My Two Loves...

...hanging out in bed on a Friday afternoon. They may, or may not, have been watching "The Godfather."

Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Here She Comes!

A little sneak peak from our FHE tonight. Presley loves to sing!

Uh-Oh...

We have a thumb sucker! Good thing Daddy's a dentist!

From Newborn to Infant

Our little Presley is no longer a newborn (sad and exciting all at the same time)! At 3 months old, she just keeps getting cuter and more fun! She's 25.5 inches long and weighs about 12 pounds. Here are a few highlights from this month:

• On February10th, we enjoyed our first night of 8 consecutive hours of sleep since her arrival. It was a joyous occasion! We woke up confused, thinking--did we get up and not remember it? What happened to the baby? Equally exciting were the 3 consecutive full nights of sleep that followed! Although it was short-lived, it was a welcome preview of things to come. We're not complaining though, getting up once each night isn't too bad! (Especially when you're greeted by a big smile and squeal of delight)
• Presley has really started to discover her hands. She looks at them, furrows her little brow, and occasionally tries to reach out to touch something. She's mastered getting them to her mouth and she loves to try and get both of them in there (hey, sometimes just one won't due).
• We've started running together every morning. She gets comfy in our jogging stroller and usually falls asleep while I huff and puff my way to my pre-pregnancy weight.
• No laughter yet but, we are really enjoying all of her coos, squeals, and attempts to talk and sing to us. It just never gets old. 
• Thankfully, her rash is gone and she's happy as a clam with my dairy-free diet. While my cheese-less pizza is far from satisfying, it's a small sacrifice for our little one!
• She's getting much better control of her head and neck, courtesy of our daily torture sessions. She holds her head pretty steady when she's upright but, hates tummy time. She's not quite ready for her bumbo chair but, I imagine we'll be getting that out soon.
• While her activity mat was her favorite last month, this month she's really enjoyed her bouncy chair. She sits with me in the kitchen and supervises my culinary adventures.
• Mr. Octopus still comes with us everywhere

Being her Mommy is the greatest thing ever! We are one happy family!

We Sure Love Her

24 Hours in Florida

Jeff's brother, Jake, came to visit us a couple of weekends ago. After getting stuck in Charlotte, NC over night, his visit became a food- and action-packed 24 hours. After a late breakfast at the Flying Biscuit, Jeff took him over to Cedar Key for some fishing. Luckily, the fishing-gods smiled upon them!

Jeff's dream of catching a shark was fulfilled! He caught a ferocious bonnet shark.

(Watch your digits Future-Dr. Tobler. They are our livelihood...)

Jake didn't go empty handed either! He caught a stingray and a couple of other big trout-like fish (that are now in my freezer, much to my chagrin)

For dinner, Jeff was excited to take him to 420 Munchies, a quintessential college joint that has been featured on Man vs. Food (one of our favorite TV shows). This place puts everything but the kitchen sink on your sandwich.

Not sure what's on that sammy but, I'm pretty sure all of it was still in his stomach when he arrived home in Vegas the next day.

Thanks for the fun, quick visit Jake! It was a long way to come for breakfast, fishing and a 10,000 calorie dinner!

A few things to remember

No pictures for this post but there are a few things I want to remember:

We had our first little family home evening this week. It was a pretty special. Jeff welcomed his girls to FHE, we said an opening prayer, and I proceeded with our lesson...singing primary songs! Presley loves singing primary songs so she really enjoyed it, smiling and cooing the whole time! Some of her current favorites are: I'm so gald when daddy comes home; Jesus wants me for a sunbeam; give said the little stream; and popcorn popping on the apricot tree. After singing, we had our activity--tummy time--which Presley hates and then we had our closing prayer. The whole FHE lasted only about 7 minutes but, they were a pretty special 7 minutes to us!

Last night, Jeff was holding Presley while we ate dinner. She decided that she was hungry too and instead of crying, she looked right at me and started yelling. She stared me down and kept yelling at me until I took her from Jeff. We thought it was pretty funny :).

