Presley at Ten months!

Holy cow! T E N months! Only 60 days until we have a toddler. Wow, that's a scary statement! Every month it seems like Presley grows leaps and bounds. This month in particular, I feel like I have a big girl instead of just a baby.

Presley is crawling like a champ. She is so much faster than you would think she could be! She also started, just in the last few days, cruising the coffee table and couch. She only goes up and down the side of the table where the couch is, because she likes to go between the two. She is really slow moving but I'm sure that will change soon!

Presley is eating almost everything that we do now. Crazy to think that my baby is eating the same as me! She will still do purees as long as they are thickened with baby cereal. Before Presley eats ANYTHING from a spoon, she has to taste it first. Meaning Mommy and Daddy can only put the food on her lips just a little bit, let her taste it, then maybe she will open up wide enough to take a bite! It's quite funny, until you need her to eat in a hurry!

She is in a size 3 diaper, 9-12 months clothes (some 12-18 mo, depends on the brand) and between a size 2 and 3 in shoes. The latter frustrates Mommy to death, because the 2's are too tight and the 3's too big. So, for now, we have been barefoot on most outings!

*The first picture cracks me up because she wouldn't cooperate for anything. Guess she wasn't in the mood today! Notice the tape on the sign? Yeah, that still didn't keep her from ripping it off the chair! So this is what we got.*

~Cute pics~

Our nephew Jaden thought Presley was trying to be Mickey Mouse in this outfit!

Presley LOVES to climb in the bottom of her exersaucer. And then she sits
there and cries when she can't figure a way out of it!

Here is Presley standing up for the first time in her crib!
Sorry for the horrible quality. It was taken with my cell phone. My friend says she looks photo-shopped in!

And I leave you with a sweet girl after breakfast one morning!

file under "hope this is easier the second time around"

We went for Presley's 9 mo. check up, Dr P. asked how she was doing with food. I told her our little food schedule and Dr. P was really surprised at how much formula Presley was still drinking. Keep in mind that not too long ago we were told that 24 oz was the minimum that Presley should be taking in. So, what did we do? Increased her intake so that she was drinking about 5 bottles of 6 oz each. That equals 30 oz, not bad right?

Well, apparently it is! Dr. P thought that Presley has had good weight gain because of her formula intake, not because of her food intake. So, insert that old saying "darned if you do, darned if you don't" here. She told us that Presley would probably would need to be on the "next step" formula even after she turned a year old. She would most likely only need a cup a day of it, but still. This is not something your check book wants to hear! I was looking forward to making the jump from $25/can to $3/ gallon in whole milk!

We dropped one of the bottles so Presley is drinking 24 oz again in hopes of her appetite picking up. Some days it seems like she eats better than others. This has been Presley's theme since the beginning- she could care less if she eats or not. We have been pushing table food because Dr. P said she really needs to be feeding herself at this point. And again, some days she cooperates with this and others, not so much. She doesn't do too well with textures. I'm not sure why. If anyone has any good suggestions on meal ideas I would LOVE to hear them!

Below are lists of food that we have tried.

~YAY~
cheese toast
grilled cheese
yogurt
pizza
ANY kind of roll!
crackers
shredded cheese
chicken and dumplings
chicken wings
coleslaw
french fries
sweet potato
mashed potatoes

~NAY~
avocado
grits
oatmeal (packaged)
spaghetti
watermelon
carrot cubes
apple cubes (Gerber graduates) this surprised me

my apologies

for being the worst blogger ever! It's not that a TON of things haven't been happening...it's that a don't have a ton of time to write about them. I do this blog for a few reasons, but the most important one is so that I can look back years from now and relive these moments. Well, one can't do that if it's not written down! So, here is a recap of the last few weeks.

WE HAVE A CRAWLER! Presley started crawling "for real" last week. She will still sometimes army crawl if she needs to get somewhere fast. But for the most part she crawls like a big girl. This happened when, of course, Presley was at Nana's house, away from Mommy and Daddy. I cried that I didn't get to see it first. But that's what happens to a working mother...you can't be there for every moment. And it just about kills me. every. single. time.

