Well things certainly are changin' 'round here . . .

The first half of 2010 brought surprises, time-crunches, headaches and backaches, and unspeakable anticipation as we found out we were expecting our beautiful baby O #2, as we worked to successfully complete a track season and school year so that we could get our new home painted and prepared for baby girl. Summer brought some headaches as I attempted to complete a few grad classes, some backaches as we painted nearly every room in the house, and, thankfully, it brought some much needed time with family. In June we had our first Olinger Family beach trip with Mama and Papa O, Aunt Sara, Uncle Kurt and the boys. In July we spent some long-overdue days at Nana Donna's pool. It seems like just yesterday I was the little girl in pigtails jumping into the seemingly deep water to her mommy! In early August we finished up things around the house and my backaches and sleepless nights continued until the early morning hours of August 19, when I wondered if perhaps my water was breaking. By 7am I realized my water must be breaking . . . so off the hospital we went and by 6:40pm our beautiful Anne Elizabeth had made her entrance . . . 3 weeks earlier than expected. Thankfully she was healthy at 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and 19 inches in length. Mommy was also happy that she was such a peanut too.





The past five weeks have been chaotic and joyful, often at the same moment. We are so blessed to have such wonderfully supportive family and friends. We truly couldn't have adjusted in those early days without you and I'm sure we'll need you more as this journey we're on continues. I know many of you enjoyed reading Gracie Girl's blog, but as I realized how difficult it is to keep that up last spring, I thought perhaps it was time to start one for our family and perhaps allow the girls to make posts here instead. I don't know where this blog will take me, or you, but I know that our life is blessed beyond measure and I want to share as much of these precious, fleeting moments as I can. At times I may ramble, and others be too brief, but we're glad you're willing to experience the journey with us . . . as things keep changing around here!

Because uploading photos seems to take so long and I never seem to be able to post as many as I'd like because of the time, I'm really trying to keep things up to date on our Shutterfly site http://olingers23.shutterfly.com/.