Preslie Kay at Twelve Months



I realize this update is over a month late. Maybe it's me not wanting to admit that our daughter is over a year old, now!

Preslie turned 12 months old on Wednesday, April 2nd!

Measurements: At Preslie's one year well-check she came in at...
Weight: 20 pounds 10 ounces (62nd percentile)
Height: 29 1/2" tall (59th percentile)
Head circumference: 18" (70th percentile)

Appearance
~She has a lot of hair now but refuses to let me do it and she rips bows out of it. I keep trying though!
~Her eye color switches from blue, to grey, to green depending on what she's wearing. No doubt they will stay light.

~She still has just her two bottom teeth - and she knows how to use them! Her top teeth are definitely coming in. Her gums are red and swollen, so any day now!
~The cutest dimple on her right cheek when she smiles and laughs.

Sizes
~12 month tops and 18 month bottoms.
~Size 2 shoe but she's already growing out of them so I think she'll be in Size 3 shoes in about a month.
~Size 4 diapers.

Personality
~I'm not quite sure how to describe this little girl's 'tude. She is generally a happy child, but she can get MAD if something doesn't work for her right away (like if she can't get a toy to turn on or something like that) or if she doesn't get something immediately. Her patience is non-existent. We are working on that.

 ~I'm going to be honest and not sugar-coat things, but she is the bully at Miss Kara's. She hits and she bites. We have "that child." I have no clue where she learned this but definitely not from us. She doesn't yet understand when we say "No hitting" firmly to her when she swats at us - and it's not like we hit her back. What would that teach her? I think when she gets a little older she'll understand a little better. And the whole biting thing...I don't even know. So these are a couple challenges we're working on at the moment.
~She is starting to laugh a lot more! She usually makes you work for a laugh, but now she'll willingly giggle. And it's one of those guttural giggles - which makes it that much more funny.

~She is doing a very good job at being gentle with the dogs. She'll actually pet Stella nicely and softly. Kahlua doesn't allow her close enough to get the opportunity to do that.

~She shakes her head "no" if she doesn't want something. The funniest is when I ask for for a kiss and she shakes her head "no" and smiles so big. I'm sure that won't be so funny 14 years from now.
~If Preslie is tired she pops her thumb in her mouth and will lay down wherever she is. Whether it be the ground or Papa's slipper. Ha! ;)



Likes
~She has developed an attachment to her Lovies. She has a rabbit lovie for home and an elephant lovie for Kara's.
~Preslie has some weird obsession with her jammies. I have a couple pair in the living room because I need to sew some holes in them and she'll get a hold of them and put them around her neck, take them off, put them around her neck, take them off. She'll do this for hours! I have no clue why.

~She loves jewelry; especially necklaces. She likes to try and put necklaces on and play with a necklace if you're wearing one.
~She also loves sunglasses. Girlfriend loves accessories!
~Her water table is one of her favorite things right now.

~She still enjoys books. Right now a favorite of hers is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."
~Sweet P got one of these Radio Flyer tricycles for her birthday and it's her absolute favorite thing right now. We take her around the block in it when it's nice outside.

Dislikes
~The car. Any car drive longer than an hour and Preslie is not an enjoyable passenger. She also doesn't take very good naps in the car.
~Being changed. It's impossible to keep her still and happy during this process.
~Having her hair brushed.

Eating
~She does a great job at feeding herself - we rarely feed her with a spoon now. Unless it's something super messy like applesauce or yogurt. We're working on using utensils but she's not quite there yet.
~She eats pretty much everything we eat at this point.

~She is completely off formula and is drinking whole milk. However, I think she has an allergy to milk so we're trying to figure that whole thing out.
~Preslie is also completely off the bottle and we only give her sippy cups. It was a very smooth transition. I started at 11 months and gave her a sippy in place of her morning bottle. And just within the past two weeks I switched her bedtime bottle with a sippy.

Sleeping
~She sleeps pretty well. There may be a night here or there where she wakes up for some unknown reason but it's not very often.

^Her last night as an 11-month-old

~Preslie is still taking two naps a day. While she's at Kara's the duration of her naps seem to be short, but when she's home she takes nice, long naps!

