Crazy Hairs!!!

I love that Presley has red hair. It's such a shock to me. Drew and I joked about it before she was born, but I never thought she'd actually have red hair. I love it! I think it makes her even more unique and special. 

When she was first born she had quite a bit of hair. Everyone told us that it would probably fall out. And some even told us not to worry and that it would probably change color. Rude! I'm not sure if people thought we were sad that it was red or what. But I hoped that it wouldn't fall out OR change color.

Well, unfortunately I think some of it fell out. But now we are in a really fun hair stage. We call her "Crazy Hairs" all the time. She has some strands of hair that are about 3.5 inches long. They have obviously been there from the beginning. And then there are some really new hairs that are so short they won't lie down for anything. It's so funny. She wakes up in the morning and it is crazy!

It's so hard to get a good picture that really does her hair justice, but trust me when I say it's crazy! So we can add that to her pile of nicknames, Crazy Hairs!

Silly Girl

Drew and I have been playing with Presley pretty much from the beginning. For awhile she could care less. She would just stare at us with this, "you're crazy!" look. Eventually she started to laugh with us after something funny. But now it's gotten really fun. She will laugh on her own! Sometimes Drew and I won't even be talking directly to her and she will just laugh. I'm not sure what's making her laugh but it's so cute

It's also becoming more apparent that she is understanding that we are playing with her. We'll hide behind the couch and jump out to scare her and she thinks it's so funny. She will even look for us when we are hiding. It is so much fun. I know I say it all the time, but I love every new stage with her. It just keeps getting better.

I feel like we are constantly laughing with her (And at her sometimes. We aren't being mean though. She is just silly).  I hope that means that she is going to have a fun personality. I feel like it does. She's always so happy and fun. I don't know what we would do with a serious baby. I love her little laugh too. We have discovered that she is a little ticklish on her inner thigh and her ribs. It's such a funny, deep laugh when she is being tickled. We absolutely love to make her laugh.

On a totally different subject, tonight we fed her some green beans. So far her tummy has been fine with pears and squash. She, however, hates squash! She'll stomach it for the most part, but she does not enjoy it. She didn't like her green beans much tonight. But she ate an entire jar. We'll see how she sleeps. She has an incredibly runny nose and has been coughing a little. I hope she's not getting sick.

Much Better

Today was Presley's second time in the church nursery. I was much more calm this time around. Let me just say that I have no problem with leaving Presley in the church nursery because of anyone in there. I am so thankful that these wonderful women give up their Sunday morning to serve God by watching my child. It allows me to truly worship and listen to the sermon. I hope that I didn't come across like I was nervous to send her to the nursery because of the people who volunteer. I am just an overprotective mother who has a hard time leaving my daughter with anyone new! 

So back to today, Presley and I did great. I didn't cry or even get nervous before. And evidently Presley did great the entire time. I didn't have to be called back to calm her down or anything. When I went to pick her up she looked happy and totally content. 

I really hope that taking her to the nursery is helping her to be comfortable with other people. I don't want her to always be scared of new people. As hard as it is for me to leave her with new people, I am so thankful that I am actually able to have some time to really worship God. (and boy do I need that time!) 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Sunday afternoon. Hopefully everyone can have a nice nap to rejuvenate for the week to come.

Every Single Minute

Today was an absolutely perfect Saturday! We started our day off pretty early as usual. It was incredibly difficult for Drew and I to get up because last night we were up until midnight. That is WAY late for us. But we had some friends over and lost track of time. It was well worth it though! So we got up, fed Presley, and played for a bit. She was ready to go back down for a nap around 8:30 and so were we. So we all took a nice 2.5 hour nap this morning. It was glorious!

 

We basically spent the rest of the day playing with Presley and spending time together as a family. We don't get to do that very often since Drew has to try and work when I get home in the evenings. So it's always nice to get to be together as our little family. We didn't get out of our pajamas all day or take a shower. I did brush my teeth finally around 2:00. Ha!

All day I guess I was a little sappy. I just kept thinking about how I don't want this to end. I'm not talking about today, I mean this! Life where we are right now. I love where we are in this stage of our life with our daughter. I love that Presley is healthy and happy and so much fun right now. I here so often about parents looking at old pictures of their children when they were young and how sad it makes them. I know I am to enjoy this time in my life with Presley and I truly am. But I still get sad thinking about how one day (soon) she will be grown up and not a baby anymore. It honestly makes me want to cry. I already miss her. I know it sounds crazy. But as I was playing with Presley today I just wanted time to stop and really take in every single minute with her. Before I have time to blink she's going to be grown up even more. It's such a wonderful and sad thing all at the same time. Any parent will be able to totally understand what I am saying. I am trying my hardest to enjoy every single moment with her, even the hard ones! But it's going by too quickly for me. I don't want her to not be a baby anymore. 

I constantly struggle with the fact that I have to go to work every single day. I hate it! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job most days. But there is nothing I'd rather be doing more than staying at home with our baby girl. Drew and I talk about it all the time. Days like today make me dream this dream even more. I want to spend every single moment with Presley and really soak it all up before it's too late and she's all grown up.

