the day before

***We’re going to pretend that this is Monday, November 5th, ok?!!!***

         my last belly pic :(

• How far along?  36 weeks and 6 days
• Total weight gain:  40 lbs…the last 6 lbs were put on in a week due to fluid gain! yikes!
• Maternity clothes? everything that I wear!
• Stretch marks? none
• Sleep: eh…
• Best moment this week: my doctors appointment (which I will elaborate on below)
• Miss Anything? being able to do anything without getting out of breath
• Movement: all of the time, more so at night. and sweet girl has daily hiccups
• Food cravings: still chicken strips from Whataburger
• Food aversions: none
• Gender: GIRL! :)
• Labor Signs: contractions everyday
• Belly Button in or out? in
• Wedding rings on or off? off. I’m wearing my Target cheap-o band.

random views of the bump for the last time

My last night of work was Halloween night and it was CRAZY busy. About 4 or 5 am I started feeling really bad. I had a horrible headache, was dizzy and just felt like crap. So I took my blood pressure and it was 160s/100s. and I took it multiple times. My coworkers tried to get me to go down to triage, but I had too much work to do still, so I just tried to sit as much as possible and chug water. I had my 36 week OB appointment later that morning so I knew that I would be checked out soon.

My BP was still extremely high and I had “cankles” up to my knees! Dr. D sent me to triage to be monitored for a few hours and if my BP didn’t come down, we were having a baby THAT day!!!! EEEEEEEK! I was so nervous! After working for 3 nights in a row and being sweaty and stinky, the last thing I wanted to do was labor a baby! Thankfully, my BP did come down after some rest and fluids. But Dr. D wanted me to come back on Monday night to  be induced!!!

It’s a GIRL!

I know this is old news but I still wanted to put it on the blog to remember! When we had our 20 week ultrasound 2 days before our 6th wedding anniversary, we decided to just have the ultrasound tech print out a picture of the gender and put it in an envelope. Then we went to dinner on our anniversary night and opened the envelope after dessert.  Then a few weeks later we went to dinner with my parents and his mom and step dad. Then came back to our house and cut the cake to see that it had a PINK middle!

Everyone was really surprised that it was a girl. Presley and Kole were disappointed, to say the least. Kole almost cried that it wasn’t a boy. Ha! I really didn’t expect the two girls to act like that. I thought they would be happy to have another girl on their side.

Aren’t these shirts so cute? I’m so excited to be having a girl! (Not that I wouldn’t have loved to have a baby boy…maybe someday!) I can’t wait to dress my girls alike. And see them playing together. I hope they become best friends for life. :)

When we went to the ultrasound appointment this week, we asked the tech to look again and make sure that she was really a she. “definitely a girl” was what she said when she scanned me!

Presley is three!

I can’t believe that my sweet little 6 1/2 pound baby turned three today. We enjoyed the day at the Gulfarium and then came home to blow out candles! Her party details are coming later this week, I’m just too exhausted to post it now!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, smart, funny, talented little mini-Me! I love you SO much!

a walkin’ punkin’

We went on our first walk with Presley out of a stroller a few weekends ago. We have this great walking trail right by our house that leads to a creek one way and to a park the other way. I don’t know why we don’t use it more often!

Anyway, Presley wanted us to carry her at first. She said that the cars would come run her over and she would have a boo boo. Poor thing, I guess the trail resembles a road because it’s paved! After a lot of promising that we wouldn’t let a car run her over, she decided she could walk. She was pretty brave looking out over the rail at the water.

 

Then of course, she couldn’t walk home because her shoes were hurting her feet. Presley had decided earlier that she wasn’t going to wear socks with these new shoes. She won both times….not having to wear the socks and not having to walk home! ;)

first day of "tool time"

Presley had a good first day of school! I had worked the night before, but I went to my mom's so I could get P ready and go with my mom to take her. I didn't want to miss her first morning! I took her picture with a sign stating what milestone it was. Because I love to do that...as evidenced by her first year of life! ;)

