Posted by Andy on May 31, 2007 in
Travel As many of you may know, I had Lasik surgery last July. The surgery went well, but I needed to go back for an enhancement on my right eye, so we decided to make it a trip. The trip was great. We flew and it was Olivia’s first flight so we were quite nervous to see how she would handle the flight. To our surprise, she was great. She barely cried and slept most of the time. We had a chance to see our closest friends. Spent time with both families. We stayed with Brian and Jen on Thursday night, which was very generous of them considering they were in the middle of moving (thank you). Got lost in the Fort Custer Maze in Clear Lake IA with the Broadway’s. And surprised my brother with an impromptu visitation on Tuesday morning. I told him we were coming the third week in June and he would be able to see Olivia at that time, all the mean while, we were planning to visit him on Tuesday. He was definitely surprised and we couldn’t have been happier for him to see his niece.
Posted by miriam on May 16, 2007 in
General Some people have asked what I am doing with my time so I thought I would share. Life has completely changed that is for sure. When I was working 40 hours a week outside of home I would almost always get off work before Andy and would sometimes complain about being bored. Wow that is never the case any longer. Now I feel like I am constantly running! I am doing all of the typically baby care items in addition to continuing to work for Valley Mental Health on a part time basis, doing some sales work for Andy’s boss, and babysitting once a week for 2 children. Every Tuesday is when I work for VMH and Olivia gets to come with me. I don’t always feel super productive, but it is really nice to get out of the house for the day and everyone loves seeing Olivia! I had to take a break from choir for a bit after Olivia was born in order to be able to feel her and put her to bed and now that I have starting going again it is just time for our summer break. I will miss that too but maybe by the time it starts back up again Olivia will be more patterned and maybe taking a bottle so that I can stay for the entire rehearsal. Andy and I are going to have our first date since mid March this weekend. We were thinking about going to a movie and dinner, but I think we will just go to the movie without Olivia and then take her with us to dinner. I am not sure I am ready to be away from her for more then a few hours, although she would probably do just fine without me. On a side note I do add new pictures under the photo section every couple of weeks, with the new photos at the bottom of the page:).
Posted by Andy on Apr 27, 2007 in
General
Family Photo
As each day passes we cherish the time with Olivia more and more. Every day she does something new. Whether it’s smiling at us or batting at things, she is learning every day. We bought a macbook about a month ago and slowly I have been proving it’s worth to Miriam and I think she is liking it more and more. We used it today to take this family photo of us and we couldn’t be happier. I would highly recommend a mac for any who are in the market for a new computer. (then we can video conference together:) )
Posted by Andy on Apr 25, 2007 in
General I love to watch Olivia as she goes through her different stages of life. The first weeks were mostly sleeping and eating, then on to being more awake and noticing her surroundings more, now she can see and loves to smile when Miriam and I laugh. I love it when I look down at her and she smiles a huge smile (I love you daddy).
Posted by miriam on Apr 20, 2007 in
General So I think that our original idea was that we would write at least once a week, but we are clearly way behind. So where do I begin when we are so far behind? Things with Olivia are going well and getting better all the time. We have had two nights this week of her sleeping for 10 hours straight! I can’t say that I slept that entire time as I was awake waiting for her to wake up. I also had my first week alone with Olivia this week, as Andy was in North Carolina for work. I SURVIVED!! No really it was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. He left on Tuesday morning and is now on his way home (Friday night). Tuesday I was occupied all day at my office (with Olivia too) and then babysitting. Wednesday night a friend from church came over to share in the baby time, Thursday night I went to choir practice and today I was just on my own at home. Before having Olivia I would have been very bored passing the hours away at home, but now they just fly by. But for anyone who is local if you ever want some baby time we have plenty to share so please come on over:). Now for the info on Olivia is she smiling a ton and interacting a lot. She loves to be sang to especially at choir practice. She just starred at the director the whole time happy as can be, but when the singing stopped she screamed for the world to hear that she was mad about it ending, she was probably a little on the tired side as well. I also wonder if it didn’t feel familiar to her as she would also move lot during choir practice when I was pregnant. I still look at her and can barely believe that she is mine or even that she is here. New life is such a miracle. FYI if you haven’t checked in awhile there are new pictures under the month folder.
Posted by Andy on Mar 23, 2007 in
General It’s a little late but….I have been quite busy dealing with all the company and new baby. Olivia was baptized on March 11 and was a perfect little angel. She didn’t cry at all, in fact she slept through the entire service. We had most of the family here, Grandma and Grandpa B, Grandma and Grandpa H, and Brian and Jen (Sarah and Stephen couldn’t make it because they are living in Switzerland). It was quite the full house but we really enjoyed having everyone at our home. Many of you may not know, but the dress Olivia wore was the same one my mother was baptized in, along with myself and almost every niece and nephew since. Along with it being a very special day for all of us it was also a very stressful one for Miriam. The night before she worked herself into a panic attack, making herself sick and completely stressing herself out. This was mainly due to her worries of Olivia wrecking the baptismal dress or Olivia crying during the ceremony. After much coaxing and soothing by myself and Grandma B she was able to settle down return to normal. All in all it was fantastic day for us and our lord.
Posted by Andy on Mar 8, 2007 in
General As the days go by, quickly I might add, things are getting better. She is teaching us what we need to do and when we need to do it. For a three week old she’s a pretty good teacher! She has started looking at us and I think she can distinguish who is mom and dad and who isn’t. We have also found that she isn’t fitting into her newborn clothes anymore so despite our worries of her gaining weight, she is growing. I find the best part of my day is when I come home at night and get to hold her. It’s amazing how I can love her as much as I do and I have only known her for three and a half weeks.
Posted by miriam on Feb 26, 2007 in
General So when you look at Olivia it is very obvious that she is her daddy’s girl so I thought I should shed some light on what she and mom have in common. Some of the traits are good and some are not so good. First of all in the looks as of right now her eyes appear to be blue. She also has detached ear lobes just like me. Olivia has also had some trouble with plugged tear ducts and she is pretty spitty. Both of those lovely things my mother reports I struggled with when I was a baby. In terms of her personality she is a morning person all the way, definitely not something from her daddy. So Andy may be able to claim 90% but there is my 10% 
Posted by Andy on Feb 24, 2007 in
General Joel flew in on Monday night and was here until Thursday morning. It was great to see him and have his help while we were enjoying Olivia. In between cooking deconstructed guacamole and pizza, and working on chores around the house he was able to have a little fun here. There was “this is the dumbest game” of spades, a dangerous game of four square, and even part of a movie. We even had a chance to reminisce and swim a bit. Life is good and Joel helped make it a little better.
Posted by miriam on Feb 24, 2007 in
General So now life has drastically changed. Everyone said that it would and I know that it would but knowing it will change and experiencing it are completely different things. First of all I truly didn’t think that I would need help, but man was a wrong. Our house was beginning to look like a tornado hit it. Then my mother arrived. Wow what help between her and our friend Joel from MN the place now looks livable again. Grandma has done everything from cook and clean to changing dirty diapers and getting up with Olivia and I in the middle of the night. It is amazing to watch Olivia grow and change. She looks to me like she is at least twice as big as when she came home from the hospital (of course she is not that big.) I am curious to see what she weighs at her 2-week check up on Monday. There is one outfit that she has already outgrown:( She is now smiling, has managed to survive a couple of diaper changes without crying, and even made it through most of a bath without crying. Life just keeps on getting better and better!
