Happy 8 month birthday, Presley girl!

Here is what Miss Presley has been up to lately...

• This child is definitely loves to move!  I'm not kidding when I say she dances... she really does... and she mimics my silly dance moves and I LOVE it.  I can't take credit for these next dance moves though...

• Definitely does not like the vacuum.  She doesn't like the look of it or the sound of it -- especially if I'm not holding her.  Although, she is getting better.  My goal is to vacuum once a day until she's immune/indifferent to it.
• She has started waving!  And oh my goodness, it is so precious.  Alli & Molly (her baby BFFs who are 2.5 months older than her) started really getting their wave on lately and I think it's been rubbing off on Presley - which is usually what happens after we hang out with the older girls!  Presley LOVES to wave - especially to herself in the mirror.  She hasn't learned to do it on command... she usually starts waving when she's really excited!  We'll say "Hiiiiiii!" as we wave back to her and so she's started to scream with excitement when she waves and it sounds like "Haaaaaa!" (like she's trying to mimic us saying hi!)  -she excitedly showed this trick off to everyone this weekend!
• Speaking of Alli and Molly, here are some recent pictures of the three girls hanging out.

Alli, Presley, & Molly

Presley, Molly, & Alli

•  Sitting up is a lot more natural for Presley and she's starting to do really well with it.  If she is sitting up and the Boppy is around her, she does even better.

• She mostly sleeps on her belly these days, although we put her to bed on her back every night.
• Still nursing her and both Presley and I are still loving it!
• Making her baby food and still loving that as well - although I'm back to only feeding her baby food once a day.  For a time there Presley seemed disinterested in her pureed food, so maybe I will have to try more chunky/solid-type foods for her.
• She's also starting to eat more of the things I can eat - or at least more than before.  I've been giving her little pieces of bread and she tried a bit of my refried beans the other day! 
• She's up to 3 teeth - all on the bottom.  She now shows them off when she smiles - too darn cute.

See those three little teeth?

•  Still a mostly bald baby!  But her hair is slowly but surely growing and I don't know if it's getting darker now that summer has left us or what, but it is looking more brown than blonde.  Almost long enough for a mohawk!

• Loves to babble and she mostly just says, "Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh..."

• Got us an ErgoBaby Carrier and so far we love it - although - how in the HECK do people buckle it without help!?  I thought I could do it on my own the other day but I had to ask the help of a stranger at the grocery store the help buckle it at the top...!  A little embarrassing but the gentleman was so so nice and helpful.
• She has the best laugh...

• Oh man is Presley a little social baby these days!  People will stop us while we're out and talk to Presley and she will just take them in for a few minutes with a very serious look and then her whole face will light up with a smile and she will sometimes even giggle if the stranger is very friendly!  (So much for teaching stranger danger!  But I suppose that comes later...)
• I wouldn't say that Presley is crawling yet... but she does scoot around really well - mostly in circles to whatever interests her.  Tonight, though, she got up on her knees and almost lunged forward -- AHHH!  We are really really trying to get the living room cleaned up and baby proofed because it really will be a matter of days/weeks and she will be on the move!
• Loves to drink water out of her sippy cup!  We have a Tommee Tippee sippy cup as well as an Avent sippy cup and she seems to do better with the Avent sippy cup for now.  She can hold it herself but has a tough time with tipping it back so she let's us do that part, usually!
• Her next check-up is at 9 months and we have it scheduled for November 13th!
• P is still in size 3 diapers.  Starting to grow out of some of her 6-9 month sleepers depending on the brand.  It won't be long until we switch her to 9-12 month clothes all together!  Presley is so long/tall!!!!

• Still not much of a napper.  I've actually kind-of given up on naps all together for her and while I hate it (for me and for her) it seems to be just fine.  Some days she naps, but it usually for a very short amount of time and pretty sporadic.  Hopefully this will change since we are now...
• ...on night two of sleep training!  And we're sticking to it!  We've already picked up a pattern of going back in there and giving her a little baby massage, and that really calms her down after the first "waiting" period.  (We're going with the Ferber/progressive waiting method!) *note: Presley has been sleeping through the night in her crib since she was 3 months old, but because Presley can be somewhat unpredictable at bedtime, we felt it was important to help teach Presley to put herself to sleep on her own - that is something that she will benefit from in the long run!  We still have a consistent bedtime routine that includes holding and hugging her, reading her a book, singing a lullaby, kisses, her bedtime light-up/noise-making puppy, and then bedtime.*
• Definitely still a mamas girl and going through an "ALL about mom" phase at the moment aka, her first real bought of separation anxiety.  If she knows I'm around but can't see me she will sometimes cry and become uneasy... even in daddy's arms.  It makes me feel wonderful but now I mostly just worry that I make myself too available - if that is such a thing!

She sure loves hanging out with her daddy, though!

• We are dressing her up for Halloween - she's got a pirate costume and a sunflower costume - so we will probably dress her up two times for separate occasions!

Happy little sunflower!

•  Still not really warmed up to dogs.  But as you can see in the above picture - she was doing alright next to Sammy (little Shih Tzu and she sometimes acted like he was a monster!  And he is so relaxed!) towards the end of our trip.

So, this update is a little bit late - Presley was 8 months on Saturday the 20th.  We were in Nashville this past weekend for my niece's baptism!  Anne Marie is about a week shy of 3 months - and it was Tony's first time meeting his niece and my first time seeing her since she was born so it was definitely an awesome trip.  Presley traveled like a rock star - for the most part (of course there was some tears, but that's to be expected!) and we really did have a blast.  We miss Nashville tremendously already.   My awesome mother-in-law drove in to Nashville to spend time with all of us and she brought Tony's Uncle Mike & Aunt Angie with her so they could meet Miss Presley! 

Sweet baby girl after her baptism!

Anne Marie and all her aunts, uncles, and cousin!  That's Jonathan (my soon-to-be BIL), Tony (my hubby), John (my BIL), Ashley in the purple (my little sis), me and Presley, Pamela (John's sister), Amanda (my big sister), Greg (John's brother), Anne Marie (my niece - Amanda & John's little one), and Greg's wife - Caroline.

My sisters, niece, daughter & myself.  Wish we all lived in the same area!

That's my mother-in-law!  I can't say enough good things about this woman so I will just share one ~ she is GORGEOUS and recently stopped smoking cold turkey for her granddaughter!  How awesome is that?

Mike, Presley, Selena, & Angie!  So happy to see them.

My mom with her two grandkids ~ Presley & Anne Marie

Such a fun time with so many special people-- can't wait until we are ready to move there, although we're not entirely sure when that will be!  Until those days, we will surely be enjoying the ones in the near future.  Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner and in between those two holidays there will be a new baby boy in the family!  Maybe I will be able to talk my cousin Breanne into guest blogging about the labor, delivery, and birth of her son after he arrives.  (Keep your fingers crossed on that one!)  And then of course after Thanksgiving, there is Christmas and New Years to be excited for and now only 4 more months to plan Presley's first birthday bash!  So many happy times, family, and blessings... how exciting! XO, the duggans