She was pretty excited to go and only whimpered when I had to put her down to sign her in. Then I went over to the toys and started showing her things and she got distracted. I just got up and went out the door. Then I thought "oh no I didn't tell her bye. She's going to think I abandoned her and I'm never coming back. She's going to be so distraught!" I wanted to go back in and hug her one more time and tell her bye. But my mom said that definitely wasn't a good idea, and she was right. Presley was fine! I kept peeking in the window and she was still playing. I think it also helped to be distracted by the three other little girls running around! [I totally shed a few tears at that moment. I kinda felt like a dork, but you know what I am her mom and I deserved to cry anytime I want!] Miss Tory said none of the girls ever got upset that day. Presley even said tonight that she wanted to go play at "tool time" again tomorrow, so hopefully it goes well again. I was pretty impressed that she did so good. It was her first time completely being away from our family!

Miss Tory also handed out this sweet poem to all of the mama's. Definitely didn't help with the tears! :) It was a really sweet gesture though!

The First Day
I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You've been with her
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave her at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I'll love her as I would my own
And help her learn and grow.
For as a parent, I too know
How quickly the years do pass
And that one day soon it will be my turn
To take my child to class.
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love him and take her in
When you leave him at my door.

Anniversary trip

For our anniversary this year, we decided it was time for a get away! I, well we both, really wanted to go back to St. Lucia, but it just wasn't in our budget right now. So we settled for going back to where we went on our honeymoon, Indian Shores. It's right between St. Petersburg and Clearwater. We really enjoyed going back to places that we went to 5 years before; it was pretty nostalgic!

We left Wednesday night and got there Thursday around 3:30 am I think. So obviously we slept in that morning...who are we kidding we didn't get up any morning earlier than 9!! We went to Walmart for a few groceries because our room had a mini kitchen. Which I loved because we saved money by eating lunch there a few days. But we watched some TV and movies that afternoon then went to eat at the Salt Rock Grill for dinner. It was delicious steak and seafood, even better than I remembered. Isn't this a lovely photo? Ha ha! With junk all over the bed! It was raining that night and I'm pretty sure I remember that it rained on the night we went on our honeymoon! Weird!

On Friday morning we woke up to this.

Great weather for a vacation! We actually didn't mind too much! We went to Tampa to meet my friend from nursing school, Amber. We met her at the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy cheesecake and then went shopping at the International Plaza. It's a crazy big 2 story mall that has restaurants on the outside of the mall building and they all have open seating outside. It looks like a chic nightclub...way cooler than anything Pensacola would have!

Then Jeremiah and I headed back to go shopping and eat at John's Pass Boardwalk. It's kinda like Pensacola's Boardwalk. Just a bunch of shops and restaurants. We ate at Bubba Gump's....they have the most yummy seafood! I just recently found out that there's one in Destin. Do yourself a favor and go eat there! :) I think we had seafood every day we were there! And I found the old picture of us in front of the same sign at the boardwalk!

Saturday morning we woke up to much sunnier skies. We went to lunch at Frenchy's, a little beach bum place that has the best grouper sandwich on Earth! And then relaxed in the pool and at the beach. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the beach on a nice day. South Florida sand is so much different than ours. It's like a finer grain and it kinda feels like Moon Sand that's impossible to shape! I much prefer our sugar white fluffy sand!

J at Frenchy's...I promise we actually did talk to each other on our trip. I actually think it's the most we've talked in the last 2 years! I know we'll look back on this time of hectic parenting with great memories and wish our baby was still little. But it's nice to get away with just each other and reconnect without a sippy cup flying by my head or hearing "Mommy" screamed at me 25 times in two seconds!

And of course no trip would be complete without a dessert stop! It's the Candy Kitchen and it's wall to wall sweets! My Heaven! The store is not much bigger than what you see on the right. They make their own fudge, ice cream and italian ice. They also have every kind of candy bar, sucker, cotton candy, hard candy (well you get the idea) that you could think of! So that was our treat Saturday afternoon! And then we went to see Transformers in IMAX 3D that night. I was a little skeptical especially with the $46 price tag for 2 tickets and popcorn and drinks. But it was awesome! I'm glad we splurged on it!

