Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

There are 6 ladies I have known since middle school that have been my best buddies.  Unfortunately, we have spread out too far from each other and don't see each other nearly as often as we would like. Ames and I both became mommies recently- so this was a special get together to meet each other's little ones. Allie hosted- the reason why is this girl can baby proof a house like you've never seen.  Gates, boxes, wow... it's impressive!   Plus, she has one adorable daughter named Iz who anyone would travel thousands of miles to see. 

We had a blast (no one needs to mention to the evil green rubber ducky).  Always fun to see you gals!  Wish it was more often :)

Isabel setting some ground rules for her dad paying attention to other babies

Amy, Tiffany and Gavin

Iz looking cool with her doggie purse.  She is a trendsetter!

Allie & Lilah

Prepare yourself for cuteness... I took about 30 photos of these two... and I spared you the other 26.   These two faces could melt an entire zipcode full of hearts. And they may be future prom dates.  Just saying.

Gavin (4 mos) and Lilah (2 mos)

 not really sure why these are sideways...

Gal Pals

Gal Pals + Babies - Iz (napping)

New mommies!

Lilah NOT digging her hoodie

Gavin sports his hood with more enthusiasm. 

Lazy Days

My oh my.  It's already been 8 weeks!  Seems like we were just putting her in her crib for the first night just a bit ago... but 8 weeks.  Wowsa.  We just got settled back in after our fun trip to Nebraska.  Everyone was very tired but luckily Lilah remembered how to sleep in her crib after a week of pack-n-plays and port-a-cribs.  The 8th week does mark and important week for the Nelson's -- no appliances have exploded in our house this week.  This is worth celebrating.

I had my first interview for a private practice job just outside of Indianapolis the day after we got back from Nebraska.  The office coordinator and I had been emailing back and forth the last few weeks setting up the "meet and greet" as she called up.  She was aware that I had just had a baby and had encouraged me to bring the baby in for the "meet and greet".  The word interview was never mentioned, but I thought I should probably get jazzed up to go in just to be safe.  So, baby in tow, I go to my first "meet and greet" at the office/hospital.  I quickly found out, that not only was this an interview, but a very formal one.  I was given a private tour of the office and hospital facilities by the doctors.   Then, we had a formal sit down lunch with 3 courses served and cloth napkins.  Totally the type of event you bring your 8 week old baby to.  The other pediatricians from satellite locations had driven in and the CFO and CEO were in attendance.  Neat.  Lilah chose an excellent time to scream for the next hour.  Amazing timing.  I literally have no idea what we talked about that hour- all I could hear was her screaming and the bottle not working as each of these sweet pediatricians tried to calm her.  To top off this interview, as I was changing Lilah's diaper on the floor of the conference room after lunch, the CFO comes over to say goodbye.  I stuck out my hand to shake his without thinking.  He took it and then his eyes lit up as he realized what just happened... mine did too.  Yup, I changed a diaper, hadn't washed them yet and shook the CFO's hand.  Neato.  I expect a job offer from this place any day now.  If this place by some miracle actually does hire me, they will go down as the most family friendly and tolerant practice out there.  But at least Lilah got to go her first interview... I'll try to get a sitter for the next ;)

She's finally got George beat

We're still working on the hair... it may be awhile!

 Ben has been dealing with a whole lot of my crazy the last few weeks.  As soon as Ben walks in the door from work at night, I confess my top 5 most guilty mommy moments for the day.  Ben also discovered that I gave Rooney a haircut for his mop top that apparently wasn't salon quality.  Ben keeps telling Rooney that he got a "hobo haircut" and then proceeds to ask Lilah if she wants a hobo haircut too.  I have to admit, it wasn't my best work.  One night as I was getting Lilah out of her swing, I misjudged the side and accidentally whacked her sweet little head against the rail.  She started crying a bit and Ben really helped by saying, "Wow, I've never heard her cry like that."  So naturally, I started crying... harder than Lilah.  To make me feel better Ben told Lilah, "Mommy jacked you.  Don't worry, daddy will probably drop you off the changing table at some point."  Poor Lilah... I hope it's going to be a long time before she understands how crazy her parents are.

One has pants, one doesn't.

6 Weeks of Happy Moments & Happy Memories

Lilah is 6 weeks today!  Unbelievable how fast she is growing!  She has started to smile at our attempts to make her laugh ( but she doesn't think zoobers are great yet.  For anyone needing clarification on a zoober, Grandpa Otto can explain. )  Ben and I have started to settle in to most of her cues and her growing personality.  We just love her to pieces more everyday.  She is the apple of her daddy's eye and brightens her face whenever she hears his voice.

Funny faces!

6 Weeks Old!

Parents always say they get really good doing everything with one arm. Well, we are doing everything with fewer arms- but I wouldn't say we're good at it yet!  Poor Lilah got a mark on her face after I tried brushing my teeth while holding her... I'll keep practicing.  I also spilled an entire canister of minute oatmeal trying to be one-armed mom, luckily our expert vacuum remedied the situation.  Ben has been more successful in getting things done with the assistance of the baby carrier.  Poor Lilah is probably rolling her eyes at our attempts.  Our house is a constant disaster, but I've decided that for the next few years a clean house is a wasted life. 

Making funny faces and doing dishes... amazing husband!

She's digging this

Ben and I haven't wanted to leave Lilah's sweet presence yet, but we decided we should go on a mini-date.  Thanks to our friends the Millers for volunteering to be Lilah's first babysitters while we got sushi!  By report, she was a good little lady!  There were almost tears driving away from their house, but we only checked our phones once while eating and talked about her the entire dinner :)  

Jeff & Carrie Miller... awesome Lilah-sitters!

