I know you all are wondering what the new job is like. Well, it’s like a job, you all have one or have had one, so you all know what it’s like. You get up in the morning, you go to work, your boss tells you you’re not getting enough done, you piss and moan, you go home at the end of the day, all so you can do it again tomorrow. Right?

Wrong! Though most of the time it is just a job for me, for the most part I do enjoy the work. The stuff I have been doing this past month has been new and challenging and a lot of fun. For those of you that don’t know, I now work for Travel Net Solutions in Cottage Grove, MN. My main focus right now is to update and maintain the software to manage the Resorts and Lodges.com web site.

It’s more than just building web pages though. I am currently working to automate their work flow process and eliminate paper trails and manual entry of data into multiple systems. I won’t bore you with the details, but just know that it’s taken me two weeks and we still aren’t done with it. Hopefully I will be done by the first of the year – at least that’s the goal.

So, although it really is a job like most people have, I get to have some fun doing it. The people I work with are all wonderful except for the occasional screaming at the top of their lungs – not because they are made or hurt, but because they are excited about something. It can get distracting, but generally does help boost morale and keep us all on track. Oh yeah, the game room is really nice too – just too bad I never get to see it!

Wow, I can’t believe it has been over two months since our last post! Guess it’s time to give you all an update. Allyssa is almost 5 months old – well, she will be in exactly one week. It’s so hard to believe it, and she is growing so much, as you can see in this picture I took as she was waking up this morning. Even fresh out of bed, she is one HAPPY baby!

It’s really fun and uplifting to see her smile at us every time she sees us. She can be playing in her little “exer-saucer” toy that Grandma bought for her, or sleeping soundly with one of us. It doesn’t matter how long we have been gone, or if we just saw her 10 seconds ago. When she sees our faces, she lights up with joy. It’s also a lot of fun to try and make her laugh – which is pretty easy now. Just pretend like you are eating her feet or tickle her under the armpits and she goes crazy. She also loves to “fly” and crash into the cushy couch.

We’ve been slowly collecting some cute outfits for her to wear, but she quickly outgrows them. Today she has a fun, frilly outfit of pink and blue that, and although the pieces weren’t purchased as an outfit, they really go together nicely. Here she is pictured in that “exer-saucer” I mentioned above. She loves to stand up with someone’s help, and this toy lets her stand by herself and play. Some days, like today, she will play for a long time, while others she quickly becomes bored and lonely and wants to be held.

The only bad thing about being a dad is that now her poop has taken on a little bit of an odor. Not too pungent yet, but enough to let you know that she is dirty – and then she wants to be changed right away. This of course can be very difficult when you are away from home and someone forgets to put the baby wipes back in the diaper bag.

But now for some good news – she has started to accept drinking from a bottle. We have gone through many bottle and nipple types, and we finally found something that she seems to tolerate. Though she won’t go through a whole feeding on a bottle, it’s enough to let mom get out of the house once in a while. I think that will really help her sanity a bit – and mine.

I see now that Blogger let’s us easily add video to our blog posts, so I guess we need to get out that video camera, take some precious moments videos and share them with you. That is of course if I can find a piece of software that will take the wide screen video from our camera without distorting it. Until next time!

Well, it’s been a while since my last post, but what can you expect, I am still new to this daddy thing and enjoying every darn minute of it, even if Allyssa does pee all over AFTER we take the diaper off, and doesn’t sleep at night, and cries for no reason, and gives pouty faces when I tickle here, and, woah, I’m rambling and I really need to stop that. Also kind of sounds like I am complaining, but really I am not, I just want to share with you the joy of being a daddy.

Actually, things are going great here. We had fun over the Memorial Day weekend while spending some time with Aunt Joanne and Uncle Bob, then a picnic at Scott’s on Memorial Day, where I played 9 games of volleyball and STILL feel the stiffness from it. Allyssa pretty much slept the day away as usual, but there were plenty of willing friends and relatives to hold her while Laura and I enjoyed the day.

And no, we still do not have our digital camera so no pictures, yet. We have had more important things to take care of before spending money on a camera. Like diapers, LOTS and LOTS of diapers. She goes through them at about 5-6 a day so we need to keep a lot on hand. Oh well, such is life, and I would rather spend the money on disposables then try to wash out cloth diapers – yuck.

However, this week we find ourselves with a little extra cash on hand, even after putting new tires on the van, so if we can find a decent camera we can start to share photos. And I know, it’s about time, especially since she has started to react to my tickles and likes to smile a lot. I really need to share these moments with everyone. We have been taking pictures of course, but with a disposable 35mm camera which we haven’t taken to be developed yet. So I might consider scanning and posting some of those, if we ever get around to getting those done.

Oh well, back to work I guess. I have been putting in 10-12 hours days since Memorial Day to try and get a new site launched for a client. Kind of eats into my quality time with Allyssa, so the hour or so a day I get to spend with her is so special to me. Hopefully once this week is out I can get back to some normal hours and spend more time with her and mommy.

Enjoy your day – I know I would if I didn’t have to work so hard.

We left the hospital shortly after noon today and made a stop over at my sister Shawna’s place for her 40th birthday party. Our daughter Allyssa chose to share her birthday with my sister which of course made my sister extremely happy. It will also help me to remember both how old my sister is (Allyssa’s age plus 40) as well as when her birthday is. Shawna says it will help her remember too.

After spending time at the party, and allowing some of the family members who hadn’t met Allyssa yet to meet her, we came home to finally turn our apartment into a home. It’s funny how the addition of a baby to a home really makes it feel more like a home. We are settling in nicely and starting to get into the routine of being parents, but it is still far from routine. In fact, I am backdating posts (writing this on May Day) as we have just been so consumed with holding and cuddling our new bundle of joy. We are getting pictures which we will try to share, but with the lack of that digital camera we will have to wait to have the film developed.

As the days go by (5 days and counting) things are getting back to normal. I hadn’t really touched a computer until Sunday (yes, remember, I am backdating) which is not normal for me. I did have the laptop with us at the hospital, but basically used it for playing some soothing Jazz music which Allyssa has started to enjoy – it really helps to calm her down. Keep reading as we share all of the baby’s firsts with you.

Well, it finally happened! We welcomed our daughter, Allyssa Rose Lambert into our lives at 5:22 am (yes, AM) on Thursday, April 26th 2007. She was a healthy 7 lbs, 4.6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. The labor was very rough on Mom after getting to the hospital at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday and not getting any sleep until Thursday afternoon. Sleep – yeah, what is that? A new baby in your life will take away not only all of your free time, but all of your sleep time as well. But, I am not complaining! I love having baby Allyssa around to hold and cuddle, poopie diapers and all – although I wasn’t ready for black poop.

We are working on getting some pictures to put up here so we can share them with you. We haven’t purchased our digital camera as of yet but hope to do so in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more information about our new family.

This is just a quck note to let everyone know that yes I will be doing posting here as well. At least for the time being I will be keeping my personal blog. Although I will most likely be doing more of my posting here rather than there. Or at least that’s the intent currently.