Sorry for the sappiness. I'm not sure what's gotten into me today. It was a super day! I enjoyed every single minute of it. I love my little family!

Four in a row, Woohoo!

For the past four nights Presley has slept! And I'm not just talking about sort of sleeping. I mean sleeping from 7:30-7:00 with very little fussing. Drew and I are pretty much able to sleep all the way through the night without getting up. (of course my mommy instinct still makes me wake up like 100 times. But at least I don't have to get out of bed) We are like a different family these days. It's amazing what a little (or a lot!) of sleep can do for people.
    

For the first couple of nights we were only doing rice cereal. She had a night or two where she still fussed and acted like her tummy was hurting. There was one night (not sure when since they all sort of run together) where we decided that we were going to have to let her cry it out. We knew she wasn't sick or hurting, she wasn't hungry, and didn't have a dirty diaper. So when she started to fuss we had to let her cry. After only about 5 minutes she was asleep. She did that one other time that night and then no more. It was terrible to listen to her cry! But it was even more terrible having to get up every 30 minutes to check on her only to find out she was fine.

So three nights ago we decided to be brave and try out some pears. We had no idea what to expect since we thought the carrots would be ok and they weren't. Thankfully they haven't hurt her tummy at all. Praise the Lord! So for right now we are going to do pears for a few days to see if they are ok. Then we'll be even more brave and try out another new food.

It's so funny to watch (and listen) to Presley in the monitor. She squirms around so much. When we lay her down for the night she is on her back in the middle of the bed. By the time she wakes up in the morning she is always on her tummy at the end of the bed. Drew said she even woke up from her nap yesterday morning, talked to herself for awhile, squirmed around, then went back to sleep for a bit. She's silly!

So hopefully Presley will continue to sleep well. We really LOVE when she sleeps through the night. Maybe I'll even stop waking up and checking the monitor 50 times each nights and I'll remember what it's like to sleep for a full night. I can hope for that!

Unexpected Day

This morning I woke up and got ready for another work day like normal. I kissed my family goodbye and left to go to school around 7:30. At 8:15 I was on my way back home. 

On my drive to work I was hit by a van. I went through an intersection and a woman ran the red light and hit my car. No one was hurt (except my car). It could have been much worse. It was very upsetting just because any wreck is upsetting. It was also a little frustrating because the woman wouldn't admit any fault. So now we are going to have to deal with insurance (which is never fun!) The whole experience got me really shook up. So I decided it would be best for me to just take the day off and go home with my family. 

Although I hate that our car is now messed up and we are going to have to deal with insurance, I didn't mind at all being at home with Presley. She was going down for her morning nap by the time I got home. So it gave me time to make some necessary phone calls and get myself composed. By the time she woke up I was pretty calm and ready to spend the day with my baby girl. 

We spent most of the day just playing and laughing. She is at such a fun stage right now. It seems like she is starting to really catch on to some many things. She is so fun to watch and play with. I just love her so much.

My friend gave us a walker for Presley to borrow. We just got it yesterday and she loves it. She hasn't quite mastered the art of "walking", but she will get it soon.

Since it was such a beautiful day we were able to play outside with the dogs for awhile. Yes, we are both in our pajamas. Don't judge!

I was also able to have a much anticipated phone call with my best friend! We are always trying to find the time where we are both free and not chasing kids. I am so glad it worked out where we could catch up for a bit. Thanks Kristen for chatting with me while you were super-mom and cleaned up your house. It did my heart good! 

So even though my day didn't start out the way I planned it ended up being a pretty good day. Right now I am listening to my hubby give Presley a bath. I love listening to them "talk" to each other. He is such a good daddy! I also have some yummy cookies in the oven. Drew and I have eaten really well the past few days so I figured we needed a treat tonight. Hope you all had a great day no matter what the circumstances were!

Mixing bowls and measuring cups

Presley is already deciding that she's not in love with all of her toys. Some days she can be totally content with one doll or one book for a long time. Other days she seems to want to change toys every 2 minutes.

The other day Drew and I were playing with her and she was super bored. Drew was eating popcorn and she really wanted to "help" him. So we put the bowl in front of her and she went to town. She started grabbing all of the popcorn and squishing it together. You could tell she knew she was doing something fun. But after she started to try and eat the popcorn we decided maybe we shouldn't let her play with popcorn. So instead I found some blocks (that were made by my mom and sister for the baby shower they gave me. And my sister was going to throw them away! Look at the fun we're having with them now). At first she wasn't sure what to do with them. But eventually she enjoyed throwing them around. I had read somehwere how babies like to move things from one container to the other. She seemed to enjoy it. At least it was something different.

Then we got out the mixing cups for even smaller "bowls". All she really wanted to do with those were suck on the handles. Therefore she was only allowed to have the biggest one because the handle on that one was the shortest. She was gagging herself on the other ones. Drew got out the spatula for her too, but all she wanted to do on that was stick it in her mouth. She's not quite ready for that "toy".

