A Few More Pictures

from the birthday party...

Let Her Eat Cake

We had what was suppose to be a very low key birthday party for Presley at our house in Atlanta. But when you add my family, John's family, and a few of our close friends, it turns to to quite a shindig. And the highlight of any 1st birthday is the eating of the cake.

I just knew that Presley was going to love cake. I was sure of it.
She liked the candle. Luckily, Bubba was there to help her blow it out.
She was not sure of the icing.

In fact, she hated it.
So I got a fork and broke it the cake. She still was not a fan.
But finally she took the fork and tried a bite.
Have you ever seen a one year old eat their cake with a fork?

She ended up doing a pretty good job on the cake, with not a lot of clean up.
Good girl!

Birthday Celebration, Part One

Presley woke up bright and early (5:30 to be exact) to start off the birthday celebration. John rushed in to her room to get her so he could be the first to wish her a happy birthday. Little does he know that I was up with her around 3am so I was actually the first. We both got in some good snuggle time with our birthday baby while we waited on Rebecca to wake up. Then the festivities began.

Presley got a red wagon from us and a Weeble Wobble tree house from Rebecca. They were both huge hits with both girls. According to Rebecca, what's Presley's is Presley's and Rebecca's. What's Rebecca's is Rebecca's. Ugh.

After being pulled around the small apartment for a while, we sang Happy Birthday to Presley. She looked at the blueberry muffin and candle throughout the song. She looked as if she was wondering, "What the heck is this?"

After we finished singing, she tried to grab the flame, but fortunately big sister came to the rescue and blew the candle out. Then Presley enjoyed her first bits of a blueberry muffin.

Daddy then had to go to work and the girls and I packed up the car and headed back to Atlanta. Presley was so confused and excited to be facing forward in her car seat. She was so cute, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road and not in the rearview mirror staring at her.

Mimi was waiting for us when we got home. The girls were so excited to see her. They were really excited because she brought presents. Presley (and Rebecca) love the bike and chair that Mimi and Papa gave her.

After playing for a while with Mimi, Nannie and Pop Pop arrived. They did not let icy roads get in the way of seeing Presley and Rebecca. Tomorrow Daddy and Papa are coming to town. On Saturday is the "big" party. We are having a huge birthday weekend to celebrate my sweet girl.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Dear Presley,

Happy birthday baby girl. I can't believe you're one. You have made me so happy. I love your smile. I love your big gorgeous eyes. I melt when you put your arms around me and your head on my shoulder. I love that when you want something you say "mama, mama, mama, mama, mama" over and over and over. You say it even if I am not around. I love rocking you to sleep at night. I love how you try to climb into the bathtub. You lift your chubby little leg in the air and grunt like you are working so hard to get in there. I love that you do not mind when I pour water over your head to get the shampoo out of it. I love how you shake and kick your legs when you get excited. I love how you can hold something in your hand for a hour without ever playing with it or dropping it. Just as long as you get to hold it, you are happy. I love that you like to just sit in my lap sometime, no matter what I am doing. You just want to sit with me. I laugh when you shake your head no when I ask for a kiss. I just take it anyway. I love how you try so hard to put your own shoes on your feet. I love that you try to put your clothes on by just wrapping them around the back of your neck. I love how you love your sister. I love how determined and stubborn you are. I absolutely love everything about you.

You are an angel, and I am so lucky to be your mommy.

I wish we could go back to last February and do this year all over again. It has gone by too fast.

A year ago I was worried that I would not love you enough. I thought that there was no way I could love someone else like I loved your sister. Boy was I wrong. I am madly, deeply in love with you.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Love,

Mommy

Doll Baby

I was just reading what I wrote about Presley in my last post about her. It is crazy how much she has changed in just a few weeks. I guess I did not get my wish of the month to slow down. Presley sure didn't slow down at all.

She has gotten 5 new teeth with one more on the way. That takes the total up to 8.

She is sleeping much, much better. Praise the Lord. She has slept all through the night from 7ish to 6ish twice, but usually she wakes around 3. I go in, calm her down, and then go climb back in bed and throw a pillow over my head. She will cry off and on for a few minutes, but then will go back to sleep until 7ish.

She has already been back in antibiotics since the last post. She got an ear infection about a week after she finished her last round.

We are down to 3 nursings a day. In the afternoon I give her a bottle of milk. We went ahead and tried cow's milk, but it caused bad, bad, awful diarrhea. She also stopped eating finger foods. She would nurse and eat yogurt, but that was it for about 3 days. Once we stopped the cow's milk, she went back to normal. Now I give her rice milk. So far, so good.

She is starting to repeat things we say, even though she mostly just gets the first sound. She does say : Mama, Dada, Buh or BuhBuh (Rebecca), ba (bottle), doh (down), Papa, ee (eat), bye bye, and mo (more).

She has stood a few times on her own, but only if we start her in the position and then let go.

She is wanting to start climbing on things such as the couch or in the bathtub. It is too cute to see her try to get that chubby little leg up.

She looks to me as if she is starting to stretch out and slim down. She is really not a chunky as she was just a few weeks ago. And her legs look so long.

Her eyes are no longer blue, but they are not quite brown. They are grey with a brownish outline. Very odd, but beautiful.

She is still a doll, even more so now that she knows how to sleep.

Out of the Mouth of Rebecca

Alternately titled...Rebecca says the Darnedest Things

Such as "I can't wait to be a Mommy so I can use a knife."

Or "When I was a Mommy, I was your Mommy." She has lots of stories about being a Mommy and me being the baby.

Or " Call me when you call me." instead of "Call me if you need me." She once said, "If you call me, you call me."

She also says "me neither" instead of "me too."

I love how she uses the word "her/hers" instead of "she". For example, "Hers not in my room." or "Is her in my room?" I probably should correct her, but I don't want her to stop. It's too cute.

But my all time favorite thing she has every said in her 3 years of life is the following (If we are friends on FB, you have already read about this one, but it is worth repeating.):

Rebecca: Mommy, I want big boobies.

Me: One day you will big boobies.

Rebecca: But Presley has big boobies.

Me: No she doesn't, she's just fat.