Weekly Favorites.

Sleeping Baby

Sweet Cheeks

 

Tummy Time.

 

She is so close to rolling over!

 

Baby is strong!

 

Brady insists on doing tummy time with her. I have to ooh and ahh on his head control as well. Silly boy!

 

 

Pajamas.

(We got the Party City costume catalog in the mail this week and he has yet to let it out of his sight.)

 

 

Sweet gummy smiles.

 

playing outside.

 

Presley is so content on a blanket in the grass.

Football.

 

Friday lunch out.

Brady wanted a hamburger, so we went to Steak and Shake while out running errands.

 

Although the weeks aren't overly exciting, they sure do seem to go fast.

 

Weekend.

We had another busy, fun weekend.

Presley handled it like a champ, except for one not-so-little meltdown Saturday night. She can be my little diva baby sometimes, but most of the time she is super happy and sweet!

Brady, Presley, and I went to a birthday party Saturday morning. We made it and were only 10 minutes late. Success.

 

They had a backdrop and props. I had fun with the kids with this!

Brady had a blast at the party. It was a carnival theme. He loved the games. He was really, really good. You never know how a 3 year old will handle another kid getting gifts and all the attention, but Brady did wonderful. He even ate really well. That never happens at parties.

Presley also had a big time. She just took in all the big kids and getting to be outside. She loves outside. She and my friend Stephanie hung out in the shade for a while. Stephanie was 2 days past her due date at that point, so she was happy to sit with Presley. I thought I took a picture of them, but I must have not.


Saturday night Presley, Caleb, and I went to some friends house for some devotional time. Brady stayed with my parents by choice. We had a great time and Presley did so good until the ride back to my parents. Enter meltdown.

After church Sunday, we spent the day with family at my parents.

Quick picture of Presley before church. I always forget to take pictures of her before church. :(

Caleb was off work Monday and my friend Stephanie finally had her baby very early Monday morning. We went to visit them and meet baby Claire. She is so tiny! It makes Presley look so big!! It is amazing she was that small just a few weeks ago. We ran a few other errands before coming back home.

The rest of the day was recuperating from the weekend. I am always thankful for Mondays at home after busy weekends. :)

This week

• The weather has been so nice the better part of this week. We have spent a lot of time outside, playing with the Frisbee, taking Marley on walks, kickball, rolling Presley in the wagon, basketball, sitting in the shade on a blanket, and trimming bushes. Unfortunately, our allergies are suffering. Regardless, the three of us have really enjoyed some pleasant outdoor activities, even though we all have runny noses. :)

No pictures, we were busy playing. ;)

• We found out this week that Brady and Presley will have another BOY cousin. My sister, Bryan, and Noah will add baby Oliver to their family come February.

I stole this pic from my sister.

            I guessed boy from the beginning. I just saw Noah with a brother and everyone I know right now is having boys. Noah adores Brady and loves all things ball and swords. I am not partial to any sibling combinations. I think all are unique and special in there own way. I think siblings are super important and a huge blessing, whatever the combination!

• Presley is growing. She is so so so good through the week!!! (The weekends are, uhm, a different story.) I am very thankful she is so good, because Brady often gives me a run for my money through the week. ;) Sometimes he gets a little mouthy and he just has so much energy! He is such a strong willed and opinionated child. I know this will be a good thing one day.

• I made my favorite pinterest find this week. I have made it before. We love this cake! It is so easy and so yummy!  I didn't use as much butter as the recipe calls for this time and it was still so good.

 recipe

• Brady got to have a night out with "aunt" Debra tonight. She is Caleb's mother's best friend and has always been Caleb's "Aunt" Debra. Her family loves our family well. She brought Brady some awesome Spiderman shoes! Brady told her he wanted to go to Toots to eat, he wanted a hamburger and french fries, and he wanted to play the motorcycle game while he was there. See what I mean, strong willed and opinionated. All of his wishes were met. I think she even tried to buy him a toy at Toys-R-Us and he told her he didn't need it. He amazes me everyday.

