Family, Food and Fun!

We are back! & had such a great time visiting family in Louisiana! Presley was such a good little traveling partner.

We left Friday morning at 6 am. I thought she would go back to sleep when we got in the car because it was dark and she was in jammies with a paci....but no such luck. She played with her toys and listened to music until we stopped for breakfast about 8:30. We stayed for about an hour and let her run around for a bit. Then we hit the trail again and didn't stop until lunch at 12:45. We ate at McAlister's Deli which took another hour. We finally pulled up to the Petty compound around 3 pm. 7 hours road time isn't bad for traveling with a 14 month old!

Saturday night we went to Jeremiah's aunt's house and had yummy pizza and got to see (almost) his whole family on his mom's side. I just love these folks! We haven't seen them in 2 years. So naturally, we stayed after dinner for a long time...way past Presley's bedtime. At 10 pm, I was like ok, we really have to go now. Normally Miss P is asleep around 7:30 or 8....9 at the absolute latest. Poor thing fell asleep as soon as she hit the car seat! But, we had such fun catching up with everybody and Presley fell right in line with all of her cousins playing and following them around! It was so cute!

This is Jeremiah and his cousin Leslie They haven't seen each other in like, 10 years. It was so nice to meet her and her adorable kiddos on Sunday afternoon!

Jeremiah's half- brother and his family came over Sunday afternoon too. I'm not really fond of that term, so we'll just say one of Jeremiah's brothers, mmkay? Anywho, these set of Pettys are fabulous too! Jennifer is my only sister in law and she is so sweet. Although we don't get to see them for years at a time, they always make us feel like we just saw them! Except for their boys, Nick and Adam getting so big. Nick is almost as tall as I am and only 13! I think he'll have Jeremiah's height. Hey, somebody's got to! ;)

Presley enjoying a watermelon snack one afternoon!

I love that the only picture of all 5 of us is at a pizza place! Ha! But at least it's the best pizza ever! It's Johnny's Pizza House & I HIGHLY recommend the "sweep the kitchen" (minus the anchovies). It's seriously delicious and if you're up for the long drive, it's worth it! :)


Our crazy child is such a daredevil! She loves anything that would seem scary to the normal person! She has NO fear. Her is her Mammaw pulling her on a blanket. She kept wanting us to do it over and over again. Why do things never bore children?

See that face? Pure happiness! =)

We just relaxed all day on Monday and went and ate pizza (at Johnny's of course! Hey, don't judge us. We only get it once every few years!) Then we headed back home at 7 pm. It was easier for us to do this versus leaving at 3 am on Tuesday morning and trying to rush back for me to go to work Tuesday night. Presley did great on this trip too. Granted she was only awake for a few hours of it! We were still full from pizza later, but we did stop and feed Presley around 9 and put her jammies on and brushed her teeth (I'm sure that was super funny to watch us do with a bottle of water sitting in a gas station parking lot!). Then it was smooth sailing all the way to Florida. We were exhausted after such a whirlwind trip but we wouldn't trade it for anything! We miss everyone terribly and love y'all so much!

14 months

Well here we are at another "month-day" post. I know I just updated everyone on what Presley's been doing lately, but there are a few things I forgot about. She can play peek a boo with you. She covers her little eyes (or nose, whatever she can reach!) with her little hands and then lets go with gusto. Of course you have to say "where's Presley?" and then "peek a boo!". But she definitely understands the game. Presley has also been blowing her food lately. As in how you would blow something that is hot before you put it in your mouth. It's really funny!

Food wise, everything is still the same.....all table food, whole milk, no bottles, etc. She is actually a pretty good little eater. (I'm waiting for the shoe to drop on this one.)

So this is kind of a quick post because I don't have much to say. And we are headed to Louisiana tomorrow for a family visit! It will be the first time Presley is meeting most of Jeremiah's family. So we are leaving super early in the morning and I need to finish loading the car and get myself in bed! I'll post tons of pictures soon!

one year checkup...a little late!

Well, today went better than I thought it would. Presley took her 2 shots like a champ! She was actually already fussing when I laid her down so that turned into all out bawling when she got poked. But that was better than her being happy and smiling at me then screaming when she got poked. By the time I got her dressed and we went to pay, she had stopped completely. That was such a relief let me tell you! Here are her battle wounds:

So, at (almost) 14 months Presley weighs 20.4 lbs and is 29.5 inches long. Her length and head circumference are in the 50% for her age while her weight is in the 25%. This has been her norm since birth so I'm ok with that. At least she's consistent.

Presley is right on track with milestones and development. Which is such a blessing. I decided to skip the 15 mo shot visit and just bundle it with her 18 mo checkup since we were late getting in for her one year visit. So that means no more doctors until December! (hopefully)

lots of littles

This is pretty much a catch up post. I just get sick of labeling them "updates" all the time. Not too much has been happening lately, but there are a few new things that Presley is doing.

~Recently Presley has started helping me undress herself. When I am undressing her for a bath, she picks at her clothes until I take them off and then literally steps out of the clothes, one foot at a time! Yesterday morning after breakfast she was playing in the floor and I sat down with a fresh diaper and her clothes. I told her to come here and let's get dressed. She marched her little self right over and plopped down and then laid back, ready for me to do my job! I was pretty impressed!

~Presley can now blow kisses for real. She was just putting her mouth up to her palm and holding it there. Well, now she can let go and she makes the little "muah" noise with it! So cute!

~She is saying bath now and just gibbering more overall. When I get her up in the mornings and from naps, she takes out her pappy and puts it on the crib rail and says bye bye and waves to it. Ha ha!

