods.  (yes, ‘dirting around’ is now officially the term I use for kids playing outside…appropriate, no?!).  So in order for us to hear her, she would open the door and ring a bell.  It’s clang would reverberate through the trees and bring us children running.  My mom was like the Pied Piper…except she was the Belled Bella.  

Now fast forward to three years ago…I had picked up this bell at Home Goods, hoping and praying that I could find a spot to put it so that I too could have a dinner bell to ring and my kiddos could come runnin’. 

Fast forward to about two years ago…I pack up the dinner bell I had bought and never put up…and moved it to our new house…where I placed it in a to-do box. 

Well, you can imagine my excitement when about a month ago, I rediscovered it and was finally able to install it.  Basically I was at 11 on the happy scale.     

Now the Kristen Bell reference.  Have you seen her sloth story on Ellen?  Click here if you haven’t. 

Basically I love her for that.  That’s like me…crying at everything…except I’m nowhere near as cute when I cry.  I’m a snotty ugly mess.  But the point is, this bell is that for me.  It’s my sloth.    

And Will loves it too.  He asks every night if he can ring it….and then shouts “IT’S DINNAH TIME! C’MON EHBODY!” 

Thank goodness he is a too short to reach it without a boost…because we would be eating dinner ALL THE TIME.

Do you have something like that?  Something special you’ve been waiting for?  Waiting to have in your life and you just get weirdly excited about it?  Your own sloth? Or perhaps you can relate to the whole bought-it-moved-it thing?  Or you just had a dinner bell every night?  I’m like Pavlov’s dog…you ring one, I gotta eat.

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  1. I have a bell in my kitchen too! It is cast iron, dark brown, with three birds that sit
    along the top of it. I only paid 10 bucks for it!

  2. We have one at work that I think I might “steal”…. don’t worry, I work for family 😉 plus, they probably won’t ever notice it’s missing!

  3. Oh my – neighbors had a dinner bell – I think it was a cowbell. And they would ring it and we all knew it was time to head home for our respective dinners. We would be told every afternoon to get outside and not come back until dinner!

  5. That bell is super cute, as are your boys installing it! Such a cute family, with always cute ideas. ( That was a lot of “cutes” in this comment, but totally deserved.)

  6. My mom had a trademark whistle that we would come running to. When I graduated from college and walked into the auditorium of probably ten thousand people, my mom did her whistle and I found my family in the crowd within seconds. I need to learn that before I have babies!

    Will you move your bell outside once the boys are big enough to dirt around?

  7. How fun! I am going to have to try and find a bell now. It is odd because I was thinking about my mom’s bell the other day (hers didn’t attach to the wall, though) and thought, “I need one so I’m not screaming all of the time.” I think my kids will get a big kick out of it. Thanks for the reminder.

    BTW – can’t wait to see your dining room 🙂

  8. Well, my parents had this amazing house built when I was in high school.
    When my oldest was about 18 mos old they ending up moving away, but couldn’t sell their house immediately, so my hubby and I moved in and rented it for a while, until it sold. (I loved the house…loved it!) We rented it while 2 more kiddo’s were added to our brood (4 years of living there). 🙂
    Anyway, the front door knocker had our name(my maiden name) engraved on it. And when the house sold I had forgotten about it. (Moving with a 2 month old is nuts). I went up to the new owners after about 2 months and asked them if I could have it. Ironically, they were replacing the door knocker that same day. I wrapped up the door knocker and gave it to my parents as a house warming gift for their new vacation home.
    My dad cried. He and my mom loved it so much. It is on the door to their vacation home now. Everytime I see it, I smile. 🙂

  9. Haha, we had friends growing up that had a dinner bell. We went with the force of Ma & Pa Kettle, “COME & GET IT!!!!” to get everyone to the table. 🙂

  10. My mom had this crazy loud whistle you could hear a mile away. We’d hear that and all come running. I so wish I could do that!

  11. Oh. My. Cow. I laughed at that clip until I was crying. I’m like that, too – cry over everything – happy or sad! Glad you got your bell up, finally!

  12. Oh my gosh it is awesome! I love the pictures too. Will trying to reach that bell is beyond precious!

  14. We totally had a dinner bell too. loved that. yours is much cooler than ours, it was just a school bell. but it worked!

  15. I have the same bell (from Home Goods like 3 years ago!) and not only does it work for calling dinner time, the loud bell will cut through most kid yelling/running/fighting sounds so you can call them out on their craziness (I have three boys . . . LOUD). Mostly, I ring it as a threat for time outs. It works magically. Except now my 7 year old can ring it (I still can’t believe he’s THAT tall, makes me sad) and the one negative is that if you ring it and it bounces toward the wall, it might leave a dent (ours did . . . it doesn’t seem to have enough clearance, but it could just be related to kid roughness/abuse). Love it! PS- I’m in Jersey . . . the piney part:)

  18. Nope…I like that I can open the door seven feet away and the sound can carry outside…plus get the indoors too 🙂
    xo – kb

  20. I have a dinner bell too and you can only imagine how much pure joy I get from that thing. ps. I’m the mama of 5 boys, yep all boys, 5 of them….it scares me sometimes 😉

  21. My mom had a dinner bell too! It was brass and came with our house, where it still hangs in the foyer. Thanks for bringing back good memories of her calling us in for dinner after a long day outside on hot sticky summer evenings, or hours of make-believe down in the freezing basement in the winter. I still have a Pavlovian drool response to the sound of bells 🙂

  22. I love this! I am a sucker for tradition and anything sentimental. I think this is a great addition to the new kitchen. Plus, how cute is that picture of Will trying to reach, and Weston looking at it while Jer hung it on the wall. Your little family is just so cute!

  23. My mom had a dinner bell too! I loved it!!

    Fast forward 20 years and I found one at home goods too. I had to have it right away. It was a faded blue color with same rope handle as yours.

    It wasnt until I read this post that I realized it is still attached to our first home… which isnt ours anymore 🙁 Hope the new owners love it as much as I did!

  25. When I was little, every Christmas my mom would bring out the tiny red reindeer. They were about 6 inches tall, and there were two of them. Bright red, with brown felt antlers and made of stuffed red cotton or felt, these two tiny things were my absolute favorite thing about the holidays. My mom always sat them on top of the china hutch in the dining room, as they had belonged to my great-grandmother a long time ago, and they were old and fragile. I always wanted them in my room, or to hold them, or play with them, and I was never allowed to.

    Fast forward 22 years or so, and I’m moving into my first apartment. Christmas comes, and I remember the red reindeer, tucked away in an attic box somewhere. I find them, bring them to my house, and they now sit year-round on the highest shelf in my house. They make me happy. 🙂

  26. I will have to remember that when my little ones get old enough to play outside by themselves…And I love that clip from Ellen, both of them are my favorite!!

  27. Such a cute story! Hopefully the appeal of the bell wears off as Will gets older or you may be ripping the bell off the wall haha. My parents had to remove our door bell when my little brother got old enough to reach it!

  28. With this post I’ve finally realize why I love your blog so much. You are the Lorelei Gilmore of the blogosphere– a little quirky, frank, hilarious, warm-hearted, and full of pop culture references. In other words, you speak-a my language. I about wet my maternity pants when I saw that clip on Ellen’s show awhile back, and it’s equally funny now. Thanks for the laugh!

  29. So adorable! I love your dinner bell. It’s very classic and fancy looking too! I’m sure your children will grow up with the notion of ringing the bell for meals and wanting to recreate that pleasure for their families when they are adults. Also, the photo with hubbie and baby is too cute!

  30. It wasn’t until I saw a pig-shaped wooden cutting board for sale that I remembered that my mom had one when I was growing up. And I had to have it. It felt like it was the cutting board I had been waiting for my whole life. So I ordered it online right before I gave birth to my son, and it somehow got lost in the mail. I called the company and was basically crying on the phone as I explained that my mom had a pig-shaped cutting board and now I was going to be a mom and needed it and that they had to ship a new one to me as soon as possible because the baby was going to arrive – as if the baby and my parenting were dependent on a pig-shaped cutting board. It arrived in time!