• I discovered that Brady knows his right from his left. We were talking about something and he corrected me telling me which was the right side and which was the left. I was floored. I asked how he knew that and he replied, "my favorite song is to the right to the right, to the left to the left." He was referring to the Cupid Shuffle. He learned his right from his left from the Cupid Shuffle. I am not sure what to think of that.

• Monday night we went to a funeral visitation for our friend's grandfather. We had prepared Brady by telling him that Mr. Joe went to heaven. After approximately 5 minutes of being there Brady says, "Mom he isn't in heaven, he is right there!" pointing to the casket. He follows that up with "But this isn't heaven!" He continued to loudly discuss the body and the casket until we left. Sweet statements like," where are his legs" and "why are his hands praying in that box". Obviously, he lacks sensitivity. Caleb and I were in separate cars so he took Brady and I took Presley on the way home. As we were getting in the car both kids were crying in separate vehicles. Caleb and I just had to laugh. Caleb asked, "when did this become our life?"

That has been our week in a nutshell! It is not super fancy or glamorous, but it is ours and we love it. (I totally just sang Fergie's Glamorous while trying to spell glamorous.)

Play Date, Birthday, and Football

 We had a play date Friday morning. Stephanie had us all over, she is 39 weeks pregnant!!!! I think she was hoping it would encourage baby Claire to make her debut, but it didn't. The kids had a great time and we had some yummy lunch.

Saturday afternoon I was invited to 2 baby showers and 1 Birthday party. They were all at 2-4 pm. I didn't make it to the baby showers because the birthday party was for our niece Carleigh.

 

Brady, Presley, and I made the short trip to the party. Brady got to swim a little, we ate snacks and cake, Brady played games with the big boys, and we all watched Carleigh open her gifts. She is so cute and funny!!!

They had these petit fors last year at her party and they were so good. I was so hoping they would have them again and they did!!! I have waited all year for these. I may have taken one home with me. ;)

Carleigh loved all the attention. Last year she cried! Ha Ha! It is funny how much can change in a year.

We all came home to watch the UT/Florida game with daddy. I made some finger foods and we spent the night in cheering on the Vols! Unfortunately we lost, but it was still a good family night in.

Nightmare?

Brady woke up this morning while I was feeding Presley around 5:30 am.

He climbed up on the couch with me and uttered something about a bad dream.

He quickly said, "let me tell you about it".

Of course I insisted he do tell me all about it.

He began retelling all the details of his bad dream.

"We were here, in this house! Daddy got up to get ready for work. He told us bye, then he went outside and he took your car to work."

...awkward pause...

"That was it, that was my bad dream."

I am not sure which part of that dream was bad, but I hope his bad dreams stay this innocent and sweet for a while longer. :)

Being Kind

For a while now, we have had a problem with Brady being nice, particularly to my grandparents, his great grandparents. I am fortunate to have 2 living grandmothers, 1 living grandfather, and a bonus living grandfather(my grandmother remarried after her husband passed). They are all crazy about the great grand kids. It is such a blessing to for Brady and Presley to have so many great grandparents living and in good enough health to have a relationship. However, Brady is not always nice and friendly to them. That is really all they want from him, a hug, kiss, and some attention. Of course it was worse when Brady was tired, hungry, or trying to play, but that is not an excuse to be unkind to anyone. Ever. Period. (With this I have tried to make sure I am living the kindness I expect from my children. I am not perfect. Raising children reminds me of that every day!)

So, Brady and I came up with a plan. We made a "Nice Chart" and some ground rules. Caleb and I would be on the watch for acts of kindness by Brady and each act of kindness earned a sticker. We set a goal of 20 stickers and then a prize of picking out a toy at Toys-R-Us. It took Brady a couple days to really comprehend the deal, but once he did he had an amazing transformation. Along with each sticker, we wrote down what he did that was nice and talked about why it was nice. He began requesting to give the great-grandparents a hug instead of the other way around. He also doesn't expect a reward, it has just become more of habit. This has been very helpful in communicating exactly which acts are nice and which are not. We tried to keep it all very positive and not focus on the unkind moments, but the kind moments.

