Busy bees

So Friday night my friend Heather had a sushi making class! I was little scared, I've had sushi twice and once was in Mexico. I wasn't completely sure on what to expect. My friend Jackie went with me and we had a ball! It was a lot of fun hanging out without the husbands! :) The sushi was surprisingly good and the people were funny!
Jackie has a 6 week old, Ava. She was a little unsure leaving Brock at home to take care of her, but it was good for him! :) Steve took Presley over for a couple hours to hang out and 'help out'. They did a good job and both babies survived (babies meaning Ava and Presley, not Brock and Steve!)
So today we had a 1st birthday party for Preston! It was a lot of fun and good to see everyone! The kids are growing so fast and getting to be so big! I'll have to post a couple pics of them soon!
We left the party a little early b/c Presley and I had to get out to West Glen for the Light the Night walk in support of our friend Chris for beating cancer twice! Chris is such a great guy and I'm so happy that I'm able to participate in this event with them! It is such a neat walk, everyone gets a balloon that lights up and it is so neat seeing all the lit balloons after the sun goes down! Steve missed out b/c of course the Iowa game was on TV, and I guess that it is a pretty big game for Iowa....but in the 3rd quarter it is 5-10, seems like a boring game to me! So I'm about to turn in for the night! Go Hawks!

Too early!

well this is the 3rd morning this week Presley has been up before 5 am. Normally I would make her a bottle, take her into bed with us and then she'd fall back asleep until it was time to wake up to go to my mom's. Well this morning she isn't as lucky, I'm not giving in. She needs to sleep!!!! and preferably past 5 am....it doesn't matter what time she goes to bed. We've tried 8, 8:30 and I refuse to keep her up till 9....then I get no time to myself. Let's be honest here, I rarely see 10 pm these days and this week I'm manage to catch a cold and I'm just worn out.

I'm watching the morning news (Caitlyn Coyner and Marcus McIntosh are becoming my morning friends) and I briefly saw something abour renting a bike to ride....now I have 2 thoughts about that...1) if you are a dedicated cyclist, don't you already have a bike? and 2) don't you have to drive to the bike renting place to actually rent it? If so, wouldn't it be easier just to drive to your destination? I'm not against riding your bike to work, for fun...whatever, I just don't see that many people wanting to rent a bike!? But what do I know!

I had a conversation with my friend Cindy years ago about phrases that we say too much. I say "That's funny!" "Really?", "shut up!" and "owell (spelled incorrectly, just for my mother!)" Everytime I say "That's funny" there is this little voice in the back of my head thinking....'duh! I'm sure everyone realizes it's funny, you don't have to point it out to everyone!'
and when I think of certain people I can tell you what their phrases are....my friend Amy at work always says "back in the day"
Casey...is too easy......she known at work for saying "glorious", "wicked awesome" and sometimes she gets on a roll with "quacktastic".
So what phrases to you say too much?

Well it's about time for me to get in the shower....you think Steve will let Presley cry, or bring her into bed with him?

Weird child

She now like to smile with her eyes almost closed and her mouth pierced shut. I'm not sure why she does it, or where she gets it from. The last two days she does it non-stop from the moment she wakes up till the moment she goes to bed!
I'm telling you, this child is weird!!! Cute, but weird!

I get what I want, when I want it!

Hi, it's Presley here. I just wanted to show you what I've been getting into. I try to be sneaky, but mom and dad are quick to tell me no. I don't listen, I'm too little to have to obey them already! hahaha.....suckers!
My favorite place of DVD's, there are some for me to watch but I don't like to sit still. Mom has tried to get me to watch The Little Mermaid but then mom tries to sing along and ruins it for me!
On the other side of the room I found this really cool vent. Best part, I can take it out all by myself. I'm sure I'll be hiding toys or dropping food down here eventually!

oh and my favorite, the slippery floors! It's hard for me to move around on them, but mom says it helps clean her dirty floors when I slide around on my tummy! I don't mind pulling my weight around the house and doing my share of the housework.....anything I can do to make my mom happy.....well except sleep thru the night! hahaha.....suckers!

