March...

... is gone, and April too, almost... I have been a very bad blogger {sorry Mom and Dad}. Things here have been pretty normal.. Not a whole lot going on, so not a whole lot to write about.. :D

Quick Recap:

Alec went to South Africa for about 10 days in mid-March to work on a play that's pseudo being produced with UMKC. He had a great time, we missed him lots, and maybe one day I'll go through the 1500 {or equally ridiculously large number} of photos he took...

Since then, he's been busy busy busy with school. The year ends for him in about 10 days, so we still haven't been seeing much of him. He's been designing and engineering and assisting on shows all over town, which is good because it's that many more contacts for us when he finishes.. If we lose our minds and decide to stay here, or something... And finally after about 10 years of phone tag and stupid politics, he's nailed a job down for this summer. He'll be working on sound for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival on their {only} show, The Merry Wives of Windsor. {How it's a festival with only one show, I don't know.. But that's not my problem}. That will take him through all of June, after which he'll head straight into designing {a show I don't remember} for Actor's Theatre Kansas City. He's done a lot with them before, so it should be smooth sailing.. This lasts July-August, then it's back to school for him.. {I'm kind of depressed now, and feel like summer's already over}...

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Ethan has been keeping us busy. His favorite activities are moving furniture around - dining chairs, tables, love seats, rockers, you name it.. He also loves opening and slamming doors - a true joy, let me tell you.. He's becoming a lot more vocal, and sometimes I even think I'm beginning to recognize repeated "words".. Ah-Nah is Sasha, I think.. and Meh-Meh-Meh is Max.. Or something.. He's really learning cause and effect and is able to communicate what he wants pretty efficiently.. He'll go get his snack bowl of goldfish - empty or full - and that let's me know he's hungry.. Or he'll just go open the closet we keep the goldfish in - now that he can - and help himself... He's also figured out that when he hears the elevator out in the hall followed by the door unlocking, that means Daddy's home.. It's really cute to watch him go running to meet Alec..

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I've been spending every spare minute I can find on the computer - not blogging, obviously - but scrapping. Of course the first thing I did when Alec left the country was to break our external hard drive {with Ethan's help} so I lost everything - all my scrapbooking stuff, pictures, Alec's school work, financial records, everything... Luckily we were able to send it to a data recovery place, and for the small fee of our next born child, they were able to get most of it back... That kind of threw a wrench into things, but we're getting things back in order slowly and surely... Things are going really well with the store I'm selling at, and I'm having a good time.. :) I even went to a little digi-scrapbooking covention in St. Louis the last week of March, and that was pretty fun.. Nicole, who I met online and do collabs with each month, came out from Springville and we drove over together. It was nice to get away, even if just for a few days, but kind of weird at the same time.. I'd never spent the night away from Ethan before, but it turned out alright.. :D

I update my scrapbooking blog at least weekly - not so much with family stuff, but feel free to check it out if you're interested... :) Here are a few pages I've done recently to show you a little bit more of what we've been doing... {You should be able to click each one to get a larger image}.

At the park, enjoying the mid-60s in February.
Kit: Sweet Flora collab by Digi-Designs by Nicole & A Work in Progress

That same day at the park.
Kit: Growing Up by ME!

Ethan after a nap.
Kit: Pure Perfection by ME!

Ethan at the park last weekend. We hope to make this a frequent event..
Kit: Don't BUG Me by Jessica Edwards

Ethan's new favorite game to play is Blinky, Blinky.
One person blinks, then the other, and so on and so forth for any length of time you choose...
Kit: Summer Days collab by Digi-Designs by Nicole and Gettin' Scrappy with Britt
(This one's still free till the end of the week).

These ones have pictures that are a bit older, but they're all made with kits I've designed the last month or so...

In Utah last May.
Kit: My Life

Engagements.. Ahhh.. We were so young...
Kit: Floral Fusion collab with Digi-Designs by Nicole

The bug taking a nap way back in the day...
Kit: Wynken, Blynken & Nod collab with Scraps by Jenn

So that's basically our life... I promised Alec - and asked him to hold me to it - that I'll blog weekly.. Or at least try to... So, until next time... :D

On The Move...

Well, he's done it! Ethan has finally taken his first steps! He was so close before he got sick, but then things got thrown back a bit.. But now - the wait is over! And he wasn't messing around, either! He was over by the TV, turning it off and on {his new favorite activity} and then just turned around and started walking to us on the couch - about 10 feet away. He didn't quite make it, but he got a good 2-3 feet before he fell down.. And that was with his sleep sack on! {The time change kind of messed up his schedule, so we had just gotten him out of bed after deciding he wasn't going to give in}. Then he crawled the rest of the way over to us, said hello, crawled back to the TV and started all over again. We eventually got the sleep sack off, and he was much more successful.. Check it out:

Croup...

