Our adorable giraffe...aka Presley on Halloween!

Presley's first Halloween was a success! Everybody had such a great time. We got Presley dressed in some warm clothes and then put on her giraffe costume...got a few pics and she was out like a light. She feel asleep without being rocked or sucking her paci, which NEVER happens people. So she was definitely warm and toasty AND exhausted. Three out of the four pictures posted...she's sleeping in!

Kameron was a GI Joe, Jaden was a (fire-breathing) dragon and Kole was a witch. But not just any witch, a good witch! We drove the kids over to some friends houses' first and then we went walking around the neighborhood. I left Presley with Jeremiah instead of taking her with the other kiddos, because honestly there would have been no point to it. She was so hungry and tired that traipsing her around the street in an animal outfit would have been just cruel. So stay home with her Daddy she did!

One last cute picture:

What a difference a year makes...

This is what Jeremiah and I woke up to one year ago today-

And this is what we woke up to today-

I wouldn't have believed you last year if you told me that I was going to have beautiful daughter and a wonderful husband by this time. Well, the wonderful husband part I already had....but not the daughter! I never thought I could love someone so wholeheartedly. When I think back on all of the issues with my pregnancy and the parvo virus exposure and how there was a chance, albeit a small one, that we could lose the baby we had never met, I think about how incredibly blessed we are! We have had one crazy, roller coaster of emotions kind of year, but all in all I wouldn't trade it for anything!

rolling, rolling, rolling

Ladies and Gentlemen.....Presley rolled over for the first time today! Yay! She's such a big girl! Who knows if she'll start doing this all of the time or not! These are some pictures that our friend Karri took. Here they are in succession!


and TADA! she's done!

Presley at Four Months!

FOUR months....that's 1/3 of the year! Yikes! This is going by way too fast! Can we please slow it down a little? Presley wore a festive shirt in honor of Halloween coming up. I told her we didn't have to do that, but she insisted. I'm raising quite the little fashionista, no?! ;) But she is mighty cute in it! And she is wearing blue jeans for the first time. Too cute! They were a gift from her Aunt Karri and she loves them!

I know I'm 5 days late in posting this, but at least I'm within a week! We had her 4 month checkup and shots today. She weighs 12 1/2 lbs and is 24 1/4 inches long! She is slowing down in the weight department and shooting ahead in the length. She grew 3 inches in one month! Dr. P wasn't too concerned about her weight...she is gaining steadily and that's all that matters. Presley did really good with her 2 shots. She cried for about 5 minutes and then was done! I gave her some Tylenol beforehand, so maybe that helped!

Presley now reaches for toys at midline...which is fancy-schmancy talk for if you put a toy in front of her face, she will reach for it! She also is starting to bring every toy to her mouth and give it some sugar! She is still drooling like CRAZY and sucking on those fists! She most recently found out that her thumb detaches from the rest of her fingers and she can nibble on it separately. I tell her that we can't do that and take away her thumb and put her paci in her mouth! She promptly responds by spitting her paci out and sticking that thumb back in! She's a smidge defiant!!

She is laughing at us more when we talk or act funny! Her laugh is just the sweetest thing and of course, we can't get it on video because she has a radar that tells her to stop doing whatever she was doing when we bring it out! No rolling over yet...but she's getting there. She likes tummy time a little more and she is pushing up to see what is around her. I think she'll be rolling within the next few weeks. She's kind of wobbly when we sit her up...so we have to assist her still. But, all in due time she'll figure these things out!

pumpkin patch!

My mind can't believe it is fall, but my body sure can. It was FREEZING outside today when we went to the pumpkin patch...hence the breakout of the jackets! So we didn't get any cute pictures with Presley's adorable onesie that said "My First Halloween". Hopefully we can look back on these pictures and realize that it was Presley's first pumpkin patch experience...hopefully being the key word! Presley picked out her own pumpkin to have (see photos 1 and 2). In the second one, she is trying to look at it! She kept getting closer and closer to it. I thought she was going to try and chew on it! She probably would have at least drooled on it! :) Jaden was such a good baby-holder. He held onto her tight and she sat up good for him! I was impressed on both their parts!

