'cause Mama's cheap

This past Friday night we cut Presley's hair for the first time. I didn't really want to pay $15 or $20 for someone to trim up the mop top, so I just borrowed some shears from a friend and did it myself! Jeremiah held her still and my mom snapped a picture. We distracted her with a paci and her sippy cup. It turned out a lot better than I had played it out in mind. I imagined her being so rambuncous that I accidently snip her ear off and win worst mother of the year award! But thankfully it didn't! Here are some pics during and after.

Look at that long hair! It didn't seem that long until I pulled it up.

Ta da! Finished product! You might not can tell a difference, but it's there. Her hair stays out of her eyes now. And it will still hold bows! The 2 objectives were accomplished!

Since we aren't going to the pediatrician for Presley's one year checkup until August, I decided to try get her weighted (by me standing on the scale myself and then adding her second) and measure her length myself (by me laying her on the ground and using a tape measure). Ha! This was somewhat of a joke! I did it the other night, and I'm pretty much where I started.....still not knowing! Presley could weight anywhere from 20 to 23 pounds and might be 28 inches tall. Notice the "could" and "might" in that sentence? Ha ha! ;)

blog award

I was given this blog award by Carolyn at The Exposed Mom. Don't worry her blog is nothing risque! It's a photography blog of her family! I normally don't participate in these things, because I don't think I have much to contribute. But I love reading her blog and she's so sweet, that I'll give it a go!

Rules
1-Thank the person who gave it to you . Thanks again Carolyn!

2-Share 10 things about yourself. these are totally random, so prepare yourself!
1. I (seriously) want to have 4 children. I'm crazy, I know!
2. I dream of being a stay at home mom.
3. I am NOT an outdoors girl. But Presley has made me want to be!
4. My favorite animals at the zoo are giraffes.
5. I went to space camp when I was in middle school and subsequently wanted to be an astronaut.
6. My favorite color to wear is black. It's the perfect palate for a pop of color!
7. I grew up in the country. And can't wait to raise Presley on lots of land. Kinda humorous considering # 3, huh?
8. I HEART the Twilight books and movies waaaaaaayyyyyyy more than I should!
9. I (again, seriously) could NOT pick my favorite dessert even if you had a gun to my head. There are just too many!
10. Even after 3 years of home-ownership, our house is still not painted and decorated completely!

3-Pass the award along to 10 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think rock. hmmm....how about everyone (all 5!) who reads this blog!

4-Contact bloggers and let them know you have picked them for the award. Well, if you are reading this, consider yourself awarded!

monday, monday

I couldn't come up with a clever title tonight, so this is what you get....the day of the week! I don't have anything in specific to talk about, so I guess I'll just ramble about what's been going on lately.

We have had a great week! I have had 6 days off, which happens about once in a blue moon! Presley and I went Friday to my parent's new house and helped my mom decorate a bit and then Jeremiah joined us for a swim and some pizza there. Presley LOVED the pool. I'm sure because it felt like a huge bathtub! On Saturday we went and hung out with my brother and Presley just loves her Uncle Jonathan, so that was a lot of fun. And no weekend would be complete without a trip to Target! So of course, we picked up 10 things that were not on the list. I think Target has secret sensors in the entrance doors that make the common sense in your brain completely turn off! Or maybe it's just me! Sunday afternoon we went to John Parker's birthday party. He is one of Presley's little friends and her birthday buddy! (his birthday is 4 days after Presley's!) It was circus themed and absolutely a blast! We haven't really done much today besides laundry. And I went grocery shopping by myself, which was nice!

It has been super nice to have a "daytime" life this week. I really hope that I can switch to a day schedule sometime in the near future. I have been praying about this and I know that I just have to be patient. If God wants it to happen, then it will. It's just hard because my human will wants things to happen immediately!

These pictures were taken at John Parker's party. The first one is Presley devouring her cupcake. Sweet Miss Sarah left the icing off for her and boy, did she love it! The last one is when we were sharing a snow cone. Presley loved it too!

Oh, and there are some big blog changes coming up. It might take 2 weeks to see the finished project, but bear with me!

Oh, I remembered what else Presley can do now.....clap! We discovered this trick on the day of her party. Someone started clapping and saying "yea Presley" about her walking I think. And little Miss Priss just put her hands together and started clapping away! I was geared up to get mad at Jeremiah and ask him when she started this, and why hadn't he told me yet. But he didn't know that she could do it either! Ha ha! So, it was pretty funny that we found out in this way! :) It's also funny how she claps. She holds one hand still and brings the other to it. Instead of putting both hands together in the middle!

