The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Pumpkin bear is 3 months old this week!  Where did the time go?!  She is in 6 month clothes, size 2 diapers and has thighs that can hold up a baby grand piano per Grandma O.  She has very avid chats with "Freddy the Fan" in our living room now and really enjoys being a full scale smiley ham when anyone is paying attention to her.  Her coos melt my little heart!  The only time Lilah gets upset at us is the dreaded tummy time.  She really doesn't understand the purpose and spends the entire time face down in the blanket growling and snarling.  Not a single head lift.  We end up all pretty defeated at the end of it.

How can you not love this?

Lilah rang in her mini-birthday party on June 25th with a little ice cream cake enjoyed by the adults.  We felt a little bad that we were having all the fun, so we dipped her pacifier in a miniscule bit of the ice cream... and she didn't protest!   Ben is going to have to learn to share the ice cream in his house... or Lilah is going to have to work fast after it comes home from the grocery store to beat her dad.

3 Months :)

We had another landmark in our house when Lilah decided to sleep for 8.5 solid hours!!  Best part of it was that I slept well too!  Best night in 5 months!  Her diaper was dry the whole night.  Any luck that she'll be ready to potty train in 2 weeks?

It was  Indianapolis Zoo day for the Nelsons and Grandma O.  It was awesome!  (For those of you in Nebraska, the Omaha zoo is still tops... but the zoo here was still pretty cool!)  The dolphin show was fantastic except for having to breast feed in the middle of a crowd of a zillion children, near the "splash zone," with Lilah acting like a thrashing baby gorilla at the breast.  But by far the best entertainment I've had while trying to breastfeed!  Petting sharks, feeding giraffes, bird aviaries, watching the baby elephant splash in the lake... too fun!  I learned a few alarming facts that made me appreciate my fellow mammals more.  The zookeeper was telling us about the artificial insemination of the elephant that led to the baby being born (yea.... imagine that) and how the mama elephant nurses the baby elephant.  Did you know that baby elephants breast feed until their 2 years old... with TUSKS!  #!%*&)(*!!#  Yowsa.  Rhinos are pregnant for 16 months! Not to mention the babies are 140 pounds.   Blows my mind.  Poor pregnant rhinos.  Eeks.

Giraffe Photobomb

Baby elephant!

Dolphin show!

Lilah watching the dolphins

The good side of a polar bear

Baby Messes, Whip Cream & Crocodiles

Looking sweet at the Symphony

Symphony on the Prarie

Where's Lilah?

We had to improvise a hat

Rooney is an expert at convincing people to feed him.  In fact, he just pressured Ben into teaching him how to catch whip cream in his mouth from the squirt can.  Note to you all: never eat from the whip cream can at our house... probably the peanut butter too.

We came home from church and I noticed some of my pumping supplies spread out on the floor along with a destroyed ziploc  bag that probably had food in it.  Hmmm.  Pretty soon it dawned on me that my entire pumping bag was missing.  Rooney had dragged my entire breasteeding bag thru his tiny doggy door, out to the backyard and proceeded to remove everything from it.  There were a few leftover food items in there from work earlier that morning... Reese's peanut butter cups = the culprit.  He totally didn't go for the applesauce.   Rooney was for sale that day.  We're buds again now.

Post shift nap

Long tiring shifts in the ED have pushed my mommy guilt to the max.  There have been so many sad situations down there and more than a handful of mistreated children.  Seeing all these adorable but sick kids all day just makes me ache to see my little Lilah.  We are so blessed that she is a healthy child, so blessed.

A clearly fascinating "after bath" conversation!

Pudgy Wudgy Round Pink Baby

Grandma O + clean baby = Happy house!

Lilah is still rocking some mega cute outfits these days.  As she grows though, so do the scale of the massive blowouts.  It's unfortunate all these cute little clothes have been her target, but hey- a girl has got to have her fun.  My mom and I were the target of such a blowout last Sunday as the sermon was wrapping up.  We realized quickly we had a problem.  As were changing her on the narthex floor trying to avoid giving her a poop mohawk getting her outfit off... someone decided to pee wee wee all over the narthex floor.  I got to laughing so hard we could hardly finish the job!  But overall, Lilah is very sunny most days, and only has mini meltdowns infrequently.  Her favorite toys that get us through the rough times are Emilita Bandita, Shark, Princess Sophia,  Panda, Harold & William and the silly little crocodile on her bouncy rocker.  They are a power crew- playing music, rattling, dancing, and performing high level acrobatic tricks.  We would be lost without them.

12 weeks!

