Amber's first vacation!

Thanks to the extreme generosity of Grandma and Papa McCourt, Amber had her first tropical vacation in Maui!

Looking glam in Maui

I was pretty nervous to fly with Amber at the beginning, but after the flight from Vancouver to Maui where Amber was dubbed "world's best baby" by the couple sitting next to us, I learned that Amber is a pretty good traveler :) She started out the flight by smiling and batting her eyes at the people around us. Then after she was all tuckered out for the evening she slept for the rest of the flight.

An added bonus to the trip was that we went along with Rick, Tracy and the twins so we got to visit with them for much longer than originally anticipated! I think Amber is at the point where she's starting to really recognize Keira and Naomi as well. Near the end of the trip she was even rolling over on her side to get a better view of her cousins!

The crew at the beach

Amber had a few "firsts" while we were in Maui as well:

First trip to the Aquarium

First patio lunch

First attendance at a destination wedding

....and first "swim"

Amber had a great time and once again on the flight home she was a trooper and slept the entire way with little to no fussing for the entire 5 hours! When we got home we were so happy to see Tim and Loca, but I was even happier to see my bed as I had been awake for 23 hours!

I think Loca definitely missed Amber and I while we were gone. She is back to being my shadow and following my every move. As an added bonus, tonight she wanted to supervise bath time to make sure everything was ok :)

Done!!! ......sort of

I have now met the milestone of completing all six chapters of my thesis!!

Of course in true thesis style, even being this close to being "done" still means a week of 12+ hour days to get it to the stage where it goes out to my internal review committee. Four of those six chapters have been reviewed by my supervising professor and as of right now only about 1.25 of those chapters are in the unified thesis document.

But the end really is in sight. Sure I've said that before but that was just to appease those asking when I'd be done. It's just such a monumental task. It's kind of like driving from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island. By the time you're at Alberta you look back and feel like in the grand scheme of things you're "almost there" but really you know you've got at least 14 more hours and you haven't even considered how bad BC Ferries could screw you over....

In my analogy BC Ferries would be first the internal examining committee and then the external committee...the business plan, revisions, etc.

Thesis Helper

On the days when Amber decides she doesn't want to nap while I'm making dinner she spends some quality time with Dad so I can have two hands to work with. Since Dad is in the home stretch of his thesis Amber often finds herself "helping" to write the thesis.

Best study-buddy ever

Although we don't necessarily want Amber watching TV or staring at computer screens too much this photo op was just too cute to pass up! Since Amber loves looking at any and all illuminated screens she is quite content to watch thesis writing in action :)

A Happy Mother's Day Indeed

My very first mother's day as a mom! It was an extra special mother's day as well, as my brother and sister-in-law were visiting with the twins!!

The house was full of babies and dogs and it was fantastic :) Amber is completely fascinated with her cousins Keira and Naomi and often likes to just sit and stare at them while they play. One day she'll be able to join in on the fun as well.....for now it's just a spectator sport.

Here's a picture of all three munchkins starting with Naomi on the left, then Amber and Keira. One of these things is not like the other :) .....but they're all pretty darn cute!

Getting there on the thesis....

Manuscript 1 (Chapter 2) Done and published
Manuscript 2 (Chapter 3) Done, reviewed, changes made
Manuscript 3 (Chapter 4) Done, reviewed, a few edits to make
Maunscript 4 (Chapter 5) Done, reviewed, a few edits to make
Conclusion (Chapter 6) Done, submitted for review - likely changes to make

So now it's back to the Intro (Chapter 1) which is already at 7100 words and pretty close.

So left to do is finalize the Intro, finish the edits to Manuscripts 3 and 4, and build the whole thesis into one unified document. I've got the template built and figured out so after making these changes its a few solid days of cut and paste.

There is light at the end of the tunnel....whether it's an oncoming train remains to be determined. The overall word count right now is 52,500. Faculty of Grad Studies says doctoral theses are normally between 60,000 - 80,000 words so mine will be about the right length.

As soon as I get it submitted to my internal examining committee then its time to finish and submit a required business plan with my MBA partner (and friend) to satisfy my scholarship requirements.

When I see people on the news get hit with these year long 'house-arrest' punishments I immediately think to myself - God that's not so bad, just write up your thesis and before you know it you'll be free. If I ever get arrested I think I'll do an online MBA...

Tim and the girls

This photo gives me a new appreciation for professional photographers - especially for those that work with animals and/or babies. I'll admit....I got lucky and this shot only took 4 tries, but I imagine it would take much more if I was striving for perfection.


Here's take 1:

Note that Amber's eyes are closed and Loca is concerned with the toy in the near vicinity.


Take 2:

Amber is mid yawn and Loca is convinced she heard a crow out on the deck.


 .....and take 3:

Amber's hands are in her mouth and Loca has fixated on another toy.


Note what a trooper Tim is as he maintained his smile throughout all 4 takes :) Next step is to get a family photo!

Here's a bonus photo that was taken just prior to the others:

I love this one because it looks like Amber is sporting a monobrow :)

Being this cute has its benefits.....

.....benefit number one being that Mom quickly forgives you for waking up every hour through the night for the majority of this month. Benefit number two is that you can get away with crying through each and every bath (as soon as the water hits your head) and then still manage to get photos this good :)

This month has definitely been difficult to say the least. The only way I can manage a decent amount of sleep (about 3 consecutive hours) is to have Amber in bed with me. Usually I'll try to keep her in her own bed until about 5am.....but after I've seen every hour on the clock leading up to that point I'm ready to give in and take her into bed. I'm not sure whether she's going through a month long growth spurt or whether she just gets a little lonely at night....either way, it amounts to a whole lot of coffee fueled days!

I've heard some people say that "things really start to get better at three months".....I'm thinking Amber maybe didn't get that memo! Either way I still love her to pieces. I'm sure one day....long after this is over....I'll look back at this time and laugh :)