I must have been NUTS! (Beware a massive post, but Lilly smiles at the end)

Following our retarded decision to listen to James Taylor in the rain, we embarked on what was to become the single most "un-restful" vacation I have ever had. This is not to say that it was not super fun, I just have not been on a vacation with a 6-7 week old before, and it is way more stressful than you might expect. Or perhaps I had been just hopefully optimistic and it was just as stressful as you might imagine. I have never nursed in so many unconventional, and somewhat uncomfortable settings, one of which involved a car ride from the Biltmore house to the wedding site of a one Miss Robyn Blanton following pictures that went a little over and a Lilly meltdown, see pic below...

It all began on Wednesday the 6th of May. I have two best friends from college, Robyn and Mary. Well Robyn was getting married in Asheville, NC at the Biltmore on May 9th, a date set prior to the twinkle of Lilly. I had bought the bridesmaid dress in my size before finding out I was pregnant. I then returned it and bought it one size up which I thought was the biggest they had. After realizing that this did not fit at about week 10 of pregnancy I had little hope the dress would fit one month post-partum, so I returned it, destined to screw up all pictures with my non-uniform look. This winter when I was becoming more round by the second, J.Crew in their infinite wisdom, knowing the stress of screwing up the pictures for the wedding of a lifetime, came out with a bigger size. Ok... I digress. Anyway, Wednesday after picking up the dress from last minute reconstructions at the best seamstress in the world's house, we were off to Nashville to break up the trip. We are unable to get to Nashville without stopping at least once to feed Lilly, this day was no different. We spent the night in Nashville and then proceeded to Knoxville where we met my best friend from med school, Malinda. Malinda grew up on a massive dairy farm, and she and I felt like we needed to rub Lilly on the baby cows in decrease the likelihood of her being plagued by allergies. While we heeded Blake's concern and did not rub her on the cows, she did get a baby cow kiss!

Me, Malinda and Lilly with the baby calves
Lilly's Jersey Kiss

After spending the afternoon in Knoxville, it was off to Asheville to introduce Lilly to Robyn before the festivities. They were instant friends. For most of the weekend she was an absolute angel. In, fact people thought she never cried. She definitely debunked that theory during the formal pictures. Mom arrived Friday to watch Lilly during the wedding so Blake and I could dance the night away. I have never tried to get myself ready as well as keeping up with the feeding schedule of an infant and keep myself and her clean prior to massive pictures and keep her away from the bride so that she did not spit up on something important. For the most part she was good, but towards the end... you know the most important part, it got dicey. I had to feed her and get myself dressed and calm her down all during pictures... DISASTER. Robyn was gracious, but I felt terrible. The picture experience escalated as we went to different places on the estate to take pics. I chose to stay with Robyn to fulfill my matron of honor duties, and Blake had a go with Lilly. Needless to say things went haywire when pictures went past feeding time.

Daddy/daughter bonding (still in the clear)Our attempt at a family portrait before the meltdown
Blake's attempt at artistry. Not half bad.
A quite comical moment when a bird pooped on both Robyn and DG simultaneously. I graciously gave her a spit bath, given our limited resources.

This begins to represent how Lilly felt about the whole ordeal!
And this pretty much wraps it up in a nutshell.

All that being said, the wedding was amazing. I will definitely post about it later, but check out how HOT Robyn looks! Not to take away from how sad Lilly appears!

Robyn in route to meet DG in the gardens... doesn't she look beautiful!
I should be so lucky to count her among my best friends. It is a joy to walk through life with her. Done and done... she is a married woman.

Following the wedding we had a meaningful brunch with Mom for mother's day in the hotel lobby, at her request. I was planning something much more special but she needed to hit the road.
She spent half of breakfast talking with other guests... that's my mom! Here Blake is saying "Happy Mother's Day Ruth Ann, glad I could fix you a waffle."
Lilly has the great fortune of seeing both her grandmas for Mother's day.

We contemplated visiting the estate as tourist but after seeing the line to go in, hit the road for the second part of our marathon trip... Gatlinburg, TN with the Bergerons.

words cannot express how much I love the mountains. I will move back there one day!

It was great to be able to see all the moms on mother's day. Something that I am sure will not happen every year, and was particularly meaningful since they are now grandmothers.

All of the sudden Nonnie doesn't mind having her picture made! Let's hear it for 4 generations!
Part of my requested activities were shopping at the outlets and visiting the Aquarium. I got to pet a sting ray, and almost got eaten by a shark...

While in the mountains we were able to take a little hike, and Lilly saw her first waterfall. She was in excellent shape and was not even out of breath. I on the other hand was reminded how much she hurt my back when I was pregnant!

Here we stroll.
We made it!
Possible Christmas card preview!

After being gone for just at 1 week, we finally returned home and began the process of teaching Lilly to sleep in her own bed. It is now 5/22 and we are still trying to get her to take naps, but whatever!

In other news, we saw her smile for sure on May 15th. It is so great, she now smiles all the time, well at least whenever we change her diaper.