Presley Rocks - 10 months

It's been a while! Here's how our baby girl is doing....

Presley, as always, is amazing. She's just over ten months old and the biggest twentysome pound bundle of joy imaginable! She's such a happy little girl, an awesome person to be around. She's a great friend and a wonderful daughter. And she loves to rock....

foolin' around on April 1st

Presley also loves...
• people... especially kids. she loses her mind with excitement if she spots one nearby.
• family... looks forward to visits with Los Tatos, Nanny & Papa and her favourite sitters - 2nd Mother & CuzKass.
• music... claps and waves her arms in the air, partying like she just don't care.
• food... (finally) eating solids. well, they're more like liquids, but we use a spoon!
• drinks... digs drinking from a cup. messy, but starting to get a hang of it.
• books... can't get enough of anything "peek-a-boo" or fun flip flaps.
• laughter... mimics anyone who laughs. it's very contagious.
• signing...milk, yum yum, sleepy, hair and book. everyday there's a new one. and some she's teaching us!
• talking... mama is her first word (!). mama can mean many, many things.
• crawling... like a hunchback - using one knee, one foot. very original!
• walking... cruising around, knocking down as much as possible. Beware Babyzilla!
• bath time... woo hooo!! splash splash splash! bring on the bubbles!
• mirrors... stands and points and smiles. She loves the girl in the mirror.
• DVD players & remote controls & cell phones... opens and closes and opens and closes the DVD player and takes the disc out. very delicately.
• gnawing & drooling... on just about anything she can get her hands on (ie remote controls & cell phones.).
• cats... even mean ones who try and scratch her eyes out.
• hugs... for/from mama and daddy and various stuffed stuffs.

Presley is not fond of...
• sleeping... unless she's very very very tired.
• no... she does not like hearing that word.
• socks... bare feet have better tread.
• blankets... she kicks them off as soon as she can.
• strollers... she can only stay in one for so long. she prefers being carried in daddy's Ergo.
• broccoli... gives her the gas. not good.

A lot of folks have been asking about her cleft palate. Surgery is scheduled for June 12. In a very strange way, we're looking forward to it. We want her to be able to drink and eat and speak without any difficulties. Her last batch of appointments at Sick Kids went very well. The dentist told us that the cleft does not go into her gum line and should not affect her teeth. Presley was quite impressed by the tooth brush and stickers she got to take home. The audiologist confirmed that she does have congestion (fluid) in her ears. The Ear, Nose & Throat Doc let us know that if the congestion continues at the time of surgery, tubes can be put in to clear the fluid. The occupational therapist gave us some tips on drinking and feeding and we were able to take home the "Pediatric Arm Immobilizers" that Presley will have to wear post surgery to protect herself from herself. (they're a hot shade of pink!) We've added them to her toys and goof around with them daily so hopefully it won't be such a shock when she has to actually wear them for longer periods. Thanks to everyone for all of the support and curiosity. It's good to know that we are not alone.

splish splash Presley's takin' a bath!

makin' mad maraca music!

Baby's First Christmas

Presley's first Christmas has been so amazing! Such a joyous time. She loves being around people, spending time with family and ripping presents open (and then playing with the wrapping). too funny! She also met a few Santa's and really enjoyed their company.

The first she met at the Eaton Centre for the "official" photograph...


and then we ran into another while doing some last minute shopping and they got along famously...

This has been the most special-est Holiday of all. We feel so incredibly blessed to have this little one in our lives. She makes everyday feel like Christmas.


Happy Holidays!!
Wishing everyone much peace, love and happiness - always.

Five Months!

Presley turned five months on November 1st. I'm trying to take it all in as slowly as humanly possible and savour every sweet minute moment. She is an absolute pleasure. She's so bright and smiley and curious and affectionate, all while being drooly, sticky and stubborn. I can't get enough and I can't imagine spending my days any other way.

Presley's 1st Halloween

We seem to have fallen into a daily routine. We start the day by rolling around in bed and playing with a bunch of toys and books. Then we'll hit the tea-time exersaucer so mama can have her cereal and baby can mumble at her recipe book, tea pot, and flowers. Eventually it'll be time for Presley's snack and a mid-morning nap. And later, if we're feeling adventurous, we'll freshen up, pack a bag and head out the door. Luckily the weather's been nice the past few days and we've been able to enjoy the fresh air. When dad gets home it's time for some groovy guitar tunes, quality tummy time and a ride on the jumperoo...

muchos babies por favor

Last week's mommy & baby group was huge! The biggest get together so far. Eleven freakin babies and their mommies shared a splendid Wednesday afternoon gurgling, snackin' and chatting it up. We put the babies down in a circle and started snapping pix. They were alright for the most part. Some were startled from getting slugged by neigbouring flailing baby arms, but otherwise all was good. At one point they all fell asleep. It was like some strange cosmic communal nap time. no one complained. as you can see from my pic, Presley was my only focus. hmmm wonder why....

look at me! look at me!