  31. I LOVE THIS!! We had one too!

    It was an old aged brass one and it lived outside on the porch- it was secured just like yours but was bigger. I’m pretty sure my neighbors thought we were a little weird [and we were/are] but it worked!

    Now I want a bell. Beside my bed. Come here hubby. Feed me.

  32. Katie. I just have to thank you for that Kristen Bell on Ellen video. I’m so glad to know there are people just as weird as I am on the emotional scale.

  33. My grandma used to have a bell outside that she would ring and then my parents put one at our house. They used to ring it for dinner time, as well. It is still on the mailbox in front of their house. I LOVE this bell and wish you bought it recently so I could get one to carry on the tradition in my house. :o)

  34. So cute! My mom had a triangle dinner bell when I was little. My mom would always ring it when she wanted my step-dad to come in from fishing. Unfortunately (and fortunately) we lived on a larger lake and there was no chance of him hearing it. In the end I think it ended up being more for her and her desire to channel the Beverly Hillbillies.

  35. My family gathers A LOT for meals … holidays, birthdays, whatever just because we want to be together. Every time someone [insert NAME here … could be any one of us] is very late. When Mom was alive, she would go out outside [insert porch, deck, patio here] and yell very loud “[NAME] WHERRRE ARRRE YOUUUU!” Not kidding … within 15 minutes that person would arrive. My brother & sisters & I still do that to this day … and it still works! {Especially magical even in this day of texts … because we all have dead zones near our homes.} It’s cool that this tradition is being passed on to generations that never knew Mom … but they know that it works & we’ll get to eat soon!

  36. I have THE EXACT SAME BELL! I hung it in our kitchen to call our dogs in the house. Doesn’t work, they just continue to roll in poop through the clanging. Glad yours has had better results.

  37. Oh my gosh I love it! My grandmother used to have one in the kitchen of the farm house (also in south jersey). I loved ringing it to call everyone into the kitchen from the barn.

    Makes me want one for when I have kids 😀

  38. We have had an old brass bell hanging outside for three generations now. Each new generation takes the bell to their house to hang at the back door outside. I love that we have all been called to dinner as kids by that same old brass bell! You can’t beat those kinds of traditions. By the way, Westin gets cuter and cuter everytime we see him! Beautiful family.

  39. We had an old cowbell when I was growing up that my mom would use to get my attention to come back to the house for dinner when I was outside with my friends. Heck, I could hear her ringing that thing from all the way down at the local park, which was about three blocks away from the house. She only rang it once, and if you missed it you were in big trouble when you finally made it to the house.

  40. Ok this is probably going to be a long comment. ANYWAY – first – cute bell!

    Second – I grew up on a farm, in a house called the summer house. There was the main house, which was where my grandparents lived, and there was the summer house – which was originally where all the food was cooked but was eventually turned into a residence and then way later we ended up there. SO ANYWAY – There was a BIG ol’ bell on the top of that teeny tiny house (it is still there) and it had a pull that came down to the front porch and my mom would ring it when she wanted us to come in from whichever various corner of the farm we had absconded to that day.

    I love that thing and still ring it almost every time I go to see my Nanna – who still lives in the main house.

  42. I’m obsessed with that clip of Kristen Bell. haha! I am the EXACT same way! Cry over everything! Whenever I see videos of celebrities doing things I do, it brings it all into perspective a little more that they’re normal just like me! Or as normal as I can be anyway…

  44. Love this!!! I love when we can make our traditions from kids and pass them along to our kids, such a great idea!!! We live right in the burbs… No country life at all. If I rang a bell I think I would get all the kids from the street at our house! 😉

  45. Awwww…..we had a bell outside the back door when I was growing up. My mom would ring it when it was time for dinner, and it could be heard all over the entire neighborhood. I haven’t thought it about it in probably 20 years! Thank you for reminding me of it!