He finally put his 20th sticker on his chart and today we took our special outing. I let him pick where he wanted lunch and then we went to Toys-R-Us for his prize.

He chose Chic-fil-A which worked out perfectly because it was really hot today and he got to burn some energy in the play place. While we were eating, he looked up at me with his big blue eyes and said, "Thank you Mommy!"

He decided he had played enough and was ready to go so we headed to Toys-R-Us. Brady was so funny shopping for his toy. He took it very serious and wanted to be sure to make the best decision. This is what he finally settled on.

We made a quick trip to Wal-mart and then came home for a nap. Little Presley slept the entire time we were out! So nice!

Here is my sweet girl today! She loves her play mat!

 Note: I stole the chart idea from a friend of mine. I wish I would have thought of it on my own. It really does take a village.

2 Month Check Up

Presley and I went to her 2 month well child check up this morning! Brady stayed with Caleb's dad. He didn't want any part of going to the Dr. office, even if it wasn't for him. Ha Ha!

naked and happy.

Presley was in a great mood when we got there. She smiled and cooed at the nurse and Dr. She didn't cry at all when they measure, weighed, and looked her over. Last month, she screamed the entire time! We had a sweet little conversation before the vaccines came. Poor girl had know idea what was coming.

I haven't been looking forward to this appointment. I do fine with the shots. I know it is a part of life, the pain is temporary, and it is good for their overall health. I never cried or got upset about/with any of Brady's shots. BUT, girl can cry! When she gets upset, she gets UPSET!!! She cries so loud. It is crazy that someone that tiny can make that much noise. All that to say, I just knew she would wail and scream with the shots and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to calm her down.

waiting on the Dr.

Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Oh she screamed and it took several minutes to get her under control, but not near as bad as I thought. In fact I think it was harder to calm her after last months appointment and she didn't get a single shot. Silly girl.

She is currently sleeping away!!!

2 month stats...

weight: 11 # 10 oz       59th percentile
height:  22.5 inches     52nd percentile
head circumference: 14.96  43rd percentile

She got 3 shots and one oral vaccine. She loved the oral rotovirus vaccine. She just smacked those lips.

 She gained about 1.5 lbs and grew 1 inch since last month. She has significantly slowed her eating down so I didn't expect as large of a weight gain as the first month. Her head went from the 83rd percentile to the 43rd percentile, but Presley was screaming at the 1 month visit so I think she mis-measured at the one month visit. She was much more cooperative this visit.

Overall, she is doing great and right on track with everything! So blessed!

New Recipes

I don't love to cook. I can, I do, and I will, but I don't love it. I do love a good party or entertaining friends. It is probably the only time I actually like cooking. Weird, I know. Any who, I slacked on the cooking while I was pregnant with Presley. Early in the pregnancy, I didn't feel well. Then I stayed pretty tired and just cooked the same old same old stuff. Then I felt miserable and hot, so cooking was the last thing on my mind. Then I was recovering from a c-section and people were bringing us meals.

Fortunately, now I feel great! I have been cooking dinner nearly every night. I noticed my food pinterest board had some 340 pins and I had tried, oh maybe, 5. I decided it was time to change that. Here are a few things I have tried over the past few weeks and the verdict.

The title will take directly to the recipe, not the pinterest site. The pics are from my pins.


1. Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

 Adjustments: I made this as an entree, so I cut my chicken breast into thirds instead of cubes. I also didn't use a broiling pan, but a griddle type skillet that can go in the oven. I think you could just bake it, also.

Verdict: This was a good change to baked chicken. Brady LOVED it and asked for seconds AND thirds. I served it with simple cooked vegetables. It was also very simple and only needed a few ingredients.