New Experiences
~The most important is that she had her first birthday! I hope to have a separate post up about that.

^Her first taste of sugar at her first birthday party. Look at her toes! Now, that's some excitement right there!

^Enjoying a cake pop for dessert on the night of her actual birthday.

~Preslie is standing and cruising along furniture and stands on her own. Still no walking though.
~This month she had two ear infections and bronchiolitis. That was pretty scary and I hope she doesn't get bronchiolitis again.

^She was so pitiful and sick and her little eyes were so droopy.

~She is allergic to amoxicillin. She developed a rash all over her body.
~Preslie also developed Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD) right after her allergic reaction. The doctor tells us the two were two separate occurrences, but I'm not so sure. Unfortunately, she had HFMD at her birthday party (at the time we thought it was still an allergic reaction to amoxicillin) so a couple of the kiddos who were there ended up getting HFMD too. We felt so awful! Obviously, had we known what it was, we would've rescheduled. Oh well. I guess these things happen when you have kids!

 ^The beginning of HFMD around her mouth. :(

~She can say "eyes," "hi," "outside," "uh oh," "that," "dog," "Dada" and "Mama." She only says "Mama" rarely.
~Mama and Papa got her a Pottery Barn Kids chair for her birthday and she loves it. She sits in it and gets out. Sits in it and gets out.

~She attended her friend Lucas' first birthday party.

~She had her first official Girls Weekend! Unfortunately, she developed bronchiolitis during this time so we weren't able to play and be with our friends as much as we would have liked. :(

^Miss Madison was not in the mood for pictures. ;)

~When we say "Preslie, how big are you? So big!!!" she'll throw her arms up over her head. I love it.
~Preslie experienced her first St. Patrick's day. It was pretty uneventful, but a fun holiday nonetheless.
~We announced that she is going to be a Big Sister!
~She discovered the doggie door as Grammy and Grampy's house!

 ^She even looks guilty!

~We set up a new play area in the house for her. I found a good storage bench and we laid down some foam flooring and it's worked out pretty well. I can't handle all the toys!
~We went to a food truck event that was pretty fun.

~She has eaten dog food - much to our dismay. Ha!


This past year has been so fun and exhausting. Both Kevin and I are looking forward to her becoming her own little person as she transitions from a baby to a toddler. Each day she makes us smile. Some days she makes us feel like we want to scream - but luckily those days are far and few between. ;)
We couldn't have imagined a better first child if we tried. We feel so fortunate to have Preslie as our daughter.

Baby Pino 2.0: Fourteen Weeks

^There was a whining toddler at my feet when this was taken.

Weight gain/loss: I've gained seven pounds so far. Compared to my last pregnancy I weigh seven pounds more now at 14 weeks, than I did then. I'm trying really hard not to think about weight gain too much.

Size of baby: Baby is about 1 1/2 ounces; 3 1/2 inches long; about the size of a lemon.

Gender: Unknown, but I feel like it's a boy.

Movement: I felt the first real flutter at 11 1/2 weeks. And I know it wasn't gas bubbles because it was while I was having an ultrasound and I saw Baby kick and felt it at the same time. I feel him/her about every day, but no movement strong enough to be felt from the outside.

Sleep: Some nights are good and some nights aren't. I've been very stuffed up every night it seems like, so sometimes I toss and turn and other nights I sleep like a baby. Oh, and the snoring is back - as Kevin so lovingly reminds me. ;) Night sweats have subsided for now because we've had a lot warmer weather so we keep the window open and I can dress cooler for bed.

Maternity clothes: All maternity clothes. A couple weeks ago I got some summer clothes at Old Navy and felt really good about them. I've started wearing them this week and apparently "the girls" have grown because some of the dresses no longer fit up top. It makes me uncomfortable and frustrated, to say the least.

