Still livin'

I gave up most of my facebook time for Lent, but I guess I didn't do so good in that I created this blog instead and now that I'm not limiting my facebook usage as severely I'm neglecting the blog...
Paul & Amber & I just got back from a big trip! We went to Traverse City, MI for Paul's cousin's wedding, but we made a couple stops along the way there & back to visit more family & friends. We were gone for five days (a friend stayed & watched the house, cats & my snake.) A lot of "firsts" for Amber. First night in a hotel; first time meeting her aunt & uncle & cousins from PA in person; first time out of the state; first wedding attended; first time in a swimming pool.... etc...
She still isn't too fond of her carseat & there were some rough times while driving in unfamiliar territory with a screaming baby, but on the whole it was a nice trip. :)
Back to work today. I'm actually not looking forward to it. There's been a lot of confusion over this one thing, and I've been gone a week & a half (Amber was sick before we left, so I just took the week off so we wouldn't have to pay the daycare for two weeks when we'd be getting less than one.) so I'm going to have to get back in the swing of things. I really do love my job & my co-workers, but some mornings I kinda wish I'd gone stay-at-home Mom.

Funny, ten years ago I figured I'd be working on a doctoral degree by now and here I have little education beyond my bachelor's and I've given thought to staying home! I don't think there's anything wrong with either option, just funny how divergent they seem & how I've changed & how I haven't.

OK, writing down a to-do list for myself; unpack, laundry, put things away, drop off recycling, work on putting stuff together for my summer swaperoo, and work on the craft projects I've started... need to clean the snake's cage, like weeks ago... :/ and prepare for this weekend, people coming over Friday night, celebrating our Egyptian exchange student's birthday on Sat & going down to my sister's HS graduation on Sun (hour-long drive)...

Easter pics

I've felt very blah & behind on sleep all week after my bout of food poisoning. I'm hoping this weekend will help me recharge, but last night certainly didn't. The cats woke us up at 3:30 (us being me & the baby, my husband had already been woken up & was downstairs) and Amber woke up again around 5, then again at 6, we went & bugged her daddy around 7:30. She's playing happily downstairs while I try to get some breakfast, pump, etc while listening to her (& now Daddy too...and now TV as well) on the monitor.

Looks like there may be some issues with my layout... dunno what to do, I'll publish & see how it looks & if anyone can help me out, please do!
Update - I changed the layout & this works... I was going to have a couple of the pictures set to the left & right instead of just in a row down the center, but it did weird things & overlapped the pictures.










And a couple collages I made with pictures of the eggs we dyed;

Are there any songs about Tuesdays?

My Swaperoo stuff!




Baby shoes - anyone know more than me about the sizing? I couldn't figure it out before I bought them... now that I have them they say size 1 (what I got) is for 6weeks to three months (which is how old she is now) but she'll be 5 months old when we need these - do I need to exchange for a size 2? They look kinda big to me...



I officially don't like the photo uploader on here... I'm really tired this morning. I think I'll do Easter pics later...

Another promise

For a longer post later. Babysat our friends' daughter tonight so they could go out to celebrate the mom's birthday. :)
Can't get my computer to cooperate & upload the pics, so those'll wait. Got my package from the swap today & had lots of fun goodies! Also got baby shoes in the mail that I hope will fit Amber in May for Paul's cousin's wedding & my sister's graduation.
So, pics of Easter, pics of my swap, pics of baby shoes & the dresses for those events... one I got & one I made. :)
But, once again, it's bedtime! G'night!

Happy Easter - after the fact

Most of our weekend was really nice, but I got quite ill after dinner this evening. I suspect food poisoning, so hopefully I'm over it. Much too late now. night! More later...

Sleepy Good Friday

Amber didn't sleep at all yesterday. She barely dozed for a few little 5min catnaps from before I dropped her off at daycare around 10 to 8:30 or 9 at night when I put her in her swing. She slept 'til 4:45 and then again until 7:30 & is asleep again now. I wonder how she'll do today.
I am going to work, so I better get ready. I'm so tempted to just sit & stare at her sleeping little face. :)

Ups & Downs

The last few days have been full of them. Saturday we didn't do a whole lot. Sunday I went with Amber to a friend's house about an hour away. She slept most of the way there & did fine at the party. It was in celebration of my friend & her husband's first anniversary and the fact that all of her bridesmatrons (incl. me) have had or are having babies. Actually, that includes all of their groomsmen too! The first two bridesmatrons & groomsmen were married couples. Her bro & sister in law & their mutual friends. Paul was an usher & one of her husband's friends was the groomsman that escorted me. He & his wife have four children, their most recent a 7month old daughter. Her brother & sis-in-law just had their second daughter on Amber's due date (i.e. the day before Amber was actually born) but their baby was about a month premature. The other couple are about six months pregnant with a boy (their 1st child)& due on my & Paul's anniversary.


Here we all are with our hostess front & center, not pictured are my husband (not there) & her husband (taking the picture.)

Her older niece was being really cute & reading to Amber;



My friend's younger niece & Amber, with birthdays just one day apart!

The ride home,however, was torturous! Amber screamed the whole way!! I tried talking to her, singing to her, playing music, playing static. I stopped & got her calmed down & she even smiled at me! As soon as we hit the highway again though, she was screaming again.


She was completely worn out when she got home & fell asleep in Daddy's lap!

She is currently being entirely too wiggly while nursing & making this difficult!

Monday/Yesterday started out kinda rough. We got a slow start & she spit up all over my outfit so I had to change & ended up being a half hour late.
At work though, we got all caught up on the E-text & now we're just working to get ahead. :)

Today She actually slept through my whole shower & we're both pretty much ready to go with time to spare! Hopefully this'll continue I'll actually make it to work on time!! *finger's crossed*