STANDING UP! Presley will try and pull up on everything in the house. Which is cute in theory, but when your house is a baby death trap, it makes Mommy gasp and hold her breath virtually all of the time. (Ok, so I'm being a tad dramatic, but our living room is awful. We have 2 "pretty" shelves that need to be babyfied and our coffee table is deathly!!) Presley will also stand on her own for a few seconds at a time. And she loves to walk with you if you hold her hands!

TOOTHIES! Presley is cutting a tooth and let me tell you it is not fun! She is just a little more fussy during the daytime, but she's been waking up a lot at night. Tylenol and Orajel have become Presley's new BFF's! I hate to see her go through this because I've had my fair share of toothaches and they hurt! I can't even imagine having a tooth break through gums. Ouch! I think we get teeth when we are little so we won't remember it!

HOPPY Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope your day was as fantastic as ours was! We went to church this morning. It was such a good service. We went to the early service so we could get home and finish lunch before it got too late. We still ended up eating at 1:30 or so!! Oh well, at least the food was delicious!

The Easter Bunny came yesterday and left a basket for Presley. He knew she would be getting up early today for church, so he was really nice and gave it to her sooner so Mommy could take pictures! ;) Gotta love that bunny!

This lasted on her head all of about 1/2 a second! I've learned to keep the camera in my hand ready to take a picture the moment I sit her down!

One of my favorites!

Presley decided that picking up eggs was no fun, so she just sat down and

started pulling all of the grass out of her basket! Silly girl! :)

the inchworm

This is how Presley is currently getting around. It is so funny to see her go a really long distance like this! Because she really does look like an inchworm scooting across the floor! =)

Please excuse my annoying voice on the video! Just like last time....press the play button on the bottom left!

9 months in

9 months out

Well, technically the "9 months in" was really 37 weeks, which was 2 days before Miss Presley made her debut! And if you can't tell, the thing around her arm is my purse! I looked up and she had it on her shoulder! Ha ha!

$10,000

in damages....these pictures are what that looks like.

On Tuesday Presley got into her first wreck when some lady rear ended her and Jeremiah. Thank the Lord that no one was seriously hurt. Jeremiah's neck and head were hurt from whip lash, but no life threatening injuries. Jeremiah said it didn't even scare Presley. I'm sure it helped that he is the cool, calm, collected one out of us....I would have been an emotional mess if I had been there! I hadn't been in a wreck in so long that I forgot just how crappy they can make things for a while. It will take a month to fix my car. So we are stuck in this awful rental car and we can't really go anywhere until Presley's new car seat gets here. Oh well, at least it's made me a more cautious and courteous driver these last few days. 

Spring has sprung!

Today is the first day of SPRING! YaY! Presley and I ventured outside and took some photos. It was warm but a little windy...so it was a quick trip! She was a little distracted by everything so, as usual these days, one good photo was all we got! I also added some random pics that we took this morning along with her 9 month chair/sign picture. Presley is just getting bigger by the minute! =)

Presley at Nine Months!

I can't believe that Presley has been an outside baby for longer than she was an inside baby! Crazy! It's also CRAZY to think that she is 3/4 of a year old!

We are still doing the same eating schedule that we have been for the past few months...trying to balance solids with milk. The only difference is that Presley eats a veggie at lunch now. She's not to keen on the sippy cup still. She loves to chew on it but not really suck on it. We have tried so many different kinds of cups....she doesn't like any of them. Maybe she will move to drinking out of a big girl cup when she's done with the bottle.

Miss Smarty Pants can say "da da" "ma ma" and "ba ba". She can babble a lot of other sounds, but those are definite words to her! She can flex those little fingers and say bye-bye like she's been doing it for years!

We still aren't crawling, but getting up on all fours and rocking, so maybe that's good practice! Presley is so rambunctious now. You literally can't contain her. Even when holding her, she tries to climb up you. She is getting into EVERYTHING! The other day she was playing on the floor and before I knew it, she had the diaper bag strewn to high heaven and was trying to open the wipe container!! Guess it's time to "baby-proof" the house! Presley can also stand for few seconds while holding onto us. She can go from laying down on her back to completely sitting up all by herself! She isn't pulling up on furniture yet, but I think that's coming very soon.