  46. Our hummingbirds do not winter in our area so every year when I see the first hummingbird, I run for the feeder and make sugar water for my friends. My husband cracks up how excited I get EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!

  52. Oh my goodness. I’ve never seen that clip and it’s one of the funniest things ever. Also, I’m really excited for you and your bell, if for you, that is your sloth. You made my night.

  54. Oh, my goodness! I had a flashback to my childhood and remembered that we had a bell on our back porch at our old house! My folks would use that or my dad would just whistle for us…we knew that whistle anywhere!

  55. Number 1 – I love the Kristen Bell sloth story. I saw her on Ellen that day and showed the You Tube to my daughter (who watched it over and over as teenagers do).
    Number 2 – We had a dinner bell when I was growing up, too! Picture 5 kids spread around a housing development (no forest but we did have “dirt hills”). My mom would ring the bell and EVERYONE in the neighborhood would say “you have to go home – your mom is ringing the bell”. It is retired but has a place of honor on a bookshelf in my family room.

  56. Haha! I love the irrational expectant mom logic…I felt the same way about a hospital playlist. I can’t possibly welcome the baby without the right songs!
    xo – kb

  57. I ran to TJ Max and bought the same bell a couple yrs ago when Layla *the lettered cottage* featured hers she bought from there. But I never remember to ring the darn thing 🙂

  58. I’m sorry, did you say something about a bell? I’m stuck on that stinkin’ cute baby. Nom, Nom.

  60. My mom has a distinct whistle also and that’s how I found my family at graduation. I can’t whistle at all, I’m not sure how I will round-up kids when the time comes!!

  61. I love that bell!! I need one for the mud room, which serves as our main entrance, so that when anybody comes in they can ring it so I know someone’s home & don’t get the crap scared out of me (as happens 99% of the time!), & I can ring it to bring my kids in! Thanks for the idea Katie! 🙂
    The fact you bought it from HomeGoods 2 years ago reminded me I bought this old-looking faucet/hook from there that I tucked away “in a safe place”…I loved the piece but not the finish but one day (soon!) it’s going to hang proudly near my laundry room sink!

  63. Great idea! I don’t normally comment (but I read\scan all your posts!), but this struck me as great.

  65. We had a dinner bell out our kitchen door in the house I grew up. I would love to find one for our current house. With 2 little boys and a husband who is always piddling around in the yard, it’d be used quite a bit at our house!

  66. Wow- I love that photo of Weston “helping” Jeremy install the bell 🙂 Too cute! He’s just hanging there taking it all in…

    Also- kids don’t do enough “dirting around” these days. That’s the way I was raised, and it makes me sad thinking about all the kids today sitting inside glued to screens. Your boys (and future girls!) are super blessed to live where they do, with so much space for imagination and getting dirty 🙂

  67. That last picture is super cute! It won’t be long until he can reach it! Soooooon… 🙂

  68. That’s so cute! I always wanted a dinner bell, but we always lived in the ‘burbs so a whistle worked quite nice 🙂

    I loooooove that video of Kristen Bell and her sloth. What a good man Dax is haha, sometimes when I am bummin and need a laugh I just watch it on repeat!!!

  69. Now I need a bell in my kitchen!! I love this idea!
    I think I was on maternity leave when I first saw the Kristen Bell/Sloth/Ellen episode – now that’s all I think about when I see her and I love her for it. I’m a sappy mess…

  70. We have that exact same bell!
    I bought it because my hubby was in the Navy and on the ships they ring bells for everything!
    I did hang it in the kitchen though, so
    I hope to be able to use it to call my own kids to dinner one day!

  72. My grandparents have a dinner bell, it’s hung up high on the wall so that rowdy grandkids can’t ring it constantly. When we were little they started enforcing the rule that whoever rang the bell had to say the prayer at the next meal. When your house is full of preteen boys, (I’m one of two girl grandkids and there are 8 boys!), saying the prayer is apparently the worst possible form of punishment! That bell is ONLY rung at mealtimes, or by people who’ve never been to the house before…

    Now you have me thinking we might need a dinner bell too! 😉

  73. I LOVE it. I fully plan on having a bell at our house someday and this made me want it even more. In our house it wasn’t a bell but every Christmas my mom put up these tall skinny boards covered in felt and they each had one of the three wise men on them, also made out of felt. Now I own them and it CANNOT be Christmas without my three felt wisemen up SOMEWHERE. Last year we didn’t even have a tree (first time ever, but because of massive renovations) but I would be DARNED if those wise men weren’t up in my house!