I'm still thinking that there is something that I'm forgetting to post about. oh well. next time I guess.

BIG updates

drum roll please.................................Presley can walk! As in, by herself!

She had taken some steps at my parents' house right before her birthday. And now she is a pro! She will still crawl sometimes but prefers to walk everywhere. She has mastered going over various surfaces, can walk while holding something, and can turn around all while maintaining her balance! She is an impressive little thing! She went from just taking a few steps to all of this in a week's time.

Presley's first words, other than Mama and Dada, were ball and thank you. She can't say them perfectly but you get the idea of what she's talking about. I totally get saying ball. Most babies say and understand what this is. But thank you? It's so funny! I guess she says it because we have always said thank you to her when we hand her something or do something for her. Demonstration is the best teacher. We say to her what we want her to say back to us. And it has worked!

So, I thought there were more updates.....guess not. Or maybe it's because I'm too exhausted to think about anything else! Anyway that's all for now!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

We had Presley's party on Saturday the 19th and I'm sure by the title listed above you can guess what happened! She cried AGAIN at the cake! I have said more than once, she and I can't share the same genes! Ha ha! We all had a good time, until a storm blew up right as we were finishing eating and about to have cake. I'm grateful that it didn't rain any early in the day or the whole party would have had to be moved inside a lot earlier.

*just click on any of the photos and you can see them a little bit bigger*

The decorations were just fabulous if I do say so myself! My sweet mom made the tissue paper pom poms and painted Presley's name on the tablecloth. The signature tablecloth is a new tradition that I'm starting. We will get it out for every party and have everyone in attendance sign it each year. I think it will be really fun to look back on it when she gets older! My sweet mother-in-law Vicky helped me assemble the banners. We made a "Presley" banner and a photo banner that had 12 photos from the first 12 months of her life. It was a big hit! This party was definitely a family effort! Thank you again to everyone! Jeremiah and I couldn't have pulled it off without your help.

The food was SO yummy! Chef Daddy made everything. We had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad and buffalo chicken dip. My mother-in-law Vicky made chocolate covered pretzel sticks and strawberries. Talk about divine! I think I ate about 5 or 6 strawberries by myself! And we had to have us some sweet tea to drink! Jeremiah sliced some oranges and put them in the jar with the tea a few hours before hand and it was delicious! I recommend trying it sometime. And although Presley didn't like the cake, her guests sure did! Nouveau Pastries did a fantastic job, as always! The cake was vanilla with strawberry filling and white chocolate cream cheese frosting! It is TO. DIE. FOR. Seriously! Jeremiah and I get it each year for our birthdays, so Presley had to have it for hers! I brought them a polka dot napkin for inspiration and they matched it perfectly.

We are guessing that Presley just doesn't like icing. See from the pictures below? She didn't want anything to do it. I even tried to feed the iced cake to her on a spoon. After we figured out that it might be the icing, we gave her a chunk of cake without it and it worked a little bit better! She ate a few bites and tried to feed us some too! It was so cute! But then after her little bit of cake, she was done partying and was ready for bed. I was so surprised at her not liking the cake. At every first birthday party I've ever been to, the baby is always covered in cake by the end. And it makes for some adorable pictures. Oh well! I guess there is always another birthday next year.


A huge THANK YOU to everyone for all of Presley's wonderful presents, but most of all for your wonderful presence at her party! We enjoyed it so much! =) Here's to the next great year!

Happy Father's Day!

As a family, we have some pretty awesome dads in our life! Jeremiah and I both are so thankful for them. Both my dad and his dad go above and beyond for us without asking or expecting anything in return. They are both so giving and caring.

I have so many great memories with my dad. From him doing my hair for kindergarten (and me telling him my ponytail wasn't straight enough or tight enough!) to him being the only one I would ride a roller coaster with (and I would hold on to his upper arm for dear life!) to him walking me down the aisle. My dad is at work for the next few weeks, so our celebration with him will have to be postponed. I love you dad!

Jeremiah's dad makes me feel like he loves me as much as he loves Jeremiah. Which is an awesome feeling to have with your in-laws, let me tell you! I know Jeremiah loves and admires his dad so much. I know he misses him dearly. I wish somehow Louisiana could be moved over closer to Florida, because they would get sick of us visiting! We love you Johnny!

