Preslie Kay at Ten Months

 

^The crossed feet kill me!!!

Preslie turned 10 months old on Sunday, February 2nd.

Measurements

Girlfriend has some long legs. I don’t know her length but I need to measure her to find out. I’m also unsure on her weight. I’m going to guess probably 20-22 pounds?

^Long-Legs-McGee!

Appearance

~Lots of hair. She refuses to keep headbands in her hair so I’ve stored most away now. Bows are hit or miss, too. I can put little clips in her hair in a tiny ponytail on the top of her head that sticks straight up. It looks so funny!

~Still just two bottom teeth. She’s working on some more teefers but I haven’t seen any pop through yet.

Sizes

~All 12 month clothes. She can wear 12 month pants, but 18 month pants fit her a lot better in length and around the belly. I’ve started buying some 18 month bubbles for the summer since it gets HOT here.

~Still size 1 in shoes! It’s getting a little frustrating that her feet haven’t grown much. Ha! She has a ton of bigger shoes that have just been sitting in her closet. Oh well, they’ll get worn eventually.

~Size 3 diapers during the day, and size 4 diapers at night. We’ll probably move up to size 4 diapers during the day within the next month or two.

~She has almost outgrown her infant car seat. Her feet hang off the edge and it is getting heavy to carry her in it. We’re planning on moving her up to the bigger car seat this next month.

Personality

Oh…where do I begin? She has a big personality and very specific likes and dislikes.

~She’s been really good this month. Much better than last month. A lot less whining.

~You really have to work to get a laugh out of her. One thing that is sure to make her giggle is if you let her put one of her toys in your mouth. She thinks it’s the funniest thing ever.

~She gets MAD if you don’t read a book fast enough. She is D-O-N-E if the pages aren’t turned quickly. Geesh!

~She squeals so much when her Papa comes home from work! The joy on her face is priceless!

Likes

~Books, books and more books. Which I definitely love. I hope she always has an obsession with books. We have a basket of books on the bottom shelf of her bookshelf in her room that she can pull out whenever she wants. She will play with her books in her room for a good 45 minutes! She especially likes flip-books and knows exactly where each part of the page flips.

~She seems to have an affinity with my slippers for some reason. If they’re not on my feet and lying on the ground, she goes straight for them.

~Her Bunny Lovey. I’m going to need to find another one like it in case this one gets lost.

~Preslie is obsessed with the chandelier in her room. She points to it and will smile and laugh at it. It’s weird -- and kind of creepy.

~When she gets really excited or likes something, she’ll raise her arms above her head, or she’ll flap them at her sides. So much excitement for a little person!

Dislikes

~Still hates getting changed or dressed.

~Completely despises having her face or nose wiped.

~Does not like to be told “no.” Lord help us.

~Not being able to eat or drink what you’re eating or drinking.

Eating

~Still three, 6 ounce bottles a day. I’m thinking of taking her afternoon bottle out and replacing it with a sippy cup. She’s never too interested in it and I think it might make the transition to no more bottles a little easier down the road.

~She cannot get enough Mac and Cheese. I have to make her stop eating it because she’ll just eat an entire adult bowl of it!

~Some new things she’s tried this month are the goldfish crackers, waffles and fish.

~So far there is nothing that Sweet P has tried that she hasn’t liked.

Sleeping

~Still a great sleeper. Goes down at 7pm, up at 7am and two naps during the day at 9am and 12:30pm, that range from an hour to two hours. We are so so grateful that she is a good sleeper.

~Sucks her thumb when she sleeps and when she’s tired.

^Melt my heart!

New Experiences

~She started crawling this month! It literally took only one week for it to finally click for her. On a Monday she started army crawling, the next day she crawl regularly for a couple “steps” and then fall to her belly and army crawl and from there she’s been crawling ever since. When she crawls she’ll stick her right leg out to the side sometimes to get ready to sit from her crawl position. It’s funny.

~Preslie shakes her head side-to-side. She doesn’t yet know it means “no” but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

~She recognizes songs and will clap when ones she knows come on or we sing them to her.

~She points to things and says “dat.”

~We say “light” and she will point to a light in the room and we can say “dog” and she’ll point to Kahlua or Stella. It’s amazing how her little mind works!

~She can sign for “more” on purpose now! It’s pretty much what she does the entire time she eats because we can’t get the food in her mouth fast enough for her. HA! I love seeing her tiny little hands signing! She’s almost got “all done” down and we’re close to “milk” and “eat.”

