Happy Father's Day!

We love you, Wilson! Andrew and I are blessed to have you in our lives, and we thank God for you each day.

9 months old!

Andrew is 9 months old!! The 9 months of his life have flown by... so much faster than the 9 months when I was pregnant with him!
What a joy he is everyday...

He really seems to be growing up....Sunday at church, a friend said to me, "Laura, you probably don't want to hear this, but Andrew doesn't even really look like a baby anymore...he's starting to look like a toddler." And, I know exactly what she means. He doesn't have those full cheeks anymore, and his weight seems to be more evenly distributed - not just a big tummy! :) And, then the way he moves in our arms!! He's definitely growing up...it makes me a little sad, but that's the way God intended it and that's the way it should be, and I know he'll continue to bring us lots and lots of joys as he grows.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days.

Da-da (which Andrew is saying now) and Andrew with spiky hair!

On the deck of the cottage

in the big boy bath

sweet potato mustache!! and look at those teeth!!

Bratley Girl Beach Trip (+ Andrew)

The 3 Bratley girls and Andrew spent a weekend at the cottage together ...just like old times, as Rebecca kept saying. Elizabeth packed us some fun beach happies...Andrew even got a new beach towel!! (thanks, izzy!) And we enjoyed some good time together relaxing on the deck, eating some good food, and playing "Go Fish"! (We'll have to rematch soon...)

Andrew wasn't at his best, as he's been fighting yucky ear infections, but we still had a good trip and his aunts were so sweet to be patient with us. Since we weren't feeling so hot, we didn't get many good pictures... somehow we managed to get home without a single sister picture! We'll have to get one of those soon, girls!

Here are a couple from the weekend...

Andrew had lots of fun with Izzy's j crew magazine!

Andrew and Izzy - Andrew is so funny with anything that is a stick. He loves them! Wilson thinks that maybe that means he'll be a good golfer or baseball player one day....hmmm... Izzy is making Andrew happy by letting him hold the stick to the blinds.

"Are you taking a picture of me???"

Andrew's new favorite thing!

Wilson and I can't believe how in a matter of a couple of weeks our little man has become so mobile! Now we aren't walking or even doing the "real" crawl yet... but with ease, Andrew can roll, sit up, pull up, and do a great "army" crawl! (Wilson calls it this - he uses his arms to pull his body!) He's quite a little monkey. Here are some "pull-up" pictures!

In the past couple of days, Andrew has realized that kneeling at the piano is actually a better height for him than standing!...He makes me smile!

Orange Beach Trip in May

We had an amazing family trip to Orange Beach in May - a great week for the 3 of us before Wilson's busy summer got going. We usually go to Fort Morgan, AL, but we weren't able to work that out so we ended up staying at a friend's condo in Orange Beach. Although we love the quiet, laid-back setting of the "cottage" in Fort Morgan, it was great to introduce Andrew to the swimming pool! He loved it! I hope we'll be able to do some more swimming as the summer goes on. We did go to the beach one day and Andrew had fun grabbing the sand in his hands. When I was looking back at our pictures there were hardly any of him looking at the camera, because he was always looking at the sand or the water!

First time in the pool - all smiles!!

Splish-splash!

Picking the sand up, dropping it, and then doing it again!

Relaxing in the indoor pool - Andrew knows just what to do!