Family fun!

So, our first family vacation has come and gone and good news:  WE SURVIVED.

And we got to be with some awesome family members!
L to R:  Selena (my MIL), Judy (Papaw's wife), Tony (the hubby), Me & Presley, & Papaw Gordon (Tony's grandfather, Selena's dad)

To those of my bloggy friends who are new parents or expecting, let me just bust your bubble and tell you that vacations are vastly different with a little one.  (Just add that to the ever-growing list of things that just aren't the same as before having your babe!)  It's funny, you plan all these family outings and fun adventures (such as going to the zoo) and your baby could CARE LESS!  Not to mention, they have no idea what's really going on.

Presley at the zoo, probably thinking, "I am so bored! It's so hot out here! Where am I? I'm so confused..."

I think Presley had the most fun when we were at the hotel just relaxing in the room... aka, something we could just do at home!!!  :) Included in the things I thought Presley would be psyched about was swimming.  Here is part of her first experience swimming in our hotel's pool:

Presley's first swim experience!

She didn't love it but after the first few dips she didn't totally hate it, either!  It was a little tough at first to get Presley readjusted to our new surroundings, but after the first day she did really well, which even included sleeping through the night!  This was MUCH needed because for 4-5 days preceding our trip, Presley was waking up every 2-4 hours to eat.  It was tough going back to getting no sleep and being half awake while feeding her, but thankfully it was just a growth spurt after all.  And now we have her sleeping in her crib in her own room which is another big change.  She's getting through it and so are we but it's a little bit of a struggle but nothing out of the ordinary and some nights are better than others.  Lately she's been getting up at 2:30am every morning. 
And then again at about 3:30am.
And then again at about 4:30am.
And then, finally at about 5:30am she gets up and I feed her.

But really, it could be worse!  And it WAS just worse a few weeks ago so I guess I just need to suck it up and learn to love the sleep I get. 

And now something I worry about is whether or not we're putting her to bed at a decent time or not since she's not really showing clear signs of her being ready to go to bed.  I'm pretty sure that I'm never going to sleep soundly for a very long time or maybe ever again.  I feel like no matter what stage Presley is at there is always going to be something for me to stress out about and even more things that I don't quite understand about her.  But thankfully I'm not alone in it all!  Very glad to have my hubby to balance me out and to lean back on.

Look at that great daddy :)

So, we're back to everyday life and it's a mix of great moments and not so great moments.  I am somewhere between loving where we are at and wishing for better days with an older child.  Again, I know myself and I know I will miss the stage that Presley is at but I just feel like I still have no idea what I'm doing with all these "firsts."  I think that's why parents decide to have another child and willingly put themselves through all this stuff all over again -- because hindsight is 20/20 and they want to see how well they can do it the second time around!  I can definitely understand that and sometimes catch myself thinking the same thing... but then after those bad days I look at Tony and tell him I'm never going through this again!!!  But when you look at this sweet, silly baby face... it really melts away EVERY stress....

Happy three month birthday, Presley girl!

We made it to month three, wow!!! So many little things have changed in this amount of time and they mostly have come and gone without much recognition as I'm not the best at keeping up with her progress on here. I just updated last week on what she's been up to, so hopefully I can find something else to talk about now.

For starters, let's go with nursing. I always expected that breast feeding would be something I did out of force and definitely would not be something I enjoyed, but I kinda think I enjoy it now! I know, that's a weird way to put it, but I am still somewhat mixed on it depending on the day. But for the most part I love the bonding time with Presley. I love that I don't have to worry about measurements and that she drinks until she's happy. (unless she's going through a growth spurt and my supply can't keep up with her; then it's one of those days I don't like to nurse!) I love that statistics seem to be in favor of breast feeding; that is what pushes me to stick with it. I've met my second goal which was to breastfeed until Presley was three months and I don't want to stop yet. So I've set our next goal for six months! That will be August 20. I can't imagine what life will be like then, but I hope breast feeding fits into the picture. I've started to pump once before bed every night and I feel fantastic about it. Knowing I have several bags of milk frozen incase of emergency really eases my mind. Although, I have to admit I'm not a fan of pumping. It's impersonal, odd, and uncomfortable. If I became ill or was on medication to where breastfeed if wasn't an option for a few days I would not like to pump and dump in the meantime; that'd be a nightmare for me. I'd do it, but I wouldn't enjoy it. We have yet to give Presley her first bottle and part of me is concerned that she will refuse a bottle. Let's hope not!