Sunday morning we packed it all up and headed home. We missed Presley like crazy but I'm pretty sure the feeling wasn't reciprocated! ;) She LOVES spending time at her Nana and PawPaw's house with everyone! We skyped with her a couple of times so she could see and hear us. I know she missed us, but I'm glad she didn't ever get upset over being away from us.

THANK YOU so much Mama for keeping P for us! We couldn't have made this trip without you! Love you!

Presley's Party Party!

We had Presley's Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party today! She had a blast! :) We had all of her little friends over to play in the sweltering hot backyard! I think everyone had a good time and no one melted, but next year, I've already decided we are definitely having a swim party!

I'm sure not everyone cares about the details, but I'll just jot down a few for my memories and for any family that wants to know!

*you can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger*

Food- pb&j sandwiches, hot dogs, pasta salad, chips, goldfish (those make the party ya know!), marshmallow pops, "2" cookies, fruit kabobs and funfetti cupcakes w/marshmallow fluff icing! Yum! The cupcakes had some of the Yo Gabba Gabba characters on them.

Fun- water table (thanks Nana & PawPaw!), bubble machine, & new swing set (thanks Meemaw for helping out with that!)

Friends that came- Piper, Emmy, John Parker & Anna. Isla couldn't make it and we sure missed her!


Once again I couldn't have pulled this off without our family's help! Jeremiah woke up sick today. Isn't that how it always goes? But poor thing didn't get out of bed until 4:30 PM! So my wonderful Dad came over and cut the grass this morning. And my wonderful Mom had already done a ton of stuff outside of today (she made the scrumptious cookies!) plus she saved me some much needed time by going to the store for last minute stuff. Our wonderful friend Karri came over super early (and she worked last night) and made the fruit kabobs and iced the cupcakes! My wonderful brother grilled all the food! And then Jeremiah's wonderful mom helped clean up my messy kitchen! WOW! What great family! Presley is definitely so blessed to be surrounded my people that love her so much! =) A gigantic thank you to all of them! We love you guys!

Presley's shirt had Foofa on it...her favorite character! She was so excited to get to wear "fafa"! Unfortunately I didn't get one shot with the front of her shirt. Oh well, I'm sure it's not the last time Presley wears that shirt!

Thank you to everyone who came! We enjoyed the afternoon so much!

pictures I forgot

I meant to put these in the previous post, but they were in another folder on the computer and I forgot them. Vicky took all of these and they turned out great! So here they are.

Hoping Kole would give her some watermelon!Love this one!

I love this picture too! She looks like she's going "oh no!" to Pappaw wearing her bow.

Tickling Pappaw's beard!

Much better the second time around!

Happy Mother's day to everyone! I know not everyone is a mother but in my opinion everyone has loved a child in their life like a mother would. Whether it be a niece, nephew, friend, neighbor, or even a child at work. It's hard work to love children sometimes! :)

Today was much different than last year, my first Mother's Day. We woke up and ate blueberry waffles, watched a church sermon from the internet and then Presley and I napped! (glorious!) We met my mom, brother and the kids at Blackwater Bistro for some scrumptious lunch after that. We were in a room by ourselves at the restaurant so it was nice to be able to be loud and talk. With four kids it's difficult to be quiet!

My sweet sweet husband and daughter got me the most wonderful gifts! The necklace is from The Vintage Pearl. I picked it out but the book was a complete surprise. I have wanted it for a while and can't wait to start reading it. I hope it will bring great insight! :)

The necklace is just beautiful! I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted just a P or her whole name, but I think her name is really pretty, what can I say, I'm partial! So I went with the entire thing. I figure if I ever have a boy I'd probably just get his initial since that seems a little more manly! And complete side note- but the top picture is bothering me! It is supposed to be horizontal but stupid blogger won't turn it that way. I've tried 3 times to fix it and it won't work! So you guys are just going to have to look at it sideways!

I'm so grateful for the 3 mothers that Jeremiah and I have in our lives....my mom, his mom and his bonus mom! They are all so wonderful! We celebrated with Jeremiah's mom last night by eating some yummy catfish. & we will have all next weekend to celebrate with his bonus mom because they are coming for a visit! YAY! We can't wait!