  75. Oh my gosh – that clip of Kristen Bell made me laugh-cry in them middle of my office. Good thing no one was around, they would think I was crazy!

  76. We had a giant bell hanging outside on our deck that my parents would ring when it was time for us to come home. You could hear that thing from so far away!

  77. Oh, fun! Will is too cute. And I love you so much for the Kristen Bell sloth reference. Good grief, hilarious and adorable.

  78. This is great. My fiance actually talks about how he wants a bell like this all the time. Mind you, we live in a one bedroom apartment, and it’s just the two of us. So I don’t really see the need for him to ring a bell to tell me our dinner is ready! But I think it will be so sweet when we have a house and a kid or two a few years from now, and he can hang up that bell!

  79. Years ago, we stayed at LaPrade’s fishing cabins on Lake Burton- they rang a bell for all the meals. Served at long tables, family style. Best fried chicken EVER. I still think of them & drool when I see/ hear a dinner bell. I think they got all fancy with meals and stopped the cabin rentals, though, darn it.

  80. I didn’t grow up with a dinner bell (my mother’s two-fingered whistle was more than sufficient…), but my father did. My folks have the bell in their house now. I’ve always loved the idea and now that I have two little ones I’m going to keep my eye out for a dinner bell!

  82. Oh my Goodness! I haven’t seen anyone do this. I LOVE it…and your bell is so CUTE! (of course). I’m glad Will can’t reach it though…haha. Cause I’m sure he would be reaching for it ALL THE TIME. 🙂 I love these last little touches. I seem to loose steam at the end of a project but it really is those last little touches which add so much character!

    And looove if you’d click over. I started a fashion series on my blog. It’s just a fun series for real people. I thought you might appreciate! I love me some fashion…but reality is that I’m a mom to a toddler (and you know how that is!). 🙂

    http://hennablossom.com/?p=2248 <– the fashion post if you want to stop through and make my day 😉

    xo,
    Henna

  83. I have a bell almost exactly like that!!! Picked it up at Home Goods a few years ago and I haven’t been able to hang it yet. SO FUN!!!

  84. I love this! My husband works in the basement and I have to stomp on the floor 3 times to call him up for dinner. Someday when we build a farmhouse and fill it with kids, I would love a real dinner bell!

  85. OMG I laughed so hard at that Ellen video. I haven’t laughed out loud like that in years.

  86. I found an old cast iron bell that we hung right outside the kitchen on our pergola post. I can’t wait to ring it this Summer to bring all of the kids home!!

    AND….how stinkin’ cute is the pic of Jeremy wearing Weston in the Bjorn??? Weston is already learning daddy’s handman skills!!

  89. My sloth was my new potting bench … I’ve been dreaming of one for years, finally figured out a good spot for it (our garden is rather full) and ordered a bench online last Sept. Finally in March, figured out they were NEVER going to build and send it to and gave up and cancelled. But my super-handy handyman whipped one up for me in three hours just like my sketch and I’ve been dragging neighbors into the back yard to see it ever since. I posted it on facebook of course. Love love love it … well, maybe not to the point of crying, but really love it…

  91. I wasn’t going to click on the youtube link but I AM SO GLAD I DID! Hilarious and, duh, I was crying. It really is the little things in life that can bring such joy (and, at the same time, tears)!

  93. We had a ships bell at my family home, a huge, cast iron bell that used to live on a real ship! 🙂 It was loud! That was perfect though since it is a lot of property.

  94. Katie. Off topic. What gun safe did yo guys get for Christmas?
    LO is beginning to toddle around and open drawers and I wanted to invest in a print scan safe.
    Thanks!