Cousins? Kinda...

So my Aunt Ann is married to my Uncle John, John has a nephew on the other side of the family named Trent Willmon. So basically we share an uncle. We don't know if that makes us relatives at all, but we just call him our cousin, not blood related. Trent is a country singer, he has songs on the radio, videos, a southern accent....the whole country singer thing.
Trent was in Des Moines about 3 years ago and we had the pleasure of meeting him and hanging out with him and his band on their bus! Yeah, we thought we were pretty cool. So we were thrilled when we heard he was coming back to Iowa! Saturday night my parents, sisters and two of our girlfriends Andrea and Lynn drove to Runnells to see him play (Steve and Presley stayed at home). Again, we were lucky enough to go 'backstage' (which was just a tent next to the stage but whatever).
Trent was also playing with another country singer Mark Wills. He also has some great songs on the radio and he is freaking funny! Very laid back and sarcastic, then he gets up on stage and sings such sappy songs for being such a smart ass!

Here is Holly and Mark before he went on stage.

Here's Trent singing Beer Man! Yeehaw!

Here are the 3 of the singers together... Trent Willmon, Mark Wills and Jeff Bates. It was a good small town show! We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed hanging out with the guys!

September 22, 2007

Two years ago I married my best friend. Amazing how much ours lives have changed in 2 short years. Some people think marriage is hard, so far marriage has been pretty easy for us. Having a baby is a challenge, but we make a pretty good team! :)
Here are some pictures of our wedding from 2 years ago.
Steve with my girls (Colleen, Cindy, Holly and Samantha). The photographer told them to lean in like they were going to kiss him...of course Holly was the only one who took her seriously!

The moment of no return! :) The vows

One of my favorite pics!

Just a year ago I was pregnant with our little girl. I was about 4 months along and it seems like just yesterday! Notice my wedding dress still hanging in the background and my work clothes were eventually replaced with baby clothes, which is fine since I can't fit back into any of those clothes anyway! ha

Fast-forward to this year September 2009, Friday night my mom watched Presley for a couple extra hours so we could go out for our anniversary dinner. We went to Trostel's Dish (one of our favorites!! YUMMY!). We weren't out late b/c we had to get up early Saturday morning to drive to Creston.

Last year for our anniversary Steve had a good idea to go on a hot air balloon ride for our 1 year anniversary, but b/c I was pregnant they advised us against it. So this year we were able to go for free courtesy of Stalker Chevrolet Cadillac during the Creston Balloon Days. Samantha came over at 5 am to watch Presley while we were gone. Here we are in our balloon! It was so awesome!

This is just a balloon that was going up next to us. It's amazing how big they are and how fast they can go out and down in the sky!

This is our balloon! You can see TJ and Tim Stalker helping to get the balloon up. You don't realize how big the balloon is until you see people standing next to it!

This was taken in the air of all the balloons ahead of us. It was so great! We were up 1600 feet in the air, it was the perfect weather and just the right amount of wind. We loved it and I would recommend to everyone, that if you get the chance to go up in a balloon definitely take it!!

Stephen, I love you! Thank you for two great years of marriage and for being such a wonderful husband and daddy! XOXO

what? what?? what???

I went shopping today. That sucked. I don't think I've ever left the mall feeling so down on myself. I'm waving the white flag and surrendering to a bigger pant size.

Do you have certain brands that you've grown up with? We always had Crest toothpaste, Tide laundry detergent and JIF peanut butter! Well when we went to Okoboji I bought the small size of Skippy peanut butter. I was reading the label and it said something about not having to stir. I never stir my peanut butter so I thought that was little odd. Well, we ran out of PB at home but I still had that Skippy left over, I opened it up and there is peanut grease pooling on the top! So I actually had to STIR my peanut butter! Gross, that's what I get for straying from my JIF.

I follow a blog (of someone I don't even know!) who is due to have a baby in the next month. She mentioned that they'll be paying $1200 a month for daycare! Hello!!! What?? That is close to our mortgage payment! There is no way we could afford that! Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have my mom watch Presley for us. We pay our weekly rate (at a discount price) and most weeks I go ahead and give her a $25 bonus! :)

Another Hawkeye win!