Symptoms: I have experienced every symptom during this pregnancy that I did not experience with my last pregnancy.
1) Swelling. I didn't swell with Preslie. But this time my feet swell and my fingers swell. I had to get a fake wedding ring because my rings no longer fit. I normally wear a size 6 1/2 shoe and I just bought a pair of 7 1/2 sandals!
2) HEADACHES. Oh the headaches. They're horrible, and they'll last anywhere from an entire day to three days. Add a whiny 12 month old to that and it makes quite the combo.
3) Tummy aches. I can't pinpoint what food makes my stomach hurt because it'll hurt for random reasons at random times. I can be hungry and it hurts, or I can be full and it hurts. I can eat a healthy meal and it hurts or I can eat a fatty meal and it hurts. It's a lose-lose situation, folks.
4) Bloody noses. Fun times!
5) My energy returned and the nausea stopped at 13 weeks on the dot. Makes things a smidge easier to deal with. :)
6) I felt the most exhausted at week 11.

Aversions:
1) Still grilled chicken. I try to take one for the team if Kevin makes dinner with it but I just can't.
2) Sweet things. I haven't touched much candy at all this pregnancy and I'm not a huge fan of sweet drinks right now. Complete opposite from last time.

Cravings:
1) Quizno's Sonoma Turkey flatbread sandwiches with Jalapeno chips. My absolute favorite thing right now!
2) Chocolate and peanut butter, sometimes.
3) Anything salty
4) Anything fried (healthy, I know)
5) Pickles
6) Tuna sandwiches
7) Sushi
8) Mexican food

What I miss: Having myself back. First of all, I feel extremely lucky to be able to carry and bear another child. This is something some women aren't able to do and I don't take that for granted one bit. BUT...this time around has been very different - self-esteem-wise - than last time. I don't think I gave myself enough time to get my body back to where I felt comfortable before I got pregnant again. I do not feel good about the way I look now and I dread seeing pictures of myself and looking at myself in the mirror. Last time I loved being pregnancy and how my body looked. Loved. It! This time - not the same. I try not to think about it too much, but it's hard. I just look at it as a means to an end, and that end being a beautiful baby we are blessed to have.

Best moments:
1) Seeing Baby at another ultrasound at 11 1/2 weeks. He/she was a wiggle worm and so active. The doctor said she thinks the baby is more towards the outer part of my stomach because the ultrasound came out so clear; and that may be another reason I felt him/her so early.

2) Brainstorming some names based on gender. We have a name if it's a boy. Absolutely no name if it's a girl.
3) Feeling movement.

What I'm looking forward to:
1) We find out the gender on Saturday (April 26th)! I am so so excited for that.
2) Once we know the gender I can start planning the nursery and purchasing items for that.
3) Getting into an exercise routine and hoping that will make me feel a bit better about myself.

Baby Daddy: Kevin is pretty much going with the flow. He says it always becomes a little more real for him when he sees an ultrasound and can feel kicks. It makes me feel good when he asks how I'm feeling or how Baby is doing.

Big Sister: She still has no clue what's going on. Our cousin is in her third trimester and we saw her last weekend and Preslie leaned over and touched her belly. It was pretty cute and I was surprised she noticed that her belly was bigger. I'm looking forward to her doing that to my belly.

I thought doing these posts every four weeks would seem like a long time in between - but not so much! These weeks just zoom on by!

Little Reminder

Yesterday, I had to get my 1st trimester blood work done so I was waiting in the lab of the hospital for a while. A frail-looking woman in a wheelchair was pushed into the lab by her husband and the poor thing just looked so tired; and her husband looked so scared.

They sat across from me and I'd glance up every now and then and I could tell she was losing some of her hair and her sweat pants were kind of falling off her hips because of all the weight she lost. But still, she had a smile on her face. Even as she was talking to her husband about the chemo treatment she went through that day and how the nausea didn't seem as bad - she had a smile on her face.

I can't even begin to fathom what she and her husband must be going through - or what anyone else has to go through when facing cancer treatment like that. Here I was sitting there, with a healthy baby growing inside me, another healthy, happy baby at home and a wonderful husband. And the lady sitting across from me seemed to be feeling so sick. But still she smiled. It was a moment in time where I was reminded that life is fragile and to not take it for granted but to appreciate it, no matter what.

I (and I know others do too) get so caught up in everyday life and my trivial little problems and I lose site of the fact that tomorrow isn't promised to us. Sometimes it's too easy for me to let a day go by where I wasn't taking advantage of the fact that I and my family were allowed another day on this Earth and I didn't really use that day to it's fullest.

