The Cape

The first week of July my family got together to celebrate another White family reunion. My three brothers and their families, my family and my dad were all staying in one house. It was a bit chaotic but absolutely a lot of fun. The last time we were all together there were four less members of the family. This time we had 9 adults and 9 kids.

The rest of the White family was spread out between three other houses. We spent dinners together. My dad is the oldest of 7 so we have quite the large family. Two of the 7 siblings weren't there and we definitely missed having the whole family together. Here's a picture of everyone who came minus a couple of sleeping kids.

We took the opportunity to take an immediate family picture. It'll probably be another year and at least another baby before we all get together again!


Here's one of just the three of us. By that time Oakley was really done so this was the best "smile" we had.


It was a very fun trip. We took a couple of trips to the beach, ate some yummy seafood in Provincetown, and enjoyed being together as a family!

I knew it!

Oakley's legs haven't stopped moving since they started kicking me in the womb! And now she has become obsessed with the soccer ball Grandma bought her. She goes around the house announcing "ball" in her little trilly voice while she throws and chases after her little soccer ball. As Adam Sandler would say "She's gonna be a socca playa!"

What's happenin' here

Getting ready for the pool: so I thought Oakley would love the swimming pool b/c she's always laying on her belly during her bath and sticking her face in the water.


Not quite! She's not really the water baby I envisioned but she still has fun playing in her little pool.




Keeping busy: who would think those nice, hot summer days would put me in the mood for sewing. Its probably the 90% humidity that has kept me inside working on this Rag/ABC quilt and a few other things.


Cross it off the Bucket list! I've been dying to see Falling Water ever since we first moved to Pittsburgh. Its unfortunate that we waited until after Oakley was born b/c they don't allow children under 8 on the tour. So we had to switch off entertaining Oakley for 3 hours while we took separte tours.


To finish it off: We're down to the very last renovations on our house. We re-carpeted the front steps and recently refinished our basement. With just a few odds and ends left to do we'll soon be ready to sell!


before


after- kind of hard to see in this picture.

The Second Worst Flight EVER!

Now I know a lot of you have had some pretty bad flight experiences. And I'm not saying mine was any better or worse than yours. I'm just saying its my personal second worst experience- the first being stuck on the plane on the runway for 12 hours with no food in the middle of July with no AC. Take home lesson from that experience: NEVER FLY INTO/OUT OF JFK, EVER!!! Now onto this horrifying experience. First I should probably tell you about my trip!

Dave and I headed out to Utah to visit some family. We were very excited to see our friends, family and hit up a bunch of restaurants we've missed since leaving. We stayed with Dave's sister Kristin and of course took some fun embarrassing bath photos of Oakley and her cousin, Roman.




And of course we had to stop here, Costa Azul.


Met up with these guys, one of my best friends from High School and his girlfriend.


Oakley NEVER lets you hold her. That's why I had to snap a picture when Dave got her to fall asleep on his chest- how cute!


We had a fun dinner with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and 2nd cousins.


Oakley with her 2nd cousins; William and Annie.


Annie and Oakley had a fun time playing together/stealing sippy's. As you can see Oakley is quite the drama queen. I don't know where she gets it from!?


Dave took off after some family pics.


I spent the next few days down at the farm visiting my grandparents. It was so fun to take Oakley to the farm that I remember going to as a child. I just have to say how impressed I am with my Grandparents who are in their 80's and still keep up their farm, a horse, a calf and a garden bigger than my backyard. I just hope some of that "good pioneer stock" my grandma is always talking about has made its way to my gene pool and that I'm just as active and healthy at that age. Oakley had so much fun with her great-grandparents. She loved all the attention!! Oakley and I then hung out with my college BFF, Mandy and her son, Logan. Then I headed off to the airport...

I was running a little late to the airport but managed to make it through security on time. I had a half our left before my flight took off and decided Oakley and I had time to eat breakfast. Well that turned out to be a mistake. After I was done feeding Oakley I looked at my watch and realized my plane took off 5 minutes ago!! AGHH! The flight attendant was very nice about re-booking me on the next flight out- FOUR hours later!! So Oakley and I spent a long, long, looong day at the SLC airport (which is the lamest airport, btw) and then two hours at the Houston airport. We finally made it to Pittsburgh 6 hours after we were supposed to get there. I think the worst part about the whole ordeal was that it was all my fault!! (oh and that we were both sick, did I mention that?) So there was no one to be mad at but myself! Take home lesson: don't miss your flight while your in the airport!

The Big One!

