The Kimballs

God Bless America

2011-07-05T20:59:00.004-04:00

Another 4th of July, another trip to Brevard, and it was a good one. We had such a fun time at John's aunt and uncle's house for our annual July 4th trip.

lots of cousins and a few friends

Sesame Street Live

2011-06-25T21:06:00.001-04:00

The girls and I went to see Sesame Street Live: Imagination...123. Rebecca was so excited to see the show, even though she no longer likes the TV show. Presley was in all of everything. I got the Sunny package so we could attend the meet and greet before the show to meet the characters and take pictures.

What a joke! We were usher into a small room and told that we would be meeting only two characters and that those characters were resting their voices so they would not be talking. Whatever. I was utterly disappointed when Ernie and Cookie Monster walked in the door. Don't get me wrong, I like Ernie and Cookie, but come on. We wanted Elmo and Abby.

Rebecca, who has never been afraid of a character in her life, was excited. Presley was very dissappointed. In fact, she was scared. She would not let go of me. So we took a quick picture and were on our way.

Then we went to our front row seats and waited for the show.
A nice lady offered to take a picture of the 3 of us, which was nice, because I feel like I never get in the pictures.
Presley insisted on getting an Elmo balloon which is bigger than she is.
The girls loved the show. Rebecca had to retell the whole long story to John when he got home from work. Presley sat in my lap the entire time. She danced and laughed. They both loved when the characters would come off the stage and dance right in front of us. We even got to give Rosita and Zoe high fives. Towards the end, Presley got wiggly. She really wanted to get down and climb onto the stage. Thankfully I held her back, because she would have stolen the show. It really was a cute show.

The End!

Kimball Cousin Camp

2011-06-22T20:37:00.003-04:00

We took a trip up to Chattanooga recently for Kimball Cousin Camp. It was so much fun and so tiring all at the same time. We did a lot. We rode the carousal, ate hot dogs, played in the fountain, went to Rock City, saw a bird show, zip lined, rode the Incline down the mountain, went swimming, spent a day on the lake, and had just an all around good time. Actually, Presley and I did not do all of that. She had to nap during the day because she insisted on waking up at 5:30 every morning. Rebecca loved spending time with her cousins. She is already asking when we are going back.

I did a poor job of taking pictures while we were there. Here are a few of the crew from Rock City.

a few of the cousins and Rocky

All 10 of the cousins. Rebecca was being a grump and insisted on sitting away from the group. Greer, Lucy, Presley, Gunni, Gardiner, Cate, Caroline, Frannie, and JW
dancing on stage
posing like an gnome

A Perfect 10

2011-06-05T20:37:00.002-04:00

She took gymnastics at the Y this past year and absolutely loved it. Friday was her Showcase that John and I were able to watch. It was a bit of a madhouse. We were having to look over the different apparatuses. There were five different groups going at five different stations. Parents were everywhere. Flashes were blinding. Babies were crying. But Rebecca rocked it. She had so fun showing off for us. I loved that every few minutes she would search frantically for John and me then break out in a huge smile and wave when she found us. She even got a 1st place medal at the end. That was her favorite part.

The pictures are a bit blurry, but you can still see what a great gymnast we have on our hands. Her Daddy and I are so proud.

The Sandbox

2011-05-26T20:21:00.004-04:00

Today we took a field trip to Hilton Head to The Sandbox, a children's museum. It was so cute and so much fun. The girls had a blast. They played in the store and the bank. Rebecca dressed up like a pirate and played in the pirate ship. Presley worked in the construction zone. We even did arts and crafts. It was a great start to summer.

A Few More Pictures

2011-02-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

from the birthday party...

Let Her Eat Cake

2011-02-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

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

2011-02-11T08:33:00.004-05:00

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!

2011-02-10T00:05:00.001-05:00

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

2011-02-05T21:46:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-05T21:23:00.004-05:00

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.

Month, Slow Down

2011-01-10T19:38:00.008-05:00

How in the world is my baby girl 11 months old? How did it go by so quickly (and with so little sleep)? I remember my sister-in-law saying how she went into moarning when her youngest turned one, so much so that she was not able to throw her a birthday party. I never understood it, but boy do I understand it now. How is it that in just a few weeks Presley will be one?

Maybe it is just that she seems like much more of a baby than Rebecca did at 11 months. Rebecca was walking at 10 months. Presley is just starting to cruise on the furniture. Rebecca was talking a lot. Presley can say a few words: mama, dada, bye bye. Rebecca had hair and could wear a bow, Presley's hair is just starting to grow. I don't mean to compare the two, it's just that when looking at pictures of Rebecca at 11 months, she looked like an 11 month old. Presley still looks like a baby.

She is my baby, and I want this month to go slow. I am not ready to say I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Month...go slow.

And now in honor of Presley's 11th month, here are 11 facts about her:

1. She still does not sleep through the night. She is getting up once durning the night, usually around 1:30, eats, and goes right back to sleep until 6:30.

2. She still nurses 5-6 times in a 24 hour period. I need to start weaning her, but I am having issues. I do not want to let her grow up.

3. Her favorite foods are blueberries, strawberries, cheese toast, yogurt, turkey, cheerios, and cereal bars.

4. She loves bath time. She doesn't even mind when I wash her hair and pour water down her face.

5. She sleeps with two lovies: a bunny and a monkey. (Sound familiar? Rebecca sleeps with a bunny and monkey, too.)

6. Her favorite part of these two lovies are the tags. Whenever I go to get her out of bed, she is holding the lovies by the tags. If she drops it, she frantically searches for the tags. It's bizarre.

7. Her favorite toys is the Little People SUV. She loves to fill it with whatever she can get to fit into the small opening and rolls it all around.

8. She can sign "all done" "more" "eat" "bye bye" and blows kisses.

9. She just finished her first round of antibiotics, ever. Poor baby was sick. She had a sinus infection that settled into her lungs. We had to do breathing treatments and everything. She hated it. I had to get Rebecca in on the action to try and make it better for my sick baby girl. (Rebecca's mask was not really hooked up to the nebulizer.)

10. She still only has two teeth, but I am pretty sure she is about to get at least 4 more. In fact, I will be shocked if she does not have 6 new teeth by her 1st birthday.

11. She loves to go looking for trouble. As her Daddy says, "She always finds mischief." In fact, we were eating dinner tonight as Presley was playing on the floor. All of a sudden, I heard a rustling of paper. I looked down to find Presley with a lollipop in her mouth. She pulled my purse down from a chair and found my stash. Then she figured out how to open it all by herself. What a stinker!

Gingerbread Party

2010-12-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

We traveled to Chattanooga recently so John could be in a wedding. Actually we went so we could attend the 4th annual Gingerbread Party at the Collins' house. Rebecca was so excited about seeing Mae Mae and Ambrose. Presley was just along for the ride.

The big girls decorated cookies.

Presley stared out the window.

I got a chance to visit with Denise.

After the wild party, the big girls relaxed in front of the tree.

Christmas Program

2010-12-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

Rebecca recently had her Christmas program at school. I should let you know in advance that it was also known as the show your belly program. Here the kids are practicing We Wish You a Merry Christmas before they walked to the Sanctuary. It doesn't look like it in this picture, but for those of you who personally know Rebecca, you know that she was singing the loudest of them all.

Here they are before they started singing.
Once the music started, Rebecca forgot to sing. She was busy doing other things...showing her belly.

Lucky for her, or me, she was not on the front row. Gracie, on the other hand, put on quite a show.

Dear Santa

2010-12-10T14:56:00.004-05:00

Mimi and I took the girls to see Santa at Phipps Plaza the other day. Rebecca was so excited about seeing Santa. I knew that she would be okay sitting on his lap, but I was for sure that Presley would freak out. I talked to Rebecca about how she had to be very brave for Presley because Presley had never met Santa before. Mimi and I were very smart to fill Presley's stomach up right before we handed her off to a strange man.

The girls went right to Santa. Rebecca loved every minute of it, Presley never cried but looked very frightened. She kept looking at Santa as if to ask, "Who the heck are you?" Rebecca informed Santa that she wanted a beach ball and Presley wanted a baby doll. Santa asked if there was anything else, and Rebecca said no. How easy are they?

We ran into two of Rebecca's classmates while in line to visit Santa. I think the girls were as excited to see each other as they were to see Santa.

Lily, Grace, and Rebecca

After our visit with Santa we did a little shopping and ate lunch with Mimi. It was a great outing. Thanks Mimi for helping out.

Cousins

2010-12-01T10:49:00.009-05:00

My girls have a lot to be thankful for, but this Thanksgiving, I think they were most thankful for their cousins. They had such a great time in Mississippi with Nannie and Pop Pop and the rest of the Denton crew. But they sure had a lot of fun with John, Carrie, Mae, and Ambrose. Here are the pictures to prove it:

Playing dress up

Playing house
Looking out into the world
Some of the boys frying a turkey (or 4)
The big girls and Ambrose playing Phase 10
Presley's first stick fire
The only picture of John
Pulling out Nannie's magazines
Slumber party with the pillow pets
Presley feeding Ambrose
Ambrose stealing Presley's food
Playing Go Fish with Lala
Riding on the pillow pets
Playing Duck Duck Goose with Lala
Making Smores with Nannie

Super Star and a Scaredy Cat

2010-11-21T20:50:00.005-05:00

So much has been happening with our family lately that it leaves me with little time or little desire to blog. As usual, I'm tired...but I got lots to blog about.

First off and most exciting, Rebecca is now semi potty trained. I told her last week that she could not go to school next year if she was not tee-teeing in the potty (which is true) and she said "Okay, I'll start using the potty." So yesterday morning we put on big girl panties and went for it. It was a huge disaster, but I was NOT going to give in and put a diaper on her. She tee-teed in about 9 pairs of panties. I was so out done and frazzled by bed time last night, but I was not willing to give up. This morning we put on panties, she has one small accident, and that was it. I set a timer to go off every 30 minutes. When it would ring I would yell out, "Potty Time!" and she would go to the potty. Several times she went to the potty without the timer going off and without my asking her. I am so proud! Oh, and she even pooped in the potty once too! I love her!

She is also doing better sleeping at night. She goes to bed on her own, without someone laying down with her or standing by her door. She sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to get in our bed, but not every night. My only issue is that she wants to wake up at the crack of dawn or sometimes earlier. I need to get one of those alarm clocks that tells her when she can get out of bed. 7:00am thank you very much.

