Oakley is 9 months old!

Well, another month went by and I seem to be getting farther and farther behind on my posts. I think I’m in denial she’s growing up as fast as she is.  Actually, we’ve been pretty busy and I’ve been trying to enjoy every second of our summer together.  We’ve had a lot of company come and visit as well as a big vacation, so I’m just trying to enjoy my time with everyone and my time with Oakley.  Oakley turned 9 months on May 27th!  School got out on the 23rd, so I was super excited to be home during these couple of months where it seems like she learns something new every day.

Oakley is so active and never stops.  She is always on the go and is loving being able to pull herself up and cruise around.  She likes to pull herself up on her dresser and pull all of her clothes out.  She also likes to empty out bags.  I have a hard time putting everything back in before she starts emptying it out again.  She runs in her walker and then picks up her feet and slides across the floor.  Army crawling is her jam.  She army crawls everywhere and has gotten pretty fast at it.

She loves to pick things up with her thumb and pointer finger, like a little pincher.  She can pick up the tiniest things, it would blow your mind.  I try to keep my floors extra clean because she’ll find a little piece of paper or even a dog hair and pick it up with her tiny fingers.  Now that she’s eating solids, she’s starting to put things in her mouth.  She loves chicken, blueberries, pancakes, yogurt, and squash.  Oh and she loooooves peanut butter or almond butter, especially on toast!  If you know me at all, you know I practically lived off of peanut butter toast growing up, so I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Oakley really likes all of the animals on the farm, but for some reason, I feel like her and our cat Garth are going to be best buddies. He was wild when he was a kitten because he was a barn cat, but he’s really warmed up to people.   He will let you pet him but it has to be on his terms. Typical cat.  If I’m with Oakley, he always comes up to us and will sit by us on the porch swing.  He doesn’t stay long as he can only tolerate so much of her yelling and waving her arms out of excitement lol.  I can’t really put my finger on it, but I think the two of them have a special connection.  Kitty Paws, our big fluffy cat will just sit there and let her do whatever she wants.  Laura doesn’t really care for people, she just wants to be fed.  When we let the dogs out in the morning, Oakley makes a deeper sound and acts like she’s telling them to settle down.  Abigail still seems to like her the most, Colt will give her little kisses, and Charlie thinks she’s a puppy and wants to play with her.  She loves to chase them around the house in her walker.  When they give her kisses, she smiles, scrunches her nose, and closes her eyes.

Oh and did I tell you that Oakley has a best friend at the grocery store?  Her name is Ms. Lori and she adores Oakley. She said that she always brightens her day and refers to her as the Gerber baby.  One day, Oakley was a little fussy as we were checking out but when Miss Lori smiled at her, she stopped fussing, smiled at her, and then started fussing again.  The other day, Miss Lori asked to hold her and Oakley went to her!

Oakley Lane, how did we ever get so lucky?  We are beyond blessed to be your parents, raise you, and enjoy you every minute of every single day with you.  You are such a ray of sunshine in everyone’s’ lives.  You are so loved by so many people, especially by your dad and mom.