Why oh why does our living room floor have to look like rainbow vomit? This is out of control. 

quick post

Blogger lost this post twice so this is gonna be short and sweet.

Friday night B spent her first full night away from both mommy and daddy.  Grammie Nelson pinch hit for us.  I guess B hammed it up for her new audience all night and things went well.

Sunday, we ditched B again, this time with Mimi Jo and Papa Don so Marcy and I could go to my race.  Another success.  As a bonus, Don decided to mow our lawn for us.  Mucho thanks for that.  I’m thinking we should have them watch Brynna every weekend from now on since we’ve got some weeds to be pulled some more painting to be done…

B is now standing unsupported for 30+ second stretches.  Never when a camera is handy though so you’ll just have to trust us on this one.  Looks like she may fall a bit shy of walking by 11 months though.   There are still 4 days left so we’ll see.

Ricky's Knee

In the past 10 ½ months of being a father I've gained a vast wealth of knowledge on what it takes to be a successful dad so I've decided to use my god given gift for the betterment of society and do a weekly column on various topics loosely related to parenthood. So mosey on up, get comfy on my knee and get ready for me to learn you sumthin.

Episode 1 of Ricky's Knee is actually a post from a couple of weeks ago titled "How to be a good dad". In it, I described (duh) how to be a good dad. I've decided that for Episode 2 I will elaborate on my first two rules of being a good dad. Changing diapers and getting poo on your fingers in the process. Actually, more specifically, how to check to see if a diaper needs to be changed without getting poo finger.

If, while holding your baby, you detect a hint of baby potpourri, there are a series of checks you can make to confirm the presence of dookie.

Step one: With thumb and finger grasp the bottom of the diaper and give er a squeeze. Did it feel like a tube of toothpaste? If so, go on to step 2. If not, you're probably in the clear because it was just a cute little baby fart. Baby farts are cute, daddy farts are not. Why is this? Discuss.

Step two: While facing the baby away from you and holding her under the arms, proceed to jamb your nose into the back of the diaper and take a giant wiff. Do you feel like passing out? If so, move on to step 3. If not, rejoice in the fact that you didn't just stick your nose mere fractions of an inch of baby butt vomit.

Step three: This is where things can go horribly wrong. Very carefully grasp the back of the diaper at the waist band, pull it out and peer down baby's plumbers crack. Be very, very careful not to grasp the inside of the waist band. I have made this mistake before and got the ole stink finger. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you have poo on your finger of if you were smart enough to simply see the poo go onto step 4.

Step four: Arguably the most important step takes a bit of finesse. In your most frantic voice, yell to your wife that you "think" baby needs a change but you just realized you forgot to check the headlight fluid in the car (the gullibility/intelligence of your wife will dictate how believable the story needs to be) and that you need to get to it immediately. If you successfully weezled your way out of changing the diaper, proceed to step 5. If you're stuck doing it yourself, you're on your own.

Step five: Sneak out to the garage where you secretly stashed a mini fridge stocked with beer. Pop open a beer while randomly clanging various objects around the garage to feign productivity. Enjoy the beer, you've earned it.

It was a busy DAMN weekend in these parts. Friday night we dropped the pooch of at Rancho-de-Nelson for some r-n-r and to get him off our backs so that we could do some traveling over the weekend. Saturday morning we were up at the butt crack of dawn preparing for our landing at York’s Wild Kingdom with the Lucas’ extended family. We all had a great time and then the heavens opened up and unleashed its fury on us. Brynna was a trooper though and was pretty happy through the whole experience including a frantic run with mommy back to the car.

Overall the zoo was much better than we expected. I had been told to expect a squirrel in a cage and a 200 yr old elephant with an eye patch so I honestly wasn’t expecting too much. They came through though with lots of interesting animals. One of B-Girl’s favorites was the Gibbon (a type of monkey) that was swinging around hooting and hollering and having a grand old time. Thankfully he didn’t hurl any feces in our direction but he was kind enough to stop swinging just long enough to take a leak and therefore not turn himself into an 80lb hairy lawn sprinkler. Come to think of it, it would have been a lot like going to Sea World and sitting in the front row of the Shamu show.