If the lady at the lab could still put a smile on her face (and those around her) when she obviously was feeling awful, then certainly I can remember to appreciate my life just as much as she still appreciates hers.

God gives us great reminders of his faith at the most unexpected times.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Baby Pino 2.0: Ten Weeks

Weight gain/loss: So far I've gained 5.7 pounds. I started out one pound heavier at the beginning of this pregnancy than I was last pregnancy; so not too shabby.

Size of baby: Just a quarter of an ounce; 1 1/2 inches long; about the size of an olive.

Gender: Unknown at this point. We hope to find out early. We're pulling for a boy!

Movement: I swear I've felt little somethings here and there, but it's probably just gas bubbles.

Sleep: It's hit or miss. Some nights I sleep well, while other nights I don't sleep at all. The night sweats are back and HORRIBLE!!!

Maternity clothes: All maternity pants and a few maternity tops. Most of my regular tops still fit fine.

Symptoms:
1) Starving all. the. time, but losing my appetite once I start to eat dinner.
2) Nauseous mostly around the evenings until I go to bed.
3) Bouts of anger for no reason (I blame the hormones).
4) Tired, tired and tired.
5) Heartburn sometimes.
6) Round ligament pain - especially right when I stand up or I sneeze.
7) A few headaches. I haven't had many headaches, but the ones I have had have been pretty painful.
8) Absolutely no energy. The house and laundry are looking quite neglected. It's all I can do to keep Preslie and myself looking presentable every day. Ha!
9) Stuffy nose every morning and a lot of congestion.

Aversions: I can't stand chicken right now. Which makes me sad because I usually really like it, but anything with chicken on it (like pizza or a sandwich) I just can't stomach the idea of ingesting it. *gag*

Cravings: Where do I begin?
1) Peanut butter
2) Popcorn
3) Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches
4) Chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter smeared on them and syrup
5) Anything salty
6) Breads
7) Deli sandwiches
8) Pickles
9) Chips
10) Sushi - specifically the Peter 2 Roll and the BBQ Albacore from Mikuni's
11) Rainbow sherbet in an ice cream cone
12) Cold, Fuji apples
...Obviously all the really healthy things in the world...

What I miss: I really miss my energy. It is HARD trying to take care of a baby when you're growing a baby. Kevin helps out a lot, but it's still difficult because I feel guilty when all I want to do is lay down. But this phase is only temporary.

Best moments over the past four weeks:
1) Seeing Baby Pino 2.0's little heartbeat on the screen.
2) Announcing to everyone that Preslie is going to be a big sister!
3) Buying Baby Pino 2.0 his/her first little newborn onesies (gender neutral of course).

What I'm looking forward to:
1) For this first trimester to be over and done with. Only a few more weeks and I'll hopefully start to feel back to normal.
2) My next OB appointment next week.
3) Sweet P's first birthday in a little over a week!
4) Finding out the gender.

Baby Daddy: Kevin is still in the process of wrapping his head around the fact that we're going to have another baby. It's hard to process it when you're in the throws of everyday life of working and taking care of a baby.

Big Sister: She doesn't have a clue what's going on. I don't think she'll be too happy about a new baby in the house based on past experiences of me showing attention to another child while she's around. Fun times.

Ten weeks down -- 30 more to go!

Rewind: Kevin's Thirsty Thirty Beer Bash!

Waaay back in July, I threw Kevin a 30th birthday party. It was a beer tasting party and ended up being so fun!

I initially got the idea from my friend Katie, when she posted a few years ago about how her sister threw her brother-in-law a party like this and I thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Since Preslie was born just a few months prior, I tried to plan ahead as much as I could. I would've normally designed the invites myself, but I just didn't have the time or energy to do it. So I enlisted the help of my Blogger/Twitter friend Ashley from Great Grabbie Designs.



I did design the beer tasting cards based on this invite. I don't think I have an electronic copy of it, but you can email me if you'd like it.

Luckily, we had a few beer mirrors that Kevin had collected that we used throughout the house. My dad had some old beer steins that worked well as decor, too. I bought out all of the wheat stalks from Hobby Lobby. I was able to find real-looking hops from save-on-crafts.com as well as some old-looking metal vases.

