Andrews Family

Hello, world!  It’s been awhile since I wrote about our adventures, so I thought I’d check in.  Our summer has been split up between Nebraska and Austin this year.  We’ve had two long trips north in the last couple months!  On the first trip, we attended a going away party for my brother, Nathan, who is a 2LT in the Army National Guard.  He is currently in training in Indiana and will leave for Iraq in the next few weeks for a 12-month in-country deployment.  Please pray for the safe return of our military men and women and for lasting peace.  We also had a playdate with friends in Lincoln; went to State Track to see my brothers, Matthew & Zachary compete; hosted a baby shower with my sister Rachel for our new sister-in-law, Trish (Nathan’s wife); and went to Matthew’s high school graduation.  Of course, among all the events, we did lots of visiting with family.  What a blessing to have everyone in one place!  On the second trip, we attended JR’s 10-year HS reunion; spent a day at the Children’s Zoo with Livy’s Lyons cousins; watched Zach perform in Cats; and attended the blessing of Nathan & Trish’s marriage (they had had a civil marriage for military purposes before Nathan left for Indiana and as a happy surprise, Nathan was allowed to return for a Church blessing before going on to Iraq). It was wonderful to be a part of so many happy family events this summer.  And it was fun to just be there and start to feel like "regulars." 

Our life in Austin has been much more relaxed.  We did the Walk for Life in early June and Olivia raised $440 for the cause, thanks to some very generous donors!  It was a fun day and we got some super cute pictures of Olivia (see the Photo Gallery).  Olivia and I volunteered in the nursery for our parish’s Vacation Bible School and it was fun to be with other moms and kids for a week and interesting to have to be somewhere at a certain time everyday!  We usually go to Baby Bookworms on Monday afternoons and Olivia is starting to have more and more fun with the sing-a-longs and stories.  We’ve been swimming about once a week and she is enjoying that, too.  She always laughs when she first gets in and has a good time for about 30 min.  Usually, I’m ready to get out by then, too.  We’re trying to get a normal routine set up with a good naptime and a good night’s sleep, so we’ve been staying pretty close to home.  Playtime is more fun everyday and Olivia is really starting to show a lot of interest in her toys.  I think it helps that she can sit up so well now.  We just bought her one of those peek-a-boo toys where you push them down and she has to turn a key or hit a button to get them up (it’s shown here) and she gets really excited every time I get it out.  She also got a set of Baby’s First Blocks, Snap-Lock Beads, and a Rock-a-Stack.  They’re all the classical toys that Fischer Price made when we were kids, too.  I’m not so keen on the fancy schmancy everything makes noise and lights up toys.  She’s close to crawling - she can scoot backward and gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  I’m expecting she’ll be getting around soon, so I better get those cabinet locks on!  She’s doing well with solid foods and enjoys a healthy variety of rice cereal, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, bananas, green beans, carrots, peas, peaches, and I started letting her chew on celery the other day.  She has her front two bottom teeth, which make her smile super cute.  She’s a pro at drinking water from her sippy cup all by herself and we’ve let her have a sip of a juice box a few times (she just slurped it right up the first time I put a straw in front of her!).  Olivia has grown up fast, but being home with her everyday, I’d have to say it hasn’t been too fast.  I feel like I’ve been able to enjoy each stage and I’m ready for the next one by the time it comes.  I look back fondly on her newborn days, but it’s so exciting to see her sitting up and playing on her own that I wouldn’t go back.  It’s a wonderful thing to be so content with where we are.