~Since Girlfriend sits up in her crib and pulls up to her knees, we’ve lowered her crib. I’m only 5’2” so it’ll be a challenge for me to reach over that railing when we have to lower it again!

~Preslie helped celebrate her Grampy’s birthday on January 13th!

~We had a play date with Preslie’s Godmother and the twins! Preslie also swung in a park swing for the first time and LOVED it!

~She experienced her first Super Bowl which was extremely anti-climatic. *yawn*

~We went to Donner Lake for a little three-day vacation and had so much fun with family!

 

I’m finding myself looking at our daughter in amazement that she does something new every day and is turning into such a little human being, and shedding all the baby-ness. Her Papa and I always say how awesome she is and I hope Preslie always knows she is awesome and LOVED.

Touching base, checking in, what have you...

My, oh my. It has been far too long since I've purposefully blogged. I thought I'd give a little update so when I do decide to convert this into our little family book I can see what's been going on.

~Preslie is as cute and feisty as can be and makes Kevin and me smile all. the. time. She is such a joy.

~Work is moving right along. I still miss my maternity leave so much though. When I'm home I wish I was working and when I'm working I wish I was home. I wish I could find a good balance.

~Speaking of balance, I'm slowly learning to balance the whole wife, mom, friend thing. Some nights I leave the bottles for the next morning and instead choose to spend time with my husband. Other times I put my cell phone down until after P goes to bed so I can instead focus my time on her. Some things have to give in order to fit the important things in. However, I always seem to find other things to do besides laundry. ;) Ha!

~My Grandfather passed away last month. I wasn't really close with my Grandpa and he had suffered from Alzheimer's for the past 17 years, so I don't really know how to feel about it all. It's been a weird mix of emotions for me.

~I have such a long list of things I still need to blog about: Kevin's 30th birthday in July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and events in between. Maybe now that I'm putting that out here I'll get around to doing it. Probably not.

~My brother is graduating from college this month! It has been a long road of college for him (and my parents) and we're all so proud and relieved that this will finally be done and he can move on to bigger and better things! Go Jay Jay!!!

~I want to get a used treadmill. I need some exercise and it's not working out to go after work. I want to be able to roll out of bed, go in the (freezing) garage, put my headphones on and start running!

~I am so lucky God chose to give me Kevin as my husband. He is the best. He works so hard for our family at a job that is less than rewarding, he is almost always in a good mood, he is SOOO patient with me (I can be a smidge difficult at times) and he is always so helpful with things around the house and the baby. I just love him.

And because a post wouldn't be a post without my baby girl...

The end.

Preslie Kay at Nine Months

I was hoping to save these monthly stickers if we had another girl, but now I’m not so sure they’ll last!

Preslie turned nine months old on Thursday, January 2nd.

It’s almost like a switch turned on and she’s no longer a little baby, but more of a toddler!

Measurements

I have no clue how much she weighs. She doesn’t seem to feel that much heavier than last month so I’m going to guess 19 pounds.

Appearance

~Her hair has gotten thicker. It’s much easier to clip a bow in it. She rips headbands right out.

~She has her two bottom teeth. The second one broke through on December 19th.

~Now that she’s more mobile, she’s thinned out some more and is losing the rolls on her chunky thighs.

~She has green eyes like her Papa.

Sizes

~We’re using the last of her 9 month clothes that still fit, but we’re transitioning to 12 month clothes now. Girlfriend has some long legs!

~She still wears Size 1 shoes! She has the teeny-tiniest, little feet. I always joke that she’ll never be able to walk with such tiny feet.

~Size 3 diapers are still working well.

Personality

~Still as stubborn as ever.

~She was in a much better mood this month than she was last month.

^Her morning ‘do.

~She has been so much fun! She understands the concept of “playing” now and it’s so neat to see her enjoy certain things.

~She “talks” non-stop.

~Her shyness has eased up some. She did a lot better over Christmas with all the family members and wasn’t so clingy.

~She has started doing a fake laugh and we think it’s pretty funny.

~She can be so silly!

Likes

~Baby dolls.

~Balls that she can roll.

~Her Cozy Coupe that she got from Auntie M for Christmas!

~Food.

~The Baby Channel on DirecTV.

~Loves her Papa (and I can only assume me as well ).

Dislikes

~Being told “no.”

~Getting dressed or changed.

Eating

~We’ve transitioned from four to three bottles a day. She wasn’t finishing her late morning bottle anymore so I took it out and she’s been finishing the rest just fine.

~She takes a 6oz bottle first thing in the morning, a 7oz bottle at 2pm and a 7oz bottle at bedtime.