Presley is fantastic as well. She can now say mama, dada, and bye-bye. She can wave. She can clap. She can pull to a stand somewhat, but is still very shaky. She is still trying to wake me up so she can eat at night, but we are in the throws of sleep training. Hopefully we can have some success before Thanksgiving. One thing I noticed today is that Presley is a total scaredy cat. Rebecca and I were rolling a ball to each other this morning. Presley crawled over to where we were. I rolled the ball to her very softly, and she flinched like it was a 90 mile an hour fast ball. I thought maybe she just wan't prepared so I tried again, and again she flinched. I tried it several times and each time she flinched. It was quite cute, funny, and sad all at once. She is also scared of the train at Mimi and Papa's house. She cried like the baby she is whenever Rebecca turned it on. I told her she needed to man up or at least baby up.

I will leave you now with a few of the out takes from our Christmas picture photo shoots. That's right, I said shoots. It took 3 tries and hundreds of photos before I got ones that were decent enough for our Christmas card. It is hard getting 2 beautiful girls to look at the camera and smile. UGH! But it is done, and the cards are off to the printers.

This is not an out take from the Christmas card, but just a too cute innappropriate picture I shot the other day when Presley took off as I was trying to change her diaper. Baby got back.

Nine

2010-11-10T20:43:00.005-05:00

1. Presley is 9 months old today.

2. She is still not sleeping through the night. We are working on only waking once a night. It is a good night if that happens. She goes to sleep at 7 and wakes up (for good) about 7.

3. She can say bye-bye and waves.

4. She loves to stand up and hold on to things such as the couch or a chair, but is not able to pull up to her feet all by herself.

5. She has a new fascination with being upside down.

6. She is a quick crawler.

7. She prefers to have Mama in her view at all times.

8. She is eating avocado, bananas, cheerios, apple butter sandwiches, kiwi, puffs, yogurt, sweet potatoes, apples, and pears.

9. She can clap her hands.

I love her more today than I did 9 months ago. How is that possible?

BOO!

2010-10-31T13:05:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween

from the

Queen Bee

and a

flower.

Sisters

2010-10-29T07:09:00.004-04:00

Will they

always

get along

like they

do now?

In my experience, probably not. So I will enjoy it while it last.

Presley Update

2010-10-13T20:17:00.003-04:00

Presley is changing so much each day. It amazes me how quickly she picks up on new things. She is now crawling, slowly, but she is crawling. If she needs to get somewhere quickly, she rolls there. She can go from lying down to sitting, all by herself. Just tonight she started feeding herself Puffs. My favorite new trick of hers is that she says Mama. Of course she is not calling me Mama, it is more like she is saying mamamamamamamamamama, but she said it first. Not Dada! HAHA!

She is such a happy, smiley baby. I love her smile. I love her laugh. She is ticklish, especially under her neck. She started giving me kisses. They are the best, most slobbery, sweetest kisses. She eats 3 meals a day and nurses 6 times. She gets up once a night, and wakes up around 6:15. She naps twice a day. She has 2 teeth and knows how to use them. She loves anything she can get in her mouth. She loves to be outside. She loves to play with her sister. She does not like when her sister takes toys from her. She flaps her arms when she is excited. She adores her daddy, but is still a mommy's girl.

3

2010-10-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that Rebecca is 3 now. She is actually 3 years, 1 month, and 2 days by now, but who's counting, right? We had a Princess Party in our backyard to celebrate.

Rebecca started off her birthday on the wrong side of the bed and had a melt down in the middle of her party, but it was her party. She could cry if she wanted to. She finally got out of her funk after a quick nap. We topped off the day with her first real mani/pedi. So fun!

New Tradition

2010-09-09T16:38:00.000-04:00

The Denton crew has started a new tradition. My dad's hunting club recently added on to their kitchen and added a community room and bed rooms that are available to rent. As soon as John saw them last Christmas, he decided that the Denton family needed to rent them out for Labor Day weekend. Who would have know that it was the making for a perfect weekend?

Everything was great! All of my sisters and their families were able to come. The weather was great. Their was tons to do. Rebecca loved every minute of it. She adores her cousins. Presley loved spending time with her BFF, Ambrose.

We did a little bit of everything. We ate great. We rode 4 wheelers. We skipped rocks. We went fishing. We ate great. We took long walks. We watched great football. We enjoyed great weather. We sat on the front porch in rockers while the babies napped. We watched Daddy hit an apple with a bow and arrow. We played with Journey the cat. We saw wildlife...snakes, deer, turkey, rabbits, jumping fish, frogs, a dead mouse, and a few dogs. We heard gun shots from a nearby dove hunt. We got extremely dirty, the most dirty that Rebecca has ever been in her life. We went boating. We swam in the lake. Did I mention we ate?

It was so much fun that we have already booked the place for next Labor Day.

Tree-frog

2010-09-08T17:07:00.005-04:00

We have a new pet.

A tree-frog to be exact.

I HATE tree-frogs, but not this one.

This tree-frog is one of the cutest tree-frogs I have ever seen.

It's a girl. Her name is Rebecca.

Rebecca started school yesterday, and her class is called the Tree-frogs. It is a large class full of girls. 12 to be exact.

She was not excited to go to school yesterday morning, even though she had asked several times over the summer if she could go to school. However, as soon as we got there she ran into the classroom. I had to run after her to get a kiss.

It was a great first day of school for my little Tree-frog.

Wave Bye Bye!

2010-09-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

Rebecca and I started going to Gymboree when she was 3 months old. She loved it. It was a great place to play, climb, sing, dance, pretend, and make friends. We met a few of Rebecca's closest friends at Gymboree. I met a few of my closest friends at Gymboree.

This post is back from when Rebecca graduated out of Level 1. Last Monday was her last class. She graduated out of Level 6. It was sad day for me, but as you can see, Rebecca had a ball.

Gymbo the Clown waves bye-bye, waves bye-bye, waves bye-bye. Gymbo the Clown waves bye-bye, bye-bye to you. Bye-bye, Rebecca!

Have You Ever?

2010-09-02T08:11:00.000-04:00

Have your ever seen something so yummy? So juicy? So scrumptious? So delicious? So chunky? So glorious?

I just love those thighs, those rolls, that tummy, those ears, that fuzzy head, those eyes, those toes, that belly button, those hands, those lips, those rolls. Did I mention those rolls?

She is perfection!

A Letter

2010-08-31T20:09:00.002-04:00

Dear Dr. Ferber,

When Presley's pediatrician suggested that I get your book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, I was a bit skeptical. Yes Presley had become a horrible sleeper, and at 6 months old she should be sleeping at least 8 hours between feedings, but I had heard not so nice things about your methods. See, your suggestions of letting the baby "cry it out" was not something I was willing to let my sweet baby girl do. First of all, I could not stand the sound of her cry, especially when I know what I can do to make her stop. Secondly, I did not want Presley's crying to wake up her big sister, Rebecca. So instead of letting Presley cry when she woke up three and four times a night, I would rush in her room and feed her. It did the trick. She would eat and go right back to sleep. No problem, right? Wrong.

Big sister also has some sleep issues which we will address at a later time, so most nights I was getting up about 4 or 5 times. Not much sleep for a mommy who LOVES her sleep.

At Presley's 6 month check-up my biggest concern was her sleeping. Why was she getting up so many times? The answer...it was all my fault. She would wake up, cry, I would feed her, she would go back to sleep. She would wake up, cry, I would feed her, she would go back to sleep. She would wake up, cry, I would feed her, she would go back to sleep. I taught her that she had to be nursed to be able to go to sleep. This pattern also carried over into her napping. She wouldn't nap unless I fed her first.

Dr. Knox assured me that Presley was not crying out in hunger every night. She was crying out for comfort. She was crying out because she did not know how to get herself to fall back asleep. He assured me that letting her "cry it out" was not going to hurt her in anyway.

I trust Dr. Knox, so as soon as we left the Dr. office, we went straight to the bookstore. During nap time I speed read the chapters that I thought would be the most beneficial. During dinner I explained the plan of action to Presley's daddy. I had to assure him of everything Dr. Knox had said. I thought he would argue with me and tell me that there was no way in h*ll that I was going to let Presley cry it out, but he didn't argue. He was more ready for me to get some sleep than I was. I think he was ready to have his nice wife back instead of the tired, grumpy wife that took her place.

So the plan of action was something like this:

1. We had to address the eating first, then we could work on the falling to sleep on her own.

2. The first night she had to go 4 hours between feedings. The second night she had to go 5 hours between feeding. Each night we would add an hour until we reached 8 hours.

3. If she did not make it the allotted amount of time between each feeding we were to let her cry for a few minutes. We could not go in until she was full out crying. When she was full out crying we would go in, comfort her without picking her up, and leave. Then after 5 minutes go back, comfort, and leave. After 10 minutes she is still crying, do the same. Then 20 minutes. If she is still crying after 20 minutes, continue going back every 20 minutes until she is asleep.

4. Stick to the plan. Do not waver. No matter how tired you are, DO NOT WAVER!!!

The first night she slept from 7:30 until 12:30. She made it 5 hours. That was huge! She went right back to sleep and woke up again at 3:30. I could not feed her until 4:30. I stuck to the plan. I did not waver, but as soon as my clock said 4:30, I scooped up my crying baby and fed her. She fell back asleep until 8:00. I survived my first night. Presley survived the first night.

All was good, until nap time. I refused to nurse her to sleep. I put her down awake and walked away. She screamed. She cried. I did whatever I could to stay busy. I stuck the the plan of going in every few minutes. After about 40 minutes, she slept. This occurred for every nap for a few days. Now she just cries for a minute or two if at all, then falls asleep. And she has been napping for 2-3 hours.

The second night of sleep training went better. She slept from 7:30 -1:30 then to 6:30. Yippee! The third night was not as good. The forth night was better. Then good. Then bad. Then bad. Then good. She has yet to go 8 hours without waking up, but she has been close.

I have a confession. I have wavered from the plan. I couldn't help it. Presley came down with a cold. I was worried that I needed to feed her more to flush the cold out. I was worried that her throat was sore and she needed a drink. I could not help but to take care of my sick baby. What's a mom to do?

Tonight I am going to jump back on the Ferber wagon. I am armed with a bottle of water to quench Presley's parched throat if she wakes up between feedings. My goal tonight is to make it 5 hours between each feeding. Tomorrow night we will try for 6.

