Author Archive | Chelsea Ellingson

How To Talk To Your Kids About Their Body

By Chelsea Ellingson on November 22, 2019 in Parenthood

“MOM! I don’t want to see your BAGIMA!!” I’m sure every nurse and doctor in the OB/GYN office heard her through the thin walls and I was blushing before the doctor even came into my pregnancy checkup. We were expecting our fourth baby after recently moving to a new place, so my then three year [...]

He Wasn’t “Just” a Dog: On Losing a Family Pet

By Chelsea Ellingson on October 11, 2019 in Family

The Diagnosis The vet didn’t make eye contact with me the whole time. Instead her eyes were focused on the floor as her hands moved gently from Tuff’s neck to under his front and back legs. I don’t think she heard a word I said. “He made it up onto the bed just fine after [...]

Wave Your Freak Flag

By Chelsea Ellingson on April 30, 2019 in Mom

I write speculative fiction. I am about six chapters into writing a novel about an old woman who works in the magic of dark matter and a young boy she has to train, even though she doesn’t want to. It takes me a lot of effort to find time to sit down and write, but [...]

Family History: Find Your Story

By Chelsea Ellingson on February 3, 2019 in Family, Mom, Parenthood

In a little old farm town in South East Idaho in a historic hotel is a surprisingly good cajun restaurant by the name of BJ Bayou's. The first thing you should know about this place is that it's legitimately haunted. They have tours, the whole shebang. You can also stay there (NOPE!) to get the [...]

Solo Trips: Rediscovering the Woman Underneath the Mom

By Chelsea Ellingson on January 6, 2019 in Family, Mom, Parenthood

Last Saturday, I was dragging a wagon filled with two blankets, a diaper bag filled with snacks and coloring supplies, three fold-out camping chairs, and my four-year old buried somewhere underneath it all to her older sister’s last soccer game of the season. There were two other families making the trek across the field with […]

Holidays as an Introvert: My Top 5 Survival Tips

By Chelsea Ellingson on December 9, 2018 in Family, Holidays, Mental Health and Self Care, Mom, Parenthood

I’m dreaming of a . . . quiet Christmas. Remember that scene in The Christmas Story, right before Ralphie finally finds his Red Rider BB gun carefully hidden in the back corner of the living room? It was the moment after everyone had opened all their presents; Randy was asleep on the floor with his […]

Dealing with your Explosive Child

By Chelsea Ellingson on October 3, 2018 in Family, Parenthood

Living with “The Hulk” Flashback to Summer of 2015. It was probably hungry-o’clock in the afternoon for my seven-year-old son (we’ll call him “L”). My girls were in the other room likely watching a show or playing nicely. I was crouched on the floor of my bedroom, taking a shaky breather and crying. I could hear […]

Discovering Real Value in Mental Pictures

By Chelsea Ellingson on August 20, 2018 in Family, Mom, Parenthood, Photography

Last week my family and I took our first trip together to my grandmother’s house in Rhode Island. She lives on a magical little pond (although out here we’d call it a lake…tomato, tom-ah-to) that was home to my most favorite childhood memories growing up; picking blueberries along the sand, endless afternoons of playing […]