Today is Jeremiah's second father's day. Last year, we had just brought home a brand new baby the day before, but we still had a cookout that day. How crazy are we, seriously? Today is just going to be low key, celebrating Jeremiah. He is the best dad to Presley. I love watching them together! I couldn't ask for a better man to be my partner in life or in raising children. =)

Happy Father's Day Jeremiah! Presley and I both love you so much!

Here are some vintage pictures of Presley and Daddy. Because pictures make every post better!

I hope all the fathers out there have a good day!

Presley at O N E !

happy post, happy post, happy post! That's what I keep telling myself over and over! It's a good thing that Presley is growing up! She is such a big girl now, doing things that my baby couldn't possibly do! ;)

Presley eats all table food now. And boy does she eat! This girl can down a whole waffle, piece of toast, grilled cheese, a few pancakes [!] or slice of pizza by herself. I've started getting her her own meal at restaurants, because picking off our plates just doesn't cut it now! Fruits and bread are still a favorite before veggies, but she's more apt to eat veggies if they are seasoned and spiced up. The apple must not fall far, because I'm the same way! ;) She LOVES chicken too! No matter how it's cooked. I've started mixing in whole milk with her two formula bottles. I tried to go straight to the sippy cup with whole milk, and she wanted nothing to do with it! So, at my mom's suggestion, we are slowly reintroducing it by ratios. You know 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula, then 1/2 milk 1/2 formula, etc. And when it's 100% cow milk, it's hello sippy cup, bye bye bottle!

We have T W O teeth now! Both on the bottom, right beside each other. Presley picked out a toothbrush today at the store to start really brushing. No more rubber-finger brush thing!

And we may have a walker SOON! Presley took 6 steps last night at my parents' house. It was so exciting! I can't wait to see her waddling around behind me. Or maybe that will be her running away from me! Ha ha! Right now, she is taking hold of just one finger and pretty much walks everywhere. I think she just lacks the confidence to go ahead and do it by herself. But she's getting braver and I'm sure she'll be doing it on her own soon enough. Man, Presley is BUSY! She is into everything these days. We have to shut the doors of every room and "lock" her into the living room because if not she'll be into something bad before you know it. And her hand-to-mouth reflex is lightening fast and I think it gets faster every day! ;)

ETA- Presley won't have her 12 month checkup with Dr. P until August when she'll be 14 months old. So I won't know her weight and length until then. But I might put her on the scale with me and measure her myself because I want to know how big she is now! She is wearing a definite size 3 shoe and 12-18 month clothes.

Happy FIRST Birthday Presley!

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much!

24 hours and counting

Oh my goodness, it's so crazy to think that this time last year Jeremiah and I were enjoying a night in by ourselves. I had been canceled from work, but had worked the previous night and slept all day. Since I wasn't tired, we stayed up all night talking about anything and everything. (good thing, because little did we know it was our last night as just a family of 2!) I had my 37 week appointment that morning at 8 am. If memory serves me correct, we had finally dozed off around 4 or 5 am. So, extremely tired, I waddled into the doctor's office with my extremely tired husband by my side and received the scariest news that changed our lives forever! Our July 7th baby would actually be a June 18th baby! =) This year has been the craziest, greatest year of my LIFE! I'm surprised we all 3 survived it!

I really want tomorrow to be HAPPY. So, I'm posting the sappy part tonight! I re-read Presley's birth story and cried. {You forget all of the little details that happen in life. It's so awesome to relive them (in my own words, no less) whenever I feel like it!} And Presley gave me the best present tonight....she fell asleep in my arms! She has put herself to sleep for a few months now and will not let you rock past her finishing the bottle. She passed out as soon as I put her pacifier in her mouth, so I just sat there loving on my baby. I eventually had to put her in the crib because I have a mountain of a to-do list before her party on Saturday.

& here is my one year letter to P.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my sweet Presley Grace,

You are such an amazing little girl! I never dreamed in a million years that I would have a daughter as wonderful as you. I never prepared myself for just how beautiful life could be when it is changed forever by the birth of a child. I always wanted to be a mom but, didn't realize just how much I would love this new life. You have made me the best mommy I could have ever hoped to be. You have completely changed me in every way possible for the better. You have made me more patient, kind, compassionate, grateful, understanding, hopeful...I could go on and on. I hope I can teach you half of the things that you have taught me about life.