Tomorrow is a big day....Kole's 3rd birthday party and Presley is FOUR months old! =)

talking to her birdie

Presley LOVES her bouncy seat! Here she is talking to the bird that is on it. She sounds like a cat and it is the most precious sound ever! She starts talking and gets louder and louder. I don't know who she gets that from! ;) Jeremiah, I think! Ha ha! Enjoy the cute video...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. There hasn't really been anything going on lately! Just the day to day working and taking care of our family. We were supposed to go to a corn maze this past Saturday, but by the time we got there, it was closed. Hopefully we can go this weekend. I also want to take Presley to a pumpkin patch and get some pictures of her picking out a pumpkin. Ok so it will more likely be me picking out the pumpkin and sitting Presley next to it for a picture, but still, it will be a memory! Other than that, Presley is growing like a little weed...she'll be FOUR months old on Sunday.

first boo boo

Here is Presley's first boo boo that she has ever gotten....well, that left a mark at least! Ha ha! I've accidentally dropped the phone on her head while feeding her! I can't believe I actually just admitted that! I'm good Mommy other than being clumsy, I swear!

But today's incident was not my fault! Our nephew Kameron was trying to calm her down while I was changing her diaper. He was holding a book over her head talking to her about it, and it was working until he dropped it on her head! Poor thing let out this blood curdling scream and I knew she was definitely hurt. Poor Kameron was so sorry...he kept telling Presley "I didn't mean too"! He's so sweet! He gave her a kiss and told her he was sorry! When all the redness went away, I noticed that that stinkin' book left a mark on my baby! So here it is in all it's glory!

cuteness overload :)

Here are some pictures I took of Miss Priss today! She's getting to be such a big girl! I know, I know...I say that every post, but I seriously can't believe my baby will be 4 months old in 2 weeks! Ahhhh! Where does the time go?

Presley was trying to eat her shirt in the second picture, but she couldn't quite get it up to her mouth! So she settled for smiling at Mommy and drooling! You would think that she is cutting teeth already, by the way she drools CONSTANTLY! If we don't keep a bib on her, that sweet liquid sugar just comes pouring out all over the cute outfit Mommy picked out! As one of our friend's little boy put it "she's bubbling over"!

Presley's first mini vacation!

Presley had her first out of town excursion last weekend to Panama City Beach. My parents own a timeshare there and we all went down for a quick get away. She was such a good girl! We went down to the beach late Saturday afternoon and she sat under a shade canopy in her bouncy seat and slept a little bit and then enjoyed the scenery! The next day, Presley and I stayed in the nice, cool condo when everyone else went down to the beach again. We both took a little cat nap! And then later on that afternoon we went to the kids pool and Presley sat in one of the chairs with her Papaw. Isn't she so cute sitting in her seat with her hat on like a big girl?

I really wanted to take her into the pool, but by the time we brought her down there, the water was too cold. I would like to take her to the beach again before the warm weather fades away, so we can dip her toes into the water! I think she's really going to like the beach in the Spring time, when she's older and can actually enjoy it.

We went out to eat at The Treasure Ship on Sunday night and our niece and nephews loved it! There was a pirate who came around and talked to them and made balloon animals. Presley really enjoyed it...she slept through the entire thing! Ha ha! We left on Monday to come back home. It was a short trip, and we really enjoyed ourselves, but I think we will save the big vacation get away for when Presley is a little bit older!

Presley at Three Months!

WOW! Look at this big girl! Look at that double chin! Ha ha! She is definitely getting some fat on her now. It's about time! I added the pictures of Presley at each month to the right side of the page for everyone to see her at different months and how she's grown. The picture labeled "Brand New" was one we took as soon as we got home from the hospital...so 2 days old technically.

Presley can now suck on her fists, reach out for things (and occasionally grab them!), blow some bubbles, drool like CRAZY, and coo/babble a bit. She has only laughed out loud a few times and it is just precious when she does it! I can't wait for her to start laughing and talking more...of course then we'll wish she has an "off" button to push! ;) She got weighed today and the grand total was.......11 lbs, 5 oz. That is 19 ounces gained in 17 days! YAY PRESLEY! I'm so proud of her! :)

We also went on our first "play date" today with a new friend named Piper. She's too cute and I think Miss Presley and Miss Piper are going to be great friends! Of course now their play dates consist of them sitting in their carseats sleeping and Mommies eating lunch and talking! But that will change soon enough! There will come a day, very soon, when I won't be able to contain Presley in one spot!

WiLd hAiR!