It is getting better. She does fall asleep better on her own. Reading your book helped me to realize that we had more of a feeding problem than a sleeping problem.

We will get it, one day. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I am so sick of all my friends with babies tell me how their 3 month old sleeps 10 hours at night without waking up. I want to poke their eyeballs out.

In conclusion, Dr. Ferber, I just want to say that I am sorry that I ever doubted your methods. You were right, I was wrong.

Sincerely,

A tired mommy (but not as tired as I used to be)

Update: Presley slept from 7 to 3:30. That's 8.5 hours! Can I get an AMEN?

OMG!

2010-08-22T20:28:00.000-04:00

What is this?

Sister, look at this.

I got it!

It's Me

2010-08-21T20:13:00.002-04:00

I have noticed lately that I do not get into a lot of pictures. Don't get me wrong, I prefer it that way, but I think that it would be nice for the girls to have a picture or two of them with their Mommy. So I made sure that John took a few pictures of us at my birthday party.

Enjoy!

Dress Up

2010-08-20T20:05:00.000-04:00

6 months old

2010-08-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

A few facts about my favorite 6 month old:

*She is sitting all by herself.

*She is teething like it is no body's business, but still has no teeth.

*She is refusing to eat any food. She has been eating real food for over a month, but for the past few days she purses her lips and grunts when it is offered. (She is nursing.)

*She weighs 17.6 lbs. and is 26 1/2 inches, 75% for both.

*She has become a terrible, terrible sleeper.

*She loves her jumpy.

*She is starting to kind of reach up for me when I go to pick her up.

*She is very photogenic.

Ballerina

2010-08-18T15:33:00.006-04:00

I am not sure who was more excited about Rebecca starting ballet class, her or I? (or is it her or me?) She was pretty darn excited, but I think I beat her on this one. She had only been waiting to go to ballet for a few weeks. I had been waiting for this day for almost 3 years (2 years, 11 months, and 1 day to be exact).

Rebecca was pumped about putting on her leotard and skirt. She was even more ecstatic about putting on her "princess shoes".

Before we left, she had to practice her ballerina poses.

Then she took a quick nap.
Rebecca and Ms. Bryn
There are 3 girls in the class, as of now. The curly haired girl did exactly what Ms. Bryn said. The dark haired girl did her own thing and ran around the room for most of the class. rebecca floated somewhere in the middle. She wanted to do what Ms. Bryn was doing, but that other girl was having a lot of fun running wild.

They did things like making pick rainbows (stretching), and hopping like frogs, and jumping like bunny rabbits, and walking like flamingos.

Rebecca really enjoyed herself. She did not want to leave and has asked several times if it is time to go back. She has been practicing her moves a lot; she even practices in the bathtub.
We have her second lesson tomorrow. I can't wait!

Slow Down

2010-08-09T22:34:00.002-04:00

Earlier tonight I was nursing Presley before putting her down to sleep. When I finished I put her up on my sholder to burp her, which technically I don't have to do anymore, but I do. I love the feeling of her head resting on me and her arms around me as far as they will go. I could sit this way for hours. It is one of the best feelings EVER!

As I was patting her on her back, I thought, "I never want this to end. I never want Presley to grow up and not put her head on my shoulder and let me rock her to sleep." But she will. And it will happen sooner rather than later.

Moms often say that babies grow up to fast. Time flies from the time our babies are born. In a blink of an eye, our newborns are toddlers then preschoolers and so on. We want the process to slow down. But maybe it is us moms that need to slow down. I often find myself so bogged down in everyday life that I do not take the time to slow down and enjoy the little moments with my girls.

This afternoon as we traveled back home from the grocery store, Rebecca started drifting off to sleep. Being that it was almost 5:00, I did not want that to happen. I kept teasing her about closing her eyes and reaching back and tickling her leg. When we got back home and I went to get her out of her car seat, she was playing what we used to call opossum (pretending to be asleep). I played along and got her out of her seat. She let me carry her into the house all the while still "sleeping". Her head was on my shoulder. Her arms were around me. It was a wonderful feeling to hold my all too busy, almost 3 year old like I used to when she was a baby. Instead of slowing down to enjoy the moment, I plopped Rebecca down and said, "I got to get the groceries out of the car."

True it is hotter than hot here and I did need to get the groceries out of the car, but they could have waited a bit longer. I should have slowed down and soaked up that special moment that Rebecca was allowing me to relive.

My girls are not going to stop growing. Time is not going to stop passing us by. I am just going to have to slow down and enjoy every moment.

Just Like a Princess

2010-08-06T20:50:00.002-04:00

John and I were really honored when John's cousin, John Clemmer and his fiancee', Anna, asked Rebecca to be a flower girl in their wedding. As time grew closer to the wedding, I began to feel nervous about Rebecca being a flower girl.

The first time she was a flower girl, in Heather's wedding in Jamaica, she did not even make it down the aisle. In fact, she would not even take pictures with the bride.

Her second go at it was just a few months ago in my sister's wedding. Rebecca made it down the aisle, then proceeded to sing at the top of her lungs. She had to be carted away by John.

Needless to say, we had a long talk about what a flower girl should and shouldn't do. Most importantly (and what stuck out to Rebecca the most), a flower girl must behave like a princess. She was excited to dress up and behave like a princess.

About 30 minutes before the wedding was to begin, Rebecca decided she did not want to be a princess. She wanted her Daddy. Her Daddy was sitting in the front of the church in case Rebecca had to be carted off again. I was in the back with Rebecca, the bride, and the bridesmaids.

I tried my best to distract her. So we did a photo shoot.

Here is her worried face.

her happy face

her mad face

Before it was time to walk down the aisle, she was told that she could go and sit with her Daddy if she saw him sitting up front. She was also told to throw the flower petals that were in her basket on the ground. That did the trick and she was ready to go. (I am so mad that my camera was on the wrong setting and the pictures of her walking down the aisle ended up like this.)

She did a great job walking down the aisle. She threw the flowers perfectly. When she got to the end of the aisle, she stopped. The maid of honor had to direct her where to stand. She stood up at the front of the church, like a princess, for about 3 minutes. Then she turned, saw her Daddy, and ran to him.

When the ceremony was over she got up and walked back down the aisle, throwing the flowers all the way down. She did a great job. We were all so proud and relived that she did it, and did it so well... just like a princess.

Rebecca and cousin Taylor

Rebecca and the bride, Anna

Rebecca, Mr. and Mrs. John Clemmer, and John Clay

Mississippi Girls

2010-08-04T13:14:00.006-04:00

We just got back from a fantastic trip to Mississippi to visit my parents and attend a cousin's wedding (more on that later). We had such a great visit.

We don't get to see my parents that often, but I love how Rebecca picks up with them like she just saw them yesterday. I know that Presley will be like that when she is older.

Rebecca just loves her Nannie and Pop Pop.

I loved the fact that I was able to catch up on some sleep. Can I get an amen? Thank you Mom!!!

Rebecca was still determined to catch a whale with Pop Pop. We caught nothing, but Rebecca was distracted by the fact that she was able to drive the boat.

We had the whole lake to ourselves, so Rebecca had free range. So she went in circles. Over and over and round and round. Boy, was it fun, for her at least.

Here are a few other pictures from our trip.

Lately

2010-07-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

Lately we have not been up to too much.

Just eating peas (and squash),

practicing sitting up (She has gotten pretty good and can even sit unassisted for about 10 seconds before falling over.),

being loved by my sister (I love, love, LOVE how much these two love each other.),

and playing with Ambrose (Yes, Ambrose is 3 months older than Presley. And yes, Presley looks like she could eat Ambrose up.

But Ambrose has mad skills like pulling up on all fours.).

Presley has also been up to not much sleep. I still swaddle her at night and during nap time, but she always wakes up with her arms out of the swaddle. She is Houdini. I have tried getting her down without being swaddled, but she just cries. She doesn't like being swaddled, but she can stand not to be swaddled. UGH! For the past 2 nights we have been up every 1.5 hours. As I type, she is in her crib crying because she got her arms out of the swaddle after 2 hours of being asleep. I am trying hard not to go in there and see if she will go back to sleep, but it does not seem like it is going to work.

Anyone out there have any advice? I need sleep.

Never Fully Dressed...

2010-07-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

...without a smile.

Rebecca had her first dentist appointment recently. She was quite nervous before we left. Can't you tell.

The whole way there she kept telling me, "I don't want to go to the dentist. I'm shy. I don't want the dentist to count my teeth."

I tried to reassure her. She continued to be nervous until the hygienist mentioned a treat. Then she was all about the dentist.

She did a great job. Dr. Lee said her teeth look great.

She loved it so much, she didn't want to leave the dentist office.

In fact, she asked if we could go back tomorrow.

Sister is So Funny

2010-07-19T21:40:00.004-04:00

Not only does she make me laugh harder than anyone else, she also takes good care of me. One morning she pulled out all of my toys to make sure I could find something to play with.

I Think She's Got It

2010-07-14T10:02:00.004-04:00

The Ambrose tummy that is.

I don't know why I thought she wouldn't.

I don't know why I was so reluctant to start.

Well, actually I do. If we started real food that meant she was growing up. Also, it is a lot easier just to latch her on when it's time to eat and not worry about mixing and spooning and making a mess.

After watching Presley watch us eat and listening to her smack her lips as we ate, I decided that on the day she turned 5 months, she would get her first bite of real food. If you can call rice cereal real food.

She was a pro right from the start. She opened her mouth for each bite. Not everything stayed in her mouth, but overall it was a success. If fact, last night she got made at me because I was not giving it to her fast enough.

If she likes rice cereal this much, she better hold on to her taste buds...peas are next.

20 Questions

2010-07-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

1. What is your name? Rebecca...Rebecca Haws Kimball

2. How old are you? 2 and a half

3. Where do you live? Mississippi

4. You live in Mississippi? Yes

5. Who else lives in Mississippi? Nannie, Pop Pop...and Mae Mae and Carrie and John

6. What is your favorite toy? A duck.

7. What is your favorite TV show? Little Einsteins

8. What is your favorite movie? Uh...uh...Jasmine

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Uh..a baby. No, a Nannie.

