2nd Place!!!

Hooray! My Minnie Mouse pumpkin carving won 2nd PLACE in the Chick-Fil-A carving contest! That's a free combo every week for 6 months (not every day). Not bad at all. Davey gets honorable mention from his wife because I think his pumpkin deserved to place too. The judges should have seen it lit up with a lava lamp bulb (like the picture above). It looks the best like that. Great job babe.

My favorite Halloween picture of the year!

Halloween Traditions

One of our little family traditions that we've done since we got married was each carve a pumpkin at Halloween.  This year we plan to enter them tomorrow in a local contest at Chick-Fil-A just for fun.  Of course, we decided this before we actually carved them, hoping they would turn out good enough.  But happily, both turned out pretty nice.  Wish us luck for the contest tomorrow!  Free CFA for a year if either of us wins first prize!  Okay, I'd be so chickened out if I won, but it would still be cool.  ("Chickened out" as in tired of CFA, not scared.  You probably knew that but just in case.)

I just realized how bad the backs of those pumpkins look in the picture.  The fronts are fine, but I guess that's just where they sit on the ground.  I love how big the pumpkins look and how little Lailey looks. 

Fun textures - had to watch her so she wouldn't stick it in her mouth

Mine with just the nose cut out (you can't see the pattern in this picture)

My Minnie Mouse for Lailey

Davey's "No Ghost" sign (betcha didn't see that one coming)

Tomorrow I'm going to bake the seeds hopefully.  This is a tradition too.  Half salty the other sweet.  

That's it for now...I need to go to bed.

Happy (early) Halloween

This is our first Halloween together as a family. Davey usually travels on Saturdays and we have never been to our church's fall festival together in our 8 years of knowing each other. Plus, it's Lailey's first Halloween so we had to do it up right and go all out. Soooo, here is our little family last Saturday decked out as Ghostbusters characters. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, Davey is a Ghostbuster, I am the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and Lailey is Slimer, a funny little green ghost who is a sort of "bad guy" in the movies but ends up being a good guy in the cartoon. Yes, I'm a little ashamed to admit I know this much about it all, but that's what happens when you live with the craziest GB fan ever. There's a part of me that just can't believe that I actually dressed my adorable little girl as a slimy green ghost for her first Halloween, but she makes it look cute. A couple of people have commented that it looks like "Slimer ate the baby!" I got a kick out of that one.

Could Daddy be any prouder of his little Slimer?

My Ghostbuster

So, I must include a little section in honor of "The Proton Pack." In the movies, a proton pack is the Ghostbuster's weapon. Jokingly, "an unlicensed nuclear accelerator." (Davey, you should be beaming with pride right now because this proves that I actually listen to you and pay attention to your movie ranting. Love you!) The weapon is fictional of course, but very cool to any Ghostbusters fan. Little did I know, but people make these things and sell them on Ebay for crazy amounts of money. Thousands. Literally. It's been a childhood dream of Davey's to build his own, so when he found out we would be home for Harp's Harvest and have the opportunity to dress up, he did everything short of beg, borrow, and steal to make it. He searched every dollar store in town, craft stores, online, and everywhere else to find cheap parts to look like the pieces on the pack. His brother Eli has a band saw, and that's really what made the whole thing possible. They got the plans online, cut, sanded, glued and painted, and made what I think is a great replica of the movie prop. And they did it pretty cheaply. Oh, by the way, this is Davey's Christmas present. In his words: "You can put a bow on it and stick it under the tree on Christmas morning because this is what I've wanted my whole life."

So, now you can see why Lailey and I had to go with the theme. I made her costume and mine and it was really fun to be able to do this all together. Happy Halloween!

Besides spending her time as a slimy green ghost, Lailey tried to eat her toes the other night. It was so cute!

In the morning I let her play on my bed while I get ready for work, with me nearby of course and lots of pillows. She looked so happy and grown up sitting there.

Lailey continues to be a happy, growing, delightful kid. Sometimes it amazes me how easy going and adaptable she is. We are a very blessed family.

Num Num Nanners

Lailey has eaten vegetables very willingly since I started her on them a month ago, for which I am truly thankful.  She was hesitant about carrots at first but now gobbles them down like everything else.  This week we added corn "mashed up real good" (pureed) to her veggie repertoire of peas, green beans, avocado, and carrots.  I'm not sure when I'll start her on fruits.   I don't think there's a need to rush since she's satisfied with cereal and veggies right now and is still nursing great.   Plus I was allergic to some fruits as a kid, mostly citrus, so I want to be cautious as to how much I give her.  Fortunately I wasn't allergic to bananas so I didn't worry when Lailey started going after Davey's banana this week.  As usual, we always have the camera nearby to capture those priceless - and hilarious - moments.   

Tonight is Harp's Harvest (our church's fall/Halloween festival), and Davey is so excited about dressing up you would think it was Christmas.  I finished my costume last night and Lailey's this morning.  Davey's has been finished a while now.  I will try to get a post up tomorrow with pictures when we're all dressed up together.  I know...the anticipation is killing you.  (just kidding, it's only killing Davey.)  He would probably wear his costume every day if I'd let him. Gotta love him!

The Leaves are Falling...

Ooooh! Let me just tell you how proud I am of my little artist! Today in nursery at church Lailey made her FIRST art project...

Aren't those the sweetest little handprints? It is now displayed proudly on our refrigerator which, ironically, I just cleaned off and reorganized yesterday. Just in time to make a perfect place for her artwork! Please allow me some proud mommy bragging. Her teacher jokingly said she is a "natural painter" because she spread her hands open to do this instead of making fists. How delightful! This made my day.

The verse on the bottom says:

"This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you."
John 15:12

Fall is here, and that means Halloween is coming soon! We're getting ready for our church's fall celebration next week, Harp's Harvest. We've already told some people what we are dressing up as for Halloween, but if you don't know, then I'm going to save it to keep the element of surprise for when I post pictures next week. I love surprises, can you tell? I mean, that's why we waited until "Baby Akin's" arrival to find out we were having. Just a little hint: all 3 our costumes come from Davey's favorite movie. They're going to be superb! Any guesses?

Six Flags, Six Months

Last Friday night, we continued with an Akin family tradition and took our annual trip to Six Flags during October.  The weather is usually nice and cool but it actually ended up to be pretty warm and humid.  Better than Six Flags in July!  Lailey was a trooper, she was just happy to ride along and enjoy all the lights and everything.  She fell asleep in her stroller around bedtime and only fussed a little when we moved her into her carseat, where she slept all the way home.  What a great kiddo!

First family trip to Six Flags

Grammy and Granddaddy bought Lailey a Tweety bird and she loved it instantly.  I've kept it in the car for her to play with while we're riding, but every time she just picks it up, dangles it over the edge of her carseat and drops him.  Oh well.

My smiley girl

Lailey is now six months old, and she had her check up on Monday.  She weighs 16.7 lbs, is 25.5 in. tall, and Dr. Banks said she is healthy and everything looks great.  She's grown so much!  Now when I pick her up I've really started to notice how much heavier she is.  In a good way of course.

Lailey 6 mos. with Teddy

Don't talk Daddy, just listen.

Mommy and Lailey
Uncle Nick won Lailey these toys in Tennessee on a recent trip (hence the TN colors...sorry Uncle Tim and Aunt Amy and any other Georgia fans).  She likes them very much.
Scooby kisses...I think his expression is perfect for this photo.
My own puppy kisses back!

Lailey is advancing in the world of solid foods.  She still loves peas (homemade and Gerber), she likes avocado (very nutritious and NO cooking for me, just "mash it up real good"), and she just tried green beans this week which she also liked.  I'm so proud of my good eater!  After carrots, I started with green veggies because I figured those would be the ones that would be harder to get her to eat.  Well, not my girl!  Hopefully we'll continue with this trend of good eating.  Until toddler years, right? I'll just enjoy it for now.  It can't hurt to start her on all this stuff now to maybe increase the chance of her liking more things in the future.  Homemade baby food has proven to be really easy so far.  It does take a little prep work, but once it's done I have a whole batch of veggie ice cubes to keep in the freezer.  SOOOOO cheap too.  A dollar worth of green beans makes a whole ice cube tray of food.  Definitely worth the work for now. 

It seems to be my trend to put a cute video at the end of the post, so I won't disappoint tonight. I just can't help but eat up those sweet little cheeks sometimes, and tonight she loved it.  Betcha can't watch without giggling a little yourself. :) 

6 Months Old

Wow, tomorrow our little girl is half a year old. It's hard to imagine life without Lailey now. What did we do before she came into our life? Who knows, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Every day is an absolute delight. She is incredibly happy most of the time. I love when she gets so excited when she sees me, and her little giggle can make all my worries disappear. Here are a few of the pictures that I've taken the last couple weeks.

Puppy kisses - eeeeewwwww!
Chewing on her thumb, playing with her foot...favorite activities these days

She sticks her toes and fingers through her blanket when she sleeps - isn't that funny?

Sitting up like a big girl!

Getting ready to go to Grammy and Granddaddy's house on a cool morning

First time with a sippy cup...all she did was chew on it. Hehe!

Lailey loves peas!!! I just couldn't believe it! I gave her peas (homemade baby food, of course) this week and she really seems to like them. No, I did not retouch this photo; her eyes are really that blue and the peas are really that green.

This is the first time Lailey has ever held herself up on the couch. She has been able to stand for a long time, but now she's figured out how to hold on thanks to Grandpa. Enjoy!



At six months, Lailey weighs about 17 lbs, is 26 in. long, and can sit up on her own. She will still fall over though, so we have to watch her. She says "da-da" and loves to make lots of noises, including very loud grunting. She sleeps really well at night, about 10 hrs. and takes two long naps and a short one in the late afternoon/early evening. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but that will come soon enough. She chews or sucks on anything she can get her hands on.

We love you, Lailey. You are our joy and delight. Thank you God for our sweet baby.