Hope y'all have had a great day!

mid-month sayings

I think if I wait any longer to write these things down, I will forget them! So at 22 1/2 months Presley is doing the following~

Presley is saying "I'd soddy" when she does something wrong. It's really sweet. However now she thinks that gives her freedom to hit someone then say I'm sorry. Ummm....it definitely doesn't work that way! Sometimes she'll just randomly say "I'd soddy Mommy" when we are playing with toys. Hmmm, maybe she just thinks it's another word? Oh well, it's a start.

Presley also says "thank Mommy" or "thank Daddy" for thank you.

She says "awwee" for cute things. When I put her hair up, she wants to look at it in the mirror and then says "awwee!" and smiles. It is so adorable! She also says it when looking at babies or hugging some of her stuffed animals.

Yo Gabba Gabba is her favorite TV show and they always have a band come on and sing a song. When the band is done, they say 'listening to music is awesome!' Presley says "ausome" with them. And she randomly say "ausome" at different times of the day! Ha ha!

Presley says "skew me" for excuse me. Again she'll just barrel over you and then look back and say it. This age is a work in progress! :)

EASTER!

We hope everyone had a great day! We sure did! My grandparents came down to spend Easter with us and we are so glad they did! We always love seeing them! :) The Easter Bunny came and left some goodies for Presley! She, of course, noticed the bubbles first and snatched them out and wanted us to blow them! She also got a duck hooded towel, a chocolate bunny (that should be fun to eat!), sidewalk chalk, an Elmo DVD, and a toddler Bible. It's really just a collection of Bible stories that are simple to read and have illustrations...it's super cute! {please excuse the junky background...it was well past midnight and the Easter Bunny was really tired!}

We went to the 9 am service at church and then headed to my parents' house. We ended up feeding Presley an early lunch and then putting her down for a nap before we even ate. She was just so cranky that I thought it might help to do that. Um, pretty much wrong! She only catnapped, with all of the excitement going on around the house! There were mini-meltdowns all over the place, but what's a holiday without a meltdown?! She ate again with us and then we had an egg hunt.

One of the first eggs Presley picked up had melted chocolate in it (because it's 109 degrees outside already!) and it went all over her outfit and all in her bucket. I try really hard to not be a perfectionist, but sometimes it just gets the best of me, and I just couldn't handle the melted chocolate everywhere. So I took Presley's basket away, had to clean her up and get her a new one. I tried to be cool, calm, and collected, tried being the key word. I'm sure I came across as a crazy psycho mom...I kinda felt like one after it was all over with! Sorry about that everybody!

Anyways, nothing ever turns out exactly how you plan. And we still had a great day and I got some cute pics!
And thanks to Karri! She's normally our Nanny on Sunday mornings with feeding Presley breakfast and getting her dressed for church, but this morning she woke us all up (thank goodness, because I had turned my alarm off instead of hitting snooze!). AND she got Presley completely ready! No easy feat, I tell you! Thanks again friend!

Art Festival

I should have titled this post National Lampoon's trip to the Art Festival! That's pretty much how all of our outings go! If something adverse can happen, it will! Ha ha! My Mom & I joke all the time how we should have a reality show....I think we would put the Kardashians to shame! ;)
Anyway, yesterday we went to the Art Festival in downtown Milton. It was the last day and we of course, went at the very end of the day due to a nap and a trip to the grocery store. But we had fun just walking around and then eating treats on the boardwalk. We had gotten some kettle corn and Italian ice. My bag of popcorn was open (first mistake) and sitting on the ground beside me (second mistake)! Well, Presley grabbed it, of course when I had the icee cup and spoon in my hands and she proceeded to dump a third of it on the ground then ran over to the railing and stuck her head in between the bars. When she pulled it out, her bow fell down to the watery rocks. I could have cried! You might think that's a tad dramatic, but I just bought all new bows and they are not cheap!

After like 5 minutes of us all trying to reach over and get it, these 2 guys came over to us. And the younger guy just hopped over the railing and got it. I greatly appreciated it! For the record, Kameron wanted to jump over there and get it but I could just see that going awry, so I wouldn't let him. When the guy took like 2 seconds to get the bow, Kameron said "I could have done that!"

pre-bow losing moment!

Presley being sweet, smelling the flowers!