My sweet little girl has now been on the cover of our local newspaper TWICE since she was born. First she appeared with her father and me:

But now she has struck out on her own and is joining other community members:

I know I am partial, but honestly, could she be any cuter? :)

Tim and I have never been really big spenders, but we've not been really diligent savers either. We have never carried any credit card debt, but we have car loans and students loans that are hanging over our heads. I just finished reading Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover," and I'm so pumped up to get rid of our debt! We know that it'll mean really paying attention to our budget and focusing on knocking out one debt at a time, but like Dave says, "If you live like no one else, later you will live like no one else." If we stick to our plan, we should have our debts paid off in 15 months and our house paid off in four years! Isn't that so exciting?!? We're both ready to take on the culture of debt and win! (haha, yes, I've drank the Kool Aid!)

Oh yea, and I'm very excited to celebrate my very first Mother's Day tomorrow!

Things are so crazy, I've hardly had time to sit down - let alone update this blog. Laurel's doing well, but she's still dealing with congestion from a cold. We had a big weekend - learning to sit in her Bumbo seat, watching the Kentucky Derby, and wearing her Mr. T shirt. I thought I would share some pictures.

Don't you love that she even remembered her big hat for the Derby?

Laurel had a big day today. First, she slept almost seven straight hours!! Then we went to church where we got pictures with Kara and Haley and Whitney and Aidyn. I can't believe they were ALL asleep!

And here is our first family Easter picture (Tim is really proud of his baby blue pants!)

We then went and played frisbee golf with mom and dad and Daniel and Amy. I carried Laurel in her Moby wrap and she slept the whole time. After we finished, Tim and I stopped at Sonic to get a slush and Laurel was hamming it up in her carseat. Here are a couple pics.

We found out this morning that my grandfather passed away early this morning. He has been suffering from lung cancer for the past few months and was living with my uncle and being cared for by hospice. Papaw Fain was my last living grandparent, and Tim and I both were very close to him. He was one of the most incredible men I've ever known. He was a strong Christian and an example in everything he did. He was a military flight instructor, worked at the railroad and was a whiz with small engines - especially lawn mowers and weedeaters. He was one of those people who could fix anything and would go out of his way to help out a neighbor whenever possible. He lived for his family, including three sons, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. I'm so happy that he was able to meet Laurel and hold her, even if it was for such a short time.

Also, there seems to be more intrigue with the election commission. Three unexpected men were appointed by the Republican state election commission. I don't know if this definitely means that my job is in jeopardy, but it certainly looks that way. Just when it seemed like everything had been resolved... The http://wesupportsarahbailey.com petition is still up, but who knows if they care what the people think or not.

I know God won't give us more than we can handle, but it really seems to be at the limit this week. All I can do is just thank God for a loving husband and a healthy baby girl.

I'm very excited to learn that a Johnson City La Leche League (LLL) and a Johnson City Attachment Parenting International (API) group will be starting this month. The first meetings of both groups will be Sunday, April 19th at Munsey Methodist Church. LLL will begin at 3 and API will follow at 4. As those of you who have followed this blog or who have talked to me know, I struggled with breastfeeding quite a bit the first six weeks. I really hope that through LLL, I can continue to educate myself as well as help others develop a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with their little ones. And as I am a big fan of Dr. Sears and many of the aspects of attachment parenting, I think the API group will be really interesting (especially seeing how everyone else wears their babies!).

Here's Laurel in her Moby Wrap, which she really enjoys when we go on walks.

Laurel slept six straight hours last night!!! She woke up, ate and was back to sleep within 25 minutes and slept for another three hours. I'm so alert today it is amazing, especially since the night before last her longest stretch of sleep was only three hours with lots of wakings and resisting going back to sleep. She's only slept for five hours at a time twice before, so this was a very lucky (and much needed) surprise.