February 3rd, 2011 = Two Years Old

Two years ago you came into our lives. A tiny, little, perfect baby girl. You challenged our sanity and patience.... and still do. The smiles you bring into our every day lives are priceless.


1 year picture

Our princess started out at 5 lbs, 12 ounces...in the 3rd percentile. Boy, how she has grown! She is now at 30 pounds and 35 inches tall (87% and 90%, respectively). She grew almost 7 inches in 1 year! She had a lead test at the doctor today, it was not what I was expecting! She handled the finger prick like a champ, but having to fill a full vile of blood.....she was not happy about it.

Presley :
- still loves to eat. LOVES fruit! Blueberries, strawberries, bananas, mandrin oranges, kiwi (and peaches, pears, grapes, apples)...she loves it all!!!

- is beginning to put 2 words together, mostly 'mama see, dada see, i see'. She doesn't copy what we say and only occasionally will she try to say what we ask her to. She likes to do things when she wants to! She babbles all the time, we just haven't figured out what she is saying yet!

- is smarter than we give her credit for! I told her her blanket was in the dryer and she walked over to the basement door. She's never seen the dryer or knows what it is...how the heck does she know it is in the basement? Sometimes we bribe her with a bath when we are at a restaurant to get her to put her coat on....and she actually remembers by the time we get home and goes running for the bathroom!

- loves bathtime. She would love to have a bath every night, except I'm too lazy. If you ask her what time it is (around bedtime), she'll get all excited and say (and sign) bath?

- is learning her numbers and letters. She knows M is for Mommy, D is for Daddy, P is for Presley, H is for Holly and S is for Sam...we are working on B for Boston and G for Grandma. She has mastered both her number and letters puzzles, it's amazing to watch her do them so quickly!

- is wearing mostly 2T pants and 3T shirts (they are long enough to cover her belly), size 6 shoes, and still has 12 teeth.

- has a sense of humor and an imagination! Presley is getting good at pretend, yesterday she kept getting her cell phone, purse and baby stroller all ready to 'go' and then would come over give us hugs and say 'bye!' Today she 'changed' her baby's diaper and threw the diaper in the garbage. Then she put the baby on her potty chair, got toilet paper and 'wiped' her baby's butt!

- looks like she is on a mission when she plays! She knows what she is doing and where she wants things, that brain goes non-stop....I just wish I knew what was going on in her head during those times!

- is starting to be a mommy's girl! She now wants to sit with ME on the couch before bedtime! I'm loving the cuddle time but Steve is feeling left out now!

- likes taking her clothes off, this seems to be a common habit amoung two year olds! She is even starting to dress herself! She needs a little help but does a good job all my herself!

(seriously, someone make her stop growing! I will pay to bottle her up as she is right now!)

Presley, you are amazing, smart, funny and beautiful! Your smile makes us so happy. We love watching you grow and learn every day. There is nothing we want more than for you to be happy and healthy. You are our pride and joy, the love of our lives!

We love you Presley Grace! Happy 2nd Birthday baby girl!

Presley's 2 year pictures!

Our baby is (almost) two years old! I'll have her official 2 year post in a couple days but I wanted to post some of her pictures we had taken today. She was surprisingly fairly good! We got off to a rough start but the photographer worked her magic and we got some good pictures!

Of course we bought too many pictures so if anyone is dying to have copies of any of these, let me know! They also gave us a CD of all the pictures in case we don't have enough already and need to go make more copies! (Because this house doesn't already look like a shrine to Miss P!)

Doesn' she look so grown up? :(

And of course, there were a lot of NOT good pictures too. Some of her cheesy face, she liked sticking out her tongue and some of her looking at us like we were crazy and there was no way we were going to get her to smile.

Gotta love her!

Weekend fun!

A weekend with no real plans is so nice! I had Friday off from work b/c we didn't have daycare, s0 Presley and I hung out. It was the first day of the no pacifer rule. She didn't take a nap, but that isn't unusual and I thought maybe she would be nice and tired at bedtime.
I went out for a couple hours with some people from work and then when I got home Steve went to play poker (which he won $140 at!). So I was the lucky one who got to put her to bed for the first time without her 'p'. She didn't make a noise, didn't wake up once! We were both shocked and extremely happy!

