What Presley's been up to!

Let's just start with an apology -- I'm so sorry I've been so behind with my posts.  And truly no one will be more sorry for the lack of posts than myself.  I want to keep up with posts regularly about home life and all the changes Presley is going through as this is something I plan to keepsake and always look back on.  The last entry was on May 31st... two weeks in the baby world is a long time as many of you know!

We got our first family portrait done last week and I couldn't be happier to finally have a nice picture of the three of us.  And thanks to Portrait Innovations, it was only $10.  Love that place!  (Except for how bad they try to upsell -- that gets pretty obnoxious!)  I'll post our family pictures sometime soon for you guys to see!  I think we'll take Presley to get her own pictures on her 6 month birthday and then again once she turns 1 and I really can't wait to get pictures of just her.  We got her newborn pictures taken by Kristi at Rick Jennisch's studio and still need to order those as well.  Seems like it was just a few weeks ago that they were taken but in reality it was 3 months ago.

Also coming up on Tony's first Father's Day!!!  I was already pregnant last year on Father's Day but we had didn't have a clue yet, so I'm very excited to celebrate that this upcoming weekend.  I know it's just a silly day and that in reality EVERY day is Mother/Father's day... but it really is nice to have a designated day to make sure they know how special they are to you.  As always, I really wish my own dad was here to spend it with us, but c'est la vie.  He gets to spend his Father's Day with the good Father upstairs!

Alright, onto some updates on the baby!

• She's still not rolling over.  She really tries, but then again it sometimes seems like she's not all that interested in actually flipping over.  We'll see if it happens anytime soon!
• Presley seems like she'd like to start inching forward.  Today during her tummy time, I put a toy she's never seen before across from her and out of her reach.  She responded by kicking her legs and trying to inch forward.  She even started to scratch the mat she was on as if she could claw herself forward.  Pretty cute stuff.  I was shocked to see her do this!
• She's back to being a mommy's and daddy's girl, which is good, because as much as I really felt so honored that I could console her... it really broke my heart to see her not loving on her daddy.
• Still not loving the water.  I so badly wish I had a water baby!!!  I am hoping this summer when it's warm outside that she'll start to take a liking to water more.
• Still not loving showers anymore.  Not sure what is going on with this water aversion but I kinda want to try giving her a bath again.  But then I remember how much she hated that, which is more than she currently hates showers.  
• She's such a talker these days.  Before she falls asleep at night or at nap time she just talks to herself for so long and so loudly!!!  Cutest. Thing.  Ever.  She also does this in the morning when she wakes up.  Instead of crying for me to come and get her she talks.  And talks and talks!
• She's also been such a happy baby the past couple days!  She's giggling too every so often and it is so sweet I can hardly stand it!  I'll hold her up in the air above my head (like superman) and she will smile so big and let out a few laughs.  Just completely fills me with happiness.
• Presley absolutely knows when she is in front of the camera.  Whenever we pull out our iPhones to record her or snap a picture, she will stop doing whatever she was just doing and just stare at the camera.  Sooo hilarious.
• Still loves looking at lights, fans, and the television!  Bad girl on that last one!!! :)
• All you Southern friends, be glad I still drag this baby all around town completely barefoot, much to some of my Northern family/friends dismay.  ("Put some socks on that baby!"  "Where are her shoes?")  I've never understood socks and shoes on a baby.  Just more useless layers for you to put on and have to take off.  Especially baby shoes.  Barefoot babies make for very easy diaper changes!
• She's still got some fuzz up top but not a whole bunch of hair.  It makes me laugh when people come up to me and say, "Oh!  And don't worry, she'll get hair sooner or later."  I know people mean well and I'm not offended when they say that... but the next person who says that I will probably say, "I'm sorry... have you seen how cute my baby is?  I'm not worried about her hair!"  Bald is beautiful!
• Still exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) her each feeding with the exception of her pre-bedtime feeding.  I nurse her as usual and afterwards give her a 2 ounce bottle of formula.  I really think it helps keep her belly full at night.  We try to begin her bedtime routine around 8, she takes a while to fall asleep, and then usually wakes me up sometime around 1AM to have her paci and some reassurance that everything is okay.  We both go back to bed and she'll get me up anytime between 5AM-7AM depending on when she went to bed the night before.  Sometimes we stay up if she's super alert and other times she'll go back (and so will I!) to bed until 10AM-11AM.
• We spend a good chunk of our day out and about.  I love it.  The people at Target probably think I'm nuts because we're in there several times throughout the week!  Our other hot spots are walking the mall and Schweibert Park in Rock Island.  Love to get some walking in throughout the day.  But I usually try to get home mid-afternoon to give her a nap.  Shes been sleeping well in her crib and like the nutcase I truly am, I miss the days where she just napped on me all day!!! :( We also haven't been swaddling her at nap time or at bedtime and she's been doing really well! So precious to see how she sleeps; usually with both of her arms above her head! So sweet. We still don't have a set nap time for her throughout the day but it Just so happens we're usually home around 2pm on the dot so I can watch General Hospital.  ;)
• We just got news a few days ago that Presley's Great Gramma Myers will be visiting family in Indiana in a few weeks!!!  This is my dad's mom and she lives in Florida.  Tony and I love going to visit her at one of our absolute favorite spots on the map to spend any time we can with her.  Presley hasn't gotten to meet Gramma Myers yet so I will be planning a trip to visit her if it's possible!  We chose Presley's middle name as it is Gramma's middle name (Elinor Rose) because she means so much to me.  Even though I'm nervous to travel with Presley again (because you never know how they are going to act!) I would not miss the chance to see Gramma for anything.

So that's about it.  A lot of change but also a lot of the same.  I haven't been able to do much working out and unfortunately I've really been eating like crap lately, but thanks to nursing her I'm losing weight slowly.  I gained a good 58 pounds throughout my pregnancy (a lot of swelling towards the end as well) and I've lost 46 pounds so far.  If you have no other motivations to breastfeed, that should be one of them!!!

Well, it's bedtime at our house and I'm gonna go snuggle with my husband.  That is if he hasn't already fallen asleep yet!

My precious baby girl!

PS, only about SIX more weeks and I'll be a first time Auntie!!!  We can't wait for Baby Anne Marie to get here!  Presley is ready to be a big cousin already, Amanda, so hurry it up!!! ;)