Every week is slightly different. I missed last week. the moms named the starbucks closest to the ROM as a meeting place before hitting the museum. But they never made it out of the coffee shop - it was just too dang cozy. A tall coffee frap and a slice of the banana loaf woulda kept me there as well!

I love this pic of these two pals:

coochie coochie coo!

Not only have these cuties known each other prenatal, they're only 16 days apart. Presley being the older and pushier of the two and Ben beating her in weight by a few pounds. We're hoping that these two will stay pals long after they can say, "I knew you when we wore the same type of diapers!"

We've had a few doctor's appointments in the past few weeks. At week 18 we went to sick kids' genetics clinic to talk cleft palate. They wanted to ask Jay and I about our family history and it seems that cleft/lip palates can be associated with various syndromes, heart conditions and learning issues and they wanted to assess and examine Presley to make sure that she was clear of all. And she was all clear. The cleft palate is being treated as an isolated case and we still don't know where it came (or didn't come) from. At week 19 she had her last visit with her pediatrician. Yes, last. He told us that he didn't want to see our girl anymore because she's just too dang healthy and he only sees sick kids! How's that for a clean bill o' health!? This pediatrician examined her at birth and was the first to find the cleft palate and even though Presley was going to be treated by our family doctor, he still wanted to keep an eye on her for a few months. Since all is fine and dandy he says that he would like to wait and see her again in a year. At the end of the same week we took Presley to our family doc for the dreaded 4month vaccines. Poor girl. She took it as well as could be expected (she screamed and screamed and screamed some more). We took her home, gave her some cherry flavoured tylenol and she slept like a dream.

20 weeks and currently weighing in at 14lbs 2 oz, with a length of 68cm and a head circumference of 43cm our baby continues to rock our world....

NOTE: Please try to ignore my ridiculous munchkin voice and instead embrace that beautiful baby smile!

Four Months

Presley turned four months yesterday. Time is just flying by! We celebrated by spending the afternoon with the mommies and babies group over at Adriana's. The regular fellas, Ben and Alejandro (both 3 and 1/2 months), were there and we got to meet two new girls, Hanna (8 weeks) and River (six weeks). Presley's the oldest and the mama's have been watching her development to see what to expect with their little ones. She's doing so well. She's sitting up on her own (with a little support) and sucking on her fists like there's no tomorrow! And when she's on her back she can roll from side to side and she loves to grab her feet and nibble on her wee toes. She's also quite the chatterbox and gurgler. I love it when it sounds like she's talking under water. I call her The Mermaid. Here she is with some of her pals:

Ben, Hanna, Presley, River, Alejandro

Sunday was Presley's baptism. And it was wonderful! There were six other babies being baptized. Father Paul was very entertaining and he kept things rolling along and very interesting and interactive. He did get Presley's name wrong at first, he called her Paisley. Michelle, who was sitting behind me, leaned over and said "I guess he didn't read her article in yesterday's paper." Lol! We had many friends and lotsa family there to help us celebrate. We all headed over to Spirits for pictures and hugs and snacks afterwards. We are truly blessed to have such awesome people in our lives.

Here's Presley with her Godmother (my sista) Kelly:

La Madrina

and here she is with her Godfather (my cousin) Robert:

El Padrino

and here she is with one of her favourite presents from that day:

Tea Time!

The exer-saucer has got to be one of the greatest inventions ever! She absolutely loves it! Not only is she stimulating her brain and exercising her little body, she's letting her mama post on her blog!

Lover Her Tender, Love Her True

Presley Mary Grace is in today's paper! She's on the cover of the Toronto Star's Living section. Laura, Aziz's mom, from the mommy and baby group let us know that they were looking for babies with interesting and unusual names. We figured being named after The King qualified, so we got in contact with the writer and there you go! Here's the photo that they ran and here's the article. Too cool!

Baby's First Press Clipping

Baby Wednesdays

Not only were the Baby & Me Fitness classes great for my health, they also introduced me to some fabulous ladies. And now that we've all popped our buns, we've decided to hold weekly meetings on Wednesdays. Our first meeting was last week at Sarah & Baby Will's and it was a grand affair. Sarah has a beautiful home in the beaches with enough baby stuff to keep all the wee ones happy. It was here that I discovered that Presley likes the bouncy chair.

"you're getting veeeerryy sleeeepy"

It was great to see all of the ladies and hear the various birth stories - everything from natural home births to a ruptured uterus that ended in an emergency to c-section. It was wonderful to get together and share info and ask questions in a non-judgemental environment. We munched on yummy sandwiches, crackers n' dip, cookies, muffins and even imbibed in a couple of glasses of white wine. Now, that's how mommies should spend an afternoon!

The Baby Gang

Yesterday we met just behind the Spadina House and although the trek up the Baldwin Steps wearing Presley was exhausting, we were still glad that we ventured out into the great sunny outdoors.

My little Rockstar

Our friend, Shelley, designer extraordinaire and hot mama, sent Presley an awesome package of HissyFit originals including this adorable hat. Don't she look rockin at 14 weeks?!