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! ;)

Saturday Fun

Brady's friend Ethan turned 4 this weekend.

 They had this huge bouncy water slide. The big kids LOVED it and were really funny to watch. The little ones were a little apprehensive and preferred the bottom.

 I can not believe these boys are 4 this year. Time flies!

Brady went down the bounce house water slide once, but wouldn't go again.  I think he might be just a tad too small for it. He had a hard time climbing up the ladder, then when he got to the top he would turn around and come back down. He enjoyed the water hose in the pool at the bottom of the slide and the kiddie pool. Silly boy!

It was a water fun Cars party! Everything was so cute and fun.  Unfortunately, we had to leave early to go pick up Caleb from work and head to the next event. We didn't get to get any cake. Brady was slightly devastated. What is the point of a birthday party if you don't get cake??

Caleb's work was having an employee softball game and cookout.

 

They passed out cracker jacks and ring pops to the crowd. It was cute!

Brady took mine and Presley's picture and this is what he got! I have no idea why I am making that face. Ha Ha!

 

 

 They provided everything and the entire family was invited.

We ended up having a good time. Brady was disappointed he didn't get to play in the softball game. Afterwards, Caleb threw some pitches to Brady. Brady started to cry and when Caleb asked why, Brady said, "I wanted them to announce my name on the speaker." They announced each batter during the game and even played a song for each batter. Apparently Brady thought that was pretty awesome and wanted some loud speaker attention as well. So funny!

Brady, Presley, and I spent the rest of the night on the playground. They had some awards and things to go over, so Brady was much more happy on the playground.  :)

Both kiddos were out on the way home. They were so worn out. We were all happy to get home and into our beds.

Sweet sleeping babies.

Play Date at the Park

Some of our friends had a play date Friday at the park. I was on the fence about going. It is a little of a drive and I just wasn't sure it was worth it. However, Caleb had told Brady to calm down at least 15 times by the time he left for work, so I decided we should probably go.

We all got ready and joined our friends at the park. We got there a little after 10 and stayed until a little after 1.

We went for ice cream at McDonald's. We made a stop at my grandmother's house to visit and then stopped by my mom's work. It was about 4:30 when we finally made it home.

Brady and Presley were worn out!!!

It made for a good and cheap Friday! Brady loved playing with his friends. Presley enjoyed being outside. I enjoyed some good adult conversation and a break from trying to constantly entertain Brady between feedings and diaper changes. It was great for all!

Haircut

Things are looking a little different around here.

Before. Obviously it was beyond time!

 

I cut Brady's hair the other night. I usually trim it up. Then every so often I take him to a professional to shape it up.

 

He normally doesn't mind getting it cut, but the other night he wasn't interested. It was tougher than normal to get him to sit still. About midway through, Presley started crying. I rushed to finish up on a squirmy kiddo and a screaming baby in the background. I am anything but a professional when it comes to a hair stylist, by the way.

 

Needless to say, I made a little mistake on one side and cut quite a bit off. I tried to comb it over, gave Brady a bath, and hoped it wasn't too noticeable.

 

Caleb came home.

 

It was noticeable.

 

I believe his exact words were "it looks good, but...

 

...what happened here?"

 

After much debate, we decided to just cut it all with the highest trimmer setting.

 

Now Brady looks like this...

 

 

Brady asked if his eyes are still blue? They are. He went on. I cried. Caleb got quiet. 

 

I just can't believe how different he looks. Brady's long hair is one of my favorite things! I have never ever cried over my own hair cut or color and I have made some dramatic changes over time. I never dreamed I would get that upset over my child's hair, especially my little BOYS!

 

I come to the only logical conclusion I know, parenthood makes you crazy!

 

It is growing on us. Brady doesn't care. I know it has to be cooler!

 



Sleep!

This post is for my documentation on Presley's sleeping arrangements. :)



We are not co-sleepers. It just doesn't work for our family. Brady has slept with us on occasion when he was sick, when we were away from home, and other odd instances, but it is not the norm. Presley has also ended up in our bed after an early morning feeding just hours(or minutes) before time to wake up, however again not the norm. Neither Caleb or I get any sleep if they are in the bed with us and we both agree we just don't like them sleeping with us. We are flexible, though, and we realize there are exceptions, like storms or illness for instance, when a little snuggle time in the big bed is called for.

Our sleeping arrangements with both children have been in a bassinet in our room until around 4-8 weeks. This is about the time that we expect nightly feedings to decrease and a bedtime routine in their bed in their room. With Brady I wanted him consistently sleeping in his room by the time I went back to work at 8 weeks postpartum. I don't have the same timeline with Presley, because I am not going back to work any time soon. However, I still wanted her in her crib around the same time.

Last week, she was only waking up once a night around 3:30 am. She was regularly sleeping for 5-6 hours at a time each night. I knew it was time to move her. BUT I didn't really want to. (Note: I wanted to with Brady. I was focused. I was ready. I wanted him in his room.) I am not sure if it is because this is the first sign, in my opinion, that she isn't a little newborn baby anymore or if it is just a second child thing, but I decided to wait until she was 6 weeks old.

She turned 6 weeks on Monday (August 13th), so we put her to sleep in her crib around 9 pm. She grunted, whined, and fidgeted until she fell asleep. Then she woke at 1:30 am. I fed her and put her back in the bassinet beside my bed. She woke again around 4 am. Then went back to sleep for few more hours.

Tuesday (Aug. 14th)was the same thing. It took a while, but she finally fell asleep on her own. Then woke around midnight, 3 am, and 5 am. I kept putting her back to bed until the 5 am and then I let her sleep with me in my bed.

I was getting a little frustrated, not because I was having to get up, but because she was sleeping worse.  Her bedtime routine was very similar to what we did with Brady at the same age, except one thing. I knew this going into it and had every intention of doing it with Presley also, but hadn't purchased what I needed. We always turned on a lullaby c.d. when it was bedtime with Brady. He slept with that c.d. for the first 2 years of his life until the c.d. player started skipping and we just stopped. Brady continued to sleep well with out it, but I always contributed his wonderful sleeping to that c.d. He would hear that lullaby song and his eyes would immediately get heavy.

So, Tuesday I bought a noise machine for Presley's room at Target. I found one I really liked and it is so small and easy to travel with. The c.d. player and c.d's are a little bit of burden to travel with, that was my only complaint about the c.d and player. The noise machine uses batteries and can easily be thrown into my bag.

Wednesday (August 15)I did the exact same thing as the other 2 nights, but after I put her in her bed I turned on the noise machine to the heartbeat around 9 pm. She was so still and content. No whining, no fidgeting, no grunting. She quickly fell asleep and stayed asleep until 5 am!!!! The noise maker turned off after 45 minutes.  She was just so calm, she was able to get to a much deeper sleep.

Thursday night(August 16) she went right to sleep with the noise machine and bedtime routine around 9 pm. We had some severe storms this night and she got pretty restless through out the night. At 2:30 am, I got up because I heard her cry out. She was fine and asleep when I went in her room.  I think I could have given her the paci and turned on the noise machine and she would have went back to sleep, but I just went ahead and fed her. I was already up and she had been fidgeting all during the storms. She then slept until 6:30 am.

Since then she has consistently went down between 9-10 pm and slept until 2:30-5 am, falling back to sleep immediately after I feed her until we are all up for the day between 6-7 am. I am super happy with her sleeping habits right now. She has done so well. I can handle only waking once a night and right back to sleep.

I also have started swaddling her for her afternoon nap and using the noise machine. She sleeps for 2-3 hours at the same time Brady is napping most days! This is awesome and key to a successful day in our house!