10. Who do you love? Mommy

11. Who loves you the most? Uh...you.

12. Who are your friends? Uh...maybe Carrie and John.

13. Do you have any other friends? Mae Mae

14. Any more? CARRIE

15. Who is your best friend? You are.

16. What is your favorite thing to do? Play

17. What is your favorite thing to eat? Turkey Sandwich

18. What is your favorite song? Carrots and Peas

19. Do you want to answer any more questions? No.

20. Are you ready to go get ice cream? Yes.

4th of July

2010-07-07T10:02:00.001-04:00

We had yet another wonderful 4th of July with John's family in Brevard, NC. This trip was Rebecca's 3rd visit, but the first time she was able to take part in most of the activities. She loved playing with her cousins, getting to stay up late to watch the fireworks, playing musical chairs, and holding a sparkler. Presley had a great first trip to Brevard as well. (I was actually in the early stages of my pregnancy last July 4th and was sick as a dog.) She got passed around from cousin to cousin. It was great getting to visit with everyone and enjoy some time in the mountains.

Presley Elizabeth and Great Aunt Elizabeth (Be Be)

playing musical chairs with Caroline

dressed up for the fireworks

helping to fill up water balloons for the fight

the big (confusing) fight

dolled up for the 4th

really dolled up for the 4th with a sparkler

Ramblin' On

2010-07-04T15:21:00.004-04:00

I have been such a bad blogger. When Rebecca was a baby, I blogged all the time. I had time to blog. I feel so bad for Presley that I am not recording all her special moments and those in between like I did with her sister. I guess that is the plight of a second child.

I often think of blogging. I have so much to say and so many cute and funny things to share, but time slips by. Now, the thought of getting it all down, getting caught up, overwhelms me.

I often think of just blogging about what I am thinking... about motherhood or about life or about anything, but this has never been that type of blog. It is a blog to share my children with friends and family.

But times, they are a-changing, and so is this blog. At least for now.

Todays entry will be a rambling catch-up of my sweet girls. It will be straight from my head to my fingertips. It will be unedited. It will be probably confusing. But here it goes.

Presley is almost 5 months old. Where has the time gone? I know that most moms say that and I have even said it before, but really, "WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?" She is such a good baby, just not a good sleeper. She once was, but that has now changed. Last night she woke up about every 2.5 to 3 hours. I know that it won't last, but I am really ready for a full night of uninterrupted sleep. She is now rolling over from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy. She doesn't do it often. She is not as active as Rebecca was at this age. She is great at holding her head up and sitting assisted. She loves to watch her big sister. She smiles anytime someone pays attention to her. She laughs when I make animal sounds at her. She still sleeps swaddled. She likes to be bounced to sleep, but I am trying hard to let her learn to fall asleep on her own. She usually cries off and on for 20 minutes then is out. I should let her cry it out at night, but I am afraid she will wake up Rebecca. I am still exclusively nursing her. During the day, she eats about every 3 to 4 hours. Next Saturday, the day she turns 5 months, we will start rice cereal. Presley is a chunk. I love her fat thighs and all her rolls. She has the cutest tummy. She loves when I zurbert it. She loves baths. I think that she might be a Rockette when she is older because she is constantly kicking her legs, not just in the bathtub, but all the time. She is half of my heart.

Rebecca is the other half. She is a firecracker and a snuggle bunny all wrapped up in one. She can be the most loving little thing one minute, and a pistol the next. She knows what she wants, and she wants it NOW! She is 2.5 going on 12. She loves to watch TV. She loves to play dress up. She loves the Disney Princesses. She loves to swim. She loves to play outside. She loves to swing. She is such a good eater. I wish I could say the same about her sleeping. She wants John to stand right outside of her bedroom door until she falls asleep. She wakes up at least once a night and wants us to tuck her back in her bed. For a while we were letting her get in bed with us, but I have taken my bed back, and that is no longer an option. At least for the most part. She does not nap anymore. If she does, it is a pain to get her to bed at night. I can usually get her to rest by watching a movie in her bed. We have a portable DVD player that she watches. She is a Daddy's girl. She still loves to snuggle and rub my face in the morning as she drinks her milk or hot juice. Even though there are days I do not think I will make it through the terrible twos, I would not trade her for the world.

Blue Mountain

2010-06-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

This Picture

2010-06-10T21:20:00.006-04:00

This picture of Presley

reminds me a lot of this picture of Rebecca.

4 Months Old

2010-06-10T20:43:00.004-04:00

Presley's third month was a very quite month. There were not a lot to report for Presley. However, her forth month has been very busy. She has grown and changed and learned so much. I love watching her meet new milestones. I love watching her determination to do something new. I love making her smile and laugh. I really try to find pleasure in everything that has to do with her, but I could do without the waking up two and three times a night. She was doing so well sleeping at night, but recently things have gotten tough. She usually goes down around 8ish and is up at 2 and 6. Sometimes she even wakes up at 4. UGH! Her napping isn't much better. She loves to nap in my arms, and I love for her to nap in my arms. BUT at 4 months, it is time to learn to nap in her crib.

Here are some of the ways that Presley has spent her time this month:

spitting up,

going to the beach,

smiling a lot,

sitting in her Bumbo seat,

holding her head up during tummy time,

sitting in her Exasaucer and drooling,

grabbing her toes,

and talking.

Yesterday she finally rolled over from her tummy to her back. She is very close to going from her back to her tummy. She still needs to sleep swaddled, but she is like Houdini and can get out of every swaddle. We have tried to go unswaddled, but her arms still flap uncontrollably. As I type, she is asleep with one arm out of the swaddle. Hopefully, it will work. I also need to mention how much Presley loves to watch Rebecca. Presley's face lights up when Rebecca comes into view. And Rebecca loves her baby.

Dress Up

2010-04-24T21:28:00.001-04:00

Nannie was a very smart girl when she decided to save ALL of our dance costumes. (And with 4 girls, there are A LOT of costumes.) She must have known that one day she would have LOTS of granddaughters (5 as of today) that would LOVE to dress up and dance.

That is just what Rebecca and Carrie did. They dressed up and danced,

and danced,

and danced.

Nannie and Presley watched as they

poised for the camera.

Rebecca loved her costume so much that she wore it outside to do acrobatic tricks on her riding toy.

{Meg, if you are reading this, don't you think she is ready for the Disney Parade?}

Rebecca even wanted Presley to join in on the fun.

Fishing with Pop Pop

2010-04-22T20:19:00.002-04:00

One of Rebecca's favorite TV shows is Little Bear. It is a cute program about a little bear, hence the name. Little Bear loves to play outside with his friends: Duck, Owl, Hen, Cat, No Feet (a snake), and Emily. Since Little Bear's father is a fisherman, Little Bear often pretends to be a fisherman, as well. In one episode, Little Bear, Duck, and Owl catch a whale.

Well, Rebecca had it in her mind that she wanted to go fishing and catch a whale, too. Lucky for her, we traveled to Mississippi recently and Pop Pop just got a new fishing boat. Rebecca was so excited about going to catch a whale.

In the end, we did not catch a whale. I did catch a small fish, and that was pretty exciting for Rebecca, but she really wanted a whale. I did get a bite on my line, but the fish was so big that it got away by straightening out the hook. Rebecca thought that was a whale. It satisfied her somewhat. When she realized that we were not going to catch a whale she asked Pop Pop if he would catch her a mermaid. His reply was that he had been trying to catch one of those all his life.

It was a lot of fun taking Rebecca fishing, even without the whale. She really, REALLY, really wanted to catch a whale. She told us so all the way home from the woods.

Dogwood Festival

2010-04-18T21:02:00.006-04:00

It was a beautiful weekend in Atlanta. We decided to take advantage of what Atlanta has to offer, so we headed down to Piedmont Park for the Dogwood Festival. We had so much fun. It was great to get both girls out of the house for a stroll around a great park. Rebecca especially had fun. Here is what she did...

played with a Magnolia branch,

tried to feed the ducks a stick, (You can't see it in the picture but the two ducks were actually mating. Thank goodness that Rebecca did not notice. We are definitely not ready to have that conversation.)

played on the playground,

listened to live music,

danced with a balloon,

wore herself out.

She fell asleep on the way home and took a great nap that afternoon.

Lesson of the Day

2010-04-15T09:57:00.002-04:00

A few nights ago John was giving Rebecca a bath. He swore that out of the blue Rebecca stood up and said, "Daddy I got to teach you something." He promised that he had nothing to do with what she taught him. I have no clue where it came from, but it was too funny not to record. Later on I was trying to record Presley talking. She decided she wanted to give her own lesson.

Yes, I know that my children will hate me for this post one day.

2 Months Old

2010-04-10T12:55:00.003-04:00

Presley's second month came in like a lion, and went out like a lamb. At the beginning of the month, we had no eating schedule what so ever. No nap schedule. No sleep schedule. And she was fussy in the late afternoon/early night. (So much so that we were worried that she might be colicky.) As the month wore on, things started looking up. I finally got Presley on an eating schedule. I wake her up every morning at 8:00 to feed her, then feed her every 3 hours or so. We start our bedtime routine around 8:15 and do our last feeding at 8:30. She has been sleeping anywhere from 6 to 8 hour stretches. She is usually up at 3:30 and then goes back down until I wake her. So easy! We realized that one reason she was so fussy at night was because she was just done. She was ready to be put to bed, which was fine by me, because I love having all by babies to sleep by 9:00. John and I actually get to watch Lost together live.

Presley is also loving her bath time. She just coos and smiles and kicks her fat legs. This baby has got some rolls on her, and I LOVE IT!!

Nap time is still crazy. There is no schedule. No certain place she likes to nap. She usually naps in my arms or on our guest bed. Sometimes she likes the swing, but not much.

Her neck is getting stronger, but she is still a bobble head. She is doing better holding it up a little at tummy time.

She loves for me to talk to her. She talks back and smiles. It is the best. She loves her Baby Einstein mat. She loves lights and fans. She loves to be bounced.

She is a great baby. We are blessed.

We had her two month check up, and she checked out perfectly. She got three shots, but was a trouper. She cried more because I had to put her down, but once it was all over and I could pick her up, she was happy again. Here are her stats:

Weight: 11.12 pounds (75%)

Height: 23 inches (75%)

Head Circumference: 39 cm (50%)

Opposite Day

2010-04-05T12:15:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when you ask your 2 1/2 year old to put her clothes on all by herself.

Her top goes on her bottom and her bottom goes on her top.

She was so proud of herself and thought she was quite the comedian.