I haven't taken her 9 month picture with her sign (bad mommy!). But this is what we woke up to today! Guess it's time to lower the crib rails some!

spaghetti isn't for eating!

I gave Presley some of the dinner that we were having the other night. And this is pretty much how messy she got. Just a little on her hands and under her lips! I think she was truly afraid of it! Ha ha! She only tasted one or two bites and shuddered at each one. She mostly just played with it like it was finger paint. So, I'm not really sure how we are going to start eating table foods in the next little bit, if this is what we're going to do! Maybe Presley would do better with big girl food if she had some big girl teeth! =)

night and day difference. literally.

{DAY} for naps Presley is just laid in her crib (placed on her back) with her bird music box on. she goes to sleep completely. by. herself.

{NIGHT} for bedtime Presley has to be rocked to sleep (and then placed on her belly) with a completely different music box playing.

isn't this funny?

little randoms

I don't really have any BIG news to report...but Presley has recently started doing a few little new things.

She has found her body when she's naked...mainly her round little tummy! She was in the bathtub a few days ago and looked down only to become fascinated with her belly fat. She kept pinching it and rubbing it! Ha ha! It was so funny! Then from touching her belly she noticed her arms, so she had to start pinching them! I figured that she was going to hurt herself because she has talons for fingernails. No matter how short I try and keep them, her fingernails grow overnight!

I *think* that Presley has started to wave bye bye! I'm sure you are wondering why I say *think*. Well, she isn't consistently doing it every time. BUT she makes the motions sometimes, so that's why I am sticking with I *think*!!!

Presley has also started to scoot backwards when on her belly sometimes. Again, not all of the time! (I think that Presley's middle name should have been unpredictable!!) She starts doing something new and I get all excited thinking we are about to teeth, crawl, eat like a big girl, etc...., but nooooooooooo. She goes the very next day back to her original self! :) But she has been getting up on all four limbs and rocking a bit. So maybe crawling is closer than Mommy thinks!

who needs a makeover?

well, for their blog anyway!!

Blogaholic Designs is teaming up with Jady Day Studio to giveaway two custom blog designs! This is for blogger blogs only.

The two kits to be used

Springdipity

Safari Dreamin

How to enter

Go to Blogaholic Designs & leave a comment. You can get more info on their post.

When It ends

The deadline for entries is March 12th. The winner will be announced on Blogaholic Designs on March 13th.

 

 

You might need to stay away from this post

if you have an obsession with buying baby bows! I found this seller through Mrs. Foreste, who has a blog that I follow. (She too has a love for baby bows!) So of course, what do I do when introduced to a new set of bows? Buy them all up, that's what! Not only does Princess Couture Designs have ridiculously affordable bows and clips, the owner, Michellene, is great to work with. I asked if she could do a plain black and brown bow for Presley. And without hesitation, she replied How big do you want them? Ha ha! I love it! The bows come with a non-slip grip on them so they stay put! Which is a must for Presley's fine hair. =) Not that my little blog gets many readers....but I wanted to share a great find with those who do!

  Okay so not the greatest picture of Presley. She's a little hard to keep still for a picture these days! But I promise you all of these bows are so incredibly cute!

Motherhood is not for sissies

My mom gave me this book the month that Presley was born. Little did I know then how true these sayings actually are! Here are a few of my favorites!

I figure if the kids are alive at the end of the day, I've done my job. - Roseanne

Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare. - Ed Asner

Never tell a child anything you wouldn't want the whole neighborhood to know.

Cleaning the house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. - Phyllis Diller

Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he is buying. - Fran Lebowitz

Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children. - Sam Levenson

When all else fails, PRAY.

the funniest kid in the whole world!

So this was Presley tonight laughing at her pop-up toy! It is so funny...because she is so funny! Jeremiah thinks that she will have a great sense of humor and I agree!

I don't know why the screen is black. Just press the play button on the bottom left corner and it'll play.

the many faces of bathtime!