Unfortunately, we did miss the zebras bumping uglies but thankfully one member of our group mangaged to get a picture so all was not lost.

After the zoo, we jetted (more like sogged) our way to Andover Mass where my bro and sis-in-law live for a much belated birthday visit. Rusty and Cara cooked up a damn fine feast and we were able to watch the TiVo’d final time trial for the Tour so all was good.

Sunday morning included an early wake up call from B-Girl and then a run back up to Rancho-de-Nelson to pick up the mutt and so Grammie and Grampie could get they B-vitamin fix.

Today, I’m just happy to be back at work where I can catch back up on my sleep.

I bet they taste like chicken. 

A pic of Grampy with B-girl this weekend. 

Lake St. George

Marcy here. I thought I would give this blogging thing another try...

Below are some pics of Brynna's and my trip to Lake St. George State Park in Liberty, Maine. We have a mommy and Brynna day every Wednesday (or whichever day of the week works). Since this Wednesday was going to be the "perfect" summer day Brynna and I decided to go swimming at the Lake. Yes, we have a beach just 15 minutes down the road but I was aching for swimming of the freshwater sort. So, after B-girl's morning nap we packed up our suits, towels, float, food, etc. and motored over to Damariscotta Lake State Park. We made the 30-minute drive only to find out that there was a swim advisory due to bacteria (ewww...I won't go into any further detail there). Not wanting to subject Brynna to that we headed north to Lake St. George - another 30 minutes! The trip may have been a tad shorter had we not been detoured because of fallen trees and power lines from Tuesday's freakish storm.

Power was out at the park and local stores. Although I had no lunch (debated trying some baby food) Brynna and I had a great time. My parents used to bring me to this park as a child and it was so neat to give Brynna the same experience. Even the rock piles that we used to swim out to as kids, and try to move around (Rick and his brothers did the same thing), were still there! The water was warm and there were about 50 kids from the Lewiston Y to entertain Brynna in and out of the water.


















Pre-swim picnic: Eatin' some cheerios and people watching.


















That dirt pile looks mighty tempting!


















Hey this isn't a cheerio!


















You talkin' to me?!


















Post-swim play: Proving that on rare occasions Brynna CAN share.















Unfortunately I wasn't able to take photos of B-girl swimming. She insisted that rubber ducky (one of like 10) come with her and I spent most of my time retrieving it while she giggled in her float.

a first

We knew the day would come. The first night staying out late by herself. The feeling of freedom knowing she can come back when she damn well pleases. A night of anything goes, a chance to sow her oats.

Poor Gracy got her chance the other night. We had let her out when we came home from work and completely forgot to bring her back in when we went to bed. Poor girl was waiting at the back door when I went to let Chance out in the morning. Thankfully it didn’t rain that night.

Hiding food 101

As I've mentioned previously, Brynna has become a somewhat finiky eater. She will actually eat just about anything but its getting her to take the first bite that can be the tough part. After the first bite is down, it's all systems go. Of course, some nights she's more interested in eating than others and becomes pickier about what she will eat on those nights. As if to apease us and make us believe she's the perfect child, she will carefully place her unwanted food on the seat next to her so that we think she has indeed eaten it all. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. If she realizes you are watching her though, she will quickly change plans and either shove the food in her mouth or offer it up for us to eat out of her gross, slimy, clenched little fists. You might think that a mixture of cheerios, applesauce, rice and chicken and kiwi would be delicious but you would be wrong. Trust me I know, its only through a deep seated love for her that I could choke something like that down. Be still my churning stomach.

Anyway, back to the main point, Brynna stashes her food, here is a video clip. Click HERE.

A good soak

For a woman there is nothing more luxurious than a soak in a tub with a good book. This girl learns young. For the record, she also likes one of man's favorite activities, a good poop. Nothing better I tell ya.