2. Corn Casserole

 

Verdict: It was good if you like corn casserole. Caleb doesn't like corn, but he said he could tolerate this. Ha! This would make a good pot luck dish and is easy to keep the ingredients on hand! I don't know that I would label this as my favorite corn casserole ever. I am still searching for that, but it is good. :)

3. Buttermilk Ranch Cheese ball

Adjustments:  I didn't have any bacon or pecans, so I just left that out.

Verdict: I took this to a Kid devo. I thought it was too salty at first, but later tried it with a different cracker and it was much better. I think it was the cracker. I got several compliments. There was some left over and we ate it the next day as an appetizer for lunch and everyone seemed to enjoy it! It was super easy to make!!!

4. Southwest Chicken

Verdict: Super easy. There isn't a website associated with the pin, the directions are on the pin. This is also something that can be kept in stock and thrown together easily.I didn't plan on cooking it(meaning I didn't buy the ingredients at the store for this), but was looking for something I throw together and realized I had all the ingredients so I thought I would try it. We liked it! We ate it with tortillas at dinner and I just ate it plain for lunch the next day. I think it would make great enchiladas or over chips. Again, Super easy!!!

5. Mexican Lasagna

Verdict: This was not my favorite. Caleb liked it and it was ok, just not my favorite. I probably won't make it again. So, I am still on the hunt for a Mexican Lasagna I like. :)

I have made a few other new things, but I will save them for another post. Notice, I like simple, easy recipes. :) Let me know if you have tried any of these or if you have any good recipes to try.

2 Months

Presley is 2 months old today!!!

  

I can't believe she is already 2 months old, but at the same time it seems like she has been apart of our family much longer.

 It is amazing how that happens so quickly.

 

We go to her 2 month well baby check up this week, so I will be sure to post about that visit after we go. My guess is she is about 12 lbs or so.

 

At 2 months Presley is...

 

 

• nursing every 3-4 hours consistently.

• sleeping through the night. She goes down around 9-10 pm and sleeps until 5:30-6:30 am. She usually falls right back to sleep when I feed her and sleeps until 8 am or so. Then she is happy, happy!!!
• wearing size 1 diapers. They fit really well right now, not too big or too loose.
• wearing mostly 3 months clothes. She can still wear a few 0-3 months stuff, but some is really snug. Most of the 3 month clothes have plenty of room. I am hoping she stays in the 3 months stuff for a while, because most of the 3-6 month stuff is colder weather clothes. :o
• smiling, cooing, aahing, and occasionally giving a little giggle. She is a happy baby most of the time.
• loving her mommy! She is pretty crazy about Brady, too. She follows Brady with her eyes constantly. She smiles so so big when Caleb gets home from work! Mommy is still her favorite. She is a Mommy's girl for sure.
• she has a pretty consistent eat, play, sleep schedule. She is best when we stick to it.
• she is such a snuggle baby. I like it, but I also would like a little break from time to time. She likes to snuggle with Mommy the most.
• she takes a long 3-4 hour nap most days and several smaller naps throughout the day.
• she is holding her head up really well. She is pretty strong.
• she loves her bath! She was having a rough time between 7-8 pm every night, so I started giving her a bath and nursing her(whether it was time or not) and she has quit crying and fussing at that time. She has actually started being really sweet around that time, then she falls asleep in her crib around 9 pm.

She has had a rough couple of days. I am not sure if she just got off her little eat, play, sleep schedule and just couldn't recover or if she is going through a little growth spurt. It may be a combination of both. Who knows? She seems to be doing better now, though.

We are all three crazy about her. Brady adores her and is so concerned about her. He says the sweetest things to her. He loves to help take care of her and calm her down. He also really enjoys helping with her bath.

Brady at 2 months! You can see his 2 month post here. I didn't do that great of a job documenting what all he was doing each month.

Can't wait to see what the next month holds, but hopefully it won't go by so quickly! ;)