The Bells are Ringing: October 2009

I meant to do a birthday post for Amber last week, but as some of you may know, we've had a flu outbreak in our house. Number of victims: 2 (Bucky and I *seem* to have escaped it - *seem* being the operative word). We've barely left the house or allowed anyone to come in for the past 7-10 days.

I was just thinking, this time three years ago, we had just spent our first full day home with Amber. It's so crazy to think it's been three years! Just yesterday, I was going through Amber's box (my collection of stuff from her first year), and found this:

I remember we (well, I) had a whole list of names before she was born, but we couldn't decide on one. Andrew hated the ones I liked, and I hated the ones he liked. I had been playing with my mom's and Andrew's mom's middle names, but nothing seemed to come together. I found the name Amber in a book and added at the top of the list. Then one day, Andrew told me "How about Amber Marie?" And that was it. He had it written on that same sheet of paper:

Anyway, I had also planned on having a small birthday party (more like a big playdate) for Amber on the 9th but that didn't happen either because Andrew was already sick, and Amber was getting sick, so we'll see when I can do a "Better-late-than-Never" party. In spite of feeling sick, Amber had a good day. She spent the morning at Tammy's while I worked in Cascade and then, once Andrew came home that evening, she opened presents and her awesome Daddy made her a cake. Check it out...

Sprinkles as far as the eye can see, inside and out...

A birdseye view

Amber had already received a couple of birthday gifts from my parents while they were in town last weekend (more on that in another post). They got her two new friends, Buzz and Woody, and she's been playing with them since she got them.