30 months!

So again, time has flown right by me and turned my baby into a 2 1/2 year old! I’ve been meaning to write this post for about a month now. So most of the things that I remember are kinda old news, but I still want to write them down so I can remember later.

Presley says some of the funniest things. If a stranger says Hi to her, she will say “I’m being shy right now” and then bury her head. And she’ll say “Mommy, you ok?” if she hears a loud noise around where I am…like if I’m doing the dishes in the kitchen and she’s playing in the living room. “Be cool” is her saying be careful, but it’s so funny to hear “be cool, Mommy, be cool!” She knows that P is her letter and can recognize it in any word and can almost write it. She can draw a smiley face and can count to 10, but always skips the number 4! And she knows that she’s a girl and can differentiate between girls and boys….like Daddy’s a boy, Mommy’s a girl, that sort of thing.

This one is an old picture, but I just couldn’t resist putting it up! It’s so funny!

On TV, Max & Ruby (Maa Ruey) is one of her favorites…that show is so boring, ugh I can hardly watch it! Peppa Pig is her very favorite right now. (remember her Halloween costume?) She rarely asks for Yo Gabba Gabba anymore. Which is ok, because we were burnt out on that show! She’s starting to get into The Backyardigans and Blue’s Clues. She also LOVES Elmo’s World, not Sesame Street, just the Elmo’s World part! Hopefully Santa can find her some Elmo’s World DVDs!!

Presley loves to draw and color. And she’s really starting to get into imaginative play. It’s a fun age! She loves to throw/catch a ball, play with her dollhouse, and play with baby dolls. She also loves to play with our phones and the ipad. She calls it a heating pad! Ha!

She weighs 26 pounds now. We know that from her having her first ear infection last month and us going to the doctor. She wears 2t in pants, 2t-3t in shirts, and a 7 in shoes. The 7’s are still kinda big, but with socks, they work. Presley is still in a size 4 diaper. It’s because she wears the Target brand and they run a little big.

This was a metal bug that Jeremiah’s dad made. It’s pretty cool, but Presley was a little unsure of it!

Well, hopefully I can update again before she turns 3…who knows, that happens in only 6 short months! Aahhhh!

26 and 1/4 of a month old

When do you stop doing the month updates on a toddler? Apparently at 2 years old if you're a slacker mommy blogger like me! Well, here we are at 26 months and 7 days old and you are getting a Presley month update. I think I'm going to only do them sporadically because it's hard to keep up with things every 4 weeks!

She is the bossiest little thing I've ever seen. She has started telling things (and people) to "hush"! If she wants to talk to someone that I'm talking to, she'll just look at me and say "Mommy hush, I talk to Daddy." Or she'll just randomly be walking through the house and say "hush baby" to one of her dolls. It's hard not to let her see that it's funny, because Lord knows I don't need her going in public telling some stranger to hush...that wouldn't be funny!

And the sweet side of her says "I wub we Mommy" (I love you!) and "thant chu Mommy" unprompted now. I just love it! It's like she such a little person now, well, I mean she always has been but it's more noticeable now that she can have a understandable conversation with you. We're still working on please though.

Presley LOVES my phone. In fact she calls it her phone and treats it like the precious ring from Lord of the Rings. Meaning you have to pretty much pry it from her hands 'cause she's got a death grip on it! However that being said, I totally understand why she loves it. Elmo and Gabba Gabba instantly stream on it, books read themselves to her on it, and she learns colors, shapes and animal noises in other languages on it. What's not to love? But the downside is that Presley deletes photos, people and apps from it. So I'm trying to rein in her usage!

It's getting harder to get her to branch out and eat different things. I feel like we are getting stuck in the toddler diet of pb&j and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. At least she is still eating veggies most days. And her favorite foods for dinner are tacos, spaghetti and chicken salad. She eats veggies in the funniest way. She will only eat them while she's running around playing. So that means that you have to take the vegetable into the living room and sit down and make it a fun game...whatever works I guess!