  95. I love the dinner bell idea… still would love to have one outside to keep with the farm feel around our home. Also, Kristen Bell is awesome and I wish she was my friend. I found a sloth print on pinterest and tweeted it to her in hopes she would retweet me… yeah I’m that loser. Anywho, all of my wedding gifts are still packed up from 6 months ago since we havent moved yet so it will be like Christmas opening it all and organizing it. I can’t wait to see what I discover!

  96. Can I just say the pic of Jeremy baby wearing Weston and he’s looking up watching what Daddy is doing makes my ovaries hurt its so cute!

  97. So sweet! Awwwww.
    My Mom used to whistle…like, crazy loud.
    We could be miles away in the woods, digging up a new fort or something and it would echo off the trees. Time to run home!

    Oh, “dirtying around” – awesome.

  98. Love it, LOVE it, have to do it in my kitchen ASAP. And I absolutely love the picture of Jeremy and Weston!

  100. I know the point of this post isn’t about Kristen Bell and her sloth on Ellen. But. O.M.G. Funniest video EVER.

  101. My daughter once gave me a little cow bell with the University of Michigan “M” on it for Christmas. ( In grade school they always had a Santa’s Workshop day where vendors came in to sell little knick-knacks for the kids to buy their Christmas presents- I got some pretty interesting little things over the years!) The little bell is still sitting on top of the microwave, and evry once in a while we use it to get everyone from all corners of the house to come to the table. Definitely brings back memories from families in my neighborhood growing up!

  102. My boyfriends parents have the same thing at their lake house. He grew up with 8 siblings who were all over the lake community playing in the sand and finding frogs and when the bell rang, they all came running for dinner. Now it’s used for his 18 nieces and nephews who are enjoying the lake just as much. Love this.

  103. My grandmother used to have a bell on her farm out in Oregon and when she passed and the house was sold, I asked my mom if she grabbed the bell. Um, no. I had to physically restrain myself from driving out there in the dead of night to steal it from the new owners. Anyway, fast forward a few years and I found a similar bell for sale on ebay and was a happy girl when it arrived. It’s now hanging out on our vacation property in the Olympics and everytime someone rings it, it reminds me of Gramma Joe.

    I hadn’t seen the sloth episode. Cutest and funniest thing I’ve seen in awhile.

  104. This post made me laugh because my mom had a little 5″ or so bell that she would ring at dinner for us kids, followed by screaming “drink orders!”. Except, we weren’t out in the field or anywhere far, just upstairs in our 2000 square foot house or maybe in the backyard. We’re still scarred by the sound of a bell! 🙂

  111. We had a dinner bell, too! It was on the post on the front porch. Mom would ring it for us to come home for dinner. Great memories. I need to find me a dinner bell now.

  112. Katie! You rock (as does your name!) I love little touches like this around the place, turns a house into a home and the boys will probably always remember it! Love you and your blog, inspires me all the way here in New Zealand.

  114. For the summer my entire family goes to my aunt and uncles lake house for a week so there are as many as 30 people staying under one roof. My aunt has a big dinner bell on the deck and you can hear it if you’re in the house, on the beach, or even in the lake. This past year we had three babies there too so all the mommas had a special bell ring so they knew if their baby had woken up from their nap. It was almost too much fun/convenience!

  115. so. ugh. I hate being that person that is all negative nancy here….but….I would urge you to do a little research about the kind of soft-structured carrier you use for baby Weston. If you still feel ok with using the bjorn, and forward facing, that’s your call…but maybe just read up a bit.

