Andrea

 

So today's post is tiny bit overdue. It is dedicated to my younger sister Andrea as it was her birthday last week. We'll blame it on the fact that I had the flu, then it rip-roared through the house, so though I had intended on posting it last week, I didn't. So here we go. Happy Birthday little sister!

  

Here's the sisters before the youngest showed up. In this pic Andrea was the youngest. Her tenure as the baby of the family was very short lived. I was in grade 6 when she was born, So I actually remember quite a bit of her early years first hand. (aside - Yes I have sacrificed my pride with showing this hideous picture of me in a black velvet pin-striped jumpsuit to show you how cute she was - very) She was all dimply, and happy and quiet and the easiest baby....EVER. She would rock herself happily in her playpen to music only she heard, ALL DAY, with her mouth open - not talking, just open. I barely remember her crying, always smiling and always quiet and gentle.

She's still pretty much like that...

Well, except for the rocking thing, I think.

As she got older, she got sneaky. I think that it was her quiet form of payback to my parents for having my youngest sister just months past her first birthday.  She was very good at being sneaky... and good at lying, and blaming older siblings. 

She has these huge brown eyes that you have to trust, and my parents did. But she was a liar.

Thankfully she grew out of that... I think.

After she adjusted to the presence of the youngest sibling (which didn't take much), they were fast friends. Becca made up for Andrea's lack of talking. When she finally did start talking she couldn't say my name, so she called me Mimi. Dad loved it. It stuck. She also couldn't say Jenny's name - she got Gigi, and Rebecca got Becca or for awhile I think kaka. She couldn't say her own name either, so she named herself Aya. She never had a problem with Steph's name...funny. All the nicknames have pretty much stuck too.

She was the best snuggler, and the had the best baby fat roles to pinch and tickle. They were luscious. My son Carter reminds me of toddler-her a little bit - so kissable.

She developed a maternal streak very early. She loved to take care of our pet cats and dogs. She would dress them up, and "torture" them, but they fell victim to her gentle ways and those brown eyes...

My

Andrea was and is very kind. Soft hearted and loyal. Almost to a fault, if that can be faulted.

People trust her, and they should, her heart is a vault. She's also probably the easiest to get along with of all of us girls. That's the honest truth.

Some of the things people outside of the family may not know about her are some of her favourite past times.

Probably her number one favourite is SLEEPING. If you are trying to call and there's no answer, she's probably sleeping...it doesn't matter the time. She's probably sleeping. She's impossible to wake up too. Here's a pic of her son doing the same thing. She's passed the hobby on. Apparently he even prefers sleeping over eating.

She also loves dressing up. She's very pretty, so who can blame her. It's probably all the sleep.

 

People may not realize She's goofy. We pretty much all are, it comes from my parents. 

Of all of us, Andrea is probably the most legitimately funny. She's very subtle and quiet about it, so you don't realize you are laughing hard enough to pee your pants, until you actually are. It's embarrassing, but she's that funny...sometimes.

 

I have a matching pic. of my dad in these bunny ears to illustrate, but of course, 

I can't find it right now.

She's really tall too, all of my sisters are, just not me. I'm cool with that. She could have been a model I think, look at her in her wedding gown. Need I say more?

She's a really great friend. Some of her best friends are her sisters. This is a pic of her with the youngest  of the 5 sisters. I have a matching one of them on a bed like this from about 20 years ago, but of course I also can't find that one. These three have been inseparable forever.

These are pics of Andrea with her two boys. She's a great mom. All those qualities mentioned before are her strengths, yes even the sneakiness I think, it makes her more suspicious of her boys, and successful. The only time they get away with stuff is when she's sleeping.  J

So, that's an ode to my lovely, gentle, kind, tender-hearted, beautiful sister who I love like crazy. Happy Birthday again! It's only a week and a bit late, 

but at least I got it done before Jenny's Birthday! 

♥♥♥ Mimi