Presley is super into coloring and playing with baby dolls right now. I bought an easel at Ikea that has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other...that is a huge hit! She is also loving dressing and undressing herself. I don't remember Kole being interested in that this early. But Presley will take the clothes from your hands and pull them up as far as she can or put them over her head as much as possible and then say "I need help" for you to finish it. :)

It seems like life is moving at warp speed and shows no sign of ever slowing down. It makes me sad that she seems to have grown up over night...and I know it's only going to get worse. Someone hold me!

Happy SECOND Birthday Presley!

Presley, you are two years old now! And you think the world revolves around you! ;) You are a big, smart, beautiful, funny, happy, independent, caring little girl. Your Daddy and I have loved seeing you grow into the person that you are. I love being able to carry on conversations with you about "beebuds" (ladybugs) or going outside to "wing" and "side" (swing and slide)! You just got some new outside toys and you love them. You love being outside in general.

You have just learned how to say "I wuve uw" to people and it melts our hearts! I don't think there's anything in this world better than having your child squeeze you tight while saying this to you. You'll see what I mean one day! You also say "dare ya doh" (there you go) and you say it when you hand anyone anything. You know how old you are when we ask you. And you also say "Nana" with gusto when we ask "whose girl are you?"!

You keep your Daddy and I rolling with the things you do. Like now when we ask you something you answer us with "uhhhhhhhhhh...no" or uhhhhhhhh...yes". You try to pop a little attitude and it's pretty funny! (I know it won't be funny later but it is right now!) You still say everything is "boo" (blue) even though we've been working hard on all the other colors! I know you'll get them one day. When counting you say "free, four, free, four, five"! Ha ha! One and two aren't necessary! :)

Your favorite foods right now are chicken salad, hot dogs, spaghetti and tacos. You love to drink your milk, water, apple juice and V8 fusion juice. You still sleep from 8pm-8am and take a 2 hour nap after lunch. You are wearing 24 mo or 2t clothes for the most part. You can fit into 18 mo shorts and a 3t shirt depending on the brand. You just recently moved up to a size 6 shoe. And for Mommy that means more shoe shopping! Yay! :)

So you haven't shown any more interest in going potty. But that's ok, you will do it in your own time! You are also still sleeping in your crib. I don't think I'll ever want to move you out of there...it's my own personal baby jail! :)

For some reason I wasn't too tearful about this birthday. I don't know if it's because it has snuck up on me so fast that I didn't have time to think, or if I'm excited about how much you are going to grow and learn by your next birthday. I love you so much and I love being your Mommy!

23 months!

It is honestly getting a little hard to write these posts! I can't believe it's time again to write. I can't believe she's almost TWO! Birthday party planning is full swing around here! I (mostly me, because Jeremiah said he didn't care which theme it was!) decided to go with Yo Gabba Gabba. Presley LOVES this show. Love isn't really the correct word. She's obsessed! I really wanted to do a PB&J theme and kick it with vintage-y purples and browns. She also loves a good PB&J sandwich, but I didn't think that she would recognize that from the party decor. I think she'll be really excited about Gabba Gabba! And don't worry if you can't stomach the show, I promise you will only see the characters in small doses! Invites went out today...so they should be on your doorstep in no time!

So Presley is loving Yo Gabba Gabba right now. She also likes Sesame Street and Jack's Big Music Show. She is still crazy obsessed with babies. And trains and airplanes. We have a game on our iPad that plays the noises of different animals and automobiles. Well, there is a jet on there. And one morning we heard a plane and I said "oh I hear an airplane outside", then she quickly informed me "no, a jet". Nothing like being schooled by a 23 mo old! :)

This girl loves to eat sauces. Like as in ketchup, bbq, ranch....pretty much any condiment sauce! She is such a big helper now! She loves helping put the laundry into the dryer. She'll also help empty the dishwasher, minus the sharps and breakables of course. She has a play vacuum that she vacuums the carpet with. Kind of funny considering that she's terrified of the real one!

Bedtime is very routine procedure. She has to have everything just right before she'll go to sleep. She sleeps on her belly with her zebra puppy under one arm and her baby under the other. A pappy in each hand and one in her mouth, her lovey blanket on her back and her regular blanket on her legs. Can anyone say OCD? Oh and the monitor has to be plugged in with the light on before you put her in the crib or she won't lay down. She somehow knows that we watch her in it! Crazy! She also has to have her little bird music box on. When she gets up in the morning, she lays her puppy and baby down in the crib and cover them with blankets and tells them "nigh, nigh"!