 So needless to say we were trying to be super creative with her toys. It's sad because she really does have a ton of toys. But I guess, like any of us would, she gets bored with them day after day. That night I went to Wal-Mart and got a couple more real toys for her to play with. Before I had a baby I always thought all of the toys looked the same. When I would buy things for my nephews I always thought that any toy would work because they all basically did the same thing. This is not how I feel anymore. I knew exactly what kind of toy Presley would like and some I knew she wouldn't be interested in at all. It's funny how things change.

So hopefully she can enjoy some of her new toys and not be bored. I'm interested to see what other things around our house can become toys as well. 

On a different note, Presley slept horribly last night! We were up pretty much every hour with her fussing. We didn't feed her anything but milk yesterday so I don't think it was gas. She went to bed a whole lot later because we had our community group over last night, but normally she doesn't sleep that bad. She caught up on sleep today and had two really long 2.5 hour naps. Maybe it was just one night. We fed her rice cereal tonight for dinner so we'll see how that goes. So here's to another night where we hope for sleep.  

This is her knew favorite face to make. She is making the noise also. It's really funny. She started doing it a couple of weeks ago and just does it nonstop. She's silly!

Letting go...slowly!

Baby steps, letting go...whatever you call it I say it's stressful! I had some major anxiety this morning about letting Presley stay in our church nursery. I know it's crazy! If I wasn't a mommy I would think that it was ridiculous. But it was incredibly stressful.

I said from the beginning that I was going to wait awhile until I took her to the nursery. At first Presley would mainly sleep through church. When she started to be awake a little more she would still just sit in my lap and look at stuff. I said that I'd know it was time to take her to the nursery when I couldn't sit through church and listen. Well, that happened months ago. I don't remember the last time I actually paid attention to the sermon.

Once she got to the point where she needed to go to the nursery because I couldn't listen, it was right in the middle of flu season and the holidays. So of course she couldn't go then! (I'm the queen of excuses when it comes to my baby) Then I said that she would go after the new year. Well, that was weeks ago. It was definitely time today.

I planned on maybe just taking her during the sermon. She loves the music (again, queen of excuses!). But just like I did with moving her to her crib, I figured I just needed to take the plunge. So all morning I prepped myself. I even talked to Presley about it. I told her if she didn't want to go I wouldn't make her. I swear she just looked at me and smiled when I said that. I could have used that to my advantage and said that she was asking me not to take her. But I don't think that was it at all.

Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't having anxiety because I didn't trust the nursery volunteers. I just don't trust anyone with my baby. Just kidding! But just kind of. I'm just an incredibly overprotective mother. I was worried that she wouldn't be watched well or that she might get hurt. Or even worse she might get sick (which will probably happen!) Because we are so blessed to have Presley get to stay at home with her daddy she very rarely has to stay with other people. And when she does it's normally family or close friends who have been around her a lot. Not total strangers.
More than anything I was worried that she would get sad. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I was worried she would miss us or just get scared. 


So we got to church and we walked straight to the nursery. The nice lady was there to immediately take her from me. It was like she was in my arms one second and before I knew it she was gone. I literally had to just hand her the diaper bag and walk away. My hands were shaking. I know it's ridiculous! Don't laugh! It's just what happened. I walked away and started to cry. In front of many other people I cried for no reason at all. I went straight to the bathroom to compose myself. Drew wasn't around because he was busy doing something for the church. So I had to irrationally cry for no reason at all by myself. It was crazy. But it's what happened. 

Once I got inside the sanctuary I calmed down pretty quickly. I tried to just not think about it. I was trusting that God would protect her. I won't always be able to be around her. This was just one of the first few times of many that I'll have to let her go. It's so hard! I can't even imagine how much harder it's going to get. It was hard enough to put her in her own crib. 

So she did pretty well during church. They did have to get me out of church because she was fussing. But I think her tummy was just hurting her. Plus, the other babies had started crying so it became a ripple affect.

I'm learning to let go. It's not easy, but I'm learning. I'm trying to learn to trust God. Presley is my daughter but she was given to me by God. He is her God. I am her mother. I am here to raise her and love her. He will protect her. But it's so hard! God help me!!!

One down...

Last night we gave Presley some carrots to try again. We figured they would be pretty easy on her tummy. She ate an entire jar really well. We put her to bed at her normal time and really didn't expect much. Boy were we wrong.

 By 9:00 she had already been squirmy and trying to roll to her tummy. By 9:30 she had let out a couple of piercing screams. By 10:00 she had cried out even more. By 10:30 she was fussy and obviously hurting so we put her back in her pack n play in our room. She got up many times last night with painful cries. She didn't want her pacifier at all. She was lying on her tummy with her booty in the air just fussing. We knew from the beginning that it was gas. We gave her gas drops a couple of times and just tried to soothe her the best we could. She seemed fine when I held her upright. So we did a lot of that last night.

I'm not sure how carrots can cause gas. I googled it and sure enough they can. (but I think pretty much anything can cause gas!) So I'm guessing we will not be doing carrots again for awhile. I know it could have been a coincidence again, but with the amount of sleep we got (and didn't get!) last night we are going to hold off on the carrots for awhile. Tonight we are going to do just milk and puffs again and then try maybe pears or some fruit tomorrow night.