Blah Blah Blog

Wow, has it really been a month since the last time I blogged?

Okay quick update: Oakley is EVERYWHERE!! Walking along furniture, knee crawling, pulling herself up and standing by herself but NOT walking. Kind of a bummer because I'm not really okay with the idea of letting my child crawl just anywhere and she is just so busy/hates being held. She's been doing all sorts of new tricks. She can wave, clap, and throw her Binky at least 15 feet across a room. (She almost clocked someone in church with it the other week) She's finally sleeping through the night and has been for a couple months and *sniff* just stopped nursing. I'm a little sad but enjoying my new found freedom.

Little Miss Skeptical...


Not a carrot fan.


Dave and I have been LOVING this amazing weather and have taken Oakley for several bike rides and runs. I love how the minute that spring begins everyone has such good intentions. Everywhere you go you see people running, biking, etc. I always wonder at what point do we start taking the good weather for granted and end up spending summer days shut in our homes. (At least I do!) Tangent...sorry.





Little trip to the Carnegie Science Center with some friends.





I have finally fulfilled my new years goal of volunteering for a better cause, at least for this month. After a month of delays I was able to help the Pittsburgh Food Bank distribute food to those in need last Saturday. The whole experience was fun, interesting and definitely eye opening. After being on Food Stamps and Medicaid, I'd thought that I had seen my share of poverty. Well, it really doesn't compare. The place we went to was the most run down, ghetto place I'd ever been to in Pittsburgh. The people that came were all different types but most were in good spirits and made the whole experience rewarding. Its going to be a tradition for me every 4th Saturday of the month. I'm looking forward to being a part of something outside of being a mom.

The Wounded Soldier

Here's a little video snipet of Oakley doing her army crawl. She's been doing this for about two weeks and just barely started knee crawling the other day. Yesterday she started pulling herself up in all the furniture and walking along it. She's unstoppable now!! More videos soon to come...

Wounded Army Crawl



This is how we found the little pumpkin, sleeping away with her bum in the air and her head stuck in the corner.

Blackmail

I don't think there's a mommy out there who can resist a few naked baby pictures. And they may aid in motivating teenage Oakley down the road;)






P.S. Just posted a new article on my "Hot Off the Press" sidebar that you should check out.

Keeping my cool and heating it up

Many of you know that I have a bit of a hot temper when it comes to politics (rather how so many people misunderstand politics but I won't go into that). Dave and I have posted a couple of things that may have somehow upset some people. From now on I'm going to try and keep this as just a family blog and hopefully keep out the negative comments. BUT I want to do my part to keep people informed, so I'm going to keep current and relevant news articles and video clips on my sidebar that you should check out:)

Anyway, here's some cute pictures of Oakley because what's a post without pictures?



9 months old and she's already got her sassy face!


Next up, here are pictures of a fun fondue night we had with some friends. I have begged and begged Dave to take me out to the melting pot since he gets 50% off but he claims he can do a much bigger and better fondue feast. He's not lying!! I think everyone left full for the next few days. I can't take credit for the pictures, thanks Tyler!

The Food.


The Fun…






The People!

Abandon all hope that things will ever change!

This one's for you Aaron!!!

Another post brought to you by Dave Pringle.

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Super Duper Fun Exciting Stuff Here!!

So, I have really hated blogging lately. Maybe its the lack of sleep, the baby tugging at my pant legs, or the fact that it takes way more time than I'm willing to give. Luckily, I have found myself with a bit of extra time on my hands since I've been SNOWED IN for the last four days. Which is probably where all my extra sarcasm is coming from. OK, trying to be positive… ( Oh and its snowing AGAIN!!)



Oakley Updates:
She started army crawling about two weeks ago, which has made both of us much happier. She's pulled herself up on a few things, including the bathtub ledge (scary!). I've realized this happy period of only baby-proofing the house to ankle-biter standard won't last long. Plus, all she wants to do is walk holding my hands and walk along furniture. My dreams of a content crawling baby are quickly fading away! Lastly, she's getting her top teeth in meaning lots of sleepless nights for both of us. Oakley turned 9 months old today and is in the 95% for height and 75% for weight.



Visitors:
We were so excited to have my dad and brother, Aaron all the way from Germany, come to visit last weekend. We had grand plans of going to museums, movies, dinners but found ourselves spending the weekend taking turns shoveling 24" of snow off our cars, driveway and street! (Yes I said street, no snow plow has ever attempted to come down our cobblestone road.) We did enjoy some yummy meals Dave prepared, movies and playing games. Cabin fever isn't nearly as bad if you have more people to spend it with.


The Oakster munching on some snow.



A little collage of "snowmageddon".
(That only took me an hour to put together and you can't even read it, another reason I hate blogging.)

Other news:
I finally finished a project I've been working on for months, Christmas Stockings. A little too late but I will definitely enjoy them next year when I'm working on my matching table runner and tree skirt. Luckily those projects won't involve handmade bias tape which was a "fun learning experience".

Christmas x 3

Lately I've really hated blogging, sorry kind of negative for a Christmas post. But I'm just letting you know why its so late and I didn't feel like sugar coating it (I had enough sugar coating over the holiday). While our 3 Christmases doesn't quite match up to Vince and Reece's movie charade, I assure you it was just as busy, chaotic, but absolutely more fun:)

We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom and family. Because my mom always wants to "do it easy this year" with a ziti casserole (I'm being 100% serious), Dave and I decided to take matters into our own hands. We (mostly Dave) prepared a seafood fest with king crab legs, muscles, shrimp and enough mashed potatoes to feed a small army. We both enjoyed being able to choose what traditional foods we wanted and not eating ziti casserole:)

My mom with Oakley. It was nice to get out of changing so many diapers!



As you can see Oakley was super excited for her first Christmas.


Christmas Day was spent with my Dad, brother and his family. Issac, my nephew, really enjoyed opening presents this year. I'm excited to see how Oakley reacts next year. Most of the day was spent relaxing and making a yule log. My dad is a really good french cook and most of our holiday feasts include a few french recipes.

This Yule log requires about 2 dozen eggs, 6 sticks of butter, and 10 hours of labor, but so worth it!! And yes, I did make those meringue mushrooms, they were delish!



Grandpa gave Oakley her first Cornell hoodie, the first of many no doubt!!


A super quick family pic before saying good-byes. Hey that rhymed!


After a second frenzy of present opening the next day at my mom's, we were off to the Pringle's house for our third Christmas. We were probably there 10 minutes before we tore into our third round of presents.

Breakfast with Nana.


One more shot of that little stinker:


Here's a picture of my very first Christmas, I was 11 months old. Still think Oakley looks like Dave? Okay she does a little:)