There's not really much of a point to this post, other than cute pics of bathtime! Presley started out in the "classic" newborn tub. Which was awful! Even with the mesh mat that babies are suppose to lay on, it rubbed a red spot on Presley's back every time. She used it (this way) for only about 6 weeks. After that, we took the mesh liner out and just set her in the plastic part. Presley also didn't appreciate taking a bath this way...the plastic was hard and cold.

Around 4 months (I think!), Presley started taking a bath with me. She LOVED it! She was finally free to move about and splash. Unfortunately, this method was much more time consuming, therefore making it not the ideal way to give a sleepy girl a bath before bed!

Then we finally discovered the ducky tub! A mommy HAD to invent this thing! It's awesome! Nice and soft, plenty of room to splash about, and a beak that quacks...does it get any better? I wish we had found the duck much, much sooner. But Presley has more than made up for lost time. She could sit in it for hours and play...sometimes she comes out with wrinkly hands and feet! Ha ha! She loves it and I think this will be our bath tub of choice from the beginning for baby #2.

To my sweet angel,

There have been a lot of things going on in our lives that have made me think about what type of mother that I want to be for you. I don't know if I could ever describe in words what you mean to me Presley. You probably will not understand the deep, unconditional, immeasurable love that I have for you...until you have children of your own. I know I am not perfect and there will probably be many things that we disagree on. But please know that every single day, there is not a breath that I don't take for you. Every second of the day, you are in my thoughts and in my heart. And I will always try to do the very best that I can for you. I promise to always comfort and protect you. I will always have your best interest at heart when making decisions for you. You are a precious gift that God entrusted me and your daddy to take care of, and we do not take that responsibility lightly. I pray that you can remember when life is unfair and unjust, just how incredible you are. You are so beautiful and you have been my greatest reward. I love you more than I could have ever imagined.

Mommy

because mommy just can't resist a photo shoot!

Presley was just so stinkin' cute last night that I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures! Which of course, turned into an all-out photo shoot! He he! Oh well! She was a good model! ;)

Presley loves her lovey blanket!

Attempting to crawl away from the camera!

Presley at Eight Months!

mWell, yet again I can't believe I'm posting another month that Presley has flown into!

Since little Miss has had issues from the beginning...I'm learning to take her eating habits a lot lightly. Some days she just does NOT want to eat any solid food and no matter how hard I try and make it appealing, she just doesn't want it! So I'm slowly coming to terms with that. Other days she doesn't want a bottle OR solid food. Those are the days I stay in prayer longer!! Ha ha! I just hope this doesn't translate into a stubborn will later!

But on good days, Presley takes four 5 oz bottles and a 6 oz bedtime bottle. She eats cereal in the morning and a veggie and fruit for dinner. I've been hesitant to start a lunch feeding because I don't want her to stop drinking her bottles. Dr. P, our pediatrician said that at this age, the minimum formula intake is 24 oz/day. The only way I can make Presley drink that much is if I keep her on a pretty strict eating schedule. And I'm just not sure where lunch would fit it! She does eat a snack around that time, so maybe I should just do a veggie then instead. For snacks she loves puffs, crackers, and baby rice cakes. She's not to keen on the yogurt melts that we've tried....although in her defense, they do taste kinda funky!

In the mobility department....we are moving upward! Well, not literally! Presley is rolling now from her back to her belly! A feat just accomplished in the last 3 days! So now she's rolling all over the place. I think she kinda likes her new found freedom! Now only if we could get the crawling thing down...

I think Presley's going to be a talker...I mean how could she not? Have you met her mother?! She is babbling up a storm and saying "da da". It is so precious to hear her say it! We've been saying "ba ba" and"ma ma" to her so she'll mimic it, but she still prefers so say "da da"! =)

Presley with a slice of apple. She really liked it! We let her try different table foods sometimes. She must have a really sensitive gag reflex, because she gnawed a piece off and then gagged on it and ended up throwing up! Poor thing! It didn't bother her though!

And here is a good example of Presley's rolling over skills!
She was on the blanket and ended up in our room! Ha ha!