Littlest hiker......at least for the day :)

On Sunday we took Amber on her very first hike. We thought we would pick a melo route for her maiden voyage, however, Mt. Seymour had other plans as there was up to 7ft of snow left in some parts of the path! At first we had second thoughts as to whether we should continue with the mission, but figured that since we put in all the effort to get there in the fist place we should press on.

At first the path seemed a little treacherous, but the sun warmed the majority of the trail so it was soft enough to get some traction. There were, however, a few near wipe-outs along the way due to thinning snow and I lost my foot momentarily to a tree well. Luckily Amber was oblivious to what was happening and slept for the duration of the hike.

Once we reached the lookout point we had a little rest and a mini picnic. I'm not sure if Amber truly appreciated the view, but she seemed to appreciate not being pressed against sweaty mom any more!

 All in all it was a successful day: no meltdowns, no wipe-outs and a great view for lunch :)

All is well with the McNelson's

It's been a while since our last post so here's a little family update :)

This past Sunday was Tim's first Father's Day. We had a nice relaxing day starting with brunch at JS and MC's place followed by some lounging at home.

Napping with Dad

As for updates on lil' half Nelson, she seems to be growing like crazy. Every time I go and get her in the morning I swear she's bigger than when I put her to bed! We're still having a bit of trouble with the whole sleeping deal, but I'm told there is "light at the end of the tunnel" so I'm remaining hopeful. At least we've moved past the waking-every-hour business, however.

I'm not certain, but I think we might be in the midst of teething. I can't see any teeth poking through the gums quite yet, but there are little bumps. The past few days have been difficult for little Amber, she seems to be miserable quite often and is constantly chewing on anything she can get a hold of. Yesterday was particularly bad. For whatever reason, I couldn't get her to nap on her own for even a minute. We would rock her to sleep and then as soon as she was lowered into her crib her eyes would pop open and she would refuse to go back to sleep. By the end of the day I had managed to get her to nap for about 2.5 hours total! Needless to say it was extremely difficult to get her to go to bed last night, but by 11pm she was finally asleep......and stayed asleep until 7am this morning! Woohoo! I'll admit, I've had to give in a few times and give Amber some Tylenol. I always feel instantly guilty when I give it to her because she thinks it tastes awful and makes faces until it's all gone. I thought that Tylenol would make her drowsy and help her sleep (and help me sleep!), but so far it doesn't seem to have much of a sleep effect on Amber.

Today has been a much better day. Amber is back to her happy self and doesn't seem to be in pain....at least for the moment. To celebrate this pain free day we decided to walk to Granville Island with Amber's "bestie" Morgan and her mom Kate. Here's a picture of the girls sharing a moment in Amber's stroller :)

Hi-fives on the 7th!

Birthday smooch anyone?

Today was Amber's 5 month birthday as well as Loca's 5th birthday!

Our little girls have been getting along quite well these days. Whenever Amber spots Loca across the room she is all smiles. Loca, on the other hand, goes straight for kisses whenever she sees Amber enjoying some playtime on the floor. I think they're going to be best friends in a matter of months :)

Since Amber is getting so good with putting anything and everything in her mouth I figured she was ready to have a taste of solid food (special treat for her birthday). She's not quite into eating with a spoon at the moment so I decided to let her feed herself with her hands.

mmmmmmmm

I don't think she actually ended up swallowing anything (just mushed it around her mouth for flavor), but she really seemed to enjoy it regardless :)

Here's a quick flashback of both Amber and Loca to see how much they've both grown!

Amber on day 1

Loca the day we picked her up (8 weeks old)

We sure are lucky to have these two adorable little girls!

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!