I admit, I had a good laugh, too.

What have I been up to?

2010-04-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Oh just...

napping in my swing,

swinging with Daddy,

sleeping on my back,

hanging out with my BFF, Ambrose,

watching my sister hunt Easter Eggs,

being cute!

Eggs, Eggs, Everywhere

2010-04-04T14:49:00.000-04:00

This year the Easter Bunny went a little overboard hiding eggs all over Atlanta for Rebecca to find.

First he hid eggs at her school.

Then he showed up at the park and hid lots and lots of eggs.

Presley just sat back and watched.

Luckily, Ari was there to help.

Then the bunny showed up at our house and hid 30 eggs for Rebecca to find.

Again, Presley just watched.

He even hid eggs down by the river at Mimi and Papa's house. Thank goodness Rebecca had lots of cousins to help her out.

Lucy, Caroline, Gardiner, Gunni, Greer, and Rebecca

By the end, she was over it. She found about 3 eggs at the river and exclaimed, "I'm done!" When I tried to get her motivated again by pointing out an egg to her, she replied, "You get it, Mommy."

Back to Sleep

2010-04-03T14:17:00.003-04:00

Oh how I love my sleep!

Luckily, I have a baby who does, too.

When she slept in her car seat, which she did for the first 6 weeks of her life, she would sleep for 6-8 hour stretches.

I was very anxious about changing our sleeping arrangements. I did not think that Presley would do well flat on her back.

Finally, I bit the bullet and left the car seat where it belongs and out of Presley's bed.

The first night, Presley woke up every 3 hours. The next night was a little better. Every night got progressively better.

Last night, she slept from 9:00 until 5:00. Then she went right back to sleep...on her back!

Oh how I love my sleep!

BUSY

2010-03-28T18:42:00.000-04:00

In between nursing and cooking and cleaning and washing dishes and washing clothes and rocking and pumping and playing with my 2 year old and chauffeuring and making lunches and bouncing and showering and sleeping and holding my 7 week old and snuggling and making time for my husband, we have been...

going to birthday parties, and

having cousins in town for spring break, and

having pizza parties, and

(notice the greasy handprint on the wall)

having more cousins over, and

visiting with out of town friends.

Needless to say, there is little time to blog.

I will try to do better.

I promise.

Things I Love

2010-03-26T12:01:00.003-04:00

I am working on a post with pictures. Hopefully I will have it up in the next couple of days. Until then, here is a quick list of things I love.

I love...

how Presley is starting to coo.

how she has slept for an 8 hour stretch.

how she smiles at me when I talk to her.

how she is sleeping out of her car seat, even if it is not for an 8 hour stretch. She will get there.

how she is loving bath time.

how she loves to lay on her back and kick her legs.

how Rebecca makes me laugh everyday.

how she says "Listen to my big idea..."

how she still loves to snuggle.

how she is sleeping better most nights.

how when someone asks her her name she says "Rebecca Haws Kimball".

I love my girls!

One Month Old

2010-03-10T09:06:00.006-05:00

I can not believe that Presley is one month old today. Where did the time go? It really and truly does not feel like a month has already passed us by. I guess when you have a wonderful baby, time does seem to fly.

We started off the month with her feeding every 3 hours and sleeping in between each feeding. Now she eats every 3 hours during the day, stays up for a hour or so, then sleeps until the next feeding. At night we feed at 9:30, she wakes up around 2:30, then again between 5:30 and 6:30, and falls back to sleep until 9:00. You can't ask more of a 1 month old. She usually falls right back to sleep after her night time feedings. Sometimes after eating she gets the hiccups which makes her pretty mad, and she spits up a lot. But I can deal with that.

I guess I have to mention that she does sleep in her car seat. I do put the car seat in her bed every night. So she sleeps in her car seat in her bed. We have tried flat on her back once or twice, but she does much better inclined.

Although she loves to sleep in her car seat, she is not a huge fan of riding in the car. If I did not have to stop at red lights and stop signs, we would be okay. The motion puts her to sleep. The stopping makes her scream and cry. That makes Rebecca moan.

Presley has gotten very good at keeping her focus on my face. She has even started to smile back at me, which I LOVE! She loves to lay on her back and kick her legs. She tolerates tummy time, but only for short periods of time. She loves to look out the window and at lights.

She loves to be held and bounced. It seems that most evenings are spent this way. Presley is a fantastic baby, but she does have her fussy time, which seems to coincide with John coming home from work. It has nothing to do with John, just the time of day. It makes me feel bad, but I know she loves her Daddy very much and will grow out of this.

I have noticed that her dark hair is starting to thin out on top. I wonder if it will come back dark like her Daddy's or come in lighter like mine? Only time will tell...and if the next month is anything like the last, we will know soon.

One Month Stats:

Weight: 9.15 pounds (75%)

Height: 21 inches (50%)

Head Circumference: 38 cm (75%)

Nannie has Left the Building

2010-03-08T07:06:00.005-05:00

That's right...after spending the entire month of February with us, Nannie decided it was time to leave. We were so lucky to have her. She was a super big help. She cooked and cleaned. She played and chauffeured. She bounced and snuggled. She did everything and then some.

But by Feb. 28, we felt that I was ready to go at it alone. Mom was a little more sure of that than I was. I had many a moments when I freaked out about being left alone with two little ones. How was I going to take care of both of them and myself? How was I going to keep them happy? What if they both needed me at the same time? How was I going to keep everyone fed? And what about the laundry and house cleaning?

Mom and my wonderful husband, John, both reassured me that I was going to be able to handle being alone with the girls. They told me that for the first weeks just to take care of myself and the girls. Everything else can wait. Luckily I have amazing in-laws in town that have helped out a bunch and great friends who are keeping us fed. As for the laundry and house cleaning... I will get to that one day.

We have been on our own for an entire week now. It has had it's challenges. I have learned that we can't all be happy all the time. Sometimes I have to take care of Rebecca while Presley is unhappy. Sometimes I have to take care of Presley while Rebecca is unhappy. Sometimes I have to take care of myself while they are both unhappy. But overall, it has been a huge success. I am a lucky mommy with two fantastic girls.

Everyday gets a little easier. Spring will be here before we know it, and that will help out a bunch. Being stuck in the house all day is not our cup of tea. We like to go and do, even if it is just for a stroll.

Here are some pictures from our first week alone:

Monday was pajama day. That's right, we all stayed in our pjs all day long.

tummy time

a beautiful princess

It was finally nice out this weekend. We took the girls for a stroll down to a nearby park. Presley loved it. She was asleep by the time we left the driveway.

First Illness

2010-02-27T20:48:00.002-05:00

The doctor told me that second children always get sick a lot sooner than first children. I just did not think that it would be this soon.

Presley is only 17 days old, and she had her first sick visit to the doctor today.

Last night she started sounding very congested. Soon after I nursed her, she threw up a lot of what she had just eaten. It was not just a lot of spit up, it was projectile vomit that went all over her and all over me.

This happened throughout the night.

Presley slept well. She woke up to eat at 1am and 6 am, but she had a hard time going back to sleep after each feeding because of the congestion and vomit.

I figured it was just a cold, and that the phone nurse would just tell me to use saline in her nose and a humidifier. But when I called her, she said that because of Presley's age, they wanted to see her right away.

I was right. It is just a cold. We are to use saline in her nose and a humidifier.

We did get to weigh her. She has gained 2 lbs. since we left the hospital. She is now up to 8.14 lbs. She is well on her way to being a chunky monkey.

I just hope she is a well chunky monkey.

In two weeks...

2010-02-25T12:19:00.004-05:00

In two weeks I have learned that...

Presley loves to be held.

She gets the hiccups a lot, especially in the middle of the night.

She loves to look out the window.

She can sleep for 5 hour stretches if she is a sleep in her car seat.

She will only go for 3 hour stretches if she is flat on her back to sleep.

She likes to eat every 2 and a half to 3 hours durning the day.

If she is awake, she thinks she is hungry. We are trying to train her that this is not the case.

Sometimes she likes her swing, sometimes she likes her bouncy chair, sometimes she hates them both.

She hates bath time. We have tried a sponge bath, a bath in the sink, and one in the tub. She hates them all.

She dislikes her diaper to be changed.

She looks nothing like her big sister. Her hair is darker, her skin is darker, her eyes are darker.

She has a good set of lungs.

She likes to be swayed or patted to sleep.

She loves to sleep on her tummy on your chest.

She is a doll baby.

2010-02-24T08:56:00.002-05:00

Translation:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Boys and Girls,

At this time we proudly present

The Alphabet from A to Z...

This Girl, That Baby

2010-02-16T17:59:00.011-05:00

This girl is the best big sister! She loves that baby.

She was home in bed when John and I left to go to the hospital. When she woke up, she was surprised to find Papa instead of Mommy and Daddy.

She went to school for a Valentine's Party.

Then finally got to come to the hospital to meet her new baby sister. When she walked into the hospital room, she looked a little nervous. She got in bed with me and kept asking, "Why are you in bed? Where are your clothes?" She was not too sure about my hospital gown. After some snuggling, Presley came over. Rebecca just looked at her for a while.

Eventually, she decided she wanted to hold her.

Now that we are home, she can't keep her hands and lips off of her. Rebecca loves to hold her and kiss her head. She will say things like, "That baby is so cute. That baby is so soft. That baby is so sweet." When Rebecca wakes up or comes home from school, the first thing she asks is, "Where is my baby?

She has really done a great job, considering that her world has been turned up side down. It has helped having grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins to distract her.

Presley is one lucky little sister. Her big sister is the best.

Presley Elizabeth

2010-02-14T21:06:00.006-05:00

When I woke up on Wednesday morning, I did not feel good, physically or mentally. Physically, my body was just so ready for the baby to be born. There was a ton of pressure on my pelvis from where the baby was resting (It was like I had been riding on a horse for days and days.), and I did not think my stomach could stretch any further. Mentally, I was struggling between having a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) or just having another c-section. John and I decided before I was even pregnant that if the doctors felt I was a good candidate for a VBAC, then that was the way to go. I really wanted the experience of having a vaginal birth. I imagined having the baby pain free (thanks to an epidural) then having the doctor place the baby on my stomach. I wanted the experience of being aware of the events that follow the birth of a baby. I was robbed of that with Rebecca's birth, so I really wanted to experience it with this baby. But as time drew closer, I started to doubt by ability to have a VBAC. I questioned whether it was the right thing to do. Was it safe? Plus, I was just so ready for the baby to come. On the other hand, I wanted the baby to come when she was ready. I wanted it to be on God's time.

