Last One

Just a few more pics of our Christmas Vacation . . .

Most of these pictures are self-explanatory...kids, Christmas, snow, blah, blah, blah. But just in case some of our viewers have not been to Zion National Park, we included a few on the 3rd and 4th rows of the collage. Zion is one of my favorite parks, and it's a pretty spectacular sight when it snows.

Penultimate Post of 2008

Christmas '08 was spent in a cabin near Zion National Park with my family.

Daredevil Abby loved racing down hills on the sled, and later thought it would be a good idea to take a handful of flour and rub it on her face. Santa got a plate of cookies made by Abby (and she only sneezed on them once). By the way, the creepy looking cookie in the bottom right corner is my dad's artwork, I take no credit.

Season's Greetings from Abby Nelson

Consider this your Christmas card, all you loyal readers of the Skelter. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Happiness!

Zoo lights, eating snow, spitting it out and giggling hysterically, making cookies, decorating cookies, decorating gingerbread houses, reunions with loved ones, and SANTA!

O Christmas Tree!

A couple of weeks ago, we went with the our friends, the Rogers, to chop down a Christmas tree.

We got Matt all bundled up and went hiking. He looks like he's enjoying it, right?
And, we have a tree!

Matt kept sucking on his upper lip, we thought it looked like bitter-beer face.

Abby's favorite part of the trip? The SNACKS, of course.

Thanks to the Rogers for letting us join them!

Our Mighty Matt

As of today, Matt is actually 5 months old. But, I am behind (no surprise there), so here he is at 4 months. At his four month check up, Matt weighed a healthy 18.1 pounds, and measured 26 inches tall (weight was in the 95th percentile and height was in the 90th). His pediatrician couldn't stop laughing.


Just for a little visual comparison, here are some pictures of Matt and Abby at four months (and, let me assure you that I have not done any shrinking).

Rodent Invasion

Halloween was great this year. Matt was a bat and Abby was a rat - although, we told her she was a mouse, it sounded a little more feminine.

We decided to creepify our house, went to multiple celebrations, and in the end, we all felt like Abby looked in the picture at the bottom right.

Taken Over

Unfortunately I didn't dare take a real picture of our bed this morning for fear of waking our crazy kids, so you get to see my artistic (okay, pathetic attempt at art) interpretation of the night. Matt is a permanent fixture in our bed from about 4-5 am on, every night. That's the point when I no longer have the energy to get up after feeding him and put him back in his own bed. Abby is usually great about sleeping in her own bed, but early this morning, after I had just finished feeding Matt, I heard a huge crash followed by a very sad wail. Despite the two guard rails, Abby had fallen out of her bed. So, I went in to comfort her. I offered to lay by her for a few minutes, but she kept crying and said she wanted to come in with us. I really like my sleep and sleeping conditions are never ideal when you have a foot in your face, or get head-bonked multiple times. But, call me a sucker, I love having my babies close to me. Thank goodness for huge beds.

Got Thighs?

...pouty lips, squishy cheeks, and a serious muffin-top too?

It Snowed Yesterday

I'm not really ready to talk about snow, so here is a quick review of some summer happenings.

Reunions with old friends (and MANY new kids), growing our own tomatoes, marshmallow roasting with the Rogers and Minsons, and fun trips to local area attractions. I love summer!!!! I am already counting down the months until it gets warm again.

It Must Be True!

...the hats say so- our kids are going to be senators! Abby looks like she's ready for her debut on C-SPAN. Matt might need some encouragement. Maybe the possibility of an appearance on the Colbert Report with his sister, Senator Nelson, could convince him to run- long live the fightin' Nelsons! Thank you to the Dishmans for supporting our children in their career decisions!

In a Nutshell...

...actually, collage would be more accurate.
Here is a quick recap of Matt's impressive growth from 6-10 weeks.

Matt's Blessing

Matt's blessing actually took place on August 3...I'm a bit behind and am trying to get this blog up to date!

Matt the Moose

Today was Matt's 2 month check-up. We knew we had a big boy, and the doctor agreed (the first thing out of her mouth was, "Wow! He's beefy.")

So, at two months Matt weighs 13 lbs, 8 oz., which puts him in the 90th percentile. And, he is 23 inches long (which is about 50th percentile). He went from 7 lbs, 5 oz at two weeks to this weight, which means he has gained about a pound a week! I am going to need to start lifting weights just to have the strength to carry this kid around.

For a little comparrsion, Abby at two months weighed 9 lbs, 8 oz, and was 21.5 inches long (Abby has ranged from the 5th to 25th percentile in weight since she was born).

It has been so funny to have a big baby after having such a tiny one first. We love it! And besides, boys are supposed to be big and beefy, right?

Fashion Accessories

Chameleon PJs

Potty training...ugh. I decided to buy Abby some big-girl panties to help encouarge her. She was so excited about them she immediately put them on over her diaper...upside-down.

Future Hiker, or Paddington Bear?

Cecret Lake...Almost

A couple of weeks ago we decided it would be fun to hike up to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. We made it about half way to the lake when we decided that due to inclement weather, we should probably turn back. Oh well, we will try again some other time.