~Sweet P is eating three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner with some snacks in between and she gets a sippy cup with formula at mealtimes.

~New foods she’s tried are: Mac and Cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, eggs, tomatoes, pancakes, green bean casserole, olives and pasta.

~So far she likes everything we give her. She’s a little iffy about bananas, though.

Sleeping

~Sleeping is back to normal again. She sleeps all night (7pm-7am), unless she has a tooth breaking through. In that case she wakes up a few times a night and wants to be rocked. Which I don’t mind one bit. I miss rocking her.

~She takes two naps a day that range from an hour to an hour-and-a-half. It’s rare that she takes a full two-hour nap now.

~Sometimes she’ll take a third nap for about 30 minutes if we’re home.

New Experiences

~One of the most exciting (for us) was her first Christmas! I have a separate post for that, but it was a lot of fun.

~Little Miss started making a surprise face this month and it was funny to see her do it when we’d open gifts during Christmas.

~She says “ba-ba,” “ma-ma,” (finally) “da-da” and “uh-da.”

~She met Santa! No tears and she was fascinated with his beard.

~She had another head cold this month. Luckily, it didn’t seem to phase her too much.

~She has started to bite when she gets frustrated! We’re working on that.

~She attended her first Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and was so well-behaved!

~Preslie pulls up to her knees in her crib and thinks she’s big stuff!

~She would rather practice walking than try to crawl.

~She goes from sitting to her tummy and from her tummy to sitting.

~She can pull herself and scoot forward but it hasn’t clicked yet that if she kept doing it she would actually be crawling. Ha!

~She helped celebrate Mama’s 31st birthday!

~She stayed overnight at Grandma’s house for the first time while Mama and Papa had a date night for Mama’s birthday.

~She enjoyed her first New Year’s Eve!

Even though it kind of scares us how quickly she’s growing and changing, we still love every minute of experiencing new things with our Sweet P!

Preslie Kay at Eight Months

 

Sweet P turned eight months old on Monday, December 2nd!

I’m going to be honest and say with complete certainty that this past month has been by far the most difficult month we’ve had with Preslie. More difficult than her newborn days ever were. The stomach flu, 103-degree fever for over a week and a new tooth are all to blame for this.

^ Preslie not feeling well

Measurements

Weight: 18lbs 14oz (she was weighed when we went to the doctor for her fever)

Appearance

~ Cute as ever, if you ask me!

~ Her hair is constantly sticking straight up. It never goes down, no matter how I brush it when she gets out of a bath. I think it lends more to her personality. Ha!

 

~ She has her Papa’s ears; they stick out towards the top - luckily they don’t stick out too much.

~ She has a tooth! One finally broke through on November 21st.

~ Preslie has some long legs on her! It’s hard to buy her an outfit set because the pants are usually too small, but the tops fit. All onesies are too long in the arms and short in the legs.

Sizes

~ Mostly 9 month clothes, a few 9-12 month items and she’s most comfortable in 12 month pants - 9 month pants seem to be a bit too snug.

~ Size 1 shoes. She has tiny, little feet!

Personality

~ This child has my stubbornness and her Papa’s craziness. This makes quite the combo.

~ She gets mad easily: when I won’t give her the spoon while I’m feeding her (I’ve given into just giving it to her now, she has to learn how to feed herself eventually!), when we take something away she wants but shouldn’t have, when she reaches and reaches for something and can’t get to it because she won’t crawl forward!

~ Oh the whining this past month has been at an all-time high. Lord give me strength. Most of it had to do with not feeling well and then teething, but when it’s neither of those things it’s like a guessing game as to what is going to make her happy.

~ When she wasn’t whining or getting mad she has learned to turn on the Cheese Grin for the camera. As soon as Girlfriend sees me pull out my big camera she gives some big smiles (and scrunched noses). It’s pretty darn adorable.

~ She giggles a lot more now and it’s a sound that continues to warm my heart and soul.

~ She is so determined to do something when she sets her mind to it. Like I said - my stubbornness.

~ She gets her feelings hurt. I lost my temper with her and raised my voice one day and I’m pretty sure I hurt her feelings and broke my heart at the same time.

Likes

~ Food

~ Being at Miss Kara’s house during the week (I think she gets bored with us when we’re at home - ha!).

~ Animals

~ Loves to be thrown up in the air. She will laugh and laugh.

~ One of her favorite things to do is lay on our hardwood floor on her tummy and spin herself around.

~ She has learned to lean over her high chair and put her hand down so Stella will lick it. How do they discover this stuff so young?! Stella is a big fan of Preslie’s new trick.