Here's our girl on Tony and I's one year wedding anniversary which so happens to be Presley's three month birthday!


That's about all for tonight; hopefully more next time!

Updates on the Princess...

Grumpy baby! :)

• Lately Presley has been trying so hard to turn from her belly to her back but her arm seems to be in the way!  Still hasn't gone from belly to back or back to belly yet... probably because she just wants to be held all the time!
• She's found out she can put things in her mouth and loves to put her blanket, clothes, and hands/fingers in her mouth!

Here is video of her sucking on her hand!  So precious.

• We're still swaddling her at night.
• As part of her bedtime routine we're reading her two bedtime books each night (Goodnight Moon & Night Night Little Pookie)
• Has been a babbling machine ever since her baptism weekend ended.  It might have something to do with all the people talking to her that weekend... who knows!

Here is a video of her babbling!

• Of course she loves being held and doesn't like getting laid down for a nap during the day-- likes to sleep on mom instead.  I just have to remind myself that she'll only be a baby once and she won't always like me to hold her... so I'm going to soak it in while I can.  (It sure is hard to keep that outlook, though.)
• Still loving her changing table and is a happy baby on that thing.
• Loves to look at lights & ceiling fans!!!
• Recently started to dislike shower time whereas she used to love it.  Not sure if we'll give the bath tub another try or stick with showers.
• Now in size 2 diapers (too many blowouts in size 1) and in 3-6 month clothes.  Pampers swaddlers & luvs remain our favorite.  We finally tried Target's diapers and they aren't too shabby either!
• Plan to transition her to the crib after our Memorial Day weekend trip to St. Louis!  I'm excited and very nervous for that transition. I really love her being so close to us but will DEFINITELY enjoy the added personal space!
• Breast feeding is still going very well!  Just started pumping once a night before bedtime to save up milk.  During the day lately Presley wants to eat every two hours; not sure if it's a growth spurt, if it's normal, or a bad thing?  Hoping it's just a phase.  We have yet to introduce a bottle to her and I'd like to do that sometime soon if it works out.  It'll be sweet to see daddy get a chance to feed her and bond with her on that level.
• She's started sticking her bottom lip WAY out when she gets sad and it is the cutest and most heartbreaking thing ever!!!!  If I look directly at her doing it I can't help but tear up!

Fussy girl!

So that's what's new with Presley girl.  Last night she went to bed pretty early (7:45pm) as we are experimenting with her bedtime to see what works for her and she slept pretty soundly... until about 2:45am.  (Dumb mommy didn't go to bed until almost midnight.)  She usually will stir and go back to sleep for a while if she wakes up anytime from 3-5am but last night she was UP.  So I changed her and fed her and put her down thinking she'd sleep until around 9am... NOPE!  Up again right about 3 hours later.  Laid her back down and she was up 3 hours later again!  I am sure some of you parents are wondering what I'm complaining about but it's so hard for me to relax and go back to sleep each time so I feel like I got no sleep last night.  And no matter what amount of sleep I do or don't get the night before, I am almost ALWAYS up until midnight.  Being unproductive because I'm exhausted but my mind is still going.  Rrgh.... it's hard getting a sound 5-6 hours of sleep straight and then going to this!  Hope it doesn't last.

Great-Grampa Ron & Miss Presley!

So we got her down about 9pm tonight.  She was really upset and writhing around arching her back in her bassinet, which is not normal for her.  I don't know if she's uncomfortable in there or what but I hope once we get her to her crib she'll like it better.

My little sister Ashley, Me & Presley, & my pregnant sister, Amanda!

Alright, that's about all for tonight.  Time for me to hop in the shower!  Goodnight blogspot. :)

Mama's Day!