So that morning, I was in a funk. Luckily, I had a doctor's appointment. John met me there for moral support. This appointment was to be my pre-op appointment, since I was scheduled to have a c-section on Monday, Feb. 15th if the baby was not here already. Dr. Dawson reassured me that we were doing the right thing. He eased my worries. He also told me that I was already 4cm dilated, which gave us all hope that the baby would be here soon. We just did not realize how soon. Dr. Dawson did tell us to come to the hospital when I was having regular contractions 8-10 minutes apart for a whole hour, instead of 5 minutes apart that they tell most patients. He did not want me to labor at home because I was trying for a VBAC.

I spent the afternoon resting. I was feeling better mentally, but physically I was in more pain. I was not having contractions, but felt a lot of pressure. However, by 4:30 I was starting to have some Braxton-Hicks contractions. I was not alarmed by this because they were so irregular and I had been having these off and on all week. But by 6:30, the contractions were getting stronger. They were still irregular, but much more painful.

I ate a barbecue dinner (yum!) and went to lay down to see if the contractions would stop. They continued and were anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes apart. Around 8:30 they were closer to 10 minutes apart. At 9:00 we called the doctor to let him know we were on the way to the hospital. At this point, I was having major back labor. I could bearly put my shoes on because of the pain, but I was not panicked because the contractions were still about 10 minutes apart. John and I both were preparing for a long night of labor. My dad, on the other hand, was a nervous wreak, thinking I was about to give birth on the kitchen floor.

The trip to the hospital was the longest drive ever, and we only live about 5 miles from there, if that. My contractions were picking up speed and they hurt like nothing I have ever felt. Of course, once we got to the hospital, there was no parking up front, so John dropped me off and went to find parking. I somehow managed to check myself in through the pain. By the time I was finished, John was with me. They sent us back to Labor and Delivery room A6.

When I got there, I was barely able to tell the nurse, Sarah, that I was Group B Strep positive and that I was allergic to penicillin. I also informed her I wanted an epidural, stat! She gave me a gown and asked me to give her a urine sample. It took everything I had to change into the gown, and the urine sample was not going to happen. I was in too much pain.

Sarah then checked my cervix. She looked perplexed and said, "Let me get someone in her to make sure this is right." What? What do you mean? "I think you are already 10 cm." Okay great, but I want an epidural. Soon another nurse came in and said that I am more like 9 3/4cm dialated, but informed me that there was no time for an epidural. The baby was coming soon.

I do not really remember what I felt at this time, probably because I was in so much pain. Looking back, I almost seems like it was a dream happening to someone else.

Yeah right, like I was about to give birth without an epidural.

Well, I had no choice.

Most people who plan on giving birth naturally plan on it for some time. They prepare. They read books and take classes. They practice breathing and meditating. They have massage techniques down and tranquil playlist ready. I HAD NONE OF THAT!

Luckily, a nurse came in and taught me how to breath through each contraction. Then the fun began.

After about 45 minutes of severe pain, ice chips, counting to ten, a few choice words, screaming and crying, doubt, and tireless pushing, I naturally delivered a baby girl.

I remember the doctor saying, "Here she comes." I remember her crying. I remember her on my stomach. I remember John saying over and over, "You did it. You did it." I remember everything.

After the baby was taken to the other side of the room, I remember exhaling and thinking, "I did it."

Presley Elizabeth was born at 11:15 pm on February 10. She was absolutely perfect.

My mom always said that when you have a second child, you don't have to share your love with your children, but your heart grows to make room for more love. That is my description of this picture. Presley was looking straight at me, and my heart was growing for her.

Nannie and Mimi were at the hospital and waited patiently for the arrival of Presley.

Presley was my grandfather's middle name. It is also my sister Denise's middle name. Elizabeth comes from John's side of the family. Several of his family members share the name, including his sister, Amy.

I think she looks a lot like her Daddy.

After only 36 hours in the hospital, we were sent home.

We made it home just before the snow began.

We were so glad to get home to our own beds and especially to Rebecca. A post will soon follow that is all about Rebecca and her reaction to her new baby sister.

She's Here

2010-02-12T19:05:00.003-05:00

Presley Elizabeth was born very quickly on February 10 at 11:15pm. She is absolutely perfect, just like her big sister. Story soon to follow, once I catch up on some sleep.

Gearing Up

2010-02-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

Baby Sister will be here in two weeks or less. There are some moments that I am so ready for her to get here. There are others when I start to freak out a little about it. Am I ready for a newborn? Ready or not...here she comes. So, we are gearing up.

Rebecca has had more fun playing with and in all the baby stuff. She is being the best big sister and making sure that everything if up to her standards.

Here I am at 38 weeks.

Rebecca wanted to show off her belly, too.

Due Date? Name?

2010-01-30T21:21:00.004-05:00

I did a survey of all our immediate family asking to give their guess of Baby Sister's arrival date and her name. Here are the results: Baby Sisters Arrival Estimation and Name Guesses

Sid	Jan. 29	Johnny Lou
Mae	Jan. 30	Cupcake Collins
Lucy	Feb. 1	Evie Elizabeth
Laura	Feb. 2	Opal
Amy K.	Feb. 2	Elmira Elizabeth (Elly)
Mimi	Feb. 3	Emily Ann
Amy M.	Feb. 4	Presley or Denton
Denise	Feb. 4	Presley Denton
Nannie	Feb. 5	Clemmer
Greg	Feb. 6	Olivia
Rob	Feb. 7	Heidi Habersham Ambrosia Montag
Papa	Feb. 10	Spuddette Alicious
Pop Pop	Feb. 10	Alice
Rebecca	Feb. 11	Bee
Carrie	Feb. 12	Lindsay
John M.	Feb. 15	Annsley
Jay	Feb. 15	Denton

Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

2010-01-21T20:11:00.005-05:00

As we were driving down the interstate yesterday, Rebecca saw this and said, "Look Mommy, it's the Eiffel Tower."

How does she know about the Eiffel Tower? I blame it on The Wonder Pets Save the Poodle.

---------------------------------------------

Every night as John and I are tucking her into bed, she picks out two books then says, "I gotta go to the bathroom." (Remember, she is not potty trained yet.) So she jumps up, runs down the hallway to the door frame of the office, turns around, squats a little, reaches out to her side, acts like she is wiping herself, stands up, reaches behind her, then runs back into her bedroom.

--------------------------------------------

In the car, Rebecca can listen to the same song over and over and over again. During Christmas we listened to Frosty and Rudolph on repeat. Then it was The Wonder Pets Save the Blowfish song, now it is the Imagination Movers' Nina.

--------------------------------------------

Rebecca has become quite the comedian, and she does not mean to be. I find myself laughing at her constantly, especially with the things she says.

The other day we were talking about her becoming a big sister when baby sister arrives. I told her that I was a big sister, and that Laura was my little sister. She looked up at me, grabbed my face, and said, "Oh Mommy, I'm so proud of you!"

She loves to tell us, "Don't move a muscle!"

Every time I tuck her in her big girl bed she will say to me before I can say to her, "DO NOT GET OUT OF THIS BED!"

But the kicker (and I know this might be TMI and will embarrass her down the road): When I take a shower, Rebecca usually sits on my bed and watches TV. The other day after I showered, I walked into the bedroom to get dressed. As I put on my bra, Rebecca said, "Mommy come here." She started to pull at my bra and said, "Let me see your hips." I replied, "Honey, those are not my hips, those are my boobs." I guess we need to work on body parts other than head, shoulders, knees and toes.

-----------------------------------------

She is obsessed with the alphabet these days. This is all due to this video. If you have small children, I highly recommend it. It teaches letters and their sounds. In less than a month, Rebecca can recognize most of the letters and their sounds, and this is without any poking and prodding from me. Promise.

She loves to read her ABC books that we have had forever.

She loves to point out letters when she sees them. The other day we passed by the W Hotel and Rebecca said, "That's a W. The W says Wwwwww."

She is also obsessed with Super Why! She could watch the same episodes over and over again if I let her.

--------------------------------------------

My most favorite thing about her these days is how she ask me to "snuggle her" which means to snuggle on the couch while she rubs my face and ears. It is the best!

Portrait

2010-01-12T15:48:00.003-05:00

Rebecca painted this lovely picture at school last week and titled it "My Mommy".

I am not sure whether to be flattered or disturbed.

Is that really what she thinks of me?

At any rate, I love it.

Hurricane Trouble

2010-01-10T17:03:00.002-05:00

When these 3 girls get together it is nothing but trouble.

The Comeaux Family came over for dinner last night. Rebecca, Julie and Amelia had so much fun playing together (or beside each other). They really played well together with only a few sharing issues. In fact, they had so much fun playing that our house looked like a hurricane had blown through.

BUT, it was worth it. We all had a blast.

Monkey Joe's with Daddy

2010-01-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

Oh, this is what they call snow!

2010-01-08T18:37:00.002-05:00

She still had more fun with the gumballs.

You Call This Snow?

2010-01-07T17:19:00.004-05:00

Well, in Georgia they call it Severe Winter Weather.

Rebecca whines, "Where is my snow?"

Then decides who needs snow when she can play with gumballs.

It is much more fun throwing gumballs down the slide than playing in snow.

Right?

Best Friends

2010-01-07T15:41:00.002-05:00

Here are two pictures of me, my niece, Ambrose, and her best friend, known as Baby Sister. I am 34 weeks pregnant and Ambrose is one day shy of being 2 months old in these pictures.

Baby Sister will be named no later than February 15th.

Guess Who?

2010-01-06T20:04:00.004-05:00

Guess who is sleeping in their big girl room in a big girl bed?

That is right. It is none other than big girl, soon to be big sister, Rebecca. We were supposed to start in her big girl bed as soon as we got back from Cleveland, but bronchitis had other plans. Then we were going to start on January 1, but because someone(s) did not sleep well the night before, we moved the big move to January 2.

Rebecca has proven John and I wrong and is doing fantastic. We were scared to death that it was going to be a total disaster. The first night she talked and sang to herself for a little over an hour, but never cried, before falling asleep. She slept until 4:45. I went in there and told her it was still night time. She fussed a little, but staying in bed until 6am.