~ She loves to hold on to a soft Lovey with her left hand and rub it while she drinks her nighttime bottle. I think it’s soothing for her. If she doesn’t have that in her hand she’ll pull on her hair - she’s started doing that when she’s tired so I’m trying to deter her with the Lovey.

~ Preslie really enjoys sitting in her crib and playing. Sometimes if she’s whining and we’ve tried everything we’ll just put her in her crib and she’s as happy as can be in there. Maybe she just enjoys some alone time.

Dislikes

~ She is definitely going through the stranger phase. When we went up to my MIL’s house the whole family was there, and it was loud. Preslie was not a fan of the noise and people getting in her face to say hi. She only wanted me to hold her (which I secretly loved) and when someone would come up to say hi to her she’d put her head down and start to whine. She eventually warmed up to everyone, but we’re discovering that it’s not really her personality to just jump right in to a social situation. Much like me.

~ Car rides are becoming a bit tricky. She doesn’t want to be in her car seat for long. She’d rather be out of it exploring. It makes our trips to my parents’ house a joy (said no one ever).

~ Getting dressed and having her diaper changed.

Eating

~ She didn’t finish most of her bottles this month. Mostly because of being sick and the teething. It was hard to get her to drink her bottles when she had her fevers and it was important for her to get fluids. I was worrying so much that she was going to get dehydrated!

~ She is on strictly formula now. *sigh* Not necessarily by choice. My goal was to provide her with my milk until she turned one. But that goal changed when I came down with The Stomach Plague of 2013 that nearly wiped out my milk production completely. I do feel good about the fact that I basically strictly pumped for eight months straight. During those eight months I tried to quit pumping on three different occasions because I was sick of doing it all the time, but each time I just wasn’t ready. I don’t know how to explain it but there was a weird feeling of needing to keep doing it. Probably much like a woman who nurses her baby and isn’t ready to stop. I had a lot of feelings of guilt: guilty because I could produce a lot and here I was just wanting to quit because it felt inconvenient when there are women out there in this world who would give anything to provide their own milk to their baby; and more guilt like I was letting Preslie down, even though I wasn’t. I will say that I’m a pro as increasing your supply from basically nothing to a lot so if you ever have any questions just ask! Ha!

~ New food Preslie tried this month: mashed potatoes, stuffing, tomato bisque, refried beans and the masa from a tamale.

~ She is pretty good at picking up pieces of food with her index finger and thumb and getting it to her mouth. She would much rather feed herself than have us feed her - which we encourage.

Sleeping

~ Oh sleeping…this has been a challenge this month. She has slept worse this month than she did when she was a newborn. Hard to believe but it’s true.

~ When she had her fevers she was waking up almost every two hours and she would just want to lay on my chest, suck her thumb and be rocked. It broke my heart that she felt bad and I knew she was tired but felt so miserable she couldn’t sleep.

^Just keeping it real here, folks. This is me in the morning with no makeup rocking my sick baby.

~ For a good week she would wake up crying a lot because of her tooth breaking through. We went through a lot of Tylenol that week.

~ Just within the past week she’s started sleeping through the night again. 

^Typical Preslie sleep position

~ My hat is off to all you parents who wake up with your kids multiple times a night and then go to work the next day. It is HARD and EXHAUSTING!

New Experiences

~ She was baptized and I did a recap here.

~ She had her first stomach flu thanks to The Stomach Plague of 2013.

~ She had her first really high fever. It was scary seeing 103 pop up on the thermometer time and time again and not being able to get it to come down. Also frustrating that the doctor said there wasn’t anything she could give her because she had no infection and to just keep doing what we were doing. Also exhausting that this was all happening while Kevin and I both came down with The Stomach Plague of 2013. Fun times.

~ She says “dada” but not in reference to anything or anyone in particular. Kevin likes to think it’s in direct reference to him, but it’s not. Ha!

^Twins!

~ Her little feet are ticklish!

~ We’re pretty confident that she is left-handed. She grabs almost everything with her left hand and uses it a lot more than her right hand.

~ She had her first Thanksgiving which I plan to recap soon.

~ She has a walker now that she’s learned how to scoot around in.

~ No crawling. She will go from sitting to her tummy, she’ll scoot backwards, spin around, roll all over the place and rock back and forth on her hands and knees but no crawling and she gets so frustrated. It was cute at first when she’d get frustrated. Not so much now.

 

Even though this was a tough month for us, this parenting thing is still the most rewarding job there is.