I got the idea of beer printables off Pinterest (here's my board I pinned ideas to for this party).
I wanted Kevin's cake to be kind of special so I ordered it from Karen's Bakery in Folsom and it turned out awesome! Karen's Bakery has been my go-to place now for all my cakes. His cake was shaped like a beer cap and it was one of is favorite beers: Lagunitas.

I had Kevin choose all the beer that they ended up tasting because I know nothing about beer. We got it all at Total Wine and More.

And I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...



And we can't leave out a picture of our little one who was so good that day (and so little!)!



And then there were four...

As most of you may already know (thanks to our Facebook and Instagram announcements) we are expecting Baby Pino 2.0 in October!



We were initially very shocked and surprised when we found out on February 7th, when I was 3 weeks and 5 days along.

I'd like to write down the journey the past couple months to make sure it's all well-documented:

We naively thought that since it took a while to get pregnant with Preslie, that it would also take a while again to get pregnant with a second baby. So we weren't necessarily doing anything to prevent a pregnancy, but at the same time we weren't actively hoping for one right away.

I stopped producing milk in October and began having cycles in December and January. Since they weren't really regular cycles I didn't think much of it and never imagined they were still regular enough to get pregnant.

Fast-forward to the week of February 7th and I just felt "off." I had been doing Weight Watchers for about a month at that point and my weight was just up and down, and that week I couldn't lose any weight for anything. I was so bloated and just didn't feel right. I kept mentioning to Kevin that it'd be crazy if I was pregnant - but I didn't really think it to be true.

Thursday, February 7th I bought a pregnancy test at Target on my lunch break, got to work, peed on the stick and five minutes later took a look at it at my desk and laughed "HA!" out loud and then kind of had a mini-freak out moment to myself. My heart was pounding so hard and I started sweating a lot.

I then called Kevin at work, then my mom and dad, texted my BFF and then all the worries started to set in: Preslie is still a baby herself; will we be able to handle two "babies" under two; both in diapers? Can we afford two kids in daycare? We're going to have to get more baby furniture and completely switch around rooms in our house. Oh, and then eventually get a bigger car. What if there is something wrong with this baby or the pregnancy goes bad? Can we handle that? All normal worries - I know.

And I know everything will work out fine. Just initial worries. So after all that I sat down and started to plan my maternity leave and figure out money we need to set aside to pay for benefits while I'm out of work. I felt much better after doing that. Ha!

I am currently 8 weeks and 4 days along now. We had my first ultrasound on Monday (when I was 8 weeks 1 day) and everything looked perfectly fine and normal and we saw his/her little heart beating away. We are really hoping for a boy this time around, but of course will feel lucky just to have a healthy baby no matter what sex it is.

I have yet to tell my boss and manager that I'm pregnant. They're both men and don't really notice so I think I'll hold out a bit longer. I'm kind of apprehensive to tell them for some reason.

So far this pregnancy has been quite different than my pregnancy with Preslie.
~I am hungry ALL THE DAMN TIME! With P I never wanted to eat.
~I feel much more nauseous this time around, but I honestly think I'm just as nauseous as the last pregnancy. It just feels more so because I'm actually in the thick of it. Luckily, I have yet to throw up so I'm not complaining too much.
~I don't feel as tired this time around but I think that's because I don't have an option to be tired with an almost-one-year-old crawling everywhere.
~I've gained weight sooner than I did with P - that probably has a lot to do with my never-ending hunger.
~My boobs haven't been sore at all. I think that may be thanks to having just stopped producing milk not too long ago.
~I started showing at seven weeks; meaning wearing my maternity pants and people noticing the bump at work. I didn't really start showing with P until about 14 weeks, I think.
~My cravings have been geared more toward red meat and salty stuff. With my last pregnancy I wanted a lot of sweet and sour things.
~I am not a fan of grilled chicken this go-around. GAG!

I'll start my pregnancy posts at week 10 and I've decided I'm only going to do them every four weeks. I'm just being realistic here and know I'm not going to be able to keep up with weekly updates. I can hardly keep up with Preslie's monthly updates for crying out loud! I'm still going to take weekly belly pics, but only post every four weeks.

Thank you everyone for all your kind words and encouragement. It really means so much to us. We are super excited for this next adventure in our lives!!!



