More Meow-Meow

I don’t have anything against cats, but I doubt anyone had any misconceptions that I’m a cat person. However, Livy’s great aunts on the Kane side are cat people and apparently Livy may be as well. When Aunt Patti sent Livy a birthday email with a cat video link, from a french website no less, I admit to letting out a sigh. If it had been sent to me, I probably wouldn’t have even watched it, but since it was to Livy we watched it. When it was over I went to close the window and that was the first, but not the last, time I heard, “More Meow-Meow!” You might have picked up on the fact that Livy’s birthday was back in December, but we still get requests for “More Meow-Meow”. Luckily for me, Livy has figured out how to press the spacebar when it finishes to get it to play again. Thanks Aunt Patti.

Our Growing Girls – Livy

And now for the eldest Andrews daughter – two-year-old Olivia is quite the entertaining gal lately. Her vocabulary has grown immensely, as well as her memory and imagination. She entertains me all day long with “conversation” and stories. Frequently, she recalls our trip to Sea World with cousins Elizabeth & David (where she fell down and “hit the mouth,” after which “the doctor look in Livy’s mouth”). It’s the facial expressions that really make the story priceless. And after our most recent trip, she says “It’s fun go sea dolphins.” I don’t think she realizes how exotic dolphins, sea lions & whales are – she’s seen as much of them as any farm animal so they are all just animals in her book. She almost always refers to herself in the third person (“what’s Livy doing?”) and likes to clarify what things are and who they belong to (“this is Livy’s chair, this is Mama’s chair, Molly got her own chair”). One of her famous quotes lately is “Look what Daddy brought” which is pronounced upon the discovery of anything good – candy, toys, etc. It doesn’t matter if she was with me when we bought it, Daddy always gets the credit! I think it all started when he started bringing home powdered donuts with the groceries. She also happily exclaims, “Daddy came back!” when he returns from work.

Livy is almost potty trained during the day now. She wears pull-ups or cotton training pants all day (no more diapers). The pull-ups have Disney princesses on them and this has started a deep love for princesses (you think Disney had that in mind?). Her cousin Elizabeth brought her some hand-me-down Disney princess books that we read every day – and sometimes twice or three times! Cinderella is her favorite, Ariel second, and then it’s probably a tie between Jasmine and “Tinkerbell” (Belle from Beauty & the Beast). Another favorite book is one Grandma Kane gave her for her birthday – “I Love You Stinky Face.” It is a really adorable book about a mother’s unconditional love. To round out the top three, she is very fond of her Wild Animal Baby books. Grandma Andrews gave her a subscription to the National Wildlife Federation magazine for toddlers and it’s been a big hit. She still loves her music, too, and can spend hours switching out her CDs, sometimes singing along, sometimes dancing, but usually just flipping through her picture books while she enjoys the background music. Don’t let me give you the wrong idea, though, she is definitely an active girl and it seems I cannot keep her face clear of bumps, bruises & scrapes.      

With our DVR, we have had the opportunity to record some educational television programs and play them back later, providing Livy a new favorite passtime. She really enjoys Signing Time, “Sepame” Street, and Super Why (all on PBS). Signing Time is definitely the most valuable of the bunch – I highly recommend it! I have also tried to get her interested in The Biscuit Brothers; I think it’s really cute, but so far she is not impressed. They use music education to teach children about the world around them. I also recently recorded Dora the Explorer and she has watched a couple of those episodes and really liked them. We are still doing our Spanish playgroup on Fridays, so with that and Dora I guess you could say we have a couple bilingual things going. Anyway, I try to limit Livy to one show a day and that is usually when I am trying to get Molly down for her morning nap and I need a little less “help” from Livy or if it is getting to be suppertime and JR isn’t home yet. 

It is obvious lately that Livy is growing into a little girl and is less of a toddler. She is starting to really enjoy pretending to be a grown-up. She has taken a special interest in her baby dolls as she feeds them, cuddles them, and rocks them to sleep. They also like to ride in Molly’s swing and bouncy seat. I am excited to see how much more involved she will be when the new baby comes home. With her birthday money from Grandma Andrews, she got a Fisher price medical kit that she has enjoyed playing with JR, especially. She likes him to listen to her heart and take her blood pressure! That came in handy when we had to take her to the Urgent Care Clinic (when she fell down at Sea World). She just started doing some dressing up, too. For a few days after she found a swim ring in the closet, she was running around wearing it & asking to go swimming. Then she started getting into my closet and trying to walk in my shoes and get in my jewelry box to see what she could find there. On a recent trip to Goodwill, she picked out a hot pink sequins swimsuit that she says is for dancing. She likes to turn up the music in the living room and rock out!

The sweetest thing about Livy these days is how much she loves her baby sister. On recent trips to the park or playdates with friends she has been reluctant to leave Molly’s side. I think part of it is that she considers herself Molly’s bodyguard and the biggest part is that she just really wants to be with her sister. Molly is finally old enough to be fun for Livy. She watches her big sister like a hawk and soaks up all the attention she’s given. Livy loves to make her laugh and feed her “baby cereal” (puffs). The cutest thing is when Livy sits in front of Molly with a stack of books and “reads” to her. She is the first to cheer Molly on and joyfully exclaims, “Yeah, Molly!” multiple times everyday. Just this morning at breakfast she said, “Molly eating big girl bananas. Yeah, Molly! I love you, Molly!” I think in a year’s time they will be really great playmates. 

Bon Voyage, Papa!

The long weekend visit of Pope Benedict the XVI has come to a close as he left last night for Rome. I have only been able to watch a few of my recordings so far, but I look forward to catching up and gaining more of the Holy Father’s wisdom in the days and weeks ahead. In case you missed some events, too, here is a website where you can watch the videos of his speeches & appearances, as well as read the text of what he had to say. Enjoy!

Welcome, Holy Father!

Our new Holy Father arrived in Washington D.C. this afternoon and I have set our DVR to record all of his public appearances. I look forward to “watching him, listening to him, praying for him, and celebrating with great joy the fact that our shepherd is so near.” Here are plans one family has for celebrating his visit. I wish I had that much coordination! If you’d like to stay up to date, try one of the following links:

EWTN’s Live Television Coverage 

Pope Benedict XVI in America

Our friends, the Hamands will be present for the Mass at Nationals Stadium. We have also heard of other families from Austin making the trip and the phrase, “once in a lifetime experience” has come up repeatedly. It is rightly so that it should be referred to in such a way, but it made me realize how much I take for granted. I have been in the presence of the Vicar of Christ three times already and JR twice (though I admit I am greedy and hoping to be in the presence of THIS Holy Father someday too). I went to World Youth Day 1993 in Denver; we both went to World Youth Day 1997 in Paris; and most notably, we had our marriage blessed personally by His Holiness John Paul II in 2002. What an amazing and blessed life we have lead and we are only 30!! My brothers will also be blessed as Nathan went to World Youth Day 2000 in Rome and Zach will go to World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. So Zach will be the first to be in the presence of our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. What a gift! May the opportunity to be so near the Holy Father draw us closer to our Heavenly Father and His plan for us.

I’ll try to scan in a photo of JR & I with JPII . . . 

Our Growing Girls – Molly

Ms. Molly Josephine is really growing up lately. She’s 7 1/2 months old and a happy little cherub. She loves Red and is fascinated by her big sister. In Molly’s world, there is nothing more entertaining than watching Livy play with Red (unless it is Daddy playing with Livy & Red). She has an infectious giggle that makes her whole face light up showing off her chubby little cheeks and bright blue eyes. She’s quite a beauty if I do say so myself! The hint of red is still in her hair and we’re all curious what it will look like as it grows. Molly sits up like a pro now and can also scoot forward on her bottom or backwards on her belly to get where she wants (as well as rolling over to pivot). Every day she displays new skills and I’ve really got to step it up with babyproofing and teaching Livy to keep little toys out of her reach. We’ve discovered recently that Molly has bored of the baby toys and is moving on to the things she can sit up and interact with like her new Roll-a-Rounds: Drop & Roar Dinosaur. Even though she doesn’t have any teeth yet, Molly enjoys eating avocado, banana, carrots, green beans, peas, pears, squash, & sweet potato. We tried the little Gerber puffs for the first time yesterday and she amazed us with her skills – picked up the first one and popped it right in her mouth! Livy desperately wants to feed her the “baby cereal” all the time now and I have to put it up on top of the refrigerator to keep Livy from getting to it and passing it out. Since JR usually feeds Molly her nighttime bottle, they have really got a special bond and she is much more of a Daddy’s girl than Livy was as a baby. It’s fun to see that connection and JR is soaking up the extra cuddles from his littlest princess. The girls are actually sharing a room now and its going better than I expected. I was afraid Molly would keep Livy up all night, but as long as Livy is asleep when Molly starts crying, it usually doesn’t bother her. Thankfully, Molly & I are finally figuring out the nightime bottle feeding thing and she is sleeping longer periods. Last night she was only up twice! She is an early riser, though, and I have to admit that has been hard on me. She wakes up happy as a clam around 7am (my first baby & I happily slept in much later)! It’s hard to stay grumpy, though, when she wiggles with excitement at the sight of me and gives me a big squeeze as soon as I pick her up. “I missed you, too,” I say and we’re off to make coffee (decaf, that is).