You'd think she was watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

The Midnight Special

Lilah is still getting up at least once a night to eat... we're calling it the midnight special!  Pretty soon though, we have high hopes she'll get the idea and sleep through the night.   Right now she has too much fun talking to her mobile in the middle of the night and laughing while her diaper is changed.  We laugh most of the time too.

Presentation Day

Outfits with no spit up!

Ben presented his research project for the year at a research day for his program, followed by a fancy dinner that night!  I was bursting with pride when Ben received a 2nd place award for his research project!  To top the weekend off, it included golfing with his residents and attendings AND his first Father's Day.  Not a bad!  Way to go Papa!  Lilah showed her appreciation with a nice squidgy diaper and many giggles.

Father's Day BBQ

Big Smart Man

Baptisms and Butterflies

Ben and I, as well intentioned parents, started off the week taking a Baptism class at church in preparation for Lilah's baptism.  The class was about 15 couples, some still pregnant, some with car seats full of sleeping babes. We realized everyone had not only registered for this class but also already had a date scheduled for their baptisms.  Oops.  We already looked like superstars.   It didn't take long for Lilah to take the class by storm and have a full scale 60 minute long cataclysmic metldown.  Ben and I took turns rocking her, giving her the paci, removing her from the room into the nearby empty sanctuary,... but this chickadee wasn't having it.  Luckily, all the parents were sympathetic and we just scared the crap out of the pregnant couples.  We're just happy they didn't put us in the naughty box.

Ben doesn't know about this purchase... shhhh

A ridiculously girly outfit

Being back to work has been a much harder transition than I thought it would be.  It's been wrought with tears, fatigue and my mind feeling uber "rusty".  Getting up at night to feed her and heading into work on less and less sleep has been tough, mostly because I feel too tired to enjoy her when I get home.  But somehow we'll all adjust to this craziness.

It's been a joy having my mom here.  We could NOT do it without her right now.  Lilah gets plenty of giggles, songs and attention this way.  We just hope we're not wearing out Grandma!  We're still waiting on a daycare spot... darn lists take forever!  Lilah, Grandma O and I headed to the butterfly gardens in downtown Indy and loved it!  So cool!  Lilah has really started to dig being outdoors.  When she's screaming her head off, outdoors we go.
 

The Gals at the Butterfly Garden

Mommy Goes Back to Work

The dreaded week has come... back to work for me.  I used to think I could never be a stay at home mom, but I think I was wrong!  WAY wrong!  I have never been so sad to leave a little face as I am to be away from Lilah.  I go back to the Riley Emergency Department this month.  At least there will be cute little babies at work to play with... I just wish that they were Lilah!  The silver lining to this week is that my mom is coming to stay with us for a few weeks to look after little Lilah-kins and get Ben and I started on a good path with both of us back to work.  Thank goodness for Senora Otto/Grammy O or I think my eyes would swell shut from crying this week as I head back to work.  Knowing Lilah's still having fun at home will make me feel better :)  And ultimately, we hope we get a daycare spot next month... still waiting!  Let's Grammy O can handle the craziness of the Nelson house this month.  I might find her prancercizing around the neighborhood ( yes-- prancercizing...  watch youtube... it's fantastic) if the craziness gets to be too much.  Hang in there Grammy O!

Highlights of the week:

1.  Lilah made it thru her first church service in Indy... she mostly tried to fit her entire fist in her mouth the entire time.  It was hard for Ben and I not to laugh through the prayers with her attempting this.

2.  We successfully dosed tylenol after Miss Lilah yelled at an all time higher pitch than ever heard before for an hour following her first set of shots.  Tylenol settled this little one right down! ( I should hope I can diagnose tylenol for a baby after all this time... )

3.  Lilah got to have a playdate with baby Susie and her puppy Luna after our walk got rained out!  Mostly this just consisted of Susie's mom (Karrina) and I laughing at how ridiculously cute they were!

4. Rooted on the Pacers up until Game 7.  We are usually solid Miami Heat fans, but after a Heat win last year--- our 2nd favorite team got our fanship this year!  Sadly, they got smacked in Game 7.  Next year, Lilah, next year!

5.  Lilah smiles now.  All the time.  And we love it!  I think she's starting to giggle, but the smiles would melt any heart.

6. Actually got a call back for the job interview... way to go Lilah!!  I bet she was too cute to resist.  They don't want to hire me, it's just a ploy to see more of Lilah probably.

Cuddles with Mommy

Family Date Night!

Susanna & Lilah, almost holding hands!

Barbecuing at the Millers for Game 6

Last day of maternity leave with my babes

Smiles

10 weeks!

Jimmy, Carrie & Lilah at Miller Meat Night