Presley definitely has her daddy's hair! LOL! It is slightly wavy when it's dry, but it gets super curly after a bath, as evidenced in the pictures above! It's turning a lighter color too! Maybe Miss Priss will have blonde hair like her Mama! ;)

And of course she's doing her favorite thing as of late...eating her fists!

Presley and her Moby!

i L.O.V.E. wearing my baby! And clearly Presley loves being worn! Ha ha! We went walking the other day and she completely fell asleep right in her Moby wrap. I just adore the picture of her all snuggled up to me! I cherish these moments, because I know that there will come a day when she will be too busy to be cuddled with and loved on. :(

playtime

Here are some pictures of today's playtime! Presley did not like it at first, but after Daddy got down with her and played too, she LOVED it! The gym was a hand me down from her cousin Kole, and she loved it when she played with it as a baby too. The first picture caught Presley on film doing her newest trick.....chewing her fists! She discovered them (I say them, but I mean her left hand mainly!) about 2 or 3 days ago and hasn't let up since! The last two pictures show off Presley's newest onesie! Isn't it adorable? We got it at my friend's store in Mississippi when we went to visit! Her store is just adorable and she's working on getting her stuff online, and here is her site: www.soverymary.com

details, details...

Since I have gotten many requests on the mommy message board I go to, I am posting about how I created the letters for Presley's name and the bird artwork.

NAME- I got 6 in. wooden circles from Walmart, back in their craft section. Each one was around $1, I think. I painted them light pink. Then I just printed out the letters from word on my computer, cut them out and traced them onto the wood. (You have to resize them to something crazy like 400-ish to make them big enough!) Then painted the actual letter white.

I hot glued the ribbon to the back to hang them. I also put some hot glue on the bow to keep it from pulling out when I hung the letter up. The flower is just cut from foam and hot glued to the top of the nail, after we hung them to cover it up.

ARTWORK- I bought some blank canvases, also from Walmart's craft section. Then painted them which ever color I wanted. The birds are cut from scrapbook paper which I found at Michael's. I used spray adhesive to attach them to the canvases. Then I just added all the details with some puff paint and that's it!

Hope this helps everyone! I was so excited to have all of Presley's artwork be completely custom from her Mommy and Nana! They were all made out of LOVE!

NURSERY!

Well, after 11.5 weeks, Presley FINALLY has a completed nursery! The furniture didn't arrive until after she did. And since we did not know if Sweet Pea was a girl or boy, we didn't really have specific things picked out for the nursery. But when Presley made her debut and was in fact, a GIRL!, I decided to do a "bird/nature" theme. I had so much fun decorating her room for her! Every detail was meticulously planned for Presley! ALL of the artwork, except for the tree and the quote above her crib, was made by me and/or my Mom. We even did the letters for her name! I LOVE everything about this beautiful room!

2.2.2

Presley is 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old today! I thought that was so cool! Our baby is growing up so fast. She'll be a teenager before we know it!

Here are some pictures from today. She got some new bows and headbands to wear and she was super excited about it! Ha ha! Isn't she so cute? Ok so the angle on the flower pic is not that great....but it looks cute in person, I promise! ;)

Mr. Funny Face

Presley LOVES this crazy toy! It is one of her favorites! It is a hand-me-down toy from either Jaden or Kole, but she doesn't care...she loves as if it were her very own! The huge red nose squeeks as do the hearts and the stars jingle. They get her attention every time! She can be doing tummy time, which she very much does NOT enjoy, but she'll turn her head to see where all the noise is coming from! I call it Mr. Funny Face, but who knows what she'll end up calling it!

great benefits!

Ha ha! Isn't this so cute! I think it is absolutely true!

Last Mommy & Me group =(

Today was the last day Presley and I attended our Mommy & Me group. It's a group for well, mommies and babies!! We all get together and give advice, vent, cry, laugh, whatever we need to do! It was such a good thing for us to be able to go to and I wish we could continue to do so. But I start work next week and my schedule just won't allow us to go. So I'm pretty sad about it! Oh well, I have a few of the girls phone numbers, so maybe we can just keep in touch privately. Because the advice of a seasoned mother is INVALUABLE, I tell ya!!

I also posted the newest pictures of Miss Priss! We took them on Sunday after church. I think she is the most adorable baby on earth, but then again, I'm a little partial!

OH, I almost forgot! Presley always gets weighed at the group and today she weighed..........
10 lbs 2oz!! Yay Presley! 15 oz in 15 days....that's perfect weight gain!