2 Months Old

It's hard to believe our little Sweet P is 2 months old! Here are a few fun facts from this month:

1.  Presley is 22.75 inches long and weighs 10 pounds and 6 ounces. She got her first round of immunizations and did pretty well. She cried when they stuck her but, settled down pretty quickly when I nursed her. Thankfully, the shots just made her really sleepy. She slept a lot for a couple of days and then was back to her usual, vibrant self.

2. Unfortunately this month she was plagued with a rather nasty rash on her face. When it started we thought it was just baby acne but, it was clearly itching her, covered most of her head and was really red and inflamed. So, after our first visit to the pediatrician, we purged our home and bodies of anything with a fragrance and, when that didn't quite do it we consulted the doctor again and I started a dairy-free diet. It looks like our little lady has a dairy allergy! Thankfully, she's now much better.

3. She's sleeping about 4-6 hours at a time over night but, hasn't really gotten into a grove with her naps. She definitely likes napping while being held (something her Daddy did with her every day for 3 weeks over his holiday break). Her eyes immediately pop open when I lay her in her bed. Like me, she's definitely not a morning person. It takes a good 5-10 minutes of grunting to wake up and even then she's not too happy about it.

4. She started cooing this month and loves to "talk" to us and tries to "sing" along with me every day during our singing times. She loves to sing! We just love listening to her sweet voice. It makes us smile every time. :)

5. Her favorite friend (besides her Daddy) is Mr. Octopus (who hangs on her activity mat). She will smile and talk to him for 20-30 minutes at a time--perfect for me to shower and get cleaned up for the day!

6. She's really good at tracking objects and is getting better control over her head, arms and legs. Courtesy of the nasty rash, she learned how to rub/itch her head and face and now can readily find her hands to suck on.

7. She definitely knows when she has a fresh diaper and likes to promptly load it up again. She also seems to know when Daddy has her because she does this more with him :)

We just love our little girl and are so grateful that she's joined our family. Every day we are so thankful to be her parents and are amazed at the love we have for her and the happiness we enjoy. We are truly blessed. And while I've always been anti-minivan, if we could have more little ones like her, I'd happily drive one if we could fill it!

Blessing Day

Today was Presley's blessing day--and what a wonderful day it was! We were fortunate to have many in our family join us to celebrate and a few of our family (our Dads) and close friends (Walmir Dacosta and Trent Savage) participate with Jeff in performing this very special blessing.

My Dad and Betsey came up early to spend some time with Presley. She was fortunate to be able to get in some good cuddle time with Grandpa!

Today was just a great day. I can't adequately express how proud I was to be able to have my sweetheart, who is a priesthood holder, stand in front of the congregation and present our sweet little girl to the Lord and give her very first blessing. He did such a good job and I was overwhelmed with love and happiness (which happens to me a lot lately). I could hear the tenderness in his voice as he blessed her that she might always know how much she is loved and have strong desires to do those things that will help her grow close to the Savior and enjoy the blessings in life that bring the greatest joy. I've enjoyed watching so many babies blessed in church over the years and always looked forward to being able to have that experience myself. It was just as wonderful as I thought it would be.

Presley's first white dress

 

and little shoes.

We were fortunate to have so many of our family join us and missed those that couldn't come!

We're just so happy to have our little girl!

Exploring Micanopy

Jeff's parent came to meet our little lady and participate in her blessing festivities. Jeff was excited to show them some of north central Florida's treasures, including Micanopy! It was a beautiful day and was a great excuse for me to practice leaving the house with Presley...something I haven't done much of since she was born!

Of course, we didn't make it far before she decided she was hungry. So, we sat ourselves down on a bench while Karl and Jan explored some of the shops.

We didn't see much of the antiques but, we were thoroughly entertained by Presley's expressions.

Who wouldn't love being cuddled up with Daddy on a lovely Florida afternoon!?!