Happy Birthday Momma

Last year I trudged through the snow and ice to get to Garbo's to celebrate my 26th birthday, I was 27 weeks along and feeling great.  I remember being surrounded by friends and family and wondering if I would ever be able to do this again with a little one on the way?  Fast forward a year later and I was able to celebrate with just friends and family the weekend before my birthday thanks to Nana's generous babysitting offer.  Then on my birthday I woke up to a foot of snow and a blizzard in progress.  Not quite what I was hopping for on my birthday, but I was snowed in and I couldn't think of anyone else that I would want to be snowed in with other than Presley Ann.

I spent the day in my PJ's till noon, took a long peaceful shower, played and played some more with Presley and then rocked her quietly to sleep.  It was a blissful birthday!

She's a lot cutier on the outside!

Eight is Great

Presley Ann's eighth month has been an adventure, the only other thing that could add more to the month is if she cut more teeth (which wouldn't surprise me).  She was kinda crawling right after Christmas, but now she is full throttle.  That includes crawling into the kitchen to dump the doggie bowl, into the laundry room to turn over a basket, and into the office to get the dog bone.

After we mastered crawling we started to pull up.  It absolutely amazes me that it takes all of one afternoon for them to go from being on the floor to upright and moving around.  She loves pulling up on anything and in return we have had a lot of bumps and bruises on her forehead.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of her pulling up and what was on the other side.

I had a slightly unexpected snow day last week, so Presley and I spent the day just hanging out and doing chores.  She likes to help cook and clean, except she does more tasting that cooking and more exploring than cleaning.  When Todd got home we took Presley for a spin (or a slide) down the driveway courtesy of the twins down the street that let us borrow their saucers.  Presley likes the snow, but she doesn't like it when it touches her.

We even got invited to our first birthday party. Our friends the Willmeth's celebrate the 3rd birthday of their little girl Brooke Raeleigh at Springfield Gymnastic and it was a ton of fun for Presley.  She liked being able to crawl around everywhere and everyone and really enjoyed watching all the older kids.  We even got an adorable party favor (a little lady bug necklace with her name on it) and had strawberry cake--YUM!

We started eating our vegetables with our fingers these past few weeks.  Presley was getting really good at picking everything up with her fingers, so I thought it was time to put that new skill to good use.  The first few attempts was extremely messy, but she is getting much better and it makes dinner time fun and enjoyable again.  Todd and I get to eat dinner sitting down, talking, with Presley Ann there too.  No stop and go feeding, mom takes a bite, Presley takes a bit, dad picks up sippy cup, repeat.

It am in awe of how fast she is growing up.  I cannot believe next weekend she will be 9 months old!  How did this happen?  I thought I just brought home my pint size little love and now she is huge and smart, but she is still my little love.

Holy Cannoli

Today we are on day 6 of being sick, Momma and Dadda included, but I think I finally figured it out.  I was taking the dog toy out of Presley's mouth (a daily event in our house) and I saw somthing white.  "Oh great, paper!" I thought.  Nope, two MORE TEETH! That makes four teeth in the past two months.  She is going to be eating steak by her first birthday if she doesn't slow down.


The Christmas tree and decorations are down, the floors are moped and vaccumed of anything she could possibly put in her mouth (fingers crossed) and I am back to work tomorrow.  Looks like our little Momma-Baby vacation is over.  At least until March!

Lucky Number Seven

I don't know if it has been a lucky month or not.  We began the month with an assumed stomach bug, but it ended up being her two front teeth--just in time for Christmas!

Presley Ann celebrated Thanksgiving out at the Bennett family farm and was even allowed to have a little bit of mashed potatoes--YUM!  On Thanksgiving day she began this whole snorting thing whenever she laughedor smiles at someone.  It is absolutely hilarious and her cousin Chris can make her do it best.

We ventured out the day after Thanksgiving to pick up a video camera, best purchase ever.  I love pretending like we are part of a TLC film crew documenting all the small moments in Presley's life.  We have caught her crawling a few times, she will go about three to five crawls and the sprawls out on her belly to army crawl.  Nonetheless, if you put her down and walk away she's coming after you!

We had our family photos taken at the first part of December by a friend of mine Meg White (Matrone).  She recently moved back to Springfield from Alabama and has a small photography business.  We loved our experience with her and the way the photos turned out, I cry just about every time I look at them because they captured the essence of the whole day---a cuddly family (it was freezing outside that day).

 

Christmas was extremely special for Todd and I this year.  We celebrated for three whole days with family, but it was the best early Saturday morning with just the three of us.  Presley of course didn't know too much about what was going on, all she really knew was that there was lots of paper and string to play with.  I tried my best to soak it all up, I didn't want to forget the funny things that her and Max did at Nana's house, her adorable little Christmas outfits, and the way my heart sank just watching her with Todd.  I also got one of the greatest presents ever, a little blue box!  Yep a Tiffany's bracelet to commemorate my first Christmas as a momma.

