She went to the chapel...

Over Memorial Day weekend Ryan's sister, Cara, got married!!  We were very excited to be joining in the weekend of festivities and celebrations for Cara and her new hubby, Dustin!  They chose a beautiful location in Western Georgia, Barnsley Gardens (you really should check out their website, it was like upscale/updated Dirty Dancing lodgings!).  The weather was sunny and warm and just beautiful for the day!  The ceremony was very personal to both Cara and Dustin and their personalities. Dustin serenaded his bride with a beautiful song that he wrote for the special day.  And the attention to detail done by Cara and her mom where just picture perfect.  Ryan and I were honored to be a part of their day and witness their start as husband and wife!

In true Ollie form he slept through the majority of the ceremony, but was a champ for the reception.  Needless to say his dance card was full all night and he pushed his bedtime as much as he could!

Here are some pictures from the weekend!

The rehearsals we all know and love!
Start where you end and end where you start.

Dustin's Grandfather was the officiant.

The ladies!

The happy parents of the bride and the soon to be newly weds!

Dustin gave Louisville sluggers as the groomsmen gift.
There were a lot of happy groomsmen!

The grooms gift to the bride at the rehearsal!
So sweet.

Ollie's outfit of choice for the ceremony.

Here comes the Bride!

The handshake.

Mr. and Mrs.!

Bridal Party.

Grandma and Ollie.

Ollie hit the dance floor before anyone else.

Ollie and all his grandparents.

Elsie (Ollie's Great Grandmother), her children and the bride!

Me and my man.

We got their car! 

9 months

This month I was on top on things and actually took Ollie's 9 month photos on his 9 month birthday!
It was significantly more challenging this month, since we now have a very mobile and active little boy.  Piccadilly was the more well behaved and laid down nicely as I chased Ollie around with the camera around my neck just trying to get some of the shots.  Plus he is getting much bigger and the laundry basket proved to be too small and very uncomfortable.  But in the end we got the pictures taken.  I can't believe there are only 3 more months until Ollie is 1 year old.  Everyone was right the time does truly fly by.

As far as some stats for his 9 months we don't have any yet.  His 9 month appointment is this Friday so I will be sure to update when we have them.  But I do have some 9 month facts!

Ollie now has his first tooth!  It, of course, decided to show its self the day after Ryan left.  So 3 sleepless nights and screaming days later his front-bottom-left tooth has emerged.  

Ollie is crawling, pulling himself up and even working on standing with out holding onto something! The standing was something Ryan worked hard on with him before he left.  And now Ollie is starting to 'let go'. Oh my! His favorite spots to crawl to are: Piccadilly's water bowl, his activity table, and to anyones feet.

Ollie is very ticklish under his armpits!!

And he still eats pretty much anything you put in front of him.  We have started giving him small bites of solid food (bananas, cherries, green beans, potatoes). He is doing a pretty good job with the chewing motion and is working on his pinching to pick up food on his own!!

Here are some of the pictures from our photo shoot yesterday!

Sitting on the couch doesn't last very long

'Mommy, I don't fit in here anymore!'

A little better.

Notice all the snot from our teething fun!

He sits next to Piccadilly now.

Farewell for now

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Ryan as he left for his year deployment.  I know that it was probably harder on Ryan, but it wasn't easy for any of us.  As far as I go, I'm not really good at goodbyes and typically don't really like to even think about them until the goodbye moment is gone. Which means, for me, I live in a wonderful disillusion that all is normal with our world and a year is no biggie.  Until it's day 8 of just me, baby and puppy.  The puppy just threw up a sock and Ollie has spit up on his 3rd outfit change and we are out of formula.

But even reading that very likely scenario, I still feel ok with it all.  Why? Because we have had nothing but love and support from all of our friends, family and neighbors.  I know help is just a phone call, scream or knock away.  The tricky part for me will be making sure I use it.  Another thing that might bite me in the butt with this deployment is how often I talk myself out of asking for help.  So I have committed to Ryan that I will work on this and make sure I ask for help before I end up too frazzled.

So what are we going to do on this side of the deployment?  We are going to get into a schedule (of sorts), make lots of fun plans with said supports, and think of Ryan an awful lot throughout all of it.  We will Skype, write letters and send pictures.  Ollie and I will listen to the books Ryan recorded and talk often about Daddy. I will continuously remind Piccadilly that it's Daddy's fault she thinks we need to wake up at 6 am for breakfast and that she needs to go back to sleep.  And most importantly look forward to the days we get to start talking about daddy coming home.

Here are a few pictures from the recent past to show how we worked on saying goodbye.

We did our normal bedtime routine!  

We took Ollie to his first swim lessons!

We snuggled.

We went to the ocean! 

We had a party!

We worked on standing.

We celebrated Aunt Cara and Uncle Dustin's wedding weekend!

We went to a baseball game!

And we had some professional family pictures taken! 

Another favorite with from our family photo session!
With our airman! 

Time Flies

When you're having fun!  And we have been having a ton of fun over the past month.  So much that it has been an entire month since I have even uploaded pictures off our camera on to the computer.  So here is a quick catch up.  Because in true Crowley fashion we are hitting the road again for another fabulous trip of fun, today!

Each of these events really deserves a post of it's own. But this quick recap in pictures will have to do!

We are a squirm worm during bath time now.  

The first weekend of May me and 3 of my best friends went to Key West.
We were celebrating the upcoming nuptials of Tiffany and Brian!  

Christine, Tiffany and April outside the most delicious breakfast place.

At the southern most point of CONUS! 

You cant's skip the key lime pie!  Especially when it is frozen and on a stick!

Me and the bride to be!

One of Ollie's new favorite faces...the scrunch!

Reading with Grandma Noanie!
Thanks to Noanie for helping Ryan while Mommy was out to play.  

These two are too much.
Piccadilly stills keeps very close to Ollie and he loves it.

So cute.

The college graduate, Jeremy and his family.
Ryan's cousin Jeremy graduated from Millersville University this month! 

The Putnam clan.

Great opportunity for some jump shots!

Graduated!

Home for Mother's Day!

Ryan put together a book of photos of Ollie!
It's a gorgeous book.

We played outside while we grilled Mother's Day dinner! 

I can't get over these 2!

305 reunion! It's hard to believe we all have children now! 

Gianna and Ollie!

The 305 boys!

The 2 youngest 305 boys.

Luau time!
We threw a luau for some of Ryan's college friends as a farewell for Ryan.

Ollie and Liam!

Family Luau photo!

Laughing with Dad.