The second night was a nightmare. She screamed when we put her down. She screamed when John dropped the toilet seat. (Our bathroom is right next to her new bedroom. She had just fallen asleep, too. I could have hurt John if he had not felt so bad about waking her up.) He eventually had to go lay down with her so she would go to sleep.

She woke up several more times in the middle of the night, and each time I went in there. I struggled with what to do. I knew she was okay, but I did not want her to be scared. I wanted her to know we still heard her every time she made a peep.

The last time she woke up that night was about 4:30, and she wanted her Daddy. He laid down with her again until she fell asleep. She slept until 8:00am. Thank you, Jesus!

It has been two nights since then, and she has not woken up at all. Every night I tell her that Mommy and Daddy will see her in the morning when the sun wakes up. She has even slept past her normal 7am wake up time.

Who knows what tonight might bring, or tomorrow night, or the next? But I do feel a like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. My goal was to have her in her new room and settled into sleeping in her big girl bed. Surely, in 5 weeks she will be truly settled in her room.

Side note: Those are her 3 blankies hanging on the bed rail. Rebecca insist on still covering up with her 3 blankies, the sheet, and the bed quilt. Luckily, it is FREEZING here and her room seems to be one of the coldest in the house, so she is fine being all covered up under 5 things.

The Beautiful Princess Movie

2010-01-01T08:04:00.004-05:00

Since Rebecca has been cooped up in the house all week with bronchitis, I decided to take her to the movies today to see The Princess and the Frog.

I know that most of you are saying, "What? She is only two! What a disaster!"

Well, the girl loves TV and movies. She loves beautiful princesses. She was going stir crazy. And I wanted to see that movie.

We met our good friends Cristin and Ari for the 9:45am showing.

I came prepared with snacks and juice. (Yes, I illegally snuck them into the theater. What are you going to do about it?)

The movie started with Rebecca in my lap. She was doing fantastic and seemed to really be into the movie. Then she wanted to sit in her own chair. Fine, I had picked up a booster seat right outside the theater for her.

She ate snacks.

She ate ALL the snacks including the one that I brought for me and Baby Sister.

Whatever. As long as she was watching the movie, I did not care.

Then she decided she needed to get up.

So I followed her to the back of the theater where she proceeded to run from one side of the theater to the next. She was very quiet doing this, so I did not care.

I just sat on the back row and watched her run.

Then she decided she needed to run up and down the side aisle. Again, she was quiet, I didn't care. (I hope the rest of the patrons felt the same way.) Every once in a while, she would run, stop, watch the movie, then run again.

Then she decided she needed to poop, so she did.

We left the theater to change her diaper.

When we returned, she wanted to go sit by Ari. That lasted for all of 5 minutes. Then she was up again.

Then she was down, in the middle of the aisle. Before I could get to her, she had taken her socks and shoes off.

That was the last straw. I snatched her up along with her socks and shoes and we sat in the back row. She refused to put her shoes and socks on, so I refused to let her down.

So she sat through the rest of the Beautiful Princess movie.

I think it was a really cute movie.

Christmas in Cleveland

2009-12-28T18:18:00.000-05:00

Every two years we spend Christmas in Cleveland with my family. It is so hard to believe that last time we celebrated there, Rebecca was only 3 months old. This year, however, she was in full force. She loved every minute of being at Nannie and Pop Pop's house. She LOVED playing with her cousins. It was a wonderful Christmas.

The girls (Carrie, Rebecca, and Mae) cheering on the bed. Blue and White!

Mae, Rebecca, Carrie, and John

We had a hot chocolate party. Rebecca wasn't so sure about the hot chocolate,

but she liked the candy cane.

Being silly on Christmas Eve night. Mae, Rebecca, Carrie, John, and Ambrose

Santa came

Rebecca woke up bright and early (5:30ish). We played

and played

and played.

Then Rebecca took a lollipop break.

And she took time out to wish Kato a Merry Christmas.

Then we opened presents.

Carrie read books to Rebecca.

And we opened more presents.

We took our annual cousin picture under the tree.

Rebecca played some more. The curly head cutie is our cousin Kate from Memphis.

It was a great time. I'm sad that it will be another 2 years before our next Christmas in Cleveland. Rebecca will be 4, and Baby Sister will be almost 2. How fun!

Joy to the World

2009-12-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!

Dear Santa

2009-12-20T06:52:00.005-05:00

Let me preface this entry by saying that when Rebecca is sitting on Santa's lap we are able to take pictures with our own camera, but we are not able to use a flash. So the pictures come out blurry. Not to worry though. There is a professional there to take the pictures and take your money.

-----------------------------------------

Ever since last year's disastrous visit with Santa we have been dreading this years visit.

December 2008

We tried our best to prepare Rebecca for this year's visit. We read books about Santa and talked about how he was going to bring her presents on Christmas Eve night. We even went as far as to go and walk by Santa when we were at the mall and point him out to her. We let her know that she was going to sit on his lap and take a picture. Then, she would get a candy cane. By the time our appointment rolled around, I think she was pretty excited to finally get to visit him.

When we got to Phipps Plaza, Rebecca worked very, very hard on her wish list.

She filled up the front

and the back of her paper.

I sure hope Santa has an extra big sleigh this year.

Finally, it was Rebecca's turn to sit on Santa's lap. She walked right up there and sat without any hesitation. She never looked him in the face. She never cracked a smile. She just sat. We tried our best to get her to smile, but she was not having it. After what seemed like an eternity of doing tricks to get her to smile, I told the photographer to just take the picture. It was an improvement of last year's picture, so it was a success.

Like promised, Rebecca got her candy cane from Santa. She wanted to eat it right away. She took one lick, and gave it back. I guess that means she is not a fan of peppermint.

We then went to the food court to eat lunch. For lunch Rebecca had ketchup with french fries and a side of fruit.

She ate more ketchup than anything else. Can you say gross? It ended up everywhere. Luckily John was there to clean her up when it was all over.

After lunch we did a little window shopping.

John better watch out because this girl has some expensive taste. She LOVED the Louis Vuitton display.

All About Me

2009-12-19T16:21:00.003-05:00

I have not been very good about updating on my pregnancy. Then I think that I did not start blogging until Rebecca was born, so I do feel that bad. I am now 32 weeks. It is crazy to think that I am only 8 weeks away. My body is so ready, but I am not sure if the rest of me is. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about meeting Baby Sister, but I am not sure if I am ready for sleepless nights and everything that goes along with having a newborn and a 2 year old. But ready or not, here she comes.

Baby Sister does have a name, but we are not sharing. When we ask Rebecca what we should name her, she replies, "O." This has been going on for some time. I hate to inform her, but she is going to be disappointed if she is sold on the name O.

Rebecca is super sweet when it comes to my belly. She loves to lift my shirt up (sometimes in public) and give it kisses. For some reason, she thinks that my belly button (or where my belly button once was) is the portal to speak to and kiss Baby Sister.

Here I am at 32 weeks and 1 day.

John felt that some of you would want to see a close up picture of my belly, so here you go.

Jingle Bell Rock

2009-12-18T20:36:00.003-05:00

We have had a crazy busy week getting ready for Christmas. We have also had a lot of fun going to parties and play dates and school functions. On Wednesday we went to a neighborhood Cookie Swap party. Rebecca brought chocolate chip cookies to exchange with her friends, Caroline and Alexis. On Thursday Rebecca's class had their Christmas party. Here are the children running into the classroom to find lots of food and their parents. I LOVE this picture of Rebecca. It captures the face that I see everyday when I pick her up from school. She is just as excited to see me as I am to see her.

On Friday Rebecca's school had their Christmas Program. Rebecca's class "sang" Jingle Bells. At first I wasn't sure if Rebecca would go up on the stairs to sing. She kept saying, "I not sing Jingle Bell." Once she saw the other kids sitting up on the stairs, she decided she wanted to be a part of it, too. Not a single child sang the song. They were all too busy ringing their bells, looking around, crying, or sucking their thumbs. It was really too cute.

My memory card filled up right before Rebecca decided to stick her finger up her nose. What am I going to do with her?

It is only Friday and a full week before Christmas. The fun has only begun. It has been so much fun this year celebrating Christmas with Rebecca. Stay tuned to see how she reacts to her visit with Santa.

UH-OH!

2009-12-16T07:39:00.002-05:00

Pink Pig

2009-12-14T12:37:00.002-05:00

If you live in Atlanta then you have probably heard about the Pink Pig. If you haven't, you can read more about it here. It is one of those things that you have to take your children to do every Christmas. With all the hype about the Pink Pig, you would think it is the greatest thing EVER! Well, to Rebecca, it is.

All it is is a train in the shape of a pig that is painted pink. It goes around a track inside a tent on top of the parking deck outside of Macy's at Lenox Square. Like I said, there is lots of hype, kids love it, so we did it. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Stylin'

2009-12-13T12:29:00.003-05:00

Today I asked John to get Rebecca dressed. In his defense, he did ask what I wanted her to wear. I did say that I didn't care. BUT...

Not only is she wearing pattern on pattern, but the top is about 2 sizes too small. It is so tight under her underarms that it is probably cutting off circulation to her arms. If she lifts her arms up even an inch, you will see my favorite belly. Her hair has not been brushed and is so full of static that is is sticking up on all sides.

When I asked John if I thought this outfit was okay, he said, "Yes, she stylin'."

Luckily, we have no plans to go out today; nor do we have plans for visitors. So no one will see Rebecca stylin', except you, of course.

Bebop

2009-12-12T16:29:00.000-05:00

We got the book Elf on the Shelf for Rebecca. On Nov. 30 we read the book and learned that Santa would send an elf to our house to keep watch over Rebecca. He would then return to the North Pole every night to report to Santa. He would tell Santa if Rebecca needed to be on the naughty or nice list. We would get to name the elf. The only rule was that we could not touch the elf.

After reading the book we asked Rebecca if she would like an elf to come to her house. She said yes. Then we asked what we should name him. She responded, "Bee." John then said, "Bee bop she bop!" All of a sudden Rebecca started chanting, "Bee bop, bee bop, bee bop!" Then she started dancing. So we all got up and did the Bee bop dance. It was quite a sight, and luckily no one saw us acting silly.

The next morning John and I got up and noticed that Santa had indeed sent an elf. I told John not to say anything about Bee or Bee Bop. I wanted to see what Rebecca would say when she saw the elf. I was personally hoping she would change her mind and want to name him something more like Clyde.