Presley has just started calling cats "ditty". She use to just make a meow noise when you asked her what they were. She is also doing this thing where she holds up her index finger and then says "one more". This could be in reference to her getting another piece of food or throwing her up in the air or if she wants you to stop bothering her! She says everything is "boo" when you ask her what color something is. Oh and she says her name is "cessly"! Precious!

Well, the next time I'll write one of these I will have a 2 year old. I'm pretty sure that I'll have to have lots of tissues on hand for that one!

22 months!

Presley is 22 months old! I can hardly believe it! Just in the past 2 weeks it seems like she is more grown up than ever. She can completely tell you what she is thinking about in full sentences. It's crazy, I tell you!

Her favorite things right now are blowing bubbles in her milk, looking at a picture after I've taken one on my camera (she says "I see" immediately afterward and won't stop until I let her see it), being thrown up in the air, 'flying' on our feet, and taking showers. The shower thing kinda surprised me. She just recently started liked it, I guess it's just getting older and used to water being in her face. But it is much easier than giving her a bath and she still gets to play with her toys so it's a win-win for everyone!

Presley puckers up for a kiss now! It's incredibly adorable! =) I don't know where she picked this up from because Jeremiah and I certainly don't go around kissing each other like this. But regardless, when you ask for a kiss and you see those lips headed for you, you kinda melt!

She still loves reading books. Her favorites right now are I Already Know I Love You and I Love You, Stinky Face. The first one has a baby on a couple of pages and she loves that. She is quite obsessed with babies at the moment. I'm sure it's because she is more aware of them now. It's funny because she even calls toddlers her own age and preschool aged kids...babies! & If Presley sees any picture of a moon in a book or on TV, she starts signing "I see the moon and the moon sees me". Actually she does it when she sees the real moon too. It's pretty cute!

We've started introducing nice manners. Before you get all "she's not even 2 yet, give me a break" on me, let me explain. We are not sticklers for this yet. But there will come a day when Presley needs to be courteous and it is a lot easier if you've just done it from the beginning, believe me. I've been around my nephews and niece from their beginnings and I've seen the way my mom has raised them with this motto and they are all so well mannered. It's such a refreshing change! Of course they aren't perfect, no one is, but for the most part, they say nice things back to you. {GREAT job Mama!} We've always said thank you back to Presley when she gives us something. But now we are incorporating please, and sir and ma'am. She has picked up on the please quite well and says "peas" sometimes without us telling her too. And she says sir or ma'am after we say it to her and it's so sweet!

Presley can now climb on the coffee table, couch and dinning room chairs by herself! Yay! Mommy will be headed for a heart attack in no time!

And finally she calls every bug or even anything that resembles a bug, a bee. She'll say "shooo bee" and wave her hands around. Or she'll say "blah bee" if she sees a dead bug.

The cereal pictures are included because today was the first day Presley ate real cereal. And by that I mean in a bowl with actual milk in it! And the whale outfit is a recent purchase from Carter's and was just too cute to not include! :)

21 months!

This month (& post!) definitely snuck up on me! Not much has changed from 20 months except in increase in language and attitude! ;)

~Presley has started calling us Mommy & Daddy instead of Dada & Mama. It's so sweet and she sounds so grown up!

~ Presley LOVES to be outside, she could spend all day out there! She also LOVES going to church! We tell her on Sundays where we are going and she shouts "Yay!" :)

~For the past week, she has been eating awful. I mean more than just being a picky toddler or losing an appetite because of a cold. She even refused all of her favorite foods. I was getting super worried....but at least she was still drinking like normal to keep herself hydrated. But this morning she got up and started eating again. Hallelujah! I just hope the bad eating is over for good!

Well, I know that's a super short post, but that's really it! I told you not much has changed!

20 months!