It gave Murray Miller and Roo a chance to catch up.  Sharing = Caring

I visited 2 daycares this morning and despite that they seemed like lovely places, I decided that our mom's need to move to Indianapolis.  I don't want to think about the day she has to go to daycare... but it's sadly approaching.  I started crying today during Lilah cuddle time while watching Mamma Mia when the song "Slipping Through My Fingers" was on.  Oh what a mess of emotions motherhood is!

Lilah and I stole Ben from work today for a beautiful picnic on the Canal... :)

In other happy news, the Otto's have 6 brand new baby cygnets!!  Good job, Gracie & George!

Proud Papa Otto!

Gracie with the furry guys!

Floyd the Midnight Plumber

Disaster struck the Nelson house again!  The sewer gods are definitely laughing at this one!

Ben and I had planned a date night with a rented movie and home cooked meal... but... it was interrupted.  Lilah and I were in the middle of dumping draino into the drains upstairs that had been suspiciously bubbling for the past 2 days when our toilet off the kitchen started spewing filth.  I found Ben hysterically yelling (never happens) and cussing out our toilet in one of the most disgusting bathroom situations I've ever seen. Needless to say, the date night was a little ruined.  Looking forward to weekend plumber rates, we made the call.  Luckily, Floyd showed up at our door at 10:30pm on Friday night.  Floyd needed the white tubey thing outside our house to start the unplugging.  It was dark, we had no idea where it was.  Flashlights out, we searched every bush and plant in our yard.  Nada.  I got out a shovel and started digging in the spot where our neighbors was and finally after an hour of searching- bingo!  Only problem was it was directly underneath a giant bush by our front door.  So, Ben got out his saw and about 75% of our evergreen bush was laying on our lawn before the white tubey thing could be seen. The front of the house has more a "punk" look now. The bush had overtaken our pipes and caused this Friday night disaster! By midnight, Floyd the Plumber, had our pipes up and running, but we will now be re-landscaping the front of our house.

This plumbing issue is a headache!

Our bush in the light of day

Lilah Goes for a Walk

Happy May Day!

I had promised to include photos of the IMA (Indiana Museum of Art) that Lilah, Rooney and I ( and on special occasions... Ben!) walk in almost daily.  It is an absolutely stunning place and just beautiful this time of year.  Luckily, it's only a five minute drive.  Also, it's pretty close to Butler's campus for some extra highlights if we're in the mood for a really long walk!  Rooney has figured out that Lilah going into her carseat usually means bonus walk for him.  He is really starting to dig this baby thing!  We've taken both of our families out here last year- we'll include some of those photos too :)

Hanging with her Princess Sofia doll.

(Thanks for the outfit, Emily Meyer!  Loving it!)

Notice the leash out to the camera!  Multi-tasking!

Previous trip with Grammy and Grandpa Otto

The photos with her stroller all over everywhere remind me of a book in the Curious George series without any monkeys hanging off hot air balloons or crawling over fences.  Hope you enjoy!

Fat Bottomed Girls Make the Rockin' World Go Round

1 Month!!

What happened to the first month?!  I keep telling her we are against growing up in this family, but she's not listening.  At her 1 month visit she was 10 pounds 8 ounces... nearly 3 pounds up since birth!  I think someone needs to let her know it's not a race to outweigh all the other babies.  Her pediatricians (two of the most awesome people ever- Dr Emmick and Dr Bender) had a shower for her yesterday at the office and she didn't lack arms to hold her!  You think they'd get tired of holding babies, but not so fast! We should have cleared the afternoon schedules for everyone in the office because Lilah was passed around and snuggled endlessly.  I got to eat a real meal, chat it up with grown-ups, open up adorable books and outfits, and everyone was happy!

Dr Bender :)

Dr Emmick working her soothing magic

We did have a small bomb drop in the house when I got really sick last week with mastitis.  Ben was on call the night before and I thought that his lack of body heat in the bed was the explanation for why I spent the entire 10 hours of the night shivering in a cold sweat... but my medical training finally kicked in and I realized I was sick!  I think I was actually hallucinating since at one point I was worried that ghosts were harming Lilah in the night... but thankfully I am on a road to recovery and everyone is healthy again around here.  Unfortunately, my milk supply has been pretty damaged by the illness, so we're doing the best we can to be patient and hope everything goes back to how it was.  In the meantime, there have been some tears (let's be honest, boatloads of tears) shed waiting. 

Many of you understand how hard it is to get a picture of these little adorable boogers.  You snap the camera 10 times to get 1 decent looking shot that doesn't make your child look like they're in pain or passing gas at that exact second.  Here is a less than successful "1 month" photo op.

We start off with the sign being fascinating.

Now we're terrified of the sign.

Now we're just angry.

Now tired.

Now bored.

This might be the best shot.  And that completes my photo session.

Here is a more successful "1 month photo" op ( about 2 weeks later but shhh!!!   I got busy!  When does that "I'm a new mom and didn't have time to do _____" card expire?  I hope never.)

Yup.  I'm this cute just hanging out and showing off my arm rolls.

darn shoes are pointless... never stay on

We felt like dancing and kicking our legs in this shot

Ben and I even got a chance to have some quality time with our little gal this week which was nice.  She is such a cuddle right now.  She even slept 6 hours last night... spoiling us already!