Six Months Old...

Holy moly. My sweet angel baby is 6 months old already. She's closer to being a one year old than she is to being the teeny, tiny newborn we brought home back in January. I'm a little sad to think she'll never be that small again; but this age right now is SO much better. Everyday she learns something new and we can actually see her acquiring new skills in front of our eyes.

Seriously, I know everyone says this, but it goes SO FAST.

She is developing such a personality. She'll mimic us and she knows when we're playing a game with her (peek-a-boo, patty cake, etc). She'll anticipate our next move. She screams bloody murder if she's left in the room alone. She's awesome.

1/2 a year.

Get this eyepatch off of me.

Perfection.

I'm so glad I started doing these pictures every month. The month-by-month comparison is so fun to have.

Growin' like a weed.

The first half of this year has been a whirlwind but it has been the best. Sometimes it feels like Justin and I don't have the slightest clue as to what we're doing when it comes to raising this little lady but I like to think we're doing an OK job. She's alive and thriving so that's gotta say something!

Bloglovin'

I'm a noob when it comes to this blogging business. I'm probably making mistakes left and right but practice makes perfect, right?

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9986645/?claim=9vtw9esy9wp">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I don't know if this'll work but I'm trying to add this bad boy to Bloglovin' so all none of my followers can follow me...

Five Favorites

I'm new at this but I'm linking up with Camp Patton a day late for my first-ever link-up (and my third-ever blog post...)

If you do not read Camp Patton, you must. I know I'm typing this to nobody but go now. Read it. Grace is hilarious and has the cutest stinkin' kids around. I wish we were friends in real life. Grace, if you're reading this (and I know you're not), I have a cute little 6 month old chickadee for baby Theo. Just sayin'.

Sorry for being a creepy blog stalker. Back to my faves...

1. Weddings

My oldest friend Christie got hitched this last weekend in South Dakota and she made the most beautiful bride. The best part was having all of my closest girlfriends from high school in one room which hasn't happened since my wedding over 2 years ago. We can go months (and years, apparently) without seeing each other but the minute we all get back together, it's like no time has passed. I'm getting deep, I know...

Besties.

We spent the evening reminiscing about the good ol' days and celebrating Christie and her man. It was a solid evening. Gracyn even got to party for a little bit until Grandma and Papa took her home to bed.

2. Starting solids

I'm going to go all geeky new-mom on you but I am so excited that Gracyn is finally 6 months old so we can start introducing her to new foods. We started rice cereal and oatmeal around 5 months to get her used to eating off a spoon, tasting the food and swallowing. She picked up the new skill like a champ and after about 3 days was scarfing that stuff down the hatch. 

Gimme more. Gimme gimme more.

To celebrate her 6-month birthday last night she got to try sweet potatoes. I had the camera ready to capture a gag face but nope. Nothing. She just ate them like she's been eating them her whole short life.  Alrighty, then. Add sweet potatoes to the menu.

3. 30-day Ab & Squat Challenge

I wouldn't call this my FAVORITE thing but it is something I'm kinda sorta proud of. At the end of June, I was finally getting fed up with carrying around the rest of the bebe weight and googled "Squat Challenge" and found a 30-day workout schedule. Then I googled "Ab Challenge" and found a similar schedule so I mashed the two together and put an alarm in my phone to remind me to start working out on July 1st - I need all the motivation I can get when it comes to working out - the alarm in the phone was a must. I begged Justin to do it with me just so I'd have a person to complain about working out while we were working out. After the first day, which was a measly 10 sit-ups and like 50 squats, I thought this was for sure going to be the death of me. I could barely walk after day 3 (out of shape, much??? just a little...). BUT we're on day 24 (go us!) and I must say, I can tell a difference. I still have a ways to go but this is a start. Baby steps, people.

4. Candy Crush

Ugh. Why did I ever start playing this game? So addicting. Running out of lives is the worst and I hate when you can't pass a level and you're stuck for days and days. I find myself playing at work which is no bueno but I can't help it! I need it!

5. Cousins

Apparently it's National Cousin's Day. I have super awesome cousins and consider them to be my best friends. My cousin Alyssa was my maid of honor and introduced me to my hubby. I named my kid after her and everything. We tight. 

This pic is from a few years ago but it's all of us together. Between spouses and kids there's, like, a lot more of us and we're multiplying - more babies!

Cuzzies.

Anyway, my fam is pretty legit. If you can't tell from the picture above, we like to have a good time and there is never a dull moment when we're all together.

All for now I suppose. For those of you that care I'm trying really hard to get a good video of Gracyn laughing but apparently she only thinks things are funny one time and that's the 1% of the time when I don't have the camera pointed in her face.

Maybe tomorrow!

Weekend Rewind

Big weekend in the Oakley household. Lots of activities and a few restless nights of sleep for one little monster but nonetheless a great weekend!

The festivities started on Thursday morning when my brother and his wife welcomed baby Jack Patrick Leo and he is as cute as can be:

Baby boy joy.

So tiny.

Photobombed by dad.

Uncle Ty-Ty

Our daycare was closed Thursday and Friday so Gracyn got to spend the days with Grandma and Papa and cousin Isla. She played and played and played and had a grand ol' time. Ty got into town Thursday afternoon to help babysit the little girls. They proceeded to take this picture together:

Photography by Grandma.

which is probably the best picture ever of Gracyn and I'm in love with it and I'm pretty sure she should be a baby model. Seriously. She's a beaut. Ty doesn't look so bad himself.

Friday night got wild and we went to bed at, like, 10:30 PM. This is standard now-a-days especially since G has decided to revert back to newborn-hood and wake up a zillion times a night.

Saturday was FINALLY the day that Gracyn laughed an actual belly laugh and it was music to my ears. The best. sound. ever.  Justin was making animal noises (horse and elephant to be exact) and Isla thought it was the funniest shiz she's ever seen. Gracyn apparently did too and joined in on the fun. I will post a video later. It was awesome.

Saturday night was the 5th Annual West Prairie Terrace Block Party which sounds lame but is actually pretty sweet. Our neighbors rock and the 'hood puts on a block party every year. It started the first year we moved in and has been going strong ever since. We meet the neighbs, eat some good food, and compete in a Cornhole Tournament. There was even an impromptu hoola-hoop contest:

Hoop it up.

Justin and Tyler paired up for Cornhole and actually won the whole damn thing, trophy and all. Neighborhood rules state that we must display the trophy on our mantel until next summer. Who are we to mess with the rules so on the mantel it sits. Told you the block partay was sweet...

On Sunday we went to Luke and Jessica's to welcome baby Jack home. The little guy will have to get used to the girls being all up in his business:

Isla and TWO babies!

Between Gracyn wanting to poke his eye out and Isla wanting to constantly shove the pacifier in his mouth, he'll need to adjust to life outside the womb real quick.

Sunday night was spent doing laundry and going upstairs to soothe Gracyn to sleep. I think it only took 4 times and an hour and 15 minutes to actually get her to sleep. Luckily she only woke up a couple of times after that.

Pretty jam packed weekend for our little fam. We head to Sioux Falls later this week for Christie's wedding. So pumped to see old friends and introduce G to some new peeps!

Reasons to Start a Blog...

#1: I'm getting married!

This was my original plan. Start a blog so I could document all of the deets of our big day and then journal about our joyous first moments as husband and wife and all the shenanigans that come along with being newlyweds!

Husband and Wife, bitches!

I got as far picking out a name for the blog (which was awesome, by the way) and spent the rest of my time "designing" what the blog would look like. So many templates! So many backgrounds! No actual posts. Fail.

#2: I got laid off!

Ah, the perfect time to start a blog- so much free time! I could write about my job-search and how I spent my time at home "playing house"- cleaning, laundry and making dinner for my loving husband, which ended up being hot dogs most nights because cooking is not my thang. Wife of the year.

I went back to the original blog I "started", played around with the design some more, actually sat down at the computer to type something and then my phone rang...I was offered a job. No longer unemployed. Not so much free time. Fail times 2.

#3: We're having a baby!

Well, duh! NOW I can start the blog! An online journal for my unborn bebe, week by week pictures and updates as I go through this amazing journey and miracle of growing a life inside my person! Well, 9 months FLIES by and yep, you guessed it...no blog posts. Which is probably for the best- I didn't feel all that cute during my pregnancy and while the growing-a-human part is pretty amazing, the actual raising-a-tiny-human part is wayyyyy better...

40 Weeks. Large and in charge.

I did, however, start a journal (actual paper with handwritten entries and everything, folks!) for my babe. I wrote every so often throughout my pregnancy and continue to do so for her. I didn't get a blog started but I did start a journal and I'm proud of myself for that! Go me.

#4: It's Thursday!

I was driving home one night after work started thinking to myself, "Gee I should really just start that damn blog so I can stop thinking about it and just DO IT already!!!!"

So here I am. I started a blog. I joined the club. Everyone's doing it...I can do it too! Why? Why not!

Nobody will read it, I'm certain, but that's OK. My goal was to start one and after 2+ years I'm actually doing it. Better late than never, right? It only took me this long to write an actual post.  Keeping up with the blog may be another story...stay tuned. Or don't. Whatev.