...he does not have.. An ear infection, he does.. :( I was really paranoid about ear infections ever since he was born after hearing horror stories from friends.. well - now I know, and boy am I glad he waited this long to have one! I've basically been up since 2:00 this morning and have only slept for an hour or so.. Ethan has done the same.. only difference: He's been screaming his guts out 90% of that time.. But we got his antibiotics today, and hopefully things are on the up and up.. Off to bed now... maybe when I'm more awake I'll give more details.... :)

Long Time No See..

I know, I know.. it's been like 20 years since I've blogged, and this is going to have to be quick.. Kind of like journal writing, there's no use trying to catch up, just start where you are and do better.. and I promise I'll try to do better... :)

I'm still scrapping like a crazy lady. To see some of my pages, go HERE or HERE. I've started selling again, which is very exciting.. I've even made enough in the two weeks since my store opened that Alec is a little less upset at how much time I spend on the computer.. but only a little.. ;) Visit my store HERE. My scrapbooking blog has some freebies on it, as well... But since I know all ya'll I'm sure I could hook you up with some free kits, too.. ;)

Alec is still having a good time in school.. He's working on a show this month for a professional theatre here in town, so that's fun for him.. And he'll also be going to South Africa in about a month to start some preliminary work on a show they'll be doing there next year.. You'll have to ask him for the details - I always seem to get it wrong... :(

Ethan is as cute as ever.. He turned one at the end of January - I can't believe it! - and he's still a "big boy"... at 26 lbs 14 oz he's in the 91st percentile for weight, and 31 inches puts him in the 80th percentile for height. No wonder he started wearing 12 month clothes 4 months ago and now has moved on to 18 month clothes! ;) He's not quite walking, but close. He does really well when we're holding both of his hands, but he usually will only let Alec get away with only holding one hand.. It's been warm enough here (upper 60s to mid 70s) that we went to the park a couple of times last week.. It's really close to our apartment - not walking close, but close enough - and there's a kiddy section and a big kid section, so Ethan can crawl around and play without getting trampled by the older kids..

I've been trying - not very successfully - to do the 365 Project. Basically you take one picture every day and scrap it.. I started out doing it for both Ethan and then just general stuff - what we had for dinner that night, etc - but it hasn't worked out so well.. Mostly I just forget to take the stinking pictures.. Oh well.. The result has been a lot of great photos to scrap with. Here are some of my faves from the last month or so...

Well - I guess that's really all we've been doing.. And like I said, I'll try to be better at blogging more frequently (sorry Mom and Dad)....

Merry Belated Christmas!

Ok - I know, I'm like 500 years late with this post, but somehow I just let things get the better of me and choose to scrap instead of blog... Funny how your hobbies end up taking over your very being.. ;) {And Alec's been home, so we've been taking advantage of the unprecedented amount of time we have together... cleaning, reorganizing, and just hanging out.}

So... We let familial guilt and duty get the better of us and went to Utah for 10 days. Luckily, we were able to convince Alec's dad and brother to make the long and treacherous drive up from Arizona, so we were able to see everyone in one trip.. It was a whirlwind! But let me tell you - as much as I love our families, vacationing with the wee one is not a vacation! {As I'm sure many of you could have told me..} There was just SO much to explore in these new places, and hardly anything was childproofed, and he didn't sleep well, which means we didn't sleep well, and he wanted our attention, but so did so many other people and things.... But it was nice to see everyone. :)

And now, without further ado, a few pictures from the trip:
{In reverse chronological order, because blogger is weird}.

Ethan's new car

Opening presents.. He didn't really get this whole convention..
The fact that there's a smile on his face is purely coincidental...

Chillin' with Dad

Hangin' with Grandma
Cousin Savannah helping Ethan open presents

Just hangin' out.. Why he has pink and she has blue, we don't know.
It just worked out that way...

At the Polar Express

Polar Express again - good times were had by all...

Tuckered out after a quick trip for some last-minute (i.e. didn't want to pack) gifts.

I got to meet some of the girls on my creative team {scrapbooking} in person!

This horse belonged to me {or Erin, depending who you ask} when we were little.

Last time we were in Utah, Savannah wanted Ethan to play with her so badly... Being 4 months old, he just didn't get it... She was much happier with him this time around. And he's SO social, so he was pretty pleased with her, too.

Chewing on keys with his second cousin Jonah, who is about a week younger than Ethan.

Ethan LOVES his uncle Austin. They were bouncing buddies for the whole trip! Every time Ethan saw Austin, he would start bouncing and would become really upset if Austin didn't bounce back.. These episodes would go for 5 minutes at a time or more...

The first night we were in Utah, we were lucky enough to have a quick visit with Alec's grandpa before he left town. So we took the opportunity to get a four-generation picture.

Well - that was our Christmas vacation.. I hope to be back soon with some news of what's been going on since then.. Also, if you'd like a little family letter (in lieu of a Christmas card) from us, I'll be sending those out sometime after Ethan's birthday at the end of this month. Email me your address, and I'll put you on the list.. Those of you who sent us Christmas cards don't need to worry - I already saved your addresses. {amberdawnlabau@gmail.com}