We did get to see some amazing wild flowers.

Matt was unimpressed with the whole thing, preferring to sleep all the way through.

We finished the evening off with a picnic in the back of the car. Nothing like a strenuous ride on dad's back to work up your appetite.

Little Weed

I just realized that I haven't posted any updated pictures of Matt and he is three weeks old today! So, here are a few from weeks 1, 2 & 3.

Week 1 - so sleepy!

Week 2 - Matt and Abby at about the same age. They definitely have their own looks.


Week 3- Getting chubby!

A HUGE Thank You!

This is a lot overdue, but give me a break, I just had a baby (can I still use that excuse six months from now?). Anyhow, the point of this entry is to express our sincere gratitude to my mom! We called her at 5 in the morning the day Matt was born and within an hour she was making the trip from St. George to Salt Lake. She stayed with us for over a week and was a life-saver. She gave Abby some much needed love and attention, cooked, cleaned, took Matt at all hours of the morning when our brains were no longer functioning, and other fun things. We really appreciate all that she did to help us transition from 3 to 4. Thanks, Mom!

One of the fun projects my mom did while she was here was to make a "fort" for Abby. Any time my mom sat down at the sewing machine, Abby would put her hands on her shoulder, this was her way of contributing to the creation.
The completed fort!

Boobs and Good Manners

I debated whether or not I should post this first story, but it is pretty dang funny. And so, in the spirit of documenting the various happenings in our lives...here goes.

A few weeks ago, as Abby and I were driving home, we had the following conversation:

Abby: Mom, do you have boobs?

Mom: (Quick, think of something to divert her attention...Oh crap, we might as well talk about it.) Yes, Abby, I do.

Abby: Can I have some?

Mom: Uhhhhh. Well, what would you do with them?

Abby: Put them on my stomach!

(If that is the case, I have had mine in the wrong place all these years. How embarrassing!)

We have tried really hard to teach Abby good manners. It's definitely a labor of love, but she seems to be picking some things up. A number of nights ago, Rich was getting Abby ready for bed (quick side note: Abby has been going through a major "mom phase") and she was really upset that he was the one changing her and not me. She started kicking Rich and yelling, "Get away, get away!" Rich responded by telling her that she needed to be nice. Abby very quickly retorted, "May you PLEASE get away!"

It's 1 AM, Do you Know Where Your Child Is?

Let me tell you where mine is. He is in his own private tanning bed...sort of. On Monday, I took Matt to see the pediatrician. She noticed that his skin was looking a little too yellow, and ordered a blood test. As it turns out he has a touch of jaundice. This means that since 5 pm Monday, Matt has been undergoing phototherapy. He has to be under the lights constantly for at least two days. We take him out to feed and change him and then back in he goes. He also requires hourly temperature monitoring, this is especially adventurous in the middle of the night. We will be going in to test his blood again today to see if he has to continue, hopefully not. It kind of sucks not to be able to give "cuddlies" (as Abby calls them) to our newborn.

Getting ready to go in for the first time...

I think he kind of looks like Spiderman.

In the bed

Luckily, Matt has been really great through it all. What a trooper.

Hey, It's Good to be Back Home Again

Or in Matt's case, home for the first time. We left the hospital on Saturday after some debate about whether or not Matt should stay an extra day. If you look at the picture below, you might wonder what kind of parents we are. No, we did not poke our new baby in the eye. He has an eye infection due to a clogged tear duct. Luckily all of his tests came back okay and we were given the thumbs up to go.

As we were getting ready to go, Nana came in with a special delivery for Abby...

As it turns out, this hospital had a "two for the price of one" deal going. Abby got her own little baby to take home!

My nurse, Kathy, was wonderful. She suggested that since I didn't want to ride in the wheelchair, the other new mom should. Kathy was so sweet, she pushed Abby all the way out to the car and helped load her in. Abby was in heaven!

At home with the Nelson kids!

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Well, it looks like our little guy will be getting the worm. At 3:30 am on Thursday morning, Kristl woke me up saying that she was having contractions and asked if I would want to help her time them. Sure enough they were about 2 minutes apart. Time to go to the hospital. A couple of hours later (and a little over two weeks early), Matthew Lowe Nelson arrived on the scene and single-handedly destroyed Abby's monopoly on Mom and Dad's attention. No more anti-trust violations for Abby. We are officially in duopoly territory now.

As if loyal readers of the Skelter couldn't tell by the obscure (and frankly, not terribly funny) economics joke, Kristl is currently recuperating in the hospital right now so I get the privilege of reporting Matt's arrival to the world. He weighed in at 7 lbs 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. In probably the most amazing coincidence of the whole process, Matt was born at 1:21 pm. I was also born at 1:21 pm. 16 years from now when Matt complains that his parents don't understand him I can say, "Matt, I know where you are coming from. I was born at 1:21 too."

Kristl was amazing through the whole process. But really, does that surprise any of us? She was tough and strong and did not complain once. She has been a fantastic Mom to Abby and I have no doubt that she will be the exact same for Matt. I am so lucky to have such a great family. Happy 4th of July, Everyone. Matt, enjoy the fireworks. They're for you.