Saturday was a fairly nice winter day so we decided to take Presley sledding. She loved it the first time, I could hear her screaming and laughing from the bottom of the hill......but the third time down the hill, she was over it. Our first sledding trip was short lived but at least we got her out there to enjoy some of what winter has to offer!
We had the pleasure of babysitting Boston Saturday night while Sam and Jon had date night!
"YEAH! My cousin Boston is here!"

Presley loves Boston, it is so cute to see her interact with him. She gets right up in his face and says 'hi bos', and she is always trying to give him toys, now she just needs to learn to be gentle with him!

Boston was good! He did every thing a normal baby does, I think he likes his cousin too. He is always watching her (probably making sure she isn't coming to throw something at him or poke him in the eye).

Presley didn't take a nap again on Saturday but spent 2 hours in her crib whining, playing and occasionally crying out 'mama!' We were hoping night #2 with no pacifer would be similar to the first. She cried for a couple minutes when we put her down and woke up once in the middle of the night and cried for maybe 30 seconds, but other than that, we had another successful night! Yeehaw!!

Evidence of a 2 year old.

As I walk thru my quiet, peaceful.....extremely messy house tonight, I noticed a theme. There is a small, person walking around placing items in odd spots. Or Lazy Susan (as my mother used to say) is leaving things where they don't belong throughout our home.
The sippy cup - placed precisely on the coaster (she loves to use coasters for her cup!)....in the middle of the kitchen floor.
The Little People cars, where else? The bathroom rug (all lined up, more evidence of her OCD).

The baby doll, her 'purse' and food behind the family room chair.And of course, the sit and spin....in the middle of our bedroom floor. I'm mean, where else do people normally keep their sit and spins?

............or maybe this is all just evidence that we need to pick up our house more often?

Do you ever have that feeling??

Do you ever have that feeling that someone is trying to tell you something? That the world is against you, if even for a short amount of time?

UGH! I had that 1/2 hour yesterday evening. After work I was going to meet Steve and P for dinner but I needed to swing by my parents house and let the dog (Scout) out, since they were still out of town and both Holly and Samantha weren't going to be able to. So we thought we'd just meet at my parents house, let the dog out and then drive together.
Steve got there with P, couldn't find the key to get in. He was irritated, but I was already on my way there so I told him to wait. I got there looked for the key in any hidden spot it might be, tried calling both sisters.....Samantha still had the key with her. My personal key to get in, was at my house.
Steve was mad b/c there was no key and he had to 'wait' for me, Presley was pissed off she had to get back in the carseat!.........I know! Why would any parent insist their child be strapped into their carseat? We obviously were mean, evil parents as we both pinned her down to buckle her in.

At this point, I'm in NO mood to go out to eat, so we agree to just go home. Steve leaves with P, I get in my car and head home. I call Holly and Samantha to figure out what we are going to do about letting Scout out. Steve called and called and called. I finally called him back once I got off the phone. He decided he was going to go out to eat instead. Um ok. I'm almost home, I'll turn around and come meet you then. IRRITATED!!!!

I drive to the restaurant. No open parking spots. At this point I think it's funny that there are so many signs that I should just be going home and not eating out! So I park across the street in the McDonalds parking lot. As I'm walking up to the door of the restaurant, two cars pull out. Of course. It really was funny by this time and I was over it, It kinda felt good to take a situation, where I would normally be pissed off and irritated all night into a moment of humor and be able to move on!

Five Question Friday!

1. SNOW DAYS - Do you happily welcome them or are they a pain in the butt? Right now we love them! They are few and far between but I'll take any day I don't have to go to work and not leave the house! If it is going to snow...it needs to be enough to cancel work...which has only happened 4 times in 7 years.

2. Are you a new, politics or celebrity gossip junkie? Definitely celebrity! I love to watch TMZ after work! I know nothing about politics, but I do find myself becoming more interesting as I get older.