Presley just keeps growing like a little weed! I can't believe that just 20 short months ago we brought her home from the hospital as a little bundle of sweetness! And now, we can't contain her! She is in constant motion...I wish I had a fourth of the energy that is in that little body! Presley is very headstrong and it gets her into trouble most days! Poor thing she gets it honestly! I just hope she learns how to redirect it for her good!
Presley is still in 18-24 month clothes and in a size 5 shoe. Most people comment how petite she is. But I think she's been growing through a growth spurt for the last week or so. She has been eating everything in sight! She'll eat all of her food, sometimes even second helpings, then a short time later, she will want a snack. It's like I'm raising a boy! ;)
My favorite new Presley words are: all bebber (all better), yaya (light-I have no idea about this one!), boo (fruit- again why that?), wow, whoa, aw man (this one is hilarious because she says it in perfect context!). Presley is now saying 2 word phrases now. The other night she said "more shiken" when she wanted more chicken. Yay! I'm excited for this new communication!
And probably one of the most precious things Presley does right now is pray. We always pray before we eat and she'll bow her head with her hands together and then at the end she will say "amen". But now she does it on her own. She will bow her head and mumble and then lift her head and say "amen"! =) PRECIOUS, I tell you!

Oh, I almost forgot....teeth! Presley has 10 teeth now. You may be thinking, big deal! But it has taken us forever to get a mouth full!

19 months!

Presley at 19 months. Where do I even begin? It seems like this month she has grown leaps and bounds and definitely had a language explosion! I am desperately hoping that with this better communication comes a better behaved toddler! Ha ha! I can hear all of you laughing at me as I type this. Just let me dream please!

Ok, on to the THE PRESLEY LIST...
~in addition to main body parts, she can now find eyebrows, eyelashes, knee, elbow, chin, & neck
~this girl sings all. the. time. what's even cuter is that she'll go in the middle of the floor and sway in circles and sing! it just melts my heart! :)
~can wink now! although it mainly consists of scrunching up her nose and closing her eyes a little bit, it's still cute!
~if we have a drink with a straw, that's what Presley has to have too. she still drinks out of a sippy cup but only if no straw is in sight!
~if you are playing with her, say tickling her and she wants you to stop, she starts shaking her head and says "all done"
~Presley says a ton of new things since last month, but these are a few of my favorites. "owaa' for owl, "jush" for juice, "thao" for thank you (don't ask why this changed...she used to say it more clearly), "baaw" for bow, & "paba" for pasta.

Most days Presley is a good eater and some days it's like she doesn't eat anything! 99% of the time she refuses veggies. & when I say refuse I mean 'does anything necessary to not swallow them'. Like spitting them out at me if I try to hid them in applesauce. Hey, it used to work! Well, I still refuse to be outsmarted by a toddler! HA! So I bought some fruity V8 juice and started giving that at snack time instead of just apple juice. Score 1 for mommy! Because she totally sucks it down! (I can't claim the V8 idea as mine, Karri thought of it!) I'm sure that most nutritionists would frown upon giving your kid a sugary drink as a substitute for vegetables, but you know what? These toddler years are tough, and you do what you gotta do!

Everything else is pretty much still the same...sleeping, napping, clothing size, etc. I'm starting to toy around with the idea of moving Presley into a big girl bed. I'm just not sure I can handle her being un-caged just yet! & the age-old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind! =)

18 month addendum

I can't believe that I forgot to add that Presley LOVES trains! She calls them "choo choos", which kind of sounds like "sha sha" which is Sosa, my parents' dog! Sometimes though you can't tell if she's talking about the dog or a train! Santa told me he is bringing Presley some sort of train for Christmas and I think she's going to be thrilled! :)

& I'll leave you with an adorable little girl before church this morning!

18 months!

How is my BABY one and a half years old? Ahhh! I can't believe that I will be planning her second birthday party soon. Speaking of that, I probably really do need to start thinking of ideas because it will be here before I can turn around good!


So here is what Presley has been up to lately~
- says "ump" and raises her hands when she wants you to pick her up.
- can point to a ladybug, butterfly, fish, and sea horse when you ask her to find them in her animal book
- brushes her hair out of her face when she needs to see! it is hilarious to watch! I tell her that she wouldn't have to do that if she would just leave her clips or bows in her hair! ;)
- has seven teeth now! 4 on top and 3 on the bottom...more have to be coming in because she holds her mouth and cries out daily. It's really sad! :(
- LOVES the book I'm as Quick as a Cricket....seriously it gets read about 10 times a day now
- can say mama, dada, nana, pawpaw, meemaw, pappaw, & mammaw to the appropriate people. funny how the last 4 all sound similar! that's probably why she can say them all! HA!
- says "moorrah" and signs it when she wants more food.