Over the weekend Brynna managed to stand on here own for brief periods. By accident of course because as soon as she realized what she had done, she would frantically grab back on. Durning those few second though, she had perfect balance with nary a quiver. Unfortunately for her though, with that giant bulbous melon perched on her shoulders, the slightest movement can cause a catastrophic chain of events. She may need to be fitted with a helmet soon or else we're going to have to pad the whole house.

Brynna walking

As promised (I think???), here is a short video of Brynna walking, holding on to mommy of course but with only one hand. When she uses only one hand she has a sort of John Wayne meets Frankenstein thing going but in a cute sort of way.

Toothyness

B-Girl has new teeth!  In the last week she has managed to push out three new, little, sharp as a mofo, nipple biting teeth.  This came as a great relief to me since it marks the end (hopefully) to a month plus of fitful sleep.  It’s sort of a mixed bag for Marcy though with the whole nipple biting thing.

Brynna has also progressed mightily in the walking front.  She can now easily cruise furniture, typically only holding on with one hand and occasionally in moments of excitement (seeing Tour coverage, bike commercials etc) will go handless briefly before frantically grabbing back on.  I predict she’ll be walking by month eleven.  You heard it here first.

Pacifier Snatcher

You can start calling Brynna “sticky fingers nelson” because her newest acquired skill is stealing pacifiers from other, less mobile babies. To be clear, B no longer uses a pacifier herself, hasn’t actually for several months, but if she sees another baby with a pacifier in, she’ll crawl up, snatch it from the unsuspecting owner, shove it in her mouth and quickly crawl away to safely. Occasionally she’ll crawl back to the scene of the crime, remove the binkie, wave it in the other baby’s face tauntingly until the baby reaches for it at which time she’ll pull it away and crawl off yet again. You may think that she’s selfish and mean but I tend to think that she is simply trying to teach the other babies the value of sharing. She’s a giver that one.

The ferry ride over to Peaks.

Over the weekend, she was able to teach a younger baby that lesson several times while we were visiting the McPeaks on Saturday on Peaks Island. Its interesting to note that it’s the wife’s family who has a place on Peaks, not the McPeaks side of the family. Then again, I guess its not McPeaks Island anyway. What the f’ ever. Back on topic, there were several infants visiting for the day who Brynna was able to terrorize in a cute- can’t blame me cause I’m a baby- sort of way. (like that clever use of punctuation? I have no idea if its correct but it looks good. Marcy, help me out here!). Brynna’s favorite kid from the trip had to by Aidan (Dan and Lizzy’s son) who is 3-ish something or other years old. Apparently she likes her older men and vice versa because Aidan was basking in the glory.

But is it art?

I call this composition "Ass crack and dumb ass, III" 

How to be a good dad

How to be a good dad.

By: Rick Nelson (future father of the year)

Change diapers frequently.
Pretend not to be mortified when you get poop on your finger while changing diapers.
Similarly, when you taste her baby food, pretend its delicious and not at all bland and styrofoam-e-ish.
Laugh at her when she does her cute little pouty cry.
Scold her so that you can see her pouty cry again!
Look on with amusement as she eats bread crumbs off of the floor that were left by the dog. (My how the tables have turned here!)
Post silly pictures and stupid stories about her on the internet for the whole world, ah, make that a handful of people to see.
Make fun of the size of her head (its gi-normous by the way).
Finally manage to take care of my crap and to finally, for the love of god and all that is holy, remember to close the damn basement door!

Look at me, I'm a drunken sailor!
 

 

bath remodel continued...

I did a pant-load of work on the bathroom this weekend including some trim work, staining the concrete countertop, installing the countertop and some plumbing work (with some initial help from my dad). Things are finally getting there, now its just a matter of sealing the concrete, installing the sink and faucet, tiling the backsplash, finishing the trim work, painting the walls and trim, installing a new floor, new cabinet doors and drawers, light fixtures...

Before

After

Still lots to do.