3. Do you go to the dentist regularly? Ummm, I'd have to say no. Both Steve and I are getting better about going since all of his 'mouth' issues last year. This is something we want to make sure Presley gets in the habit of doing though, so we really should set a good example!

4. What is one thing you would change about yourself? Oh my. Really? I'm not going to get into this question (teeth, skin, stomach, thighs). It would be boring.

5. Do you get excited when the mail comes? Yes! I don't know why, there is rarely something exciting! Steve normally gets home before I do, so he usually gets the mail. So on the days I get the mail, I'm always excited...and then bummed when it's just bills or people trying to get me to change my insurance companies.

Say goodbye to the mullet!

We went to get Presley's hair trimmed. This was, by no means, an all-out hair cut. We got her little bangs trimmed so she doesn't have to brush them out of her face and then we got her fuzzy, ends cut off with a couple layers added to give a little more umph to her curls! :)
We gave her a Tootie Pop and she was happy for the 5 minutes she had to sit there. She did pretty darn good...way better than we expected!

Josie, at Bella Salon, cuts my hair and said she would cut P's hair for pretty cheap. I love Josie, so we took a chance and took her there instead of the kid-friendly places. We weren't even there 10 minutes and she didn't even charge us for the cut! So she got a nice tip instead! So this is my shout out to my new favorite stylist! Go see her, she is awesome!

Go Pack Go!!

My parents were in Texas for the Packer game on Sunday so we had my sisters over to watch the game. We got all decked out in our Packer gear (minus Steve, the Raiders and Steelers fan)!

After a lot of nail chewing and cussing at the television, we ended up with a Packer victory! Super Bowl here we come! It is going to be a tough game, hopefully I can grow some of my nails back so I'm able to chew them off that night!

Miss P, puts her laptop and cup on the table and then pulls up a chair. She thinks she is such a big girl!

After work today, Steve got Presley all dressed in her snowsuit and took her out to the yard to play in the snow and get pulled around on her sled. It finally isn't below zero out and the days are getting longer so we are able to get outside and 'enjoy' it!

Tomorrow will be a sad day. The mullet is getting trimmed. The frizzy curls are going to get cut. She probably won't sit still anyway...then what if she ends up with a bowl cut or something? Now I'm getting nervous.....

Back to the grind!

After having Monday off with my little lady, Steve and I both had busy work weeks. Sometimes taking vacation isn't worth it when you come back to a weeks worth of work waiting for you!
You can tell P is very happy that we are back and sometimes she is afraid that we are going to leave her again. But she is still her happy, smiley self!
She now HAS to line up all of her chairs right next to each other. I think she might be a little OCD!

Thursday we went to visit our friends Lisa and Jared. They had an adorable baby boy, Colton, while we were gone and I couldn't wait to get over there and hold him! He is so cute and we are very happy for this addition to their family. They will make wonderful parents!

Friday night we had Kyle, Maggie and Sadie over for some pizza and to let the girls play. We figured we better have them over before they have their baby next week! Sadie and Presley played great together. It's so fun to watch them laugh and play together! They thought it was fun to stand on the (folded up) pack and play, hang on the crib and jump up and down...over and over again! (notice P without pants on)

This morning I went to work since it was 'highly recommended' that we work this weekend. I'm trying to fight cold and we need to get ready for the Packer playoff game tomorrow!!!! I'm hoping for a Packer Super Bowl. It was be so nice for my grandpa to see the Packers play in the Super Bowl.

P now likes to take her clothes off. It's a lovely little habit.

This little princess turns 2 in less than 2 weeks and I don't have a single, solitary thing plan for it! No invitations, presents, pictures scheduled. Nothing. We better get on that.

Five Question Friday....on a Friday!!!