Happy mothers day, all! This is the first time for me blogging via text message so we'll just have to see how this goes. I wish it were still just as easy as before to find time to write, but time slips away from me everyday. I suppose that's a good thing and that it potentially means I'm living in the moment but that might be giving me too much credit. Things sure are easier now (12 weeks postpartum) than they were when we first brought baby Presley home but I continue to find myself just getting through each day. Between sleepiness (because I'm still a night owl) and feeling confined to the house all day (let's face it, it's easier than lugging her heavy carrier around and dealing with diaper blow outs in public), I'm always killing time before Tony gets home and praying for the weekends when we can spend time as a family. He's still working a hefty amount of overtime - which I'm
thankful for - but as usual, I just wish we lived in a society that valued our work and families more and paid a fair wage for a decent amount of hours per week so people weren't having to work 50-60+ hours and missing out on what's really important and valuable. But anyways... Back to mothers day....

It was a great day for me as Tony really pampered me :) He made me breakfast which is ultra sweet because we aren't chefs by any means, so it meant a LOT to me! He's also planning to cook steaks tomorrow night since we went out to dinner with my family tonight for mothers day. He's such a sweet man; took over caring for Presley all day (minus her feedings) and I really appreciated that so I could organize Presley's room now that she's officially in her 3-6 month clothes! It's wonderful that she's getting bigger - this is what I couldn't wait for, for her to get out of the baby stage - but now that it's happening it's really freaking me out how fast things are changing! She was just baptized a week ago and we aren't talking a little water on the forehead... She was fully dunked in the water!!! It was so awesome and she did so wonderfully and barely let out a peep! And in the last week
she's really started to babble... Tony and I just adore and marvel at her little baby voice. She is definitely spoiled and we are okay with that! 

I just love her sweet little face!

We had my sisters and brother-in-law in town for the baptism and it was so great to have them here. It really was so awesome for each of them to get to finally meet Presley. And two weeks from today Presley will get to meet her Great Papaw Gordon, her Great Granny, possibly some friends from Memphis, and she will get to see her Grandmommy Selena again :) We are all so excited and ready for a little getaway, I just hope it goes well taking Presley out of her normal atmosphere! May is definitely a month of creating new memories. And a week from today Tony and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary already! Seems like just yesterday we were saying "I do!"

I should get going so I can go to sleep, but not before letting all you mothers know how much I love you all! Especially my own mom for bringing me and my best friends (my two sisters) into this world, Selena for raising my husband to be the loving man he is, our grandmothers for being such amazing women in our lives and for always giving us the special kinda love only gramma's can give, my blog mommy friends who I am ultra thankful for as they provide me sanity and lots of support, to my sister and cousin who are both carrying sweet babes of their own, and to my baby girl for making me a mama! :) Hope you all had a special day because we deserve it!!! xxoo

TOMORROW!!! :)

Tomorrow is the day! My sisters, who both live in Tennessee, fly in tomorrow for several days for my sweet baby's baptism and for my big sister's baby shower!! It's like two worlds are getting ready to collide; a world that has always revolved around my sisters and a world run by this little princess. :) It's so strange/surreal/outrageous to me that Presley has existed for two and a half months without getting to see her aunts or for them to be able to hold her. It breaks my heart on all the little things they've missed out on. But I am so excited for them to get acquainted this weekend :) I look forward to seeing Presley's reaction to them and to see how she interacts with them! It'll also be so awesome to have some extra hands around here and more entertainment and interaction. It's gonna be awesome and that much more painful when they ultimately leave!

Anyways, my sister Amanda is 27/28 weeks pregnant and I haven't seen her since Christmastime when she was only a few weeks along so I'm sure this is going to be a huge difference! It's funny because the last time Amanda saw me was when I was about 30 weeks pregnant (I think?) so it'll be different being on the other side of that experience! Her shower is this weekend and I'm super excited to throw it; it'll be the first shower I've given to anyone. And my younger sister Ashley will be here too and she's staying with us! She's the first houseguest since Presley's debut so I hope she behaves for Ash. ;) Ashley is such a natural with kiddos (she's so sweet with her fiancé's niece and nephew!) and like I said before I can't wait to see her with Presley! It'll be so different to have visitors all the time with our daily schedule! I hope Presley sticks to her schedule despite all the wrenches that I'll be throwing into it this next week. And wouldn't you know, just before all the excitement she gets her first diaper rash! :( I feel so bad for her!! Hopefully I can figure out something to help it because I've tried so many things!

Alright, well I suppose I'm just rambling now! I hope I'll be too busy making memories to write in here but in the meantime just know I'm enjoying some good times with special people; hope you can do the same!