So Friday night we went to the Earlham football game to watch nephews Jordan and Jake play. Jordan had a really good game but the Cardinal still came up short of the win. Presley liked the hustle and bustle of the game and like the band at half time! Going to an Earlham football game is similar to going to a big daycare....there are a freaking hundred kids running around!
Saturday morning we got up and drove back to Earlham to watch the Iowa game at Christie and Jason's house. There was a lot of good food and ALOT of freaking kids!
Here is Presley with cousin Derek.
After a long morning ot watching the Iowa/Iowa State game Daddy and Presley took a nap. Aren't they cute?!

Presley has been moving around already getting into trouble, this is her right after she found the DVD player and before she went after the plant!...Needless to say our house is not quite 'baby-proof' yet! :)

Change of thought: Part 2

Okay, so remember in my last post I mentioned having another kid (waaaayyyy down the road)? Scratch that, she is back to being an only child again. 2 hours of on and off crying! I don't think she feels good, her nose is stuffy.....of course that could be from the crying.

The counter on my blog says 11000 people have looked at least looked at my blog. Yeah right! Something must be wrong there, I think it was at 1000 the last time I looked. I know I'm cool and my life is soo interesting but I just don't think that many people are waiting around wanting to know what I do with my life!

My mom said that owell isn't a word. If bootylicious can be in the dictionary I can use the slang of 'owell', instead of being correct and typing 'oh well' or o'well. OMG and LOL aren't words either but people use them all the time. Owell!

I had a brief talk with a friend who mentioned that she uses their whole walk-in closet for all her clothes...and actually packs up her winter stuff in the summer and vice versa. Now, does she have more clothes than the average person or do I have less? I never pack up my clothes in the off season! I just don't have that many clothes! I have 2 pairs of work pants, I can't fit into my old pants. I weigh about the same as I did before Presley, but the body just doesn't go back to normal and I don't think I'll ever get back into my other dress pants :( ............maybe if I hang up all my t-shirts and sweatshirts I can start to fill up a walk-in closet!

Who is Wendy Williams and why does she have a talk show on at 2 am? She replaced my Poker After Dark, damn her!

Change of thought

Well originally my next post was going to be about how good Presley has been sleeping thru the night! We were up to 8 nights in a row! A couple times she would wake up and whine for a little bit but always went right back to sleep....well here I am typing while she is crying again. It's been almost an hour. It's possible she could be getting a cold, Amelia at daycare has one....it's possible she could be teething, she has to get teeth at some point! So how do you know? If she isn't feeling good, do I not comfort her? That seems mean, but I don't want to ruin the good thing we had going here!.....ah silence...how long will it last??
Everyone has told me that we'll forget how hard it is having a baby and then we'll have another one. At this point Steve and I have yet to 'forget'! She can be so fun and damn cute! We actually watched one of the first videos we took of her....OMG! She was so tiny, it is amazing how months can change a baby! Her little, tiny baby cry...sounds so different from what it does now! (still silence, I might be good to go back to bed now!)
A guy I work with has 2 kids with one on the way. He wants 4 kids but his wife told him that this is it! I'm glad Steve and I are on the same page about more kids. We'll probably have 1 more baby, but it sure won't be any time soon!
Well the crying has stopped, I'm going to check on her (please pray the floor doesn't squeak and I wake her up!!) and then I'm off to bed.....again. Goodnight!

Random.....

-I don't like mean people. People who aren't team players and don't like to help when it is needed. Let me know if I'm a mean person and I'll try to change.

-I love reality TV! I would want to be on Big Brother, I would suck at Survivor (I don't do bugs) and I think if Steve and I were on Amazing Race we'd end up divorced......Thinking about getting DVR, but that will only support my bad habit.

-I've decided that I believe in reincarnation. This life is pretty darn good, but there are things I wish I would've done (played volleyball or run cross country in highschool, met more people or participated in more things in college) so I'll just do those things in my next life!