1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love? I was Steve's boss at Von Maur. It was not love at first sight. Some of us would go out after work and one thing led to another...... Dating within Von Maur is not allowed, so we kept it a secret for about 6 months. It was rough dating and working together, I would NEVER do it again! But it worked out, huh?
2. What is your favorite room in the house? I would say our bathroom, mainly b/c Steve worked so hard on it. We expanded and remodeled it about 2 years ago and it is SOO much better than what it was before. It's not like I spend a lot of time in there, but I know that almost every inch of that room was completed by MY hubby!
3. Can you wiggle your ears? No, but really why would I want to or need to?
4. What is your evening ritual? It all goes too fast really! Not enough hours in the night!
- get home about 5:00 or 5:30, depending on who picks P up from daycare and which daycare!
- 5:30 to 6, get dinner ready and play, the TV is usually on. P mostly ignore the TV and I can usually watch a little TMZ (gotta love my celebrity gossip!).
- 6 to 7 pm, play play play!!
- every other night P gets a bath about 7, if not, we play some more.
- By 7:30 she's in pj's and laying on the couch with one of us (If I decide to workout, this is the time I leave the house). A little down time of sitting and cuddling and before 8 she is in bed. She won't normally 'sleep' right away, but she is almost always more than willing to give her kisses and go to bed. She might talk for a while but other than that, we don't see or hear from her until the next morning!
- After she goes to bed, Steve and I take turns picking up, cleaning, watching TV, being on the computer and just vegging out. If it's a 'late' night, we head to bed about 10 pm.
5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? After having Presley, I know I can function on about 5 hours of sleep, but really we love to get about 8 hours....and we usually do. We usually go to bed about 10 pm and get up about 6 or 6:30 am. Of course, Steve and I are BIG fans of sleep. We are talking about 2 people who were both late for a noon shift at Von Maur b/c we over slept! Oh the good ole days! :)

>>> on a side note: I asked Steve where he thought my favorite room in the house was, he said "the kitchen...b/c you like to eat". I told him he was wrong. He said "the bedroom, b/c that is where all the magic happens". I told him he was wrong. I guess eventually he'll guess right since there are only so many rooms in this house! hahaha! (heehawed!!!!)(read Holly's blog if you don't konw this inside joke).

Saturday and Sunday...the end.

CHOCOLATE BUFFET.....need I say more? and I bet I only got 1/4 of the choices they had.

This was our last chance to watch the sunset and it was a little cloudy and windy (again, and still).

It was a great trip but we were happy to get home. Sunday we woke up at 6:30, got off the boat at 7:30 (I was the first one off the boat!), took a plane to Kansas City, then jumped in car to drive home. We went to pick up Presley at my mom's about 7:15 (it had been a very long day). We were nervous about how she would react when she saw us. We wanted her to be excited and happy, but a part of me was afraid that she would be scared and cry. She was happy and kept going back and forth from mommy to daddy for hugs! It was such a good feeling! We missed her like crazy....maybe next time we'll take her with!

Our total ship bill....do you really want to know? No judging. It actually was less than we had estimated so I was happy!

$1129 - which included automatically applied tips, excursions, Steve's gambling money, our internet fee, shopping....and mostly alcohol. Good thing that tax return will be here in the next month or so and we'll just get that paid off!

Isla Roatan and Grand Cayman Island - Thursday and Friday

This was all we were able to see of Isla Roatan off the coast of Honduras! :( The wind was so hard and the waves too big that they couldn't get the ship safely to the port, they tried for 2 hours and decided that it couldn't be done. We were very disappointed, going to Roatan was one of the main reasons Cari booked this particular cruise. They filmed the reality show Temptation Island here and cruise ships have only been going here for a couple of years so we were excited to visit....and not excited to spend an incredibly rocking day at sea. They did credit our account $10 a person for this...wow, thanks.

We took 2 naps and lots of Dramamin this day. The ship swayed back and forth so bad you couldn't walk down the halls straight and they had to drain the water from one of the pools b/c the water was splashing out all over the deck. BUMMER!

Friday we made it to Grand Cayman Island! We were extremely happy to get off the boat! Very tourist friendly with shopping galore! We spent a couple hours shopping and then went looking for a beach.

The water was clear and the sand white! The beach was amazing and I could've stayed all week there!