Once Rebecca woke up, it took her a while to spot the elf. As soon as she did though, she said, "Look there's Bebop!" Then she started doing the Bee Bop dance. And so we are stuck with an elf named Bebop.

Every night he leaves to report to the North Pole. Every morning the first thing we have to do is find where Bebop is hiding. We have found him in the Christmas tree, hanging from the lights, sitting in the nativity scene, in Rebecca's stocking, sitting in a plant, and hiding behind the blinds. He is always somewhere different. He is going to start running out of hiding places soon.

Thanksgiving on Balsam

2009-11-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

For the Thanksgiving holiday we traveled up to Balsam, North Carolina to John's aunt and uncle's mountain house. We had a fantastic time spending time with John's family. Rebecca loved playing with her cousins, especially Greer who is not quite a year older than her. Here are some of the highlights of Rebecca's trip:

playing with cousin Ann's old toys,

watching the big girls draw (Gardnier, Lucy, and Caroline),

drawing by herself,

hula hooping with Caroline,

hula hooping with Greer,

playing games with her Aunt Amy and the cousins,

(Actually, Rebecca was more interested in sticking her finger up her nose during the game and of course John had to get a picture of it.)

and celebrating Aunt Karen's birthday.

Then Rebecca realized that the birthday cake was not for her and we were not singing Happy Birthday to her, so she started to cry and poke out her bottom lip like only she can. So, we relit the candle and sang Happy Birthday to Rebecca.

This is what Greer thought of that, until we lit the candle for her, too.

The kids then exchanged presents.

Rebecca got a baby doll that she loves.

It was a great trip and a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family.

You Want Me to Eat What?

2009-11-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

Rebecca's school had a Thanksgiving Feast. Each class was in charge of a dish. It was all very exciting and a very big deal. For a whole month the class has been practicing going up and down the stairs because there are 3 sets of stairs between the classroom and the fellowship hall. The class did a great job climbing down the stairs. It helped that there were only 7 children and 4 adults to help them along the way.

Once we made it to the fellowship hall the students sat down a their table. Rebecca's class had their small table set up for them since they are small. The rest of the school sat a big tables.

The class waited very patiently for everyone to come in a be seated. Then we said the blessing. I am sure that Rebecca wondered why everyone did not hold hands and squeeze after amen was said. (If anyone has had the chance to eat a meal with us, you know what I mean.)

Finally, the plates were brought to the table. They were filled with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, and a muffin. 6 out of 7 kids at the table looked like this:

Luckily, Rebecca's class was in charge of bringing fruit salad to the luncheon. Ms. Annissa and Ms. Maria were prepared for such reactions from their class, so they brought over plates full of fruit.

And so for the Thanksgiving Luncheon, Rebecca ate fruit, as did 5 of her friends. Kudos to Ian for eating everything on his plate.

Best Big Sister

2009-11-18T07:55:00.002-05:00

First I would like to apologize for being a bad blogger lately. We have been under the weather in our house and I am taking an online course, so blogging has been put on the back burner. I should have posted this blog back on Nov. 7, but here we are on Nov. 18.

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This girl is going to be the best big sister!

I recently bought a sling for Baby Sister, and Rebecca had to try it out first to make sure it was good enough for her sister.

I think it past the test.

On November 2nd, in dramatic fashion, my sister Denise had a baby girl. They named her Ambrose Denton Collins. Rebecca and I got to go up and see her on November 6. I was very anxious to see how Rebecca would react to the baby. She has really gotten into baby dolls lately and she seemed excited to see Baby Rose, but until they were face to face, I wasn't sure.

Needless to say, I should not have been worried that Rebecca would not take to the baby, but that she would love her a little too much. As soon as she saw Rose, she asked to hold her.

Then when it was my turn to hold her, Rebecca got upset. Not because I was holding a baby, but because she wanted to hold the baby some more.

Luckily Aunt Deesa came to the rescue and gave Rebecca some cuddles.

And I got to snuggle with my namesake. (I like to think that at least.)

After that, Rebecca was all up in Rose's face. When Denise was changing Rose's diaper, Rebecca would bend down to kiss her or she would bring Rose a toy to play with. Rebecca even had to get up close and personal when Denise was nursing. She was very curious about what was going on.

It was great to see that Rebecca loved her baby cousin so much.

Lately she has been praying for Baby Sister in Mommy's belly. Maybe she is starting to understand a little more. We will see in about 12 weeks.

Tantrums and Humor

2009-11-11T08:59:00.002-05:00

The past several weeks have been rough. Rebecca has been teething, not feeling well, and being a two year old. She has brought out the big guns on the tantrums and fits. Luckily she has also had us in stitches over the things she says. So, at the end of the day we seem to forget the melt downs and remember her humor.

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The other morning after eating blueberry pancakes, I told her we needed to go wash her hands. She said to me, "I do it myself!" She then walks past the bathroom to her playroom. I am following her about to grab her when I see that she is at her play kitchen. She "turns on the water", scrubs her hands together, "turns off the water", and dries her hands on a dish towel. She then looked at me and said, "I do it myself." So she did.

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One day Rebecca and I were watching TV. There was a dog on the show. The dog jumped up on a person and licked him on the face. Rebecca thought this was hilarious. Since then, every once in a while she will jump up and lick me on the face. I tell her that it is gross and to stop, but she thinks it is really funny. Yesterday morning she jumped up and licked me on the face. My response was, "Do you think you are a dog?" She replied, "Ruff, ruff!"

After her nap yesterday afternoon, we were snuggling in her chair. She reached up and licked me on the face. Before I could say anything, she looked at me and said, "Ruff!"

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Rebecca has become very bossy and sassy lately. She likes to say things like...

I NOT!

For example,

Me: Rebecca lets change your diaper.

Rebecca: I NOT change my diaper.

Or, I do it myself!

Example,

Me: Rebecca lets change your diaper.

Rebecca: I do it myself.

But my favorite, No! That my __________!

Example,

Me: Rebecca lets change your diaper.

Rebecca: No! That my booty!

Halloween

2009-11-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

This year for Halloween, Rebecca and I headed to Chattanooga to spend the night with Denise, Rob, and Mae. (John was in Knoxville for a football game.) Nannie and Pop Pop were also in Chattanooga since Denise was probably going to give birth at any moment.

Here we are comparing our bellies. She is 38 weeks, I am 26.

Mae and Rebecca had a great time playing together, until Mae locked Rebecca in the dog kennel. She wasn't happy at first, but then kept getting in there herself and trying to lock the door. It is so fun to see Rebecca get so excited to see her cousins or friends. She is starting to play more with others, rather than just play beside them.

That night we got the girls all dressed up to go trick-or-treating. Mae was a dog, and Rebecca was a very cute ladybug.

She wasn't quite sure about going up to strangers and begging for candy, but she soon got the hang of it.

Denise lives on a great street for trick-or-treating. Lots of people were out, and several houses went all out decorating. Rebecca did not want to leave this house. Cupcake wanted to attack the bodies in the front yard.

After all the trick-or-treating was done, Rebecca just wanted a lollipop. She is not a candy eater, which is fine by me. More chocolate for Mommy!

The next morning she woke up at 4:45 asking to go trick-or-treating. I think she liked it.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T07:13:00.000-04:00

Halloween Prep

2009-10-30T20:55:00.000-04:00

Rebecca wasn't so sure what Halloween was all about before this week, but we have been sure to give her a good introduction to all the fun it entails.

On Sunday, we went to her preschool for Trunk-or-Treat. Several church members decorated their trunks and gave out candy in the church parking lot. Rebecca had not a clue what was going on, but she liked dressing up and carrying her pumpkin around. I was a bad mommy and didn't take my camera.

On Monday, we went to a neighborhood Halloween party at Davis' house. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids in their costumes.

The kids decorated sugar cookies. Rebecca had so much fun, I had to bribe her to leave with a second sugar cookie. Needless to say, Rebecca did not eat much dinner that night.

On Thursday, Rebecca's class had a Halloween party. I loved seeing her with all her classmates. It was adorable.

Rebecca's class and her teachers, Ms. Anissa and Ms. Maria

Most of the kids were covered in cupcake frosting when it was all over, but not my princess. She was very careful not to get icing anywhere except her mouth. She is such a dainty eater.

After the weeks festivities, she was sure excited to see what Halloween was all about.

Rebecca Short Take 2

2009-10-25T21:06:00.002-04:00

Tonight at dinner Rebecca held her arm up to her ear like a telephone and had the following conversation:

Hey! What chu doin?

It's me, Webecca.

I'm eatin.

I asked her who she was talking to.

She replied, "Kato!"

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Before bedtime I was reading her a book of nursery rhymes. As I was reading "This little piggy" Rebecca pointed to a picture of the pig on the page and said, "Oh look, there's Momma."

Do you think she is trying to tell me something?

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-21T15:22:00.004-04:00

We traveled up to Berry Patch Farms last weekend to the pumpkin patch with Rebecca's friend Joshie. It was freezing, but fun was had by all. I was able to take a good amount of pictures, and Rebecca was able to practice her "cheese" face.

Monster Invasion

2009-10-19T08:09:00.003-04:00

A monster has invaded our daughter the past several days. They come in the form of three stubborn molars that do not want to show their faces. They are making our usually happy-go-lucky child into, well, a monster. She hates to have her diaper changed, she hates to take a bath, she is not sleeping through the night, she wakes up early, she demands what she wants, and loses it when she does not get her way. Her hand is constantly in her mouth, which is exactly what we want this time of year with all the illnesses going around. Her face is constantly covered in drool, which in turn, makes her face red and chapped (great for school pictures tomorrow).

John and I are trying our best to be patient with these monster invaders, but at times our patience runs thin. Rebecca has been spending a good amount of time in time-out, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. We are doing our best to just keep Rebecca comfortable with medicine, get in lots of snuggles, and keep her happy without letting her be the boss. (That's my job.)

It's not fair that we already have to deal with the terrible twos, but also two-year molars. And of course, it seems that Rebecca's monsters want to make an appearance one at a time. Let's just all say a prayer that they man up and decided to show their faces soon.

Rebecca Short

2009-10-12T10:27:00.001-04:00

This morning when I was trying to get dressed I said to Rebecca, "I'll be right back. I need to go find a shirt."

She responded, "Oh, that's alright, Mommy. You'll find a shirt. I promise."