Time is passing us by so quickly and I wish I could spend every minute soaking up your laughter and blowing kisses on your belly. It is so hard to believe that you will be one year old tomorrow! The moment you were placed on my chest for the first time will be forever imprinted on my heart. And it feels like it happened just yesterday! This past year has been nothing short of extraordinary. Watching you grow into your own little independent person has been mind boggling! Thank you so much for coming into my life and allowing me to be your mommy!

I love you!

The BEST Birthday Photo Shoot

So let me start with.....HOLY COW! By the end of this week, I will have a one YEAR old! I'm so excited that today starts Presley's birthday week, but I'm also a little sad. I have enjoyed this roller coaster year more than I ever thought possible. It's not fair that they grow up so fast. I feel like I blinked and Presley changed from my baby girl into an independent little lady.

Abbie Rolph was the wonderful photographer who took Presley's pictures. I can't sing her praises enough! She captured Presley's personality perfectly. The CD that she sent us has 222 pictures on it. Talk about hard decisions. ALL 222 of them are perfect! I'm not even exaggerating. It took me hours to pick these out to post on here. Lord help me when I get some of them printed to frame! ;) Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do. Well, I don't know if that's possible, being as it's my kid! :) But, anyway enjoy!









Presley was just DONE by the time the cake came along! We had been shooting for a good while and she was sleepy! So, Mommy learned her lesson for the party! =)

dropped.....in a good way!

Being the first time mother that I am, I had to google "How to wean a baby off bottles". Go ahead and have yourself a little chuckle because it is funny. Who does that, seriously? Aren't mothers just supposed to know how to do all baby related things? I'm sure back in the good ol' days mamas just knew right? Well, I'm glad that I'm a mom in the age of the internet. I don't think I could live without google!

Many different ideas about weaning a baby from a bottle popped up. And after looking at them, I decided to go with traditional weaning...taking away one bottle every few days until there are no more! This idea worked when we stopped breastfeeding, so I thought we'd give it a try with bottles too. (One of the ideas was to just quit bottles cold-turkey, but I don't think I could have dealt with the screaming for a bottle for a few days.)

Last Monday I dropped Presley's 4 pm bottle...as in got rid of it. She was still drinking 4 bottles a day then. She ate more dinner that night than I had ever seen her eat. I thought maybe it was just a coincidence that one time. But consistently she was eating more. So, Saturday I attempted to drop the 11 am bottle. We had a busy day that day and by 3 pm Presley was having a major meltdown. We were in JoAnn's Fabric store and when I got out the bottle and started shaking it, she went crazy! She lifted her arms high and started squealing really loudly! I guess she wanted that bottle!

Sunday and yesterday, I stuck to my guns and we only did a morning and bedtime bottle. I have been offering her snacks and her sippy cup more frequently in hopes that her tummy won't miss those bottles. She has her moments of mini-meltdowns, but overall she is doing good with the changes. I'm proud of her!

I bought some whole milk yesterday at the grocery store so we can start mixing it in with her formula. Oh, I almost forgot. I also bought the "next step" formula the last time I bought formula because of how much cheaper it was. $18 vs $25 for regular formula. The label says it's for 9-24 mo olds who eat solid foods. Well, Presley fits into that category, so I decided to give it a try. So far, so good!

So, next is to transition entirely to drinking milk out of a sippy cup. I know that the morning and bedtime bottles are the hardest to lose, the latter being extremely difficult to drop. Because it's comfort for them. Wish us luck! ;)

"Is that pee?"

Never had I said this phrase before becoming a mother!

But I couldn't tell if the liquid that soaked my lap when I got Presley out of the bathtub tonight was pee or not. It didn't smell like pee, but it also didn't really smell like her soapy bath water either.

So, I'm just going with NO. It's not pee.

How can it be?

that in just TWO super short weeks, Presley will be a year old? I know I sound like a broken record, but gosh it's flown by!

I have a massive to-do list that needs crossing off before her party. The count down begins tomorrow. I'm going to a craft store in Pensacola to buy the things I need to start making the crafts. Party related tasks are going to be easy to cross off! It's the cleaning related tasks that I'll be procrastinating with! Ha ha!

Isn't this just to die for? It is one of my many craft projects!

We took Presley's one year pictures. I can't wait to see them! I should have the CD of all of the photos by the end of next week and I'll post some then. Abbie Rolph of Seales Photography took them. She came highly recommended by my mommy friend Sarah. We loved working with Abbie. I'll do a separate post on her photography when I do the pictures.....because she deserves tons of praise! =)