After all the celebration we woke up on Monday with a 102* fever, oh my word!  She has never had a fever before and it has been horrible.  I feel so sad for her, she's uncomfortable, she is plugged up, and just wants to be held (which I am more than willing to get in extra cuddle time).  The doctor said the words that I hate to hear even for myself, "It's just a virus and it will have to run it course for 3-5 days."  That means no quick fixes.  Thank goodness I have this week off from work so that I can just be here with her, this would be even harder if I was trying to go to work. 

 

I am so emotional these days when I think about her and how amazing it is that she is even here, we are truly blessed to have such a spirited and healthy little girl.  I think a little bit of the emotion also stems from the fact that in four months my baby is going to be 1! How does that happen? 

Here she is fresh out of the bath with a dose of Motrin!  Doesn't act like she is sick at all, does she?

Six One Way Half a Dozen the Other

One way or the other our lil' girl is growing up.  We've made it to six months and she has really blossomed!  We began our month with Halloween, Presley attended her first of many Spooktaculars with our good friends the Willmeth's.  We also took her with the family to trick-or-treat with her cousin Max, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Culley and Aunt Amy, and Nana Crocker.  Presley tried to dig deep into the candy bowl, but I had to tell her not this year.

We didn't make up to Columbia to celebrate Homecoming, but Presley was rooting the Tigers on to victory against OU.  MIZ-ZOU!

Presley is really on the move these days.  Some of her favorite days are spent jumping in her Baby Einstein jumper--she goes nuts!  Strolling around the house in her walker to see what's cookin'.  Or--drumroll please---getting up on her hands and knees and rocking.  We are inching closer and closer to her crawling, therefore Todd and I are going to brave the shopaholics holiday to get a camcorder so that we are able to document her first scoots across the floor.  She's also has the best friend and girl could ask for, Peyton James.  They are buddies and spend dinner time licking dinner off of eachother and squealing loudly (PJ from getting his ears pulled and Presley with delight!)

This Thanksgiving Todd and I are thankful for the blessing called Presley Ann.  She has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives and we are thankful each day for happy, healthy, rosy cheeked lil' girl.

5 Golden Months

Presley Ann is 5 months old! and she is doing it in true Crocker-Bennett fashion.  She started off with a small cold that took an emotional toll on me.  I hated her not being herself and feeling bad, it wasn't that bad it was just a runny nose with no fever, but she was waking up three times a night and that is so unlike her.  I melted in tears for about a week straight at work---needless to say it was a devastating.  But there was a catalyst for the runny nose and cranky behavior----TEETH and two of them at that!  She started to cut one and about five days later we noticed there was another right there beside it on the bottom.  Therefore, she has been chewing and chewing and slobbering and slobbering on everything.  It's pretty cute in my opinion.

She has also discovered her voice---lots of yelping with bubbles and sputtering that follows.  She really is quite the charming lil' girl.

We also had a little falling out with our photographer this month.  I signed up for a photo package from Lamb portrait before Presley was even born.  The deal was to get her photos taken at birth and every three months there after that.  I told that we would take the pictures, view them within a week or so, order, and receive the photos about 3-4 weeks after the session.  WELL...each session we did not receive the pictures until she was almost the next trimester old.  Needless to say Presley will not being fulfilling her contractual agreement because I am just sick that it takes so long to get her pictures and that I can't share them with our family and friends in a timely fashion.  Lamb portrait takes great photos, but what is the point when I am looking at a picture of my baby at 3 months old when she is nearly 6 months now?

The search begins for a new photographer to photograph our family for a Christmas card---yes we will be that family that sends a card with us happily strolling through the leaves.  We've earned it and I want nothing more than to share my lovely family with our friends and family.

Keep posted and be looking for your Christmas card in the mail!

Four!

Just had to put a play on words in this month's post.  So what has been happening lately?  Well everything of course.  Presley is still on the ball with this rolling thing and we have found a new toy, they are called toes and they taste mmmmm mm good!  Todd and I both attempted this feat and it didn't work out in our favor, wonder why?

Presley Ann has also begun to enjoy some time in her bouncer.  At first she didn't know what to think of it, her feet wouldn't reach, and I think that frustrated her (I know how you feel lil' lady).  Look at her now! She loves the piano that lights up.  Speaking of, how much do piano lessons cost? She might just turn out to be the next Mozart.  We also had to invest in a playyard because she began rolling over, over, and over again and pumped her head--several times.

My friend and roommate from college just welcomed their first into the world August 30th.  Trevor Burk White was 7 lbs. 11 oz. and healthy as a horse.  Michelle had a difficult pregnancy, she was on bedrest for 13 weeks and battled diabetes the entire time.  As soon and Trevor was born her blood sugar returned to normal and she was an extremely happy camper once she had a Mountain Dew and hot dog.

Presley also had  her baby welleness check up with more SHOTS!  Boo, but I will let you all know her stats later.

Growing like a weed, but as beautiful as a flower.  This is my lil' girl Presley Ann: