6 months, First Food, and ALMOST crawling

Wow, wow, wow, I am so sorry we have been away. We have been busy, busy, busy.
Olive is 6 months old in two days and about 15.5 lbs, 25.5 inches and just started to eat solid food. We skipped pureed foods and jumping right in to big people table food via Baby Led Weaning. Although we are still breastfeeding and have no plans to quit anytime soon.
Here's some photos of Presley Olive eating:



And here she is practicing her crawling stance. She isn't crawling yet, though!



We spent Thanksgiving in Welsh, Louisiana where Dre gave Ols a makeover:



Yikes!

Finals are coming up so I have been all over the place and mostly update on facebook.

Today, I put her in her crib while I made some lunch. Next time I know, she's pulling up from a sitting position to a standing one! Too cool!

Her favorite toy is a book and she loves Reggie still. We cannot wait for Christmas, either.
She loves crackers and turkey and likes to roll and roll and roll all over the place.
She has big ol chunkathighs and is still cloth diapered in some of the cutest little diapers ever.

She really likes her Uncle Roth and misses Daddy a lot.

She imitated me today and said "ma"...it's not a real word or talking but sound imitation. I cannot wait until she does it for real!

Here are some more pictures!


Halloween with Grandpa (she was a ladybug).






Sitting up for the first time.


Saucer.


Halloween.



I'll try and post again soon!

4 months!

I'm so bad at updating, I'm sorry!

Presley is 14 pounds! We have a well baby visit next week so I'll know more then.
She's doing GREAT! She enjoys grabbing people's glasses, she can be carried on my hip, and is really into touching people's faces. She is ALMOST sitting up alone, is super coordinated with her hands (but still awkward), and rolls EVERYWHERE. Rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. All. Over. The. Place. She still LOVES her baths and recently face planted in the water (she did not FALL, she stuck her head in the water) and did not freak out. She's drooling and teething (but no teeth in sight) and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. EVERYTHING. She hardly cries unless she is tired or hungry. She's still got red hair. She's perfect. She chats a lot. No pacifier still, occasionally takes a bottle, no solids for 4 more months, so nothing really exciting there.
However, she DID get new clothes for the cool weather. We also got a Beco baby carrier:



I have a picture of her in her Halloween costume but I am going to save it for the actual Halloween day. She's going to be a LadyBabyBug and she looks ADORABLE.

She has these big chunky cheeks like her daddy used to when he was a babe and she's a little firecracker! She has such an attitude. She enjoys playing with toys in her high chair and exersaucer but gets frustrated and upset quickly when the sedentary ones do not come off. She grabs EVERYTHING. And if I didn't mention it, SHE ROLLS EVERYWHERE. Poopy diaper? Let me roll around while you take that off. Bath time? Let me roll OFF THE TOWEL AND TOWARDS THE TUB. Try and put me in that stupid bouncy seat? I'll just flip on my belly.

Oh, and the Bumbo? No way. She's a back archer and it scares me so badly.

She just started to notice Reggie and will pet/grab him/try to eat him. I think they're going to get along. Zeke, on the other hand, is scared of her.

Anyways, I really will try to update more. If anyone wants to add me on Facebook, there are tons of pictures there.



P.S. Cloth diapering is so awesome.

It's been too long!

Presley had her late 3 month well baby.
Well, ya'll, she is a whopping 13 lbs! 24 inches. And just perfect.
Except, she's found out she can SCREECH like a screech owl and my ears are bleeding. It's really the most shrill, terrible noise I have ever heard. It's really been hard to deal with. But I do!
I'll have to do a crunchy post next week of all the new diapers and things we've got. The Beco baby carrier came in and it is beautiful and now we're waiting on 10+ diapers in adorable prints. So much fun!
Presley just LOVES her great-grandmother. They hung out last night and this morning. She was all smiles and coos. Too cute.
We also went to visit cousin J for her baby shower. She is crunchy too and we had so much fun. Presley wore a GORGEOUS blue linen dress. Everyone just loved her. It was nice.
Presley also did some visiting and went to see her Great Great Aunt M and Great Great Uncle C! She had fun.
My sweet little baby is growing up! I've had to move her diapers up a snap, take out her carseat insert, and move the straps up! How do I make her stop growing?!
She's so much fun, very interactive, loves grabbing things and putting them in her mouth. And the DROOL! Oh, my. She's finally found how to suck her fingers but sometimes she gags herself. She still is not interested in pacifiers (woohoo!) but loves her nawnie (nursing) and nap playlist. She listens to Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Elvis, Death Cab, various country, James Taylor, and Poison when she's going to sleep.
She scares Zeke the dog and interests Reggie.
She likes bright colors and things that light up. She can wack buttons to make her play piano light up/make noise and she enjoys her bath still. She LOVES to splash.
Presley also enjoys mornings, she is happiest in the AM. She's still sleeping like a champ and won't see solid food for another 3-4 months. She'll likely never see juice for another 2 years if I can help it!
Presley will either be an Olive (her nickname), a ladybug, or a pumpkin. Anyone have an opinion?
Anyways, here are some pictures of our Olive.