Preslie Kay at Eleven Months

 

Preslie turned 11 months old on Sunday, March 2nd.

I didn’t do as great of a job keeping track of her milestones and taking pictures this month because it’s been a rather busy month for us. But nonetheless, Girlfriend has been so much fun!

Measurements

No idea. She has her one year appointment next month so I’ll know then. But I think she’s slowed down on the growing front this past month.

Appearance

~Her hair continues to grow and get longer and thicker. It now parts to the right on it’s own. Before, I’d part her hair on the left but it doesn’t want to go that way anymore. It’s a challenge getting her to keep the bow in her hair.

~Just two bottom teeth, green eyes and her sweet, little dimple.

Sizes

~Size 12 month clothes and 18 month pants.

~Preslie is finally in size 2 shoes!

Personality

~She keeps us on our toes. She’s generally a very happy, easy-going baby. But when she gets mad, it is not fun.

~Right now we’re working on not hitting. Yes, she hits and she only hits me for some reason. It’s lovely.

~She has the impatience of her Mama and the frustration of her Papa.

~If someone around her is laughing, she’ll also start laughing. She has no clue what she’s laughing at, but because everyone else is doing it she joins in.

~Preslie is extremely independent.

Likes

~Books

~Bugging the dogs when they’re trying to eat

~The vacuum

~She loves to cruise around in her walker in our big, mostly empty front room. She spends a lot of time in there just talking to herself.

~Wrestling with Papa

Dislikes

~Getting changed

~Having her hair brushed or done

~Getting out of the bathtub

~Being told “no”

Eating

~Preslie pretty much eats what we eat now and it’s made things much easier. I no longer have to pack her breakfast and lunch for Miss Kara’s house since Miss Kara will feed her what she feeds the other toddlers. I think Preslie likes that too because she always wants what the other person has.

~I’ve dropped her afternoon bottle, so she’s down to two bottles a day: one in the morning and one right before bed. She takes a sippy cup of water throughout the day.

~I did a horrible job of keeping track of new foods she’s tried this month, but she has loved everything we’ve given her.

~We think she’s allergic to corn. We tried it one night at dinner and the next day was not so great on the tummy front for Sweet P. So we’ll steer clear from the corn for the time being.

Sleeping

~Still a great sleeper. Sleeps 7pm-7am and takes a morning nap and afternoon nap each day. At this point we just take her lead on when she’s tired during the day and we’re not as strict on the time of her naps as we used to be.

~Preslie loves to sleep on her tummy like her Mama.

~She sucks her thumb pretty much the whole time she sleeps.

New Experiences

~She is a fast crawler!

~Sweet P went from pulling up to her knees to pulling up to standing within only a few days. Now she wants to pull up on ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME!

~She waves “bye” and signs for “milk” and “all done.”

~She has a barnyard toy that plays the “Old McDonald” song and when the part of “Ee-I ee-I oh” comes on she says “Yi Yi Yo!” It’s pretty cute. That is her favorite song right now.

~She had a horrible cold this month and the runny nose was non-stop. So nasty. But all she wanted to do was snuggle and I loved that.

~Preslie will point to your eyes and nose when you ask her where they are.

~Speaking of nose…she went through a small phase of sticking her finger in her nose.

~Another fun thing Preslie has learned is how to gag herself. If she cries and gets herself really upset she’ll gag, and she has also gagged by sticking her finger down her throat. Luckily, I think this was short-lived, but time will tell. It was fun times.

~She “talks” a lot. She’s so adamant about what she says I only wish we knew what was going through her mind.

~She holds her play cell phone up to her ear when we say “Hello?!”

~She has discovered the Tupperware cabinet in the kitchen.

~We’ve transitioned her to the big car seat! (Tear from Mama )

~She celebrated her first Valentine’s Day!

~Preslie had a girls weekend when Grammy came in town for a visit! We did a lot of shopping and went to a Mexican restaurant!

~She attended her Great Grandpa Telfer’s memorial service and was so well behaved.

~She had a blast at her cousin Carter’s first birthday party!

We only have a few more weeks left of our baby before she is a one-year-old and we are trying to soak up all her baby-ness as much as we can!