One year has come and gone and I can hardly believe it. To think that last year I was in the hospital, swollen like a balloon, with my precious little angel by my side. I don't often get mushy but I just want to say this for memory's sake. I really didn't know how I would take to motherhood since you're all aware of my previous dislike/fear of most children (not yours of course!). But every night in the hospital when the nurses wheeled Oakley away to the nursery, I felt like it was Christmas Eve. I couldn't wait to be woken up at 3am to nurse my tiny, sweet baby. I know that sounds a little crazy and the feeling wore off quickly once we were home but I remember the excitement I felt every time I held her. I still go in her room at night just to watch her sleep and sometimes pick up her sleepy little body and just rock her. And then I breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that I won't have to get up until 7:30 the next morning! Alright, onto the party!

Birthday Party Part I: May 7th, 2010

I decided that Oakley wouldn't mind if we combined her party with two boys and invited everyone we knew to a huge BBQ. Despite being more of an undertaking than I anticipated, the other two mommies and I managed to put on a pretty sweet party for 72 adults and kids. I absolutely loved being able to have a big outdoor party with all our Pittsburgh friends. It was also a great opportunity to get together with some of our friends who are moving:( Onto the pictures!

Here's the unsuspecting birthday girl, waiting to head over to her party. There's something to be said about her green blanket, its her favorite thing in the world and she must have it with her everywhere she goes.


Here are the two birthday boys, the party, and me with my new do.



The Cake- it would've been better had I remembered to take a picture before cutting into it.


More pics of the party, the decor, and just two members of the Pittsburgh baby boom.



Isn't her birthday hat adorable?!? My exceptionally talented friend, Carlee made it just for Oakley.


Needless to say she loved the cake. She ate two entire pieces then rubbed the rest in her hair which resulted in us having to leave her party early for a birthday bath.




Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate! It meant a lot to me to have so many of our friends there for Oakley's first birthday. We are lucky to live in a place with many great friends who have been there for us through the last three years. Thanks to Rachelle and Jamie for letting me talk you into throwing this big ol' party for our kids! It was a piece of cake!!

Birthday Part II: May 9th 2010

Oakley's real birthday was on Mother's day so we decided to invite some friends over to celebrate both. After Oakley discovered her new love of sugar, she was pretty content to sit on our friend Tiffany's lap while being spoon fed chocolate cake. Quite unusual for a little girl who never sits still!



Oakley didn't care too much about the presents, good thing she had some helpers show her the ropes!

Grandma's visit

Get ready for whole lot of bloggin', I have a lot to catch up on! My mom came out to visit at the end of April. We went to Time Out for Women, listened to some really great talks and beautiful music. We also managed to do some fun "Pittsburghy" things.

Here we are at the West End Overlook.


Oakley had a blast with Grandma! (That's her SUPER EXCITED smile)


We made a trip to the zoo, turns out Pittsburgh has a really sweet zoo.


This was the first time that Oakley insisted on walking by herself. This is something I've been so excited for because I no longer have to carry her. It turns out that she never wants to go in the right direction so its quite counterproductive. Sorry if my white legs temporarily blind you. And I have no idea why everything is now underlined and I don't know how to change it.


Oakley LOVED the aquarium, she's just like her mommy:) Okay not underlined anymore- hmmm.


The aquarium has this really cool underwater viewing area for the shark pool and the polar bear habitat. Da-dum...


Next my mom, Oakley and I headed to St. Louis to visit my brother, Mike and his family. Oakley did really well during the 12 hour drive. Thank goodness for TV and Baby Einsteins!! I actually didn't take one picture there so I'm using pictures that Jessica, my sister-in-law, took. You will most likely notice how much better her pictures are, she's very talented.

St. Louis was a blast! This was taken in the beautiful botanical gardens.


We went to the butterfly house which is just about the coolest thing EVER. Its an enclosed garden full of HUGE, beautiful butterflies that just flutter all around you. Oakley was completely fascinated with it. To the right is Mike with baby Charlotte, isn't she a cutie?!


Here is my mom with her five granddaughters. Right now the grand-girls out number the boys by one, making nine grandkids total.


Thanks Mike and Jessica for the fun visit to St. Louis! And thanks mom for taking Oakley on her first girls trip, it was awesome!!

11 Months 2 weeks and 4 days

That's how old Oakley was in this picture taken by her very talented Aunt Jessica. Oakley, Grandma (my mom) and I just got back from a trip to St. Louis to see my brother's family and meet one of her newest cousins, Charlotte. Oakley has three cousins that were all born before her first birthday. I can't wait to see what great friends they end up being. Oakley was supposed to have fourth cousin born right around the time she turns one but sweet little Jaycee wasn't meant to stay on earth and died in utero a month before she was due. We were all very sad to miss out on meeting this little angel and I have to think that she and Oakley were good friends up in Heaven.

Oakley turns one this weekend and we're kicking off the celebration with a triple birthday party tonight. More pictures on that, St. Louis, and my new haircut to come:)