With Reggie-Dog.


Playing with Benadine, her first doll.

3 Months old and ROLLING

Presley started rolling a few days ago. So neat. Here's a video:


She's THREE MONTHS OLD on Tuesday. Amazing! She's a great sleeper, full time cloth diapered (even at night!), and still exclusively breastfed. She's got seriously red hair (thicker and longer, hasn't fallen out at all). She loves music, especially Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Elvis. She likes to sit up assisted, play with some toys, take warm baths, and go to PJ's coffee house with her grandmother.
She falls asleep in her ring sling or moby and takes 1 bottle of expressed breastmilk Monday-Thursday like a champ (FINALLY). She likes to stick her tongue out, put her hands in her mouth, and coo. She enjoys being held FACING OUT ONLY, THANKS. She has long eyelashes and non-existent blond eyebrows. She dislikes pacifiers, bouncer seats, swings, bumbos, and any other artificial holding device. She sleeps 9pm-12am, 12am-7am and follows a loose eat, play, sleep schedule throughout the day (self-imposed). She eats every 2-3 hours (sleeping for about 2 of those hours) and still has hair on her ears. She is on a delayed/selective vaccine schedule and smiles when I smile at her. She loves when she's told she's beautiful and her nickname is often Olive.

Here are a few pictures:


She usually slumps over a bit and does not enjoy this for longer than 3 minutes. We won't be needing it, really, for another 3 months AT LEAST but it's still fun to play!


With her Uncle.

Videos

Here are some SUPER interesting videos of Presley.
If you actually watch them, you are better than I am.



This one is a great rattle video:



The others are terribly boring.

Milestones!

Presley has been doing a lot of really neat stuff lately. I already mentioned the drool. Thankfully, it is not intense drool but it is drool none the less and it is plentiful. Some other things that are exciting are toy wacking and grabbing/holding. Presley has finally mastered wacking toys with purpose and determination, awkwardly grabbing them, or holding them. She has even thrown a toy once. Here's some pictures of what I mean. I know they're not very good quality but she moves SO MUCH it's hard.



See? She's holding that toy! How fun! She grabs too.

Another milestone, I guess, is putting things in her mouth/licking. The few times Presley has had full command over a toy (and been aware) she has promptly move said toy to her mouth. She also licks things. She licks my shoulder, herself, etc. This is similar to her other new trick, eating her hand. Presley does not like pacifiers. In fact, she hates them more and more every time I attempt to help her calm down with them. This is sad for only one reason: someone got us some very lovely monogrammed pacifiers and I am sad to see them go unused because seeing "Presley" spelled out on her mouth is funny. I am also thrilled. I would not introduce them until after 4-5 weeks because I wanted us to get the hang of breastfeeding first. I guess that's why she hates them. I'm actually glad, though because I hate pacifiers and I think they look funny. Off track, anyways, Presley has been making very wholehearted attempts at sucking her thumb. She has not figured out how to do it yet but is VERY talented at sucking her entire hand. Here is evidence:

Now, what the heck is this thing?


Oh! I know. It is for my consumption, obviously.

Hehe, Presley has been noticing her hands and feet and looks at them as if they are the oddest things she's ever seen. I can't wait until she tries to eat her feet!

Also, Presley's Uncles J and R sent her an adorable fuchsia knit halter dress that she looks PRECIOUS in (see precious two pictures) and an interesting bonnet/head scarf thing that matches.