Presley has become quite the little jokester! She has started this thing when in her highchair, she'll hid her napkin behind her head and raise her hands up like asking "where did it go?". Then she'll pull it out and say "ta da"!!! Ha ha! It's so cute! We videoed it the other day and I need to put it on here so y'all can see it first hand!

We celebrated Presley's month day today by giving her a PB&J sandwich for the first time! It was actually her first time ever having peanut butter! I thought she would just love it and devour it. But she only ate 1/2 of the sandwich. She normally eats all of a sandwich. Oh well, maybe it will be an acquired taste for her.

Presley.....Daddy & I love you so much! You are the light of our lives. We honestly can't remember our life before you! :) Even with all of your toddler tantrums, you are still the sweetest, most wonderful little thing.

ETA: at her 18 month checkup Presley weighed 22 pounds 4 ounces & was 32 1/4 inches long.

17 months!

Presley is now 17 months {and 1 day!} old! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by and that by the next month post, Presley will be 6 months away from turning TWO! It both scares and excites me!

Here are the new things that Presley's doing now.
*says "shhh" with one finger over her mouth
*finally knows what a dog says. this was a huge work in progress...she knew that a dinosaur roars for about a month before this. seriously!
*says nigh nigh when time for bed, and uoh....which is uh oh in case you didn't know that.
*if you mention that it's time for a diaper change, she will go lay down in the floor and pat her diaper! it's so stinkin' cute!
*gives hugs and kisses on command. it's one of my favorite things & makes her seem so grown up!
*shakes her head "no" when we ask her to go do something....gotta love that independence!
*puts her fingers in her ears like she doesn't want to listen to you talk. it's the funniest thing! she started it when we went to disney a few weeks ago and i just forgot to blog about it. who knows where she picked it up from!

Little Miss has finally transitioned to one nap during the day. She still sleeps from about 7:30-8 during the night. She has just recently gone to the one nap. I'm not sure if I like it or not. She seems to be so sleepy in the afternoon still. Maybe it's because nap is mostly around 11:30 or 12 & they still only last about 1.5-2 hours. Uggg, why can't children understand how awesome sleep is?

Everything else is pretty much the same as last month. No different news on eating habits, etc.

16 months!

My Presley Pop! They say better late than never, right? I guess that can apply to a month post as well! The months just seem to be flying by us, blurring into one another. It seems like you've grown a lot this month somehow.

You have definitely become more mobile. You run circles around me most days! You have mastered walking backwards and maneuvering around obstacles. Just last week you started climbing up things. Yay! I'm glad you have met this milestone but it gives Mama a heart attack each time you do it. We have had to turn the ottoman upside down in your chair to keep you from climbing up and standing in the chair!
. You, my dear, are definitely my daughter! You LOVE to talk on the phone, be it a house phone, cell phone, real or fake! You just jabber, jabber, jabber when it's up to your ear! Of course when somebody is really on the phone you won't talk to them, you just say hey and then bye bye! But you talk your imaginary friend's ear off! Ha!



You have been through the worst teething. Almost overnight you got four teeth on top. But I guess that's what happens when you don't get any teeth for almost a year! It's a testament to how good of a baby you really are, because even through all of that you were still so sweet!

& You have (finally!) moved up to a size 4 diaper and size 5 shoe! You still wear the same size 18 month clothes though. You needed some cooler weather shoes, so yesterday you and I went shopping. You definitely take after me in this department as well! You LOVE shoe shopping! I wish I had someone there with us to video it because you were precious! You got the biggest grin on your face when I was putting them on you and then you just pranced up and down the aisle like you were walking on a runway! Ha! You even put on a pair of croc-wannabes by yourself! I was super impressed that you could do that! :)

Well, your next month post is right before Thanksgiving and Daddy's birthday. I'm sure you'll have grown a bushel and amazed us more than ever. =) We love you sweet girl!