Coming Out of the Fog

Can it really be April already? I’d swear we just got back from our Christmas trip to NE. I’ve struggled with fatigue, illness and a few challenges with the girls in the last few months and simply put – life here in our little house has been all-consuming. January provided exhaustion from our 2-week trip home, on top of pretty bad colds for a few weeks. Then we learned there was a new baby on the way and had an explanation for my previously unexplainable fatigue. February was full of challenges with Molly who was barely sleeping at all and having feeding issues as well. After many sleepless nights, consultations with a doula, a lactation consultant, our pediatrician & our OB, we added solid food and formula to Molly’s diet and things seemed to settle down a bit. We also did a lot of work with potty training in February and there were plenty of opportunities to grow in patience & humility there. Then March came and we were saddled with the worst flu I’ve ever had.  I kept thinking it was a cold, but it wouldn’t go away. It started out with high fevers at night then went into weeks of upper respiratory infection and ended with sinusitis. My drug options were limited (being pregnant) and it was just miserable. The girls ended up getting a milder version and were only sick a week and a half but I have learned that being sick while your children are sick is no picnic at all. Thankfully, I think we are all finally getting close to being well.

Amidst all our suffering, we did enjoy three visits from family that perked up our Spring (which is over, of course, since we live in TX and are in the 80s now). First Great Aunt Jo came for a long weekend and we enjoyed a leisurely visit full of giggling and sunshine and strong coffee. A couple weeks later, Grandma Kane was in San Antonio for a conference so we went down to spend a few nights with her. Olivia enjoyed the hotel experience and I decided I wasn’t a fan of sharing a bed with a 2-year old! Lastly, Uncle Dan, Aunt Michelle, and cousins Elizabeth & David came over Spring Break. We joined them in San Antonio for a night on the Riverwalk and then a day at Sea World. A great time was had by all until the very end. We were going through one last exhibit and somehow Livy fell getting out of the stroller and cut her mouth. We took her to the First Aid station and they recommended taking her to the Urgent Care clinic to see about stitches. The doctor there said that it would heal on its own and it has done just that. So we marked another milestone as parents and thankfully, it was for a very minor accident. Thanks to our visitors for coming all this way – we enjoyed all of you!

I am hopeful and prayerful that very, very soon we can resume our life as usual. The girls & I are definitely suffering from cabin fever (well I am anyway). Our 20-week ultrasound is April 18th so we’ll probably find out then if the girls are getting a little sister or brother. I can’t decide what I want so that’s probably good. I also can’t believe we’re almost half way through this pregnancy. With all that we’ve been through in the last few months, I have hardly had time to think about a new baby. And yet this wonderful miracle is progressing without my even having to think about it. When I recall those difficult moments wondering whether we were going to be able to have children, I am amazed at how quickly and immensely life has changed in just 3 years. We are truly blessed (and busy!).

I promise an update on the girls soon, but here is a little peak at what the newest Andrews Baby is up to at 18 weeks gestation:

“Head to bottom, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper), and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She’s busy flexing her arms and legs – movements that you’ll likely start noticing more and more. Myelin (a protective covering) is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she’s born. If you’re having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If your baby is a boy, his genitals are noticeable, though he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.” 

Long Time No Blog

We haven’t been real active lately but hopefully that will be turning around. Jenny and the girls have all been sick but everyone is feeling better now thankfully. It might take a while for use to catch up on all of our blogging and photos (we still haven’t put up Christmas photos), but here is a NEW PHOTO ALBUM to tide you over until we can get more posted. Enjoy!