The Engbers Blog

Today Livi had her first encounter with the swimming pool! I went to the North Liberty indoor pool with some other moms and their kids who I have gotten to know through a play group that we have on Tuesdays. Many of them also attend Grace (our church). Since Friday mornings are lucky duck day at the pool (you only have to pay $1 to get in), me and Olivia decided to check it out with our friends. Olivia was somewhat amazed by the water. She just kind of looked around and took it all in. She didn't really splash or kick her feet like I thought she maybe would, but no crying and a few big smiles equals a success to me! As many of you know, when I was younger I LOVED being in my swimsuit - summertime or winter. And from the looks of things, I believe the apple will not fall far from the tree!

I am sure grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles, great-aunts :) and many more are waiting for another update and most importantly PICTURES so they can get their Livi fix for the week. Olivia is into exploring everything! She attempts to put anything she can find into her mouth and her little hands grab anything they can reach. I am wondering if she might be getting a little tooth, but I have not seen the pearly white poking through just yet! Olivia is still not a great napper, which drives me slightly crazy by the end of the day, BUT she is getting better. Livi is now 5 months, which all of a sudden seems "old" to me!. I can't believe how fast time has gone since she was born. It is so amazing watching her grow and develop. Speaking of development, I almost forgot to mention that Livi rolled over! It happened, of course, while I was at work and Jon was at home with her. Jon said they were playing on the floor. Livi all of a sudden just rolled over. They both looked at each ot...

Olivia is moving on up in the food chain. She had her first attempt at eating squash today. After the first bite and the initial look of disgust, she did pretty well. Although looking at this picture I am beginning to wonder if any of the food actually entered her mouth!

Grandma Linda also brought with her a special toy chest for Olivia. This toy chest was made for Jon when he was younger by his Grandpa Engbers! Now we are excited not only to have this special toy chest for Olivia to use, but also to have a place to store Olivia's expanding assortment of things!

The Grandmas weekend with Olivia was a success! Olivia took full advantage of the extra attention and holding arms and even got them to take her on a shopping trip. I think both grandmas were tired by the end of the day...but like the "Olivia book" says..."Olivia, sometimes you wear me out, but I still Love you!" Thanks so muc h grandmas for coming to help!

We have been avoiding the outside as much as we can this week because of the freezing cold!!! I just saw on the news that it is -31 degrees outside with the wind chill...yikes! I am very thankful for a warm home and hot chocolate tonight. This coming weekend we ran into a little conflict with Jon's schedule and my work schedule. We will both be at the hospital for decently long periods on Saturday and Sunday. So our moms are coming to the rescue and coming up for the weekend to take care of Livi. We are excited to see them and very thankful they can help us out!

Our Mops theme for the year is "Adventures in Mothering", with the metaphor of an amusement park and sharing the experience of all the ups, downs, fun, and craziness of motherhood. So today for our Mops meeting we had a carnival in the church. We had popcorn and ice cream, played fun carnival games, and got a work-out in the adult sized blow-up jumping castle!

Olivia is having fun exploring all the different noises she can make, including coos, squeals, and giggles.

Jon is back in the swing of things again after a nice 3 week break. He is doing an internal medicine rotation now which will last for 6 weeks. This rotation requires a little more of a time comittment than his past two family medicine rotations. He usually goes in to the hospital at 7 am, and depending if he is on short/long/or no-call, he can be done anywhere from 4:30 to 9:00 pm. There are also some weekends involved, so we are trying to shuffle our schedules the best we can to minimize the time we need help with Olivia. Olivia keeps me busy during the day. She is getting better at entertaining herself for short periods, but hasn't mastered taking naps in her crib yet and would rather just rock-a-bye by her mom! Next Tuesday I start Mops again at our church after taking a break for the Holidays. Olivia is still working on learning how to eat cereal. She is also enjoying spending time in her baby-einstein entertainer...so many things to explore! Just hangin' out. We sti...

Go Wolfpack!

Olivia (and by that we mean her parents) decided what better way to start off the new year than by trying her first "solid" foods. Olivia had her first bites of cereal today. She was actually not too pleased with the whole experience! Livi started off sitting nicely in her high-chair, but by the time I got everything ready she was sick of waiting and not happy about eating anymore. (Patience is NOT her virtue!) SO...after getting her calmed back down and finding a more comfortable seat on daddy's lap, Livi did attempt a few bites (most of which dribbled down her chin). Oh well! We have one try under our belt now and are hoping for more successful results next time!