-I heard Matt Damon had to gain 30 pounds for his new movie, why can't my job require that? Of course I would want his salary too.

-My friend Heather is moving to Texas. I'm sad, she's been a good friend for about 7 years now. I wish her all the best but we'll miss her on our girls nights!

If you build it, they will come....

Yeah, I watched Field of Dreams today! I love that movie!
My sister Holly is just about all moved in to her new house! I'm so happy for her! It's so fun to unpack and decorate and have a place to call her own. Of course it is a lot of responsibility, but I got her a cool pink tool set so she can fix anything! :)
Here she is attempting her famous cartwheel in her basement the day she got her keys! (This is all the farther she gets off the ground)
Here is Holly, Presley and me in Holly's house. Presley thinks it's a pretty cute house and can't wait to spend the night there with her Aunt Holly!

You gotta love those 3 day weekends! Friday night we went to Prairie Meadows to watch the horse races! I forgot my camera (bad mom). We had fun! It wasn't too busy but it did get pretty chilly out so we didn't stay too late. We won $9.20, we still ended up behind but it was nice to win a little somethin!

Saturday morning was the first Iowa football game of the year. We went over to our friend Damian's house to watch the game. Presley was tired but she managed to be pretty good for most of the game. We all had our Iowa shirts on, even though I was cheering for UNI. It was a nail-biter but the Hawks ended up winning!

Sunday we spent most of the day getting ready for our friends to come over for a BBQ. The weather was perfect so we were able to keep everyone outside! The food was great, the beer was good and it was wonderful to see all of our friends! It's hard to see your friends as often as you want once you have a baby, but we ended up having about 25 people over!

Here is a picture of mom-to-be Cindy and baby Ava S. (so sweet and cuddly! We don't remember Presley being this like!)

I don't want to jinx anything but Presley has slept thru the night for the last 5 nights, right now 5 nights is the longest streak we've got out of her. Are we lucky enough to get 6 nights?? Keep your fingers crossed!

Hope you all had a good Labor Day!

7 months old!

I can't believe Presley is 7 months and it seems like every day she is changing and getting to be more fun. It's amazing how you can see a little personality in that tiny little thing.

Our 7 month old:

• hates the sound of the vacuum cleaner and the sound of Amelia screaming at daycare (and it's a fun, happy scream!). Pout lip, tears...the whole pathetic sh-bang.
• scoots across the room, rolls across the room...no crawling yet but that's ok
• still has no teeth.
• still doesn't sleep thru the night...we'll have 1 or 2 good nights but then she is up wanting that damn pacifier a couple times a night (that thing is the devil)
• wears 6 month clothing, but a lot of the 6-9 month clothes are too long for her. I think she has short legs.
• smiles and laughs a lot, especially at Daddy!
• is getting fairly good at giving high five, though I don't think she really knows what she is doing.
• still loves being outside, going for walks and taking baths.....all part of our nighttime routine if the weather is nice. (not sure what we are going to do when it gets cold out!)
• growls and grunts all the time, for no apparent reason.
• now likes sucking on her toes!
• has a lot of nicknames including: Presley Pie, Peanut and Stinker.

4 am....

So it's 4 in the morning and I'm sitting on the couch listening to Presley cry. (thank god for Without a Trace on TNT all morning!) She woke up an hour ago. I gave her the pacifier twice and tried to rock her to sleep once and nothing worked, so we'll try 'crying it out' again. We've done this 3 times and it hasn't worked, but Steve isn't as willing to let her cry. I don't blame him, it's not easy sitting her just listening to her cry. So far she's never cried more than 2 hours, so only a little over an hour to go! Too bad I need to get up in 2 hours for work, owell I guess 5 hours of sleep isn't bad.
I follow a couple other blogs, a friend of mine has an 8 month old and he's slept thru the night since he was about 2 months old, another blog I read just posted that her 18 month old just slept thru the night for the first time last week......I can't do this for another 12 months. I didn't think we'd be doing this for 7 months, but she is spoiled. Do you know how hard it is listening to your baby cry for hours?? How many times will we have to do this? I know it's not hurting her, but it is hurting me. :(