~She also stomps her feet really fast into the ground. Not when she's mad, but excited. It's pretty funny to watch. It looks like she dancing to that song "she's a manic, manic I know. and she's dancing like she's never danced before". :)

~Presley loves looking up at the light and pointing to it when you ask her about it. She can also flip the switch on and off now. That's fun, let me tell you. To have to let her do it every time you walk past one. (Sense the sarcasm here?)

~NEW TOOTH! I can't believe I forgot about this one. This is definitely a big update! I can't tell if it's a canine or incisor but, it's on the top left. & she has a top right one that should be coming in any day now. Then she'll have vampire fangs! Too bad it's not Halloween right now!

We finally have Presley's one year checkup tomorrow morning with Dr. P. So I'll post her weight, height, etc when we get back from the appointment. She also has to get shots :( Ugh, it's gonna be AWFUL! It was one thing when she was little bitty and could get over it as soon as I picked her up. But now, she is totally aware of what's going on. I can just see her sweet face looking up at me, not knowing what's about to hit her. Oh I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

Not really a goodbye

My friend Jessica is moving to Virginia. :( I am really happy for her and her hubby. But I'm not going to lie, I'm super sad for myself. Not that I see her every week but, losing the possibility of seeing her each week...stinks. We met in nursing school and when you endure something that insane, well, it kinda bonds you! Jessica is honestly one of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life. She would do anything for you and she is as beautiful inside as she is out. She hosted my first baby shower and is just such a special friend. I'm going to miss her! She came over tonight and we went to dinner (girls night out! yay!) and then we came back to my house and played with Presley for a bit. We took a picture together and when I uploaded it to the computer I started looking at old pictures of us. So I decided to post some. Hope she doesn't mind....what am I talking about she's gorgeous in every one, so she better not mind! ;)

This was the only way we could get Presley to cooperate...with a book in her hand!

Presley looks like she has a toupee on! Ha ha!

Baby shower! Wow...crazy swolleness of pregnancy!

At a friend's wedding right after we graduated. Not sure if we were so happy for our friend or to be done with nursing school! Probably BOTH! ;)

Us rocking out in beautiful DC.

Thank you Jessica for being such a great friend to me AND my family! I know it's not "goodbye", but a "see ya soon". Good luck, miss you and love ya girl!

daddy's girl

Presley is going through a hard-core daddy's girl "phase". I say the word phase with great hope and anticipation that she will one day return to loving mommy! Ha ha! No, I know that she loves me, she just very much prefers daddy to do everything for her right now. Like this morning, when I went to get her out of her crib, she started yelling and ran away from me. Normally she is smiling and waving and reaching out for me to get her. Today was the complete opposite. And I'm not going to lie, it hurt my heart a little bit. =( I really try to not let it bother me. I know that she's only 13 months and that what she wants changes on a regular basis. I just have a hard time remembering that when I'm in the moment.

bath time chronicles

Here are some super cute pictures of Presley that I took last night at bath time. I think it shows our experience every night pretty well. It's a constant battle of making her sit down, trying to stop her from climbing out of the tub or onto the faucet head. I'm not going to lie, it's a little exhausting! But I'll miss it someday, right? ;)

{This was right after me making her sit down! Ha ha!}

you spin me right round

Here is Presley doing her latest trick as of last night. She just started spinning in the middle of the floor. Jeremiah and I started laughing, so then she started laughing in return! It was so funny, I had to video it. By the time this one was shot, she had started to get really clumsy and began falling down everywhere. Which in turn, made it even funnier! Ha! Nothing like laughing at your kids! ;) & don't mind the clothes everywhere...it was laundry day!

Gulfarium

Before you go any further....please shield your eyes from the horrible quality of my ancient camera! Seriously, it's awful! But I have to take pictures and post them, so bear with me. Maybe Santa will bring me a new camera for Christmas. hint, hint Jeremiah! ;)

Ok, on to your regularly scheduled post! We played tourists and went to the Gulfarium yesterday. At 12:30 pm. In the blazing heat. Yes, we are dumb! We had a good time minus the suffocating heat that we endured for 3 1/2 hours. I am glad we didn't have to buy a ticket for Presley because we would have not gotten our money's worth out of that child! ;) She watched the multi-species show (dolphins and sea lions) for about 10 minutes. Then I had to stand up and rock/bounce her because she was restless.

She liked looking at the penguins, sharks and sea turtles, but again for only a few seconds. When we watched the big dolphin show, which is the highlight of the park, Presley just sat in Daddy's lap, munched on her grapes and played with a water bottle! Oh well, at least it kept her occupied for a short while! By the time the other sea lion show ended we were so exhausted that we got an icee and headed indoors to eat it. I haven't had one of those in years, but I would have gladly paid twice the money for that thing just because it was cold and had some caffeine! Anyway, the Gulfarium is really cool to see, just not in the Florida summer at lunchtime with a 13 month old!

Daddy and Presley in front of the dolphin tank.

All of the kiddos by a coral reef rock. In horrible shadows, no less.

This is either Ariel, Delilah, or Lily peering out of the tank. I wish I could have gotten a better shot. It was awesome to be so close to her. An employee was standing beside us throwing a ball up against the window and she was trying to get it!

Presley Pop in front of a painted wall inside. There are huge murals everywhere, it's quite amazing!

Kameron showing off his new airbrush "tattoo"! I told him to look tough and this was his interpretation! HA! ;)

Kyle, the sea lion, held a fish in his mouth and (I can't remember) the dolphin
jumped up and ate it. It was neat!

Jaden and Kole acting SILLY as usual!

Presley DONE with it all! & Mommy and Daddy looking crazy tired!

-AND-

I had to include this photo of us this morning before church because it shows Presley's other dress I got from Castles and Crowns. I should have turned her around so everyone could see it. I has pink octopuses on the neckline! Too adorable!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!