Quick Trip To Pittsburgh

A few weeks ago Erin and I headed down to Pittsburgh to visit our co-former-roommate April who is due to have a baby any minute. She took baby Van and I took Carter and left the husbands with the toddlers.  It was a quick trip but totally worth it to catch up with April and Cord, relax, eat yummy food, and explore the city a bit.  Oh yeah and we also got mani-pedis. SCORE. I missed the boys but it was a FUN aSturday.  Can't wait to come back and visit baby Merrell soon !!!

 virgin strawberry margaritas on the balcony after feasting on delicious baked goods...Yes please!

 I can't remember what this thing is called but basically it's this train car that goes up and down a hill that the mill workers used to take every day. We went from the top of the city to the bottom and back. A little scary if you looked at the tracks, but very cool.

The tracks I was talking about.

 When we got to the bottom we walked across a bridge (Pittsburgh has a lot of beautiful bridges) and into downtown where we feasted at Primanti's--you know the place with those huge sandwiches where they put the fries right on there. YUM.

And if the fries on the sandwich weren't enough we started out with chili cheese fries..Yeah, apparently this trip was mostly about food :) I'm glad I have cool friends who will eat bad things with me on occasion.

6 months....I mean SEVEN months!!!

Yes 6 months came and went and as of yesterday Carter Pants was 7 months old. Crazy. Nuts. Ridiculous. All of that. She is doing great. At her six month appt she was 18 pounds ish and 27.5 inches. This was like 95th for height and 85th for weight. Standing in line to check out at the doctor's office we saw another family with a baby and she looked about Carter's age so I asked if they were there for their 6 month or 9 month appt...nope...1 year....awesome.  Lately Carter is a pro at sitting (has been for about a month), absolutely will not stay on her back (this is a bit annoying with diaper changes), and loves to look around everywhere. She also squaks, babbles, laughs, and is genuinely very happy most of the time.  Except when I try to skip her 7:30 bottle because she just had one at 6:30. Don't mess with her then.  She is such a sweet addition to our family and Harrison absolutely dotes on and loves her still. This makes me very happy. He always wants to hold her, check on her, play with her, help feed her, etc. She loves baby food too, except for peas, and can drain one of those pouch things if I'm not paying attention.   I'm so grateful to have such an easy baby and don't really understand how she is able to sleep like a dream, entertain herself, and really require very little from us in terms of attention. This makes me feel like a much better mom because I've learned that some babies are just easy despite anything I did or did not do :)  I'm going to try to remember that for when the next one is ridiculously high maintenance.

 STOP TAKING PICTURES--FEED ME!! Or...just give me the camera..I can eat that!

First time on the swings 

 Hanging out at Harrison's swim lesson

 RUFFLES AND JEGGINGS!!!

 Yes Mommy and Carter both have huge cheeks

 I bought her this hat and it really doesn't fit. But couldn't resist. Maybe in 6 months.

 Ummm...can't you see I'm reading???

Party it up with the Perkins

A few weeks ago we were so excited to have my bff Jen and her husband Russ and cute little boy Owen come visit.  I took the day off work Friday and we went down to DC to romp around and then that evening our nanny April watched the kids so we could go enjoy a delicious kid-free dinner together.  Saturday was DC part two and then Sunday we hit up the Arlington Cemetery before pounding down cafe rio's doors right as they opened and then heading to the airport (well, Jen, Russ, Owen, Carter, and I did..Cory and Harrison were righteous and went to church so Cory could teach those precious 4 and 5 year olds :)) It was so fun seeing friends that we miss since leaving AZ!!!

 Cute little Perkins' family between the Washington Monument and WWII memorial...and who is that sandy haired child trying to insert himself in the picture?

 Jen contemplates eating Carter's face...it's ok...I do the same thing everyday :)

 She likes the older boys

 Founding Farmers-YUM and DOUBLE YUM..I got plank salmon, mashed sweet potatoes, and roasted root vegetables. DELISH.

 After stuffing ourselves we took a little walk to check out the white house.  Yes Cory wears his nat geo ID badge everywhere...nerd...(ok or maybe he just forgot to take it off)

 Did I mention Cory got chicken and waffles and the most amazing mac and cheese? Yeah I was a little jealous given my somewhat healthy choice. Good thing Cory has learned he has to share :)

 Amber, Harrison, president Lincoln

 Owen is advising Harrison to get a haircut

 Carter sitting all by herself (you know, without the carseat) in the joovy caboose-YAY!! did I mention I dragged a double stroller up the steps of the natural history museum at the busiest I've ever seen it (every elementary school aged kid in Fairfax County was there, go figure).  Yeah. Rockstar.

 Owen and Harrison looking for bugs.

 Arlington Cemetery enjoying beautiful scenery and weather.

 Another White House shot. Me attacking Jen. Like old times.

Everyone else checked out the natural history museum butterfly exhibit while Carter and I hung out outside.

cutest little serenade EVER

My attempt at Easter pics :)

O'ma and O'Pa come to visit

We had a fun weekend in April when Cory's parents and their adorable foreign exchange student (from Thailand) Mook came to visit.  Thursday morning we hiked around Great Falls (we'd never been--BEAUTIFUL!!! I'm definitely going back!!!) and then Friday and Saturday were busy packed days in DC doing all that touristy type stuff.  Harrison and Carter loved getting spoiled and loved by their grandparents and we got to see how our new bigger car works for 7 people---tight fit but totally do-able :) A couple of days before I opted for a change and had by wonderful friend Becca cut/dye my hair brown.  Yep I'm brunette Amber once again.

 New hair! Love it!!!

 Harrison and Mook--totally Bffs

 Me, Carter, closed eyes, beautiful waterfalls that happen to be 10 min from our house.....

 Me and my cute husband (First time using the ergo I  by the way and I LOVE it-perfect solution for when the baby is too heavy for a bjorn to be comfortable...)

 Harrison and Cory at Arlington Cemetery..not sure what is so shocking??

 Harrison and the grandparents at the white house

We got tickets to ride a little boat around the potomac (to see the cherry blossoms although they had already had fallen off at this point...whoops....) and barely missed our scheduled time. Luckily we got on the next boat and had an hour to chillax in the waterfront area which actually was just the break we needed.  Carter was happy about it.

NYC Trip

Time to start getting caught up!

Early March some of my former roomies decided to ditch the kids and head up to NYC for the weekend. We saw some shows, walked across the brooklyn bridge, saw the new 911 memorial, bought husbands matching hats, explored time square, ate yummy food, and chatted it up like old times. It was great! And I'm especially thankful for a sweet husband who was not only willing to watch both kiddos but handled it like a pro :)

I know I have more pictures than these three, however, photo storage and this awful new blogger interface are not cooperating. So anyway---it was way more than 3 picture awesome, but here you go. Love you ladies!! (And April looks beautiful in her teal pregnant glory, so excited for baby boy merrill to be born soon!!!)