I should've learned to NOT stand by Cari b/c she is always so tan, I did good and didn't get sunburned at all! I'm pretty sure Steve and I came back paler than we did when we left since our spray tans faded! LOL!

Ummmm???.....Is this really how they indicate handicap areas?

Steve and I at the second elegant dinner. We both had escargot...not sure why I felt the need to try that and I won't be eating it again.

We had three awesome waiters for dinner, I Wayan loved our table and decided to dance with Amanda during the dinner entertainment.

The dinners were amazing and we all ate too much. We could order as much as we wanted and of course we had appetizers (sometimes two) and dessert (sometimes two) every night...you just can't pass that up! I figured I could gain 10 pounds this week and I did good at 9 pounds. But what do you expect when you go from eating 1200 calories a day to at least 5000 a calories a day (probably closer to 10000, but who was counting?).

Wednesday in Belize

We all decided to go cave tubing in Belize. We had to take an hour bus ride to the caves which turned out to be great b/c we were able to see so much of the country. The country is poor and completely not commercialized. It was sad to see how these people lived but nice to see that it hasn't all been Americanized. Our tour guide even said that many countries will only take you thru the nice, wealthy parts of the country, but Belize, being so small we had no choice to go thru the 'ghetto' parts of the city.

The Sleeping Giant...see the silhoutte of the 'giant' sleeping.

This is the place we went tubing..... a small, sorta primitive area. We were unable to take cameras with us on the tubes so I wasn't able to get any pictures of the clear water and huge caves.

Another picture of the small 'houses' around Belize City.

This place was right off the port but we had no time to do any shopping around! :(

It was an 'unbelizeable' day in Belize and I would love to go back and see more of this country. But Wednesday night is when it all turned around and the wind starting whipping!

Cruise - Sunday thru Tuesday

I never mentioned much about our cruise but that was b/c it was a surprise for our friend Todd. His wife, Cari planned this trip over 6 months ago but wasn't going to tell him until his birthday January 1st! So I didn't want to be the one to accidently share info that wasn't supposed to be shared! She planned a 7 day cruise to the western caribbean so we thought we would take advantage of this opportunity and go with them. There were a total of 7 of us that made this trip and it was fun! So nice to get away from the crappy, winter weather!

My family was awesome in helping to take care of Presley while we were gone. I knew she was in good hands but it was still hard to leave her for a whole week!

We flew out of Kansas City last Saturday and stayed overnight in Miami. We took it easy in Miami b/c we were all so tired from a long day of traveling! But Sunday morning we got up and got ready to board our cruise ship!

We spent most of Sunday drinking, walking around and checking out the boat and enjoying the nice weather! The boat left Miami about 4 pm headed toward Cozumel, Mexico!

Monday we had a day at sea and the boat was packed and busy with people! We did manage to find the adult only pool area! :) This was the main area of the boat with pools, hot tubs, the slide and the big screen TV (where we watched the Packer game the night before!).

Here are the 5 of us girls all dressed up for our fancy dinner. Me, Molly, Cari, Amanda and Jill.

Tuesday we made it to Cozumel. It was beautiful! A touristy area, with lots of shopping and beaches!

Ladies, stay away....he is taken! haha!

After shopping and drinking we were able to find a beach. It was awesome and cheap and we got drunk! It was so fun! and then for some reason a couple people thought it would be fun to snorkel, including Steve who doesn't know how to swim real well and decided to wear a life jacket that was not inflated! :)

Us girls again...Jill, Molly, Amanda, Cari and me...all sucking in our stomachs? ha!

The day ended with a trip down the waterslide (which I swallowed way too much water and showed a little too much boob at the bottom of) and then had about 50 people sing happy birthday to me at dinner.....for those of you who know me, know that it is not my birthday! It was a complete mistake but it was too late to try to fix it! They were all singing, clapping, hoot and hollering and then wanted me to give a speech (I didn't know most of these people and I'm guessing they had been drinking all day like we had), needless to say I did not give a speech and was slightly embarrased! But it was so funny and a great 'birthday'!

There are even better and more fun pictures on Facebook from the other girls! I might have to steal them and add them to this blog later!