2010

Today is the last day of the year! How can that be possible. This time last year, we were painting the nursery counting down the weeks until Presley would arrive.

I think this is the first time in a long time I'm actually kind of sad that the year is over.

To say that this year has been a big one for our family would be an understatement!

We became parents! Our parents are grandparents now, our siblings are aunts/uncles.

A lot of our friends became parents as well this year.

Presley has been the greatest blessing in our lives. She makes us smile multiple times each day. Watching her explore the world and learn new things is the most fun I've ever had and I'm sure Matt will agree.

We have had some ups and downs this year. Matt's grandma passed away in January, just a few weeks shy of getting to meet Presley. We've had job changes and Presley was sick and in the hospital for a week.

But the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

2011 is sure to bring fun and excitement as well. Presley will turn 1 (how is that possible!)

My sister Erin is getting married in May (followed by Lindsey sometime in the next year)

Matt's sister Morgyn and husband Brad will be moving much closer to us.

We have a lot of other friends expecting babies in 2011.

We can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us. I hope that its great for everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you and your family had a great holiday season! We had so much fun with Presley on her first Christmas. Of course she likes the paper and bows more than anything.

Christmas Eve

Is this for me?!

Santa came!



Turkey, Santa & much more

I love this time of year! So much going on, so many people to see and so much to do! Therefore, no time to blog!

We've been busy at our house! We had a great Thanksgiving, cramming in a lunch celebration with Matt's family and dinner with mind. Needless to say, we were STUFFED!

Unfortunately since we were on the go most of the day I didn't really get any pictures of Presley's first Thanksgiving! I'm going to have to recreate the day with her Thanksgiving outfit and take some I guess!

Happy Turkey Day!

After Thanksgiving, Presley came down with her first cold. She was so congested and had a cough but after a week or so she was doing much better.

On December 2nd, Presley turned 9 months old! We can hardly believe it. Her little personality is showing more and more every day. She's becoming very brave and I don't think it will be long before she's standing and attempting to walk on her own. She's an expert crawler and can get from one end of the room to the other in no time at all. It's definitely keeping us on our toes!

What's the doctor going to do this time!?

This past weekend we took Presley to see Santa at the mall. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be but it turned out she was just very curious at Santa's big white beard!

Do I know you?

Zac Brown Band Concert

Matt and I went to the Zac Brown Band concert here in Wichita last weekend. We new our tickets were up on the front in a GA "Standing Room Only" section and were prepared to stand the whole time! BUT we ended up getting there early enough that we were first in line and ended up being on the FRONT ROW!!

On top of that, as we were waiting for the doors to open someone came by with an extra "Eat and Greet" pass to go back stage and meet the band and eat with them. So Matt got to go back and hang out with the band before the concert.

It was one of the best concerts we've been to in a long time! A concert is an entirely different experience when you are so close!

Zac Brown with the opening act

Sitting on the edge of the stage

Lindsey, Shane, Me, Matt & Erin

We had lots of fun!!

8 months!

It doesn't seem possible that Presley could be 8 months old today!! I can't believe how much she's changed in just a months time.

She is crawling EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING! Needless to say, baby proofing is in full swing at our house! She's pulling herself up on any furniture she can get her hands on and even trying to let go and see if she can stand on her own. It's never dull moment in our house now.

The pets are not safe anymore.... Presley loves them and chases after them pulling tails, ears and anything else she can grab.

Watching Dale bark at the squirrels

I want to go outside!

Hmmm I got under here... how do I get back out!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 

Here's our little pumpkin....

  

she wasn't really into pumpkins.... or trick or treating... but we sure did have fun dressing her up!

On the move....

Watch out world... Presley is on the move! She's finally getting the hang of crawling and now has conquered pulling her self up on EVERYTHING! We're really having to baby proof the house now.

7 months!

Presley is 7 months old! (well a couple of weeks ago she was, I'm a little delayed in posting this!)

October 2nd marked her 7 month b-day. We celebrated by taking her to the zoo for the first time! She didn't get much out of it but it was perfect weather and we enjoyed just being outside. Here are some pics:

She's growing so fast! Crawling, pulling herself up on everything and really developing a spunky personality. 

Maybe in month 8 she'll begin to sleep through the night....

Holy Hail!!

We had some crazy weather here in Wichita last night!! Tornados, heavy rain & hail.... nothing new for Kansas I guess but the size of the hail was crazy!! Here's what Matt was able to salvage from our yard.

We haven't checked for damage on our roof yet... crossing our fingers that there isn't any!!

Crazy Kansas weather! 

Go Cats!!

We're excited for college football to start up again so we can cheer on the Cats!! Presley isn't interested in the games so far. We hope to take her to a game in Manhattan soon. We have fun dressing her up though!!

Working on my cheer leading skills!

Half a Year!

Our little girl is "half a year old"! I prefer to say 6 months because I think it makes her seem like she's still a little baby. She's growing too fast! This past month between 5 & 6 has been full of changes and developments!