I forget if I mentioned, but Presley has also started to rub her eyes when she is ready for bed. Awesome for me because I know why she's crying/what she needs.

Example:


Oh, by the way, how cute is that diaper? Much cuter than a crinkly pampers with stupid cartoons on it!

Finally, head control. Presley is an expert at holding her head up and now enjoys tummy time much more.



Next on the list, rolling over! Presley showed some major rolling formation today but did not quite pull it off. I think I need to put her down more to practice!

All is well here! Presley is growing every day and appears happy!

Oh! I almost forgot!

Presley had her 2 month well baby visit Monday (albeit, almost 2 weeks too late).

She is:
11 pounds 12 ounces
23.25 inches

She got 2 vaccinations/1 poke because she is on a delayed schedule. Her pediatrician has his own delayed vax schedule which I am VERY thankful for because we wanted to delay/deny vaccinations. We are VERY happy with this situation. No more than 1 poke, no more than 2 vaccines at a time. Fantastic!

I will try and update more but school is starting soon and I am actually quite busy now that Pres is awake more.




Weird face but I LOVE when she does her stretches after she wakes up or when she is tired.

Pensacola, Florida

Hello from Florida!!!

We're soaking up the sun! Not really, Presley has delicate skin and has been to the pool once and she napped the entire time. She did go on a long walk with Grandpa yesterday, though. We're having fun! Presley decided she hates her bottles of expressed breastmilk and really put her grandmother through a time while mom was getting a massage.

Ah, well.

Presley is 10 weeks old Monday and has a doctor's appointment. She's not rolling yet but has FANTASTIC head control and SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT so who can complain? She doesn't even really nurse to sleep which, while sad and frustrating, is also good. Not much has changed. She can roll from her back to her side but she's completely uninterested in any other maneuvering.




She enjoys the new hold I figured out for her ring sling:

And it usually makes her sleep:


Oh! I know something new! Presley is drooling and blowing spit bubbles. Exciting, right?

This evening she'll go to the beach to take sweet pictures in a dress with me and I'll post those and her bathing suite pictures as well as her POSSIBLY in the pool.

2 Months old!

Presley is 2 months old today, can you believe it?!

Days like today really solidify my belief in Attachment Parenting. Presley has cried for MAYBE 2 minutes TOTAL today. It seems SO important to always let her know that she isn't crying for nothing. I'm glad we're practicing this theory, it seems to be working very well. I am extremely pleased.
Well, our bags are packed, we're headed to the beach! I'm going to attempt some sweet beach pictures but we'll see how it goes, Presley leads the way on this one!
Otherwise, not much is going on. Lots of new sounds, no rolling (yet!), better head control:

Trips to the salon to get a pedicure:

And just making funny faces:




Seriously, her hair does that EVERYTIME I wash it. It stays all curley for two days. I cannot make it stop. It looks funny but I look like a don't comb her hair when we go out, slightly frustrating.



Sassy! I call this face The Daddy. I think it looks just like a baby Jeremy.

Today, Presley ate a (slept through me eating) hamburger at Lee's in Metairie before we went to Toys R Us to find a pump. It's a good time to mention- it's national breastfeeding week! We're so lucky to have such an easy nursing relationship. In honor of that and to help other women and children, we're donating 100oz of pumped milk at the end of next week.

Presley had some delicious sushi recently too:


Here is Presley when she stole my glasses!


Sheesh! I have to mention, when Presley is asleep next to me and I'm sitting up, she'll swing her arm over mine. I have a picture but it's not uploaded. It's the sweetest thing ever!

Sometimes, Presley does this thing I call the ballerina. It also goes by the name The Salsa:


Here's Presley in one of her cloth diapers, we just bought 1 bumgenius organic with snaps and 1 fuzzibuns pocket to see which we like better. This is a Tiny Tush Elite One Size Pocket. It's a good diaper but very fluffy so it doesn't fit under pants or onesies. Good for dresses, though.



This is a picture of Presley in her first Feltman Brothers dress. Lori gave it to us and it's GORGEOUS. Again, Presley dresses really well. Rarely does she wear anything out that isn't a gorgeous handmade dress. Yikes!



This next picture is a face I hope I won't see for another few years but I'm sure it'll be a regular occurrence when things don't go her way...



And finally...

"OMG YAY!"

Baby Faces 2