  116. Katie! I have the same exact bell from Home Goods! I have it on my screened porch! 🙂

  118. I prefer my Solly baby wrap. It’s great and I use it all the time. Jeremy prefers the Bjorn…it fits him better and doesn’t put as much pressure on his back as it does to me. He will not wear the wrap…macho 🙂
    xo – kb

  119. We definitely read up about it and asked our pediatrician. She said even though there is a lot of rumors about it being bad, that she has yet to find a valid study that proves the Bjorn is bad for the facing out baby. She did say that certain designs have been proven to be hard on mommy…that’s why I go with the wrap. If I could get Jer to go with the wrap I would but he actually really likes the Bjorn and is comfortable in it. Oh and just to be clear – he wears Weston for maybe ten to twenty minutes a couple times a week…so it’s very infrequent. He tried the Ergobaby but said that it was just too hot and complicated. I’m sure that different carriers are like different jeans…they are gonna fit different people differently.
    xo – kb
    p.s. if you find an independent viable study that proves otherwise, I would absolutely love to see it!

  120. so, first of all, i just started following you and i want to be your bestie. ok? love your house and your work and your pizazz.

    second of all, i’d literally just posted about how i still find myself crying despite feeling like my heart is overflowing with happy and then i read your post, watched the video and knew that she describes how i feel to a “t”! awesome.

  121. Thanks so much for visiting! 🙂 kinda made my day to see your comment on my post today! 🙂 isn’t it fun that you have the ability to do that? 🙂 oh blogosphere!

  122. Thanks for the trip down memory lane: I’m one of four siblings whose mom had to ring dinner bell to summons us from the dirt!

  123. My brother and I would be so far out in the woods playing behind our house that my mom would honk the car horn when we were supposed to come home. 🙂

  124. I have a cow bell. We had gone to Bavaria for a business trip with my husband, and it was just a really great break from Ukraine. When we’d drive to the hotel we were staying at on Lake Eibsee, we’d pass gorgeous green fields at the foot of the mountains and every cow had a bell on- it was the prettiest sound, so I asked for a bell for my mother’s day gift. It’s in the kitchen and a jingle gets the kids running to wash their hands and at the table within minutes. 🙂

  125. Love love love the bell!!

    This blog post has a ton of links to support a different carry-
    http://www.bobafamily.com/blog/2011/10/11/nine-reasons-not-to-carry-your-baby-facing-out/
    Here is one specifically 🙂
    http://www.hipdysplasia.org/Developmental-Dysplasia-Of-The-Hip/Prevention/Baby-Carriers-Seats-and-Other-Equipment
    I love the pic with your husband holding Weston <3
    I'm getting the Ergo travel one for my hubs for this baby, its super light so should help the heat issue (That man is like a furnace!!)

  126. Yes I read those too and asked the pediatrician about it…she said that the babies always get checked for hip dysplasia at birth and in general, as long as the baby is getting checked at birth, has no family history of DDS, has monthly checkups and is not in any position for long periods of time (in carriers, carseats and even held by their parents), then there is nothing to worry about brand or carrier wise. Oh and she also said that since Weston was so large, that his chances of developing problems with our situation would probably be very very rare. I’m sure that every kid is different (Will was sensitive to pears, most kids aren’t!) so you definitely need to make sure you and your health care provider are on the same page. And if you find any other articles or studies that prove against it, I’d still love to hear them.
    xo – kb

  127. Um, this womb is on FIYAAAH!!! That might be the cutest picture of the boyfriend and Weston. The freaking cutest!

  128. Aww, I love this story! I also love the pics of the boys in this post. My babe is only 8 months, but the picture of Will stretching to reach the bell makes me weepy thinking about how fast babies grow up. “IT’S DINNAH TIME!”

  131. Oh my gosh…just watched the sloath video and I laughed so hard that tears are streaming down my face. Thanks for sharing the link. And I LOVE the dinner bell. It’s been on my wish list since I can remember.

  132. That is adorable — the way Will yells for everyone to come, that is! I love the idea of a dinner bell, but we never had one. Maybe once we have kids it will be a necessity! It looks fabulous, btdubs.

  134. I was going to say “me too”!, except I finally realized this is an old post and I WAS the original commenter. How nice I agree with myself.
    But on the topic of bells, we lived on the outskirts of town and everybody had one acre lots so we had lots of territory to roam. Each mom used a different kind of bell or whistle so you could figure out if it was YOUR mom or someone else’s. Our mom used a set of cow bells.
    I have no idea if the moms worked this out ahead of time or not…

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