Waiting for the doctor to come in!

Today was her 6 month check up. Here are her stats:

- Weight: 17lbs 8 ox
- Height 25"


The doctor said she's very advanced with her motor skills! This past week she's learned to sit up all by herself and has her two bottom teeth. From the looks of things it won't be long before the top two make their debut!  We'll start solid foods now.... that will be an adventure I'm sure! Stay tuned for some pictures.

Yummy Yummy

So I broke down last night and decided to give Presley some rice cereal. She always seems like she's hungry so I was hoping this would do the trick!! After following directions to "mix" the cereal I was surprised at how runny it was.

Got my bib on! Ready to go!  (looking a little scared)

Hmmm what am I supposed to do now?

Yummm!!! And I think I'll try to feed myself....

Can I have some more?!!!

Overall she did great! She really didn't eat too much of it... but we'll try again another night.

Awesome web site!

I don't do much shopping online but occasionally you can find better deals there.

I was just looking around for web sites that give tips on sales. I found this awesome web site!

http://promocode-2010.com/

All you have to do is type in the store you might be shopping at online and it will being up the current Promo Codes to use for discounts!

Love it! Maybe now I'll shop online a little more often!

Happy shopping!!

Family photos!

We had our first family photo shoot yesterday! We started early in the morning to beat the heat and hopefully have a happy baby. I don't know that either of those two things happened!

It was very humid out and of course we would have loved for a little Kansas wind to have blown to cool us down. Presley did pretty well for the first 30 minutes then she'd had enough. But I think we got some great photos.

Thanks to Allie Burns Photography for some great pics. Here's a sneak peak and we can't wait to see more!

Our little family

Look at those gorgeous eyes!  

5 months!

Our sweet little girl turned 5 months old this week! Where has the time gone.She is doing great and has bounced back from the sickness a few weeks ago. 

Here's here photo shoot courtesy of Aunt Lindsey. 

I'm silly 

At 5 months you:

- Weigh just over 15 pounds

- Put everything in your mouth!

- Roll over and scoot all over the place

- Sleep almost through the night... still waking up 1 time.

- Are getting your first tooth!! Bottom left side... we can see it peeking through!

- So happy all the time and only cry if you are hungry or tired.

- Love to hear music and people singing

We're having so much fun!! 

What a week...

Boy what a week we've had! It's every parent's nightmare to have a sick child, especially a sick child that has to be in the hospital.

That's what we had last week.

Monday night we were getting ready to put Presley to bed and she became really sick (I'll spare you the details, it wasn't pretty) We were up all night long with her. Tuesday we took her to the pediatrician and they immediately sent us over to the hospital. She had a high temp and was really dehydrated.

Get this thing out of my arm!

We checked into the hospital and they began IV's and tests on her to see what was wrong. It was horrible to see them poke her with needles. She wasn't too happy about it either. Long story short, they discovered she had a very severe urinary tract infection which was causing the fever and other symptoms. They started her on a high dose of antibiotics.

The next couple of days were a blur, her fever kept spiking and that lead to high blood pressure and other things. It was not fun at all but I have the say that the staff at Wesley was great at putting us at ease.

Also thanks to my parents for coming to relieve Matt and I every so often so we could get a breath of fresh air. Finally on Saturday we were able to take her home. We were so ready to sleep in our bed. Those hospital cots / chairs are less than desirable.

Ready to go home! 

We are so thankful she's ok now and hope we don't have to go back to the hospital any time soon!

Road Trip!

Last weekend we took Presley on her first little vacation! Matt's family gets together every year in Rockaway Beach, MO (near Branson) for a family reunion. We thought this would be a good getaway for us. Overall, we had a great time. There were quite a few people that had not met Presley, including Aunt Morgyn.

The trip took us around 6.5 hrs each way. Presley wasn't a huge fan of being in her car seat for the long and so we had to make quite a few stops along the way.

Family photo (Presley loves those fingers)

Playing with Aunt Morgyn for the first time

Outside the Titanic museum

First time swimming!

This is Presley's new favorite thing to do....

she loves to suck on her bottom lip and make funny noises!

4 months old!

This post is a little delayed! Needless to say we've been a little busy!

Presley turned 4 months old on July 2nd! We can hardly believe it. She is just more fun to be around every day. There is always something new with her. 

At 4 months she:

Weighs 14 lbs.

Just had her first ear infection, hopefully it's the last! It was over quickly with the help of antibiotics

Rolls over

Plays with her toes

Sleeps almost through the night, waking up every once in a while

Likes her thumb more than a pacifier

Loves it when we sing to her

Is not a big fan of her car seat

Makes lots of noises

Smiles all the time

Still bald... has a little hair on top!

She is such a joy and we're so blessed to have her! Can't wait to see what the next 4 months will bring!

Happy 4th of July!!

This is a day late.... but hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! We are so thankful for those who help make our freedom possible.

We had a low key weekend because I was sick! Updates on everything coming soon!